Can you hear the drums, Fernando?

ORN: Today, I ran 10 kilometers in a decent 59'26". I was slightly sore and stiff from Saturday's long run, but it shook out. I finished strongly and broke in a new pair of Nike Air Zoom Structure Triax 12s. My 11s were totally spent.

I did a little math this weekend, and it depressed me. I found out that in order to qualify for the Boston Marathon [a back-of-the-mind fantasy goal I have, like becoming an astronaut, writing the Great American Novel, or growing a decent-looking beard] I'd need to run a 7'26" mile -- 26.2 of them, actually. In a row. In other words, I would have to shave off at least two full minutes off my pace and run the hell out of October's Chicago Marathon. To achieve this, I would have to do a monstrous training schedule over the summer. And probably sacrifice a goat to Ba'al.

Pros: a) Fresh goat meat. b) Very metal. c) Might bleat others in my age group. [Zing!]
Cons: a) Would it even work? b) Messy. c) PETA might stop sending me free address labels.

Like anything worth doing, this will take research, planning, and commitment.

Just like fund-raising! I'm happy to report that, thanks to donations large and small from a variety of good-hearted people, I was able to meet my goal of $500 for Gilda's Club of Louisville. A month to go before the marathon, I achieved what I set out to do. Then I thought, "Well, you achieved that... why not raise the bar?!" Like, set a new goal of $750 or $1,000. But Wifey pointed out that donors might be discouraged by that. Besides, I have exhausted my network and am unlikely to get many more donors. Hand-wringing aside, thanks to all the people who chipped in for this worthy cause. And if you were putting off donating, please go ahead and do so.

Last thing, we adopted a new dog this weekend. His name is Fernando and is a little, black ray of sunshine. Everyone, except for our 17-year-old incumbent dog Missy, is thrilled. Missy is profoundly insulted and wants to murder all of us in our sleep and feast on our giblets.