Today was a very easy day. I took Evan out for a run with Sonya. I felt pretty good all in all. We ran down by the lakes. It was a nice morning with many people out. We also went to the State fair today. Wow what fun. I can not belive how many things we ate all day. I will be posting some fair pictures soon !!!!

Miles for the day= 9+

Getting back on track

So after my nice day off I got back at it this morning. It was another great run with my two favorite training partners Sonya and Evan. Sonya was coming off a 4 hour run the day before so she was looking for a easy 5 miles. So after we did our loop around lake Harriet I went and added on a few more miles. I felt pretty good today. It has been great watching the World Track and Field Championships on t.v. each day !!! How about Lagat getting the gold in the 1500 and MN girl Kara Goucher getting the bronze in the 10,000 !!! More great races to come this week.

Miles for the day= 9

Happy Birthday Grandma

Today is my grandma Decker's birthday !! She is 84 years young. My grandma has always been one of my great supporters and I will always remember that. Thanks Grandma !!! So tonight my parents had a party for her. My aunt Jo and uncle Ted came in from Arizona for it which was nice. My uncle Ted is a great guy. I wish I could have spent more time around him over the years but they have always lived far away. With all the stuff going on today became a non run day. Oh well that is OK as I try to rest up a bit for the race this coming Monday.

Miles for the day= 0

Got out today after work with Nick and Greg. It has been a few weeks since I ran with Greg so it was good to see him. It worked out good for me because they where going from Nick's house which is like 1/2 a mile or so from work so I just ran there. They where looking for 7 miles so I knew I would be adding on a few extra by myself. The weather was OK. It was raining lightly earlier but it had stoped. I was in a way hoping to run in the rain, oh well. The run went real well. I felt pretty good. I have been taking this supplement called Optygen from 1st Endurance once aging and I have been feeling so much better. A bunch of cyclist use it like the Discovery team. So far so good !!

Miles for the day= 9

Today was a good day for a easy rest day. Man after that workout/long run I felt so so tired. All day yesterday I was tired and sore. I got a pretty good night rest and all but still felt like a easy day would be good. I ran after work down by Cedar Lake. I ran on the trail on the backside of the lake to the railroad section. I decided to just run on the gravel to the end at Hwy 394 and then lop back. It was like 20 min's when I got to the turnaround. I felt pretty good and all but could tell I needed the bathroom soon. So as I was heading back I think I picked up the pace a bit. I still felt pretty good. You know how sometimes when you get by home base you just loose all motivations ? Well today was that for me. As soon as I was by the car I was toast for going farther. Oh well I am sure it was for the best. Let's see what the track brings tomorrow. I have a date with more 600's !!!

Miles for the day= 6

Where did the week go ?

Ok so I have had a hard time getting back into the blogging rythem once more. This week just flew by. So that being said I will just do a quick recap. It was just one more week of running for the most point. I did feel pretty good all week which was nice. All the speed workouts felt good and the long run/ pace run today was good also. One of the fun things this week was seeing my buddy Matty G out there running. It has been a long time since I ran with Matt. Sonya, Evan and I where just a few miles in when we saw him. He ran the rest of the way with us. It was great to talk to him and catch up on things. I am very proud of him and his new 13:30 5k pr !!! He will have a great track season next year I belive.

Miles for the week= 70

Family Trip to PA.

So this week I was on a family trip to Sonya's hometown of Meadow Lands, PA. We last went there to see all her aunts and unckles two years ago. It is always fun to go see them all. They are super nice and you can see how much they all love Sonya !!! This year was extra special with it being the first time they all got to see Evan. We did lot's of hanging out and watching the kids run around and play. We also went one night to the Pittsburg Pirates baseball game. Man I love that outdoor park. It will be so great when the new Twins ballpark is built. We also spent a day at the county fair. The kids all got to ride all the rides for FREE !!! We had a few of them get sick and empty their bellys.

The running was pretty good as well. It is very hilly there with not many places to run on the street but we found this new trail that was like 29 miles long. It was much like our Luce Line trail. It was a old railroad track that was all gravel. I think we ran every day but 1 there. That other day was went we ran on the local high school track. They had just re-done it and it was very nice. All in all a pretty good week.

Miles for the week: 70

Well the race went pretty good. I was looking to run a solid pace with Sonya once more. It works good having a fast wife. We are able to train and race togeather some. It was a 3 loop course with 2 pretty good hills on it. The hills were long but not super steep, so you could keep a good pace up. The weather was good today as well. Thanks god since it had been so darn hot and humid for so long. I felt very in control as we ran 6:17 pace. I feel like I am comming along, but still have much work to do if I am to run that pace the whole marathon at TCM.

P.S. Sonya got another PR today !!!!

Miles for the day= 17

So tomarrow is the MDRA 15k race. I hope to have a good run so today I just took it easy and ran a slow 10 miles. All in all I felt ok and we will see what happens.

