Happy Father's Day

FATHER'S DAY

It was nice to be "king for a day", being lavished with gifts, allowed to do whatever I wanted (mostly). My family got me a bunch of gifts, with the biggie a gas grill, to be delivered when the neighbors from whom my wife purchased it move on July 1st.

The best purchased gift, though, is the "Disappearing Civil Liberties" coffee mug, a brilliant piece of political commentary and social satire. The mug has the 10 amendments of the Bill of Rights printed on it. When filled with a hot beverage, most of the text fades away. The only constitutional provisions left are the right to bear arms, the "takings" clause of the 5th Amendment, and the reference to State's rights in the Tenth Amendment. Of course, if anyone from the government is reading this, I'd just like to thank you for doing whatever it takes to keep us all safe.

In the "Best Homemade Gift " category, the winner is the scrapbook my wife and kids put together of my running "career". Specifically, the drawing my youngest daughter made. Oldest kids' drawings were clear representations of Dad running along (including even one of Dad running to an overall race victory - bless my son's heart). But the almost-5 year-old drew a blue figure next to a pinkish/purplish figure. My wife wrote the caption exactly as dictated to her: "Daddy running against Hillary Clinton for President of the United States". Friggin' hysterical! I've been saying that I was in the lead, but Bill tripped me and Hillary ended up winning. Not sure what kind of shape she's in, but I know Hillary would put up a heck of a fight until the finish line . . . and possibly beyond.

RUNNING

I'm feeling close to being "back" and I am planning on ramping back up to 35-40 miles this week in anticipation of jumping back into my formal training program as of next week (16 weeks pre-Chicago). I ran a little over 6 miles on the trails on Saturday, which felt good. Then, after receiving my presents yesterday, I went out for a 10-mile run, but decided to just sort of go and see what happened. It was cool (low 60's) but super-humid, and I was a cool, sweaty mess less than a mile into the run. Still, it was great to get out there, sub-9:00 miles felt pretty easy, and I ended up doing almost 12 miles, with the last mile starting at around 7:30 pace and finishing at under 6:30/mile pace. It was great to get moving like that again.

Today I did squats, lunges, cable exercises, a full upper body circuit and some core/abs work, along with some easy stretching. I've attended two Yoga classes total so far (wish it was more, but scheduling has been a bear), and I'm very much enjoying it. Being the only guy and having very nice, knowledgeable and aesthetically pleasing instructors certainly doesn't hurt my motivation, but it's been enlightening to see how I have some strengths and clear weaknesses in terms of flexibility and strength.

The rest of the week looks kind of like this:

• Tuesday - 8 miles (with a few strides)
• Wednesday - 5-6 miles
• Thursday - 5-6 miles
• Friday - No running, but stretching and yoga or hip/leg strength training
• Saturday - 6 miles (trails)
• Sunday - 13+ miles

I hope to be feeling strong and limber, and will be smart during this training cycle. If I run a race that's not on the schedule, I will allow myself to recover.

Whether or not I will qualify for Boston is something which nags at me daily, and I may write a long post about why it means as much as it does to me (once I figure it out).

-ESG