I don’t need no pace.

Most people know that I was a swimmer for most of my life. During my last two years of high school and all 4 years of college I had the problem of always taking races out way to fast. Well now that I am getting into running nothing has changed. My first race last year, the 2008 Virginia 10 Miler, my first mile split was 8:30 which when compared to my goal pace of 10:00 is way to fast. Well on Saturday November 14, 2009 Darrell Manning and my self signed up to run the Danville Half Marathon (13.1 miles). It was supposed to be on a FLAT trail next to the river (I highlight flat for a reason). Well the week of the race the left over rain from a hurricane came through the area and the river flooded. So the race director had to find another course and find one very quick. The course they choose was very hilly, which is not what I was prepared for. So when the race started, as usually I took off like a bat out of h***. Our goal pace for the FLAT course was 8:00 but with the hills we were thinking closer to 8:15 would be good. Our first three miles was at a 7:30 pace, which is not close to either of my goal paces. The biggest and longest hill was at the beginning of the course (which we had to run 3 loops of). In the following pictures you can tell that each time I was in more and more pain. By the third loop around my body was done with and I had to walk almost the entire last loop.

(1st time up the hill and still felling good)

(2nd time up the hill and starting to really fell the pain)

(4th time up the hill almost to the finish line.

I thought I was going to die at this point.
There is no picture of us going up the hill the 3rd time because I was walking)

I am grateful for my good friend Darrell who decided to stay with me the whole race even though I know he could have easily run the last loop with out stopping. The only lesson I learned from this race is “slow and steady wins the race.” Darrell and I have signed up for our first full marathon (26.2 miles) at Richmond in November 2010. Luckily the Richmond race will have pace teams which will help me make sure I start out at a good SLOW pace.



On a little side note I am grateful for our wives who have learned to put up with a training schedule for these races and also for good friends who come to support us and watch us die in pain.

Let them Eat Cake

Dacy has many many talents and she is finding more talents every year. One of those new talents she discovered at the beginning of November is decorating wedding cakes. There was a couple in our ward at church who were getting married and had asked another lady at church who was not going to be able to do the cake for them, so this lady asked Dacy if she would be willing. Dacy has a small problem of saying no, so Dacy had about 2 weeks to get ready. The week of the wedding was crazy with cakes and frosting all over the house.
The worst part of this is the fact that I was getting ready for a half marathon the weekend after the wedding so I was trying to eat good, but with a large bowl of frosting sitting on the kitchen counter I had more than my share of frosting. The cake turned out beautiful and I am very proud of my wife. She as many amazing talents that I could only dream of doing which you can see at her blog Dacy Did It.



Since I am talking about cake I thought I would share one of my favorite routines from Bill Cosby about chocolate cake for breakfast.

Sweet Halloween there Matey

This Halloween the kid’s costumes where somewhat homemade with the girls being sweet witches this year and Max being a pirate, which he was really really good at. Dacy was able to find the girls matching shirts and then made their skirts from fabric. Max’s costume was made using some pants that were too short already and using a shirt from his dress up box. The kids had fun and were ready to get lots of candy. On Wednesday night we went to our church’s trunk or treat and filled up the bags there and then Halloween night we went to my mom’s neighborhood and made off with a good amount of candy. As usually the kids were done walking by about the sixth house and the fact that a little rain was falling did not help the problem.

What a difference a year makes

Last year I started training for the Virginia 4 miler but after a week changed to training for the Virginia 10 miler. The course for the race is a tough one. It is an out and back with some major hills between mile 1.5 and 3 and then the last 1.5 miles are uphill. Last year I took the race out way to fast and died like no other and had to walk up the hill. This year I have been training since the end of May and what a huge difference it made. My time last year was 1:52:25. I had several different goals in this year’s race. First was to run the whole the race, which I completed. The second was to beat my training partner’s time from last year 1:24:55. My third goal, which to meet I would have to a perfect race, was to beat my last years time by 30 minutes. My time this year was 1:23:47. As stated I completed my first goal. I also completed my second goal. My third goal I was off by 1:22, which was so close. I was very very happy with my time and only hope over time to keep dropping time. My goal next year is to break 1:20:00.
(See web site for information if you would like to run next year www.virginia10miler.com/dotnetnuke/)

Race Log

I have created a training log which helps me keep track of my mileage I am running. I have keep track of the races in which I have run on a post it note on my desk which I know will one day be lost. That is the reason I am creating this post. Like I stated in my training log, this is mainly for my information only.

