Monday 2/28/11

The day started at 5:30am when the tornado sirens started going off. They actually didn't wake me up, but Carrie did. She asked if we should go down in the basement, and I said no. In my half awake mind I was thinking we could not move the bed to the basement, since I was not planning on getting out of it anytime soon. Ended up sleeping a solid 10 hours which was needed. I took off from running today because the legs are feeling a bit beat up. I will be back at it again tomorrow. Work was a little different since we had about five people from Fleet Feet Corporate in the store. Tomorrow we officially turn over to SRDC which does not mean much initially, except that we will have a new POS system. The store is closed tomorrow, but we will be training all day with the new system. We are watching Charlie Sheen on Piers Morgan which is cracking us up! The dude is INSANE, but HILARIOUS!

Sunday 2/27/11

Met up with the Sunday crew in Wyoming at 7am this morning. After the 15 miles on Friday I was thinking I would go a shorter 10 miles today. Ryan, who I have run with the past couple weeks, was doing the 12 mile course so I agreed to run it with him. The first 3 miles were flat then we started going uphill. We ran up to the ridge line that goes along the west side of Wyoming, were running down Sharon Rd., and were looking for a left turn that just never came. Finally our road dead ended at Mill Rd., so obviously we had missed our turn and didn't really know where we were. We turned around and took a right on Winton Rd. which we knew we would have ended up on eventually. We ran past an awesome park called Winton Woods. Supposedly it is 2,555 acres...pretty huge. Finally we came up on a road we were supposed to turn on and just like that were back on course. We finally made it back and instead of the planned 12 miles we ended up doing 14.5 miles in 1:49:50 (7:35 pace). We all hung out and had a stellar breakfast afterwards at Half-Day Cafe. Work was wild as usual, had to pull out the fitting stool to sit on because the legs were aching pretty bad. The lady made an awesome spaghetti sauce tonight for dinner. I can just feel that I am craving carbs more and more! Tonight and tomorrow it is supposed to storm again, not good for the Ohio and Little Miami Rivers. I heard the Ohio River's flood stage is 53 feet, and it is already at 45 feet. Hopefully it holds off.

Saturday 2/26/11

I was planning on running this afternoon after work, but after the crazy day we had I was too tired and sore from yesterday to do anything. We were going to go to dinner at Montgomery Inn, but once we got there we realized it was all you can eat ribs night. No way we were getting in there. Then we went by some italian place next to Kenwood Mall, and they said it was a 3 1/2 hour wait! Seriously? We finally headed back to Hyde Park and went to Green Papaya for some Thai and sushi. I have to say, it was delicious. Should be a fun run tomorrow morning with the Sunday crew. We are going to Wyoming, the neighborhood a certain David Spetnagel grew up and went to high school in.

Friday 2/25/11

Had off work today so I decided to get my long run in. Around 2pm I headed to the Little Miami River Trail for my jaunt. It was overcast and about 37 degrees, perfect for a long run. I started in Newtown and ran to Wards Corner which is 7.5 miles, turned around and came back for 15 miles in 1:43:31 (6:54 pace). This is probably the best run I have had in the last couple months, and it was not difficult. When I finished I thought about adding on another mile or two, but I am going 10-12 miles Sunday morning and I didn't want to be too sore. Here are my splits for the run:
1-7:04
2-7:09
3-7:04
4-6:57
5-6:44
6-6:53
7-6:52
8-7:02
9-6:55
10-6:51
11-6:50
12-6:52
13-6:48
14-6:46
15-6:38
Cooked jambalaya for dinner, made a couple changes and it was even better than last time. Ironically we were watching Man vs. Food while eating and he happened to be in New Orleans. He went to Mother's and Acme Oyster House...two of my favs back home. We are about to watch "Waiting for Superman" which I have heard is an amazing movie.

Thursday 2/24/11

Decided to take the day off from running for a couple reasons. It was nasty weather, I knew I was going to be working late, and I am planning a long run tomorrow. Work was hectic, but in a good way. Ended up not leaving until 9:30pm. Not much else to talk about, except I hope this wild thunderstorm is out of here by tomorrow. I think we are getting 3 inches of rain tonight.

