I knew that I had a few complications in my normal wide open weekend plan
I had to help my sister move Saturday…. And the Prom was Friday.
With that in mind I decided to do 20 miles on Friday. I couldn’t run it concurrently because I wanted to (of course) be there when my daughter’s date came to pick her up… and take pictures etc….
So I ran 10 miles at lunch…. I felt good… easy and smooth.
Got home… about the time the Prom thing all came together … corsages and boutonnieres… smiles and pictures.
I’d let my daughter and her date take my car… which was fine… because I was going downtown to run and wouldn’t mind too much getting my sweaty butt in her boyfriend’s hoopty.
The plan was to loop the downtown bridges for 10 miles… hitting the bigger bridge, the Acosta, as many times as I could stand it. Downtown was hopping on a Friday night. I was not expecting that… but it was not a really big deal. I did this run with full pack… which I weighed.. 9 lbs and change. Between the uphills… general fatigue… and the pack… I was crawling relative to my smooth even splits I’d put in earlier in the day…. Walked a few uphills… and stopped numerous times to answer touristy type questions… I guess folks figured a sweaty guy running with a pack would likely know his way around downtown Jacksonville… and I do… and I’m a bit biased of course but I do live in a beautiful city… and running through downtown… watching the sun set on my city… and the lights come up… and the stars come out… was pretty cool.
Saturday was move day… but… since I was chief mover… I decided that we’d start at noon which gave me an opportunity to ride with my Hammerhead (triathlon club) Buddies… 45ish miles… and these fellas ride 22mph… all the time… not 21 or 23… Twenty-two. Good group of guys tho… and a good ride.
Moving was the weekend activity that brought the most soreness….
Sunday time for another double
Started the day with a 37 mile ride with my two best friends… their fitness is coming on… and we beat our best time for our ride course by a couple of minutes… then cooked a big breakfast for everyone.
It’s funny… how sometimes… someone’s offhand comment can burrow it’s way under your skin… more so than even sage and sober advice… or a voice raised in anger… I’d remarked on
the tri list something to the effect… that I ran loops around my side of town because there was really no place interesting enough to drive any distance to experience… My old Friend Lee C replied and remarked… “well then, I feel sorry for you” Lee is a gentleman… and meant nothing mean… but those strong words… made me rethink… and doo a little googling….
And in so doing I found a trail.
Sunday afternoon was the workout I’d been looking forward to… Susan and I were planning to hit the trails at Ft Caroline. Susan’s friend Bobby met us out there and acted as our tour guide… My planning was not so great, however, the park closes at 1700… I’d never even thought of that…. So I only had time for one loop… but man! Was it fun… Roots, and dirt, and hills (yes hills!), and more roots… I carried my pack once again which only added to the challenge but all too soon 5PM was upon us and it was time to leave…
Since Susan knows me pretty well.. she was less than surprised when I asked her to drop me off about half way home. I simply got out, shoved my wallet and a couple more items in my pack… said goodbye and started shuffling home.
During the first mile I rough sketched in my head a route that would give me ~18 miles for the day by the time I got home… then shuffled my way across town. Since my pack was full I had plenty of refreshments… and unbeknownst (no, I had no idea how to spell that word and had to Google unbenounced… see the urban dictionary definition for that...) to me to me at the time I ran pretty even splits and came in right at 18 miles.
The best news about the weekend, however, is what didn’t happen… no major Achilles flare up. J
I had to help my sister move Saturday…. And the Prom was Friday.
With that in mind I decided to do 20 miles on Friday. I couldn’t run it concurrently because I wanted to (of course) be there when my daughter’s date came to pick her up… and take pictures etc….
So I ran 10 miles at lunch…. I felt good… easy and smooth.
Got home… about the time the Prom thing all came together … corsages and boutonnieres… smiles and pictures.
I’d let my daughter and her date take my car… which was fine… because I was going downtown to run and wouldn’t mind too much getting my sweaty butt in her boyfriend’s hoopty.
The plan was to loop the downtown bridges for 10 miles… hitting the bigger bridge, the Acosta, as many times as I could stand it. Downtown was hopping on a Friday night. I was not expecting that… but it was not a really big deal. I did this run with full pack… which I weighed.. 9 lbs and change. Between the uphills… general fatigue… and the pack… I was crawling relative to my smooth even splits I’d put in earlier in the day…. Walked a few uphills… and stopped numerous times to answer touristy type questions… I guess folks figured a sweaty guy running with a pack would likely know his way around downtown Jacksonville… and I do… and I’m a bit biased of course but I do live in a beautiful city… and running through downtown… watching the sun set on my city… and the lights come up… and the stars come out… was pretty cool.
Saturday was move day… but… since I was chief mover… I decided that we’d start at noon which gave me an opportunity to ride with my Hammerhead (triathlon club) Buddies… 45ish miles… and these fellas ride 22mph… all the time… not 21 or 23… Twenty-two. Good group of guys tho… and a good ride.
Moving was the weekend activity that brought the most soreness….
Sunday time for another double
Started the day with a 37 mile ride with my two best friends… their fitness is coming on… and we beat our best time for our ride course by a couple of minutes… then cooked a big breakfast for everyone.
It’s funny… how sometimes… someone’s offhand comment can burrow it’s way under your skin… more so than even sage and sober advice… or a voice raised in anger… I’d remarked on
the tri list something to the effect… that I ran loops around my side of town because there was really no place interesting enough to drive any distance to experience… My old Friend Lee C replied and remarked… “well then, I feel sorry for you” Lee is a gentleman… and meant nothing mean… but those strong words… made me rethink… and doo a little googling….And in so doing I found a trail.
Sunday afternoon was the workout I’d been looking forward to… Susan and I were planning to hit the trails at Ft Caroline. Susan’s friend Bobby met us out there and acted as our tour guide… My planning was not so great, however, the park closes at 1700… I’d never even thought of that…. So I only had time for one loop… but man! Was it fun… Roots, and dirt, and hills (yes hills!), and more roots… I carried my pack once again which only added to the challenge but all too soon 5PM was upon us and it was time to leave…
Since Susan knows me pretty well.. she was less than surprised when I asked her to drop me off about half way home. I simply got out, shoved my wallet and a couple more items in my pack… said goodbye and started shuffling home.
During the first mile I rough sketched in my head a route that would give me ~18 miles for the day by the time I got home… then shuffled my way across town. Since my pack was full I had plenty of refreshments… and unbeknownst (no, I had no idea how to spell that word and had to Google unbenounced… see the urban dictionary definition for that...) to me to me at the time I ran pretty even splits and came in right at 18 miles.
The best news about the weekend, however, is what didn’t happen… no major Achilles flare up. J
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