Sandy Runs

Last year Scot was registered for the Endless Summer 6 Hour Run and I went along to put in some training miles. I would have registered, but registration was already closed by the time I decided to go. Since the event was held in a public park and I didn't take any of the food and drink reserved for runners, I wasn't really a bandit. I blogged about last year's experience here . This year I decided I would officially register for the event and use it as a training run. My plan was to get in 20 miles of training in preparation for Mexico City Marathon. Scot also decided to register. So, yesterday we drove to Annapolis early Saturday morning and made it to Quiet Waters Park before the park opened. We were able to get a much closer parking space than last year, and we set up our "camp" with chairs and a cooler filled with cold drinks and frozen juice pops. The weather was hot and muggy and there was a chance of storms after noon. The six hour event started at 7:...

It's summertime, and the living's easy...in the air conditioning, but not outside. It's ghastly hot outside just about everywhere. If you live where it's not melt-your-eyeballs hot, then lucky you - count your blessings. Here in the DC area, it's been pretty uncomfortable for a few weeks. For this reason, I've been running less, unfortunately. But I was scheduled for the Pacers Crystal City Twilighter 5K this past Saturday night. Back when I registered, I had hoped to race this one as part of my Mexico City Marathon training. Well, the "feels like" temperature at the start of the race was 99F degrees. And it was dark. You'd think that running in the dark would feel better than running in the sun, but I'm not so sure. The one benefit of the sun is that it burns off some of the moisture in the air. Therefore, running in the dark can me more humid...and it was. But I drove myself to the race, parking where I park for work. The course would turn...

I have no races scheduled until July 23rd, and I'm all caught up on race reports. So, what is there to blog about? Training! Right after I posted my last training update things fell apart - slightly. I missed some workouts due to stress, other priorities, and bad weather. I should have worked around those things, but I didn't. So now I'm a little behind. Not too far behind, but still...not where I wanted to be. And now that it's hot outside pretty much all the time, I have to stay on track in spite of the weather. I'm picking up right where I left off. I'm going to work toward doing all future workouts as planned. I need them all. The hills and the speed work will help me get ready for Mexico City Marathon . The strength training will improve my metabolism and my core. The regular runs at a slightly faster pace will help build the endurance at the new pace. It's almost eight weeks to Mexico City, so I still have time to see more improvements. I just need t...

July 1, 2016 was the 10 year anniversary of my father Steve Hugill's death. He lost his battle with cancer at 56 years old. It's hard to believe it has been 10 years. I was visiting for the weekend the day my dad died. He was living at home, but under hospice care. We shared a glass of wine and conversation the night I arrived. I expected to see him the next morning. But my stepmom Kim woke me up at about 5 AM and told me that he had gone in his sleep. The best way to go, of course. And I have to think part of the timing is that I was in town for a visit. (The hospice nurse said she expected him to have weeks, or even a couple months left.) That was a difficult day. The following day I was registered to run a 4th of July themed 4 mile race. I could have canceled, but I showed up to run the Columbus, Ohio race anyway. It was a very emotional 4 miles, but I'm glad I did it. That was the first run I dedicated to my dad. The second run was the Columbus Marathon later that y...