Wednesday 2/23/11

Had a crazy busy day at work today with tons of customers and having to do some inventory work, which I will have to finish up tomorrow. I walked over to Subway and got my standard foot long tuna. When I got back to the store I took a bite or two then set the sub down on a table and put three water bottles in front of it so Gus, our owner's dog, would not get to it. I walk back in 5 min. later and somehow Gus had gotten on the table and eaten 3/4 of the sub with the rest all over on the floor. I went to clean up the mess and he bit me on my left hand! I instantly reared back to knock his head off, but I didn't since...you know...it is the owner's dog. About 10 minutes later he peed on the sales floor! Needless to say Jeremy and Susan freaked out over both instances and brought him home and gave me some medicine for the bite wound. Gus is usually the friendliest dog, but I guess being 14 years old he is a little unpredictable now. Around 5pm I drove to The Little Miami River Trail for a tempo run. I have not run hard for more than 3 miles, but I was in the mood to go a little farther. I did an out and back 7 miles in 45:05 (6:26 pace). Mile splits were 6:45, 6:29, 6:24, 6:24, 6:16, 6:23, 6:21. I have not run this hard for this long in quite a while, so I am pretty happy with it. Maybe getting bit by a dog helps out! We had chili for the third night in a row tonight, but it looks like we are finally running out. Looks like Friday will be another day to experiment for dinner!

Tuesday 2/22/11

I didn't have to work until noon today, so after two cups of coffee I headed out for a run in the colder 31 degree temps with some snow flurries falling. I didn't think about it until I got outside, but my shoes were still soaked from the rainy run yesterday and as soon as I started running my feet went dumb. Since I have done 30 miles in the past 3 days I decided to go a little shorter, 4.5 miles in 31:34 (7:01 pace). Just like yesterday I felt surprisingly good. I was thinking about doing a second run after work, but I ended up not leaving until 9:30pm so I ate some leftover chili instead. On the subject of chili, I have received word I have been challenged to a chili cook off with a certain Mr. Hadaway. All I have to say is BRING IT ON! Time to make the new nightly tradition...chocolate shake in the blender!

Monday 2/21/11

Woke up today to cold rainy weather. I enjoyed it by drinking coffee and watching the Daytona 500 (dvr'd from yesterday). I have to say it was a pretty exciting race. Over 60 lead changes, that is crazy. I headed out for my run at 4pm, about 38 degrees and pouring down rain. I headed down Madison Rd. and went to the overlook at Eden Park and came back the same way with an extra loop around the block. Total was 8 miles in 56:05 (7:01 pace). I did 22 hilly miles in two runs this weekend, it was cold and raining, and my legs had more bounce in them than they have had in over a week...strange. This week I plan on attempting my first 60 mile week in 6 years. If I feel like I did today for the rest of the week it will be a piece of cake. After the run I made my second attempt at cooking chili. It was good the first time, just missed a little "kick." I made one change and I have to say, it was AWESOME this time!

Sunday 2/20/11

Woke up at 6am again and really didn't want to get out of bed. Met the Sunday morning crew in Northside at 7am, first time I have run in this part of town. First two miles my legs felt like jello, just tired from the trail race yesterday. About 4.5 miles into the run we turned onto Clifton Ave. which went straight uphill for about half a mile! This hill was brutal. What happened as we began this climb is proof that God has a sense of humor. It was overcast the whole run and literally on our first step going up this hill it started sleeting which after a few minutes turned into hail. As soon as we crested the hill it stopped. Seriously? Then about 2 miles later the temperature dropped about 10 degrees. We looped back behind Spring Grove Cemetery, up one last hill and finished back at Sidewinders Cafe. In all the run was 11 miles in 1:28:25 (8:03 pace). I was happy to run a slower pace due to being tired from yesterday, and the crazy hilly route we covered. It was also interesting the we ran on the east side and the west side of the northside. That actually makes sense to people in Cincinnati. Work was crazy today as weekends usually are. At one point I was working with four customers at once. Dinner was amazing, lasagna! I may have had three servings. 22 miles for the weekend, hopefully I can keep it up through the week. I am looking forward to not working tomorrow and sleeping very late!

