Photo Friday

Well, it's 2/27/09. So I went to the second folder inside of My Pictures and took the 27th photo. The second folder happens to be 2003 pictures, and this one is my buddy Chad playing the banjo.

This was actually taken at the "after party" for his wedding. And yes, in the south, sometimes after a wedding we just make up a campfire, tap a keg and start picking and grinning. at this point in the evening, we were all quite sloshed. I don't think I was playing anything that night, I don't know any bluegrass. But Chad used to take every sunday morning and go to a local flea market. There, he would drink whiskey out of a coffee mug and play banjo, guitar or drums with a local bunch of bluegrass junkies. These drunks all came to his wedding, and guess what happened. They all got drunk and started playing bluegrass outside. It was loud, we were in the middle of the woods in the middle of nowhere near nowhere in the mountains, and it was awesome. Those dudes can really pick.

Chad lives in Murphy, NC which is the western-most town in North Carolina. He's the band director at the high school there, which is the same high school he attended as a student. We are fraternity brothers from ASU. Currently, Chad is expecting his second child due in may. We're still really close. His first daughter has the same birthday as Kelley.

Today in fitness is a rest day. Just a little light stretching. Cause I needed a rest day (sic). Actually, 2 days into the Tri Power plan, I am SORE. I mean this thing is effective. I haven't been sore like this in a long time. I got the blood work back from the doctor, and there's a couple of liver enzymes that are a little high. So I've got to go back next week to figure out why. joy.

But I really want to get out there this weekend. It's raining all day today here, so tomorrow should leave the garden soil rather supple. oh yea baby. I also want to get in a long run (distance tbd - should be 10 miles) and/or a decent bike ride. I might end up having to do some more stuff to the mountain house, and forget about all the fun, though.

Have a great weekend!

I am a weak little girl

it's true. You know how much I hate western med doctors anyway. I went to the doctor yesterday, and he basically just said "meh, it could be something", drew some blood and that was it. I was hoping for some antibiotics or some nutrition advice or something. Maybe the bloodwork will show more. But that was just a useless "come see me in 2 more weeks if you're not feeling better by then" kind of thing. If I wanted to take 2 more weeks off from training, I would have waited until then to call him in the first place. oh well, you get what you get I guess.

But really I'm calling myself a weak little girl because I did the Tri Power assessments last night. You are supposed to do these same assessments every 4 weeks to see progress. Let's just say I did not set the bar very high, so progress should be drastic. I'm going to do the same assessments every 4 weeks for the next 8 months on the program, so I am going to post these embarrassing numbers today just so we can all see how far I've gone later. And you can hold my feet to the fire if I wimp out, or don't show enough progress. I love me some trash talk, and I like to take it just as much as I like to give it out.

Pushups (60 seconds): 10
Wall Sit: 30 sec
Flex Arm Hang: 11 sec
Side Plank: 19 sec
Side Plank Bent Knee: 25 sec
Prone Plank: 20 sec
Extensor Chain: 50 sec
Core Strength: 30%

Some of these are pretty obvious. 10 pushups is pitiful. The flex arm hang is supposed to help you if you can't do a chinup. All of the "second" measurements are time to failure. The side plank bent knee is a side plank with your bottom knee bent for stabilization and the top leg raised. The extensor chain was a fun one. It's kind of a superman pose, where your feet are anchored, and you put a swiss ball under your hips and just see how long you can keep your body straight, arms back. it's a measure of lower back strength. The core strength one was really interesting too. A lot of times when we are supposed to be working core, we're actually using the hip flexors instead. Hip flexors are already strong from all the time on the bike. So you lie flat on the floor and put one hand under your back directly below the belly button. there will be an arch in your lower back at that point. Lift your legs straight up in the air, bend your knees 90 degrees, and your lower back will press down on your hand. Lower your legs until your lower back no longer presses down on your hand, and guage the percentage that your legs moved. If your feet hit the floor you have 100% core strength. My legs only moved about 30%. that's a really cool test.

