Go, you chicken fat, go away!

50 sit-ups, 20 push-ups, planks, side plank, 2 half way down pull-ups.  My right calf muscle is still very much sore from Saturday.  Maybe I'll do an easy 3 this evening.

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I did not do any run this evening, but I did start P90X.  Chest/back and Ab Ripper X.  To enter the Puke Zone do you actually have to puke?  If so, then I was in the Almost Puke Zone.

AM Workout

I just did my 3 mile neighborhood loop to loosen up my legs, and I stretched afterwards.

Time - 27:57 (avg. pace 9:16)

Splits - 9:21, 9:21, 9:05, 0:10 for 0.02 (9:15 pace)

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Race Report

I've wanted to do one of these races for a while but have always had something else going on.  The forecast called for rain.  I asked the race director beforehand if there was a possibility that they might cancel it.  She said unless there was lightning, they were doing it. 

I stopped working at 5pm and got changed in the bathroom for the race.  When I walked outside it was sprinkling lightly.  "Here it comes" I thought.  As I drove to Scottsdale Community College it got heavier.  This should be fun. 

I've never been to SCC, but I've driven by it many times and had no problems finding it.  However, I didn't know where their track was.  So I pulled in a parking lot and drove around.  I stopped a student and asked him where it was.  He said it was on the opposite side and my best bet would be to go all the way around.  So I got back on the main street and on the freeway entrance hoping it was also a way to get to the front of the campus.  It wasn't.  I ended up having to drive a mile down the freeway and get off at the next exit, get back on the freeway and go back to SCC.  This time I took the first entrance to the campus and drove around to the sports facilities.  Remember, all this time it's raining.

Now I get myself ready to face the elements.  Of course I have no jacket, so I put my towel over my head.  I already had my Garmin which was dumb because now I have water trapped in the screen.  I took it off, before I ran, but the damage had been done.  I hope it doesn't seep in any further and short something out.  I'm looking around for the track.  I wonder if it's on the other side of the tennis courts.  Hard to tell.  Let me walk all the way around.  There's the gym/wellness center.  Oh, there's a lighted field.  Maybe that's it.  I'll just walk through this mud to get there.  And it's a crummy softball field.  Well, maybe it's over there.  It also looks like a baseball field, but you never know.  More mud to walk through?  Great.  Darn, that's not it either.  I guess I'll head south.  It's got to be at their football stadium.  Doesn't SCC have a football team?  Where are the bleachers?  Hmmm...now I'm back on campus.  Where are all the students so I can ask someone?  Don't they like wandering out in the rain?  I'm sure they wouldn't mind someone with a towel over his head approaching them.  Salvation!  There's a campus directory.  And there's the track!  Right behind the tennis courts after all!  How did I miss it?

Now that I have a visual on the field, I start to run to it.  Luckily I had plenty of time still.  I see a couple of people on the bleachers.  I think, "That's odd.  What, are they making out?"  As I get closer I realize it's a couple of garbage cans, but luckily I see some more people getting there at the same time as me.  They look like students.  Athletic students.  I ask someone if I'm in the right place for the open mile.  They say yes, if they even have it.  I don't see any lightning, so I guess so. 

I did a couple of warm up laps and stretched out really good.  The race director finally got there, but I have no idea if they were late or on time because I don't have a watch.  All I know is I'm soaked.  I took off my cotton shirt and was down to my Body Armor.  I think I left my shirt there.  We lined up for the race, and I told the race director that I was going to get lapped.  I was so happy when it didn't happen.  The race director's name is Terri Antonino.  I met her on Athlinks.com.  She's nice and really fast.  I ran behind her the whole time.  My first lap was 1:28.  2nd lap was 1:37.  The third lap is where the rain and my receding waist line caught up to me.  My shorts starting falling down!  Man!  I couldn't go more than 50 feet without having to pull them back up.  It slowed me down considerably, and my final time was 6:31.  I can't remember my third lap split.

They always do two miles.  I wasn't going to do the 2nd mile because I was tired and obviously, I knew my shorts would be around my ankles in no time.  But then I thought that I should tough it out, and I got the brilliant idea to roll them up about three times.  That worked for about half a lap.  I spent most of the race after that rolling and tucking.  Nothing seemed to work.  I thought about ditching them, but that would have been bad.  Anyway, I came in dead last this time and even got lapped by one guy.  My time was 7:12.

I'm going to have to do that again sometime.  I really hoped that running with other people would help me set a post HS PR.  But with the rain and the loose fitting clothing, it wasn't meant to be.  However, I did have fun, and that's the most important thing.

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PM Workout

Day 2 P90X - Plyometrics.

It just so happens I was in Southern California a couple of weeks ago watching Britta run her half marathon.  There's a couple of details she left out of her race report.  I, for one, thought they were worth mentioning.  First of all, between miles 9 and 10 she actually ran while balancing a cup of hot cocoa just because she could.  For a whole mile!

The other cool thing she did was to pace her twin sister for the first 5 miles.  Her sister's not quite as athletic as her, although they are completely identical.

AM Workout

10 minutes on the stationary bike.

PM Workout

Day 3 P90X - Shoulders and Arms/Ab Ripper X

AM Workout

I went for a 2 mile jog this morning because after doing day 3 of P90X last night I could hardly drag myself out of bed.  It felt good to run though.  And there was a nice drizzling rain.  The Garmin seems to be working fine.

Time - 17:44 (avg. pace 8:52)

Splits - 8:58, 8:46

I have a friend who has started running so that he can strenghten his muscles to start playing basketball again.  He's up to a couple of miles.  I was telling him how proud I was of him because it was quite an accomplishment for me to get up to that distance, but then I made the mistake of telling him that now I feel like anything under 3 miles is a waste of my time.  I don't think he's ever going to let me forget I said that.

PM Workout

Day 4 P90X - Yoga X

Okay, yoga was hard.  It's still for girls though.

Day 5 P90X - Legs and Back/Ab Ripper X

This was a nice work out.  I've done the Ab Ripper X three times now and I actually did all of it and kept up for the most part except at the very end.  Ouch.  And there's this oblique thing you do that you lay on your hip and get your legs 30 degrees from your body line and come up.  I'm probably not doing that right because it hurts my hip real bad.

Since everyone's running the St. George half today, I felt it necessary to at least get double digits this morning.  I waited until 11am and it was still kind of cold with the breeze, but actually quite nice.

Time - 1:28:17 (avg. pace 8:44)

Splits - 8:30, 8:28, 8:30, 8:40, 8:46, 8:43, 8:55, 8:53, 9:05, 8:49, 1:00 for 0.11 (8:48 pace)

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PM Workout

Day 6 P90X - Kenpo X

I have to admit.  This has been my least favorite workout of the P90X series.  It takes coordination, like a dancer.  I do not have that.  No, I don't think I can dance.