This was last year’s Firecracker 5k: I am wearing red. I powerwalked it in just under 34 minutes (by the chip); the couple boxed in yellow ran it slightly faster than I (by the chip). But we finished at about the same time as you can see.
I saw them at the packet pick up (they were getting into their car) and I said “hi.”
This year, I am doomed to be slower as I’ve had no speedwork to speak of and even a 13:30 pace (in practice) is moderately challenging. But I hope to improve on the 38:30 that I walked this spring.
Ah, my first Firecracker was a 26:53 4 miler in 1981 and my first time at THIS race I ran 20:40 for 5k (in 1998). I also had a 42 minute 10K in 1982 and a 5:59 road mile in 1999 (last sub 6 mile ever).
On the other hand, 3 years ago, I was in too much pain to even walk a 5K, period, so there is that.
Today’s workout
Easy 4 mile walk (16 minutes per mile)
Yesterday’s Baseball I am still shaking my head. The Chiefs bombarded the Cubs 21-2 behind 21 hits and 5 Cubs errors. This was the most runs the Chiefs have scored at Dozer (though they once gave up 21 runs). The stage was set with a massive moon-shot of a grand slam in the 4’th to put the Chiefs up 4-2 (hard to believe that the Cubs actually LEAD for 1/3 of the game) and from then on, the dam burst.
JOSH KROSS UNLOADS THE BASES WITH A GRAND SLAM!!! 🚀🔥
Yesterday: I went to the rock island trail. I did get bothered by some entitled pricks that did “sideways” parking to keep others away from their newish Lexus (I was about to go home, else I would have made it a point to park right next to them)
But those on the trail were super polite…even the e-bike riders! Yes, one of my “irrationally mad at something that is none of my business and isn’t at all wrong” things is getting mad at those who ride e-bikes on a trail that isn’t used for commuting. (I think they are great for commuters). As far as the walk itself: high 15’s to low 16’s on the way out, sub 15 on the way back for 1:34:44 (15:02) for 6.3. This was 4:20 slower than on June 12, but it was 81 F, 54 percent humidity at the finish. Not terrible, but not as cool as the shade made it feel.
Today: weights at 2 miles (2.05?) in 29:54.
Weights: pull ups/chin ups: 5 sets of 6, 8, 6, 6, penalty set of 5. Did several “chin up style” and several “pull up style”. This was AFTER PT; they went better today. Basement: low trap bar: 10 x 134, 10 x 184 (just to get stretched) bench: 10 x 134 inline: 3 sets of 6 x 134 (got ’em all) supported dumbbell shoulder press: 3 sets of 10 x 40 (each hand)
Peoria Chiefs
Watching the Chiefs is my “happy space.” I love it. And last night, a good, all around sharp team effort lead to a 5-1 win over the South Bend Cubs. The Chiefs pitchers shut the Cubs out after the first inning.
It was an extra fun night for me because Barbara, Vickie, Harry, and Jacob were there.
But this weekend: I saw the Chiefs win 4-0 on a day when the whole team looked sharp. Then on Sunday, they got bombed 10-0. It was 3-0 when the Chiefs put in a usually reliable short term reliever-closer who got bombed out of the box. It was soon 8-0 after 4 and it never got better.
I guess some just go to be with their loved one.
Book notes: I am reading an Inspector Morse novel. Early on, the author describes a woman’s nightgown by using an offensive racial slur as a modification for the color brown. This was written in 1979! Evidently, this was a common practice at the time (I looked it up). Wow..that was 46 years ago and this was from a different country (UK) but, at least modern dictionaries describe that as being “taboo” and “offensive.” I admit that this startled me a bit.
Workout notes: Sunday: I did a slow 5 mile walk (16:32 pace) and it actually felt good; it took some of Saturday’s stiffness away.
Monday (today) 2 mile slow walk with weights.
pull ups were a CHORE. 9 sets of 5, one of 7, no set felt super good. I did PT in between sets, outside. downstairs: Bench: 17 reps of 134, 3 sets of 7 x 150. 4 inch trap bar: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 228, 10 x 244 high incline: 10 x 94, 6 x 105, 6 x 105 curls: 3 sets of 10. I honestly got a small pump in this workout.
Thursday: Very hot. I started just after 7:20 and ended after 9: my 6.2 mile “5 hill plus a Moss ave. mini loop” course in 1:46:22 (16:59 pace!) I just didn’t want to put any effort into it. And I had a run in with a loose pit bull on Parkside “oh, he never does that…” a “beautiful person’s” dog. I said a few cuss words. But that was NOT my slowest mile!
Friday: easy 17:20 pace 2.2 mile on campus after some weights. Pull ups: a struggle: 5 sets of 6, 8, two sets of 6 mixed grip. I am doing more “chin up” style. Bench: 10 x 134, 10 x 150 (hard!) incline: 5 x 134, 4 x 134 (missed rep 5) 4 x 134 (missed rep 5) high incline: 2 sets of 10 x 94…this finished me off.
