Weekend Review

Some exercise and a lot of time with the kids.

Saturday I took the kids to Chuck-E-Cheese. Kim got to go to a craft show with her mom and then started playing Santa Clause and started the Christmas Shopping for the kids. I will only do C.E.C if we are there when the doors open. If you go late to that place it is a mad house when the birthday parties start. We stayed for a little while had pizza (nothing like pizza at 10:15 in the morning), I was carbing up. We got done with that got home and I took Liam to his soccer game and Kim took the girls for new sneakers. After Liam's game we came home and Kim went for a run and when she came home I went for my run. I was hoping to get in 6 miles but do to stomach (poop) problems I cut it off at a little over 3 miles. I was doing the mile loop around the development so was never too far from the house.

Sunday I got up at like 6 am to let the dogs out and had my oatmeal and made my Cytomax for my long run. I filled my water bottles and put them in the freezer. Took care of business so not to have the same problems as yesterday. I set out for my long run and did 10.75 miles in 1:49:xx for right around a 10 minute mile pace (I was happy with that). Got showered and we were all off to the mall to get our family Christmas pictures taken. Yes I know it is October talk to my wife about that. If it was up to me they would be taken in January so I guess it is good that she is in charge of that.

We then let the kids get Build a Bears and we had lunch at Friendly's. OK does Friendly's have any thing healthy on their menu? I think I did the best I could under the situation, and yes I did burn over 1700 calories on the run. I opted for the Oriental Chicken Salad and truly only put on just a little of the dressing it came with. Didn't order any ice Cream but had two spoon fulls of Kelsey's and one of her mozzarella sticks.

Well we are about to head to the girls soccer game so I got to go. As I leave my Fantasy Football team is winning and the Giants are winning, so things are good with Football right now.

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PSA

After you look at my previous post today of my two beautiful dogs please take a few minutes to check out This Blog.

Mike's most recent post (10/16) gives a great recap of what happened at Kona this past weekend. You will quickly see through Mike's writing that he has a tremendous amout of passion for the sport of Triathlon. Try to remember when you are reading his post (he doesn't mention it in the post) that he quailified for this years Kona but declined this year.

Mike's post are always well writen but with his work and training schedule not to mention being a husband and a father (and one on the way) he doesn't get to write much but if more people are listening he just might be able to squeeze some more time in to write. So if you like his writing's please send others there as well.

Also check out his awesome new bike in his 10/13 post. Mike will be taking part in this years Ironman World Championship 70.3 in Clearwater Fl on 11/10 so please wish him luck with that. Mike's blog is open for comments now so please wish him luck at the World Championship 70.3.

Mike has always been there to answer my questions so I figure if I can send him some well wishes from all of you he might still help me when needed (LOL).

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Dogs

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I had always heard that dogs are natural diggers but this picture I snapped yesterday confirms it.




That is our 10 month old St. Bernard "Tubby". As you can see in the picture she apparently was trying to dig a hole to hide my grill cleaner. Luckily I have another one.


And below is her partner in crime our 3 year old Black Lab "Melmo".

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Tuesday

Well something different today. I am going to talk about my undefeated Fantasy Football team. That is right my team is still undefeated at 6-0. In the 8 years of the "Atco Neighbors" football league it has happened once that a team went undefeated in winning the "Rowdy Cup", like the Lombardy trophy the Rowdy Cup is named after the first winner "Rowdy Joe Randenella". Well I am going to make my run this year at the undefeated season. I am a past winner of the cup but was not able to do it with an unblemished record. Well watch out this year people because as long as my two old receivers in T.O. and Randy Moss hold up I am going to win it all and take back the cup.

I was losing going into last nights game but with the combination of Shockey and Manning was able to "easily" take home the victory.

I have added my http://www.runningahead.com/ log to the top left of my blog to give me a constant reminder of the last time I ran.

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Sunday

I got out for 10.6 miles today before I had to coach the 5 year old soccer team.

