Hard 25

Went to Smithville Lake to ride the south part of the trail. This being Saturday, rather than a weekday, there were a lot more walkers, runners and cyclists on the trail, so I had to keep to the right and hope they were doing the same.

I set out to push hard and come out with a real good workout. Because of the traffic and the many turns, you can't really expect to average 17 or 18 mph, but when all was said and done, my average was 15.1 mph, the fastest I've ever done this particular route. It was one hour and 39 min. for the whole ride.

I was sweating big time by the time I dismounted, and my legs were a bit rubbery, but it was a super workout and a lot of fun. -- Rob

Ken's Daughter Engaged

Pam and I are so excited to share that Emily and Neil are now engaged to be married. They met in February in Arizona and now Neil has started a new job with the Orlando Magic (NBA team). They will be getting married late this year and moving together to Orlando. Here they are toasting the night they got engaged.

As for running, I did get 8 miles in this morning with Runner's Edge - average pace about 10:10. Glad I started at 6 AM.

Walk / jog

It's been a long time coming, but I made a little bit of a running comeback this week.

On Wednesday I put on my running shoes and went down to English Landing to walk. After I got there and had walked a half mile, I decided to try a slow jog, just to see how it felt. My last attempt, a month ago, lasted all of a tenth of a mile and hurt like hell. So, because of that, I was very apprehensive, and my jog was very slow. Out of 3.7 miles I ran 1.25, never running more than .25 at a time, stopping to stretch frequently, and just generally being very careful. Overall I averaged 14.38 min. per mile, a pace that could not be classified as running, since on a good day I can actually walk that pace.

Still, I didn't stiffen up in the car on the way home, and I felt better than usual the next morning.

After a day off, I went back to the park tonight. This time my plan was to walk a quarter of a mile and then run a quarter, and keep that up for four miles. I did 4.23 miles in 56:23, for an average pace of 13:19. Because I can't walk that fast, and because I can define running anyway I want for myself, I'm going to classify this session as a "run."

I felt good enough during some of my quarter mile runs to dip slightly under 10 min. per mile, but most of the time I was around 11. I had a little discomfort in my hips and back, but actually, most of my discomfort was in the groin. I've noticed this for the last few weeks, ever since I've been able to walk at a brisk pace, and I don't quite understand it. I'll keep stretching, and take it easy on runs, until it goes away.

With any luck, I might be able to run with everyone at our next MRC meeting. --Rob

Ridin' in the rain

Returned from a weekend trip to Iowa and immediately accepted an invitation to ride 20-odd miles on Interurban Rd. with Mike and and a mutual friend, Sean.

As soon as we started the ride it started to rain lightly. There was never any thunder or lightening, so we never considered turning back even though the rain got pretty heavy at times. The rain continued throughout all of the first half of the ride and then increased in intensity for the first couple miles on the way back. The downpour let up after that, though, and then quit completely with about 7 miles to go.

We went 23.13 miles in 1:46:00 for an average of 13.09 mph and a top speed of 24 mph.

Little Blue Trace

Mike and I rode the Little Blue Trace trail, a trail we have both run several times in the past but not recently, and were pleasantly surprised to find they'd done quite a bit of work on it. It is now a full 11 miles long, running from the 39th St. area in Independence, north to E. Blue Mills Road, north of Highway 24.

The trail is 100 percent chat and fine gravel, and today it was very dusty. We had a full-sun day, but the route is through a lot of wooded areas, so we enjoyed shade much of the way. Today the temperature was cool and the humidity low. There was a bit of a wind out of the south, which worked against us all the way back. I'm not complaining, though, because while our speed was slow (11.2 mph average) we still worked pretty hard and ended up with a nice workout.

Final stats were 24 miles in 2:10:20. -- Rob

Another Nice Ride!

Rode with Rob for 24 miles on the Little Blue Trace trail in Blue Springs. Nice weather, nice ride with the exception of some thick, fine, loose gravel that felt like quicksand when trying to pedal through it. All in all, a nice day, and a nice ride. Might try to tackle a forty miler tomorrow on the Interurban Highway north of us....Mike

Not Yet!

The plan for this week was to ride with Rob at least four days out of five. Well, Monday was out due to helping my sister-in-law move, Tuesday is documented below, and Wednesday was supposed to be a nice 40 miler on the interurban road. Called Rob, Tuesday night and told him I was out for Wednesday's ride. My ribs were not any better than the day of the accident, I was having trouble breathing and I'm sure the condition was not helped by the moving of furniture, heavy boxes, etc. on Monday. Rested yesterday and will do so again today. Hope to ride a nice 22 miler at Little Blue Trace early Friday morning with Rob......Mike