My Road To (Hopefully) 20/20 Vision

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm going to do a series of blogs describing my experience with getting LASIK surgery.  I have only been wearing glasses for about 5 years and the main reason I got them was because I hadn't had an eye checkup in quite a few years and Angie finally talked me into going.  After a while I decided to go for contacts because I enjoyed seeing in "HD" compared to what my vision had become.  You don't really realize how bad your vision is until you get it corrected.  It took me quite some time to get used to my contacts and I constantly fiddled with them for the first few months.  In fact, I started getting chapped skin on my bottom eyelids because I just couldn't stop messing with them trying to get the contacts comfortable.  I know that a lot of (most?) people have contacts/glasses for 10+ years before they finally make the decision to get LASIK.  It makes me feel like I'm not a true contact/glasses wearing person since I haven't battled it out very long but I'm ready to get rid of my contacts and glasses.  Here are some reasons why:

- I am the type of person that can't stand to have a smudge on my glasses so I am constantly trying to get them spotless (those of you that wear glasses know this is an uphill battle...especially when you have kids)

- I am the type of person that needs things to feel "just right" so I still fiddle with my eyes a lot when wearing contacts until they don't bother me

- I want to be able to take a nap on the couch and not worry about my contacts drying out

- I want to be able to lay my head on the arm of the couch to watch TV and not have my glasses dig into the side of my head

- I want to play golf and softball without having to wear contacts (especially when it's windy)

- I want to be able to wear my new sunglasses all the time, not just when I'm wearing contacts

- I do a lot of looking into a microscope at work and I must not blink much because, when wearing contacts, my eyes always dry out.  When I wear glasses they are constantly bumping into my microscope eye pieces

- I want to be able to see my beautiful daughters as clearly as possible when we're roughhousing and not have to worry about my glasses getting kicked into my eyeballs

- I want to be able to see better when I'm running without having to wear my contacts (I never run with my glasses on because it's too annoying)

I could probably go on all day but I won't bore you.  It's about time I get to my actual LASIK experience.

I chose the 20/20 Institute for a couple reasons.  The first is that they have an office in Westminster which is conveniently close to my office and home (compared to most other LASIK providers that are in south Denver.)  The second, and most important?, reason is:

Yes that's right, they are the official LASIK partner of your Denver Broncos!  Anyway, I had been hearing their ads on the radio for the past couple years so I finally decided to set up a free consultation online.  In the online questionnaire I requested that they contact me via email because I felt like it would have been a lot harder to chicken out if I actually had to talk to someone on the phone.  They got back to me very quickly (same day) and let me know they had an opening that Wednesday (I contacted them on a Monday.)

When I arrived at the office I was immediately welcomed by a friendly receptionist who offered me coffee/tea/water/soda.  I passed on the drink and sat in one of there comfy chairs and watched their big screen TV while I waited.  Some people on Yelp have complained about the waiting room saying that they should spend their money elsewhere.  To be honest, I enjoyed it.  I didn't wait long, in fact I was hoping to wait a few more minutes so I could finish watching a show that was on TV, and started my eye exam.  It was a very thorough exam that ran the gamut of tests including an eye dryness test where they put little strips between your bottom eyelid and eye and measure moisture.  I passed!

While I waited for the Doctor to complete my exam I was again offered coffee/tea/water/soda.  The Optometrist and owner Dr. Danzo completed my exam and confirmed my prescription and candidacy for LASIK. He asked if I had any questions, I always go blank when I'm asked that question, so he started going through a list of FAQs he gets from patients.  My "patient counselor" Laura was also in the room for the second half of the exam.  Dr. Danzo asked if he could dilate my eyes, to which I responded yes, and while we were waiting on my eyes to dilate I went into Laura's office to talk.  She asked if I had any other questions (and was again offered coffee/tea/water/soda...I mention this because I thought it was nice they continued to ask me instead of just when I showed up and then never again) and then got into the nitty gritty.

