Andrew Schrauben

Today was another long run, this time 14.4 miles in 2h 48m. What's really neat to say is that it turned out to be an easy 14.4 miles! I don't know why but I felt really good running today. I managed to establish a slower pace (11:40 per mile) and keep it consistent. I was probably running about 11 minutes a mile, with the :40 coming from when I'd stop to walk so I could drink.

Speaking of which, I carried with me a 1L bottle of Gatorade and by the time I got home, what was left had frozen into a slushie! In fact, I was drinking slush for the last hour of running. Normally when I carry drinks I hold them in such a way so that they *don't* slosh around because 1) that wastes energy, and 2) it makes the drink all foamy. Today's 20-degree temp and strong west wind were cold enough that I had to allow my drink to slosh so that it wouldn't freeze up!

While I was running Amanda rode the stationary bike again, going 45 miles while watching Return of the Jedi and Jurassic Park on DVD. She noticed that at the end of ROTJ they replaced the old Anakin ghost with a Hayden Christiansen version.

In other running news, I've started running with a few guys from work during the lunch hour. They run Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but because of my Sunday long runs I just run Wed and Fri - I need to recover on Mon! We usually run about 5 miles.

One of the guys is Bob, who's in his early 50's and just a couple years ago he ran the Boston Marathon! You have to be pretty good just to qualify. Bob is now "done" with marathons and is running 50-mile races now. He'll be a good resource since I'm looking at doing a 50-miler next September.

Another co-worker I run with is Ty, who's a family friend of Josh - they're neighbors at their cottages. Ty was telling me how all of those cottages have been in the same family for four generations. I also found out that Jaime is pregnant and due in late April!