This past weekend has been a busy one.  It started off with the monthly charity poker tournament to raise money for my Livestrong Challenge ride.  Unfortunately we had a lot of people out of town so we only had four players playing.  It was bad timing but it had to be last weekend because this weekend is the 24 Hours of Booty in Charlotte, next weekend is the Virgin Music Festival in Baltimore, and the next is the Phillies/Braves series in Philadelphia.  So in the end, even with the low turnout, it was still a fun night.  We raised $30 for the LAF with Richard beating me out for the overall.  We followed up the main tournament with another H.O.R.S.E tournament for fun.  I wont bother getting into the details of H.O.R.S.E, because its confusing enough to play let alone explain.  Suffice it to say its a different game for each letter and I lost that one too.

Saturday I put in my long run that was scheduled for Friday.  I went up to Lake Lynn and ran laps there again for variety which is a circuit of about 2 miles.   My run called for 90 minutes and I managed to knock it out but my feet paid the price.  A while back I mentioned that I bought some new running shoes but didn’t start using them because i read my old shoes still had miles to go.  A few weeks ago I decided it was time to make the switch and started out with the new shoes.  I had a few small blisters from a long run in the old shoes that were aggravated by the new ones.  I figured it was just because the shoes were being broken in and the blisters hadn’t healed enough.  Now after a couple weeks I know it is the shoes.  Every single time I use them I get blisters and Saturday ended with a nice blood blister the size of two quarters end to end.  Needless to say those shoes are retired, but unfortunately I cant take them back since I waited so long before using them.  Ill be heading out to Inside-Out sports next paycheck to get refitted for a new pair and just use the tainted shoes as a casual pair.  Inside-Out is a local running/triathlon store that has a really good reputation for fitting shoes correctly.  New Balance did me right for my first two pairs but i’m getting up there in mileage and I dont want to risk a repeat of this last pair and be knocked out of commission from avoidable blisters.  Sunday was 90 minutes on the trainer for my cycling fix.

Monday I knocked out my first full mile in the pool, well it was 10 yards short but Ill call it a mile.  I did 70 laps that worked out to 1750 yards and a mile is 1760 yards.  As I’m writing this I just got out off the trainer for another hour and a half at a pretty good clip.  That was my last cycling session till the 24 Hours of Booty Friday.  I’m looking forward to getting over 150 miles which will be a nice dent in my weight loss bet.   And as a final update on that side I’m ranging between 190-195 while last week i was between 195-200.  Anyone on a scale knows that it will fluctuate all day long if you watch it.

I got an email yesterday from the LAF letting everyone know about changes to the Austin Livestrong Challenge weekend.  It turns out that they have moved the 5K running race from Sunday to Saturday.  For those already registered for the cycling event Sunday the entry is free to do the 5K.  Now the opportunity exists for Livestrong Challenge participants to not only do the cycling portion but also the running portion of the weekend.  And yes I have already signed up for both and talked Ron into running it with me.  Will it make Sunday harder for cycling?  Possibly but I’m not expecting it will because a 5K usually has little to no effect on me physically since the distance falls short of my average daily runs.

So now there’s a bit more incentive to mix up your training plans if you are attending the Austin weekend.  Think about the sense of accomplishment you’ll feel by knocking out both events that weekend.  If you are committed to only one event, then you’ll have even more time to enjoy and support those who are doing the event in which you aren’t participating.

Here’s the official announcement, and note that to find the registration link for the 5K you must follow the link in the text below.  I could no longer find the fundraising tools from the main site and had to use this one.

Dear LIVESTRONG Challenge Austin Rider,

We have some exciting news for you about your registration for the upcoming 2007 LIVESTRONG Challenge Austin, October 12th-14th.

You may have seen recent news that Texas Governor Rick Perry signed HB 14, which establishes the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas and that the Texas legislature passed the companion legislation, HJR 90, which offers Texans an opportunity to vote to provide $300 million a year over 10 years for cancer research and programs in Texas.

The LAF was part of a coalition helped pass these bills but our work isn’t over yet. This fall, Texans will vote on November 6th and decide whether Texas will invest in cancer prevention and research over the next ten years.

Because of this historic opportunity, the date of the LIVESTRONG Challenge 5K run/walk has been changed to Saturday, October 13th, and will take place on the Texas Capitol grounds and include a rally in support of the November vote.

The Challenge ride will remain Sunday, October 14th  in Hays County and Dripping Springs. With the date change to the run, you are now invited to attend the 5K run/walk at no extra cost! To register for the run, login to your fundraising tools and click on “Register for the Austin Challenge 5K.”

Events like the LIVESTRONG Challenge help the LAF unite people in the fight against cancer and raise funds to provide information and tools for cancer survivors. In addition, the LIVESTRONG Challenge funds our programmatic and advocacy efforts to prevent cancer, ensure access to screening and care, invest in research and improve the quality of life for cancer survivors.

We look forward to a tremendous showing of unity in support of the LAF and cancer research, prevention, early detection and control programs in Texas. We thank you for all of your support and can’t wait to see you on October 13.

If you have any questions or need more information, please contact austinchallenge@laf.org or 888.424.2553.

Sincerely,
The LIVESTRONG Challenge Staff

With a fast turnaround time Athlinks.com has already posted the results for the 2007 Wilmington Tri-Span 5K and 10K.  Click Here for the Results.

