Actually, this is already on the SOMD calendar, so it may draw a pretty good turnout. The Blue Crab Stadium is in Waldorf? For some reason I thought it would be in St. Mary’s.

This may be the very first year in which the Chaptico Classic and the Annapolis 10-Miler are not on back-to-back days. I do believe that the latter is on August 24th whereas the former is being held on August 30th (Labor Day Weekend). So Joe will unable to pursue his high school tradition of brazenly racing both a 5k and a 10-miler with a 24-hour period.

One possibility: replace the Get Ready, Get Set, Get Fit! 5k with the Solomons Island Pet Day 5k, which is on 9/20. And I'm greatly gunning for the Solomons Jingle Bell to be a major League/TEAM event.

Actually, forget what I said about the Pet Day 5k. I'll be heading up to SCRANTON, PA, that day!

It's actually for a wedding reception (the wedding itself is in nearby Wilkes-Barre). But I hope to catch sight of the Scranton sign and those townhouses you see up on a hill at the beginning of every theme music/intro to The Office!

I think Joe has an announcement to make about his determination to run a certain race next March (a certain very long race).

The Chaptico Classic tends to be a brutally humid race every year. The humidity from dew evaporating in the morning sun is one of the most stifling things to run through. It may just be me, but I think the 8 or 9am race start time in the summer is not ideal. I would prefer earlier or later so that I was getting either cool dampness or hot dryness, but not both. Despite being an all-road 5k, Chaptico gives pretty slow finish times year after year. Doing any long races in March will require steady increases to my long runs during the preceding months. If I start now, I can increase my long run by less than 1 mile per week, which is very feasible. If I can manage a long run of 12 miles in December, then it's very realistic. This is a crucial week for me in terms of Chaptico training. The hill workout and bad weather have inhibited my last couple of days. I need a solid weekend of running, though I don't have good quantities of time available. The next two weeks of racing are promising for all of us. I'm setting a goal of sub 29 for myself in the 5k, which means I can't go much above a 9 minute mile pace. DR and I still aren't 100% convinced which event we will run, though.

Joe: Any chance of you being able to run a 10K at roughly the same pace as you did the five miler last weekend? If so, it may be worth it just to make sure you get in a long run for the week. No sense in seeing how hard you can push yourself in what could be the worst racing conditions of the season. DR – Two words: racing flats. DR’s comment about only really “training” for the past two weeks may me reflect on the summer Between Kiwanis and 7/31, I probably only had seven or eight days of running that were dominated by the term “easy.” The past two weeks have been somewhat better. Two interval workouts, two tempos, a 10 mile long run and a 9 mile “Race-sim” coming tonight. Still, I feel as though I’ve been slacking. Due to house hunting and traveling, I’ve made it to the gym only ONCE since beginning the Half M training (once out of four scheduled days!). My eating habits continue to be good from 6:30 am – 4:30 pm, but it’s a disaster many nights. I’ve feasted on ribs three nights since Saturday (leftovers from the bbq at my parents), and crushed a large Dominos pizza last night. Granted, it was a thin crust, but should I really be eating any kind of large pizza in under an hour? Even though I’ve slept on the first race of the season, I think I can use it to turn over a new leaf in terms of non-running related training/fueling. I’m not saying I’ll eat like a world class athlete, but eating anything like Dominos is done until after 10/11/08. Additionally, even if I can’t make it to the gym due to either school or house stuff, I need to have a core workout three times weekly. Once upon a time (circa 9/06), I relied on The League to make sure I didn’t shirk on the most preliminary of running routines. Now, I turn to you to help keep me on the straight and narrow for the next eight weeks (eight short weeks!). I’ll try to remember to post a workout summary weekly in order to notate my core routine (DR – I expect you to keep on me about this). Perhaps I could get some kind of “food journal” going for the eating part, and somehow make that public (at least on here… not on Facebook or anything). I wonder if writing down the things I eat will force/shame me into making better decisions (ready for another turkey month, Joe?). Once again, one of the core reasons the League was created was to help keep each other motivated during times like this. Being that I want to be in the best shape of my life in 57 days, I suppose I need The League now more than ever.