Motivated to Succeed

1:30 PM - Sunny, Temp around 54 degrees. After a long week at school and work, my foot is actually hurting more than last week. I think it might have been because I wore the ankle brace too tightly? I spent Halloween at Emmy's house. There were a ton of Star Wars themed trick or treaters that had fun despite the downpours. Emm was a bit upset that so many of them didn't even say "Trick or Treat!" How rude! Maybe a sign of the times I guess.

We drove to Farnams Road at the Cheshire Resevoir along Rte. 8 and went walking on the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail. We did 3.10 miles in 58:00. Was a fun walk and I liked it a lot (especially since Emmy came with me). We had a lot of fun, then went to Dottie's and I got a cup of coffee at the cafe. Later I had to drive home to finish up work on a Teacher Work Sample for class tomorrow night and then my lesson plans. I start teaching Economics tomorrow. It's going to be tough to get 12th graders interested in fiscal policy and expansionary/contractionary forces, federal deficit and budget surplus, etc. etc. I can't even remember the last time I studied that stuff. Can't wait to be done with school on December 11th forever!

*Going to set up the wind trainer because I need to do exercise. I'm getting fat and lazy!

First day solo teaching the 12th graders. So much different than my 8th graders! I observed the teacher last week, but now it was my turn. For the next 6 weeks I am basically "running the show" for Economics classes. I have a Global Studies AIS class (3 students that are studying to retake the NYS Regents exam for global), a 7th/8th grade study hall, and 4 Economics classes (ranging from 12-26 kids in them!). He observed me today and gave me really good constructive feedback. This placement will be harder as I don't know the content all the way and lack the confidence. I really think that business teachers should be the ones teaching Economics classes, but oh well. I will make the best of it!

Update on ankle: bruising is going away. Wearing a new ankle brace slip on that Emmy gave me to borrow. No pain walking around today at school which was good. I hope that I can set up the wind trainer tomorrow if time allows and get in a bike ride. Pushups/situps later. Any ideas on how long to rest? I have a 15k on Sunday. I missed it last year because of injury too. It's one of my favorite road races. What should I do?! I already missed the race yesterday, and the one next Sunday is another $30 down the drain if I don't go.

4:30 PM - Finally had a free afternoon to hook up the wind trainer. Took some effort to do, but managed to get it set up down in the garage and decided to go for a spin. Ankle's been feeling really good lately. I iced it last night before bed and will do the same thing tonight too.

Today's lesson went pretty well. I was on my own and had to teach 4 x Economics classes. Today's lesson was talking about classical, Keynesian and supply-side economics. Try making that interesting on the fly for seniors. Oii. Well they were good sports for the most part and let me "teach my lesson". Hopefully I can get them engaged tomorrow talking about the Bigger Better Bottle Law that went into effect here in New York on Saturday. We now have to pay 5 cent deposits on all water bottles (only the second state to do so behind CT). I think it's a wonderful thing. And now I will probably make even more money picking up cans and bottles on the roads. Woo hoo!

Bike ride felt good. Helped Harry with an essay too. Has been a while since I was on a bike. I'm sure my butt will be sore tomorrow! Hopefully another ride tomorrow. Going to take the advice and try to stay off my feet and rest up. Just have to get some exercise in or else I'll go crazy. I am gaining weight like crazy too! Oops!

