14 days, 75 miles and $1200 to go

It's Monday April 7th, and I cannot believe that I'll be toeing the line in exactly 2 weeks. Well, with Bib #23498, I won't exactly be lining up with the Elite, Lance Armstrong, or even those Red Sox wives that somehow seem to have the time and money to compete each year...hmmm. Go figure.

But the good news is that I have gotten in one (if not 2) more long run, having completed 18.6 of my planned 22 miles on Saturday, before yielding to a migraine that I had masked with Advil before heading out the door. The body feels capable, now it's mostly up to the brain (and, well, the body on race day, among other factors). I maintained a respectable 9.2 minute per mile pace last weekend, going from my house out to Heartbreak Hill and almost back. That keeps me in the running (get it?!) to achieve my target personal record of less than 3 hrs 52 min (an 8.85 min per mile pace on race day)-- adrenaline and weather, don't fail me!

Thanks, once again, to my "rescue crew" and continuing support - Lena -- who continues to be a rock for me, despite (I'm sure) her urge to just throw rocks at me for not getting to other things on my omnipresent 'to do' list. I really do value her digs at me -- "did you run today?" when she comes home to see me hunched over the PC and clearly not having moved much since she left for work hours before. I'll take it as tough love and leave it at that. :-)

I'm sure I won't be seeing much of her this spring and summer as she trains for the "Pan-Mass Challenge" bike race in support of raising money for cancer research. Maybe she'll include me on a couple of training rides, but my guess is that we'll just hear here 'burning rubber' in the driveway beginning the day after the Marathon! Go Lena!!

So, it's down to 2 weeks...about 75 mile worth of tune-up runs and 'tapering'... and hopefully raising another $1,200 in my support of the Pine Street Inn. Thanks again to all of you that have already contributed generously to the cause, and if you haven't yet done so and are able to do so, any contribution is most appreciated. (www.firstgiving.com/pjoseph2008) Thank you. Sincerely, Paul