Pre-N.B.

The New Bedford Half Marathon is in two days, so hopefully I will have a report afterwards, but just thought a quick update on February "progress" would be a good idea.

First off, we got a dog, to go along with 3 kids in a small house, because we were getting bored and too used to sleeping through the night. His name is Bear, he is half black lab and half mastiff. He weighs about 85 pounds. He is a little less jumpy than a lab, but he drools more. We love having him as part of the family, even though the initial adjustment was a little rough. Emma (almost 2) walks around the house now, saying "Good boy." and hugging him around the neck and poking her little fingers in his eyes whenever she gets a chance. He doesn't seem to mind at all. We had a great time up at my parents' condo at Sugarloaf, and we spoiled Bear with long walks on the XC/snowshoe trails and the trail up nearby Burnt Mtn. He also had a great time playing with my parents' golden retriever, Abby.

Running wise, the month of February started off pretty promising, with a couple 60+ mile weeks and some longer runs. Even a tempo workout with Jordan and Meagan. Then I had a down week (35) with a snowstorm and a long (but productive) day at the DIII NE indoor champs. We had 2 ECAC qualifiers, and four school records! The following week I was back up over 60, but the end of the week I got sick and lost four straight days with a cold. Since then, I've been back to 5-8 miles a day. Tuesday, I did some mile repeats on the road in the 50+ degree heat, and felt pretty good. 4 x mile all around 5:20 on rolling terrain.

I'm not really sure what to expect on Sunday, but hope that a 1:12 isn't out of the question. I'm planning to go out (and stay) somewhere between 5:20 and 5:30, find a pack to work with and not completely die when the wind inevitably shifts to head-on.

Looking past this weekend, I am feeling healthy to put in a spring mileage surge, start doing some more doubles as the morning weather gets more and more attractive, and target some May, June, July, August, etc. races. Still planning on making it to the Chase the Gorilla, Backshore, Loon, Yankee Homecoming, Cape Ann, Lone Gull, and, God willing, a fall marathon.