Week 8 - Saturday

Opted not to go run trails out at Loud Thunder, haven't run all week and figured probably should stick close to home just in case my Achilles flared up...turned out to be a good idea. I made it about half mile before it started hurting, nothing major but knew it wasn't something I wanted to push and aggravate further so I headed home to  hop on the bike trainer. Ended up getting 2 hours on the bike without any further complications.

I have a feeling this may be a nagging injury if I don't just nip it in the butt now, so looks like I may just have to have an extended break from running for awhile. Looks like I'll be getting a lot more pool time in the near future which won't be so bad I suppose. I can also spend some extra time in the gym building my strength as well and just get in lots and lots of miles on the bike.

Until next time...Do today what other's won't, so tomorrow you can do what other's can't...

...and today that means knowing when not to push through an injury.

Week 8 - Thursday

So I've been dealing with a sore Achilles tendon since after Saturday's long run and so far it is doing much better, I was really concerned that it was going to be something major and keep me from running for a long time, and just that thought really bummed me out. Not because I wouldn't be able to complete my goal of a half ironman this year but just not getting to run. It is kind of ridiculous how much I love running now when I think about how much I used to hate it another lifetime ago. When I was younger and played organized sports, running was something I had to do, and more times than not it was a punishment or viewed as such. We ran after football practice for conditioning, we ran a lot more if we had a bad practice or a bad game the previous week. Enjoyment and running weren't in the same ball field, heck they weren't on the same planet. I used to joke that I hated running so much that I wouldn't even run to my car if it was raining. Now one of my favorite things is to run in the rain oddly enough. The thought of losing something I have grown to love so much frankly scared me.

The good news is disaster, as of now, may be averted. I haven't run all week so far, skipping my easy run on Tuesday night and my run this morning and allowing may Achilles time to rest and heal up. I have been able to ride with out any pain or discomfort and may test things out tonight or tomorrow on the treadmill just to see how things are progressing.

We're planning on running trails this weekend and I would love to get out there but if I'm going to do more damage I don't want to risk it. Better to skip a run in February and heal up than potentially do major damage and be out for months on end.


Until next time...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.

Week 7 - Saturday and Sunday

Met up with the some of the usual suspects and a couple new faces for our weekly long run. Run was good finished up with 15 total for the day but afterwards once I got home my achilles tendon on my right foot flared up real bad making it painful to walk. I don't remember doing anything to hurt it but you never know sometimes what can lead to an injury.

Wasn't able to ride later in the afternoon and I was starting to get bummed out that I might be on the shelf for awhile. Rest and multiple rounds of icing it through out the rest of the day had it feeling better this morning. I was able to get in a 90 minute bike ride today after church without any pain so I'm remaining cautiously optimistic that it's nothing major, might have to take it easy running for awhile but if I can still ride shouldn't be too bad.

Week 5 - Thursday Double Duty

Going to be working late tonight tearing down and closing one of my stores so had to get both my run and bike done in the morning. Kind of a bitter sweet day closing my Southpark Mall location, it was the very first store I ever opened, worked at and managed, with this company but it has been a huge profit drain for the last year plus and with the mall completely unwilling to work with us on our astronomical rent we had to make the decision to close up shop.

The run:
Temperature was 12° this morning and with the wind chill it was well below zero so I was relegated to the dreadmill this morning, thought about just doing a bike/run interval workout but I really needed to do a speed focused run workout so opted for Yasso 800's on the treadmill. Ended up doing a 1 mile warm up then 6x800 @ 7.5, 7.7, 8.0, 8.2, 8.5, 8.5 with a quarter mile east run between sets. I ran easy for the remainder of the hour to finish up with 6.82 miles total.

The bike:
After I dropped the kids off at school I headed back home to jump on the bike trainer. Did a pretty tough bike last so took it easy today. 10 min easy warm up then 3x10 min in medium gear, 1 min easy.

Now it's time to refuel for a long day at work.