Miles for the day= 10

Running with the boys

This morning my buddy Steve and I took the boys for a easy 5 mile run. It was super good. I felt much better. It is great to see the boys get a little older and start to play more. I think that might be one of the best feeling in the world. Watching your kids first learn to play with others there age.

Miles for the day= 5

Who took my legs ?

So today was one of the worst runs in a long time. I was just so so tired. Man I guess the last 7 days or so has been good, but I did not hope it would get me like this. The way I felt tonight I am scared about running the 15k on Sunday.

Miles for the day= 5

Happy B-day Honey !!!

Todays is my wife Sonya's birthday !!!! Happy B-day Sexy !!! As many of you who know me and Sonya know how she LOVES to run. For many years now she has done a 3 hour run on her birthday. Now last year that was not possible since she had just had Evan, but she did get in a hour run that year. So this year she was looking to run at Hyland Park on the ski trails. We like running there but have not been there for sometime now. The plan was for me to meet her there and run the last hour and half with her. Well life got in the way for her so she only had a few min's in by the time I got there. We had a nice run on the trails. I was feeling ok considering the track workout from the day before. Sonya added on after to get her 3 hours !!! Thanks honey for the run.

Miles for the day= 12

The Track !!!

So for a guy like we who has not run any speed on a track in a long long time today was a tuff one. The workout for the day was 6x600 at 5k pace with 90 seconds rest. I always feel like I am learning to walk aging my first few track sessions. To make things worse it was hotter than hell out. Oh well got to do it huh. I ran to the Edina track with Nick, Sonya and Evan in the jogger. Sonya was doing the same workout as me so we just alternated 600's while Evan sat in the jogger. Nick was doing 4 x 1200. I did feel out of sorts but overall ok. I think my splits where 2:07, 2:02, 2:02, 2:04, 2:05, 2:06. Man was it hard. Now I just need to rest up till the 15k this Sunday.

Miles for the day= 11

Rest Day

After that killer workout yesterday I knew I needed a rest day today since I was going to be going to the track tomarrow. I just ran after work at 8pm to the lakes and around some and back. It was very humid still at that time. Maybe it was just that or something else but I was very tired for most of the run. I was pround though for sticking the whole run and not bailing early.

Miles for the day= 8

Today was on hell of a workout. We had to do a 18 mile long run with a 12 mile MP run in the middle. I am a big beliver in running in the most "like" conditions as possible in something like this. So that being said we decided to run a 3 mile warm up to Lake Nakomis then follow the TCM course for a long time then loop bacl on Ford bridge back to the start. It was Paul, Sonya and I today for the long haul. Nick joined us for the first 5 miles of the MP run. From the start I felt real good. I was running a bit slower that MP pace to start but worked my way into a faster pace as it went. All in all it was a good run. I was tired but happy to get it done. My last mile was 6:00 mins. Not bad, a good start. Thanks to PR for the mile marks on the path !!!

Miles for the day= 18

What the heck ?

When we woke up this morning for the run it looked like for sure it was going to rain on us. So I set up the baby jogger with the rain cover. Evan has been in the jogger with this on but only for purpose of a wind shield. Today was going to be for the real deal. It was so funny as we started out because as Evan looked at the rain falling on top of his head cover he had this look at us of " what the heck is going on " ???? It was like I see this but do not feel it ? Very funny for Sonya and I to see.

As for the run we went down to the lakes with the idea of trying to meet up with our friend Karl but we had no luck finding him. On the bright side we hooked up with our friend Derek S. It was fun to run with him. It was a bit faster than we hoped for since we had a big workout/long run tomorrow but it was great to run with and talk to him anyway. Our run went real well. I think we both where happy. Plus the light rain was nice !!

Miles for the day= 10

Evan time

Evan and I went out tonight for a run. I figured he needed a nap and I needing a run so we took off before Sonya got home. I was once more a nice night down at the lakes. As I figured Evan was asleep within 1 mile of the run starting. I was feeling super good tonight. I ran without my watch which was nice. I should do this more. It just felt real relaxed. Even though I knew how far into the run I was there was something about not knowing what the running time was. The best part was Evan got up within a half mile of the house. It was a good start of the night for both of us.

Miles for the day= 8+

Man what a nice day weather wise !! I feel like a big dump ass for not finding away to get out. For all of you who did get out I hope you had a good one !!

Hot workout !!

I met up with Nick today to do a workout. I was thinking of doing 1 min on and off pickups but with the chance to run with someone I figured I could change plans. Nick was looking at doing something simple like 4x 5 min on with 2 mins rest between. Ah heck you on live once, and I have no problems changing my plans. I knew going in it was going to be hot so I was ready for the worst. As we warmed up I had wished I had drank more water or maybe even brought a bottle with me. I do not like running workouts with a bottle but sometimes you have to. We did the run down wround the lakes. That worked good with the lack of many people or lot's of cross streets. I felt pretty good overall but was very tired and needing water after the last one that's for sure. I also made the mistake in wearing a new shoes for the first time. I am looking forward to long Marathon pace workout this weekend.

Miles for the day= 10