Saturday 2/19/11

Woke up around 6:20am this morning, made a cup of coffee and headed to cheer on our half marathon/full marathon training team members at the start of their long run. It was fun seeing the 100 or so people out there going at it early on a Saturday morning. I then came home to eat some breakfast and then headed down to Burlington, KY for the trail race. The distances were supposed to be 5 miles (one loop) and 10 miles (two loops). On the start line we were informed that it was a 5.2 mile loop, so the long race would actually be 10.4 miles. As soon as we hit the trail it was caked in slippery mud. After about half a mile it went to single track (mountain biking trail) and constant switchbacks. It was fun just running in a single file line in the muddy woods with a bunch of strangers. Runners are weird. The trails were pretty much up and down and looping all around the entire way. I almost felt dizzy at one point. After about 2 miles I was following a guy in a green shirt. We came up on another guy in a green singlet who had taken a wrong turn and decided to run with us for a bit. He and I chatted for a bit and we realized it was the first trail race for either of us. I laughed and said that must be why we were the only two people out there without trail shoes on! In the last 2 miles of the loop there are a ton of ramps, banked turns/bridges built for the mountain bikers. If I was into that I would be out here all the time. Green singlet guy took off at 4.5 miles, I passed green shirt guy and then I was by myself the 6 miles. I did the first loop in about 42 minutes and the second loop in about 45 minutes. Total time was 1:27:04 on my watch (8:22 pace). I could tell I haven't done much trail running recently because of how weak my legs felt the second loop. Times like this I miss the trail running we did out in Oregon. I have no clue what place I came in, but what I am really looking forward to is the pictures they were taking out there. As soon as they are up I will probably post them on here to show how ugly a runner I am. Carrie and I headed to Clifton tonight for some delicious Indian food, then went to The Esquire Theater to see the King's Speech. Anybody who has not seen this movie has to go see it. Absolutely amazing flick. Early morning again tomorrow, time to hit the hay.

Friday 2/18/11

Worked from 9:30am-7:00pm today...on my feet almost the whole day. Probably not the best thing the day before a race, but it was nice to take today off from running. first day off since February 5th. Just going to relax and watch Inception (on blu-ray) on the new TV. Should be cool since being an LED LCD you can really tell when special effects are not good. On a side note I am getting pretty excited for the NASCAR season to start. I have been to NASCAR races at Talladega in 1994 and 1995 and Daytona in 1996, 97, 98, and 99. I haven't been to one since though, and I just found out that Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, KY (about 50 minutes from Cincinnati) is hosting it's first NASCAR race on July 9th! I am for sure going to this and anybody who is interested in joining just let me know! Time to relax on the sofa...

Thursday 2/17/11

Headed into work this morning, nothing too exciting to report there. After work I wanted to get a 6-7 mile run in on grass, just to protect the shins/knee a little. I first headed to a golf course, but even though it was crazy windy out there were still plenty of golfers out. I didn't want to get into a shouting match with any of them, which I have been known to do quite a bit. I then headed to a soccer complex I have driven pass in Anderson Township. There are a ton of soccer fields and also just regular grass fields next to some farm land. I headed out to run the outer loop of these fields which were covered by very soft thick grass. Makes it a little harder to run fast on, but so much better for the legs. One loop was 1.8 miles, so I did 3 loops plus one small out and back for 6 miles in 44:47 (7:27 pace). This is about as boring a place to run as there can be, but it is great to get off the roads. I will be back here for sure. When I got home we had an awesome dinner of grilled tilapia, grilled asparagus, steamed broccoli, and couscous. I will probably take tomorrow off from running since today was 12 days in a row, and I want to make sure the knee is feeling better for the trail race on Saturday. Should be fun!

