Home Run #1

I started playing baseball in 1971. I was the kid picked last. A walk was a victory when I came to bat But, I loved the game. I slowly got better, but never good enough to play in high school. I switched to softball and have played off and on my entire adult life. Slowly I got better, but I have never hit a home run over a fence.





Until. . . tonight.







Tonight I turned on an inside pitch, launching it down the left field line. The umpire, catcher and I stood at home plate and watched it twist towards the foul pole. I listened for the metal clank you hear when ball hits fence for a near home run. The sound never came. The ball bounced once and was found on the grassy hill over the left field fence. My first 'over the fence' home run.

After the game, the ump gave me the ball.

Big League Dreams

No running today. I spent the day doing a bit of real estate. Had to look at three homes for a client. Then I watched the FBR Open on TV. It was a great finish, as my man Phil Mickelson lost in sudden death. Finally, I watched the Super Bowl. They showed a blimp view of the stadium real early in the broadcast. It was dark, the lights were shinning, the ferris wheel was going. But, at my house 30 miles away it was still daylight. That just shows you the NFL can do amazing things.

Another amazing thing is the new 'Big League Dreams' in Gilbert, AZ. It is paradise for the adult softball player.

The Run to Remember

See Pat's T shirt collection

Ohh, the weather was wonderful this morning. Low 80's and I got to race at Kiwanis Park. This was the Run to Remember 9/11. It was a charity run to help support the 100 Club for Police and Firemen who have been hurt or died in the line of duty.

A few years ago my son was in Boy Scouts school with Rupert Snedigar. I was showing homes one Saturday and I heard that a Chandler Police Officer was shot to death attempting to apprehend a jewelry store thief. When I got home I quickly found out that the officer was the father of Rupert, Officer James Snedigar. He was the first officer to die in the line of duty in Chandler. Today I thought about Rupert and his younger sister (I can't remember her name, but she was in girl scouts with my daughter). They live in California and I hope they are doing well.


Kiwanis Park is one of my favorite places to run.
This race started in a new location, the corporate picnic area. A much better place to start because it had lots of tables and seating. The race started with the singing of "The Star Spangled Banner" and was lead by a fireman in full gear. All races should start with either a patriotic anthem or the "Pledge of Allegiance".

I don't remember ever passing the fireman. He must have been moving. I started close to the front and did the first mile in 9:19, a PR for one mile. I got to the half way mark around 15 minutes and was hoping to PR this race. I didn't think I could do the 2nd half as fast as the first, but I gave it my best. Soon fatigue set in and I did my best to keep moving. I was happy with an 11:14 2nd mile. All during the race I kept hearing a group of runners singing. It was four guys with a flag and matching shirts. Army? Police? Fire? Not sure, but they were behind me until about the 2.8 mile mark. I was walking and they ran right past me. They weren't singing anymore.


If you look at the graph you'll notice at the end of the 5k (midway in my run) I poured it on and finished right behind the four. My garmin showed a finish time of 34:07. Not sure what my clock time for the 5k is. I was running a 4:18 pace at the finish according to my garmin. I do like to fly at the end (vanity fartlek).

I got some water, banana and orange for my rest. I got to talk with Mark. He's always at the races. Mark is going to be doing his first half marathon next week. I asked him what his top mileage has been. Mark said 4 miles. Good vibes go out to Mark.

After a rest, I ran some more. I wanted to get in 8 miles today. I ran the course in reverse. Going out I passed the last of the walkers coming in. Ran past the lake where there were lots of people doing T'ai Chi. Past a group of runners in a seminar and past a young group of runners finishing up a run with their coach yelling out times. I got back to the finish line completing 5.5 miles or 2.4 miles after the race. They were giving out awards, I grabbed a drink and looked at the finish times. I don't remember my time (I'll get online later), but I did see that I was 7th of 8 in my age group. No need to stick around, I started my 3rd loop on the race course. I did a mile around the lake, said hi to one of the race officials picking up signs and felt I was done for the morning. 6.4 miles done. My marathon training calls for 6 miles, but I wanted to get in more. It, also calls for a rest tomorrow, but I will probably do a short recovery run tomorrow to get my 8 miles in for the weekend.

I'm excited about the cooler temps. I hope they keep up. And one more thing, I got the t shirt above in a large and it fits. All my other tees have been of the XL variety.