Remember the Tri Power program is all about achieving balance. I've done the same ab excersices for years, and once it gave me a nice 6 pack with smallish love handles on the sides. I think these assessments shows just how out of balance the muscles are. I've got a pretty strong back, and the wall sit is not bad. but my front and side core is certainly weaker. So I'm out of balance. I truly think this program can restore that balance. and that's really cool.

So you see the moves, how do you fare on those assessments? Do you think you're stronger than a little girl? leave me comments with some of your times.

The training plan is finally finished! Ah, glorious. It is really cool, I must admit. I've got a FIRST marathon training plan and the swim/bike numbers for a oly tri plan combined. That phase wraps june 23rd with my hillbilly marathon. Then I'm taking a couple of weeks off, just because I can. Then the half ironman training plan kicks in leading up to the nov 7th Beach 2 Battleship. I pushed it online, you can download my complete plan from this link. It's an excel 2007 spreadsheet, but if you are using an older version of excel, it should convert ok. Email me if you can't open it, and I will get it to you in another format.

I've got three each swim, bike, and run workouts. The FIRST program has speedwork on tuesdays, a tempo run thursdays, and a long run on saturdays. That's the way I like it. The swim team I'm on practices mon, tues, and thurs at 5:30 am. I haven't figured out how or when I'm going to get in the bike rides yet. There's a long ride on sunday's, and I love getting in a long bike ride on sunday afternoon. I think it's the best recovery workout after a long run on saturday. I think there will be a regular group ride I can get into for that. but monday and wednesday rides are shorter, and the Spinners don't have a regular group ride those days. I might do some at the gym, or on the trainer, or find a safe route and fly solo.

The tri power program is my strength training workouts. It has 15 minutes on mon, wed, fri of basic stretching and corrective work. that's not too bad, and I can do it all in the office. Tues and thurs are the main strength days, and it's only 35 mins worth. Not bad. I'm also throwing in 30 minutes of yoga on tuesdays and thursdays. that's not too bad, really.

It's a comprehensive plan, and in the spreadsheet I added columns to track actual completions too. The sheet is preloaded with my races and those distances too. But get a load of these totals: 92.6 miles of swimming, 2,798 miles on the bike, 639.8 miles running, 70 hours of strength work, and 36 hours of yoga. that sounds like a lot. But it's only february, and that's to carry me through the end of the year. how cool!

So I'm feeling better today, but run out of energy really quickly. I did some yoga this morning, it felt pretty good. I have lost some weight being sick, so that's feeling great. I'm going to do a Tri Power workout later on today, and maybe a little bike time if I can squeeze it in. I don't want to rush back until I'm sure I'm over the flu thing, but if I don't get in a good run or decent bike ride soon I may start shooting things.

Nothing

I have nothing positive to report today. It's why I haven't posted since thursday. It's been incredibly hectic and downright depressing. I still don't feel right. Since missing the marathon with the flu, the flu symptoms have mostly gone, but something else is still not right. I'm going to the doctor tomorrow and hopefully he will be able to figure it out. But I can't seem to get the body feeling right. Some mornings I wake up with a fever. Last night I was awake and turning from 1:30 to 3:30 am. Yesterday i couldn't finish my breakfast, today I'm still hungry. There is nasea all over the place. Most of the time, I have no appetite and no energy. Tri training season started yesterday, so this is not cool and needs to go away soon. I need my fuel back, my energy back, so I can get into the workout routine. Or do you think it's the other way around? if I can get in a workout, the body will feel better? It's been this way for almost 2 weeks now, and it's driving me crazy.



Thursday night we got to visit Ben and the new baby in the hospital. I called him Barry, and you should have seen how red mom's face got! Here's the new little one, he is soooo cute!




So back to friday. We made it up to the mountains after work, and it was only about 18 degrees outside. Cranked up the heat in the house and it got comfy in a couple of hours. I was pleasantly suprised, the water remediation folks had left dehumidifiers running that had taken care of the moisture problem. no moldy smell, no rotten holes in the floor, etc. It could have been a lot worse. We hung out for a while and crashed.