Saturday: 10 miles on the Rock Island: walked to the 0 marker and continued to the very start of the non-pavement portion. Then out to Dunlap, through, turn around at the trail head north of Dunlap (5.3 miles) then back to the Alta trail head. Time:2:42:12; 15:53 pace. It was not hard.
It was 86 F, 58 percent humidity at the end (as opposed to 89, 62 on Thursday) but the shade made it sort-of comfortable. And the pace…well..it was designed to get me through the miles.
A remarkable inning
On Thursday, I watched the Chiefs demolish the Beloit Sky Carp 14-5 to improve to 2-4 (now they are 3-4 for the second half of the season; that is important).
But HOW the did it was remarkable.
The second inning went well; the Chiefs scored 2 with a 2 run home run and a single to drive in another. So it was 3-1 after 2, nothing remarkable about that. But then came the 3’rd. In this inning, the Chiefs reached first base by walks and singles; they had NO extra base hits and the Sky Carp made no errors. There WAS a wild pitch.
But, in this inning, the Chiefs scored 10 runs! There wasn’t enough room on the score board to register the 3’rd inning!
The bull pen held on enough for the Chiefs to win 14-5. But the bottom of the 8’th was interesting. The Sky Carp put in a position player to finish. He hit the first batter and proceeded to throw “lob” pitches.
I have never seen a game quite like this one.
Books
I decided to try to read more, so I bought some fiction from Half Price. I finished the first of these: Moonraker. I’ll say this: this is NOTHING like the Bond movie with the same name, though the villain is named “Drax”, the villain decides to kill bond and the female lead character with the rocket blast (instead of doing it directly) and, of course, tells Bond of his fiendish plan (which, well, is a bit outrageous) prior to leaving them to die.
Of note: it is the female character who first finds out what the plan is by..yes, doing a mathematical calculation! The female character is very capable in the book. And there is another important difference.
Remember the book was written in 1955 when the world was still recovering from WW2 and the Iron Curtain had just come down. The rocket in question was a “atomic capable” glorified, improved V2 type of weapon.
We took off for Texas on Thursday. There was a strange rattle in the car; more on that later. But we made it from Peoria (9 am) to Muskogee, Oklahoma with no issues. But while in Muskogee, the rattle was bothering me, so we took it to the local Toyota dealer. They got right on it: it was a loose muffler exhaust heat shield; they got larger washers to tighten it up. Lots of corrosion underneath.
That delayed our leaving though; we got out roughly 11 am or so. Still, it was a fairly smooth drive to Austin after that, though we did visit a Buc-ee’s just north of Dallas.
We made it to the Southpark Omni late in the evening.
Saturday: the highlight was a trip to Half-price (will read some fiction) and a trip to the Blanton Museum (on the University of Texas campus)
Olivia went back home to ready herself for the workweek and Babs and I had some Ethiopian food.
The next day, we headed to the Woodlans (2:40 away). Amusing: my left foot hurt. It turns out that I had put on two right foot shoes!
That was a fun mini-visit. Mike (Lynnor’s husband) was a good sport.
Then came the trip to Texarkana. Google maps routed out the “quickest route” and that included lots of trips on small roads off of the main highway. That included one case where we actually had a “pilot truck” to get us through a construction zone! It sure was scenic though.
We stopped just south of Little Rock (Arkadelphia) and took the new I-57 out of Little Rock to 67, up through Missouri and around St. Louis. We took the I-270 detour to get to I-55.
Today: I watched the Chiefs lose to the Skycarp 6-4 in a very hot day game. The Chiefs are now 1-4 in the second half of the season.
Sunday: I came to understand that deadlifts the day after a long walk just does not work for me. So, the only exercise was a pleasant 5K walk at 16:40 mpm or so.
Then came a double header; Saturday’s game was rained out. B was there for the first one. The Chiefs swept the division leading Riverbandits convincingly 9-5 and 9-4. Neither game was close. Both games saw decent relief pitching. In the first game, their top prospect struggled a bit in the first inning but then settled down.
Monday: pull ups, 5k walk, weights, in that order.
pull ups: 5 sets of 6, 2 sets of 7 (one chin, one pull up), 2 sets of 5 (mixed grip) bench: 10 x 134, 3 sets of 5 x 160 trap bar low: 10 x 134, 10 x 184. 4 inch: 10 x 224 high incline: 7 x 105, 7 x 105, 6 x 105
Interestingly, the low handler trap bar made me sore the next day! I need to make it a point to do some low handle stuff with lighter weights.
Today: Rock Island trail. Yes, I didn’t take my Garmin.
2:12, 15:00, 14:51, 15:09, 14:51, 14:50, 14:59, 1:57. This was 1:33:52 for about 6.3. Note: there were people on the trail for the first mile then it got pretty empty after that.
Tuesday: waited too late; walked to the W. Peoria track and ended up with 6.2 miles at 15:51 mpm, making it to the track at 2.3 miles and doing 5 laps (2.1 miles) in 27:04 (5:52, 5:36, 5:18, 5:11, 5:05).
Compare to last week: 27:12: 5:43, 5:35, 5:25, 5:17, 5:12. This time I started slower and finished stronger.