Total Time: 1:05:20  Total Distance: 20 miles

4:00 PM - Today was an awesome day. I was unsure how it was going to go. It's only my third day of solo and only eighth overall at this school, but I'm quickly getting my "sea legs" like Lieutenant Dan would say in Forrest Gump. Today's lesson was all about GDP and the national debt and how budget deficits/surpluses happen. Also related it to them because in NYS, they just passed the Bigger Better Bottle Law which now taxes bottled water. Only the second state in the country to put a deposit on water bottles. Should be good considering NYS has 3 billion dollar deficit and this law is supposed to bring in about 115 million dollars in revenue. I think the kids got the most out of the pictures I showed in Germany in 1923-24 and Hungary in the 1940s, which were two of the worst cases of hyperinflation in the world! In Germany, for example, people literally burned money because the money burned longer and was more cost effective than buying the more expensive wood to burn. In Hungary in the 40s, the inflation rate hit the highest inflation rate ever recorded in modern history, hitting 41.9 quintillion percent. To put that into perspective 41.9 quintillion looks roughtly like 41,900,000,000,000,000,000 % Prices doubled every 15 hours!! It truly left them astounded. Oh and I drew on the board. Used a see-saw analogy with expenditures/deficit on one side and revenues/surplus on the other to show how you want to maintain a balanced budget but its rarely possible. Taught all four periods today, the AIS Global studies class, and the 7th/8th grade study hall where a couple of them still call me Mr. Grizzly or Grizzly Adams. Haha. Made my day. :).

Biked 1:02:30 on the wind trainer in the garage. Did about 20 miles. Felt good. Harry came out and was complaining that something smelled. I said it was the cows next door or one of the dogs going about their business on the lawn. He left and afterward, as I was cleaning up the bike and windtrainer.. I found that I had actually burned a hole in the strip of carpet I put the wind trainer on! It had a kink in it that raised a ripple up and I guess my tire was rubbing on it the whole time! HAHAH. Awesome!

Total Time: 1:02:30  Total Distance: 20 miles

6:00 PM - Cold, dark, rainy. Just my type of weather! Gave my first unit test to the kiddos today at school. Forgot how fast high school curriculum goes! About a chapter a week we're going to cover! Went to the track and stretched. Was the only one there. Went earlier than the Ghost Runner usually runs at. But tons to do and I'm exhausted from this week. Eased into a run. I love running at night when everything is quiet (or relatively so). More people than usual up at the school and towards the end I felt like a Broadway show there were that many lights on me. Was just a little angry because it ruined my night vision. I felt pretty strong, a bit sore from the wind trainer the last couple days though. Splits were:

• Mile 1: 8:59
• Mile 2: 8:48
• Mile 3: 8:31
• Mile 4: 8:08
• Mile 5: 7:57

Total Time: 43:41 Total Distance: 5.16 miles Average Pace: 8:27

Going to ice my ankle and rest, but at this rate I'd say Stockade-athon 15k on Sunday is a GO!!

8:30 AM - It was cold this morning in Galway. Only about 30 degrees or so. Gorgeous though. The sun was out. By race time at 9am it was probably mid 40s and still climbing. I ended up wearing a long sleeve shirt which was probably overdressing. My dad came with me to the Stockade-athon 15k race in Schenectady today. It was the fifth time that I've run it and my dad is also a veteran of the race, finishing it seven or eight times, though he hasn't run it in a few years because he broke his toe and had achilles issues. Now instead he goes for long walks with my mom on the backroads. They're doing a 7 mile walk this afternoon actually. (I know they both like the time they spend together :-D) Got to Schenectady around 8:30 and rushed over to the pavilion to pick up my packet and the t-shirt. I was one of the last ones to get the packet I guess. Went and put the bib on my shorts (I like wearing the bib on the shorts instead of the shirt because it minimizes annoyances. Put a PowerGel in my pouch on the Ampiphod and stretched. My dad saw an old coworker across the parking lot, Skip Acox, whom I had not seen since I was about four years old. Skip actually got my dad his first administration job as an assistant principal after he had been a kindergarten teacher for so long. He said it was nice to catch up. Afterwards, made our way out to the starting area. It was a pretty deep field, and the eventual winner actually flew in from Colorado for the race. Shaun Donegan, the winner of all the trail 5ks I did this summer (5k PR about 15:48) ended up getting 16th and about 52:00 time.

