Fives

After I worked five hours this morning and ran five miles, the thought occurred to me that I should golf five over on the front and five over on the back nine today. My round started with an Eagle, the second of my life! This very good round for me on a new course ended three over on the front, and seven over on the back, totaling ten over which is close enough to my goal. Almost as importantly, I ended tied with my brother.

BB asked if I was running long on Sunday so she could ride along again. I prefer to run long on Saturday and promised to do so early so she can come with before our second baby shower at noon. Thinking about her enjoying riding along makes me smile.

Saw my first add for father’s day last night, and got excited for myself. 33weeks tomorrow.

Speed

I run mostly around the town I live in, visiting calm streets and discovering new areas. Seeing new things and people is fun for me. So Monday on a tempo section of my run, I heard some kids talking, which in and of itself isn’t at all unusual. I didn’t realize till I was a few housed past them, that the group was talking to me. Yelling for me to sprint, and I was already going faster than a normal easy run pace.

When I finished my run, I thought maybe I forgot to start my watch after I’d stopped it when I put Bruno’s leash back on (don’t know how it came off, but he stayed with me while it dangled, not sure he knew he was momentarily free). I knew I ran 20 minutes faster, but not that much, and I didn’t hurt at all. So I added a minute and a half in my log.

The easy run on Tuesday timed fast as well, but I did get some water on my watch (it’s a very cheap one), which made me still think it might be my watch. Yesterday was interval day, and baby class day, so I used my step-dad’s Garmin 201, and my watch. Six total miles in 51 minutes. Two timers can’t be wrong. My splits were all pretty quick, and I followed the recommended recovery distance. In about one month, I’ve cut a minute per mile on my average easy runs.

This is making me rethink my 10k goal of under 50 minutes. And what do I even think about the 8k six days before? Easy run? Incorporate it into my long run one day later than scheduled?

I’m about to send in my registration for my first half-marathon.

The battery on step-dad’s Garmin has one hour left. So, I either need him to find the charger, or I need to get my own.

Training Partner?

BB is just about done with school for this semester. Because of this, she was able to relax at my brother’s graduation and then bike along with me on most of my run tonight. It was a lot of fun.

My brother’s grad ceremony was kinda boring, as I’ve found most of them are. But I had to go to watch the kid finally get his college diploma. The party/gathering afterwards was kinda odd for a bit. Rightfully so, my step-dad doesn’t like my bio-dad, and this makes gatherings with both families uncomfortable. But step-dad did pretty well today, and at the end of the day, got me thinking about another half-marathon. At least I’ve got more time to decide with this one.

I wanted to get up and run early this morning, but couldn’t drag my sorry behind out of our comfy bed. This meant I had to fit my run in this evening. After I took the dogs on their normal loop, pregnant BB, cautiously as possible, rode her bike the next seven miles with me. About five miles in, she asked if she was a distraction, and that couldn’t have been further from the truth. It was very enjoyable to have someone to chit chat with (I think I’ve asked for this in a previous post) on my weekly long run. It turned out to be my longest and fastest “long run” ever. Besides a full stomach, I felt good, and wasn’t trying to go so fast, and fast is a relative term. It also sounds like BB is feeling good from the ride, minus a little heartburn which is a normal everyday occurance now. We both hope she’ll continue to come along once in a while from now on, while she can.

Now I need to get used to the fact that most of my long runs from now on will be longer than the last. And to remember to never run on a full stomach again.

Menudo 5k

Played golf on Thursday and then ran extra intervals that night. My times were all around what I wanted them to be, but not necessarily in the right order. This left me unsure of what to expect of myself at today’s race.

After I left the house, and just before I got on the freeway, I realized I forgot my watch, and ran back home. This made me even more nervous about trying to warm-up, get my number, and not being late. Without speeding, I got to the race with plenty of time to spare. Met my ma and step-dad walking to the registration, and fortunately don’t feel like I needed to entertain them. This allowed me to run for a 15 minute warm-up or so, and not worry about getting back to my car to drop off my sweatshirt and race bag, because ma was nice enough to grab it from me.

