Runnin is Donnin'

This morning I cranked out the last training run before the PM 40, an easy 3 miler to polish off the legs.  All the training is finished, and those miles in the bank will get cashed in on Sunday.  This sunday is the Pine Mountain 40, my first ultramarathon. 

It's now the time when I start to question my own sanity.  The Snail is the race director here, and after a simple text message from him I was signed up.  then I realized it was in Georgia.  Then I realized it was about an hour and a half southwest of Atlanta, not in atlanta.  Then I realized it was 40 miles.  and that's a long freaking way to run.

I've been getting lots of time in on trails to get ready.  Lots of good time in Umstead, with all the hills and rough terrain.  The PM 40 course is said to be like getting pecked to death by a pack of baby ducks.  There's nothing really obvious to overcome, so if you don't walk early enough you will burn out in the end. 

This is certainly what I've seen in my training runs.  When I finish a half iron triathlon, I usually feel like I could turn around and do it again to finish a full iron if I was trained right.  I never finished a 20 mile run and felt like I could turn around and do another 20.  I got in (2) 20's this training cycle and both of them finished with a direct run to the bathroom, shower, advil, and lots of napping.  I have been doing back-to-back long runs every weekend for a while.  10 miles every saturday to kick things off (ok, sometimes I would do a 5k race instead) followed on Sunday by a 15 to 20 mile long run.

Given the nature of the course and the fact that it's my first ultra, the primary goal is just to finish.  I want to see that finish line and get my fleece.  Second is to finish without crying or crapping my pants uncontrollably.  Actually it's ok if I cry.  All of my Saturday 10's were done at a sub-8 minute/mile pace.  Most of the Sunday longs were done under an 8:20 pace.  I know that's a recipe for disaster out there.  40 miles at a 10 minute pace average is 400 minutes, or 6:40.  If I come anywhere close to 7 hours I know I will have paced it too fast and likely will have the pains to show for it.  So 7 hours sounds like a good time goal.

Supposedly the trails are pretty covered with leaves, and there is water in the three stream crossings.  So this is certainly going to be interesting.  I'm going to run, walk, and hopefully not fall too many times for 40 freaking miles in the south Georgia woods.  Here goes nothing!

Turkey, Turkey, Turkey

Having Thanksgiving day off from work is glorious.  And I have so much to be thankful for this year.  Family, friends, a job, triathlon, all that good stuff.  This thanksgiving day also brought a Turkey Trot 8k with a sweet PR!

Wednesday night we celebrated Kelley's mom's birthday with a Mississippi Mud Pie that Kelley made.  It was supposed to last through thanksgiving dinner the next day.  Poor pie never had a chance.

We also got our Christmas tree wednesday night and got some decorations up on there.  It's a pretty good looking tree!  Neena always enjoys decorating with the kids, so we kicked things off a day early since they had to go back to SC thursday night.

Evil Genius will destroy ornaments if given enough time & opportunity

Thursday morning was race day!  We had the Inside-Out Sports Turkey Trot 8k starting off at 9 am. It was nice to not set the alarm and still get up in plenty of time.  We got up and out the door, but still got there about 15 minutes before the start. A bit earlier might have helped.

at home, ready to run

 We got our packets and got across the street to join the angry mob of people at the starting line.  I was kind of surprised at how big the crowd was there, and eventually made my way as far to the front as I could get.  It wasn't as close as I'd like, but it was as good as I could get.

Good eats, great store!

While I was standing in the starting corral, these two girls that are much younger than me (but that's easy to find these days) sneak up in front of me then realize they can't get any further.  I realize immediately that I'm going to have to pass them before we actually get to the starting line, as there were about 200 people in front of me.  but these two were particularly annoying.  They even wanted to get a pic before the start, but they were a bit too late.  As someone else was taking their picture the race started and everyone started moving.  So of course I had to photobomb their pic and get around them before they figured it out.  It worked!

In the first mile, I passed a lot of people.  It felt more clustered than I was expecting.  Still I looked down at the Garmin and saw that I hit the 1 mile marker in 6:58 = absolutely perfect.  I developed a plan at that time to positive split by around 10 seconds each mile so I could allow myself to get slower as the race went on.  I could still put up a nice PR by getting in some 7:30 miles.  Right after the 1 mile marker some other people started passing me for a change.  I could tell they had been holding back a bit and were trying to descend each mile. 

