For a week or so I'll 'dual post' here and on 'Posterous' under Run University and in that time hopefully we'll gt a link up to the new blog from the Run U website. You can also subscribe to the blog at Posterous, if n you want. Okay, lots of ground to cover and I'll probably have to do it in 2 or 3 blogs - news first: FLASH! The Ruben Studdard Celebration Weekend including the Ruben Studdard Birmingham Marathon & Half Marathon (and Saturday's 5K) is ON! Finally some movement - on the event itself and from Ruben. Let's be clear...I did not name it! We ran the course by the city and they okay'd the 5K but apparently they anticipate trouble from the state cause part of the 'full' is on 1st Ave N AKA a state Hwy...*sigh*, such a great course. I hope we can work it out. We will host a training program, it'll work much like we do in the Fall for Vulcan & Mercedes (in fact, we'll continue that program as well) so be on the lookout for details - We'll offer a 'Couch to Half program, much like the Fall's and a Running 102 program for those a little more advanced. There will also be a Marathon training program - but people will need to be able to run 10 miles comfortably to participate. Will I charge for this? Yeah! It's a lot of work! Ruben will join us on occasion and we WILL have group runs everywhere, including 1 each week in Shelby County (probably alternate weekly a morning and evening run). We'll also 'feed' into some other races especially Vulcan & Mercedes - I believe Birmingham can support 2 quality events and I guess we're about to find out. More later on my 'Runs with Ruben' - sounds like a Reality TV show....I've had some good runs this week, hot...but good. I prefer heat to cold, I really do. Not for 20 + miles, but for anything under 15 I'm okay with it. I had one of those runs Friday morning...it was great! I started before 6 and ran how I felt. In my mind at one point running down hill I was Prefontaine, uptempo gait, perfect form then I morphed right into a schooner just cruising down the street feeling fast whether I was or not. In the end though I was very much the lead dog mushing up that last hill, pulling the sled (or so it felt) up the hill. When I finished it was one of those, "Whoo!" Catch your breath, kind of look around and inside my mind, "Dang! That was fun!"