Weekend Recap

Saturday I played hookie and skipped a morning run.  It was a super cold morning and I already had plans to run Sunday so I took advantage of the opportunity to sleep in a little.  My morning instead got started with a funeral service for a local runner who passed away this week.  Frank was a frequent attendee of the Rush Running speed workouts and was someone who inspired me to get my butt in gear at many a race.  You see Frank was in his mid-60's and he kept beating me at 5k's so one race a few years ago I finally decided to make Frank my pacer.  I just followed along behind and tried to keep up.  This would go on at other races and even during our weekly track workouts with one of us taking the lead and the other chasing depending on the day.  He always motivated me and as someone who took walk breaks he was an instant compatriot for me!

The service was very uplifting and featured an eulogy by one of his sons.  He spoke of always asking his dad for a story before bed by asking him "Tell me a story of when you were a kid."  That struck home to me because my niece Lily Cate always asks the same thing.  I struggle sometimes to come up with a story to tell her and now I know how important those memories and connections are.  It was very sad to lose a member of our Rush Running family but I'm thankful to have known such a great man who was dedicated to his family, fitness, and his passions like hiking and tennis. 

After the service, some of the Rush crew headed out for a bite to eat.  Isn't it strange that we always eat after funerals? We went to Wesner's in downtown Rogers and they only serve breakfast on Saturdays.  It was good...I especially liked the biscuit with Apple butter!

Below is my best interpretation of 80's style for a murder mystery dinner party that I went to at my friend Cathy's house that night.  It was a fun night and we all had a good time and none of us guessed who the murderer was. 

Lolita Xposure - I turned out to be an photographer/assassin who would kill with darts that I stored in the lens of my camera.

This morning I met up with Rhonda for a run.  We started at 11AM in order to let the day warm up a little and it was a great decision.  The sun was out and it was a perfect run...not too cold and not too windy.  We did an easy 6 miles that included the Crystal Bridges hill which we will be running during the Bentonville Half Marathon next month. 

This afternoon was another Sunday Funday swim with Brent, Lauren, Lori, and Kyla.  Today's agenda kicked my booty.  We did a warmup and then our first set was 6 x 125 with the final 25 being a sprint.  I ended up going on a 2:15 for the interval on this one. I did have to interrupt my first one in order to rescue a dinosaur from the deep end.  I don't know whose toy it was but the lifeguard was trying to get it out and having no luck.  The next set was supposed to be 8 x 50 of kick with some being under/overs.  I didn't have fins and decided to just swim instead and got in 450 yds while they did the kick set.  Then we finished up with 12 x 50 and we split them up as 6 x 50 with 25 stroke fast and 25 free cruise. The second set of 6 x 50 were done 25 cruise free then 25 sprint free.  These were all done on a 1 min interval which equated to about 15 sec rest between each.  I ended up with 2500 yds after warmup and cooldown were added in.  We finished up our workout with hot tub time! The best part of the workout for sure. 

Week Be Gone - Vacation Recap

I just got back from a vacation to Islamorada in the Florida Keys.  A friend of mine lives there and asked me to come visit sometime ago.  I finally booked a trip and took a long weekend to get away and catch up on some rest and relaxation. 

Don't worry...I survived this lobster attack!

Workouts:
Laura lives just a block away from Founders Park which is a great city park.  Laura loves to walk and usually does a four mile walk each day.  We headed out Saturday morning for a little workout.  I did the first loop walking with Laura and then ran 3 loops on my own and caught up to her for her 4th lap.  I think I got in about 5 miles and then we walked about a mile to pick up our bikes from the night before.  Friday night we rode bikes to Marker 88 for drinks and then ended up heading to a restaurant for dinner via a taxi (leaving our bikes behind.) So altogether I got in around 6 miles for the day!

The trail at Founder's Park!

Yes, this car has eyelashes.  Just some of the fun scenery on the trail.

On Monday, we headed out to walk and did 4 miles around the park.  We took a few minutes to play on the walking trail strength training stations.  Laura is trying to increase her ability to do pullups so I showed her how to utilize another piece of equipment for a modified pullup to help her build up to more regular style pullups.  Mind you I can't do a single pullup but I know what exercises I should be doing to build the strength for them.  Maybe I should listen to myself!

Tourist Things:
I visited the Theater of the Sea which is a marine park.  When you arrive, you join the show that is in progress as they are all on a set schedule.  They offer a trained parrot show, dolphin show, and a sea lion show.  There is also a guided marine animal tour and a nature walk.  I loved the dolphin show and watching how much fun the dolphins were having doing their tricks.  The sea lion show was also really cute.  I love animals and it is so much fun to see them show off their personalities!

