3 hours 40 minutes

That's what my marathon time would have to be in order to qualify for Boston. So, I'm only looking at shaving about 1 hour off my current time. While its fun to fantasize about qualifying for Boston, its not something I'm really set on. If it ever does happen, that would be great, but if not, there are lots of other fun marathons all over the world that don't require a fast time.
So, I've been slacking pretty badly with this new blog. However, I have not been slacking with my runs. This past December was much better than December 2006. I was able to run on a fairly regular basis, and I definitely worked out on a regular basis. I'm into spinning now, so I'm going to try and keep going once a week. January has arrived, though, and last week I got the last bike (i.e. the worst bike that is pretty much broken next to the 300 lb man that may have go into cardiac arrest at any minute.) I forgot that January is "resolution month" for most of the world, and all those people that stopped going to the gym suddenly crawl out of the cracks and invade group fitness classes.
Last Saturday was the official start of the Flying Pig training group. I was really excited to get an e-mail from Erik (training buddy from the fall marathon group) asking if Lindsay and I would be running with the Spot again. We both said yes, but I never got a response from Erik, and I didn't see him last week. I was really excited though, because Lindsay and Holly, friends from the last training group, were both there. We had a timed five mile run to help divide the group into two more manageable parts.
Okay, a brief rant about the group size: last year, the training group had a cap, and once that number was reached, no one else could sign up. This year, though, it looks like someone is getting greedy, because there seemed to be over 200 people that showed up last Saturday, and it was ridiculously crowded. Also, I don't know how safe you can really be with a group that size. I think that if it would have been my first training group, I would have quit after seeing how many people were there. Its mean to think it, but I can't deny that I hope some people will drop out. I just think the giant group is unmanageable.
Anywho, the cut off for the timed run was 47:00 minutes. If you were under that time, you would be in one group (the "faster" group.) Over that time, and you're in the slower group. As I've said before, I'm not fast. Ten minute miles are my friend. Somehow, though, while training for the Thanksgiving 10k, I really got speed into my brain. I don't know if its that, the spinning classes, or a combination, but somehow I have trimmed about 30 seconds off my mile time. I doubt my marathon pace is going to be 9:30, but I think it will be faster than my 11 minute miles last year. The down side to my new found speed - my buddies in the group fall behind me and I find myself running alone. This is kind of defeating the purpose of running with the group. I need to adjust my mentality back to "marathon" and hopefully I will be able to run this Saturday without going all out (like I did last Saturday and again this past Wednesday when we ran another 5 miler.)
Tomorrow we meet at lunken for 6-8 miles. I used to love Lunken because of its flatness, and the positive connotation I had with it being the first place I ever ran five miles without stopping to walk. The more I run there, though, the more I hate it. Its just boring, and I've come to learn that flat run does not always equal enjoyable run. We'll see how it goes.
I got a Garmin Forerunner for my birthday. It tracks speed, distance, heart rate, and calories burned, which I think is pretty sweet. You can then upload your workout info online. I think there is a way to link it, so I will try that next time and see if I can connect it to my blog.
Well, I think that's all for now. I will try to be more diligent about my blogging in the future, and I'm sure I will have more to write about now that Flying Pig training has officially begun.