The Long Run

Nice easy run this morning with Jenny.  Just the two of us today.  We ran together just over 9 miles then I did another mile by myself.  We both brought music with us but ended up talking most of the time.  We also ran down a couple of side roads that we usually don't run down which was a nice change.  Happy to get 10 miles in since the weekend will be pretty busy.

Average pace: 8:28

Ran by myself this morning.  Perfect day for running.  A number of people asked where my running partner was today (she was at the hilly neighborhood with her friend).  Lots of stuff to do today so it was good to start it off with a run.

Average pace: 8:02

Quick run to get adjusted to the traveling.  Arrived in Brussels just after 12:00, Jenny's sister met us at the airport and drove us back to their house.  After some hellos and pastries and tea and figured it was now or never, go out and do the run before I crash!  So, that's what I did.  My nephew biked alongside me to show me how to get to a nearby park which has a trail around a lake.  A bit cooler here than in Florida, but actually quite nice for running (right about 50 degrees).  Rained a little bit on the way home but just a few sprinkles.

Average pace: 8:46

The flights out here went pretty well overall, we had two connections, Philadelphia and Munich.  The kids had fun in the Munich airport - it's very modern looking and the restrooms were quite interesting!

Brisk morning but nice medium long easy run in Belgium.  Started out with Jenny and Amy and headed on a road going out of town.  Stuck together a bit over 3 miles and went out ahead.  It was nice rolling terrain, cool and sunny.  I felt like running forever but we had other things to do today so I kept it at 11 miles, a good start for the week.

Average pace: 8:56

After missing two days of running (I'll have to go back and fill in my excuses for those two days!), it was great to be able to get out and run this morning.  When I woke up I got ready but saw that it was raining.  I thought about running later when the rain might stop but then decided to just go ahead and run.  I decided to run through town and out onto Brusselstraat which, if I had more time to run could have taken me all the way to Brussels.  It was cloudy and cool but the rain had stopped by the time I started to run.  The road was kind of busy to run on but had a decent bike lane and sometimes a sidewalk.  On the other side of town it had some nice hills to run on:

I went out about 5.5 miles and then turned around, until finally I was back at the Leuven train station, just a half mile from where I was staying :

Inside, there is a stand that sells warm waffles, which were tempting me.  This has been on my list for quite some time to go for a run and stop in the train station on the way back for a warm Belgian waffle:

I thought about not getting one but I had some money on me and realized maybe I would not get another chance, because life has a habit of getting in the way of your plans some time, so carpe diem!

Average pace: 8:32

This morning we all headed over to the "Finnish Track" or Finse Piste in Dutch.  It is a 1km loop through a park.  Set into the ground is about a 1 foot thick rubbery material, then covered with wood chips up to ground level.  I think the idea originally started to help train skiers in Finland, then runners started using it.  It is both hard (more work) to run on and easier (on the joints).  We ran to the track, a little over a mile away, then did 7 loops on the track, easy, fast, easy, fast, easy, fast, easy then ran back home.    The first "easy" lap felt hard and we had second thoughts about trying faster speeds.  The faster speeds were about 7:45 pace which felt pretty challenging.

Here is Jenny getting ready for the next loop:

The next picture was supposed to be me but is actually just Jenny's foot:

After the laps we headed back and then I did another out and back to get in over 8 miles for the day.

Average pace: 8:46

Back to routines!  Went to the Y this morning, usual warm up on the bike then got onto the treadmill and ran for 30 minutes, 3.78 miles @ 7:56 average pace.

Headed outside on a perfect morning.  Overall, I'd say I felt really good for a Monday morning, which don't always feel the best.  Goal was to get in enough miles for 8 total which I was able to do.

5.19 miles @ 7:39 average pace.

After the run did a few sets of weights - leg extensions, bench press, and two arm curls.

