Talent alone won't make you a success. Neither will being in the right place at the right time, unless you are ready. The most important question is: "Are you ready?" --Johnny Carson

Ok...it's 8:30 p.m. and I need to be in bed so I can get up at 4:00 a.m. for a 2+ hour run. Which explains why I am writing a long overdue entry and eating Doritos in the kitchen.

Anyway, I haven't missed a day of running since November 10 or so, and I've logged 1168 miles since then. There are six weeks over 100 miles in there, with a seven day high of 124, and nine weeks over 90 miles. This is by far the most I have run since I started training in earnest 17 years ago.

So, what the hell am I doing all of this running for?

I'm planning to run my first official marathon this fall at the Twin Cities Marathon. As far as specific time goals, I don't really know yet what is realistic. I am not yet again a 32 minute 10k runner, and I don't expect to be by October, so sub 2:30 is likely a longer term goal. But, given the amount of effort I am putting into training now and over the next 235 days, sub-2:40 is a foregone conclusion.

What happens after TCM depends somewhat on the result. More about that another day.