Thanksgiving Week

Happy Thanksgiving! On Thanksgiving morning I went out for a medium distance run of about 13 miles and for almost the entire run I thought about what I have to be thankful for. It’s a lot. I think if we spent more time listing all the things we have to be thankful for instead of thinking about all the things we don’t have, we’d all be a lot better off. One of the things I am especially thankful for this Thanksgiving is my son was able to come home for the weekend in a break from training as he’s prepares for deployment. Another observation: When I was unemployed in October, I had the privilege of sitting in some classes at a middle school that comprised a poorer area of Colorado Springs. I’ve always had respect for teachers, but that respect jumped 10 levels after spending a day in school. Any time I hear someone bad mouth teachers I will tell them to spend a day at school and see the real story. My hat is off to teachers. I am truly thankful for what you do from the bottom of my heart.

My intention was to start bike commuting to & from work this week, but complications at work made the logistics difficult so I’ll have to work it out, hopefully this week. I missed a day or two of running also, mainly because I got to bed late and didn’t think it would be beneficial to get up at 4 am to get a run in before work. Plus a couple mornings were single digit temperatures. I pulled a Max and stayed in bed hugging my pillow. Speaking of Max, he still has some sort of foot injury. It's heartbreaking to tell him each morning he can't go with me then see him sulk and look at me with those big sad eyes. It doesn’t seem to be getting better so he going to the doggy doctor Monday.

CRUD Run Photos

Starting off with the Sunrise

Photo by Harsha Nagaraj

Runner's Bliss

Photo Harsha Nagaraj

17 Miles and all Smiles

Photo Harsha Nagaraj

Monday Nov22
AM: Recovery Run, Delominco/Rockrimmon Loop, 0.7 hrs, 4.4 miles, Strength Training
Beautiful clear starry skies with a bright full moon. Priceless

Tuesday Nov23
AM: Middle Distance Run, Rolling Hills, 1.9 hrs, 12.9 miles
Rolling hills, felt good. Single digit temperatures with starry skies and bright moon. Absolutely stunning.

Wednesday Nov24
Slept in. Felt really tired, so took day off to recharge.

Thursday Nov 25 (Thanksgiving)
AM: Middle Distance Run with Speed, rolling hills & track, 2.2 hrs 13.6 miles
Felt excellent today. Slept in and got to run in the daylight. Beautiful day. Ran a loop around Ute Park then went to the track and did 10 * 100 Meter stride outs, running the straights and jogging the curves. After the track did another loop around Ute Park.

Friday Nov26
AM: MTB Cheyenne Mtn. State Park, 2.2 hrs, 22 miles
Finally rode my bike this week. Kind of a leisurely trail ride on rolling hills with Dan, Kara, and Bruce. Very enjoyable social able ride. Just 4 friends sharing our passion for being outdoors and riding!

Saturday Nov27
AM: CRUD Run, Air Force Academy Falcon Trail, 3 hrs, 17.4 miles
Another great run with CRUD. This was like yesterday’s run. Nice leisurely and fun. Again just enjoying the great outdoors of Colorado.

Sunday Nov28

AM: MTB Ride, Palmer/Ute Parks, 2.9 hrs, 28 miles
Very fast technical ride in Palmer Park with a big group. No one was waiting for anyone. Rode for about an hour with the group then started to head home. Met up with Gouge, Kervin, & Tom and rode with them a bit. Headed home and did a loop in Ute Park on the way back.
PM: Middle Distance Run, Santa Fe Trail, 1.5 hrs, 10.4 miles
Felt surprisingly good. Originally I was only going to run maybe 4 miles or so. But I felt really good so I kept extending the turnaround point. Ran from home then up through the AFA via Santa Fe Trail.

Week Summary: Run 9.3 hrs, 58.7 miles. Bike 5.4 hrs 50 miles