Hello, how cute! Impressive iPhone photography if I don't say so!

Making friends with one of the parrots!

Another fun stop was visiting Robbie's Marina which is known for its tarpon feeding docks.  The tarpon fish are huge and you get a bucket of small fish to feed them with.  We ran into some of Laura's neighbors at the marina and Roman volunteered to teach me how to feed the fish.  I'm a little squirmy sometimes and was really grossed out touching the dead fish but I held them by the tail and it wasn't too bad.  I dangled the fish above the water and was encouraged to get closer to the water...when all of sudden the tarpon jumped and gobbled it up.  It scared the crap out of me! Only problem was I still had a bucket full of fish to use.  When I was done I was so happy to wash my hands!

And the Rest of the Fun:
My running partner Anne moved to Miami over the summer much to my disappointment! Her birthday was over the weekend and her husband reached out about meeting up for lunch on Sunday.  It was so much fun to surprise her at Alabama Jack's in Key Largo for lunch.  Anne was so confused at first and thought I had just randomly run into Danny at the restaurant. 

Danny, Me, and Anne! Great friends that I miss a ton:(

The weather wasn't the warmest and the water was choppy but I had a great time relaxing on the beach with Laura.  It was great to listen to the sound of the water and read a book. 

Nothing tops sitting by the water for relaxing.

Ode to Fall Long Runs

(Please accept my apologies in advance, but I wanted to try out a little poem recap of my long run today versus the traditional recap I normally do.  I hope it isn't too horrible!)

Oh, how I didn't want to get out of my warm and toasty bed this morning.
But alas, Anne was waiting for me at the town square.
Taper time for her marathon meant an easy long run.
Dressing meant digging through drawers, long forgotten.
Sleeves and capris hidden away,
not to be worn during hot summer days.
The debate ensued as always, how many layers were needed.
Temps were 40 degrees and the sun would be rising.
Decision was made and away I went to face the day.

Unhappy that my new earbuds were already broken,
Meant music would not happen and words would be spoken.
Together we plotted a course that would amuse us
And avoid the dreaded hills that tend to abuse us.
Into the chill and sunrise we headed,
ticking off the miles as we went and chatted.
Gu stop at mile 5 and Biscuit a friendly yellow lab
He was the gracious neighborhood greeter!
This was followed by a stop at the White Oak Station,
potty stop and water bottle refills were in the making.
Back on the road and having fun,
we couldn't believe we were almost done.
Together we finished with 10 miles under our belts,
so amazed how little the time actually felt.

Thanks to Anne for helping me to get my pace back again.
Our long runs together are always a blast!
Good luck in Chicago, you are going to be super fast!

Unintentionally Anti-Social...Oops!

Wednesday is our group's easy run that starts at a local trail at 6PM.  Sometimes I head straight to the group runs from the office.  It saves me from driving home to change and leave 10 minutes later and retrace part of my steps back to where we meet! The only problem is that on those days my dog Hershey ends up having a long day.  Hershey is an inside dog and I hate to make her go more than 12 hours between potty opportunities.

Today I took my gear to work and planned to head straight to the run from work.  Our meeting location is in a valley and I knew that I could have options to do a short run in the 30 minutes prior to the start.  One of my co-workers and fellow Rush Runners told me she was thinking of running to the trail from her house.  She inspired me to do the same thing...run to the trail head and then do a point-to-point run from the trail.  I didn't think about the fact that it would inadvertently make me be anti-social with the group. 

I parked at the downtown square (it is a small town square that is super cute!) and took a route that was approx. 2 1/2 miles to the trail head.  My Garmin wouldn't sync up for the first 1/2 mile which was really annoying.  About 1 mile from the trail head I heard some "Go Whitney" cheers and looked to my left to see my co-worker and her husband driving next to me.  She had gotten home too late to run to the trail! I made it to the trail right at 6 as the group was discussing routes, distances, and other such stuff.  I planned a return trip to the square that would be approx. 4 1/2 miles and would include next weekend's 5K route.  I ended up with exactly 7 miles on my Garmin so I got 7 1/2 miles in for the night. 

If I were better at iPhone self portraits, I would have shared my salty glow after the run.  My face was covered in salty deposits and the temp was only 69 degrees.  Also, I wore my SPI belt and included my iPhone and I think I should probably put it in a small baggy to protect it from sweat.  I really liked the belt and hardly noticed it.  I got home and realized how much I missed out tonight by not finishing with the group...like the random conversations that happen as we stretch after the runs.