Thursday, January 25, 2007

Ten Days

I really did it. Ten consecutive days running and my legs didn’t fall off. There have been a couple of challenges along the way, but I determined to do it and did.

Thursdays are my longest day of the week. I start out the day with a men’s meeting at church at 5:30 a.m. For the record that’s earlier than I even get out of bed the rest of the week. After that I came home, picked up the HS junior and took him to school. Its finals week, so traffic is at it absolute worst. Then it was off to the office to put the finishing touches on a presentation for management on Friday on our big project.

But first we had a ‘state of the business’ address and our general manager announced his retirement. His replacement was announced, a guy from corporate. Our current GM is highly regarded and a man a great integrity, but its probably time for a change. Anyway I find out midway in preparing my presentation that the new GM will be at our meeting tomorrow. No big deal you say, except that our project is about the biggest thing going at the moment and I have the dubious distinction of being the very first presenter. No added stress there. Me, setting the tone and making the first impression for the team, imagine that. I ended up staying till after 6:00 to finalize the thing and then ran an errand for my wife. I got home and normally I would get my run in first before dinner got started. My wife is out of commission at the moment (a little about that later) so it was up to me to get dinner on the table tonight. As an added stressor, the HS dude that lives at the other end of the house won’t start homework until after dinner. So I opted to cook first, its finals week remember and he needs all the study time he can get. Dinner – grilled chicken over pasta with raspberry vinaigrette was on the table and on its way to the stomach just before 8:00 p.m.

I had run nine days so far and figured I still had 4 good hours to get my tenth run in; a 5 miler at an easy pace. I updated the checkbook, read some blogs and then feeling a whole lot like Wes I walked out the door at 9:23 p.m. It was a nice 54°F, a cloudless sky with a half moon in the west. My legs felt surprisingly fresh. I hummed along at a moderate pace along a route I’ve dubbed the Bonnie Cove 5. It is a route I’ve been running quite a bit lately. I needed to come up with a shorter name for my written log rather than listing all the streets on the loop. Bonnie Cove is unique to this loop so the name stuck. I thought it had a better ring to it than Gladstone 5 or Lyman 5. The final time was 42:27 for an 8:29 pace. That’s not too bad I think for 10 day old legs. Tomorrow, Friday, will be a rest day and I am going to enjoy it immensely.

The rest of the week went like this: Monday, Day #7, I did the Bonnie Cove 5 at an easy 9:36 pace as a recovery from Sunday’s speedy long run. Tuesday, Day #8, I reluctantly dragged myself over to the track and did a repeat of last weeks 4 x 400. My times were: 1:43, 1:45, 1:41 and 1:41, in that order. I was shocked (and happy) that I finished the last one faster than the first. It was really hard to stay motivated to do those laps.

Wednesday, Day #9, I was on vacation. My wife was having a procedure done as an outpatient. I needed and wanted to be there with her. We had discussed my run and decided that while she was in recovery would be the best time to get out. So once the doc came to tell me that everything went smoothly I headed over to Bonelli for 6 miles in the sun at 77°. It was so nice to be back there. I hadn’t made it over there since Christmas day, nearly 4 weeks ago. Of course as things work out, we waited forever in the morning before she was called into surgery, the surgery itself took longer than planned but the one thing that went quickly was her recovery. She was awake and alert and wondering just where the heck I was for longer than a person who just came out of surgery wants to wait to see a familiar face. After I got back and apologized another hour went by before she was discharged. I got her back home around 5:00 and she was able to eat a light dinner. She slept most of today but was able to enjoy dinner with us tonight. She’ll be off again tomorrow and hopefully back up to full speed on Monday morning.

Now its late, it has been a long day, so I’m off to bed.

11 comments:

Bob - BlogMYruns.com said...

wow Darrell you been busy busy busy, way to get it all done, 10 days in a row...very nice!!

Hope your Wife is feeling better today, and I think your Business Preso is today? with the new GM, so I hope U kicked butt and represented your team well, which I am sure you did.

Enjoy your REST Day, well deserved!!

Bob

Wes said...

Yay! Ten days in a row is awesome. Running at night ain't all that bad. It's just trying to get ready for bed afterwards. I've been known to be up past midnight waiting on Dee Dee to come home. Best wishes for your wife with her new recovery and good luck impressing your new boss!

Ryan said...

What a creative way to put the miles in…ten day’s nice job….now that’s dedication! Keep the streak going.

I wish a fast & speedy recovery to your wife.

Backofpack said...

Darrell,
Though it was stressful, you sound like you were highly organized and pulled it all together. Congrats on the 10 day streak! I hope your wife is well on her way to recovery today, and I hope your presentation is great!

Tyler said...

You went to bed later then I did last night... Waking up at 5:20 sucks.... I have to be at school at 6:15 and class doesnt even start till 7:00.... I'm Executive Sous Chef this week so I have to go in early and set up some class stuff and then the class doesnt get to go home till I and the Executive Stouard (sp?) let them go... (Place has to be clean and in order or me and the Ex. Stu. get yelled at.

O yea... and I have a blog now for my, what I call running, and you call walking as a fast pace.

Joe said...

Darrell, awesome, just awesome. You are keeping your priorities straight AND running.

I'm particularly impressed with your 400 times...very good. You are setting yourself up for BQing.

Maybe a big boquet of flowers would be nice, too!!!

Anonymous said...

10 days, wow! hope your wife is recovering well.

Unknown said...

Glad to hear Lisa's recovery is going well. After reading this I feel a bit like the anti-you. You ran 10 days straight and I didn't run for 10 days straight. Let's hope I am not the anti-you anymore.

David said...

You are versatile. I can't stand running late at night. Give me that early morning darkness turning to sunrise.

Nice effort on the 10 in a row.

Rae said...

Awesome job!! Way to stick with the plan and knock those miles out!

I REALLY think you should run Georgia!!!

Rae said...

OH, and I hope your wife is recovering well!!!