Finally felt good enough to run this morning. I pushed a little harder, as if I were making up for lost ground. Result was 8.86 minute miles.

I attribute today’s mild weight gain to my eating habits while sick. No point in beating up what tastebuds I had left while I’m sick, eh? It’s back to bran and yogurt this morning, though.

Got some vid from Cinco de Mayo. Only had a cell phone, though, so the quality is pretty poor. Here you go…

Been taken out by some bugs lately. Ran those sprints the other day and later that day started sneezing, getting sore skin, etc. Plus, oddly, my muscles were super sore from the sprints. That hasn’t happened before,  but my quads are still sore today. Weird.

I’m feeling about 85%-90% today, but still didn’t run. Seemed wise to try to sleep in a bit. I plan on hitting sprints again tomorrow morning.

Ran sprints for the first time since getting back from Orlando. Went very well. I had been getting this weird feeling in my left quad when I ran…felt kinda like the start of a strained muscle. Never felt that today. By the sixth rep my legs were definitely starting to get tired though.

Not sure what’s up with bodyfat today. It’s way up…maybe I haven’t been drinking enough water? It’s kind of sad how little I know about how my own body works.

Upgraded the blog software, but inadvertently deleted the themes folder so I’m back to the standard theme. Oh well. I was getting tired of the other one anyway. Time to start looking around for something new.

Ran the 3.2 loop this morning, without Frodo. I ran a 8.91 minute mile pace, which I’m pretty pleased with. It hurt, though. There’s a hilly section right before the second mile marker that just slows me down and sucks away all my energy.

Didn’t run a single step while in Orlando last week. Today was the first day back at it, so I ran the 1.5 mile loop. Took Frodo, which reminded me why I don’t take Frodo. It was a stretch getting him to even go the 9.33 minute pace we ended up with. He’s not much of a runner, I guess.

I’m at Walt Disney World in Orlando and I’m underwhelmed. Where shall I start?

• I’m here for a conference. It sucks to be alone in a place made for families.
• I screwed up my hotel reservation and flight info. I flew in the day before my reservation. The “cast member” at the airport was cool and got me into my room early.
• “Cast members.” Come on.
• The hotel shuttle isn’t called a shuttle. It’s called The Disney Magical Express. Not “magical express” or “express.” The Disney Magical Express. The “cast member” who directed me to The Disney Magical Express said the whole phrase several times: Me: “Is this the hotel shuttle?” Him: “Well, this is The Disney Magical Express.” Me: “Does it shuttle me to my hotel?” Him: “Well, yes, The Disney Magical Express will take you to your hotel if you have a reservation.” Me: “Thanks.” Him: “Enjoy The Disney Magical Express!”
• They’re totally serious when they say it’ll take 3 hours to get your luggage to your room. Exactly 3 hours.
• Two messages on the hotel phone. One intelligible, the other not so much. I thought it was the front desk telling me to come get my luggage. I went to the front desk where I had another barely intelligible conversation with a very nice lady who could tell me that they didn’t have my luggage. And why do I ask, am I missing some? I tell her, I don’t know if I’m missing some. If you don’t have my luggage, then it’s quite possible that I am missing some luggage. We go around a little bit until she finally calls and listens to my voicemail and tells me that it’s a message about turning off the power at three am. That was the intelligible message. She never listened to the second one, which when I listened to it again, sounded kinda like it was for the previous occupants of my room. Who had kids. They left some drawings here. Anyway, the luggage showed up in my room about 45 minutes later. Whew, I’m not missing any luggage.
• Not much food today: Black Tiger Mocha from Coffee People in the Portland Airport at 5am. Also a donut that I didn’t finish. Three bottles of water. Two chocolate chip cookies in Houston. Another bottle of water, a beer and a can of Pringles in my hotel room when I wasn’t patient enough to wait in a massive food line full of screaming kids. No room service available here. I’m planning on going running in the morning if I have any energy left by then. Early breakfast, though. Oh yes.
• A curtain serves as my bathroom door. Charming.
• Tomorrow I will sit in the sun with my iPod and grade papers until it’s time to go meet/greet other conference attendees in the evening.

Today’s run felt tough. I kept a 9.49 pace, but it seemed really labored. Sometimes it’s like that I guess. I came home, collapsed on the couch and fell asleep!