Today was another small race, maybe 75 people. Flat out and back course with the temps in the mid 50’s, but kinda windy. I lined up closer to the front today, and tried to get to the right when I realized that there was a jog in the road about 200 meters out. My first mile was 7:34, which I thought was too fast, but I felt great. Again, I was able to pick out a guy (in grey) early that I thought I could follow. About 1.25 miles in, I was passed by a guy in a red shirt, and tried following his cadence. I stayed with him, but his feet hit the ground too infrequently, as he was a good six inches taller than I. Saw my step-dad about half a mile after I turned around. He looked good and I felt good, so I yelled something about a nearby geocache. I don’t remember my two mile split, but the back of the one mile marker was 16:07, and I defiantly thought I could beat 24:00. The guy in the red shirt was caught with 400 or so left, and grey shirt and I sprinted in, and I finally passed him with 30 meters left. I wouldn’t let him go faster than me. (I sound all serious right there, but it was all in fun.) Through the chute and had over my number tag, start to stretch and realize I forgot to stop my watch. Oh well, results will be posted online. After my finish, I walked back and found my step-dad and ran the last ½ mile or so with him. He said I helped him in, so that’s a good thing, and he crushed his goal time of 35:00 with a 30:20. The online results have me with a 23:40, and I feel great about that.

Step-dad got around to asking me what my running goals are. I’ve been thinking about a 10k in early/mid June, and not much after that. Other than maybe a marathon next summer in Walker, MN. He wants to run an 8k somewhere in four weeks. A nice 8k sounds good to me, and there’s one in St. Paul the weekend he’d like.

What’s after that? Besides the birth of our kid and a complete change in my life that is. Any ideas as far as running is concerned?

Nerves

A thunder storm is the only thing keeping me inside right now, instead of getting one more mile in so I could hit 100mi for the month. I'll be content with 99.1...
I basically ran all negative splits today for 4x4/200 intervals. My second 400 and third 200 were up one second. The last 400 and all the 200s were done on the local track. The school wasn’t using it, and I found the way in. So I did the Start-circle-Start-circle thing for the first time in 11 years or so. All my times were lower than expected. Because I felt they could have been even lower, I need to decide how fast I’d like to run my 5k this weekend. Last time I wanted under 25:30, and I’m not sure if shooting for 24:00 is unreasonable?

Our A league team has one game left on the schedule. And we can’t finish any lower than first place. We beat the second place team yesterday, and it felt good after we lost to them the first time we played. It would actually mean something if we got the next fall league free for winning this spring league, which happens some places. But not here.

More baby classes this week. At work this morning I got very anxious, almost like a panic attack, because I’m not sure our house is ready. I’ve got to finish a couple projects and would like a new kitchen, and I wanted to leave work to get these things done. About five minutes later, I realized this is my way of being nervous. Mostly your typical Provider type concerns scattering throughout my head. And it’s all irrational thinking, because I know I’ll be a good dad. I’ve been preparing for this since mine walked out, and I picked up his racquetball racquet and thought “I need to learn this game to be the man of the house.” I was six.

It’s our second anniversary, our last without kids running about, and I’m watching hockey, and my wife is doing homework, both listening to thunder. Party animals I tell ya.

I still have the racquet.

Golf Season is Here!

I finally got out on the course this week. Subbed in a league that is mostly made up of my bowling league. I don’t consider golf exercise. If a guy can drop his cigar, set down a beer, swing a club, pick up his nicotine and alcohol, and keep playing, it’s an activity, not exercise.

But I’m trying to get out again today.

So I ran early today, so long as early is a relative term. I stayed up watching Vancouver beat Anaheim in double overtime last night, so I didn’t roll out of bed till eight. I ran a nice easy 7.85, my longest run to date, around some new routes. Saw lots of people out and about this morning, made me wish I had a training partner for these longer days.

I found a summer hockey league. This means I’ll play a few more games as a guy without kids, and I’ll miss my first scheduled game in six years around the time our kid arrives. With the possibility of not skating all summer, I’ve contemplated buying a bike to add some summer cross training. But, I’ll put those thoughts on hold; I didn’t realize how expensive a bike could be. Hockey and running is enough of a balanced exercise routine for me.

