This week I am thinking a lot about mystery, which is the next word in my/our Advent sermon series. Mystery. This one could be challenging, which is fine.

I am wanting to connect mystery with doubt, but I can't seem to find much about that. Here's what I'm thinking. I am thinking about Joseph, especially, having a lot of doubt before he finally bows before the mystery of what is happening with his girl friend, a pregnant virgin. Mary, the pregnant virgin and girl friend, has (less) doubt (“how can this be?"), but she too allows the mystery to be a part of her life.

Doubt is OK, maybe even good, if we allow it to lead us to trust, which has to have an element of mystery, right? The journey to mystery begins in doubt and finally confesses that we cannot figure it all out, so we trust. Both Joseph & Mary have angelic help to accept the mystery and accept the doubt. I don't know; what do you think? I read an excellent article about doubt yesterday.

I had a good day yesterday. The weather was so pleasant! I got a 5 mile run in before heading over to OCU-B. It was good to see my students again. I'm not sure how they did it, but they got me talking about my trip to Russia. I told them about this experience and a few others. It was fun remembering.

Yesterday we also had a post-race meeting. We want to make the Give Thanks 4 was one of the best races in the region. We shared a lot of good ideas for improvement.

Today I am driving a bus to Indy. Why? Because I am a nice guy! Ha ha! Well, here's the deal. I have been so blessed to be able to drive team buses when my kids are playing, so I feel like I should give back some. I think they have a hard time finding people to drive field trips, so I agreed to do this one. The good part is that I am going to connect with Lester while I'm waiting on the field trip to the Children's Museum to end. I also hope to read and run; not at the same time.

Must go...

We Wait

A new week has started! I believe the last time I shared with you was on Wednesday. A lot has happened since then; probably not much worth writing about. I guess you will be the judge of that.

I went to bed Wednesday evening wondering just how wet Thursday was going to be. The forecast called for more rain and lots of it. I was concerned because I was directing my first race - The Give Thanks 4. I woke a little after 1 a.m., because Ben woke up sick and was vomiting. Lovely sound. Poor kid; he really wanted to run the race. I managed to go back to sleep. At 4.30 I woke up and was ready to get up. It was not raining! Wow! I turned on the TV to see what was going on. The weather people were on the air telling me that Lawrence county was under a tornado warning. What??

Being a weather junkie, I went down and started looking at radar on my computer. It didn't look that bad to me, so I went on into town. I needed to be there early. When I arrived at a little after 5, the tornado warning sirens were blarring. Weird feeling.

Long story shortened: the tornados didn't happen and about a 100 runner showed up for the race. It was raining pretty hard before the race, and then it stopped in time for us to get started. Amazing! It started raining again, but it didn't seem to bother anyone. Everyone seemed to enjoy the race and the awards ceremony. We had more than 20 wonderful volunteers who made everything run smoothly. I think this race is going to grow into a nice Thanksgiving Day tradition.

Thursday was also my 52nd birthday, but I didn't have much time to think about it, which was fine. We wrapped up the race and all the clean-up by 11 a.m. By then I was hungry and sleepy, so I ate some chex mix and took a nap. The main meal was around 2.30, and it was great! It was so nice have all my children home. Lester and Maddie had to leave Thursday evening, but at least they were here for a couple of days.

Friday I got up and ran with my friends in Bedford. Then I came home and worked on my sermon before having a graveside memorial service for a 94 year old woman. After that it was back to sermon prep. Saturday I ran some more and worked some more in preparation for Sunday.

Today came and now is almost gone. It was a good day. It was hard to see Luke leave but he'll be back in a couple of weeks. It was so nice having him around for a week.

I'm not sure what all will happen this week...

Wow, I'm in "holiday mode," but I still have lots of stuff I have to do. Lester and Maddie came in last night, just in time to enjoy some smoked pork loin and all the good things that went with it. It was great to all sit down together. We laughed a lot as we shared stories.

