Hello everybody!

Oh, man--it has been a crazy week!  Let's see...I think the last time I posted was...Monday...yep...I posted my time and Ribs asked what I was doing for stamina...

...well...when I put together my training plan that was going to starting up right after my half marathon...which was starting up right after my marathon...I thought speed was what I needed to work on and I was relying on my recent distance training for stamina.  I have done a couple of 5k's at race pace, and I'm scheduled to do a 2 miler at 5k race pace early next week.  Then, of course there's the 10k I'm doing on the 4th.  So--hopefully--that will be good enough.

So--Tuesday--right at the end of the day--one of the guys in the shop where I work, decided to chop the end of his finger off and I had to  take him to the E.R.  So that got me home late and just in time to get to a meeting at church...so no run.

Last night ended up being pretty cool...after starting out like crap.   About a mile away from home, I started smelling anti-freeze.  I looked around to find the old junker car that was making that smell.  Well, I pulled into my driveway, and smoke started billowing from under my hood and anti-freeze was spraying out from under the car.  I took a water hose, washed down the driveway, and got ready for my run.  I wasn't going to deal with it.

My workout called for 2x800 @ 2:24 w/2:00 rest between -- 2x400 @ 1:12 w/1:00 rest between -- and 2x200 w/1:00 rest between @ :36.  So, I did 3 easy miles to the track in 23:43 -- 800 in 2:41.45 -- 800 in 2:42.47 (I was not very happy at this point and thinking, "Dang!  I haven't done enough to increase my stamina!") -- 400 in 1:17.81 -- 400 in 1:17.07 -- 200 in :34.15 -- and 200 in :34.53.  I was on my hands and knees after that last 200 thinking I was going to die.  When I stood up and turned around, I lady friend had just come on the track to do her track workout.  She was hoping to do 6x800 under 3:15 but she wasn't feeling well and was really dreading it...so...

...I did her mile warm up in 7:55--then paced her on her 1st 800 in 2:56.15.  It was so easy!  I cannot believe the extra effort it takes to run 14 seconds faster for an 800.  It still blows my mind.  Anyway...I saw my granddaugters over by the soccer fields so I went to talk to them and told my friend I'd be back to pace her for her last 800.  After talking to the granddaughters for a few minutes, I decide I didn't want to cool down too much before I went and did another fairly fast 800, so I went back and paced her for her last 3.  They went: 3:04.66 -- 3:07.28 -- and 3:05.63.  Then I did a 1 mile cool down with her in 7:51 and ran 3 miles home in 23:01.  Total was 11.7 in 1:23:51.

I have to tell you...I had so much fun running with my friend.  I was in my "element".  I kept a steady pace for her...letting her know when she was on her time and barking a bit when she was falling back.  I loved it!  She, of course, was very thankful which just made my whole dang week. 

Okay--after patching another guy up after he sliced open his hand--I came home, tonight and did 10.2 miles in 1:19:51.

The other big thing for today is--my granddaughter had her second cochlear implant.  The first one she had a few years ago didn't work and she finally decided to try it again.  Of course, if this one fails--she will be completely deaf.  I have been praying for her all day.  Everything went great in surgery but it will be a few months before we find out if it works...so, the praying continues.

Oh--and it's my 27th anniversary, today...here's a picture from 1987...

She sure does put up with a lot from me and she lets me do this crazy running stuff.

Okay--I really gotta go!  See ya!

A thought just occurred to me...it's a good thing I didn't go on that Michigan trip...I might not have had a 28th anniversary.