September down, October to go!

I ran for 45 miles in August and 60 miles in September. I feel like a runner again. Sort of. I'm not running as fast or as long as I was at the end of last year, but that will come in time. You can click on the calendar below if you want to analyize my data. I've slipped up a bit with the push ups and I need to get doing them again. But, I'm down about 8 pounds from the beginning of September. I'll gladly take 8 pounds a month, so that I can run the Rock and Roll at a weight of 192. That would be awesome.


Tonights run featured a non stop 2 mile effort to begin with and splits of 10:50 and 11:25. Considering that I ran the Fiesta Bowl half marathon last December and average 11:17 over 13.1 miles, I'm slow. But, I'm also a patient man. Adam Sandler was giving hair cuts at the theatre earlier this year, so I had him give my beautiful wife a little touch up. By the way, he's no Edward Scissorhands (I don't know what that means either). And nope, didn't see the movie.

This weekend is the Twin Cities Marathon. And next weekend is the Chicago (bet they have extra water) Marathon. Hopefully, this time next year I will be running in one of them with my brother in law Jeff and sister in law Raegan.

Good luck to anyone that's racing this week!

Darin's Story

I read Runner's World Discussion Forum all the time and I saw this post titled, "My Story (Really Long, feel free to ignore). So, I ignored it but it kept coming back to the top of the list, so I finally read it. You should read it too.

Do Not Read Pokey's Blog

So, on Saturday morning Pokey (Karen), Jody and I are running out front. Pokey gets a little tired and falls off the back of our pack. Jody and I keep running and then we hear screaming in the back. I figure that Karen, Caroline, Kristina and Candace are having a really fun time.

No, Karen is getting attacked by a bumblebee. I hear her yell, "I'm getting attacked". I thought it was by one of the stray cats we often see. She catches up to us with not a cat in sight. I still don't know about the bumblebee.

So, I use the analogy of the lion that catches the weakest wildebeest. I called all of us wildebeest, not just Karen. So, don't read Pokey's blog. She's full of stories. Watch the youtube below and you get a feel for our run.

Slept,Ate, 8, Ate, Slept

Softball ended around 10:30 last night. As I was driving home I knew I was going to be waking up in 6 1/2 hours. 5 am came and I got up rather easily. I actually woke up a few minutes before the alarm sounded. Went into the kitchen and fried me an egg and slice of ham. Read the paper and got ready for my 8 mile run with the Tumbleweed Running Club.

I had to find a pair of my trusty running socks first. Under 6 miles and I wear any cotton socks. But, over and I need to find the socks that won't hurt my feet. It's hard to look thru your sock drawer and not wake your wife, but I managed to do just that.

I got to Tumbleweed first. I'm always first. Then Karen pulled in. There were a dozen cars already in the lot, so some other running group must have started before 6 am. Then, Caroline pulled in with Kristina and Candice. A new lady. Like we don't have enough of them already (just kidding). Then another car with another lady, Jody. Five ladies and me. It's the biggest turnout we've ever had for TRC.

Introductions were made, but I it was early. I'll get the names later, I promise. A great bunch t0 run with. We all ran in the 11-12 minute per mile range and had a great time getting to know each other. First we ran north on the canal for 2.79 miles. Not counting time under the highway when garmin shuts down. Stopped at the gas station and turned around.

Once we were back to Tumbleweed, Karen and I ran around the park. I needed to get 2.5 more miles in. Karen was a bit under the weather, so she got another mile in before calling it quits. I ran on. Got my 8 in barely.

Then I stopped at McDonalds and treated myself to a second breakfast. Did you know they have a sausage and egg mcmuffin for a buck? I got two of them and told them to keep the muffin part. Lots of egg and sausage and I had a propel (just 3 carbs) to go with it.

I stayed up til noon and crashed for two hours. My feet are pretty tender and I was pretty tired.

Thanks ladies for keeping me company. It was a great 8 today.

Another Blog

I really like the city daily picture blogs. You can pick almost any large city and find someone that will post a picture each day about there city. The lady that does Chandler, the town I live in has been AWOL since early August. So, since I'm a Realtor and I think this would be a great way for someone to get to know my town, I now do the daily photo for Chandler. Check it out and let me know you've visited. You should consider doing one for your city.

Softball & Running

Thursday and Friday are softball nites. I play doubleheaders at Snedigar Sportsplex. Then on Friday nite I play a single game with our church coed team. I didn't want to go two nites without running, so I decided to run after the games tonight. As you can see on google earth, right next to the softball fields is a new subdivision. The picture is old, most of the homes are built and the lake looks great.

