I headed to Chattanooga on Monday for our quarterly KBE team meeting. The trip is about four hours, traveling over the mountains or through Atlanta. Of course traveling through Atlanta is not as pretty and can become much longer depending upon traffic. I generally opt for the mountain pass and with a beautiful day it was a no brainer.
The drive is beautiful, especially once you get past Seneca and Westminister. You cross the Chattooga River and are suddenly in Georgia. The town of Clayton is next, then past two beautiful lakes (Lake Burton and Lake Chatuge). The Appalachian Trail crosses between these two mountain lakes. The scenic drive continues as you spend about 30 minutes driving along the rugged Ocoee River. You eventually get off the back roads and on the I-75 near Cleveland, TN.
I met my friend and teammate Prince at Eagle Bluff Golf Course. We had never played the course before and will definitely go back. Almost nobody on the course, fantastic views and some challenging holes and only $30 fees including cart!
We headed to dinner after our round, settling on Carrabba's, before heading to the hotel for the night. I was pleasantly surprised to see my beloved St. Louis Cardinals taking on the New York Mets on ESPN. A solid Cards victory made this one sweet day!
Tuesday morning I woke at 6:30, dressed and headed over to Camp Jordan Park for a run. The park is about 10 miles outside of Chattanooga. There is a gravel 2 mile loop around the park and a side trail that travels along a levee for an unknown distance. The temp was low 60's and I decided 6 miles sounded good. I started with the 2 mile loop, reversed directions until I took the spur, crossing the river on a paved pathway through the woods. You cross under I-75 and then run across what I believe is a levee. I stayed on the levee for about a mile, turned around and headed back and then eventually finished up the remaining portion of the loop. A nice 6 mile run in just over an hour and my longest run since the Vermont Marathon 5 weeks ago.
Back to the hotel, breakfast, showered and ready for the meeting. The two day meeting was cut back to one day, so about 4:00 I'm back on the road to South Carolina. The river, lakes and mountains were absolutely amazing in the late afternoon sunshine. Four hours in the car each way also gave me plenty of time to begin catching up on my podcasts.
I met Gerri for a nice dinner at Copper River Grill and the came home and relaxed. Something I'm looking forward to during the rest of this holiday week.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Time Flies
My personal goal of blogging every day or two needs some work. My intentions are good, but something else seems to always get in the way. It's something I'm going to work on. Instead of leaving "holes" in my blog, here is another quick recap since my last blog.
The weekend went by entirely too fast and was enjoyable as usual. Friday night we met friends for dinner at Doc Chey's and then off to Cafe and Then Some for a show. The dinner was much better than the show, but the best part was spending time with Eric & Robin, Wayne & Vicki and of course my lovely wife Gerri.
Our weekends are generally busy and Saturday was no exception. We planned on a 10K run at Hollingsworth Park, a brand new subdivision with a beautiful park and virtually no traffic. We decided to start later, duplicating the time/temp of our upcoming Peachtree Road Race. The 1st few miles were very enjoyable, but the rising sun and heat made each passing stride harder and harder. We ended up cutting our run short at 5 miles. A few large teas at McAlister's Deli helped cool us off and start the re-hydration process.
We picked up Heather, then hit the stores. Heather is going the The Gauntlet, our church camp, in two weeks and we wanted to make sure she had everything she needed. This was mostly clothing plus two one piece bathing suits. Luckily we were able to take care of everything in only two stores (three stops) and found most items on sale. I normally do not like shopping, but enjoyed seeing the interaction between Heather and Gerri and the way her face lit up when she came out of the dressing room wearing something she really liked.
A quick stop by the grocery store, showers and then off to Live Free, Live Loud. This was an outdoor concert including fireworks that was put on by our church, New Spring. It was a pleasant evening, the crowd was large and enthusiastic and we raised almost $40,000 for charity. The band did a great job, especially Lee McDerment. Lee played numerous songs from his recently released CD, A Matchlight in the Dark. As the band played we enjoyed goodies from our picnic basket, and just being together. An outstanding fireworks display took place following the concert.
Sunday's just fly by. Church at 11:15, lunch at Wild Wing Cafe, some time relaxing at home and then the 80 mile round trip drive to take Heather back home.
Monday morning Gerri and I woke up early to get in a 3 mile run. Unfortunately my GI issues caused me to delay, so we ended up running separately. We both had good runs as the cooler temps really helped out. A quick shower, packing and I was off to Chattanooga.
