I completed this week's 9 mile long run in 104 minutes. It is slower than I'd like but at that pace, I'd still net a 2.5 hour half marathon. So, I'm not going to complain. At least not overly much. Distance first, speed second.

I'm writing this at work. On a Saturday. During overtime. Because we have some clients from hell who want stuff NOW - no matter that things only arrived two days ago and that I had to be called in to get this shit done. Stupid job. Stupid people. Stupid stupid. Oh well, my overtime here will just about pay off Karen's ticket out to do the half marathon with me in February.

Tomorrow Nanowrimo starts. I am excited. I am participating (and so is Kimberly) and while I have a plot, I really only have a very very vague plot. No plot outline, no character sketches and no idea where (if anywhere!) this story will go. I'm a brave soul, I guess. But I figured, classes don't start until mid-December, I might as well actually DO Nanowrimo this year, instead of wanting to do it and avoiding it again. I will be blogging bits and pieces of the story, I think. Well, maybe. I guess it depends on how bad it sucks!

So I'm officially accepted into the program at Phoenix College that I applied to.

This is pleasing to me.

I'm continuing with my half-marathon training, after a very disappointing (and hot!) 5k on Saturday. I managed a 32:21 and had to WALK parts of it. I was indignant but didn't wish to die from heat exhaustion. There was NOT enough by way of aid stations. Joshua managed a much more respectable time than I - coming in under 29 minutes. I'm jealous.

So far this week, I ran with Ripley to the dog park on Monday (3.5 miles) and I ran with Mr. Dog this morning (2.25 miles). Tomorrow I'll run with Ripley to the dog park again and hopefully Thursday I'll squeeze in some lifting. Then Friday I'm going to run to the dog park again and follow with my long run on Saturday of 8 miles.

So this week has been rough.

• Monday - AM - 3.5 miles with Little Dog, PM - Challenges W3D1
• Tuesday - AM - 2.5 miles with Little Dog, PM - FAIL! (no dog walking)
• Wednesday - AM - 4.5 miles (half with Little Dog and half with Mr. Dog), PM - FAIL! (no challenges)
• Thursday - AM - FAIL! (no dog walking), PM - FAIL! (no dog walking)
• Friday - AM - 2.5 miles run at the gym, PM - Challenges W3D2
• Saturday - AM - 8.5 miles (half with Little Dog and half with Mr. Dog), PM - Challenges W3D3
• Sunday - AM - Lift & Cross-train, PM - REST!

Maybe I was a little overly optimistic? That's a lot of fails so far this week - four of them! Oh well. I've got lots of thought provoking posts floating around in my head but no motivation to write them down. Maybe someday? We'll see.

Otherwise, I'm waiting for word from Phoenix College (3 weeks to go!) and not doing much else. There's a 5k coming up next weekend (Frank Kush 5k - same one that I did last year as my first 5k!).