Update: 169 out of 232 PAT MONAHAN 45 7/8 M 34:31 11:07
I think my garmin time of 34:07 is more accurate. I, also, found out that the winner was Kal Clark (his dad was second). It's just no fair having Kal in the race.

Softball

The past two nights have been softball nights. On Thursday we split two games. We're 5-3 so far. The first game I went 4 for 4. No power, all singles. The second game I went 2 for 5. Friday was the first game of the season for our coed team. We always get a large turnout for the first game. Which dilutes the quality of our play. It's a church team, so everyone plays. I pitched and held the other team to 7 runs. Pretty good for softball. However, we didn't hit and only scored 3 runs. I only got one at bat and made a weak out.

The streak continues and is now at 60 days.

Quote of the Day:
I think I'm allergic to exercise - I keep breaking out in a sweat! -Justthisguy.

Let's Play Two

Softball Nite

Last night was softball night. We started playing in the rain, but that quickly ended. We played a really bad team and won two games by the 20 run mercy rule. I walked, tripled and walked my first three at bats. The rest of the night I spent trying to hit the ball as far as I could. I don't have a lot of power, so I end up not doing real well. I flew out to the left fielder a few times. It was very humid, by the end of the night my grey tee was totally drenched. Fun was had by all. At least on our side.

Random pictures. My first car. A 1982 (?) Toyota Corolla hatchback. I took over my brothers payments on this beauty. I had just graduated from college and it's in the parking lot of my first apartment in St. Louis, MO. Did you know? I've never owned a brand new car. Now, we've bought new cars for my wife, but never for me. That's ok, I'm not really into cars and I'm pretty frugal too. (Green Alert: buying used is being green, isn't it?)

Sculpture found in the parking lot of a Gilbert, AZ office park. It rotates in the wind. Pretty cool.

Training for a full marathon.

My exercise consecutive days is now up to 50. My training for the fall will revolve around the various 5k's I have planned and will also focus on the PF Chang's Rock and Roll Marathon in January. My plan is to test my left knee with my long runs. If I get through those 12, 14 and on up to 20 milers ok, I will do the full marathon. If the knee acts up again, I will do the half. This will be my first full marathon. 13.1 miles has been the furthest I've run to date.





Here's me with Clark Kent at last years Rock and Roll half marathon. Rumor has it he turned into Superman around mile 10.

If he really is Superman, why didn't he run the full marathon?

Anyway, I'm hoping I can be a bit of a Superman this year. (Green alert: The ND Irish sweatshirt I had on was bought at Goodwill, left at the 3 mile mark of the marathon and should have been donated back to Goodwill)

*SparkPeople please leave a comment. I'd love to know you visited.

Damage Inc.

I played on a new softball team tonight. Damage, Inc. They won their league last season and I'm the new addition. Played some right center and 2nd base. I got nothing in right and made an error at second. But, I did assist on a couple outs at second and I did fine hitting. In the first game I went 4 for 5, all singles. In the second game I went 4 for 6 with a double. We won both games pretty easily. 18-5 and 14-5. Looks like we're in first.

Activity: Softball
Time: 2 hours
Days: 36 Consecutive.

Quote of the Day: "Well that (Pope Paul VI passing away) even puts a damper on a Yankee win."-Phil Rizzuto.

Running Within

"Yes, I'm reading another book on running", I said to my wife. I'll get to that Harry Potter book eventually. Now, if Harry ran more than he flew; I might read it today.

"Running Within" is a book written by Jerry Lynch and Warren Scott. Here's a few things they say.



A runner asked his coach how long it would take to become a world class runner. The coach said it would take him 5-7 years. The runner asked if he doubled his efforts, worked out every day and focused his entire life on running, how long would it take. The coach thought for a minute and said it would take 10-12 years. The point being that the runner would stress his body too much, get injured and fatigued too often and therefore reach his goals (if he reaches them at all) much later than anticipated. Interesting thought.

The authors also mention the bumblebee. How experts in aerodynamics say it's impossible for a bumblebee to fly. It's not aerodynamic, it weights too much and other reasons. The authors say it nice that the bumblebee can't read.

The subtitle to this book is, "A guide to mastering the body-mind-spirit connection for ultimate training and racing". As I read more, I'll pass it along.

