"So a pussycat wants to fight a tiger?"

So this whole marathon deal has begun to incur minor injury. I purchased some new shoes for running purposes after consulting the local experts on pronation and heel-striking. The new kicks felt reasonably comfortable running the short runs mid-week. Here they are, the aptly named Brooks "Addiction 7" series running shoe, sitting on my floor:

And here they are, apologizing to my right foot after making it revolt in blisterondinitis during the 13-mile jaunt to Inwood:

Notice how the right shoe is particularly repentant. Had I a video of the popping ceremony, in which I lit a flame to symbolize eternity, inserted a needle into said flame to symbolize humanity, and then inserted humanity into my foot to realize fluid squirting all over the towel I didn't place below the ritual beforehand... Well, I'd have posted it. Unfortunately, the reader will have to imagine the solemnity of the occasion, and the wondrous mystery of it all, in post-blogoscopic meditation.

In related news, I now have a new place to apply my decade's supply of Aquaphor. I don't believe I've written about it earlier, but I've begun applying the stuff not only to the "hot zone" in between my legs, but now also to my right nipple before running. (I'd photograph the nipple, but children might be reading this.) Crotch, nipples, feet... The fetishes are becoming somewhat more bizarre- an onlooker might actually view all of this balm application as moderately erotic. I've begun to think sexual deviance may have been introduced to the human race by long-distance running. I doubt Plutarch or Browning say so, but I think it's fair to speculate that Pheidippides would have to have employed some primitive Nipguard in order to avoid chafing on his toga. If not, I imagine his words after "We have won!", but before he dropped dead, would have been "Someone get me some ice for my nipples!" Not quite Prometheus stealing fire, but a landmark event in human history, to be sure.

(Before anyone writes me to suggest Pheidippides wouldn't have been wearing a shirt or a toga, let me cut you off. I've seen 300. He was obviously wearing a spandex loincloth and nothing else as he ran from Marathon to Athens. Just bear with me.)

Let's take another look at the schedule now and see where we're at, and where we're going:

16-Week Marathon Training Schedule

Week	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun	Mon	Total
1: July 14th	3	Rest	4	3	Rest	5	Rest	15
2: 21st	3	Rest	4	3	Rest	6	Rest	16
3: 28th	3	Rest	4	3	Rest	7	Rest	17
4: Aug 4th	3	Rest	5	3	Rest	8	Rest	19
5: 11th	3	Rest	5	3	Rest	10	Rest	21
6:18th	4	Rest	5	4	Rest	11	Rest	24
7: 25th	4	Rest	6	4	Rest	12	Rest	26
8: Sept 1st	4	Rest	6	4	Rest	14	Rest	28
9: 8th	4	Rest	7	4	Rest	16	Rest	31
10: 15th	5	Rest	8	5	Rest	16	Rest	34
11: 22nd	5	Rest	8	5	Rest	17	Rest	35
12: 29th	5	Rest	8	5	Rest	18	Rest	36
13: Oct 6th	5	Rest	8	5	Rest	20	Rest	38
14: 13th	5	Rest	8	5	Rest	9	Rest	27
15: 20th	3	Rest	5	3	Rest	8	Rest	19
16: 27th	3	Rest	3	Walk 2	Rest	26.2	Rest	34.2

Week 7 hath been completed. Almost halfway there. Here's how we did:

Monday: Off

Tuesday: 6 miles

Wednesday: Uh... Business meeting

Thursday: 6 miles

Friday: 4.5 miles

Saturday: Nuthin...

Sunday: 13 miles, US Open

As a note, the link-to map of the 13-mile run isn't terribly accurate, because Gmaps is misbehaving. I ran to the tip of Manhattan on the north side and back. I meant to go to the Bronx, but apparently you can't run on the Henry Hudson parkway over the bridge. I ran to a dead-end park here. I also might have muttered a few expletives under my breath before I turned back. Trust me- it's somewhere around 13 miles.

Were it not for a former co-worker asking me to beers over discussion of some freelance work, and Petrov's insistence on staying out afterwards, and my own acquiescence and general irresponsibility, then this would have been a virtually beer-free week. As it stands, I'm setting 10 drinks on Wednesday night and 3 on Sunday at Flushing Meadows. Still not close to tipping the scales...

Miles Run: 29.5Alcobeverages consumed: 13Verdict: The King is dead. Long live the King!Overall record: 4-3
No time to rest on our laurels. We must prepare for:
Great Tiger Week!

Yeah, I know that's not him. But the GT's quotes from between rounds got me thinking LOLcats, and this one actually did make me LOL. It's my blog, I'll do what I damn well please.

Thanks everyone for reading, donating to St. Vincent's, and generally being awesome. I'll be back again this week as the muse suits. Until then...