The Perfect Storm...

If an idle mind is the Devil's workshop, this weekend (anyway) I'm about as Godly as one can get.

My in-laws are staying with us for the weekend so there are two additional bodies in the house. My son's school is having its annual Silent Auction tonight to help fund programs like P/E (wasn't that free for us growing up???). Tomorrow is my wife's birthday so I've got to come up with something BIG to do (between now and then). AND - last but not least - I had to get in a hard 18 mile run this morning so I can hit my 55 mile target for the week so as not tempt fate by trying to talk my wife into letting me go for a solo run tomorrow (on her birthday). My motto is "happy wife, happy life"..

I was up and out the door this morning at 6:14. The route I chose was cobbled together late last night after dinner - sort of a modified "butterfly run" with a piece of string hanging off.. The "string" (see picture) was a 2 mile descent of Pinehurst Road towards a little town called Canyon. If you ever make it to a town called "Canyon", you either had one heck of a hard timing getting there or one heck of a hard time getting out. This "Canyon" is at the bottom of a "canyon" (hence the name) - you lose about 1,600 feet over the course of the 2 mile descent (and you gain it right back when you climb out).. Between the 14 miles of the "butterfly" portion of the run (which I've talked about before) and the Pinehurst addition, I can't think of hillier 18 mile loop around (here, anyway). I made it home in 2:27 (just over an 8 minute pace), which included a bathroom break, water refill, two traffic lights and a stop to remove a small rock that got lodged under my heal.. My target was an even 8, which I probably hit if you back out the various distractions. 55 miles for the week! No need to run tomorrow!

I had better get off the computer now so I can get a short nap in before the auction. The way I'm feeling, I doubt I'd make it past 7:30 without one.

~B

P.S. I printed out ALL of the Powerbar ideas and will post the 5 finalists here on Monday. Thank you all for the fantastic submissions!

P.P.S. Register and enter to win a Suunto T3 Fitness System compliments of Suunto USA and the Pony Express Run (www.ponyexpressrun.com) - the link to the entry form is below..

http://www.yourrunning.com/blog-win_a_suunto_t3_fitness_system