I ran on tired legs and was doing 12:30 miles with walk breaks after about 1.5 miles. It wasn't pretty, but it was good practice to run tired. I do a lot of that when I run the half marathons.

For the baseball fans, if you look on the map, north of the softball fields you can see an old stadium. It was once the spring home of the California Angels and the Milwaukee Brewers. Now it's the home of weeds and pigeons.

The next run is Saturday morning with the Tumbleweed Running Club. I think we're doing 8 solid miles.

My Daily Intake

On Eric's blog you can see what he ate yesterday. Just 1225 calories. So, I got to thinking I should post what eat typically in a day. I'm doing a low carb diet, so I don't even keep track of the calories. I just make sure I don't eat over 20 grams of carbs. And I do that loosely.

For Breakfast:

Two eggs fried with cheddar cheese and two sausage links.
water.

Snack:

Blue Diamond Almonds - Lime N' Chili flavor. Water.

Lunch:

Burger from In and Out. No bun. Ice Tea.

Snack:

more almonds. String Cheese. Water

Dinner:

Four slices of ham. Green Beans (half can). Salad w/ hard boiled egg, cheese, Ranch dressing.
Ice Tea.



I started the low carb diet at around 235 pounds. In a months time I lost 15 pounds. Since I was running two races this past weekend, I decided to carb up some. So, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday I didn't worry about the carbs. I gained four pounds.

I'm now at 224 and getting back into ketosis, so that I can get my weight heading downward. I read an interesting article about Dean Karnazes diet. He eats all kinds of junk when running his ultramarthons, but in between he eats a low carb diet.

TriFuel interview with Dean
Chow interview with Dean
Wired article about Dean
Runner's World article about Dean's Neandrathal Diet

Great Run Tonight

I ran to the lake and back tonight. On many runs I try to hold off on the first walk break for as long as possible. This time last year I was running up near 3 miles before a walk break was needed. Tonight I was at 1.84 miles and that is the highest I've been in awhile. I still walked 30% of the distance and I want to get that down to 5% or less.

Tyler's Run

I'm going out of town in October and I always look for races in the places that I visit. The hard part is that we usually travel on Friday or Saturday, so I have to find a race on the first Sunday or hope for a holiday in the middle.

Here's what I found. The Battleground 5k in Battleground, Indiana on the 4th. We get into Indianapolis at 1 am that morning. I'd have to drive straight to the race. Not going to happen. I'm willing, but my wife and kids aren't. It would be a cool race, as it takes place where William Henry Harrison fought the Indians. The Battle of Tippecanoe.

Then I found the Kraut Route 5k in Newport, Kentucky and Tyler's Run in Harrison, Ohio on the 11th. We fly out of Indianapolis on the 11th in the afternoon. The Kraut Route is in conjunction with Octoberfest across the river from Cincinnati. It would be another great race. But, it starts at 10 am and makes getting to the airport in Indy problematic. Tyler's Run is closer to my folks house and starts at 9 am. It's in a state park and my son's name is Tyler so the tee will be cool.

It's a fund raiser for SIDS, which is a great cause. This might be doable.

If I get this run in, it will be my 30th race ever.

5k: 18

10k: 3

4 miler: 1

Half Marathons: 6

Full Marathons: 1

Now, that I am doing a race named Tyler, like my son; I should also do one for each member of my family. My race is easy, I can do Pat's Run in Tempe. I'll have to find an Emily's Run and an Amy's Run somewhere.

Race Judicata Arizona

A wee bit smaller race than yesterday. It was at the local park, Kiwanis in Tempe and was a fund raiser put on by the Young Lawyers Division. Two races in two days. I had to decide between the one mile race and the 5k. There was about 7 runners in the miler and I would have one first place, but last year it was won by a 12 year old and I didn't want to run against kids. This year it was mostly adults. I should have run it, but instead I did the 5k. Lots of old farts like me running in it, so not much chance for a medal. Because all the other old farts are faster.

Yesterday's average pace was 11:20 mpm. Today, I was at 11:29. It was about the same. Less walking today and less speeding around the course. Just a nice steady pace. I finished around 35:40. Forgot to turn off garmin right at the finish, so I added maybe 5-10 seconds.

2008 Race Judicata had 195 runners, I finished 143. The one miler had 7 participants, the winner finished in 12:21. Now, 10 hours after the second race and I feel gassed. I slept all afternoon and can't wait to go to bed again.

