craziness ensues

Well, the last couple of weeks has been crazy for me. The last three weekends I have spent almost all of my time installing flooring at my parents. I am excited to report that it is now complete (minus a couple of small items that need attention) and my parents can get things back to normal at their house... I now wait for my turn for things to be "not normal" in my life... yet another teaser, but more to follow on this...

I wish I could say my running has been going well, but it has suffered a little during the week for the last two weeks. One of the factors was the rain. You might be asking yourself, "what about your treadmill, Dave?" Well - I am sorry to report it's demise a week and a half ago. I have yet to call service to have it checked and I still need to check a few things on my end first, but it is dead as a doornail. I am hoping that it is covered under the warranty (10 year motor warranty), but with my luck it is the controller card. I am bummed about this, but at the same time I was looking to sell it anyway. It's not that I never used it, on the contrary I used it almost daily, but it is taking up a bit too much room in our little house. I am looking into alternatives, but I think I am just going to try to embrace running in the rain and leave it at that...

The good news in all of this is my long runs have happened on schedule and they have been good. Last weeks 5k race was a great morale booster. I am not as slow as I thought I was... and this weekends run was an exercise in making the most of my time. Allow me to explain: Steph had to work at a health fair on Saturday morning and needed help carrying stuff in. It only lasted from 10am to 2 pm, so it gave me time to help her carry stuff in, set up and then go out for a run. As luck would have it, the health fair was being held at one of the Indy Parks, so I thought it to be a great opportunity to run in a new location. The park was not the most conducive to running, as it was rather small, but it did offer some great hills to run on. On the schedule was a 6 mile run, so as I started out I quickly learned that the loop around the park was just over a mile, so it was going to take 5 laps plus a little extra to get my mileage. I felt a little out of place running, as there was no one else out there running - mainly basketball, but I did see someone playing disc golf.

I finished up in 57:08 with an average pace of 9:27/mile. I tried to keep it consistent, which was a little tough on the hills, but it felt good and fairly easy.

Up next for me is to start some furniture refinishing and continue on some home renovation projects... lots to do. A busy summer if just around the corner...

Hope everyones run went well this past weekend. Until then, Happy Running.

race for the cure 5k

It was a beautiful morning and there were tons of people. I was feeling tired and not up to the race, but I decided to run it anyway, as I said it was a beautiful morning...

I lined up at the back of the 8:00/mile corral (there were only three choices anyway - 6:00, 7:00 and 8:00) hoping I would not get passed by everyone. To my surprise, I did okay. I still felt sluggish, but I kept up with everyone, even passing some.

As the sun crept ever-so-much higher in the morning sky, it started getting warmer...any more and I would have been uncomfortable. Wasn't it just 30 degrees last week?!?

As I approached the finish I was able to push a little harder and finish strong. My overall time was 25:13, with an average pace of 8:07/mile. Not too bad for being tired, I guess. I immediately followed up my run with a drive down to my parents to try to finish installing the flooring. Unfortunately, something came up and I had to leave early... hopefully I'll be able to get that done soon...

much too young to feel this damn old

So I spent this past weekend at my parents house installing flooring. I have never felt so old in my life. No, not because I was hanging out with my parents, but the work it took to install the flooring made every part of my body ache. I worked until midnight on Friday and Saturday and when I woke up on Sunday morning, my body just hurt. I wanted nothing to do with work and even less with running. So much for getting my long run in, but I did make up for it today and got in 5 miles this morning - and what a beautiful morning it was. I think spring finally caught up to us...

I'll try to get a couple of easy runs in the rest of this week and then it is the Race For The Cure 5k on Saturday... followed by some more installation of flooring... ugh.

Until next time -- Happy Running to All!

not a "hole" lot going on?

After a great run on Sunday, I got out on Tuesday after work for a somewhat easy 3 mile run. I say somewhat because it was suppose to be my recovery run, but I ended up running it much faster than I should have, but it felt good. Afterwards some stretching and a quick bite of dinner.

Last night I got home and decided to cut a large hole in my front door.

It seemed like the thing to do at the time... Actually I was installing a glass lite so it won't be so dark inside our house at the front...

Here is what it looks like:

So there I am sawing a hole in my front door last night and all of a sudden tornado sirens are going off... not much I could do at that point so I finished cutting the hole and got the glass installed. Boy, I sure know how to have fun...

On the schedule for tonight is a 4 mile run. I will probably keep it at an easy pace tonight since I ran too hard on Tuesday. I am also trying to figure out what to do about my run this weekend... I have 6 scheduled, but I am installing flooring at my parents most of the weekend. Saturday already sounds like a so-so day anyway, but Sunday sounds perfect... I guess I have motivation to get it done quickly.

Happy running to all.

over the river and through the woods...

and don't forget about the hills...

First of all - Happy Easter to all!

Today was the day for my long run. I managed two runs during the week - a 3 mile recovery run on Monday and a 4 mile run on the dreadmill on Wednesday. Both runs were good - I felt good and the knee felt good. (I think I am going to keep commenting on my knee for a little while longer, but it seems that all is well and I am using caution during my runs - honest.)

It was another typical week for me up in Michigan on Wednesday and then up in Lafayette, Indiana on Friday. Didn't leave much time to get work done or any more runs in and it left me tired. I slept in until 10am on Saturday and I felt tired all day. I questioned whether I would feel good enough to run today, but when I woke up I was ready, but I took my time getting ready.

On the schedule was a 5 miler. My last 5 mile run was anything but great. I finished completely drained and thought I had reached my maximum endurance. Today was a new day.

I even decided that I would add some hills to my route, so I headed to Fort Harrison State Park and chose the Delaware Trace Trail Loop where I could run amongst the trees. At first I thought I would do two laps to get my 5 miles in, but after the first lap I didn't want to repeat the hills again - trying to be cautious...

I finished my run strong and felt good. And when I checked my splits I was pleasantly surprised...

• Mile 1: 9:04/mile
• Mile 2: 9:01/mile
• Mile 3: 9:05/mile
• Mile 4: 9:11/mile
• Mile 5: 9:01/mile

Pretty consistent and the pace felt relatively easy - even on the hills.

It was a good run - just what I needed.

The weather looks like it will be warming up during the middle of the week to the low 50's. I can deal with that. Below freezing is just not right for this time of year...

More changes are coming into my life and my fall marathon plans will probably be changing, not to mention my running in general. But it will all be good. I will reveal more later on... until then, Happy running to all!