Warming the Bench

I'm sitting home on Saturday afternoon instead of running because I hurt my knee. My medical professional said it was due to overuse, so training is on hold for a while. It's kinda depressing; I'm used to running and biking and playing hockey every chance I get, so this is throwing me for a loop. I'm trying to stay positive about the whole situation, and that's really easy when I spend the extra time with my family.

I haven't been able to get much use out of my shoes lately, but someone else is getting lots of use out of his. Danny got new shoes last week! He's now sporting a pair of black Converse One Stars, the first pair of shoes he's walked in with a hard sole (aside from my shoes). The hard sole took a little getting used to, and they're a bit big on him which doesn't make it any easier, but he loves them and asks for them all the time. He is sure to have Mommy or Daddy tie them on before going outside to play soccer. And he LOVES playing soccer. On Thursday, he pointed outside and said "car" all day, until Lucy figured out that he just wanted to get the soccer ball out of the car. It was raining that day, so soccer had to wait.

Liam has been kicking like a champ too. He'll be crawling all over the place soon, but for now we're happy that he just sits around looking cute. Liam has started eating some solid food, but it's a battle. So far, Lucy has been the brave soldier.

Lucy has started a new job - she's a Sterile Processing Technician at a local hospital. While she has assured me that she hasn't had to clean any brain fragments off of anything, she says she still enjoys the job. AT only 24 hours a week, it's enough for her to spend some time with adults, but not so much that she feels l like she's missing out on her kids.

I flipped my wig watching RIT advance in the Frozen Four tournament yesterday and the Sabres are probably going to win the Northeast Division, so I have some good hockey to watch while I'm sitting out. I don't know how soon I'll be able to run or what the next week or month or year holds for any of us, but I wouldn't be the least bit disappointed if it weren't any different from what it is now.

Week 6 Training Update

Welcome to the new site! Well, the site has actually been around for a while, but we stuck with ThoseDarnLaughlins.com until we (Dan) realized that we don't have the free time to spend developing and maintaining all the features of the website that we wanted. So we finally admitted our lack of effort. Wondering where all that free time went? Here's some of it:

Monday, March 1
Rest day. Lucy works on Mondays, so my routine has become feeding and bathing the boys and then, once they fall asleep, I do a core workout. I've read that strengthening one's abs and back helps over a long run like the marathon by helping to maintain form and whatnot. I can't say whether it really does or not, but it definitely makes my pants a little looser.

Tuesday, March 2
Ran my 3.5 mile lunch route. I like these runs because they're short and because they don't interrupt any other daily activities. Today I ran at a 7:26 pace.
3.5 miles

Wednesday, March 3
I hate that it happens every week, but as per the norm lately the six miles scheduled for today got bumped. Lucy was home this week because her work schedule got rearranged, but instead of freeing up some time for me to run, it just made time for us to spend together - watching the Sabres game together.

Thursday, March 4
I rocked this run today! Snow is starting to melt here in Buffalo, so instead of heading to the park where I know the road will be plowed, I ran in the streets around our house. It was a rough start, but I felt like I got stronger as the run went on. I finished at an 8:07 pace, which I'm very happy with when the route is 5 miles or more.
6.7 miles

Friday, March 5
Happy birthday to me! I ran my 3.5 mile lunchtime route and ran home as quick as possible because I was meeting some friends out for dinner, all of us with birthdays within 2 days. I didn't have time to shower though because I had to run home to pick up and drop off Danny and Liam and in between I had to stop to buy formula because we were almost out of it. I made it to our reservation at Kyoto on time, and had a great night with Matt, Josh, Rachel, Albi, and Jocelyn, but great nights are not conducive to running the following day.
3.5 miles

Saturday, March 6
Hung over. I just don't have any tolerance anymore.

Sunday, March 7
Felt much better today. Lucy and I went to a wedding shower and then headed to my mom's house for dinner and family time. Before dinner though, I hit Delaware Park for a few laps with my brother, Joe. He's working on his own fitness for a race or two this summer. We ran out of daylight, but being the only ones in the park allows you to just shut off your brain and just kick one foot in front of the other.
9.17 miles

This was a "step down" week so I was only scheduled to run 21 miles this week and I finished with 22.83 miles. It has been an ordeal, but I feel good about mt progress so far. I'm already looking forward to my next challenge after the marathon. Hopefully, it will be a masters' program in the Fall. I've applied, and been accepted, into the MS, Computing Security and Information Assurance program at RIT. There are still some hurdles, not least of which is trying to balance family time with study time. I love spending time with Lucy and the boys and classes would definitely eat away at that time, probably more than marathon training. We're also having a difficult time trying to figure out how to finance this latest educational endeavor. I was awarded a 20% scholarship that could get pushed to 30% based on my grades from the first 12 credit hours of the program, but that still leaves a hefty sum. More details as they become available.