Friday, November 28, 2008

Outback Distance Classic


Or what I did Thanksgiving Day

I got up early and drove over to the race location. It is very nice when the race is only 5 minutes from the house. I ran in a 6k (3.728 miles) I finished in 45:46 with and average pace of 12:41 per mile. I may not be very fast but I was out there running.  There were 1,619 people running in the 6k and another 2,012 that raced in the Half Marathon. We all started at one time, this made for a very busy start. It took me almost 2 and 1/2 minutes to cross the start line. Everyone proceeded up San Jose Blvd. and then turned and started running back in the neighborhood. At the one mile mark the half marathon competitors turned left and we went to the right. It was nice being out and active early. I did well in the race and felt good when I finished. Everyone was still asleep when I got home. 

I did most of the cooking for Thanksgiving dinner. We had Turkey and Ham. I made Green beans and homemade mashed potatoes and rolls. For desert I made Pumpkin Pie. Samantha made homemade whipped cream. It was very good on the pie. After dinner we sat around and talked for quite a while. It was a very nice evening. After everyone left Tami helped me finish cleaning up in the kitchen. Miles got some ham which he really liked. 

Hope your Thanksgiving was good also. 

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Brick

Yesterday I did my first Brick workout. This is a triathlon training term. I rode my bike 3 miles to get warmed up and then ran 2 miles. My legs felt like bricks when I first started running. It was interesting to run after riding my bike. After a minute or so I settled into my usual slow pace. I am still doing the run/walk thing.  I am at a 12:30 per mile pace. It is not a blazing pace but it is faster then I have ever run before, and I am just happy to be out there. 

Tomorrow I am doing the Outback 6k race. I figure this is a good way to start Thanksgiving Day. I will have a write-up after the race. 

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Longest Run so far

This morning I did my longest training run to date. We ran 6.74 miles. It took us about 90 minutes. We ran along the St Johns River this morning and then over the Main Street bridge and into San Marco. Then we turned on River Road and ran down towards the river. We ran back over the Acosta Bridge and into Riverside, and back to the Yates YMCA. It was pretty cold this morning. I bought some new running pants last night and got to wear them this morning. They helped keep me pretty warm. I looked at some gloves last night but decided not to get them. I was sure wishing for them this morning. Well maybe next time. 

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Working out

You got those shoes now wear them...

I have been training for my half marathon. Saturday we did our group run. We ran/walked 5 miles. We ran along the St. Johns River, then over the Main Street Bridge. Then we ran along the river in front of the landing and down to the Yates YMCA. This took us over the bridge thingy to cross over the railroad tracks, but underneath the Acosta Bridge. We stopped for a drink of water and then continued to the Fuller Warren bridge. We circled around and ran back to the "Y" had another water stop and then ran over the Acosta Bridge. After crossing the bridge we ran back to the starting point. It was a nice run, the weather could have been a little nicer. We had a few rain showers and there was wind. I was afraid my hat was going to blow off while crossing the bridges. 

Sunday morning I went to a spinning class. It was a good work out. The class was almost full. Class lasted a little over an hour with some stretching exercises at the end. The music was good and there were several songs I had not heard before. The instructor set a good pace and kept everyone moving. 

My running shoes and Biking shoes both got the workout this weekend I am putting some miles on each. I ran 11 miles this week. The spinning classes are like going 10-12 miles so I figure I rode 22 miles this week. I also spent some time in the pool, so it was a very busy week for the exercise. Now to take it easy for the rest of the day.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Just training

Last night I went to the "Y" to run on the treadmill. Since it was raining I didn't want to run out in the rain. I did however go and run 3.1 miles. I am starting to figure out the program on the treadmill. It has a setting for a 5k on it. It starts with a walk to warm up then you run, I have to take some walk breaks. Then you cool down by walking at the end. The bad thing about it is you can see all the other people running on the treadmills. Some of these people are very fast. I just keep telling myself that at least I am there. I did my 3 miles last night and was happy to have completed that distance. A couple of months ago I would not have been able to do that. I have to work on getting some pictures of me actually training now.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

Busy day

Today was another busy day. I went running early this morning with my training group. We did 4 miles today. We ran down in the Ortega area. It was a beautiful morning. The course took us across the Ortega River. We even got stopped by boat traffic. After I ran this morning I drove over to Woodcraft where I was teaching a bowl turning class. The class went well and my students made some pretty good bowls. I turned a small zebra wood bowl. For dinner tonight we went to Woody's Bar-b-Que. normally I like this place a lot. Tonight the iced tea was terrible. The french fries were over cooked, they were crunchy. I gave them to the kids so that wasn't such a bad thing. And the service was pretty slow. After dinner we came home and just watched some TV and played on the computer. Just a nice evening. 

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Training Run & Lost keys

Saturday morning I was up at 5:30 am to go for my group training run. We were scheduled to do 3 miles. The second mile was a timed run to sort people into pace groups. I woke up to the sound of rain and the temp was in the mid 50's. I came real close to calling it a day. However I was good and drove to the beach in the rain. The closer I got to the beach the better the weather was. I got there and we did our 3 miles at a slightly slower pace then usual. The group was very large but that will change. I did my second mile in 11:41. I am happy with my time I would like to improve that but only a few weeks ago I wasn't running at all so any time is great. 

After I finished my run I was walking back to the car and realized I had lost the key. I thought I was going to have to walk the whole course again to find it. I stepped back on the course and heard a woman asking a group if they had lost a key. I was very happy to see it was mine. I thanked her and asked where she found it. She said down by the fire station which was the turnaround point. I would have had a long walk finding it. As it was I only had to walk about 100 feet. 

There is another group training for the full marathon. They ran with us and then they did another loop of 4 miles. I think they did 16 miles last week and this was a recovery week for them. I am still impressed with the milage they are doing. We will eventually build up to 14 miles a few weeks before doing the Half Marathon in February. Lots more training to come and I need to figure out a better way to carry my key.

Halloween and such

So for Halloween we walked around our neighborhood a bit, and then we went over to my brothers house. They have been working on it for a week. They moved all the furniture and put black plastic up on all the walls. You can see it was painted as well. Then there were the decorations. They started out in the yard and continued through the house and through the yard back to the front. The kids got their candy on the back porch. There were several people in costumes joining in on the fun. It is the best haunted house I have ever seen. 
 Here is another picture of Our Dog Miles
I can imagine miles saying how did I get myself into this. 



This is Tami, Samantha, Ethan, Chloe and Miles All dressed up and about to head out to get some candy.