I got through my twenty-miler with the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group on Saturday. Before the twenty-miler, Dr. John Moore, who is also training with the group, gave a talk on hip and lower-back pain (which was very timely for me), so I went to see him yesterday, and he found a glaring muscle imbalance that is almost certainly the cause of the problem I’m having. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get that corrected soon, and I’ll be good to go for the Boston Marathon. In the meantime, I'll continue to train. This coming Saturday is a fallback week, so I'm only scheduled to run twelve miles with the MIT group. It will be nice to have a little break.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Boston Marathon, running

Well, I got all of my workouts in this week. My hip felt a little better, but not quite one-hundred percent yet. Still, as long as it doesn’t get any worse than it is, it won’t stop me from running the Boston Marathon, so if I can’t get rid of the problem, I’ll at least try to manage it. Other than the nagging discomfort in my hip, I think I’m in good shape—I had lots of energy last night. Hopefully I’ll have some energy tomorrow, too, because I’m scheduled to run twenty miles with the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group. It won’t be bitterly cold like the last few weeks, so I’m looking forward to it.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Boston Marathon, running

I ran eighteen miles today with the Premier Sports Marathoner in Training (MIT) group. We were running in the snow, and when we ran through some neighborhoods, some people out shoveling their sidewalks looked at us like we were crazy—it was fun though. The last few weeks I’ve been having some discomfort in my hip, and this week I had to take an extra day off. (I usually take one day off from running per week, but this week I had to take two days.)

The extra day off seemed to help some, so I may have to take some more extra days off in the near future. I hate to do it, but if my hip hurts too badly, it could prevent me from running the Boston Marathon, which would be extremely disappointing. So I’m just going to play it day by day and adjust my expectations in Boston, if necessary. Hopefully, though, I won’t have to take too many more extra days off, and I’ll be fine in Boston.

Also, last night I saw the movie Venus at the Drexel. It was really good.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Boston Marathon, running, Venus, Drexel

I made a few online purchases yesterday. First I bought a couple TrioPacks and some Bee Venom Cream from Dancing Bee Acres. Dancing Bee Acres’ Bee Venom Cream has worked great for me during my last two marathons, so I’m hoping it will help me have a good Boston Marathon as well. I use plenty on my feet, ankles, and shins, and it keeps my feet from swelling during the later miles and helps me finish strong. Also, it’s completely natural. I only use it on marathon day though, and not during training, because it’s kind of expensive. In addition, I ordered the novel Extravagance by Gary Krist.

Tags: marathon, marathons, Boston Marathon, running, Bee Venom, Bee Venom Cream, Dancing Bee Acres, Extravagance, Gary Krist, book, books

I just filed my taxes online for the first time yesterday with H&R Block. It was pretty convenient. One thing that’s a little misleading is that they lure you in by offering a free federal tax return filing, but then they charge you for the state tax return filing. The charge wasn’t that much though, and it made filing much easier, so it was probably worth it. I ended up owing money this year, primarily because of the freelance income I needed to pay taxes on that I made writing math problems.

Speaking of math problems, I just completed four more lessons for the test prep book I’m working on. Topics included factoring fractions with polynomials, adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing fractions with polynomials, rate and work problems, and determining whether a relation is a function.

Tags: Math, Mathematics, Taxes, H&R Block

It’s cold, cold, cold! I had to do my long run inside on the treadmill today because of the inclement weather. I ran for three hours (yes, three hours!) on the treadmill today. That’s the longest I’ve ever run on the treadmill. I ran for two hours on the treadmill once before, but never for three hours (until today), and I hope I never have to do it again. Runners tend to divide themselves into the pro-treadmill and anti-treadmill camps, and I’m definitely pro-treadmill, but not that pro-treadmill! On the bright side, every run I do on the treadmill ever again will seem short compared to today.

Also, I just received the book Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich in the mail today. I ordered it online.

Tags: marathon, marathons, running, Bringing Down the House, Ben Mezrich, book, books