Back to Normal

This week I have been tired but things are getting back to normal. I'm still feeling the effects of being sick then running a 50 mile race. I did 45 miles this week and felt surprisingly good while running, but I needed a lot of sleep. Switching to daylight savings time will take some adjustment.

Only 9 weeks until the Keys 100. At this point reality has hit me, with only 6 or 7 weeks of real training left, I can see that my lack of conditioning from last year will be a factor. I'm not worried about finishing, there's plenty of time for that, but I know it's going to be tough and I'm going to have to concentrate really hard on keeping myself running.

I'd like to finish the race without going into a second day, or at least not very far into the second day. This coming week I start my heat training, in the sauna and steam room. I will only have a 50 mile per week base going into the Keys but I have to look at it as a training run to build on my endurance. I still have several races this year to help me get back to where I need to be for another Badwater in 2011.

Iris's new friend, the scorpion. We brought him back from Arizona when we went to Phoenix in February. She's become quite attached to him.

It's spring but nothing is green yet. Another month before things green up and I can start planting in the yard. I have a rock garden out front that I started last fall. I'm waiting for the perennials to arrive in the local nurseries.

Besides daylight savings time, there's another spring ritual...this week was an endurance event in itself. The snow has finally melted from the yard, and snow has been on the ground since October, with cold temperatures and few chances to pick up after the girls before it froze or was re-covered in snow. This is only half of it...