One weekend down, three more to go

So this past weekend was FANTASTIC!!! We flew down on Saturday morning to North Carolina to revisit the place where we got married. Now this trip was a surprise for my wife, but I had to tell her on our 11 month anniversary about the trip because 1) I was afraid that she might book a trip for us and 2) hell knows no wrath as a woman who has not been given ample time to shop for dressy clothes.


There were lots of surprises for her (lots of stress for me getting this done behind her back). I'm at work right now, so I don't have time to go into major detail, but some highlights were:

• On Saturday night, a bottle of wine we bought on our honeymoon "magically appeared" at dinner. We met the winemaker and toured his facility on our honeymoon, when we bought this wine he told us that the wine would be good no matter when we opened it, but that it would be absolutely prefect if we waited until October 2007. Wife forgot about this bottle...I did not. She knew it was this bottle of wine because you can't get this wine any where in the states (the winemaker only makes a few 100 bottles a year).


• On Sunday night (anniversary night), we had dinner at the same place that catered our wedding. I was able to arrange for the chef to recreate part of the custom menu from our wedding. She was super surprised with that, but was floored when the waitress came out carrying the top tier of our wedding cake (something wife had also forgotten about).

There was also a run with a Segway and horse poop, but that's another story for another time.

It's been a busy week in the world of running. On almost the same day the Chicago Marathon melts down and Marion Jones admits using steroids to get her Olympic medals. My heart goes out to all the Chicago runners out there. So much careful preparation, so many weeks of diligent and persistent training and then a heavy handed reminder that you're still human. My friend was hoping to qualify for Boston and ended up adding 2 minutes to his time. I haven't gotten a chance to talk to him yet, but I know he feels slapped in the face.

I've done my rounds and it seems like Tom, Nitmos, and Jess are alright--and I'm so glad to hear that. Hot runs are hard...I can't finish them. Hot races...well...I'm sure it's like running straight into Hell. Recover well guys.

I've been working like nuts this week, so I might not get to post pre-race. If you don't hear from me by Friday night, then wish me luck for MY FIRST MARATHON EVER!