Eye to Eye Station to Station

Ran 7 miles yesterday morning and added another 5 miles this morning. Feeling good but have started to experience some new blister problems. Yesterday received an email from The Boston Athletic Association informing me that the Marathon was 26.2 days away. It'll be here before I know it. Wasn't listening to my ipod and got an unexpected '80s smorgasbord of hits from the overhead Gym music.

First song I heard was "Living in America" by James Brown from the Rocky V soundtrack. I love the political incorrectness of that song and subsequent scene in the movie. Basically, mocking Ivan Drago and the Russians complete with Apollo Creed in his Uncle Sam outfit. 99 cents later and the very un-PC song is on the Ipod. Next was a "Get Outta My Dreams Get Into My Car" by George Clooney's distant step-brother, Billy Ocean. Some one should explain to Billy that yelling at a woman and forcing her to "Get into my Car" is a felony. That's called kidnapping. Originally, the Song was titled "Get Outta my Dreams, Get some Duct tape and rope and Get into the Trunk of my Car." Apparently, they shortened it for the radio version. The 3rd 80's song heard was "Do Me" by Bell Biv Devoe. Not sure how Messrs. B, B and D never spent any time in jail especially with lyrics like "Backstage, under age, adolescent." Is this an 80's pop song or a transcript from Dateline's To Catch a Predator? Also in that song is the lyric "I wanna rub you down with some Hot Oil." Now I'm not the ladies man that B,B and D are but to me Hot Oil is a euphemism for GREASE and if I were a lady I'd be all set with you pouring Hot grease on me. I made stir fry the other day and a little speck of oil popped up and caught me in the eye and that hurt like a son of a B. I do thoroughly enjoy 80's music though.

1 Month to go

Finished last week with a 13 mile long run and ran at about race pace. Felt pretty good and would have loved to have continued but ran out of time. A 20 miler should be in my forecast for this week and then the tapering back should begin. Less than a month away and am beginning to get antsy. The numbers became official and my Number is 22616. The 16 is quite symbolic as Maggie, Molly and Jimmy were all born on the 16th.

Molly and Jimmy just had their 6 month checkups and for the most part all are doing well. They're both in the top 75% on their respective growth charts for height and weight with Jimmy in the 91% for height. Molly just started to eat food and so far has done a much better job than her Brother who gagged the first few times he tried it. I can't believe that they're that old/big now, it seems like just yesterday that I was pretending to be asleep when they didn't sleep through the night and would cry at 12, 2, and 5am. I never really did that and it wouldn't have worked anyways as Pam is not afraid of throwing a well placed elbow or knee my way as a firm but friendly "wake up" call.

Toys for Big Boys

Finished last week with a 10 mile run. Trying to run it in around 8:30 and I was just about able to do that. Felt pretty good and will continue on with the training. Just about a month left and I'm starting to get a little bit nervous as to how well I'll do on Patriots day. I plan on running right behind the Kenyans (a couple of hours behind but who's counting) and I would be thrilled to finish in under 4hrs. March Madness time of the year always puts an extra hop in my step and I like Memphis and UNC and I'm looking forward to watching the First round of games on the treadmill it'll beat the reality junk I usually watch.

I found myself watching a reality show on the Travel channel called Anthony Bourdain No Reservations. The guy is a former world class chef who travels around to various locations and samples the food. He creeps me out to no end. If I were a female college student walking home from the library (not sure what's less believable, me in the library or me as a female) I would run not walk to security if he came around. He always seems to be in Thailand or Vietnam and I would not be surprised if he ended up in cell next to Gary Glitter, who by the way, as legend has it, penned Rock and Roll Part II while at Providence College. I wouldn't want this guy cooking me up a Grand Slam at Denny's never mind the five star ultra expensive meals at the fancy restaurants he used to be a Chef at. He probably drives a white econoline van or better yet a van more like the old "Toys for Big Boys" van that used to patrol the hardscrabble streets of Wakefield, MA. That van was probably in existence early to mid 1980's and it was a sweet ride. I dont know who owned it and thank the good Lord I don't know but it was all Black and had airbrushed paintings of Naked women on it. Above the pictures were the words "Toys for Big Boys." I think from now on I'll stick to a safer brand of reality TV like Jon and Kate plus 8, although she annoys me and there are the rumors about them.....

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Rainbow of Fruit Flavors

Completed an 18 mile run on Sunday which put me at 41 miles for the week. You have to love New England as I ran in shorts outside on Sunday and was shoveling snow on Monday. If the planet has a fever as Al Gore claims then New England must be immune as I have not seen much evidence of global warming. I spent the latter part of Sunday spraying Pam's Aqua Net into the air and it's still cold. The roads were horrible, all potholes and sand, and I rolled my ankles twice but managed to finish and thanks to the trademark "loose joints" of the Preston's, my ankles are fine.

We've resorted to bribery in our attempts to potty train Maggie. She had been doing great and was well on the way but the Twins came along and the progress kind of halted and went back a tad. Akin to a "Dollars for Scholars" telethon we've instituted our very own "Skittles for Pittles" drive. She gets some Skittles everytime she goes to use the bathroom. So far Maggie is leading on the tote board and is doing a great job. Although, If I start to hit the Champagne of Beers on the weekend I might just get all of the Skittles.

Hook 'Em Horns

News of Jimmy's recent growth spurt has gotten out so he decided to commit real early to play football in Austin Texas.

Added another 16 miler for the long run and felt ok but was a little sluggish. I was hoping for 18 but I decided not to push it this week and did my best Costanza and quit on a high note. Ideally, I'd like to add 2 20 mile runs and an 18 before the Marathon Day. I'll shoot for the 18 this upcoming weekend if we can get the new snowfall to melt. I'm done with the snow. I remember back in college I was watching Channel 7 news during a snowstorm and they were about to interview a 7 or 8 year old boy. The bubbly reporter, expecting the kid to be all happy and excited, asks, "So all this snow, another day off from school you must be really excited?" The boy, who's knee deep in snow, turns his head to the reporter, and with a look of utter disgust says to her in a very calm but firm voice, "I hate snow." and back to you in the studio... That kid's response pretty much sums up my feelings on winter.

Watched the Biggest Loser last week and was viewing the footage of Dane, was 4oolbs now in the 300 lb range, crossing the finish line at a Marathon in Phoenix in a time NBC reported at 3hrs 53 minutes. Having run a marathon in under 4 hrs (3:57 to be exact) I was a little surprised that this guy did it as well. So I went to The Google and found that he didn't run it that fast and in fact he didn't even finish. NBC's crew picked him up at about mile 17 and drove him to the finish for a staged photo shoot. Thanks Al Gore, this internet stuff is amazing.

Here Molly celebrates the Longhorns victory over the Baylor Bears.