Black friday

Back yard battlefield.

Only one more day left in the long holiday weekend. Paula and the boys will be putting up the rest of the Christmas decorations. Pulled everything out of the attic today. We put up the outside stuff, but no lights this year. Seems like the lights only last one year anyway. May put some in the bushes. Did put up the trees, one small one upstairs and the other downstairs in the living room.




Thanksgiving was at Paula's sisters house this year. We watched the first quarter or so of the Titans game before we went over to their house. Good to see the Titans able to control the game. Everything clicked. Did the turkey and ham and all of the trimmings. Ate way to much and laid around the rest of the day. Paula, her sister and mom and dad all went shopping later that afternoon. Told my brother-in-law that was good, that way we wouldn't have to do the "black friday" shopping. Wrongo, they only went to one store the whole 3 hours they were gone. Think I accidently let the "f" bomb slip.



Paula wanted to get up at 3:00 am and hit the stores at 4:00 am. She had read all of the sales circulars and planned her strategy of where to go first. I woke up at 3:00 am as usual and woke her up, but she decided she didn't really feel like getting out of bed. Cool by me, I went back to sleep. She woke me up 20 minutes later because she couldn't get back to sleep. Argh, so much for missing "black friday".

Got to the first store at 4:15 am. Not a parking place anywhere and lines of cars trying to park. I dropped Paula off and circled around to the back of the building and snagged the only spot left, behind a 18 wheeler. Recession wasn't evident in this store, I found Paula in line at the very back of the store. Two lines snaked all the way from the front of the store around to the back and started back up to the front. Wow, I took her spot in line and she continued shopping. Lines moved rather quickly, they had plenty of staff on hand and kept everything orderly. Next store was a big box electronics store. We had to wait outside for 10 minutes before we could even get in the door. They were even better organized, pallets of items and plenty of people buying. Lots of big screen high definition tv's coming out the door, as well as guitar hero. The one item we wanted was already gone. We didn't go away empty handed, to many deals. One item to pick up at Walmart, the store was a disaster area. No organization and complete chaos. Walked to the rear of the store, saw the lines and couldn't get out of there quick enough. Last store was just as organized as the others and lots of deals.

Hopefully next year Paula, her sister and mom, go back to tradition and do the "black friday" shopping and I stay at home.

Did a easy 10 mile run from the house this morning. Didn't start until after 8:30 in the morning. Wore a compression support on my ankle to keep my achilles warm. I have a touch of achilles tendinitis, which didn't really show up until Friday. This makes the Rocket City marathon a no go. The achilles is just slightly swollen and hasn't stiffened up yet. I took it easy on the recovery. Didn't run the day after the marathon, probably should have. Tuesday was an easy 4 miles, Wednesday an easy 6 miles and then 8 miles on Thursday. I was able to get 4 miles at a 7:12 average pace, without any issues.

Rode my bike for 20 miles Friday afternoon. Just did an easy spin because it was kinda cool for the bike, about 55 degrees and overcast. Plus, I hadn't been on the bike in two months. I wanted to head out on the country roads, but just rode down to the greenway and out to the Stones River Battlefield. Good thing, the greenway breaks some of the wind. Not much wind, just enough to make it chilly. Had 2 close calls on the greenway, that's why I really would rather be out on the country roads. The walkers, kids and dogs make you slow down and even when you announce "on your left", the person in front doesn't always move to the right but left right into your path.

Went to the Beer Depot next to the Slick Pig (best smoked wings) this afternoon. Damn, what a beer selection. Never seen such a selection of beer. I bought a six pack of Sierra Nevada Porter and Highland Brewing Oatmeal Stout. Can't believe I haven't been in that store. It's been open for 3 years and I didn't even know it was there. It's in the old "grog shop" location. Same building, use to be a liquor store.

Cigars

Here's a scary picture, self portrait, Old Man at sunrise

Big cigar fan. Doesn't help my running. Actually can tell the effects of the cigar on my speed workouts. Yet, I can't resist a good cigar. Most training cycles I abstain from smoking. Smoked 2 cigars on the cruise vacation. One in each of the ports of call. Supposedly they were "Cubans", no big deal, smoked the same as any other good cigar. One great thing about smoking a cigar is the buffer zone it creates. Most people are offended by the cigar smoke, thus the buffer.

Didn't get any pictures of myself or the cigars, but my sister law did. Sure looked liked I was enjoying myself. Must have been the rum. As an ex-smoker, cigarette smoke really bothers me. Really was bothersome in the on board casino of the cruise ship. Seems like everyone was smoking.

Can't blame the cigars on my pitiful speed workout this morning. Think it was more likely due to no speed work last week and the lack of miles and only 4 runs. Ran a total of 8 miles, all before sun up. Speed workout was the usual 12 x 200 meters with 200 meters of rest. Times were 2-3 seconds off of my last effort.