Air Force 5k

When I started running in June of 2006 I felt like this NASA Plane. Big and slow and awkward looking next to all the other runners.



Someday, I'd like to be like this plane. Now you see me now you don't. Today was the Air Force Annivesary 5k down at the Pima Air Museum. Wow, what a place to hold a run.

The Pima Air Museum is on the south side of Tucson, AZ near the Davis-Monthan Air Base. If you are in the area, it's a must see. Next year when my son is at the U of A, I hope to take him over there to see all these planes and learn all this history.

The entrance has this beautiful work of art. My race details are below. You can click on it to see the numbers. I'm not sure why the satellite view did not come up, but if you'd like to see the boneyard that we ran in, see my inital report about this race.

What I like best is the first mile. Under 10 minutes and it was a nice consistent run. What I don't like is all the walking I had to do in miles 2 and 3. And the fact that this was a long 5k. My garmin said 3.36 miles. I doubt it's off 1/4 of a mile. So, my garmin 3.1 miles was done in about 35 minutes. The RD has me in at 38:54.

I got up at 3:53 am. Seven minutes before the alarm would wake me. Got my stuff together and was out the door heading for Tucson at 4:10 am. It was a nice quiet ride down to the Ole Pueblo and I got to think about how I like the energy that comes from these races. it's not about beating anyone, especially in my turtle like state these days, but I just enjoy watching people milling about, stretching, talking and getting ready to accomplish the same thing. Run a race.

We all headed toward the start line. I parked right near the course, so I grabbed my camera to snap some pics.

First the color guard and the national anthem. Lots of military running and supporting this race which is a fund raiser for the Tucson Chapter of the Air Force Association.

Then the start. I snapped a couple of photos and then jogged to the start turned around and then jogged to my car. Threw my camera in, locked the doors and joined in the fun.

My first mile was great. 9:41. I just run with the crowd and usually have better race times if I feed off the energy. I know you're suppossed to go out slow, to conserve energy. I usually don't. Lots of strollers in this race, which is fine because the first half mile was on a wide closed support road for the museum. One kid had a scooter and it was loud. Inside the Museum, the surface turns to desert sands. No more scooter time. Another kid was yelling, "Go, Mommy, Go" . She was in a stroller and mom was the locomotion.

After awhile these guys caught up to me. Individually, they can all kick my ass. The ran in formation chanting as they ran. I kept in front for a while, but then they passed me. I'd walk awhile then run pass them. But, the machine that they are would pass me again. I thought I'd never see them until one of them had to puke. One stops, they all stop. NO man left behind. The last mile I ran behind them and fed off their energy. Left, Left, Left, right, Left.

I felt bad about passing them. But, I had the need for speed and I got in two good bursts at the end. At around the 34 minute mark in the race I got down to a mpm of 5:49 for about 40 seconds and at the end I did about 50 seconds of under 5 mpm pace. I was as low as 4:19 according to garmin. I finished 216th out of 286 runners, just 20 seconds ahead of the great men and women of Davis-Monthan Air Base. I thank them for letting me feed off their energy.



I didn't know we were getting medals for finishing a 5k. It was a nice surprise. After the race and awards ceremony, I went into the museum and got to see the original AirForce One. You even get to go inside it. Pretty cool.

Now, if you look out your window on your next flight and the engines look like this, you're in trouble.

Here's the bling. cool race bib, nice tee and a medal.

The neatest thing I saw in the museum. The first flag on Utah Beach in WWII.

Last night I ate some more carbs. Today, I didn't worry about the carbs and ate more. Not sure if I raced better because of it, but I didn't want to bonk. I'm still far from were I was back in January, but that's OK. I'll get there. Now, back on Atkins so that I can shed some more pounds before I start running double digit miles.

Phoenix Summit Challenge

I had an appointment to meet with a client near Lookout Mountain in North Phoenix. I had the brilliant ideal that I could run around the mountain and to the summit after the meeting. It would have been nice to do it earlier, but I didn't think meeting a client to look at a house smelling like a pig was appropriate. I did meet her in my running gear, but she was ok with that.



Phoenix has a hiking challenge called the Phoenix Summit Challenge. You hike all seven summits in one day and you get a medal or something. I'm going to do all seven in one winter

I found a petroglyth.

View from half way up to the north. At this point I was deciding if I was going to turn around. Did I mention it was hot. 90 degrees hot.

