First Betty, Now Volcanic Ash?

Last year, my bid to run the London Marathon was thwarted by Betty, my injured adductor brevis who needed three months of rehab and lots of TLC. This year, my bid is threatened by clouds of volcanic ash that are grounding every plane that wishes to fly into or out of Heathrow. If air traffic is permitted to resume, I will fly out at 9 Wednesday evening and I will run the London Marathon. The message seems to change hour by hour from the weatherman on CNN, but at this minute it seems that Heathrow is still closed, but planes from Europe and some from JFK to Europe are starting to go as long as they stay above 20,000 feet. Maybe another 36 hours will change things in my favor, though there seems to have been another eruption and another cloud forming…

I have a back-up plan if the volcanic ash really does prevent me from getting to London. This weekend, I will go to Pennsylvania with Husband and watch the London Marathon streamng live on UniversalSports.com like I have for the past two years; I will run 8 miles on Saturday and 4 miles on Sunday. Then, I will run the New Jersey Marathon on May 2nd, extending my taper by a week. No reason to let all my fine training end up on a road to nowhere.

In the meantime, though, I am sticking to the scheule for the last week of taper. I ran a measley 3 miles this morning, picking out a new route this morning which took me in a large loop around the south side of my neighborhood, and then up along the back edges of the north side. The air was cool and refreshing, the early morning light soft and flattering on the industrial angles of the BQE and Barnett Avenue. Once again, the birds were singing to me, and I passed about 5 other ladies all out for a morning jog. I was peaceful and relaxe; there was very little correction I had to make to my form. 3.16 miles ran in 28:42. Average pace 9:05; slowest mile 9:46 (the first); fastest mile 8:35 (the last).