Donation Totals

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Morning long run!

Got up early this morning because of the impending heat (Heat index predicted to be over 105!), so we could get out for a long run. I wanted to get in 8 miles, with the plan being that I would start with Betsy and Cole, push off on my own, then meet up half way. However, on the way up, we heard about traffic on the beltway, so Betsy dropped me off at the National Harbor and I started running what we thought was a 2.5 mile run over to the bathrooms and parking lot on the Mt Vernon Trail then continue past until I caught up with Betsy and Cole. Well, it turned out to be almost 4 miles! So, it took forever for me to catch Betsy and the lack of cover really took its toll. I had to stop and get some water and soak my head before getting going again and then went a 1.5 miles more before I found Betsy and Cole. At that point, we walked for a minute and then I started running with the little guy, stopping every 1/2 mile or so to wait for Betsy so Cole could cheer her on! We would let her pass then I would hear Cole "Dada... Catch... Mama!... Ready... Set... Go!!!" So cute! Well despite the heat, lack of cover early, the climb over the bridge, etc... it was a pretty decent run, with me finishing with an 8:05 min/mile pace (the mile I ran with Betsy I had an 8:43 min/mile).

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Morning run

Got out first thing this morning to get a run in. It was already pretty warm and the humidity was in full bore, but got a pretty good run in. Started off trying to determine if I wanted to run 6 easy or 4 tempo and after getting started decided on the latter. Started off with a 7:41 min mile, only to see my second drop to 7:34, then down to 7:19 and finishing with a 7:06 min mile! Overall I finished in 29:49, just about 10 seconds slower than my fastest time on that course, which I recorded back in March! Maybe I am not so far off my best as I thought. Still debating about the triathlon in Luray... We will see.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Morning run to beat the heat...

UGh... wow hot hot... and it was only 6:30am! Never quite felt great, had to stop a couple times and had all sorts of fun with the black flies, but overall not too bad... THAT IS UNTIL I WAS ATTACKED BY A DOG!!! Yup, came up a hill and had a huge white and gray German Shepherd lunge at me to take a bite! Luckily I jumped out of the way, but still spent 10 min fending off the attack before finally the owner came out and got the dog. Well I then got going and finished the run, felt pretty tight the whole way, but still maintained about 7:50 min/mile pace. Need to start picking that up if I want to look to get some PRs in this year. Of course, I need to sign up for some races if I want to do that!

Monday, July 5, 2010

Riding with Cole... Bike Trouble.

I definitely woke up on the wrong side of the bed and the day did not want to make it any easier for me! Got started in a bad mood and being a bit overtired, so I didn't get going right away, of course this meant we rode in extreme heat (>100 degrees today). Betsy wanted to go swim, so she left and then as I was attempting to put the bike rack on the car, realized that the bolts to hold the arms in place had disappeared! Betsy then came home as I was scrounging through my screw collection looking for a match because the pool wasn't open! Cole and I finally got going using Betsy's car, but as I was getting the bike ready, Cole played in the car, locking the doors so that when I opened the car again the alarm went off! Whats more, I couldn't find the keys! After a hectic moment or two and getting screamed at by an angry neighbor, I finally found the keys and turned the alarm off, finished getting ready and hit the trail. It didn't take long to realize that something wasn't right. Couldn't put my finger on it, but something felt wrong with my bike. So we turned around early at the 10 mile mark and headed back. By about 1/2 way back I could hear a grinding sound from my bottom bracket that got bad enough that by the time I got back to the car my speed had dropped by almost 2 mph, and I had been doing so well! Oh well, luckily I had prescheduled a tune up for my bikes and had to drop them off at bike doctor today anyway, so hopefully they will get fixed soon!

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Morning Hill Run with Dexter and Cole!

Met up with Dexter first thing this morning down at the IHRT, but decided to do some hills along a route crossing over the IHRT. It was a surprise to see the hills back that way, with a couple climbs in excess of 10% grade along the way. Felt pretty good, but pushing Cole certainly took a bit more effort. After putting in the hills, did a bit of an out and back on the rail trail before heading back to the parking lot. Overall, had a pretty good pace for most of the run, did have a bit of a slow down in miles 4 and 5, but did salvage a sub 8 min pace for the final 0.9 miles. To add to this, the TOUR De France started TODAY!!! SPOILER.... Lance beat Contador! What a great start! Can't wait to get out for my next ride!

2010 Efforts!

This year, like last year, I will be riding for Mary Payton's Miracle - My friend Steve Kogos from Trigators informed me that his friend Joe's daughter, Mary Payton, was diagnosed a number of years back with Late Infantile Batten Disease. This is a disease with no cure, however, there are special experimental (and extremely expensive) treatments which have shown some significant signs of success! In order to assist with the costly treatments and research, Mary Payton's Miracle was created to raise money to find a cure, hopefully in time to save little Mary Payton as well as the many others affected by this terrible disease!

Total Mileage

Current Challenges

Valid 2/1-12/1/2009