Wow, Happy April!! Another month down! It is a little weird to celebrate April’s coming while shoveling off the sidewalk. But that is the joy of the Upper Midwest I guess!

March began with the tragic news that a Wisconsin Marathoner died after finishing the Little Rock Marathon. A few weeks later we finally learned what caused Ryan Shay to collapse and die during the Olympic Trials. Our hearts continue to go out to each family and their friends.

My training for the half-marathon continued in full swing. As part of that I joined the USATF-MN Chapter and ran my first race, breaking my goal time for the event (review). I also joined a USATF stretching study, which is hoping to make a concrete answer about pre-run stretching. I looked into more depth about the different ideas surrounding stretching and even launched a poll. I also talked about the importance of having a race strategy.

With the Olympics coming up I looked at the impact of smog and what athletes think about it. As a big advocate for the developing world I was very excited to learn about Meseret Defar’s support of the ONE Campaign and wearing their bracelet in the 3000m.

As the doldrums of winter continue here in Minnesota, I lamented about having to run on the roads all the time. My love of trail running was piqued this weekend again. I closed the month out with a look at the push-up, a powerful exercise, I never do!

Monthly Mileage – I ran 145.7 miles in March up 17% from February. My YTD total is 348.7. This puts me on track to run about 1400 miles for the year (assuming everything stays healthy!)

[tags] Highlights [/tags]