The official results are in for yesterdays race. The winning time was 14:20 this is only 3rd best in the 6 years of the race. I managed to finish 6th in the "BIG BOY" group, I was only about 15 seconds from being 4th. Oh well maybe next year.

(copied and pasted from results page)

CLYDESDALE/ATHENA Special Category Results
HEROES TO HERO MEMORIAL 5K RUN MALE CLYDESDALE/ATHENA
PLACE RUNNER'S NAME       CITY/TOWN         AGE SX TEAM     (#)     TIME
1.Andrew Block         Ardmore,PA         40 M      C    120    22:44
2.Brian Bernardo       Cherry Hill,NJ     29 M      C    118    24:34
3.Joseph Mccomb        Broomall,PA        35 M      C    271    25:03
4.John Dustman         Sewell,NJ          53 M      C    167    26:34
5.Glenn Smith          Mount Laurel,NJ    44 M      C    362    26:44
6.Dan Seifring Jr.     Williamstown,NJ    38 M      C    345    26:47
7.Andrew Kelly         Gloucester City,NJ 31 M      C    508    27:36
8.Jim Philbin          Blackwood,NJ       36 M      C    695    28:57
9.Eric Johnson         Oaklyn,NJ          37 M      C    596    29:00
10.Ronald Sparks       National Park,NJ   41 M      C    367    29:21  

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Heroes to Hero

Report to come later but for now I just want to say I got a new PR. I finished in 26:38 taking about 19 seconds off my previous PR. More later after Soccer and this place.

Turns out I am not going to Soccer but instead staying home with the girls (daughters and dogs) and then after the game going to www.storybookland.com with Kim and the kids.

So plan was to leave around 7am to go to the race with the family. Well it was cold and one of the kids was still sleeping so I talked Kim into staying home. So I ate my oatmeal, drank a Cytomax and off I went. I got there real early but this is a small city with not a lot of parking so I brought my newspaper and hung out in my car for about a half hour. It was time to go so I got going, hit the port-a-potty and got on the bus to the start line. Got up there in good time this year as I knew later there would be a long line waiting for a bus (I learned the hard way last year). Got to the start line saw some guys from the Thursday night running group and talked to them up to the start. They had the National Anthem and some words about the firemen who the race is in memory of and we were about to go.

SO HERE IS MY ONLY COMPLAINT. They make an announcement that there is no mat at the start of the race (yes we had chips on). And that they needed to make cuts on expense this year and that there is only a mat at the end. I don't know what the timing company charges for a mat at the start but I can't imagine it is that much of a savings. To me and everyone around me it didn't make that much sense to have a chip, sure it helps at the end to not need to be in a line at the chute but if you are having chip timing do it right. OK COMPLAINT DONE.

So we start and after a few seconds to get to the start I press the Garmin and off I went. Went very good after the first 1/4 mile of getting around people who should not have started where they did (OK I guess I had another complaint, but that is every race). I felt great for the first mile and was happy with my time. The support for this race was great, many volunteers, local people were out, and how many times do you see 3 water stops in a 5K? I even skipped the middle one as I didn't need it as I just had water 1/2 mile earlier (but nice to know I had the option). Oh also there was music along the way as well. I got to mile 2.5 and felt tired but knew a PR could be had if I keep up the pace. So I did keep it up and had plenty of other runners around me to push forward. I turned the corner and the finish line was only about 50 yards so I sprinted forward to the finish. My Garmin was 26:38 and the chip was 26:44 (I will verify this when official results are up).

As last year they had a GREAT post run party. Plenty of food, drinks, and other goodies. I didn't have one but plenty of beer flowing as well. I hung out a little wanting to see if I had any chance of top 3 in Clydesdale. Last year I was 10th so I figured I was (hopefully) top 10 again. I verified I was not top 3 so home I went (give Kim some relief). Last year I ran this in 30:02 (2nd race ever) so I am very happy with the improvement.

Only one race left for the year. I will be doing a 10K on my birthday, November 4th.

