Seeing Pink

I was happy I was able to make it to this years Race for the Cure held in downtown Cleveland. When it comes to running, I have found motivation pretty easy to come by over the years, but there's nothing like being a part of such a massive event that means so much to hundreds, even thousands!

Props to race organizers for making the event a successful one despite the need to make a last-minute course change due to ODOT restricting the use of one of the bridges on the planned course. Turns out the alternate course was a little short of 3.1 miles as everyone who crossed the finish line marveled at their record time (including me). Even so, I felt good about my race given the absence of mile markers and a water stop. Since adding regular tempo runs to my marathon training regime, blasting through a 5K has become a lot more enjoyable and seemingly less gruelling. Perhaps I'm realizing the benefits of getting older and becoming more of a seasoned runner ; )

800's in my sleep!

When 8x800 is on the menu for a Tuesday morning at 5AM, it practically feels like I'm doing them in my sleep. Truthfully, it's a rough wake up call to say the least. I had a great workout though and am feeling confident about my ability to go out and run the Akron Marathon hard. My final Yasso 800 workout is always a good gauge as to where I'm at relative to where I've been in the past. Surprisingly, I knocked off these 800's faster than I did prior to Cleveland.

Total Time: 1:00:33
Total Distance: 9.1 miles
Average Pace: 6:39
2-Mile Warm Up: 7:10, 6:42
8x800 (3-minute send-offs): 2:48:35, 2:44:40, 2:48:87, 2:49:64, 2:48:20, 2:46:84, 2:44:85, 2:43:56

I wore my new shoes again (with band-aids and longer socks for protection). The wounds are almost completely heeled.

Nursery Mural - In process

3-Day Weekends Rule

There's nothing like a 3-day weekend and Labor Day weekend is perhaps the best of them all. The weather is great, there's always a picnic or two to attend, etc. With four weeks to go before Akron, I ran 10-miles at planned marathon pace on Saturday morning followed by a 20-miler on Sunday. After my run on Saturday I drove down to Fleet Feet for a shoe clinic, at which time I picked up some New Balance 902's. I was eager to wear them because I've been running in shoes that I bought last November (or older). Instead of waiting for my shorter weekday runs, I decided to wear them for my long run. This isn't the first time I've broken in a pair of shoes on a long run but I've had better luck in the past. About 5 miles in, I felt some discomfort on the front of my ankle and realized it was due to the tongues of my shoes rubbing against my skin. There wasn't much I could do at this point so I pressed on, feeling the pain only when I stopped for water. In the end, I had dime-sized "sores" on each ankle and was dreading getting home and into the shower (this is always when it hurts most). In hindsight, I probably could have adjusted my laces to position the tongue differently. Aside from this, I love the shoes. First and foremost, they're orange (enough said). Secondly, they have a snug heel, a nicely wrapped arch area and plenty of room in the forefoot.

The balance of my weekend was great. I did some work in the yard and around the house, including installation of chair rail in the babies room. Teresa and I went to two Labor Day picnics and watched two good movies (The Shooter and Wild Hogs). Wild Hogs had Teresa rolling and nearly made me spit up my drink.