Indian Summer

Indian summer ended with a short trip to Lake Hope State Park and a mountain bike. If the roads are this covered with leaves, you can imagine what the trails were like. I hit the ground a couple of times (once pretty hard) because of them. But that aside, it was a great and much needed trip.

As warm as the weekend started, it ended with cold. With as crazy as life has been the last six months, this was our first fire of the season. Just something about a fire, but I have a feeling the next one will be in the wood stove.

Night Ride

I couldn't stand it.  I have been couped up inside at work and home or just too busy to run or ride except for an occasion trainer ride (amazing how long time lasts on a trainer compared to the road or trail).  I threw a couple LED head lights that I use for working on stuff or gathering wood in the dark on the bike and on my head.  Just a 2+ mile test last night.  Need more light than that! It was fun though.  Sorry, no pictures.

What a year, so far.

Just checked my workout log.  So far this year, 49 miles (6 hrs, 25 min) of trail riding;  155.4 miles (22 hrs, 46 min) of running.  Can't believe I have run over three times as much as I have been on a MTB trail.  I have not ridden the Athens trails once yet this year.  I have only managed a total of about 600 miles on the bike.  Katsu does more than that in a month!

An evening at the lake

Just ran across this picture on my phone. A couple of weeks ago, I dropped Shelly and Ethan off with their kayaks at Lake Snowden. Brock and I went for a walk while they paddled.

Two-a-days

Brock had me up at 3:30a yesterday. I did manage a nap from 5 to 5:30a though (not sure that was a good idea!). Left a message at work that I would be in late and decided to get some stress relief before my 9:30 meeting. What to do, go back to bed? Nope, it was sunny and 49 degrees out. Nice fall morning so I grabbed my helmet and my mountain bike for a gravel road loop. I have also been seriously looking at getting/converting to single speed.  So, I did the loop in 4th gear without shifting (32 x 18T).  Short, only 6.5 miles, but it felt better than sleeping.

Met Jeff at soccer practice. While the boys practiced, we hit the road for a 3 mile run. Great weather, great friend, and two great workouts in one day. In my best Steve impression, it was just great. I needed it.

After practice, Ethan and I headed to the church to pick up Michael from youth group.  We had 1/2 hour to kill so Ethan wanted to kick the ball around.  Ouch, that right ankle still hurts when I kick.  Just don't heal like I used to.

Alexander Alumni Soccer Game

The 2010 edition of the Alexander Alumni Soccer Game was on Saturday.  While I stay pretty fit, this game always hurts some.  Running a 5k in a straight line or biking, even on trails, does not prepare your body for the impacts, turns, and stops of a soccer match.

On top of that, hits and impacts with the ground just hurt a lot more than I remember.  I'll spare you the picture of the strawberry on my back side.  Took a hard hit to the ankle.  No subs means you play through the pain.

While technically my side lost the match, I was able to walk away from the game.  Win?  We'll do it again next year.

More photos of the match here (provided by Mr. Dibenedetto).

Hocking Hills Indian Trail Run

Ran my first competitive run in forever, the trail run at Hocking Hills State Park. Very nice race, well organized, great weather. All in, my Garmin says I ran 3.6 miles in 31:16. Not too bad for a trail run. While I know it wasn't a marathon, I couldn't help of thinking of Eric today, if for no other reason than to be amazed that he ran 26.2 miles.

I picked up my pace around the 3 mile mark expecting the 5K to be 3.1 miles. I was a little depressed when I realized it was longer and the end was up a nice grade, though it was on the paved road. Ended up 5th in my age class and 21st overall (out of 229).  Still, I am pleased and will have to make this an annual event.