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And then there were 2

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That's right I only have two races left for the year. Tomorrow I will be running the Heroes to Hero 5K. This is a very special race here in South Jersey as it is for a Memorial Scholarship Fund for 3 Fire Fighters who lost their lives on July 4th 2002. There will be about 1000 runners for this 5K (the biggest 5K I have run). And last year it was only my 2nd race ever. What I remember last year is the course is fast and the winner had a time of 14:10. Also the course was laid out so that it passes all 3 of the fire fighters houses (very emotional to say the least). I decided to go for a PR tomorrow so wish me luck with that. Below is from the website about the race.

About the Heroes to Hero Memorial Scholarship 5K Run

The Heroes to Hero 5-K run/walk was first run October 26, 2002. The event was organized in July 2002 by one of the brother firefighters from Gloucester City Fire dept., a Gloucester City Police Officer and a local civic leader. The three avid runners decided to remember and honor the lives and careers of three very brave men. On July 04, 2002. Fire Fighter Thomas Stewart III of the Gloucester City Fire Headquarter, Chief James Sylvester of the Mount Ephraim Volunteer Fire Dept. and Deputy Fire Marshal John West Sr. of the Camden County Fire marshals Office all died tragically while attempting to save the lives of three trapped little girls in a house fire. All six had perished.
The three man committee had quickly grown to five, then seven and presently has 11 members and nearly 200 volunteers who participate on race day! The help doesn't stop there. Along with The Gloucester City and Mt. Ephraim Fire Depts., six other fire depts... send crews to assist with Arial ladder displays along the race route. Volunteers from various civic organizations assist with Food and beverage service, runner's assistance, registration, flagman at corners and EMS first aid. The event is not just a 5-K run. It is a day or remembrance and celebration that begins the night before the race and continues throughout race day with an awards ceremony followed by a block party.
Participants meet in Gloucester City and are bussed to the start line in Mt. Ephraim. [I hear that they have too much fun on those buss rides] From there participants run or walk back to Gloucester City where they left their vehicles. Our motto is "Retracing our Fallen Brothers Footsteps". This is because our race has a very sentimental significance. Our race is a point-to-point race. It begins at the Mt. Ephraim Fire dept. and proceeds to finish at the Gloucester City Fire Dept. passing by the homes of our three fallen heroes and retracing the paths that each one took that night when they got up out of their beds to help someone that they had never even met before and dieing in the act.
The Heroes to Hero 5-K has grown to be one the biggest, fastest, most complete 5-K events in the tri-state area. Our event draws past Olympians, world class runners from Morocco, Russia, Kenya, Trinidad, and Canada. We have had participants from California, Georgia, Oregon and many "closer to home "states. Our record breaking times compare to some of the fastest 5-k street races in the United States. [Men 14:08 Women 16:24]
The Heroes to Hero 5-K is also the USATF Men's Master Championship event. This is essentially a race within our race. Runners from all over New Jersey travel to Gloucester City to participate in this 700 point Championship race.
Our event registered 1000 participants last year and awarded over $8000 in cash and prizes! We have live music and DJ's at six different locations throughout the race and our food is outstanding! [Pasta party, soft pretzels, cakes and crackers, and plenty of beverage for every age].
The proceeds from the Heroes to Hero 5-K are divided in two ways. First, three $1000 scholarships are awarded to graduating seniors from Gloucester City High School, Gloucester Catholic High School and Audubon High School who will be attending college or and accredited school for Fire Science, Nursing, Law, Forensic Science or Communications. The remainder of the proceeds are given to the Camden County Hero Scholarship Club who has committed itself to providing scholarships to the five surviving children of our three fallen hero's
Most importantly, however, is that all of the effort mentioned above is for one reason; to remember to character and bravery of Tommy, Jimmy and John. Three men who made an incredible impact on there profession as well as their community's. As long as the Heroes to Hero Foundation is around, their sacrifice will be remembered.

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Above is an award my Uncle Dan got as being Jersey City's Irish Fire Fighter for the year in 2006. Nothing to do with the race tomorrow just wanted to give Uncle Dan props.

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