Grape Juice

Daily Quote: "I'm sure you've heard that red wine may be good for your heart. This may be true, but you can receive essentially the same benefits from drinking unfermented wine, i.e., grape juice. Substances such as flavonoids in grapes help dilate your arteries and keep them flexible, improve blood flow, and reduce the likelihood of blood clots. These substances also help keep cholesterol in your bloodstream from ending up in your arteries." --Dean Ornish, from his excellent book, "The Spectrum."

I've been drinking grape juice daily for several years now, but I'm happy to say that my wife, Suzie, has now been drinking grape juice regularly since her surgery. I believe that the surgery was my wife's wake up call and she has been eating somewhat healthier and is starting to walk during her work's lunch breaks. I'm so proud of her!

My running mileage during March has been building steadily, although I feel like I'm playing catch-up since my knee injury. Only 24 more days until the "Labor of Love 50k" race and feel that I'm not 100% ready. Nevertheless, since I'll be treating my first ultra-marathon as a learning experience with no time goals I should manage with whatever weekly mileage I can achieve.

Today is a Medium-Long Run and will add two more miles from last week's 11 miler. The winds have somewhat died down (yesterday Vegas had 45 mph gusts, which forced me back on the treadmill) and will be returning to the roads, hopefully my allergy won't get worse.

8:00 a.m. Medium Long Run. 13 miles. Time, 2:02. Overall pace, 9:14 minute miles. Out and back on Torrey Pines Road that partially traverses last year's Las Vegas Marathon route. Partly Cloudy, 55-63 degrees, winds north at 15 mph with 25 mph gusts. Average heart rate, 144 bpm. Cardiac drift, 153 bpm. (Note: my maximum heart rate is 190 bpm.) My heart rate drifted to 153 bpm when I climbed the overhead pass over HWY 95. My right ankle is a bit sore, overall my body did well. My nose ran faster than I did!! I took another Benadryl pill and hope that my allergy symptoms gets better.

I need to stop at the library and return some CD's and books before I start work. The library is my favorite place and wish I could spend more time there. So much to do and so little time!