Now I know not to trust my body

I started running around 15 years ago.  Over that time, I've been reasonably consistent.  The only major gaps in were periods where I was recovering from some type of injury.  Generally, I've always followed the advice of listening to my body.  The only significant injury I've had was due to pushing past pain in my ankle. (No one tell Emily I'm admitting that.)

Yesterday I learned that my body isn't all that trustworthy.  I did a twelve miler along the canals in Mons.  It's a nice, flat route.  The weather was perfect.  (And I mean perfect by normal standards, not the ridiculously low standards I have for weather in Belgium).  Emily & I are running a half marathon in The Hague next month.  I can finish a half without training, but I'm throwing a few long runs in to get my pacing set.  I held an easy pace for the first 8 miles.  Somewhere between 8-9, my pace began creeping up.  By mile 9, I was 30-45 seconds faster per mile than I had planned to run.  My legs felt good.  My heart rate was good.  I decided to go with it because I was feeling good and only had 3 miles to go.

Then comes the last mile.  The heart rate is still ok.  The legs hurt.  They aren't fatigued.  They hurt.  The pace drops back to the original, easy pace.  My legs still hurt.  I finish the last half mile at a walk.  Had I been running the half, I would have pushed through.  Since it was a training run, I know i have to get my mileage back up.  (The last month really has been limited to treadmills or cross training.)

Back Up and Going (Sort of)

One of my brother's asked me the other day if I had completely discontinued the blog.  I suppose I had temporarily.  It's one of those things that just didn't happen over the holidays.  Between Emily, myself, and the kids someone was always sick or out of town.  I got back from the States on Tuesday morning.  My father had a stroke and I went back to see the family.  Emily, typically, responded by taking care of all of the household, budgeting, and parenting for 8-9 days.  Dad is doing well and will eventually recover all use of his right side.

Right now is a little hectic and I'll try to put up a longer update this week.

MY WIFE

I realize something as I sit next to this beautiful woman foolish enough to marry me...she's mean.  I also was just struck.  Not stricken.  I was punched.  She's now mocking my grammar.  She does not seem to think I would post this, so now I have no option.

Christmas Card Pictures

Claire had been screaming for about 20 pictures.  This is the
closest I got to getting her smiling all afternoon.
Obviously, this won't be on our Christmas card.

Yesterday afternoon, we made an attempt to take pictures for our Christmas card.  (Yes, Emily has chosen this years Christmas cards already.)  We took the kids over to the ruins of a nearby abbey.  It's one of my favorite places in Belgium.  The setting was great.  Emily had chosen coordinating outfits.  (Yes, Isaac and I were both embarassed about that).  First, I realized that part of the tripod had been left attached to my video camera, so I had to position my camera on a rock.  Then, Claire decided that she wasn't interested in any part of the process.  In over 300 photos, only two were even worth considering. Isaac actually did ok.  Claire would screem and get up.  Without fail, as she walked off she would look at me and smile.  I physically felt my blood pressure going up.

Guys Weekend

 

This weekend, I'm in Dover & Canterbury with a friend of mine.  I have a few minutes to kill before anywhere opens up where we can eat breakfast, so I thought I'd post a couple of pictures.  Obviously, I'm standing on the White Cliff's of Dover on the right.  Joe & I hiked about five miles along the cliffs.  If time (and weather) allowed, I would have kept going.  The cliffs where pretty.  The constant flow of ferries across the English Channel didn't really add to the picturesque seen, but it was a nice hike.  It did rain on us for the last mile, but that seems to have made the experience complete.  Some of you are now questioning my common sense, which is a perfectly sensible response.  Dover Castle was also interesting.  I've toured enough castles that it really wasn't that different from others.  However, there are a series of tunnels under the Castle that were begun during the Napoleonic Wars as barracks for soldiers positioned to repell a French invasion.  During WWII, this became an underground hospital as well as a command post for Operation Dynamo (evacuation of the British and French armies after the Battle for France was won by Germany in WWII).

 

Not a bad first day.  Today I'll get to see Canterbury Cathedral, which rounds out the last major European church I had on my list.  I'd still like to see the Hagia Sophia, but it hasn't been a church since 1453, so I don't have to technically include it in my list of churches.