Until next time... Do today what other's won't, so tomorrow you can do what other's can't.

Week 5 - Tuesday

Technically yesterday should have been an off day and it was for the most part but I just had to get an easy workout in after work, so I walked on the treadmill did some core and body weight exercises.

This morning got up bright and early to ride and discovered nearly 60° temps and was pretty tempted to just go for a run, but I stuck with the plan, kind of wishing I hadn't now supposed to get cold again tonight.

Watched The Big Lebowski while I rode and did a 90 minute hill simulation workout, good movie, great workout.

Tonight the plan is to jump on the treadmill before dinner and get 30-40 minutes in. I'm sure the decision to ride instead of run will haunt me later.

Week 3 - Saturday long run

Met Jay, Phil, Emily, John, Rick, Betsy and Kent at the radio station for the weekly long run. Man we ended up running all over Davenport and Bettendorf today even made a stop at HyVee so Jay could get some breakfast pizza and he was kind enough to buy me a Snickers bar, man that tasted so good. I felt horrible after 5 miles and almost called it quits, glad I kept going cause I felt better at 15 miles than I did at 5. Ended up getting 15.7 miles in 2:35 today, my plan was only for 14 but plans were made to be broken, Jay almost had me convinced to do 20.

Hopefully getting on the bike shortly before grocery shopping then it is off to celebrate my mother in laws birthday.

Until next time ... Do today what other's won't, so tomorrow you can do what other's can't.

Week 3 - Thursday morning run

Slept in a little longer this morning than normal which is okay since I can afford a little extra sleep on Thursday mornings with just doing a run workout.

After the typical routine of waffle and coffee I headed out the door with Lucky for a run. Shortly after getting started I just didn't feel like running not sure why but was thinking about cutting it short within a half mile. But surprisingly I was moving really quickly and after the first mile my mood and attitude about the run changed.

About half way through mile 2 my hands started getting really cold, which has been a problem lately. It wasn't really that cold this morning when I checked my weather app it had said it was 25° which is cold but certainly not the worst I've run in. The rest of my body was fine but my hands were miserable. I decided to extend my run with Lucky, he normally only joins me for 2-3 miles, before heading inside to the treadmill. I ended up doing 4.68 miles out side and then half mile repeats with a quarter jog on the treadmill. After each quarter i jumped off and did a set of push ups and core exercises, did that 4 times. Ended up with 3 miles in 23 minutes.

Glad I have a treadmill for days like today, not sure why but my hands were so cold they hurt.

Until next time ... Do today what other's won't, so tomorrow you can do what other's can't.

Week 3 - Tuesday

Did not get a chance to post this yesterday.

Decided to break up my 90 minute ride yesterday morning and do a Bike/Run interval after each of the 12 minute sets, I was traveling up to Des Moines yesterday and knew I was probably not going to get my run in especially since I planned on going to visit some friends.

All in all workout went really well don't really have the depth of details and feeling being one day removed from the workout. I actually thought about just not even blogging on this day but I've kept up so far through 2 weeks so no need to skip a day now right.

This is what I ended up for on the day.
Bike - 32.5 miles in 1:30
Run - 4 miles in 31:09
Had a good night hanging out with friends last night, even if they did keep me up past my bed time ;-) but that's okay I was planning on sleeping in this morning, which I did. I did bring workout clothes just in case I was feeling motivated to lift weights or run the stairwells. I actually did wake up early and thought about it but decided since I ended up getting my swim in on Monday I would just take this morning off. I am probably going to jump on the bike tonight when I get home for a half hour.

Until next time...Do today what other's won't, so tomorrow you can do what other's can't.

Week 2 - Saturday daily double

Started the day off with a long run, met up with the usual suspects and a couple new faces. Head wind was rough to start with but nice on the way back. Ended up with 12.5 miles in 2 hours.

Afterwards came up did some jump ropes and core before devouring a stack of pancakes.

