Sunday, September 20, 2009

Third Week of September

Monday: Five mile tempo run at noon. Avg pace = 7:55/mile. In the evening I did hill sprints with Leslie and then went to Turkey Mt. and ran some trails, removing ribbons from the Turkey and Tatur race as I ran. I estimate I ran a total of 13 miles or so today. Ended the day with my heel and Achilles tendon a little sore. Iced it.

Passed a new milestone today. As of today, I have logged 5000 miles since I started running with RunnersWorld Tulsa!

Tuesday: Could barely walk due to heel and Achilles tendon pain. Did not run. Iced my heel at night.
Wednesday: Still having trouble walking. Did not run. Didn't have time to run anyway. Left town on business trip.
Thursday: Too busy to run. Still suffering from heel pain and wouldn't have run anyway.
Friday: Returned from trip in evening. Did not have time to run. Heel feeling a little better. I iced it in the evening.
Saturday: Took 4 ibuprofen before the 18 mile run. It turned out to be a good run. There was tightness in the tendon going up the hill at Turkey Mtn. Otherwise, I felt okay. I wore an Achilles tendon strap during the run. So here is how the run went: Eric, Eric, and I took off at about an 8:45 pace and kept that pace up to the parking lot at Turkey Mtn. One of the Erics turned back there, because he was only doing 12 miles. From Turkey Mtn to Helmerich Park, Eric and I picked up the pace a little bit. Avg pace for the first 8 miles was around 8:40-8:45 per mile. On the return trip we picked up the pace to 8:10-8:15 for the next seven miles. Once we got back across the pedestrian bridge, our miles were approximately 7:55, 7:55, and 7:45. We then jogged from Riverside back to Veterans' Park. It was a hard run, but felt very good!

Saturday afternoon I tried to take a nap, but awoke after about ten minutes with a calf cramp. That kind of ruined the nap. In the evening I ran in the Ladies First 5k, a race in which the ladies get a three minute head start. My legs felt very heavy from the very start of the race, and I felt like walking after about 1k, but I pressed on and kept up a pace similar to the last three miles of the morning run. I ended up catching 99 ladies, and was beaten by 28 ladies. I finished second in my age group with a time of 24:44. As I was approaching the finish, I was gaining on two kids, Casey Keys (9 yrs old) and Hosea Soap (7 yrs old) and I slowed down, thinking it would look kind of bad for an old guy like me trying to beat these poor little kids. But then with about 50 yards to go, the kids started sprinting, and I tried to pick up the pace, but there was no way I could match the closing speed of those two boys! They are fast!!!!! I really enjoyed the race. Coach Kathy did a great job organizing the race, and she also looked pretty in that Scottish lassie outfit.

Total miles for the week: about 35

Had a good time in church this morning. The message was about living as citizens of heaven, reflecting the good news of Jesus Christ. We sang a couple of really great songs that are among my favorites. One was an old hymn, Immortal, Invisible. The other is a more contemporary song, Indescribable by Chris Tomlin.

After church I watched the Chiefs game with Sarah. We both yelled at the quarterback in the closing seconds of the first half because he should have either thrown a pass into the end zone or thrown the ball away. If he missed his target, there would still be time for a field goal, and they were well within range. Instead the blockhead throws a pass that only gains a few yards and isn't even close to the end zone, and time ran out. Turns out that error cost the Chiefs the game. Oh well, at least Minnesota won.

After football, I finally cut the grass. It was dry enough that I didn't have to put pontoons on the mower. Finished just in time to shower and head back to church. On the way to church, Rhonda called Marilyn and was crying. It is her deceased dad's birthday, and she was sad about that. She also was about to start cutting her grass, but she has a bad back. A thought popped into my head that I should volunteer to cut it, but I really didn't want to. But then a phrase from 2 Corinthians 5:14 popped into my head, "the love of Christ compels us." So I volunteered, and we headed to her house instead of to church, and I really did have a good time mowing Rhonda's lawn.

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