For the 0-3 people that might regularly read this blog, I'm sure you've noticed a sharp decline in the number of posts. The frequency has gone from about 4 times/week to about 1/week. With no large race on the horizon (except for Broad Street this weekend but that is more of standing race every year rather than something I really build towards) and no focused workouts during the week I just don't have the motivation to log on and post. I ran 6 miles.., I ran 7 miles... , I ran 10 miles... I biked 18 miles...

Not that noteworthy really, just something I do as a regular part of my day at this point. It almost seems like blogging about my ride into work. (Got in the car around 7:00, I got caught at the light on Bethlehem Pike, and I heard an interesting story on NPR about Fire Ants in Mississippi, Oh yeah, Howard Stern had some naked chick in the studio).

So I think posting will become something I do when a run was especially interesting or if I jump into in race. Or if I just feel like writing something about my workouts over the past couple weeks. I am sure the urge and the will to train for a marathon is going to pop up again, if not for this fall, maybe for Boston next year. I still have a qualifying time from Philly in Fall 2007 that will count for Boston 2009, we'll see how things go.

In past week I had a beautiful long run with Ryan, Steve K and Deirdre. It started on some light trails in the Wissahickon for 4 miles or so. Then another 6 miles on Forbidden Drive. The last 4.5 miles were by myself up Forbidden Drive and home. About 14.5 miles in just under 2 hours. Definitely a long one for me and I was feeling it in the last few miles but a great run over all.

I also found it funny and ironic that on Monday evening I decided to skip running to avoid getting wet in the heavy rain and instead went to the pool where I submerged myself in water for 45 minutes.

As for Broad Street this weekend. My time from last year, 59:41, seems unbeatable at this point, save a miracle. The race came at the end of two great marathon buildups in the fall for Chicago and over the winter for Boston. I had a ton of miles under my belt through 8 months of training for those marathons and we also had perfect racing weather. So instead of trying to run a 59:35 I am going to shoot for a negative split.

I could dog the first half of the race and then takeoff but that would be like cheating. Instead I will try to run the first half in 31:00-32:00 (goal of 6:15 pace) and hopefully pick it up slightly from there, through south Philly and to the finish. I love this race and I am excited for Sunday. Heather will be running, a few people from work, several cousins and of course a ton of Philly Runners. I'd be happy and lucky to run this race every year for the next 40.

See you all at the starting line.