I wanted to run this morning. But, the pillow won and I got lots of rest. I mean lots of rest. I'll run tonight.

On another note, I planned on playing on two softball teams this fall. A church coed team (that I really like) and a men's team that I was helping to form. But, we couldn't get enough men to play and after we decided not to form the team I got a call. It was from another team needing one more player. So, it looks like I'll be playing on Thursday nights for the next 4 weeks, then two nights a week for about 4 weeks. My kids are also getting involved with Venture Crew, a branch of the boy scouts (but coed). Looks like will be doing a lot of different activities with them and my son and I are taking a Japanese Swordsmanship class with the city rec department. It should be an interesting fall season.

Katie in Baltimore

I've been reading Katie's blog off and on for almost a year. She's done a wonderful job of losing weight. She did it with something called "The Firm". They were so impressed with her that they had her come out when they made their new info mercial. I'm watching it now. She's supposed to be on it. She's lost 80+ pounds.

Congratulations, Katie.

Steve Getting Fit in Ohio is a new blogger that I have added to my favorites. Steve's where many of us were in the beginning. I'm partial to folks from Ohio, so check out his site and give him his props (that's what the young kids say).

Bigun in Florida is a tri-athlete and is pretty funny. I think I'll monitor his blog. You should too.

Matt in Iowa is a bit further along than Steve. Check out his blog, especially if you've forgotten the joy of running when you first started out.

I've read a lot of what Obrats has written in Runner's World Beginner's Forum, now I'm reading his blog. He's well ahead of me, has lost a bunch of weight and his blog is a great read.

Another guy that's shed some weight is Jeff in Maryland.

These are my new favorites. Of course, I encourage everyone to read them and all my old favorites on the right side of this blog. All of you encourage me to run my @ss off.

Finally, if you haven't checked out Athlinks, you should. You can be a member for free and it's a pretty cool website. You can track races that you have been in (there already on the website) and races that your friends have been in. Check out these two links:

Athlinks

Pat's Athlinks Data

Book Reports: I just added "Running with the Legends" and "Pre" to my book reports. If you would like to add a book report, I'd love to have it in my collection. Just send me an email with your report and a picture (if possible) to pat@RealtySecrets.net. You'll get credit for the report and a link to your blog. Or if you just want a good running book to read, you'll find a short report here: Pat's Running Book Reports.

Softball Update: We played the first place team last night. They score about 17 runs a game and we held them to 9 runs thru 5 ininngs. Going into the last ininng (6th), we were down 9-6. I led off with a single and moved up to second on a bad throw by the right center fielder. I, eventually scored in front of two other team mates to tie the game. A fourth team mate got thrown out at the plate on a really close play for the final out. In the bottom of the ininng we got two outs, but a runner scored before we could get the last. So, we lost 10-9 and now have 3 wins and 3 losses with one game to go before the tournament. Game time temperture was in the high 90's, maybe 100 on the nose. The sun was down, so it was a great nite to play softball.

Six Weird Things About Me

Thank God I get to stop at Six. Angie tagged me to make this list. Here I go:



1. I like to read about other people's running and races. I know it doesn't sound weird to you, but to the rest of the world, it does.

2.I cannot read in bed. I will fall asleep no matter how good the book is.

3.I wear a cotton baseball cap when I run. It gets drenched in sweat and I like to use it as a barometer of how hard I've run. My daughter thinks it's really gross.

4. I coach my daughters volleyball team. I've never played volleyball and don't know much about it and eventually the kids are going to figure this out. But, I've fooled them for 2 years now and I think I can fool them for a couple more.

5. I like 70's music. Not so much the disco stuff, which I guess makes it less weird.

6. My daughter is really into the Gilmour Girls. She has every season on tape. I can't read when she's watching the show, because I get caught up in it. I can ignore other shows, but I can't ignore GG. But, I'm not into the show. Honest.