I've really gotten into the Zen & the Art of Triathlon podcasts recently, so I've been listening to an archived podcast about every day.  During the training log segments, he really pushes the concept of "knowing your zones" by your speaking ability during the training run or race.  Ironman bike leg?  stay in zone 2.  If your heart rate is too high for you to comfortably say "zen and the art of triathlon" without having to rush it or take a breath in the middle of the phrase, you are still in zone 2.  I figured for a 5 mile running race I wanted to stay in zone 3, or the "zen triathlon" zone (you can say that without having to rush the phrase).  When it really felt like I was breathing heavy, "zentri" in between gasps was all I could say.  This is zone 4, and fine for trying to push up a big hill, but then at the top of that hill I knew I had to get my heart rate back down to zone 3 or burn out by the end.  I discovered that staying in zone 3 would leave me around a 7:10 to 7:15 pace per mile.  Speed up some of the downhills, and don't try to crush the uphills, and this rolling course became pretty consistent.

Using this zone 3 approach, I hit the 5k mark in 22:10, only 12 seconds slower than my 5k PR!  Wait a minute, that's not supposed to happen.  I should pace slower for a 5 mile race than I would for a 5k.  Not put up a faster time than at the 5k race I did just two weeks ago.  No way I was going to be able to hold that for the last 2 miles. 

or.....

The last mile had a lot of hills.  The whole course was pretty rolling, but the last mile had consistent longish uphills.  With a quarter mile left, there was a pretty steep one.  At the top you turn a corner and can see the finish line.  Now normally with a quarter mile left most people will start the kick, so managing a big hill isn't fun.  I knew it was close so I pushed it a bit anyway.  Hit the top, kicked it hard to the finish and crossed the line in 36:18.

Where did that come from?  On my training run last week I did 5 miles on the treadmill in 36:57 and it was the first time I'd ever broken 37 minutes.  My previous PR was 41:55 from the Washington triathlon back in May.  A 5 minute PR in a 5 mile race?  that's pretty unheard of.  That's a 7:18 pace.  I did no walking.

The winner finished in 23:40 for a 4:46 pace.  you know, just in case you thought my time was fast.  I'm proud, but that's insane.  He was the only person to break a 5 minute pace.

129/1146 overall (top 11.2%)
17/82 male 35-39 (needed a 31:26 for an age group award)

Kelley beat her expectations pretty good too.  She finished in 51:43 smashing her 1 hour time goal and also setting a 5 minute PR.  She did the ache around the lake races in 56 and 58 minutes a few years ago as her only other 5 mile races.  It's an unusual distance but one of my favorites.

We gathered ourselves at the finish line and snapped these pictures before getting back into the car and heading for Turkey!  It was a beautiful day, got into the mid-60's so it was comfortable to be outside, and we both crushed our race PR's.  I'm very thankful for the North Carolina weather, getting to run with my wife, and the duel PR's. Can't ask for anything better.

EXCEPT

coming home to a house full of family and great food.  Kelley's sister and mom had been cooking the whole time we were at the race site.  Now I have been a bad vegan this week, and really didn't feel like I was going to turn out a good race after how poor my eating had been all week long.  I keep telling myself I'm just putting on bodyfat so I can burn it off at that long slow ultramarathon where I'm going to be in zone 2 for about 7 hours.  But I totally enjoyed a full thanksgiving dinner with no guilt.

Kelley got her cook on too while Meri kept up with the kids

We enjoyed everything about this holiday.  The parade, the fellowship of just being with so much family, it was all spectactular.  We had kelley's mom & Gene, her sister Meri and our niece Kaileigh, and her dad over.  Everybody got to play with the kids and hang out.  There was much football.  Then everyone went home.

You can tell how different the kids are here.  Bigun refused to take off her pajamas, while Evil Genius has to be high maintenance and would only wear a fancy dress that she typically only wears when attending weddings.

Gene and I carving the turkey

and then I was thankful for maternity jeans.

I hope your thanksgiving was as full and warm as mine was.  Friday I had to work, and Saturday I did the 12 mile taper run all in zone 2.  It's the last long run before the ultra next weekend.  There have also been some fantastic college football games going on today.  Good times all around!

Big Week Done! Hello taper.

Tuesday:  Ran 5 miles.  it was great.

Thursday: Ran 5 miles.  it was still pretty great.

Friday:  my X-1 order came in!  Rock and roll!


I got some headphones, goggles, and a watch.  Great waterproof gear!

I'm really grateful to be an X-1 Rider this year.  The entire product line (formerly H2O Audio) is sweatproof, waterproof, and weatherproof.  Since I'm a pretty heavy sweater this comes in really handy.

Saturday: ran 10 miles.  I stuck with the old headphones because I didnt' have time to open up the new gear.  Boy did I pay for it too.  I was clicking along around a 7:30 pace for the first seven or eight miles when my right ear filled up with sweat and shorted out my old headphones.  That happens way too often.

