Josh Josh and Liesie Lu

This was a couple weeks back but I'm finally posting them so forgive me. Here is my 4 year old with his magna doodle. He pulled me aside to show me that he had written his name for the VERY FIRST TIME without any help. The A didn't fit so he had to put it on the next line down...

Of course, his sister saw the camera action and wanted in on it...

Stonemill 5k

I half debated holding off until the official results were posted on the race website but, not knowing how long that might take, I decided to let you all know how my race went last weekend. As I indicated in a previous post, I ran in the Stonemill 5k (previously known as the Sugarloaf 5k). It is a relatively small race that is sponsored by a local church as part of their summer festival. The relatively small field (~300 people I would guess) gave me hope of doing respectable in the final standings.

For reference, on Memorial Day I ran a 25:21 5k, which was my best to date following my 29:47 last September. My goal for the race on the 25th was sub 25 minute. Maybe I should have had a lower goal with my last improvement in mind but keep in mind that step changes get smaller as you approach the peak, anyway…

The night before the race was a bit odd. I had severe leg cramps in my left leg. My wife can attest that on occasion I wake up with terrible leg cramps. Historically these have always been in my calf muscles, rub my arch, give me a banana and they go away. The last two times (Friday night included) the cramps have been in a muscle along the outer shin of each leg. Can’t explain it, but I didn’t know how to make them go away either. I was awoken 3 times during the night, each time for roughly 5-10 minutes with this cramp in my left leg and started to wonder if I was even going to be able to run. When my alarm went off at 5:30, the leg felt fine, so I proceeded as planned.

The morning was perfect. Considering the fact that Atlanta has been in the midst of a record setting heat wave I was afraid the morning was going to be unbearable. The night before the race a series of storms rolled through and dropped the temperatures significantly. The clouds even stuck around for the morning. The daily high ended up being almost 10 degrees lower than the previous day.

The course was along an industrial park road but the organizers were thrown a curveball when the city water department decided it was time to install a new sewer line less than a week before the race date. The organizers did a good job of routing us over and around the construction well however and the only people that complained were the two old men who planned on running the race barefoot as there were a few spots with more gravel than one would hope for.

With the small field I decided to be optimistic and lined up about 8-10 feet from the front of the pack and seemed to judge it about right. I passed a few and a few passed me but for the most part I started where I should in the field. The race started with the first quarter mile all uphill with the steepest incline we would face in the entire run. This had the wonderful effect of stretching out the field quickly and making the rest of the run seem, for the most part, downhill.

At the 1 mile mark they yelled out 7:38. This was faster than I had planned and considering the long uphill at the start was actually a really good opening mile for me. By that mile mark I had settled into a group of three guys and we started passing a few of those greenies that really go out fast and then just die! We had a good rhythm but perhaps ran a little slower than we should. At the two mile mark they said 15:33. If you do the math that comes out to a 7:55 second mile. Still sub 8 minutes, which was my goal to meet my 25-minute mark but, in hindsight, a bit slower than it should have been for this relatively flatter portion of the course. At that point I abandoned this group and started pushing myself the last third.

As I crossed the 3 mile mark I kicked into an all out sprint with everything I had left for the last tenth of a mile. My semi-official time (until the results are released) was 23:51. Here is the math for you. That means my last 1.1 miles was in 8:18 which on a minutes per mile pace is roughly 7:33 minutes per mile. I don’t know my overall place yet but my place amonst the 30 year old males was 5th, just an agonizing 18 seconds out of 3rd which would have netted me a trophy. Mind you, in a big race I wouldn’t have even been in the ballpark of the word trophy but it would have been nice. Hindsight tells me my slower second mile cost me that trophy, but, oh well. I killed my sub 25-minute goal, I didn’t puke like I did in May, and I am more motivated than ever to kick it up a knotch… 10k race… Half-MARATHON??? Stay tuned for the updates.

And if you are wondering… I’m at 205. I’m hoping to be sub 200 by Thanksgiving (part of that whole Half-Marathon plan…)

Mind Bender

This is Caleb and me at Six Flags over Georgia riding the Mind Bender roller coaster. The ride has two loops in it but was the only true roller coaster that Caleb was tall enough to ride. Mischa went on it once as well but I couldn't get her to go again. This video was taken on the last run of the day before the park closed. We had just been in the front car and I filmed the forward direction but the battery in the camera died halfway through the ride. I switched batteries but had to move from the front row but since there was no-one else in line we were allowed to move to the third row where I decided to turn the camera around.

August Updater

Just a short post to quiet some of my "why haven’t you posted?" critics and to hopefully break the logjam and get me back in the habit here.

Things I have been doing or have happened in my life for the last month and a half that I’m not planning additional posts about include:

1. Going on vacation to Arizona, New Mexico, Arizona again, Nevada, and Utah, which my wife is doing a much better job blogging about so I won’t rehash those items.
2. Caleb and Mischa went back to school for their respective 3rd and 2nd grade years. Their teachers seemed nice enough at the meet and greet "Sneak Peak" the school arranged. We’ll give them a few weeks to see how they handle our kids. Is it just me or does every Parent think that their children present some unique hurdles for their teachers?
3. Re-reached that 207 weight that I posted earlier (slight setback due to vacation). Actually, that first 207 was based on really being 210 on a day to day basis but having just completed a 10k run, I stepped on the scale and got the "dehydration assisted" 207 pictured previously. The 207 this morning was the first "daily weigh-in" 207 so is far more significant. Actually, on a post run, "dehydration assisted" basis I have had a 206 weigh in (last week) but I try not to fool myself into including those weights in my overall progress as they set unrealistic benchmarks at times…
4. Preparing for my next 5k event, the Stonemill 5k (previously known as the Sugarloaf 5k), this weekend. Hopefully that 25-minute mark will be obtained this time around but who knows? I’ll post results ASAP.
5. The mass air flow sensor went out on my car and we had to drop several hundred bucks into replacing that. Funny how when you get a raise, emergencies seem to arise to claim the new money. In the three months since taking my new job (with raise) we have had dangerously leaning trees, family vacation, and now my car. Each of which ate up any and all additional funds from my job for each of the last three months. But as my wise wife pointed out, at least we had the raise to pay for it and perhaps a loving Heavenly Father was holding back the tide until I had the levee repaired…
6. I have adopted my wife’s 6 tomato plants that she was doing her best to kill off. To be fair, the heat wave and lack of measurable rain in the last month have done their fair share of the killing. The plants are just now starting to bear fruit, some worth keeping, some not. Maybe I will post pictures later, but lets just say we will not be visiting the state fair any time soon.
7. Oh and of course, I read Harry Potter 7. Good book, I could comment, praise, and rant but really my thoughts and opinions are really not all that original for those of you who read the book and care about the topic. The neatest thing to me was to watch my little Mischa catch the Harry Potter bug while Jamie and I were reading the last book. She read books 1-4 in the space of two weeks! (She turned 7 in April if you don’t know her.) Talk about scary and exciting, I have been bragging to EVERYONE that even remotely brings up the topic of reading, books, or Harry Potter.

Well, that should do it for now. Everything else that has happened I have planned a post in my head. Keep your fingers crossed and maybe I will actually write about them later.