My 16 miles and a 5 mile run

what's going down everybody? hopefully there are some people out there reading these posts. if you are reading this please post a reply. something as simple as "hi" or "these blogs are stupid" or anything really would be nice. appreciate ya pal. all right, back to the topic at hand. 16 miles. crazy. i remember running six months ago. when i did 3 miles i was pumped up. i completely agree with crystal when she said that it is very gratifying to finish. the hills on the course we ran were insane. the hill that crystal mentioned was a monster. the good news is that our running coaches told us that the hill is equivalent to the biggest hill in san francisco. unfortunately that doesn't make it any easier to run though. crystal talked about what she thinks about when she's running and of course i agree with my lovely wife again. your mind really races when you do the long distances. my A.D.D. doesn't help. i really focus on my music. i finished about 4 minutes ahead of crystal (3 hrs and 22 min). my runs (not those runs) are a bunch of little 1 minute pep talks. those nifty little interval watches we have help to keep you on track. the mind definitely races during that time. the last 2 miles consisted of the "rotating cramp". it would move from one hamstring to the other to my calf to my quad to my shoulder to muscles in my body i didn't know i had. overall the run was great. we had a protein smoothie on the way home that was MONEY. we are instructed to eat some serious protein after the long distances. i'm sure anybody who saw us getting out of the car laughed out loud. on Labor Day i ran in a 5 mile run.

here's a picture.
i'm the bald guy.

this was a 5 mile run in new braunfels at the Dry Comal Creek Winery. it was the first time i've ever run in a competitive event, well at least since 3rd grade track meet in Lomega. i finished 4th in my age group and weight class. yes, i said weight class. i'm a "clydesdale". which is a nice way of saying i'm fatter than most of the mofo's that run in these things. i was 4th out of about 20 people in the 0-39 year bracket. my time was 49 min and 6 sec. 9:50 sec pace. not bad for a beer drinkin' horse. i would have finished about 18th out of 30ish guys in the non-horse 35-39 bracket. i thought that was not bad for my 1st run. this course was weird. it seemed like it was actually uphill both ways. who knows. at least it was downhill the last 200 yards. i'm hoping that people thought i was sprinting at the finish. i was actually just going down the hill and my legs wouldn't stop.

next week is 10 miles. it's really funny that both crystal and i are saying "10 miles, that's nothing".

that's about it. thanks again to everybody's donations, thoughts, and prayers. we have some great friends and family out there and i assure you we both appreciate all that you do.

derek