I meant to include this picture in the slide show in honor of their birthday, but we got this shot of Sean and Daniel this past weekend that really shows them off.
And here’s wishing everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving weekend.
November 2010 Archives
Four years ago today, I was driving on a rainy highway to get Kellie to the hospital so that Daniel (5 minutes older) and Sean could be born. How lucky we have been and are. Such a wonderful year this has been, and they really are turning into little boys now. They are not anything I would call a toddler any more.
They have had quite a weekend for celebrating their birthdays — 3 days of different events with variations on the family. I think (hope?) that’s all of the presents for now. After all, Christmas is only a month away. (Yikes!)
Turns out I couldn’t quite shake the bug overnight. I felt pretty good during the day and thought I could do it. Everything was laid out for me to go in the morning. But despite being a stubborn man, I did not actually go out to run the half-marathon. (It starts in 7 minutes.) Who knew I could be sane like that?
Unfortunately, there really isn’t another half-marathon for me to target that’s near home any time soon. Now I have to figure out how I’m going to apply this fitness going forward. Stay tuned.
If I can stay healthy. I was supposed to run the McDonald’s Half-Marathon on Saturday morning (about 24 hours from now), but I came down with a virus attack on Wednesday night that was no fun. I feel like I’m getting better, but we’ll see how ready I am for this. I started back at Capital One this Monday, so I’m guessing the air really hasn’t treated me well. At least today was a nominal holiday.
In the past, I have shared links and pictures of some of the major races I’ve done. I’ve actually done very well (better than expected, probably) with my last 2 races, which was supposed to build up for a really good race on Saturday.
Back in late August, I ran a half-marathon around Ashland. I’ve done it each of the past 4 years, and the one thing about it is that it is always hot. This time, the temps were almost reasonable (low 60s to start), but by the time I finished it was around 80 with high humidity. The shorts were not dry, needless to say, which you can see in these pictures (not that I want you to look — I really don’t like how I look in them, but I will share as I always share them).
My time was just a few seconds over 2:05, which is exactly where I wanted to be. Not blazing, but the one good thing was that I pretty much nailed every mile between 1 and 10 within 15 seconds of each other (between 9:29 and 9:44). That’s incredibly even pacing, even with water stops and the occasional hill, and I really didn’t try too hard to match it. I didn’t realize that happened until after the race — I just knew I wanted to keep the early miles around 9:40. Then, I had plenty of energy to crank the pace over the last 3.1 miles, while everyone else was fading. I only got passed by 3 people that entire way, so I’d say that is executing race strategy (although I will also admit it was not a full-on race, as I knew I wasn’t going to set any records).
One of the cool things about local races is that they are starting to share video of runners crossing the finish line. So even if you couldn’t be there, you can see me finish (in the red tank top, coming into view at about the 6 second mark). I look pretty whipped.
OK, that was longer than I expected. The other race I did was really good — a 10-miler starting and finishing at the Virginia State Capitol. My strategy came together well here, too. Weather was perfect (low 50s to start). I went out at 9 minute miles for the first 5 miles (actually 9:04, according to the race organizer), which put me in 401st place of 708 finishers. But this was also one that I expected to speed up, to around 8:45 average pace (there’s a massive hill just after mile 9 that really tests you).
But there was a problem — I actually finished at an 8:33 per mile pace. Which is awesome! Believe me, I was feeling jacked after turning in such an average pace on the finish. And that 8:33 pace actually meant I finished the last 5 miles 296th place, for an overall placing of 343 (top half) in 1:28:08.
Once again, the pictures aren’t great looking. And there is a finish line view of me as well. Once again, I’m in the red tank, crossing about 7 seconds into the video in a crowd that actually held me up (no need to push it — I had already set a record at the distance, although this was only the third time I’ve raced 10 miles).
In so many ways, my training says I’m ready to do some solid racing tomorrow. But this bug has me worried. We’ll see how well I do, and how the weather cooperates. Have a great weekend.
OK, so Kellie got some pictures of the boys with their Iron Man masks. (They actually like to dress up in them after dinner.) She did a good job getting a nice progression. I really love the fake muscles in the costumes, buffing up their young bodies.
Now everyone don’t rush out to order your own costumes.
The kids had a great time with Halloween this year. Getting costumes for Sean and Daniel was relatively easy. Even though they’ve never seen the movie, they both wanted Iron Man costumes when they saw them at Target. Luckily, they wanted different styles/colors, so it makes it a bit easier to keep track of them. (Unfortunately, I never got any pictures with their masks on. Sorry.)
Will was a bit more difficult. He’s not a big character guy, so in the end, he settled on a hot dog costume. I think it’s cool, and if I had more time (I didn’t brainstorm this until about a day before Halloween), I would have created a potato chip bag for myself to wear (green trashbag base, so probably sour cream and onion flavor). How very self-referential. Maybe next year (if Will does the costume again — it’s certainly big enough).
Hope everyone else had a great Halloween of trick or treating.
