Motivated to Succeed

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