Training Update

Things have been going pretty well on the running front over the past couple of weeks. I have been focused on getting the weight down a bit as well as starting to get my base built back up. This week I even threw in a little speedwork. Next week I will start to keep track of the miles and time, I have been lax in that. The girls and I will be running our first local race of the season on July 4th - the Firecracker in Fairport. It's 5 miles and pretty hilly so it should be a good test for all of us. I have not decided what races I am going to run out of town again. I am thinking about doing the Austin Half again and will probably look at the race in Phoenix.

The weather here has been really hot and dry - today we started to get a little cool down which is really nice. We really need some rain however, things are looking pretty dry. The garden however is thriving - we have a large number of tomatoes starting to appear. I think it is going to be a robust tomato unlike last year.

Just finished a pretty good book by Don Miller called Blue like Jazz. (http://www.donaldmillerwords.com/bluelikejazz.php) I would stongly suggest you read it. He talks about being a Christian in more normal terms. One of the things I found interesting is how much he talks about the negative effect the fundamentalist have on most peoples views of what it is to be a Christian. Of course, he is from Houston where the Southern Baptist are alive and well. He talks alot about the influence of the republican party - not in a way many on the left do, in a way that makes sense to me. I found I was able to relate to much of his experience.

On a final note, I threw up a new family web site located at http://web.mac.com/dharp98/iWeb/The%20Harpers%20Site/Welcome.html Not too much up, but a few pics of some of the recent trips.

God Bless everyone and lets all have a safe and happy 4th...

Let's get ready to rumble.......

It is easy to see that I have been off the blog for a while, that is simply because I cur my running down to nothing. I have been trying to recover from a sore back which has really been a challenge since the Atlanta Half....It seems to finally be gone. Of course I have put back on a little weight and my routine is all but gone. Enough of that! I started some minor runs about 3 weeks ago and am at a point where I am going to get into a training routine. I am going to train primarily to get my times in good shape for the 5K and 10K circuit. I would like to get to 27 minutes on the 5K and 65 minutes on the 10K. This should allow me to get into half marathon form again for Austin.
I am off to Chicago today so I am hoping to find a couple of new places to run. Will keep the updates coming. The next race for me is the Firecracker 5 mile in Fairport on July 4th. I will be running with the girls so it should be fun. I would be great to get to 55 minutes for that race. Will see how it goes.
See you later...