Wednesday 2/16/11

The weather today was AWESOME! No matter how beat up my legs are I was going to get something solid in today. I headed to Otto Armleder Park for a workout. After a 1.5 mile warmup I did 12x400m with 90 seconds rest between them. I did the same thing as last time, run 400m across a bunch of soccer fields, then run back. The times were pretty uneven due to running into a headwind on the even numbered ones. Times were 1:23, 1:25, 1:21, 1:24, 1:20, 1:23, 1:22, 1:23, 1:20, 1:24, 1:21, 1:25. I was very happy, did two more reps than last time and at a faster pace. After a 1.5 mile cooldown I headed home, showered and headed to work. After work I met Carrie at 20th Century Theater to see Josh Ritter and his band perform. Anybody who is into folk rock has to check him out, great live performer!

Tuesday 2/15/11

Woke up early this morning to meet Robert in Hyde Park Square for a run at 7:00am. We did an easy, but very hilly 5 miler in 41:18 (8:15 pace). I have to say, my shins and knees were killing me. The exciting part of the run was eating breakfast at The Echo. Good food, very cheap, and free refills on coffee...just about everything needed out of a hole in the wall diner. I headed into work and was pretty excited to see what kind of turnout we would get for our S'mores Night. It was a lot of fun, had two fire pits going in the parking lot and about 70-80 runners. We also had out Saucony tech rep there who had shoes for people to try on their runs/walks tonight. Good times! Even though my legs are very sore, I plan on going back to Otto Armleder Park to do a workout similar to the one I did on January 19th, except more reps. After that I am taking it easy until race day on Saturday. Here is a picture of some people making some s'mores at work tonight.

Monday 2/14/11

I was scheduled to be off work today, but I went in from 9:30am-1pm to help out a little. Afterwards I just bummed around the house a bit, may have taken a nap, then met up with new running partner Robert. We were going to do a track workout today, but it was crazy windy so we decided to postpone it until later. We did a casual 7 mile run (51:59-7:25 pace) around town and just chatted the whole time. He works at USBank right now, but will be starting full-time at Fleet Feet on March 1st. After the run Carrie and I made jambalaya for dinner, and it was DELICIOUS! After dinner we rented the movie "Salt" and I have to say it was pretty good. Much better than I anticipated. Nothing else to report, just looking forward to the Josh Ritter show Wednesday night and the trail race Saturday. Should be fun!

Sunday 2/13/11

I woke up at 6am looking forward to meeting the Sunday crew at the Coffee Emporium in Hyde Park at 7am. My excitement died about a mile into the run. There were four of us running together, myself and another guy on the sidewalk and the other two guys on the road. I started getting light headed and seeing spots. I even ran into a branch on the sidewalk because I didn't see it! We came back through Oakley Square and I was feeling like I was going to pass out, so I let the guys know I was going to turn and head back to the Coffee Emporium. I got to 4 miles (about a half mile from my car) and I started walking. I had slowed to an 8:30 pace and there was no point running anymore. I knew immediately it was because I had not eaten much in the previous 36 hours (did not have time at work yesterday to eat lunch). I could feel my blood sugar level was low since I was craving chocolate or anything sweet. I headed straight to Dunkin Donuts! I basically inhaled 5 donuts and felt much better. I think running 52 miles this past week, most miles I have run in 4 years, may have added to the overall fatigue. We had a staff meeting from 10am-12pm, then worked the store until 5pm, then we had a clinic for the Team Challenge peeps until 6:30pm (again without eating lunch becase of how busy we were, but does make the day go by fast). I was exhausted and starving, and when I got home the best girlfriend ever was grilling salmon! Salmon, steamed veggies, and couscous, HIT THE SPOT! I have to give a shout out to everybody (Andy, Gerry, Jason, Kristin, Ann, Rachel, Tony, etc) who ran the Mardi Gras marathon this morning! An extra shout out to Andy Koziatek...2:30:02!!! So close to getting that elusive 2:29:59. Keep at it buddy, 2:30 will be way behind you in no time.Only 6 days until my first race of 2011!