Did the grocery shopping, got boys lunch and a snack for me before hopping on the bike trainer. Did the following workout:

WU: 20 min progressive warmup
MS: 2x (5x1 min hard 1 min easy) staying in the aero position the during the 10 min set. Easy 2 min spin after each set.
CD: Rode remainder of time easy.

Watched part of the movie Ali while riding, good movie.

Now it's time for some playoff football!

Until next time...Do today what other's won't, so tomorrow you can do what other's can't.

Week 2 - Thursday

Did not get my bike ride in last night like I wanted too, was just too tired after driving all day and getting home till 7:15 and felt like I just needed to take the night off. Which allowed me to work on soap carvings with the boys, Casey did his Boy Scouts knife safety Tuesday night and they had us practicing on a bar of soap. So when I got home both boys wanted to do some more. I got Casey set up and than me and Caden worked together on ours. It was definitely fun and a great bonding moment with my boys which is far more important than a 30 minute bike ride ever could be.

So since I skipped it last night I decided to start a little early this morning by getting a 30 minute warm up ride in before my run. I ended up running 7 miles and then doing another 15 minutes on the bike afterwards. Had a lot of things I needed to think about on this run, trying to figure out how to deal with the disappointment of certain individuals in my life and their actions. I suppose I can't concern and worry myself about their short comings and just deal with my reaction to them. Basically the only thing I can control is me.

Well enough of the therapy session...

Until next time...do today what other's won't, so tomorrow you can do what other's can't.

Week 1 - Saturday Long Run

Met up with Jay, Tom, Sean, Phil and Emily for the weekly long run at the radio station just off Kimberly to run the Duck Creek bike path. It was pretty cold to start but not bad I think it was about 18* but little to no wind, supposed to be upwards of low 40's on Wednesday which is just crazy, might roll in shorts if gets that warm out.

Almost didn't make it today, legs were still really sore from squats on Wednesday but I knew I would regret not going and not getting a long run in this week. I was also hopeful that a nice slow paced run would help work out the soreness and for the most part it did. Mostly though I knew there would be a group expecting me and even though they would have done it with out me the obligation to the group helped pull me out of bed when I easily could have convinced myself to stay.

Run went well we did a 40+ minute out and back for roughly 7.25 miles because a couple other people were meeting up at 7:30. Phil and I were able to convince Emily to go out for 3 more, and we headed back out with the rest of the group.

All in all another good group run in the books ended up with 10.5 miles in 1:42. Now it's time for my youngest boys birthday party and then maybe a short bike ride later.

Until next time... Do today what other's won't, so tomorrow you can do what other's can't.

Tuesday run, bike and maybe a swim

Woke up this morning ready to tackle a tempo run and then either hop on the trainer or head to the Y for a easy swim, wasn't sure what I wanted to do so I figured I would just decided after the run.

I have found recently that it is easier for me to get up at 4:30 to get ready to work out by setting my alarm for 4 instead of 4:15, makes some sense seeing as how I have a habit of hitting the snooze button, so this way I still get to hit the snooze 3 times and get up on time.

I was out the door and ready to go at 4:55, I ran the first mile plus as a warm up with Lucky, he doesn't do so well on speed days even on a nice cool morning like today, but he still got 1.4 miles in before I dropped him off and changed shoes (yes I put the wrong shoes on this morning in my sleepy haze).

The run went pretty well I was hitting my mile splits just about where I wanted to be and half way through I realized how easy the pace felt. Running when it feels as effortless as it did this morning is such an amazing thing. I'm no speed demon for sure but when I am able to throw down 8:20, 8:00, 7:50 miles and not feel like I'm putting out much effort I know running well. It felt really good to have such a great run, I have been neglecting my running lately and with a marathon coming up I really need to start stretching my mid week tempo runs and speed days out as well as my mid distance easy runs. This time last year I was doing tempo runs of 8 miles total and easy runs of 8-10 miles mid week so I am a little behind schedule. Fitness wise I'm probably ahead of the curve with all the cross training, swimming and biking I've been doing so I'm not going to worry to much about it. Just need to pick things up over the next couple of weeks and get in some good long runs which shouldn't be a problem considering how many people I know that are training for the same race.

