Friday Musings for March-Because I'll probably Forget Next Week to write something

Camping
Sure enough, It's Friday. Normally I'd be all excited and geared up for today, but I'm not. You see, I get to go on a Scout Campout. I am the 11 year old scout leader for my church and while I enjoy hanging with the boys, I'm not much of a camper—especially in winter.

Two weeks ago, we were going to go on this campout, but then a storm came in and we opted out. I was praying for another storm, but alas my faith obviously isn't enough to move a mountain because all I got was some clouds and light rain. The good thing though is that the weather has moved out of the 30s and into the 50s which means it won't be as extremely cold as it would have been two weeks ago.

20 mile run
Due to the upcoming campout, I pushed up my 20 mile run to Thursday. The forecast said the temperatures would be in the 60s and there were right on. The weather was ideal. I wore a long sleeve shirt and shorts, but probably could have gotten away with a short sleeve shirt. I ran from my home to my parent's home which via the freeway is only 8 miles, but as any runner can tell you, 8 miles can easily be turned into 20 with a little work. I got a later start than I wanted because of a last minute project that needed to get to Kinkos. I wore my larger fuel belt which can hold more GU and water. It felt like I had added 10 lbs to my weight. I had three substantial hills in the route. I made it through two of the three without having to walk for any of it. The last one was just too long and steep.

My hope going into the run was that I would be able to hold my goal marathon pace for 10+ miles of the run. Alas, it didn't happen. I did get it around 8:30 pace which isn't too bad, but not the 8:00 pace that I wanted.

Today, I am feeling sore in my left ankle/shin area but glad I got my run handled. Next week is the end of my coaching with the Shamrock Half Marathon. The following week after that is my next 20 mile run and then I start a taper to the mid-April race.

Return to High School

My son registered for 10th grade last night.  I can tell he's apprehensive about it. He's been in a K-9 charter school since 5th grade so this is a big change. At the same time, he's excited to take on the High School experience. After we listened to the intro session about High School, the kids had the opportunity to go and visit clubs,sports, teachers, etc. and find out more about High School opportunities. One of the first places we visited was the Cross Country table. Two kids were there and really excited that he was interested. They said that they'll start training in June and to put his contact information on the paper at the table...tada...he's signed up. They don't have try-outs. I'm excited for him because being involved in sports in High School is a good way to pick up girls good way to round out his experience. We then visited the other areas.. debate, AP History, Orchestra, etc... they don't offer the Arabic Foreign Language option at the High School because they are lame. They offer the typical Spanish, French, German...