Hello Feb & Taper! 1 goal down

First, here's how Jan 2014 played out:

Swim: 6500 m, 2 swims
Bike: 45 miles, 3 rides
Run: 122 miles, 14 runs
Strength: 13 times
Yoga: 25 times

No racing in Jan, but I was going Long and Lean in 2014. 122 miles of running is a great way to start off the year. I'm running 3-5 days a week. There was some unexpected rest days thanks to all of the snow that we've had. I should be swimming and biking once a week at least but we had a lot of swim practices cancelled this month. The strength work and yoga are dead on target.

Also, I knocked off my first goal for the year!! This last week was my first ever 50 mile running week. Saturday was Feb 1, so it's not in Jan's totals. But I put up three separate 10 mile runs during the week, and finished off the 50 with a 20 miler on Saturday.  One of my stated goals for 2014 was to knock off a 50 mile week. Even in ultramarathon training back in 2012 I never got over 40 miles a week. So checking that off was really cool.

I could totally get used to the 10 mile runs. Now it seems like the first 5 miles just fly by without even breaking a sweat. Overloading distance really builds muscular endurance, and I can totally see why fast people use 70 to 100 mile weeks to build speed. I was just posting about making progress in yoga last week, I hope that this will bring some progress on my speedwork as well. I've been stuck at a basic 8 minute mile for a few years now and hoping that's not a peak.

This was also my last 20 mile run before the marathons. The next few weeks look like this:

Recovery week
Taper/Myrtle Beach Marathon
Recovery week
Taper/Umstead Trail Marathon

So that's going to be fun.  Here's to a great February!

And on the flip side of that coin, Philip Seymore Hoffman died today. He was always one of my favorite actors.  If this is what 2014 has in store, let's just sell off everything now, clench every dime you can get in your cold fists, and hold up in the woods. Somebody call me when it's 2015.

Screwed

Sometimes the best laid plans get screwed. I was planning on running the Columbia Marathon next year, but last week the organizers cancelled it. I thought it was odd that registration hadn't opened yet, but they still had the date reserved. So it was supposed to be going on March 8th.

That means I need another marathon either on March 8th, March 29th, or April 5th. Actually, Feb 1st would work too. Well, need is a strong word. We're trying to streak the Marathon Maniac 3 star level, which is 4 full marathons in 31 days, or 4 marathons in 4 different states in 51 days. We've already got the Myrtle Beach marathon in SC and the Umstead Trail marathon in NC, and friends have been asking us every year to do the Shamrock marathon in VA. Those are each 2 weeks apart, Feb 15, March 1st and March 16. So finding a 4th marathon in another state would be great. If it doesn't work out, meh, 3 fulls is still a strong spring. 

Got a spring marathon in the plans? You should be into a training plan by now.

Mizuno Musha 5, new Zoot's, Mizuno Wave Rider 15's

I bet I'll be hitting these marathons in some green shoes, it seems everything I've gotten lately has been bright green. Those Zoot's in the middle are new, I found a good deal from LeftLane sports that I couldn't pass up. They were cheaper than The Clymb! Nobody's cheaper than the Clymb.

My beloved minimalist Musha 5's are being retired, as of tonight. I ran intervals in them tonight to see if I'd want to wear them for a 5k coming up this weekend. the answer is no. a full grumpy cat no. Ever since I really got over the right foot tendon problem (I don't want to call it an injury) during Ironman training cushioning has been at the forefront. Since the Ironman 3 weeks ago, I've been noticing other tenderness in that same foot. Not the same tendon as before, just sort of a general ache in there somewhere. That's really a normal part of the recovery process I think, and why I'm still taking it easy so I'm not worried about it. But it does mean I should be done with the minimalist shoes.

Tonights intervals were done on the treadmill, half mile intervals at a 10.0 speed (6 minute pace). I did 4 of them and stopped when my abs started giving out. That's good, solid speedwork.

This post was supposed to be a pictoral about my 12 mile long run from Saturday, but I forgot to grab the phone. It was over 70* in Raleigh, and a perfect fall day to run. I hit the Ironman Raleigh course, taking Hillsborough street to the State Capital building and back, then hitting the greenway on Meredith College for a couple of extra miles. Oh the things I saw on that beautiful autumn afternoon, including the leaves on the campus of NC State and the people downtown. I even saw Kelley and the girls driving back from her dad's house.

Finally, a Cast Iron Club update. After that 12'er, I'm sitting on 29.19 marathons on the year, then with tonight's 5 it's 29.35 marathons. The goal is 30, so I'm getting close.  Only about 17.4 miles to go. With that 5k on Saturday, it might take into next week before I finish that up.

The Accidental Ironweek

All this happened:

The recovery week after Ironman Raleigh I only worked out once a week.  Thanks to sunday's 1 mile long run the numbers didn't turn out that great.  I was actually headed out for my 10 mile capital loop on the run, when I dropped my water bottle about half a mile in.  It hit at just the right angle, so the top smashed into itself and all of the Heed ended up on the side of the road.  It's too bad, I was feeling pretty good for the first time all week and looking forward to reclaiming some dignity over the Ironman run course.

Totals for the week were 3.8 miles swimming, 65 miles on the bike, and 4 miles of running.  Added up to over 6 hours of workouts.

This week included the 3 little pigs sprint triathlon.  I got busy doing a few other things this week too, so it kind of got away from me.  Total was just over 2.5 miles of swimming, 34 miles on the bike, and 13.1 miles of running.  Pitiful, but the race was fantastic.  Total time was just over 4.5 hours of training.  Now that adds up to only about 11 hours of training over these two weeks. So what do you think happened this past week?

Finally a normal, solid week of Ironman training.  This was the first Ironweek I've had in a while.  Lisa came for a visit so all day Saturday was hanging out with her, pics to come.  So instead of a Saturday long ride I did an extra 25 mile ride on Friday morning and pushed off the rest day.  This stuff added up to 5200 m swimming, 115 miles on the bike, and 26.2 miles running.  Covering all of the Ironman distances (or more) in a week's time makes this an Ironweek.  I think Ironweeks should be a regular part of my ironman training, but my legs are starting to disagree.  Total time this week was almost 11 hours and 45 minutes.  10 to 12 hours are normal now, and that should be enough to let me climb into the 20 hour range for the build period.

