Fifty-one

February 27th

Tonight was the Thank you party for the volunteers foe the Marathon and Half Marathon with Donna. That's Donna in between Tami and I. She is a really nice person who is herself a Breast Cancer survivor. She has done an awful lot for raising money for finding a cure for Breast Cancer. The race was a first class event. The way they treated the volunteers is first rate as well. Tami volunteered to help and came home with all kinds of shirts and stuff. She had a great time at the race. Then she was invited to this party tonight. They were passing out more stuff and dinner was included. They had a band and Donna came and thanked everyone. It was a really nice evening.  I just have to say I am really impressed with how well the event was run before, during and after the event. I am definitely doing this again.

Today Laura called and asked me if I wanted to go run the bridges, the short version. I was on the verge of slacking off so I jumped at the chance. Having someone else making you responsible really helps keep you on track. I met her at her new office this evening and we did a 3.6 mile loop. It took us over 2 of the bridges and along the river. It made for a nice run. We had perfect weather. Clear skies, slight breeze and the setting sun and then running along the river. What more can you ask for. I am still doing the run/walk but we run 1:30 minute and the walk 1 minute. The only bad thing was more then half way into the run I looked down to check my heart rate monitor and I had forgotten to start it. I like to keep track of my calories burned so I can get an idea of how hard 

Fifty

February 19th

Tonight I taught an advanced pen turning class at Woodcraft. I really enjoy teaching there. Not only do I like teaching, but it is a nice place to teach classes. They have all the equipment needed and the classroom is nice as well. Tonight I had 3 students, all of them had previous turning experience so we were able to cover some of the stuff in detail. Everyone made some nice pens. I will post a picture of my pen tomorrow after I assemble it. I did cut some grooves into it and glued some of the colored sawdust into it. Tonight's picture was taken with my iphone. 

Forty-nine

February 18th 

Today was just a regular day. I spent most of it homeschooling the kids and doing housework. Miles and I went for a walk around the neighborhood this evening. Not much else to report. I did make some really good green beans with dinner tonight. I used fresh beans and cooked them in the microwave to kind of steam them, then they went into a pan with some olive oil and seasoning and a bit of water to steam them a bit more. They were very good and they all got eaten. 

This picture was taken with my iphone.

forty-eight

This is most of the group I usually run with. There are a few others but they weren't there for the picture. That's me in the blue. I had a nice run on Sunday and again want to thank everyone I ran with. I hope to put in many more miles with each of you.

Forty-seven

February 16th

Tonight I went over to Dan Long's house and turned some pens for the troops. These pens are being turned and then sent to our troops serving overseas. Tonight Dan and I made 10 pens. I had a good time over at Dan's and the evening was even for a good cause. I just had the thought that the last 2 days worth of events were both helping others. (Cool) 

Forty-six

February 15th

Breast Cancer Half Marathon

I ran in my first half marathon 13.1 miles. My goal was to do it in under 3 hours. My time was 2:54:05 . I was very excited to do this. The whole race was quite an experience. The race was lined with people cheering us on. I ran with the same people I had been training with for the last several months so that was nice. I am holding my race number and also my medal for finishing. The best part was the people I have trained with. I have joined the Hammerhead Triathlon Club. They say "Pain is temporary; Pride is forever;Race Hard! I am sore today but I am proud of how I did. I am already training for the rest of the season , and thinking about future races. 

Forty-five

February 14

Happy Valentines day Today Tami and I went to the running expo for the 26.2 with Donna to support Breast Cancer Research. They had all things pink  there. I picked up my race packet and met some of the people from my running group. We then went to dinner and then we went and bought Tami one of those small notebook computers (A pink One) 

Forty-four

February 13

This picture was taken with my iphone. Ethan took this picture sitting in the back seat of the car tonight. It was taken through the tinted windows. I think I was shaking my head because I saw him taking pictures in the car and "I was thinking it is too dark none of those are going to come out" It isn't the greatest quality but I was impressed they even came out.

Forty-three

February 12th

Today I rode my bike to the bank. It is just a short way only about a mile each way. It didn't take very long and the weather was very nice. I enjoy Florida weather when it is like this. I was out riding in the sunshine just enjoying the day. I may go for a short bike ride tomorrow. The other thing is any errands I can do by bike save gas. Plus I can count them as training rides.  Now I have to ride 20 miles each week to meet my goal for the year. 

Forty-two

February 11th

Just another day at home today. School with the kids and some house work. Tami made it home for being out of town. We are always happy to have her back with us. We didn't go anywhere today. In fact I only went outside a few times today. The sad thing is it was such a nice day. Well, maybe tomorrow I will spend some time outside. I am trying to find other backgrounds to use in my pictures. This was taken with my iphone.

Forty-one

February 10

Today was a normal day for us school, errands and such. I also went for a training run with Laura. We did 3 miles. It took us about 36 minutes so it was slightly faster then normal. The afternoon I was feeling good about my run and then I saw Laura's son run by. He is very fast he does 3 miles in under 20 minutes. I have to keep telling myself he is young and has been running much longer then I have. The weather was very nice today it started out cool and warmed up into the 70's. It is supposed to be even warmer tomorrow. This is just a picture I took in the kitchen with my iphone. Tami is out of town tonight and we are looking forward to her return tomorrow. 

