Jeff’s Post – It’s My Birthday!

Today is my birthday and I began my birthday celebration with a nice leisurely 5 mile run with Tamara.  As I get older my birthdays are less about getting old and more about being thankful for the things in my life.  I’m so very thankful for my wonderful family and Tamara’s incredible love and support.  I’m also thankful and feel fortunate every day that I’m able to go out and run.  I often wish I discovered the joy of running earlier in my life but also realize it found me at a time that I needed it most.  Running – the gift that keeps on giving!

Running also allows me to eat cake on occasion and Samantha made sure we celebrated some cake before we left for our trip!

Have a great day!

 

Jeff’s Post – A Trip without a Race!

Tamara and I are on a mini vacation in Irvington Virginia and for the first time in a long time our trip is not geared around a race.  It is very hard for us but we are going to try to relax for a few days.  Some wouldn’t consider waking up the first morning of your vacation and going for a run relaxing but we do!  We went for a nice leisurely 4 mile run this morning exploring the town.

More pics to come but I thought I would share a view from our room.

Have a great day, take a run if you can and remember it is ok to relax a little too!

 

Jeff’s Post – A Slight Hitch in my Giddy Up!

I feel like this is a broken record but Tamara and I continue to plug away on house stuff.  We were up Friday night past midnight painting (that makes me a little grumpy btw) but we are finally getting there.  I’m still wishing I had time to post more and will soon and Tamara will be posting again (one she finishes rearranging the kitchen!).

Now for your enjoyment a running recap of the past week :).  I started Monday off with a ½ marathon on the treadmill.  Some people think I’m nuts for doing this but after running on the treadmill so much I need to find things that challenge me and right now that is challenging me.  This was actually my second Monday in a row doing this.  I followed it up with a fast 6 miles on Tuesday, 8 on Wednesday.  When I went to bed Wednesday night I was thinking I wanted to try for another 13 on Thursday and that is whata I did but at around mile 12 I felt a pain in my left calf.  I thought it was a cramp and pushed through the final mile but I was definitely feeling some pain that day.  Friday was a planned day off for me and I was relieved that my leg was feeling better but not 100%.  I wanted another 50 miles for the week and only needed 10 over the weekend but my leg was hurting a little on Saturday so I decided another day off was best.  This morning I woke up before the sunrise and headed out for a 10 mile run.  I was a little nervous not knowing how my leg would react but by mile 3 I knew I was good.  The run this morning was so enjoyable.  The weather was perfect, watching the sunrise was amazing and it was so early that it was just me and the open road.  I ended up having my second best 10 mile time ever coming in just a little over 1:14.  The only thing missing was Tamara who was in the gym running while I was out on the road.

I’m thankful for another good running week and will definitely pay attention to my leg this week but I want to keep pushing it.  It won’t happen for a little while but I really want to run a ½ marathon a day for one week and I want to run a marathon on the treadmill sometime this year.

Hope you have a great week – keep pushing and run smart!

Jeff’s Post – Making Strides!

After months and months of work around the house I finally feel like we are making strides.  The basement is about 90% finished (pics coming soon!) and today we moved all of the remaining furniture that was sitting in the garage down to the basement.  Now we can fit two cars in the garage again – Yeah!

One of the things I’m most proud of is that during all this chaos I did a good job of staying focused on running.  In fact, running helped me stay focused on all the things that were going on around me.  One of the many many things that I love about running.

Last week I had my first 50 mile week in months.  I started off strong running a 1/2 marathon on the treadmill Monday and Tamara and I finished strong with 6 hot miles today.

Tamara and I are committed to picking up the blog posts and hope you continue to stay with us as we share our journey. Stay tuned as we gear up for a great summer – we can’t wait to share!

Have a great running day!

Run Free Kilee!

With a heavy heart we had to say goodbye to Kilee this weekend.  Kilee was the athletic one and would often go running with Tamara.  We miss you Kilee but know in our heart that you are now whole and running free once again.