Week in Review: 1-7 April 2012, and Palmetto 200 Relay / Boston Marathon Preview

In conclusion, here's what happened last week:

1 April: 17 miles (286 minutes), finishing the Umstead 100 in the wee hours of the morning

2 April: 8+ miles (60 minutes), at APG at lunch, uncomfortably quickly

3 April: 1 mile (10 minutes), feeling crummy (bound to happen)

4 April: 1 mile (10 minutes), still feeling crummy (also to be expected)

5 April: 11+ miles (80 minutes), at APG at lunch, also uncomfortably quickly

6 April: 6 miles in the morning (45 minutes), 11 miles in the afternoon (80 minutes) - Good Friday/Orioles Opening Day style (i.e. bright orange shorts and not a lot of eating)

7 April: 1 mile (10 minutes) - meh

Total Time: 581 minutes
Total Distance: 56 miles

A slow-ish, easy-ish week - not exactly the "training through" that I had expected. But I'm happy to report that after a stop-and-start effort last week, I'm back on track for a 100+ mile week this week, among other things . . .

And by "other things," I mean that this Friday (the 13th . . . spooky!) I will be running on a 4-person team in the Palmetto 200 Relay, a 200-mile relay race from Columbia, South Carolina to Charleston, South Carolina. Then on Sunday, after those festivities have ended, I'll be heading up to Boston for what will be (barring disaster) my eighth consecutive Boston Marathon finish.

Considering how ridiculous the above endeavor is, I haven't set any firm goals for either event - mostly I want to run the best I can, take a ton of goofy pictures (and post them to Facebook along the way), have a lot of fun, and just see what sort of physical limits I happen to push along the way. (Re-qualifying for Boston would also be nice, but that's as specific as I'm willing to get about expectations . . .)

In the meantime, since every one of these posts needs to have a picture now, here's the obligatory one, which has very little to do with running:



This is a thurible, which contains hot coals on which grains of incense are poured, as part of a religious ceremony (in this case specifically, an Anglo-Catholic ceremony). It was a heretofore little-known fact that I have skill in the operation of this device.

I'd like to say that this is symbolic of being "on fire" with my running lately, or burning away old dead weight that's been holding me back, or something similarly spiritual . . . but who am I kidding, I just posted it because it looks sorta cool.

Stay tuned for next time, which is highly likely to be more exciting than this was!