Our most important recent news is that we now have a niece!  Maggie's sister Susanne gave birth on Friday to a healthy baby girl named Claire.  So far, mother and daughter are doing fine.

 

As for our baby girl, there are some new pictures of Jillian on her website.  Please check them out.

 

And then as for me, I did successfully reach 200 miles for the month of March.  I completed a 21 mile run on Saturday which put me to 201.2 miles total.  This was actually a very good run.  I felt very strong at the end.  In fact, Mile 21 was my fastest mile of that run by a good amount.  I'm amazed I finished that fast, but I'll take it.  Hopefully things will go well for me in my next marathon, on May 4 in Eugene Orgeon. 

 

My Final Four picks?  Meh.  As I wrote a week and a half ago, I didn't feel strong about the Georgetown and Texas picks.  Well, it turns out I shouldn't have stuck with them.  I got two Final Four teams correct (UCLA and UNC), but who didn't get those two right?  Nothing to brag about here.

 

I'm off to Las Vegas tomorrow for work.  If I don't write for a while, it's because I hit it big and have moved to a tropical island somewhere.  But since I probably will be too busy to spend much time gambling, I really doubt that'll happen.  And thus you can expect another post before too long...

The 2008 NCAA basketball tournament will tip-off in less than 2 hours, so I guess it's time for me to get my picks in.  I've done fairly well the last couple years, getting 3 Final Four teams right each of the last two years.  Last year, I picked Florida, Georgetown, UCLA and Texas A&M (instead of Ohio State).  Two years ago, I had Florida, UCLA, LSU and UConn (instead of George Mason).  But I still have never gotten all four correct.  Could this be the year?  Well, probably not.

 

I spent less time making my picks than usual.  I'm not sure why.  I really just went with gut feel.  And unfortunately, that made my picks very boring.  Most of the so-called experts have chosen their Final Four from among the same 7 or 8 teams, and my picks fall right in the line with that.  My Final Four picks are North Carolina, UCLA, Texas and Georgetown.  I'm not crazy about the Georgetown pick because I really like Kansas.  But that would have made three one-seeds, and I just didn't want to do that.  Actually, I'm not too crazy about the Texas pick either, but I'm buying into the hype that Memphis is due to lose. 

 

So if I do get all four correct, so will a zillion other people.  But more likely, some team will come from nowhere and surprise everyone.  Teams that nobody seems to like for the Final Four, and I would have picked if I had any guts: Pittsburgh, Wisconsin, UConn, and... well, I have a hard time seeing anybody other than UNC make it from their bracket.  But upsets do happen, so who knows. 

 

I guess we'll find out in a couple of weeks...

First, I would finally like to announce that I put picture of Jillian from February up on her website.  Yeah, I'm a little late for that, eh?  Oh well.  Hopefully I will be able to do this a little more regularly in the future.

 

In other news, I ran a 20k race this past weekend in Newark.  It was a very simple race.  There were no frills whatsoever.  Nothing but water at the aid stations, nothing but a crummy T-shirt in terms of schwag, barely any food at the finish, not much crowd support, etc.  Plus, it was a rather chilly and windy day, so it certainly wasn't anything to write home about. 

 

But still, for what it was, it was an okay race.  I enjoyed myself, and I guess that's what matters most.  It also helps that I got a new PR.  I finished in 1:41:28, which is 54 seconds than my time from New Haven last September.  I'm pleased with this, but I know I can do better.  Well, I'll be able to try again this in New Haven this coming September...

I have decided that in order to make improvements in my marathon times, I need to run more miles.  So my goal for March is to run more miles than I have in any previous calendar month.  My high so far was set last March, when I did 186.6.  It helped that last March included 5 weekends (and thus 5 long runs).  And this March does as well. 

 

I have signed up for a couple of upcoming races: A 20k in Newark this weekend (March 9) and a Half Marathon in Danbury CT on April 6.  I am also thinking about doing a 10k in Millburn NJ on March 16.  Doing these races might limit the amount of miles I can do on the weekends, but I hope I can compensate with some longer runs during the week, or some other very slow and easy runs before or after those races on the weekends.  Initially, I was hoping for a shot at a 200-mile month, but I think that might be a little bit of a stretch.

 

Keep checking in here to watch my progress towards a new personal high month.  My running log is available thru the link at the left.  And I will report on the results of the races after they occur.  Hopefully this will all work out...