Monday, 7/13/2015 to Friday, 7/17/2015

I ran twice in these 5 days, 20.2 miles.

Monday, 7/13/2015: Rest day after running the Boilermaker the day before.

Tuesday, 7/14/2015: 9 miles (estimated), 1:15:00 (estimated), 8:10 pace (estimated), 73F, 84% RH, calm, partly sunny.

Garmin Connect Activity for No time to taper

It was Tuesday. I run on Tuesdays so I got off the couch, got dressed, got geared up with a 20 ounce water bottle and got out there. My Garmin died at the mile 5.36 mark so I got my estimated mileage, time and pace off of my eCrumb that I sent to Christine. I changed my 15K route at bit to make it more towards 10 miles by continuing all the way on Dewey Ave until Beach Ave instead on continuing right onto Beach Ave but it turned up to be just as long when I mapped it on MapMyRun. I got it done and it felt good ... nuff said.

Wednesday, 7/15/2015: Getting and putting stuff together day

I was in acquistion mode after work. I had researched Weber charcoal grills and patio furniture at Lowes, Home Depot, Target and Walmart during the day. So I went to Lowes and bought a Weber 22" Premium charcoal grill. I used the 10% off Lowes card that I got in my USPS moving kit on its last day ... nice! Then I headed to Walmart to look at their patio furniture. I snapped up the Mainstays Warner Heights 5 piece Patio Dining set when I saw that it was 50% off ... boom! It was a bit of a challenge getting the three boxes (1 for the Weber and 2 for the Patio Dining set) to fit in the Equinox but I managed.

I went home and parked the Equinox close to the back of our townhouse. Then I changed my clothes and went into assembly mode. I tackled the Weber first. I cursed the picturegram instructions a few times when they weren't clear but I got it together. Next I tackled the 4 chairs. They went together very easily with just four screws per chair and then clipped on the cushions. Last was the patio table. I had a bit of difficultly because it was a big table and I was fighting both dusk and mosquitoes. A nice touch was that Mainstays includes the hex driver and wrench. Christine came out to help a bit and to lend support. Later I found out that Christine attracted all of the mosquitoes ... she got 8 bites! I found that the rubber foot of one of the patio table legs was missing so I will have to contact Mainstays. But I got all three items together by 8:45PM ... cutting it kind of close for daylight in mid-July!

Thursday, 7/16/2015: 11.2 miles, 1:33:11, 8:19 pace, 70F, 46% RH, 8 mph ENE wind, partly sunny.

Garmin Connect Activity for Out and back for 11.2 miles on Edgemere

I helped Christine with household chores around the townhouse for a hour but it was Thursday. I run on Thursday so I ran. I needed to get one last long run before the Shoreline Half Marathon on Saturday so I got dressed, geared up with my usual 20 ounce hand bottle and got out there. I just headed out to Edgemere Drive for 5.6 miles and turned around. I found out that the Greece DPW is working on a bridge out that way which constricted the bridge to one lane with a stoplight ... joy! Don't they know that this road is a major running and biking route? Anyway, I took it nice and steady. I felt good and took my water on the run ... nice! I probably could have used a HammerGel but didn't. My splits were: 8:13, 8:15, 8:13, 8:19, 8:12, 8:23, 8:29, 8:33, 8:16 and 8:02 over the last 0.2 miles.

Christine had warmed up the Weber while I was out and soon cooked up some hamburgs for our late supper. Mmm ... tasty!

Friday, 7/17/2015: Rest day.

I should have laid out my clothes and gear for the next day but didn't. Christine and I went to bed early and struggled to get to sleep. Sleep finally came around midnight. My wakeup alarm was set for 6AM.