Are you ready for some football!?!?!?

I am a huge Notre Dame football fan, and I am pumped up about tomorrow's game and the 2006 season. Of course being a pessimist, I can't predict the same level of greatness that others are predicting for the Irish this year. I still remember when Ty Willingham started out 8-0 in his first season as the Notre Dame coach before settling down to a level that could best be described as mediocre. Charlie Weis will have to throw together a couple of great seasons before I'm ready to go along with the genius title that the experts are giving him.

Fortunately, other than Notre Dame games, I'm at best a modest football fan. I watch the Irish and other big games when they're on, but I don't park myself in front of the television for 16 straight hours on Saturday and Sunday, which means that I should be able to watch the football games I'm interested in and still get in all my scheduled runs.

Today I ran 15 miles. I ran pretty easy for the first 8 miles and then started to pick it up a little bit. I didn't really plan to start going faster; it just sort of happened. I tend to push the effort a bit when I run into the wind. I just continued to push when I turned and the wind was at my side and then at my back. I also ran mile 13 at goal half marathon pace (6:29). I started toying with the idea around mile 10 and eventually talked myself into it. Around the 13.5 mile mark, it seemed like a real bad idea. I did finish the mile at goal pace and then cruised on home. According to Garmin, I ran the first 8 miles at 7:52 pace and finished at 7:40 pace. My overall time was 1:54:56.