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Waving to the Children

Back in late September 2017, ESPN College GameDay came to Blacksburg before our primetime game against Clemson, the reigning National Champions. It’s always fun to be in the crowd for College GameDay and this was our third opportunity to watch the show live while it was being broadcast from our favorite college town. If you’re not familiar with College GameDay, it a two-hour Saturday morning show providing the latest update on all things college football, from the day’s predictions to human interest stories.

 

One of my favorite human interest stories of that particular day was about the new tradition at the University of Iowa football games. Between the first and second quarters, Hawkeye fans in Kinnick Stadium turn to the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital and wave to the sick children and their parents watching from the upper floors of the towering hospital. As the story unfolded on the big screen, there were few dry eyes in the crowd. Because Iowa had an away game and there’d be no wave for the children, the ESPN announcer asked the crowd to assume the honors and wave. It was truly a privilege to fill in for the Hawkeye fans.

 

This week, I had the honor of running the Virtual Kickoff to Kinnick 5K to support children diagnosed with cancer at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital, the very hospital we waved to four years ago. Check out Saturday’s workout for details.

 

Overview of the Week

Before discussing each day’s workouts, here’s an overview of my workouts from this past week. Scroll down for daily details…

 

Sunday

We took Pablo for a 2-mile mid-morning walk on our neighborhood trails. I didn’t have my Garmin (affiliate link) with me, so I have no idea how slowly we actually walked – Pablo stops to sniff a lot! 😉 It was a delightful day at 66° and I was happy to be outside so didn’t mind the extremely relaxing pace.

 

Monday

I fit in an hour of strength training between my morning and mid-afternoon client appointments. Once done with work, I completed 2 hours of gardening between 5:30 PM and when it got dark.

 

Tuesday

It was 58° and just getting light out when Bill and I rolled out of our driveway at 6:45 AM. We biked on the W&OD Trail and some side roads to Purcellville, completing 44 miles at a 14.9 MPH average speed. The temperature climbed to 72° and was overcast with occasional drizzle.

 

Once home and the rain stopped, I completed 3 hours of gardening, putting the finishing touches on fall pruning.

 

Wednesday

I was up and out the door in the crisp 56° weather at 5:45 AM for a 5K run (9:23 average pace) on our circle. A couple of hours later I lifted for an hour during an opening in my schedule. Later I rolled and stretched for 10 minutes each.

After wrapping up work, I went to the nursery to purchase a replacement helleri holly and once home spent an hour digging out the dead holly so I could replace it with the new one.

 

Thursday

Wearing a jacket and fingered gloves for the first time this fall, I headed out the door with Bill in the chilly 48°at 6:15 AM for our ride west on the W&OD Trail. Just before mile marker 31 we came upon a man trying to fix his bike. We stopped to see if he needed help and learned that he’d just hit a deer and crashed. The man appeared to be okay, but his bike didn’t fair as well. The deer had gotten caught under his bike, breaking some of the spokes on his front wheel and leaving behind quite a bit of its fur.

 

A few miles later Bill had to turn around to get back home for work, so I continued on solo for 34 miles (14.6 MPH average pace). Without me, Bill ‘s average speed was 16 MPH. Jeez, I didn’t realize I slowed him down that much!

I wasn’t on as tight of a schedule and stopped a few times for pictures. By the time I got home, the temperature had climbed to 56°.

 

After lunch, I spent just over an hour wrapping up the last of my gardening until frost kills my flowers and I have to cut back the dead plants.

 

Friday

I lifted weights for an hour after seeing my first client virtually and before heading to the gym to see other clients and to teach my balance and stretching class. As usual during class I was active as I taught 15 minutes each of leg and core strengthening exercises, balance drills, and stretching.

 

Saturday

As I mentioned in Friday’s Catching Up Over Coffee, Kim had told me that she was running the Kickoff to Kinnick 5K virtually to support children diagnosed with cancer at the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. What I didn’t mention was that Kim was coming to my house to run it with me in person. Yes, we’d both be running it virtually, but together!

Since she was already in the DMV for Friday night’s University of Iowa’s trouncing of the University of Maryland, we schemed for her to make the hour-long trip to our house so we could run together!

It was 58° and sunny at 10 AM as we walked the 3/4-mile (14:55 average pace) to the W&OD Trail to begin our race. I had planned our race course to be on a very straight and flat section of the trail. Once at the trail, we started our Garmins and took off. We chatted the entire race and took a break, stopping our watches, to take a picture at Bill’s and my bench. We finished our race with an 8:50 average pace.

 

Our walk home from the trail was a little slower and at a 15:40 average pace. Once home we had brunch on our deck in the delightful fall weather.

After Kim, her hubby, and their friend left, I foam rolled and stretched for 10 minutes each.

 

Last Week’s Blog Posts

In case you skipped checking in on my blog this past week, here’s what you missed…

 

 Questions:
  • • Have you had any near misses or actual accidents with animals when running or cycling? ~ A squirrel ran between my front and back tires when I was riding and somehow I didn’t hit him.
  • • Has fall weather made it your way?
  • • Did you run in a race this weekend? If so, was it live or virtual?

 

And that’s my rundown… Have a great week!

 

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I’m linking up with Deborah at Confessions of a Mother Runner and Kim from Running on the Fly for their Weekly Run Down. Be sure to check out not only the hosts’ posts, but those of the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!

 

Disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on the blue product link and then make a purchase, I will receive a small commission for referring you. You will pay no more or less for the product; however, Amazon will show their gratitude for my referral by paying me.