Back on Track

Today was the first morning I was back on an official training schedule and didn't need to cut the group route short to accomodate my recovery.  It's hard to believe MTCM was over 3 weeks ago.  And while I'm back on a training plan, I am still taking it somewhat easy.  I'll be at the track on Thursday but won't be killing my legs, and my Sunday run will also be easy.  But next Tuesday I hope to ramp it up a bit and then there's the big half on Nov. 7.  Still not convinced I'll be able to race it, but I am hoping for a PR since my current half PR should be 100% beatable if I push even for just the last couple miles.  I'll be happy with anything that is a PR by 2 minutes or more.  That shouldn't be asking too much over the course of 13 miles. 

We headed out for an easy 8 this morning.  It was 4 of us post-marathoners (MTCM, St. George, Milwaukee and Mohawk Hudson) and 4 White Rock guys (well, 3 WR guys and 1 NY guy).  Those people move through the water stops fast!  The whole run felt fast, but good.  By about the halfway point, we separated into 2 groups -- us post folks, and the WR folks, but we were only a minute or so apart.  It was a fun run and led to some very interesting conversations.  Turns out I thought Vanna White was much older than she actually was.  Somehow someone was saying she'd aged well and maybe even looked better now than years ago.  I was kind of grossed out and thinking, isn't she like in her 60s?  I stood corrected but the conversation went to other hot 60 years olds (at least hot with their clothes on, no one wanted to consider bikinis...).  It was amusing and sparked by a discussion about trying to guess what our exact distance would be, which led to Price is Right, which led to Barker's Beauties, etc.  So it's actually not clear if it was the conversation or the pace that made the miles slip by this morning.  Haha. 

And as of this morning, I've finally completed several more things that were on my weekend to-do list.  As expected, the things that didn't get done:

• Paperwork for our estates attorney
• Finishing hubby's Xmas list (I am waiting for him to come up with 4-5 more things to put on the list)
• Culling my skirts
• Drop off at Goodwill
• Oil light on my car

Not bad!!  I also didn't make it to see the Italian Club dancers because the Saturday event was cancelled for rain and I didn't have time on Sunday. 

In Boston-related news, I've seen that some people have had their times verified and our now listed as Entrants on the Boston site.  I checked yesterday and my name wasn't there yet, but I didn't really worry b/c there are others I know who qualified and registered and they're not listed either.  Haven't checked today because I'm not obsessing yet.

Saturday, since we're both off work, we're hoping to be able to do some major spring trip planning, and I'll be a bit more nervous if I'm still not confirmed by then.  Our big decisions for this weekend: 

Are we going to spend a couple days of the trip in Paris or in Northern Italy?  (My vote on this is yes, I think hubby would like Paris or somewhere like Como, but with the Boston expense, might not be a great idea this year.) 

Are we going to spend any time in Pittsburgh before or after Boston? 

How long are we going to stay in Boston? 

Where will we be for Easter? 

Will we have any nights in the town where we got married (Pizzo Calabro, for those who know Italy), or will we only be staying in the nearest big city (Lamezia Terme) with hubby's family? 

I doubt we'll buy plane tickets yet -- seems that when you buy tickets early, your itinerary just gets changed a million times.  We bought our Xmas plane tickets in mid-Sept. and those flights have already changed by hours.  Our wedding/honeymoon itinerary probably had about 40 changes before we actually travelled on it. 

Did I mention Boston is on our wedding anniversary?  At least I'll be able to drink and celebrate that night, I just hope I'm not down over a disappointing race, but since I'm not overly ambitious, I think I'll be okay.  Plus the wedding anniversary is a special occasion either way.  Hubby had hoped we'd be spending it in the town where we got married, but to me that sounds more like something you'd do on a "special number" anniversary like 5, 10, 20 or 25.  Either way, celebrating another year together in Boston will be awesome, especially when capped with a trip back to Europe, regardless of the exact dates, cities, etc.