Dates, Dreams, and Reality

Last night I had the wonderful opportunity to have a "date" with my wife to celebrate her birthday. Time can pass so quickly and we have not had a real date since December. The weekly routine becomes, well, routine and the next thing you know a month or so has passed. In our case, two months. We had plenty of discussion time as the crowd at Zeitgeist was nil. The conversation wrapped around many topics from our jobs, our son, and our house. Agreeing we are happy for the most part but often asking ourselves, "is this really all there is to our life?" Don't get me wrong. We have an extraordinary life but I think it is only natural to start looking for more at this stage in our life. The good thing is Kari and I are on the same page and will decide and follow each other with what ever we do in the years to come.

After all the spirits-induced discussion I came to the realization this morning that yes indeed, my life is super. I woke up, spent a little time tending to my caffeine needs, and then decided to take an easy trail run in the cool, northern Minnesotan air. It was just after the thirty minute mark when I bumped into Charlie, who was out on the snowmobile trail on his Pugsley getting in his Sunday ride, when, after visiting for a short time I realized that living in Northern Minnesota is what I like. To see others sharing the great outdoors is what it's all about. The air was crisp. There was a very light snow fall and my legs felt like a million bucks while keeping the HR at an ultra-low level. I suddenly felt very content. Kari and I have discussed moving to a new city and restarting our lives but really, in a dozen years will we be needing to move again just to cure our sense of boredom? Maybe, maybe not. I guess time will tell but for now I am looking forward to a fresh week of running and increasing the volume to yet another level in hopes to have a spectacular six weeks until the base-phase of this training is over.

Here is a recap of week 6 of phase I base training:

Monday: a day home with our son. I ran on the treadmill just because it was easiest with the schedule of the day.

51:44 6 miles HR=125

Tuesday: A mix of trails and roads. This was week two of allowing the HR to venture near 140. I really didn't approach that often unless there was a hill to deal with.

1:18:20 9.5 miles HR=132

Wednesday: Easy morning. Mostly roads.

50:02 6 miles

Thursday: Out on the trails a bit then shifted to the roads to do my first true "fartlek" style workout. During the loop I did 8 X 45 seconds at 5:45-6:00 pace with 30 seconds of rest. It felt good to get the legs to turn over some. :)

1:07:45 8.8 miles HR=133

Friday: I was just happy to get out the door. Felt very tired as I stared into the morning darkness. I made it out though. Easy recovery.

44:43 5 miles HR=122

Saturday: The plan was to run a bit over an hour with Dave H. and Jonas. Once we got to thirty minutes I made the decision to make the run into a long effort. We hit the trails of Lester and Amity and made it back to the rose garden via roads. Legs felt great.

2:00:00 14.7 miles

Sunday: Easy run on the trails and snowmobile trails. Felt great!! Legs recovered well and I must say I am a bit surprised. (must have been the martini)

1:02:20 7.1 miles HR=127

Weeks Total: 57.1 miles

Years Total: 278.9 miles