The boys got the spud gun out and started shooting it. Too funny! They destroyed several boards and put a significant dent in some steel. The gun is made from plastic pipe. The propellant is cheap hair spray that is ignited by a grill starter. Potatos can kill you! Just Google "spud gun" and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Tomorrow is the Give Thanks 4 race. I am hoping for a window of dry amongst all the drought-busting rain. Most runners will run regardless of the weather, but the rain will cut down on race-day registrations. I'm not worried about it either way; whatever will be will be. I have a lot of last day details to take care of today.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Good day

What a nice, warm day! I don't know why, but I woke up a little after 4 and then got up at 4.30. I guess I am not requiring as much sleep presently. I really would like to stay in bed longer, but I can't seem to do it. It makes for a long day, but that's OK.

I got a lot of good reading done this morning, had breakfast, saw Kedra and the kids off to school, and then left shortly after they did. I dropped my stuff off at the church office and then headed to the Park for a run. I ran 7 miles this morning, which is the longest run I've done since the marathon. It felt pretty good; my recovery is coming along pretty well.

Luke got up and came in around mid-morning. We spent a couple of hours working in the FLC. We cleaned out under the west side of the stage, cut out boards on the floor, and then rolled the table carts under there.

Today I spent some time working on the Give Thanks 4 race. Pre-registration has been really strong for a first time race, so we are expecting a pretty decent crowd. The only thing that might keep the numbers down is the possibility of rain. The hardest part of organizing a race is figuring out how many t-shirts and what sizes. Laura Barlow has been great to work with. Patient! We ordered 50 more shirts today; they should be here tomorrow. I have 23 volunteers on board at this point, which is great!

Spent a little time at the Store today. Things there are going really well. We are all concerned about Butch's health. I know many people are praying for him. I also saw another lady in intensive care today, but I could not get her to respond to me. I left a note.

After school Kedra and I ran some errands, mostly related to getting ready for all of our kids to be home. We are really looking forward to tomorrow evening. All of our kids will be able to sit down together. I am going to smoke a pork loin tomorrow afternoon for our feast. While it is smoking I can get some study down for Sunday's sermon.

Ben and Luke got the potato gun out this evening. They retooled it and got it to fire. It is quite an experience. In case you don't know, a potato gun is a gun made of plastic pipe. You jam a potato down the barrel and then load the firing chamber with hairspray, close the lid and hit the ignitor. Boom! It sends a potato a LONG way!

OK, enough, and I think I need some more popcorn.

Weekend

The weekend is almost over, I guess. Depends on how you measure it, I suppose. Either way it's been good.

Luke is home! That makes life a lot more pleasant. I am looking forward to spending some time with him this week. He arrived right after the Colts lost. His arrival mitigated the grief!

Today was a long but really good day. I got up early, 5.15, and began with a nice cup of coffee. I did my reading and a few other things. Since I was not preaching, I did not have my usual last minute (hour) prep. I spent a little extra time studying for my class. That was very enjoyable.

Class went well, and worship was wonderful! We heard my different voices speak from the heart about gratitude. They truly showed the biblical ideal of being thankful in all things/circumstances. Many spoke of gratitude even from the context of suffering.

I had a meeting all afternoon, and then we honored our senior citizens with a nice dinner. It was very well-attended, and the food was yummy, as usual. I finally made it back home, just in time to watch the second half of the Patriots/Colts game.

Yesterday was really nice. Ben and I went on a 5 mile run with my Bedford buddies. We then worked in the yard the rest of the day. We got all the leafs taken care of, and I did a few other things to prepare for winter. I got the smoker out and smoked a couple of chickens. Yum, yum!

This week will be different. I don't have my classes at OCU-B, so I have a little extra time. I will work on my sermon early in the week, since I will be occupied on Thursday and Friday. We have the big race on Thanksgiving morning. This is my first attempt at directing a race. Thankfully I have lots of good help. It looks like we are going to have around 150 runners. I have quite a bit of last minute work to do in prep for the race.

