The strangest thing has been happening these days... I am actually increasing my running speed. This has never happened before and I have no idea how it is happening now, but I am pretty pleased with myself, though I don't want to tempt fate by actually voicing this opinion. Today I ran my usual loop (3.35 miles around the neighborhood) and I did it a whole minute faster than I had done it on Friday. Now, not that there isn't a huge amount of room for improvement, but a minute is a long time when you are running! It worked out to doing 12:09 miles -- this is the fastest I have ever gone on my own two feet. I am going to stay at this particular distance for awhile longer so that I don't get injured.

The school year is winding down -- I know, you on the east coast are saying, what?? Winding down?? Yup. School ends for the year on 22 May. That, in case you are wondering, is way too soon for me. The guys are doing well though and are enjoying school. They have told me that they are tired of getting up so early in the morning. I don't wake them up -- they wake up because their window faces east and the sun is streaming in by about 5:15am these days. I wish they would sleep later.

May is going to be a very busy month. The first weekend in May is Benjamin's First Communion. He is pretty excited about it, but is trying to be cool. He has insisted on keeping his mohawk for this event, and I bought some new stuff for him so that it would stay straight up. The second weekend in May, Brigid and I are going to her best friend's wedding in Colorado. My primary purpose is to see my college roommate while I am there. The third weekend of May, I have a race in Tempe. It is olympic distance and I hope it goes well. The fourth weekend in May, we (Andy and I) are going home to Maryland for my parents' 40th anniversary dinner. Andy has been very homesick, so I decided to take him along. He doesn't know about this -- it is a big surprise for him. The fifth weekend of May, I have an olympic distance race in Show Low, Arizona. This should be fun -- or at least sort of fun, but I may be completely exhausted by the month.