Good evening all,
It is good to be back on the "Grid" again. I have a lot of catching up to do on my run blog. First though, I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend. It was nice spending time with the family without the hustle and bustle of work and everyday life. OK, now to my runs
Run #10 - 9 miles: We were in Springfield over the fourth of July weekend so I decided to run through town. My goal was to get 8 miles in running around town. Like my post on Face Book said, it was a great run, but equally depressing. The run itself was good. I averaged an 11:00 mile for the first 5 miles and my overall average was a 12:40 mile (the last 3 miles was up/down hills getting back home since pedestrians are not allowed on the overpasses in town). I felt great after wards. No pain, stiffness or anything.
The depressing part was how much my home town has changed. I ran past Community Hospital, where I was born. It will be closing when the new hospital opens downtown. The next major landmark was the site of the old International Harvester Plant, where my dad worked for many years. The plant is gone and all that is left is fencing and overgrown grass. Then, as I ran through downtown I passed the State and Regent theaters, both closed. I cannot count the number of movies I saw there growing up. The empty store fronts did not help either. As I rounded out my run, I ran past several of my old haunts (AKA bars we went to that are closed and boarded up). The Vining Broom company off of Kenton St. and the other industrial buildings that are now vacant, overgrown, and just a shell of what they once were. Then past "Finch's" party store, where I would ride to buy a soda and candy bars and play video games (when they were cool - Space Invaders, Centipede, etc.) and pinball., now under new ownership and not the same. Finally, I ended my run coming up my street and dead ending into the vacant lot where my elementary school once stood. All that is left are the trees and my memories.
Sorry to drone on about the past, and date myself in the process, but I guess that the only constant in life is change. While the bricks and mortar may be gone, the places live on in my memories like it was just yesterday. Reuniting with an old friend on Face Book over the weekend reminded me how blessed I am to have such fond memories of my childhood and the wonderful people I have known. Thanks Teresa.
Run #11 - Speed Work: Since I had Monday off, I did my speed work on the walking track in Bethel. I typically do this running on the indoor track at the YMCA so that I have an accurate way of measuring distances, but the track is marked with quarter miles so it worked well. The runs went well. I met or beat all of my target times and felt great afterwards. The second part of this day was the unofficial soccer conditioning run that I have been doing with some of the kids from the girl's soccer teams (7-9 year old girls and any siblings/parents who want to run). We meet and run a 1 mile course. I discovered that I am in BIG TROUBLE!!! Aaron, a friend of mine who is an X-marine, led the group so that I could keep the middle of the pack together. My oldest daughter (who is 9) ran an 8:32 mile!!! I don't even train at that pace!!! Aaron said she set the pace and he just kept up with her. She was also not really winded when she finished, just wanted her water. Man, this is not a good thing.
Run #12 - Tempo work: This run has been the thorn in my side since I started training. I cannot get the pace, I routinely miss my target time by 1 minute plus, and it is generally a depressing outing. So, I have renamed this run my "survival run". I will continue to run what I need and attempt to make my times, but I have resigned myself to the fact that it is going to suck. And this one was no exception. I ran a 12:40 mile average for the 2, 2mile Pace splits. This was even more depressing when you consider it was over 4 minutes slower than my 9 year old daughter's time for a mile. But, I put in the miles and the work.
I am taking a run off this weekend to enjoy my anniversary, but will be running my distance run this weekend at some point. I will blog again soon.
Thanks for keeping tabs on me and holding me accountable for my runs. You rock!!!
In Him,
Romans 8:31
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