In Which I Go Off on Numerous Tangents

I can't believe it's already Thursday. And not only that, I can't believe I have another marathon in three days. I went from having done ZERO marathons in 29.4 years to doing two in one month. It really is crazy - or stupid. Whichever one you want to use will work just fine.

I can't really say that I have necessarily been "training" for the Philadelphia Marathon. The whole reason that I am running is because I had signed up before being offered a charity spot for the New York City Marathon - and I wasn't about to pass up that opportunity - and I'm not really the one to back out of a race for no particular reason (ie: health; personal; work; etc.). If the only reason I have to NOT run in Philadelphia is the fact that I ran New York two weeks ago, well that's just not gonna fly. That's not really even a reason, per se. Lots of people run two marathons in a month. Heck, this guy ran a marathon every single weekend for a year! I mean, you want to talk about crazy - now that is crazy. And the sick part about it was that he actually got faster as the year went on. Seriously - look at the times for his marathons over the course of that year. It's sick.

But fear not, friends, for I have no plans yet to run a marathon a week. I don't even have another marathon planned until the year 2015 - and it will probably stay that way. Unless an opportunity that I can't pass up comes my way, for the foreseeable future, I am marathon-free. (Did you guys just hear that? That was SJ cheering for joy.)

In all reality though, I really haven't been doing a lot of running or training in these past ten days. Philly was my A race - until New York came along and totally stole it's thunder. I'm sure Philly feels that way about New York in a lot of different way. I mean, you would think Philly would get a little more respect - the First and Second Continental Congresses met there! It was where the Declaration of Independence was signed! It's the home of cheese steaks! It's gave us Rocky! But alas, Philly is like the little brother that cured cancer, only nobody cares because the older brother (New York City) brought Charlize Theron home for Thanksgiving so that's all we can talk about.

Sorry, Philly - guess you'll have to try for world peace next holiday season.

Anyways, getting back to my original train of though, which was - I don't even know anymore. Oh yeah, the Philadelphia Marathon. So I haven't done much in this past week or so besides run a few times and swim. I did a longish run on Tuesday - eight miles - and swam yesterday, so I'm feeling pretty well rested. I will more than likely go into Sunday's marathon more well rested than I went into New York City. However, that's mostly because I don't really need to train all that much and I'm also not really "racing" Philly - it's more of a long run where people cheer me the entire way. I mean, what better way to give yourself a pat on the back for running than to do it in front of thousands of people, all of whom will be cheering your name (because it's in big bold purple letters on the front of you singlet)? Talk about a victory lap!

Last week I got in a few spins on the bike just to get my legs moving and I ran again - nice and easy four miles - towards the end of the week. I haven't really put more than twenty or so running miles on my legs since New York City, so I'm hoping to be good and fresh for Sunday. I am hoping to meet up with a few other people that I know are running so that we can all run together. It's a decently hilly course, with a lot of the tougher climbs coming in the front half before the split. The second part is a pretty decent out-and-back along Kelly Drive up to Manayunk. The weather is looking warm-ish - low 60s but no wind or sun as of now, so it could go either way.

We are headed down tomorrow afternoon and are staying over with only the best Philly has to offer - Walt and Meg Sween Rizzo. There will be boxed wine drank and perhaps some crock-pot concoction consumed at some point throughout the weekend. I do know that SJ and Meg will trade crock-pot recipes and secrets on more than one occasion, as Meg Sween Rizzo was the impetus to our purchase of the crock-pot and the many wonderful treats it has provided us. I think SJ is going to run the 8K on Saturday morning, so we will head in nice and early for that and then walk around the city, doing some touristy things and pick up my number before heading back out to the Rizzo residence for laughs and carbs in the evening. I do believe that Ei is coming down as well, so it will be somewhat of a Long Island invasion.

While this is (minor) race on Sunday, I do still have a few goals that I will lay out for you this weekend at some point. No, they are not as intense as my goals for New York City and no, I don't expect - nor want - to run Philly in the manor that I ran New York City, but I still have some things that I would like to accomplish.

This was probably one of the most random posts ever - and for all you Philadelphians out there that I might have offended, don't worry - it could always be worse. You could be Boston.