Putting up the Christmas Tree

Kristine and the boys put up the tree yesterday. Here is a link to a past tree raising. (2007)

Mt Home Fun

As you may know Kristine took the boy out to Mt home to visit their Grandparents. I finally made it out to join in the fun.

Ethan had fun playing in the snow (While it lasted).


Fishing in the shower and many other things. They visited the fire station and got to ride Poppy Greats 4 wheelers and his Bus (RV)
We hooked up will Paul and Steve too...the good time keep going in the big town of Mt Home ha ha ha.

Forejogger 310XT

I bought one yesterday. I spent last night setting it up and this morning while calculating my resting heart rate (43). Then it shut off. It will not turn back on...I'm taking it back guns blazing. For an in-depth review go here. Maybe my second one won't have firmware issues like this one seems to have.

REI customer service gave me a new Forejogger but it didn't have a HRM so they ended up just giving me the old HRM and a 10% discount...I can't complain anymore...So far the second Forejogger is running great.

Richmond

I ran the Richmond Marathon today!!! 3:28:44 (by my watch) another PR but I think I can do better…a lot better. The training was going great and included a Half in which I ran a 1:33. And then I came down w/ the flu (It must have been that live virus flu spray) First the flu and then I got a chest cold for that lasted 2+ weeks. (Weeks 13, 14, and a couple days on each end.) I still have a cough but it didn’t affect my “plan B” long run of 12 miles last Wednesday or the race today.



All in all another good day

Old School

Some of you may have noticed that my workouts (Posted on the blog) have been nonexistent the last couple of months. The reason is I switched to this new and improve (but still free) training log. The new training log promised greatness out of a ”want-to be” like me. It tracked everything from your heart rate to how many bowel movements you had that week. It sent you friendly emails of scheduled workouts (I never did learn to schedule a work out…maybe that’s one reason it didn’t work.) and it even had a section to log your caloric intake. What I found is after 2 months I was no longer logging my workouts, I was subbing in easy runs instead of tempo runs, and sometimes I skipped workouts all together. So, to remedy the situation I’m going back to basics. I set a goal, signed up for a spring marathon, and then mapped out a plan to achieve the goal. I’m not sure what it is but when you have a calendar full of workouts staring back at you every time you look at your desk you’re less apt to sub in an easy day or even skip it if the weather is not cooperating. I still plan to update the old training log as a backup but I have found nothing better than writing (or typing) it out on paper...the old school way.

Off To Papa Jim's

Coffee Anyone?

This morning Kristine thought I was ridiculous when I took coffee with me on my bike. So ridiculous she took a picture. She had no idea why I would take coffee with me on the bike.




The thing that strikes me is Erik is only six months old and he has already figured out why I take coffee on the bike.



Because it's that good...

Erik is 6 months!

Finally Erik is 6 months and we are still sleep
deprived! But at least in pictures he is really cute!

Fun Fun Fun

As promised, we finally got out of the house this weekend. I kicked off the weekend by skipping out of work Friday morning to participate in a “Wingman” Triathlon that was held on base. It was a 10K bike followed by a 5K run and then a 1.5K canoe. (You and a teammate had to finish as a team in the canoe.) We were the first team off the bike but suffered badly in the run…not sure of our 5K time but 25 minutes seems close and it wasn’t faster than 24 for sure. (2 teams passed us on the run. My teammate said it felt like the other teams passed us as if were walking. I said yeah because we were.) The final leg wasn’t much better. We were passed a gain in the last half K to take 4th. Maybe next year we’ll finish in the money.


With no rest for the weary, Saturday was the Mulberry Island half marathon. This race was to be a yard stick for the big one in November (The Richmond Marathon). I finished w/ a 1:33:28 and bested my previous PR by 2 minutes. It was nice seeing Kristine and the boys out cheering me on. Unfortunately I had an age group finish of 4th again.




With Saturday a distant memory, we took off for the beach (Virginia Beach) on Sunday to look at the sand castles. I guess every year there is a Neptune Festival that amongst other things sponsors a sand castle building competition. Ethan enjoyed the sand and Erik enjoyed being strolled down the board walk. All in all…another good weekend in the books.

New Quote

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.
Albert Einstein, Physicist