Tuesday, November 11, 2008

The Grande Finale Run to Swim!

Today was the finale, the last run to swim of the year.

The boys have 1 more week to go, and I only have to run 6 miles next Tuesday and I will probably just run in the park after work.
I took the camera along, to document the end of a long season of run to swim!As you can see, I started out on a nice sun drenched QuakerBridge Rd., around 4:30pm. It sure is nice to run in the daylight.
As I went along, I turned and headed down Nottingham Way, towards the Shoreturtle Estate.(rumor has it he lives in a mansion, and has a yacht)!

I passed by the little church that Shoreturtle take pics of all the time.

Today, their sign spoke volumes, in 3 little words.Thanks to the Veteran's, I am able to run free!

The next really cool thing I ran across was a BLACK squirrel! I have heard of them before, but never remember seeing one. I tried to take a few pictures of him, but the darkness and the little flash, it didn't turn out as good as I had hoped.If you look real close, in the middle of the shot, you can see his eye, and maybe you can make him out.Here is the other black squirrel picture. This one you can see he was checking me out. That's him in the top left of the picture.

Moving right along, I passed by St. Greg's church. This church puts on the best local carnival & has a huge 50/50 in June. They just remolded it a few years ago, and it looks great.
Nottingham Way merged into Rt.33, and I ran it hard, until I hit Rt.130, hung a right and headed towards Bordentown. This is the scary part of this run. Rt.130 is a very busy road, with a speed limit posted of 50mph, but I can tell ya, people are cruising at 60+ most of the time.
The worst running violation I do on is on this part. I run with the traffic, not against it.


As I passed under 195, I thought for a moment of hopping on, and heading to the Jersey Shore. From here it is less than 1 hour to Belmar.

I am only maybe a mile from the finish of the race. Gotta push it that final bit, be careful around the exit ramps, and finish strong!

I make it to the swim class, no sign of the wife & kids.. that means I WIN !!

YES Victory is MINE!

Of course I am called a cheat because they said I left too early (they might be right....)

The run was great. I ran the 7 mile course in 56:23, a 8 min/mile pace.

Since I have never trained for a marathon before, I have no idea about the "taper". During this time, should I be slowing down, taking it easier, or do I just run how I feel?

It was a great time, doing these "races", made the time go by so quickly, and it was fun for the boys.

Maybe in the spring, if we put them back in this swim program, I'll have the occasional run to swim again.

It's an off day tommorow. I'll sure miss the 8 mile Wednesday runs... NOT!

Mile/Time

1 8:06
2 8:16
3 8:22
4 7:58
5 7:55
6 7:49
7 7:37

17 comments:

Vava said...

What a great description of your race to the pool! Really puts you there for sure. Are black squirrels a rarity in your parts? They are running around like mad around here; perhaps Toronto can ship some to Philly or something cuz we sure don't need any more of them!

I have no advice on tapering, but I'm sure you will enjoy it.

FLYERS26 said...

Vava, the only ones I ever see are those ratty looking grey ones.
Those are everywhere around here. I caught one on our porch, eating my youngest son's jack-o-lantern.

Darrell said...

I'd say taper is the time to take it easy and enjoy the runs. Run fast when you feel like but no pressure to do official speedwork. Others may disagree, but the basic idea is to make it healthy and rested to the starting line.

Black squirrels were everywhere at Kent State in OH.

ShoreTurtle said...

This is ShoreTurtle's personal assistant writing from the mansion that you spoke of. He cannot be bothered with commenting on blogs.

ShoreTurtle says that he likes Black Squirrels. He's seen them in Lawrenceville and Princeton before, though he hasn't seen them on the estate.

ShoreTurtle also says congratulations on the Grande Finale Run to Swim. Route 130 is insanely busy. He can't believe that you run along it. You are definitely hard core.

Lastly, enjoy the taper. It's okay to go a little fast, but don't overdue it. Rest up for the big day.

joyRuN said...

Sounds like an excellent 7-mile finale.

You're making me nervous running on 130 with traffic! You're NUTS!

Unknown said...

That black squirrel is kind of creepy in the dark pictures. Sounds like the road you were running on is a little dangerous. Did ya play a little human frogger?

Progman2000 said...

It's so funny to see this stuff. i lived in Lawrenceville for 2 years, and lived in Bordentown for 5 years while I was working in Hamilton, so I pretty much know all of these places you speak of. Never saw a black squirrel though.

Great post - You are ready to rock Philly.

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

Nice pix and a great finish on your seven-mile run, brother! Good luck in Philly (my home town!) on the 23rd! Wear that hat and the whole town will be behind you! (Wear a NY Rangers hat and the whole town will be behind you, too ... with pitchforks and torches. Good motivation for a quick run, though.)

Did you ever notice how you never see Shoreturtle and Mr. Burns in the same room at the same time? And how much the redhead fangirl resembles Smithers? Surely I'm not the first to've remarked these "coincidences"?

Denise said...

I lived in Michigan for a few years and they have the ugliest squirrels there. I like our cute grey ones out here on the East coast!

Take it easy during the taper. You need to make sure you don't get hurt and that your body stores all the glycogen it can!

We're soooo close to Philly!! I can't wait!

Marcy said...

Ooooo I love photo tours! Very nice. And very speedy!

BeachRunner said...

What a finale. Great run. Our country's veterans and Black Squirrels salute you.

Unknown said...

Your photo-tour was GREAT !!! I used to live in Plainsboro and do remember taking Rt. 130 from Plainsboro to New Brunswick where I used to work at Rutgers U. There is one town that I truly loves to run around and that is in Cranberry. It is a quaint town !!!

Got a question for you??? What's your goal to complete the Philly marathon??? I am aiming for 4:15 If you are aiming around that time, let me know and see if we can stick together.

Laurel said...

YAY! I love the photo tour!!! Especially the second picture of the squirrel! He looks like a lil demon coming out at you from the dark. Scary.

I saw a black squirrel the other day when I was walking under a bridge. They are crazy looking!

Congrats on finishing up your training. As far as tapering, I think as long as you reduce your mileage and don't do anything new, you should be ok. Try to take it easy though, it will help on the big day.

Anonymous said...

Bill! nice creeepy eyeball pics of the Black Squirrel!
love it!
maybe 'BS" off-ed Poppops White Squirrel!??????????
haha!
nice pace! time to taper though.....!

are you going to blog AFTER Philthy? i hope so!
A

BeachRunner said...

Thanks for the wine tip homie. I have had some of Greg Norman's red wines before and really liked them alot. I will definitely look for the Cab-Merlot.

sRod said...

Tapering is tricky. I just take down the mileage (which subsequently increases the intensity). The hard part is not falling into the tricks your mind plays.

SuperDave said...

It looks like you had a good energy run!