The weekend went by entirely too fast and was enjoyable as usual. Friday night we met friends for dinner at Doc Chey's and then off to Cafe and Then Some for a show. The dinner was much better than the show, but the best part was spending time with Eric & Robin, Wayne & Vicki and of course my lovely wife Gerri.
Our weekends are generally busy and Saturday was no exception. We planned on a 10K run at Hollingsworth Park, a brand new subdivision with a beautiful park and virtually no traffic. We decided to start later, duplicating the time/temp of our upcoming Peachtree Road Race. The 1st few miles were very enjoyable, but the rising sun and heat made each passing stride harder and harder. We ended up cutting our run short at 5 miles. A few large teas at McAlister's Deli helped cool us off and start the re-hydration process.
We picked up Heather, then hit the stores. Heather is going the The Gauntlet, our church camp, in two weeks and we wanted to make sure she had everything she needed. This was mostly clothing plus two one piece bathing suits. Luckily we were able to take care of everything in only two stores (three stops) and found most items on sale. I normally do not like shopping, but enjoyed seeing the interaction between Heather and Gerri and the way her face lit up when she came out of the dressing room wearing something she really liked.
A quick stop by the grocery store, showers and then off to Live Free, Live Loud. This was an outdoor concert including fireworks that was put on by our church, New Spring. It was a pleasant evening, the crowd was large and enthusiastic and we raised almost $40,000 for charity. The band did a great job, especially Lee McDerment. Lee played numerous songs from his recently released CD, A Matchlight in the Dark. As the band played we enjoyed goodies from our picnic basket, and just being together. An outstanding fireworks display took place following the concert.
Sunday's just fly by. Church at 11:15, lunch at Wild Wing Cafe, some time relaxing at home and then the 80 mile round trip drive to take Heather back home.
Monday morning Gerri and I woke up early to get in a 3 mile run. Unfortunately my GI issues caused me to delay, so we ended up running separately. We both had good runs as the cooler temps really helped out. A quick shower, packing and I was off to Chattanooga.
Friday, June 27, 2008
One Hundred Push Ups
I've procrastinated long enough. I've told Gerri over and over again that I was going to work on my core. The excuses are always the same, I'll start "after the 1st of the year", "after the Tybee Half", and finally "after the Vermont Marathon." It's time for me to step up.
Now I know that push ups are exactly a core workout, but they certainly will help the core. I'll also find an abdominal workout to use along with this challenge. This will be a struggle, but isn't everyone worthwhile that we do?
I found this challenge while reading the Shut It and Run blog. Mar is another Greenville runner and a fast one at that. I found her blog after a link was posted on the Greenville Track Club website.
Anyone care to join me in this 6 week challenge?
The Week That Was
Got a little behind blogging this week, and I really missed it. Decided to do a short recap of my week while I had a moment. Instead of blogging this week I was driving between locations, working on a presentation, getting some extra sleep and reading two books. I'm not much of a reader, I leave that up to Gerri and Chelsea. I'm currently reading The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey and Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters by Meg Meeker.
This week took me to Lithonia, GA on Monday. I traveled from Lithonia to Macon & Warner Robins (GA) on Tuesday afternoon/evening. From Warner Robins to Columbus, GA on Wednesday afternoon and finally back home on Thursday after attending and speaking at a meeting on Thursday.
So far this week I have gotten in two runs. The first was a nice 5.25 mile run around the Zebulon Road area in Macon. I started at 9:22 pm and enjoyed the slightly cooler temps along with the sights and sounds of the darkness. Nothing like running in the dark, seeing lightning bugs, and listening to the sounds of the creatures of the night.
My 2nd run was Thursday morning on a park trail in Columbus. It was near my hotel and a great place to run. I found this thanks to columbusnet on Twitter. I headed out about 6:30 am and run a nice easy 4 miles.
Today has been a day to get caught up on things. Bills, expense reports, emails, blogs, etc. Tonight Gerri and I are meeting friends for dinner at Doc Chey's and then heading to Cafe and Then Some. Should be a fun evening.
This week took me to Lithonia, GA on Monday. I traveled from Lithonia to Macon & Warner Robins (GA) on Tuesday afternoon/evening. From Warner Robins to Columbus, GA on Wednesday afternoon and finally back home on Thursday after attending and speaking at a meeting on Thursday.
