Speedwork, Pancakes, and Football - related? you decide

Tuesday was our last official SWAT practice. How sad to see the season come to an end. we sure had a good time with this group this summer and though I'm sure we will continue to do things through the year, the last practice just signals to me that the summer is ending sooner than I would like to see. Bummer.

Thursday we headed to Edgerton to do our first speedwork workout at the HS track with a subgroup of SWAT. I dreaded it all day. Don't get me wrong, I have no qualms with doing some work to up my speed. What I was dreading was knowing how much faster everyone int he group is than me. We pulled up to Martin and Tawnya's house and there was a group of us ready to go soon. Allison and Dave, Tawnya, Brian, Mike and I, and we met someone new - Anne, who is training to qualify for the Boston Marathon. So yeah I was pretty much dead in the water. We took off as a group on a 1.5 mile warmup run to the track where the real work would begin. They were all way ahead of me on there warmup, laughing and joking around. Meanwhile I am running as fast as I could without my heart exploding and the best I could do was to keep them within earshot because they were out of sight a couple times. It's a good thing they are a really loud rowdy bunch. We soon reached the track and decided on doing 400m sprints taking off at 5 minute increments. we did I think 6 sets, I was doing splits of 2:10-2:17 per 400, not a rocket but not terrible, especially for me. Oh yeah, and at that speed I was getting smoked like a cheap cigar...... When the sets were done, we jogged back. Well they called it lollygagging, but I was actually at a pretty comfortable speed and was actually able to stay involved in conversation, so you KNOW they were going slow. It was fun, as it usually is but it is also a reminder of just how far I need to come yet before I feel ready for an IM distance.

Today, for a nice change of pace we had a nice little bit of rain. Since it was so nice out, we thought we would go stand in the rain and watch a football game. my son had his first official sophomore game. It was a good game and Lucas did awesome, playing O-line and D-line, and getting pulled out once in a while to catch his breath. Some nice hits from my boy. I wish it were easier for me to follow the game. I have a really hard time keeping track of him and processing what is going on at the same time - he gets lost in a sea of green and gold. Tonight they played at the middle school instead of the stadium since the fields are soaked so I am hoping next week's game will be easier to watch since we hope to be in the stands and elevated a little bit.

After the game, we waited at school for Lucas and gave him a ride home since it was raining. Holy Crap does wet football clothing STINK when it's wet, especially when it is crammed inside my SUV. I don't know what was worse - the cleats or the gloves. Good thing home just a few houses away from the school or I may have gotten sick- EWW EWWW EWWWWWW! Wet jerseys, gloves, under armour, uniform, pads, etc went immediately into the washer before the stench infected my house. I think they may need a second wash to get the stank out. Yuck.
Tomorrow is another opportunity to get smoked on the run - the group is doing their weekly Pancake Run - an hour of running followed by pancakes at the Riverside. Mike is working in the morning so I guess that's out.

Sunday we head to Chi Town for the day to watch the Bigun kick ass and ring the cowbells. Should be fun.

Good luck to all those at IMKY. We will be thinking about you all!