Since I'm awake so early...

I figured I'd write an update. This week I realized that marathon training starts on July 3, not July 10 as I had previously thought...Whoops! We're doing an 18 week intermediate training program, with middle-length runs on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, a short run Friday, and a long run Saturday. Depending on the week, the length of each of these runs will vary. I won't bore you with all the details just yet.

But, since I realized I have one less week to prepare to completely alter my life, I figured I'd better really be sure I am ready. Since the first run is ten miles, and I want to make sure that that doesn't absolutely destroy the rest of my day (because I'll be getting fitted for a wedding gown and then heading to my parents for a week the afternoon of July 3!), I ran 12 miles yesterday. It went really well and I felt pretty good after it. And then I went over to my brother's new house (they closed the deal on Friday) and helped his wife Katie move in. (Tony was conveniently stuck taking an exam for his MBA program, lucky guy.) Since it's a 4 story row home in Baltimore, there are LOTS of stairs. And broken air conditioning on the top two floors... so I was pretty sapped by the end of the day. But I'm starting to feel good about the first few weeks of marathon training, because I was obviously more than merely functional following such a long run.

I remember last year, during the first 12 mile run I was just a mess for the rest of the day, but by the 16 mile run I was fine. Even for the 21 mile run I managed to walk over to a Navy football game, and cheer my heart out (Okay, I didn't cheer my heart out. I don't care about football.) and then go out for a late dinner. So I'm hoping that this year, none of the runs make me feel like the rest of the day is a complete waste of life.

In other news, Mike is in San Diego and says its beautiful and he loves it and I'm really jealous because here in Maryland it is 90 degrees and steamy humid. Also, he got to see the pandas at the zoo yesterday, and they are my favorite favorite animal and I'm SO jealous. I told him not to return to Maryland unless he's bringing me a real panda as a birthday gift (6 days until I'm 24!). No stuffed animals because I have about 14 stuffed pandas in my parents' attic.

My friend Christina (I've mentioned her here before; she's awesome) and I have been chatting about the NAG message boards. A girl on there recently asked for advice for coping with the distance between herself and her boyfriend. We were both a little amused that we didn't really have anything to add to the discussion because we just kind of don't care when Mike and Solomon are not around! Maybe we're used to not spending time with them. Or maybe we've finally come to the realization that they'll return eventually, so in the meantime we do our own thing. I don't know. I guess since this is a way of life for us, it's good that we don't really care that they're gone. But let me tell you, I sure do wish Christina were around more often! She was telling me how when Mike and Sol were in "Plebe summer," which is the 6 week intense military indoctrination at the Naval Academy, she would tell her friends that she was in a fight with Solomon. (I did the same thing!) It's astounding, because for those six weeks, our only method of communication was snail mail... how can you really be in a fight with someone you haven't spoken to in a month?! It's phenomenal how much drama we were able to create in our heads back then. We're grown-ups with jobs now, so I guess we just don't have time for that, and therefore do not miss our fiances. Maybe we've just come to terms with the fact that sometimes, all you're going to get that day is a 2 minute phone call saying the pandas were cute and he's on the hunt for margaritas and spectacular Mexican food and so he can't really talk today (poor guy, out there serving his country!) and you just have to be okay with the fact that you're going to be a Navy wife and these are the decisions you have collectively made. Okay, so I'd be a LITTLE more sympathetic to the limited talk time if he were, say, in the Gulf of Aden monitoring pirate activity... then I'd be like, "Hang up the phone! Go protect your ship!" than I am when he's just touring one of America's sweetest cities, but to be fair, I was pretty busy yesterday too, and I ignored a couple of his phone calls while I was helping assemble tables. And that's kind of the way I like it-- I am used to seeing him on the weekends because we're lucky enough to live near one another for the time being, but when I can't, I really like having lots of other plans to keep me entertained.

Although I do really think that if Mike were here right now, he'd probably make me some breakfast. So I miss that.