Fun Weekend

Great day yesterday in the "Great Smokey Mountains." It was my second longest run of the year @ 11.5 miles. A mild 50 degrees and overcast. It did climb to 54 degrees by the end. I arrived an hour and a half later than expected due to the traffic. It seems that every vacationer in the United States decided to go to the Smokey's this weekend for the fall colors. My normal 1.5 hours of driving turned out to be 3 hours!! The 11 mile loop is closed to cars until 10 am for bikes, hikers, and runners. I didn't arrive until 11am, then I drove for another 20 minutes trying to find a parking spot.
The run went great, but there were so many vehicles on the loop that I was dodging cars "left and right" and often I had to stop to walk around cars. I turned my ankle twice; very minor - no pain whatsoever; while running through brush. Besides the cars, I really can't complain much because I had so much fun! I finished with a slow time compared to last - 11.5 miles in 2:11:15 (11:24 avg.) It did seem that there were more, steeper hills this time around. LOL!! Even though the cars were-a-plenty, the supportive people made it very enjoyable. I have found my favorite running place. The fall colors were nearly at their peak and the roaming wildlife is great.( Minus the Bears). I did get to see an Elk up close. It got to within 100 feet, which I have to say was scary as hell..hahaha They are huge!!! I sorta positioned my body behind a tree until he went the other direction..
Sadly, I brought my digital camera and forgot the damn memory card for it. No pictures!!
That sucked! After the run, I met up with my coworkers for some good grillin.. Nothing like a fat, fattening, juicy hotdog after a run. No guilt at all..
Congratulations to Shosh for running her 2nd half marathon in 7 days and a new PR! OMG! *jaw drops* You read that correctly 2 in 1 week!!!
Joy set a new PR in Atlantic City half marathon in a 20mph headwind! Then she went to work her 12 hour hospital shift!
Congrats to Lisa for knocking out the relay leg of the Baltimore marathon.
Morgan ran her first ever marathon in Kansas City. Pretty amazing gal, great story to tell!
Last one, "my man" Matt ran his first 5K ever!

TGIF

TGIF! At work right now, have a couple minutes. Thanks everyone for your comments, they were nice. Just to inform you all again. I am in a new era of running and those times I use to run with are far, far away from what I can do today. I think when I get below 200 lbs, I may be able to run between 7-8min/ miles on a regular basis, but then again maybe not. Of course I am much older(38) and weigh much more so we'll see.. Just got to get the weight off..
Speaking of weight, Many of the bloggers here use Weight Watchers and have sucess with it, so maybe I'll give that a try. I've always been against "weight-loss programs" , or at least I don't do well with em. I've done well with" the burn more calories than I take in method." But I am open to anything at this point, just got to get motivated.. Arghh..
Heading to "The Smokies" again this weekend to cookout and fellowship with my co-workers. Looking forward to it. Specifically to Cades Cove; where I ran my first half marathon distance back in September. I won't run that far this time, but maybe at least 10 miles, we'll see - depends how I feel..
So far this week, I have run 11 miles. (2) - 2.5 mile runs and (1) - 10K run. My 10 K run I decide to run @ 2pm , which coincided with the hottest part of the day(84 degees.) It was almost disasterous(sp?). I started out at an easy pace of 10min/mile , then by mile 4 I was feeling it. My HR started to get the 85-90% range, so I back off by 30sec/ mile without much change. I eventually had to walk twice. This was a hilly run and I drank plenty of fluids, just to hot!!
I ran again last night with my son. I'm finding this to be good for my soul. How often do you get to spend quality time with your kids? Not as much as you like, especially as they hit the teenage years. So I'll get to look back at these moments in my life and cherish them. Very cool...
I'll try to post Sunday and tell you if I survived the "big run." I'll take some pics too...
Hope your weekend goes well.. :)
PS sorry for the spelling errors and run-on sentences. hehe

Whitewater Rafting

I didn't get the chance to post this earlier, but I wanted to add this to my page since it is my new active lifestyle. Or rephrase - "my new accident waiting to happen!" LOL!!

I went Whitewater Rafting for the first time last week in the Great Smokey Mtns . Me and a group of coworkers went rafting down the Pigeon River. There was 5 - 'class 4 rapids,' and a few 'class 3 rapids.' I had a blast!

You can tell by the pic that I just came down a rapid. That's me with my mouth open and the pink helmet. Don't ya just love it! If you have never done it before, you need to! I can't wait to go again.

My crew