Angie tagged me. You should check out her blog and her Grand Canyon photos. I really dig the Grand Canyon and she ran it rim to river and back. And I'm tagging . . .

you. If you've read this and haven't been tagged by someone else. Your it.

thanks, pat

Softball Nite: We played the Blind Bats. It was a pitchers duel. and they lead until the last inning. We scored four runs to go up 6-5 and all we had to do was get three outs to win the game. The first batter was a women and I got her out on strikes. The second batter hit to the shortstop who threw it a bit high. The first baseman couldn't make the play and like that, they had a runner on second. The next woman hit it back to me, the pitcher. I looked the runner back and threw to first for the second out. The runner ran anyway and made it to third, barely. The last batter lofted a fly ball to our left fielder. He came in a bit too far and we thought he was going to miss the ball and the game would be tied. At the last moment he leaped up (he's a big guy, so it wasn't much of a leap) and barely caught the ball. We won. We're now 3-2 with 2 games to play before the tournament.

I have to go to bed now. I have a 5k in 8 hours and 15 minutes. Goodnite.

Softball & Running, a winning combination.

Friday nite is softball nite. Our team has one win and one loss so far. I usually pitch all the time, but since I am going to miss a game in a few weeks, a team mate tried his hand on the mound. Midway thru the second inning, after we were down 12-1, our coach called me into pitch. Slowly we came back and after 6 innings we were tied 15-15. We ended up losing in extra innings, but it was exciting that we came back.

After the game, I ran. We play in Kiwanis Park, so I run from the softball fields to the lake and back a couple times. At the lake the trail goes up and down some hills. As you go down into the little valleys, you feel the heat from the day. You also smell the lake. Not a pleasant smell, but it does make you happy to see the rise in the road. Who says I don't like hills.

My plan was to do 5 miles. After 3 miles and a softball game, I was toast. I did the first 3 miles in 37:20 for a 12:24 pace. I reset my nike+ and decided I was going to do as best I could. I ended up doing another 1.91 miles in 26 minutes for a 13:33 pace. I did a lot of walking.

This gets my mileage up to 19.67 miles for the week. I haven't done a 20+ week since the week of February 25th. Hopefully, I can get a lot more 20 mile weeks.

Easton Stealth

I have my replacement. An Easton Stealth softball bat. 34 inches long, 26 ounces.

Several people mentioned that I must have really swung hard. The truth is - My orange crush was used for over 3 years for 24-62 plus games a year and used by several people on my various teams. I, also, used it in batting cages which have those harder plastic balls. In softball bat years it was over 30 years old. Let's hope my new stealth last that long.

Rest In Peace - Orange Crush

Friday was opening nite of the summer softball season. I went to the cages the night before to get some hitting practice in and take a short run. While I was at the cage I broke my bat. Not a wooden bat, but my Mizuno Orange Crush. It's $200 to replace.

We had to play without it on Friday nite. After four ininngs we were leading 7-0 and I had hopes of getting a shutout. My first one ever as a softball pitcher. But, then the wheels came off and we gave up 6 runs in the last two ininngs and barely held on for the win.

Below are pictures of my bat. Rest in Peace.

We Are The Champions!

Introducing your 2007 Friday night Tempe Co-Ed Champions:

The St. Matthews UMC Softball Team

starring

Mike P., Shortstop & Coach

Sommer B, 1st Base

Duane, Left Field

Geri, 3rd Base

Pat, Pitcher (That's me)

Karen, Right Center

Jeff, Left Center

Cheryl, Right Field

Angus, Outfield

Sandy, Catcher

Gina, 3rd Base

Tom, Outfield

and a host of other great teammates.

We won last night 12-6 over the other Circle K Team. We finished the regular season 6-1, only losing to the Hapless Heros by one run. We wanted to thank all our fans who came out for the game. I counted 9 people, including my wife and two kids and our friend from college, Suzi.

Next week is the start of the post season tournament. We play the 0-7 team first and then the next week we play one or two more games. Of course, it's single elimination so we do need to beat the Monsoons the first week. It's funny. In a league like this teams can be drastically different from the last time you played them and so no game is easy. The 0-7 team can bring in some ringers and all the sudden we're going home. Either way, we'll have a blast.

**

Running? Yes, this is a running blog. I only ran twice this week. I wanted to get in 3 runs, but life happens. My legs are rested and besides a nagging back and a bit of soreness in my left knee, I'm good to go.

Us, serious athletes (said with tongue in check) have to lace them up when the game is on, no matter the aches and pains. So the plan is to run this race in better than 2:43:07 for a PR. But, 2:40 would be even better. That would take a 12:12 pace. And dare I say 2:30 at an 11:27 pace would be. . .