The 10 miler was great.  Fast, comfortable, I felt good the whole time.  Came home and recovered with a nice smoothie.  Felt good saturday night.

They had the Raleigh Christmas Parade this morning.  Really Raleigh?  A Christmas parade before thanksgiving?

Sunday: sang in the church choir, we did two anthems so it was a big week.  I knew the plan was to get 10 miles on Saturday followed by 20 miles on Sunday to make up the biggest weekend in this ultra training plan.  I got out there and got in my 20.

Well, actually I hit up the gym.  Mother nature wasn't exactly being kind to NC, so I decided to play it safe.  That turned out to be a good thing.  First I had to gear up.

Yes in this triathlon off-season I have let the winter coat grow back out, and I actually have hair again.

The cable snakes out of the back, which is perfect when I'm wearing the Nathan bottle holder.

The coolest thing about this headset is that the hard plastic bit holds the earbuds in place, but the earbuds themselves are still loose on wires.  Normally I can't take earbuds because they have to sit all the way in your ear, and I prefer the "over the ear" style that doesn't have to be all jammed in there.  These were really comfortable and stayed in place pretty well.  Quite the pleasant surprise.

I don't mind running long distances on the treadmill on Sunday afternoons, it's actually the easiest way I can watch football in peace.  Music playing and watching the games on the big tv's at the gym?  sure I'll go 20. Piece of cake.

The most frustrating part was some GI distress.  I had to stop 6 times and head to the locker room.  After miles 2, 10, 14, 15.6, 17, and 18.75 miles into the run I was heading off to the locker room.  I also stopped at 5, 10, and 15.6 to take gels and refill the water bottle.  So I know my nutrition was spot on, but the stomach just didn't like it.  I had some leftover tofu stir fry for lunch that I added a little salt to, and since I don't add salt to anything after reading the Paradigm diet I think the system wasn't used to it and revolted.  The last time was particularly disheartening.  I knew I was getting dehydrated and only had 1.25 miles to go.  Even if I had to walk it I could make it another mile and a quarter.  I did actually have to slow down to a walk about 19.6 miles in, but then still finished up ok.

The funniest thing about it, in my opinion, happened while I was in the bathroom 17 miles into the run.  The treadmill I was using was sandwiched in between a really tall stairstepper and a whole bunch of elliptical machines.  While I was in there, four really attractive girls much younger than me got on those machines (3 on ellipticals and one on the stairstepper).  So of course they don't know that I'm already 17 miles in.  They only know that I'm running with a slant now at a really slow pace.  Totally stumbling around Julie Moss at the end of ironman style.  I couldn't even run 3 miles without having to stop and go to the locker room.  Now I certainly don't need to impress anybody in that gym.  But if I'm going to fall down and crap my pants in public, I'd prefer to do it in front of ugly people.

Final: I finished the 20 and was ready to collapse.  Totally dehydrated, I had nothing left.  Those 20 mile runs are exponentially harder when you ran 10 miles the day before.  I finished it though!  Got my 40 mile week in, a personal distance record.  Now it's taper time, and I'm as ready as I'll ever be to tackle running 40 miles in one day.  This ultra is going to be nuts.  After Ironman, it's tough for me to get intimidated by distance work.  But I did not finish this 20 mile run with the "yea, I could turn around and do that again" kind of feeling.  So I'm going into the Pine Mountain 40 with an optimistic outlook and a whole bunch of nerves.  Two weeks of taper and it's ultra time!

Eleventy-million

There are about eleventymillion things going on right now, some of which are old but I just got photos about, and others are pretty recent.  I'll try to explain what I can, and come back later for the rest.

• This morning I ran 5 miles in 36:54, breaking 37 minutes for the first time.  it was awesome.
• Had another marathon weekend last weekend, running 10 miles saturday morning in 1:17:36, I think that's around a 7:38 pace.  It felt great to get that much speed running Hillsborough street.
• The other 16.2 came sunday afternoon.  I overslept and missed church, then got out and ran from the house to Umstead, got a few miles on the trails and came back.  It was pretty painful after such a fast run saturday, but these back to back long runs are what prep me for the ultra.  So, whatever, bring it on.
• This Tuesday I also ran 5 miles, untimed and sluggish. less awesome.
• This weekend's long runs are 10 miles and 20 miles.  Hopefully this will lead to some epic metabolism for Thanksgiving.  Epic!
• That means last week's total mileage was 36.2, which may be a distance record for me.  I haven't done the spreadsheet work to figure it out because
• if this weekend's long runs actually materialize like they should, it would be a 40 mile week.  First time ever hitting 40 in one week.  Got to love ultra training.
• Yesterday was our 14th wedding anniversary.  That's a long time, y'all.  And it's been a lot of fun.