After my run I decided to hop on the bike trainer, I actually swapped my new tri bike for the road bike on the trainer, I found last night that the road bike is slightly more comfortable to ride on the trainer so I will most likely for now just keep it on there and ride my tri bike when I get outside, which I plan on doing tomorrow afternoon. I am taking the day off since it is my birthday, my plan is to do 35 miles for my 35 birthday, plus this will serve as my long ride for the week since I'm doing the Hickory Grove Triathlon on Sunday.

Thanks again for reading and until next time...

Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.

Running, Birth and Death in the family

After taking it pretty easy last week I've gotten back into training again this week, Monday and Tuesday went great with some good workouts. Yesterday I felt pretty sluggish and made the decision to take a day off which turned out to be a pretty good idea as I had a good run and workout this morning.

Yesterday was a bitter sweet day for the Campbell family on the good I found out my cousin gave birth to her first baby, a little girl, on the bad we found out late last night that Deanna's grandmother passed away. I suppose it is a perfect example of the circle life, one life begins as another ends.

Plans are in the works for the visitation and funeral arrangements, I may end up having to miss the Bix 7 Race this weekend, but that really isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things, there will be other races, Lord knows I've had plenty already this year.

Until next time...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.

H.I.I.T treadmill run

HIIT stands for High Intensity Interval Training, which I recently read about on the blog Shut Up and Run. I've done intervals before but the one key difference that Beth spoke about is during the high intensity phase it should be at maximum effort for a short time, 60 seconds for example. This greatly differ from say Yasso 800's where the effort is high but something you can sustain for 3 minutes or more.

I started out with a 1.5 mile warm up working up from 6.0 to 7.0 on the treadmill. For the intervals i ran @ 10.0 for roughly a minute, i was actually using the position on that little digital track on the screen as my start and stopping points, and then jogged @ 5.0 for roughly a minute. Repeated 10 times for 2.5 miles, then finished up with a 1 mile cool down jog.

This was a tough workout, initially the jog sections were tougher and i did walk a couple of the first ones. I realized though that is was actually easier to keep going if i didn't slow all the way down to a walk and just jog it out.

Great work out, left me  sweating buckets even inside on a treadmill in air conditioning, definitely have to make this a regular in my routine.

Until next time...

Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.

QC Distance Classic Race Review

Getting ready to write up my race review of my first Triathlon I remembered I completely neglected to write a race review of the QC Distance Classic, so here goes.

Race started off pretty well, I was running with a buddy from LU, Jay G. who had a pretty similar time goal. The first mile was pretty quick and a little deceiving since it is a gradual downhill slope. Mile 2 starts with the only uphill section and I felt pretty good chugging up hill, for some reason I like running uphill. At this point Aaron M. and Chad U. caught up and passed us, I knew they both had more aggressive goals for this race so I was happy to follow them for awhile and hopefully pick up some time on my goal. This may have been a mistake, somewhere around mile 3 when we were hitting 7:45 pace and Aaron, Chad and now Jay were all pulling away from me I realized I was not going to be able to hold that pace for another 10 miles and I had to make a decision to just let them go. Luckily for me at this point in the race there was a lone port-a-john and even though I didn't "need" to go I decided to stop anyway, that would allow the other 3 to move far enough a head that I wouldn't see them anymore and I could just run my own race. As I was diving into the port-a-john I heard someone yell out "No Josiah, don't stop" I didn't realize it was Nick and Katie, other LU running mates till I passed them a little later on a down hill section.

