Blessed and Blessings

We had an amazing time at the B&B and really needed the time together relaxing and enjoying ourselves as a couple. I was planning on running while there but the wife informed me that I was not going to run cause we were having quality time together. I had brought my stuff but decided she was right and didn't go for a run. We did go for a great hike in the national park on a 2.7 trail up a mountain to a waterfall (not much rain and waterfall did not have much water falling) which we enjoyed to the fullest. We met a couple with a 7 month old girl that also hiked to the waterfall with the baby in a carrier on the dad's back. They were a very nice couple and the little girl was soo cute and happy that we enjoyed the time at the top. We ate lunch at the waterfall and tried to keep the wildlife (my wife thought it could be a rapid squirrel) out of our lunchs. I feed the chipmunks and squirrel some of the leftovers (calzone with almost a pound of jalepenos), and enjoyed seeing the confidence and courage of the little guys getting eye to eye with me. We really loved our 6th anniversary dinner and the fact that we brought mixed drinks to dinner in our own plastic tumbler cups. Needless to say we were feeling real good! I will post pics soon.

We came home and have been very busy getting back in the swing of things. I worked for 2 days and then had a colonoscopy for my second time in 3 years. Went well as they only found 1 polyp but they noticed I was having an irregular heartbeat. I have a doctor appointment next monday with a cardiologist and will have several tests to see what is up. The colonoscopy was done by the doctor my wife is the nurse for so she was in there to enjoy the joy of me being wacked out on some good drugs. I kept trying to tell jokes through the whole procedure and wouldn't shut up, so the crew upped my drugs. Was a good time!! I decided to not do anything until after the doctor appointment to make sure everything is ok and no need to push anything as the result could be death. We are hoping that it was just my electrolytes off balance and I don't need more medicine. I will definetely miss running but I know the important thing is making sure I am there for my wife and son for many years to come. I certainly know that I am very blessed and hope and pray that whatever the results, I am able to be there for my son and wife so we can live the great lives we are meant to live and are living!

Have a great week! Go for the stars and have confidence in your abilities!

Big miles and big time hurt

Another great weekend filled with many activities and fun. I spent pretty much every minute with the little guy except for yesterday morning for a 12 mile run. Saturday night I was not feeling to great and think it was something I ate during the day. I didn't know I was going to run in the morning until around 8 at night. Woke up again before the alarm and was feeling ok, but I didn't feel like eating anything which is not good. Had a good run and we were going pretty good for most of the way. We ran on the greenway and stopped at the turnaround at the 4 mile mark and I had a GU. Not bad and it gave me a good boost for the next 4 miles. At this point we had to back track a couple of miles and I was starting to hurt, the guy I am running with had some clif shots again but this time he had pina colada flavor I think and wasn't as bad. It gave me a good boost for a couple of miles and then at the 11 mile mark I was spent. I had nothing in me and was hoping he would run on and I would meet him at the cars.
One thing I have learned about the Mike the guy I run with, he is a good motivator even though it is all marine related. See he is training for the marine corp marathon in October and has a friend or two that were/are in the marines. I did lots of training with the marines before and during my enlistment with the Coast Guard. I finally got him to run on and I slowly jogged the last mile or so and was completely spent. I didn't feel that bad once we stopped and stratched and drank more gatorade but when on the drive home and when I got home I was not feeling to great again so I took a shower and discovered that I had chaffed all of the sking in my private area, WOW!!! It hurt so bad that I didn't even think about my stomach issues. Spent the rest of the day with the big boy and wife and brought the big blow-up water slide to the back yard and big boy and his friend down the street played for hours on it and had a blast. Where were these things when we were growing up?

The wife and I are going away this weekend to a B&B in the mountains for our anniversary and plan on doing some good hiking. I am going to keep my running in the 4 to 6 mile range and more consistent in the next 2 weeks. Hope everyone has a good monday!

Great Weekend

Very busy weekend and enjoyed every single second. Woke up early Saturday morning at 5:30 and waited for the co-runner who was picking me up to run 10 miles. I was waiting in my garage and a little rabbit came running up to me sitting there and looked at me like "Whatcha doing?" I told him/her that I was about to punish myself and he took off. We got to the greenway at 6:30 and met another guy Mike that was going to run with us also. We walked about a quarter of a mile and then started to run. We started slow at around a 10 minute pace and we were all struggling with the high humidity. We walked for a minute at the 4 mile mark and then picked it up a little at the turn around. I tried a margarita flavor clif shot and thought I was going to puke on the first bite. I think it did help though as I felt great through the rest of the run. As we were getting closer to the end it was getting very busy on the greenway and we finished strong. My calfs were sore and no matter how much I stretched them they will not get loose. We talked for a couple minutes and tried to remove the 8 gallons of sweat from our clothes. Was an amazing run and I think we are planning on 12 miles there again this weekend. Count me in.