Saturday we got the U-Haul after some breakfast, packed everything up and it went quicker than expected. met with the new tenant some, and were back on the road. I did climb the hill above the house and get a pic. We couldn't have asked for a better day!



You can see the house and the view from there. We share a driveway with the neighbor, and this new tenant is a friend of the neighbor. After talking with him, I think one of these guys will end up buying this house from us. Awesome! If you would want to buy it, see more at http://www.booneinv.com/, one of my other sites.

We made it home and unpacked the U-Haul saturday. Most of the stuff ended up in the garage or in my office. We're still trying to get everything settled and unpacked. That left Sunday as "get-it-all-done" day. More stuff didn't get done than did get done. I did get some things unpacked. Bigun found some funny bedroom slippers and started wearing them. She still won't take them off:

it's too funny! She loves those giant things. But up in the cold mountains those slippers were oversized, warm, and comfortable in the cold. My plan was to unpack, settle furniture, pay bills, get the tax stuff ready for the accountant, plant the grapes and berries (my Ison's order came in on thursday) because you're supposed to put the live plants in the ground within 24 hours. It's also time to get the tomato and pepper seeds started in the seed flats. I did get the unpacking and furniture done. I did get 2 posts in the ground for the grape trellis. I still have one more post to go, and wiring up the trellis. Plus clear and prep the bed for the 7 blueberry and 2 boysenberry bushes I ordered. I'm about to panic now it's been too long and I need to get those plants in the ground before $100 worth of fruits die in my office. I'm also sick of not having the tax stuff to the accountant. after getting 2 posts in the ground, I thought I was going to fall over with fatigue. last year i sunk 3 posts and bed prep all in one day. I'm sick of being sick.

I have found a FIRST training plan for my hillbilly marathon. I still need to plug those numbers into the spreadsheet. But I really think it's going to work out well. i'm still trying to find swim and bike numbers for an oly tri to fill in that part. And if I ever start feeling better, I will finally start the tri-power program. I should have started that yesterday too. And I didn't do the assessments on friday like I was supposed to.

So keep your chin up, I'm trying to do the same. I might be a little depressed after missing the MB marathon. All of these other symptoms could be psycho-sematic offshoots of that. Or it could be mono, or just something bacterial. Whatever it is, I'm ready to feel normal again.

baby drama

Actually, baby and drama. I'm the oldest of 10 grandkids in my generation of the family, and until yesterday I was the only one with kids. I have a cousin Ben who lives here in Greenville and is about 9 months younger than me. Yesterday his wife gave birth to a son, their first kid. they're calling him Barrett Fincher, 7 lbs 11 oz. we're going to visit in the hospital today, so I'll try and get a picture. I'm going to call him Barry just to make Ben cringe. Ben is a lawyer.

It is going to be so nice not to be the only one at family holidays with babies anymore. I mean sure, mine are cute. but they have no other kids to play with. So little Barry will grow up knowing his cousins, and that's a really cool thing. I like it, and i'm incredibly happy for Ben and Elaine.

The mountain house is what has the drama. It is rented, the terms are all worked out, and everything is setup. But when these people saw the house, they walked into a burst plumbing pipe with an inch of standing water over the entire house. So some water remediation people came in. We've filed a claim with the homeowners insurance. So this weekend Morgan is going with us up there to get all of the furniture moved out. We've got to have the place cleared. Then next week, Lowe's is coming in to replace all of the carpet and vinyl flooring. they don't know that they can get out there next week, but the tenant is moving in march 1st. so they have to get in there next week. This is all happening very fast.

