“Good Morning Papa”

Every day when I come upstairs when visiting the O’Connel’s starts the same with Barley grabbing a toy and imitating cow noises while she leans on me so I struggle to get to the coffee pot. 😄 But then the best part when I get to the kitchen is hearing three words, “Good morning Papa”. It’s a great way to start a day. 

We finished off the weekend watching the Red Sox win the World Series over the Dodgers. 

The kids carved their pumpkins for Halloween and I got in some more good runs when it wasn’t raining. 

I managed to watch the Longmire series between my time in New Mexico and Missouri and I really enjoyed it. So much so they I started reading the novels that the series is based on. I also got to watch season two of Stranger Things and read several novels. 

A Road Trip Within a Road Trip

After our GO race I had another week of running trails including some new ones before driving to Ohio for the Great Pumpkin Run near Cincinnati. 

The race was fun despite being cold and rainy. The course would have been challenging enough in dry conditions but after all the rain it was slick and muddy. At one point I picked up my right foot and slid completely across the road before I could put my left foot down while windmilling my arms to stay on my feet. 

As soon as the race was over I changed clothes in my car and drove back to St. Louis. Bob and Donna O’Connell were in town for a few days and I definitely wanted time to visit.  We had a fun evening sitting on the patio next to the fire while watching the Red Sox play in the World Series. 

Heading out on a Fall Running Road Tri

I left a couple days earlier than I originally planned so that I could spend a couple days with Ken and Kristy in Tijeras. I wanted to check out a course that I might run a half marathon on in April. I stayed the first night in Williams, Arizona where they had already had snow the night before. Then I stopped at El Malpais to get in a few miles for the Run The World Challenge. It was cold with a light rain but still pretty. 

We had perfect weather to hike the trail that I’m considering racing at Cedro Peak Trail Run in April. It’ll be a tough one but the plus is that there is a long time that the course is open because of the longer races. 

While at the Meunier’s I got started on a series on Netflix, Longmire. It was really good so I continued watching at Stacie’s and will finish all six seasons before I go back to California. 

When I left Tijeras I was taking an indirect route to Missouri because I wanted to run a race in Mississippi and knock out another state. I still haven’t made a 100% commitment to doing all 50 states but when I have an opportunity I’m going to take it. The race turned out to be really small town, no bibs, no times, no age groups, no results and no awards but it was a fun experience. 

The night before the race I went to a Blues Club owned by Morgan Freeman that Clarence told me to go to. Clarksdale, Mississippi was a town with an amazing Blues history. 

I got to Stacie’s for the rest of the weekend that included some celebrating for Haley’s Birthday and the only hockey game I would see of Chase’s this trip. A highlight for Haley was going to feed the llamas and alpacas at Rockwood Reservation. 

As I always do I took advantage of the many great places to run in St. Louis and Stacie, Tom and I did the GG St. Louis 10K. It was a cold morning and probably tougher for Stacie and Tom because they had a Halloween party the night before. I surprised myself by running 4 minutes faster than last year. 

Joe Arrives from Colorado for a “Runcation”!

Before Joe arrived we had a new addition to our animal family, Sam the kitten. He adjusted quickly and even held his own while transitioning from a kennel in the house to the garage with our other indoor - catio cats. 

When I picked Joe up in Sacramento we literally hit the road running. We drove to West Sacramento and ran along the river and then went to In N Out for a welcome back to California lunch. After lunch we drove to the Cosumnes River Preserve and did our second run of the day. We needed both runs after eating In N Out and then El Rosal for dinner. 

The next morning we headed to Lake Chabot. Because we were staying in that area before our race the next day. We didn’t have a plan other than hiking/running at the lake. We parked right next to a sign for the trail around the lake that was 9 miles. We said, “why not” and actually ran the majority of it despite three races in the next two days. It was a beautiful day and a nice trail. 

After staying in Castro Valley that night we ran the Brazen Rocky Ridge Race the next morning. I did the 5K and Joe did the 10. The advertise it as their most challenging course and they won’t get an argument from me. It had a hill that was to steep to run up and hard to run down and it was a long one. I won my age group but still ran the slowest 5K I’ve ever run. 

After the race we drove to Monterey where we were staying the night before doing the Pacific Grove Double the next day. I was doing the 5K/3K while Joe was doing the 10/5. After a hotel snafu that we got straightened out we had a good night before our Sunday races. 

Pacific Grove was beautiful with comfortable temperatures and no wind. 

We were also celebrating the end of the Run the World Challenge that Bob Anderson, founder of Runners World and Double Road Racing organized. Joe and I were both involved and it definitely was motivating our increased running volume. 

After the race we headed back to the Valley where we had a final run on Monday at the San Joaquin Wildlife Refuge. It was a nice place for the final run on this particular Runcation other than the mosquitoes eating us alive. 

Donna and I took Joe to the Dust Bowl Brewery in Turlock and I drove Joe to Sacramento the next day for his flight home. It was a good time with a lot of running.