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I suppose that I should open with some reference to Halloween since it occurred over the weekend. Frankly, I have never been a big fan of Halloween, I never liked dressing up in costumes. I'm not sure why, maybe it has something to do with an event back in 1975 (or 1976) when it was decided I would be a hockey player. Everything was good until it was determined that a part of my costume would include a pair of pantyhose being worn under my hockey pants. Now I'm not saying that I protested a lot back when I was only 4 or 5 years old, but I do recall not wanting to wear them but inevitably I did in fact put them on and then went trick-or-treating. This is a memory that I will never forget, it is burned into the deepest parts of my brain. Is that why I don't like Halloween? Probably not, but I am sure that it doesn't make it any more likable.

As for Halloween at our house this weekend, it was a lot of fun (thankfully I didn't have to dress up). My oldest daughter was a China-girl and my little one wavered between, Tinkerbell (at school), China-girl (pre-trick-or-treating), and Rock Star (actual trick-or-treating). I would post some pictures, but the wife is a bit leery of putting pictures of our kids up on the Internet. We had a party at our house with a bunch of our neighbors and their kids and I believe everyone had a great time (we ordered 7 pizza's one of which was topped with bacon....my favorite....it was gone in seconds). As for the trick-or-treating, it wasn't great because it did rain a bit, but overall I think my girls have more candy than they will be able to eat...this doesn't mean that they didn't try to eat as much as possible yesterday from dawn 'til dusk.

All in all it was a good weekend and despite my unfavorable attitude towards the holiday, I had a good time....due to my girls love of getting dressed up.

I did manage to fit in a couple runs this weekend...my attempt to go for a ride on Saturday morning was thwarted by rain. Honestly, it wasn't so much the rain as the potential for a crash due to wet leaves everywhere. Here's how it went down:

Friday: Rest day....I didn't do a thing.

Saturday: 3.32 miles, 26:00 (7:50/mile), 158 BPM - I felt good and really just went out to stretch my legs a bit.

Sunday: 8.04 miles, 1:02:21 (7:45/mile), 158 BPM - I felt awesome. The first mile was flat and then the next three were slightly up hill and I still managed to keep my pace right around 8:00/mile. The last four miles were in: 7:47, 7:37, 7:39 and 7:21. I felt like I could have kept going and going. Definitely a return to form run for me.

Today: 3.51 miles, 27:50 (7:56/mile), 158 BPM - I just wanted to go easy today, ended up finishing a bit too fast. Oh well, these things happen.

Well, that's it for now. Oh, I did order my Kurt Kinetic Road Trainer on Friday night....I hope that I get it soon so that I can start getting some bike work in. Ciao!

Rain, Rain Go Away, Come Again Another Day

The word of the day is rain. The drive into work this morning was wet and miserable...granted I was in a car, but still it was just depressing. Even though it hasn't been raining every single day, it does seem like it and it is having a negative effect on my psyche. I am somewhat dreading my afternoon run today and as I look at the weather for the rest of the week it seems that there are going to be quite a few dread-filled afternoons of running.

On a more positive note, the past two days of running have been amazing. Not so much because of the running but more so because of the weather and the scenery. I went for a somewhat easy 7+ mile run on Sunday morning and it was just perfect out, 49F and sunny. The leaves are all changing color now, all red, yellow and orange. It was just a great day to be alive and outside. Yesterday was the same, except it was a bit warmer out. I do love running when the temperatures drop a bit and the leaves change colors, it is so energizing.

How do I plan on managing with the weather? Well, I think on Friday I am going to order my indoor bike trainer, most likely the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine.

The more I've thought about going out and buying a kick-ass model, my thinking is now along the lines of keeping it simple and just getting a good price on a solid trainer. ia m actually realy looking forward to getting it, setting it up in my basement and going to town on it either at night while I watch my DVR'd network shows (The Office, Heroes, etc.) or in the early mornings when I can watch all of the classic Ironman Triathlon's I have recorded over the past month.

Past runs:
Friday - 4.62 miles, 36:00 (7:48/mile), 161 BPM - Nice day, ran with Bill and Chris at work.
Saturday - Off....coached my daughters soccer game. It was a lot of fun, my daughter had a great pass to set up our first goal.
Sunday - 7.2 miles, 59:23 (8:14/mile), 158 BPM - Great day for running, I was tired the middle part of the run, but it was just so nice out.
Monday - 4.61 miles, 37:47 (8:12/mile), 157 BPM - Another great day. I was still a bit tired from the previous day, but it was fun running with Bill & Chris.
Today - 4.66 miles, 37:49 (8:07/mile), 155 BPM - Wet, but not rainy run. I was alone and went at an easy pace as my hamstrings are a bit tight.

That is it for now, things are pretty mellow...actually I have a ton of work to do so I better get to that....need to earn a living!