Cheryl’s 18 Mile Rabbit Run!

  So after a long week of training for College Board,  Cheryl and I went out for her long run today.   18 miles!    Remember last time?   18 miles was the Devil!  

Well,   things went differently today…thankfully!    We headed out in the early morning, because the heat was predicted to be up in the 70’s by the afternoon.   We fueled and hydrated up in addition to bringing ice water and honey waffles for the fueling up during the run.  It was cool and rather pleasant this early in the morning.  

  When we arrived,  ( around 6:00 am)   the mist was still hovering around the low areas and  the sun was just dipping above the horizon.   We headed down the trail and noticed a number of rabbits.    

I say rabbits in general.  Specifically,  we would see one or two at a time all along the trail. At one point, we could see and identify 4!)  It was a pleasant distraction allowing us to focus on the wildlife during the run.   Pretty much anything is better than actually focusing on how your body feels during a long run.  

I stopped counting after about 16 rabbits.   ( There were many, many more!  Probably over 40 during the entire run!)  Some were friendly, allowing us to get fairly close.   Others ran down the trail ahead of us only to be kicked up again as we got closer.    

It was not just rabbits!   We also saw pheasants, squirrels, chipmunks and best of all….A fox!!

The fox, at first Cheryl thought it was a deer, but as we got closer, we realized it was not as large….although it was a pretty good sized fox for this area . 

He ran down the trail….and then jumped back onto the trail about 400 yards further down.   In the end,   we “chased” him about a full mile…..as he seemed to think he could only run in the trail and not anywhere off of it. 

You would imagine him chasing after the abundant rabbits, but apparently, he has dug up a groundhog ( wood chuck) and had eaten most of it.   I did not even think a fox could tackle a groundhog!   To be fair, the groundhog was pretty small.    I’m guessing a baby, judging from the remains.    We did not mean to chase the fox from his hard earned meal, but things just worked out that way….I guess the remaining half is still there for him to come back to if he gets hungry again.

Anyway,  Cheryl completed the run…the pace was slower, but the overall run ended up being about 20 minutes less.  Not too bad….and most importantly, there were no melt downs or injuries….So in my book, that is a plus!

As for the rest of the day, time to relax.   I am scoring for Pearson at the moment, but I will probably only score for a few more hours before Cheryl and I will retire for the evening.   With College Board now in session, there is less pressure to do as much home scoring as humanly possible.   Even thought, I must say,  Math is far easier to score than the writing project.   Then again,   the current prompt is tricky. 

The Red Shoe Half Marathon…SUCCESS!

  So she did it…Cheryl overcame her hurdles and set a new record for the half marathon….ever!   Just how fast?    1 hour, 49 minutes 13 seconds fast!  That is a whole 5 Seconds faster than her previous half marathon….both training AND official!   5 SECONDS!   Count them!   5!  IT’S HUGE! 

Ok,  enough of the over-exaggeration   Let’s get down with the details.

  We arrived early and staked out our parking place, and got a feel for the lay of the land.  This was the first time we have been inside any University of Iowa Building, and it was pretty cool.   

Upon exiting, we quickly pegged Ronald McDonald and Cheryl had to pose for a pic…..it is becoming one of our ongoing tradition to get a picture with the official race mascot.   I have to note….this was possibly the best Ronald McDonald I have ever seen….that was not in a commercial!   Given that we were actually running the half marathon FOR the Ronald McDonald house….and the red shoes are actually HIS shoes…I would not be surprised if this actually WAS the official  Ronald McDonald from the TV Commercials.  Discussing it with Cheryl,   she agrees that he was more than some random actor ( he knew things a random stranger would not.)   But who knows….we may never know.

Anyway,  the race started!    We linked up with Barb and talked about our game plan for the race.   The weather had been holding, with a few light sprinkles just to cause a little anxiety. The clouds were a welcome sight, keeping the sun away for pretty much the entire race.   And the light breeze was actually refreshing… or so I heard)

  The Race starts!    Barb was kind enough to point Cheryl out in the crowd as they raced by.   Thankfully, I did not miss her this time, like I did during the Lincoln Half Marathon.  As She passed by,  Barb and I parted ways and I headed off to the first cheer point at mile 7. 

I set up shop early…beating even the race officials and volunteers!  The ran began to pick up a bit more now and I was wishing I had worn my Gore Tex.   Cheryl was wearing Orange this time…which made her much easier to pick out in the crowd. As she passed by, I quickly jumped on the bike and raced over to the second cheer point where the bike and walking paths converge.

A few other cheer spectators had begun to assemble at this point.  I snapped a few more pictures and headed to the third cheer point at mile 11.

