Ike, Heat Wave and More Nike Plus Trouble

I must apologize to each and every reader of this blog for my truancy the past two weeks. It's been over 10 days since I last posted. In the blogosphere, 11 days is mathematically equivalent to 6 millenia. Much has happened since the last post:

The economy has collapsed. Americans have ceased to care about hockey moms from Alaska. Hurricane Ike reminded the citizens of south Texas why it was never a good idea to colonize south Texas. Ike also blew through Kentucky, proving to be the most destructive storm. Ever. He was kind enough to drop a tree on my car and the cars of many others and leave 100's of thousands of people without power. Ike reminded Louisvillians that, in spite of our Starbucks stores and our beloved Hard Rock Cafe, our municipal infrastructure hasn't improved much since Precambrian times. With any luck, President Roosevelt will fix all of these problems and save our sorry state.

The running has been coming along. Life-related issues have been interfering a bit though. The last two weeks (before the current week) were the only weeks since May that I have fallen short of my mileage target. I'll hit my target this week though. And next week is my last long run before the great taper. I definitely feel like an 18 week program might be overkill, but there's no harm in slowly building up. I'm looking forward to the marathon, if only for the hope that the weather might be more fall-like in mid-October.

The temperature in Louisville is still in the mid-to-high 80's. We're one day away from the equinox and it's still hot. Not okay. I was hoping that, as a silver lining- consequence of a destructive inland hurricane, folks around here might come around to the realization that climate change might be a consequence of human behavior (e.g., wastefully tossing perfectly good bottles of water at airport security checkpoints). However, I'm pretty sure that my fellow yokels have allocated the destruction to their god's vengeance overhead account. Apparently, their god is mad because California changed its marriage licenses to read "party One" and "party Two" rather than bride and groom. The nerve of those godless west coasters!

Last Sunday's long run through the wind-ravaged south end and downtown of Louisville was quite nice. The temperature briefly dipped into the low 70's. The running path around Iroquois Park was like an Double Dare obstacle course with downed trees. I followed the course of the upcoming marathon and found the first half to be quite nice. There's a 6-8 mile stretch that is pretty gross, so I'll have to really speed it up through there. Hopefully the roads will be closed to prevent rabid, pick-up driving yokels from running me over in their haste to get to church and gain absolution for their sins (apparently they don't count the wind storm as penance).

12 miles scheduled for today. It's a nice, sunny day, but the temperature is too high. I'll have to wait until early evening.

Oh, and the Nike Plus has gone kaput. The port on my iPod has become unresponsive. It's terrible. I am so reliant on that little device. My motivation is nil without that little bit of feedback. I think it's time for a new Nano.