I read a review that said this part of the consultation felt a little like a sales pitch, and I'm sure it is to a degree, but I was prepared for it and it didn't bother me.  It wan't like buying a car.  "What can we do to get you in new eyes today?" In fact, Laura didn't pressure me into making any decision and in fact I was the one that asked when they had an opening.  At their Westminster office they only do surgeries on the last Wednesday of the month and, prior to surgery, you can't wear contacts for 2 weeks.  Fortunately for me my consultation was exactly 2 weeks from the last Wednesday of the month so I was able to sign up for surgery on Wednesday, January 29.  I also read another review (it's good that I read so many reviews right?) that said the counselors weren't forthcoming with the price of LASIK.  That's absolutely not true.  Dr. Danzo actually mentioned the prices to me earlier in the exam, so it wasn't a shock when I saw it printed out on paper (at least as much as I could read since my eyes were getting a little blurry from the dilation drops.)

Basically the cost is $1890/eye and then an additional $550/eye  (I think) to get their Lifetime Assurance Guarantee (that will cover any additional LASIK surgeries you elect to have done over your lifetime.)  They are running a special where they give $500 off the LAG which then drops the price to $1890 + 300 per eye.  I checked with my insurance to see if they offered a discount at 20/20 Institute, they didn't, but 20/20 Institute still offered to give me the same discount off of the non-$500-off-special pricing if I went with the LAG (or 5% off the pricing if I choose not to go with the LAG.)  This brings all my pricing options to:

- No LAG - 5% insurance match: $3591
- Yes LAG - 15% insurance match: $4148
- Yes LAG, no insurance match, yes, - $500 special: $4380

Now I just need to decide whether or not I want to get the LAG.  On one hand, it would be very nice to know that, after the 1 year guarantee is over, I could go back and have my eyesight tweaked.  (Note: LASIK does not correct the need for reading glasses as we get older.)  Since I am still young , 35, this would obviously pay for itself if I do it just once more.  On the other hand, there is no guarantee that 20/20 Institute will be open in 10 - 20 years when I might need my vision improved again.  Plus, they only have three locations (2 in CO and 1 in IN) so if I ever move out of state it would mean multiple trips to CO to have the surgery (including before and after eye exams.)  I may have to flip a coin.

Once my eyes were dilated Dr. Danzo checked them out again and then my consultation was complete.  I need to go back in the day before the surgery so they can check my eyes again to see if my prescription changed in the past 2 weeks (contacts change the shape of your eyes so they need to make sure they are giving me the proper prescription.)  I'm not too nervous about the surgery yet but there are a few things about the recovery that I'm worried about.  This post has dragged on long enough so I'll save my concerns for the next one.

Have a wonderful weekend and let me know your thoughts on yes or no regarding the Lifetime Assurance Guarantee.

To See Or Not To See

I apologize for not updating this post in over a month.  I'm sure I've lost the 6 readers that I had!  It seems as though blogging is like running.  If you don't have an end goal it's hard to do it on a weekly basis.  Speaking of running, I've been running between 1 - 3 times per week and I run between 3 -4 miles on each run.  One of these days I need to try a 6 miler to see how it goes.  I haven't decided if/when I'm going to do another half marathon but I'm leaning toward the Rock n Roll Denver which is in October.  I think that race "only" had 8000 people last year which is a lot but way better than the 30k we had in Vegas.

Supporting the Denver Broncos on my run last Saturday

Going back a month, we went to Montana for Christmas and had a great time.  It was very cold the first few days (-50 F wind chill the first day there) but warmed up to the 20s by the end of the week.  L and N had a wonderful time playing with their cousins and enjoyed spending time with Grandma, Papa Donnie, Uncle Chad, Aunt Jeanne, Uncle Robert, and Auntie (to be) Bre.  L was constantly asked what she wanted for Christmas and every time her answer was "a pedal bike."  Thank goodness Santa left a pedal bike under the tree in Colorado.  Angie set up a video camera to capture her reaction upon seeing the bike and I'll try to post it at some point.  Actually, now that I mention it, I don't think I've seen the video yet.  N got a little basketball hoop and was equally excited to see it under the tree.

We had to say goodbye to my parents Sunday night as they are on their way back to Africa.  It was a lot of fun having them back in the country for the past 7 months and I really enjoyed seeing L and N get to know them again.