Forty

February 9th 

Tonight I went to show my blog to someone and Blogger had removed it as a suspected spam blog. Boy, was I surprised. They had a link to go through to prove it wasn't and then they said they would have someone look at the blog in question. So it only took a few hours to have my blog restored and now I am back with my picture of the day. Samantha took this picture today while we were driving to dinner. It was taken on my iphone. The phone has a built in GPS and I was able to look in the info field and see exactly where we were when the picture was taken. If you look closely in my sunglasses you can see Samantha's reflection when she took the picture. I was also able to go out for a short bike ride today after the kids finished school. I rode 9.33 miles in 33 minutes  that averages out to 17 miles per hour. I am happy with that speed since it was windy and I stopped at the house to take off one of my shirts. I also attended the woodturning meeting tonight and was able to talk to several people and see what they have been up to. 

Saturday Group run Brdges

This is Saturdays Run. This was our last group training run before the Half Marathon with Donna next Saturday.

Thirty-nine

February 8th

Today I got to teach a bowl turning class at Woodcraft. I ended up with 5 students. I had a truck driver from Texas show up at the last minute and a Preacher from Atlanta the other 3 students were local. It was a good group. Everyone did well and all went home with bowls. Tonight after dinner Miles and I went for a walk in the neighborhood. We only did 2 miles as my leg was sore from yesterday. I have been struggling with my hamstring a bit and after running 7 miles yesterday it was a bit sore. I am trying to save myself for the race on Saturday. The kids watched Chitty Chitty bang bang tonight. I haven't seen this movie in quite a while. It is still pretty good:-)

Thirty-eight

February 7th

7,7,7 This morning I went running at 7 am on the 7th of February and we did 7 miles. The running was good this morning. We ran the bridges and down into San Marco. It was kind of cool but we all warmed up pretty quickly. Next weekend we have the half marathon. It will be good to wrap up all the training and do the race. I will miss seeing all the people I have been training with for the last several months. Some of us are going to do the Gate River Run so we will continue training. Then I am going to start training for the triathlons. I have joined a group to train for that as well. We rode down to the Warwicks to see the puppies they are fostering for the Humane Society. I am putting my bike away for the evening. I have a system for hanging it up out of the way. It works very well and I can walk under it with out any problems. 

Thirty-seven

February 6th

Today I took the kids rock climbing at the "Y" Tami and I also had date night. We went to dinner and the bookstore. We also went to Krispy Kream. We haven't been there in several months. We have been trying to eat better and avoid places like that. We decided to splurge a little tonight. Those doughnuts are just as good as I remember. Tomorrow we run.

Thirty-six

February 5

Today we pretty much stayed inside. The kids did their homeschooling and I did my housework while making sure the kids stayed on track. I also spent time working on my website. I am in the process of updating it. We went outside this afternoon and took some pictures. This is just out in the backyard. I also went for a really short bike ride today to check out how my hamstring felt while riding. I didn't push too hard and mainly wanted to just move things around a bit. I am hoping it feels better by Saturday so I can do the group run, we are going to do 7 miles. This is week 2 of our taper before the half-marathon.

Thirty-five

February 4th 

Taken with my iphone

Today was a cold day and it supposed to be a very cold night. Tami and I went to the Hammerhead Triathlon club meeting tonight. They had a lady talking about stretching exercises. It was an informative meeting and I plan on incorporating more stretching exercises into my daily routine. I took today as a rest day from training. My hamstring in my left leg was sore today. It has been bothering me for about a week and last nights run did it in. I am thinking about swimming as tomorrows exercise. I was planning on running but I think I will take it easy and save myself for Saturdays run. 

Thirty-four

February 3

Taken with my iphone. Tonight I went for a run along the river and over the bridges with my friend Laura. This is our version of hills. I make sure that I run all the way uphill. I am still in training for the Half Marathon I am doing on the 15th of this month. It was kind of cool tonight but I was dressed just right for it. Tonight's run was 5.5 miles. I crossed the St. Johns River twice took the pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks and ran along the boardwalk. It makes for a very nice run. 

Thirty-three

Day 33

Rainy day. Today it rained almost all day. Never very hard but pretty steady. Today seemed to go by pretty fast as well. This evening Tami and I went to a spinning class at the YMCA. The class was full and they had to turn people away. Spinning is such a good workout. Now that I am past the sore but from the seat and I am in pretty good shape, I really enjoy the classes. I am actually able to push myself for the whole class. I even went and did some abs exercises afterward. I am hoping the weather will be better tomorrow, I am planning on going and running the bridges.

Thirty-two

Day 32

Back in the shop. I spent a few hours in my workshop today. This is one of my favorite thing to do. I love making stuff. Today I was making a stand to hold my bike when I work on it. This morning actually started with me going to the YMCA to go to a cycling class. I took the hour class and then went to the pool to swim some laps. After lunch I went out to the shop, and Ethan was out front playing on the hover board we made yesterday. This evening my Mom came over and joined us for dinner. I made stir fry, it had chicken, broccoli and carrots and was served over rice. After dinner I went back out in my shop and installed a new computer on my bike. It keeps track of speed, time, distance and cadence. Hopefully this will help me ride faster. At least I will know I am doing during the ride.