 

 

Having the Bike was GREAT!  Everything was working out far better than expected.    By this time, I figured I pretty much had enough pics of her running ( at least I was hoping)  And decided to give her a high five and a wish for good luck in the final stretch.  It was all down hill from this point to the finish. 

As she passed by,  I , again, jumped on the bike and raced back to the Subie.   Loaded tings up and drove back to the finish line.  I still managed to beat Cheryl to the finish and took a few last pics, before grabbing her hand and running with her to the finished line.   I guess that was not a “bad” thing.  No one stopped me and asked where my official bib was.  It was a little strange for me, but Cheryl has been reading “things” in her running magazines and online about the previous Boston Marathon winner crossing the finish line with a total Stanger and decided that would be “cool” .  Looking back at that moment,  I can't believe I jumped out into the fray and ran in with her…well  she is happy….and I am slightly embarrassed.   I guess it is now officially called “ Pulling a Mebbie”    ( Side bar: Meb is the former  Boston Marathon winner/ runner who started it all)

So Cheryl sported her finishers medal  with yet another mascot…this time Herky!  And we waited around to hear the results of the top three age group winners.   Wendy ( a runner from Wellman Iowa) was not racing the half marathon, opting for the 5K today.   ( She got first in her age group by they way)  With her out of contention,  Cheryl felt confident that she might get inside the top three….and she did!  

  Third Place age group finish is not bad for a small Half Marathon.  She gets an Official sippy cup….great for Coffee….or beer…or water..I guess.

We linked back up with Barb and Wayne and Ruth and had a fun little picnic, catching up and talking about scoring.   The College Board Project starts up this Tuesday and Wayne will be joining us about a week later.   Hopefully it will be as much fun as last year.  

As for today,  Cheryl has earned a relaxing day off for the remainder.   And apparently, the Math Project is once again, scored out…so I will be joining her in her sloth-ness.  She has overcome her hang-ups previously discussed in the last post.   She was so superstitious, she did not even READ my last post….Well,  Now she can…..it was humorous and Awesome…..if I do say so myself.   Check out more pics here:

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‘Twas the Night before the Iowa Half Marathon

So the Big Red Shoe Half Marathon is to tomorrow.  Cheryl is excited…and slightly cautious at the same time.   13 miles in Iowa City should not be that big of a deal at this point.   We have run that distance every weekend after Cheryl's First 10 K race!   However…it is now summer ( ok,  close to it….temperature speaking.)  And tomorrow is predicted to be hot.   Add in the possibility for morning thunderstorms and isolated rain, and there are a number of variables that add a little spice to the race.   And even though we have successfully completed a long 16 mile training run ( on a pretty decent weather day)  there is still the fear of the last 10k and the failed 20 mile training run to reflect upon.  

I say all this because…those were learning experienced…and what is life without a failure now and then to make you stronger. ( And Wiser!)   Let us go over the game plan…shall we? 

  The failed 20 mile run was right after a very swift 5k where Cheryl set a new record, won an award, and failed to recover before the long run!   Meaning:  she ran the next day a distance she had never run before after running a short race with all of her effort.  With no recovery time,  the next day long run was destined to be challenging at best.   Solution!   We have been tapering down this last week, with today being a complete rest day.  

Problem 2:   Cheryl runs the 10K with a new shirt believing that the shirt was a moisture wicking tech shirt…and that the temperature would be more cooperative.  It was not….She overheated from the weather AND the long sleeve non-tech shirt.   She still managed to pull off a 2nd place age group award…but she was not very happy with her performance.  Solution:  Cheryl will begin this race with the least amount of clothing allowed by Iowa State Decency Laws!  

  As for the weather…well, we have trained in a light rain before.   And the cloud cover is actually welcome when compared to running under the blazing hot Iowa sun.   So, hopefully there will not be a downpour and we can muscle our way through the small stuff.

Oh!  And I guess there will be spectators!   Barb Plans on coming,  as well as Wayne and Ruth for the finish.   We plan on a small picnic where Cheryl will have her celebratory cake!  I guess there is a covered area at the city park that is close by…in the event of rain.   We will have to feel things out as Cheryl and I are not as familiar with that section of Iowa City as Wayne and Barb might be. 

So there it is!    Cheryl picked up her packet with her shirt and bib.   She even posed with the cat for a few pics.  I’ll be trying to ride up in front of her to capture the pics of her progress.  This time I’m going to try to bring my bike so I can link up at several strategic spots.   We shall see how this goes as this will be the first time I use the bike for Race Photography. Hopefully they will not look too lame.   We shall see…

A Pretty Good Day

Just a quick post,  I’m feeling pretty good!    After all that venting yesterday, I managed to go for a 6 mile bike ride,  log in and qualify for my Math Project, Go to Iowa City to purchase Oil for the Car.   Change the Oil in the Subie, and score for about 7 hours!   Add in a walk, donut, and about 2 hours of Anime and I think that this day would tip into the “pretty good” zone. 