Pretty standard run this morning.  Nice weather which I will cherish while it lasts.  Ran with Jenny around the neighborhood.  Stuck together for 7.5 miles, then I ran a little bit farther ahead to get over 8 for the day.

Average pace: 8:37

Another run around the neighborhood, easy pace for the most part.  A little bit warmer than yesterday, just a hint of the warmer weather that is on its way.  A little bit farther than yesterday at a slightly faster pace.

Average pace: 8:33

Jenny had a tempo run this morning, so I kept her company and carried the water belt so we wouldn't have to stop.  It was once again a little bit warmer out than the day before.  I did one mile easy pace then did 4 miles at 7:40 pace, but a little bit faster than that on the 4th mile.  There were lots of people out running this morning.  We ran together a little bit more then Jenny headed back.  I did about another 3 miles by myself with the last 1.5 at about a 7:00 pace.

Average pace: 7:44

This morning's run went pretty smoothly.  I ran by myself, and made my goal of just over 8 miles.  It is cooler than yesterday and extremely nice running weather.  The only thing wrong is there is a big cloud of bugs next to a pond that I run past where I have to keep my mouth closed so the bugs don't fly in and turn my head slightly so they don't get in my eye.  It's a pretty short section though, so it could be a lot worse.

Average pace: 7:53

One week ago today, we went to visit an old castle not too far from Leuven.  Jenny and her sister went into town for lunch and shopping while the guys headed over to the castle, here's a few pictures from Horst Castle

They had self-guided audio tours that told the story of each room inside and features outside.

 You could go all the way up to the top floor.

Steep, dark stairs going back down

And a great place outside to enjoy a snack.

This morning was my first alligator spotting  while running in Starkey Park/Suncoast Pkwy trail.  Others have spotted them before but this was the first for me.  Much of the route looks fairly dry with pine trees and palmetto fields but there are a few sections with small ponds and swampy looking water.  Just past the water stop on the Suncoast trail, there is a wooden fence overlooking some water.  I saw something splash so I stopped and looked.  Near where I saw the splash I spotted something just barely sticking out of the water, might have been mistaken for a rock or a log but I looked closer and could see eyes.  Turned out to be a pretty big gator that others have seen at this spot.  I didn't have my phone or a camera so the picture above is actually one taken at nearby John Chestnut park.

Anyway, the run itself was pretty big.  I wasn't feeling too motivated so it was nice to run with a group, especially at the beginning when I just sort of hung on behind the other runners.  Started out with Joe M, Bob, Rick, and a few others.  Stopped briefly at the 4 mile stop where Victoria, Jorge, and Eudair had caught up to us.  I had stopped on my way to Starkey and picked up their stuff from where they had parked.  A bunch of people turned around at this point and I continued on with Victoria and Eudair out to the end of the Starkey park trail, then I headed north onto the Suncoast trail.  Rick was already on his way back (he had taken off from us at two miles, that guy is pretty fast!).

I went out to 7.3 miles, then turned around.  Stopped briefly to look at the gator, then topped off my water at the nearby water stop before picking it up for the return trip back. I ran the last 5.6 miles between 7:13 and 6:46 pace.

Average pace: 7:48

Stuck around for a bit for a smaller social hour as a number of people are in Boston this weekend.  Offered to give Jorge, Victoria, and Eudair a ride back to their cars.  I was cleaning out the back seat when I looked and saw the 3 of them had jumped into the truck bed and wanted to ride there.  Ok, why not? Felt a bit like high school, even though I didn't actually have a truck in high school, but if I had I might have done something like this. Fortunately no one fell out of the back and I tried to be careful going over the speed bumps while still in the park.

Monday morning felt kind of hard, at least the first part of the running did.  I went to the Y, warmed up on the bike, did a few stretches and then got onto a treadmill.  That is the part that felt hard this morning.  Usually I'm ok with the treadmill.  I did a few hills which actually made it feel a little bit better.  3.13 miles total on the treadmill.

