Patience and moderation

These are my key words at the moment. Christmas day I went for a run before the big dinner and had to stop and walk two miles from home my knee was that sore. Was very unhappy and had to put my best festive face on over lunch!. Didn't run yesterday and knee felt fine today so i headed out for 5 miles during my lunch hour and my knee was fine! A very dull pain came on about 2 miles in but nothing like it has been lately. I think in spite of all my best efforts to prevent my knee from healing, behind the scenes it is actually getting better. As long as I can keep running slowly and well within myself I think I see light at the end of the tunnel. I'm also presuming that doing something is better than doing nothing at all (increased blood flow to the area, etc.). Thoughts?

Other than that Christmas was great. My 5am prediction turned out to have been a tad optimistic as Emily only made it to 4.30. We had told her to come to our room and wake us before going downstairs but of course she forgot that and just went straight downstairs. So I had to run downstairs and make sure she didn't see too many of the presents as Sophie wasn't going to wake up for a few hours yet. When I told her she needed to go back to sleep, she replied very rationally "Why? Santa has already come!" I couldn't argue with that logic so we sat and watched tv together until Sophie stirred and they were able to open their pressies together.

I did well myself and managed to get not one running related present (although the new quote to the right came from a print of Everest Lisa got me!). (We are both heavily into the Everest thing at the moment having watched 'Beyond the Limits" on Discovery Channel for the past few weeks).

So patience and moderation it is then.....

Merry Christmas

It always amazes me the contrast in weather across this vast country. So there's Hubitron heading out in his full winter running suit, while I'm hitting the Mcalpine Creek trails shirtless. It's Christmas Eve for f*cks sake!!

My slowing it down a notch lasted all of ten minutes today. Wanted to run 75 minutes so did an out and back route. Covered 5.75 miles for the first 37.5 minutes and got back home 36 minutes later so the second half of the run was 6.15 pace. I need my training partners back before I hurt myself again! Felt strong today, could definitely feel the knee but as i write this i have no doubt i'll be fine tomorrow. I always enjoy heading out for a run on xmas day. Makes me feel all self righteous thinking only the hard core will be training today. And don't worry, I'll head out when youngest one is napping so I won't disrupt our 'family day'

So eventually we are all set for tomorrow. Put the finishing screws to the presents half an hour ago and did the obligatory last minute trip to Walgreens to buy a year's supply of batteries just now. I'm sure we'll be up at 5 but I guess I always got my parents up at that time when I was a kid so what goes around comes around!

Hope everyone has a great day tomorrow!

Long time no post

Haven't posted for a while. Have been pretty stressed at work and not doing much running so it's been hard to get motivated to update the blog.

Anyhow, so I warmed up last Tuesday before my track session and could tell immediately that my knee wasn't going to cooperate so ran a very easy six miles and decided to take the rest of the week off. Obviously last Saturday's workout was too much too soon on my knee. There is obviously some left over crap in there that still needs to sort itself out so i won't be doing any workouts until I run pain free for a while. Yesterday I was back at it. Ran 7.4 miles but was too frisky as usual and the 6.15 pace left me feeling a little sore. However, today was much better. Slowed down to 6.40 pace for 9 miles and feel MUCH better. I'll slow it down a notch again tomorrow.

Other than that just been gearing up for christmas. In laws arrived today and it's nice to have a houseful. Emily is SO excited about Tuesday. Reminds me of when i was a kid, it's great!

Hope everyone has a great christmas!

Fantasy football

Very happy today. Man U beat the Scousers at Anfield with a hugely important 1-0 victory. Meanwhile Arsenal beat Chelsea 1-0 in another very important game. Both games were exciting, nail biing and tension ridden- hard to explain to an American that that can be the case when the result in both matches was 1-0!!

Then proud father watched Emily perform in her Christmas ballet recital.

After lunch at the Big Ben Pub it was time to sit down to the oddly shaped football code and my fantasy team went off yet again to qualify for next week's Championship game. A Brit may win our fantasy football league for the second year running....

On the running front I managed 9.3 at 6.30 pace but the knee was moaning at me again today so I'll take tomorrow off and hit the track again Tuesday night. Means I won't get the miles in I planned this week, but better safe than sorry.

And so yet another weekend goes by in a blink of an eye!......

Happy knee

Knee was fine today! Did a 10k tempo at the local track in 34.39 (17.26/17.13). Felt pretty good for my first workout in a while. It was great to be back on the track!

