Go, you chicken fat, go away!

I have been a little bit sicky lately.  And the baby's been a lot bit sicky.  I finally went for a small run this morning.

Time - 25:12 (avg. pace 8:24)

Splits - 8:15, 8:24, 8:33

Tonight I still wasn't feeling good, but I got a text about a group run.  The group was past, present, and future Ragnar teammates.  We went to Las Sendas.  It was fun, and running cures the common cold.

Time - 1:02:54 (avg. pace 9:47)

Splits - 9:08, 9:35, 9:22, 9:33, 10:11, 10:48, 4:19 for 0.43 (9:55 pace)

Don't forget to wish Marathon Dreamer a happy birthday today!

There.  3.7 miles just for you Sam.

Time - 33:32 (avg. pace 9:04)

Splits - 9:05, 9:02, 9:05, 6:20 for 0.70 (9:05 pace)

Ack!  I'm going to be so late for work today.  Don't tell my boss I was out running.

Time - 43:24 (avg. pace 8:00)

Splits - 8:10, 7:41, 7:59, 8:13, 7:59, 3:23 for 0.42 (7:57 pace)

Sorry everyone.  I've never slacked this hard on the blog before, even when I'm not running.  I usually have something to say.  But this week has been BUSY!  I finally got a run in this morning.  I'm in San Diego for a business convention.  It was kind of smoggy out this morning.  And it was dark, so I took it nice and easy.  Garmin accompanied me so I wouldn't get lost, but I couldn't have got lost if I wanted to.  I stayed on the same street as the motel.  I ran 7 miles and felt pretty good.  I then soaked my running clothes in the sink with some detergent while I took a shower.  Then I wringed them out and lined them along the edge of the bath tub so they would dry.  After all day I came back and they were still soaking wet!  I mean I was literally wringing more water out of them.  They may have been even more wet!  What the heck?  Don't things dry in San Diego?

Time - 1:01:30 (avg. pace 8:47)

Splits - 8:39, 8:55, 8:50, 9:01, 8:43, 8:27, 8:55

I'm still waiting for the day that I accidently enter in my username and password on the blog for all to see.  I know it's going to happen.  It's just a matter of time.

I felt real good this morning.  I've got another 5k this Thursday.  I may or may not run it with just for fun.  I've invited my local running buddies on facebook.  allie said she's going to come, so maybe I'll pace her to a sub 17.  Only if she brings cookies, though.

Time - 44:29 (avg. pace 8:12)

Splits - 8:20, 8:14, 8:19, 7:59, 8:11, 3:27 for 0.42 (8:11 pace)

Also in blogging news Marathon Dreamer's brother-in-law was in a horrific accident and could use some prayers.

Well, my miles haven't been great lately, and my speed work has been nonexistent.  But I wouldn't miss one of these races unless something really important was going on.  Tonight it was just my kids' Christmas musical recital, so no big deal.  Just kidding.

It seems like every month there's always at least one new person that shows up that beats me.  So the guy that won last month wasn't there, but some Aussie came by and cruised right on by me.  He had such a smooth and effortless running form.  He must have been well over 50, too.  That's 50 too, not 52.

So I tried a new strategy this time; start out fast and see how long I could maintain.  I was in the lead for the first 4 tenths of a mile.  Then Crocodile Dundee passed me.  I hung with him as long as I could.  I even tried matching his stride which seemed to be short choppy steps, but my legs didn't like that.  He slowly kept pulling away.  The first mile was 6:43, way too fast.  But you know, at the time it felt good.  There was a small hill on the next mile.  Short and steep.  Just enough to throw off your momentum.  The second mile was 7:19.  And they had the turn around in the same place as last month, so I knew it was going to be short again. 

I could see I had a sizable gap on the next person behind me and knew I wasn't in danger of being passed.  So when I really started gasping for breath as my foolish strategy came to fruition, I made little effort to push through the pain.  The third mile was 7:43.  Really?  Burt, you suck.  Yep.  I said it.  But I have no regrets.  As Dewey Finn once said, "If we fall, we will fall with dignity, with a guitar in our hands and rock in our hearts!"  I didn't feel like running the additional 0.05 miles to round out my 5000 meters since there was no chance of PRing.  As the townie in Waterboy once said, "Oh no!  We suck again!"

Oh, how did the raffle go?  You mean the raffle where they gave away a hat, socks, and the grand prize of $100 off a new pair of running shoes?  That raffle?  I won.  Let me say that again.  I WON!  Merry Christmas to me.

I went running with my Ragnar team early this morning.  So early that I put my shoes on in the dark.  You'll notice that I had to split my miles up between two different shoes.  At least it was one right foot and one left foot.

Time - 44:30 (avg. pace 8:54)

Splits - 9:02, 8:55, 8:51, 9:02, 8:39

I'm in a little hot water with my wife right now.  I forgot that it's Christmas break so I woke my son up for school.  Then when I went back in to check on him he was still snoozing away so I squirted him with my water bottle.  Not much.  Just a little.  You can't get a whole lot out of a water bottle nozzle.  But then he reminded me that there was no school.  I felt dumb and said, "Oh yeah."  Then he called me a name.  Really, son?  Did you really just call me that?  So he got some more squirting.  Now my wife's mad at me.

The run was good.  I went potty before, but had to go again after the first loop.  I took a hammer gel and did the second loop with a negative split of 10 seconds.  It was nice seeing the sun come up.

Temp - 51 - is it really Dec. 20th?

Time - 1:38:50 (avg. pace 8:59)

Splits - 8:58, 8:53, 8:59, 9:03, 9:08, 8:58, 9:03, 8:57, 9:02, 9:00, 8:50

Recovery run.  It's supposed to rain today.  Do I ride my bike to work or not?  Of course I do!

Time - 27:50 (avg. pace 9:13)

Splits - 9:07, 9:11, 9:20

We got some nice rain tonight.  So nice that I just had to go running in it.  My Ragnar captain and I ran my usual 5 loop.  It didn't take long for us to get soaked to the bone.  One guy called us crazy.  We are crazy.  Crazy for running.

Time - 50:29 (avg. pace 9:17)

Splits - 9:20, 9:09, 9:12, 9:18, 9:18, 4:14 for 0.44 (9:41 pace)

Temp - 68

Time - 59:17 (avg. pace 8:28)

Splits - 8:36, 8:16, 8:35, 8:33, 8:41, 8:30, 8:06

There were a lot of people out today.  I was Merry Christmasing everyone.  As I Merry Christmased one lady at the bus stop she called me a stud.  I'm not even lying.

Merry Christmas everyone!

I was a fool to ever leave your side.  Me minus you is such a lonely ride.  Okay, that's all of the song I'm gonna recite because it starts to get mushy.  But it was good to be reunited with Marathon Dreamer.  Dreamer had run 8 miles already before I got there.  She was going for 20 so I ran the next 12 with her.  She did awesome.  The miles seemed to fly by, but I'm going to feel it in the morning.

Time - 1:48:07 (avg. pace 9:01)

Splits - 9:16, 9:01, 9:06, 8:59, 9:16, 8:51, 8:35, 9:09, 9:01, 8:53, 8:38, 9:23