THE RACE:

No time for a warm-up. Ankle felt good while I was jogging in place and stretching. I had only run twice in the last two weeks so I didn't know what to expect. Race was supposed to start at 9am but late registrations pushed the start time back five or ten minutes. Eventually the gun went off and we were off, though I had placed myself between the  8:00-9:00 mile markers. Going into the race, I was hoping for: A - sub 1:20, B - sub 1:25, C - sub 1:30

MILE 1: (8:51) The first mile was a bit slow because I was trapped in the ranks. My GARMIN said that I ran an 8:38 first mile which was a bit better. I find it amusing that there are people that will line up contrary to where they should be ability wise. Case in point was a cluster of overweight men in front of me that were talking about running a 1:30 pace, which would have put them farther behind me, more in the 10:00-11:00 range. Had to bide my time until the first hill at the mile 1 mark where ranks start to thin. Saw my dad standing on the left side of the hill and I threw my pair of gloves over to him. He wished me good luck. And we were off.

MILES 2-3: (7:39; 7:38) The next miles were significantly faster. My legs felt fresh and as the first four and change miles are downhill before turning and going uphill, I worked the downhills. Was steadily picking up and spitting out the back all the runners that started too fast. I felt relaxed, calm, cool, and collected as I made my way out of the park and down past the hospital towards the Stockade. Hit the 5k mark in 24:59. Alright! I'll take that to the bank!

MILES 4-5: (7:15; 7:33) Mile 4 brought us into the stockade area. I was cruising on the steep downhills, but was still relaxed and sipping every 5-minutes from the waterbottle. Took water from the aid stations as there was room, but it was better to have my own bottle! As I entered the stockade, unzipped the pouch and took a Vanilla flavored PowerGel. First time I had used this brand and flavor. Not a big fan, but it went down easy enough. Tasted like luke warm soupy pudding. Cruised through mile 5 knowing that the State Street Hill loomed on the horizon. Swung a wide left out onto State Street. Hear it comes.

MILE 6: (8:16) State Street Hill is a massive, multi-tiered hill gaining probably about 300 feet by the time you hit the top. It is an unforgiving hill and many newbies get chewed up and spit out. This was my fifth time running this race so I know what to expect. My biking expertise comes into play on hills. I shorten my stride but keep the same cadence and lean in slightly, keeping my focus about five feet in front of me. Steadily I climb, and albeit slower than some runners, I find by the time I get to the top I am able to recover faster and overtake people that pass me on the uphill.  A lot of carnage here on the hill, especially when we round the corner about halfway up and people realize the hill's just begun. I happen to like uphills. So much fun! Second 5k split was: 24:14.

MILE 7: (8:12) A bit more uphill through the cemetery (a new addition in the last couple years) and then we hung a left onto a side road before coming to the right turn which brought yet another hill to come back up and into the park. The second half of the race is truly brutal. It will really mess you up if you aren't ready. I did my short stepping technique and held my ground. Came up and over the hill and could see people finishing. The last two miles you are doing a loop around the park and then another one inside of it, but one of the beautiful things about the setup is that you can see people a couple miles ahead of you as they are doing the last .5 mile loop around the Duck Pond to finish up.

MILE 8: (8:19) Saw my dad cheering for me which gave me a much needed morale boost. My right hamstring was getting a bit tight, and then I remembered I didn't really stretch my hammys much before the race. Oops! That'll teach you not to cop out of a warmup haha. Mile 8 has changed in the last two years too to cut out a hill around the tennis courts. Phew! Went backwards along the first mile and a half of the course. Held my ground and continued to pick up the carnage from ahead.

MILE 9: (8:11) Thought I was picking up the pace as I was picking people off, but I guess I was holding steady. My third 5k split was 25:20, so I slowed a bit from earlier in the race. Entered the loop by the Duck Pond and my dad was waiting on the left. It is so awesome to have people cheering for you. Was nice to see him there. We share so much with this course and running in general, especially since fifth grade when I started to run with him and did my first 5k alongside him.  He's my hero. Held steady until the 9 mile mark and then picked it up. Ended up doing the last .38 miles in 2:47 (7:22 pace).