Saturday 2/12/11

Had to work from 9-5 today and it was CRAZY BUSY all day. Carrie's co-worker Gavin came in to get fit for shoes which was pretty cool. He is a brave soul, never done a half marathon, but he is running the full Flying Pig. Go big or go home, I like it! I found out that one of our part timers Robert lives 1/2 mile from me and wants to get together for runs and track workouts. This is perfect because we both do most of our running by oursleves and will make it much easier to run a little harder. We are going to do our first rack workout Monday, so we'll see how that goes. After work I headed out for a short very easy 4 mile run in 30:28 (7:37 pace). My legs were killing me from sitting/standing/sitting/standing all day long. It was worth it, I love busy weekend days. Tomorrow is going to be a very long day starting with an early morning long run with the Sunday crew. I have to give a big shout out to everybody running the Mardi Gras half marathon and full marathon tomorrow morning in New Orleans! I know a ton of people from Fleet Feet STL will be down there. Good luck and run hard everybody!

Friday 2/11/11

I probably should have run this morning since I didn't have to work until 11am, but I was enjoying my pot of coffee too much. I went on a short 5 mile run (37:27-7:29 pace) once I got home. I took it pretty easy because my legs were pretty tired from yesterday's run.  Carrie and I decided to place a take out order of pad thai from the Blue Elephant...for sure the best pad thai I have had since moving to Cincinnati. We decided to rent a movie on the apple tv, so I voted for Paranormal Activity 2...About 20 minutes left in it right now. Carrie and I saw the first one in the theater, but she went upstairs after 30 minutes! It ended while I was writing this, and I have to say it is not nearly as freaky as the first one.

Thursday 2/10/11

I was planning on getting some quality work in today, but when Carrie left for work I saw the actual temperature was 7 degrees. No way I am running hard in that! I decided to take a drive to Milford, OH which is a really cool little town. I then made it to the Cincinnati Nature Preserve, but it cost a couple bucks to get in and I had no cash on me. I really just wanted to check out the trails up there for future runs. I headed back down I-275 to I-471 and through downtown Cincinnati because I wanted to finally drive the dreaded miles 5-8 of the Flying Pig course. I will say, that is basically a steep 3 mile hill. Can we say "going out conservative?" I waited until it warmed up a little to go on my run. It was about 24 degrees with a 17 degree windchill which is cold, but not quite as cold as yesterday. I headed down Madison to Brotherton which goes all the way to the bottom of the 1.5 mile hill on Erie. I headed up that hill then all the way down Observatory back to Madison. I then took a left and ran to Eden Park. I stopped for a minute to do something I have never done...walk across a frozen pond! I headed back to the house and ended up running a pretty solid overall pace. In all I covered 12 miles in 1:25:25 (7:07 pace). I am seriously looking forward to the warmer temperatures this coming week, supposed to get up into the mid-50's!

Wednesday 2/9/11

I didn't have to work until 2pm today, so I decided to do something new. I headed to Sharon Woods for a short, easy run. Since the temperature was 18 degrees with a 9 degree windchill and a thin layer of snow/ice on the hilly paved trail, I was running a pretty easy pace. I parked in the main parking lot and just started running up the road until I came upon Sharon Woods Lake. There is a winding path around the lake which was very cool and scenic. When the weather gets better I will be back here for sure. The lake was pretty much frozen over as was much of the path. Once I made my way back to my car I looped around until I reached 5 miles (39:55-7:59 pace). It was nice to get a very easy hilly run in, even if it was in horribly cold and icy conditions. I can't wait for this weekend, supposed to get up to 50 degrees on Sunday! I am off work tomorrow so I plan on getting some kind of quality run in, even though it is going to be pretty cold again. Here is a picture I took of the path going around Sharon Woods Lake, very nice place to run.

Tuesday 2/8/11

Headed out for my run around 10:45am this morning. It was colder than I expected, about a 14 degree windchill. I took it easy and covered 6 miles in 43:42 (7:17 pace). It was a fairly uneventful run, which seeing that I ran past my favorite place (Withrow High School) it is probably a good thing. We had our training team run at work tonight and in the middle of it two people came in, a middle aged guy with his little brother or nephew. He was a senior in high school and needed to get fitted for training shoes for track. The guy he was with was not a small person. We got to talking and I found out that he graduated from Arkansas in 2000 and played football there. I told him I ran track at LSU and we even knew a couple of the same people. After talking a bit more I find out he is Bobbie Williams, starting right guard for the Cincinnati Bengals. He had so much fun watching me fit the kid he brought in that he decided he wanted to get fit. I ended up ordering him Asics 2160's and a pair of Asics Kayano's in a size 16 and a 4E width. He did not have a small foot to say the least. I told him that Marvin Lewis (the Bengals head coach) shops with us too, so hopefully he will bring some of his teammates in! Here is a picture of him, nicest and funniest guy, but he looks like a monster (he's only 6'4 and 345 pounds).

