Running, Squirrels and Hawks

This morning started with a pre-dawn run downtown, along the river and over the bridges. I ran with Marilyn and Darcy. As we were on our way back along the river the sun was just coming up over the river and the Main Street Bridge. It was a very nice morning, the temperature was just right. The river was flat and we were out with other runners and walkers getting in their morning miles. I got out of the car when I got home and spotted an Osprey on the power wire. I stood there checking him out and then noticed a squirrel in the tree about 10 feet below the Osprey. I thought; "This squirrel is on the menu". The squirrel proceeds to climb up the telephone pole chittering away at the Osprey, then he gets on the wire and is still chattering away at the Osprey. I turn to try and make it in the house to get my camera and the Osprey flies away. I was thinking the squirrel has a good story to tell all his buddies on how single handedly, he scared an Osprey away and saved all the other squirrels. I wonder if they will believe the stories of if in a week it will end up being a whole flock of hungry Eagles. Sometimes these stories take on a life of their own. For my part I have a terrible picture I took with my iphone but was too far away. I learned my lesson with the Momma bear about trying to get closer.

Tour De cure Bike ride

This weekend we did the Tour de Cure bike ride to benefit Diabetes. It was a very nice weekend. On Saturday we rode 68 miles and Sunday we did 60 miles. The ride Saturday was through rural Florida lots of farmland. It was a nice side of Florida we don't often see. We rode south all the way into Crescent Beach and then turned north to St. Augustine. The tour put on a dinner Saturday complete with a band. Tami and I had dinner and then went for a walk on the beach. After the beach we decided to go for a swim in the pool. I slept good Saturday night and Sunday morning we had breakfast at the hotel and then walked over to the starting area. They had a bike check area where we picked up our bikes. Then we were off for 60 more miles. The tour had rest stops set up with snacks and food at each one. We had 3 bridges to cross including the bridge of Lions in St. Augustine. The police had blocked the traffic to the bridge so we were able to just ride across in the roadway. After St. Augustine we headed north on A1A up to Ponte Vedra. Then we turned west and headed into Nocotee. There we crossed over the Intercoastal Waterway Bridge. This was the biggest bridge. It is a chore to ride up this bridge but I hit 34mph on the way down. Then we were back on country roads and the temperature was getting in the mid 80's with no shade and a head wind it made for some tough riding. I was happy to be done with the ride and would do it again.

The oddest thing seen on the road was today. We were riding by a lake and someone had thrown a fish in the road. It was probably a 3 pounder. Yesterday I was 1/2 mile from the finish and 2 girls on beach cruisers turned off the sidewalk and almost crashed into me. It was pretty close. At the finish in St. Augustine they had a giant block of ice that you could rest your legs on. This felt so good....

It was a very nice weekend. I got more sun then I wanted. But a lot of money was raised. We had fun doing it. There were a ton of volunteers that were very helpful and put on a great event. The rest stops were well manned with helpful people and I could tell they were hot, but they were doing a great job taking care of the riders. I want to personally thank every volunteer. You helped make this a great event!!!

It's all who you know

So a year ago I was just getting into running after years of coasting along physically. I weighed more than I had ever weighed in my life. I decided I need a change. My friend Laura told me about this group she was training with. They used the Galloway method of running. Basically you run a minute and walk a minute. It is supposed to be easier on your body. I decided to give it a try. My first time out we did 6 miles. I was struggling towards the end. Laura offered to go get the car and pick me up. No self respecting guy is going to go for that. So a year later I am training for a marathon. I have completed a half marathon done 4 triathlons and many 5k's and even a 15k race. It has been a very busy year. I have lost a lot of weight and feel much better. The thing that really makes that past year memorable is all the people I have meet. Monday evening I decided to go for a run in the neighborhood. Tami had already done her training run so I was on my own. I took the dog for the first 2 miles and then dropped him off and did my last 3 miles alone. Somewhere along the way I was thinking this was the first run in months that I had done by myself. I have met so many people training for races that I have had people to run, ride and swim with. I enjoyed my run but I was thinking about everyone who encouraged and inspired me along the way. I have also done my share of encouragement, so it goes both ways. I have a group of people I run the bridges with on Thursday evenings. I really enjoy doing this plus it is great exercise. So Saturday morning Tami and I will be out before the sun comes up to go for our training run.

The 26.2 Marathon with Donna is in February.

Tami and I take a walk

So the other night Tami and I decide to take a nice stroll along the river. I am thinking we will walk 2 miles down around the fountain and back. Well, we get to the Main Street bridge and Tami asks if I want to walk over the bridge? Of course I say "Yes". So now we are going to walk down to Yates YMCA we just doubled the distance of our walk. We get down to the YMCA and Tami asks if I want to walk over the Acosta bridge, "I say sure no problem". We even threw in some running to make it interesting. The picture above is about 3 miles into our little walk. I used my iphone to take it. I like having the fountain in the background. We had to stand under a light so we would have enough light for the picture. Of course this makes us look terrible. But we were having a nice evening. The breeze was blowing the temperature was pleasant and the moon was rising. This is one of my favorite places in the city for taking a walk or even running. I think the money the city spent on the River walk was some of the best money they ever spent. So Tami and I ended up walking 4.5 miles

Thursday evening run

So I use map my run on my Iphone to keep track of my running. So Tami and I were running last night and I go to check the distance and we have done 5.86 miles... at a 5:32 pace (I wish) The course we are running is only 5.56 mile long and we were less then half way. So I know something is wrong. So I canceled the program and we continued our run. It was a very nice evening, the breeze was blowing and the sun was setting. The temp was 79. Warm but not too bad. Tami and I had an enjoyable run. This morning I was checking the map to see what went wrong and It has us starting downtown and making a beeline towards the school board building where we actually started. This explains the distance and fast pace. 

Running Downtown#3

This picture was taken about 4 miles into our run. Below there is a link to some more pictures.

Tonight was another run along the river and over the bridges. This is my very favorite place to run. The bridges make it challenging the course along the river is scenic and there is usually a breeze blowing. Tonight I ran with Tami and Laura. The riverwalk wasn't too crowded with bikes or people. It took us a little over an hour to complete the course. It was our first run back since doing the River Run last week. We are planning on running on Saturday. So stay tuned. I will post some pictures of that run. We did take pictures and I posted them on my Facebook page.    

Thursday evening run.

Last night I went for a run with Tami, Laura and Renee. We started from the school board building at 6pm and we covered the 5.3 miles in 69 minutes. We ran over 2 bridges and the pedestrian bridge that goes over the railroad tracks. It was a very nice evening the temperature was in the low 60's while we ran. There was a bit of a breeze blowing, I was cool for the first couple of minutes and then warmed right up. It is very good to run with friends. The great thing is everyone is at about the same pace. Our next scheduled run is Saturday morning, we are going to do almost the same course but add in an extra mile. 

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