Outback Half Marathon

Thanksgiving weekend was a busy one for us. We got up early in the morning and participated in a Half marathon (13.1 Miles) It was Tami's first and my second. I set a new pr of 2:23:53 A 30 minute improvement over my last half I did back in February. I was really happy with my time and also how much I have improved. After finishing the race we walked home and covered another 3.8 miles. This got us our 17 miles we needed for our training. We are training for a full marathon next February 21, 2010. On Saturday we went and ran at the Jacksonville Running Company. I ran 6.83 miles. This morning Tami and I went and meet Darcy & Marilyn and went to a spinning class and then went and swam 1,000 yards in the pool.

We had my Family over for dinner on Thanksgiving and we also had my Mom come over for dinner tonight. Overall a great holiday filled with lots of training and family and friends.

Life is good!!!!

Log book is full

Last year I started running with the Galloway group. One of the thing I got when I signed up was a log book to keep track of my running. Yesterday I filled in my last page. This is an exciting prospect as I have been working out seriously for the past year and by keeping a log I am able to go back and look at the results. The biggest thing is my 5k times October '08 my first 5k was the Rita run at the town center. It took me 39:05 to finish the course. Yesterday I did the Pumpkin run and my chip time was 28:35. In the last year I have gotten 10 minutes faster. Someone told me the next 10 minutes will be much harder. I had already decided that I would work on trying to break 25 minutes for my next goal. Speaking of goals I have already met all my goals for the year. I wanted to run 500 miles and bike 1,500 miles. I still have 2 months to see how far I can make it.

Today I get to start an new log book. Nothing but blank pages to keep me busy for the next year. It will be interesting to look back at this next book and continue the journey. Tami and I were talking the other day about posting a calendar of races and events that we would like to plan for the next year. So that will be fun planning that. It will also be helpful in planning our training. It is looking like it will be a good year.

Day 4 of 100 days dunning

Today Tami and I went out to the rail trail for a bike ride. We rode 25 miles out and back. It was a very nice morning. Cooler temps, Sunshine and no breeze. It made for a very nice ride. We even saw a deer run across the trail. We also saw a box turtle walking down the trail. After the ride we went for a short run. We did 2 miles, we ran at our own pace. I was able to do the 2 miles in 20:18. I felt good on my run. Especially after just riding.

I didn't post anything about the previous 2 days so just a short recap.

Day 2 Walked 1.25 miles at the Town center.

Day 3 ran with the Galloway group we did 6 miles down at the beach.

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

Walking on the beach

Tonight Tami and I drove to the beach and went to dinner and then we decided to go for a walk on the beach. The breeze was blowing onshore about 15 knots and the temps were down, it was quite pleasant. We enjoy walking on the beach as the sun is setting. Tonight the water was up very high so there wasn't much beach. We started at 16th Ave. South and walked down south down the beach. We walked down to the pilings in Ponte Vedra. I used the gps in my Iphone to map my location and put in 16th Avenue to find out we were 3.3 miles from the car. The tide had come up even further and we were walking in the soft sand and water the whole way back. So we ended up walking 6.6 mile this evening. It made for a very nice walk. Plenty of time to talk and just enjoy each others company. We do enjoy walking on the beach and just hanging out by the ocean.

Swim Clinic

Tonight Tami and I attended a swim clinic at the brooks YMCA. It was hosted by the Hammerheads Triathlon club. They brought in a coach who worked with us. There was 7 of us in the water. I learned a good bit and was really happy I went. I want to go swim tomorrow so I can practice some of what I learned. The more I learn however the more I want to learn. I still have a long way to go. I haven't worked on my flip turns since I can't do those in the ocean. The other thing I try is not to push off the wall very much. I am trying to get my whole 25 yards in. I do need to spend more time swimming. Just keep going as much as possible. 

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. 

Triathlon Training

I am taking a triathlon training class. Last night I went to the first meeting. It is put on by the Strider's Running Club. The class last night was very organized I was very impressed. They had all the information and had the coaches and gave a really good talk about what to expect. The meeting was held at About Bicycles in Orange park. They pulled out all the stops to make us welcome. We got our training program for April. I started my training today. I took a spinning class with Tami. Of course she was on call checking about he conflicker virus. So she was a little distracted during the training.  We get to train together a couple of times a week. So this is cool. Tomorrow is Art walk the kids and I are going to be there selling out stuff (Wood turning, Candles and Soap). So I am going to miss the first run clinic. I will be back there next week and shouldn't miss too many of the training days. I will make sure to get in some training. 

Stay tuned for more training details. The adventure continues. 

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.

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-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.

Eleven

Day 11

Tami and I and Miles went for a walk/run last night. We ended up doing our 3 mile loop through the neighborhood. At around the 2 mile mark we saw some lightning and it started to mist lightly. We decided to carry on. At about 2 1/4 miles it started to rain harder. We started running and the rain kept getting harder the closer we got to the house. The temperature was quite nice. By the time we got home we were all quite wet. 
This is where the shoes spent the night. The fan was blowing on them all night. They were dry by the morning. I am still working on this weekends laundry along with the wet clothes and towels. Rain during the winter in Florida typical means cooler weather. It will warm up nicely and then rain and then it will be cold for a few days. The rain is good but I sure like the warmer temperatures.

Walking with my Wife

Tonight Tami and I went out for a walk. Samantha and Miles started out with us. They walked the first 2 miles and then we dropped them off at the house. Tami set a fairly fast pace. She has always been able to walk faster then me :-) But thanks to all my running lately I was able to keep up with her. After we dropped Samantha at home we walked about another 2 miles I am thinking we walked about 4 miles this evening. It was very nice walking and talking with her, this is something we are going to start doing on a regular basis. It was nice walking at night and seeing the Christmas lights on the houses in the neighborhood. 

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. 

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.

First Race 5k

This morning was the day of my first race. I ran a 5k(3.1 miles) Me and about 1,000 of my closest friends. There were a lot of fast people running. My goal was to finish and get a time. I am training for a Half marathon in February. So based on my finish time I will be placed in a pace group for the rest of the training. Tami and the kids came out to cheer me on. Then nice thing about this  race was it looped around the shopping center. I was able to see them a couple times during the run. 

This is me at about the half way point and also finishing. My official time was 39:04 but my elapsed time was about 30 seconds less. Because so many people were ahead of me at the start it took a little while to actually make it up to the start line. There were actually people behind me when I finished so that was a good thing as well. 

Beef Stew

Tonight we had beef stew for dinner. This is the ingredients in the pressure cooker. The beef is in the bottom and I had just poured in the veggies. Publix has these small bags of mixed potatoes. They are all grown in Florida(yeah!). I really like the purple ones. They turn a little brown when you cook them but they still taste yummy. There is also carrots in the pot and in the other pot is some rice. I was going to take a picture of dinner on a plate but got too busy and forgot. The kids cleaned up the back porch and set up the table w/umbrella and even a screen give us a little privacy it was so nice. Plus my Mom came over for dinner tonight. 

The pressure cooker was my Grandmothers. I love using this thing. I am able to cook the beef stew for a total of 18 minutes and the beef just falls off the fork. I can't imagine cooking it any other way. Plus each time I use this pot I am reminded of my Grandmother. My Mom still talks about this pot from when she was growing up. I have many more good meals to look forward to making in this pot. Actually both pots on the stove came from my Grandmothers kitchen. And the recipe came from Tami's Mom. Just keepin' it in the family