This week in the training plan is when the weekday morning bike rides go from 20 to 25 miles.  During the build phase that starts July 20, they will go to 30 miles, so this is a landmark that I've been waiting to hit and dreading all at the same time.  Also this week I got my tuesday and wednesday evening workouts criss-crossed.  I don't like to same-sport it on back to back nights, running Monday and Tuesday, and swimming Wednesday and Thursday.  But we had a big tropical storm thing move through here on Tuesday night that cancelled the swim so I ran instead, and then I ended up skipping choir practice on Wednesday anyway so I swam instead.

I think I will be able to get my swim meters done now with only 2 swims a week as I will need that extra time on Saturday for the longer bike rides.  And now is when they start to really get longer.  By the build phase I need to be in shape for 80 to 100 miles each week. So muscular endurance has got to be there.  Swimming hard and long does wonders for your aerobic endurance, so 3 swims a week has been very helpful in keeping my heart rate down for longer periods of time while biking, but now is the right time to switch the focus.  Base build muscular endurance for cycling now will lead to faster bike rides in the build phase, and this should be the difference between a 7 hour bike split and a 5.5 hour bike split on race day.

For the Cast Iron Club update, this ironweek puts me at 25.55 iron swims, 16.1 iron bikes, and 13.65 marathons on the year. This is week 20 of the 38 week Ironman training plan, so I've got 18 weeks to go.  Looks like I'm setup to clear the 30 iron distances on the calendar year no problem.

It was sooooooo cool having Lisa come visit this weekend!  We don't get visitors very often and we really do enjoy having friends come stay for a  night or weekend.  This time we got to show off our really cool city to a really cool girl and we all had a lot of fun.  The highlights included getting to go play in the Rose Garden some, and letting the kids run around.

Smelling the roses always makes me miss my mother's roses.  They were beautiful this summer!

Kelley, Lisa and me watching the girls put on a play in the amphitheater

We mostly just hung out and talked, saw the sights, drank coffee, and played with the kids.  Kaileigh actually kept the kids at night while we went downtown for dinner at Natty Greene's, then hit the bars downtown for a while.

after dinner at Natty Greene's brewpub

I tried to get some other local friends to come out and drink with us but nobody could.  This is what happens when you are old and married and in Ironman training, you alienate everyone else.  However, we did still see the strangest thing I've ever seen in a bar before.  This one bar downtown that I wanted to go to was way too crowded.  So we stopped into another place that was less crowded.  It was really weird, just a bar with some benches on the wall opposite the bar (no tables).  At the very back of the bar was a pit bull chained up to a table (ok the only one), and on our way out there was an old black man who had fallen asleep with his hand in a bag of Cheetos.  I mean, he was the only one sitting on the benches but it was still pretty loud in there.  Too loud for me to fall asleep, that's for sure.  But the hand in the bag of Cheetos, that was really unexpected.  I wish I had been able to get a picture of that.

Lisa recently moved from Minneapolis to Charlotte, and is vivaciously exploring her new surroundings and trying to embrace the southern lifestyle.  We were proud to show her around Raleigh for the weekend and had a wonderful time.  The kids absolutely fell in love with her too.  It was great and I can't wait to get her back up here for a race!

the scary hills

After going through the race list in the Grand Prix series, well I had decided not to do the series but then realized that I was already registered for 5 of the races, so to finish it out I had two choices.  The Free to Breathe 5k or the Run in the New Year which started on New Years eve at midnight.  I went with the Free to Breathe even though it meant signing up for the race on Thursday night and running it on Saturday morning.  Nothing like a last minute race huh?

Well I am also a huge supporter of lung cancer research after losing my Grandfather to lung cancer 14 years ago this month.  The Free to Breathe was in a tough part of town to run in, the North Hills area.  It's called North Hills because it's on the north side of Raleigh, and there are a crap ton of hills.  This race lived up to its expectations.

There were a bunch of lung cancer survivors there, and I really got very emotional talking to some of them.  Most of the survivors walked the one mile race.  One of them wanted his grandson to pace off of me, but the kid was like 9 years old and couldn't hang.  Actually I thought I recognized the kid from the magnificent mile where he made me look slow and I did encourage him to keep my pace this time, but whatevs.

We got into the starting corral and took off with a downhill followed by a steep uphill.  The uphills were shortish but really steep.  Then it would level off typically, then a longer downhill section.  I cruised through the first mile like this.  The whole thing was residential streets so it was pretty cool. 

At the halfway point the garmin said 1.55 miles and I'd been running for exactly 10:39, so I felt like I could actually beat my 21:58 PR if I didn't completely fall out on the last half of the course.  The second half ended up being more of the same, short steep uphills followed by long not steep downhills.  Seems like a perfect-ish storm. 

Unfortunately, I did blow up a bit in the second half.  Not real bad, but I got a nice side stitch and eventually those short steep uphills just wore me down.  The last uphill was brutal, I turned the corner and could see the finish line.  A quck glance at the garmin showed I was at exactly 3.0 miles at 21:58 so I knew the PR was blown but with the finish line in sight?  that's pretty close.

Finish 22:33, a 7:17 pace
42/376 overall
5/18 age group

Sunday held a nice church service and a 20 mile run.  Came in at around a 7:58 pace too.  boo ya.  ultra training is good.

That Notre Dame game was outstanding.  The Alabama game was better.  it was a good weekend in flynntown.

Rolling Costumes

Last weekend I got out there Saturday morning for a great 18 mile run.  I went from the NC State Arboretum into Umstead state park and back, which left the route mostly on greenway and trail.  I felt pretty good the whole time, saw some friends out there on mountain bikes, and took a couple of gels and plenty of water.  After I got home I knew recovery was going to be key, so I made a green smoothie with lots of ginger ale & some franks red hot.  Capsaisin and ginger are key components in recovery.  A few hours later I was feeling fresh.  With the 5k race the next day I didn't want to be too fatigued to put up a solid race.

New Ink
Saturday afternoon I made my way back to the tattoo parlor for some fresh ink in the legs. Like they hadn't been beaten up enough by the 18'er.  I was absolutely craving some new ink and had a few ideas to explore.  After everything came together, I got out there and got this done:

Koi fish on the back of my right calf

Tribal Dragon on my left quad

The legend has it that if a koi fish can swim upstream it will display the strength and courage necessary to be transformed into a dragon.  So koi fish represent beauty and perseverance, and dragons represent strength and transformation.  I really like this, since I know a few things about strength and transformation.  Specifically black koi are reserved for men who have overcome a major obstacle in life.  Even with the placement of the tattoos, the koi fish on the back side of my lower right leg gets transformed into the dragon on my upper left leg.  It all fits.

