2nd Place!

I ran my first ever 8K race this morning, the Run for READ. It was a mostly off-road race. I wasn't expecting anything great, I hadn't run since my 20 miler last Saturday, spent Thursday evening getting soaked at the Hokie game, and the course was very wet and muddy. However, I finished 2nd in my age group, (M30-34)! My time was 35:52, for a 7:12 pace! I'm so stoked! Got my first ever age group award medal! SAWEET! My Brother-In-Law finished 1st in his age group, (M25-29), with a 34:43, 6:59 pace! We ran the first two together, 6:30 & 7:10 respectively, then I pulled back a bit up a steep climb, while Kev pulled ahead.

Yeah, we ROCK!

So, I learned a few things last night

1) Completely dominating a team for 58 minutes means absolutely nothing if you can't play defense the last 2 minutes. For those of you that don't follow College Football, Virginia Tech was manhandling Boston College all night and winning 10-0 with about 2 minutes left, only to lose 10-14 in the last 2 minutes.

2) A Nike Clima-FIT jacket, originally thought to be Weather-Proof, is in fact NOT Weather-Proof and can only hold off the pouring rain for about 20 minutes. After which, it becomes a bathing suit.

3) A Under Armour Cold Gear Mock Turtleneck is rendered useless when soaking wet.

4) My really nice Columbia ski pants are not totally water proof as once believed. They lasted longer than the Nike jacket. But by halftime, about an hour and a half of standing in the pouring rain, I was completely soaked, even down to my boxers.

5) Amazingly my feet and socks remained dry, thanks to my Timberland boots.

6) Traffic on I81 sucks. A 3 hour drive from Richmond to Blacksburg took 4 1/2 hours!

7) Driving in the rain sucks. The trip back from Blacksburg was a 3 hour drive in the pouring rain with 18-wheelers all over the place. Not fun.

AS IF...

I needed anything more to get me jacked up for this Thursday night game! The Hokies are 13-2 on ESPN Thursday Night games! We love playing "Under The Lights, in Blacksburg"! I'm taking off work Thursday and will be heading to Blacksburg by 12noon. We'll be tailgating by 3 and I'll be drunk by 4! Tailgate Fever



ESPN ranks Lane Stadium as the 2nd Scariest Place to Play Enjoy the videos! It's GAME TIME! GO HOKIES!




We'll see about that Mr. Palmer...

Weekend Update

Training is still going really well. I ran a 20 miler on Saturday morning and felt really good. Averaged 8:10 per mile! We ran much of the Richmond Marathon course too, so that's always helpful. I'm so excited about the progress I've made in my running and anxious to see how well I can do on November 10th.

I was going to run 7-8 on Sunday, however, couldn't get out of bed. The kids were at my Mom's, as Nikki had a silent auction for her Women's club, so we were out late. BTW...We ended up winning the grand prize, about $150 in restaurant gift certificates for our $10 raffle! Then we got home and were up to 12:30am watching the LSU Auburn game. What a great game! 5:30am came really quick, and with no kids, it was too easy to turn the alarm off and sleep till 9am! I ended up doing about 45 minutes of Yoga late Sunday evening, which I love, so I'm feeling great today!

I needed to skip the Sunday run anyway. I was pretty sore and don't usually run back to back days, so I didn't want to push myself over the edge. My hip is feeling really strong this year, not painful like this time last year. The physical therapy that I went through last fall and winter has helped out big time. My running form was tweaked and I had some great strength training workouts added that have all made a huge difference in my running form.

If you want to run faster...

Run with faster people. And that's just what I've been doing. I had a great training week and the weekend long runs went very well. It's weird to be training like a pure runner. I still haven't been back in the pool or back on my bike since the Half Ironman in September. I'm just focusing on my running for the marathon. Typically, I won't run back to back days, but to boost my weekly mileage and marathon endurance, I started this weekend. In an effort to really push myself, I stayed in the front of the groups I was with.

Here is how it shakes out...

Saturday - 12.10 miles - 1:35:32 - 7:53 per mile pace!
Sunday - 6.2 miles - 0:43:46 - 7:03 per mile pace!

I'm feeling really great about my running and will continue to push myself through the marathon.

In other news, the Hokies got another win. We now have a great matchup lined up for October 25th, when Boston College comes to Blacksburg to play "Under The Lights"!

Hokie, Hokie, Hokie, Hi

How 'bout them HOKIES! Shutting down Clemson 41-23! Great game, great win! All about the Special Teams and Defense, BeamerBall Baby!

That's my boy! Teaching 'em young...

Feeling great!

I'm feeling really great this week. My back is feeling much better today and those nasty jelly fish stings are fading. I'll resume workouts tomorrow and hopefully be fine. I just need to make sure that I don't go too hard or too much this week, which will be tough for me, as I'm really itching to get back out.

We had a wonderful time in Blacksburg this past weekend at the Hokie football game. It was a beautiful clear day with temps in the 70s. Just a gorgeous day for football! The team looks to be getting better by the week, led by the Freshman QB Tyrod Taylor. We'll see how we stack up against Clemson this Saturday.

Check out this cool video that I took of the flyover by a B2 Stealth Bomber at Saturday's game, pretty sweet!

My gorgeous wife Nikki and the kids enjoying the game...

Me with 2 of the three loves of my life, Nikki being the 3rd, on the top of Afton Mountain...

And, I may be biased, but these are the two most beautiful children I know! Our Son Logan and Daughter Ansley...