Marathon Weekend!

Last weekend we were staying in Harrisburg and the XC teams were racing in Hershey. This weekend, it's my turn to race in the Harrisburg Marathon!

First, about the state XC meet. Our boys ended up a CLOSE 4th (our 153 points were only 21 points from a state championship) and the girls ended up 8th. Great efforts on both ends and a great season!

Back to the marathon, it actually kind of snuck up on me. Not from the standpoint of my training. I was logging all my miles and hitting my speed workout goals since August and all throughout the fall. But, you're just so focused on the schoolyear and the XC season and helping the kids be successful. So, when the races were over last Saturday, I had the realization, "Oh yeah - I'm running a marathon next weekend!"

So, here we go. I think I've mentioned a few times that I'm trying to make this marathon more of a low-key stop along the way to my third attempt at a sub-3 hour marathon next May in Pittsburgh. The goals are a little more simple than the last two attempts in May 2011 and November 2009:

1. Run the entire 26.2 miles (aka NO MUSCLE CRAMPING/SEIZING UP)
2. Finish around 3:10 (7:15 pace)
3. Negative split the first 13.1 vs the 2nd half

With that, I'm hoping for a positive day. The weather looks like it's going to cooperate - starting out in the upper 30's and finishing in the mid-50's with sunny skies all day.

In other news, there's the entire sad story surrounding Jerry Sandusky and the leaders at Penn State who did not do enough to help the situation. Very, very sad. I'll repost the facebook post from Tuesday:

So sad to hear about everything coming out of Penn State. My heart breaks for the young victims, angers at how Jerry Sandusky could allegedly continue those acts over so many years, and is confused over the alleged lack of action from other leaders. A request for the media as the story evolves is that they are more concerned about getting it ACCURATE instead of getting it FIRST.

That's all you can really say. Beyond the grand jury statement we don't know anything else. Because of that, I wish people wouldn't give opinions or speculation on things they don't know about. It was a bad situation and not enough was done. I will be very interested to see what further information comes out and trust that the administrators and the legal system will help sort everything out and do their best to make things right moving forward.

Keeping in perspective that this is all relative that pales in comparison to the victims of the abuse, I feel bad for the Nittany Lion football players. They did not sign up for this. This is not like any other college sports scandal. They did not do drugs or steroids. They did not accept any money, cars, or other illegal benefits. They did not cheat on tests. They did not do anything wrong.

However, they're lumped in with the evil things that Jerry Sandusky did AND they have to find a way to focus and attempt to put their best effort on the field against Nebraska on Saturday. Obviously this is a bad situation. I just ask that people support the players, especially the seniors on their final home game, and keep in mind who were the bad guys with all of this.

Enough of the heavy stuff. Off to pack and then tomorrow off to Pennsylvania's capital to get ready for the 26.2 on Sunday.