Awesome Vacation!

I just got home from an awesome week of vacation. I spent 5 days in Florida with my Dad and step mom who live in Ocala. I got to go to Universal Studios on Wednesday and Thursday. (Thanks Mom!) I visited Universal on Wednesday and my dad took the day off of work and he and my step mom went with me, and then I went back on Thursday to Islands of Adventure. It was an awesome time. On Friday night, my last night there, Dad took me out to Ipanema to celebrate my 29th Birthday. It was delicious. If you have never been to a Brazilian steakhouse you have to go. They brought an endless supply of 12 different meats to the table as long as we could keep eating. I must have eaten 2-3 lbs of meat. It was wonderful. All in all it was great to get away from work and the stresses of regular life and escape to Florida. I really enjoyed visiting my Dad and I can't wait to go back and visit again. (maybe in the fall next time).

Races, races, races!

A few weeks ago a friend called me asking me to run the AEP Festival 5k/10k. He runs it every year and, although he lives about an hour away, he was driving in for it. This was right after my 1/2 which was very enjoyable but totally trashed me. (I was dead tired for like a week and a half) I was initially going to just tell him I couldn't but I just couldn't resist the urge to run. I decided that I would run the 10k instead of the 5k and that I wouldn't set any kind of a time goal for myself, I would just take it easy and let the chips fall where they may. It was going to be my first 10k anyway so I was guaranteed a PR, there was no reason to kill myself.

The race ended up going great, I started out with an 8 minute mile and steadily dropped my time every mile after. My final time was 42:38, which I was very pleased with. Bring on the next race!

Trail Nut 1/2 Marathon and 10K

I had a blast today at the Trail Nut 1/2 Marathon and 10k. The race seemed to be very well organized. The were somewhere between 50 and 75 runners combined, and the weather turned out to be very beautiful. The course was well marked, although because of the recent rain that we have had it was pretty muddy and by the time the 1/2 marathoners made the second loop of the first 4 miles of the course it had become very slick in places in many places. Personally I didn't think that the course conditions took away from the course, i thought it just made it more fun and extra challenging. I led the first 1/2 mile of the race and I definitely went out too fast. I quickly dropped by into third and held third position until about mile 8. The last 5 miles of the course were extremely hard for me and I ended up having to walk a few of the steeped uphill sections. I think I finished in 7th place with a time of 1:47:25. 1st in the 25-29 age group. you can view results and upcoming races put on by Mountain Junkies LLC at http://mountainjunkies.blogspot.com/

Been a while...

I have been to the edges of shin splint death and I have survived to fight another day. I started running again last week and I have tried to take it really easy. No use pushing it, I'd just end up hurting these fragile chicken legs again. I've also started to cross train a little on an old bike that I have recently acquired. (The bike is actually from JC Penny, that's how old the thing is!) That's been fun and it been a good change of pace. I'd still trade a run for a bike ride any day, but that bike rides will have to suffice until I can build my mileage back up. Speaking of obscene mileage...

I have signed up to run a half marathon on Saturday. It's the Trail Nut 10k and Half Marathon. It is put on by Mountain Junkies LLC and the race is being held at a park in beautiful Bedford, VA. In case your wondering I have heard that faint voice of reason in my head saying, 'hey, stupid, you're nursing an injury. Why make it worse by running 13.1 miles.' In the words of Steve Prefontaine in the movie 'without limits', "Bill, you don't know what will happen to my foot if I do run, but you do know what it'll do to me if I don't." That, plus the registration was $30 bucks and I feel guilty if I wasted it. Plus who can sit out on a race. Bring it on. I'm hoping to break 1:30. That is about where I was before I began to feel the shin splints and so we'll give it a go and see what happens. Hopefully I'll post again on Sunday with the joyous announcement of a PR. Until then "Prepare ship for ludicrous speed!"

Hiking at Roaring Run

Jake, Hannah, Sam and I went hiking at Roaring Run on Saturday. It turned out to be rather nice and the kids were really excited to see the waterfall. I was a little scared that they wouldn't make it all the way to the waterfall which is about 3/4 of a mile up the trail, but in the end they did better than me.

It got me thinking about how encumbered I am by distance. How concerned I am about whether i'm going to run 3 miles today of 5. It could have been a twelve mile hike on Saturday and I think they would have been just fine. They could really care less about how far they had to go, they just wanted to see the waterfall.

Stinkin' Shin Splints...

Yes, I have been inflicted once again. When will I learn, 'Will is not superman.' Say it again, after me, 'Will is not superman.' I ran way to much the week before last and sure enough last week when I strapped on my shoes I only made it a mile down the huckleberry trail before common sense struck me with the thought that it would be better to go back now than have someone carry me back later. So it looks like ill be resting for a few weeks. Hope this thing gets better soon. I've got a 1/2 marathon on the 10th of May. Whether my shins are better or not that thing cost $30 and I intend to enjoy every penny of it!

Dave says, 'run, why would anyone want to run?' No what he really said was, 'what are you doing with you phone there Ben?' quickly followed by, 'you'd better erase that, boy!' Sorry Dave this picture is just to dang funny to not show to the world. (or the 3 other people who occasionally look at this blog.)