Don't Give Me No Hand-Me-Down Shoes

I just love that song by whoever that band is. I also like "No sugar tonight in my coffee." I think it's America. Anyhoo, I digress.

Let's get the obvious out of the way...the Eagles bandwagon is now FULL! Do not attempt to get on, you will be thrown to the street.

Tell me how nuts this scenario is:

1. Bucs (playing Raiders) and Bears (playing Houston) must lose. CHECK!
2. Eagles must beat the Cowboys to get a Wild Card spot! Double CHECK with an ass whooooooping as an extra bonus. Sorry Romo, you STILL SUCK!
   
3. First round Eagles must travel to Minnesota to face the leagues best rusher and a stout defense and win. CHECK! Sorry Brad Childress, you suck.You too, ALL DAY. Whatever.
   
4. Second round, Eagles must play the supposed "best team in the league" (take that you ESPN knobs! Eli SUCKS!) at the Meadowlands in 30 degree weather with a serious wind and win. CHECK!!

So, it's been a glorious ride, however, I am a bit nervous because everyone is picking us to win. And when I say us, I mean me too. I'm an integral part of this team. Anyhoo, fingers crossed.


Now onto the running portion of our show. Last week was Week One of marathon training for the Eugene marathon. Of course I threw myself into it because I hadn't run for three weeks thanks to Artic Blast 2008. Here's a recap:

Monday--"For Cheese??!!"
Started running and forced myself to run faster because I felt like running 10 minute miles was cheating. I thought I could go faster. So I killed myself for the first half of the run. On my way back, there is a slight hill. It shouldn't even be called a hill, but there is an incline. I had to walk it. And as I'm walking it, I start beating myself up--otherwise known as negative self talk.

Me: "Self, how do you feel right now? Pretty shitty, right? It didn't have to be this way. But no. You thought eating chocolate chips and cheese at night was a good idea. And now you feel like the biggest loser on the planet. For cheese?!! Are you effing kidding me? For cheese??!"

So that became my mantra on the way home.

Tuesday--Speedy Gonzalez (not really)
Tuesday, the plan called for 3 miles with 4X100 meter strides. I thought the "S" was for speed, not strides. Big mistake. So I did some running, got down to the track and my hat was blown off my head. Not a good omen. I did my 4X100 meter sprints and then came back home. Forty five minutes later I realized I probably had done some damage to my quad, as I couldn't descend the stairs.

Wednesday--Rest (cleaned the house)

Thursday--Amber Alert
I've been trying to get Amber to do this marathon with me, and if not the marathon, at least a good number of training runs and definitely my weekend long runs. She and I headed up to the zoo and did a nice 35 minute trail run in the rain. It was fantastic to run on the trail.

One thing I learned about Amber, when she crests a hill that has just kicked both our asses, she prefers to keep running. Me? Not so much. I prefer to lay down and catch my fucking breath and do a lot of swearing. Anyhoo, great run, great company!

Friday--Rest again

Saturday--Big Stumping
Amber agreed to a long run! I was supposed to go 8 miles, but Amber only wanted to do six and I was still nursing the leg issue. So, six it is!

We drove up to Wildwood Trail at Germantown road and began the run. We did a run from the very nice box of Forest Park hikes and runs (it makes a great gift) called The Big Stump.

Here's typical conversation (keep in mind I run in front. It's how I roll, people.)

Me: Whew, I'm tired. I should slow down.

Amber: Then slow down.

Me: OK (not slowing down AT ALL. So weird!)

We saw the Big Stump. Not as impressive as the old growth trees I've seen on another run, but pretty big nonetheless. However, definitely not as big as the freaking 1/2 mile hill we had to walk up to get back to the trail.

Then, on the seventh day I rested again. Ran 5.25 miles on Monday and 4.75 today. Feeling pretty good. Getting in the miles.

And so, we are all caught up. Remember, fly eagles fly!