Finished and crossed the line. They now have automatic timing chips, as the ARE (Albany Running Exchange) hosts the race now. Only I couldn't get the bread tie twists to come off. Eventually a lady helped me take it off and I looked to my left and saw my friend Jen who also runs and ran the Philadelphia Marathon in 2008 finish only 30ish seconds behind me. Not bad considering her achilles has been hurting her she said. Was cool to see someone I knew :)

Overall, the race was a huge success. Was not expecting this result considering I haven't done good training in the last couple weeks aside from some biking. Ended up smashing my A-goal out of the water. Finished in 1:14:31, good for 8:00 a mile, although if you factor in the extra .06 I ran starting in the middle of the pack, I actually ran 7:56 pace per mile!  Good enough for 429th place out of 1268 runners, and 24th of 37 runners in my age group.

Total Time: 1:14:31  Total Distance: 9.38 miles Average Pace: 7:56!

COOLDOWN: Wanted to redeem myself for not doing a warmup, so I slow jogged to the car and then did three loops arond the soccer field as I waited for my dad to walk to the car. My quads were shot, probably from the wind trainer and from all the downhills in the first half of the race. I will sleep well tonight! 1 mile in about 10:17.

8:00 PM - Dark. Temperature was about 50 at the start and 47 or 48 at the finish. Had a tough day. I was pretty sore and every time I stood up or sat down at school I swear I was groaning like an old gramps. My quads and hammys were extremely sore and never really loosened up during the run tonight, but I wanted to get a recovery run in after school tonight in Albany. Mondays and Fridays really are the toughest days for me schedule wise as I either go to Albany or to work right after school. I really think that I am getting stronger overall, despite the soreness today. I think the soreness is due to the fact that I really only ran once since the 1/2 marathon and only about 2-3 times in the 3 weeks leading up to Stockade-athon 15k which doesn't bode well for easy recovery. Normally after a race I am up and going in a day or two max (two usually for the trail races). I have a feeling I'll be sore most of the week though. Maybe this is karma for not doing a warmup yesterday. Haha! Getting ever closer to the 1 month to go mark for student teaching. I am pretty stoked. Graduating with a 4.0!! Woot! Splits tonight were:

• Mile 1: 9:59
• Mile 2: 9:49
• Mile 3: 9:41
• Mile 4: 9:35
• Mile 5: 9:19

Total Time: 50:00 Total Distance: 5.17 miles Average Pace: 9:40

5:45 PM - Dark, Temperature of 48 at the start. Was Open House at the Elementary School tonight. Tons of cars everywhere and another runner showed up about halfway through my run. He ran with a headlamp, so I knew it was not the "Ghost Trucker" runner that usually runs with me. I turned the run into a game of cat and mouse and tried to catch him and then keep from getting recaught. I was running out in lane 6, he in lane 1. Good fun.

This week is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. It's amazing to hear the stories of East and West Germans that went through this and to see where they are some 20 years later. Had some Mellencamp stuck in my head during the run tonight:

"When the walls come tumblin' down,

When the walls come crumblin' crumblin'

When the walls come tumblin' tumblin' down."

Over the last several weeks I have been reading a really great book, recommended to me by my former eighth grade social studies teacher. Long Way Gone is written by Ishmael Beah who is a survivor of the civil war in Sierra Leone in the mid-1990s. Thrust into war at the age of only thirteen, he witnesses his entire family wiped out, all his friends and brothers killed, and becomes a soldier for the RUF forces for two years during which time he becomes addicted to drugs, stripped of all sense of morality, and a cold-blooded killer. It's truly an amazing story and I just finished it today. An autobiography, it's written by Ishmael (who is still a young man of only 28 or 29 today) and ends with him being picked up by a UNICEF representative and chosen to represent the nation of Sierra Leone at the first children's United Nations conference in NYC. He has since come to the states where he lives today. A truly powerful and moving book. I would highly recommend it to anyone that is looking for a quick read, and especially recommend for anyone with a teenage son.

