Dry Run

I did my dry run today -- 2.5 miles of walking followed by 1.6 miles of marching. I took along two 2.5 lb weights to simulate the cymbals and carried them the whole way. It was about 35 degrees the whole time and not rainy (but it was windy for a good part of it). Unfortunately, I forgot the CD I made of all the music and cadences.

I learned that:

1. I need to include some cymbal flashes, particularly in the cadence, just to stretch out my arms. Those things are going to get heavy!
2. I'm really looking forward to the silk longjohns coming in the mail, too. My legs were cold but my core was toasty warm.
3. Marching a 28" step at 142 bpm is completetly unreasonable. Review Astro's comments in my previous post.
4. I really hope each cymbal doesn't weigh more than 2.5lb. I've been having trouble getting a pair to practice with.
5. It's really pretty when egrets fly overhead.

Horns up!

I finally got all the music downloaded and copied onto a CD. It was painful because I had to convert a MIDI to mp3, and then put that piece between all the other pieces since it was the cadence. It's all done now, though, and ready for me to walk to.

Oh, and I also purchased myself a complete set of silk longjohns (even the sock liners) and three new t-shirts. Because I'm getting into the spirit and all, you know.

Tonight I'm supposed to do a 15-minute mile. Tomorrow is the big "dry run" day. I hope it's cold and rainy. I figure that if I train for the worst I can only be pleasantly surprised come I-day.

The National Weather Service has helpfully provided a fact sheet on Inauguration Day weather history. Let's just hope it's not like Reagan's second inauguration where they actually cancelled the parade and held everything else inside. That would be a big downer.