Big training week

Conrad is off in Romania and not back until next week, so I'm eating simply at home, relatively speaking. Oh, heck, the South Miami Cuban Stew I made for a small group of us on Saturday was darn tasty, but I just wanted to dig in and eat rather than make everyone suffer a photoshoot.

My simple dining week goes hand in hand with my biggest week of running in the training cycle: 41 miles total. 5 tomorrow morning, 10 on Wednesday morning, 5 on Thursday morning, and 21 on Saturday. Fun! Actually, it is, kinda. Running that distance allows ample opportunity to think (or not to think). The city, the lakefront is yours (at least until the hordes of training teams start barreling up and down the path) to share with an occasional bunny or even raccoon. If the weather is cool, I hope to be in a blissful mental state, comfortable while chugging along.

The Royal Victoria Marathon is now only 27 days away. I registered last December, and it's felt like it would never arrive. A nice way to spend the Thanksgiving weekend back west. I say this is my last marathon, but look at me in these older shots. Pure elation. And that Marathon du Médoc still beckons....

2002 Chicago Marathon (with Bradley and Cliff)
Post-training run, September 2004
2005 Chicago Marathon

pink sun (7 miles)

Please, no one comment on how badly streaked and dirty the windows are in the photo - I can't go outside on the balcony to take photos like this because the door will wake Conrad, and you try living in a city highrise and see how well you maintain clean windows!

Sorry, too defensive there.

A quick post with a single photo. I'm cooling down from this morning's 7-mile training run (55:00.20). I was awake at 5:15 on the dot and out the door within 10 minutes. Before leaving, though, I took this photo. I was putting on my shoes in the living room and noticed that the sun, as it was rising, was not orange or yellow or red. It was truly pink, and the way the clouds cut across it reminded me of cheesy souvenir t-shirts from Florida when I was a kid. In other words, it was bee-yoo-ti-full!

Now off to face the day!