April 16th, 2010 - Training - Lowell, MA - 3.2

Day 106 - The only way this crappy work week could have ended on a high note would have been to hang out with a bunch of my running friends. Well, would you look at that, the GLRR Awards/Hall of Fame get together is on the calendar tonight!

MC'ed by comrade Glenn Stewart*, it was a rousing, and bitter sweet, success. Congrats to all of the well-deserved award recipients! Hey Jimmy, take the photo!:)

It was awesome to see some old, and I do mean old, and new faces tonight. I think I finally managed to snap out of my taper funk after hearing about running for two hours, and that was just Mark C. speaking!

Tonight was also the closest I've come to ending the 365 run streak. I didn't get back home from the dinner until about 9:15PM and it was beginning to rain. The hardest part (again) was convincing Rachel that I still needed to put in a run. She could care less, so I went straight to my trusty playbook and pulled out a classic: I'll take the boys out for a "walk". She fell for the trick play.

I called an audible at the line, and the walk play became a run play. Touchdown! Extra point is good!

The boys and I ended up doing 3.2 at the river at a 7:14 clip! They were soak n' wet, as was I, but boy did we have fun! This is what I've missed about running. Just going out there and having fun.

Tonight was also tryouts for the Canine-Cross later in the year. It looks like the "underdog" Teddy pulled off an upset over Scooter, so Teddy will be my 5K-9 partner, but he still needs to shed about 15lbs if we want a shot at 1st place:

(The Fat One)

I wasn't the only one out there having fun tonight in the cold rain. Another midnight runner passed me on the river and said, "Good luck Monday!" The hell? Karnac? David Blaine? FLETCH?!? That's when I realized that I was wearing my bright yellow 2009 Boston Marathon shirt. Pretty cool.

Weekend plan is to hit the expo and number pick up with Fil early tomorrow morning, and try our best to get back to Lowell for Phil's memorial run around 12:30PM.

Unfortunately, I think I picked up a sneeze and a sniffle from either Fil or Rachel. Most likely Fil since I see him more than I see Rachel. She's still cuter though. Sorry, Fil.

Welcome to New England:

  

*You want your asterisk, Glenn? You got it! (Under USATF Age-Group guideline)