**

Now, I'm Irish and today is St. Patrick's Day. So, tonight I must do the customary downing of 45 green beers. One for each year I've been alive. I hope it doesn't hurt my running in the morning.

Now, I'll finish with an Irish Lymric:

There once was a barmaid from Wales,

Who on her chest had tattooed all the prices of ale.

And on her behind, for the sake of the blind,

She had all of the same but in braille.*

*I had to read a bunch of really bad, really dirty lymrics to find this one. Now, that's takin' one for the team.

The Bridge to Terabithia

Hey, you gotta see this movie. It has running in it. Yeah, the two fastest kids in 7th grade become friends, knock off the bullies and create a world called Terabithia. And yes, the girl is the faster of the two.

I'm on my own road to Terebithia. It's called running and in just two days I'll be running in the third half marathon of the year. The Valley of the Gold Half in Oro Valley, Arizona (Tucson). My legs feel good. My knee is better (not perfect, but better) I got a good 5 miler in yesterday at an 11:48 pace (59:11) and I only stopped once (bathroom break). Good thing, I pass my house around the 1.3 mile mark.

Tonight is the final game of the season for our softball team. If we win, we will be the league champs (which means t-shirts for everyone). The game is at 6:30 at Kiwanis Parks SE field. Come on out and cheer us on. If you fly in for the game, let me know and I'll pick you up.

The knee feels better. It really only bothers me when I've been inactive and my knee has been at a 90* angle. Sitting in the car or at the computer is the worst. I get up and I look like an old man (insert joke here). But, after 5-7 steps, I'm good to go. When I'm running, the first 1/4 mile is slow and acky. But, after that I really don't notice anything. I've been doing some light strength exercises to build up the muscles around the leg. An article I read said the pain in your knee is sometimes just a warning that other muscles in your legs, butt and back aren't strong enough. These, exercises seem to work.

Update: I was walking in a townhome community, looking up at the second floor units trying to find unit numbers. Most of the paths are completely flat, but there is two steps. I didn't see the first one. As my left foot came down I hit it with my heel, missing most of the step, falling forward. My right ankle twisted and I started falling forward. Just three days before a half marathon and two days before the final game in our softball season and I. . .

had a big scare. I caught myself and all was fine. Of course, I looked around to see if anyone else saw my little adventure.

And the Softball team wins again

So now St. Matthews UMC is 5 wins and 1 loss. We are tied for first place with Circle K Thirstbusters. We have a final game left with Circle K Diamond Dogs, or as I like to call them the Hot Dogs. The last three seasons we finished 2-5, so this is a big change for us.

Tonight we won 16-5. I must have had about 5-6 strikeouts and half of them were on guys. I really like striking out the guys. The ladies on our team are really playing well. We had three of them that couldn't make contact this time last year and all of them have improved immensely.

So it's 11:15 at night now and I was planning on doing a trail run tomorrow at 7 am. Can I get up 6 hours from now? Place your bets. Since I will be running alone, I'll decide tomorrow morning.

The Arizona Distance Classic is about one week away. Amy has a college friend in town and won't be making the trip to the Old Pueblo with me. So, do I really want to stay in a hotel by myself. I'm pretty frugal (read cheap). I have two options. One, I can drive down in the morning. It's only a bit more than an hour drive. There's parts of Phoenix that are almost just as far away. Two, I can camp at Catalina State Park. It's right next to the race. Amy thinks I'm crazy to be sleeping in a tent the night before a half marathon. What do you think campers? Should I camp with my son or stay in a cheap motel or drive down that morning?

Another 5

Around 5:30 pm I made my way to Kiwanis Park in Tempe. It is one of my favorite places to run. I parked near the softball fields and ran to the lake. A few laps around the lake as the sun was setting and then back past the softball fields down towards Guadalupe road.

5 miles in 57:28. an 11:27 pace. I like walk breaks, so I can drink, take pictures and rest. But, tonight I just took one at 1.6 miles. I was going to take another around mile 3, but I was enjoying the run and before I knew it I was so close to finishing, I just kept running(kind of like this sentence).

