And now, for some culture, for all you heathens out there.

An Irish Airman Foresees His Death

I know that I shall meet my fate
Somewhere among the clouds above;
Those that I fight I do not hate
Those that I guard I do not love;
My country is Kiltartan Cross,
My countrymen Kiltartan’s poor,
No likely end could bring them loss
Or leave them happier than before.
Nor law, nor duty bade me fight,
Nor public man, nor cheering crowds,
A lonely impulse of delight
Drove to this tumult in the clouds;
I balanced all, brought all to mind,
The years to come seemed waste of breath,
A waste of breath the years behind
In balance with this life, this death.

W.B. Yeats

Consider yourself educated.

The running has been going well. I ran a hard 3.3 last night, 8:22 pace and capped it with an easy 5 this morning. This morning was a rough one. It took me a good 3 miles to get into a groove. I had some tightness in the side as well but it eventually disappeared. I ran a total of 25 miles last week which is a decent chunk. I'd have to go and look at my log but I'd venture to guess that last week was the biggest volume week I've had in a very long time.

Tomorrow I'd like to hump out an easy 6 or 7. I have a weekend off coming up for the Holiday and I think I am going to officially kick off the marathon training with a longish run. I've capped out at 7 miles so far but I have a good base of fitness so making the leap into the longer miles shouldn't be too much of a stretch.

We start our "summer hours" program at the office next week which frees up my Friday afternoons for the remainder of the summer which offers up a great opportunity to do some good longer runs in the city.