Wet, windy, cold and clowny at Eisenhower Park

Scenes from a wet and chilly morning

Today's activities: 20 minute treadmill + 2 mile charity walk

I always look forward my weekend runs because I'm free to detach from business (for the most part) and run longer distances. With more discretionary time, I'm more apt to break away from my local roads and run at more interesting places. In fact, I do almost all my trail running on weekends.

Today was different. My wife had signed us up to walk for the Ronald McDonald House of Long Island, a charity that we strongly support. The walk took place at Eisenhower Park and we headed over early. The organizers were expecting over a thousand participants and, even with the nasty weather, they had an impressive turnout.

Since our morning schedule was tight, and the weather was windy and rainy, I opted to do an unusually short workout on the treadmill. I figured that we'd be covering a lot of ground on foot, but I wanted to make sure I got in some "cardio" as well. My plan was to do another 20 minutes on the treadmill or elliptical later in the day, but so far that hasn't happened.

The Ronald McDonald House event was well planned and a surprising number of people had already arrived when we got there.We'd dressed for light rain, but the weather turned worse as we made our way around the grounds. There were lots of snacks and drinks for the taking, much like what you would see after a race. My wife won Ducks tickets at the KJOY booth (a local radio station), so we'll going to a game next week.

I wore my ASICS running windbreaker with a zipper that no longer works. It was windy and I was getting colder by the minute. Fortunately, as Walk participants, we all got an event tee shirt. That extra layer really made a difference.

The walk itself started at 10:00 AM and, almost immediately, the rain and wind began to intensify. We joked about heading straight back to the car, but the kids were into it, so we continued. The route was only a couple of miles. However, with the cold, wind and rain (and the crowds that slowed our progress) it seemed far longer. By the time we finished, we were soaked from head to toe. But we still had fun and were glad to support such a great cause.

Through all the activity, I've exceeded my daily goals on the Fitbit, so I'm not sure whether I'll do another workout today. Right now there are booming thunderstorms, so whatever I'd do, it would be indoors. I may be better off waiting until tomorrow morning anyway, when they are predicting far better weather conditions.

Walking for a cause and running just because

The Emerging Runner family walks for a good cause

Yesterday's activities: 1.5 mile walk-a-thon plus  2.6 miles (street run) at 9:37/mile

Today's run (street): 4.4 miles at 9:10/mile

It's been an active weekend that started yesterday morning with the start of the Nassau County Red Cross Walk-a-Thon at Eisenhower Park. My wife works at the Red Cross as a volunteer so the Emerging Runner family spent from 8:00 - 11:00 AM helping to set up and manage participants who had come for the 1.5 mile walk. After Friday's 6+ mile run in Central Park I was feeling the residual effects of the hills but I thought the walk would be easy and fast. It turned out that 1.5 miles seemed a lot longer than I'd imagined but I enjoyed every step. It was a strange morning for weather, alternating between overcast skies, bright sun and a 15 minute downpour that had crowds of people running for cover under makeshift tents.

My wife, son and daughter and I set out on the walk at a good pace and I enjoyed seeing the park from a different perspective. There were lots of runners out in the morning and I wished that I had worn running clothes but this was really about walking and family time. We had a lot of fun and the turnout was excellent considering all the bad weather that had been expected. Later on that day I decided to do an easy run around the neighborhood. The sun had stayed out and it had grown a little warmer but the winds grew increasingly stronger throughout my 25 minutes of running, I didn't run fast but I wasn't concerned about pace. It was nice to get a run in on Saturday, however short.

This morning I headed out early because it's Mother's Day and I wanted to be as available as I could for the rest of the day. My kids set up breakfast for my wife downstairs while she did her daily workout upstairs. I slipped out and did a neighborhood run going in the opposite direction of my usual loop so that I could fold in the longish hill on Jericho Turnpike. I still felt some residual tiredness from Friday but I decided to maintain a faster clip than yesterday and completed 4.4 miles at 9:10 per mile. I was very pleased with the pace because my effort level was low while my enjoyment level was high. It was still early when I returned home. So far, we've had a full day with plenty of time left to celebrate Mother's Day.