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I was sitting in my cubicle at work just after 5pm and was one of only two people left in the building. The other was the President of the company who was in his office and having a very heated phone conversation with his wife. At the end of the conversation he slammed down the phone, turned off his office light, and walked out to my cube on his way out. He looked me right in the eye, pointed his finger at me, and said “Whatever you do, DON’T EVER GET MARRIED” and then walked out.
What he didn’t know was that in my pocket, at that very moment, was the ring I was planning to give to Olivia that evening when I asked her to marry me. As a matter of fact, those were the last words that I heard from anyone prior to picking up Olivia for dinner and ultimately “popping” one of the biggest questions of my life.
Now, 15 years later, I’m extremely thankful that I did not follow my boss’ advice and even more thankful that Olivia said “YES” all those years ago.
Happy Valentine’s Day Sweetheart!
P.S. – The President of that company and I are still dear friends, and yes he is still married! We’ve had a good laugh about this series of events through the years.
This morning I went out for a leisurely 6-mile recovery run on a couple of different cross-country fields in Percy and Edwin Warner Parks. As I was rounding a clump of trees about midway through the run I noticed a man standing about 100m away coiling up what looked like a rope. I then noticed a medium sized dog right in front of him and realized it was a leash.
As soon as the dog saw me, he took off toward me in a full sprint. He left the ground a few feet in front of me and hit just at the top of my quads. Thankfully this did not knock me down (or hurt me), but the dog continued to jump up and claw at me frantically. Needless to say this scared the daylight out of me, but my fear quickly turned to anger when the owner came over trying to calm him down.
Instead of trying get control of his dog, he started fussing at me!
“If you stop moving around so much he’ll calm down”
Ummm…running generally requires “moving around”
“We never see runners out in the morning”
Really? On a cross-country course? Never see runners?
Anyway, he finally came over retrieved his dog. I simply said “thank you” and continued my run. Other than being really dirty and having a few scratches, I came out unscathed. It amazes me that the guy never apologized, but I guess that really shouldn’t surprise me these days.
Oh well…got in the run anyway and generally felt good after the hard effort on Saturday.
In 3 weeks I’m running the Rock N’ Roll New Orleans Marathon. Olivia and I will be traveling to NOLA with approximately 20 members of our running group and the group will be sporting matching shirts for the race. The guys will be sporting gold colored Asics shirts with purple screen printing (Mardi Gras colors):
While this is cool, all of my current race shoes are solid red with black trim, which will clash horribly. No way I’m running in anything but a Saucony Kinvara, but unfortunately the Kinvara doesn’t come in any color right now that fits in with NOLA colors.
With that in mind, these are the options that I have:
Option A: Yellow / Black / Orange
Pros – The yellow is almost the same as the Asics shirt, and overall this is a very cool looking shoe.
Cons – While orange is a complimentary color to purple, it’s not exactly a NOLA or Mardi Gras color.
Option B: Black / Citron
Pros – The is my favorite Kinvara color combination that I don’t already own.
Cons – While green is one of the primary Mardi Gras colors, “Citron” doesn’t exactly qualify as Mardis Gras Green.
Option C: Black / Grey
Pros – Would pretty much go with anything but Navy Blue
Cons – Fairly boring
Option D: White / Black / Grey
Pros – Would pretty much go with anything but Navy Blue
Cons – Very boring
Well…would love your opinion. What do you think?
If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.
Thomas Edison (via michaelgoesrunning)
No full-blown race recap / review since this was more of a tempo run than a race for me, but did want to give a brief update.
Big NOLA confidence boost today!
As I said in my post last night, this race was a NOLA tune-up. I was not going to race at full half-marathon speed, but shooting for an average pace of 7:16 (Just under goal marathon pace). The weather conditions were tough with 25+ mph wind gusts and a “feels-like” temp of less than 15 degrees at race start.
I knew the course was going to be hilly, but it was actually a little more challenging than I expected. There was a nasty hill right at start, and at least some elevation gain in every mile with several long inclines throughout the course. I was a little worried about the three-mile gravel segment, but this turned out to be a great surface. The ruts in the road were more like packed dirt than gravel which felt fantastic. It was a bit of a shock moving back to asphalt.
I felt great during my warmup, though it was tough to keep my toes from going numb. Even though I knew 7:16 was my goal today, I really just wanted to run at a pace that was within myself and felt comfortable. After finishing the first mile in 7:14, I ended up settling in around 7:05 pace. I felt strong up most of the hills, and smooth on the flats and downhills. I generally resisted the temptation to go crazy on the downhills.