Winter may be on it's way here too. In the 40s today, I even had to run in a long sleeve top! Bit of xmas shopping this afternoon and then out to our party tonight.

Angry knee

My knee was angry with me today. Wednesday was 5 on the trails nice and easy (7.10 pace) and yesterday I gave my knee it's first tough test since coming back. I ran to work, which is 12 miles of hopping on and off sidewalks, charging across intersections hoping noone jumps a red light, etc. And it's dark. Generally unpleasant but gets me to work early and gets me some good miles in. Despite fearing the worst for my knee before heading out, it stood up perfectly and i made it in pain free in 76 minutes which was 6.20 pace. I was very happy.

Later went to lunch with my team and it was one of those Japanese places where they cook everything in front of you. Had a great lunch but legroom was at a premium because of the hot plate in the middle of the table, so my knee ached big time despite getting up several times to stretch it out.

So when I did my 6.8 on the trails this morning (6.50 pace) the knee was sorer than it has been for a while, especially to start off with. It feels better now as I sit but we'll see what tomorrow brings. i was planning on a tempo run but may need to put back any intensity for another few days. We'll see. I got 50 miles in for the week though which was the goal.

Looking forward to the weekend. Tomorrow is our company holiday party and we have family in town who can baby sit so I'm actually going to be able to go with Lisa. Will be our first 'date' in months! Plus the plan is to leave the car at the hotel and run to collect it on Sunday so we can have a few drinks too. Whatever next?!

Then Sunday it's Man U Liverpool and Chelsea Arsenal as the top 4 play each other and my fantasy team lines up in the semi finals of our league. My team the Seahawks are actually in town but I was not allowed to go as Emily has her ballet recital. The Panthers are so dreadful anyway at the moment that I probably wouldn't have gone anyway!

Mercury rising

80 degrees here today apparently! In December?? That is ridiculous. This time last year I ran the Charlotte marathon and it was over 60 degrees cooler. The marathon was run in better conditions this year!Fantastic sub 3 hour run by one of my one and only regular readers, Stan. It was won in 2:41 or somewhere around there.

Work is crazy at the moment and my training buddies all seem to be taking some down time so I'm getting up even earlier than usual to get the runs in. Today I left the house at 4.45! Ran 9.35 in 58 minutes on the roads. Was really rolling at about 6 minute pace by the end. Once I start getting back into the workouts the pace of these runs will have to be reined in, but while I'm just getting some miles in I'll run by 'feel'. Some days it will be 6 min pace, some 7 plus. Knee was better again that it was last time out. Can still feel it towards the end of my runs though. Back on the trails again tomorrow just to get back to the softer surface again.

It all starts here

Not much to report, just can't believe Monday has rolled around again so quickly! Yesterday I designated as the start of my new training block. Ran 7 @ 6.20 pace from Emily's ballet class back home. Didn't mean to run that pace but felt pretty good so just went with it. Today was 10 on the trails at 6:40 pace. Knee was a little sore for the second half of the run so I'm going to take my planned day off for the week tomorrow and not run again till Tuesday evening.

Aiming for 50 miles this week, all easy pace. If all goes to plan I'll do my first workout of sorts next Saturday- a 6 mile tempo run. Today on my run I checked out the track at a local private school and all looks good- no locked gates or anything like that and literally a mile jog from my front door. The plan will be to start doing 2 track workouts per week soon along with the tempo run. All other days easy, cycles of 50,60-65,60-65,50, etc. Not going to get too far ahead of myself though!

Confession

OK I have a confession to make. Despite all my whining in my last post I never went to see the doc in the end and have actually managed about 30 miles this week. Feeling all down on myself Saturday, I popped a couple of Aleve and woke up feeling good on Sunday. So I headed out of the door to test the waters and I actually ran 4 pain free miles. Adding a mile each day and running very cautiously I now actually feel ready to step up the training again soon. Touching lots of wood as I post this.......

Pie eater

Going to see the physio on Monday. No sign of this getting any better and i need to see someone so i can feel I've got some sort of rehabilitation program in place. At the moment I'm just doing nothing, hoping I will wake up one morning and it will be better. I've not even thought about cross training as I'm not sure what I can or can't do on it so i need to do something about this

To make me even happier, I got on the scales today and I'm the heaviest I have been in years. Thing is I eat a lot of food and since being injured my body has still seemed to have demanded the same amount of food as before. I'm figuring I'm burning1,000 calories less a day now so every three days I'll gain a pound- that's how it works isn't it? I will start cutting back soon I'm sure

On a happier note, we had a great family day today. We picked out and put up our christmas tree and the joy on Emily and Sophie's faces when we turned the lights on
made me forget about my stupid knee!