Monday 2/7/11

What a gorgeous day today! Well, if you like 35 degrees with rain slowly turning to snow. I went to the grocery first thing this morning (by first thing I mean 11:00am) to get supplies for dinner tonight. At noon I headed out for what I was planning to be a 4-5 miler at an easy 7:30 pace. I assumed my legs would be pretty tired from the 15 miler yesterday, plus the cold rain wouldn't be very pleasant. So much for assumptions! The first mile was an easy 7:26, but I gradually got faster and ended up at 6:48 for the last mile. In all it was 5 miles in 35:31 (7:06 pace). The cold rain actually felt good and I wanted to keep going, but I am attempting to be smart. Thursday I plan on doing a pretty hard run and I want to be a little rested for it. After the run I headed over to Clifton to relax/do some reading at a coffee shop called Baba Budans, awesome place! It may rival Coffee Emporium as my favorite coffee shop in Cincinnati. As for dinner, I attempted for the first time to make Pork Chop Casserole. It was pretty good, but not perfect. I know what I did wrong and it will be stellar next time!

Sunday 2/6/11

Woke up Sunday at 6:00am and headed to the downtown Coffee Emporium at 7:00am for a group long run. There was a solid group of 24 people and 2 dogs. I ran with Mike Fry and another guy that is training for the Toledo Marathon (whose name I can't remember). We headed towards the Ohio River and crossed the Purple People Bridge into Newport, KY. We then crossed the Licking River into Covington, KY which I have to say was pretty ghetto. We turned back north heading towards the River and found some pretty amazing neighborhoods! It is wild in the Cincy area how you can go from ghetto streets to millionaire's streets in 2 or 3 blocks. W came up on the River and crossed the Suspension Bridge back into Ohio. We hung a right and ran around the Reds stadium Great American Ballpark. Once back by the river we headed west along the river towards Paul Brown Stadium, the Bengals stadium, where I had to make a quick pit stop. We looped back around and crossed the C W Bailey Bridge back into Covington, KY again. This is where something awesome happened. We ended up taking a wrong turn and were running through the 'hood again and came past a house with a large lady who was lacking teeth and a scrawny guy with clothes that were way too big for him. Let's just say they weren't sober and probably hadn't been drinking. The crackhead lady yells at us "GET HEALTHY!!! KEEP RUNNING!!!" The three of us just started cracking up right there in front of her and I yelled back "YEAH BABY!!!" It was well worth the half mile detour. We headed back across the Licking River on a different bridge from the first time back into Newport, KY. There was a lady and her two kids carrying a couple boxes of donuts and some coffee down the sidewalk. I asked them if that was for us and they said "NO!" Man, the crackheads were nicer! We crossed back across the Purple People Bridge, turned right and ran past the P&G Pavillion to the end of Friendship Park and back through downtown to the Coffee Emporium. In all we covered 15 miles in 1:54:27 (7:37 pace). Later in the day we had a couple people over (Brian, Brooke, Rusty, and Rachael) for the Super Bowl. Good game...bummer the Steelers couldn't pull it out in the end.

Saturday 2/5/11

Took today off because I worked from 10am-7pm, and I am meeting a group early tomorrow morning in downtown Cincinnati for a long run. Work was busy which makes the day go by very fast. Around 4pm I got a text from Carrie saying she wanted to go buy a new TV tonight for the game tomorrow. I asked her if she was having trouble seeing the 37 inch TV. So of course we headed to Best Buy to get the 46 inch LCD, and when we get there we see how much better quality the picture is on the 46 inch LED...for only $200 more! I am now in our living room watching Wolverine on a badass television, not sucky at all. We went to Chick Fil A for dinner where we had a discussion about how, because it is a "Christian" company, Chick Fil A is anti-gay marriage. That is ridiculous. Anyway, looking forward to tomorrow's run and football game! I will be cheering for the Steelers!

