We had an interesting week. We were scheduled to go to Milwaukee on Wednesday, so I worked from home that day. I usually try to make it to the gym early on those days, so I left to pick up the bus about 6:15. At 8:45 I get done and check my voice-mail to hear Jen tell me that she is okay, but that she thinks the car is totaled. She managed to somehow hit a big yellow pole in a parking garage and crush the drivers side of her car. It isn't totaled, but you can't open either door on the drivers side. I took it to the shop and got a rental car for the trip to Milwaukee. We're carless for the next few weeks until the work is done.

Milwaukee was uneventful. She liked the people, but wasn't impressed with the program. It will probably go towards the bottom of the list. It looks like Houston is still in the lead with Seattle and Baltimore coming up in the next month.

We went shopping at the Gap this weekend. I needed Jeans since my existing ones have this habit of falling off. I'm now wearing a 33x32 (down from barely fitting into a 38x30) I have no idea why the length has changed. It may have something to do with the fact that all jeans are now low ride and apparently must be worn around the butt. They fit well and look good and they were on sale for only $20. I got a pair of cords as well. While there, I tried on a couple of polos. The athletic fit ones fit okay, except for the arms. Apparently athletic fit means skinny as people with no arms. I'm going to have to find somewhere else that sells nice polo shirts with a tapered waist and reasonable sized arm holes.

We had some good food in the last week. A sun dried tomato and basil pesto was really good. I ate leftovers for lunch today. We also made a creole pecan coated roughy last night. Finally, we  discovered that vegetarian corn dogs are incredibly good. We're both trying to eat better, so I bought some of those at the grocery on a whim. They are fantastically good.

The marathon training is going well. I ran 21 miles last week, and should do at least 25 this week. I'll be closer to 30 if the weather is nice enough to run outside. The best part of my run (other than the fact that after 8 miles I still felt pretty good) is that the pace feels slow. 18 months ago I couldn't run a mile, and 5.5mph felt like a spring. Now 6.2mph over 8 miles feels a little slow. I'll probably pick up the pace to 6.4 or 6.5 next week when my distance falls back. My goal would be around 7.5mph for training runs. I need about 8.5 to be able to qualify for the Boston marathon, but that's a long way in the future.

Does anybody have suggestions for good running music?

Update [2006-3-13 14:55:28 by mmangino]: I created a tournament challenge group on ESPN.com . You can join it here.