2008 Virgina 10 Miler 1:52:26 (pace of 11:15)

2008 Apple Valley 5k 29:44 (pace of 9:36)

2009 CVKA Memorial Day 10k 52:28 (pace of 8:27)

2009 Presbyterian Homes 5k 25:09 (pace of 8:07)

2009 Percival's Island 5 miler 39:29 (pace of 7:54)

2009 Virginia 10 Miler 1:23:47 (pace of 8:23)

2009 Apple Valley 5k 23:27 (pace of 7:34)

2009 Danville Half-Marathon 2:03:00 (pace of 9:24)

2010 Point of Honor 5k 23:25 (pace of 7:34)

2010 CVKA Memorial Day 10k 49:03 (pace of 7:54)

Strabismus

If you are wondering what that words means then I would suggest you look it up on Wikipedia. For the lazy people out there, it is a condition in which the eyes do not properly align with each other. Well we noticed one of Zia’s eyes was turning in. We went to the eye doctor and we started by patching the good eye.

We went back to the doctor about a month later and she told us that Zia needed glasses. After that it seemed to us that both eyes would turn in (not at the same time). So we went back and the doctor told us that Zia was only using one of her eyes at a time and she could switch pretty quick between which eye she was using (that takes some talent).

Well the doctor suggested that Zia have surgery to try to correct the problem. The day of surgery was a hard, somewhat long day. We were at the hospital at 6:30 am and we were home about 1:30 pm. Zia was happy most of the time. She cried when the nurses took her back for the surgery, which I knew was going to happen. When Zia first woke up after the surgery she was a little grumpy, but after she quickly feel back a sleep and after her third 30 min nap she was back to her normal crazy self. The pictures below are the night after her surgery.

Dacy Did It

Please check out my wife’s blog. Her blog is to showcase her custom vinyl lettering and other handmade items by her. Vinyl is a great way to customize any space in your home, office, church, car, etc... Her vinyl lettering is easily transferred and just as easily removed without ruining your paint or walls. Check out some of pictures of her work and for more information on her vinyl and other handmade items.

http://dacydidit.blogspot.com/

Labels

How many people have a sticker on their car or something that lets people know what school you go to or went to. Growing up in a state were you are not required to have a front plate on your car, people always have a plate showing their support for a college. In the great state of Virginia cars have front license plates so the way people usually show support for their college of choice is to have a license plate frame. I have one on my car to support my alma mater. In doing this I feel you place a certain label on your self. Most schools, it is usually a label which may not always be correct. (FSU=party person, Radford=heavy party person) There are certain schools were the label is correct. For an example I graduated from BYU, so most people would put two and two together and realize that I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In doing that they would expect me not to be doing certain things, like hanging out at bars or making a run to the liquor store. This label also applies to the student parking stickers that appear on the bottom left of the rear window of a lot of cars in the town I live in. This school prides it self on being “the largest and fastest growing Christian Evangelical University in the world” There have been articles in the newspapers about the code of conduct the students are to live by. So I have a very hard time when the local police are called to a neighbor’s house at 12:30am because the party is getting out of control and the next morning there is a large garage can full of beer cans and other alcohol bottles. Parked in the driveway of this house are 3-4 cars all with the student parking sticker in the bottom left of the rear window. It also drives me up the wall that for the past 2-3 weeks the same white car is parked in front of the house across the street. I know for a fact that there are 3 girls living in that house but the owner of the white car is a male. And you guessed it right, all of the cars (including the white car) have the student parking sticker in bottom left of the rear window. I hate to judge people but something is not right there. It is my understanding that when you go to said school you agree to live by certain rules (like no drinking and boys and girls are not supposed to spend the night together). When you chose not to live by those rules you put a bad light on that school. I hate to judge a school by the actions of a few, but that is all I have to go by. So next time you think of doing something that you know is not right, think of the labels that you have placed on yourself via your cars.

