First things first. The last time I'll talk about the moving process from Ohio to Virginia: The going away party.
My wife and I belong to an amazing church body, full of authentic people, that we genuinely enjoy being around. On top of all that we have a family that supports us in everything we do. This made the move even more difficult. Having a going away party wasn't to say goodbye for the last time, or an excuse to get gifts (thanks to all those who did give us gifts, even though we told everyone it was not necessary). We wanted to spend time with our family and friends because that's what we like to do. The turn out was great. More than I expected. The weather was also great. We filled our church's coffee mill area and a good majority of the picnic tables outdoors. Members of our church, other friends who don't attend our church, and family all came with food and we had a pot luck style hang out session. It was an all around good time. Eating, joking, chasing kids, saying our see ya laters, and a good amount of emotion. It was a great, yet kinda sad, event.
We've started going to a different church and are starting to meet new people but the friendships we have had over our years in Ohio will not soon fade away. Once we have a more reliable car we'll be making trips a plenty.
OK, that's it about the move. I promise..ish.
I'm back to running! My first run since the Akron Marathon! A nice 3.16 mile run around my new neighborhood. I also restarted my use of the Nike running system (with my iPhone instead of the watch that I sold earlier this year) Welp, that's it for the recap...
OK a bit of a let down, in terms of blogging recaps, but the run felt good. While I may have only run once over the past couple weeks, I've accomplished some logistical running/tri goals:
1. Visit a local running store.
To complete this task I went to a store called Lucky Foot. Lucky Foot was brought to my attention by a new co-worker of mine. A fellow marathoner. She's completed a couple and is running the Marine Corps marathon this month and the Richmond marathon next month. Yikes! She's admitted to me that she's always busy but if you start talking about running it all goes out the window. We've had a few good conversations about running styles and our race histories in the few short weeks I've worked in Richmond.
The store has a Facebook page that you should check out. They occasionally give out running shoes if you share their photos. One thing I knew about going into my visit is that they give away finisher magnets for all race distances. The only catch is you have to show them your bib/medal/finisher shirt, which really isn't a catch at all because I've been wearing my Akron marathon jacket pretty much everyday.
It was a good 20 minute drive to get to the store but it was worth the trip (since driving from Ohio to Virginia all car rides feel extremely short). I brought my oldest, Savannah, with me. Much to my delight they had an area full of kids toys so parents can freely spend their money. In Lucky Foot I also fulfilled another logistics goal:
2. Buy reflective gear.
I live close to a main road and the only sustainable runs are along said road. To get to the sidewalks I need to run on a busy ish road's shoulder. I bought a couple reflective arm straps and picked up my 26.2 magnet. The sales associate also had answers to my questions regarding the release of the new Nike Structure 17 and that the Nike Lunar Glide and Structure are about the same shoe except the Structure is mostly at specialty running stores and the Lunar Glide is at the bigger stores. BTW, I love the finisher magnet..
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| Not my car. Took this pic from their Facebook page. The Irish in me is definitely smiling |
There are a lot of Tri shops/training groups in this area. I stopped at a shop near my townhouse called Endorphin Fitness. It's an extremely nice shop with great equipment. Computerized bike trainers, bike fitting, endless pool (with camera equipment to record your form), personalized training, weight training equipment. In other words, it's way too expensive for me. If I had the money I'd absolutely pay to get the training but I'm not that hardcore (and I'm po). I'm definitely a recreational triathlete.
4. Join a running/tri club
At Endorphin Fitness I talked to the knowledgeable staff about the Richmond Triathlon Club. It's a group for other recreationals, and competitive triathletes I'm sure, to come together and enjoy the sport. Membership was 40 for the first year and 30 annually. Price was right down my alley so I joined. Plus you get a lot of local discounts at shops. Hazzzah!! Now if I only had a bike....
5. Get a bike
Haven't gotten one yet. That should be fulfilled when I go back to Ohio. My buddy Bryce is selling me his old road/converted to tri bike (that I had used from April till the move).
6. Find a local marathon.
This one has been tough. I want to find a close marathon for early next year but the only one within an hour is the Richmond marathon and that's in November. Being in Canton was great because they have their own marathon (seems like they have 5 million of them), Akron has one, and of course, Cleveland has one.
I've scoured many sites and even thought of doing a rock and roll series race. I THOUGHT of it. I can't bring myself to do it though. Call me an elitist but I like running races put on locally (even if they have huge sponsorships ala Chicago Marathon). I really like big races put on by non-profits (see: Akron Marathon). I'm leaning towards the Shamrock Marathon in VA Beach in March. I'm still registered for the Hall of Fame marathon in Canton at the end of April but I don't know if I'm going to do it. It'll be on the same day as the Richmond Tri Club sprint triathlon. Decisions decisions... After March I'm going to focus on triathlons and possibly do the Richmond Marathon at the end of the year. Book end my 2014 schedule with Marathons and do the Williamsburg Rev 3 Olympic Tri in the middle.
Well. That's enough out of me.
Thanks for reading.
Maybe I'll actually have a few more runs to talk about next time!
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