I got back to the softball fields to watch the start of the 6:30 game. I watched a half inning and then headed over to the batting cages. Mike, our coach was there and I took turns in the cage with him. I used my free pass that I got last week. Strange story. I was hitting in the cage last week and I noticed a man 2 cages down hitting softballs. He had his 4-5 year old son in the cage with him. The kid was standing behind him and a few steps back near the gate to the cage. He was jumping up and down every time dad made contact. Ok, this isn't safe. Should I talk to the dad, volunteer to watch the kid while he hits or tell the batting cage operators? Before I decided, the man put a helmet on and started hitting fast pitches with his kid in the cage. I couldn't take anymore of this so I told the guy selling the tokens. He ran out there and immediately got the kid out. I thought the dad had the kid in the cage because he didn't want to leave the kid alone and unattended, but it turned out his wife was sitting on the bench watching both of them. As I was leaving last week, the attendant gave me 6 free tokens.

Back to this week. Our 2nd place team played the first place team tonight. We led 12-9 going into the last inning. I was pitching and between my pitching and our fielding we gave up the lead and headed into our final at bat behind 14-12. This was the kind of game in which whoever bats last wins. And we did 15-14. Now both teams are 4-1 with two games left.

Run 5 miles, batting cages and softball. What a night and we finished it off by having a team party at Chuey's. I hope your Friday night was just as much fun.

Another Day, Another Canal

Today I ran the Crosscut canal in Mesa. It passes the Mesa City Cemetary and Hohokam Park (this is where the Cubs begin their yearly journey toward medocrity). But, maybe not this year with Sweet LouPinella at the helm. I ran east to the South Canal and then north a bit.

5.06 miles in 59:57. An 11:49 pace. I think I ran better today because I was thinking about baseball. It sure wasn't because of the wind that was in my face the whole way back. I don't remember it helping me as I ran out.

Nike Ipod: A couple people questioned how the Nike Ipod works. When you hit the center button on your run it will give you your realtime pace. If you run real fast for a few seconds before you hit the button, it will tell you a pace of 7 or 8 minutes, even when you are running an 11 minute pace. When you go online it will tell you what your pace was at the mile splits, but not for that mile. Only for that precise moment when you reached the mile interval. I added up my splits for three different runs and compared them with the total time. These times should equal if the Nike Ipod was recording splits. I had a difference of 10 seconds, 46 seconds and 1 minute and 28 seconds. The last one I calculated gave me my pace at mile two of 16:26. I was walking at the time, I'm sure I ran that mile faster than 16 minutes. Try it yourself and see if I am right. The next time you are running, just before you reach the first mile (maybe at the .85 of a mile spot) walk until you pass the 1 mile mark. It will give you a reading of 15 minutes or more, but you'll see your time is much less.

Softball: I forgot to tell about our softball game. We played Verizon Wireless, my cell phone provider, and we won. I was the coach for the evening, which I prefer not being. We won 18-8 in 7 innings. Scoring 13 runs when there pitcher couldn't pitch a strike. He walked in 5-6 runs that inning. Now we are 3-1 with 3 games to go. But we have to play the top team and the next two teams under us. Hopefully, we'll do well.

“One dropped habit alters your destiny. What do you grumble about most often? If you can give it up for the next three days, your life will change – incrementally at first, and then remarkably.” - a fortune from Angie's blog.

Becoming a runner and dropping the sedentary life has done this for me. It's touched every part of my life. I get less grumpy, have more energy, better health, and on and on.

Today I took a carload of teenage girls to Goodwill. It wasn't a donation, but half price saturday. So, my daughter and her friends shopped. And I ran. I ran from the parking lot down Guadalupe Road (noisy) to Kiwanis Park. North past the adult soccer players, past the tennis courts, past the softball fields (where we lost our game last night) and around the lake. It was lunch time and the temperature was around 70*. I got to see people playing games, feeding ducks, riding rental bicycle type contraptions, paddling on the lake and picnicing. I kept running for 5 miles in a bit over 1 hour. I felt great.

As I was going down one hill, there was a lady in a wheelchair going up. One slow step at a time. I had passed her twice before on level land. This time I made a comment about the hill to her and offered my services to get her up it. She said she was fine, so I continued on. Now there was a lady sitting on a bench that overheard me and she said she wished she had a wheel chair. I thought it was strange, but before I passed her, she continued on that if she did it would be nice to have a guy like me offer assistance. I laughed and kept on running. Two things to note here. One, I think she was hittin' on me. Two, I run real slow to have a conversation with two people and not get out of range from either.

