Sunday, 12/21/2014: 14 miles, 1:53:52, 8:08 pace, 30F, 80% RH, 5 mph WSW wind, sunny.
Garmin Connect Activity for Clockwise bridges run + extra
I needed a long run. I dilly daillied as per usual but not as much as usual. I decided on my usual clockwise bridges run but I ran down Lake Ave to the O'Rorke bridge instead of through Turning Bridge Park just to be different. I struck up a nice and easy 8:00 pace and headed out. It was kind of nice out and sunny (for once). The miles passed. My legs felt a bit achy after mile 10 or so but I dragged them along for the ride. My splits were: 8:14, 7;55, 7:54, 7:55, 7:46, 7:55, 8:25, 8:19, 8:12, 8:10, 8:21, 8:09, 8:17 and 8:17.
Later, I watched the Bills - Raiders game out in Oakland. Yes, the Bills did need to win the last two games to even have a glimmer of hope to make the playoffs. But .. the Bills couldn't even win the first game and lost 24-26, link here. The Bills need a lot ... an offensive line, a decent QB and a run defense. Wow!
Monday, 12/22/2014: Rest day.
Laundry needed to be done ... after at least a month. I had asked my darling wife, Christine, to sort the laundry and start it downstairs in the 1 washer, 1 dryer in the basement of our apartment unit (1 of 5). It doesn't really seem to be an unreasonable request since we were running out of clean clothes. Well ... I got home to no Christine, sorted laundry, no note and just a voicemail that she had gone to MassageEnvy for a massage and then Christmas shopping. Well ... I did almost 3 loads (1 whites and 2 darks) of laundry before she came home around 9PM. It was what it was. Christine does suffer from depression and especially in the winter. I do the best I can to help her.
Tuesday, 12/23/2014: 6.2 miles, 45:46, 7:23 pace, 50F, 82% RH, 7 mph S wind, clear.
I put the rest of the laundry in the basement and asked my darling wife, Christine, to have it done and folded when I got home. She was up when I left. Win! Half the laundry was done when I got home and I helped with the other half after my run.
Garmin Connect Activity for A warm and fast 10K on the usual route
I got dressed for a run and got out. I was pretty amped up because it was warm out. I started fast, stayed fast and ended fast on my usual 10K route. It was one of those runs that just felt great ... wow! My splits were like a metronome: 7:22, 7:24, 7:24, 7:24, 7:28, 7:23 and 6:43 over the last 0.2 mile. Sweet!
Wednesday, 12/24/2014: Rest day.
I took the day off because I knew it would less stressful for my darling wife, Christine, to be able to leave for Cleveland when she got ready. Well ... we took our time plus I helped my friend, Bill Beyerbach, with his laptop that had the CBT Locker virus and a hard drive full of encrypted files that I might or might be able to decrypt. I will work on it next week.
We left for Lakewood OH around 3PM. This is Beth and her finance, Nick, live. She is Christine's daughter. It was a nice drive with temperatures over 50F the entire way. We did run in a line of intense rain for about 5 minutes just as we got to Cleveland. We got there around 7:30PM and proceeded directly to the Buckeye Beer Engine for a much needed supper. I had the '76 burger along with a 12% Scaldis Noel draft beer. Yum!
We were all tired when we got back to their house and all went to bed. Zzzz!
Thursday, 12/25/2014: Merry Christmas from OH!
Christine and I were up early but drifted in and out of sleep before we came downstairs around 9:30AM. Nick had been busy cooking up a delicious breakfast of waffles with a topping of bananas and butterscotch , eggs over easy and bacon along with coffee. Yum.
We showered and then headed over to Bill's house in Ravenna OH by 1PM. Bill is one of her older brothers. He is married to Patty and lives next to her father, John Wisniewski. Bill's kids; Jamie (with husband John and kids Johnny and Jordan) and Michael (along with wife Brooke and kid Michael). We had a nice buffet brunch and lots of sweets after. We were full but managed to eat something.
We had a good visit with everyone. Then we headed over to the Hampton Inn and Suites in Streetsboro OH to stay the night. We got a excellent king size suite on the third floor. We had packed our bathing suits and this time we actually used them, The pool was very nice.
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| We have the whole pool to ourselves |
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| Christine demostrated how well she could float. Me ... I sunk! |
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| The hot tub. It was nice after swimming in the pool. |
Friday, 12/26/2014: 6.2 miles, 49:23, 7:56 pace, 30F, 100% RH, 3 mph S wind, sunny.
Garmin Connect Activity for A 10K in Streetsboro OH
I woke up around 7AM. Christine was snoring with a pillow that she had put over her head to try to keep quiet. I needed to run so I had a candy bar that I found in my gym bag, dressed quietly and got downstairs to the lobby. I stood there thinking about the difficulty of the first step out the door. The woman at the front desk was a runner and she wished me a good run. So ... I headed out at a nice and easy pace. I had looked up a nice route down that took me down Mondial Parkway, 303 and back on 14. I added some mileage by heading into some car dealerships.
I brought up some coffee from the free breakfast in the dining room for my sleeping beauty upstairs. We woke up enough to have a bit of breakfast downstairs. Yum. We got out of our hotel at noon, exactly on time. I must say that this Hampton Inn and Suites was the best hotel we have ever stayed in.
Christine was open to doing anything in Cleveland that I wanted to do. So ... I decided that we would go to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame downtown since we had talked about going there during the past several visits to Cleveland. We had a bit of trouble getting there even with Google Maps helping me. But we did get there and spent the entire afternoon there. Wow! What a place!
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| "We are Devo" - Devo |
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| A 1981 Rolling Stones tour poster. |
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| "Like a Virgin" - Madonna |
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| "Blondie" - Blondie |
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| A guitar and suit of Johnny Cash. I still have the "Folsom Prison" LP I bought many years ago. |
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| The Santa suit and boots that Pamela Anderson wore. |
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| A suit and guitar of Chuck Berry's. |
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| I took this to heart and ordered a chocolate creme pie. |
Saturday, 12/27/2014: Rest day.
I could have gotten out, I should have gotten out. But I didn't get out and just relaxed. I did get out to get Christmas stamps from the post office next that we can see out our front window.
We caught up on some programs in the DVR. We finally saw the live "Peter Pan" from December 4th. Yes, Christopher Walken didn't do too well as Captain Hook ... but he tried. Then, we saw "It's a Wonderful Life". Yes, we both had the sniffles at the end.
