Less Than Three Weeks Left!

Well folks, there is just under three weeks left until Marathon Monday. I finished out last week at around 84 miles on the road. I am now starting my taper. From here on out the main goal is to stay healthy and to start fueling up for the race. It sounds like I might have a posse from the group of folks I am going to Zambia with cheering me on at the race. With that and all the folks that are going from Team Raleigh Running Outfitters, the support should be great.

On the Zambian side of things: there are about 69 more days until I meet up with my future compadres in Philly. I am still working on getting the things I will need to take with me and there is still a little bit of paper-work to do. I get more and more excited to be leaving with each and every passing day.

I have purchased an address book so that I might be able to write I few people while I am in Zambia. I have a few folks addresses but seeing as how I have used e-mail to communicate for the past decade or so, I don't have that many. I am planning on still using e-mail, but my internet access may be very limited while I am in the bush. If you would like to receive mail from me e-mail me your address to topher.chavis@gmail.com . My address during training is as follows:

Chris Chavis/PCT
Peace Corps
P.O. Box 21527
Kitwe, Zambia

Letters take about 10 days and packages take about 3 weeks. I will post this address on the website permanently once I am closer to departure time so you do not have to go searching through months of archived posts to find it. I am really keen on writing letters and I am looking forward to doing it again.

ASU Cycling

Just got back from the NCSU Cyling races and I uploaded a few of the pics into my flickr account. Click here to go to the images.

Que Sera, Sera

Well this week was an interesting one at least. It was full of highs and lows. Work sucked (I'm gonna leave that one alone), I got my new Chaco's in the mail, I injured my ankle and couldn't run for 3 days, and I found out that my good friend Katie will not have her adventures to Vanuatu delayed by her ankle woes. All is well though, as the week is coming to an end. Work still sucks, but hey...it always has. My ankle is all better and I got a 12 mile run in this morning. And to top it all off, I got a call from my good friend Justin from Boone last night and apparently he and the ASU cycling team are in town for a race at NCSU. I'm gonna ride down and watch them tomorrow and try and catch up with all the guys.

The Promise

So it's 2 o'clock in the morning and I can't sleep. It's not that my mind is racing about running and Africa like it usually is. I just don't seem to want to go to sleep. It might be due to the fact that I was unable to run today. Over the weekend in, what I can only explain as an overuse injury, I hurt my ankle while in the midst of a 12 mile run. I'm not sure what it is but resting and icing seem to be making it go away.

It's strange, the things you think about at 2 o'clock in the morning when you can't sleep: the future...the past...what your doing in the present. I am so anxious to get to Africa and start doing something that seems like it matters that I catch myself going to work each day and just blanking out while I think about what the future is going to bring. One minute I'm greeting my first table and the next I am out the door and driving home.

I have made a promise to myself and I am putting it on here so that someone out there might hold me to my word some day. I never want to stay in a situation in which I feel like I'm in a rut. I have to admit that I do not ever see myself having your typical 9 to 5 job. It's just that it seems like there is so much more out there, so much more that can be done, and to settle for a secure job and a nice paycheck would be a cop out. I am not try to put anyone down, I just think that if you don't have a passion for what you are doing, why are you doing it?

Well, if you are still reading this you have listened to me go on for long enough. I just wanted to get that out there. Hope to be back out there running soon.

Spring Knocks

This week Mother Nature really began to show the first signs of spring. The tree's are in bloom and the temps are warming up. We almost hit 80 on Thursday and I took advantage of it by taking a nap on the hammock in the backyard.

The warmer weather is proving good for my training. I did another 71 miles this week and hope to bump up closer to 80 this week as the weather is supposed to be nice once again. We did an upside-down ladder speed workout this past Tuesday (2 miles, 1 1/2 miles, 1 mile, 1/2 mile and 1/4 mile with a 1/2 mile recovery in between each) I did our mid-week long run on Wednesday but ended up doing the last 6 miles or so by myself.

We had a few more people join the Zambia June '06 group we have going and everyone is getting stoked to get our adventures underway. There seems to be a diverse group of people from all over the country going with us. Just a few more months and we'll be there.