Time to make some popcorn...

It's Friday! I am supposed to take Fridays off, but it rarely happens. Not going to happen again today, but that's OK. I don't have too much pushing me today. Going to pick up some food from the schools for our food pantry this morning, along with another guy. Then I have a physical for my CDL driver's license; don't enjoy this at all. Later I have a small, private wedding to do.

This evening Kedra, Ben, and I are going to Bloomington to eat and do a few things. Ben won a $50 gift certificate for Smith's shoes at the Persimmon run. It expires soon, so we need to go get that taken care of. We need to stop by Sam's for some things for Thanksgiving, and I am going to get some meat to smoke this weekend. (Yes!) This is also my birthday celebration, since next week will be a little crazy (in a good way).

I turn 52 on Thanksgiving Day. I keep telling anyone who will listen how appropriate it is that my birthday falls on Thanksgiving. Most people roll their eyes. They just don't get it! You know you are getting old when you combine a birthday dinner with practical things. It's my preference actually. Birthdays are not as exciting as they used to be.

The Give Thanks 4 race was in my dreams all night long AGAIN! It my first race to direct, so I guess I am nervous subconsciously. At a conscious level I don't seem to be that way. Things are coming together pretty well. I have lots of good help in getting everything organized. I only need about 2 more volunteers, which shouldn't be too hard to take care of.

There's more, but that's enough for now...

Thursday. Already? Again. Thursday means prep for Sunday for me. I mostly like it! This week is going to be considerably different because we have a really different kind of worship assembly planned for Sunday. I think it is going to be very powerful. We are going to have various ones speak about gratitude/thanksgiving. Some of them have suffered through some very difficult challenges.

Yesterday was a long but good day. I started at 5 and never slowed down until I got home around 8.30 last night. The good thing was that I never got sleepy or tired all day. Cutting my running down from 50 miles a week means I am requiring less sleep evidently, because I am not sleeping as much and seem to be doing fine. I plan to run 7 today and slowly ramp back up to a regular 10-12 miler. I don't want to lose the level of fitness that I have achieved. Maintain.

Yesterday I spent a considerable amount of time working on Honduras and the Give Thanks 4 road race. What a diverse man I am! I met with the Mayor and then with Chief of Police. They are both very supportive. The Mayor is going to come and start our race for us. I hope the city council doesn't show up. Just a little joke, there!

Kedra told me a really funny story last night. She said one of the teachers at school told her that the students were given an assignment to craft a resume. The teacher told them that they could make up stuff to include; she was more interested in the form than the content. The teacher told Kedra that one boy put this on his resume:

I was the Valid Victorian of my class.

As a friend of mine said last night, "It's better than being the IN-valid Victorian." There certainly are a lot of invalid victorians out there.

My class last night was about gratitude/thanksgiving. We briefly examined many passages about the subject, noting especially how often Jesus gave thanks. Interesting. The last part of the class was devoted to people sharing stories of thanksgiving; lots of powerful stuff. To me the most powerful was a mother whose son was killed many years ago in car wreck. She shared that she made the conscious, intentional decision to be thankful for the time that she had him, to celebrate all that he was, instead being bitter that he was gone. Thanks for teaching me a good lesson.

Better get busy! Gonna work hard, run after the rain moves out, and then I get to eat lunch with Kedra and my kids. My mom cooks lunch once a week at my sister's house for the kids, and we get to go. It's always so yummy. [Better run a couple of extra miles, now that I think about it.]

Wednesday morning

Ah, Wednesday, the long day! It's really not that bad, because, while it is long, it is enjoyable. Not sure why but I got up earlier than usual today, right at 5 a.m. I slept well. I left the window by my bed open about 4 inches, so it got pretty chilly, which I really like. I seem to sleep better when I am on the verge of being cold. Oh well, more weirdness for you to take in.

