Monday Night Footbal!!

This week got of to an absolutely crazy start. I totally knew it would, but I didn't want to think I would get caught up in all the excitement of Monday Night Football in Phoenix. Who was I kidding. My first mistake, was not resetting my alarm on Sunday night before. So, when the alarm went off at 5:30, I realized rather quickly that I screwed up and missed the scheduled run with Paul. What was I thinking.....Probably wasn't thinking clearly on Sunday night. That run Sunday AM really took a lot out of me. I went to bed feeling as though I had run a race. Basically, I did. In the on times, I was only 1.1 miles from doing a Half Marathon. So, that threw a MAJOR wrinkle in the training plan because I knew that I wasn't going to be able to make the group workout Tuesday AM. But it made it imperative that I get a run in. More on that to come later.....I need to talk Monday Night Football!!!! If you've read my profile, you know I'm a huge football nut. I'm that fan guy who dresses up, in my case to look like Kid Rock. Well, this was MY night to get crazy in front of the World. Monday Night Football is a HUGE stage. And the team set up everything amazingly! They had American Idol champ, Jordan Sparks singing the national Anthem.

That's her hamming it up for me during the pregame. And then you have the Hank William Jr intro song, 'Are You ready for Some Football'. And to my absolute amazement, I MADE THE CUT! At the very end, there was a clip of me that was taken during the Buffalo game, and even best, it was right at the very end of the song. That's been a dream of mine since god only knows how long to be part of that game intro! That's just plain HUGE to me! My crazy antics with HANK WILLIAM JR! I love it! The only thing better would have been to tape it with him, but I'll take this as one small victory for the KidStallyn! Next I was in the live broadcast on two separate occasions. Once giving the first down signal after a key 3rd down catch in the first quarter, and again around the two minute warning where we were on defense, and I was working my hardest to get the crowd rowdy and was pounding on the stadium padding. And to top it all off, the Cardinals avoided another Monday Night Meltdown and somehow managed to keep San Francisco out of the endzone as time expired with the Niners down by 5 points and having the ball on the 1 yard line. Talk about an exciting end, but man, I was hoping for a blowout!

So, by the time my boys and I got home, it was 12:30. No way I was going to make the run in the AM, but I knew that. But since my kids didn't have school, and my wife also got the day off from teaching, I decided to stay and work from home on Veterans day. I actually managed to get a TON accomplished. And finished up my work around 3:30 pm. From there I went out for a nice run. I was feeling pretty good, so midway I decided mentally I would extend my 6.5 mile run to make it 7 miles. I've got 45 miles scheduled as my goal this week, and since I fubarr'd Monday, I needed to do a little extra credit. And it was a very nice 7 miles...I threw on my music and just went by feel. Sure it wasn't a speed work session, but I wanted quality miles instead. And quality they were. I managed to run each mile split at around an 8:15 pace. At the end, I came in at 57 minutes. HUGE for me. It just shows how far I've come in such a short time. And I absolutely LOVE IT!

Today, I also wanted to run the same course, this time it was at 5am with Paul. Paul enjoyed the extra credit as well. His running was scaled back a bit in the past two weeks since the new baby's arrived, but he's getting back into his normal schedule. And since the turnaround time was really like 14 hours instead of 24, I decided I didn't want to run real aggressive. But, I also didn't want to slack it. So the middle ground was that we ran it and finished right at 1 hour. Absolutely perfect in my opinion. I haven't gotten a chance to look at the splits, I was in a hurry this am to get into work since I had to participate in a 7am teleconference that's taking place in Europe.

With that....I need to figure out how to dial internationally so that I can be a part of this meeting rather then watching them type.

WOW! What a Sunday.....

Talk about an EPIC performance! Sunday was definitely the day of all days. I had a HUGE day planned. Normally, on Sundays, I don't set my alarm for the 4am wake up call. Not in the NORM. But yesterday wasn't normal by any stretch of the imagination. Let's break it down, blow by blow! Saturday ended up getting washed out by a garage sale. The early start of trying to capture those early buyers made me forgo the group workout, that just was moved to 6am for a little bit more light. And to be honest.....I'm glad I didn't go out. for my horrible allergies sake, it would have ended up as a disaster. The winds were howling as a front moved through, and at about 10am, it collided and brought about MUCH cooler weather. So yesterday when I stepped out the door, I encountered my first go at 43 degree running weather. I had a compression shirt, and a long sleeve running shirt, shorts and GLOVES. The wind had really calmed down quite a bit, but it was C-O-L-D and D-A-R-K at 5am. WHAOH! But, you got to git er done. And I started off on my 10 mile stroll through the neighborhood. I took my mormal route down to the running path, up to coyote trail elem, down silverbell to wade, up wade and around the reserve loop, and then finally the BIG loop. And because I had to git 'er done, I couldn't dilly dally around. When I got home, it was a little after 6:30ish....and I did the 10 miles in 1:30. Not bad at all for running my myself, and starting off really slow in the first mile (9:45). But as the sun started to rise and I managed to get on home, I was FREEEZING by the end. It was that cold....But I felt GREAT afterwares. But there was no rest for the weary. After an overly long hot shower....I re-warmed up and managed to wrangle up the kids and get them loaded up in the truck for a long day to Phoenix. WHY??? Because the Arizona Cardinals had a battle with the Dallas Cowboys. And boy, all this running has really helped out with my cheering from the front row seats. As a DIEHARD Cardinals fan, we had a tough job on our hands to drowned out the Cowboys fans that showed up. And my Ton Loc voice today is a great reminder of one of the BIGGEST victories this franchise has EVER seen. And for those who haven't seen it, this is what I saw from my seat in the South Endzone.

And that's how we won the game. For the first time in NFL History, a game in Overtime was won by a team with a blocked punt returned for a TD. How fitting. And the Cardz are 4-2 with a 2 game lead in the NFC West for the first time in team history.

Finally, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention todays BRRRRRRRRRRR of a run. It was again 43 degrees at the start, but today I was a little bit smarter. I did wear the long spandex to cover my whole legs, but I couldn't find my cold weather hat.....well...that was until AFTER I got home.....Peachy, just when I needed it. Anyways, I met with Paul, and we managed to do out 5.7 mile loop. I actually didn't think I would get the whole thing in. I was drained after yesterday, and my legs were tired. But we cranked out a 9 min mile pace and got it done. That's 15 miles in 2 days! My legs ROCK right now. Tonight, I've got a date with my Compex and a protien fruit smoothy! Can't wait!!! And tomorrows workout....20x1 minute! BOO YEAH!

Until tomorrow, my Ton Loc voice bids you farewell!!!!