I don't make New Year's Resolutions but I did set some goals for the year.  The first is that I wanted to continue running and the other was that I wanted to get a Lasik consultation.  I ended up going in to the 20/20 Institute last week and found out that I was a candidate for Lasik so I scheduled it to be done on January 29th.  I have decided, for the next few weeks/months, to make this my blogging topic of choice and hopefully it will force me to update this more often.  I know a few people that have had Lasik, and I have read plenty about it, but I hadn't heard/read a detailed account of everything that goes into it.  I'll try to do that in this blog.  I'll do it in a separate posting so this one doesn't get too long.

In case you haven't noticed the Denver Broncos are going to the Super Bowl!  I really want to put about 25 exclamation points but I always think it's annoying when other people do it so I'll refrain.  Denver's defense has really stepped up in the postseason and both games, although not blowouts, were never seriously in doubt.  I have to say it's much more fun to watch football games like that.  The Broncos will have their hands full for the Super Bowl as they will play the Seattle Sherman Seahawks.  Of course the year the Broncos finally make it back to the big game it's going to be held outdoors in a cold weather stadium.  I really hope they can get decent weather so that the conditions don't favor one team over the other.  I can't wait!

Most. Awkward. Interview. Ever.

Vegas recap

Wow, I really let this one slip, sorry about that.  Hopefully I can still remember the details of my trip!

Zach and I left for Vegas on Saturday (11/16) afternoon.  I'm not sure if I mentioned this in my last post but my two little girls (L and N) had been suffering off and on from the stomach flu for the past week so Angie and I were really worried about getting it as well.  It would be the worst possible time for both of us as I was going to run a half marathon and Angie would be home with two semi-sick girls (they were, for the most part, on the mend.)  Well, by the time we landed in Vegas I had a few texts from Angie saying how she caught the stomach bug and was not doing well.  Fortunately her cousin came over to feed the girls dinner and then my parents came over later that night to help out the next day.  Needless to say I felt awful that Angie was sick and, as is usually the case when someone in your house gets sick, my stomach immediately started feeling like it just wasn't quite right.  Fortunately it was just nerves because as soon as the race started I felt 100% better.

Hello Vegas! (not my photo)

Anyway, we ended up going with a private transportation service and the driver was waiting for us at our terminal.  Once Chris, Bob, Zach, and I were all loaded up in the car we headed to the expo at the convention center.  At the expo we picked up our packets that included our race bib, our chip timer, and shirts (after all, that's why we sign up for races right? For the "free" t-shirt.)  The expo was pretty lame.  We were expecting a lot of free samples (race fuel, energy bars, energy drinks, etc.) but it was mostly shoes and clothes that were on sale.

We rode around Vegas in style!

We took the tram to our hotel (Flamingo) and proceeded to the check in line.  Thanks to Angie's brother Robert I learned about the $20 sandwich.  I know what you're thinking and I felt the same way when I first heard this term.  I assumed it was not something I should look up on my work computer.  It turns out it's actually a way to get room upgrades.  Basically when you check in you put a $20 bill between your drivers license and credit card and ask if there are any complimentary room upgrades available.  Since we had two rooms booked we decided to try this trick to get connecting rooms.  Chris and I walked up to the clerk (the rooms were in our names) and Chris did the honors.  Let me point out that Chris lives near Seattle and is a big Seahawks fan.  Let me also point out that the clerk that was working with us was also from the Seattle area, and was also a big Seahawks fan.  I think you know where this is going.  The guy worked at his computer for a couple minutes and then disappeared after telling us he'd be right back.  When he came back he said that, unfortunately, there were no connecting rooms available that night but that he upgraded both our rooms to suites!  He also said that if we came back the next day he would move us to connecting rooms with strip views!  I should mention that we booked our rooms through the Rock N Roll Vegas Marathon website and we got awesome rates.  $90 for the first night (Saturday) and $40 each night for Sunday and Monday (per room.)  We got the upgrades for the same price (can you beat a strip view room for $40/night?) AND he gave Chris his $20 back!