Yesterday was enjoyable. I love a rainy day, especially when we are classified as "extreme drought." I went for a run yesterday morning before the rain came, and it was pretty decent. I got a lot of stuff organized and accomplished yesterday, including writing a letter to a woman in prison. She is a former student of mine who violated her probation. She is a wonderful person who made a mistake. I am trying to encourage her with regular letters.

Christmas is coming! This year I am going to preach a series of 4 sermons that focus on the season of Advent. We don't usually do this in my faith tradition, but I think everyone is going to enjoy it. I have invited other preachers from around the country to join me in this project. I think there are 6-8 of us working together. We will exchange research, study notes, ideas, and illustrations each week as we prepare our sermons. Then we will share our completed sermons with each other.

We are basing our series on 4 words: Waiting, Mystery, Redemption, and Incarnation. The series will be loosely based on This Book that records Dietrich Bonhoeffer's reflections on the Advent season. We will share his story and some of the letters he wrote from prison before Hitler ordered his execution. It's powerful stuff.

I got 4 free tickets to the IU basketball yesterday, but decided I really didn't want to go. Rebecca, Ben, and two friends went. They had a good time I think. I had a better time sitting in my cozy house reading and watching the game on TV. Yes, I am old.

OK, better get after it!

Tuesday morning

I hope you had a good Monday. Mine was good. Got all the stuff done that I had to do to be a responsible adult and had a few extra interactions/conversations with people. In many ways I guess it was a day where nothing note worthy happened, but that's probably a matter of perception and priority.

Yesterday afternoon I was driving out to the Park to run. As I was getting close, I looked up and saw a big van go about a fourth of the way off the road; the driver then corrected his path and got it back in his lane. As he got closer I could see that he was still very much concentrating on texting! My concern as a runner and biker is that this kind of thing is going to get me or some of my buddies killed one of these days. Texting and driving is incredibly dangerous.

Rebecca got her official acceptance into Lipscomb University yesterday! She wants to be a school teacher. She presently is doing her cadet teaching in the 5th grade and simply loves it. Even as a little girl she played school all the time. She used to have little kids come over to play, and she would set up a little classroom in the basement where she would be the teacher. I am excited for Rebecca, but I will miss her tremendously when she leaves in the fall. [Too early to be thinking like this...]

I entered the Indy Mini Sunday evening. I am hoping to lower my 1.39 time. I am really looking forward to training for it, but I will wait until January to begin. I ran a little yesterday, and it still hurts, which is normal. The marathon really does a number on the [old] body!

Yesterday evening I worked with firewood until dark, which keeps coming earlier. I cut up a couple of big logs that I drug in on Saturday. I then split and stacked it. If everything goes as I plan, then this wood will not be used this winter but next. I really enjoy working with wood.

The Give Thanks 4 is coming up next week, and it is keeping me up at nights, which is just stupid! ha ha. Everything is coming together nicely, but I dreamed about it last night, all night long. I think we are going to have at least 100 runners. It will be interesting to be on the directing end of a race.

Today is going to be full of this and that kind of stuff. I have lots of little projects that need to be brought to completion, and I need to continue conversations with several people about several things. Looks like we are going to get a good soaking rain. I love it!

Here we go...

And we're off... Off on a journey through another week. I wonder what all will happen this week? Whatever happens I hope to be faithful in it.

This time of the year, in a lot of ways, is my favorite. Fall is my favorite season, and Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I enjoy the time leading up to Christmas, and Christmas itself is also always very special. It is becoming more special now that we have kids that don't live at home anymore. Any time they are home is so nice.

I feel good this morning. I hope to resume regular running this afternoon. My plan is to run around 30 miles a week for the rest of the year, which will put me right at 1700 for the year. That's the most I've run in a long time; feels good. Now that the pressure of the marathon is off, I can enjoy lots of things that I avoided or sacrificed for quite a while.