So far this week I have gotten in two runs. The first was a nice 5.25 mile run around the Zebulon Road area in Macon. I started at 9:22 pm and enjoyed the slightly cooler temps along with the sights and sounds of the darkness. Nothing like running in the dark, seeing lightning bugs, and listening to the sounds of the creatures of the night.
My 2nd run was Thursday morning on a park trail in Columbus. It was near my hotel and a great place to run. I found this thanks to columbusnet on Twitter. I headed out about 6:30 am and run a nice easy 4 miles.
Today has been a day to get caught up on things. Bills, expense reports, emails, blogs, etc. Tonight Gerri and I are meeting friends for dinner at Doc Chey's and then heading to Cafe and Then Some. Should be a fun evening.
Candlelight 5K
File this one under the category "better late than never." That certainly applies here since it is now Friday afternoon and the race took place on Saturday night. This was a race I wasn't even sure I would run because of the bad migraine I had suffered on Friday night (see previous blog) and the fact that I was still feeling the day after migraine symptoms.
After lounging around most of the day, Gerri kicked us into gear about 2:00. We had to get moving because laying around and watching television wasn't helping. We showered, dressed and headed into Greenville for lunch at The Mellow Mushroom. We both settled on personal pizza's and unsweet tea. Mine was pepperoni of course, the pizza not the tea. Lunch was good and just getting moving had improved how I felt and my overall mind frame.
We had plenty of time to kill, so we headed over to Woodruff Rd and hung out at Barnes & Noble. This was close to the race, which was being held on the new ICARS campus just a short distance away. It felt good to be out and about and time went by fast while I read through a Running Times magazine. About 6:00 pm we headed over to Hubbell Lighting and parked.
Now the race is called the Candlelight 5K because they line the streets with thousands of luminaries. Luminaries of course look best when it is dark, so the race was scheduled for 9:00 pm. We don't normally show up at a race three hours early but we wanted to park at Hubbell before they blocked off the street (7:30ish) and were also meeting some family and friends there.
We got our race packets, met up with Marian and Francis, and then the Warren Clan. We saw a few of the No Boundaries group that Gerri and I had volunteered to work with through Fleet Feet. This was the first time that most of them would be running in a race, having just started running about three months ago. It was nice to see them so excited.
The 1 mile fun run/walk started about 8:00 pm and eventually we started lining up for the 5K. It was not excessively warm or humid, but it is South Carolina on a late June evening. I was feeling better than I expected, so figured I would push as hard as I could. The 5K is my least favorite distance and this loop course has plenty of hills.
I either started to far back in the pack or the slower runners/walkers were way to far ahead, because the first mile which was mostly downhill was spent doing nothing other than avoiding collisions. It was somewhat stressful and prevented me from getting into a nice, steady groove. I also realized during this time frame that I should have used the port-a-potties before the race began.
The 1st mile was run in a reasonable 8:43 pace, but not what I would need for a PR. We had made the turn and were now headed back up hill towards the start. The hill was not steep, but steady. In addition to the hills, my bladder needed relief. As the hill crested, I used a port-a-potty for only the 2nd time during a race. The 1st time was the halfway point of my marathon, but a 5K? Are you kidding me? I thought I was fast, but my Garmin proved otherwise. There goes 51 seconds down the drain. Mile 2 including break in 10:18
As I re-joined the race, I knew any chance of a PR was now over. Mentally I was defeated and physically I was quickly approaching that point. The events of the past 24 hours had begun to take their toll and now the goal was to survive and finish the last 1.1 miles. Some more hills, both up and down, another 180% turn and back towards the finish. Mile 3 was done in 10:05 and the last portion (0.15 on my Garmin) was at an 8:29 pace. Garmin timed at 30:21, (Chip time 30:20) well off of my 5K PR of 27:58. 395/568 male finishers using Gun time of 30:40.
Video quality is not great but I can be seen in a white Fleet Feet shirt, red shorts at approx 33 seconds. Marion (white V-neck, black shorts) can be seen along with Tracy and the girls around 1:23 and for a number of seconds after as the camera turns to follow. You can see Marian almost get run over by a stroller.
Although I didn't set a new PR, or even break 30:00, I still had a good time. It's always fun getting back to the finish line to cheer on Gerri, although with her recent "speedy workouts", it may just be a matter of time before she is cheering for me at the finish.