But, up the trail I found shade and a cool breeze.

Towards the top you had to follow the white dots. I think there's at least two in this picture.

Look down near the green cool grass and you can see my SUV parked near the tennis courts. My plan was to run around the mountain and hike up to the summit. The trail was way too rocky to run it and the park ranger told me to stay away from the west side, due to bee swarms.

Proof that I made it to the summit. I had to crop the picture, so that you didn't see too much of me. Thanks, Marcy for the tip. And I need self portrait tips from Nancy. Note to self: Open eyes, extend arms fully.

That's Lookout Mountain in north Phoenix. Oh, my client liked the house. It might be her's soon.

Can you say Fartlek?

Tonight was fartlek night. At the end of my 2 miler I tried to dip below the 7 mpm pace. I did it four times. It was fun to fly. I can't believe that some runners run under 6 mpm for an entire marathon. I was barely able to keep that pace for a minute at a time. Someday.

Since I'm on Atkins and at my low weight of 220.5 pounds, I enjoyed seeing this picture on RWOL.

Mad Mud Run

I'm looking for teammates for the Mad Mud Run in Scottsdale. It's November 22nd, a Saturday and well before Turkey Day. We need a team of 5 runners to do a 5 mile course.

Who's In?

Lisa?

Aaron?

Karen?

Caroline?

Kristina?

Nick?

Nick's wife?

any kid over 12 can even do it.

Let me know.

Does anyone have this problem? You leave a comment, then you hit the back button, then you have to hit the authorization button and then the back button to get back to your list of blogs to read another one? I do. I don't do the readers, because I like to see your whole blog and not just the post. So, I finally switched my comments to show in a pop up window. Now, if you have the same problem, you just have to click on the X. And you never have to type in a bunch of crazy letters to authenticate. Customer Service, it's what I'm about.

2 Milers Week

This is 2 miler week. I used to run two miles, no sweat. Well, maybe a little sweat. Now, I'm trying to regain my endurance and I'm trying to do a two miler under 20 minutes.

Slowly, I'm getting faster. As you can see in the graph (click on it to enlarge), My pace getting faster and I'm down to around a 25 minute 2 miler.

After the run, I am playing with the Wii. Two items from each category. Tonight I did a 3 minute run (it hurts to run on carpet and in place), slalom skiing (thru the gates), yoga breathing, yoga half moon, row squats, lunges, tight rope walking and something else (I forget).

I better start playing that Brain Age too.

Did you watch Biggest Loser? I did. I picked it over watching the Dbacks too.

A night for running

It started out at Olive Garden, where I had the Toscana Strip Steak, medium rare with mixed vegetables instead of the potatoes.

Then I went out for a quick 2 mile run while the family watched X Files. We're the only family in America that has not seen Scully and Mulder when it was on TV. We have the DVD set. Next we'll play with our new Wii Fit.

Have you played on a Wii Fit before? First you get your Wii Fit age. Mine is 40 or 6 years younger than my actual age.

The push ups are on the hard side, because the board isn't wider than your shoulders. Your hands have to be on the board, so it makes it challenging.

The running is done in place. Not something you'd want to do for an hour. I ran in place for about 3 minutes and it was kinda fun. A small trampoline might fix the problem. The yoga is tough. The nice thing is they have a red dot that shows your balance, so that you need to keep it centered. There's a few other games that make it challenging too.

No, I didn't eat the whole steak. So tomorrows lunch will be great.

PR's and Races

One of the neat things about RunningAhead, the website that I keep track of my mileage on, is the ability to see my PR's. You can click on the photo on the right to see them too. Those are all races, except for the virtual mile I ran the other day.

I plan to do a mile race on my own every other week or so. A year ago I ran a 5k and the first mile was in 9:19. Not sure whether to consider that my PR or not. Hopefully, I'll be under that soon anyway.

My race schedule calls for the AirForce Anniversary 5k down in Tucson this Saturday and there's a Race Judicata on Sunday that I can run. It's a 5k and a mile run. It's a smaller race for those in the legal profession, but anyone can run in it. I'll decide Sunday morning whether I am running the mile or the 5k.

100 Pushups

I finished the first two weeks of the 6 week program to 100 pushups. After week two you do a test to see how many pushups you can do in a row. I did 20 pushups, up from my initial test of 10. Not anything to write home about (but I sure can blog about it). Today was week 3, day 1 and I did sets of 15/12/12/10 and a final set of 15. All according to plan.

