Mornin' everyone.
Sorry (Holly), but I only have time for a quick walk-by again today. I'm starting to think that next year I'm going to have to delegate some of what I do so I can focus better on some of the larger, long-range projects that I really want to and need to move forward. The 2 races I help organize will be only 2 weeks apart next Fall, and that already scares me.
I'm starting today with BWB at 7:30, followed by a 9am meeting, and with a 7pm meeting as a chaser. But first, I went 6.5 RW miles in the cool (38F) clear moonless darkness this morning. I saw a shooting star, which is always a treat. It was a moderately-paced workout, and it felt good.
Have a greta Wednesday!
Jay
Without ice cream there would be darkness and chaos.
Marathon Maniac #957
Jay - if anyone deserves to delegate, it's you.
No run for me today, just 25 minutes or so of weights. I had to leave early to drop DD off at school for a morning detention (she called another child a bad name, in jest, but still a bad name, in the hearing of a teacher), then further south to the vet's to drop off Max the cat for a teeth cleaning. Then I discovered DD had left one of her basketball shoes in the car (she has an away-game after school), so I had to drive back to the school, then 40 minutes further north to work. It already feels like a long day...
Life is a headlong rush into the unknown. We can hunker down and hope nothing hits us or we can stand tall, lean into the wind and say, "Bring it on, darlin', and don't be stingy with the jalapenos."
No running this morning for me either. Forgot to set the alarm coming off a few vacation days.
Jay - You need an army of minions.
Holly - Dang it. You reminded me that the Chica-nator needs to go in for a cleaning. He's an absolute pig when it comes to food, so keeping him locked up when I feed the others will be no treat for anybody involved. PS - You need a couple of minions yourself.
Slo - Woops!
SteveP - You started it with Avenger Doggie, so it's all your fault. PS - Try not to let work get you down.
6 crisp, cold miles this a.m. on legs that just would not unheavy (yes, that's a word) themselves. I was supposed to try and get my tempo mile under 9:00, but it just didn't happen. Coach will have to be happy with 9:11. Not used to running 2 days in a row!
Enjoy your Wednesday ~
Leslie Living and Running Behind the Redwood Curtain -------------
Trail Runner Nation
Sally McCrae-Choose Strong
Bare Performance
Good morning good people. Way behind here, and was hoping for one of Jay's in-depth recaps. Oh well, I'm sure you've all been behaving and getting out for a run every day. It IS just a little over a week until Christmas, you know.
Hey Slo - glad you made it back safely. And guess what. It's. Still. Raining. The weatherman said if the rain we had gotten last weekend and all day Monday had been snow, we'd have over 30 inches on the ground. Aside from the rain the last week, this has truly been a runner's winter so far. But I can't get out of that Catholic mindset - at some point we're going to pay for this!
Sounds like Jay has been very busy. And Holly too. Sorry about the heavy legs Leslie. My whole body feels like that lately.
5 miles on the track at the Y this morning going round, and round, and round followed with 30 minutes of weights and core stuff.
Had the grandboys over to decorate Christmas cookies last Sunday while their parents were at the Packer game. I'm going to scrub the kitchen floor now, and literally scrape frosting, pink candy piggies and decorator sugar off my counter, walls and floor. Then go check the sump pump yet again, then go start construction on the ark.
Have a great day everyone!
Sayhey! MM#130
Hiya! Had my last mentoring meeting of the year. Very interesting to sit down and chat with a high school freshman once a week. She's very likeable and a runner (sprinter)........and if she leaves her shoes somewhere, I don't have to go back to the school to deliver them (St. Holly).
Steve, you and Ribs should start a group: "guys who think their friends only hang with them for their dogs." (and it's so not true---see, I am looking forward to seeing you and Michele in Tampa, even if you are punishing treating Tagster to some time at dog camp in February . [That's what we tell Simon, that he's going to bird camp to teach the other birds new words.]
I did about 6, too Leslie, and slower than that, for sure. Some whipper went by me in my last mile, so I moved along a bit more quickly, but now much! We'll see how I do Saturday at the Frosty 5K.
Sayhey Jay:
Thanks Mari--you know, I had posted in the Portland thread about the trains/traffic issue and I think Econo said it wasn't a problem for her. So I went back and looked at marathonguide.com, and it does come up in a number of comments. It concerns me, as I know I'm not going to be "a contender" or anything, but I have to think through how I'd really feel if I was having a good race and got stopped. I copied 3 of the comments below. So now you know I'm basically a shallow person .
