Comedy, Hills, and Ice Oh My!

I spent most of this week out of town for work. I was able to get some fun in though. My buddy and I found out that the Bob and Tom Comedy All-Stars were scheduled for a make-up show in Ithaca last Sunday so we jumped on a flight a day early and caught the show. Oh my goodness it was funny! Holy crap I was rolling in the aisle. AND they served BEER! I'm partial to Whiskey myself, but comedy and beer just seem to go together. If the show comes to your town and you get the chance you should go.

All in all it was a good week of work. I got to see some old friends and got caught up on all the gossip that goes on in a big company. I'm beginning to think that the best part of these trips is the gossip I get to hear! Being away from the main plant, we don't hear much of what goes on. In some ways it's become my own little soap opera that I get to watch but not be involved in. Is enjoying soap operas a sign of getting old? I suppose it is.

I was looking forward to getting some good hill workouts in the great state of New York and I wasn't disappointed. I have a very good friend up there that I always run with and he took me out again on some of our favorite hills. The picture is of the steepest part of the hill we ran (and my buddies butt sorry about that!). The picture doesn't do it justice. That mother is steep, and oh, did I mention it comes after about a mile of another hill? Yes it is one brutal hill but I love it.

My buddy and I aren't really good for each other when it comes to running. We silently push each other. You know what I mean? I've had these kind of running partners before. We both start out easy but before long the pace is fast and each person thinks the other picked it up! On this particular run, my buddy said that we should only run to the top of the first hill and skip the last part which is the one in the picture. I mentioned that that sounded good to me. Well, when we got to the hill neither of us turned on the road that leads away from the last part. I don't know if the silence was because neither of us wanted to admit that we didn't want to run the hill or if we just couldn't catch our breath after the first hill. As we neared the hill I jokingly said, "So I guess we're running the hill?". He said, "I guess so, how 'bout just half way up?". "Great", I said. Yea, OK, so when we got to the TOP I was too tired to ask what the heck happened to "just half way"! We did 8 miles total and it felt pretty good. I got one more picture from the top of the mountain.

I flew home today and got a nap and a 6 mile tempo run in when I got home.

_____________

_____________

Ice Bath and Me

I mentioned that I was finally able to get in an ice bath after the OKC marathon this year. It helped so much that I am now trying to get in them after all my hard runs. Now that it is getting warmer here in the Midwest it is much easier to convince my ever-resistant body to get into a freezing cold bath. The key, I've learned, is to keep breathing. I noticed that I was holding my breathe when I was slowly lowering my legs and body into the bath. I caught this tonight and tried to keep breathing and it was much easier. I'm sure you all were very interested to here this but, hey, it was a major accomplishment in my life! OMG that's so sad, what a depressing little life I lead, let's change the subject.

I got home tonight and learned that the running club Big Dogs want to run 18 miles on Saturday morning. Then that evening is the Bricktown Blaze 5K. That is really cool race where you finish at home plate of the local AAA baseball park. Then you get a ticket to the game which starts right after the race. Sounds really fun but Willie may be a shriveled pile of carbon-based material by the time this weekend ends. Wish me luck.

Thanks for listening