Atkins Diet

I started on August 16th at 235 pounds. I've done really well on it. Now, 29 days later I weigh 222. 13 pounds less. No cravings. No ice cream. No candy. It's a pretty easy diet to do, since I love red meat, chicken, cheese and salads. I, also, eliminated diet coke from my diet and haven't missed it much. Yesterday's run of 6.74 miles went well and I didn't feel extra tired because of the lack of carbs.

TRC Six Miler

Four of us met at Tumbleweed Park to run the Paseo Trail canal. We ran two miles north and then returned. Karen and I finished by running 2+ miles in the park as high school cross country runners watched us with envy.

I was the lone lucky guy. There was no girl talk of places to do your nails or anything like that. We ran and talked about running, kids and running again.

The shadows are after four miles. I think it's Kristina, Karen, Caroline and me from left to right.

I almost didn't make it to run this morning. On Thursday night I was playing softball with my men's team. I was a baserunner on third when Joe my teammate hit a screamer down the third base line. The yellow softball was as big as a basketball heading straight for my head. It must have been 100 mph. I dropped to the ground as fast as I could as the ball screamed over my head. I can still see that ball in my mind. I survived and our team won both games. Which puts us in second 1/2 game behind the first place team.

***

Marcy, has taken control of my blog. Well, not really because she would be using words that I have no clue of their meaning. But, I found she was a follower. What's a follower? Click on it in the top right of my blog. You can go to her blog or become a follower yourself. I'm not sure what it is.

Marcy, har tatt kontroll over bloggen min. Well, not really because she would be using words that I have no clue of their meaning. Vel, egentlig ikke fordi hun ville være å bruke ord som jeg har ingen anelse om deres mening. But, I found she was a follower. Men jeg fant hun var en tilhenger. What's a follower? Hva er en tilhenger? Click on it in the top right of my blog. Klikk på den på toppen til høyre i bloggen min. You can go to her blog or become a follower yourself. Du kan gå til hennes blogg eller bli en tilhenger selv. I'm not sure what it is. Jeg er ikke sikker på hva det er.

Yeah, that's Norsk and if you speak it or one of many other languages, you can now get this blog translated. see the top right again.

Another Interesting Blog

No Really! This is a funny one. Here's a picture for proof.

It's called Jokes and Clips.

Interesting Blog

I love the pictures on blogs I can't read. This one is neat because it has some ninjas. Visit it and leave a message. It'll freak them out and they'll be looking for a translator.

It's a beautiful day at 5 a.m.

Two morning runs in a row. You think I'm turning over a new leaf, but no. My daughter had to be at the library at 5 in the morning, so I was up at 4:30 and driving her and her two friends to the library. Channel 12 was broadcasting there and my daughter is a kid volunteer. Thank God, she isn't in the band or I'd be up like this all the time.

So, what the heck I decided to go for a run. It was perfect weather. Slightly overcast and it even sprinkled a bit during the run. I got 2.14 miles in.

I'm telling you, it felt like 4 or 5 miles. I was drained after a mile. I think my carb supply lasts me for about that long and then I'm running on empty. Or walking as the case often is.

I'll take the lack of endurance if I'm losing weight. I weighed in at 225.5 this morning. Down about 10 pounds. I've had two weight gains since starting Atkins 24 days ago.

Soapbox warning.


Each happened with drinking a diet coke with Aspartame. Google Aspartame, it's an eye opener. Or google Aspartame and weight loss to find out that this sugar substitute may hinder your weight loss.

Off the soapbox.

Check in tomorrow to see if I get up before the sun for the third day.

PF Chang's Rock and Roll Marathon

I just read this about the 2009 PF Chang's Rock and Roll Marathon and Half Marathon here in Arizona.



ChronoTrack Timing System

State of the art ChronoTrack systems will be used to record participants’ times at the start, at certain splits along the courses and at the finish. The ChronoTrack system uses a disposable tag, called a D Tag, which allows you to walk away from the finish without the need to have your tag collected.
The ChronoTrack timing tag (D Tag) will be attached to your race bib. The D Tag will be labeled with a number that matches your race number. When you pick up your bib, please make sure these numbers match, and also verify that YOUR name is printed on the bib you are issued*. Proceed to the Solutions Table if any of the information is incorrect.
Prior to the race, you must remove the tag from your number and attach it to your shoe. Please follow the instructions provided in your registration packet.
PLEASE NOTE: All participants in this race must wear the ChronoTrack timing tag on your shoe in order to have their times recorded. ChampionChip timing equipment will NOT be used at this race; ChampionChip timing chips will NOT record your time.
*If you register for the race before online registration closes (midnight, January 11, 2009), your race bib should have your name printed on it.

