I run therefore, I am!

I went to bed early and woke up late!  Complete opposite of the "keeps a man healthy wealthy and wise" motto.  8.5 big hours of sleep!  It felt good.  

Ran 4.25 with the BB group.  It was extremely dark and hard to see.  I hate winter!  There was alot more runners there this morning than I expected.  Nice run yall! Cheers

Okie dokie. I got up at 4:15 got the clan together and met at the busses.  We rode up to the rainy start and it was evident that it was going to be a rainy marathon.  I read an article about extreme conditions in races and how you should not worry about time at all because most people panic when they see their times suffering.  I followed this.  I took off real easy my first mile was 6 minutes and it felt like I was pushing it.  I was with Jon Allen.  We pushed the pace a bit and we saw a group running together just before mile 7.  We caught them and used them a bit to break the wind.  After the steep hill, a few sped up but we decided not too. Good Decision Jon! Last year  I blasted up it and was passed severely by alot of runners in the end.  I made it to mile 11 and had to go bad so I stopped off the side of the road and found that I was losing alot of ground because it ended up being one of those long 1 minute pees!  lol  So I had to fight my way back to the pack and when I caught them, Jon had taken off.  So I started pushing myself to catch him and found myself by myself with a crappy head wind and just didnt have enough strength to catch him.  So I held back and used the pack to my advantage.  I let them brake my wind for 1/2 mile and then decided to share so I took a lead and James kept up. I think it was mile 15 or so when I found myself alone with James and we started to make a bit of a push.  We got to mile 19 and saw Jon Allen.  He had worked hard to be where he was and fought that head wind by his self!  I felt bad that I couldnt be there to help him and vice versa.  James had alot in him and we finally caught up to Jon and we looked good together all in the same blogger jersey!  We were 17th, 18th, and 19th overall and I dont think we passed anyone.  It was a soggy day and im glad its over.  I wanted a better finish time but not in these conditions.  After the race, I went back a mile and helped Trick and Allison (My old spin instructors) in  They did a 3:45 I believe.  Then I went back 2 miles and helped My old lady in.  She was helping her sister stay motivated and they hit a 5:30 which is great for a sister with 7 children and her first marathon without ever running in her life. 

Ok Im back in town because of some work problems forced me home and now that im back it wasnt as serious as it made out to be.  However, my darling daughters decided to get a nasty virus on both my laptop and desktop computers.  I am desperate for a computer so I went to Costco and bought a new laptop while PC Laptops is going through the two others.  They told me my hard drive is gone on my laptop and they wanted to charge me 2700 bucks to get my old info off of it.  If any of you out there know how to do this let me know.  Oh and I have 100 dollars just to get my quickbooks info off of it. I dont really care about anything else.  My Powell vacation was supreme!  80's temps and water was close to 70.  I met a competition wakeboarder from Holland who was camping next to us and when he saw the wakeboard tower he asked if he could have a ride.  So I took him and he was amazing! He did a flip and landed perfectly then did a reverse flip after that.  It was awesome. We were putting on quite the show for all on the beach!  I made my wife take some pics and when I can figure out how to install all that crap back on this computer, Ill show you all his talent.  I forgot to tell you all when I got home there was 300 messages for me! It will be a while until I get to you all and tell you about my soggy SGMarathon!

Im all cleaned up, the boat is back in the garage and Im tired and havnt run all week. 

I woke up this morning and drew back the sash and SNOW appeared before my eyes! What in the fruity pebbles is that all about? Please tell me that this is not a sign that we are in for it!

I ran with the BB group this morning and my garmin would not turn on for some reason. 

Today is Wednesday, Hump day! No running required.

Ran naked again this morning.  Im going to have to buy a new Garmin.  Electronics and myself are not having a good month.  Teena gave me her mileage off hers thanks! By the way it was good to see Teena in the flesh finally! Kelli, Scott, Teena and myself all went to Hillcrest High so we had our little Almamater group talk! lol I knew a few neighbors of Scotts so we started doing the do you know game. Funny-small world.  Ok so I got home and realized my daughter didnt have school today so I could have done breakfast with you Kelli and Scott! And Teena and whoever had time this morning.  Next time I guess? 

Ok I think Im getting the hang of this maybe?  Can you believe this was last Wednesday? Crazy!  I will milk this photo out for all its worth. lol 

I started my morning run at 6 am at Tricks house and made it to the park trail and ran 5 out and 5 back with a .1 sprint after.  I saw Mark and Teena in the dark and I swear I know mark from somewhere everytime I see him I do  the hey I know you look.  It was pretty warm with a few cold spots along the way.  I also saw some BBK runners out and about.  A great day!

I am going to Lagoon with the family today! I love it this time of the year there. Spooky fun!

  As you can see in this photo we had a full boat!

I should have up'd my mileage yesterday from all that walking around Lagoon! lol I was going to ad a little incident that happened to me this week that I broke my toe at work and thought it was just bruised at first but its not getting better. I actually did it on Wednesday and ran with the BBK group on Thursday.  I hope that means I have a tolerance for pain. lol It really hurts when Im not wearing shoes.  The shoes actually feel better on my toe as it helps it from bending. 

