Stuck Between Stations

I admit it, I've been slacking off. No excuses.

So I'm nearly two weeks away from the Chicago Marathon. My back's doing a lot better than it was a few weekends ago, but I'm still a little sore. I was especially bummed last Sunday when my planned 20-mile run didn't happen because it was just pouring out. I made it about a mile out when the skies opened up and I was soaked to the bone. Unfortunately, I had a tight window to run in and of course, three hours later, the sun came out. I got up early on Monday morning and managed to get 12 in before work, which is better than nothing, I guess. My training plan had me doing four 20-milers, but I've only done one: one of the weeks I was in Florida and only did 10, another week was the day I hurt my back and I did 18, and last week I did 12. I'm planning to do 15 this weekend just to get another quality long run in.

Gimme a C, a bouncy C:

• Hockey's back! We had our fantasy hockey draft Sunday night. I had to phone in my picks for the first 45 minutes or so, but I think I've got a decent squad. The first games of the season were last night, and the Leafs were terrible, losing 4-1 to Ottawa. Tonight was the second in the home-and-home series between the two teams, and of course, Toronto absolutely shellacked the Sens 6-0. It was like night and day. The Leafs have a lot of rookies in the lineup this year, so things will be interesting. Hopefully they'll gain some confidence from tonight's game.
• The Jays managed to finish second in the AL East, a game ahead of the Red Sox. It's the first time since Toronto's back to back World Series wins in '92 and '93 that they've finished higher than third. The Yankees look scary in the playoffs with that 1-9 murderers' row they've got (although they lost today), but I'm going to root for the Mets because Carlos Delgado's playing for them. In his first playoff game ever last night, he went 4-5 with a homer.
• What a strange turn of events in Congress with the whole Mark Foley page scandal. A similar scandal took place 23 years ago, when one of the parties involved was a congressman from Massachusetts. I'd like to say it's shocking, but it's really not. Just sad.
• Lance Armstrong's gearing up to run the New York Marathon. He hasn't been doing a lot of long runs, but I have a feeling he'll do fine.
• Usually, I'm suspicious of massive hype about bands. The new Hold Steady album, Boys and Girls in America, has been getting serious praise from all comers (Pitchfork, the NY Times, et al). But damn if it isn't an amazing piece of work. Frontman Craig Finn continues his boozy chronicling of partying youth, backed by a younger version of the E Street Band. I also was psyched to get Sloan's Never Hear the End of It in the mail this week; it's a tremendous, 30-song power pop opus that features contributions from all four band songwriters. It's a crime that these guys don't even have a record deal in the U.S. right now.