WOW! Someone blow the dust off this blog! You guys must be as busy as I am. While it may be impossible to catch you up, I will try to give you some highlights.
Last weekend I was filled with nostalgia. I was in DC for a conference and it coincided with the Army 10 Miler. I have lots of great memories from that weekend with so many of you. I stayed in the Hyatt this time, but I was frequently at the Metro station near the Marriott. Remember how we found that cheap place for breakfast on like the last day we were there? So glad I remembered and it saved me lots of money. Even though I was TDY, the per diem only goes so far in that town. Christy, I passed that restaurant that you and I ate in after the race. We had those huge Buffalo burgers and we ate all of our fries! We were starving!
So, my life is not my own these days. I have tried to prioritze things so that I don't get into the same predicament that I did last time Pete was in command. I barely maintained my fitness. Well, even though I work in the gym, I have not been very good about getting my work outs in. I have managed to stay around 25 miles per week, but that has been a struggle as well. I have been saying that I need to find a race so that I have something on my calendar and I will make time for training.
Thursday, one of the guys at the gym asked me if I was running the 10K this weekend. What 10K? He told me and I grabbed an application (yes, we had them at the gym and I didn't know). I came home and told Pete I was racing this weekend and we needed to go to the new running store I was told about 'cause I need new shoes and socks. If I can't really train for it I might as well have new shoes. I registered Friday and had a chance to talk with the owner of the store, which is about 20 minutes from me. They offer group runs Tuesday and Thursday evening, so maybe I will check that out.
So this morning, I got up late, rushed like crazy but made it to the race in plenty of time. I ran hard, and I am sore, but I placed 2nd in my age group with a time of 38:59! That's a 6:16 mile!
OK, now I will fess up. The race is called the "Fastest 10K in the World." They bus the racers up to the top of a mountain and you race downhill all the way. The difficult thing is that it is so fast, you feel a bit out of control and it is a hard on the body. I didn't anticipate the altitude difference, so the first few miles are difficult because it is hard to breath. My knees and quads are fine, but my calves are shot and I have blisters. The elites broke the world records. The male winner did it in 24 minutes and something and the female did 28 minutes and some change. They won $2000 for winning and another $10,000 for breaking the 10K world record.
BTW, Tanner ran the 2 mile fun run and was the first kid in. He may be my runner.
My new running store tells me that this week they will do their regular Tuesday run at 6PM and then come back to the store for a wine tasting. Now, that's my kind of running store! Well, they don't do it every week. This is in preparation for the next 10K, which is out near one of the vineyards and is sponsored by such vineyard "The Grape Race." For the race fee, you get a long-sleeve technical shirt, dinner and a glass of wine. If that doesn't convince you, the military fee is only $20 and it starts at 5 in the evening! Finally, a race with food, wine and a evening start.
Life is good.
