Philly Phun

Of course, I cannot escape hockey wherever I go. Even now that the Penguins are out of the running, of course the Flyers are right in the mix. And of course, EVERYONE IN PHILLY was watching that stuff while I was there. There were even outdoor screens set-up and fireworks. I guess there are an unlimited number of seats on the bandwagon....

Back to the point -- I went to Philly to visit Matt, not to be tortured by my least favorite sport. As usual, we had a fantastic time (aside from the very exhausting mile 3 of our race. I would not call that a fantastic time). I was very happy to meet one of his friends in particular, and we became somewhat of a trio for the weekend. I really enjoyed spending some time with one of my good friends from the Pitt days as well. We spent most of the weekend eating and drinking (Philly Beer Week!).

I've become less of a photo fanatic (I won't allow myself to use the fake "ph" prefix more than once in my blog, EVER) these days, but I did manage to get one really good picture of us:

A Running Tally, pt. 3

First and foremost, I would like to announce that I successfully completed an 8k (5 mile) race! On the internet, there is photographic evidence to prove this! I am not posting it here for two reasons: a) the photographer is some kind of Flash genius and made it difficult to obtain the photo without paying a $55 download fee and b) It's probably the most atrocious photo ever taken of me.

Race details:

• 6/5/2010: Scott Coffee Moorestown Rotary 8K, Moorestown, NJ
• Time: 43:14.39 / 8:42 minute miles (My actual time was under 43 but they haven't released the chip times yet. I was too exhausted when I crossed the finish line to stop my stopwatch!)
• Course conditions: A few low downhill spots in the beginning, mostly flat, a few inclines at the end -- nothing too extreme either way. We ran through the town of Moorestown for "Moorestown Day", so the entire course was on road pavement.
• Weather conditions: Very muggy and hot. Some citizens watching the race were kind enough to squirt us with hoses en route.
• Ran with: Matt and some of his Back on My Feet friends
• Additional comments: 
• I've found that a nice strategy is to kind a person running a pace close to mine, and hang behind this person for the duration of the race. In this case, it ended up being Matt's friend Abby. Once we got to about the mile mark, I decided that my main goal was to beat her in the race.
• Again, I had too much energy left at the end and was basically able to sprint 0.25 miles.  I need to work on pacing myself better throughout the race.  I'll cut myself some slack this time, since this was only my first 5 miler (and I think only the second time I've ever run 5 miles in a row!)

Upcoming race update:

• 7/17/2010: Rockville Rotary Twilight Runfest 2010 (8k), Rockville, MD
• Running with Lauren and some of her co-workers during my visit to D.C.!
• NEW: Now Phill is joining us too! We're making the trip to D.C. together
• 7/31/2010: Run for Roch 5k, Mt. Washington
• 8/28/2010: Run Around The Square 5k, Regent Square
• My co-worker Lauren is interested in participating with me
• 9/26/2010: Pittsburgh Great Race 10k, Frick Park to downtown
• I think Joe has been convinced to sign up, so hopefully I'll be running with him!