Lagoon was crowded and busy but I seemed to evade it all year and felt bad for my kids so I went.   One funny thing that happened was we took our 6 year old through one of the haunted houses and her 4 other cousins around the same age.  As we were coming out of it everyone of the girls except one was crying. We made such a scene! It was funny. Ill bet the other children in line were having second thoughts about going in there.  I made my daughter go through the other one but her cousins refused.  Im a mean dad. jk I prep'd her for the second one. I told her that they were just kids with makeup on and they could not touch her. Then explained how its there job to try and scare her. If she acts like shes not scared they will leave her alone. She was a hoot to watch.  Trying her best to act normal. I was laughing because the kids in there werent buying it. They kept bugging her until I had to put myself between them and her.  She didnt cry though. 

I am in some major pain this morning. I hurt my back yesterday using a jack hammer on some concrete from my house that I had to remove for the fence guy.  It hurts to lift my leg, bend over, sit, lay, pretty much everything. The pain is so bad that it feels like its even in my hip. Im falling apart! Ive also got a broken toe. 

Slept through my alarm clock this morning.  Was out of it. Its probably best im guessing. Its better to not push the envelope when your sore and hurting.  Ill run with the BBK group on  Thursday.  Its right by my house.

Dont drink and carve this holliday season! 

I examined my toe last night and it is definitely broken.  It hurts when I bend it. Its been about a week.  As for my back, its getting better. The more I move around the better. I went to the store last night and couldnt lift a case of coke. Talk about feeling less of a person. It sucks when you cant do something simple like that. I will survive! At first I was afraid, I was petrified!.... lol Go Aretha!

I really love this everytime I look at it! 

So I decided to try and loosen my back up by running. It made it tighter for some reason. But I feel like i need to make my back more mobile. Laying around doesnt seem to help it. I didnt notice my little piggy toe so it ended up being a good run. I ran from my house to the meeting place and ran with the BBK group.  We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the dark. I made it 8 miles total.  

I woke up in some pain from my back.  Yesterday, my next door neighbor asked me to help her put her trailer on her truck for her.  It didnt have a jack so I knew I was in for it! I huffed and puffed and got it up to her truck and my back was screaming!  I have got to heal. Im officially taking a break starting right now!  Oh for those interested, I have gained 10 pounds since SGM! Ive never weighed 140 in my life!  Im sure Ill buzz it off when I get back from Boston. 

Wow, what a busy day of walking! Ill bet I walked close to 5 or 6 miles today.  Our flight got in early this morning.  We grabbed a rental car and went to stay with our friends here in Stoneham, Mass.  They let us sleep in until 10:30 which was really 8:30 our time so we only got 7 hours of sleep. We went and had some Boston Pizza at a name I forget now but it was very thin crusted and lots of grease. I guess im used to our thick crust absorbing the grease for me. lol  We explored downtown Boston and then went to Fanueil Hall.  We ate at a Mexican restaraunt and then went to see the Dark Knight on the IMAX screen by the Aquarium.  Oh we did some major shopping  and I ran into none other than Bill Rodgers.  I didnt even know who he was until I saw the pictures in the running center of him.  He and I had a nice 10 min. talk and I could see how passionate he was in running.  I think from me talking to him he could tell the excitement of my running also.  He gave me his card and invited me to come to his running store the day after the Boston Marathon next year and they will have some Russian, and European Olympic runners there for a meet and greet and then a party.  I told him about the Blog here but didnt have a card so Ill have to get him one when I go next year. I told him how Sasha had this blog and thats how he invited me to meet his Russian runners.  So Ill have to see if Sasha is running next year.  Wow, its good to meet people like that! What amazing talent they have and all.  We are now safely back in Stoneham and Im having a blast!
 

Wow, I cant believe my last day is today for vacationing here in this awesome part of the country-Boston!  Yesterday we went to Salem and spent the day there.  We went through the House of Seven Gables, walked around town and shopped some more.  We had alot of fun. My daughters sprayed there hair up in different bright colors and had a blast! There is so much history here and I could spend a full day just in the library here reading history from some of the inspiring people who settled here. 

Im BAaack! It sucks coming home from a nice rest.  I can now look forward to getting my work done and a surgery.  I went and had some blood work done and Im all ready for tomorrow. Im glad I could be bombarded with stress from work and all.  I will prevail!  I feel like im slipping into depression with all that is happening to me. I need to run! Run I must! 

Ok Im going under the knife at 9:30 this morning and will let you know how it goes if Im coherent enough to type afterwards.  Like Cheryl told me on my blog I think Ill make 2009 my year without pain! Or year without problems. Cheers

I woke up this morning in some serious pain. I have been downing oxycotin all day and Ibuprophen 800.  I tried to get up and walk and was a bit tipsy. Im glad I am through the hardest part though and am looking forward to running again. Thanks to all my friends for the support and prayers.  I know a hernia operation isnt the most dramatic thing to go through but I want to thank those who gave me a shout out!