Eight is Enough

Sorry for the lack of updates but I didn't spend much time in front of a computer while in Montana.    Our vacation was great although we got off to a rough start.  Our flight from Denver to Great Falls turned into flights from Denver to Billings, and Billings to Great Falls.  There was a huge thunderstorm in Great Falls that caused us to divert to Billings for over an hour to wait for the weather to clear up.  This wouldn't have been a big deal other than the fact that baby N can't sit still for more than 2 minutes.  I'll just put it this way; nobody told us how great our kids were once we finally deplaned in Great Falls.

L excited to take-off

Once we arrived in Great Falls and got loaded up in Grandma Valerie's minivan, we drove to Helena (avoiding a deer by about 6") and spent the night at Jeanne (Angie's sister) and Chad's house.  We drove to Flathead Lake the next day and stayed there until Monday morning.  The weather was perfect, the water wasn't too cold, and we had a great time (other than when I sucked up some rocks in the jet ski and dinged the impeller...oops!)  Fortunately Angie's family and extended family love to fix things so they took the jet ski apart, banged the impeller back into shape, and it was back in the water in a few hours.

Monday we said our goodbyes and started the 7+ hour drive to Angie's hometown of Turner.  I was riding with Papa Donnie in the motor home with L, Angie's grandma, aunt, and cousin.  Halfway into the drive I got a call from Angie saying that we needed to switch vehicles.  Why?  Because N was being a terror.  Donnie and I swapped vehicles with Angie and her mom and we drove the rest of the way home.

The rest of the week was spent eating, visiting, napping, and watching movies.  Donnie and I took L out to the shop on the farm one day and L loved it.  She got to feed the kitties, sit on a tractor, sit in a semi and honk the horn, and get dirty.  We drove back to Great Falls Saturday morning and flew back to Denver.  N was still crazy but better than the flight out.  We got to see our new (and first) nephew on Sunday which was very exciting!  I'm so glad there is finally a baby Eckdahl boy on my Dad's side!

Dinner after seeing the baby boy

I managed to only skip 1 of my scheduled runs while on vacation and I think that's pretty good.  Running along Flathead Lake was nice because you've got to love this view:

Flathead Lake

I ran on the highway in Turner one day and, although it was only in the low 70s, it felt like 100 degrees.

I woke up this Monday morning to a rarity.  An overcast, misty, cool (temps in the 60s all day) morning in July.  I decided I had to take advantage of this weather and try for a long run even though I was fresh off of vacation.  I had planned on going 7 miles but as I was nearing the end of my run I decided I should push myself to go a bit further.  I ended up going 8.12 miles in 1 hour 17 minutes for an average pace of 9:29 min/mile (the time and distance were both personal highs!)  As with my 7 mile run my left ankle was killing me for the last 2 miles.  I'm not sure if this is due to my shoes, running style, or just the fact that I've never fun that far before.  I guess I'll find out as I continue to run longer distances but I'm thinking I should go to a running store and get fitted for a shoe that fits my running style.  I am currently running in Brooks Pure Flow 2s.

For the month of July I ended up running 60.64 miles in just under 9 hours and 16 minutes.  I'm still running just 3 days/week although all the half marathon training plans call for running 5 days/week.  I guess I need to try to add another day soon.  Maybe I can find some time on Saturdays or Sundays.

8-mile run

I just signed up for a 10k on 8/24 which will be my longest official run.  Fortunately it's in Erie and I don't have to travel far to get to the start line.  They are also doing a half marathon but I just don't think I'm ready for that distance yet.