I'm the lucky one

• Evil Genius is learning to read for reals now.  Kelley tried to get her to read the number 19, and she read it ninety-one.  When instructed to reverse it, she said it was one-dy nine.
• The CSA is pretty cool, but the volume is a touch low, and we're not finding enough stuff to do with some of the food that we're getting.  It's still a good thing, and we're going to do the summer CSA too.
• Did you know blogger won't let you put a pic inline with a bulleted list?

smallest butternut squash ever

• strange.
• There is an office supply store near the house that occaisionally puts used furniture out for free pickup.  Bigun needs a desk to do homework on, and a really decent one showed up last weekend.  I saw it on my run Saturday, and we went back in the station wagon to pick it up. 
• The craziest part about that is that Kelley and I actually got it, loaded it into the wagon, rearranged the kids bedroom and got the desk inside the house, then inside the bedroom all by ourselves.  That desk is really heavy.  Now another attempt at funny pictures.

Like a boss!

• I was recently contacted by Nairn's to sample some of their cookies.  Now I'm not known as a man who turns down free cookies.  They sent me two boxes.  They were fabulous.

• You can buy your own at Whole Foods, I will be buying more later.  These are tasty and pretty healthy.  With all of the vegan and high carb & fiber stuff I've been posting about these cookies fit right in.  I know they come in a box, but they are so tasty I don't care.  I'm on a real ginger kick to prevent inflamation during recovery and these guys deliver.  Go get some Nairn's!
• and now I will be the last person on the face of 'Merica to post Halloween pics about their kids.

All four kids.  Harry Potter and his Owl, Evil Genius was Cinderella, and Bigun was a mremaid

During trick or treating

Pumpkin carving with Kelley's dad

Hanging in there!  that's a lot of pumpkins y'all.

• Seriously, go find some of those cookies.  Nairn's FTW!

Got a new team!

This is so. freaking. cool!  H2O-Audio has rebranded as X-1, and they are putting together a team of outdoor athletes.  They actually accepted me as a member!  I'm now a Team X-1 Rider and proud.

X-1 makes waterproof, weatherproof, and sweatproof gear.  I just ordered a bunch of it.  I sweat so much that it pools up in my ears and I've been known to sweat through headphones really quickly.  I'm hoping these waterproof/sweatproof heaphones will hold up.

The rest of the product line looks great too.  Most of it is based around underwater protection.  iPod Shuffle cases that attach to the swim goggles all the way up to iPhone waterproof cases with arm or waist straps. 

But I can't lie, my favorite part is that I now get something called a "pro discount".  I love that.

My products are on order, get some for yourself!  Pics to come.

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.

Three Things Thursday (late edition)

1.  October is Oct-over

and what an October it was! The Giants won the world series in total control the whole time.  It feels like fall here now, the heat is gone for a few months.  And I did this:

Swim: zero
Bike: 38 miles, 3 rides
Run: 128.8, 16 runs, 1 race
Strength: 3 workouts
Yoga: 25 sessions

Ah, the triathlon offseason.  Ultra training.  A tiny bit of cross training maybe once a week and lots and lots of running.  I think 128 miles may be my biggest month ever.  I know it's the first time I've gone over 100 since Ironman training last year.  I've been doing 5 milers tuesday and thursdays before work.  Today's 5'er only took 37:29, which is the fastest one so far.  The weekends have been back to back long runs, 10 miles on saturday and longer on sunday.  One of these upcoming weeks I'm going to get my 10 mid-week and then get the weekend done with 10 on saturday and 20 on sunday, making a 40 mile week.  Epic!

I better get that done this month, as Dec 2nd is the ultra.

2. Registration is open!

The Beach 2 Battleship registration opened up today.  The 2013 race is on October 26th.  I know I'm going to do it as my second ironman.  The spreadsheet is already loaded up with a start to my training plan.  I haven't registered yet, but tomorrow is another day.

26 people have already registered, including two people from Raleigh, and one Flynn woman from Florida.  It's going to be a huge and very competitive field out there.  I'm very excited already.

3. Dreaming of Florida

This time last year we were down in PCB already.  IMFL is this weekend.  I know lots of people running it this year.  Good luck if you're running it saturday, and good luck if you're trying to sign up on sunday!

-----

I've got two new tattoos to show off, ran a 5k last saturday that needs a race report, and just signed up for another 5k this saturday.  crazy stuff all up in here!