Last week in running

This past week has been one of the biggest weeks for mileage that I have had. I managed to put in a total of 39.55 miles. Wow! Now let's recap.

Monday I ran with the Y group. We ended up putting in 10.5 miles. It was a good run at a descent pace. Jen's husband Jeff ran with us on the second lap, so it was a bit slower. Still a good run.

Tuesday Chris, both of my kids, and I headed downtown for the 2nd annual Shamrock 2 miler. This has become one of my favorite runs. It is a quick 2 miler followed by free green beer and door prizes. This year, like last, Chris had my number. Last year he got my by a step. This year he was feeling it and ended up getting me by 14 seconds. It must be the shoes! He beat last years time by a little over 40 seconds. Outstanding! He ended up running a 14:09 with me coming in at 14:23. A damn good run for both of us. As I promised, here are a few pics that Chris managed to get on the day of the race.

Wednesday I had my first official hill run. The new runners that Chris and I have started running with like to run up a couple of hills near where we work. They have been extending the invite for several weeks, but I have either had other things going on or just didn't think I was ready to do serious hill work. I will say that I was a bit uneasy about this run. When I arrived at Gary's office, which is the official starting place of most of the hill runs, I saw his car and one other that I didn't recognize. After a few more minutes, Norma showed up and walked into the office. Next thing I know Gary, Jen, and Norma are walking out and waving me over. How was I to know that I was supposed to head inside? After that we were off. The hill wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Since it was Norma and my first time doing the hill they took it easy on us. We ended up doing a total of 6.3 miles in a little over an hour. I will definitely be back for the hill runs.

Thursday and Friday I took off from running. Mainly because I don't have time on Thursday and Friday I spend with my wife.

Saturday was the 2nd leg of the Triple Crown of Running, which is the Rhodes City Run 10K. The group was going to put in about 13 miles and then run to the start of the race, which ended up being 6.55 miles from the Y. Chris and I had hatched a plan to run with them to the race and then just Bandit the run. We ended up running the 6.55 miles to the start of the run in 1:05:30. There were a few pit stops along the way for bathroom breaks and to pick up others. Once we got the the start of the race, it was only a few minutes before the gun went off. This really didn't matter much, since it took us a good 4 minutes to get across the starting line.

For most of the run we were running in a pack. Then Jeff and Jen started to fall behind. At about the 5 mile mark Shawna fell back to check on them. At that point Chris and I settled into a nice pace. If I had to guess, I would say we were running around and 8:30/8:45 mile. At about 5 and a half miles Shawna come blasting up between us and the pace quickened. We kept up with her until about the 6 mark when we just let her go. I figured we would just cruise in from there. But when I saw the finish line something just kinda snapped. Without giving Chris any warning, I just bolted. Not something that I normally do. It just felt right. I ended coming in just in front of Chris because I got the jump and I never let him know it was on my mind. Hell, I didn't know it was going to happen. I ran a 53:16 and he ended up with 53:30. All I can say is DAMN! We put up good numbers for running 6.55 before the race.

This morning I headed out for another hill run with Gary, Shawna, and Jen. The funny thing is, when I got the text about running with them, they didn't mention running the hill. They took me up a different hill this time. Jen seemed to be struggling with asthma today. We ended up putting in 8 miles in about an hour and a half that included more walking than I had expected.

So that was my week. Next week won't be as big. I am heading to Chicago with the family for Spring Break. So I will be gone until Thursday. I am sure I will be ready to run when I get back. I plan on taking some running gear just in case I get a chance to run while up there. We shall see.

Later