This week I am focusing on Sunday's assembly which will be about gratitude. I am looking for comments from the congregation, and I already have some very powerful statements. I think it is going to be an amazing day.

Still Moving

Sorry about my lack of blogging lately. I wouldn't call it post-marathon blues, because I don't feel blue at all, but I have experienced some definate lethargy this last week.

lethargy >noun 1 a lack of energy and enthusiasm.

Life and responsibilities have required that I keep moving, which is good, but the extra energy and desire have been hiding out somewhere. I've learned to simply be patient. They will come back.

This last week has been fairly uneventful, filled with all the usual things: reading, studying, talking, counseling, teaching, preparing, attending, etc., etc.

As far as post-marathon recovering is concerned, I was planning on running Wednesday but got trapped at the BMV for longer than I anticipated; another day off did not hurt me. On Thursday, a holiday, some of my friends were riding bikes, so I decided to take a little bit of time to go with them. I ended up riding 30 miles on one of the most beautiful November days possible. I ran 5 miles Friday and Saturday. Both runs hurt a lot, but this is all normal.

We are hosting the Give Thanks 4 run in Mitchell on Thanksgiving morning. I've been spending some time getting ready for that, as a director not a runner. There are lots of things to organize/think of!

I hope to more to say this week.

Monumental Weekend

And if you feel that you can't go on.
And your will's sinkin' low
Just believe and you can't go wrong.
In the light you will find the road.
You will find the road.

"In the light, light, light..." Robert Plant sings with passion in his distinctive voice. Those words coupled with all kinds of prayers and mind games kept me going on Saturday during the Monumental Marathon. It was an amazing experience, a spiritual journey.

I went up Friday and had a late lunch with Lester at the Spaghetti Factory. We then made our way over to the Marathon Expo to pick up my packet. The expo didn't have that much to offer, so we left and went to Lester's place. I had a wonderful nap. Later on Kedra, Rebecca, and Ben arrived. More spaghetti for supper. Carbo-loading is kinda fun, but it gets a little old on the second day.

Off to bed early, and surprisingly I slept well. Saturday morning was cold, but I had figured out what I was going to wear and I stuck with it: shorts, long sleeve shirt, nylon vest, hat. Lester took me downtown. Waiting for the start is never easy, especially when it's cold.

I lined up with the 3.30 pace team. My race strategy was to run 20 miles at an 8 minute mile pace. This would put plenty of minutes in the bank for the inevitable slow-down of the latter miles. I had to run about an 8.12 overall pace to qualify for Boston. The race started in the twilight of what would become a beautiful, sunny day. "In the light, light, light..."

The miles came and they went. There were times when I felt great, and I thanked God for those. There were times when I felt pretty bad and wondered if I was going to make it, and I asked God for help. My right hamstring started hollering at me about 10 miles in, and I asked for mercy and healing. I had all the usual pains and doubts associated with distance running, but nothing extreme. I felt the presence of God during the entire journey. "In the light, light, light..." Run in the light. Led Zeppelin's words reached far beyond their original meaning and expectations. I "practiced the presence" for 26.2 miles.

At 22 miles I was only slightly off the 8 minute pace team. I was closer than I had planned to be. This was good. As I passed my wonderful, supportive family,(they been following me around to see me at various points on the course) Kedra shouted, "You're going to Boston!!"

Just got to hang on! "In the light, light, light..."

When I hit 23 miles I thought I was in trouble. I felt that a collapse was coming. Your body can take over and dash your dreams pretty quickly in a race like this. Many have been on pace and then lose it all in the last 2-3 miles. I prayed intensely and pushed to keep a respectable pace. The monument on the circle looked so far away! I just keep pushing. "In the light, light, light..."

