Hi! I hope everyone (at least in the U.S.) had a great Labor Day holiday. Just about one month to go. I feel the excitement mounting.
This may go down as my shortest diary entry (I hear the cheering). It was an excellent week of training. I met my mileage target, had no hip pain, broke in a new pair of running shoes, and had four good runs. Three of my runs were at or better than the pace I want to run on October 7. Since my long run was only a half-marathon, I wanted to push myself. I was very pleased with my time. And the biggest shocker is that nothing weird happened on my long run … it just happened a day later, Labor Day.
Technically Labor Day falls in week 5, but I’ll share the story with you now. I was running past a house about 3/4 of a mile from my house when the homeowner suddenly appears in his front lawn with a rifle. I ran by with my hands up and said, “Don’t shoot!” He said, “Don’t worry I’m trying to get rid of a pesky woodpecker.” Ahh! So that was the sound I heard when I past his house an hour earlier. Knowing the old adage that ‘what goes up, must come down,’ I didn’t stick around.
Today I verified my hotel arrangements, made sure the hotel shuttle runs early enough on Sunday to get me to the CTA station on time, checked the train schedules and fares to find out when I had to board to get downtown with time to spare, and made sure there was ample parking at the station for my family to Park & Ride later. From what I read, it looks like taking a roll of quarters will be a wise investment, as bus, train, and Park & Rides fares require exact change and sometimes coins only. Some of the Chicago Tollway exits are unattended and require coins. I figure it is better to spend 25 cents on a 10 cent toll booth then risk running the booth, getting my license plate photographed and receiving a hefty fine in the mail.
We’ve been trying to get the Polar Logo wav file in Entry 10 to work since the web site redesign without much success. Sorry for the inconvenience. I have placed the wav file on a public download site that you can access it at (Editor note on October 17 - the file no longer exists). If you have a Polar watch that is compatible with RS200 logos, set your watch to receive data, place it near your speakers and click the link above. Then, click the Download Link: PolarChicagoPic.wav link. If your computer is set up like mine, you can click on the Open button that appears and the file will start playing. Otherwise, you may need to Save the file to your computer and find a software application that can play .wav files. Remember that pop-up blockers will probably need to be disabled. I hope it works for you. If it doesn’t, unfortunately this website, www.sendSpace.com, nor I can provide support.
These next two weeks will be my hardest training weeks and I imagine yours too. It is true that marathon training is as much mental as it is physical. We’ll need strength in both areas to make it through. We’ve put in too many miles to shrink back now. I’m determined to rise to the challenge. To borrow the infamous words of Gene Kranz, NASA Apollo 13 Flight Director, “Failure is not an option.” Hang tough!
One step at a time,
Dave
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