The real issues.

It has been a sad week with the passing of Ed Mcmahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson but let us not forget what the real issues are. There are 2 wars going on now, with another 2 countries causing some major headaches in the world today. The President of the United States was able to have a free 1 ½ hour infomercial on government run health care. The Congress is going to vote today, June 26, 2009, on the largest tax increase in the history of the country and try to mask it has helping the environment. The government now owns 2 major car companies and is going to try to limit pay on everyone. PLEASE LET US NOT FORGET THE REALLY ISSUES THAT EFFECT US. Please contact your members of congress and your senators and let them hear your voice. We voted them in office to represents us and the only way they can do that is if we contact them via email, phone, or good old snail mail.

The Joys of Traveling During The Summer (Part 1)

With my job I am required to travel to job sites to do a site visit every once in a while. I am one of those who likes to travel for work. It allows me to get to see the finished product. Believe me when I say a completed house looks much much better in real life then on a piece of paper. Another perk is that we have some jobs in some nice locations (like Hawaii) One thing I have learned over the years of my traveling is that I run into the most trouble during the summer months. The main reason of course is when the heat builds that usually means thunderstorms which can turn into long delays. On my last trip I did not take the laptop (or portable DVD player), for some strange reason. I always have a book with me (it is usually the only time I read) but I am one of those who must have a quiet area to read. So off course my site visit was done somewhat early and so I had to sit around the airport for about 3 hours. I could have watched one movie during this time and the airport in question had free wifi so I could have surfed the web. I survived that long layover by reading a newspaper which I can read with some noise. The next delay (2 hours) came at my connection, as usually happens (I am so close to being home I can taste it.) This airport also has free wifi so I could have also being on the internet looking at useless information. So what do I do in this case? I find my self a chair and sit and watch. I am an aviation geek so if I can look out the window that is my first choice. This night I was stuck sitting on the floor. This gave me a great chance to people watch. Every time people watch I am amazed at what some people wear. I have seen so many people wearing clothes that are way too small and show way too much skin. It makes me wish for my childhood again. Growing up we did not travel via airplanes that often and when we did we always dressed up, as did most people traveling. It just shows how lazy this world has/is becoming. There is another joy of traveling during the summer but that will have to wait for another time.

2009 Running log

This post is for my information only. I need somewhere to write down how far I run every week just to keep track. My main race this year is the Virginia 10 Miler which is Sept 26th 2009. (Any one want to run it?) I am trying to decided if I should run the Lynchburg Half Marathon which is Aug 15th.

Week of May 25th, 5/25/09-6.2 miles(10 k race)+ 5/26/09 3.72 miles(Jamerson Y)+ 5/27/09 5 miles(treadmill)+ 5/28/09 5.3 miles (Jamerson Y)=Total for week 20.2 miles

Week of June 1st, 6/3/09 4 miles (treadmill)+ 6/4/09 7 miles (treadmill)+ 6/5/09 7 miles (treadmill)+ 6/6/09 4 miles (race course)= Total for week 22 miles

