Black Friday Weekend Runs

Two good runs this weekend wrapped up another 90 mile week. This picture is of the historic Strauss Cabin, along the Poudre River on the east side of town near I-25. It burned down a few years ago, and this is what's left of it. I stopped there halfway through my run on Friday.

I always like to run on the east side of town this time of year, for the view of the Front Range with snow on the peaks. My plan for this weekend was to do 30 miles Friday and 20 on Saturday, a good back-to-back long workout.

I decided to do a run on the roads for the 30 miler. I started the day off by running a couple of miles with Iris, Isabelle didn't want to go in the morning. I brought Iris back home afterward and started my run.

It was a perfect day, cool, sunny, with almost no wind. I got the first 25 miles in no problem, but ran out of food and water once, necessitating a stop at 7-11. I hate to spend money on Black Friday. But I only spent $3.05 on some water and a little package of mini-chocolate donuts. I guess all that talk about Twinkies stuck with me. That's what sounded good at the time.

I went home after 25 miles and made a grilled cheese sandwich, changed into dry clothes, and was preparing to go out again, but I was getting the staredown from Isabelle.

And Iris, too.

As I ate, I noticed they parked themselves strategically in the path to the front door, and in front of the closet where we keep the leashes.

I put their leashes on, and I now have four holes in my body where they stared right through me while I tried to finish my sandwich.

We went out for a couple of miles, enough to Isabelle's satisfaction, then I brought them home and finished the last few miles on my own. I ended up with 32.3 miles for the day. It was slow and relaxed, the non-Buffalo miles took me 5 hours and 15 minutes. I felt good at the end.

When I got home, the girls were waiting for me. Isabelle on the couch, and Iris with her hedgehog.

Surprisingly I felt good enough to cook dinner and go out to buy some beer. The beer tasted awesome. I got a mixed 6 pack of New Belgium Frambozen, Breckenridge Vanilla Porter, and Samuel Adams Cherry Wheat. Don't know why but those flavors sounded good after my run. The Frambozen was the best of the three, in my opinion. Dennis helped me...

This morning I woke up feeling surprisingly good, and I decided to do my run in the cemetery. I wanted everything to be close by in case I ended up in a death march, and I didn't want to have to carry anything. The cemetery loop is 0.98 miles, and I ran 20 1/2 laps of it to get the full 20 in. Yes, obsessive.

I ran each successive 5 mile segment faster than the previous one. By the end I was doing 9 minute miles and they didn't feel hard. Not bad for the end of two long weeks.

I went home and soaked in the hot tub, ate and drank, and I'm looking forward to a nap, and one more day off work before life goes back to "normal".

Running plans: I'm taking tomorrow off!