Fun time on the ice

Last night I laced up the skates to play hockey for the first time in 18 years or so. What a fun time. This was a fundraiser for the girls hockey scholarship for Falmouth High School. Together we raised $715. Awesome job everybody. It was exciting to get a couple goals and it was a blast playing with people of all ability levels. A few people were playing for the first time which was fun to see. Some real athletic people trying their best to get to the puck, pass or shoot, all the while trying to maintain their balance was funny to watch.

Personally, a lot of things came back to me like riding a bike, but my skating was a bit uncomfortable. On the first play I took a huge digger when pivoting from backwards to forwards which is something I could have done in my sleep years ago, but my skills did not match my memory so..... My highlight was a breakaway and I snapped a nice shot into the top corner from the top of the circle. Lucky!! Pretty cool looking though.

Can't believe a Barnstable graduate actually wore maroon and white for Falmouth!!!

Interesting Observation

I now think I have an idea as to why so many athletes get so overweight after they retire. It is incredible. I have not run since the road race, but remember for the three or four weeks prior to the race that I was absolutely ravenous. When I weighed myself the week before the race I figured that I would have put on 5 pounds knowing what and how much I had eaten. Nope, lost 5 pounds!! Well, at the advice of my Dr. to get my knee ready to resume training for my next half marathon, I did not run for two weeks after the race. But, I still was just as hungry and ate a lot like before the race. I have not weighed myself, but I suspect not good things. Having said all of this I will also say that I do not really concern myself with weight that much anymore. I want to be healthy. However, I did put a cap on my weight at 250 pounds so that I do not let my weight get out of hand.

Just started running again this week as the Dr. gave me the go ahead to start running again on Monday. I have gone twice, both with the kids. Once with Thomas and once with Gwen. Thomas went nice and easy and walked quite a bit so it was a good slow start for me to get back into it. Gwen, on the other hand, decided she wanted to practice for the girl run that Christine and her are doing. Well, Gwen definitely set the pace. I would say that it was better than a 9 minute mile pace. Awesome!!

I did it!!

Ran the half marathon. Very exciting. I was very happy to finish it without walking. I started the race off a bit too fast which ended up hurting my pace down the stretch, but you live and learn. Before my next race I will be investing in a GPS watch that will help me calculate my pace. Finished the race in 2h 15m. A little slower than a 10 minute mile pace. This has been my experience so far during my practice runs. My pace for 5 to 7 miles has been more in the 9:40 range, but I must really slow down those last few miles. No worries. A work in progress. Knee pain was minimal and was more stiff than painful. I am looking forward to resting my knee for a few weeks, getting new shoes and start training for my next half marathon on May 30. I am only hoping that my knee pain does not reoccur. That would really suck. Hopefully the rest and new shoes will do the trick and get rid of the pain and/or stiffness altogether. Still thinking of doing a sprint triathlon too. We'll see.