I really love these tats.  They came out very clean, and provide an image and story that I can get behind.  Great conversation starters.  I think I'm going to name the dragon Eddie, that just seems like a good name for a tribal dragon.  You can't see him in most of my street clothes, even shorts.  But some running shorts leave a little tail showing.  Good stuff.

The artist warned me I would be a bit sore for the race the next day.

Monster Dash 5k
Sunday was the Monster Dash 5k 2012 and it was a blast.  I finished in 22:25, and I expected the course to be a bit faster than that.  It was still a fun race.  You may remember back in 2010 we all four did the 1 mile race in costume and had a blast.  This year the kids did the 1 mile race in costume, Kelley and I did the 5k, and everyone had a good time.

The kids race was first, and they went out with a bang.  They just had to run half a mile out on the 5k course, then turnaround and come back.  I think the winners were around 6:38.  Our kids took off at a pretty good pace, then got out of sight.  I moved up to a spot where I could see the clock and finish line to cheer them in.  The winners came in, then huge groups of people, then more kids, then other kids.  10 minutes on the clock, then 12, then here comes little babies with the stumble walk going along side their moms.  Finally around 15:37, here come my kids back into view walking and laughing at each other.  They weren't last!  I was glad for that.  Still as a parent, watching your kids leave with a large group of people and then not seeing them come back was starting to freak me out.

The 5k course was a straight out and back with one turn around Cameron Village (this is within walking distance of Kelley's dad's house).  It started out going up this really steep hill that felt longer than it looked, then turned right onto Oberlin.  Oberlin is one of the few very flat roads in Raleigh, so this worked out well. 

The line for the port-a-pots cleared out right before the start, and I had to make a last minute stop in there anyway, so I took advantage.  When I got out I heard the announcer say there was only 3 minutes until the start, so I cut it a bit close and got stuck at the back of the pack.  I tried to get in front of the people pushing baby strollers, but it's not my normal third or fourth row of people starting position.  Still, they started the race and we got out there.

I didn't try to crush the hill, just took what the hill gave me.  I had a lot of people to pass.  After the turn I just tried to hold a steady pace on Oberlin.  Again I passed everyone that I could.  It was kind of flat, but generally had a slight uphill grade so I tried to keep my pace around 7:10 per mile.  After the turnaround, that same grade was slightly downhill, so I tried to keep the pace around 6:50.  That didn't work so well.  I took some water at the turnaround and choked it down a little too fast, so I ended up stumbling and coughing pretty good on the side of the road for a while.  ooops.  Eventually I did regain my composure eventually to get my speed back up.

The giant uphill at the start became a crushing downhill at the finish.  When I get a really steep downhill, I like to really lean forward and kick my heels up really high.  It increases the float time between foot landings which translates to more time falling down on a steep grade like that.  My goal for this race was to get a PR, it was supposed to be one of the flattest courses in town and should have been very fast.  It was pretty fast, but when I saw the finish line at 22:25 I was really just glad to be done.  Between getting bogged down at the start and choking at the halfway point it just wasn't my day to PR. But I know it's out there.

22:25, 7:13 pace
70/591 overall
9/38 M 35-39

Kelley ran a good hard race coming in at 30:53.  The funniest things happened after I crossed the finish line.  The kids were there cheering me in, waiting with Kelley's dad.  The first thing they ask me is "Did you have fun Daddy?" and I told them yes, I did.  Before the timing chip could come off of my shoe Bigun tells me she's never doing another race again because she hates it all so much.  So apparently she didn't have as much fun as the constant laughter and playing would suggest.  After I collected myself a bit we got back to the other side of the finish line to cheer in the incoming runners.  When it started getting closer to 30 minutes on the clock you start to see the people who are really excited either just to finish or to break 30.  One woman hit the line with both arms in the air and screamed "I F*#^$(NG DID IT!!" very loud, then grabbed another woman on the sideline and started kissing her.  Mickey gave me that "did she just say that?" look and I had to concur.  That was hilarious, and I'm happy for her but it's a family event in the deep south people.  Come on.

Pretty girls at a Wedding

October 20th was a Hallmark day.  Beach 2 Battleship, the Great Floridian, the Tuna Run relay team, a kids birthday party, it was a huge weekend all around.  We were back in Greenville SC watching my cousin get married!  It was a great ceremony and a really fun weekend.

There was tons of construction going on I-85 so it took us about 6 hours to get down there instead of the usual 4.  Saturday morning I still had to get in my long run, so I figured I would get out to Furman for a few miles.  I didn't realize it was their homecoming weekend until I got onto campus.  The giant "Welcome Home" banner over the front gates was my first clue.  Then the campus was packed with people in purple, and floats out on the big grass mall.  I was still able to get a parking space and put about 14 miles on some gnarly single track trail around the lake.  I even saw an old friend while I was out there, it was quite a homecoming indeed!

Funny thing, after I was done running I still had to get back off campus.  I had some pretty bad nipple chafing, so the shirt had to go as soon as I got done.  Then I was driving out of there through the homecoming parade again, all covered in sweat, snot, tattoos and bloody nipples.  And here were all the fancy Furman folks in suits and cute purple dresses, and you know I got some of the strangest looks when I drove out of there.  I guess they weren't expecting to see me that day any more than I was expecting to see them.

The wedding was a blast.  The story is best told in pictures.

The first dance

Evil Genius was tearing up the dance floor!  She loved it.

Dancing with my mom

The dress swirls out

EG dancing with her daddy

Bigun dancing with Unc

Unc has moves.  he gets low.

And apparently Unc's girlfriend had no idea he could move like that! (love her!)

Me and Kelley getting our dance on

The happy couple on their way out! 

Me with Uncle Palmer.  I hadn't gotten to see him in years!

Sunday we made it back to Raleigh in pretty good time.  Bigun and I had an Indian Princess fall outing to get to way up in North Raleigh that afternoon.  So after driving up here we were all completely exhausted.  Bigun had a huge headache and laid down for a few, but didn't want to postpone the outing.  So we ended up going and made it into the camp at North Raleigh around 5 pm.

We got to eat dinner with the tribe and go through the evening ceremonies (that did involve toilet paper, kerosene and fire) and we ended up having a blast.  We missed the fun camp-y stuff but still had a blast.

