Thursday, October 7, 2021

Wrapping up my training & recent happenings

Good morning! Hope everyone is doing well. Between sick kiddos (all better now) and friends visiting the past couple weeks... it has been busy!  This photo is from the new trail that opened up at Clear Creek Metro Park.  I ran down there a couple Saturdays ago and the new area has some nice climbs and a run next to a lake.  
The views from the park are amazing, especially if you catch them at the perfect time of day. 
I ran early then had to get back to Ohio State to work at a tailgate for a couple hours. My good buddy, Luke, was visiting town as well. It was nice to catch up with Luke and watch the Buckeyes play.  
Recent heavy rains left water sitting on our basement windows and the slope of the ground has the water pooling up near the house. Not often, but when we have those really heavy storms. So I bought some window wells.  I had to dig down a pretty far way along the foundation of the house, but I finally got them installed.
This is when all the dirt was still there.  That dirt is all removed now and I did plant some new grass seed on top of the area where I tried to grade the soil so the water runs away from the house. Now I need a heavy thunderstorm to be a weird neighbor to stand out there and see what happens. 
We took new headshots at work! I don't have the photos yet, but this was what I shot of the computer screen of the images. Looking forward to seeing how they all look. So far, they look great!
Evan and I have been running a lot lately. I take him to a nearby park that runs next to a dam. We tell dam jokes and it is a great laugh. 
This past weekend I hit my new year's resolution goal of climbing 100,000 feet of elevation.  I didn't set a mileage goal because if you fall behind and try making up for lost time then it often results in an injury. So I wanted to get stronger at climbing hills and this way I could train for my big fall race... Shawnee 50. Shawnee 50 is this coming weekend.  It is 54 miles with about 12,000 feet of climbing.  So unrelenting ups and downs. And these hills are not easy rolling hills. Some of them are very steep and being smart about managing the course will be key to finishing strong. That's my goal... finish. No set time goal, but just to finish the grueling course. My best guess estimate of finishing time will be 15 hours, but if it takes me 17 hours then who cares...

I did go back and look at my logs to see how much elevation gain I did the past several years:
2017: 20,898 ft.
2018: 24,413 ft.
2019: 33,508 ft.
2020: 77,162 ft.
2021: 100,636 ft. and 3 months to go...

Not bad for the flatlands of Central Ohio.

More scattered showers today with a few rumbles of thunder. The rain will be on and off tonight through Friday and early Saturday. We have a huge low pressure system spinning over Missouri right now and that is triggering scattered rain across the Ohio Valley. So rain today will be generally moving from south to north with the scattered showers. Similar to yesterday, we may have a few cells strong enough for some lightning and thunder. Morning temps in the lower 70s and we warm to the mid 70s this afternoon with the mostly cloudy skies. We will go from a 70% chance of rain today to a 60% chance of rain Friday and then a 20% chance of rain Saturday because of some lingering showers, mainly early and to the east. We may see the sun from time to time, so you may want the sunglasses along with the umbrella. Highs stay in the mid-upper 70s for Friday and Saturday. By Sunday we will be setting up for a warm-up and a dry pattern for a couple days. Partly cloudy Sunday and Monday with a high of 80 on Sunday and 82 on Monday. There is a wave of rain that will try to swing through Tuesday, but with our dry air the rain breaks up moving across the Plains and we have a 30% chance of rain Tuesday. We will try to reach 80 again Tuesday before the wave of weakening scattered rain. Highs dip back into the upper 70s for mid-late next week. Have a good one!

Best,
Andrew Buck Michael

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