Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Spring Running

Well, imagine it or not, I think spring is finally here!  We did get a good dump the other week(I realize it's been a while since I last posted).  It lasted for about 1/2 a week and with some warmer temperatures and some rain, the snow is gone!  As of the last couple of days, the grass has really started to green, thanks for the odd warm and sunny day and the more common overcast and rainy day.

We've continued our P90X and have two more weeks left!!!!  We're definitely feeling hungrier on the higher carb diet though.  I've also been hitting my peak training the last few weeks.  I got up to 36k the weekend it snowed so managed that in about a 1/2 foot or more of snow.  Hayde's continued to be such a great trooper.  I've done a short loop without her, then picked her up and we've continued on.  She's continued to do 25-28k with me the last several weeks.  I ended up ordering a new hydration pack since the one I have and love is just a little bit small to hold stuff for both Hayde and I.  It came last week and I've gotten to use it a few times and really like it.  It has a nice big pouch with additional smaller ones - great for a few gels, Hayde baggies, a cell phone or whatever else.  Plus, it's still small and compact.  I got to use it as a day back this last weekend too and it was great.

I have to make a few comments on the events two weeks ago at the Boston Marathon.  It brought back many vivid memories for me of that finish line - both good and bad.  There were at least four runners from our area, another one that moved away last summer, and I believe one of my college friends was there.  I was "watching" three of them online as they ran and knew they all finished so had closed down the site when a little bit later another friend of mine asked if I heard the news.  I didn't know what he was talking about so asked.  Later that night when I got to turn the news on I finally got to see the devastation.  I can't believe something like this would happen at such a well-known, prestigious race.  I'm so relieved to know everyone I knew was ok.  It's unreal to think when I ran it, I think my parents were standing in the same area watching me finish and when my dad ran, we were standing in the same area watching him finish.  The two friends from my running club were about 100-200m away from the first explosion.  One of the gentleman I knew of must have been very close as well from the results I saw as he was within the last block or two from the finish.  He doesn't have a finish time.  I feel so sad for all the victims, the injured and all the runners who now have such a devastating memory of such a special race that's supposed to be full of dreams and accomplishments.  As marathon runners, we don't let anything stop us from running so I know this will bring even more greatness to this race.  So, upon returning, my friend, Nic, asked about doing a Boston Memorial Run.  I thought it was a great idea so sent out an email to our club asking for interest.  We got some.  Nic ended up putting a group together on facebook and we passed knowledge and invites out to as many people as we could.  We did our run yesterday evening and had a great turnout!  Nic even got the mayor, the police, volunteers to man the corners and more involved.  There was a short speech at the beginning(I was too far away to hear much with all the traffic) before we all headed out.  We did about a 6k loop with a few shorter turn-offs if people didn't want to go quite so far.  All in all, we had such a great turnout!
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Meanwhile, I headed off this past weekend to Kingston with my friends, Janice and Judy.  We went to do our half marathon.  Jason and Krystyna met us the morning of.  It was a beautiful, warm and sunny day.  There were a lot of little black bugs though.  We all ran a good race.  Unfortunately, I had come down with a cold so I didn't want to over do myself, but I still pulled out a 1 hr 56 min race.  I had high hopes of really seeing what I could so with this race, but not with a cold.  Jason's grandpa came and met us too since he lives in Kingston.  We all went out to lunch afterwards before heading back.  It turned out to be a really nice trip, despite not feeling the best.  Unfortunately, I woke up yesterday without much of a voice.  I did get in to the doctor today, and ended up staying home from work.  I have a longer run tomorrow and my last long run on Sunday so I want to make sure I can get myself better after beating up my body the last few days.
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