Camping with Princesses

Saturday morning Kelley had a great 5k race while I stayed home with the kids. She turned in a sub-31 minute time and racked up some great Grand Prix series points. 

When she got home I took off for my first long run to the capital building and back.  The State Fair is going on this week, so it created a lot more traffic.  I caught a lot more red lights than I was expecting, and still managed to pull a 1:18:56 for the 10 miles.  I love pulling a sub-8 pace going down Hillsborough street in Raleigh.  This time I lost a few good minutes to stop lights and still went sub 8 (10 miles at an 8 minute pace is 80 minutes, or 1:20) and that's even more cool.

After the run I got to watch about 10 minutes of Kona coverage and football before starting the prep work for the camping trip.  It was insane.  Find all the gear, get the food ready, get everything pulled together to get out there by 4ish.  We still ended up here:

Check out all those veggies on the campfire grill!

We had a ball.  For a while.  The air mattress we brought in the tent wouldn't hold air for very long.  So what started out as a nice comfortable sleep quickly turned into no sleep at all.  It got not cool.  and left me very uncomfortable for most of sunday.

Somebody all snuggled up in the sleeping bag.

Sunday morning I was pretty sore, tired, and cranky.  We had a good breakfast at the campsite, did some prep work for this sunday's Indian Princess outing, and headed home.

I did get out for a decent run.  I went 16.2 miles, giving me a total of 26.2 miles for the weekend.  Since my legs felt like they had some kind of poisoning it wasn't exactly a comfortable run.  But it's in the books.

This weekend is a new opportunity for some fun.  We're heading out of town for a wedding and I'm still going to get some long runs in.  Good luck if you're doing Beach 2 Battleship or any other race this weekend!

Let Them Drink Beer

This weekend was pretty memorable, and the upcoming few weeks are going to be pretty noteworthy as well.  I know these back to back long run days are going to be a great way for me to prep for the ultra so I started on that bandwagon this time.

Saturday morning was cold and sunny, perfect weather for a great run outside.  I went from our house around the state Capital building and back for a nice 10 miles in 1:22:46.  Pretty great way to start things off.  It felt effortless and was very close to an 8 m/m pace.  Hillsborough street has some pretty good hills, but that route is amazing. Goes right past the NC State main campus, into downtown, around the cool Capital building grounds and back.  I plan to repeat every Saturday possible.

After some recovery and football, I went to the World Beer Festival in the Durham Bulls ballpark with our friends Gary and Jenny.  It was Gary's birthday so we wanted to get out and have some fun.  Kelley doesn't drink beer so she provided the transportation.  It was as awesome as you think it might be.  It started like this

Gary, Jenny, me before those tiny glasses got filled up

There were tents on the ballfield and setup around the concourse with different vendors pouring the good stuff.  I found plenty of local favorites and some microbrews, and even Newcastle and Corona showed up.

That quickly led to this:



Four hours later

They filled up that little two ounce glass about 20 times for each of us.  Turns out it would actually hold four ounces if they poured it right.  We had a blast, and Gary had a great birthday.  Good times all around.

 

Sunday I really slept in.  about three hours later than usual.  Still made it up in time to head to church and sing with the choir.  It was a great service, our church also hosts a chinese, west african, and farsi church and we all came together for that service. 

 

In the afternoon Bigun and I had to take care of some Indian Princess business.  Nothing like keeping the kids in the car for a few hours in the cold rain to perk up a sunday afternoon.  We're hosting the tribe meeting this week and had to do some things to get ready.

 

Afterwards I made it to the gym and hit the treadmill up for 14 miles while watching the Panthers game.  Held a steady 8 m/m pace the whole time, and felt good.  Only stopped at 14 because they were closing at 7 pm.  So the saturday 10 miler was great, Beer Festival was fantastic, and the 14'er was ok.  24 miles of running on the weekend combined with 20 tiny beers is not a bad way to spend some down time.  Who needs that Chicago marathon anyway?

 

This weekend is the Rev3 triathlon in Anderson SC.  I so wish I was able to make it down there to see some of the great people that are coming into my hometown for the race.  Good luck if you make it out there!

So Close!

I kind of signed up on a whim.  The course ran past a building that I used to work in, so I knew the area well and thought it looked like a fast course.  It was only a 5k, and it's in the Grand Prix series.  Turned out to be a great race!  I came in 5 seconds shy of a PR.

The March of Dimes 5k Run for Healthier Babies turned out to be a ray of sunshine on a rainy dreary day.  We got out to the Tekelek parking lot just in time and settled in for a wet race.  Temps were in the low 60's and the rain was a-coming down.  We found the starting line in time and when the guy said so, we were off and running.

I tried to start out at a comfortable pace, but wanted to keep it kind of forced with a quick foot turnover.  Since it was raining, I chose not to wear the Garmin.  I could see the front of the pack, and I figured that the rain kept the crowd down to a smaller size than normal.  Still the people that win a lot of the races around here were there, and they dissapeared in the first quarter mile.

They had people sitting at the mile markers calling out times, and I hit the first mile marker when the guy said 6:30.  This was pretty shocking, since just two weeks ago I ran a 6:21 at the magnificent mile race and was ready to puke.  I tried to slow my pace a bit to prevent burnout.  The course took plenty of turns around here and there, and I ended up hitting the mile 2 marker in 13:47.  Second mile slower is a good thing here, it means I won't totally blow up in the third mile right?

Actually, I didn't blow up in the third mile like usual.  There also weren't any huge hills that popped up and I'm sure the good course was a contributing factor.  There also wasn't a clock at the finish line, which is really strange.  I gave it a good kick as soon as the finish came into sight, and asked somebody else running with a watch what kind of time we put up.  He said 21 fifty-something, and my PR is 21:58 so I was incredibly excited. 

Later on Saturday afternoon I got the official results online, and found I had scored a 22:03, a 7:07 pace.  Just missed my PR by 5 seconds!  So close.  Maybe next time, but I swear I'm not going be racing any more 5k's soon.  I finished 39 out of 298 people (M & F), and 6 of 22 in my age group.

September is done!
and what a month it was!  I was so glad to see the holiday, and the new job kick in, and my last triathlon this year, vacation, and lots of positive change.

