108 Days Remaining - 6B46 with another HUGE group of CRAZIES

Last night proved to be another night of neglecting my bike workouts. It was not intentional, but it happened which now pushes my three bikes ride over the next four days. My allergies went nuts yesterday and I was a mess. I felt horrible. I intended to ride once the kids went to bed around 8. I had great intentions trust me. I was ready to go since I missed the last two nights. I was focused.

Then came time for Aiden to read. We always read in our bed. Aiden was on my one side, Addy on the other side,  then Amanda and Ava. Ava dropped off to dream world and the remaining Maurer's listened to Aiden read his book. He finished and we all decided to lay there for just two minutes with no TV or electronic devices turned on. Well, next thing you know I wake up confused to see the light on and my kids in bed with me. I looked around, checked the clock and it read 10:30. We all crashed within those two minutes. I put the kids to bed and Amanda went downstairs to let the dogs out, pick up dinner, make a bottle, and turn off the TV's. I crashed right back to sleep and did not wake up until 4:00 this morning. I felt refreshed and ready to run. Perhaps not riding my bike was the best thing for my body.

This morning I was not sure who was all going to show up. We had a large group with some new people and it turned out to be a great day for running. John B, Lindsey(new 6B46 member), Chad, Katie(she ran 2 miles prior to this run), Jane, Katharine, Phil, Emily, Jenny(new 6B46 member, well one of the original morning runners before we started meeting at the Y), Curt(new 6B46 member), and myself.

11 people! How awesome is this? It will be scary when the day comes when everyone who has ran with us at this time all decides to show up! There is not even sidewalk to handle all that power!

We took things nice and easy for the first half of this run. It felt good to just run and be able to talk and enjoy the company of this group. We took quick pit stop at Hy-Vee and for some reason some of us feel the need to kick it up a notch after this rest. I know that since creating some Segments on the Strava.com website and seeing where I rank among runners who run certain roads or courses makes my competitive juices start flowing and I want to run to be in first. On Tuesday, Tritt decided to further his first place running time on one of the segments by turning into Flash Gordon and taking off like speed demon. This morning I tried not to get into this mindset, but it happened. Chad, Katie, Curt,  and I turned on 56th and the pace just kept picking up. We started running faster and faster. The cool thing was that it did not feel difficult. I cannot always say that. I know Tuesday my legs/quads were fried. They felt fresh today. I ended up running a PR for two miles. The great thing was that my PR was during the last two miles of this run. We finished strong for this run.

What is even more amazing is how all of us run great paces. The group tends to split up over the course depending on goals and abilities, but even the ones that bring up the rear are running fantastic times. This is what is so awesome about the group. We are a great group and I love it that people keep showing up to run with us.

Tonight I WILL get my bike ride done. I devised a new plan to help me make it happen. While the kids are outside playing today I am going to ride my bike in my garage on my trainer so I can still see them, hang out with them to a certain degree, and be able to talk with Amanda at the same time. This will eliminate my falling asleep at 8 pm.

Lastly, here is an image of the delicious beverage of choice after a good morning run. Tritt runs in the morning for this fantastic cup of joe courtesy of the YMCA. He missed out on the run this morning so I thought I would show a picture to remind him of all the deliciousness that he missed out on.

Hope to see many of you on Saturday for our run. Thanks to everyone who showed up this morning. It was awesome!