In search of Wii

Denise and I thought that a Wii would be a great Christmas gift for our daughters this year and by the time we decided this, several million other people had the same idea. I went to Circuit City at 8am the sunday before thanksgiving and was #80 in line... I had better things to do with my time so we decided to wait until after the new year.

When I read through the sale ads in this morning's Plain Dealer, I saw that Circuit City was advertising the Wii. At 6:30am, I decided that I would go over at 8am, wait the two hours until they open at 10am, and try my luck. Oh yeah, it was 5 degrees this morning with -10 degree wind chill...

I arrived to a partially filled parking lot. I parked and a man greeted me. He was the "unofficial" number passer-outer. I was number 13! It felt lucky today. He was passing numbers out so that we would not have to wait outside.

The manager arrived a little past 8am. We went inside the foyer of the store and queued up. At 8:30, he came out and said, "We have 10 units"... Suddenly 13 was not feeling so good. The first people in line arrived at 4am... Crazy...

I needed some more paint for Abby's room so off to Home Depot I go. While I was there, I thought that I would suprise Denise with a new kitchen sink! I returned home and Abby and I started in with the sink replacement. 2 more trips to Home Depot later, and we have a new sink installed. Denise was thrilled.

I taped off the trim and completed the stripes in Abby's room. All that remains is to apply the border.

This past weekend was a classic case of "needing to go back to work to recover."

Summary:
12 mile run. 1:35:50 ( See the earlier trash talk post )
painted Abby's bedroom
Replaced the kitchen sink

Top that Joe!! :)

Weekly run total: 30 miles.

Next saturday: Buckeye Trail 50K.

Trash Talk

I usually send an email out on thursdays in an effort to recruit running partners for saturday's long run. Since I have a shorter run this weekend, I thought that I would mess with Joe a bit.

Marty and I work with Joe. He is a great guy and Marty and I both agree that he would be the last person on our team that would actually go for a run. So below are some emails that were flying around today:

My original email:
All,

Since Joe refuses to run with me and I am in taper mode, there will be no trail run this weekend...Send all replies/complaints to Joe. ( email address above!! )


Actually I have a 'short' 12 miles planned early saturday morning. I will run two laps of a street/bike path course in my neighborhood in Twinsburg. I will start early ( ~6am) so that I can get Abby's bedroom painted afterwards... I also want to push the pace a bit since it is a shorter run. ( <=8 min/mile pace ) Anyone is welcome to join me. Let me know and I can give you directions and more info... Oh yeah, the weather looks to be 'interesting'... :)

Then Joe replied with this:


Don't let Jerry fool you, this weekend I'm planning to run 20 miles, paint 3 bedrooms, build an addition on the house, audition for American Idol, and write a novel.

Anyone is welcome to join me.

Joe


To which Marty replied:


You're both slackers. While you're "resting" this weekend I'll be out doing a 50 mile sprint to train for the upcoming run-around-lake-erie and then building a house. Since that leaves Sunday wide open, I'm planning on running some errands for the UN; I guess there is some Isreal/Palistine issue they need some help with.

Marty


This made for some fun hallway conversations today and helped to brighten at least my day!

No headlamp required

The snow falling down and the city lights reflecting off of the low clouds allowed me to keep my headlamp turned off during this morning's run. I had a headwind for the first 2 miles and then I turned back for a very pleasant cruise down the bikeway. The snow was falling and swirling around me and it was one of those very quiet and peaceful moments. I ventured up Glenwood hill to CVS and then returned home after completing 5.4 miles.

I just completed some cross-training via shoveling the driveway. All is well...

Running in a snow globe

I followed up yesterday's 24 miles run with a wet and soggy 7.1 miles. The weather here in NE Ohio has reverted back to the normal "if you don't like the weather, wait a minute because it will change" mode. There was a mix of rain, then sleet, then wet snow, then rain/snow mix; all within my hour long run!

I had a total of 47 miles this week and I will start to taper a bit for the Winter BT50K race on the 26th of January. I hope that the ground freezes by then so that we do not have to run/slide in the mud. The other extreme would be 10 degress and a foot or two of snow. I guess we do not have any control over the weather, we can only control our responses/attitudes toward it. Regardless of the weather a day may bring, it is a great experience to be outdoors, breathing deep the fresh air, and enjoying the feeling of a run completed.

Long run through Bedford Reservation

Today's 24 mile run consisted of two laps of Bedford Reservation, one of the many Metro Parks in the Cleveland Area. Marty, a coworker, and Andy, a long-time friend, joined me for the first 10 mile lap. It was a beautiful morning with temperatures in the upper 20s to low 30s, making it ideal for a run. We started at Egbert shelter and followed the Bridle path to Alexander road. There we retraced our path for the return. We added the little spur from Egbert Shelter to Egbert road to make it an even 10 miles.

Andy and Marty called it a day and I refilled my bottles and started lap 2. I started with the spur section first because I knew that if I did not, the temptation would be too great at the end of the next lap to not run it. After I stopped by my car again for another clif bar, I started back on the bridle trail towards Alexander road.

This lap however, I continued on the Buckeye Trail to Fraizee House on the Tow Path. This added the extra 4 miles for lap two. The little water falls on this section of the trail were flowing well from the recent rains and looked/sounded very nice. Bridal Veil falls in Bedford park was also flowing well. It is too bad that most of Cleveland does not even know these sights exist!

The return up the hill from the Tow Path was not as bad as I thought it would be. However, my feet were starting to rebel a bit from the gravel of the bridle trail. At least I am blaming the gravel; it surely would not be the 20 previous miles could it??

I passed a large group of hikers as I neared the parking lot, and completed my run in just a bit over 4 hours. I felt pretty tired but content. I need to carry more food with me for these long training runs. I learned from my Ironman training that whenever I start to feel the least bit tired or negative thoughts start over-powering the positive ones, I need to eat/drink something to get my energy levels back up. I need to apply this same rule to my running...

Abby and I just took the dogs for a walk around the neighborhood. That felt good to be out again in the sunshine and to work some kinks out of my legs.

Great day!

Lunch-time running

I chose a great day yesterday to take a break from running. We had some very high winds and storms blow through tuesday evening, making for a very poor night of rest. Also the wind was still howling wednesday morning. My legs needed a break and that is what I did.

I took a lunch break today, instead of working through as usual, and completed 6 miles through the metro park. It was sunny, cool, a slight breeze, about as good as it gets. I brought my wind pants to wear but decided to just go with shorts, long sleeve polypro, and a fleece vest. It felt very good to get out of the office a burn off some stress. (I should have kept running...)

The return trip against the wind was a bit chilly, but my legs were warmed up and it felt really good to be outside.

The last long training run this weekend before the Winter BT50K. As usual, I am stymied on where to run. Bedford reservation seems to be calling my name. Maybe a couple of laps on the bridle trails are in order. They will not be as muddy...

One more day closer to spring...

Still great weather

I decided to run 6 miles this morning to take advantage of this great weather we are having! I will take tomorrow as a recovery day instead. I hated to waste 65 degrees and the chance to run in shorts in early January.