Since you'all are wondering about swimming, I thought I would post a sample workout.
warm up- 6X75 w/ :20 rest
main set- 2X200 :20 rest
100 moderate :20 rest
2X200 :25
100 mod :25
2X300 :30
100 mod
cool down- 6X75(50 free, 25 back), :20
I ran out of time since I had to talk
to the school's old cross country coach about where to run hill repeats around here. The hills I knew about are either too far away, too short for the repeat, or way too steep. He did have a good suggestion so I'll be trying it out on Weds. Anyway, I only did 4 of the 6 cool down 75s and I did it continuous with no rest. It took me 54 minutes to swim 2450 yds in this manner. I only started swimming after a couple year break after the WDW Marathon so this was my 7th session back in the water. It was a little disconcerting to be happy holding 3:40 for a 200 when I used to be able to hold 2:40. The stroke mechanics/efficiency will come back pretty quick but it will take quite a while to rebuild the upper body muscle mass I've lost by not using it. I know, Sunny, WL, right?
Sunny- WTG, you're going to turn into our regular speed demon
Cam- that's what APs are for; use it, use it, use it. I'm hoping for a Tampa DING since I got hosed on the airfare coming back from the St Anthony's race. Too bad I'm a mac user and can't set DING up.
Helen- I hear you about avoiding the open water swim. My training plan from my coach lists an open water swim every other week starting the 25th of Mar. Yeah, right. Admittingly, fresh water warms up quicker than the ocean(late summer temps in the 60s up here) but I really would prefer for the snow and ice to be completely off. I figure my real first open water swim of the year will occur on Apr 30th in Tampa Bay. BTW, we have sharks here too. I didn't know that until last fall when I was trying to get some military paperwork done and one of the SGTs had pictures of shark fishing in his office. It rather surprised me that they were taken just off shore up here.
Christa- yeah accountability. I do that too.
TiffJ- yes, swimming gets easier but you might be surprised at how much a few lessons can help. Getting out of breath doing a 50 is a sign of technique issues rather than your fitness level cuz you've got the cardio from running.
Judy- I didn't think any of the hills were bad either. But I also did almost all of my long runs on at least partially rolling terrain.
Paul- yep, sounds like you've got a plan to me. halhigdon.com has training plans for doing multiple marathons in a year that you might want to take a look at.
Dave- Get that grant proposal written! Right now! Yuck, that's why I'm in medical school and not a PhD. I had enough with doing my MS thesis. Good job keeping your family involved. BTW, just do it. Sign up for the race and make the commitment. It is amazingly motivating when you are flagging to know that you have x,y, or z coming.
Welcome to the new people! Fresh blood, yeah
Keep working hard everyone and stay(or get) healthy.
I'm glad you got DINGed till it worked.
I worry about this Contemporary hill I keep hearing about.
Holy cow, this thing IS creepy!
Glad to see someone else out there spells our name right 
I think I finally feel comfortable with the 2 min running intervals. I've actually started running through them because I wasn't dying by the end. Soooo...I'm going to start stretching until I can work up to a W3/R3. Maybe I'll be doing R3/W2 in time for the Minnie! 
And it's an even better reason to come back to WDW for 2007...nothing with large teeth on the course 
for the pain. That's gotta be frustrating...you've been fighting this thing for awhile now.
Personally, it's my heels that are scary! I don't even remember Contemporary Hill so it must not have been that bad. 
I absolutely would not have been able to do the half without DH's support 
