Sara and I were awakened Monday morning by the sound of crunching wood outside our bedroom window.  I went into the back room to investigate and found a giant brown bear pulling the siding off of our new mobile home.  I yelled to Sara to come check it out, she immediately ran to grab the camera while I proceeded to yell and throw whatever I could find at the bear.  Despite all my efforts the bear never even acknowledged that I was there.  Luckily for us the bear took off before he completely destroyed the side of our house.  I love Mammoth. Where else do you have to worry about bears breaking into your house rather than burglars?

The weeks training went very well and with a month to go I feel very prepared for my first marathon.  I believe that I am as prepared as I could possibly be at this point in my career.  The big workout of the week was a marathon simulation, in which I ran 10 miles moderate and then 10 miles at marathon pace.  It is good to get to that notorious 20-mile point and still feel like there is something in the tank.  The further I go at a hard effort the less intimidated I am about the newdistance.  I can't believe there is just four weeks to go now.  London seemed so far off for so long and now it is finally on the horizon.As London draws closer I can't help but think of all the things that could go wrong before I toe the line on April 22.  What if I get food poisoning like Meb did this past year before the ING New York City Marathon?  Would all the training I have done and all the many hard miles I have logged be in vain?  But then all of us soul runners know that it is not about the outcome.  Sure it is great to win races and achieve personal goals but in the end that satisfaction only comes ever so often and eventually we all stop winning races and we all start running slower and slower.  For me, and I believe for a lot of runners, it is about the day in day out joy of running.  It is about running through the forest on a warm day getting lost in your thoughts not wanting to be any where else in the world.  There are so many day-to-day aspects of running that I love and to lose sight of all those days just because one day did not go well would be foolish.

High point of the week:  Beating my pops in a game of pool.  I got
totally lucky on this one but I took him down fair and square.  Upon
making the winning shot I jokingly throw my hands over my head and then road my pool stick like a horse (happy Gilmore style).  It was pretty funny; we enjoyed a good laugh over it.

Low point of the week:  Saying goodbye to Sara on Wednesday.  She went down to San Diego to the Olympic training center to get in some sea-level training (where I will join her on Sunday), while I am
staying up in Big Bear to put in my last week of altitude work before
London.  We are blessed to get to spend so much time together but then it makes it more difficult to say goodbye.