Off to the bakery to see if they have any German Chocolate rolls left this late in the day.

What have I done?

My interval run today totaled 6.5 miles, and I thought I totaled around 5.75 or so. Today was less than half a mile shorter than my long run from this past weekend. I feel great. I think I’ll run trails tomorrow.

Also, this month I’m on pace to spend more time running than playing hockey.

Not bad or good.

Unless I find a summer league, there are only 3 hockey games left in my life as a guy without kids. My A League team won today. I played aright, made a couple bonehead plays that cost me, and also recovered from a couple mistakes I made.

I’m not sure I fully recovered from my run yesterday. It was a long slow day, and I ran very slow, and enjoyed every minute of it. I think I read that if your resting heart rate is 5 or 10 higher than normal, you haven’t recovered from yesterday’s activity. But since I quit smoking and began noticing my heart rate, my resting rate has been lower every time it’s been checked. So maybe that’s why I was off today or maybe my warm-up wasn’t quite right, either way I didn’t play too bad, but not too great either.

My step-dad hasn’t signed up for the race we decided to do next month. It doesn’t appear to be a big race, so there should be no problem getting it done on race morning. Now I’m enjoying talking running with him, and the needling we give one another.

I keep discovering neat things around town as I run. An Olde Tyme Fix-It-Shop, a guy I know from bowling letting his dog out, a church that reminds me of my grandparents with a great view of the river, and drinking fountains that aren’t on yet. Things like these are why I really enjoy running, and won’t take the same route twice.

Step-dad and I think we can finish the race together, if I run it twice. Or go at it backwards.

Training Week

After my first race, I just picked up the same training plan and started it again. Albeit at a spot that fits for my next race! I’ll say it again; using a training plan/guide is much easier than just trying to run a few days a week. If I need to keep racing to make “training” this much more enjoyable, I’ll keep finding room in my schedule for them. I think I’ll go for a 10k after this one though.

Our first baby class is this week. It’s a class on breastfeeding. I’m going to hopefully learn a thing or two, and be supportive. Also, I’ll remember things my wife won’t, and visa versa. This means I can’t play golf tomorrow like I hoped, but I still get to skate against a guy I grew up against (I’m 4-0 against him in the last two years).

I took a CPR/First Aid class through work on Monday. The CPR guidelines are changed so often, it’s nice to get this refresher before our kid arrives. There were two downfalls however; I ate pizza for lunch and ran intervals after work, and a new guy started in the shop that day. I was able to meet this new guy for a few minutes before I left for the training class, and he seemed like a nice guy. The next day, he arrived to work at 5:00am, showing promise. After going over a few things for 15 minutes or so, I was set to have him just observe for an hour, and he ran to his vehicle to grab his tools. And never came back. No idea what happened, but its kinda funny. Who wakes up at 4am and then quits right after getting to work?

A friend was supposed to start running today by doing my warm-up with me and the dogs. Maybe Friday.

I Want to Go Again

Racing was a blast. Running with a group of people seems easier than running alone every day. Now I really hope a couple of my buddies catch the bug like they keep saying they want to. I learned a lot today; like I can run harder longer, and should have pushed more for negative splits (7:59, 8:10, 8:56 for last 1.1). And I wish now that I'd know where the Finish line was before the race started.

Considering myself a novice, I mostly tried to do what those who looked like real runners did. I waited just in front of the couples holding hands at the start, and was able to pick out a couple of people early on that I thought I could follow. I passed the first guy just over a mile in, and finished about 10 seconds behind the other guy. At the end, a different guy that I leapfrogged a couple of times, asked about the tattoo on my right calf. He used it to recognize me as someone to pace off of. That felt nice.

The tattoo is the Serenity Prayer. I’ve been clean for 8 years, 6 months, and 4 days. Since that day in ’98, I’ve picked up all the habits I had before I got involved heavily with drugs. It started with enjoying family, golf, hockey, dogs; and more recently, loving and anticipating my own family. Crossing a bridge over the Mississippi, it occurred to me that running a race is the last hobby for me to regain. Of course it’s not really a hobby yet, it was only one race. But I think I’ll do it again. (That almost the exact same phrase I used to become a vegetarian, eight years ago.)

