63 Across

I was working on a crossword puzzle earlier this evening. The clue for 63 Across was a four letter word for "Hip ending?" Of course I immediately thought of the RBF's own amazing super hero "The Amazing Hip" and got that one, STER, as in anaginghipster. I find it funny that things in my everyday life remind me of people and events I only know about through the "reality" of the blogging world.

I forgot to mention that for yesterday's beach run, I broke out a new pair of Brooks Trance NXR's. I had a another pair that I relegated to trail only runs when they hit 500 miles. I like to keep about 3 pairs in rotation most of the time. My other two pair of shoes have 440 and 320 miles each, so I'm actually a little late getting the third pair started in the rotation.

I started running with Trance back in 2003 and ran in them exclusively until last summer when I tried out the New Balance 765 and Saucony Grid Omni. They both worked out well. I think the 765's are stiffer than either the Trance or Omni. The Omni feels the lightest. On Saturday I realized that I really prefer the Trance. Of course they are the most expensive ones, but I have been pretty lucky in finding them online for less.

Sunday morning I ran with the 642 Running Group in Villa Park. This is a group that has been meeting every Sunday morning for years running the same route. They meet at 6:42 a.m. and run for 6.42 miles. Jesse told me about this group a couple of years ago. I finally decided to try it out. It was a nice run with some friendly competition. The group is mostly older guys, at least older than me, but they haven't slowed down much. I guess the last mile of this run often turns into a full on competitive sprint to the finish. I ran with Jay, the guy that ran the Super Run 5K and Cheseboro Half Marathon. It was a quick run. It's about an hour round trip drive for me so I don't know how often I'll do it. It is something to keep in the back of my mind.

When I got home I made breakfast for the family - pancakes, bacon, OJ and coffee. Since we've been doing church on Saturday night I somehow have gotten out of the habit of Sunday breakfast. My wife had been out of town Saturday evening, so we were on for Sunday morning church. It was nice to fall back into the old routine. After church we made a trip to Sam's Club, then I took my younger son to get a suit for my brother's upcoming wedding. I even mowed and fertilized the lawn (I threw that tidbit in for all you folks in colder climes). I haven't mowed in a couple of months but it was starting to get shaggy. Now that the weather has warmed up a bit, it will start growing faster and will benefit from a shot of nitrogen.

Miles for the week: 40.6