Home again

Well I made it back into OKC last night. I was supposed to come home today but just couldn't take another day in NY. I changed my flights and made it home with no problems. I had some interesting experiences on the flight but we'll get to those in a minute. First, we should really discuss some running. It is the purpose of this blog after all!

Tuesday was my speedwork day and I met up with my buddy and we hit the Union Endicott track. It's a wonderful track with a rubberized surface and nice grand stands. We had football practice and a soccer game going on at the time of our workout so we had many screaming, cheering fans. The workout consisted of a 1200, 800, 400, 400, 800, 1200 ladder. I didn't have the goal times with me so I just decided to shoot for a

 6 minute mile pace for all the steps. My times are below.

1200 - 4:44

800 - 3:03

400 - 1:24

400 - 1:27

800 - 3:09

1200 - 4:52

I'm pretty happy with those. It was a difficult workout and I was tired and sore by the time it was over.

Wednesday would normally be my day off but since I was in NY and had nothing better to do I hit the hills with my buddy. It didn't go well. My leg really hurt from the first step. My IT band felt like a piano string. I never found my stride and couldn't, no matter how hard I tried, get loosened up. Oh yea, and Garmin decided she didn't want to witness such a gross display of horrible running that she turned herself off blaming a dead battery. I had to stop 3 times to walk and stretch. By the time we got near the hotel I was praying for this run to end. The hills were still steep and long just in case you were wondering. We did 7 miles but it felt like 1000. 

OK now for some funnies. 

I was in NY for a professional (ha!) development class that my company says I needed to attend. It was a 2 day class that can best be described as death by PowerPoint. It would have been totally unbearable except for the fact that the instructor had many flaws in his verbal skills. He kept saying "Pacific" instead of specific. He even said "pacifications" instead of specifications! The people sitting at my table and I were in stitches by the end of the class. We also did most of our workshop activities WRONG! For some reason, could have been the non-stop giggling, we didn't understand any of the activities correctly and got all the answers wrong. After a couple times, it became humorous to us so we were intentionally getting it wrong and then coming up with ingenious excuses to justify it. Ok so this is only funny to geeky engineers. We have to find fun anyway we can. 

So on the flight from D.C. to Oklahoma last night there were these guys sitting behind me who were returning from a European trip. I heard them telling another passenger that they were in Amsterdam for the Formula One races. All they could talk about was how much dope they had smoked!!!! OMG I think they may still have been high! They were laughing at everything and talking, very loudly, about how you can go to shops and get menus for dope. It sounded like they had been high for weeks! the funniest thing, though, was this guy they were talking to. He was trying so hard to be "cool" with these guys. He was a young businessman who probably had never had a drink, let alone a joint, and he was trying so hard to convince these guys he was an "experienced user". After about an hour of listening to this crap I was so tempted to turn around and tell this idiot to get a damn life and grow up. These guys were obviously out of his league and it was like listening to a young middle-schooler trying to fit in with the "in-crowd" except that this was a grown man. What a bunch of idiots. None of us wanted to hear about the drug exploits of Americans-gone-wild-in-Amsterdam let alone the desperate attempts of an obviously sheltered man to fit in with them. 

I was able to drown them out with my Ipod UNTIL IT DIED! UUGHHH, now I had nothing to cover up the conversations of the middle-school mentality! Great. Eventually the dope-heads fell asleep and things got quiet. That's when the smells started. Oh yea, the smells you are thinking of! It was like breathing in the bowl of a toilet! Sorry for that. Let's just say it was gross and I am a disgusting guy who has a teenager at home! 

But now I'm home and looking forward to a 10K tomorrow and a long run on Sunday. I'm also SSSOOOO excited for Calyx and RBR and their Pacific Grove Triathlon tomorrow! This is the race they have trained for all year. I know they are both going to kick ass and I can't wait to read the blog of their experiences. 

GOOD LUCK GALS! YOU ARE ROCKSTARS!

Thanks for listening