After making our way down to the District and we lost all the glorious tree cover it started getting warm and I was starting to feel it. I was 5 miles in and felt like I was starting to lose it and might mentally break. As I was heading towards Sunset Marina Katie passed me and asked how I was doing, I told her I had felt better and I was getting hot, she ran just in front of me for a while before taking off. I was joined shortly after by Nick as we were getting into the marina, and it was just in time too. Nick kept me company (and kept me moving at a good pace) while he told me how he had recently proposed to his girlfriend down at Sunset Park. The combination of Nick's company, the shade of tree cover again, and 2 water stations really revived me and as we hit the 10 mile mark I was suddenly feeling very good again and started to pull away from Nick, he encouraged me to get going and I did.

A little after mile 10 I could see Chad just up ahead as he was pulling over to the side under a tree, as I went by him I tried to give him some encouraging words, Nick saw him too and stopped to talk with him. I guess he got light headed and his heart rate shoot up real high. Later after the run we were talking about it and he figured he didn't carb load enough the days leading up to the race and he was just out of fuel. He still managed to finish strong which is a testament to his drive and determination, had I been in his situation I may have called it a day.

The last 2 miles I ended up running with a guy who was training for Ultra distances and was running his first road race, we chatted a little and fell into a nice rhythm. At the 12 mile marker I told him I was going to turn it up and finish strong and he said he was going to try and keep up. I passed a number of people on the last mile, some who were moving pretty slow and even walking, digging deep for the last little bit to get them to the finish. It's always amazing to see people push themselves beyond their limits to keep going, to keep putting one foot in front of the other dedicated to relentless forward motion.

Rounding the turn back into Augustana and making the way onto the track I kicked it up a notch and was ready to sprint to the finish in the last 200 yards but right in front of me was a trio of women who had all clasped hands to finish together and I wasn't going to ruin their moment by being an ass and sprinting around or through them for a couple extra seconds off my time. I coasted across the finish line in 1:43:45 for a new PR shaving nearly 7 minutes off my time from last year. I was very happy with my performance, not because I set a PR, but because at one point when I was feeling pretty awful around the 5 or 6 mile mark I had thought about quitting and just calling it a day. Looking back on it now, it wasn't anything physical that was going to make me quit, but it was a moment of weakness mentally that almost convinced me that physically I wasn't capable of doing it. I have found with endurance sports that being mentally strong is just as important, if not more important than being physically capable. All the training in the world won't do you a bit of good if your mind convinces you to quit or that you can't do it. Oh and it helps to have friends on the course who come along at just the right moment to carry you through the rough miles too...

Until next time...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.

Sunrise 6

I love the weeks that I don't have to travel, I get to lay out my training schedule the way I want to not the way I have to, which means I get to swim Monday, Wednesday, Friday morning and run Tuesday and Thursday morning, no running at night, unless I want to and last night I did not want to so I skipped the optional run.

Was looking forward to my tempo run this morning after a pretty good session of Yasso's on Tuesday, I headed out the door with Lucky for an easy warm up of 1.6 miles, dropped him off and began the tempo portion of the run, my plan was to go 3 miles at or under 8 min/mile. My knee was bothering me a little after the warm up and I was concerned it may cause me to cut the run short but I figured I would deal with that if it came up. I stretched a little and got started.

I started out well going just under 8 min/mile @ 7:57 for the first mile, my knee was still hurting a little but not as badly so I was hopeful. The second mile went by in 7:51 and I was feeling pretty good, I decided to turn it up a bit for the final mile of the tempo portion and finished that in 7:39. Stopped and stretched my legs out a little than finished up with another 1.6 mile cool down run for a total of 6.2 miles in 51:18.

I have 2 big races coming up in back to back weeks, first is the QC Distance Classic half marathon, this is one of my favorite races of the year, one because I think halves are my favorite distance to race and 2 because I really like this course and finishing on the Augustana track is pretty cool. I'm debating on whether I want to "race" this event this year with my first triathlon only a week afterwards, but I'm really looking forward to setting a PR at this distance, with the gains I've made over the year I'm really hoping to drop 10-15 minutes of my time from last year but that may leave me exhausted going into the race the following week. I suppose it will end up being a race day decision and weather will probably play a role in that as well if it is going to be hot and humid probably just going to run, if it cools off I may not be able to help myself from racing. Either way after Bluff Creek I am going to take a week off from running a scale back training for one week to get ready for the QC Triathlon which is June 16th. I'm hoping a week off of running will give my knee the rest it needs to heel up. It's a delicate balance of training and resting and sometimes it's better to error on the side of caution with nagging injuries.