Still not right

Managed two miles on the treadmill followed by a mile on the roads today but my knee is still not right. It's weird, I can't feel any pain at all walking around, etc. and when I start running. Then gradually the ache comes on and my knee hurts when I try and lift my knee fully. It was better today than it has been but it's starting to get a bit worrying now.....

Watched a great DVD the other night, 'Clash of the Titans' a documentary about Coe and Ovett's duels in the 80s. Jeez how amazing were those guys! Breaking world record after world record within days of each other! And the Moscow races, what freakin' drama!! Those were the days. Now it's an achievement if a Brit middle distance runner gets to the final of a major event.

Other than that not much to report. I'm so busy at work it seems I'm spending every waking hour there at the moment. Getting home just in time to put the kids to bed. This has got to stop, as has my knee pain!

And the Thursday night game only being on NFL network is bullshit!! 20-10 after a quarter and I can't watch it in my own home....

Goals set

Back to the daily grind today after a nice relaxing holiday

Not much to report on the running front. Bruising and swelling of right knee has almost gone now and quad okay. Sunday I was itching for a run, if only to burn some of the 4 million calories consumed the last few days but decided not to at the last minute. So have done nothing at all apart from core exercises the last few days. The bike didn't tempt me in the end. I just couldn't be bothered- it wasn't as if i was needing to cross train because I knew I would be off running for a good while.

I actually got up and hit the roads for a mile this morning but knee still didn't feel quite right so i turned back home and didn't push it. I'm hoping another couple of days and the knee will have cleared up completely. No point in starting my next phase of training until 100% healthy. Basically once I start running again I'll be setting out on my quest for some big prs on the track in the spring so it doesn't make much difference if I start tomorrow or next week.

So I discussed with Tim and decided that I should target 15.20s and sub 32 as very challenging but realistic goals for the next few months. Might sound a tad ambitious considering that I have only ever gone sub 33 once and sub 16 three times in the past year but I'm going to go for it. So I have posted the goals to my fridge. The 150 refers to my weight. I like that as my racing weight and the combination of the coming winter, the last few days of gluttony and my current inactivity has pushed me significantly over that at the moment!

Hopefully next time I post I will have a run to report!

Merry Christmas

So Thanksgiving has come and gone and my wife is up in the attic getting our christmas decorations out. I'm sure Christmas used to be at the end of December?

No run today obviously. Just some sit ups and press ups in a vain attempt to burn as many calories as I have shoved down my neck in the past two days. Other than that a nice family day. Joined the millions spending more than the third world debt this morning, went for a nice walk in the woods this afternoon and watched the unbelievable LSU game- if anywhere can stage a dramatic finale to a sporting match up it is here!! It seems noone actually wants to win the title this year!! Looking forward to the Kansas Missouri game tomorrow night...

Oh and then we put our decorations up...

Knee and quad pretty much the same as yesterday, will probably get out on my bike tomorrow

Perspective

Didn't race today. Warmed up with Tim and Joe but could immediately tell I wasn't going to be able to race. After 2.5 miles I stopped and walked back to the starting area and watched the race instead. Tim and Joe both put in solid performances. It was weird watching the race from the sidelines but there was no way I could have run. What I found really funny was the amount of people who actually walked the whole race. Now I'm not going to get all elitist and snobby here- the more people getting off their backsides and doing something the better- but I am just shocked by the amount of people who were willing to fork out $20 and well, go for a walk!!

There was some Mainwaring interest in the races today however, as Emily improved on last year's performance to place third in the Tot Trot. She loved it!

As I sit here now my knee has swollen up big time and has a huge bruise on it. I also seem to have strained my quad probably due to over-compensating the last couple of days running through the knee injury so it's time to put my feet up again I guess! The only good thing about this is the timing. No races for the next few months planned so when I get back out there I should be mentally and physically refreshed and looking forward to training for the track

Everything was put in perspective today anyway when a friend of mine told me his brother-in law had lost his battle with Cancer overnight. Spare a thought and a prayer for him and his family tonight....

Finished Once a Runner last night and will be straight into Again to Carthage tonight. "What was the secret, they wanted to know; in a thousand different ways they wanted to know The Secret. And not one of them was prepared, truly prepared to believe that it had not so much to do with chemicals and zippy mental tricks as with that most unprofound and sometimes heart-rending process of removing , molecule by molecule, the very tough rubber that comprised the bottom of his training shoes. The Trial of Miles; Miles of Trials. How could they be expected to understand that?"

