Melissa and Gary Engagement Session

Saturday, we did engagement photos with Melissa and Gary at Hillsborough River State Park.

You can view all photos HERE

Melissa is one of our "special" friends. Special in the fact that she is one of the wonderful people we met while Jenny was undergoing cancer treatments. We saw Melissa the most out of anybody there. She has punctured Jenny more time with a needle than one could count and all with a big smile on her face.

So, when Melissa asked us to photograph her wedding, there was no way we could possibly say no. I am not sure if there is anybody left at the Oncology office to do a wedding for since we have done most of them now.

We had so much fun hanging out with Melissa and Gary. It was nice just enjoying being out and about and getting to really know them better. I was surprised how adventurous they turned out to be. With my ideas and theirs, they ended up climbing trees, hopping rocks in the river and tried to throw Melissa off a bridge.

Looking forward to the wedding in April!!

Gate River Run 15K Review

I was looking forward to the Gate River Run and it did not disappoint. Ran a new 15K PR of 1:01:34. placed 326 out of almost 15,000, and 29th out of 1000 in my age group. The PR is 1:10 faster than I did at Miracle Miles and on a harder course, so that is encouraging.

Although my goal was to get under 60 minutes, I am in no way disappointed with the result. I knew coming in that I still wasn't quite right after all the racing in February. My confidence just wasn't where I would have wanted and it showed with the constant mental battle going most of the race. The voices in my head were really starting to tick me off as they had for most of the week during training. They were so negative telling me I couldn't do what I wanted. They were probably right. If I would have pushed the pace, things would have gotten not so pleasant.

We camped the weekend in St. Augustine at the KOA on St. Aug Beach. KOAs are so not worth the money. Unfortunately, it was either camp there or nowhere due to the state park being completely booked for the weekend. KOA is so over-priced. Costs more to stay one day than two nights at Anastasia SP. And the park is much nicer and quieter.

We got going early and arived to the race site before 7:00. I had to get my race packet and with over 15,000 runners, wanted to avoid the crowd. Parking was easy. We were in the closest lot to everything.

Met up with Harold for a few minutes which is always nice. It is cool having friends in different parts of Florida.

Lining up to start was easy. There was actually a lot less people in the corral I was in than I expected. I could have entered a lot later and not had to stand there as long. And, used the potty before starting.

The weather was nice and cool. But, with the 8:30 start, was starting to warm up a bit which I was worried about. Thankfully, it didn't feel bad during the race. The start time is really the only complaint I have about the race. This time of year, the weather in Florida can be hot or cool. They should really start no later than 7:30.

Started the race off easy and got right to goal pace of 6:20. Right from the start, I really wasn't confident of holding it. I was actually surprised a couple times to look down at my watch and see I was still on pace. At mile 2 was a draw bridge that wasn't very steep and didn't slow anybody down at that point. From there, ran though quite a few nice neighborhoods with tiny rolling hills. I passed the 5K point right on 20 minutes.

I had the urge to pee at the start of the rae and hoped it would go away as I was running. It didn't. When I made it to 10K, I had lost a bit of time so I stopped at a potty for relief. I figure that this probably saved me a few seconds in the end. My legs felt a bit rejuvinated coming out and I made up most of the time I lost. To still get under one hour, I would have to run a 19:00 5K to finish the race. Knowing that the very large Hart Bridge was coming up, I figured that wouldn't happen. My suspicion was confirmed as my pace slowed on the ascent up the bridge. Just didn't have enough to power over. I was ready for the long downhill to the finish which I took full advantage of. Didn't go as fast as I would have liked, but kept a 6:00 minute pace on the way in.

Unfortunately, Jenny and the kids didn't have good luck with the crowds and barely saw me as I went by.

All in all, a great race. My only suggestion is that the race organisers start the race at 7:30 so it would be cooler out.

What is Happiness?

It's Monday and back at work, so could be happier. This weekend we were camping in one of our favorite places, St. Augustine.

It has become a "tradition" of sorts to get pizza at Pizzalley's on St. George St. They make some of the best pizza you will ever taste! All you have to do to find Pizzalley's is walk down the street and find the guy giving out free samples in front.

You will instantly love the man who is usually outside giving samples. He is one of the friendliest people you will meet. He sings, jokes, and puts a smile on your face.

Sunday, while we were enjoying our pizza, he was asking questions of the kids (and adults). The kids enjoyed it and made them think. When he was done, he told the kids basically how important education is.

In the next boothe, was a man with his Son. When they got up to leave, the man looked over at us and made the statement that the only lesson given was to get a good education so you don't end up working in a pizza joint. That jackwad, kinda ticked me off. I looked at him and said that the pizza guy looks like the happiest man on Earth and I was thinking to myself "go screw yourself"!

Guess one's happiness is another's Hell. I believe that success and happiness is not defined by how much money you make, how big a house you have, the car you drive, etc. I believe a truly successful and happy person is one who is living the life they want and has a few people to love and to love them.

So, I hope you are happy!!

Dud of a training week

Mileage-wise, last week was a complete bust posting only 22 miles. But, after the insane amount of racing in February that included two half-marathons, I needed a week to recoup.

After Gasparilla weekend, I just didn't feel like training. The body felt fine, but I don't usually have such a mental battle just to get out the door. A few outside distractions didn't help the cause. Only managed three runs this week. A 60 minute run, a fartlek, and a short stride workout. The runs themselves were good pace-wise. Mentally, they were a bit torturous.

I had good intentions to get more in. This was supposed to be the first of four weeks of hill training. Didn't feel like it immediately after the weekend. Planned to hit the hill Thursday, but there was a fire somewhere and was real smoky out. Saturday, Tommy had an Odyssey of the Mind competition that turned into an all day thing (his team ended up placing 3rd and going to the state competition, so we are super proud of him for that). I planned to do a 2 hour run Sunday, but decided to not even set the alarm to get up. It has been over a month since I have done a two hour run.

I am looking forward to getting back at it this week. it won't be a big training week due to running the Gate River Run this Saturday. This is one of my goal races, so I am not going to kill the training going in. After this, I have a ten mile race in April and some 5Ks, so should be able to get plenty of quality training in before Steamboat in June.