After my run I got to see some clients of mine that I haven't seen in 2-3 years. Andre and Elmarie live in Florida, but bought a place here for their daughter, while she goes to ASU. Their daughter just got back from Asia. She was paid to play golf with executives the entire time. She's a pretty good golfer. Now, that's a job I'd like to have.

Softball report: We finally lost. 9-8. We had the winning run on in the last inning, but ran out of hits. So, now we have 2 wins and 1 loss and two weeks off to rest.

Busy Busy Busy

I haven't gotten to visit other blogs and comment on them like I have in the past. I've been busy. Sorry, but I still read all your blogs. A guy gotsta work afterall. The last half of 06 was slow in real estate, so I had plenty of time to blog, run and do other things. 07 has been very busy. I mean very busy. So work comes before blogging and running is right up there with work. Oh yeah, and the family is pretty important too.

The weekend was great. Our softball team won the second game in a row on Friday. We're 2-0 now and I finally contributed on the offense. I scored twice and hit a home run to right. I pitched, as I always do and almost lost it in the final inning. We were up by 5 and let them score 4. They had a runner on third with two outs. In coed softball the lineup alternates guy/girl. A guy was up and if he is walked with two outs, the next girl gets to go to first and he goes to second. But, we needed a force out so I intentionally walked them. It worked, as the next guy hit a bad pitch to our third baseman. Gina tagged the runner going to third and we won 12-11.

My knee has been hurtin' off and on for a month or more. It's the left knee that I hurt 25 years ago when I was a sophomore football player at Earlham College. It's the only part of my body that I have issues with. And it doesn't hurt when I run. Just when I'm sedentary. I'll sit at my computer and then can barely bend my knee when I get up. My client will go up stairs when I'm showing them homes and it'll take me forever to catch up. Today my client kept telling me to stay on the main floor. Well, I ran on Wednesday and took the next three days off. I thought it was better and I had a great run on Sunday. Ten miles, relatively no pain anywhere. Afterwards, it was if someone super glued my knee in place. Oh, the pain. But, after walking 10-15 feet, my knee would be ok. Today it was much better. So, should I run tomorrow? I've taken two days off in a row and it feels much better.

Run for the Islands 5K

It's Race Day. After playing softball last night until 10:30 at night, I had to wake up at 6 am to get to the "Run for the Islands 5K". The Islands is a community in Gilbert, AZ. No, islands that I know of in this community, but they do have two lakes. The 5K was an out and back on one of their main roads finishing in a large community park. This race might have reached 150 participants. Not sure yet. I started near the front for a change. This was my first experience near the front so I started by keeping pace with the other runners. At least for the first half mile I was running in the 8:30-9:00 mpm pace. Way to fast for me, but oh well.

I settled down to doing about 10:20 miles. Of course I set my nike + up for a 5K, so it kept giving me kilometer splits. I did the math and figured I needed to be at about a 6:10-6:20 pace to be happy with my race. I liked the out and back because I actually got to see the leaders run back to the finish. The winner was under 18 minutes for the whole race.

With my fast start I needed a walk break around mile 2. I took a few walk breaks but sprinted home passing one runner for a PR of 31:05 or a 10:02 pace per mile. My previous PR at 5k was last December 28th at the Bumble 5K in San Diego. I had a time of 33:16. 2 minutes and 11 seconds faster. As you could guess, I'm pretty excited about that. After I got home and uploaded my nike +, I found out that I also set a personal record in the mile with a time of 9:39. Twenty seconds faster than I did two days before.

Althought this was a small race, they had about 10 vendors set up giving us all kinds of goodies. My two favorites were a bit of chocolate moose from one of those new "dinner" companies that will start your dinner for you and you finish it at home and a mini burger from Simply Burgers.

Now it's just 22 days til the Lost Dutchman Half Marathon. I need to get a 10+ miler in before that race.

Race Update: Out of 161 runners I finished 91. The middle of the pack. Out of 21 men in their 40's, I finished 15th. Before the race I met Roland, another Tnt'er and his son Tyler. They raced together and Tyler took 2 minutes off his PB. Roland and I both parked in the vacant lot across the street. It was just plowed (not sure if they grow anything on it) and it was very soft dirt. His truck got stuck, but he warned me to stay on the harder grassy area. After the race we hooked his truck up to my SUV and I pulled him out. It's the most manly thing I've done with my SUV.