Friday 2/4/11

Had a hard time getting out of bed this morning, but managed to get out the door around 9am for a 5-6 mile run. It was 18 degrees, but not windy at all. It was not a good run from the beginning. I felt sluggish and overall tired. On top of this when I was running past Winthrow High School on Madison I came up on 5 kids who obviously went to school there, pretty ghetto. They yelled at me as I was coming towards them, so I yelled back and hit one of their shoulders. Who are they to yell in public at people they don't know. It really gets me going to say the least. I know I shouldn't do this with these ghetto high schoolers because they could have knives or guns on them, but whatever. I cut the run short because of how bad I felt, only did 4 miles in 30:33 (7:38 pace). On my way home from work I decided to take a "shortcut" to pick up some dinner for Carrie and I at Noodles and Co. This shortcut turned into me getting lost for 30 minutes, awesome. It is supposed to snow 2-3 inches tonight/tomorrow morning which will make tomorrow's training team run from the store interesting. I am really looking forward to Sunday's run, going to be a hoot!

Thursday 2/3/11

After drinking a cup of coffee and having an english muffin and eggs for breakfast I forced myself out of the door for a run. It was a pretty day, but cold with a temperature of 20 and a windchill of 14. Even though I was not looking forward to this run, I ended up feeling really good. I headed out to O'Bryonville and came back on Fairfax which is kind of ghetto. I then turned right and ran down Observatory to Delta, hung a left and came back down Erie. Ran through Hyde Park Square then back home for a total of 8 miles in 57:29 (7:11 pace). Even though it was cold, I warmed up fast...the gloves were off at 3 miles. What 7:30-7:45 pace was feeling like is now what 7:00-7:15 pace feels like which is GOOD! I had a pretty interesting day at work. First I met a lady who is from Metairie and graduated with my cousin Terri from Grace King High School in 1977. Then I met a girl who came in to join our training team run and she told me her and her husband just moved here from Portland, OR where they have lived for the past 8 years. It ends up they lived in the same neighborhood that I worked in out there! I got her contact info because they are into live music as Carrie and I are. I am going to see if they can come with us to see Josh Ritter in 2 weeks. I still need to see about getting Galactic tickets for that same week. Since they are playing 1/2 mile from where we live there is no reason I shouldn't go!

Wednesday 2/2/11

There are not a lot of weather conditions I can't stand to run in. Extreme cold and extreme heat are not always fun. Rain, snow, sleet and ice are not always ideal. The one condition though which I can not stand is wind. Today the temperature was about 28 degrees, 25 mph steady winds with gusts of 40 mph. I finally decided that if I was going to run in these conditions I was going to do something new. I drove 30 minutes south to Burlington, KY to England/Idlewild Park to run the trails that my first race on February 19th will be on. After I get there I notice a sign by the trailhead that says "Trail closed due to poor conditions." I walk a little on the trail to see that it is a solid sheet of ice! For once I listened to instructions, because this run would not have ended well. I drove 30 minutes back home, drank another cup of coffee and headed to work. I thought about going on a night run when I got home, but food sounded much more appealing. Time to watch last night's Tosh.0!

Tuesday 2/1/11

Well February is off to a bang. It rained all day today, then turned to ice. I am glad I got my run in this morning before it got too nasty. I wandered through the neighborhoods of Oakley and Hyde Park, nothing unusual. Legs were pretty tired and achy from yesterday's run, but loosened up after about 2 miles and I actually felt real good by the end. Ended up doing 5 miles in 37:29 (7:29 pace). I think this is the first time I have run in rain in Cincinnati. It was kind of fun, felt like I was back in Oregon. While I was at work everything outside started turning to ice. Even my car was a solid block of ice! I am looking forward to seeing how bad it is in Chicago and St. Louis. It sounds like everybody there is hunkered down and not going anywhere for a couple days. Hopefully everybody stays safe and takes lots of photos! Here is a photo of a tree outside our store tonight when I left, solid ice.