Friday Four

1. This suit has been hanging out in a drawer for a while, but finally made it's somewhat seasonally appropriate debut yesterday.

I met up with Beth who showed up in this suit, so it was a bit of a themed swim.

2. As a part of a relatively new healthy living initiative, my office has health challenges throughout the year. Participation in various events helps you to get discounts on insurance premiums. In the spring I wore a pedometer for eight weeks and this week kicked off an eight week hydration challenge. The only goal? Drink at least eight 8 oz glasses of water a day. We're on teams and while I don't think there will be an actual winner, we do get bonus points if the team as a whole averages 64 oz a day. Obviously I can't turn down a competition, so I signed up as soon as it was announced. Only later was I suspicious about how well it lines up with the restof my marathon training cycle. And check out the color of the cups they passed out.

A nice CAR red

Could someone have an in with our HR department?

3. I have the giant Garmin 305 and I always wear it over a sweatband because otherwise it slides around and chafes my wrist. The ones I bought a few years ago have finally stretched out to the point of uselessness, so it was time for some new ones. Now that I almost always race in a CAR top, I decided it was time to match.

4. On Sunday I'll be running in what may end up being my only tune up race before the Richmond Marathon. I'm headed out of town for the Philadelphia Rock n' Roll half marathon. Although I've never run this race before, it covers a lot of the Philadelphia marathon course, so I have a good idea what to expect. It's a flat, fast course and the weather is expected to as close to perfect as you could ask for in mid-September (lows in the high 50s, highs in the mid 70s). While I haven't done any sort of taper for this race, I have taken it pretty easy since I finished the track workout on Tuesday. I'm feeling excited about racing and looking forward to seeing what I can do in a half when I'm not severely anemic. So I'll be gunning for that 1:45 that I was hoping for last spring, before health issues got in the way. I think it's a realistic goal and I'm going to do my best to execute the way that I know I can and run a smart, strong race. Obviously not every race day goes quite as planned, so my B goal is to PR and break 1:50.