Incident in our neighborhood(Man injured when dragged by truck), got me thinking about early morning runs. I use to always wear a reflective vest when I ran before sun up. It hasn't been but the last couple of years that I stopped and only because the vest had become so threadbare. So, this morning I carried my red blinky light from the bike. Seen another runner the last few weeks with one on the back of his hand, with some kind of strap. I've also seen someone else wear one on the back of their shorts.

back

Dylan and his cousin, Ryan dock side in Cozumel
Lots to blog about the cruise. Running on the road/cruise ship, driving 10+ hours, food, ports of call, gambling, snorkeling, pictures, rum, pirates, cigars.............

We left for Tampa at 1:30 am on Sunday morning. According to Mapquest, 682 miles in 10 hours. We drove the van and Paula's sister followed in their car. Starting early in the morning is my preferred way to travel long distance with the kids. Hopefully you're able to get lots of miles and time down the road before the kids wake up and start the how "long till we get there", "I've got to pee", or "I'm hungry". We only made three stops on the way down and were able to combine them into bathroom breaks, food breaks and gas fill-ups. Trip down went very well. We arrived in Tampa around 2:00 pm. (Darrell stayed home, he had class)

Trip home seemed to take forever. We got off the ship around 8:30 am, Saturday morning (yesterday) jumped in the car and started driving. Made it home just before 8:00 pm. That was a long day on the road.

What are the odds of Paula and her sister booking the same hotel I stayed in on one of my 2 trips to Tampa, over 7+ years ago? They were remodeling some of the upper floors. We were able to see the Tampa Bay Buccaneers stadium from our room. The picture I took of Paula and Dylan on the balcony, you can't really see the stadium. Boys were able to swim in the pool after we got back from a trip to the dock to see where everything was for our departure the next day.


Bryan and Dylan in the atrium of the hotel in Tampa
Got one treadmill run in on Monday morning a week ago. I hate the treadmill. But, didn't really feel good about trying to run outside from the hotel. One good thing about the treadmill is dialing into the pace you want to run. That's about the only good thing. Time stands still on the treadmill. I did 6 miles, one mile at a incline and another mile at faster pace and the rest just plodding along. This treadmill had fans, which helped a little bit. It's still hot and the sweat just slings everywhere.

This morning was my first run on the road since last Saturday. Started at 8 am, way later than usual. Usually done with my long runs by that time, because of the heat. Scheduled for a twenty miler. It was 60 degrees when I started but right at 80 degrees when I finished. Got my 20 miles, but with a 2 mile warmdown walk home. Hell it wasn't warm, it was downright hot. I was breathing just as hard walking as the miles I slogged from 16 to 18. The early miles were great, real marathon pace to monkey pace and felt great. Guess the cut back in runs/distance from the cruise with the lack of pre run hydration kicked by butt.


Best picture of the cruise was of Paula's sister family at sunrise

it's monday

Magnolia blossom after the petals drop
Time to recover from the weekend. Saturday we spent most of the day at the Outlets Limited Mall in Lebanon. Long day, I hate shopping. Not a single store of interest for me. Dylan and I went one way and PJ and Darrell went the other.

Later, Saturday afternoon, I took the boys, Dylan and his cousin to the skate board park in Lavergne. Dylan and the older kids did most of the riding. Lots of kids just hanging out. 'Course a few of them were smoking, youngest probably a 12 or so year old girl.

Sunday PJ mowed the grass while I weedeated. She planted some flowers and I trimmed all of the shrubs again. Lots of rain and they all needed trimmed again, except for the evergreens. Got the electric chainsaw out and trimmed the lower branches off all of the trees. First time I'd done that at this house. I'll need to chop down the last 3 Bradford Pear trees this winter. I cut down 2 of them last winter. Finally able to dig up the stumps from them earlier in the week. The only tree that didn't get trimmed was the Magnolia. It's branches are within 3-4 feet of the ground, but it makes it easier to climb. Lots of large magnolia's in Georgia that Darrell was able to climb when he was younger because of the low branches.

I must have put on to much round up last fall. The side of the house by the air conditioner had a patch of purple and red bee balm. I sprayed on the purple side, but that's the only color that bloomed this year, but it's spread over to where the red had been the last 2 years. Doesn't make sense, unless when I cut the seeds off and scattered them with only the purple and not any red? The hummingbirds like the red.

Did fathers day at PJ's sisters. The boys swam, Tim soaked up the sun and Bob and I smoked a cigar. Lazy day.

Sundays run was an easy 10 miles from the house to Stones River Battlefield and back. Left the house at 7 am and it was pretty toasty in the sun on the last 2 miles home. Monday's run was a 8.1 mile recovery run on the golf course followed by weights at home.

Smokin'

It wasn't on my run this morning. Speedy paced me through another 5 miles at tempo/half marathon pace. I was really feeling the effects of that small cigar I smoked last weekend. YUCK. Really enjoy the cigars, every once in awhile. Downside is my running is affected for the next two weeks from just one tiny little cigar.