Splits on the run today were pretty good. My hammys and quads are still terribly sore, but didn't hurt as much once I got running as they did yesterday. Yesterday was incredibly tough on me. Splis were:

• Mile 1: 9:12
• Mile 2: 8:59
• Mile 3: 8:44
• Mile 4: 8:32
• Mile 5: 8:08
• Mile 6: 7:58
• .3: 2:24 (7:58)

Total Time: 54:00 Total Distance: 6.30 miles Average Pace: 8:34

5:30 PM - Temp was 38 at the start, 34 at the end. Wore long pants today and a sweatshirt for my jaunt in the dark. My legs are getting back to normal. Still some residual soreness, but I think I am starting to get in shape now! Went to the dentist today and bummer : two small cavities. Got to get the filled on Dec. 1st. First cavities in nearly two years though so that's good. Plus, since I gave up soda on Nov. 23, 2006, I've only had these two and one more cavity I believe. Testament to just how bad soda is for you. Getting excited for this weekend too. I have engagement photos finally with Emmy! Looking forward to it. Also today means one month until I am done with student teaching! I can do this! I am so close to being done with grad school I can taste it! Now time to go do lesson plans, grab some dinner, laundry and cleaning! Splits tonight were great! Really started kicking it into gear by mile 5, but didn't want to push it too hard so I backed off a bit on the 6th mile. Splits:

• Mile 1: 8:55
• Mile 2: 8:38
• Mile 3: 8:18
• Mile 4: 8:00
• Mile 5: 7:32
• Mile 6: 7:38
• .32: 2:17 (7:11)

Total Time: 51:21 Total Distance: 6.32 miles Average Pace: 8:07

3:55 PM - Sunny and temperature right around 53 or so at the start, 41 at the finish once the sun was down. Got home from school and found out my youngest brother, Harry, was going to the "Galway Preserve" to look at a possible Eagle Scout Project. Had never heard of the Galway Preserve so I went with them. Turns out that it is a new trail that they made on land left by one of the elders that passed away at church, Becky DesRoches. She was 97 or something when she died two years ago. One of my dad's close friends. We used to visit her in the nursing home. I went and stretched and eased into a jog. Had a ton of fun! Amazing that on about 1.5 miles of trails you could have everything you could imagine and more! Uphills, downhills, twists, turns, stream crossings, ponds. You name it. This place has it all. The only downers are a few places are pretty muddy and wet, and they have logs going across them, but they aren't tied together. So had to tip toe tip toe across. Also there were a few rough spots when it came to roots. Since no one has raked the leaves there are a lot of hidden roots. Still loads of fun though. Really what I needed to get in on a Thursday afternoon. Will be a nice trail system once more people get on it and/or once people clean it up a bit. Hopefully Harry chooses it. Will be nice to have some trails to run on in Galway for once! I hate having to drive 20 or 30 minutes to go running! Splits were good considering:

• Mile 1: 9:48
• Mile 2: 9:25
• Mile 3: 9:19
• Mile 4: 9:45
• Mile 5: 8:25

Total Time: 47:35 Total Distance: 5.10 miles Average Pace: 9:19

2:00 PM - Temperature around 51 degrees or so at the start of the run. It was raining though and Emmy was nice enough to go to the track with me. I wasn't sure what the run would be like since yesterday was a really long day for me with work right after student teaching. Next week will not be much better since I had to take three more nights of work at the bookstore because student teaching is costing me too much money. It is going to suck but I have to work at the bookstore on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights on top of the Friday shift from 3-930 after student teaching. Blargh. Might have to be doing the whole 430am running thing. Today's run was fun though at the track. Got in a short run while Emmy picked up trash and bottles people left around the fields and track. She is such a trooper to put up with crazy stuff that I do. Emmy ran about a mile and change with me too on the track. Splits were all over the place. Started with a slower mile, then wanted to push the pace and see what a faster mile felt like. I did a mile in 6:16 and then did a 3:19 880 in the wind afterwards. Felt pretty good. Ended up doing 4.07 miles in 31:00, and hit the 4 mile mark in 30:29.

Total Time: 31:09  Total Distance: 4.07 miles Average Pace: 7:40

10:30 AM - Overcast and temperature of 49 degrees at the start. It's been a whirlwind week. Started off perfectly on Sunday with Emmy and me getting engagement photos taken around western Mass. She won a $500 certificate towards the photos and it was really a lot of fun to feel like celebrities for the day, taking pictures in Stockbridge, along Rte 7 and 8 and inside the Red Lion Inn and stuff. Was neat to have our very own photographer! Hope the pictures turn out great too!