After the first half mile, I realized I passed many of the real runners I’d first used as benchmarks. But not the guy pushing the stroller. And I wanted advice on buying my own.

Getting Excited

I think I can run and skate on the same day. During last nights game, I got better as time went on, which makes me think I need about 5 hours in between workouts, not four. I didn’t play bad, but not up to my standards, and we lost.

No running today, but had a nice session of open hockey. I think we've had a kid who’s been drafted by the Canadians (my favorite team) playing with us the past couple of weeks. He doesn’t need to try to hard and can still make us look silly. Like when I picked his pocket on a pass, and he stole the puck right back and shelved it, made me look like a beginner. But I don’t remember him scoring on any of the breakaways he had on me either.

Last night I dreamt that I ran most of my race going the wrong direction. When I woke up, just my legs were covered in sweat. My wife laughed at me when I told her about it. I guess I am getting a bit nervous about racing tomorrow.

I hope I’m not too anxious to sleep tonight.

My dogs are sissies.

My knees have been bothering me as of late. My right knee one day, left the next, but only while running. So, even though earlier this week I planned on running today, and taking tomorrow off, I’m taking today off. The training guide I’m using has today off and intervals tomorrow, but I play hockey tomorrow and have a meeting at work that will keep me later than I’m accustomed to on a Thursday. But, I don’t think it would be wise to take three days off before my first race, so I’ll try and fit a short set in someplace in my day. I could wake up at like 2:30am and get a morning run in. That would give me an hour and a half less sleep, and hopefully let me be rested enough for hockey at 9:00.

I have to call my step-dad and decline his invitation to join him for a half-marathon on May 5th. It’s the inaugural half in Prairie du Chien, WI. I think I could run that far by then, but not recover for my last A league game the next morning. Also, I don’t think I want to try a half until I can finish in less than two hours. Maybe it’s a bad thing to set standards like that for myself?

The baby has been moving a lot lately, so I’m told. I’ve felt him/her move before, but yesterday my wife said she could see her belly being pushed out during her workday. Then at night, the baby calmed down, so I just talked to him/her. I learned, and humored my wife, that yet to be born babies can’t be scared into jumping.

At least my dogs are calm. The male is afraid of the snow, so he doesn’t want to run today either.

Training Plan

The fist shot on net tonight went in on me. After that, nothing else got by me. I have a specific routine when I play a game, and tonight, it was cut very short. Instead of the usual 4-5 minute warm-up, we got about 90 seconds. I play better with my routine; it’s like a training plan for every game.

The training plan I’ve found for running is going smoothly. I’m finding it easier to focus on running when I don’t have to try to figure what I should run on a particular day. Walking around work, I’m able to think about an upcoming workout and be mentally prepared when I get home. There’s no more hemming and hawing about what to do. Why didn’t I find one of these sooner?

The tongue started falling out of my left shoe. It just so happens that a coupon for 25% off at a local running store showed up in the mail a day or two after. Without the coupon, I wouldn’t have bought new shoes today. This also means my older shoes can become work shoes, which I desperately need.

One of my defensemen purposefully gave the other team a break-away tonight because I was embarrassing him in front of his girlfriend, during the game. I was laughing so hard when the guy shot the puck, I could barely see it coming at me. Still stopped it.

Only in MN

It was 80* a week ago, tomorrow it might snow.

Hockey yesterday went well, a very fun game. I thought I played very well despite a 6-4 loss. To me, playing well is only wanting one of the six back. The team hopes my brother makes it back soon, as he’s usually good for a lot of energy.

I printed out a training plan for a 5k, and marked it up to suit my schedule and goals. Today was my first interval day. I didn’t want to be the creepy old (to little kids I am) guy using the track at the elementary school, so I used my GPS. After a warm-up with the dogs, I started running fast for me. After two 800s, I ended up right by the school anyway, and there were no kids around, so I thought I’d try my 400s and 200s on the track. Alas, all the gates were locked, so around the block I went on my first 400. As I was slowing up, I noticed a runner beginning his run. I started to ask him if he knew if the track was available to use, but I realized he looked very familiar. I met former Gophers hockey coach and current college hockey TV guy, Doug Woog while on a run.

