Spring has arrived, I think.

Beautiful weather this weekend. Took most of yesterday off and got in a run in 60+ degree weather. Ended up getting an 8.25 mile run in, longest since the Disney run in January. Felt good, a little sore afterward, but since it has been a while since my last long run it was to be expected. Right around 8:55/mile average which pretty good in my area with the hills.

Down a solid lb on the weight front (probably 2, but I'm being conservative....I'm sure some of you are shocked...at the conservatism thing ;-)).

The question now is, when will the next "race" be....

It's Amazing...

With the blink of an eye, you finally see the light.... Any Aerosmith fan's out there?

Anyhoo, so I heard the song this morning on the XM radio (ch 41 old rock songs, very cool) and thought, yeah, I think I finally have seen the light at the end of this bad cycle tunnel! Only a couple of days since my declaration of weight loss and turning around the traning, and I feel great. Ran 4 miles yesterday (all I had time for) and progressed throught the run very nicely. Started off around 8:54 for the first mile, then down to 8:45 on the second, took a hill route on the 3rd but still made it in under 9 (8:53). The last mile felt really good and the legs were moving fairly effortlessly (8:30). I'm over 41 miles for the month (already 3 miles more that each of the last two months) and while that is good, I'm still not back up to speed or on track to put in 70+ as I had been doing in 2008. That will come soon though.

Like an AIG Executive....

I'm getting fat! I've been gaining and losing the same 5 lbs over the past couple of months and it's killin' me. So it's time to put the ol' stake in the ground and put a goal on the books. I'm currently 198 and will be down to 190-192 (and will maintain at this weight) by the end of April. Why so long? Well, for me, I've been maintaining at 195 for 3 or 4 years now so my body is really used to this weight. I'm okay with that, but would like to be leaner for the summer running season and in prep for the marathon come Oct. I'd like to run the marathon at 188 or less, but will see how the summer goes.

I know it doesn't sound like much and y'all are like "you're complaining about 5 lbs?" but I tell ya, it's enough to scare me into changing my habits before the 5lbs turns into 10-15 lbs cause I'm starting to see that trend forming.....

Anyhoo, as always, thanks everyone for your support! I'm going to get this thing done and back on track!

WDW Annual Report..

Not sure how, but I talked my MBA group into breaking down the WDW 2008 Annual Report for our financial accounting class. They asked if I had an idea, so I said...take a wild guess....all together they were like "uh, I don't know, Disney?" Apparently I'm out of the Disney closet now...LOL They said they were cool with that, so I'm pretty psyched. Downloaded it during out diner break last night and began to skim through it. Cool stuff...lots O' big numbers in that balance sheet...like a small country's GDP, yeeesh!

Working from home today and just got back from a good run. 4 miler with all mile times under 9min each.

Mile 1 : 8:35 (some downhill)
Mile 2: 8:42 (nice and level)
Mile 3: 8:57 (some uphill)
Mile 4: 8:56 (more uphill)
.10 Hill sprint

Nothing stellar yet, but feel like I'm starting to get back a tiny bit of what I have lost in the past couple of months. I'll be shooting for a longer run on Friday after work as long as my meeting schedule doesn't get out of hand. I'll let y'all know how it goes, of course...

Niet on the D23 ehh... Interesting, but I see Mike and Rae's point. I'm not opposed to Disney trying to make money in this market though. They have shown in the past to create a good amount of value for the dollars spent. It might not be worth the 75 now, but I'm guessing if they get a luke warm reception that they'll up the ante. Too good of a demographic data pool for them to give up. Wondering if they'll ever extend offers to make some of the unofficial podcasts official? Or create their own? I think they should leave that arena alone, not their core competency for sure (although there is alot of media expertise in the company...). Not to mention that for every negative thing being said, there probably 10 positive things being said....

Anyhoo, run, run, run!

