4 more days

Well, there are only 4 more days until the marathon. Wifey's starting to get scared. The kiddos are feeling better, and we seem to have avoided catching anything. So here's how the weekend shook down:

saturday was fantastic outside. I did get some good stuff done in the garden, but not enough. i never get enough done. but it was sunny and in the high 60's here. It was so nice i decided to head to the gym for my long run. I went 8 miles on the treadmill. I really was just trying to get the knees a little work on the softer surface. I really wanted to focus on my form, speed/pace control, do a little speed work and just play around some. Might not have been the best time, but I did it anyway. I covered an entire mile at a 7.0 speed, first time that's happened. I hit the 5k distance at just over 27 minutes, including some walking warm up time. So that was really cool. but then towards the end I started paying the price for my speed. I moved the chopat brace over to the left knee, then the right knee started hurting. So today I've got to get the oil changed in the car, pick up another chopat brace for the other knee, and get the final 3 mile run in. it's the last run on the plan before the marathon, so i'm really looking forward to it. After that it's all just packing and travel prep.

Sunday was gorgeous here. It was mostly sunny, and 72 degrees. I got a good day in the garden. Really finally made some headway on the bed prep. I got an "after" pic from sunday, that I'm thinking will become the "before" pic for the 2009 veg bed.

You can see the raised bed I built last year, and the cleared and de-weeded part that was last year's veggie patch. The white part in the back is the garlic I planted in the fall, mulched with some wheat straw. I cut a line extending that cutout from the raised bed, and I got started removing the sod from that section. The raised bed is a cleared play area for the girls. I think it would be a cool log to post a pic with the same basic frame every couple of weeks to watch the plants grow. To the right of what's in the pic is the asparagus and perennial plantings. I've got some blueberry and raspberry plantings there, and I'm thinking about adding some rhubarb this year. Every tried rhubarb? I don't think I've ever tried growing or eating it, but I hear the pies are quite tasty.

I also got a couple of miles on the bike sunday. Turns out gardening makes fantastic cross training! After clearing out all those weeds, some sod removal, spreading lime and my homemade compost over the beds, etc. the knees felt great! I thought for sure all that walking, digging, and pushing the wheelbarrow around would tear something up. But I felt so good after all that garden work, I tried out the shoes and pedals on the roads for the first time. It was so warm and sunny I just couldn't go inside. I'm happy to report I did not fall down! There was one time I really thought I was going down, even with the old non-clip in pedals. But I managed to get a foot out in time and saved the scratches.

Then yesterday I had to be in atlanta for work. Man, that makes for a long day. I left the house here at 6:30 am, and got back here at about 8:30 pm. Stuck in meetings all. day. And i wish i could claim they were interesting. The good news is it looks like we've got a few things to send out to Wes, so we'll finally be working together on this project. At least when I'm working at home I can walk out to the backyard every once in while. At the office, I didn't breathe fresh air after I got there at 9 until leaving at 6. Lunch was brought in. The lights in the conference room became depressing when I knew it was 74 degrees outside in atlanta.

So thursday I'll post a race preview for the marathon, friday we're all traveling. If you are going to be in MB, we'll have the cell phone. call me at 864-420-0495 if you want to meet up somewhere. I'm always game for meeting a blogger. Some folks (like Ryan) I know I'm going to see. And Mendy/David I'm sure I'll run into. And one of my old fraternity brothers is going to be there too with his new wife. I haven't seen them since the wedding. So call me bitches, or at least look for me at the expo.

Then it will be time for this:

Sleep. and maybe some of this:

Babies taking a crap in the woods. C ya!