This was about the only time I've rooted for the Seahawks

Needless to say our trip got off to a great start.  After we checked in we headed across the street to Caesar's Palace to grab some dinner.   Bob wanted to try Gordon Ramsay's Pub & Grill so we headed through the casino and made a rookie mistake by getting a table without looking at the menu first.  After the hostess seated us and we got our water glasses filled (which I immediately drained) we finally looked at the menu.  It's a Pub & Grill, they have to at least have a burger on the menu right?  Wrong.  Ramsay is a Scottish chef and this restaurant reflected it.  The closest things to what we were looking for were Shepherd's Pie and Fish & Chips.  They must have been good because they were at least $25.  Don't get me wrong, I knew any restaurant in Vegas would be expensive, especially the restaurant of a famous chef, but we didn't want to spend $30 - $40 each to eat something we weren't exactly excited about.  We decided to "drink & dash" and bolted before our waiter had time to come over to get our drink orders.

Gordon is not happy with us

We ended up finding a burger joint and had dinner there before heading back to the Flamingo.  We walked around a bit, sat at the sports book and watched some college football, and then called it quits pretty early trying to save ourselves for the race the next evening.  

Sunday was pretty relaxed as we ate a late brunch at our hotel, walked to Walgreens to get some Gatorade, and then watched football in our rooms until it was time to go to the race.  For my race recap go here.

Finally found this nice photo

After the race we watched the end of the Broncos - Chiefs game (won by the Broncos!) and then took a cab to Freemont Street to get a cheap steak dinner.  We ended up at Magnolia's Veranda at the Four Queens and I got the Ribeye Dinner for something like $14.  After running 13.1 miles I have to say that was one of the best steaks I've ever eaten.  We stayed down on Freemont Street for awhile and then headed back to our hotel.  For some reason the Flamingo has a 24-hour brick-oven pizza place right by our elevator so we had to stop and have a pizza before bed.  Hey, we burned ~2000 calories during the run so we deserved two dinners right?

The next day was pretty low key but the highlight was definitely the Bacchanal Buffet at Caesar's Palace.  I always thought the buffet at the Rio was the best.  Boy was I wrong.  This was the most amazing buffet I have ever seen (of course it costs $45 for dinner.)  I can't remember everything I ate that night but off the top of my head I remember having a huge plate of crab legs, sushi, salad, a fancy meat/cheese plate, truffle scalloped potatoes, mini hotdog, Wagyu beef slider, the most amazing sweet potato tater tots with a honey glaze, carne asada street tacos, lime pork green chili, ice cream, cheesecake, fresh chocolate chip cookie, and a few other things I'm not remembering.  I would definitely recommend going there if you ever find yourself in Vegas and need to intake 3500 calories.  We somehow managed to walk back to our hotel and hung out for a little bit before crashing for the night.

Good night Vegas

We flew back to CO the next morning and we happy to get home to see our families.  Overall it was a great trip and I think I've had my Vegas fix for awhile.  At least until next February when the Broncos are in the Super Bowl!

2013 Las Vegas Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon Recap

*note: I just read this and it is really long, you might want to take a bathroom break first or grab a coffee*

I did it!  I ran 13.1 miles!  Actually, according to my GPS watch I ran 13.25 miles but that was probably because of all the zigzagging I did.  I don't want to get ahead of myself so let me back up a bit.

This post will only be about the race.  I will write about the trip in general next week.

The race started at 4:30 pm so we (Chris, Bob, Zach, and I) decided to head to the "start line" at around 2.  One of the benefits of staying at the Flamingo was that there was a Monorail stop at the hotel so we decided to take the Monorail to MGM Grand (the last stop) and walk the rest of the way.  There were a lot of runners waiting to get on when we got there and more coming all the time.  Once the Monorail arrived we were lucky to get on because it was already pretty full.  At the next stop a few more people were able to squeeze on while a lot of others were out of luck and left to complain about how that was the third time they had been unable to get on.  I guess that's the downside of staying at the next to last stop.  Anyway, once we got off we walked through the MGM Grand and down the strip to the "start line."  I put that in quotes because it was more like a small village with a couple hundred porta potties, bagel/banana/water booths, a huge stage with the All American Rejects singing, and about 25,000 people.  We decided it would be a good idea to get in line for the porta potties so we got in line.