I'm just glad the dayum thing is rented. We're getting $700 per month for it, before management fees (12%), which is not exactly enough to cover the $850 mortgage payment. but it all helps. at least I won't be responsible for the electric bill anymore ($200 per month while vacant over the winter) . So this house that I have not set foot in since july 4th has just been bleeding me dry. Renting is not as good as selling, but I will take it. And I really hope all of this drama with the flooring pans out to not cost me an arm and a leg. If insurance pays up quickly and everything times out right we could pull off a little miracle here.

the training plan is starting to come together, the spreadsheet is filling up nicely. The running part lends itself to a FIRST plan. Some hills, speedwork, tempo runs, 3 runs including a long run every week. that's about what I was wanting to do. So I'm glad to see it all coming together. Tomorrow starts the assessments with the Tri Power program. I'm looking forward to it.

Finally, this is why we bought that mountain house in the first place. It is a few miles from Appalachian State University, my alma mater. We had season football tickets, and went up for all the games. Bigun used to ask when we could go back up there, she liked hanging out on the huge couch and playing outside in the snow and cooler weather. This is before Evil Genius was born. It's at 4800 ft elevation, and gets snow all winter long. One year we were up there for St Patrick's day and got a foot of snow. Here in Greenville we have gotten 3 inches of snow in the last 5 years. The kids love it. Here's a pic of the deck and snow from that St Patty's day:

And this is the view from the large deck on a sunny day:

Yep. i could stare at those hills all day long. it's an amazing view. have a great day!

A New Target

OK, it's all set. I signed up this morning for the Hatfield-McCoy Reunion festival marathon in Matewan, WV. I am truly a hillbilly runner, as this marathon presents its own set of challenges and intrigue. It is officially in the mountains, but I found out this morning the elevation is only 702 ft above sea level. So there's no high elevation stuff like oxygen depravation to worry about. However, there are plenty of hills. So I'm going to have to put some hill days into my training plan. It's not a problem, there are plenty of hills around here. I'm also going to get my small camera working again, and practice taking pictures on long runs. I have GOT to take pictures during the course of this marathon. It should be very picturesque, and the course lets us run past some landmarks of the Hatfield/McCoy fued from the 1880's, including gravesites and homesites. I have to take some pictures of that stuff. It's going to be too cool.

This race starts at 7 am with a shotgun blast. so the town's 500 residents will all know the race is starting, I guess. Actually, the town is only 1.5 square miles in size, so the marathon seems quite broad to them I guess. The first half of the course is much more difficult than the second half. And with the 7 am start, it will be cooler in the morning. I am not going to set a time expectation for this race. I am going to have to put some tempo work into the training plan, so I can learn how to negative split. If I expend all of my energy trying to keep a certain pace through the first half, there will be nothing left thanks to the difficulty level. The second half of the course is easier, but the day will be warmer by then. But get this: In June, in the south, the high temp is only supposed to be 82 degrees? Here in Greenville it could easily be in the 90's by then. So if I keep a slower pace while it's hillier and cooler, I should have enough left for the easier, warmer half of the course. And I can always walk more if I don't have a time expectation. The goal is to complete the course without injury, and have a fun time with it.

So from the shotgun start to the pig fest at the end, it should be a fun, funny, fit and fantastic marathon, and I can't think of a better way for this mountaineer to pop the marathon cherry.

I started compiling a training plan and log spreadsheet last night. I will pass it on to anyone who wants a copy once it's done, but it's quite intricate. We are entering triathlon training season as well. In fact with this marathon June 13th, I also have the Festival of Flowers international distance tri June 7th, the sunday before. and before that, I have a 30 mile bike ride, 4 mile mud run, a sprint tri, and a half marathon. So I started the training plan by filling in all of the race data. The challenge now is to support the long term (oly & marathon) goal without sabotaging the other races. And I have to ramp up to the level of training needed to compete overall, you can't just jump into 9 or 11 workouts a week, each lasting at least an hour. you have to start out with 5 hours a week and work up over a 3 or 4 week period at least. This training plan is actually going to extend all the way out to the B2B half ironman Nov 7th. I've got a half ironman training plan already picked out that starts in July. So I can plan a rest week (or more) after the marathon, and keep on going into november. I've got the spreadsheet designed with the plan and the actual results, so I will be able to log my results as well. it should turn out to be a helpful tool.