Swim: 9300 yards, 5 swims, 1 race
Bike: 235 miles, 7 rides, 1 race
Run: 89.3 miles, 11 runs, 4 races
Strength: 4 workouts
Yoga: 24 sessions

Yes, I did actually have 4 running races in september. The OBX half iron was the only triathlon.  90 miles is pretty good for ultra training, but the long runs are about to get really long.  Like back to back, 10 miles on saturday and 18 to 22 miles on Sunday.  September also marks the end of regular biking and swimming.  I was glad to put the bike up on the rack for the winter after getting back from the OBX.  See you in February.  I'm also taking some time off from the RAM team until February.  I'll keep on riding and swimming once a week each (at most) through the winter but it's time to get low volume on everything except running.

I'm going into the triathlon off season with some enthusiasm.  Time to run more and relax more. The near PR is a great way to kick things off.  Started sunday with a 15 mile trail run with a couple of friends from the RAM team. 

The Jolly Elf without pictures

Saturday I ran the Jolly Elf Trail Run and set a fantastic new 5k PR in 21:58 for a 7:04 pace.  It felt great to go sub-22 for the first time.  My original target was sub-20, but with it being a trail run, my first attempt to really go sub-20, and a large crowded race I had kind of low expectations.  The winner ran a flat 16:00, and my friend Jason came in fourth overall with a 17:30, both incredibly impressive.  According to the official results, I finished 72/599 overall, and 5/27 in the M35-39 age group.  I'll take it for that big of a crowd and that kind of race.

The course broke down into three sections.  We started from the middle of this giant field.  I tried to get as close as I could to the front, but there were too many smart-ass kids on the very front row.  Of course they got caught up in the mad sprint at the start, claimed they went out too fast, and ended up just being in my way.  Every time I heard somebody say they went too fast at the start I would sprint past them.  The first section went winding through some paved greenway and dirt trails, then came back around to the same field, only we ended up going up a huge hill to get to the next section.  The one mile marker was at the top of the hill, and I could see the finish line clock read 6:31 when I hit the marker.

I accidentally left the garmin at home, so I was totally running naked and just relying on my own pacing efforts to maintain.  But a 6:31 first mile was exactly where I wanted to be.  So that worked out pretty good.  They said before the race that the second section was all single track with roots and rocks and stairs to deal with.  So do any needed passing before getting into the single track.  Really the track was wide enough to still do some passing.  I didn't realize this until the people in front of me started running out of steam, and I continued to match their pace until I started getting passed.  I even got passed by one guy pushing a baby in a jogging stroller.  Who brings a baby to a trail race?  He ended up beating me by about 30 seconds.  I know I lost about a minute in the single track.  At least a minute.  I was still surprised by how quickly it seemed like the mile 2 marker came up.

Just after the mile 2 marker we ran across a parking lot where the only aide station was sitting.  I was the only person in my group of runners to take some gatorade.  I know you should be able to run for 22 minutes without having to take in water, but I did anyway, mostly out of habit I think.  The third section of the course was a repeat of the same loop we ran for the first mile.  Again it went by so fast it just seemed like a short course.  That's what I'm thinking as I make it through the turns.  This is a short course, I'm going to end up with an 18 minute finish time or something stupid like that because it's not actually 3.1 miles.  Just when I feel like I'm about to keel over dead or puke, I turn the corner and can see the field again.  So the finish line is right there.  The mile 3 marker is at the edge of the field.  I can see the clock, it says 21:45.  I have absolutely nothing left for a sprint to the finish, but I can't drop pace now.  Must. Push. Through.

I give it all I got and cross the line and I see 21:54 on the clock.  The official results put me at 21:58, so we'll go with that over my bloodshot eyesight.  I promptly try my best not to puke on the volunteer trying to tear the chip off of my foot or the girl that finished right behind me.  My abs were so shot I couldn't hold my upper body upright anymore.  Bent over and limping, I made my way out of the finishers chute and over to a water bottle table.  They had a ton of food, so after I could stand upright again I grabbed a bagel and a cup of coffee and milled around for a while looking for my friends.  I never did find them, so I trucked it on back home.  I knew Kelley also had a 20 mile run on the books for Saturday, so I didn't want to delay her start.

For the record, her 20 mile run saturday ended up being 2 minutes faster than the 19 mile run she did 2 weeks ago.  That's pretty cool.

Sunday I was supposed to hit a 20 miler as well, and I ended up cutting it short at 17.  It was still my longest run since Ironman, I held an 8:00 pace the whole time, but I was a little underfueled, sore from the 5k, and just really didn't feel like pushing out those last 3 miles.  I've got another 20 on the schedule in a few weeks, so we'll see what happens then.  Actually that's Christmas Day.  How am I going to run 20 miles on Christmas day? ah, deal with that later.

So, great 5k PR, didn't break 20, ran another 17 on sunday.  How was your weekend?  I also went ahead and registered for the Run for Young, another local 5k in downtown Raleigh.  This one is all roads that are pretty familiar to me, so I have much highers hopes at a sub-20 finish on attempt #2!

Hello Taper

The last weekend of the Ironman build phase was totally epic. Huge, nonstop, no time to rest at all weekend. I loved it. but seriously, I need a vacation from the weekend. So glad the IMFL taper starts today.

It actually started on Thursday. Evil Genius had been fighting a strep infection for a while, and after 8 straight days of getting antibiotics through injections, the pediatrician decided that it wasn't working. So they checked her into the hospital and hooked in an IV port. She called it her Special Straw (so cute!). Kelley stayed with her thursday night, her dad, Bigun, and I all went to visit and of course we didn't get home until after midnight.

Of course, EG loved being in the hospital. She could make the bed move up and down, and control her own tv. This hospital was really nice too, it had wifi, every room had flat screen tv's with internet connections and dvd players, so we hooked the room's tv into Netflix and started watching her movies. Amazing!

The IV antibiotics knocked out the infection cold, but left her with a yeast infection as a side effect. More drugs knocked that out and she came home happy and healthy after lunch friday. So of course that's when Bigun starts puking. She started fighting a sinus thing that still has her out of school today. I don't think it's a huge deal, but I really hate cleaning up puke.

Saturday I got up extra early so I could make it to the morning swim practice to make up for what I missed on thursday night being at the hospital. I then decided that it was only about 40 degrees outside, and the pool was an "indoor" pool, meaning it just has a plastic dome covering a former outdoor pool. So it was going to be way to cold to swim. Turns out I was wrong, the water was warm and I should have gone. I knew the last long bike ride of the build phase was also on tap for the day so I got in there and knocked it out early instead.