Haven't had time to breathe this week. Worked four nights at the bookstore right after I got done student teaching. Got home and went to bed for a few hours, up to do it all again. Decided I needed to get a good run in today. So I headed over to the new Galway Preserve. It was soaked and the yellow trail was downright treacherous. Rolled my ankle after only .5 miles. Doh! Such a noob.

On the warmup, I did 2 miles out on the road, and about .25 miles down the road, there is a huge field on the right and there were hundreds of Canadian geese in there. I guess seeing a bearded runner with short shorts on scared the poop out of them, because a couple squawked and took off and before I knew it there were 300-400 geese up in the air flying around. It was like Hitchcock's "The Birds!" Downright weird! Funny though! :)

Went back and did another 2.5 miles or so through the nature trails, then out onto the roads to break things up. Did an out and back to Mrs. Smith's pie shop. Took a PowerGel at Mile 7 and then a ClifBar at mile 10. Felt pretty good considering my feet have been hurting every day when I'm at work on my feet all day. And, despite not running for the week I managed a respectable time. You can see the miles done on the roads easily (as they are all sub 10:00). The trails were fun though. Lots of mud, roots, rocks, leaves, stream crossings. I had a blast! Splits were:

• Mile 1: 8:57
• Mile 2: 9:03
• Mile 3: 10:52
• Mile 4: 10:27
• Mile 5: 9:08
• Mile 6: 8:29
• Mile 7: 8:24
• Mile 8: 8:35
• Mile 9: 8:29
• Mile 10: 8:26
• Mile 11: 9:59
• Mile 12: 10:53
• Mile 13: 10:30
• .35: 3:43 (10:40)

Total Time: 2:06:00 Total Distance: 13.35 miles Average Pace: 9:26

12:00 PM - Well it has been an eventful several days to say the least. After my Saturday run I went to Pittsfield and went to our friend Erin's wedding reception. It was really nice! We had a lot of fun too! The only downer for my weekend was on the way to Emmy's...

As if I didn't already hate COPS, I was minding my own business listening to Garrison Keillor on NPR, minding my own business on the highway. I was in the right lane all the way over going about 53 in a 55. Well this guy from CT comes flying by going about 70 and I see a trooper pull into the U-turn looking at us. I go past, and he pulls out and I'm thinking, "All right! He's going to get that sucker!". Well surprisingly he pulls up behind me with the lights on! I'm like WTF mate! So I pull over and it turns out that I had a headlight out! It worked fine Friday night. Oii. So I pull over and he makes me sit there for about 25 minutes. Now, I forgot to mention I was pulled over at 3:30PM in the afternoon. How is this fair? Haha. Daytime running lights are supposed to be preventitive, not condemning! I didn't even get a warning.. I GOT A FAT OLD TICKET!! Well I went to JiffeyLube with Emmy on Sunday and they weren't able to open my hood! I guess the latch was all corroded from saltwater during the winter and stuff. And it doesn't have a spring like most hoods so it doesn't pop up.

We ended up taking my car to a family friend who helped put in the lightbulb I bought as well as 2 quarts of oil because it was down that much! Eek! Took it to the police station afterwards this morning and got it inspected by the cop who seemed like it was a big ordeal for him. Then I drove home only to find out I couldn't just mail it out in the mail, but rather I had to send it certified. So I drove another 15 minutes to the post office and sent that sucker out certified (only after having made a copy! because I don't trust cops). This stunk because it was the first day of student teaching I had missed :(. I don't like missing work or school. In case you didn't know I had 13 yrs perfect attendance in grade/secondary school. At least I will have time to grab lunch before driving to Albany tonight for my night class. What a story I have to share!

On a plus, my car hits 160,000 miles today, which is the same as driving around the world 6.4 times. It is a 2001 and I think it has some life in it as aside from being frequently pulled over for all my hippie propoganda stickers and running ones, it hasn't had any major repairs (knock on wood!).

