franny
bananafish

the cinder track and cross training (spinning bike) for now. i've got to stop pounding the pavement. it's killing my knees and wearing down my shoes quicker than i'd like. i've been icing my knees and bottom of my right foot. seems to be working. i'm also icing at work too and stretching. this business of runners not stretching before runs just doesn't work for my body. i used to dance (Modern) and the discipline of stretching before class is impossible for me to break. so, i'll add skipping rope before actually stretching and then i'll go on the runs.

i'm steering clear of the local university's track. it's a beautiful one and i love using it, the problem is when i want to do speed work, the track is chockfull of walkers who walk in packs and line up across the 6 lanes. they're not too keen on moving either or sharing the track so, i'll use the cinder one which is in a more isolated area but is manned by security and surrounded by a tall metal fence. have to watch out for geese poop. ;-P

i'm also trying to drop some more weight. no ice cream, pizza or candy/cookies, just animal crackers. been drinking greentea instead of the usual Goya espresso. eating lots of pasta with fresh veggies in olive oil, oatmeal, granola cereal (have to watch out for high fat!) and whole grain breads (usually get loaves from the PA Dutch merchants at downtown's market) they're homemade and don't have a lot of processed junk in them.

this week, i will do the 20 miler on the treadmill. was going to do it last week but something came up and so i decided to tweak the schedule so that i do it this weekend but don't mess my milleage up too badly.

i'm getting really freakin' nervous. and excited. but mostly i really want to reach my goals. one is to complete the distance, the other is to run the entire way. working on speed so that i can shave some seconds off my pace.

almost quitting time.

the last 2 hours have been hell. i can't manage to keep my eyes open. must really try harder to get to bed before 11pm. it's tough because the tv shows i like begin at freakin' 10pm. geez! don't these tv execs know america is sleep deprived to begin with? 9pm would be a heck of a lot better. 8:30 would be ideal.

anyhow. another reason to take most of the training indoors is that we Philly, now have a serial rapist. this makes 2 (that we know of) the serial rapist committed 7 since 2002, the other one murdered and raped 1 woman, raped 1 woman that survived and assaulted another victim who managed to get away before he could do worse. sucks being a woman. and, apparently, it doesn't matter how old you are...in the news today i read that an 11yr old raped an elderly woman he'd been terrorizing with his friends. his buddies watched. what the hell is society and parents teaching boys in this culture?

lots of rapes in the news. seriously disturbing.

to all of you women out there, be safe, keep well.

i need to get a dog...German Shepherd perhaps...