I'm scheduling swim meters, bike miles, run miles, strength training minutes, and stretching minutes. I am also starting the Tri Power book I reviewed a while ago, so the strength training and stretching plan is going in there, as are scheduled yoga days. Everything has to be in balance to pull off the entire plan, and a spreadsheet should let me spot an imbalance easily.

I must admit I'm exposing a strange part of my personality. It's not just the fearless ability to be backwards, but the desire to ramp up the challenge after something doesn't work. I don't mind admitting I hate the beach. I'm maybe the only one (well, Kelley doesn't like it much either), but the salt air stinks, sand gets everywhere you don't want it, it's always hotter, I get sunburned too easily, and other people annoy me. So going to a crowded beach, or any public beach really is something I actively try to avoid. It's miserable. Yes the ocean can be relaxing and there are meditative qualities that make it fun once every couple of years. But if you think I'm crazy not to enjoy the beach, that's why I'm running my first marathon in the mountains. Another backwards thinking aspect involves challenges. my twisted mind says that if I fail at something easy, I have to try something harder to make up for it. Like with woodworking. I've been making furniture for about 12 years now, and I love it but don't get to do it much anymore. But if I made a birdhouse (something any 2nd grade boyscout could do) that looked like something birds would only shit on, most people would try to build a better birdhouse. I would try to build a coffee table. If the coffee table spilled the drinks and kept falling down, I would try to build a chair. Chairs are the most difficult furniture you can try to build. They have to look good, support weight, and be comfortable. Since there are so many specific details to a chair you've got 100 things to focus on instead of only like 3 with a birdhouse. More specifics = a bigger big picture = more chances to get it done right.

This is the same thing that makes me a good programmer. Seeing the all of the pieces that make up the big picture is the only way to complete an entire project. I will take one task of some simple code and half do it, screw it up, and not really care. But a huge architecture means more chances to get it done right. Now I don't consider getting the flu last week and missing the myrtle beach marathon a failure, but it is still a DNS. MB is flat, fast, and feb is cold. We had no other races (besides the half mary Jan 3) to contend with in that picture. Now I'm staring down more of what my personality likes. A bunch of races during the training plan, a bunch of different sports and types of races, and a more challenging marathon that actually falls more under my conditions (mountain vs beach). So I feel GREAT to sign up for this bad boy this morning.

Yet that's not the only new target we are facing. Have you seen the current issue of Runner's World?

Pay attention, fellas. I have been informed that if you find men attractive, this is exactly what you are looking for. It makes the gay man in me proud. the chiselled jaw, sculpted 6-pack abs, proud lean chest and little stubble beard. Apparently, this cover is getting cut out and hung on the bathroom wall (not by me). So lean and mean is in right now, and a new standard of attractiveness has been achieved. So who among us can achieve such levels of attractiveness? Ryan should be there, you big sexy bitch. Nick trains 20 hours a week and has 8% body fat. check.

I have a goal for the summer, and it's ok if it makes you chuckle. I want to wear a pair of white pants this summer. As soon as I say that, Kelley corrects me and says "cream colored pants". whatever. I want white pants, no shirt, and heads turning so fast they snap off. you can't have the little bit of beer gut I've still got and make that happen. you can't have a waist bigger than 34" and pull off that look. the "skinny" jeans I'm happily wearing now are a size 36. So it's not a weight loss goal. it's a reshaping goal. I bet the runners world model could pull off white pants. I'm also betting that if I stick with my training plan, including the Tri Power strength training, core strengthening, and endurance program I'll be there by july or august. Remember i work from home, so I can then just throw all of my shirts into the goodwill pile. try and make me wear one.

You know, I told the runners world people if they were going to use my picture for that cover, they had to change the name just to keep people from hunting me down. glad they listened. ha!

So face forward, runners. The spring is almost here and training/racing plans are all falling into place. Bask in the anticipation, and let the sunlight shine full upon our faces. 'Till next time.

