Sorry for the absence, but I've kinda been busy

I know it has been about a week since I last updated my blog. And I can only imagine how the few of you, who take the time out of your day to read this, must have been on the edge of your seat waiting.

Anyway, I have been a little bit busy. Last weekend my son and I took on the task of swapping the engine in my 1989 Jeep Cherokee. It was a grease and dirt filled couple of days, but it is done. Here is a pic for your enjoyment.

I just have to figure out which of the sensors on the engine is making it run like crap. I am pretty sure I know which one it is, just need to replace it and see.

As far as running goes, I set a new PR for the 2 1/2 mile loop that we run at work. As I had said before, I was wanting to match the 19:04 that we had ran last year. Well, consider it done! I ran the 2 1/2 mile loop last night in 18:27.49. Not sure what got into me. It may have been the fact that I took the previous night off from running, or that I was running by myself. Not sure. I also don't know if I will be able to repeat that.

If I get time this weekend I plan on heading out for a longer run. I haven't put in more than a 5k since the mini. I need to start logging some longer runs.

Later

A couple of fast night time runs

The past two night have been met with some of the fastest running I have done this year. As I mentioned earlier I am on a quest to match last years personal best of 19:04 for the 2 1/2 mile loop that we run during lunch at work.

Monday night was just 14 seconds shy of doing just that! Chris, Z, and I headed out for our nightly run. We were also joined by the Drake. He may or may not be a new addition to the crew, we will see. Anyway, as we started off I jumped out pretty quickly. I was immediately joined by Chris, who will never let me get out ahead of him without being right there. About 1/3 of a mile or less into the run he started to pull away on the slight downhill on the way out. All I could do was to try and keep up. When it was all said and done, he ended up finishing the 2 1/2 mile loop in 19:03. Amazing! I ended up finishing in 19:17. I was giving it all I had, but there was just no catching him on this night. Z ended up being about 45 seconds behind.

Last night was more of the same. Only this time it was Chris who took the lead and kept it the entire way. He ended up covering 2 miles in 14:07, with me finishing in 14:20. Z was an entire minute behind me. Which is kind of funny, since he was actually in front of me heading towards the end of the first mile.

We shall see what tonight brings. I think Chris may have found his stride. It will be all I can do just to try and keep up.

Later

No running, but one long ass bike ride!

As I set here enjoying the last few minutes of my weekend, I will have to say it was pretty full. It all started off with me getting everything together to swap out the engine in my 1989 Jeep Cherokee. This Jeep was bought as a toy. I knew that if I got everything done to it that I wanted to, when my son started driving in two years he would want it. But after lending it to my mother in law it now needs a new motor.

Amazingly everything came together quite nicely. I found a motor on Craigslist for $150 and was able to borrow all of the items needed to swap engines. This will be done with the help of my brother in law and my son. Should be interesting.

The weekend continued on Saturday morning with the Yeti's heading out for their first bike ride of the summer. I think that we bit off a little more than we could chew for our first ride. We ended up covering around 36.5 miles, according to Chris. We headed out to Henryville, Indiana and back with a very much needed pit stop at Dairy Queen on the way back. I am pretty sure that the pit stop made all of the peddling worth while. There was the most interesting guy sitting behind us. He was with a couple of people and telling them stories about alien abductions, the overseerers of the earth, a woof, and a brand new luxury van. You would have had to be there to see the extreme humor in all of this, but trust me, I thought I was going crap myself laughing.

Today was spent picking up the engine for the Jeep and doing the outdoor chores around the house.

All in all it was a full weekend.

Later

4th of July

The 4th of July turned out to be a pretty damn good day spent with damn good friends! The day started off early for me, around 4:00 am. The life of a 3rd shifter! Chris had found a 5k that was being run in the Crescent Hills neighborhood, so we decided to give it a shot. This would be his first official 5k since getting back from his injury. I think that the run went well. We ended up finishing in 26:40. The goal on this run was to maintain a nice steady pace and just enjoy the run. As long as we finished under 30 I was happy. To my surprise Chris held himself back and didn't let the race get the better of him. I am sure that he wanted to break out at different times, but didn't. Made for a nice run. I did not carry a camera, but Chris did. So check out his blog for pics and a great recap of the day as well.

After the run I headed home to get things ready for what Chris has dubbed the First Annual Yeti Independence Day Festival. I do like the sound of that, and think it is a great idea. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate the way I would have liked. For whatever reason it decided to be around 70 degrees and rainy. Not that big of a deal, it just meant that the kids were not able to take advantage of the pool or the yard. I think that everyone had a good time.

Things wrapped up a little before 9 pm. Just in time for Harper's Island, which if you haven't been watching, you are just missing out on one of the summers guilty pleasures. I would recommend finding the first 11 episodes and watching them before this coming Saturday's 2 hour finale.

With all that being said, it was a great day and will definitely have to be repeated some more throughout the summer!

Later

Tuesday night run

Tuesday night marked the return of Chris. Which is a good thing. As far as the run goes, we took it pretty easy. The reason being that Double D has managed to cover the entire distance without stopping for the last couple of nights. Which is awesome! We ended up covering the distance in 19:38. Chris did 2 miles and Double D and myself did just short of that.

As it stands right now, Chris and I will be running a 5k Saturday morning. It will be interesting to see if Chris can make himself hold back during the initial miles to keep from burning out at the end. He has a tendency to get caught up in the run and head out faster than we usually plan on. What ever happens doesn't matter. It will be fun to actually get a 5k under our belts. So wish us luck. I will try to post a race recap over the weekend if I get time. If I don't, I am sure that Chris will.

Later