It's a good thing I did. I went to the gym and hit the stationary bike for 80 miles in the random hill setting at an 11 resistance. This is easier but longer than my typical ride in there. I was still quite drenched by the end of it, took almost 4 hours, and I could barely stand at the end long enough to walk out of there. It was a great ride, I nailed my nutrition plan down, and I wanted to get an 70+ mile ride in before taper anyway so this fit perfectly.

I got home at 12:30. Ate, showered, ate again, then went to the grocery store. Saturday night I knew was going to be Bigun's first time camping. The Indian Princess tribe was supposed to meet between 3:30 and 4 at the campsite on Jordan Lake which is on my typical outdoor bike route, so I knew it was going to be a fun trip. But, thanks to Ironman training, I had not found anything yet except the tent, and had only left myself 3 hours to shower, eat, prepare everything for the trip, and drive out there. Wow, so much for the lazy afternoon recovering from my ride and watching college football.

I volunteered to provide/prep/cook all the veggies/sides for the dinner saturday night. So I got a bunch of stuff from the store and started chopping when I got home. The whole princess thing is supposed to be daddy/daughter driven, so I really try not to ask Kelley to help me with princess stuff unless I'm really running out of time. So she went looking for sleeping bags while I chopped. After it was painfully obvious that I was in over my head she did end up cutting some potatoes while I packed up the car and gave the kids a shower before we left. We never did find the sleeping bags.

We got to the campsite a little after 4 and started unpacking. Our tent was about 20 feet from the car, so we didn't have to carry the gear 5 miles in to reach campsite Thank SBJ. Bigun helped me setup the tent before getting sucked into the group of girls and playing in the woods with her friends.


We all walked down to the lake and the girls had a lot of fun hanging out on the shore. Somebody found a dead fish in the water, so of course my daughter is the first one to reach in and pick it up, making all of the other girls squeal in horror. She has no fear in the outdoors, just like me. crazy.


We had a campfire going, so a handful of us came on back and I threw the veg on. I love cooking on a campfire. You get such a completely different flavor than cooking on anything else. Usually you can just throw the foil packs right in the coals (the girls kept calling the hot coals "lava" - ha!) and the stuff just melts in there. It's beautiful.

That's a lotta veg, y'all.

We had burgers, dogs, toppings, everybody loved it. I had one of those foil packs with banana peppers and fresh jalapeno peppers as a burger topping, and that was the big hit of the meal. The girls ran around and played for a while longer, then after it got dark we all made s'mores. Perfect. Bigun loved it. Then the strangest thing happened.

About 8:30 she told me she was ready to go to bed. Usually it's "no daddy, I want to stay up with you..." but tonight she was worn out. So we stayed in the tent telling ghost stories for a while until she told me I should leave so she could get to sleep. So strange. What an amazing kid.


Of course, 10 minutes later she came back to the campfire where the dads were starting to indulge in some firewater and watching football on some iPhones. She was walking through the woods in the dark with no flashlight or shoes. Again, no fear. that's my kid. crazy. She's hang out for a while, then go back to the tent by herself (at her insistence), then come back to the campfire, she stayed up with us just watching the dad's talk until almost 11. She was sound asleep when I made it back to the tent. It was into the low 40's already and so cold. But she kept right on snoring until just before sunrise. I didn't sleep well at all. Cold, uncomfortable, I don't think the ground was really level where I put the tent and the air mattress wasn't fully inflated anyway. So I wouldn't say I woke up "refreshed". But hey, that's camping in October.

Sunday morning had a great big breakfast. The kids were all really excited to be up and still in the woods. They all instantly went into scream and play mode.


After the breakfast I packed up our car and we all went out for a hike. The hike was about an hour, we went about 2 and half miles. That's a long hike for 6 year old legs. So of course there was a lot of "daddy can you carry me" talk, but we wouldn't have any of that. The purpose of the long hike is to earn a feather for the Indian Princesses vest, so the kids all had to walk the entire way. We got to teach them a good lesson about perseverance and finishing what you start.

And of course once we got back to the campsite and the hike was over it was "run through the woods and play with your friends" time again. Suddenly the energy that they didn't have to finish the hike came roaring back. We had lunch and came on home.


She would not. stop. playing. with the campfire. But I guess how often do you get the chance to play with fire?

Bigun's first time camping in the woods overnight was a smashing success. She absolutely loved it, felt right at home in the woods and in nature, loved getting to see the stars in the sky at night and the fish in the water by day. Raleigh's city lights are too bright to see stars at night from home.


This is Tom and his kid right before we left the campsite Sunday. In the fall of 1993, Tom and I were hanging out in the school of music after an Industry meeting when he casually mentioned "You should think about joining this fraternity" to me. The next semester I pledged, and we've been as close as brothers can be ever since. In the spring when we were away at a guys weekend with a bunch of other fraternity brothers, Tom and another Raleigh area brother were telling me about this cool Indian Princess thing, and I knew I had to get in on it. If you had told me 18 years ago that our kids were going to grow up together I would have laughed. But here we are! It's absolutely amazing how some people can stay with you for such a long time.

Driving home sunday it really started to sink in. The body aches, the pains of sleeping outside, the strange eating, it all just started wearing me down. Time for a shower and a nap and some football.

I got some advil and a shower, unpacked the car and put everything away from the trip. Got Bigun in the bath as well. We both smelled like campfire smoke and onions. Then I got dressed and ready to head out. I still had to run 20 miles.

Sunday long runs can easily turn into long bricks if saturday's bike ride is shorter than it's supposed to be. They can also feel like a brick run if you ride 80 miles on saturday, camp out saturday night, and hike 2.5 miles sunday morning. I was completely exhausted. I knew this was the last weekend of the Ironman build phase. The last chance I would have to get a 20 mile run in before IMFL.

I figured I was no more exhausted than I would be on race day, so I might as well go for it. If I only made it 5 miles and passed out then at least I gave it a shot.

I really wanted a safe environment here to allow me to bail out at any time. And I really wanted to watch some football too. So I went to the gym and grabbed a treadmill that let me watch both games on tv, and the World Cup Rugby game on NBC at the same time. I broke the run down into 5 mile segments, did all 4 of them, took a gu and refilled the Accellerade bottle between every segment.

The treadmill really likes that 7.5 mph speed. I covered the entire 20 miles at a flat 8:00 pace. Needless to say, that's the longest I've ever run that fast. I took the gels, drank the stuff, threw in some Endurolytes for good measure, and held pace throughout. No walking. Only one poo stop. By the end I thought I was going to cry as I waved goodbye to the build phase and said hello to the taper. I am fit, fast, finished and ready for the race.