Visit chronotrack.com for more information.

It's official, I've signed up for the 2009 PF Chang's Rock and Roll Half Marathon. It's $75 until September 15th. Then it goes up $15. Plus, I used the code in Runner's World Magazine and saved another $10. So, it only cost me $65 plus the Active handling fee. If you need the code it is RWHIGH2 and it's good until October 31st.

It's a beautiful day at 6 am.

I don't get to say that too often. Karen, Caroline and I meet at Tumbleweed Park to run a bit up the canal and back. I haven't run in the morning since the Rock and Roll Marathon. It was wonderful. 80 degrees and a bit overcast. We ran 2 miles up the canal and turned back. I tried to keep us on a 5/1 pace, but in miles 3 and 4 we ended up doing a couple 2 and 3 minute walk breaks. Karen was the strongest runner today and she wanted to get an extra mile in afterwards, I ran with her for a bit, but realizing I was going to slow her down I let her go on her own.





But wait, there's more. I got home and looked at my front yard. Good thing we don't have an HOA or I would have gotten a notice about weeds awhile ago. So, since it was still cool (low 80's) I pulled and hoed all those weeds right out of the ground.

I'm sure when Amy wakes she'll make me a cake. I got this at Cakewrecks, a very funny blog about professional cake decorators.

But wait, there's more. I didn't want to wake Amy with the lawn mower (I'll do that later), so I'm now blogging and getting my push ups done. Today calls for one set of 11, then 9, then two sets of 7, then one set of the most I can do, which today is - 15 arm burning, light headed, almost perfect form (butt's a tad high) pushups.

Want to hear how my favorite triathlete did. See her story on her blog. Oh, this is the short version, she must have slept in this morning. No wonder, we didn't see her at The Tumbleweed Running club kickoff this morning.

My Wall of Fame

There was a question from AddieUSC on the Runner's World online discussion on what to do with your medals. This is what I do, what do you do?

Pictured is a curtain rod on my bookcase that I can wrap the medals around. I just need more medals.

My Running?

The last two nights have been softball nights, so no running. I'll get a run in later tonight and tomorrow I am meeting Karen for a long slow run at Tumbleweed Park.

My Virtual Mile

I was prepared for my virtual mile. On Monday I ran a dry run of my mile and recorded a time of 10:40. I was hoping to go under 10 minutes on my official run tonight. I headed over to the Andersen Junior High track. No lights on this track, but we get some illumination from the tennis courts and the softball fields when they are being used. I stretched and did one lap of the field walking. Then I took off and did my first lap in 2:17. On pace for a little over 9 minute mile. Roger Bannister would have been proud. I knew I couldn't hold that pace and the second lap was done around 4:40. On Monday I ran the whole mile and I expected to do the same tonight, but around 3/4 of a mile I was getting pretty tired. My last lap had some walking involved. I finished with a 10:14 mile. 26 seconds faster than Monday. I didn't know I did better than Monday until I got home. I finished the workout running/walking/jogging for another 4 miles.

You can click on the photos to enlarge them. The one of the track above will let you see how many laps I did. It felt like 100, but 5 miles comes out to 20.

This is a photo I shot before the Beat The Heat Knight 5k at Higley High. The first and last part of the race was on the track. Good thing I took a picture before the race, because the lights went out with the storm and we finished in the dark.

I took a couple pictures tonight. Can you guess what these signs are for and where I found them?

I'll give the answer in a later post.

Dry Run

Tonight was a dry run for my virtual mile. It was late and instead of not doing a run at all, I went out to run a mile as fast as I could. My PR for the mile is 9:19 that I set in September of 2007, one year ago. I don't have the stamina that I did last year, so I knew I wasn't going to do any better. I started out running under a 9 minute pace. I knew that was going to last and I ended up bobbing up and down the 10 minute mark the rest of the run. My virtual mile will be later this week and I hope to do a mile run test more often.

The family ordered pizza tonight and a dozen hot wings for me. I must be getting too many carbs because I actually gained some weight the last three days. I am up to 229, a 3.5 pound gain.

Runners World has some great downloadable wallpaper. The scene from the Golden Gate bridge at the top of my blog is one of them. Of course, if you are not viewing this close to the time I wrote it, it could change.