I did the coolest race last night.

Let me go back to when I did the Hammonton Duathlon.

I was talking to this guy I met at that race who lives in the same town as me. So he tells me about these “races” that this guy runs in Glassboro NJ (Rowan University). He gave me the website and told me to check them out. So I went on the site and found the dates and made a mental note of them. Well I went back to the website this week and low and behold the first race was this week (Yesterday). They are 5K’s that are run on the Rowan Campus on Thursday evenings in the summer starting at 7pm. So what the hell I took the 10 minute ride to check it out.

I got there early and I saw a few people that looked like they were there for running. So I went and said hello to see if I was in the right location, I was. I paid my $5.00 wrote my name on a piece of paper and I was registered (no pre registration for this race). Apparently it was a big turnout as there were about 30 people (give or take a few) and last year for the first race there were only about 15 I was told. The course was explained to us and off we went.

I did a very fast (fast for me) first mile. And for the first two miles was running with a guy (he knew the course) and a HS girl (that like me did not know the course). He and I broke away, he a little faster than me. Now I am battling the heat and humidity and salt from my sweat in my eyes. About ¼ mile to go I turn it up a little and pass that guy and finish strong. It was a PR by a few seconds but with the heat I was very happy with the time.

So here is the real cool thing. We go into one of the buildings at Rowan and he puts all these things on a table. I see Gatorade, hand weights, a Nike shirt, water bottle, and various other stuff. And he starts calling off the winners. When he calls your name you get to pick something from the table. So I was 3rd in my age group (pretty sure only 3) and I got a box of microwave popcorn. You better believe I popped a bag last night. So I loved it and will be back every week if I can make it.

updated at noon to add.

If you get a chance check out the website that I linked above. This guy that does this has one heck of a resume for running. And he is out there for the love of the sport.

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Chelsea Titus you are an IRONMAN

Or is it an IRONWOMAN?

http://www.chelseatris.blogspot.com/

Today's entry is dedicated to Chelsea who I "know" from another website (www.calorieking.com). Chelsea just completed the Coeur d'Alene Ironman on June 24, 2007 and posted a great race report on her blog. Please check it out and give her a quick congrats.

And yes this was her first Ironman.

Again great job Chelsea I am very proud of you.

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Anyone need a bike?

Yeah me, I should so pull the trigger on this bike. Kim would kill me, or would she? Not sure if I want to find out, we do have our 10 year wedding anniversary coming up (I think).

http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/bik/347249608.html

What do you TRI guy's and girls think of the bike and price?

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Tuesday Night Run

Chart from last nights hot and humid 3.22 mile run.

Not a long run but wanted to get out and do something before dark so I went out around 8:15 pm for a 3 miler. Now yesterday was a hot day and at 8:15 it was still 88 degrees but the humidity did drop to about 60%. I figured if I was going to do 3 miles I wanted to push the pace a little. And for the first mile I did just that coming in at sub 9 minute on the first mile. After the first 1/4 I looked down and was at 2 minutes and I wanted to but knew I would not be able to run a 8 minute mile. Second mile was about 9:30 and third mile was 9:59 (I couldn't write 10:00). So I was happy with the run and will try to go for a longer run tonight. Might have to settle for the treadmill depending on what time Kim gets home tonight.

On a side note wanted to mention that I watched Shaq's show last night and was very happy with it. I thought Shaq showed that he really cares about these kids and I think the way the show was presented was very good. Showing the kids getting stress tests and meeting with the Doctors and a nutritionist was a great thing I thought. Hopefully some PARENTS saw the show and realize that they can make some changes in their kids life to help them many years down the road. I will stay with the show and set the DVR to record every week.

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Monday night bike ride

Just posting the chart now and will report later from work (lunch time of course).

Couple notes on the chart.

#1. Calories burned is very high to me. I would actually guess that the calories burned is about half of what it says - from my expeirence of counting calories.

#2. Where you see the major drops in my speed on the bottom of the chart, I have to cross a busy street. I do bike on a nice bike path but it does cross a few streets along the way. The one stop at 8 miles was a minute stop to drink some cytomax.

Did not get up this morning to run so I will have to do that tonight.

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Half Marathon

Well there it is my longest run of my life. That is in distance and in time. I did 13.13 miles in 2:14:31 on Sunday morning. I didn't get out as early as Saturday but the fact that we had a party the night before and I got out at all is a win. We had a party at our house with Kim's work people that was real fun. Talked to a few people that I hadn't met before and it turns out some are runners and bikers.

Started running around 08:30 am and when I didn't get home by 10:30 am Kim was starting to worry. I am not really training for an event so I was not sure how long I would go for but I felt so good that at mile 11 when I got back to my car I decided that I would keep going. And when I say keep going it was not going to be another 1/2 mile I knew at that point I was going to do a half marathon. The last mile or so I hit a wall but I knew I was going to finish this run so I pushed on. It's funny, trust me I don't care what people think of me when they see me running but I do wonder what I must have looked like when I passed a few runners and walkers going the opposite direction on the path at mile 12. They have no idea that this overweight guy is in mile 12 of a run. They might think boy it's nice that this guy is out running a mile to try and get into shape. Yeah I know it is stupid but I have to think of something to pass the time when I am running.

As for the run as you can see with the chart I was pretty consistent with my mile times and my heart rate. It really went pretty smooth up to the end. The weather was great and I listened to two Steve Runner Pod Cast's to pass the time.

Got home and sat around for about an hour and then took my girls out for the day and Liam and Kim went to a Birthday party that Liam was invited to. Me and the girls went and played miniature golf, I crushed those 5 year olds. Then we went and saw some friends on the way home from golf.

Got home played on the slip and slide (well the kids did), and just hung out to bed time. A nice weekend indeed. Oh yeah I also ate a lot and drank a ton of water.

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Saturday - No charts

Yes, I got up early on a Saturday and got out for a bike ride. I got out the door at about 5:45 and it was actually chilly at that time. So far my longest ride has only been 13 miles and I was thinking of going closer to 18 today. But about a half a mile into the ride I realized I had nothing to eat at home and had nothing other than Cytomax in my water bottle. So I was just going to see how far I could go but not push to hard.

Then right about 1 mile into the ride I see my Garmin say low battery, and the next time I look down it was off. Yes it does work great when it is fully charged but won't work at all if not. My fault for not charging. So now I have two strikes against me. One more strike and I am out.

Ride was going great other than not knowing how far or how long I am out there. The real cool thing is that the route I took today actually had me in 3 different towns. I live in Williamstown and I went into Clayton, and then Glassboro. So got home and checked and I was out for just under an hour and checked the route on the computer and did 14.75 miles. So if I had my Garmin I would have gone longer but oh well. The thing to focus on here is that I got up on a Saturday and got out of the house prior to 6am. That is an accomplishment let me tell you.

Have a great day.

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