Happy Cyber Monday, and Post #200!

Hello to the Blogosphere and all my Run-Blogger friends. I have been traveling to Illinois and Missouri for the last week and am way behind on my blogging. I have a lot of catching up to do.

This post is my 200th post since I started blogging almost exactly one year ago. Nothing fancy or fun about this post, but it is a milestone anyway.

This past week, first we spent a few days in Illinois, celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas with family, and had a really good time. We had decent weather (well, at least it didn't snow), spent quality time with family, and ate a lot of great food, including a Thanksgiving dinner that included both Turkey and Prime Rib. Good thing that the day before I ran 3.5 miles and worked out at the local college's fitness center with my wife and aunt. I think I gained 10 pounds.

the kids decorating the tree

We opened some early Christmas presents, and my son got a fun Yoda hat, among other things.

my son and his cousin on Thanksgiving/Christmas

We traditionally all go to the movie theater on Thanksgiving day, but this year they were not showing any "kid-friendly" movies, so we rented some DVDs, grabbed another piece of pie, and watched a couple of movies together--Monsters vs. Aliens, and Imagine That. Both were pretty good, but I think I liked Imagine That better. I had never heard of it (it is with Eddie Murphy), but it was funny. (By the way, I watched "Up" in the car during the 10 hour drive, and while I thought it was good, it kind of had a sad underlying theme to it. I won't say more than that, in case you haven't seen it yet.)

We left the day after Thanksgiving and headed to St Louis. We were going to take the kids to the St Louis Childrens Museum, called The Magic House.

Let me just say that for anyone within driving distance of St Louis, with kids between the ages of 4 and 12, you need to go to this place. It was amazing. We got there when they opened and spent 7 1/2 hours there and were never bored. It is huge, and my kids thought they were in heaven. It truly was incredible. We took a gazillion pictures while there. Here are just a few:

the oval office

changing a tire in the service center

Curious George was there too

working in the grocery store

ahoy matey!

delivering pizza in the restaurant

working in the bank

building a house

One funny thing happened while we were there, too. We ran into our neighbors who live across the street from us. 8 hours away, and we happened to be in the same place at the same time. What are the odds.

It was an amazing day, and we topped it off with a trip to the St Louis Zoo, where they had over 500,000 lights for their "Wild Lights" event, with a great holiday light display. It was excellent weather, a great time, and a perfect end to the day.

By the way, I did get some running in also, and I have another post I want to share about a couple of really cool runs I had while on vacation.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving, too, and didn't eat too much turkey.

I'll leave you with a poem that we created at the Poet-Tree space in the Childrens Museum too--

Test Run=Success

Last night I went for a test run to see if my calf was healed up. It had been feeling pretty good, and I just wanted to go out for a nice, easy, slow run.

As I was getting dressed and putting my shoes on, my 7-year old said he wanted to come with me, so I told him, "great, let's go."

So we both bundled up and went out for a run in the dark. It was fun running with him, we talked the whole time, and he did really good. We went at a nice easy jog pace, like 11 min/mile, and went a total of 2 miles. The calf didn't give me any problems, so I think I can start running again. Hope to get my son out there with me on some more runs in the future.

Happy Friday everyone.

Beginning Running Again

I haven't run for about 2 1/2 weeks, it's driving me crazy. But, I am giving my calf a few more days before I start running again. I actually feel ready, and feel strong enough, but when talking to a running buddy of mine he said calf strains take 3 weeks to heal, so I am heeding that advice.

My mother in law got me a great Barnes and Nobles gift card for my birthday, and I was really torn between three or four books on running. In the end, I settled on "Runner's World Complete Book of Beginning Running." My wife said, "why are you getting a book on beginning running?" Well, truthfully, I'm still a beginner. I've only been running for a little over a year, and I have TONs to learn. This book is full of great information on running, from Diet and Nutrition, to Training, to Injury Prevention. Some of the things in the book I already knew, some I didn't. Some, I just needed reminded. It will be a great resource to have around, and I've already read a couple chapters. If you're looking for a good resource about running, check this book out.

Yoga? Seriously?

Okay, so I'm taking this week off from running to rest my calf. I'll try running again this weekend.

In the meantime, I decided to try Yoga. Yes, I know, it's not generally a "guy" thing to do, but I had heard that it is really good for building strength and flexibility, two things that I am very lacking in (probably why I keep getting injured).

Through our cable provider, we have "On Demand" Exercise and Fitness TV, with tons of guided workouts, including Yoga. Yesterday I picked a random one called "Yoga Fitness Fusion" or something like that. It was a 45-minute workout. I only lasted 15 minutes. It was hard. I struggled, and I am sore today from that little 15 minute workout. I can really see the benefits of doing it though, and I am going to try it some more. I did another 10 minute Yoga session today. I think I may need to try a beginner's class, the workout I picked is kicking my tail. Hepefully I can get a stronger core and increase my strength and flexibility, which will only make my running better.

Giveaways:

Tri the Dream

The Daily Cadence

Test Run=Fail

I hadn't run for 5 days, I was giving my calf some healing time. It was feeling pretty strong and felt good enough to go for a run yesterday.

But, after about 1/2 mile I felt a twinge in my calf again that brought me to a halt, and I walked back home rather than risk further injury. I am not sure what I did to my calf, but it obviously needs more recovery time. I've thought about getting a deep muscle massage, I've heard that those can help.

So, I went back home and since it was so beautiful out, I put up the Christmas lights. Yes, I know it's early November, and I think the neighbors thought I was crazy. But it was beautiful here yesterday, I couldn't resist.

Also yesterday, sandwiched between my son's last soccer game of the season and 2 kids' birthday parties, I got to watch K-State win the Sunflower State showdown football game with KU. One more win and we're bowl eligible baby. Never would have believed it at the beginning of the season. Go Cats!

Auto-Tune the News

Yeah, everything sounds better auto-tuned.

You're welcome.

4-mile Black Lab Run

No, the "Black Lab Run" isn't a race that I ran in this weekend. It's what happened to me today.

I set out for my run this morning and after about a quarter mile, a stray black lab started running along with me. I didn't really mind, and it was good company. He would run up into people's yards and then come back to join me every so often. I kept thinking that he would stop and go home, or get bored and wander off....but, he stayed with me for the entire 4 miles.

When we got home, I got him some fresh water to drink and gave him some food. He was very friendly. The first thing my son said was "Can we keep him?" I said "No, he probably belongs to somebody." So we got out the phone book to call the local Animal Control to come get him, and by time I went back outside, he was gone. Probably off on another run with another passerby. Anyway, it made for an enjoyable run, to have a running partner.

I tweaked my right calf at about the 3 mile mark, enough that I walked most of the last mile....I am not sure what happened, I was running along fine, feeling strong, and then I felt a twinge of pain in my calf that brought me to a halt. It's not a cramp, maybe a strained muscle or something. So, I'm going to give it a good 3 days rest and see how it feels.

I leave you with a picture of my boys' Halloween costumes, a boxer and a tourist.