The spousal unit and I watched the world track and field championships last night on the tee vee. We were both studying the bodies of the women runners, although I'm thinking his motivation was probably a tad different than mine.

.:cough:.

I noticed that the sprinters had seriously bulked out their thighs and upper bodies. Obviously these women had slung some major metal around in the gym. The distance runners had the long, slender legs I remembered from past meets, but I noticed that they, too, had really built up their arms and shoulders, and every one of them had six pack abs.

One of the commentators for the distance race explained it this way: the legs move you, but it's your arms and shoulders that power you.

My reaction to that little nugget of knowledge was, to quote Scooby Do, "Ar-roooo?"

Today I completely re-worked my gym work out. To build stamina, I'm doing 45 minutes of cardio on the elliptical cross-trainer set at aerobic cross-training, level 11. At this moment I can cover 3.6 miles. I hope to get that over 4 miles so when race day comes, running 3 miles/5K over level terrain will be a mere walk in the park.

I've completely refocused my weight training to emphasize shoulders, arms, back and core (torso to you non-gym rats). I can't build the sort of body those runners had in the six weeks or so I have until the Jog for the Jugs, but I can definitely tilt my body more in the direction of theirs.

I would really, really, really like to be able to cover 5K in under 25 minutes. I know that for you zygotes that is a laughable time. Most of you could pull that off with minimal training. But for me, this would be a personal best.

Oh, crap, who am I kidding? Just running 5K/3 miles is basically a personal best for me. I couldn't do it at all until last week.

Will I be able to meet my 25 minute goal? I have no idea. Still, even if I don't, one thing I've learned from looking at those women runners--running and bodacious buttal regions seem to go hand in hand.

We can always use a little extra bodaciousness in our lives, eh?

--Marn

P.S.--Three new inductees into the Bazonga Boosters Hall o' Fame, folks who have decided to spend some of their hard-earned buckazoids supporting the Jog for the Jugs Oct. 5 in Montreal. Yep,

Mileage on the Marnometer: 393.23 miles (632.8 kilometers)

Goal for 2003: 500 miles - 804.5 kilometers