Tomorrow I’m registered to run the Cedar’s Frostbite Half Marathon in my hometown of Lebanon, TN. Probably not going to race at full half-marathon speed as the intention is for this to be a tune-up for the Rock n’ Roll New Orleans Marathon in three weeks. My goal marathon pace for NOLA is 7:26, but I’m thinking about trying to run tomorrow with a 7:16 average pace. This would be my BQ pace for a full marathon (which is my goal for the year), and I want to get used to how that feels. I also would love to make 7:26 feel even that much slower when it comes to race day in NOLA.
It looks like the name of tomorrow’s race is going to be appropriate since the predicted “feels like” temperature for the start is a whopping 14 Degrees!!! Of all the races I’ve done, this is going to be the coldest and most likely the first one where I will wear tights. Gonna be interesting!
Beast Mode….On!
After getting derailed from my planned 60-mile week by a stomach bug, I was able to get back on the horse on Saturday morning with our group. My plan called for a 22-miler, but I was very luck to get in 20 in what was one of the most difficult training runs I’ve ever completed.
Our group had a 19-miler planned using an out-and-back route that covered a lot of great places in Nashville. We started out in the Belmont University area, ran through downtown, crossed the river into east Nashville, and finished the outward half in Shelby Park and the Shelby Bottoms Greenway. The temperatures were great, but it started raining pretty steady about 7 or 8 miles into the run. Since I had not eaten much at all on Thursday or Friday, I started running out of fuel around mile 14, and then completely ran out during mile 17. It was like hitting the wall in a marathon. On top of this I was still dealing with nausea and stomach cramps that popped back up on the inward half. I don’t ever remember feeling that bad during a training run.
One of my favorite things about running with our group on Saturday is having breakfast with everyone after the run. However, on Saturday I felt so bad at the end that I just changed my shirt, wrapped a towel around me, and drove straight home. I’m glad that I got the miles in, but it was not a pleasant experience. Even with missing my Thursday and Friday runs, I still got in 45 miles for the week.
After taking Sunday off, Paxton and I hit the sloppy trails this morning in Percy Warner Park. Though the trails were nasty from all of the rain this weekend, the temps were perfect, the conversation was engaging, and the run was one of the more enjoyable ones I’ve experienced recently. Nice change from the difficult effort on Saturday.
Beast Mode…ON!
Well….two days ago I posted that if I made all of my planned runs I would complete a 60-mile week. The very next morning I came down with a nasty stomach bug and haven’t run since. I’m really hoping to feel better by tomorrow so I can get in my planned 22-miler, but as of now that is very much in question.
After a hard 12+ mile effort last night, this morning called for an easy 6-mile recovery run. Nathan and I had planned to meet at the Edwin Warner Nature Center, but due to lightening we were forced to move indoors to the dreadmill. It was great to have good company, but I HATE running on a dreadmill. I told Nathan that if the dreadmill were my only option, there is no way I would be a runner.
Regardless of those feelings, it was good to get in the miles this morning. IF I am able to get in all of my planned miles this week, I should hit exactly 60 which would be my second biggest week ever.
Beast Mode….ON!
Last Tuesday I posted about my frustration with pace on recent tempo runs. Well, today everything finally felt right. I would always prefer my tempo runs to be around goal marathon pace (7:26), and today I completed 12.25 miles with an overall average pace of….7:26….and it felt smooth and under control the whole time. This average included two slower miles at the start as I was still warming up (8:51, 8:10). After mile 4, every mile was well under goal pace, with 2 miles under 7:00.
When I finished I easily felt like I could have gone further and faster. This is the best I have felt on a run in quite a while, and it is a HUGE confidence boost heading into NOLA. It didn’t hurt that the temps were in the low 60s, but I’ll take it!
Beast Mode….ON!
January Recap
Even though I had a bad cold that has now turned into a sinus infection (yuck), and have struggled with Small Fiber Sensory Neuropathy symptoms for the past couple of weeks, I only missed two scheduled training runs and finished January with my most mileage ever for a single month – 210. I did have a bit of a lull in the middle of the month where runs were more of a struggle, but over the past week or so things have really been coming together.
February will hold a few more challenges in NOLA training. I have a 22-miler scheduled for Saturday, followed by a tune-up half marathon the following weekend. Two weekends out from NOLA, I hope to complete my final long run of 24-miles before beginning my taper.