We then had a birthday party to go to and it was outside for all the kids to run around in the heat. It was fun and I tried to take it easy and walked to the sections of the park that my son wanted to play in. It was nice to talk to all of the parents of the kids in our son's class about a not so good teacher we have now. The party lasted for 2 hours and then everyone was ready to go so it was perfect timing. We dropped our son off at the in-laws and waited for a little so he would take a nap. My calfs were tight and my knees started to ache so I took a 800mg of ibuproferin, and in 5 minutes I could of ran a marathon. I felt like a champ for the rest of the night and never felt any pain or suffering. We went to a comedy club that night with several of the neighborhood parents and had an amazing night with no kids and LOTS of alchohol. The wife and I woke feeling real rough and decided to get as much rest as we could and it payed off as when we went over the inlaws for dinner and to pick up our son, I did 10 miles on my bike. I felt great and am going to keep riding the bike on sundays to get a good cross training going.

Hope everyone has a good week and a safe holiday!

Good run

I think waiting an extra 30 minutes in this heat and humidity is the best thing to do. Went for a run around 7:30 last night and the sun was going down so it wasn't as hot but the humidity was very high still. I ran a good first mile and half with a 9 minute pace and then slowed it down to a 9:30 pace. I didn't bring my water bottle with me and it wasn't bad with out it. I was having a little stomach issue that made me walk a little but I worked through it. I am planning on doing 10 miles tomorrow morning on the greenway.

We are planning on going to the comedy club tomorrow night with all the neighborhood parents and it should be a good time with lots and lots of cold beer. I am wanting to run an easy 4 miles on sunday to help"earn" the cold beers.

Burning Rubber

I went for an easy run last night at 7 and in the second mile I started to get a couple of whiffs of what smelled like burning rubber. I didn't much of it and kept on chugging along. It was very hot and humidity was in the upper 90%. I stopped for a water break at the 2 mile mark and then started up again at a slower pace. I smelled the burning rubber again and then noticed that my feet and shoes were melting. I was born and raised in south Florida and am very experienced in the dangerous effect that heat and humidity have on a body, so I knew that I was not going to break any records and needed to take it easy and relax. I relaxed my shoulders and stopped focusing on the pain from my melting feet and took it very easy. When I became overheated I would stop and drink water and find some shade. I got home and looked like I went swimming, was happy to get the run done and over with.

4 miles
38:32

event filled weekend

I worked a half day on friday and was hoping to get some stuff done around the house. We had a retirement dinner to go to friday night and by the time we got home from the store, it was time to get ready for the dinner. We were late for the cocktail hour (which I am glad cause it was cash bar) and got there just as dinner was starting. We ended up having 2 drinks which I was happy with and wanted to get a run in in the morning. I had a lot of things to do to get ready for a dinner party at our house so I decided to get things ready first and then if I had time I would run. Well I never did get things done and never got a chance to run. We had lots of fun with the 5 other families and drinking cold beers and good food was making me forget about the missed run. The party lasted til 10:30ish (which is early for our group) and I cleaned up the house inside and out as the back yard was trashed. I did go for a run on sunday afternoon but was not able to finish as I didn't eat anything and the heat was too much. I am planing on trying again this evening. I am ready to pick up training and would like to do a 10 mile run on sunday.

winning the lottery and scuba running

Its been a couple years since I put all my scuba gear on and went for a dive on a reef. Now that we live in Charlotte and are hours away from a good dive, it seems to me that I have been wanting to don my gear and hit the streets. The first 3 miles felt like I had the whole ensomble with me, fins, knife, booties, weight belt, and pack with tank. Somehow when I stopped for a quick water break at the 3 mile mark, I lost all of the gear and really enjoyed the rest of the run. I forgot I was running and started to think about what a great day today is for me to be able to go for a run and everything I have in my life. I sometimes wonder what would it feel like to win the lottery. I have everything I could ever want and am the luckiest man alive. I am healthy and able to do things and see my family every morning and evening. I thought of the firefighters, all the people (military and civilians) away from their families, and all the people that have to travel for work and don't get to see their families. Thinking of all these people I really became focused and picked up the pace and felt great. I don't care if I win any money from the lottery cause I have everything that money can't buy!

7 milesish- 60 minutes