When I hit the 25 mile mark I looked at my watch and realized that I had just cranked out about an 8 minute mile. I knew, barring a complete collapse, I was going to make it. I slowed down some to avoid any kind of cramping and simply cruised in to finish. I had to have 3.35.59 to qualify and finished in 3.31.47. [They added a minute to my time on Sunday. Their computer was messed up on Saturday. Weird.]

This is getting long; sorry. I'll just say that it feels simply amazing to have been blessed to do this. It has been a dream of mine for 30 years. It is has only been in the last couple of years that I have really pursued it. I could not done it without all the support/encouragement that comes from my running partners in Bedford. They are an amazing group of people. Kedra, while not a runner, is an amazing supporter and encourager; my children too. It was great to have her and 4/5 of my children there to share in this moment of victory. Luke was in the south, but he was following my progress via phone.

I appreciate many of you who were praying for me on Saturday. I felt your prayers.

Here is a link to an album I put on Facebook: photos

Monumental Photos

My official finish time was 3.30.47. Never thought that was possible! John Heatherly also qualified for Boston. We ran a lot together during the summer and fall.

Qualified!

Thanks to many, many prayers and lots of encouragement in various forms from various ones, I had a good run today, which enabled me to qualify for the Boston Marathon. I will have more to say about the experience some time later. I need to reflect on it. I will say for right now that it was/is an amazing feeling! If you click on the picture you should be able to see my results. My goal was 3.35, so I made it with time to spare.

Just waiting

Well, here I am in Indy. Waiting. Waiting for tomorrow morning.

I came up early to have lunch with Lester at the Spaghetti Factory. We then walked over to the Convention Center to pick up my race packet. The race expo was OK. I picked up a headband to cover my likely-to-be-cold ears. I need to look through the bag they gave me to see if there are any goodies worth keeping.

Peaceful is how I feel. Hopeful also. I have been imagining the finish and trying to prepare myself to work through the pain. There will be pain and lots of it. I'm just hoping that nothing physical shuts me down, and I am hoping I can be tough enough mentally.

The work has been done, so I have to trust it. I want to qualify. It is a huge goal/dream. By 11.35 tomorrow I will know. I think you can follow me/find results by clicking here. I am number 522.

Not sure when, but I will be back here to tell you about it.

Interesting Day

I know I over use the word "interesting," but, hey, the word is... well, never mind. I do have an interesting day ahead. It's start out with me finishing up a speech that I will give later today (more below).

This morning I am going to attend a hospice professional advisory board meeting. I used to direct the program a long time ago, back in the early days. It is interesting (there I go again) to go back and hear of the progress. I don't attend these meetings very often because they don't really ask for advice. They just tell us what is going on, which is fine. I know regulations make them have them. There is usually free food involved, so why not?

From that meeting I am headed to Indy. I've been asked to speak at Lilly Endowment's information meeting for those seeking Clergy Renewal grants. I am really looking forward to this. I remember attending a meeting like this 4 years ago. It's a pretty cool experience, plus Lilly is pretty generous in various ways.

I will be so glad when Saturday's marathon is over! I've never had a race/run mess with my mind like this one has. I think it is because I have put so much pressure on myself. This run is it; it's do or die (not literally, though I am going to push myself as hard as I can). I wanted cool weather, and now I am going to get cold. How to dress? At least it is going to be dry, and the wind is going to be less than 10 mph, unlike last year's sirocco. Much better!

Need to go...

Real Faith

Today I get to lecture, make that lead a discussion, about Job. I know it will be a discussion, because all my students have lots of questions about suffering. Some have suffered severely in lots of different ways. They want answers. So did Job. So do I.

Job never really got any answers. His friends gave him all kinds of explanations and advice, and Job rejected it. Job was right about that. God said so. Job finally gets to talk to God, because God shows up one day after Job has asked and asked for an explanation as to why he has had to suffer so.