I, also met Noble who ran a 26 minute race and Brian who's just starting to run and is enjoying it. My stats:

91 PAT MONAHAN 45 15/21 M 129 31:05 10:01

Softball Report by Mike (the coach)
What a game tonight. Up 4-0. Not letting them score. Then they have a big inning (thanks, in part, to a bunt, but I digress). The score is now 8-4. We threaten a couple times but can't make anything happen. Last inning. We get them down 1-2-3. Good defense all around tonight. Bottom of the last inning. Down four runs. Jeff nails one and circles the bases. Keri comes close. One out. Angus lays down a nice base hit. Cheryl moves him over. Two outs. Runner on second. Down by three. I finally get one to go the opposite way, Angus scores and I am on third with a triple. Down two. Gina steps up. Nails one. Circles the bases. Tied game. Pat craftily crowds
the plate and draws a walk. Geri graciously takes first base base.
First & second, two down, tied game. Duane pokes a single up the middle, Pat crosses home plate. We win! That's right, we win!
Of course, most of you know this. But I had to retell it. Already called my brother and Karen. We are now 1-0. Yes, we are already half way to our best win total.
Great start to the season. Thanks for all coming out. See you all next Friday for another late game: 9:30.
By the way, do you all remember that the St. Louis Cardinals won the world series?
Mike

SomeBurros Report: Amy and I did have lunch at SomeBurros yesterday. And they don't have anything low cal. Well, diet coke. Anyway, I think I did ok. I ate two chicken tacos. No beans. No rice. A few chips with salsa. I avoided the Fundido, the chimichanga I spoke of. My weight this morning was the same. So, I'll call this a small victory.

Ghouls & Goblins 5K

It was a beautiful morning in Tempe, Arizona. Perfect day for a 5k road race. This was the second official race I've participated in. The other one was at this same park, Kiwanis Park just 2 months ago.

I knew my time would improve, but I wasn't sure by how much. I was hoping to finish in under 37 minutes, beating my first run by 5 minutes.

There were less runners out for this race. Maybe 80 runners total and some walkers, strollers, etc too. I paced myself pretty well and watched as most of the runners faded from my view. One, lady that recieved a medal for her age group would leap frog me everytime I took a walk break. I don't believe she ever walked. Finally around a mile and a half I passed her. When I would walk, I would hear a runner approach and that was my signal to start running again. I think I took about 5 walk breaks for about 30 seconds to 1 minute in duration each. In the last half mile I didn't see anyone in front that I could catch. I believe I finished about 2 minutes behind the runner ahead of me. But, I didn't want to be caught either. There were about 3-4 runners within 20 seconds of me. At the end of the course you run around the lake and then up a short hill. Then it's about a quarter mile to the finish on the soccer field. I decided that I needed to put some distance between me and anyone else at the hill. So, I charged up the hill and kept a steady pace to the finish. The announcer noticed me checking behind for runners as I neared the finish, said over the loudspeaker that there was no one there and that I was finishing strong. I liked that.

I finished in approximately 34:35. 2 1/2 minutes faster than I was hoping for and way faster than I ever thought I would. Almost 8 minutes faster than my time on the same course 2 months previous. I am overjoyed. I still can't believe it.

After the race, I hung around the finish and high fived runners as they came in and took my picture crossing the finish. Yes, it's a fake finish photo. I then watched the kiddie dash and met some neighbors who were giving out raisin bread from Safeway Markets. They had on halloween costumes, the kind with rubber old people's faces with big noses, so I didn't recognize them, but they said, "arn't you Emily's dad?" More people know my daughter than me.

Wow, I still can't believe my time. I remember back in June when I ran for the first time. I made it about 10 houses before I was out of breath.

***

Official Line: 65 PAT MONAHAN 44 4/6 M 375 34:29 11:06

Look, they have my time a bit better and I was one place from a medal. But, I finished 10 minutes behind the third place finisher.

***

Softball News: We lost our tournament game. It was terrible. We ended up playing on a different field that was smaller than the one we usually play on. The bases were the same, but the fences in left were about 65 feet shorter. We don't really have to many power hitters, so the advantage went to the other team. They hit three balls off me that would have been catchable on the other field. Here, they ended up on the other side of the fence. We were toast. But, we had fun and look forward to playing again after the holidays.