Leftovers

A whole bunch of stuff to get through so I'll just pick up where I left off.

Saturday

The weather was iffy for the big run Saturday, but I couldn't fathom 18 miles on the treadmill. The weatherman was calling for a 50% chance of rain and temps in the upper 30's to get started. In order to get all the miles in and not keep one of the Team-In-Training coaches there until mid-afternoon, I hit the park early to get in 4 miles before the group arrived. As the sun came up, there was no sign of rain.

About 2 miles in, the local running club guys flew buy me, not even an acknowledgement to a fellow runner. Hrumph! As I finished my 4, the group was assembled for the morning introductions and instructions. One of the alum running with the group, Kelly, had run her first marathon 4 years ago and in her 11th, last weekend, she Boston Qualified. The coaches were very proud of her and it was exciting to see their excitement. Maybe in a few years, they'll be cheering for me!

Shortly after 8, we were off. I was feeling very strong and made it to the 4 mile point (8 miles total) in pretty good time. At that point, I started to run with one of the other runners at my pace doing 12 for the day. We were able to to keep each other paced pretty well at a 12 minute pace or so until we hit the worst of the hills.

I decided to run with her for the duration and then pick up the last mile and a half that I'd be short back at the park. As we approached the last hill, 2/3 mile uphill to the park, I started to feel some pain in my right big toe. I suspected a blister. We got to the park and parted ways and I was off to try to get in the rest of the mileage, but I didn't think it was worth trying to push it.

In the end, it was 16.65 miles in 3:30:56 running time, a 12:40 pace. It shows a bit slower than last week, but I'm sure my breaks (social water stops, that is) were shorter, so it's tough to compare.

I headed home and got in the tub. Soon after, I developed a charlie horse in my right inner thigh. OMG, that was painful. Tough part was getting out of the tub. Ultimately, it was short lived and I recovered pretty well through the rest of the day.

For the afternoon, we didn't do much. More accurately, I didn't do much. For dinner, we headed out to eat Mexican. I love Mexican, but it's tough to find much low carb or low fat there. On long run day, I'll eat it all. It was great.

Sunday

We didn't have much planned on Sunday until later in the day. I spent the morning working on taxes and catching up on blogging. We had tickets to go to a place called Medieval Times. The idea is a two hour show with dinner, medieval style. They tell you to get there early. The tickets say an hours and when I called, they said an hour and a half. "There's plenty to do!" Well, that's what they said.

I'll start by saying that the show and dinner were very good. There are knights, bad guys, kings, a prince and princess, jousting (Maryland's state sport -- bet you didn't know that!). The meal was also good -- served with no utensils. Half a baked chicken, one rib, and a bowl of soup. Service was good, too, once Deb begged our server to check for Diet Pepsi after he insisted three times that they had regular only. Amazing that he was able to track the diet down.

The issue I had was getting to the show. When you arrive, you are immediately bombarded with with every kind of huckstering known to man. The Disney folks could learn something from these guys. Before you get in, they take your picture. My kid walked up to a stockade for me to take a picture -- oh, no, the photographer will be right back. You can get knighted. Drinks? I bought three drinks -- two virgin, one not -- thirty-six bucks, plus tip. When we finally were allowed to go to our seats, there was a constant stream of hucksters walking around selling light sabers and flags and roses. You name it. It was worse than the circus. It was exhausting.

If you're still interested, you can find the link on your own. I'm not giving them a free ride.

Monday

Today, of course, is recap day.

33.9 miles of running -- a bit short of the target due to Saturday's run cut short, but still a lot of miles. Total miles for the month are now over 113, a new record for me, still with a week to go.

The scale was down today 1.6 pounds (15-day average) to 234.3. A new total loss of 179.7.

We spent the rest of the day doing errands and getting ready for school to get back in session tomorrow. (Yeay!)

Well, I'm sure you've heard more than enough from me. Looking forward to a short week as Deb and I are heading off on a grown up weekend in The Big Easy, where we plan to do lots of grown up stuff. Just 59 hours from now and we'll be on our flight, but who's counting.

L'Chaim!