Next, I headed outside.  It seemed to be taking a long time for the Garmin to lock in on the signal.  Seems to take a little longer on very cloudy days.  Once I started running outside, things got a little better.  I did  another 6.07 miles so that the numbers would add up.

 Average pace: 7:53

In the evening I did a short Wii yoga routine.

Ran with Jenny this morning around the neighborhood.  Mostly cool and pleasant.  Had to run through the bug cloud again, I think it was a little bit worse than last time.  Rest of the run was good after that.  Except maybe for the drinking fountain that now smells like there is a dead mouse in the cooling motor area.  I think we'll skip that one for a while.

Average pace: 8:30

Decided it was time for some speed work today.  I might be doing a 15K on Saturday if it exists (online sign up was closed).  I'll see if there is one on Saturday, it is supposed to start at 8:00.

Warmed up for 2 miles, running with Jenny, then got going on the hard stuff, goal was 2 X 2 @ 6:30 or better pace.  I did this same workout before the half marathon and this morning's run went a little bit better.

1st set: 6:24, 6:26

2nd set: 6:30, 6:18

For the first mile of the second set, I had lost my focus initially and my pace slipped to 6:38, but I was slowly able to bring that back to 6:30 towards the end of that mile.  Last mile I felt good about finishing so I went faster.

I met up with Jenny again to run back home.

Once again the weather was really nice.  Nothing to complain about at all today, and especially glad to get in a good effort.

Average pace: 7:38

I ran with Jenny this morning.  She had a couple of 1600's @ 7:10 pace which went well.  The rest of the run was at an easy pace for the warm up and cool down, then as we approached our house I went the long way around our neighborhood to come up with 8 miles.

No bug cloud and no mouse water today :)

Average pace: 8:11

Ran by myself this morning.  Nothing out of the ordinary, just a nice pleasant run.  Made sure to appreciate the smell of jasmine while it is still in bloom.

Average pace: 7:52

 For the third time, I was able to call home, and when Jenny asked how I did I said,

[me] "I won!"

[Jenny] "The whole thing?"

 [me] "Yes, the whole thing!"

This was the race that I wasn't sure actually existed.  I heard back from the race director on Thursday to say that the race would be held.  There were three races, 1 mile, 5K, and 15K.  There ended up being a total of 67 runners.

I arrived at Starkey just before 7:00 so I could sign up for the race.  I waited around for a bit until the race people showed up.  I turned in my application and asked for my bib, you can see it below in the picture.  A plain piece of paper with a number written in marker on it. Since I was the first person to ask for my bib, I was given number 1.

Once I had my number pinned on, I went out for a warm up run of just under two miles, including some strides.  I knew that water along the course would be minimal so I though I would wear my fuel belt.  But during the warm up , I realized it would be a mistake, that I should not wear the belt and ditch the shirt also since it was quickly warming up.

The race started a little bit late while they sorted out the paperwork.  People lined up but were a little confused about where the start actually was.  The volunteers announced the start of the race but no one started because it wasn't very clear what they were saying, so they had to do the start all over again.

So, the race finally started and I quickly got onto my pace, I was hoping to hold a 6:30 pace, which I did pretty easily for the first mile.  Once the second mile started, I was at a 6:35 pace or so I thought.  It turned out I had my garmin on average pace, and the second mile was actually 6:42.  I had difficulty breaking 6:40 after that and started going into survival mode.  I was running all by myself.  I was carrying one water bottle with me which I dropped off at about 2 miles.

Found the turn around finally and started back.  Stopped briefly to grab a small cup of water and take a gel with 4 miles left, then continued on.  I started feeling a little bit better the closer I got back.  Just after the turn around I was able to see the second and third place guys and then other people and saw that I had a pretty big gap.  But I had trouble knowing exactly how big it was so this actually helped keep me from totally falling apart and hanging on.  I was determined to at least try and average under 6:52 pace.

