End of Week 12 and into the Beginning of Week 11

“There aren't enough days in the weekend.”
Rod Schmidt

Friday night’s are the official start to the weekend for us working folk. The work bell rings at the end of the day and we all act like Fred Flintstone sliding down the dinosaur to our cars to speed off to our homes to spend the next 60 hours with the family.

However, as soon as the weekend starts, it ends. With training, chores, projects, shopping and all the little things you try to fit in that cannot be done during the week, it is over. Monday morning comes and the grind of work is upon us.

The weekend started out the way I like it. Beer, food and a movie. I stopped by the “packie” to pick up some beer for the weekend. Blockbuster had sent us the next movie in our queue, takeout was ordered and beers were opened all by 6PM.

Saturday, is an off day for me in training. I spend most of Saturday with projects and chores. Getting up at 4:50AM during the week by the time 7:00PM rolls around I am tired and ready to wind down for the evening after dinner. Saturday’s are packed full of stuff from 6AM to 6PM’ish. With the rain that occurred all day, it was a no brainer to get things accomplished inside. Building cabinets, putting up trim, cleaning the house, running errands.

By the time 6PM rolls around and working 12 hours around the house, again it is time for a beer and to make dinner. Saturday night was a carbo loading night. The next day I had a 20-mile run and Sarah had a 10 mile run. The menu consisted of the usual. Chicken Alfredo, bread, salad and wine. We had great meal and filled ourselves enough to hold in reserves for the next day.

Sunday started at 6:30AM. With a long run scheduled I get up early and have a huge bowl of oatmeal, cup of apple sauce and either a energy bar or peanut butter and jelly toast. The run was scheduled for 10:30AM, right after the church service.

After the hill session on last weeks 18 mile run, I decided to run the new Cumming Greenway for a portion of my run. After church, I headed over to Johns Creek LTF to change into my running gear. The plan was for Sarah to drop me off at the Cumming Greenway on McFarland and I was going to run the 20 miles from there back to JC-LTF.

I met Sarah out front and she drove me over to the start. The temperature was 29 degrees at 10:30AM and I was hoping that I had not overdressed since I would be out there for almost 3 hours. Arriving at the entrance, I said my good-bye and told Sarah good luck with her run. She was actually coming back over here in an hour or so to run her 10 miles.

The Cumming Greenway is an out-and-back trail leading from Alpharetta to Bethelview Road in Cumming. The length is approximately 6.25, + or -. The trail consists of concrete and boardwalks. I would estimate it is about a 60-40 split of concrete to wood decking. This ratio is good on the joints. Another attribute of this Greenway like most of them is that it is flat and fast. You can hold a good clip on this course for the full 6+miles out and back.

The cold weather may have deterred people from being out on Sunday before 12PM. For the full 12 miles, I saw a dozen people on the trail. Even arriving back at the start the lot was filled with 6 cars.

At the end of the 12 miles I had another 8 miles to go. The plan was to head back to Johns Creek LTF from this point. I had stashed some Gatorade behind a tree, refilled by bottle and started the rest of my journey. The next course I had originally planned was to run up Shilo Farms road. The road was closed and I thought the traffic would be very light due to this fact. As I headed down Shilo, the road became increasing narrow with machinery and huge piles of dirt everywhere. About .3 miles in, I came to an obstacle in front of me. There was a 25 foot deep ravine that was at least 20 feet wide in my way where Shilo Farms Road used to be. On the other side of the ravine there was a dirt mound at least 50 feet high. The only thing I could think was, “I guess I can’t go this way” eventhough for a brief second I thought I could descend down and ascend up the other side.

I had to quickly think of a new way back to JC-LTF as I made my way out of Shilo. I decided to head up McFarland and cut across to Old Alpharetta and take one of the side roads back into Shilo to get around the obstacle that had blocked my progress.

I had just had 12 miles of flat and fast, but I knew the remaining piece of my journey was going to be hilly. Curie Drive, hilly, Old Alpharetta, hilly and lots of traffic. Do not recommend running on this. Meadow Lane, downhill, Pine Grove, one continuous steep hill up to Old Alpharetta.

Caney, rollers but another road not good for runners. When I hit RT 141 by Brookwood, the road had flattened out to small rollers. I ran along the closed section of road until I hit Laurel Springs PWKY. From that point back to JC-LTF I had enough road on my side to run where I did not feel threatened by cars unlike I was on Old Alpharetta and Caney.

When I arrived at JC-LTF I had put in 20.9 miles (Google the miles when I got home) for a total time of 2:44:16 or a 0:07:51 mile pace which is the last time I will this distance at the age I am currently at.

When I got home after stretching, a hot sauna and a shower the 4 hours I had been away on this excursion (the time I left the church parking lot until I arrived in my driveway) I felt like I had been gone for an entire weekend.

Sarah ended up running her 10 miles on the Cumming Greenway as well and her run was less solemn then mine. By the time she was out there the temperature had warmed bring out the people onto the trail. Sarah’s run was good as well.

Now, it is Monday. I had every intention of dragging my behind out of bed and hitting Brian’s spin class. I set my alarm for 4:30AM, because I knew the class would be full with a ton of cyclist and “savers” of spin bikes for their friends. The spin would help flush out the stiffness from the run. I woke at 4:15AM and thought to myself, 15 more minutes! Alright! I turned around and went back to sleep. A little while later I woke again and revisited the clock as it read, 5:11AM. That is when I realized I set the alarm, but did not turn on the alarm. I thought to myself as I turned over to grab a few more ZZZ’s, “oh well”.

The mistake allowed me to extend the weekend by a few hours.

Weight 153.4lbs.