Grafton Trails

I ran a nice easy run with Luke on Friday morning (school was off). We went down to Grafton and parked by the bowling alley and ran on the trails back there. We ran to the gravel trail loop and ran once around, the 2nd time around we explored a leafy side-trail that was quite long with a few up-and-down hills. We then repeated (both the loop and the side trail) and ran back.

Target was 38 minutes to hit 4 1/2 miles, but we ended up running 46 1/2 minutes. Definitely over 5 miles, which makes it Luke's longest single run so far.

Barefoot Running and Vibram 5 Fingers

Here is an interesting article on barefoot running and the Vibram Five Fingers shoes. I am hoping to get myself a pair of these in the next few months!

Labor Day Weekend Races

I ran 2 races over the Labor Day Weekend.

On Saturday I ran the Firelands 5k in New London, Ohio. We had spent the night at my sister's house to get an earlier start. The morning started with the fun run. Rachel ran, and I ran half of it with George. (The race is 2 times around a half-mile loop). Many other nieces and nephews ran also.

Now for the 5k it was Luke, Brooke, and I. I started near the back with my daughter Brooke, and ran with her about 1/8 mile, to the first turn. Then I started moving up, getting to the mile mark in 6:39. The second mile was about as strong and I passed the 2-mile mark in 13:23 (a 6:44 split).

Coming up towards the last turn before the finish, I knew there was someone nearby and I hoped it wasn't Shawn T, who is in my age group and has beat me frequently in this race. As I made the turn, I peeked, and that's exactly who I saw. I picked up the pace and held him off though.

My final time was 21:11, 27th overall out of 161 and 1st in my age group. Results are posted here.

I didn't win a doorprize, although Luke won $10 at Marathon Gas (which I claimed) and Brooke won a gift basket from a local hospital which included a shirt (my size), some lotions (for her) and some things for the car (also for me).

Sunday morning Luke and I ran an easy 4 miles.

Monday Luke and I went to Milan for a workout. The plan was to enter the Melon Festival 5k, run the 1st mile at a conversational pace, run the 2nd mile faster, and then race hard the final mile. We saw 2 boys from Luke's soccer team, as well as my nephews Thomas & Brian.

Well the 1st mile time was 8:15 (closer to 8:00 once you subtract the time it took us to get to the starting line). We were just passing one of Luke's teammates at that time, as well as many ohters.

Our 2nd mile time was 15:35, meaning we ran a 7:20 2nd mile. Good, maybe even too good. Luke didn't really have much pick-up left at that point. Still I pulled him along and we continued to pass, including his other teammate. Luke's final time was 23:37 (mine was 23:41) so he ran 8:02 for the final 1.1 mile. Neither of us placed in our age, and although Thomas was 4th overall, none of our family won a doorprize!

Final results for the milan 5k are posted here.

Firelands 5k Results

I'm hoping to post a more thorough write-up of my weekend running soon, but for now, here is a link to the 2009 Firelands 5k Results, in New London, Ohio on September 5th.

I won my age group in 21:11.

Not So Primal Breakfast

I entered a photo of my breakfast in the Primal Breakfast contest over at Mark's Daily Apple. Unfortunately I didn't win the random drawing, but I'm pretty sure my breakfast (a protein bar and a glass of milk) is among the least primal of those pictured. Oh well.

Junior High Cross Country and Yoga Booty Ballet

Tonight after work I drove out to Norwalk to pick up Luke. I got there in time for his pre-season cross country parent's meeting and also the coach allowed me to tag along in practice.

We started with a warm up of about 1/2 mile, then stretching, then several "drills", toe walks, skipping, butt-kicks, and such.

Then she broke the team into groups and sent them out for a 2-mile run at staggered intervals, with the slower runners starting first with the intent that the kids would work on catching the group in front of them.

I ran with 2 boys in the first (slowest) group and they kept up ok, one girl from the next group back almost caught them but that was it.

Then we did 2 "strides" and 4 "sprints" of about 75 meters, and then about 1/4 mile cool down, and then more stretching. Hopefully they will have a good season. Their first meet is in about 1 1/2 weeks.

Then when we got home, Victoria and I did day 1 of Yoga Booty Ballet. YBB is another exercise program from Beachbody, the company that distributes P90X.

Day 1 is watching a 15 minute video describing some basic yoga moves and poses, and then a 10-minute ab workout with a squishy ball. It was no P90X for sure, but the ab workout was ok and it's great to be exercising with my wife!

Scones, Smoothies, Sweet & Sour Meatballs

A while back I joined the "Team Beachbody" club ... besides increased website access and 10% off the products, you get a "free gift". Well the gift was a small cookbook called "Thin Kitchen"

I'm usually not a cook, plus I am a picky eater, but let me tell you, I have made 3 of the recipes so far and they are awesome! Very well received by the whole family, expecially my wife. (Or maybe she just likes me to take a turn cooking).

Anyhow first I made a batch of Whole-Wheat Cranberry Scones. I took these to a family picnic and everybody made a big deal because I had cooked, well they all got eaten.

Next (tonight) I had some time so I made 2 things. First was Chalene Johnson's Summer Smoothie - calls for OJ, Pineapple, Papaya, Mango, & ice (and optionally protein powder). Well my 3 year old won't touch fruit, but he drank his, calling it a milkshake. My 11 year old daughter is a vegeterian and I worry about her protein, we added the protein powder and she certainly enjoyed it.

The second thing tonight was the main entree - Sweet & Sour Meatballs. I made both the meatballs and the sauce (actually my 12 year old son made the sauce). The sauce was a little too spicy for some in the family, but the picky 3 year old ate about 4 meatballs (in ketchup) and my wife ate enough that her eyes were sweating from the sauce.

Anyhow, if you have the cookbook and haven't used it, use it! If you haven't got it, I'm sure there are other healthy recipes out there but we sure have had success with these!