Finally, the finish line was in sight, great to be done.  I headed over to the race table and they congratulated me and let me pick out from the prizes.  There were various things donated by a local salon, so I picked out the gift basked below.

This certainly wasn't a fancy race or well organized, it was just about running and helping out a great cause - American Cancer Society.

And since this was my first 15K ever, then it is a PR by default.  The times and splits are all from my garmin.  The race director told me that they had accidentally made the course too long and were going to adjust the times, so I'll have to see what they come up with, but I don't think they were too far off.

The only downside was that I was hoping to run about 2 minutes faster, since that would have been the time predicted by my last marathon, but I wasn't quite all on today, so I'll be happy with the good parts.

Splits: 6:30, 6:42, 6:46, 6:42, 6:52, 6:39, 6:43, 6:46, 6:44, 2:51 (.43@6:36)

While I was running the race, Jenny was at home with the boys harvesting some carrots from the garden:

And, she took a picture of a lizard eating a dragon fly:

Later in the afternoon, I went out on the boat with my Dad, he did some fishing and I just enjoyed being out on the water and the salty air.

Went to the Y this morning for my usual Monday morning type workout.  Started out with 10 minutes on the bike followed by some stretches and crunches on the ball.

A little bit of trouble getting going at first but nothing too horrible.  Ended up feeling pretty comfortable on the treadmill.  Ran for 4.21 miles @ about 7:55 average pace.

Then headed outside on a damp but pleasant morning for running.

5.46 @ 7:38 pace

Followed up with a few sets of weights, leg extensions, bench press, and curls.

Hopefully the rest of the week will go nice and smooth, with maybe a few not insurmountable challenges thrown in to build some character and strength.

Nice easy run with Jenny this morning.  Ran around the usual neighborhood routes.  The excitement of the morning was the crayfish.  We started out running and I saw something moving, which was a crayfish walking on the street.  We see these out of the water now and then.  I went to scoot him off the road so he wouldn't get run over.  We started running again, then saw another one and another one.  I guess I wouldn't be able to move them all off the road.  When we got near the bridge at the entrance of the neighborhood there were quite a lot of them, many of which had already been run over.  I couldn't believe how many there were.

Rest of the run was quite nice.  We ran about 7.5 miles together, then I went on ahead to get over 8 for the day.

Average pace: 8:39

The temperature was back down a few degrees this morning, back into the cool setting.  Going to savor each one of these that come along.  Jenny had a tempo run which I went along on.  Goal was 5 miles @ 7:44 pace.  We did a one mile easy warm up (no crayfish to navigate around this morning), then got going.  My shins pretty much were tight for most of the run.  I had been avoiding this from happening but it was back this morning.  I just kept going and eventually towards the end of the run it was much better.  Jenny hit all of the splits at just under 7:44, a little more under on the last one.

Then we headed back and I did a little bit extra once we got home.

Average pace: 8:00

Next week I start hitting some speed work myself.

PM - did about 30 minute Inflict workout, so two strength trainings so far this week.

One more nice and cool morning for the run.  Another good run with Jenny.  We ran together about 7.5 miles, then I did one more mile on my own.  We ran along with another runner for about a mile and a half that Jenny sort of knew from around the neighborhood.  She was running about our pace and certainly didn't look like a brand new runner.  Jenny asked what she was training for, the answer was "a swimsuit!".  I guess everyone has their own reasons for running.

Average pace: 8:48

PM - did my Wii fit yoga routine

I had a little bit of trouble getting out of bed and moving.  When I finally did get out the door, I was maybe about 10 minutes later than usual.  The first thing I noticed was the rain.  It was a just a little bit and I quickly realized it was good rain, the kind that you barely feel but is just enough to keep you cooled off.   I headed out from my house, and half way around the neighborhood I ran into Joe, who had just started out from his house.  I turned around and ran with him for about a total of 4 miles. 

After that I ran some more by myself including some strides (about 5 I think).  After the strides I felt faster and more comfortable.

Average pace: 8:36