Breakthrough Corporation
1805 Maryville Pike
Knoxville TN 37920

Dear Breakthrough Corporation,

Enclosed with this letter is a donation check for $477.00. That may seem like an odd amount (and literally, it is) but there is a reason for this unusual number. April 2^nd is World Autism Day, as you are well aware, and I did something special that day to help fellow people who have Autism.

One of my special interests is trading stocks and options. It’s a newly found interest and is a good fit for my personality, plus the potential to make lots of money makes it very useful. I decided that on World Autism Day I would take the highest winning trade and take profits on that trade and donate it to an Autism charity. It just so happens that trade was worth $477.00.

My next dilemma was to choose which worthy Autism charity to donate the money. It did not take me long to decide to keep it close to Knoxville. And since it just so happened that I was getting ready for Ribbon Run 5k on April 19^th, Breakthrough Corporation was fresh in my mind.

I look forward to Breakthrough Corporation making a larger impact in the Knoxville community. I’m also looking forward to participating in the Ribbon Run 5k in the years to come. My only regret is that I did not send this check in sooner.

Sincerely,

p.s. Here my blog entry on my plan for World Autism day: http://www.planet3rry.com/2008/04/02/world-autism-day/ and this is the result: http://www.planet3rry.com/2008/04/03/world-autism-donation-result/

This Week’s Theme: Time

This is the finish line to the Run for the Deaf 5k which is held annually at the Tennessee School for the Deaf. This is one of my favorite race because the course is pretty and relatively “flat”, also all the proceeds go to a great cause. This picture is late, but it was “hunted” on Saturday. In case you were wondering about “my time”, it was 23:27.

Find out How you can play the weekly Photo Hunt
Visit my Photo Hunt Archives

There wasn’t a whole lot of fanfare at the Run for the Deaf this year. There was some worry that the weather would dump on us, as it was the weather was perfect, but rain would dampen the race.

I got to race early enough so that I could get a nice pre-race warm up in before reporting to race start. At race start, I saw that quite a bit of the fast runners were there in the front, so that I knew getting an age group award was out of the window for this race. And that was actually a stress that I didn’t have to carry the burden over the race.

The race started and it’s a nice downhill start. Although this is tough on the legs, it’s easier on the psyche and lungs as you pick up speed for the race. As I mentioned before, parts of Island Home is “Level Flat” not “Knoxville Flat”. Apart from the Start/Finish, the race is a combination of “Level-Flat” and “Knoxville Flat”.

Mile 1

So with a down hill start and the rest of the mile is flat. It’s really easy to go out fast. This is great if you are going for a PR time. However, if you are unexperienced, you’ll be out like at the 1/2 mile mark like the kid that was running ahead of me, then his friends caught up and he said “I’m Done” and proceeded to walk.

Mile 1 in 6:58

That, by the way, is a big forecasted PR pace for me. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to hold on to that pace, but my in situ race plans changed to hold on to that pace. In Marathons, the common Rule of Thumb is don’t go out to fast… which is on the money because it’s a long race and going out to fast is costly. However in shorter races, if you want to get a PR, you have to go out fast! The trick is finding that threshold which you can go out fast yet still maintain your endurance to carry you. If you go out fast, your body “feels” that speed, so when you “slow down” your body relaxes but that new speed may be faster than what you would have been running had you tried to start the race at a conservative pace and tried to get faster over the course. It’s easier to slow down at the end of the race, then it is to speed up. A consequence is that if you go out to fast, you exhaust your Kick at the end of the race.

Mile 2

I tried to hit a rhythm with my strides and breathing. I was far enough ahead in the mass of runners that I had little traffic in front of me, and I tried, as we rounded corners or curvy streets to take the shortest distance from point to point, even if it meant I was running on the other side of the street.

I could feel that I was starting to slow just a little and I wasn’t sure what the last little hill of the Second mile would do to me.

