The MS Runner

I did the Run the Republic race this past Sunday in downtown Denver at the tallest building in the Rocky Mountain region which consisted of running (or walking) up 53 flights of stairs. I really didn’t know what to expect and I had no game plan at all. I figured that I would just play it by ear and see how it goes. It wasn’t like I wanted to beat any particular time or anything, I just wanted to say that I DID IT! For the most part, I took 2 steps at a time, but not at a very fast pace. I didn’t think I was doing too bad, because only 2 people passed me and they looked like they were about 18 years old, and I have kids older than that. I passed a bunch of people and there were quite a few that were really sucking wind. We had staggered start times and a runner would go every 7 seconds so there wasn’t too bad of a crowd on the steps. As I got near the end, I figured that I would run up the last 3 floors. HA. My lungs were burning, and my legs felt like jello. I was just glad that it was coming to an end. It was nice at the finish line because they had cheerleaders there handing out water and your medals. Or maybe I was hallucinating at that point. It didn’t matter. I finished and conquered the 1,098 steps and lived to tell about it. My time was 11 minutes and 49 seconds and I finished 526th out of 1,877. The average time was 15:39 and I would say that the average age was under 30 years old. All in all, I was pleased with my effort.

The day before this run, I ran 14 miles at an easy pace. My overall was 9:05 per mile. I took it real easy the first 9 miles, and then did 4 miles at a 8:00 per mile pace before finishing the last mile at about a 9:30. It’s funny but I sweated more doing the steps for less than 12 minutes, than I did for the whole 14 mile run. My only complaint about the stair climbing/running, is that there was no beer at the end. Sheesh.

I enjoy reading some of the other running blogs that I come across because they sometimes have good information, or some type of training tip that is useful.  It is a struggle sometimes to come up with something on my end that is useful, and maybe just slightly entertaining.  If this was just a journal that I listed how many miles I ran today, what type of terrain, and what the weather was like, I wouldn’t want to share that because for the most part, I don’t think anyone really cares.  “OMG, Dave ran 10 miles today and it was only 20 degrees!  I hope he’s okay!”  That being said, I ran 10 miles on Saturday and it was 35 degrees!  And I’m okay.  This was a recovery week and even though I only ran 10 miles, I did 4 miles of it at a 7:45 pace which for me is great.  Along the way, I spotted a bald eagle in a tree and it was totally awesome.  That thing was huge!  One bonus lately is it is staying lighter out later now, so at least when I get home from work and go running, there still is some daylight.  (Who cares Dave?  We can see that it’s staying lighter out.  We are not blind.)  Um, well I did stick to my guns about drinking only light beer despite my son Jason giving me shit about it.  He is somewhat confused in that he thinks that I’m either 260 pounds or 150 pounds.  I did decide though that Amstel Light is the way to go.  It is the best tasting light beer on the market in my opinion.

This week the new gym I joined opens up and I am going to try and work out in the mornings now, and go running after work.  I will see how that goes.  It may be that the gym will be packed because it’s brand new, and I won’t enjoy it if I have to fight over the equipment.  Stay tuned for more breath taking details on this, and many other earth shattering events to come.

I finally decided that it’s time to cut back my consumption of beer, and also change the type of beer I drink.  It’s not that I drink alot, but I usually do have a couple of beers a day, and it’s usually a high alchohol, lots of calories type beer.  My favorite is just about any type of IPA.  For those of you that know their beer, this is a very hoppy type of beer, and a very distinctive taste. 

 My choices are lite beer, or light beer.  Not many good choices in this category.  My favorite though is Amstel Light, with Sam Adams Light running a close second.  If anybody has any other ideas, I’m all ears.  Keep in mind that not everything is available here in Colorado, so if you are out of state, don’t tell me about some local favorite that’s not available nationwide.  And don’t say Coors Light or Miller Lite!

Whether or not you like football, odds are you will be watching some or all of the Super Bowl game. It’s the one sporting event in the world that attracts all kinds of people. Some even watch it just to see the commercials, although I’m sure you can find them all on You Tube tomorrow. One thing over the last few years that I find amusing is who the half time show entertainment will be. Thanks to Janet (”Hey, my brother is the creepy one”) Jackson and Justin ( “I had to do something to ignite my career”) Timberlake’s wardrobe malfunction, we now are subject to old time rock stars that actually get on stage in a wheel chair. They only play for about 12 minutes because that’s their limit on remembering what the words are to the song that they’re playing. We’ve had the Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, Prince, and Paul McCartney. This year it’s Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. All of them were great in their day, but come on! Get someone that’s had a hit record in this millenium please.

On with the game. By the way, it will New England 37, the Giants 20.