Sun, 7/31/11: Rest day.
CJ and I were still out in OH staying in her daughter and boyfriend's spare bedroom. After a lazy morning, CJ and her daughter went out to a bridal shower for her cousin. I was trapped in the apartment since there was no spare key. I entertained myself with their new 50" LCD HD by watching a bit of V for Vendatta and Death Race.
After the girls came back, her daughter and I got their HP Photosmart b210a wireless printer working. She didn't know her wireless router's WPA2 password but we poked around her Windows 7 laptop and was able to convince the router to give up its password by clicking "Show Characters". We got the printer on her network by pounding the password into its touchscreen. Then we got her laptop to talk to the printer. Victory was sweet!
We headed to her boyfriend's pizza shop, Fat Billy's in Akron, for a great supper of a large supreme pizza with chessey bread. Back at the apartment, CJ and I watched Red Riding Hood via OnDemand on the big screen! Yah, baby!
I ran 15 times during the month of July, 90.5 miles, 6.0 miles/run.
So far this year, I have run 106 times, 664.2 miles, 6.3 miles/run.
Mon, 8/1/11: Rest and traveling day.
I took CJ to help out with her father at a food bank named the Center of Hope in Ravenna OH. I saw my daughter and gave her some maps of OH and the forms that she needed to fill out to declare her residency. Then I hugged her goodbye and picked up CJ for the long ride back to Rochester. It was a long, hot ride with a couple of side trips to Presque Isle Casino in Erie, PA and Heritage Wine in North East, PA.
We unpacked in a rush. CJ took a bath then went straight to bed. I stayed up and watched Transformers ... a movie best enjoyed loud!
Tue, 8/2/11: 5.8 miles, 46:46, 8:04 pace, 80F, sunny, calm, dry, no pain.
I headed down to Fleet Feet for the usual Tuesday night speed workout. Tonight's workout was 1000m at 5K pace with 400m recovery jog. I did the 1st one with Bill Beyerbach at 6:20 pace, the 2nd at 6:45 pace, the 3rd at 7:05 pace, the 4th was nice and easy. The runs up to and back from Cobbs Hill were a bit hard, maybe around 7:45 pace.
I found out that I had locked my keys in car. Many thanks to Bill B who took me to get my spare keys from the apartment.
Wed, 8/3/11: Rest day.
Just your typical rest day. We didn't do much ... in fact we went to bed early!
Thu, 8/4/11: 3.02 miles, 22:58, 7:36 pace, 80F, sunny, calm, dry, no stops, no pain.
CJ and I headed down to the rugby field beCobbs Hill reservoir for the the Innovative Edge GVH 5K #1 run. It was a bit hot, but racing is what I do. I went out hard, 7:12 1st mile. I held it pretty good, I didn't stop the whole way. I was dripping wet when I got to the line. I finished 24th out of 77, results here. I finished 3rd out of 4 in my age group. Two, three years ago I couldn't have raced a 5K in under 23 minutes, much less a cross country race ... sweet! Though, my Garmin did have this 5K a bit light at 3.02 miles.
About a 1/4 mile into the run.
Was I really moving this fast to the finish or is it just camera blur?
The sway from finishing 3rd in my age group.
Fri, 8/5/11: Rest day.
I totally respected tomorrow's Phelps Sauerkraut 20K tomorrow morning. CJ and I did our laundry then headed over to Six Pockets where we used my Dealchicken.com $10 for $20 coupon for supper and hydration. Sweet! Then we watched a Netflix movie, Faster with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Billy Bob Thornton.
Sat, 8/6/11: 12.4 miles, 1:37:07, 7:50 pace, 78F, cloudy, calm, a bit windy, walked a few water stops, no pain during the race.
CJ and I got up at 5:40AM and made it out to Phelps for the Sauerkraut 20K around 7:35AM for the 8AM start. We had to park about 1/4 mile away but made it to the start on time. The start was very low key ... ready, set, go. Off we went! The weather was cloudy and humid. Luckily, the sun stayed under the clouds almost the whole way. I said "Hi" to Laura Church as I passed her ... she didn't stay far behind. I ran a 7:12 1st mile; a 23:01, 7:25 pace 5K; a 48:01, 7:45 pace 10K. My basic strategy was to not carry water, take a GU around mile 4 and drink from almost every water stop. The cows in the barn on the left cheered us on around mile 9. I didn't stop from mile 10 on as I wanted to keep my pace and position. I heard a woman yell, "Go, Church!" as I rounded the last turn. I kept the hammer down as I gritted my teeth for the line ... as you can see Laura Church was just 2.5 seconds behind. She had a light foot fall because I didn't hear her. Later she said that she was trying to catch me for a couple of miles.
The low key start ...
Gritting my teeth for the line ... with Laura Church right behind me!
Just motoring into the finish ...
What Laura was trying to get in front of ... lol!
I ran well ... 49th out of 194, results here. I placed 10th out of 22 in my competitive M50-54 age group, results here. My lifetime PR for this distance is 1:35:48 ... not in jeopardy today, but I put in a solid attempt.
My thanks to my fine and loving girlfriend, CJ, for cheering me on ... and for bringing her car to the finish. My hip joints ached a bit after the race ... as I chowed down on a hot dog laden with ketchup and sauerkraut. Soon it was followed with a hot dog laden with ketchup and baked beans. Yummy!
After a bit and a costume change from my sweat soaked running attire, we made it out to BurgerKing for lunch and ice coffee, Fashion Bug for a bit of 40% off shopping for CJ, the Wayne County Nursing Home to see my father nod off after lunch and to see my youngest son before he went to work at