Mile 2 in 7:33

I remained steady up the hill, but it was tough to maintain that speed afterwards. Once back on the Level Flat Street, I could nothing more than try to keep my pace going. I was fading. With 1/2 mile to go, I was praying for a shoelace to come untied so that I could take a break. A quick look at my watch and I knew that I would finish somewhere under 24 minutes, even with a teeny-tiny stop. I moved along.

The finish is a 2 tier up hill with the first tier being shorter/steeper than the second teir. Neither of them are monster hills but you do have to work at them. Before the race, I had practiced my Race Finish, looking at landmarks that I would use to begin my final approach into the Finishing Chute. There was the Speed Limit 25 sign that I would use to start to accelerate. Then there was the rug that Duct Taped to the Road to cover a pot hole that would be the final kick. I had no energy left for either. I had gone out too fast and I had no Kick left at the end.

I was actually relying on people to shout out to friends and family running that they could “catch” the guy in blue for motivation to encourage me to run faster. For the last 15 steps, I did sprint, or do my best sprint imitation. After finishing, I had to lie down in the grass with a bottle of water to catch my breath.

23:27 Official Time
52 Out of 204 Finishers
10 Out of 14 Age Groupers (35-39)

I was fairly pleased with my result. My personal goal time was 23:30, which I was pretty close at getting, although, I wasn’t exactly happy at HOW I got it with the fast first mile. I was hoping for a little more evenly paced race. But What Can You Do?

I did win a Door Prize - Papa John’s Large One Topping Pizza… so with a decent Race Shirt and a Free Pizza Coupon, I didn’t walk away empty handed.

From The Elder:

thomas youtube

Just thought you should know.

So, I am wrapping up the week, Race Week, at that with a lazy Friday. There’s not a whole lot going on right now. But let’s see what I have to share:

After my Run on Tuesday, I took Wednesday & Thursday as rest days. Mainly because my legs were sore from the run and I didn’t want to over tax them for my race on Saturday. I did today (Friday), swim 800m in the pool. That was nice and refreshing. I was able to work out my legs without the pounding, plus the distance wasn’t too tiring either.

My Upcoming 5k is the Run For The Deaf. This is one of my favorite races. 1) It’s run on Island Home, South of the Tennessee River and is just gorgeous. Not only is the scenery really nice, there are sections of the race that are totally flat… not “Knoxville Flat” but “level flat”. I had been hoping to use this race to attempt at my PR time, but with missing most of February with a sickness, I had a late start. Based on my last two 5k times, I would venture into a Sub 24 pretty easily, but an attack on 21:56 would be a little far fetched (although not totally impossible). The other reason why this is one of my favorite races is that the race profits go to support the Tennessee School for the Deaf. Now, I don’t personally know anyone who is deaf and without being able to communicate with them, I get REALLY uncomfortable, because I don’t want to be rude (or look stupid). But I think this is an awesome resource for those with this disability. Back in 2000-2001, I was a soccer referee for a short time and had the privileged of reffing some of the games for TSD. I was totally amazed, thus when I was able to do this particular 5k, I enjoyed it enough to put it as a “regular” on my annual races.

I generally do fairly well (personally) in this race. I’ve finished in 22:29 and 22:28 on two different occasions. My last running of it in 2005, I finished 24:01 and actually WON my age group with that “relatively” slow time. Although with it being the only race in the area now, I don’t expect that I will fare in my age group as well. I look at the 2007 results and based on my estimated finishing time of 23:30, there would be 7 people ahead of me in this year’s Age Group Males 35-39. But they do have door prizes and I might win one of those!

Also on Saturday, I am going to get the rest of my supplies to work on the flower gardens and vegetable garden. I had around 15 starter plants go wild, but then all but one died… *sigh*

Sunday, is up in the air, but I have 3 people who are having birthdays… What date is 9 months back from May 4th? Hmmmm…

Ellen sent me this story since it falls right up my alley. The only problem that I have with it is the title. I am curious why it’s called ‘Unbelievable’, It sure is believable to me.