2-3

Q: What do you get if you cross a bunch of overpaid, clueless, prima donna tossers and a shit manager?

A: The England football team

Enough said on the subject



Still 50/50 for tomorrow. I managed 7 today at 6.55 pace and actually felt really good, but my right knee is still swollen and when i tried to push the pace I could definitely feel it. The prospect of running 5 miles at 5.20 pace seems a bit far fetched at the moment but we'll see how i wake up in the morning. I have already picked up my chip and number so will probably end up running the race but I've never had a DNF and I don't intend to start tomorrow! Emily has no such injury concerns and will be running the Tot Trot.

No quotes today, didn't get to read much today yet

Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Enjoy yourselves, eat lots and take time to remember those less fortunate than ourselves

New goals

So today I was just taking it nice and easy checking out the course for Thursday's race when all of a sudden, "Crash!" I'm arse over tit on the pavement (sidewalk) and clutching two sore knees. Quick brush down and check that I haven't broken my watch and I'm off and jogging again, feeling sore but okay to run. Finished the run okay (5.2 miles at 7 pace, legs feeling better than yesterday) but my right knee stiffened up all day at work and I'm touch and go whether I can run tomorrow and race Thursday. I should be okay at least for Thursday but really want to run tomorrow as I'm on a three week streak of running every day, my longest such run ever!

After all that excitement it was off down town after work to attend the Grand Prix awards ceremony and pick up my 4th place overall award. It was good to catch up with people I haven't seen for a while and funny to see everyone in their 'civvies' and out of their running uniforms! The Grand Prix here really is an excellent event and it will be interesting next year to see what changes they make.

Also discovered that they have had so much interest for the Thunder Road Marathon in a couple of weeks that they are having to cap the amount of entrants! Not quite sure why more entrants can't be accommodated, but just shows how much bigger the event is getting each year. I hope they get better weather than last year when I ran my first and only marathon and it was frigid!



This year I'm planning on doing the 5k rather than the marathon! That will be my last planned race for a while. Last week I mentioned that I'll need something over the Winter to aim towards and Tim has come up with the goods, convincing me that I should join him and a few other guys in targetting some fast indoor/outdoor track races in early spring. So that's the new goal ahead. I've never really trained over winter with any specific goals in mind before so it will be interesting to see how it goes.

Two quotes today, one to temper Mindi's caution about the feasts ahead this week "if the furnace was hot enough, anything would burn" and the other just a classic to sum up our sport and how it can make us feel. "Running to him was real, the way he did it the realest thing he knew. It was all joy and woe, hard as diamond; it made him weary beyond comprehension. But it also made him free."

Knackered

Judging from Tim's reaction when i first used this expression, a translation may be in order here so here is the definition from Wikipedia

"Knackered meaning tired, exhausted, (especially in reference to exhaustion after sex) or broken in British and Irish slang is still commonly used in the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth"

Replace 'sex' with 'running' (unfortunately) and you get how i felt on today's run. Trudged through 9.5 miles at about 7.15 pace. Legs felt like shit. I think the last few days have caught up with me. Hopefully I can kick back into shape before my race on Thursday!



Mindi wanted more quotes so the quote for the day is "the leanest wolf is the leader of the pack"- food for thought for us runners over the holidays- make sure we don't eat more than three helpings of turkey and the trimmings for dinner on Thursday....

Once A Runner

Got my copy of 'Again to Carthage' this week but decided to re-read Once a Runner first so I could get to know Cassidy again. Just a couple of chapters in and already remembering how many classic quotes there are in this book! In fact I may try and include one each day until I finish this book. How about this one which relates to my post about the 'food chain' I posted the other day?

"In the world of the runner, as in the ocean, there is a hierarchy of ferocity. The swift blue runner is eaten by the slashing barracuda, which is eaten by the awesome mako shark. In track, such relative positions are fixed more or less in black and white and are only altered at telling expense"

While we're quoting there is also Cassidy's shirt which reads "GAUNT IS BEAUTIFUL". I need to be wearing that shirt next time my mother comments that I could with a few more of her hot meals inside me...

Other than reading it's been a pretty busy weekend so far. Yesterday am was a 15 mile run with Tim and Scott, who joined us for the first few miles- good to have you back out there Scott, but less criticism of my blog please! If I want to talk about FOOTBALL, I will- I may have some readers beyond these shores you know! Speaking of which, somewhat miraculously Israel beat Russia yesterday leaving the door open for England to clinch qualification on Wednesday with a draw against Group leaders Croatia. They don't deserve a second chance but they've got one and I'm not complaining!

