8.13.2006

Weekend wrap up

Getting Out. I woke up too early Saturday morning (3ish) for my 600 run. I guess I redozed a little more but I just accepted it and finally put on my runners at 510. I had some Gatorade and half a bagel. I iced some more Gatorade in my cooler and grabbed some Gu. I was 8 minutes late to Dave's house but he was relaxing in a chair under the garage light reading the morning paper.
We were missing the tortoise who allegedly has a an ankle worthy of amputation. At least that's the way Dave made it sound by his acount of what he'd heard. The tortoise isn't on crutches or even limping much but his ankle is hurting and he's seeing a specialist. We can only speculate how long he'll be off the roads but we missed him.
The Run. Dave and I both had 14 miles on our run cards this weekend so I followed him on his College Park route. It turned out to be the same 10 mile route we did two weeks ago plus a 4-mile loop a little north of Dave's house. It was in the high 70s and progressively more humid as the morning wore on. When the sun came up it got hotter but knocked down some of the humidity.
I thought we were going fairly fast but we were yacking with each other a lot and I can't help but believe I run slower when talking. We covered it in 2 hrs 13 minutes. Best part is it is over and maybe (big chance of it) next week it will be cooler (hah!).
New Shoes. In the afternoon I went down to the Track Shack where I knew there were only two pairs of Kayano XIIs left in my size. The anniversary (20% off) sale starts Monday and I couldn't afford to wait and miss getting one of those last pairs. Best of all, the owner extended a special client discount which made it all worthwhile. Life is good.
I am liking this 3 runs a week plan. Tuesday speed. Thursday tempo. Weekend long. It all gets done, produces desired results and isn't killing me (yet).
47 States. I ran into a man I know at the shoe store who is in his late 50s/early 60s. He was buying his standard pair of New Balance shows in advance of his 47th marathon ... all in different states. He's not in the 50 states club but is in his own. Next race: Wyoming. I thought that was pretty impressive. He's done them on several continents too.
Flashbacks. I took son C over to the college yesterday. He starts there on Tuesday. We ran into the junior son of a friend of mine who lives in Philly. The son happens to be a resident of the same #1 popular/notorious dorm room that I had in my sophomore year. He took us up to see the Tower which is a solo fourth floor room with two balconies overlooking the library lawn and the chapel. I will not share any historical accounts of my time there but it was quite nostalgic to be back in the Tower again. I shot some pictures (which Blogger won't load) and sent them to my college roommate. It's only been a few decades. He'll freak.

4 comments:

jeanne said...

3 a.m. might be just a TAD early for a 6 a.m. run...I think I run slower too when I'm talking. Congrats on younger son going off to school! and we want to see those photos...the ones from 20 years ago...

D said...

Hi I have been reading your blog for a couple weeks but have never left a comment... I live in Orlando too and I saw you at the Track Shack on Saturday. I thought I recognized you from your picture but didn't want to say anything in case I was wrong. I was getting my new Ascics because I am on the TEAM!!! In case you can't tell I am really excited about this. Anyway it looks like we run a lot of the same races (I finshed two minutes after you in the OUC Half last year) so maybe we will run into each other again.

[rich] said...

Three! you're mad, but in a good way :-P

Rhea said...

Looks like the 3 runs-a-week plan agrees with you. Hmmm. Maybe I should try it.

By the way, the person you'll be staying with at MCM? (Jeanne told me)I know who he is. I used to write for Media General's flagship paper,The Richmond Times-Dispatch, and I saw Gil's byline next to mine and my other colleagues in the Richmond newsroom.