Week of June 8th, 6/9/09 4.5 miles (Jamerson Y)+ 6/10/09 2.6 miles (Blackwater trail w/ sprints)+ 6/11/09 3.1 miles (treadmill)= Total for week 10.2 miles
Week of June 15th, 6/16/06 4 miles (treadmill) + 6/17/06 3.1 miles (treadmill) + 3.1 miles (5k race (25:09)= Total for week 10.2 miles
Week of June 22nd, 6/22/09 6 miles (treadmill) + 5.2 miles (Jamerson Y) + 4 miles (treadmill)+ 5 miles (downtown)+ 4.8 miles (Jamerson Y)= Total for week 25 miles
Week of June 29th, 6/29/09 6.1 miles (treadmill)+ 6/30/09 5.2 miles (M-J course) + 7/1/09 5 miles (downtown) + 7/2/09 4.2 miles (treadmill) 7/4/09 6.2 miles (10 miler course)= Total for week 26.7 miles
Week of July 6th, 7/6/09 3.1 miles (treadmill)+ 7/7/09 5.2 miles (M-J course) +7/8/09 4.4 miles (downtown) + 7/9/09 4 miles (sprints) + 7/11/09 7 miles (10 mile course) = Total for week 23.7 miles
Week of July 13th, 7/13/09 4 miles (treadmill) + 7/14/09 5.2 miles (M-J course) + 7/15/09 5 miles (treadmill) + 7/16/09 4 miles (treadmill) + 7/18/09 5 miles (race) = Total for week 23.2 miles
Week of July 20th, 7/20/09 4 miles (treadmill) + 7/21/09 5.2 miles (M-J course) + 7/22/09 4 miles (downtown) + 7/23/09 2 miles (sprints) + 7/25/09 7 miles (10 mile course) = Total for week 22.2 miles
Week of July 27th, 7/28/09 5.2 miles (M-J course) + 7/29/09 6 miles (treadmill)+8/1/09 8 miles (10 mile course)= Total for week 19.2 miles
Week of Aug 3rd, 8/3/09 4.4 miles (Wyndhurst loop) + 8/4/09 5.2 miles (M-J course) + 8/5/09 2 miles (treadmill) + 8/6/09 7 miles (10 mile course)= Total for week 18.6 miles
Week of Aug 10th, 8/10/09 1 mile (treadmill) + 8/11/09 5.2 miles (M-J course)+ 7 miles (beach)= Total for week 13.2 miles
Week of Aug 17th, 8/17/09 4 miles (Kemper St) + 8/19/09 5 miles (treadmill) + 8/20/09 5 miles (treadmill)= Total for week 14 miles
Week of Aug 24th, 8/24/09 4 miles (Blackwater trail) + 8/25/09 5.2 miles (M-J course) + 8/26/09 4 miles (Blackwater trail) + 8/27/09 .5 miles (hill sprints) + 8/29/09 9 miles (10 mile course)= Total for week 22.7 miles
Week of Aug 31st, 8/31/09 4 miles (Kemper St trail)+ 9/1/09 1 mile (sprints)+ 9/2/09 1 mile (treadmill) + 9/3/09 10 miles (race course)= Total for week 16 miles
Week of Sept 7th, 9/8/09 4 miles (Miller Park) + 9/9/09 4 miles (treadmill) + 9/10/09 10 miles (race course) = Total for week 18 miles
Week of Sept 14th, 9/14/09 4 miles (Kemper St) + 9/15/09 5.2 miles (M-J course) +9/16/09 4.1 miles (Miller Park) + 9/19/09 10 miles (race course) = Total for week 23.3 miles
Week of Sept 21st (Race Week), 9/21/09 4 miles (Kemper St) + 9/22/09 1.1 miles (hill sprints) + 9/23/09 4.25 miles (Cabell St) + 9/24/09 3.33 miles (Percival's Island) + 9/26/09 10 miles (RACE) = Total for week 22.7 miles
Week of Sept 28th, 9/29/09 4 miles (Wyndhust) + 9/30/09 4 miles (Kemper St) + 10/1/09 8 miles (Rivermont Ave) = Total for week 16 miles
Week of Oct 5th, 10/05/09 4 miles (Percival's Island) + 10/06/09 4 miles (Wyndhurst) + 10/07/09 3.833 miles (Percival's Island) + 10/08/09 10 miles (Rivermont Ave) = Total for week 21.833 miles
Week of Oct 12th, 10/12/09 4 miles (Kemper St) + 10/13/09 4 miles (Wyndhurst) + 10/14/09 4 miles (Percival's Island) + 10/15/09 7.5 miles (treadmill) = Total for week 19.5 miles
Week of Oct 19th 10/19/09 4 miles (Miller Park) + 10/20/09 4 miles (Wyndhurst) + 10/21/09 4 miles (Percival's Island) + 10/22/09 11 miles (Rivermont Ave) = Total for week 23 miles
Week of Oct 26th 10/26/09 4 miles (Kemper St) + 10/27/09 4 miles (Wyndhurst) + 10/29/09 12 miles (Rivermont Ave) = Total for week 20 miles
Week of Nov 2nd 11/02/09 4 miles (Kemper St) + 11/03/09 4 miles (Wyndhurst) + 11/04/09 4 miles (Percival's Island) + 11/05/09 10 miles (Rivermont Ave) + 11/07/09 3.1 miles (Apple Valley 5k) = Total for week 25.1 miles
Week of Nov 9th (Race week) 11/09/09 4 miles (Kemper St) + 11/10/09 4 miles (Blackwater Trail Loop) + 11/12/09 4 miles (treadmill) +11/14/09 13.1 miles (Danville 1/2 Marathon) = Total for week 25.1 miles
Week of Nov 16th No running, just swimming 4x this week.
Week of Nov 23rd 11/23/09 4 miles (Kemper St) + 11/24/09 3.5 miles (treadmill+wind sprints) +11/26/09 4.5 miles (Grayson Loop) = Total for week 12 miles
Week of Nov 30th 11/30/09 4 miles (Kemper St) + 12/01/09 3.25 miles (treadmill) + 12/02/09 4 miles (Percival's Island) + 12/03/09 8 miles (Jamerson Loop) = Total for week 19.25 miles
Week of Dec 7th 12/07/09 4 miles (Kemper St) + 12/08/09 2.1 miles (treadmill + 1 mile swim) = Total for week 6.1 miles
Week of Dec 14th 12/14/09 4 miles (Kemper St) +12/15/09 4 miles (treadmill) + 12/16/09 4 miles (Loop) = Total for week 12 miles
Week of Dec 28th 12/28/09 4 miles (Percival's Island) + 12/29/09 4 miles (treadmill) + 12/30/09 4 miles (Rivermont Ave) = Total for week 12 miles

