It's a sprint, not a marathon

As I type this at 4:30 a.m., my body is screaming "go back to bed" and my brain is screaming "get some work done." It's a miracle that I can concentrate and type with all that screaming going on!

So I'm back from China, can't say I'm fully adjusted yet to east coast time, but will do my best to shock myself back into a running routine for the remaining few weeks. As I look ahead, there's the need to accomplish 2 short-term ("sprint") goals: (1) stamina and (2) strength.

Now, you'd think I'd have both of those under my belt by now, but given the travel to China and my recent work in local town political effort (that's another story altogether), I'm probably 6 weeks behind a 'real' training schedule. The benefit of having done this marathon thing a few times now is that I do honestly believe that I can make up for some of this lost time; however, I'm also smart enough to know that the body will only take so much abuse at once. So, I'll be back targeting 4-5 runs per week from here on out, with a long run of about 22 miles planned for sometime in the next couple of weeks...will likely 'taper' with 2 weeks to go rather than the traditional 3, and will likely do some 'stairs' at the local high school stadium to get the legs a bit stronger in the short-term.

As of yesterday, I cleared a big fundraising hurdle for the Pine Street Inn, surpassing the $3,000 mark. Thanks to all of you who've contributed to date. I'm still about $1,500 short of my goal, but am hopeful to cross this important 'finish line' in April, as well. Thank you again to my family and friends for your support. Sincerely, Paul