So I’m reading a lot about photography lately.  It’s what I do anytime I have a new interest.  Read pretty much everything about it I can get my hands on.  Running definitely falls into that category, too.  This article mentioned a great quote from Good Will Hunting:

and as Matt Damon’s character says in Good Will Hunting, you can learn everything you want in a Harvard degree for “a dollar fifty in late charges at the public library.”

Great reminder.  It has always been one of the things I love about the technology field I work in.  The information is available, and it’s freely available for the most part.  You can do, or even become an expert in, pretty much anything you want.  Just gotta put in the work.

Monday
6.5 miles

Easy run on trails at the Boneyard.  Did one lap at my 50k target effort (ended up 8:27 and 148 avg.).  The rest was easy.  I think that pace could go down a bit and the effort could go up, but the low/mid 8:00 range with a HR around 150 seems to be the sweet spot for now.

Tuesday
7 miles

Another trip to the Boneyard.  Rolled on the hilly trails for a couple laps at 8:05 pace and 149 avg heart rate.  Much better than yesterday (23 sec/mile faster at essentially the same intensity level), and a timely confidence boost.  My fitness is where I want it to be, now I just need to keep the legs fresh and execute on race day.

Stopped on the way to work to take this photo, and got my first offer to buy one of my pictures when I posted it on fb (btw, thanks Dana.).  Someday I would love to sell a few pictures, but for now I’m just having fun and practicing different techniques.  Lot’s to learn…

Wednesday
8 miles

Flew to Chicago for work today.  Suck day as far as the travel, but the run was fantastic.  Got to the hotel @ 5pm and was running by 5:10.  There is a nice 1.6 mi dirt/gravel loop right out the door that I spun laps on.  Another guy was running on it in the opposite direction (first time I’ve ever seen another person out there), so we would see each other 2x per lap.  Interestingly, we were almost a perfect match.  I was just barely faster than him by 5 sec a mile I would guess.  That was a fun way to pass the time.  I ended up cruising pretty easily at 7:47 with a 148 avg.  Good predictor (I hope) for the 50k a few days from now.

Then it was off to the data center for some quality time with the servers.

Thursday
0 miles

Did 30 min of TRX before heading to work.  Felt strong.  Then spent the next 16 hours here:

I’ve always liked this song, but for some reason couldn’t stop hitting repeat on it today.  Seriously.  Probably listened to it 30x.  Fits well with the being away from home vibe.

Friday
6 miles

TRX plus a nice early am run with a couple of guys from work on the path around the hotel.  Feels like I caught a cold from the toddler I sat next to on the plane.  My throat is pretty sore and my brand-new cough sounds just like his did.  Another long day.  Finally finished work and got to bed @ 3am.

Saturday
0 miles

Woke up feeling rough.  From the late night, and the sore throat/cough.  Surprisingly got a little better as the day progressed.

Sunday

Earth Day 50k.  4:27, 8th overall, 1st 40-49.  Happy with that one, took ~40 min off my 50k pr.  Didn’t quite have my ‘A’ game due to the work fatigue and being a little bit sick, but ran smart and executed really well.  Fun singletrack with constant hills.

Total:  59 miles