Congratulations Carrie & Terry - It's gonna be a boy!!

Just heard from our friends in Wisconsin that they will be having a baby boy to add to their family. The baby is due in December. Congratulations Carrie and Terry!!!!!

Bridge of Lions 5K Race Report - St. Augustine Trip

This is one of the weekends we really look forward to each year where we travel to St. Augustine to tour the city and run the Bridge of Lions 5K. We decided to do a scaled down trip this year only staying one night. We made it into town Friday. After stopping off at the St. Augustine Register building for packet pickup, we checked into the Howard Johnson hotel and I headed out for my short night before race run. When I got back we had Jenny's spaghetti for dinner. I prefer Jenny's spaghetti over any restaurant. Instead of heading into town to walk around, we went to the movies and saw "Despicable Me" in 3D. Very funny movie, I recommend seeing. I am still unsure about the whole 3D thing. There aren't many scenes in the movie made specifically for 3D, so I don't really see the point as it adds nothing to the movie.

The best part about running a race in St. Augustine is staying downtown, waking up not so early, and walking to the race. The hotel is about a mile from the Castillo de San Marcos where the race started. So, we can just walk, pickup the timing chip, warmup and go. Don't even have to worry about the porta potties!

[caption id="attachment_882" align="aligncenter" width="332" caption="Sailboat on the Matanzas."][/caption]

Conditions for the race were hot and humid as usual. The real issue was the gnats that were all over the place st the start. Not easy swatting gnats and trying to put on the race shoes.

The first mile of this race course is awesome. The race starts at the fort, runs down the bayfront and across the Bridge of Lions. After that, you turn into the housing area on the other side for the rest of the race which can be a bit of a grind. It was a joy this year to run over the original bridge that was finished with renovations a couple months ago.

The race went really well. I finished in 18:48, 12th overall, and 2nd in my age group. I was trying to break my PR of 18:41, but didn't quite get there. Still, my time was one minute faster than last year. I ran pretty comfortable most of the race. Outside of my first mile at 5:55, I ran even the rest of the way with a 6:04 and 6:05 with a fast finishing kick.

The shirts were great this year with a nice design showing the Bridge of Lions. The only thing they need to do to make this race better is provide better age group awards. It pays to be first overall as they get a cool $100. But for the age group awards, they used the same exact little medal that I won two years ago. They had over 500 finishers this year, if they would take just 50 cents more from each entry, they could provide some first class medals that people would really want to show off. You could tell people weren't real happy with the medals.

[caption id="attachment_883" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Racing to the finish."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_884" align="aligncenter" width="333" caption="Almost there...faster, faster!!"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_885" align="aligncenter" width="333" caption="Another good race finished!"][/caption]

After a two mile walk back to the hotel, we had breakfast, got cleaned up, relaxed for a bit, and checked out. We didn't really want to go walking all over town at noon, so we went to Anastasia State Park and went to the beach.

We had lunch, drove back and parked downtown. We always enjoy going into the different art galleries and looking at what's new. When everyone was getting pretty tired of walking, we went to Pizzalley's to have our pizza. Pizzalley's has the best pizza! We gorged ourselves full and ventured out for some more walking before we ended the night at Kilwin's for ice cream.

We got a huge surprise as we were walking back to the parking garage. We saw a guy selling his paintings and it turned out to be Dean Quigley that we bought Jenny's painting of the City Gates from four years ago. Guess he lives full time in St. Augustine now and is active in getting better laws enacted for artists to sell their work. Dean is an awesome guy and painter. Outside of painting, he is a history buff who can tell you all about just about anything. It was fun listening to the history behind the paintings he had on display. I was great seeing Dean again and we look forward to the next time we go back to St. Augustine!!

Kiwanis Midnight Run 1 mile, 5K & 10K Race Report

Saturday night/Sunday morning was the Kiwanis Midnight Run where I ran the 1 mile, 5K, and 10K. These races capped off the day totaling about 14 miles of racing.

