Thanksgiving...let us loosen our belts!

I recently saw a Chuck Jones classic. He was a talented artist for Disney / Warner Brothers. Check out some of his stuff here:

http://blog.chuckjones.com/chuck_redux/

I do hope you all had a awesome holiday! Mine started off in perfect fashion, a 8k Turkey Trot in Charlotte. I actually did really good. It would seem some of my recent poor runs can be put upon the fact the sneakers I was using, which it should be known that they logged well over 200 miles, were in need of another pair to cycle through them. So the Turkey Trot was a good run with new sneakers.

The goal now is to continue to keep up the long weekend runs. Now for me that means between 5 and 7 miles. For some others I know that is a short run. They excel at the running sport, and I get by.

Sketches! Yes I have some! Enjoy!

Whew!

So I've been busy here. Where I work I've been getting the company ready for ISO-9001 certification. We had our pre-audit the other day and rocked it! I've been trying to sketch as much as my brain can give me a moment to let me use my imagination (not much). With this pre-audit I feel some of the weight off my shoulders for a little bit as I now I know what needs to be worked on before the next real audit in 2 months.

This was something I had been working on during several lunches. Enjoy!

The Dowd YMCA Half Marathon

So it's done. The major goal I set out to do at the beginning of the year has been completed. This past Saturday my wife and I ran the Dowd Half Marathon (13.1 Miles).

So I guess this is in the category of "race report"

It was a chilly morning with the temperature around the low 40's. There were just under 1000 people to run in the race (though the paper said to watch out for several 100 runners).

We just finished a quick trip to the porta-jon when the gun went off and we began the race.

I can honestly say I felt good till about the 7.5 mile marker. It was there that the wall first gave me a hit. It didn't help that starting around the 4-5 mile mark a run/walk group decided to make me there target. They first went past me only to stop right in front of me and take up the whole road without any care of the people behind them. I hollered out that I was coming through them and they parted, mumbling some apologies.

But then every 10 minutes they would go past me and then stop. By the 4th time I snapped at them and they then told me they would go to the right when they stopped. Go to the right my arse...

Several did the next time but most continued to do their thing. I almost wiped out when one decided to stop in front of me and not move. At the very least, instead of hollering out "WALK!" they could have said "10 Seconds!" and then in 10 seconds they knew to go to the side of the road and walk.

This got me good at the water station at mile 7. They stopped to walk right in front of it and then stopped completely at the station taking the water and standing there. I hollered out "WATER!" and one person tried to hand me a cup but a walker stepped in front of me throwing my focus on the run off and allowing me to get pissed. I swore a little bit and then tried to push it off. Shortly there after the wall hit me.

From the 7.5 mile mark to the end it was a struggle to get a good speed without some effort. Finally my hips started to give in. This is from holding a slow pace...they don't hurt so much if I open the stride. I just can't keep up that stride for long...

So there you have it...I pushed all out at the end and finished it. Not many were behind me but I got rid of a lot of injuries and demons inside me in this run. Next up is the 8k Turkey Trot!