Friday Funny 2384: Funny Animals

More funnies on SportsAndLaughs.tumblr.com.

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Four "Firsts" for 2024

Four yearly "firsts" happened on Monday! And all within about 2-3 hours.

First of all, I ran in short sleeves because it was still in the mid-50s when I headed out the door on my early run.

Second, I found the drinking fountain turned on at Franklin and River Parkway! Truly the sign of the end of winter! I had a nice sip before starting my "pace miles" and again after I had just wrapped them up. (Otherwise, I drink and eat nothing during my 11+ mile runs on Monday mornings.)

Third, I found my first golf ball of 2024 on the sidewalk next to Town and County Club with about a mile left in my run:

And fourth, I had my first "bare-legged" ride to work on Monday. Sure, I've been out on plenty of bare-legged training rides, but those tend to be later in the day. When I take off for my morning class, it's usually quite chilly out yet - I'd be OK coming home many days with bare legs, but not getting to class that way:

First bare legs of 2024 in my office. Do calf sleeves (left on from
my long run) still count as "bare legs?" Maybe just "bare knees?"

I usually have my calf sleeves on under my biking pants, so it's still just a big deal that I was able to lose a layer. I'm happy about this warm weather!

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Four "Random" Weeks of Training (That All End Up Looking OK...)

I posted 4 weeks ago that I just had a PR for "intensity minutes" for a week (mainly because of a lot of random biking). I noted at the end of that "intensity minutes" PR post that "these next 3 weeks are going to be really 'odd' because of different reasons, so I'll have to see how they end up stacking up with regards to intensity minutes."

Well they all looked decent! Which is great considering they were "odd" weeks!

Here they are as a graph, and the 3 "odd" weeks are the first 3 shown here, with this past week as being the 4th week on this graph:

The FIRST week was odd because my oldest son had a school trip early Monday morning through Friday evening, and my wife went along as a chaperone. So it was just me and Charlie. Training-wise, it ended up looking pretty normal.

The SECOND week ended with Easter, so the boys were home at the end of that week, and we were gone all day Saturday at 2 different family get-togethers. I skipped my Saturday ride (which I've learned tends to be a real predictor for how big my week will be). So that's why that week ends kind of weakly.

The THIRD week was when my my boys and wife were gone for Spring Break from Monday afternoon through Saturday night! I was hoping to train a LOT that week (and I got SO MANY other projects done), but then I had to cut my the training on Thursday and Friday because I decided to do a race at the last minute - you can see just that tiny bump for Friday's training because I was taking it easy the day before the race.

And then the FOURTH week was last week, and that started a bit easier to rest my legs a little after Saturday's race. But then you can see I had a nice ride later in the week which boosted my numbers.

So my first and last week above had 1500+ intensity minutes, the week my family was gone (the 3rd week, which was the week of the race) was exactly 1600 intensity minutes, and the 2nd week was the lowest coming in just under 1500 minutes. Not a bad stretch, ESPECIALLY considering it was a really weird stretch.

Also, I'm still keeping my step-count high. I crossed over 1 year of 10,000+ steps every day (380 days straight through yesterday), and I've had weeks of 125,000+ steps since the beginning of 2024:

It's also funny to look at my "floors" climbed as the week my family was gone and I was therefore getting shit done really stands out as me climbing more flights of stairs:

Got to see if I can make this week a solid one! It's shaping up decently so far, but being my training weeks are Monday through Sunday, it's still early.

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Pics from the 'Spirit of White Bear Lake' 5K and 5 Mile

I found some photos online of last weekend's Spirit of White Bear Lake 5 mile where I PRed as an old man! (That's the link to my race report, and here's a follow-up post.)


They posted this photo of the lake the afternoon before the race:

Packet pick-up the morning of the race in the boat house!


Getting ready to start! I'm back there
on the line in the middle of the left lane.


Close-up. The guy in the blue tank (red beard) took 1st,
and the guy on the far right was 3rd behind me.


Go!!


Close-up. I'm right behind 794.


The next pic was this guy winning the 5K in 18:08.


Here's 2nd and 3rd in the 5K in 19:30 and 19:32! Close! (But far from 1st.)


The 1st female was 4th overall in 21:01.


I like this guy's style.


This mom and her kids were sweet pre-race.


Love a dad with a stroller!


The race t-shirts that I didn't pay for weren't that special
(in the yellow), so I didn't feel the need to get one.


For a moment, they had this guy and his friend finishing
in front of me in the 5 mile before they realized they did the 5K.


Another runner who runs "hot." I take off my shirt when it hits 50, but it was still in the 30s!


LEAD BIKER AND THE 5 MILE WINNER! (The guy in the blue.)


These next few photos show how close I was behind him (0:23).
Notice the guy in yellow in the 5K behind the winner...


... as he crossed the line, there was a guy in a black sweatshirt...


... and after that guy ran a bit farther, then I appeared back there!


Me back there passing a 5K finisher.


Awkward stride on me. Oh well.


Such a majestic creature about to hit the finish. Yikes.


Final shot of me running off the edge of the frame trying to find some air.


I passed Anne from our old gym and said "hi" in the last mile as she was doing the 5K!


3rd in the 5 mile over 2 mins behind me.


Flying!


Lots of runners.


A 47-year-old running sub-6:30s in the 5 mile!


Good solution to running with your number in your pocket!


Kirt G!


A casual stroll across the line (not looking like their having a good time...)


A surge to the finish!

That last guy I got of photo of in my race report and cheered to the finish.

Here's my race report if you missed it, and a follow-up post after the race.

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