On to next year.

Pro-life and Prop 8 debate

Over the past two days I have seen a great debate on Facebook over a comment concerning the Prop 8 debate in California. During this debate I have come to the conclusion that there are two ideas that people probably will never change their mind on.
First is gay marriage. No matter what people say, what studies are done, or what polls are taken, people are either for it or are against. Second is abortion. Again no matter what people say, what studies are done, or what polls are taken, people are either pro-life or pro-choice. (People who know me know were I stand on these issues) Does this mean that we should stop debating these two ideas? NO, for several reasons. One is the fact that is makes Facebook fun to look at. Second, someone may actually change their mind. So let us keep the great debates going. That is what makes America the greatest country on the earth, in that we have the freedom to debate without fear of punishment (at least from the government).

Eating junk good during Biggest Loser

I ask a simple question: Why does watching weight loss reality shows on TV make me want to eat?
I find it funny that I have seen so many people talk about how they are eating ice cream, eating cookies, and so forth while watching the Biggest Loser. For me that is usually about 8:30-9:00pm after the kids are in bed. It is at this time that I get my desert. I waited this long because I did not want to share. I know what a great example I am to the kids. I will tell you that the watching the Biggest Loser has got me thinking about running a marathon. I know, I AM CRAZY. After watching the show Wednesday night where Dane said he ran a marathon, I thought to myself if an overweight guy like Dane can run one then an overweight guy like me can run one. So I started to look at some training tips and tried to find a marathon close to me that is later in the year and fairly flat (which is hard to do close to the Blue Ridge). Then I was reading on the internet this morning that Dane did not run the full marathon.
So I am thinking now of only running a half marathon this year and then sometime next year run a full marathon. At least I am exercising and hope to lose my 20-30 pounds of extra weight, which should make the Virginia 10 Miler easier this year!

Cold weather so no school?

Well global warming still has not shown up here in Virginia, so it was 10 deg this morning which is really really cold for us. So last night I turned the TV and noticed that most local schools (only government schools) had canceled for the day. I thought maybe the forecast had changed to included snow but no snow in the forecast. So I started to wonder why they would cancel school. The only reason is that they did not want to have the kids standing out in the cold to wait for the bus. That would be the reason that most of the private schools were still open. Usually this would not bug me but then they started canceling preschools, which Quin's was one of them. This makes no sense. None of the preschools that I know of have buses. Parents drop the kids off in the warm cars and then they go into a warm building. The only reason I can think that they would cancel preschool is that they wanted to help the kids prepare for school when they cancel school for no reason at all. Please help me understand why they cancel preschool.