Today: no walking; just too lazy. But I did take my time with a long (in duration) weight workout: Pull ups: 6 sets of 6, 10 (really! ok, almost), 6. downstairs: 10 x 134 bench. incline: 6 x 134, 7 x 134, 6 x 134 high incline: 6 x 105, 7 x 105, 6 x 105 4 inch trap bar: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 224, 10 x 244 I had quite a bit of rest between sets.
Baseball: last night the Chiefs were in town. My favorite starter was on the mound. I bragged about him to Harry, Vickie and Barbara. And he promptly gave up 4 hits (3 extra base) and 3 runs. And THAT was all of the scoring. He lasted 6 innings as did the visiting pitcher.
In the middle of the 8’th, a thunderstorm was moving in rapidly and so we left..and they called the game.
I slept in too late and ended up not doing too much, though I did pull up more carpet.
Slow 5k commuter pace walk after lunch; before lunch
Pull ups: 6 sets of 5 (doing different grips, even one set wide) 10 pull up style (ok, “almost 10”) 7 chin up style 5 pull up style
bench: 10 x 134, 3 sets of 6 x 155 high incline: 7 x 105, 7 x 105, 5 x 110 curls: 3 sets of 10
Baseball: One of the scouts at the Chiefs game gave me his player’s card. That was so nice of him.
Oh, the Chiefs started out ok, throwing one of their top prospects. But he was relieved at 4.333 innings and the first reliever did fine. But then came the 7’th and 8’th…3 runs each..lots of walks…AGAIN (10 total) and so a tight 3-3 game was now 8-3
They did rally in the 9’th to cut it to 9-6 but it was yet another loss.
Yesterday: 10 mile walk; just under 16 mpm. It was to the gate past the ball park, via the gooseloop each way and the “new” loop. I had to dodge market traffic on the way out (started to late) and took Adams from the Gateway building past Dozer on the way back.
It was ok. Garmin got it as 10.1 so I’ll call it 10.3
Key points:
I got hissed at by a groundhog (off of the trail; did not see it at first but heard the hissing.
A former runner (from “in the day”; never got a look at her from the front) passed me on a bike and joked how “old runners” (yes, she called me that) never quit but modify their activities. We complained about our respective lumbars and she continued on her way.
As far as the course: if you are a serious runner, I’d advise you to miss that part of the path during “market days”: it is a real zoo. Given that I was walking about 16 minute miles at the time, it is easy for me to watch for little kids and avoid them. But Adams is a good dodge for the fleet of foot. And I used it on the way back as it was extra crowded.
Evening: the Chiefs beat the Dayton Dragons 6-1 and the whole team looked good. Pitching: very good; few walks. I’d say this was the best they’ve looked all season. Tracy went with me.
The crowd, while not what it once was for a Saturday, was larger than on previous Saturdays. Baseball is inching back.
Though the semester is over, baseball plus the basement has kept me busy. I am going to try to rip out more carpet tomorrow; I have some nice matting to lay down in its place. And using those heavy duty scissors has given me sore forearms!
I’ve got some baseball to talk about as well.
Workouts: Wednesday: weights only between the Bradley MVC game (11-7 loss) and the Chiefs 3-2 win over the Dayton Dragons (very well played game)
The weights: pull ups: 50 plus, 7 sets of 7 plus a set of 5 (mixed the grip) bench: 10 x 134, 3 sets of 6 x 155 high incline: 6 x 105, 6 x 105, 5 x 110 4 inch trap bar: 10 x 134, 10 x 184, 10 x 225
Thursday: 10k walk (6.2 mile course: 5 hill course plus 1.25) in 1:34:27, 3 minutes faster than two days earlier. I was at 1:02:57 at mile 4 and walked my fastest 2 after that (14:2x average). Teenager yelled at me and I yelled back.
Friday (today) slow 2 miler after weights: pull ups 7 sets of 7 then 2 sets of 3 to get 55 reps (mixed the grip) bench: 10 x 134, 7 x 155, 5 x 160, 4 x 160 incline: 3 sets of 5 x 134 high incline: 3 sets of 6 x 105
Baseball:
Bradley lost to Belmont 11-7 in a game that saw the Braves take 1-0 and 4-1 leads. Belmont then lead 8-4 before back to back Brave home runs cut it to 8-7, but it never got closer.
The game was scheduled to be played the day before.
Night: the Chiefs beat the Dayton Dragons 3-2 behind excellent pitching. Rincon started by retiring the first 6 batters he faced, but gave up 3 big hits (including a HR) in the 3’rd, but then regained form. The bullpen was solid, throwing 4.3 shutout innings.
Thursday: not quite as cold but the bats WERE cold. The Chiefs lost 1-0 despite mostly good pitching. After 5 solid innings from the starter (allowed 1 hit) and 2 shut out innings from relief pitcher 1 (and a spectacular double play off a line drive caught by the first baseman), then came the 8’th inning: strikeout, walk, walk, walk, walk, strikeout, strikeout. That was the lone run of the inning and the game.
With the exception of the 4 walk sequence, the pitchers on both teams owned the game.
The Chiefs got my hopes up with a lead off single in the bottom of the 9’th, but advanced no further.
Life of an old goat 