Memphis Wedding Run

The Chad is finally married, and he's so thoughtful that because of his wedding Bryan and I got another run in together. Very nice.

Have not run much in between Chad events hence the lack of blogs about it, but we had a nice little jaunt through the Memphis streets. It was nice to run some familiar streets - the new Norfolk streets seem so foreign when I jump out to hit the pavement. Nice to be back on the Memphis roadways.

Now my biggest enemy is the rain! Norfolk - lots of rain especially these past two days. Man! Today there was even a tornado warning mixed in with the extra water. I will have to find some good solutions for when it's raining so hard... But I have plenty to do so that is nice.

The Bachelor Run

So as Bryan said, we did go to Birmingham to celebrate our friend, the ole Chad Johnson! As planned we got up to go run for a nice little Saturday morning jaunt, albeit about twenty minutes later than we planned, but that's not bad at all!

So we roused from our slumber, threw on our shoes, and left the hotel into the streets of Birmingham like it was the days of old. We decided to leave our beloved Chad sleeping since we know he has not been running a whole lot lately - I thought we should wake him to make sure but the crew did not feel the same way.

Two of the guys decided that four miles was good enough and peeled off as the other three of us continued on through the long forgotten hills from our Samford days... hills that had not forgotten us! Needless to say the run was fun, enjoyable, difficult, a reminder of earlier times, and a great way to spend time with buddies (McBride and Bryan). As it turns out it is also a good way to make sure that all your muscles and ligaments, such as the hip flexor, get worn down way too early in the run - basically by mile 7 those muscles stopped firing and my quads, etc absorbed the rest.

The end of the run was a little rough but a wonderful addition to our Birmingham adventure with The Chad!

Batchelor Party Runs???

This weekend Brett and I will meet again in The Magic City, Brimingham AL. The purpose of our rendezvous is not running, but to celebrate the enslavement (marriage) of our good friend Chad Johnson. That's right...Batchelor Party!!!

As the best man in the wedding it is my responsibility to plan the festivities for this weekend. I chose that destination because several members of the wedding party ran and attended school at Samford University in Birmingham. The itinerary also includes several morning runs for those that can shrug off any lingering affects of the late nights. So the question is...who can shrug it off?

I used to have no problem hitting the town and then popping out of bed the next morning and hitting the roads. These days though it seems hit and miss. Hopefully having people to run with and our old stomping ground right outside will win the day. We'll have to let you know how it turns out and possibly post some pictures. We probably won't post pictures of any streaking that might occur though. Sorry.

Hookey Run

So today I played a little hookey from work and went for a run in the late morning. It was fabulous. I was in a terrible mood this morning (ask my wife she'll back me up) and I needed to get out and sweat a little. I had to be at our Wolf River store in Germantown to open up, but then I was not scheduled on the sale floor until 1pm. I figured it wouldn't be good for business if I cussed out a customer or threw shoes at someone so I decided to run over to Shelby Farms. It is about a mile to the park from our store and then I did the entire Tour De Wolf Trail which is about 6 miles. In total about a 8 mile run. It was a little hot, but bearable. Much better than the 110 degree days we have had this summer. I didn't feel like I caused brain damage or anything!!!

It had been a while since I ran the Tour and it was nice to visit an old friend. I didn't feel that great during the run, but I was taking it easy anyway. It really turned my day around. I am much calmer now and hopefully won't have any more tantrums (those that really know me have probably seen one.)

I included this picture from Shelby Farms if you also need a little "serenity now!"

Running and Wine and Polo!

Well like Bryan my running is "ups and downs, strikes and gutters" - but I had one hell of a strike tonight. It's nothing to be excited about when I am in better shape, but I celebrate everything these days when it comes to running.

After taking the weekend off for some wine and polo (I'll explain in a minute) Sarah and I took off tonight for a run (her on the bike). I finally felt pretty decent for the whole run and only my first mile was over 7 minutes (which is strange these days). I went 8.63 at an average of 6.47 (compliments of Garmin-wonderful days of technology) and my one splurge was a 6.21. I tried to ease off a bit after the 6.21 to make sure I would make it back and I guess my body felt 6.40s were easy after that. How crazy! I am quite sure that will feel more tired tomorrow, but today my body gave me a nice little surprise.

The wine and polo - here's the pic I'm going to show you and the rest is on facebook if you want to investigate further. Sarah found a wonderful event that is a wine festival that also has a polo

tournament going on too! So we drove about four hours up the way and tasted some fine Virginia wines and watched polo for the first time! And no I did not go pouncing off into the woods for a wonderful run while I was up yonder. Instead I gave my wife a nice little trip with no running and we had a grand time just pretending to have some sort of sense as to whether or not we liked the wine or not. There was one that Sarah found near the end that tastes exactly like chocolate! And I found one that is a honey mead wine, which the lady said is the oldest alcohol in the world and is the same stuff Beowulf and the guys would have been drinking as they plundered all around. Probably hogwash, but it got me to buy a bottle!

Strikes and Gutters

It's been a strange last few weeks for my running. I've only been able to muster about 4 runs a week. So far it seems that doing that really has improved the quality of the days I do get out there. Or at least I am enjoying the runs more. I'm not keep a real strict eye on the pace, although we had a scorcer last Thursday for our tempo run. So who knows, maybe this run when I feel like it attitude will be better for me in the long run?

And that's all I have to say...about that.

Bryan

Relief

Short run tonight just over 6 miles, but the quicksand has been defeated for now. Sarah took me down to where her rowing training is going on by the river (she's learning to row and then is going to join a rowing club so she can get out on all the water around us - if she likes it I might join her in the future). Breaking the no-run fast is always harder and easier than it should be - today was too close to lunch time. Anyway, a small victory in the challenge against the schedule.

Quicksand of Work

So the runs have not been as abundant this week with my new job having really started - the college kids finally started classes. Man - I should have run there and then or at that point or this one... but it got away from me and I was exhausted when free. Sarah and I have been watching The Life of Mammals, a documentary that this British dude has done on all mammals - fascinating and we are learning a lot! One of the animals I had never heard of is so cool - the pangolin!

Pangolin - save you the time of having to google them - just click the word!

See what I mean - fascinating. I find myself wishing that my ancestors had been running for thousands of years and that my body had become an efficient machine designed to run the fastest of all other mammals. Unfortunately my species has been trying to ensure that we never have to run for any reasons at all until this very point in time when we have to force ourselves to run for no functionary reason at all! (meaning that if we didn't run our days would be as anyone else's days - we wouldn't be eaten, or beat up, or anything) Sure we'd get fatter and unhealthier... but come on!

The pangolin is an armored beast that his ancestors have worked with much stubbornness to ensure. Is it possible to ensure the same in our young generations?