Instead of giving him answers, God starts firing questions at Job. Questions that Job cannot answer. Questions that were way beyond Job's knowledge and understanding. I think God is essentially saying, "You couldn't understand it all, even if I told you, so you are just going to have to trust me." Job does.

A couple of summers ago I was reading some of Henri Nouwen's writings. He said something that really helped me. I think it was the way he said it that helped me the most. He basically said that faith is the ability to live with unanswered questions and still trust God. I'm learning over and over that that is real faith. Faith that stands in the midst of darkness and confusion.

Recent weeks have been really hard for a lot of people, including me. We had a few suicides in the area and then one of our friends from New Zealand called to say that her son had committed suicide also. This was going on while I was working on a memorial service for a man who died two days short of his 50th birthday. On top of all that there were other struggles, mine and others, that were weighing very heavy on me.

During that time a blog that I read had a post that was so timely that I felt like God was sending me personal encouragement. The blog was entitled Theodicy and No Country for Old Men. It was a wonderful reflection on the movie as a way to try come to grips with suffering that makes no sense. I've seen the movie, and now I want to watch it again.

The bottom line is that true faith can only exist in a world doesn't always make sense. I believe that's what Job discovered, and that's what I am discovering over and over again. Faith that is not tested is no faith at all.

Hard to imagine

I've mentioned several times the woman in my class at Oakland City who had a son murdered earlier this year. A new chapter in the story was revealed to me last week. She told me that her son's girlfriend was about to deliver a baby and the baby might be his.

Sure enough over the weekend the birth took place, and my student was in the delivery room helping to bring this baby into the world. She said it was a wonderful experience, but it is also very unsettling. She does not know yet if this baby boy is her grandson. She should know soon.

Can you imagine what she is going through? If her son is the father, then she has a grandchild and an ongoing connection with her deceased son. What if he is not? My heart goes out to her and many people are praying for her. On Wednesday we are discussing the book of Job. I think it will be a very interesting discussion.

I'm in the 3rd week of tapering for the Marathon, so I'm not running much. I didn't run at all yesterday. Today I will run 5 miles; two of them at marathon race pace. Tomorrow I'll run 3 easy, off Thursday, 2 easy anxiety-relieving miles on Friday, and then the big day. Yikes! The weather forecast seems to be changing. Colder. Now it looks like mid-20s for a start and around 40 for the finish. I'm still wear shorts and dressing lightly.

Monday

Here we go again!

This week is going to be really different for me, and I really welcome the change. I'm not preaching Sunday, so that changes much of what I do all week. It definately leads to more relaxation.

Last week was good. I loved not having to go out every night. It's amazing how that changes many things. I got a lot of little things done that had been piling up, and I hope to knock a bunch more out this week.

My focus this week, outside of my normal duties, is the marathon on Saturday. I will focus on careful nutrition, avoiding sick people, and getting good sleep. I've been working toward this day, in a lot of ways, for 2 years. Two years ago I was running little and overweight and pre-diabetic.

I made an attempt to qualify for the Boston Marathon at last year's Monunmental and failed miserably. Then I worked hard all winter to prepare for the Louisville marathon. Warm humid weather, coupled with more hills than I imagined, thwarted that attempt. I am hoping the 3rd attempt is the charm.

The weather for Saturday is forecast to be just what I want: start at 30 degrees and finish in the 40s. It is not the most comfortable weather, but it is optimal for my body. I will toe the start line with more than 1700 miles since last year's Monumental, plus I did some cross training on the bike this summer. I think I am ready. I had my anxiety attacks about it all a couple of weeks ago, which is good. Now I am growing in confidence. I had a really good 10 miler on Saturday; just what I needed.

I think I am going up to Indy midday on Friday to get my race packet, etc. Then Kedra and the kids will join me. We will eat and spend the night at Lester and Maddie's place. We are going to stay Saturday night also and go to church with them on Sunday.

OK, enough for now, and sorry if running does not interest you! I'll try talking about other stuff soon.

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