It is hard to get excited about our mid-week runs since they have become a little monotonous. You just want to get the 6 miles done and since we have been running the same route for a few weeks, the view has also lost its charm. I try to find little things to keep me occupied during the run, sometimes a conversation with someone else but tonight was a game of don’t-get-caught.

While running away from a couple of people, I found myself closing the gap with a runner that passed me earlier, the game was on. Try not to get caught while attempting to catch the person in front of me. I caught up to him with about a mile left and I felt about making up the distance that I kept up my pace. It was awesome and I didn’t feel like I was forcing myself which makes it even a little more rewarding. I ended up covering the 6.2 miles in 43:48 minutes. Just a little change to keep things interesting during these runs.

Four years ago I asked a beautiful girl to go watch a movie, yesterday I asked her to be my wife and she said yes!

In the last four years we have grown together, we have become each other’s best friend, we have learned to finished our sentences, we have learned each other’s quirks and the things that make us lose our patience but even more important, we have learned the things that make us smile, laugh and love each other.

We don’t have the rest of details but know that it will not take four more years for a wedding date ;o) – we have posted some photos of the ring for those who asked for them.

click the photo to see more

After the scare with my foot from a couple of weeks ago, I decided to take the following week off, giving it time to heal. Tuesday’s run was the time I was on the road again after those nine days off and I felt it. It was like having to learn to run once again and my breathing and form was all over the place.

Thursday was much better, I felt comfortable once again and things felt good all around. My time for the six miles also showed things were back closer to normal, I was able to keep a pace similar to those runs before my break. I was ready for the Saturday long run of fourteen miles.

This week was a break in the training with only fourteen miles being on the schedule and our last run before the 20 miler we have next week. We had a nice group of about 10 people staying together for most of the outbound leg, everyone was chatty and in pretty good spirits. The social aspect of our group makes it so much easier to go the distance, specially when your body is not at its peak. After the turn around, the group broke apart a little bit with some people speeding up at different spots. Glenn and I were pushing each other through our body pains and kept a pretty good pace for the length of the return trip.

We ran a time of 1:48:51 for the fourteen miles which is a 7:46 pace. My foot felt a little sore during the run, specially the last few miles but it was nothing like the run when I first felt the pain. I am also going to replace my shoes in preparation for the long twenty mile run to provide my feet a little more cushioning. I think next week’s run not only will it be a physical challenge but it will also be a mental one, something I am starting to think more about as race day approaches and we only have a limited amount of runs left.

The reason for things being quiet around here is because we lost our internet connection over the weekend. Of course, it goes down when I have school stuff to submit and no open wireless networks around our house. Thanks Murphy!

I spoke with Qwest on Sunday afternoon and they agreed that our DSL modem was fried, most likely from a voltage spike or so they said. We received the replacement modem today so our connection should be back up this evening.

update: I am writing this update from the office because our replacement modem died as well. I started installing it last night and I had to called Qwest tech support to get the DSL username and password. The rep asked me to enter the information while we were both on the line and there is a step where the modem has to be restarted to use the new information. Well, the modem never came back to life and all we had was the dreaded solid-red power light which represents complete failure.

Qwest is sending us a new modem and power supply assuming it is the power supply that is frying the modem by giving it too much juice. The new modem kit should arrive tomorrow (thursday) which we’ll try once again to get our home connection back online.

Looking for Apple products for your Christmas list? Then make sure you check out the Apple store the day after Thanksgiving.