Not a picture from my race but you get the idea

There were about 50 people in each line so we had to wait for about 20 minutes.  After that business was done we stretched a little bit and then decided that we should make our way to our corral.  Based on our projected finish time of 2 hours, Zach, Chris, and I were placed in corral 14.  The corral system is used to space out the runners and let the faster runners out first so they aren't stuck behind slow people like me.  Corral 1 goes first and then every other corral is released 1.5 minutes apart.  Each corral is designed to hold ~1000 runners although I have no idea how many people were actually in our corral.  It was a little disappointing to see people from corral 33 (probably an estimated 3 hour finish time) walking through my corral on their way to who knows which corral in front of us.  I know that during the race I passed people that were probably walking the entire race.  Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with people walking the race but I don't like that they went to the front just so they didn't have to wait for their corral.

View in front of me (you can just make out the start line)

View behind me

Anyway, right at 4:30 pm they had someone sing the National Anthem and then the race started.  There was an emcee at the start line calling out the corrals as they were released.  There was also music blaring out of speakers at each corral and I have to admit that I was definitely getting pumped up!  Maybe 5 or 6 minutes after corral 1 was released we saw the first runners racing past us.  Holy cow they were going fast.  I'm not sure I can sprint as fast as their race pace.  I don't know if the first corral was all marathoners or also some half marathoners mixed in but they were all moving fast.  It turns out first place of the marathon finished in 2:35:26 (5:56 min/mile pace) and the first place half marathoner finished in 1:06:17 (5:04 min/mile pace.)  Wow.

As we got closer to the start line I definitely had butterflies but I was also excited to get started.  Once we finally got started I didn't feel like I was going much faster than when we were walking our way to the start line.  Because I decided to do run/walk intervals I thought it would be nice of me to start near the back of the corral so I didn't stop in front of anybody when I did my first walk.  That was a big mistake.  There were so many people that it was almost impossible to set any type of pace.  At around 0.75 miles I looked at my watch and saw that I was only doing a 12 minute mile!  I really didn't want to be so far behind my target pace so I started running faster and darting in and out of people and running on the sidewalk.  I ended up getting my first mile done (with no walking because we were going so slow) in 9:30.  I decided that I didn't want to completely give up on my intervals so I walked for around 2 minutes and then started running again.  It was really had to walk because as you walk, all the people you worked so hard to pass while running, go right past you.  It's like making a stop at a rest stop during a long road trip and you see the big semi, that you worked so hard to pass, blow by.

Course map.  We started out going south and turned around just before mile 1

We did get to pass by the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign which I had never seen in person...that was pretty fun.  There were quite a few people that stopped to take pictures.

I saw this sign for about 30 seconds

My intervals were all over the place and I tried to keep them around 5 minutes of running to 1 minute of walking.  It was tough, not just because of the number of people, but because there were times the road narrowed and everybody got crammed together.  Or, at the water stations, there would be people that would run right in front of you to get over to the water.  A few times I had to come to a complete stop so that I didn't run into anyone.  Another time a lady in front of me stopped in the middle of the road to take a picture with her cell phone and I narrowly avoided crashing into her.  I think, on average, I walked between 1.5 to 2 minutes per mile which is just about what I was hoping to do.

As many of you know I was pretty excited to listen to the Broncos games during the run.  I found out that Las Vegas did not carry the game on FM radio (my iPod has an integrated FM radio) so I decided to take my phone along and stream KOA.  That didn't work out so well.  I think the number of people trying to stream music (and just people in Vegas using their phones in general) overloaded the cell tower because the game kept cutting in and out.  And by in and out I mean out.  I fought with my phone for probably about 2 miles so that really helped the time go by!  I finally ended up putting my phone in my fuel belt and listened to my book on tape.  I have to say that I listened to my book for about 1.5 hours and I don't really remember any of it.  I was so busy enjoying the scenery and dodging other runners I wasn't really paying attention to the book.

My time at the 10 mile mark was 1:35:21 which was pretty close to the times for my 10 mile runs in training so I was pretty happy.  I ended up running the last 3.1 miles at a faster pace than I did the first 10 so I guess that means my training was successful, right?  The last mile was a blur and before I knew it I was crossing the finish line completing my first ever half marathon in 2:04:54!  Five minutes under my goal!  What a great feeling it was to finally finish something I have been training for for almost 8 months.  I met up with Zach, who finished in under 1:55:00! and we took our time walking through the finish line village drinking water, Gatorade, chocolate milk, and eating bananas, bagels, and pretzels.

