Up Early For A Shower

I had plans for my weekend runs that didn't fully come to fruition. The plan was to get up very early Saturday morning to put in 10 miles before my daughters Cross Country Meet and then get up early again Sunday for 10 miles before early church (the girls were singing in the early service).

I actually woke up 2 minutes before the alarm for to go off Saturday morning (some may still say night) and went to get ready to run. I heard some noise outside and attributed it to wind. When I stepped outside at 4:45AM I realized it wasn't the wind but instead some distant thunder. Storms were on the way but I decided to still go. I headed to the local track, hopped the fence and began doing laps in the dark. Well, mostly dark with brief flashes of light as I was the audience for a really cool light show in the sky to the north and west. It would light up the entire track for a half second at a time. I had no idea of my pace as I was in awe of the show above and beyond me.

Finally 30 minutes into the run, I felt the first drop of rain. A lap later and it picked up. 1 lap later and it was raining good. I was only about 3.5 to 4 miles into the run so decided to keep going. Then the skies opened up completely and I was deluged with water feeling like I was under a waterfall of sorts. It felt awesome as I was soaked beyond wet. The track was full of puddles, every step was a squish-fest for the feet but the temps were just warm enough to not be cold. Being dark I couldn't fully tell, but it seemed like it rained harder than the Twins Cities marathon 2 years ago.

Finally, after 20 or 30 minutes, it slowed to a steady drizzle and I finished my full 10 miles. I had to be very careful hopping the fence back as it is about 7 feet high and I didn't want to crack my head on the pavement. Success. A warm shower, my second 'shower' of the day, capped a great and fun morning run.

I then picked up my daughter from her sleepover party and went to her CC meet where it was wet, a little rain, but a success none-the-less.

Sunday morning, I woke up at 4AM and it was raining again, not a full downpour, but a good steady pace. My shoes were still wet and I didn't want to get soaked again, so I crawled back in bed and slept some more. I was able to get in 5 miles later at CC practice. I did a 4 1/2 mile pace run at 7:58 pace and was able to finish the week with 43 miles.

Next week will be the last full mileage week before I start to drop miles getting ready for Grand Rapids. I plan on a very long Saturday long run at a very slow pace. I may go to the hills again, we will see.

A Wet but Fun Weekend

It has been a really rainy weekend here. It rained later in the morning on Saturday and all afternoon, all evening, all night, all Sunday morning, and most of Sunday afternoon. Did that stop me from having fun or running . . .nope! Though I didn't run in the rain . . . too much that is.

Paul came over on Saturday morning for a long easy run. We left at about 6:30AM and it was about 65F. We hit the Muskego Trail and were planning an out to the end of the trail and back. At about 7 1/2 miles at really easy pace, I sensed some rain about to come. Sure enough, it started but not too hard. It stopped soon, about 1 mile later, and we continued on. I was feeling quite tired on the run, maybe it was the wind, maybe it was the harder run on Thursday and Friday, maybe I was just an off day bit I kept slowing down. With 2 miles to go, it started raining again. A little harder this time but not anywhere near pouring. We finished the 15 1/2 miles at an average of 9:11, much slower that we usually run, but Paul is running a The Wisconsin Marathon next weekend so he was OK with the slow pace.

There was a track meet going on at the school 200 meters from my home and the rain came hard later in the morning. I felt bad for the kids as they had to scramble to find shelter not once, but twice.

That afternoon and evening, I went to a friends wedding. It was pretty fun and I sat with some people I did not know but we all had a blast at the table. I am not a fashion guru and I am sure I don't dress perfectly all the time, but some guy just made me laugh. Maybe I am out of date on fashion or I just don't know any better, but I saw one guy there who from the waist up looked very nice. A suit and tie, very clean. Then you look down and not only was he wearing sandals, but he had on Capri dress pants. I didn't even know those existed and frankly, I think they should just go away. Just my opinion.

When you have princesses at home like me, you get to do things that most normal adults don't think of doing or normally do. Some of you can relate. Well, today was one of those day. I took Melissa (7y/o) to go see the Hannah Montana movie. Now since I do get to do some of these things that most normal adults don't do, I get to experience good things they don't. This movie was one of those things. It was a good movie. The music was OK and the plot was pretty good. I won't go as far as recommending this to all my adult friends, but I won't say to avoid it also. Disney is making some really good movies for the Tweens out there. The High School Musical movies are like this as well.

I also ready that Disney is coming out with a new animated Princess movie this fall. It is called "The Princess and the Frog". I am surprised it took this long but they are finally going to have a black princess named Tiana. The preview of the plot sounds like it is going to be another Disney Masterpiece.

Hope you had a good weekend.