If you have never run the Midnight Run before, I highly recommend doing so. This is the second year in a row we have done it. All runs start at the corner of Bayshore and Curlew Rd. in Dunedin. The race is well organized, has great awards, t-shirts and is fun!

Only one suggestion to the race organizers. The tech shirts they handed out are great but they aren't so good running in. The shirt really holds sweat and gets heavy. Plus, it doesn't let much air through. Maybe next race, they will order Leslie Jordan shirts. I have two and I love and run in them all the time.

For the one mile race, I paced Chris to an 8:22. He asked me to help him run 7:30, but we didn't get there. I started him off easy and got close to 7:30, but progressively got slower. I basically used this race as a warmup for the 5K and 10K.

Ran well in the 5K. Finished with a time of 19:24. Got 1st place in my age group and finished 24th overall out of 891 finishers. My hamstrings got a little tight during the race and the bridge cost a few seconds.

After a 30 minute rest, the 10K started. I finished with a time of 42:26 and finished 3rd in my age group and 27th out of 361. This race was sort of weird. Somewhere around the 2nd mile, my body went into some sort of auto-pilot mode. My pace was even, my stride felt efficient like when I run barefoot, and my breathing was easy. I was enjoying myself as I picked off more and more runners. Unfortunately, I didn't pick off the guy that finished 7 seconds ahead of me so I would have gotten 2nd instead of third. Oh well. It was nice running in the dark with no other light except for the candles lining the road into Honeymoon Island SP.

[caption id="attachment_874" align="aligncenter" width="333" caption="End of a long day, 10K finish."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_875" align="aligncenter" width="332" caption="1st and 3rd place plaques won at the Kiwanis Midnight Run."][/caption]

Lutz Independence Day 5K Race Report

Had a great time this morning running the Lutz Independence Day 5K, one mile and taking in the 4th of July parade after.

For summer time in Florida, the weather was fantastic. With the skies being cloudy and rainy the last couple days the temperature stayed relatively comfortable and the humidity wasn't too bad. Thank goodness since the race started at 8:00.

I ended up having a great race finishing just off my PR and second fastest 5K. Finish time was 18:45, 2nd age group, and 13th overall. I went out a hair faster than I wanted but didn't drop off too much. Splits were 5:52, 6:03, and 6:10. Seemed like there were a lot more of the faster runners there and they had a great turnout.

The kids and Jenny did the one mile. I paced Emily to an 11:44 and first place in the 9 year old female age group. Christopher got a nice trophy for first overall male.

After a Subway footlong at lunch and an afternoon nap, the legs feel really good and ready to run the one mile, 5K, and 10K at the Kiwanis Midnight Run tonight. I will be pacing Chris for the mile. He says he wants to do a 7:30, we'll see about that. I told him I am going to start him at 6:30 and see how long it takes for him to blow up! A lot of rain around right now so it should be a lot cooler than last year. Hopefully, the rain will slow down or quit by 11:00.

Happy 4th of July Weekend...Racing, Food, & Fireworks!

Looking forward to a great 4th of July weekend which starts early tomorrow morning for us.

I will be running 4 races tomorrow. Last year I did the Lutz and Kiwanis 5Ks. This year, we will start the morning in Luts for the 5K, 1 mile and stick around for the parade. The kids are running the 1 mile, so I get to unofficially run that also. Will probably pace Emily and Tommy.

In the evening, it is off to Dunedin for the Kiwanis Midnight run where I am entered to run the 1 mile, 5K, and 10K. I am just going to pace Chris for the 1 mile and use as a warmup.

Here are the time goals for the races. For both 5Ks, I would like to run sub-19 minutes or at least low 19 for Kiwanis. For the 10K, will run that a little more based on how I feel, sub-42 minutes should be doable. Probably start the race at 6:30 pace and see what happens.

Sunday night is fireworks in Dade City, hope the weather cooperates and they got enough money this year for a good show. No work Monday, so a day to recoop.