My medal that L loves because it glows in the dark!

Overall I thought the race was organized very well and ran smoothly.  The course was pretty well lit for the most part (with the exception of the part where we ran around some neighborhoods just before we turned around and headed back down the strip) and the volunteers were great.  There were a ton of people on the sidelines giving high fives and cheering on the runners.  I didn't have any one there to specifically cheer me on but it felt like the streets were lined with hundreds of my closest fans.  As we ran through the aforementioned neighborhood people were sitting on their patios cheering us on.  As is the case with most half/full marathons (or so I hear) people were holding up the usual silly signs.  Some of my favorites were "Worst Parade Ever", "Toenails are Overrated" and of course:

Again, not from my race

I'm not sure I would ever run a half marathon with 20,000+ people again but I'm glad I did it once.  I had such a great experience and am so glad I did it (and that it's over!)  I think 10k's are more my distance but I would like to try another half marathon at some point.

As I mentioned, I ended up finishing in 2:04:54 which comes out to a pace of 9:32 min/mile.  Subtracting out my walking I averaged a 8:36 min/mile (or around there) while running which I am very happy about.  My splits came out to: 9:30, 9:54, 9:17, 10:10, 9:16, 9:28, 9:20, 9:28, 9:44, 9:16, 9:29, 9:19, 8:57, 7:18 (for the last 0.1.)  Overall these splits are pretty consistent which was the goal of my intervals.

13.25 miles! Note my random walking intervals

I think the flat course and lower elevation helped quite a bit and I wish I could run that course with about 24,500 fewer people!

Thank you all for your support over the past 8 months, especially my wife Angie!  I didn't know it at the time but she was watching my times from home and was cheering me along, even though she was home with the stomach flu!  Thanks sweetie!

Needless to say I'm enjoying taking some time off of running but soon it will be time to figure out my next race!

Please post any questions you have for me about the race!

Time's Up

Well, it's Friday afternoon and at this time tomorrow I'll be on my way to the airport.  It's hard to believe that my last week of training is over and the only thing left in front of me is the race.  Unfortunately both of my little girls were plagued by the stomach bug this past week and I'm actually home with both of them right now.  I've been using so much hand sanitizer that my fingers are about to crack off of my hands.  I'm doing whatever it takes to try to stay healthy for the run.  I really hope Angie is able to fight off this bug as well as it wouldn't be much fun to have two kids at home by yourself while sick.

Anyway, assuming I don't catch anything in the next 51.5 hours I think I'm ready to go.  As I've mentioned before, I know I shouldn't have a time goal for myself and just run to have fun and finish but I can't help but predict how I'm going to do.  Running at 2000 feet (as opposed to 5000+ feet here in CO) and on a flat course should definitely make things easier but I'm guessing running with 35,000+ other people will probably cancel all that out.  I'm not sure how difficult it will be to do my run/walk intervals with so many other people but I'll try to stay out of the way on my run to walk transitions.  I'm going to stick with alternating 4:30 of running with 1 minute of walking and hope that by the end of the race I'll have enough energy to push hard at the end.  My final goal is to finish in under 2:10.  I'll update you next week on how it went.

Quick prediction on the Broncos.  HUGE game this week at home against the 9-0 Chiefs.  I keep going back and forth on this one mainly because it's supposed to be chilly (20s-30s), maybe a bit windy, and Manning with 2 bad ankles.  What finally wins out for me is the fact that I can't see the Chiefs scoring more that 17 points against the Broncos unless they get some defensive touchdowns (which you can never predict.)  I'm expecting a great crowd and a big win for Denver, 31 - 17.

Have a great weekend!

That Blows

Of course I am referring to the wind and, of course, the last two times I have decided to run it has been very windy.  I'm sure it's good for me and builds strength but I'd much rather run on a calm day.  We were in the mountains all weekend so I didn't get my long run done until Monday.  And what a long run it was!