This race was by far the hardest race I have done so far.  The distance wasn’t a new one for me but something about this race made it devastatingly hard.  In the end I think it was a combination of heat and blisters.  The race started downtown at the Hilton on the waterfront with the temperature already pushing 80 and high humidity.  Both the 5K and 10K runners began the race together, there was even a group of Marine students running in formation and chanting their cadence for the 5K distance.  There were very few hills and only a couple of significance.  Mainly the hills consisted of the three bridges and the approaches to get onto them.  At the first bridge the 5K and 10K split with the 5K route heading back through the historic district where we had started and the 10K hit the first bridge.  Once we left the historic district for the bridge that was the end of shade for the duration of the run.

The first bridge was the tallest and the coolest because at that point I was still enjoying myself and feeling very good about how I was running to that point.  I even had the time to look down through the grates of the drawbridge to see the water several hundred feet below.  It was the turn off the bridge and into the USS North Carolina memorial that I really started feeling sluggish.  There was a water station at the entrance to the battleship loop where I walked while taking on a cup of water.  I headed into the park and past a fire engine that was spraying water onto the road to cool the runners.  After the turnaround in the park I caught sight of Zack running about 2 minutes behind my pace.  I fully expected him to catch me this race based on how I was feeling at the time but somehow I did manage to stay ahead.  When I got back to the entrance to the park I stopped again for some more water and a pretty long section of walking before I was able to get going again.  These two water walks were the beginning of the end for me.

Once you’ve mentally broken down and given in to the urge to walk, even on a water break, that thought grows like a weed in your head and doesn’t let go.  I was able to make it over the second bridge but once again had to stop and walk at the start of the third.  My heart rate stayed over 170 and even after walking it wouldn’t fall under 160.  I got going again to finish the final bridge but as we turned back into downtown on the finish street I had to take another break because I knew once we made it around the corner and could see the finish there was no way I would stop because there would be people watching and the end would be in sight.  I looked back expecting to see Zack running me down but I found out later that he was having issues as well but managed less walking breaks than I had.  I think it was probably the fact that I tend to run a bit harder than I should after a break, maybe as self-punishment, that kept my overall pace high and kept me from being overtaken by Zack.  At the end Zack’s wife Caroline, who had finished the 5K, gave some cheers a few blocks from the end and that was about the last thing I remember as I tunnel visioned on the finish.  I vaguely remember hearing Zack’s parents cheer but I couldn’t make myself look to see.

At the finish I felt like passing out when I bent over to remove my champion chip.  One cool thing that they had at this race that I hadn’t seen before were cloths that they had soaking in ice buckets that were given to the racers to cool down.  I stuck mine underneath my hat and walked around for water and Gatorade.  I tried two bites of watermelon before I threw it away feeling ill.  In the end I wandered around like a zombie for about 10 minutes before finally tracking down Zack so we could go for lunch and relax the rest of the day.

I enjoyed the race and will do it again even though it was insanely hard.  The main complaint I would  make is that they really dropped the ball on water stops for the second half of the course.  Once you left the battleship there was no more water stations till the end and it was a gap of several miles.  With the heat and remaining distance they really needed at least one more stop.  The other issue, which was my own fault, was that I wore relatively new shoes which gave me some really painful blisters that still have me limping today.  I had hoped to break the shoes in, I wrote about buying them several months ago, by running a few runs here in town but I only was able to do one with work, the holiday, and other issues.  Never run a race in new shoes.  I should’ve switched back to my old shoes for the race but my Nike+ sensor was already on the new shoes and its not easy to move it because of how crappy my laces are on my old pair.

As a side note, I also did some kayaking on Friday for an hour or so which was a good fun workout.

Final Times:
Mine - 53:51  total  - 8:39 pace
Zack- 59:04 total - 9:30 pace
Caroline (5K) - 35:29 total - 11:25 pace

This weekend marked the June charity poker tournament which was finally held in the correct month.  We raised $90 for my Livestrong Challenge.  This tournament found Charlie pulling second place for the second consecutive time which is a great source of frustration to him.  I ended up out about middle of the pack as I got short stacked to the point that the blinds were governing my play more than my cards were.  Thats how it goes sometimes, some days you get the cards and some days you don’t.

Saturday I decided to mix up my running route and drove out to Lake Lynn for my long run of 80 minutes.  The course is a paved route of a little over two miles.   There’s plenty of short and steep hills along the path and a bunch of wooden bridges.  Luckily it wasn’t overly hot but the cumulative effect was pretty tiring.  Next time Ill carry my water bottle with me instead of leaving it in the car.  The last lap had my heartrate consistently over 170 which wasn’t ideal. The run ended up being three laps for over six and a half miles.  I cut the run short by about 10 minutes so I could make it out to the movies on the lawn night at the Art museum.

Its been a quiet week with the posts.  With the wedding, work, and my final exam for the first summer session there really hasn’t been any time to do much and thus not much to report.  There were plenty of races to choose from around the fourth of July weekend coming up but I decided on the Wilmington Tri Span 10K.  Zack did this race last year and asked if I wanted to run it with him.  According to him its a really fun race and goes across the Wilmington bridges and around the battleship.  A side advantage is that after the race we’ll take some kayaks out onto the sound and wander around for a few hours.  It should be fun and a relaxing weekend.  There was a triathlon the same weekend but its in a local lake that I’ve heard horror stories about due to pollution for years now.  While I’m sure its fine based on the fact they’re still having the race there it’s kind of hard to get past those rumors.