jeffandrew916’s Neighborhood

Wrapped up another really strong week running wise.  Finished the week with 56 miles.  This morning, I ran yet another course record for my 14 mile course in 1:31:03.  Had 45:30 half way, so only fell off 3 seconds on the way back.  Conditions were ideal, 59 and sunny, slight breeze on the way back.  Really didn't intend on running that fast, but the legs felt awesome.  This is even after a 5 mile fartlek yesterday (9 total miles).  I did the Octane 30 minutes Monday through Friday this week in addition to the 56 miles.  Although the average was 6:30 pace, most of my run was done around 6:15 to 6:20 pace.  So, I'm getting really confident in breaking 1:20 for the half in November.  Probably helps that I only worked two days this week, so the stress level has been lower and I've maintained decent sleep this week.  Plus the cool weather makes the recovery really quick.  On Monday, I ran a fairly quick 10 miles with Jeff and Josh, which was actually supposed to be a recovery day, yet my resting HR was back down in the mid 40s less than an hour after finishing.  Watching the Olympics this week has also helped my discipline and determination.  Got a couple of 5Ks coming up.  A 5K on the 23rd, then the Little Italy 5K on the 30th.  I'll be trying for my 4th win in the Little Italy.  I've won the race in 1996 (16:32), 1999 (16:36) and 2006 (17:37).  It'll be nice to pull it off again, but I'm going to have to get low 17 to win it.

Kourtney's first High School soccer game will be this Tuesday night against Sullivan.  She'll be playing in the JV game.  Kids start school Tuesday.  Time to get back into that routine. 

The Women's Olympic Marathon was awesome to watch.  Deena Kastor dropped out at just three miles in with a foot injury.  And kudos to Paula Radcliffe for finishing the race this go around (she was the favorite to win in 2004 and dropped out at 23.5 miles after falling to 4th place).  Shalane Flanagan's 3rd place finish in the 10,000m was awesome too.

Quick break from Olympics. 

I'm taking a posting break during the Olympics.  We've been glued to the TV since they started and I don't think I'll be catching things up here.
See you after the Olympics are over.

Today Mariah and I and the kids went to Indy for her 6 month followup appointment to her surgery she had in January.  Kind of a long day.  The weather was great though.  Don't really want to go to work tomorrow.  Too much BS right now. I'll have Wednesday, Friday and next Monday off as well though.  Problem is things pile up when you're gone, and people lose patience....  S'well.

Tonight I had a good run with Jeff and Josh.  10 miles at about 6:50 to 7:00 pace.  My arms and stomach are actually still a little sore from Saturday's race.  I've toyed a little bit with the core workout stuff, but I really need to work on it.  I know it can probably make a 20 second difference in my 5K time, in addition to reducing risk of injury.

The Olympics have really got me pumped up.  I have such admiration for these amazing athletes as they compete.  Track and Field events start on Friday (I think). 

Off to bed I go as I have to get up at 3 am for a quick thing for work.

Today I ran the ISO Circle The City 10K in Indianapolis.  I ran the same race two years ago and totally bonked it and practically jogged it.  Today, I ran this race again and ran really well and clocked 37:01 good for 15th overall and 2nd in my age group.  Got a pretty severe side stitch 3 miles in and took until the 5 mile mark to get rid of it.  I was able to reclaim two of the five spots that I lost as a result.  Mile splits not too bad, 5:38, 5:49, 6:02, 6:07, 6:16 and  finally 6:02.Temperature was very nice today, 71.  For August 9th, that is a "freebie".  Three weeks until the Little Italy 5K in Clinton.  Gotta try to get in some track workouts.  Based on today's effort, I'm probably in shape for a mid 17:40 right now.  So, gotta knock that down.

I watched the open ceremonies for the Olympics lastnight.  Pretty awesome.  I've watched a little bit of the Olympics today.  The soccer on the HD Soccer channel is really awesome.

Tomorrow is my 17th Wedding Anniversary.  Hard to believe that we've been together almost 20 years.  It's amazing that it just used to be me and Mariah before the kids were here.  Hard to imagine what life would be like without the kids right now.

Work totally sucked this week.  We wrapped up some good projects, but at the same time, it was a reminder of how much we've taken on and how disorganized a lot of it still is, and that we just don't have the resources to support what we have.  I actually got called twice in the middle of the night for problems at work.  I hate having calls the night before a race. 

My mom and dad are almost out to New Mexico where they're retiring to.  They moved back to the midwest for 20 years and are now getting out of there. 

Wow it's been a long time since I've posted.  I've been out here looking, but just not writing.  I've been really busy with work this week.  Pretty crazy.  And I have been training really diligently.  I've run every day since I got back from vacation on June 28th.  Have a race slated for Saturday in Indianapolis.  10K.  Waiting for some decent CD releases.  Rush's new DVD comes out Nov. 4th.  Metallica's new CD is supposedly coming out September 12th.  I'll believe that when I see that, kinda like the Guns n' Roses album that has been supposed to have come out for the last 12 years.  Not so sure that I'll even pick up the Metallica CD as St. Anger just didn't cut it for me.  Really looking forward to Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Metric.  I wish Feist would release a live DVD.  damn...  I got new Bose headphones for my birthday from Mariah and the kids.  Really sound awesome.  The bass is a little overwhelming, so it's taking some getting used to.  Kids start school very shortly.  Olympics start tomorrow.  Can't wait!!!

 

Going to sleep with the windows open tonight.  How You Doin!!!

 

Random photo maybe?

