72 Laps

The long weekend is over and now the new week has begun. It was a very busy weekend with running, the Living Nativity, and a friends Christmas Party.



The weekend started on Friday evening which was the first day of the Living Nativity at church. My job was to play the part of a Roman Guard. This was not a part of the actual presentation but I was to walk around both outside and inside and 'harass' people like a Roman Guard would have done back 2000+ years ago. I would ask people what their business was in Bethlehem and remind the to sign the Census. I had a lot of fun with kids who found it fun to be 'harassed' and I charged the a Cookie Tax which meant they had to go and get me a cookie. I did this on Saturday and Sunday evenings as well. It was cold but a nice fire pit helped when I was outside and the seeing the people come and watch the presentation made it worth it.


After Fridays presentations (9 per night) and a good sleep, I was up at 5 AM to head off to Pettit for a long run. It was snowing during the night so it made it a bit harder to get there but I got there without incident. I was the first one there right at 6 AM and started my run. A lap or 2 into the run, Chris showed up. Chris is the guy who is the Race Director for the Icebreaker Marathon which will be held at the Pettit Center on January 17th. He was in the mood for a slower run so that fit right into my pace. We had emailed each other some in the past but this was the first time I met him face to face. We started out at a good pace of about 8:30 or so for the first 10 to 14 miles. After 14 miles, he was done and I continued on. At about 16 miles, I was forced to take a break as the speed skaters started the National Anthem. Most of the runners stop during this and I did as well. I feel it is wrong to just run through it even though it is for the speed skaters and not the runners. The break helped but after 18 miles, all started to fall apart. The pace had already slowed to about 9:00 but for the last 2 miles just sucked. I just wanted it over but I finished all 20 miles I set out to do and averaged close to 9:00. Finally 72 laps are complete. Seems like I have some more work to do to get ready for the Icebreaker. One cool thing Chris told me is that my race number for the Icebreaker will be 4. I have never had a single digit for a number before so it sounded cool. Let's hope it gives me good luck in the race.


After the Living Nativity that evening, I went over to my friends Terry & Lori's house for their Christmas Party. I got there at about 10 PM and stayed to about 1:45 AM. I was very tired after that but their parties are always a good time so worth it. I got to see other friends I haven't seen in awhile.


Monday came and off to work. After work it was time for a run from work. We are expecting a big winter storm tonight so I decided to go a bit longer since I most likely will not be able to run tomorrow. So off I was to do 8 miles. I ended up doing the Hills Loop and added 3 miles though town. It was an easy run at about 8:50 pace. Now time to save energy for the much snow blowing and shoveling to come in the morning.