Back to the run and when i stopped the watch at the end yesterday I was surprised to see we had run at 6.30 pace average. We'd just been chatting away on a pretty hilly route and hadn't pushed it at all. Good signs...

Then it was round to Tim's for a 'fooball party' as we watched his Ohio State boys almost completely shut out Michigan in a dour contest. Then to Monkey Joe's with the kids so that I could be a kid and go up and down all the inflatables with Emily.

Today's run was 2.5 mile warm up, 5k in 16.40 over the Mcalpine Creek course that we train on all the time which hosts the Footlocker Regionals next week, 10 minute recovery and then 2*1k with a minute in 3.09/3.13. We were meant to be doing 4 originally, but we ran the 5k a lot quicker and harder than anticipated and my legs felt like jelly after 2 so we called it quits. 2 mile jog home and it made it a good 9.15 mile work out. Taking it easy now until Turkey Trot on Thursday.

Emily and Mom went out for the day today so I'm looking after Soph. She's napping at the moment (hence the long post!) but will wake up just in time to spend the afternoon watching (American) football with me. Can't beat a bit of Daddy/daughter time in front of the tv!!

I'll be back again tomorrow with another quote no doubt

Pleasantly sore

Went for my massage this evening. Spent the whole hour having work done on my calf and troublesome foot and currently feel sore but all the better for it. My 15 miler planned tomorrow could be interesting! It's always an eye-opener getting a sports massage. All the knots and adhesions you knew you probably had are painfully revealed to you. My masseuse said my foot felt like a string of pearls, which she then proceeded to 'crack' one by one. Anyway we'll see how it goes over the next few days, I'm going to book myself in for a more 'general' deep tissue massage in a couple of weeks.

Run today was the standard 7.4 at 7 pace in Mcalpine. Beautiful crisp 34 degrees morning. Long may these type of mornings continue. And so ends my 'cutback' week. Back ramping up the mileage again next week. 15 planned tomorrow and a workout of 3 mile tempo followed by 4*1k on Sunday.

Meanwhile in Austria, England laboured to a meaningless 1-0 victory and Michael Owen predictably got an injury which puts him out of our potentially crucial game against Croatia next week. Well done the FA for organising the match, I hope you got sufficient revenue from it.

Hope everyone has a good weekend- nice three day week ahead!

Speed play

Emily decided to be a nightmare last night (the mysterious cough which only seems to surface at night) so i got what seemed like about three hours sleep. The alarm went off at 5.45 and I could barely open my eyes. I could hear the rain lashing down outside (Lord knows we need it but still....) and the planned workout was losing its appeal. Still, as usual, headed out and met Tim at the prescribed time. There I am running across the trails to our meeting point in almost pitch darkness, drenched to the bone and I'm thinking "most people would think I'm nuts for doing this" but anyway there I was

Workout ended up being 8.5 miles including fartlek of 1,1,2,2,4,2,2,1,1 min 'on'/off. As we were half way through our third 'on' segment a guy flew past us coming the other way. It was the guy who won the 5k on Saturday- that is why I'm out in the dark and rain too! So it went pretty well. we started off at about 5.30 pace but were down to 5.10 by the end. Still felt flat from doing Tuesday's workout but I love doing fartlek as you can run as hard as you feel like it and aren't aiming to hit a specific split or distance, etc. 'Speed play' indeed.

Was supposed to be getting a sports massage tonight but have had to reschedule because of work commitments. I bet Paula Radcliffe doesn't have these problems!

England play Austria tomorrow in what must be the most meaningless and irrelevant friendly international of all time. If Russia and Croatia win on Saturday we are out of the 2008 European Championships and I won't know what to do with myself for that month!

Food chain

Ran the usual 7.4 mile loop this morning at 7 min pace with Tim. Legs felt dead from last night's workout but will hopefully kick back into shape before tomorrow's planned fartlek. During the run I put the question out there "How fast do you think you could run if you could do this full time, as your job, just eating, sleeping and living for running?". An interesting discussion ensued with us basically coming round to the same conclusion- that we all pretty much have our place in the running food chain. We all train pretty much as hard as we can given what else is going on in our lives and even if we were able to devote all our time to our hobby, would we really get that much better at it?

