A battle for the ages!!!!

What happens when two super powers collide? find out here!

It has been almost two weeks

since I posted anything here. I have been running. Not as much as I would like to but I am still getting in some miles. I ran about 4 1/2 miles tonight. The windchill made the temp 26 degrees, still no match for my beard. I bought a pair of Pearl Isumi arm warmers to wear with my technical t-shirt which has been good so far. Tonight I added a wind breaker. I felt like I had a good pace going throughout the run. Looking forward to getting in some solid mileage this weekend.

Anneliese is getting excited about Christmas, every night we count down the days by removing a link from the Advent chain that she made at school. Here she is next to the stockings that Liz made for the girls (and lucy)



Emmeline is crawling and we have proof



Standing tall

This past week...

So far this week I have completed 2 40 minute treadmill workouts. I hope to get in 40 minutes of running outside today and a 10 miler tomorrow. At my weigh in yesterday I came in at 179. Another step closer to my race day Indianapolis Minimarathon weight goal of 165.

Speaking of the Mini, the half-marathon is now sold out.

If running isn't your thing, you can always experience a different kind of marathon...



I picked up a six pack of this Greek Lager at World Market. Not bad.

And the fam:

Anneliese the pilgrim



Dueling pianists



Putting up the Christmas tree







Anneliese on ice

Happy Thanksgiving...

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I ate more than I should have just like I do every year but it gives me more incentive to get outside and work hard in training. Here's the weeks recap:





Tuesday, 3 miles at a light, steady pace.


Thursday, 5k (3.1 miles) at race pace, finished the run in 23:34, first mile was around 7:15.


Friday, 5k, ran the same course as the day before but in the opposite direction. Recovery run at about 9 minutes per mile. It was a little colder than I thought and I had the first hint of frost in my beard during a run for the season.





Measuring a run can be done by driving the route, using a GPS watch like Garmin, or software that is available on the web (usatf.org or favoriterun.com offer this software for free). The most accurate way to measure, and the way it is done for certified races is using a bicycle wheel. For training any of the other's are fine but may be off by 1-2%.

Training run for Friday

Went out for a 6 mile run on my lunch break today. The temp was a nice crisp 38 degrees. I had a nice even effort throughout the rolling course. When I got back to the office I did 10 minutes of stretching and some upper body work (I have been nursing an injured shoulder for about 3 weeks and can just now start upper body strength training again). I was supposed to actually do this run yesterday but my schedule was too hectic. Tomorrow as part of my run I will do 5.5 miles in honor of Ryan Shay as part of the nation wide 11/17 tribute to the fallen runner http://completerunning.com/archives/2007/11/07/ryan-shay-55-mile-memorial-run-in-your-hometown-saturday-november-17/print/.

Happy Birthday Emmeline!

today is Emmeline's 6 month birthday. She had a great trip to the doc yesterday for a check-up (poor thing did get 4 shots though). Her weigh in was at 15 lbs 14oz. She is sitting up like a big girl and gets in a crawling position then lunges herself forward. Here is a recent upclose of her:



and a look back at the new born:

Minimarathon is now 75% full and will likely sell out around Thanksgiving...

if you are planning to run the 500 Festival Minimarathon in May then you will need to register soon. Visit http://www.500festival.com and click on Minimarathon to register today!