I was enjoying my run before the chance meeting; afterwards, I couldn’t get the grin off my face. Never would have thought I, being a hockey guy on a run, would meet a kind of famous hockey guy on a run. My intervals got faster after that too, but I might have run an extra 200 in all my excitement.

Hope I like this training schedule. Also hope I’m not starting it too late for my first race. But I know I shouldn’t put too much emphasis/pressure on myself and my time. It's my first race since high school and my time will be far from the times I posted back then.

I didn’t even ask Mr. Woog anything about hockey. I’m an idiot

Sleep

In the last 44 hours, I’ve played two hockey games, bowled three games and went to my league banquet, worked 22 hours, had and in-house interview to transfer departments-will happen after our baby is born- slept for about 3.5 hours, and napped for 20 minutes.

Now I’m cranky. But I can never sleep right when I get home from hockey, so here I sit.

My legs have felt pretty good the last couple of days, with only some slight pain in my right knee while going down stairs (IT band?). What I really want to do is get done with hockey tomorrow, come home and grab the dogs and go run trails for about an hour.

My brother wanted a pair of running shoes, so yesterday I accompanied him to a running store. He found a pair he liked, and we made a plan to run a race together in three weeks. But, in the third period of our game tonight, he pulled his groin, and was barely able to walk to the truck after the game. Right now, I’ll say I’m still running it. It feels good to have a running goal.

I haven’t really seen my wife in two days, and I need rest.

Summer in March.

3 hours in between hockey games is the exact wrong amount of time to sit. I played well in the first game yesterday, and not so hot in the second. To top it off, the Gophers lost. Bad hockey day when it’s all said and done. Oh well.

Today my usual routine was off because of another U/S. Not really a bad thing. They’re actually quite fun, and I think our baby has his/her mom’s nose, and likes to have his/her feet by his/her forehead.

My hockey schedule is different this week, and that added to my not wanting to run. But it’s over 80*F in Minnesota in March, so I made myself get out the door. The same leg pain returned today that I had on Saturday, so I cut my run short. It seemed like every time I hit a corner where I could turn towards home, the pain increased. A few houses past that point, it would subside. Third times the charm, and I turned home. I’m going to run tomorrow though, and hope I feel better. (I feel like a schmuck saying this after reading a blog by a woman who ran a marathon this past weekend.)

The baby is healthy, and tomorrow is another opportunity.

Wild game.

I’ll be at the Wild/Coyotes game tonight. Upper level, first row, along the Wild’s defensive goal line in the first and third periods, on Manny’s or Backstrom’s glove side, Harding’s blocker side. So you could look for me if you knew which face to look for.

My A league game on Sunday was wild in its own right. We beat an undefeated team, and they didn’t like it. A fight broke out late in the game that our guy absolutely did not want any part of. He didn’t want to drop his stick, let alone his gloves. Fighting about a beer league hockey game is stupid, that’s the best word for it.
I played well, and appreciated hearing that from a bunch of my teammates. And a team that I’ve subbed for has asked me to fill in this weekend. Ego Boost, which my wife will tell you, I don’t need.

Yesterday's run was odd for me. I wanted to run at an uncomfortable pace (not sure of all the terms, is this a tempo run?). I figure if I’d like to get faster, I shouldn’t take it easy all the time. And my dogs would like me going their speed for once. But, my dog Gus (she’s a fawn uncropped Doberman) started limping about half a mile out, so both dogs came home. If one gets to come running without the other, the one at home goes crazy.

Around the 1.5 mile point, I started thinking about how far I wanted to go, and thought about three miles would be good. When I got to the block where I would take a right and head home, I went left. Going three just didn’t seem like it would cut it (or I was putting off grocery shopping), and I’m glad I kept going. Even if my right leg was sore today, instead of my usual left. My GPS said I went 3.86, but http://www.usatf.org/ and my car said 4.1. So if the GPS was off that much on the distance, I wonder if it was also off on time. I hope not. It felt like I accomplished something, quickly. Maybe my short days will now be closer to four, instead of two miles.