After lounging around most of the day, Gerri kicked us into gear about 2:00. We had to get moving because laying around and watching television wasn't helping. We showered, dressed and headed into Greenville for lunch at The Mellow Mushroom. We both settled on personal pizza's and unsweet tea. Mine was pepperoni of course, the pizza not the tea. Lunch was good and just getting moving had improved how I felt and my overall mind frame.
We had plenty of time to kill, so we headed over to Woodruff Rd and hung out at Barnes & Noble. This was close to the race, which was being held on the new ICARS campus just a short distance away. It felt good to be out and about and time went by fast while I read through a Running Times magazine. About 6:00 pm we headed over to Hubbell Lighting and parked.
Now the race is called the Candlelight 5K because they line the streets with thousands of luminaries. Luminaries of course look best when it is dark, so the race was scheduled for 9:00 pm. We don't normally show up at a race three hours early but we wanted to park at Hubbell before they blocked off the street (7:30ish) and were also meeting some family and friends there.
We got our race packets, met up with Marian and Francis, and then the Warren Clan. We saw a few of the No Boundaries group that Gerri and I had volunteered to work with through Fleet Feet. This was the first time that most of them would be running in a race, having just started running about three months ago. It was nice to see them so excited.
The 1 mile fun run/walk started about 8:00 pm and eventually we started lining up for the 5K. It was not excessively warm or humid, but it is South Carolina on a late June evening. I was feeling better than I expected, so figured I would push as hard as I could. The 5K is my least favorite distance and this loop course has plenty of hills.
I either started to far back in the pack or the slower runners/walkers were way to far ahead, because the first mile which was mostly downhill was spent doing nothing other than avoiding collisions. It was somewhat stressful and prevented me from getting into a nice, steady groove. I also realized during this time frame that I should have used the port-a-potties before the race began.
The 1st mile was run in a reasonable 8:43 pace, but not what I would need for a PR. We had made the turn and were now headed back up hill towards the start. The hill was not steep, but steady. In addition to the hills, my bladder needed relief. As the hill crested, I used a port-a-potty for only the 2nd time during a race. The 1st time was the halfway point of my marathon, but a 5K? Are you kidding me? I thought I was fast, but my Garmin proved otherwise. There goes 51 seconds down the drain. Mile 2 including break in 10:18
As I re-joined the race, I knew any chance of a PR was now over. Mentally I was defeated and physically I was quickly approaching that point. The events of the past 24 hours had begun to take their toll and now the goal was to survive and finish the last 1.1 miles. Some more hills, both up and down, another 180% turn and back towards the finish. Mile 3 was done in 10:05 and the last portion (0.15 on my Garmin) was at an 8:29 pace. Garmin timed at 30:21, (Chip time 30:20) well off of my 5K PR of 27:58. 395/568 male finishers using Gun time of 30:40.
Video quality is not great but I can be seen in a white Fleet Feet shirt, red shorts at approx 33 seconds. Marion (white V-neck, black shorts) can be seen along with Tracy and the girls around 1:23 and for a number of seconds after as the camera turns to follow. You can see Marian almost get run over by a stroller.
Although I didn't set a new PR, or even break 30:00, I still had a good time. It's always fun getting back to the finish line to cheer on Gerri, although with her recent "speedy workouts", it may just be a matter of time before she is cheering for me at the finish.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Migraine Hell
Unfortunately I have not gotten a run in this week except for the easy 3 miler on Monday morning. I planned on 3-5 miles yesterday but was feeling out of sorts all day. Eventually that snowballed into a headache, then a migraine, then a migraine from hell. Within minutes I went from being able to watch TV to thinking that my head was going to explode. There was nothing I could do to alleviate the pain, which kept getting worse and worse. I don't often think about death and dying, but during some of these really painful episodes I often worry if the pain is a migraine or an aneurysm. During the worst of the worst, I always tell Gerri that I love her, just in case those are the last words I can say.
I know it is hard for her to see me in pain, and not to be able to do anything to help. Like most of the bad ones, eventually the nausea kicks in which of course leads to vomiting. This is actually a good thing, because once you have vomited, at least you know that relief is usually not far behind. Shortly after vomiting, the body tends to collapse, and assuming that you can actually find a comfortable position to lay your head, you pass out. For me, this phase can last from 1-3 hours, after which you can generally function, although at a reduced pace.