I then proceeded to go home and stuff myself on chinese food and recovery drinks. Watched a movie and loaded up on Advil. I even busted out the compression socks. I did not get enough sleep last night. But it was still an amazing weekend. I need a vacation from my weekend. But that's what the taper is for.

A Perfect Storm

I'm getting into the kinds of milage in marathon training now where it takes a little more planning than just hitting all of the 3-a-day workouts. The basic plan lays out fine until the long run milage creeps up high enough. Every sport has a speedwork day for speed, a tempo work day for power, and a long day for endurance. Yesterday I put a mile in the pool (long swim), monday I did speedwork in the pool 10 x 100 yd hard repeats. Tuesday I did 40 miles on the bike.

But today the long run was 15 miles. I have been maxing out at that distance lately to peak for the half marathon at tybee next weekend where it's time to go-a-snail crushing. But I'm still following a FIRST training plan for the full marathon March 21st. So after yesterday's mile swim, I blew off the bike workout that evening. And I skipped the company bike ride over lunch today. Instead, I stuffed my face with carbs and good protein.

So I didn't start the run hungry. I was actually prepared for a long run this time, which I had not been for the last several weeks. I had enough gels and gatorade, and the proper recovery nutrition. Heck, last week I started walking out there without even putting the band aids on my nipples. That would have been painful.

I loaded up a bunch of new tunes on the mp3 player last night. Fired that puppy up and started running at a 6.3 speed on the treadmill. It was the perfect storm. I was properly fed and hydrated. I didn't even break a sweat for the first 2 miles! So 5 miles came and went without a single hitch. I didn't even notice, and normally I'm counting down to the 5 mile marker. It was easy breazy beautiful, and I even felt like a cover girl.

I refilled the water bottles and started 'er back up again. Poor treadmill. It might not have been prepared for the kind of abuse I was dishing out tonight. A 6.3 speed is a 9:31 per mile pace. Tempo runs are under 9 minute miles always. But this is a speed that I can maintain for a long time. Training for the last marathon my long run speed was only 6.0, so I'm feeling ok about this. In the second 5 mile block I made it 3.5 miles before ever having to walk. That's 8.5 miles without ever slowing down or speeding up. I like that. Yes I stop every 5 miles to reset the treadmill numbers and refill my water bottles. I know exactly how much water and gatorade I need to take in per 5 mile block. That's a benefit of running inside - you don't have to carry all that crap with you.

So I reset for the third block and had to slow and walk a few times during it. Still, I covered the ground and got all the milage in and it felt great! Everything came together. I never got hungry or mentally drained (well, besides the general living-on-the-edge-of-sanity that is treadmill running). I was smiling the whole time walking back to the locker room. You can't ask for a better run than that one. 15 miles done. Ready to go to Tybee Island and run with the Snail.

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First, I have to go back to SC this weekend. Kelley and I are both doing the Foothills Drifter 6k race tomorrow. It's my first time doing a trail race, and my first time at the 6k distance. I'm just going to go out there and run it the best I can with no expectation besides having fun. Jenny is also running this one, so it will be great to meet up with a fellow running blogger.

The kicker is this giant storm that's moving through. They say it's supposed to dump a foot of snow on Raleigh on saturday. I don't see how since it was 60 degrees today (thursday). But tomorrow is supposed to be a wintery mix of rain and sleet for Raleigh and all points south. So my normal 4 hour drive back to Greenville could be complicated. Saturday in Greenville is supposed to be 31 with freezing rain. Perfect trail racing weather right? Part of me wants to be aggressive. Push things to stay warm, see how many people I can pass on the trail. But I think I'm going to be fairly conservative. The worst case scenario is that I slip and fall on some ice in the trail and bang something up that screws my 2 hour half mary next weekend. So I think I have to be cautious. I'll try and bring the small camera with me to take some pics during the race.

Then sunday I have to drive 4 hours back to Raleigh. They say south of raleigh is just going to be slushy maybe icy, but no snow. So who knows what I'm going to be coming back into. I've got to give serious consideration tomorrow afternoon to staying in Raleigh for the weekend, which I really don't want to do. But will it be safe to get down to Greenville friday night? Will I be able to get back to Raleigh on sunday? Will we actually race in the woods in a horrible winter storm?

Tune in monday night, same bat-time, same bat-blog to see the exciting conclusion. And have a great weekend!

Meet Roberta

Wow what a Christmas we had. Check this out:

We tried to gather around the fireplace for a family portrait. Setup the timer, but the frame was a little off. At least we're all smiling.

This one we got the picture right, but Evil Genius was crying. Everyone else is all smiles though! We did the family tradition of opening one present on Christmas Eve, and everyone got a new pair of pajamas to sleep comfortably in that night. The girls also made cookies, and left some for Santa along with some milk to drink and carrots for the reindeer.


That is what the kids came down to Christmas morning. Santa really left them quite the loot! They must have been good this year, despite what we told him.

Bigun is very happy with the Jack-In-The-Box that santa brought her. and those slippers are adorable!


We went over to visit with my parents friday as well. Evil Genius got this pricess dress up set with a boa, fairy wand, tutu, and slippers that light up when she runs. She was running around saying that "Pricess Lena was here to save the day!" it. was. ador.able.


Boy, that's a lot of Flynn's. On the left is Morgan with his girlfriend Natalie in front. Then Summer and Michael standing behind my Dad's Mom (86 yrs old and still kicking ass). I think Bigun has a really funny look on her face, and I kind of got cut out of the shot. The funny thing is that Kelley was next to me, and she got cut out of the shot even when my mom was taking the picture with our camera! too funny. Sometimes it's hard to shoot with the big lens I guess.


Bigun loved a wheelbarrow that she got. She wants to help me in the garden more next year.


EG Loved playing with this spinning LED light toy. I love the depth and focus in the picture too.


Finally, here's Roberta. You'll notice I'm holding her up with only 2 fingers. She's all carbon, Cannondale Synapse 6-c with Shimano 105 components. Weighs under 20 lbs, has a triple chainring with a BB-30 bottom bracket. Lightweight, stable, fast. I still have to find some pedals, and I want to get 2 pairs of the same type so I can put one pair on the mountain bike too and use the same shoes for both.

Roberta comes from When Harry Met Sally, when one of the old couples was describing how they ended up together. It's always been one of Kelley's favorite lines of the movie. And since Roberta was the other woman in their conversation, she will certainly be the other woman here too. I love this bike. it is nice and fast, and I can't wait to get out on the roads some.