Last night, I had a dream where I asked my kid if s/he would like to play with dad, or go to school that day. S/He said go to school, which meant I’d have to go to work.
First dream I’ve had where I was a parent in the dream.

Under Armour

Quick note for those in the Twin Cities area.
Under Armour is %40 off at Sports World USA in Eden Prairie. It's off of 5 by Kowalski's. From 494, take 5 west, 2nd light go right, then first left, the store is in the middle of the strip mall.

(opening to Time by Pink Floyd)

I really wanted to run Friday after open hockey, but my better judgment prevailed. I figured that after almost three hours of hockey in just over 12 hours, my legs could use a break.

While resting Friday evening, I decided to try for seven miles Saturday morning. Most of my run today felt good. At any given moment, I couldn’t tell you how fast I’m going, but it seems to work out to the same 10 minute mile easy pace. On my easy days that is.

It was even a productive run with a stop at the local hockey shop to pick up some laces. Around the six mile mark, my shins began to hurt just below my knees. This may have been psychosomatic(sp?) considering I’d just read the Runner’s World review of my shoes. To me, the review says I’m too light for a stiff shoe, and I had it in my head already that I’d like a new pair. I haven’t spent any indulgence money since my upcoming parenthood was announced, but bonuses were just handed out at work. Tonight, my knees are still a bit sore, but got better after an icing.

After my run and an errand or two, our nephew spent the day with us on a spur of the moment call by his mother. He’s not quite two, and doesn’t talk yet, but you can still read his emotions. It was discovered that he likes our dogs better when his mom isn’t around, death metal can put a baby to sleep (he liked The Ocean), and my time will be given away freely to my kid when he/she arrives. I’ve known my time would be more in demand when that day comes, but having our nephew around put it very much into perspective for me. I can’t wait. Hence the title of this evenings post.

I still need to relace my skates for my game tomorrow, and doubt I’ll be getting new shoes any time soon.

What a Day.

I made it a point to run hills today, and to take walk breaks. Found four hills in my five mile run, they felt great, and walked for a minute twice. When I got home, I felt I could have kept going, and I’m pretty sure that is my body telling me a good thing. If I can only remember this feeling of accomplishment next time I think about pushing too hard.

Having a child on the way has caused me to become a cheap bastard, but I think I want another pair of shoes. The last week or so has been very warm and my shoes get soaked while running in slush and puddles. This made me realize that when I go to run Saturday, my shoes will probably still be wet from my Friday run. Today was dry enough that I got to run on semi-dry grass for a few blocks, the cushioning was wonderful.

I woke up in a good mood today, and it’s carried all the way through. I think tomorrow will be the same because we get to hear our kids heartbeat again, and that will never get old.

Satisfying Day

Yesterday I decided to go with a 5k race like run, and did it in 27:14. This is just over nine minutes slower than I recall my PR being from 11 years ago when I ran competitively. And I’m ok with that. Especially since I ran for speed for the first time, and I did it alone, on a course that may or may not have been an actual 5k.

I was worried last night that I may have pushed too hard, because my left knee started cramping up while I was watching the Gophers loose. But, when I got up today, no bubbles no troubles.

My “A” level hockey team played today, and we did pretty well. The other team found my weak spot early and got me for three high glove side before I snagged a couple that they thought they had on me. But we still won, and I don’t think I let in any weak goals. Then a team playing after us needed a goalie and I filled in, I like this perk of being a goalie. It just so happened that I ended up playing against a team that my half-brother plays on. Not knowing him that well, I didn’t get too cocky with him, but almost got a shut-out in the game. Let one in on a fourth rebound shot that I should have cleared after the initial shot, oh well.

So I guess this means that my run yesterday did just fine by my body’s standards. Not sore after two games, and looking forward to tomorrows run. And I have a full work day to figure out how long it will be.

Now I have a new PR to shoot for.

Training Plan

I think I need to find a training plan that fits my schedule. I played hockey on Thursday and Friday, both sessions were kind of boring, and my legs felt heavy again on Friday. So if I can find a training schedule that gives me 3 days off a week, I'm golden. But, this program I may find must have the ability to have my Saturday runs allow my Sunday off day, to be very conducive to a high level of hockey. And, I'd need Thursday, Friday, and Sunday to be off days. I'm sounding demanding.