Total Time: 47:00 Total Distance: 5.10 miles Average Pace: 9:13

Finally got to Troy and started dead last with Emmy in the 5k. We probably passed 1000 people, then I did the 10k right afterwards. Both achilles are pretty tight. Will write more later.

RESULTS WERE POSTED EARLY THIS AFTERNOON. Last year I paid for both races and only ran one and Emmy didn't run because she was injured. I wanted to run the 5k with her this year so I did that. We kicked butt! Out of 4476 FINISHERS (remember we started absolutely dead last), we finished up:

1731  91/279  Emily Croshier  560  23 F   Pittsfield  MA   25:39  28:49  9:17
1734 111/174  Benn Griffin  613  23 M  Middle Grove  NY   25:40  28:49  9:17

This equates to Emmy running a 5k @ 8:14 pace. This means Emmy beat 61.3% of the massive field!

My achilles were both sore and swollen between the races, and I'm about to go soak them in ice water but I ran the 10k and did better than I thought!

 329  27/42   Benn Griffin 613  23 M  Middle Grove NY   51:14  51:24  8:18

9:30 AM - Overcast and temperature probably about 50 degrees in Troy. A bit warm. I made a stupid mistake when driving to the race and didn't think to print out directions. Consequently I took the wrong road, going to exit 7 on I-90 instead of 7 on I-87 to 787. Too many 7's ahh! We were late and couldn't find parking and then I couldn't find where the packet pick up was. I was not a very good driving companion for Emma. And I definitely earned the "DB" badge today because I was getting pretty testy and using words I shouldn't have. Oops.

Finally got to the registration, as over 4000 people lined up for the 5k. Went and got our numbers and chip timers and then picked up our long sleeve shirts, which for some reason they only had in XL Men's. I still do not understand why they ask you for what size you want and then order a bagillion XL shirts. Makes no sense! With the exception of most 5ks, runners are generally small people and my men's large shirt is usually about the biggest you need!

So the 5k started and we were dead last. But we moved up quickly via the sidewalk carrying my water bottle in one hand and a shopping back with shirt and race packet in the other. We probably passed about 1000 people though when all was said and done! I don't know if Emmy had a fun time though because of my flipping out and also parking a mile away from the race. We went back to the car in between the 5k and 10k. She definitely gets the award for the trooper of the year! As far as I can tell we had a pretty consistent pace, picking it up at the end and dropping a couple 7:40-7:50 miles. Finished around 29:00, not bad considering starting 3-4 minutes after the official start and hitting 12:00 for the first mile!

The 10k my goal was 9:00 pace and I exceeded that. I think I hit most miles between 8:30 and 8:45 split. Both achilles were sore from standing on my feet all week and I paid the price for not running much the last couple weeks. Have to work on rebuilding the base! Splits were: 8:25, 8:19, 8:17, 8:14, 8:05, 8:18 with the last .25 in 1:43 (6:49 pace). Was fun to smoke the pants off a few oldies out there. Cooled down to the car and such. Now time to relax a bit and eat turkey and maybe give Emmy a backrub. She was a trooper to put up with my tantrum and deserves it!

Total Time: 1:40:48 Total Distance: 12 miles Average Pace: 8:24

1:30 PM - Sunny and calm with a temperature around 50, maybe one or two cooler. Was in Pittsfield at Emma's this weekend and we wanted to go for a walk to get out in the fresh air. My left achilles has been a bit sore since the races on Thursday, but nothing compared to what they were like on Turkey Day as I hobbled around the house! Going to take it easy the next couple weeks until student teaching is done on December 11th and then I'll decide on a way to log some easy miles during the winter months in anxious prep for the spring racing season! We went to Dublin Road over by Hancock, MA and went walking a total of 3.1 miles in 50:00. We stopped and looked at a few horses including one that took a fondness to Emmy named Fergie! Also, our engagement photos are finally here! Too bad I didn't get to see them since Emmy got them right after I left today in the mail, but they are up online! Just looked through them. Pretty cool! Now time for lesson planning. Eek!

Emma and the horses (black one is Fergie!)