Weekly Log 23-Apr-12 to 29-Apr-12

Monday:  5 miles
Today's blog posting is dedicated to the memory of one of our own WTAC members, Laurie Lamb, who passed away one week ago and services were today.  I met Laurie when I started road racing 9 years ago, and she was always friendly and encouraging.  When she stopped participating due to her illness, she was still there at the races cheering people on.  I last saw Laurie at the Super 5K, and last communicated with her on fixing an online registration issue when she was registering Colburn for Clamdigger, incidentally the day of her death.  I had a good phone chat with Colburn yesterday, who at age 76, is planning to run many more road races this year, including State Police.  I was thrilled to be able to say a few kind words for her today at the service on behalf of WTAC.  At the reception after the service, I ran into a lot of runners from WTAC and Mohegan Striders, and officials from SNERRO. 
Having taken the afternoon off, after the reception, I went running in Champlin alone.  Life is short, as I reflected that both Laurie and my father died just weeks shy of their 59th birthday, reminding me I need to live life to the fullest.  In that spirit, I did some extra gazelling in the park.
Rest in peace, Laurie.

Tuesday:  4 miles
Short Tom Harvey loop at 5AM.  Cold, dark, and howling wind.  Got spooked by a sudden clanging metal sound that I was sure was chasing me down; the "monster" turned out to be a real estate sign.  Good thing gazelles can outrun metal signs.

Wednesday:  14 miles
Last 10+ miler before Providence.  Ran out to Weekapaug.  The rising sun on Noyes Neck Road felt good; the farm "aroma" did not.  Took Tom's shortcut grass trail to Spray Rock Road, where I picked up and ran the remainder of Clamdigger course.   Surprised I didn't see Tom and Muddy ahead of me on the course; oh that's right, at this point they were so far ahead of me I didn't see them that day either. 
Although the rain stopped 2 days ago, Atlantic Ave in Misquamicut is still competely flooded out.  Had to run high up people's driveways and through some scrub brush to get through.  Continued out to Ocean View Highway half-way to Watch Hill, then back via Watch Hill Road and Shore.  Tried to push it hard on this run, but by last couple of miles had trouble even maintaining low 7s.  Average pace 7:00 flat.

Thursday:  0 miles
Volunteer timer at WMS track meet in the rain.  Mark ran quite well and qualified in the 3,000 with an 11:01.  Today was Matthew's day.  Two years Mark's younger, he was looking to take 3 seconds off his previous 3,000 time of 12:03 in order to qualify for RI State Championships in mid May.  He ran a really consistent race and killed it by taking 37 seconds off to finish with an 11:26.  He surprised himself and was thrilled that the HS track coach commented that it was a really good time for a 6th grader.  (Sorry for the bragging from a proud Dad.)

Friday:  5 miles
Blustering late afternoon run on the beach in western end of Misquamicut.  Had to hoof it home to pick up the boys from track practice; average pace of 6:45.

Saturday:  8 miles
Fun jaunt with Muddy, Jonny, Tom, and newest weekend runner Mike B.  Ran from Bradford School to and through Grills Preserve.  Most of the run was spent on discussing various races and runs, reminiscing on Chariho soccer, etc.  The aptly but simply named Big Hill was the highlight for me; the views are incredible from the top.  The funny thing is that 8 miles now seems like a "short run" or at least a medium run to me, and when we finished today, I wished that we had kept running longer.  Oh well, plenty of time for that; better to cut it short today between tomorrow's 5K and next weekend's marathon.

Sunday:  6 miles
RI State Police Foot Pursuit 5K.  Separate write-up coming shortly.

Weekly total:  42 miles
Final tapering week coming up now before Providence Cox Marathon.  My rough plans are to take two days off completely, mid-week run of 5-8 with a few short pick-me-ups and Saturday run of 3-4 easy.