You almost never see 3 chainrings on a road bike. But the bottom bracket is completely enclosed by the bottom of the frame, so it frees up enough space down there for the extra chainring. Originally, the bike that I had picked out in the store (on a 2009 model clearance sale) only had 2 chainrings. But it sold already before Kelley could get in there to buy it - after I bought the new car. Luckily, the store was able to call their supplier that still had 2 of the old models in stock. So Gusto Cycles was able to order it, 2 days later it was in the store for the same clearance price, then it was just waiting for me on Christmas morning. yea baby. Bring on those century rides.

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I also got in a 10 mile long run on thursday morning. Felt great, went pretty fast (6.3 speed on the treadmill the whole time) and was just really consistent. I also got in a swim over lunch today just under half a mile. but those are the only 2 workouts around this holiday. That is pitiful.

Tonight I am really tired. Between the 4 hour drive back to raleigh yesterday, getting a late start, and nothing unpacked yet I'm just feeling a bit sleepy. And I have to be at work at 6:30 tomorrow morning for a deployment. ouch. today was incredibly long getting ready for the deployment.

On 12/28/07 I put the cigs down for the last time. So today is my 2 year smoke-free-aversary. I smoked a pack a day for over 15 years from age 14 to 32. I put down the cigs maybe 6 times before 12/28/07, with the longest smoke free stretch being about 18 months - when I went crazy with the bodybuilding/weightlifting and blew up from 165 to 225 lbs. The average "quit time" was about 6 weeks. So I'm really proud to have made it 2 years this time.

The cool part is that there's no end in sight. Yes, I still have nicotine cravings on a weekly basis. But they get weaker and weaker. Even when I started the blog in 2008 I had cravings daily. But this blog gives me accountability for my actions. And all of the triathlon training and racing keeps the demons at bay. Even last week I went friday-saturday-sunday with no workouts; and on Sunday I was completely foul to be around. Just in an ill mood. I wasn't looking forward to the drive back to raleigh, the kids and wife seemed to grate on every nerve... When Kelley asked me why I was so unpleasant that day, I realized it was the third day since my last workout and I was having a nicotine craving and headache. Since my swim today? no cravings. So if I've traded one addiction for another I can live with that. I can keep a regular workout schedule much easier than keeping up with the rising cost of smoking ($$, health, and mental costs).

So yay for 2 years! The "2009 year in review" post is up next. I hope your holiday was as good as mine was, I truly feel blessed and priviledged to be able to provide for my family like this.

Too good

Today was too good not to post about it. I slept good last night, and woke up refreshed this morning, but stressed. I left work yesterday with mush brain from not being able to figure out how to fix this one error I was getting in my code, and that was bothering me early.

So I did some yoga. I do the 30 minute tv show Namaste Yoga on FitTV, just have a bunch TiVo'd. Still, it left me feeling calm and centered, and ready to attack the day and that software problem. Lurve me some yoga!

Got into the office by 8 and had that error solved by 8:45. I could have spent hours last night not fixing it with the mush brain; sometimes walking away and picking up your troubles another time really is the best way to find the answers. Thanks for the clear head Yoga!

Got 40 laps (1000 meters) in the pool over lunch. The normal company mountain bike ride on thursday's got postponed until tomorrow thanks to a conference call. But the pool was good to me today. I felt strong and slick in the water.

Of course, that will be even better after what I bought last night. Coach Katie is incredible. She is a real superwoman of an ironman. She worked out a deal with XTerra wetsuits to get special pricing for her athletes. As I was telling Kelley about this, she reminded me that I still had some christmas cash left over from last year. What's better than found cash? Turning it into a Vortex 3 Sleeveless wetsuit baby. Yea!!! I'll put some pics up when it comes in. But getting a $300 wetsuit for $99? wow, that's a steal. I've been paying about $50 each time I needed to rent a wetsuit, so this will come in real handy. Big thanks to Malone Coaching for working out that deal. It's good to be one of Katie's athletes.

She has also been handed the reigns to take over as director for the Assault on Mt Mitchell and Assault on Mt Marion bike rides this year!! Like she didn't have enough to do already. I'm telling you, superwoman!

After the lunch swim today I was ready to focus on some code, and it just came pouring out of my fingers. You ever have one of those days where everything just works? The job seems easy and fun? That was today. Very cool.

After work, it was time for the Thursday long run. I guessed 8 miles would be good enough for today, and it was smooth. Did the first 4 miles at 6.5 speed and didn't even get out of breath! I was amazed how easy it felt. Covered those first 4 in 37:20. Refilled the water bottle, and did the next mile @ 6.5, then 2 miles @ 6.6, and the last mile @ 6.7 for a negative split of 36:20 for the last 4 miles. I did finally get the heart rate up a bit towards the end. Still, this time last year I a 6.5 speed would only last about 1 mile before I thought my lungs would explode. and now I was barely sweating? That is amazing to me.

Winter training is all about building a base and forcing the body to adapt to new stimulus. These winter workouts don't have to be hard, but they do have to establish the pattern. I've had 2 runs, 2 swims, and a bike ride in the last 3 days. 8 workouts total since tuesday, plus the tri-power workout monday morning and tomorrow morning, and the mountian bike ride tomorrow too. I think multi-day workouts are a safe way to increase the milage and force adaptation (read: weight loss or at least fat loss) to a more constant schedule. If you are supposed to run 6 miles tomorrow, run 3 before work and 3 after work. You will be able to run those miles faster than if you ran 6 straight, and the goal is to be able to run more miles faster right? Just food for thought.

Then the strangest thing happened. I got a phone call from a guy at the old job in Atlanta. Just to say thanks for something I fixed for them last night. I didn't know if the fix I put in place actually worked, so I was glad it was a success. We've been trying to fix this particular problem for about 9 months now. But actual gratitude? I never got that when I was actually an employee there. Amazing.

And speaking of too good, joyRuN is giving away a popener and some popcorn. I think she has a thing for my ass, she was asking around today to put up ass shots. And since you know I'll do anything for free stuff, I must oblige. Even if the pic below will qualify me for posting on People of Walmart.


Actually, I think I have a decent rear end. It's one of the benefits of all this running! Still, Marcy would be proud.

I hope your tomorrow and weekend is as good as my thursday was! Time for Oregon vs Oregon St. Go Ducks!!!