On deck for tonight, 2 little league games and then 25 miles on the bike trainer. Until next time...

Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.

Tuesday Morning Run - Yasso 800's

In my attempt to develop something resembling speed I have started incorporating Yasso 800's into my regular workout routine. Last week was my first attempt at these and they were done on the hotel treadmill with pretty good results so I was excited to get on the track today to give them a try. Started off with a warm up run to the track by my house and a couple laps around for one mile. I was planning on doing 4x800 with a 400 recovery run in between. Last week on the treadmill I did 3:45, 3:40, 3:34 so I was hoping to go at or under 3:30 for all 4 800's today. I started off the first one way to fast and I paid for it on the second loop but I still hit a much faster time than I had expected and I now had an idea of what range I was looking for. For the remaining 3 I had a more conservative approach to the first loop and then kicked it up on the second loop. I finished all 4 well under 3:30 going 3:14, 3:23, 3:19, 3:16, and I learned an important lesson about not going out to fast, even though my first attempt was my fastest had I tried to keep up that pace for all 4 I would not have been able to complete and besides my last one was only 2 seconds slower than my first. Next week I am probably going to have to do these on a hotel treadmill again unless I can find access to a track near my hotel but now I have a really good idea of my true pace and can dial that in perfectly on the treadmill if I have to.

On deck for tonight 25 miles on the trainer...

Until next time...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.

Saturday Long Run

Headed out to Crow Creek to meet up with the LU group for a long run, when I turned in to the parking lot I was a bit surprised to only see Phil there, apparently the Silvis crew either a) didn't get the memo, b) not bright enough to realize the weather conditions, or c) brave enough to weather the elements like hearty manly men, lol! I'm going to go for the latter, although in my case it probably is more like (b).

Phil was only running 6 this morning so I ran with him for the first 3 before he turned around. Even though Phil is still working his way back from an injury we started off at a good pace, and I needed a good long warm up this morning, my hamstrings were still tight from squats earlier in the week and deadlifts yesterday. It's still funny to me how an 18 mile run can leave me feeling fresh the next day but 5 sets of squats at a  third of the weight I used to hit can leave me walking funny for a week. I suppose its all about conditioning and adaptation, my legs will adjust to the new workload eventually.

After Phil turned around I picked up my pace a little, with the wind at my back it was actually not bad conditions to run in. That changed when I turned around and headed back into the wind. It wasn't bad in most spots, the path along Duck Creek is pretty well sheltered by the houses and trees but there where a couple spots where it opens up and the wind would smack me in the face and slow my pace a little. I picked up my pace where I could and made the second half of the run a kind of fartlek workout. On the way back I ran into Jay, he had spotted me as he was leaving the Y, he was on his way to join the Corn Belt Crew at Happy Joes and invited me to join but I was 11 miles in and almost done and wanted to get home for pancakes that I knew where waiting for me thanks to my lovely wife.

Even though the group didn't make it out today it was actually just what I needed, I haven't run a solo long run in awhile and it was good to know that I could cover some distance at a faster pace by my self. I tend to run faster with the group so being able to pick up alone gives me the confidence going into the QC Distance Classic in a couple weeks, I'm hoping to beat my pr from last year of 1:51.

Now its off to soccer games for the boys...

Until next time...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.

Monday 2012-04-16

Since I am without contacts currently swimming is out of the program for awhile, which might not be a bad thing in the long run. This week is supposed to be a recovery week and it works perfectly into my racing schedule with the second race of the Revolution Race series on Saturday with the Run for Renewal. Not being able to to swim for a couple of days will allow me to get some extra running in early in the week so I don't have to worry about getting in a long run on Saturday along with racing.