Kelley's race report

5:56:00

Kelley was so excited to break 6 hours! I am incredibly proud of her. She did it, man. She really did it. The course was pancake flat and there was a huge crowd. She made the online photo gallery, that's her in the blue shirt running between the two superheroes. She's claiming now that batgirl and supergirl are really her bodyguards. The entire finishers list is online.

It was a one loop course, but it kind of went left , came back to center, and then went right. so you have to run by the finish line for the half marathon course, then you see the finish line for the full marathon course. when she passed the half finish line, she was suddenly running alone. a huge crowd was only doing the half. So she went from running with a nice big group of people to being all alone. The winners were crossing the full mary finish line while she was in view. that was still in her mile 13. that was just cruel, I thought. haha, here's the finish line, but you won't reach it for 3 more hours. In the second half of the course everything got different. it actually got 10 degrees colder and started raining. the half marathon crowd was gone so it was just her running alone. It turned up hwy 17, the busiest road in MB, there was one lane of traffic coned off for the runner(s), but still had cars whizzing by throwing rainwater into the running lane. and at that point you are like 17 miles into the race. Which is exactly when you want cars to start splashing you and potentially hydroplane and run you down. So that wasn't exactly the "calmest" stretch of the race. but then the course turned up off of 17, to head to the finish and everything was ok again. She was the 1683rd finisher, so her dad, mom, and the girls were waiting at the finish line. The crowd had thinned by then so she had no trouble finding them. Her dad got too many pics to email us, so I'll post some once the disc gets here in the mail.

She really dug deep and pulled out a great race. Her official chip time was 5:56:00, and the clock time was 5:58:04 so it must have taken a couple of minutes to get to the starting line. Her recovery time was fine, plenty of other people to hang out with the girls and she got plenty of food.

I got to give props to the awesome friends that also finished. Our friend Deb that talked us into this race finished in 8:09. Ryan plowed through everyone else in 3:29. He's nuts. My fraternity brother Jon ran the half in 1:52, and his wife Kim ran the half in 2:10. Jon's also doing the Grandfather Mountain marathon this july, it's one of the toughest marathons in the country. And Coach Katie ran this one in 3:21. Insane! she was the 15th female finisher.

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After spending most of the weekend praying for death to finish the job, I finally started feeling better sunday about 1 pm. That was a rough flu bug! I knew it was tough thursday night after it just laughed at the NyQuil. Then I knew it was going to be a rough weekend. But everything started clearing up slowly but surely, and by sunday night my appetite finally came back. Today I woke up with a migraine, but outside of that the bug is gone. and that's a big relief.

I think I might have found another marathon. I thought about heading to San Diego for the rock and roll marathon may 31st. Then I saw how expensive the flight, hotel, reg fee, every dang thing was and decided that would not be it. I have been having a west coast jones lately though. kelley doesn't fly, so the only time i get to go far enough to fly is for work. Now I don't have to leave the house for work anymore, so I haven't been on a plane in years. more travel talk later, though.

One of my favorite places in the country is Racine, WI. I don't know why. But I found a marathon nearby, I thought that was going to be it. Travel was too expensive. I thought about grandma's marathon in Duluth, MN. I've always wanted to go to Minnesota. But the date just doesn't jive and travel is too expensive. Our family has a beach house on Tybee Island, GA. Oh crap, the Tybee marathon was last weekend Feb 7. Dang. ING Atlanta? oh wait, it's the same day as my Assault on the Carolina's bike ride. So I really did a ton of research before I finally found.....