The kiddos enjoying the mountain air

I was undecided whether I wanted to do 11 or 12 miles and the cold, windy weather made me want to turn around after 2 miles but I ended up going 12!  That run was the longest (time and distance) I have ever run.  For the most part the first half was uphill and into the wind so most of the second half felt pretty good.  The last three miles, however, I hit a bit of a wall.  I've done 10 a couple times and felt pretty good at the end.  I'm sure the weather (30 degrees and 14 mph winds) didn't help but I'm guessing the fact that I ran 12 miles had something to do with it!  You'll probably notice from the picture below that I stuck with the run 4 minutes/walk 1 minute intervals the entire way and I think it was pretty successful.  I'm hoping that on race day I'll be able to up the running to 4:30 or 5 minutes.  I ended up going 12.05 miles in 1:55:51 for an average pace of 9:37 min/mile.  My splits were: 8:47, 9:08, 9:23, 9:45, 9:53, 9:43, 10:00, 9:29, 9:32, 9:53, 10:03, 9:55.  A couple of those longer splits were due to bathroom breaks.  Guess I drank too much water before the run.

Longest run of my life...and it felt like it!

I wanted to run yesterday but ended up being really busy at work and didn't fit it in so I went today.  Yesterday was in the mid 60s with no wind and of course today was windy.  I felt pretty tired the entire time and don't think I could have gone 13.  Good thing the half marathon wasn't today.
 You want to know what scares me?

CSU blew and early lead at home against Boise St. and ended up losing 42-30.  I didn't get to watch the game but from watching updates on my phone it doesn't sound like the game was that close.  Still no Connor Smith sighting.  This week the Rams host Nevada.  I don't know much about the Wolfpack but I think CSU gets back up to .500 by winning 38-28.

The Broncos had an eventful bye week as coach John Fox had to have a valve in his heart replaced and may miss up to 6 weeks.  Obviously the top concern is for his health and I hope he makes a full recovery.  It is probably a good thing that we have another former head coach on the team as Jack Del Rio will take over in Fox's absence.  Denver travels out to SD for a game against the Chargers.  This would have all the makings of a trap game since the Broncos play KC next week but I don't see Denver looking past San Diego.  I do think it will be a close game and I'm interested to see how the defense plays.  If you'll remember back to last season (maybe it's just me) Denver came back from 24 down at halftime to stun the Chargers 35-24.  Denver really needs to hold on to the ball this week if they want to win.  I think it will be a close game but I see Denver coming out on top 38-31.

Have a great weekend!

Running Out of Time

Sometimes I think I am really clever with my titles.  This week isn't one of them!

I don't have much time to write today because we're going to head up to the mountains for the weekend and I need to pack.  I'm not bringing my running gear so that makes this a recovery weekend.  I still want to get one more long run in before the race so it will probably have to wait until next weekend.  With the time change this weekend I think it will be too dark to run 2 hours after work this week.  I can't believe I'll be getting ready for my race in just over 2 weeks.  I think I'm ready and I have to hope my training me has prepared me for it.  Last month I mentioned that I only ran 48.76 miles in September due to some soreness/injuries.  In October I ended up running 69.86 miles which is almost 10 miles more than I have run during any month!  For my 10 mile run last Saturday, as I mentioned in my last blog, I decided to switch up my intervals.  After running the first mile I alternated 1 minute of walking with 4 minutes of running.  Compared to the last 10 mile run I cut 1 minute 14 seconds off my time.  This might not sound like much but considering this route included an additional 100 feet of elevation gain, I think it was pretty successful.  Whenever I get out for my next/last long run I think I'll try it again although I might push the running interval to 4:30 or 5 minutes.

Turning around at 5 miles and going downhill felt GREAT!

L's newly appointed "favorite holiday" occurred last night.  I'm sure that will change as we get closer to Christmas but she was so excited for Halloween.  She dressed up as Ariel (as a princess, not mermaid), N dressed up as Sebastian the crab (even though the costume may have been a lobster), and Angie was the evil sea-witch Ursula.

My adorable family

Unfortunately I didn't get into the spirit of Halloween like the rest of my family.  Maybe next year.  L has the next 4 years of Halloween ideas mapped out and next year will be a Star Wars themed event.  We'll see if that holds.  This morning L woke up and one of the first things she said to me was: "Daddy, candy!"  I love the way kids' minds work.

Don't forget to comment, you can be anonymous!

Did you dress up for Halloween?  What were you?  Did your family do a theme?
Do you have a long run this weekend?  How long?