Now I'm having to deal with what I like to call the severe migraine hangover. The day after can be as bad as having a nasty hangover. Your body feels beat up, and you wake up with a dull headache. It's usually a 50-50 chance on whether another migraine follows the next day, since they tend to come in phases. I made sure to get up as soon as I woke up at 6:00am, because oversleeping or laying in bed can be a trigger. I grabbed some water to start to rehydrate, and will be sure to watch my food intake today.
Complicating matters is a scheduled run tonight, the Candlelight 5K at 9:00pm. I'm not sure what kind of shape I'll be in to run, but plan on giving it everything I have.
The worst part about migraines and the thing that frustrates me the most is I rarely ever get them when I'm working. 99.9% of the time I have ever had a migraine has been on a day off. I guess I should be thankful, because it would be impossible to work with a migraine, but at the same time I hate losing my off days when they happen.
I know it is hard for her to see me in pain, and not to be able to do anything to help. Like most of the bad ones, eventually the nausea kicks in which of course leads to vomiting. This is actually a good thing, because once you have vomited, at least you know that relief is usually not far behind. Shortly after vomiting, the body tends to collapse, and assuming that you can actually find a comfortable position to lay your head, you pass out. For me, this phase can last from 1-3 hours, after which you can generally function, although at a reduced pace.
Now I'm having to deal with what I like to call the severe migraine hangover. The day after can be as bad as having a nasty hangover. Your body feels beat up, and you wake up with a dull headache. It's usually a 50-50 chance on whether another migraine follows the next day, since they tend to come in phases. I made sure to get up as soon as I woke up at 6:00am, because oversleeping or laying in bed can be a trigger. I grabbed some water to start to rehydrate, and will be sure to watch my food intake today.
Complicating matters is a scheduled run tonight, the Candlelight 5K at 9:00pm. I'm not sure what kind of shape I'll be in to run, but plan on giving it everything I have.
The worst part about migraines and the thing that frustrates me the most is I rarely ever get them when I'm working. 99.9% of the time I have ever had a migraine has been on a day off. I guess I should be thankful, because it would be impossible to work with a migraine, but at the same time I hate losing my off days when they happen.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Father's Day
I had a good Father's Day even if I wasn't able to spend time with my girls. Gerri made sure to make it special, and she always does. We got to sleep in some and boy did that feel good after the past hectic week or two. I got some great iPod and iTune gifts, and two great cards (1 from Gerri and 1 from Shadow-our cat). We had a nice breakfast and readied for church. I got a call from Chelsea wishing me a happy Father's Day which meant a lot to me. I knew I wouldn't hear from Heather since she is away at Camp Chatuga.
We headed off to New Spring Church and like always enjoyed the service. I especially like the services when Lee performs and he was great yesterday. I also ran into an old co-worker after the service as we headed to our car.
After church we drove to Greenville for lunch at Barley's Tap Room. We had our usual hummus and pita and instead of the voodoo past I decided on a whole wheat calzone with pepperoni and onion. After lunch we walked around our beautiful city, hung on the Liberty Bridge for a while, watched a group rehearsing for an upcoming Shakespeare in the Park performance and headed back up to Luna Rosa for some great gelato. I got the Banana's Foster with the Velvet Chocolate and it was delicious. Think of eating frozen bananas coated with chocolate.
We headed home, and spent the rest of the day relaxing. I surfed the internet some, catching up on twitters, blog posts and forums, read some more of Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover and of course watched the U.S. Open. Is Tiger Woods simply amazing or what? Gerri went to the Carrie Underwood concert with a friend, a good distraction for her with LSAT's tomorrow.
This was a great Father's Day!
We headed off to New Spring Church and like always enjoyed the service. I especially like the services when Lee performs and he was great yesterday. I also ran into an old co-worker after the service as we headed to our car.
After church we drove to Greenville for lunch at Barley's Tap Room. We had our usual hummus and pita and instead of the voodoo past I decided on a whole wheat calzone with pepperoni and onion. After lunch we walked around our beautiful city, hung on the Liberty Bridge for a while, watched a group rehearsing for an upcoming Shakespeare in the Park performance and headed back up to Luna Rosa for some great gelato. I got the Banana's Foster with the Velvet Chocolate and it was delicious. Think of eating frozen bananas coated with chocolate.
We headed home, and spent the rest of the day relaxing. I surfed the internet some, catching up on twitters, blog posts and forums, read some more of Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover and of course watched the U.S. Open. Is Tiger Woods simply amazing or what? Gerri went to the Carrie Underwood concert with a friend, a good distraction for her with LSAT's tomorrow.
This was a great Father's Day!
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