Hillbilly heaven. Turns out, there is an entire weekend of festivities for a reunion of the Hatfields and McCoy's, and the festivities include a marathon. The course goes back and forth between Kentucky and West Virginia, and I've never really explored much of that area. You run past the gravesites and homesites of some of the family members involved in the fued. And the whole thing finishes with a pig pickin. It's a small race with only about 200 runners last year, and 25 aid stations. the negatives: It's june 13th, so it could be a little hot. But it's in the mountains, so it will be cooler there than it will be here. But in the mountains the course will be fairly hilly. the web site says the first half of the course is more difficult than the second half, so it must level out some after a while. But I have always been a mountaineer at heart, so to run a marathon in the mountains is more my speed anyway. And one of the twisted parts of my personality wants to try something more difficult after the easier version failed just to prove to myself the failure wasn't my fault. So take a quick look at http://www.hatfieldmccoymarathon.com/race.cfm and see what you think. Am I crazy for wanting to try this one? Everyone is assigned to the Hatfield team or the McCoy team, and the team with the lower total finishing time wins something. It's only about a 5 hour drive north of here, so the travel is totally acceptable. So it looks small, fun, and I love the mountains anyway. Around here we train with hills because there are no flat spots in Greenville. Well, there's one place on the other side of town to bike in a flat area.

This marathon is june 13th, one week after the Festival of Flowers international distance tri. So I've got to find a training plan that will work with both. I think I can maintain current running endurance until then, just be sure that the saturday long runs can still build and get one 18 mile or 20 miler in a few weeks before. I guess I'm taking some inspiration from Frayed Laces, who's training for a half ironman and the Boston Marathon that are only like 4 weeks apart. So I think it's totally doable. What do you think?

So Congratulations to Kelley for running a great race. I'm glad to be over this flu thing. Tri season is upon us, and it's time to put the next training plan in place. My next race is the Assault on the Carolina's bike ride March 28th. We're adding a half marathon April 25, it's the Earth Day half mary in Greer which looks like a really nice half. I'll fill in more training details as I figure them out. Have a great day! and THANK YOU for all of the well wishes in the comments of my last post. It was so comforting knowing I had support and friends from all over the country wanting me to feel better.

No Go

Looks like it's not in the cards for me to marathon this weekend. Last night was really tough. I don't want to gore you with medical details, but it got pretty nasty. I really thought I was going to have to go to the emergency room before the medication kicked in. So Kelley packed up the girls and headed out for myrtle beach this morning without me. I'm enough of a germaphobe to be paranoid about passing on the bug to the rest of her family. So she's running tomorrow, the race starts at 6:30 am. I'll be here in Greenville. It's supposed to be raining.

Tonight (friday ~6pm) I think the fever is about done. I have eaten some today, but not much. maybe 500 calories. I'm still going from sweating hot to shivering cold about every 15 minutes. But I think that will stabilize overnight. Even after getting over a bug, it still takes a couple of days to get your original energy levels and appetite back. So maybe if the race was tuesday or wednesday I could do it. But I have a really busy week at work coming up, and I have to be conservative about my energy levels to keep working. We've got a trade show coming up in less than 30 days, and I've got a lot of code to write between now and then.

So now I have to find another marathon to run. Preferably one in North Carolina in May or June. And it means I can start my tri training a little early instead of taking all of next week off. The race schedule has changed around a little bit anyway. Michael has a gig in NYC april 4th, so we won't be running the Cooper River Bridge Run. I'm taking Coach Stu to The Masters this year for one day, so that's going to be really cool. I haven't been since 2003, so it should be really fun. My family has had Master's badges since the 70's, so I get to go for a day every couple of years. And my mom wants to take us to the beach sometime this spring. so it's all screwy.

So I'm pretty pissed off and a little depressed about not getting to run tomorrow. I know triathlons are going to be rolling along before I know it, and I know I have to be pretty conservative with my health right now. And once I find another marathon to sign up for I know the motivation will fall into place again.

I do have some good news, though. We found a long-term tenant for my mountain house. They are going to be moving in March 1st, which means I have next weekend and next weekend only to make 3 or 4 trips up there (3.5 hours each way) with a pickup truck to get all of my furniture moved out. We also had a pipe burst causing a little flooding up there, so we also might get the carpet replaced while it's still vacant. But getting that house sold or into a long term lease is the first key step to getting us moved back to north carolina. so that's awesome!

I'll post how Kelley does and some pics once I know something.