Heavy Run

I went to the All Academy Military Ball last night with son T, his date H and Mrs. T. It was more fun than the first one we went to. We skipped it last year. Two years ago we found out about the ball just a week before the event and were lucky to get tickets. Worse, we had to sit with some Navy folks. Worst, T had the wrong uniform of the day.

This year, as a junior, all was planned far in advance ... well except the date. That came down to the wire as T waited on a long-time acquaintance (M) who was non-committal about attending. In the end we all had a great time with an enthusiastic H as his date. We were hoping he'd double-date with a former 3/7 CAV buddy but there were overriding issues. T was the oldest cadet there (and the only prior service academy student I saw) so he had the honor of cutting the Army cake after dinner. I took pics on his camera addressing the cake in samurai fashion with a sword.

Overdoing it. The downside to me attending was it ran late and I was not in bed until after 11 facing a 6 o'clock-ish start to my scheduled 18-miler. I wanted to start early and get it over soon. The forecast was for temps to top 80F and the less of that, the better.

The other downside is that I was having too good a time at the ball with several dehydrating adult beverages. As soon as someone reminded me I had a run in the morning I switched to water.

Run down. I headed out at 6:15 and used my Garmin to click off four miles from the house to downtown. I arrived just at 7:00 to join Jack, Chris and Charline. A small crowd today.

We were all laboring at slow paces with a variety of hindrances but were scooped up by Seth at the first mile. He pushed our pace and ran me down. Jack and Charline cut out to just do six. Seth, Chris and I soldiered on to finish the 10-mile loop. By the time we made it around and back downtown I was still moving but not very swiftly.

Heavy weight. I bid the two men adieu and started on my four mile return trek to the house. It was hotter. I was thirsty. Seth had run me down. I took 30-second walk breaks far too often in the last four miles. Nevertheless, I made it home in 3:07:44, a nasty 10:26 pace. It might have been even slower. The Garmin missed about four tenths of a mile somewhere. I suspect it beeped off when I bumped Chris one time.

Eh.

Afterwards I stretched and took an ibuprofen. I have not been so sore in months. Everything from my hamstrings, abductors, adductors, back and feet were aching. I looked like one very old man limping around today. It was brutal. Then I weighed myself.

Two weeks ago, after running 17 miles in the heat with A and C, I weighed 155. Today after running further in as much heat I was four pounds heavier. That is an indication of how well I have managed to stuff food in my face over the last week. According to Garmin I ran off 2,200 calories today. I need to step away from the kitchen.

Final numbers: 1,208 miles in 2007 (101/wk). I had only targeted 1,000 for the year. Lifetime cume (since 1999): 5,653.

Blog posts: 153, exceeding 150 for the third straight year.