Some Good News, Some Bad, and Some Yet to Come

The Good News:
I participated in and completed the Inaugural Rose Bowl Half Marathon in December 2007! This was my 8th race and my second 1/2 marathon. Though I felt that my preparation should have been more thorough, I beat my previous 1/2 marathon time by about 2 minutes, coming in at 2:32:25.7. The course was beautiful and the weather was very nice, though warmer than I had anticipated and dressed for. I'm pretty sure I'll participate again if they run it in 2008. I trained for this race with my buddy Jacob, and unfortunately missed it due to a scheduling conflict. Next time, man.

The Bad News:
This week (and for several to come, I'm sure) I mourn the passing of one of the most consistent and faithful running companions of my brief running career: my Garmin Forerunner 201 GPS training device. It seems that it got smashed in my suitcase on a recent trip to PA, and the LCD screen has been destroyed. I don't know how I'm going to train for future races, though I read recently that apparently people have been training for races for longer than GPS technology has existed, but I'm going to have to do some more research into their archaic methods. Perhaps it has something to do with planetary alignments or the tides. More on that to come...

Yet to Come:
I've begun my official training schedule for the LA Marathon, coming up on March 2. I'm posting it below for you all to follow along and keep me on task. Today was the first long run, at 8 miles, and it went pretty well, despite not having my Garmin. I'm feeling a little sore and tired, as this was my first run in about 3 weeks. Gotta get back into the swing of things as I prepare for 26.2 in just about 8 weeks...