Greetings and welcome back all. It’s been a while, so I’ll get you caught up.

I’m in training for the Lake Placid Marathon to be held on June 14th. This course will be different from New York in a couple of big ways.  It’s a loop course. All that means is once around for half marathon, two times for the full. Kind of a drag, but as most of you know, that area is heaven on earth. There’ll be plenty of interesting things to see. The course starts on Main Street, runs through the village, circles Mirror Lake, back south past the ski jumps, then out River Road (I’m guessing that’s by a river) and back.

The biggest challenge will be the hills. Remember all of my bitching about the hills at the NYC Marathon? Yeah, those weren’t hills. These are hills.

By far the coolest part is the finish. The run ends at the Olympic Speedskating Oval. Same place where Eric Heiden won his 5 goal medals back in 1980. Back then I was 7 years old and in Mrs. Failing’s third grade class at Glebe Street School. I was a really good student. I was a very shy kid, never any trouble, and my grades were always great. I remember a few things about Mrs. Failing. She was unbelievably old, she was constantly miserable, constantly screaming, and she loved me. One day she was walking through the class handing back a test that we had taken. She gets to me, holds my paper up for the class to see and says, “But Kevin got the highest score- 100 percent! That’s an Eric Heiden effort!”

Jesus. Shoot me now, why don’t you. It’s a wonder I didn’t get my ass kicked daily.

Mrs. Failing’s husband was afraid of heights. Any work around the house higher than arm’s length, she would take care of it. I once rode my bike past her house and saw her perched on the top of an extension ladder, paintbrush in hand, touching up the trim. I wonder what it would have been like to run over, kick that ladder out from under her and run away really fast. You know… Eric Heiden fast.

Today marks the start of week 8 in the training schedule. I’m finding that after 4 or 5 miles, I get a nasty pain in my right hip. I’m almost certain it’s because my shoes are worn. Did the calculation the other day, and I have @ 360 miles on these. Ordered a new pair. Should be here tomorrow.

Also ordered a pair of Under Armour Compression Shorts.

“Kev,” you’re thinking, “aren’t those a little… form fitting?” Yes. Yes they are. I believe the idea is to wear a pair of running shorts on top of these guys. At least that’s my plan. ‘Cause no one needs to see that much. Even if I was Brad Pitt or Brian Williams, I wouldn’t wear something that revealing.

But hey, who says they’re too tight? It’s similar to what the speed skaters wear.