thanksgiving day 5K

i had just started the race at this point. i was feeling good, stretching it out a bit. i finished my first mile in 7:20.

susan was cold when she started, but she warmed up later on. my huge gloves didn't fit very well anyway.

at this point i knew that i was going to end with a new PR. the only question was how many seconds i'd take off.

after i finished, i went back and helped susan run in to the finish. she wasn't feeling all that great.

3.10 miles in 24'11"

my wife and i got up early so we'd have plenty of time to drive to lawrence from my parents' house in eudora. we donned our race gear and left the house around 7:20. after a quick stop for gatorade at a convenience store on highway 10, we continued on to massachusetts and turned north. we drove through downtown and over the kansas river. across the bridge we made an immediate right into the parking lot at the visitors center, grabbed our gear and headed toward the school where the race was to start in a little less than an hour.

finding the school was a piece of cake. there were people walking or jogging there everywhere we looked. we arrived at the school and made our way to the gym. we found a spot to put our stuff down and started putting on our race gear. we'd worn winter coats in the car and we needed to lighten the load a bit. at 8:00 we were ready to go, our race numbers in place.

around 8:20 we headed out the door to line up for the race. my wife walked a little way toward the back and i found a spot about four rows back from the starting line. that's where Laurie E. found me. she stepped up beside me and said, "are you mike?" another dailymile meet up!

at 8:30 the starter counted down to the start and sent us on our way. i took off at a pretty good pace weaving my way in and out of those around me. when i felt like i had a bit of space, i settled into what felt like a reasonable pace and ignored those who passed me. my goal was a PR and i knew i could easily blow my chances by overdoing it in the first mile.

i followed the crowd around the first corner and headed south toward the river. the road curved around back to the east as the field spread out a bit. i hugged the edge of the road trying to make sure i didn't unnecessarily add distance to my run. i ran the two blocks east and then headed north again on 6th street. the course did a quick zig zag and then we ran a bit longer eastward stretch till we turned north again. every time i turned north i was thankful (it is thanksgiving you know) that the predicted high winds had not materialized. it was 21 degrees, yes, but not 21 with a windchill of 9. i don't know exactly where on the course i passed the 1-mile mark, but i looked at my watch when i passed the marker. i'd run that first mile in 7:20 and i didn't feel miserable! so far so good.

after another eastbound block or two on maple and we headed south toward the river. there was a bit of a downhill there. that's not saying much. this course was F-L-A-T! flatter even than any of my routes at home!

just before passing the 2-mile mark a bunch of friendly volunteers were handing out cold water. cold water! are you crazy! it's 21 degrees out! i passed them up and hit 2 miles at 15:20, an 8:00 second mile!

the 2-mile mark was right at the turn back to the west along the river. i talked briefly with a guy who was running near me. he felt awful. i urged him on. "come on! less than a mile to go!" he decided he could outrun me and took off. grrrr!

a few turns later, i thought i had five and a half blocks, but i was wrong! i turned again and realized i was less than two blocks from the finish line! i picked up my pace and turned south onto 5th street. i saw the timing clock. it was still under 24 minutes! i pushed as hard as i could and crossed the line at 24:11, my best time at 5K by 39 seconds! my final pace was 7:47 per mile, 12 seconds per mile faster than my 5K just two days ago. i must be a cold weather runner.

after a short rest to get the nausea under control and to remind my heart and lungs what they were supposed to do, i started walking back along the course to find my wife. i found her about a block and half from the finish line and jumped out on the course to run her in. she picked up her pace a bit and passed a number of runners including one she pipped at the line. the timing clock read somewhere around 35 minutes, but we don't know how long into the timing she was before she crossed the starting line. we're still waiting for the results to be posted www.runlawrence.org.

we walked around a bit to cool down and then headed back into the gym to change into the extra clothes we'd brought. there's something special about warm, dry gear after a hard run.

we hung around long enough to see the first few pages of results posted. we weren't on them, so we headed to starbucks. i'd bribed my wife with good coffee to get her to run this morning.

we got our drinks then drove back to eudora where we were greeted by the rest of our just-getting-up clan.

