finally able to post again

today i finally find myself able to post to the blog again. apparently the blogger algorithms identified my blog as a possible "spam blog" and i was locked out until someone could review it. i'm not sure what a spam blog really is, but i have finally been unlocked and am glad i don't have to start a new blog elsewhere.

so in the past 10 days i have run the whole KeMo loop and done a few runs with Christina. last night we did the Big Peach Poker Night run. You go out for a 4 mile run through Brookhaven and get a card from each of the dealers positioned along the course. My best 5 card hand was Ace Queen - not that money. i'm sure i didn't win anything so we didn't stick around for the results after we ate our pizza at elwood's. we did like elwood's and will probably head back there sometime.

i had always thought the whole KeMo loop was about 16 miles. i guess this was based on measurements from a few different maps i had found over the years. well, last weekend i took the iphone and used trail guru and came up with 15.8. here is the course as i ran it:



yesterday i found a new tracking program called everytrail. i'll try it out this weekend and see how it works. review will follow.

christina ran 12 miles

her longest run ever. she actually ran faster than normal at about 9:30/mile. we're usually in the 10 minute range. nice job! now the taper begins. she asked me tonight if it would be ok to run more than the 8 miles scheduled for next weekend. who is this woman?

and the weather was so nice today and i scheduled a rendezvous near kennesaw mountain just so i could get in an extra few miles.

thursday night run with christina

tonight we were both exhausted after work but still managed to get out the door for the six miles on christina's half marathon training plan. i'm still not used to it getting so dark so early.
i had an altercation with a driver tonight. ever wonder why the crosswalks are painted in massive white stripes across an intersection? how about it's because that's where pedestrians are supposed to cross the road. it still never ceases to amaze me how people blow through stop signs and roll through the crosswalk before they put down their phone to look both ways. for those of you out there reading this, please take the extra half-a-second to stop before the crosswalk and make sure there is nobody crossing the road. traffic is bad enough as it is and you're not saving any time on your commute.
we were both so hungry towards the end of the run that we started discussing what to have for dinner. then, i was listening to the junks on my ipod and they were talking about steaks at the palm restaurant. really made my stomach start to rumble. i hate being hungry when i run because it's all i can think about. then i tend to get home and start stuffing myself with snacks that i either spoil my appetite for dinner or i overeat. this problem can be avoided by either running in the morning or running immediately after work. coming home from work and then running is my least favorite time of day to get it done.

impromptu wednesday at the mountain

the weather's been so nice the past few days that i decided to go off the schedule and work in an extra run. i went to kennesaw mountain and put in some hill work. and i could really tell it's been a while since i was there. i walked up most of the mountain - well, i walked a whole lot more than i usually do. but the air is cool and dry, the sky is clear, and i just didn't feel like wasting the opportunity. i'm glad i went. i figure i need to drop about 10 pounds and i'll be at a good fighting weight for western states. i was down to about 160 after the vermont 100 in july but i've put about 5 pounds back on. 155 would be a good place to be come race day. i guess i should start publishing my weight periodically - maybe it will help me get to my goal.

election night jaunt

a quick stroll through butthead tonight. wow it gets dark early these days. thanks to nathan for the vests - i much prefer these to the orange construction worker type. i wear the yellow one, and christina the pink (of course.)
looking forward to having a glass of wine tonight and watching the election results roll in.

group run at Sweetwater

we had a good run today.  it was pretty cool when we started.   gloves were necessary but i shed mine after about 30 minutes.  christina had a bit of a rought start but fought off the frozen toes and sideache and finished strong.  the first 5 mile loop is pretty technical and rocky along the creek, but the hills are not too bad.  the 3 mile Yellow trail at the end is where the terrain really gets you.  there is a pretty massive hill over there that will gas you.  the legs and lungs were burning but i did manage to run to the top. 
today i used trailguru for the first time and it looks like it preformed pretty well as you can see here. Use the slider at the bottom and go to the right, then press the play button to see how we ran the course. Pretty cool.



i didn't listen to music today so i could not "lock" the iphone. trailguru doesn't have a locking feature, but maybe it will be added in an update. all these run tracking apps should have a screen lock feature like RunKeeper does.

it really put a drain on my battery as well. i guess that's because the screen stays on the whole time. but as you can see from the map it tracked us pretty well through the trees. i registered 7.99 miles. i was told it was 8 miles. and a guy with a forerunner clocked 7.7 but he started a little bit late. based on these i think the program performed pretty accurately.