This thought process is being brought on by the fact that I’m having trouble making up my mind about my run today. The thought of running a race like 5k is very mentally appealing, but so is the thought of another slow hour with the dogs, giving the wife an opportunity to have the house to herself. And I’m unsure which will leave me in worse shape for my 2:00 game tomorrow.

Would've preferred snow

About two weeks ago we got spoiled and the temps hit the upper 30’s, a rare treat for late February in Minnesota. Then last week we got about two feet of snow, and the temps went back to normal (mid teens). Now, we’re in the upper 20’s for highs and low teens at night. And this time of year the sun is at the right angle to melt everything, so long as the sun is shinning and the shadows aren’t there.

This means that within a few hundred feet of running on sidewalks, you will encounter the following: dry concrete, wet concrete, packed snow, ice, unshoveled snow (it stopped snowing five days ago), slush, snirt (snow and dirt mix), puddles, and puddles that look like ice.

I never saw the first deep puddle I hit. A car was waiving me through an intersection, so I jumped over the wall of snow separating the sidewalk from the street. I didn’t realize that this particular wall was not protruding into the street as much as I thought, and I landed right next to a sewer drain, ankle deep in water. I managed to miss most of the puddles the rest of my run. But this first incident happened about a mile into a five mile run, so the damage was done.

At least when you run in a snowstorm, you shoes aren’t ice when you get home.

Why I started

We are 22 weeks pregnant today. Which means that 18 weeks ago, I had a very good reason to want to quit smoking. So I did, and gained about 10 pounds in two weeks. We were at some friends house and they had a scale sitting on the floor in their dinning room. So I stepped on it and my number came to a stop, and my friend made a comment about this number being small, but it was the highest number I'd ever seen on a scale while I was standing on it.

So I started running parts of my walks with the dogs.

Today, the dogs and I had my wife join us on the beginning of our run. She did very well, even if she disagreed. The four of us did almost mile, then I did two more. Felt great. And I think I'm finding a rhythm that allows me to play hockey well enough for me. 3 miles is by no means a good long run for a Saturday, but I'm not getting OCD about it and hurting myself. It helps to reassure myself that I've only considered myself a runner for two months now.

Back to my point. Just before my post run shower today, I stepped on our scale. And the number was below the weight I've gained since I quit smoking. It was in fact, within the 5 pounds that I find ideal to fluctuate within. Hooray!

Boring Win

Last night we won 15-2. I fell asleep on the second goal, but made some quality saves in the first two periods. The third was very one sided though, and the other keeper kind of gave up.

Skated at my regular lunchbox open hockey today, and an extra goalie showed. I hate when I have to sit for any amount of time. But played well again, even made a Sportscenter top ten like save.

I feel like running today, it's warm out and still snowing ever so slightly. Wanting to get more miles in but not overdue anything. I hope if I run a very easy two or three tomorrow with my dogs, my legs will feel as good for my game on Sunday afternoon, in a much better league, as they did last night.

After I shoveled the driveway for my wife this morning, she was getting into her car, and I said "Love you guys." to her. I've talked to my unborn baby before, do it all the time actually. But this was the first time I recall saying I love you to my family as a whole.

Crazy that I'm about to have a family.

A Begining

Walking out of work today, Dutch (he's from Holland) asked if I was playing hockey tonight. Told him no, today is a run day and I hope to get about 45 minutes in (did 43). Then he wanted to know if I was being Obsessive Compulsive about my exercise.

And that is where I am right now. Trying to find the point and schedule so I can run enough to feel like a runner and justify spending money on shoes, and still play hockey well. It's not like I need to play like I'm a pro or anything, but being a goalie, everyone knows if you are having a bad day in the net.

A couple weeks ago I felt my legs were getting too heavy for hockey, so I cut way down on my mileage, from 15-20 to 6-8, and it seems to help. I thought my lower hockey league was taking a break, and I would be able to add miles, but found out today I have a game tomorrow night. So we'll see how my 4.5 mile run today treats me tomorrow night.