chips!

my dad picked up my wife's and my race packets since we were running behind today. our timing chips are in place ready for the 8:30 start!

foggy went a ridin'

i didn't get quite as many miles in this morning as i had hoped. i had to take care of a few things around the house so we'll be ready to leave for my parents' house later today. i did the next step on the cresent rolls. i changed laundry from the washing machine to the dryer and started another load. i put away the clean dishes and cleaned up the kitchen counters and then, after a brief talk with my wife, i went for a ride.

it was a balmy 47 degrees at 5:15, so i didn't have to wear as many layers. that meant less dressing time and more time on the bike.

i headed out just before 5:30 and met up with a little unexpected fog. it wasn't terribly dense most of the time and there isn't much traffic on the highway early in the morning, so i just kept riding. there were a few times that in the darkness i wasn't sure how far i could see, but most of the time i was confident i could see at least a half mile.

when i got to the top of nine-mile hill, the fog started to clear a bit. i rode on past chicaskia road, past the county salt shelter and mayfield to anson road where i turned around. i had planned to ride at least two miles further out, but decided i needed more time to get everything ready at home. no sense in getting in trouble when i don't have to.

the ride home was basically fog-free. visibility increased as the sunlight grew. i felt great and my legs felt super-good as i pedaled along, not really pushing it, but not just spinning either.

i rode back onto pine street at about 7:15 and hit my driveway a minute or two later. i logged everything, came inside and started in on the remaining work. another load of laundry changed over and another started. a shower taken and a face shaved. doors unlocked and dailymile post posted.

ready for the day! (26.26 miles @ 15.4mph)

3.11 miles in 24'50"

running is so weird! i wasn't even trying hard today. i didn't want to toast my legs before thursday's race in lawrence (and the virtual one here). i felt absolutely pokey the whole time i was running today. i had a bit of discomfort in my GI tract. i felt like i was going to have to stop, but somehow i kept running. i even passed my house without turning in. i wanted 5K, not three miles! all that and i ended with a new PR, my first sub-8 minute paced run at this distance. weird!

creative riding

i thought i would use kurt vonneygut's rules for creative writing to share with you the mayhem that was my ride today. (i found his rules at melanconent.com/lib/rev/bagombosnuffbox/creativewriting.html)

1. use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

reading this report of my morning cylcing workout will take you much less time than it took me to ride it. i was on the road for 2:26'07" beginning at 4:50. i rode to mayfield and back before stopping for breakfast. i went out again post-meal and did an out and back to milan. my breakfast fueled 12 miles brought my average speed up to 15.6mph. oops! time's awasting. i'd better move on.

2. give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

i hope you will root for me and not for the cold temps or the wind. it was 29 degrees when i first went out and 27 when i got back from that first trip out and back. by the time my second ride was finished it was back up to 29 and i was sweating. the wind was a decent chap and didn't fight me too much this morning and only brought the "feels like" temperature down five or six degrees, but don't cheer for him or hill blow me off the road tomorrow.

3. every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

i wanted warmth. i dressed in as many layers as i could put on without having to creep back into my bedroom and raid the closet there. i also wanted to get more miles than steve s., my mileage goal throwdown nemesis. he got a flat at just under 15 miles this morning. i tried to cry. really i did.

4. every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.

steve is a whiner. his character is revealed in the way he complains about having to call the "team car" to get him when his tire flats and he has failed to carry a spare tube or patch kit. poor steve!

5. start as close to the end as possible.

since my route was a simple out and back today, i started exactly where i ended. how's that for creative riding!

6. be a sadist. no matter [how] sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them - in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

an evil gnome attacked me at mile sixteen. a dog bit my leg at mile twenty-one. i nearly feel through the grates on the bridge at mile thirty-four. i made all that up, of course. now you see what i'm made of - crazy stuff!

7. write to please just one person. if you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

cough, cough! i think i'm coming down with something. hope i'm not catching. hate to spread a virus all over dailymile!

8. give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. to heck with suspense. readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

so finish it yourself! (37.98miles @ 15.6mph)