What do people think about this? I look at my prs on the right and most of them were set in 2005 when i was running 35-40 miles per week but probably most of them at 6-6.20 pace. Now I'm running 60-70 miles per week, most of which over 7 minute pace. My times have pretty much stayed in the same ball park for the last 5 years. i'm trying to unlock that last bit of potential in me but maybe I'll always be just behind Tim and way behind ex Hanson's guy who rocked up at the race I ran on Saturday. That's my place in the food chain and so be it. Don't get me wrong I'm still striving for prs and improvement, I'm just recognising the fact that hard work can only take me so far and there are so many other variables that need to be in line to be able to move higher up that chain.

Tuesday track night

I usually do a track workout every Tuesday night. My boss knows I'm going to leave no later than 5.15 on a Tuesday. Meetings are rearranged to accommodate my peculiar hobby. So tonight I hit the track. Workout was 4*1600 with 90 seconds recovery. I was aiming to hit 5k pace which equates to about 5.10 for 1600 based on my race on Saturday so was pleased with 5.08,5.07,5.05,5.07. The first one was very easy, the last I was definitely straining a lot more than I would have liked but the signs are I'm getting back into pretty good shape. Thanks to Chris L btw for pushing me on the first three- so much easier than doing a workout on your own!

On a side note I was amused to see how my Garmin is completely confused when I run round and round a track. The mile beeper was going off about 1500 metres into each rep so my training log says i was running at about 4.30 pace- nice!

Taking it for granted

So it's nice to be running pain free again. All summer I was fighting injury and at the time you're thinking how great it would be (and how far off it seems) to be able to train without worrying about breaking down at any moment. Then when you get that feeling back you risk just taking it for granted and not fully appreciating it. So I'm making sure I enjoy this time and do all I can to prevent recurrence of my injury.

Of course just enjoying running for the sake of running is a lot easier when you haven't got any specific goals to shoot for, which is pretty much the case for me at the moment. Other than the obligatory turkey trot next week I have no races mapped out on the calendar. The problem is I love racing and I need goals so I'm going to have to sit down and map out the next few months soon or I'll risk becoming aimless and less motivated. We'll see....

Meanwhile Wayne (only just) came up short and I'm 6 and 4 and a virtual shoe in for the play offs. My 'reality' team the Seahawks are playing as I write but I can't watch it as we are recording 'Heroes' and I can't watch one channel and record another!

Today was an easy 7.4 at 7.03 pace with buddies Tim and Joe as the sun rose over Mcalpine Creek. Tomorrow I have a tough track workout planned after work

A good day- so far

Today started off nicely with a bit of a lie-in as i had no long run planned and the kids were cooperative (ie. purposefully put to bed later last night!) and then i was able to watch Man U stuff Blackburn 2-0 on Fox Soccer Channel to go top of the Premier League for the first time this season.



Then I headed out for my run while the kids napped. This week is a cutback week so instead of my usual Sunday long run I headed out for an hour or so. The weather was beautiful, I love this place for that- as you can imagine running shirtless in November back in England would be unthinkable! I was really rolling today, one of those days where you just feel great. I ticked off 9.6 miles on the trails with the last three at 6 minute pace, and my troublesome heel didn't play up at all. (I had pf issues all summer and am only just back on the road to recovery).

Watched the Panthers suck at home again but my fantasy team did great thanks to messrs Roethlisberger and Westbrook. The 'so far' in my title refers to the fact that I was 30 points up on my colleague at work but my team is done while he has Reggie Wayne and at the half he has a touchdown and 80 yards and Manning will be throwing the ball left, right and center second half as they are down on the Chargers

Friends came over this evening for pizza and beers so yes an all round good day- so far

Runway Run

Well let's start off this with a race report from yesterday's Charlotte Airport's first annual 5k run.

As the name would suggest, this race was actually run at the airport. The race started and finished on one of the runways! It was a really well organized race and has the potential to become a big race in the area. The course was much more interesting than the usual trawl through the same old neighbourhoods. Running on a runway while other planes were taking off and landing was pretty neat!

I came 4th in 16.12 which was a pretty fair reflection of where my training is at the moment so I was happy wih the effort. The race was won by a new guy to the area who apparently used to run with the Hanson Group. A bunch of new studs appear to be converging on Charlotte which can only be good for the local racing scene

Running with Mainers

So I regularly read Tusca's, Tom's, Runninlaw's, Salty's, etc. blogs and have decided to throw my hat into the ring. So here it is, take it or leave it, a little blog about my running and anything else I decide to throw into the mix