On the other hand, I'm wildly excited about getting my Packer on come May! Again, Holly the "it girl" is making it happen.
And jlynne, sounds as if you were making cookies for the Flying Pig marathon--what's the pink about?? Whatever color, sounds like a grand time all around.
grins, and gotta go--they need a Notary up front....
A
_____________
1. - Trains. I did not get stopped personally but the #4 female in front of my got stopped for about 15 seconds by a light rail train at about mile 24.5. I caught her as did the #5 woman but she powered on and still beat us both. That would be frustrating and there appeared to be multiple places where that could happen.
2. What really got me though is as I was hammering in the final couple miles to hit a time goal, several of us were stopped around Mile 25 by a police officer to let cars through. That is just ridiculous for a professionally organized marathon. Their marketing seems to be cutesie around 'you might be stopped by trains, some people consider it quaint', but it's not acceptable, the course should be closed for the runners.
3. Cons: 1. TRAINS TRAINS TRAINS! They down play the trains on their publicity, but they seem to affect much more runners than the organizers let on. I was stopped twice, once by an Amtrak and once by the light rail train. You can take their advice and view being stopped by trains as part of the charm of running in Portland. But do not run this race to get a PR and adjust your expectations to being more likely to be stopped than they say.
https://agratefullifedotnet.wordpress.com/ (for a piece or two of my mind)
....well put...
=============
..60's here, dropping into 40s tomorrow
............60-min HH walk
..................good running to the rest of ya
..nothing takes the place of persistence.....
I had a bit of a rough time this morning when I was getting ready for work, thinking a lot about my dad. A little while ago, I saw this post on FB. It really is soothing and warms my heart to know my dad was so loved. In explanation, Dad worked the graveyard shift as a security guard at a local hospital for 15+ years. During the winter, he would place cardboard on the car windshields of the other folks who worked graveyard so their windshields wouldn't be frozen over when they left work in the predawn/early morning hours.
Leslie - that is awesome...
<<sniff>>
MM#209 / JapanJoyful#803
super sweet, leslie.
.
I guess I must have thought this was the go-to-meeting discussion group so I went to a somewhat questionable morning meeting instead of going running but the meeting turned out to be worthwhile anyway in that I learned another new word: “(it) can be traced back to ideations that are centuries old.” .ps amy - I agree with econo; I never even saw a train when I ran the Portland Marathon in 1990, 1992, 2004 and 2015. .pps everybody else - don’t tell amy that one of the Portland trolleys put me on the other side of the tracks from the boomer goddesss with whom I was trying to run with <<(huh, how did that still have a proposition with which to end?)>>> at the famed 2006 Portland Marathon Boomer Reunion and I’m hoping amy gets held up long enough to catch up to her there next time.
"Enjoy yourself. Your younger days never come again." 100yo T. Igarashi to me in geta at top of Mt. Fuji (8/2/87)
MM #5615
Hello everybody!
That was really nice, Leslie. That was a really cool thing your dad did, too. He sounds like a great guy.
Knowing that I had a 10 mile tempo run to do, today, I was dreading my run all day...and that was before I went outside and realized how windy it was. I got through it, but it was tough running the last 3 miles--2 at tempo pace--into a 22 mph head wind. I got in 12 in 1:24:54 with that 10 mile tempo stuck in the middle.
Okay--gotta go. See ya!
Ok, so that's the difference between Mike and me. Or at least one of them. If I "dreaded" a run all day, I just flat out wouldn't do it. No run is worth dreading all day.
So, on that note, today I was looking forward to my run, but got into a deadline and time crunch where I had to review the entire restatement of our retirement plan document today before I left, and I had some meetings and a lot of interruptions all day. Got in at 8:15, worked thru lunch, left at 6:40 p.m. Sort of a typical day these days. A lot of this is related to year end things that just pile up, but a lot of it is just our workload with fewer people around to do the necessary things that have to be done by a certain deadline. Grrrr. But, given this, December is usually a "light" month for me mileage wise, just because there's so much to do before December 31. This year seems to be no different. So, no run today, but I will run tomorrow, if even just a short 3-4 miler.
Very cool, Leslie.
SteveP