Sunday, 10/23/11 to Saturday, 10/29/11

I ran 4 times this week, 28.9 miles.

Sunday, 10/23/11: 15.5 miles, 3:00:07, 11:38 pace, 57F, sunny, calm, stops for food and hydration, no pain.

Garmin Connect Activity for Mendon Ponds Park - BGBGB trails

I set my alarm for 6:45AM so I could head down to Mendon Ponds Park for the Fleet Feet - Saloman Endurance Team hosting the final training run for the upcoming Dirt Cheap Stage Race. Well ... I turned off the alarm and went back to sleep.

After a nice pre-run stretch, I finally got up and out to Mendon Ponds Park around 12:30PM. I took Christine's Garmin with me, so I was sporting 2 Garmins! I wanted to make sure that it captured my run. I started off nice and easy, just motoring up and down the familiar Blue and Green trails. I didn't stop at all on the first lap ... nice! I walked and had a energy bar after the first lap. I started to run a few of the major hills on the second lap. I also walked and had another energy bar after the second lap. By this time I was a bit tired. I finished up with just a loop of the Blue trail for 15.5 miles. I called ahead so Christine had a lunch of a sandwich, carrots and celery waiting for me when I got home.

Later, we watched a DVR'd The Black Stallion with Mickey Rooney. Kind of nice that the final race was 2 miles so that "The Black" could catch 'em and win going away!

Monday, 10/24/11: Rest day.

A most definite rest day for me. Christine impressed me by heading off to Planet Fitness after supper for a "No-Bo" workout on the treadmill. I stayed home and moved my computers from her dining table to my smaller computer desk ... she wants to put plants there. Christine did have a bit of trouble getting to sleep with all the exercise endorphins coursing through her body!

Tuesday, 10/25/11: Rest day.

I felt a twinge in my right hip so I decided to run tomorrow instead. After a nice stretch Christine said I deserved a tunafish sandwich supper! We watched DVR'd episodes of Charlie's Angels, Greys Anatomy and Private Practice.

Wednesday, 10/26/11: 6.2 miles, 46F, cloudy, calm, a light mist, 1 stop at the turn, no pain.

Garmin Connect Activity for Genesee Valley Park - 5K west on the Canal Trail and back

The first 30 minutes or so on the Garmin are from a sweet and very productive aerobic workout that Christine and I did the day before that I forgot to upload before I started out.

Christine and I headed down to Genesee Valley Park for her "No-Bo" workout like usual. It was a Wednesday ... rainy like the past 2 Wednesdays. Christine was nervous, like usual before a workout. She was overdressed since I told her to dress like me instead of her. She is always warmer that I am. Her workout was impressive: 2 minutes walk, 5 minutes run times 5 with a walking warmup and cooldown. I am so proud of her! Mine was just a nice and easy run 5K west out on Canal Trail and back for 10K total.

We settled for heating up a frozen pizza for dinner while we watched a Redbox DVD that Christine got as a surprise. I only tried Thor on 2 of our DVD players before we settled down to watch it on my laptop.

Thursday, 9/27/11: Rest day.

Christine and I didn't do much ... we watched our DVR of Basic Instinct with Sharon Stone and went to bed.

Friday, 9/28/11: 4.1 miles, 31:01, 7:34 pace, 44F, dusk, calm, a couple of traffic stops, no pain.

Garmin Connect Activity for FF Backwards Happy Hour run

After a typically busy Friday at work, Christine and I headed down to Fleet Feet for the usual Happy Hour run - backwards since it was the last Friday of the month. Christine was not feeling up to par so she stayed behind. I ran off with Bill Beyerbach. We started out nice and easy ... which didn't last long knowing Bill and I. We picked it up after the hills on Cobbs Hill Drive with negative splits. We ran splits of 7:45, 7:53, 7:31, 7:16 and a final .1 of 6:17. Bill and I just seem to run well together!

Saturday, 9/29/11: 3.1 miles, 21:51,7:03 pace, 36F, cloudy, calm, no stops, no pain.

Christine and I headed down early to Riley Lodge at Cobbs Hill for her "No-Bo" workout and the Pumpkins in the Park 5K. It was chilly for sure! I hung out in the lodge looking at all various Halloween costumes and keeping warm while Christine was out doing her "No-Bo". She is doing quite well! She said that she felt good and had no pain.



I didn't shed my Brooks jacket before the race and regretted it on the climb up to the reservoir. Ellen said the race was "2 miles up and 1 mile down". She was right! My splits were: 6:57, 7:45, 6:34 and 5:00 over the last tenth. I put it into a full sprint over the last tenth as I saw a guy that I wanted to pass ... and did at the line ... sweet! I did OK, 45th out of 656, link here. I was 5th out of 27 in my M50-54 age group, link here. I did notice that I would have won the M55-59 age group.

Jim Roche and his "bicycle" costume

John and Holly

Heather in her bumble bee costume with a sharp stinger!

I was in full sprint ... my Garmin said 5:00 pace over the last tenth.

What we were all sprinting towards ... the finish line!

We stopped by IHOP for a nice post-race breakfast of omelots and coffee. The service and food was good but I was rather surprised at the price. Next time we will go to a Mom and Pop place like Uncle Danny just around the corner. Christine and I had a really sweet post-race stretch. We finally emerged in the late afternoon. Later, we watched a Redbox movie named Hanna. We ended up watching this DVD on my laptop again ... but this time I hooked up some speakers!