August

2013 hasn't been the best year, it seems, but I'm hoping the late summer/fall is going to be awesome. I have some balls in the air, and maybe I won't drop them.

August kicked off with a visit from my parents and a Dallas Cowboys game. Friday night, we did our typical stay-in thing so we could run with the group Saturday morning. Saturday afternoon was fun - we visited with Aaron's dad, and Aaron's brother and his gf were in town. We all went to the Beer Engine (always a favorite), and I experienced a burger with the parm treatment for the first time. GET THAT.

Sunday started with a run at Lock 29 in Peninsula followed by lunch at the Lizard (still my favorite one). After going home to clean up and relax, we got ready for the game. Getting into the stadium was kind of a pain (this isn't the first year so it should have been better! To be fair, though, this was the first year for the NFL's new silly rules about bags).

And sure, the game kinda sucked, but it was still cool to see the professional athletes up close. Our seats should have been good - we were in the end zone, in the second row - but the camera guy was right in front of us. Regardless, it was cool to see the hard hits, and I can't imagine the impact when it's the first-stringers.

I kept an eye on the favorite starters (Witten, Ware, Romo, Bryant), but my two sad pictures suck. I should have walked around, but I am lazy. And I have no pictures of me and my parents in our Dallas gear. LAME.

You can see Witten on the left. Kinda.

Dez was excited during the game - and probably bummed that he wasn't playing.

So this weekend is on my mind. We have a lot of options as far as weekend activities. We're supposed to go to Columbus Saturday (after our group run, of course), but I think Aaron is officially out (scooter-fixin'). I'm not sure what I want to do - go down there (and then there are a couple of options for that too) or stay up here. I have a lot of stuff I can/would like to do. There's a bottle party I just got invited to, there's a 10-mile race that I would like to do (my only 10-miler was abysmal), and, well, there's sleeping in that sounds really, really appealing. Sadly, sleeping in and a 10-mile race are not friends.

I'm hoping for a good mileage increase this month, too. Last month, I came in under 100, but it was a lot closer than before. Currently, I have 21 miles/4 days in a row running, and I have 4-6 miles on tap tonight. Tonight is also the hill, which I haven't done since May, so my legs are sure to be shot afterward.

Shoot, my legs were shot after last night. For reference, I ran 8 on Saturday, 4 on Sunday and 4 on Monday. I was going to do intervals last night, but wasn't feeling it and thought maybe 5 miles instead of 6 would be better. Then I started thinking about doing a fast mile again. The last time I did a fast mile -- 7:55, btw -- it was after running 5ish miles. Last night, I warmed up with 3 miles, ran 1 mile fast and cooled down for 1 mile.

3 miles - 9:42 average (TOO FAST)
1 mile - 8:05
1 mile - 11 (included walking)

So not great. I was disappointed because I thought it should have been faster, but in retrospect, it was to be expected. I had run the three days previously. I ran the warmup too fast. And 8:05 isn't anything to be ashamed of. And considering that it used to be my goal to run an 8:15 mile, I should be damn happy that I've run 1-mile twice faster than that. (McMillan says I can do a 7:42 mile based on my 5k. Maybe I should set myself up better - shorter, slower warmup and then see what I can do. I have a history of setting myself up for failure.)