Today I ran outside even though the wind was blowing really hard, the thought of running on the treadmill dreadmill in my basement was not appealing in anyway shape or form. I actually did contemplate going to the Y to run there and then lift weights afterwards but even with the wind it wasn't that cold so I opted for outdoors.

Turned out to be a pretty good run, started off the first 2.5  miles running with Lucky even though I had to stop after each of the first 2 miles to let him rest. I have gotten considerably faster on my shorter runs and he isn't able to hold the pace for too long. After dropping him back off at the house I headed out for 2.5 more miles. The wind was starting to blow a lot harder and at one point I turned right into a big gust that nearly stopped me in my tracks. Even with the wind I was able to clock mile splits of 8:40, 8:25, 8:13, 7:59 and 7:49 for a total of 5 miles in 41:08. I was pretty happy with this run today and just how easy running this faster pace felt. I'm really starting to see an improvement in my running which is great after my early set back with my knee problems.

Will try to get 20 miles in on the bike tonight then an easy run to the Y (weather permitting) weights and easy run home tomorrow morning. I like the idea of running or biking to the gym as opposed to driving, more environmentally responsible.

Until next time...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.

Saturday Group Run

Met up with the group at Crow Creek at 6 am, much to my surprise there were 17 people there already. Amazing bunch of people, seriously can't say that enough, every time I run with this group it gets better and better.

I had 14 planned for today as we headed out down Devils Glen road towards the bike path, I had felt really strong after our run last week so I wanted to up my pace a little and see if I could hang with the lead group a little while longer today. Started off pretty well and was able to keep up with Jen, Byrne, John O. and the others for awhile but right before we got to the bike path Byrne got clipped by a tree sticking out over a fence line which snagged and ripped his shirt, I think that got his adrenaline going because after that they all seemed to hit another gear (one I just do not posses) and got trucking. I ran the majority of the bike path with Jay and Katherine and we carried on some nice conversation. Great thing about this group, always someone to run with and the conversations seem to come so easily and if there is nothing to say it's just good being out there with other people. We kept a pretty good pace throughout not sure exactly what my splits were my Garmin beeped low battery (apparently I forgot to charge it up after last weeks long run) on the way back on the first loop so its currently charging. I ended up ditching it for the second loop we did which was actually kind of nice. I love my Garmin and it is one of the best investments I've made in my running, but sometimes I become so reliant on it for feed back that I stop listening to my body and what it is telling me.

For the second loop we headed out with 7 of us, the pace was definitely quicker, though I'm not sure how fast I ended up going with out my watch, but at the end John, Michelle and Bryne broke away and finished up a few minutes ahead of me, while Anne and Jay took a slightly longer trip back to finish up with 17 miles.

All in all it was an awesome morning for a run. Arrived home to find that Casey had made pancakes this morning, and they tasted delicious, they added cinnamon and sugar to the batter. Then I got the privilege of steam cleaning the carpet for my darling wife and earned myself some extra "Good Husband Points".

After eating lunch I met up with my buddy James for an easy bike ride. We headed down to the bike path and planned on making our way down to Sunset Marina but right before getting to I-74 bridge it started raining so we headed back. Our justification for cutting the ride short was legit, he had been mountain biking for a couple hours that morning, I had 15 miles running in the books and neither of us wanted to ride much in the rain, works for me. Of course within minutes of arriving home the rain stopped but by that time I was in shut down mode. I've been pretty much up and at it since 5 am this morning and I believe the first time I've sat down all day has been to type this post so I'm good with that. Besides probably going to get a couple miles in on the trainer tomorrow morning before hunting Easter eggs. Now its time to go get ready for Church and then out to dinner with the family

Until next time...Do today what others won't, so tomorrow you can do what others can't.

Have a Happy Easter!