Solid Run...Lots of work to do

Got outside yesterday for a 5 miler. Took the "hill" route and it kicked my rear end. Still, I was able to bring my mile times down to the low 9's by the second mile (after the major hills) and just enjoy being outside for once. The weather appears to have broke and forcasts are looking good, for at least this week. Should be able to post another 2-3 outdoor runs this week. It's critical that I get out as I haven't been doing such a great job as of late. As I've mentioned, work has been insane and school is ever present. No Rae, not done with the MBA yet. Not till June of 2010. It's an intensive cohort program where we go 9hrs once a week for five weeks and then move on to the next subject (only one class at a time). The amount of reading per week is just nuts....but I'll be done in a bit over a year, so I'm looking foward to it.

My sister in-law was all excited yesterday as she thought WDW tickets had gone down in price, but it turns out that it was a DisneyLand deal. LOL Haven't checked out the new D23 yet, but from what I have read I think it might be something we could subscribe too...we'll have to check it out and see. :-) If any of you have done this already I'd love to hear your review.

Mmmmmmenucia

Sorry for the lack of posting as of late guys/gals. Work has kicked it up a notch and ask that I take over some new high profile projects that have seriously timeline issues. Lovely, just the thing I want to be associated with... I suppose it's sort of like an underhanded compliment that they think I can help...

Anyhoooo, I've only been running 3x's a week as of late and not loving the minscule numbers. I did finish my sixth MBA class and on to finance/accounting next.

Gotta catch up on all the blog activity as it seems like there's alot going on and I want to make sure I'm supporting y'all!

Mike, that surgery is coming up soon, right? Yikes! I'm sure they'll be over you saying "we can rebuild him...better....faster...stronger..." Okay, maybe not faster....I mean, honestly, what's after going plaid? BTW - I've got an intro to pitch to you and Jeff....hopefully will get a chance over the weekend to write it up. Thought of it while running on the mill last night.

Congratulations to all the Princess finishers!!!!

BEHOLD MY MARCH SNOW-MELTAWAY-ANATOR

If it were only that simple Dr. Doofenshmitz...if only it were that simple....

Nothing really new here in CT, just bitterly cold, like 8 degrees or minus something or other with the wind chill. Does it really matter what the wind chill is when they state that it's 8 degrees...I mean, C'mon, it's 8 DEGREE'S PEOPLE!!!!

We did purchase a new elliptical machine the other day, so it appears that my cross-training efforts will have a new option pretty soon. They need to get it from the warehouse and such, so it's going to be a couple of weeks. And yes, Mike, it has the speed and distance readouts on it :-) As well as a bunch of other crap as well. Looks like it has space invaders on there too...ya know, in case you get bored with the workout and all.... My take is that they should invest that money into building a better product! If people are bored on your machine then perhaps they aren't working hard enough... Just say'n...

Treadmill and bike training this week, that's about it... Hoping to pick up the miles to over 15 (weekly total) and see how the foot will handle it. Right now, the left foot feels like it has the sesamoiditis and the right one is horrid when I'm not wearing shoes, but feels fine with sneakers....ugh.

Spring is ...No wait...More snow...

Ugly. That's all I can say about this mornings commute and my loathing for winter at this point in the year. Took me an hour and a half to get in to work due to the lovely little snow storm that dumped a large amount of snow on us last night. I'm just done with all of this stuff.... Of course, that means that running more outside just took a break as well. :-(

In any event, I was able to get another 3.1 on the mill yesterday and rediscovered a little more speed. Not too much, but was able to push it a bit more and could feel my legs and lungs coming back, so perhaps all is not lost on that front.

Totally missed the AATM live show yesterday and was pretty bummed out! By the time I got the kids bathed and to bed, etc, etc, etc... It was after 9pm. Ugh, and I wanted to call in and at least congratulate the guys on their 100th show. That stinks...will have to leave them a v-mail I suppose. Just a failed weekend all the way around I suppose. Thankfully the Vern Week-Team Voice challenge was the one bright spot.