Home court advantage....

I never thought I would enjoy a 9 mile run, but I really did... I decided that with the dark and heat, I might do better running intervals, with company, and ran with Kelvin and Vickie. Kelvin kept promising us he would slow down after a few miles, and he did, but so did we. At any rate, I felt I had an advantage on the trail without the need of lights, and felt fine. Going on those trails 3-4 times a week does have its advantages. Anyway, I hope you all appreciated the extra pot-hole work and tar in the cracks we have been doing. It still is not perfect, but it is a trail. I have been badgering the Public Works Director to fill a few potholes, and I guess they decided they were tired of hearing me whine. They have made a lot of progress on the new extention, and we will eventually be able to stay on the trails all the way to Highland Colony Parkway. It will be 7.2 Miles from the gravel lot to the end. It you add the distance from Fleet feet, we will have about 10 miles one way. Scary, huh?
I enjoyed several cups of coffee and an egg and cheese bagel alon with good company at Beagle Bagel. Later, Saturday, I vegged out, and then went to the Special Olympics countdown dinner. Lots of fun. Spent too much, and didn't win the trip. Sunday, I couldn't manage getting my planned XT on the bike, and settle doing some sit ups, some Plica syndrome excercises that Wayne showed me, and ATE....
To save you from getting hungry, I will not go into detail. However, for Carols sake, I unfortunately had more food available, not to mention Gingi had made homemade chocolate chip cookies for a 1st grade party tomorrow... YIKES!

Jon "Blaze Man" Blais on You tube...

I meant to blog this yesterday but was too choked up, and then had lots of activities planned, but Lisa the Horn Playing Turtle reminded me of the Ironman special that was on TV yesterday. I happened to catch the last 30 minutes or so, and got really choked up. Okay, I cried like a hungry baby! Anyway, Jon Blais was an Ironman marathoner that got ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) and still competed in the Ironman. It was an amazing story. It also reminded me of the "Find your Why" speech that Mark gave us. I sure could have used a refresher on that at about 8am last Saturday... Anyway, I found the segment on Youtube, and although I don't know how to imbed the Youtube window below, hit this link so you can go there yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Vrjp2P0GlE

If it does not take you there directly, then just go to youtube.com and search "Jon Blais" for the video. Get your kleenex handy!

Can't we do one of our training runs in Chicago?

Wow! 18 miles... It was 80 degrees when I got of the car according to the car sensor, and it was 86 when we passed M&F bank on the spillway. Of course with the humidity, it felt like 110. We could have cooked the Boston Butts on the asphalt of the parking lot today.
Congrats to everyone that finished today. I saw some awesome performances and a lot of determination. I have to believe that with this heat and humidity, Chicago will feel like a 3 mile gym workout. Anyway, I felt great this morning, and shaved off a lot of time at the 13.1 mile mark, compared to the 1/2 marathon we did earlier, but the heat finally took it's toll, and I was walking a lot more the last 5, and when I did run, I was really slow. It was certainly tempting to stay or quit when I returned to the park, but I managed to take off, and took a monster drink to go. I should have run with Suz and Debra, as they did the spillway leg first, and got that out of the way. I missed my running buds, and my pace was a little erratic. Kelvin and Phil left early, and Steve Romano is out of town. I can't say enough how nice it is to have people nearby to gauge your run and encourage you along the way. Congrats again to all. Now, it is time to shave, shower again and head to the Butt cook-off! Easy week ahead everybody!!!

A New Cross Training Sure to Help-

With Debra Ferguson's a.k.a. "F-Stop" assistance, I have now found what will surely be my next cross training. Yes, of course, wife carrying! Why didn't I think of it before? I am not carrying enough weight on our runs, and just the thought of me carrying my wife out for a spin through the neighborhood already has me knowing that if I can do that, 18 miles will be nothing.

I can't help but notice the irony of it all, too. Here we are, planning a "Butt Challenge" and now we have a way that all the married men can enter, even if they don't cook! Check out the picture I found from the wife carrying website!

Daddy needs new shoes....

I was pleasantly suprised with how well my knees felt from a new pair of shoes. I took my old ones into Fleet Feet and they looked at the wear pattern on the treads to help me determine a better shoe. My wife, the more experienced runner knew that they were putting some shoes on sale and that I might want to have them look at the old ones before they reccommended another pair. You should have seen the look on the girl's face when I pulled them out of the Wal-Mart bag, showed them to her, and exclaimed "I want to get a refund!".. I then laughed, and told her my wife wanted them to see the tread pattern. She also said she knew for certain my knee problem was probably from the age of the shoe, and that I could definately use a new pair. Anyway, I had a great run, and the only problem I had was from the twinge of Thursday's run without the new shoes. I feel like next week will be much better already. So, what do you do after a 10 mile run? Well, you go door-to-door canvassing for a friend running for a political office! Yikes!
Today for XT?? Mow grass after church.... Holy Crumolly its hot outside! What was I thinking??!! Have a great week MM'rs!

Phil is "Living Right in Ridgeland"

As most of y'all know, Phil Purser got a little dehydrated after the run today, and while returning home we decided to let a paramedic at our Central Station check him out. The Paramedic on duty felt he could use an I.V. to get him back to a normal hydration level. Anyway, they hooked him up and Phil's color returned as if there was red food color in the drip bag. Within a few minutes he was looking ready to run another 16 miles when we left the station. Shout out to Kelvin for the great RN on the scene medical care he got, as well.
I'll blog more later, but had a good run/walk with Suzanne today. I am over trying to set new PR's every week, and with some recurring sinus crud and a little runner's knee trying to make a comeback, I was more than happy to walk a good portion of the 16 miles today. I hope you all had a great run today. I was very impressed with so many of you today. We are on the top of the hill looking down guys. From here on, we just need to keep the negative thoughts out, and keep on plugging away. The only thing that will stop us is our on self doubt and fears.