The Math Project is fairly easy and I somehow managed to log in and qualify in under 3 hours.   2 of which I spent in a panic last night, believing my window of opportunity was going to close.   Luckily…..things worked out.   I may have forgot to mention I found another 4 leaf clover in the yard yesterday….I guess perhaps there is a little luck somewhere in there.   The Math Project is far easier on my brain than the English….I only hope I can continue to score it as long as possible.

Oh!  And just before I logged off,  I see I sold my large order of Origami…YEAH!   The Money is very welcome.   Looks like I’ll be packing that up tomorrow. 

 

Hope everyone else is having a pretty good day.  Now it is my bed time….see ya later!

Free Time for Ethan?

It was bound to happen.   You see….I figured it out!  Unlike the hard working and diligent Cheryl,   I’m what you might call …..a slacker…..Or a very intelligent mastermind who solves complex equations.  ( I like the later!)   The Equation in question is “work”…specifically:   A “Job”.  Allow me to elaborate.

 

You see.    Every job has a system in place that has a set equation.    With both sides equal and both sides fighting for a larger sum.   On one side…the Employer.   On the other…..the Employee.   The Employer seeks to get the most work out of an Employee for the lowest possible price while still maintaining a decent quality.   The Employee, on the other hand,  Works just enough to keep his job and not get fired, while trying to get as much money as possible.   Both sides try to add parts to give their side of the equation a larger portion.

    In Cheryl’s case,   The Employer tries to get more out of the worker by telling them they are scoring too slow and too erratic.    This way they can pressure the Scorers to work longer, faster and even during time off the clock.   While the Employee…in this case:  Me,  tries to stay on the clock as long as possibly while maintaining a decent rate and validity requirement.  The difference is something like this:   Cheryl scores 600 papers while only clocking in 30 hours.   I score around 600 papers while clocking in 40 hours!   The minimum required rate is around 400 papers.   500 for bonuses!   At the end of the day,   The employer makes more money on Cheryl,  while Ethan makes More money for Team Allenbrite!   It’s all about self-interest after all!

However,  Eventually the universe catches up and the things tend to slide back.   Today, Pearson decided to move me back to a MATH PROJECT for the remainder of he project.  I was doing so well on 4TH GRADE ENGLISH too!  Ah well,  no biggy!   I was originally scheduled to work for the Math project anyway.   And reading those papers was causing my eyes to hurt.  Unfortunately,  Pearson has messed up my Username and Password.  Without revealing the password, let’s just say that ( Cheryl is my witness here)  It is All  Pearson’s fault.  I have contacted the help line and they are trying to figure things out but it will take until tomorrow to get the results.  In the mean time….today is the last day to train and Qualify!  So…Unless they grant me a grace period….I might be screwed! 

Based on last year’s results, I figured they would simply leave me on the 4TH GRADE ENGLISH project until it concluded.   They did this to Cheryl last year.   And we have another Project for College Board coming up next Monday.   So it is not totally essential that I keep that project for the upcoming month.   (  Or the MATH PROJECT for that matter!)  It just seems random and funny that it happened to me.   When Cheryl is the one who is  supposedly the “problem scorer” and who is driven bonkers trying to keep her team leader happy. If anyone could have used a break from scoring…it was her!  

So now…the real question is: what to do with all the new found free time?    I guess I have another large order of Origami I could get to work on.  As well as finally jotting down a few lines on my next novel idea.  It is hard to know….It may not even matter as the College Board will be starting up next Monday anyway and that will be a full week of 8 hour days.   Not much to be getting done at that point.  And Besides!   We are not totally finished yet.   It is possible that the Geek Squad can figure out who typed my password wrong and rectify the situation in time.   And Human Resources will allow me to train and begin scoring with everyone else.   Her!  It COULD happen!  But, I will have to take a wait and see approach.   Pretty much what I have been doing all along.   The MATH PROJECT Project was meant to begin last week, but got pushed back several times already.  And several Emails explaining the problems they were having, pushed me into thinking 4TH GRADE ENGLISH was going to be the sure thing.  But now this happens..   Ah well.   Let’s hope for the best!

Upon reading this again,  It may sound like I’m disgruntled…..NOT SO!  I actually was going for humorous  by  self inflicting humility upon myself and demonstrating what happens to someone who gets his Comeupin’s ( or Karma…I guess Comeupin’s is not a real word?) Cheryl urged me to change a few items as well.  I probably shouldn’t have to worry too much as no one reads these little posts anyway,  But still….you an never be too careful.