I didn't fail.....

I merely deferred success.

So I went down to Blue Point for the 5K Turkey Trot. The goodie bag was neat. The race is for a dental charity so in the bag was a toothbrush, a big tube of Crest ProHealth toothpaste, and candy. I guess the dentist is trying to ensure business. It was quite a turnout. ~800 people came down for the race. I like the turkey day races because it gives me the illusion that I worked out and don't feel guilty about having some pumpkin pie for dessert.

Even before getting to the starting line, I knew it would not be a PR day. The weather was perfect, but I just felt really stiff in the hips from the half marathon. So I figured I would just go out there and enjoy the run. When the gun went off, it was hard to get through the crowd. I stepped on a few feet and apologized a million times. Finally I got into some clear space. The course is nice and flat so no hills to worry about. It seemed to take forever to get to the one mile marker. I wore my Garmin so I could watch my pace. I was still hoping to put together a good race so pacing would be important. In the first mile I was all over the place (or the Garmin was flaking out). I was anywhere from 8:35-9:55 min/mile. That's a pretty wide swing and I'm not sure I was that varied in my pace. So I tried to settle in at 9:40. By the time I got to the first mile marker, I was on my pace. Phew.

After that I just ran and didn't look at the watch. I knew I was slowing down but I was trying to focus on enjoying the run. For the last few runs I've been on, I really haven't enjoyed running. I'm in a funk and I'm trying to break out of it. So I decided after that 1st mile, I was going to forget a PR attempt, and just run. The rest of the race was uneventful for me. I made it to the finish. No PR this time around but I hope that perhaps I have renewed my running focus. My next scheduled race is the HoHoHo Holiday run in December.

But the big excitement of the day was Wingman coming home from Florida. He's been gone for ~ a week and a half. Before he left we talked about cycling over the winter and what workouts we can do. So, when I went to the bike shop last week while he was away, I picked up this for him.

When we got home from the airport we went down to the basement where his new ride was waiting. He was excited to see it. I figured we would head out this weekend to go for a ride. But he surprised me by asking if I wanted to go for a ride now. Sure!! We changed, packed the bikes in the Element and went over to one of the trails. The loop we rode was 8.5 miles. It was so much fun to get out there together. About half way through we made a quick stop and I could see the smile on his face. He was enjoying the ride. We resumed the ride and made our way back out. The last mile was rough. I was pooped out and ready to rest. Wingman really enjoyed the ride. He confessed that when we made the rest stop, he was briefly flirting with the idea of a 2nd loop. Yikes!! I've created a monster!

We spent Thanksgiving with my family and had a great time. My cousin's wife and I defended our "Taboo" victory for the last 2 years. I believe we are now the 3x defending champions. People try to take us down, but they just can't match our intensity. Every year the other team's shuffle the players to find the right combo, but so far no one has really threatened our dynamic duo or as we call ourselves "Team S&M" (get your minds out of the gutter, it's our initials.....)

We're thinking about wearing these next year when we come back to defend our titles: