Enduring - aka A Long Ways to Go

Right-o. I was looking at my past race stats that I have accomplished and determined that I have a really, really, really, long ways to go to get my pace time down to what I was running two years ago.
1st 5k (and first ever race): ~27min (i.e. 8:39pace)
2nd 5k: ~23min (7:22)
3rd race, 12k: ~59min (7:53)
I'm not fast. By any means. My marathon time that year was 4:56, a pace of 11:30.
Why am I divulging this information? (besides the fact that divulging is fun to say?)
Because as it currently stands, my 5k time right now is ~28min (8:58) and I want to run a 4 hour (9:09) marathon in less than 3 months. 82 days to be precise.
Yeesh. Better get moving. Literally.

Educational Section:
Enduring is a nasty word. It means suffering patiently or remaining in existence. How very depressing. But! (there is always a but in this blog) It is similar to word such as: continuing, persisting, constant, stable, steady, steadfast, fixed, unwavering, unfaltering... (Thank you dictionary app)
Now are those some words that you would like to be known by? I know I would.

What makes a Nathan:
It's time, to introduce you to my lil' friend.
"Will the usher's be so kind as to lower the lights?"
"Those of you with weak electronic and mathematical skills may wish to close their eyes."
(Get to the point already...)
"Ladies and Gentlemen, my right hand, the 'heavy weight' champion, the Ti-84 Plus."
I've had this thing since my freshman year of high school, and I still don't know everything that it does. I know that I can solve equations that people with those newer fandangled Ti-89's can't. (Clever manipulation of graphs) It's flat out amazing.


...silence falls upon the crowd... What is this appearing in the opposite corner???

"Someone to challenge the title???"
"This is going to be an epic fight"

This is my new Ti-36X Pro. With all of those extra letters, it must be amazing, right?
Bottom line: It is. I'm contemplating cutting off my right hand for this thing; this newer, slimmer, faster, fewer menu'd, solar powered thing of beauty.
Why? It does nearly everything that I used the 84 for and more. (except graph) We're talking integrals, derivatives, solving polynomials, matrices, and more! Plus its allowed on the FE. And smaller so I can take it to work if need be.

We'll see how this battle turns out. The last week the 36 has been pretty impressive.

(Hey, I'm an engineer. I can love my calculators)

Last word: why am I writing in my blog when I'm so busy? I had 20min before my personal hw cut off time which isn't enough to start anything. When is there any better time to blog?