Our little Missy needs glasses.  She had been telling us for a while that she had trouble seeing the chalkboard at school.  MJ also said that at times when she put on a friends pair, things seemed to be better.
Well we had an opening when I changed jobs.  We were able to change our Vision insurance from Couple to Family.  So today the missus took MJ to the eye dr to see what's going on.
In a nutshell, she has an astigmatism and a little near sightedness.  We think the astigmatism is the bigger problem and once that's addressed, her eyes might focus better otherwise.

Guess where she got the astigmatism from?  Yep, me.  I got my first pair in High School so she has me beat.
MJ also had the joy of getting her eyes dilated to see how her muscles were working.  I came home to her "Owl Eyes" and thought it looked cute.  Of course she didn't like the bright lights but she did get to wear the "Cool" sunglasses.
So in 7-10 days she'll get some designer OP glasses that will turn dark in the daylight.  She's stoked and we're broke...

Yeah!  The Olympics are coming!  No, not the Summer but the Winter Olympics.  Our family is really into the Winter Olympics so we've been patiently waiting for this information.

The date you need to know?  October 3.  That's when the tickets go on sale.  Not sure what we'll want to see yet, but we have a few months to think about it.

I went for a long run this morning of around 11 miles.  At least as far as I can figure due to running the course previously.  (Out and back)  Problem is the Garmin GPS was off about .2 miles at the end.  So what do I trust?  I think I'll go with my experience on the trail. 
I like running in shade and this course has a lot of it (Converted Rail to Trail).  Of course the GPS gets a little confused.  I tried to keep a 9:00 - 9:30 pace but the poor unit said I was going as slow as 10:30 or as fast as 5:25.  I probably didn't hit those extremes or at least I didn't feel like I was that erratic.
The run it self was ok.  I ran 10 miles last weekend and it felt pretty good so I was hyped for 11.  Plus, last night I finally got a Running Song Playlist on my IPod together of upbeat music.  What could go wrong? 
I guess plenty.  First, it was a little more humid than last week and about 5 degrees warmer.  I don't do humidity so that was a drag.  Plus, I could never get in a groove.  Felt like I was forcing it.  So as you know, there are good and not so good days.  Today was a not so good run.
BUT, I did get in the 11 miles and I'm still on track for the Batavia 1/2 Marathon at the end of the month.  Something has come up that I didn't consider before.  The 1/2 is on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend.  We were thinking of going camping so what to do?  We are going camping next weekend so we may not try for the holiday but you never know.  We try to be a little spur of the moment on those things.
I guess I'll continue to keep up my training and take things as they come.
Happy Running!

As promised, I wanted to tell you about Scout Camp. 

This was BDog's first year for Scout Camp and my first year as an adult leader.  Since it was his first year, his schedule was pretty well planned out with all of the other first years as a group.  This was so there wasn't too much free time on their hands (A good thing) and so that they hit the basics and don't have to worry about them later.
So for this year all of the first year's were signed up for the Swimming merit badge (Yeah!) and Basket Weaving (Yuck).  For swimming they got to be in the lake 2 hours a day for 4 days.  On top that, they also did their patrol time at the lake so close to 3 hours a day wet.  Great stuff!
Basket Weaving was Monday and Thursday evenings.  Not quite as fun but it was still interesting.
At this camp, the scouts cooked all of their own meals.  If you've ever been to camp, you know that normally there is a dining hall where everyone eats.  At CFL (Camp Freeland Leslie) it's all on your own.  While that might be good for the older kids, the first years didn't have much of a clue.  The adults directed quite a bit.  This was all about learning anyway.  My complaint was that after cooking, eating and then cleaning, there wasn't much time left to themselves.  It seemed our group was always late somewhere.
I forgot to mention the storms.  We had 6 of them.  A couple were pretty strong and kicked things around a bit.  The scouts learned a valuable lesson about not letting anything touch the sides of the tent.  Oh, and during one storm, a branch fell off and hit BDog's tent.  It ripped a hole and landed about a foot from his tent-mates head.  That was kind of scary.
Other fun scouting stuff that BDog enjoyed was shooting a .22, archery and Capture the Flag.  Of course there also was the Battle of Lake Emerick.  Never heard of that battle?  Well, let me tell you.  It was a blast.  Picture 20 canoes with 3 scouts in each.  (There also were a few adults canoes of which I was in one)  The goal was to get everyone as wet as possible using paddles, Nerf balls and hands.  All I can say is "Mission Accomplished!"
The sad part was that I was the first person, of everyone, to go in the lake.  I was in the back of our canoe and the guy in the middle was splashing.  He made a quick move from one side to the other that I wasn't expecting and I went right over.  That was ok until I tried to get back in the canoe.  I grabbed the other side to pull myself up and bonked my face on the crossbar. 
I finally got back in but our canoe had so much water that we couldn't really do anything.  So we abandoned ship.  First canoe to flip.  (Yeah us)  There were a bunch of older scouts in row boats who's main job was to pull a swamped canoe onto their boat, flip it to drain and then float it again.  They did it and we got back in.  It wasn't until the next day that I realized I had bruises all over the left side of my body including just under my eye.  (My first Black Eye ever!)
Just about every canoe ended up flipping at some point.  I think BDog was more upset when I went in the drink than when he capsized.  He took it all in stride.
The Battle was a blast and once our adult canoe figured things out, we were the menace of the high seas!  Ok, so we bullied the kids but we had fun.
There also were the campfires, flag ceremonies, campouts under the stars and everything else that goes with Scout Camp that made this fun.  Looking back, CFL was an ok camp for a first timer, but speaking with other adults, many other camps have a lot more to offer.
BDog and I are already looking forward to next year!
For more photos, you can go to our Flickr site for the SlideShow.  I'm afraid I don't have any photos of the water battle though.