Monday, October 15, 2007

Some Braggin' and Some Running

Ok, first and foremost, let me brag on my boys a little. Bo had a soccer game this past Tuesday, and we won 6-5 over the only undefeated team - and Bo scored 5 goals! He was just a little bit proud of himself! Saturday, Briar had another football game. I had to miss out on the Delta 100k local bike ride to see his game, but let me tell you - I would have missed every bike ride from here on out to have seen this game. He rushed for almost 100 yds (I don't have the exact count), and he looked great on the field!! For the first time in a while, he is carrying himself with confidence and really doing a great job. He had one run around 45 yards, and got stopped at like the 4 yard line. I almost peed in my pants. And he made several first downs by refusing to go down. And for my favorite part - getting pretty deep into the 4th quarter, he lined up at QB, snapped the ball on 4th & 12, and ran for about 25 yards before being drug out of bounds. And so he's laying there, out of bounds, on his back, on the ground...when some unruly player from the other team comes pouncing on top of him - helmet to chest - Briar's chest. Knocks the breath out of him and he lays there for a while in pain. The coaches get him standing up, but have to send someone else in to run the next play as he gains his composure. After the next play is run, the coach turns around and says "Briar, you just let me know when you're ready." Briar snaps on his chinstrap and yells "I'm READY!!" as he runs up to the coach to get the next play, and runs back out onto the field. Oh yeah...I was proud. ;) Briar's birthday is tomorrow - he will be 11 years old. For the past 11 years, I have been blessed with a miracle we call Briar. I hope that some day I will be able to find the words to express the amazing, intense, 'lay down and die for you' love that I have for my children. It takes my breath away sometimes. It is unlike anything else in this world. We have ups and downs, celebrations and meltdowns, but I have been entrusted with the care of the 2 most special boys in the world to me, and I don't take it lightly. If I make a fool out of myself for trying to make sure they are taken care of, then so be it. I will err on the side of going too far for them before I will risk not going far enough.

Happy Birthday, Briar!


I rested on Saturday and enjoyed my kids' games. J.T. and I went to see "Why Did I Get Married?" Saturday night - funny movie! Sunday I ran the scheduled the 6 miler to kick off the big "Peak Week" on the Pfitz program. It's going to be 55 miles this week. I took Wrigley with me, and bless his heart, he had to sit down and rest a few times. I'm going to have to get him back into shape. I was just glad it was a 6 mile "recovery run"...and I wasn't that concerned about pace. We spent a couple hours at the ball field practicing baseball with the boys, and then came home and I cooked a big meal. We all got too full and went to bed early.

The alarm went off at 4:05 a.m., and I was rested. I got dressed, opting for a short sleeved shirt because it just didn't seem to be that cold this morning, and went outside to meet Michele
for our 12 mile run. This was supposed to be a lactate threshold run, with 7 miles of it being at half marathon pace. HM pace is 8:30, give or take a few seconds. So we set out, with our new reflective belts that work GREAT (thanks Michele!) down to Fredonia Rd. We turn left on Matt's Hollow Rd, and pick it up, after 3 miles, trying to hit Half Mary pace. We go all the way down Matt's Hollow to the end, take a left, and I try to locate the side road that I think is to the left that should bring us out at Hwy 41 on down a ways. We take a left turn that I presume is the one, and keep going. Michele is doubtful of the turn, but I assure her it's okay. Until we are .61 miles into it and it suddenly dead ends. I said "UH - maybe I don't know where we are." But there is no time to think about it, as we are still in the LT portion of our run. We turn around and head back to the intersection and the original way we should have gone. We knew we were going to be too far out after that fiasco, and we talked about calling J.T. to come get us once we were done to ensure that we weren't late getting back and getting the kids to school. We did some calculations and decided that we would be around a mile long - not really long enough to justify getting J.T. and the kids out of the bed. So our 2 mile cool down turned into a 2.88 mile cool down. Not a good a way to start out the heaviest mileage week of my entire life. Instead of 55 miles this week, if all goes well, I'll end up with 55.88. Ouch. Here are the splits from the run:

Mile 1: 9:45
Mile 2: 9:49
Mile 3: 9:23
Mile 4: 8:31
Mile 5: 8:35
Mile 6: 8:27
Mile 7: 8:42
Mile 8: 8:34
Mile 9: 8:30
Mile 10: 8:13
Mile 11: 9:50
Mile 12: 9:32
.88 extra: 8:28(9:40/mi pace)

Total: 12.88 miles in 1:56:19 Avg Pace:9:02/mi;Avg HR:163 bpm; Max HR:178 bpm

I am pleased with this run.

3 comments:

Michele said...

Great job this morning, other then getting us lost ;)
I wouldn't have done it without you, thanks for the push to keep going.
I am going with your numbers. Only one 8:40+ is better then my Garmin report.
Happy b-day to Briar. Great pics. Tell him congrats on his game Saturday. Tell Bo great job too.

Tri-Dummy said...

Hey. That's the sub 4 pace you're looking for.

Tell the boys they kick royal bootay.

Rae said...

Maybe one day he'll play for the Titans and then you guys can retire!!! Tell Briar happy b-day!