T-Minus 4 days…

Tick, tick, tick. ~ Mark McKinney

The Denver Marathon is this Sunday (October 19) and I am finalizing my preparations. Today I did a “Practice Run” as Advanced Marathoning calls it… 7 miles with 5 at pace on part of the course (City Park). Well, in typical Stu fashion I did the 5 at my Las Vegas pace (actually faster). I guess I am getting pretty fired up. I didn’t feel great for the first 2-3 miles but then really established a rhythm and laid down several 7:30s in a row. Again, not blazing by any stretch of the imagination but pretty good for a Stu.

So three days of “training” to go then we see what I am made of in a practice-run capacity. I am targeting 3:45 or so and would be really happy with a 3:40-3:50 finish. We’ll see how things go.

Tonight is the last Presidential debate and I encourage everyone to watch. Early voting starts Monday for Coloradoans so go do that too.

More to come…

~stubert.

Nader just called…

Both parties have gone crazy. Vote for Nader. ~ Ralph Nader Robocall

I do like his position on linking himself to “crazy”. At least he’s honest. And honesty is always the best policy… unless you are caught drinking from the milk carton. Then I say – deny, deny, deny.

~stubert.

[PS]: If any of you faithful readers actually DO vote for Nader. I’ll personally come over and give you such a beating…

Fast is not my middle name…

The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do. ~ Walter Bagehot

Two good training runs this week. One missed day (thought I had it off on the ole schedule). Feeling generally okay. Not super but not too bad.

On Tuesday, I did some LT training down in Boulder and quickly discovered how hard a 3:30 marathon is going to be. I am just not that fast yet. Getting there for sure, but I was totally maxed out for 4 out of 8 miles and whew… Rolling sub 8s all day is going to be a challenge. I am pretty sure I am up to it but need to put in some focused training to get my leg speed up and get to the point where I can spin those splits over and over. It was warm as well, which never helps me. I did take a dip in the creek after the run, which was nice. Motionbased stats.

Yesterday, I went out for a slow 10-mile trail run. Really the goal was to keep my heartrate down and for the most part, I succeeded. I had to walk the steepest section in the Park but still managed about 9 miles in just over an hour and a half. I felt okay for most of the run. My legs seemed to burn a bit more quickly than I had hoped but that’s how it goes sometimes. It was a beautiful day up in the high country and nice to just get out for awhile. I am definitely noticing that I am able to maintain higher speeds with less effort so I suppose that means I am doing something right. Whee! Here are the stats for any nerds out there.

Also, did I mention that I saw a bobcat on the way home from Ward the other day? Pretty cool. Only the second one I have seen up here. Well, it was closer to Ward but there you go.

Today I’m hoping to cajole Pete into coming out for a slow 5-miler and then to talk my sweet Rach into going to see a movie. Then we’ll rush home before all the Labor Day Weekend drunkards get out on the roads. To quote the Beastie Boys, “If you’re drivin’ don’t drink, and if you’re drinkin’ don’t drive.” Pretty simple, really.

And on one final, political note… Palin quite possibly may be the worst VP pick in history. From the environment, to energy policy, to science… she has it all wrong and zero experience and an ongoing abuse of power/ethics investigation to boot. I am baffled by this selection. We’ll see what happens but I don’t really see how this helps McCain at all. Fine by me. Here’s a great analysis of her credentials if you are interested.

~stubert.