11 km today, as described earlier.  Got the DVD back before 1 pm. 

We just got a special needs jogging stroller for our daughter so thought I should take her along.  She absolutely loved it, especially when I went "fast".  Mind you, pushing all the extra weight makes for a harder workout.

And yes Happy, even I don't know how I handled 50 kids...did have 3 teachers and about 13 other parents which helped somewhat.  All counts for nought when 90% of the ears are painted on.  I don't know how teachers do it.  Much more respect for them.

Go A, glad to see you are still trucking along.

Edited: fixed some minor typos

Resisting the urge to start the November thread....

Ran the Ragnar Relay Tennessee Friday and Saturday.  Team of 12 running 196.3 miles from Chattanooga to Nashville where each person runs 3 of 36 legs in rotations (e.g. I ran legs 7, 19 and 31).  Even though I was one of the slower runners on the team, I wound up with the hardest set of legs; primarily becuase I was the only one who was willing to do it. 

If you've ever driven from Atlanta to Nashville, then you've driven over Montagle Mountain.  My first leg started at 2 pm in Jasper, TN and ran up to the top of that "mountain" (it's really the Cumberland Plateau, not a mountain).  It was 5.5 miles total with a more than 1100 ft of elevation gain, almost all of it in the last 3 miles.  Here's the leg map from the race site.  That dip around the 4.25 mark? It doesn't exist. Did pretty well, even though I am not a hill runner.  When I agreed to do it I was planning on having completed a summer of trail training and then the StumpJump so I thought I'd be prepared, but then came my fall and the end of my hill training.  Still it went well. Had to take a few walking breaks when my heart rate got above 85%, but stayed steady most of the way.  My goal was to average 10:00 pace and I did that and didn't do too much damage to my body since there were 2 legs left to go.

My second leg, leg 19, started in Cowan, TN at 11 pm and ran 8.2 miles to the middle of nowhere. I'd done some night running, but this was my first chance to run in pitch dark as the course went through Tennessee farm land with absolutely no lights.  Great stars, from what I could see when I could stop watching for rough spots in the pavement.  Because of some poor planning and execution (more on that later), I didn't get to hit the Port-a-John before the run so it was 8.2 miles with a full bladder.  Between that and still being angry for nearly being late to start my run, I ran 8:27 pace.  A little slower than half-marathon pace, but there was a looong hill in the middle of this run.  The race site makes it look like no big deal, but I think the RunningAHEAD map is a better reflection.  Even if I hadn't run earlier in the day I don't know if I could have run faster.  I really enjoyed this leg: running in the dark, almost all alone, cows mooing in the distance, the smell of manure nearby.

We grabbed 3 hours of sleep on a gym floor in Unionville, TN.  Well, some slept 3 hours, I slept 2 and then read from 5 to 6 until I could wake everybody up.  We were cutting it close getting into exchange 30 so, once again, I started leg 31 with a nearly full bladder.  This leg started near Cool Springs mall at 7 am and then headed in towards town.  Only 6.7 miles and only mildly rolling (for Tennessee), but some of the hardest running I've ever done.  My legs just didn't want to go.  Even though my heart rate was low, I just couldn't get any turnover.  In a lot of ways, this felt like the last 10K of a marathon.  And it was warm and sunny in November.  Still, sucked it up and managed to do 8:45 pace. This run was in a densely populated suburban area so it had a very different feel from the other legs.  Plus, because of safety rules, I had to wear reflective vest, head lamp and tail light.  Since the sun was up, I was wearing sunglasses too.

We rolled into the finish in Nashville shortly after noon; 27 hours after we started.  The other people in my van all ran hard and put up some great times.  Everyone finished better than they projected.  Even with my slow first leg, I averaged an 8:54 for 20.5 miles and beat my goal of sub-9.

The only negative (and it was only a negative because it caused me stress) is that we cut it too close getting to the second and third major exchanges.  As a team of 12 we were in two vans of 6 runners each.  Every sixth exchange was a "major" exchange where one van took over for the other.  The problem was trying to figure out how long it would take to drive to the exchange and line that up with when the other van's runners would be coming in to that exchange. Then you had to throw in complications like where to eat, an Exhange that was closed until the last minute because of a football game, and trying to get some sleep. Even though we cut it too close for my liking (because I need extra time to warm up my calf), we were never late and never had a runner waiting for their handoff to show up.

All in all a great time.  No disasters, no one got hurt, everyone seemed to get along.  An unqualified success and a memorable experience for me. After I finished my third leg (and really, before I started my third leg) I said I would never do this again. Now that I've had a full night's sleep

I might be willing to try it again. Maybe.