Greetings, friends of the internet tubes! Did you know today’s date is a palindrome? It’s 11.02.2011. Neato, right? I enjoy patterns in numbers (one of the many things that “earns” me points on the spectrum test, but also something that makes it very easy for me to remember passwords, telephone numbers, and such).

I thought I’d pop over here for a couple of updates today:

1. Mister Egon came home from the hospital yesterday! After a long day teaching and holding student conferences, I headed straight over to the AU Vet School hospital (best place around; excellent care) to pick him up. They went over his treatment and recovery with me and I learned that I’d need to keep him on strict crate rest for the next four weeks. He used to be crated sometimes when he was little, to help with house training, and he used to sleep in the crate at night. I’m hoping he and I both remember how that works! He was never a big fan of the crate, but he’s going to have to become one for now.

He’s only allowed to go out for bathroom breaks, and what I’ve been doing (W’s good idea) is carry the crate out to the grass and let him out there, on the leash, where he can do his business and get right back in the crate. As W said, right now, for Egon, an inch is like a mile, so we’re minimizing the inches he has to go. His walk right now is very pathetic and drunk looking. He’s able to get around, but he stumbles and falls pretty often and can’t quite get those back legs moving normally yet. It’s just day two at home now, though, so I am looking to see lots of improvement while he continues to rest, and then hopefully he’ll gradually get moving more and more afterwards. It just kills me though, watching him walk. I had thought to make a little video of it, but I seriously don’t want to make y’all cry.

Despite the hard parts, I am just SO happy and relieved to have him back home again. I can sit by the crate with the door open and pet him and stuff, and we have even tried putting the crate on the couch with us while watching TV and hanging out. He’s happy to be back in his familiar surroundings again (even if he’s not allowed to explore them yet). He’s cutely wagging his tail all the time, eating and drinking with his normal appetite, and I can tell he is in good spirits. Big thank you to everyone for all your sweet comments and good thoughts for the little dude.

2. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Savannah Half Marathon is coming up on Saturday! B. and I will be leaving town on Friday and spending the weekend there. I am super excited to have a fun trip to a city I love (here’s my post and pics from our trip there in March — it was fabulous!) and to run another race with a friend. We are going to have a great time no matter what.

As far as my plans and goals for the race, I’ve been saying all year I wanted to run a sub-2:00 half marathon this year, and I was hoping to meet that goal in Savannah. Speed has been harder to come by than I thought. I can easily keep my long runs around a 9:30 pace, but I’ll need a 9:09 average pace to meet my sub-2:00 goal. Race-day “magic” and adrenaline can only shave off so much time, so I’m not really sure now how feasible that is. If the course is really as flat as I think it is, and the weather stays cool, it could be a possibility. Right now the temps for Saturday are predicted to be a low of 50 and a high of 63, which is about 10 degrees warmer than I’d prefer, but I can deal. I’m going to focus on a few different possible goals, though:

A+ Goal: 1:59:59.
A Goal: 2:04:59.
B Goal: a new PR at 2:07:06
C Goal: 2:09:59
D Goal: Finish without injury!

My other goals for the trip include the following: Enjoy a carb-tastic dinner the night before and do a glam pre-race pedicure in the hotel room (for fast, fashionable feet). Pop a bottle of champange after the race to share with B. Eat a fabulous post-race dinner somewhere fun, and have a couple of fancy cocktails. Enjoy the beautiful sights of Savannah, take lots of pictures, and buy a couple of postcards. Have a blast with B. Relax and enjoy the post-race glow that results from setting goals, working hard, training consistently, and feeling good — no matter what the time on the clock might be!

3. NaBloPoMo: If you don’t know, November is National Blog Posting Month (among other things), and it’s a time when many bloggers pledge to post every day for the entire month. I missed yesterday, November 1st. Nonetheless, I’d like to make a pledge to post more often this month. I am going to shoot for posting three times a week for the month, which will hopefully get me in the habit of tellin’ mah stories here instead of spoiling them all on Twitter in the 140-character Readers’ Digest versions. So I hope to see you all around here more often in the coming month!