‘Unbelievable’ sportsmanship in softball game

CWU players carry WOU player around bases after knee injury following HR

I find it rather humorous that my hair was the main attraction on my last post. It was rather “poofy” but My Lovely and Talented Wife had trimmed it the night before, plus took out some of the weight AND I hadn’t flat ironed it in a couple of days. Yes, I use a flat iron since my hair isn’t natural straight and not curly enough to be “cool”, it’s a wavy unkept sort of hair… thus during my run it looked like that. It was kinda cold in the mountains and there wasn’t a whole long of sweat to keep me hair down.

Speaking of the mountains, here are 5 videos from my run on Tuesday. Their all water related, so if you are subject to the power of suggestion or atmosphere, I would suggest that you go to the bathroom before you watch these videos. You have been warned. They are all short and I only put the links for the other 4 as not to make the page really long and require a lot of scrolling.

Waterfall #2
River
Off The Rocks
Overlooking The River

More about the title later… That’s just a marketing ploy to sucker you make you click the post.

The midweek status for me so far has been pretty good. Although I took Monday off from working out, I had a great 2-fer workout yesterday. Since Tuesdays are my “Terry Days”, I try to plan the errands that work more efficently without other people around. Typically this is a long list induced shopping spree, that requires “Touch and Go” shopping from place to place. No real dilly-dalling around looking at stuff.

Also, I try to include some running. I just remembered, IT’S RACE WEEK! AH! I have a 5k race on Saturday. Okay… more on that in a post that doesn’t include Mountains or Hooters… or any other euphemisms to female anatomy.

So, walking to the Aquatic Center, I was trying to decide how far I wanted to run. My schedule made it possible to run 5 miles at lunch and then not run after work. Or I could run 4 miles and maybe run 2-4 miles after work. The problem was that I was having a craaving for Chicken Wings and the local place that I wanted to go to was near my house. However, the Lowes/Home Depot I wanted to go to was on the other part of the town. So, I could run at 3rd Creek Greenway and then make my way back, but I wasn’t all that thrilled about running on the Greenway.

I decided that I was only going to run 4 miles, but I would do them Tempo(ish) so that if running in the afternoon fell through I wouldn’t be too sad. Also, I didn’t want to do a speed workout since I had the 5k later this week, I didn’t want to burn myself out or violate the 10% Rule (Thou Shalt Not Have Speed Mileage Be More Than 10% of Your Total Weekly Mileage)… of course, I am a “Regular Law Breaker” when it comes to that 10% Rule.

So, I did my Market Square Fab 4 Miler course in splits of 8:32, 8:33, 8:28 and 9:02 for a total time of 34:35 and I was pleased with that workout.

Once i was back at the office, I had an epiphany… or so I thought. Just turned out that I had to go to the bathroom… BUT while I was there, I thought… I should run in the National Park (i.e. Great Smoky Mountain National Park). Everybody loves Cade’s Cove, but I have never ran there. I was actually thinking of running a different trail. I really enjoy trail running, but I was a little skiddish of running on a trail, in the woods, in the park, my first time. But I was in luck. One of my coworkers hikes in the park about every week he is in town. So, I went to the free consultant on the Park and trails.

Just so happens that there are a few decent trails in the park right near the entrance I would be using. Also, since it was in the middle of the week, there should be little traffic (car and foot). So I had a place to run and then the plan fell into place. I would drive to the mountains (about an hour), run, then after that I would drive to Maryville because I could get Mulch at the Lowe’s and it wouldn’t be too inconvenient and what’s in the same shopping center as Lowe’s? Hooters. Chicken Wings and Beer.

It was about an hour drive to were I parked to run. Partly because you can’t go 70 in most places… either the cops will get you or you’ll fly off one of the curves. I decided to run on a unmaintained road. I didn’t want to run on the trails yet, but I wanted to be out in nature. The road that I was on was an old railroad bed, so it was pretty wide, flat and had an incline of 3-4% or so. It also followed the Middle Prong Little River and with the water levels up, it was loud and beautiful. I didn’t see any bear, but I had my Road ID on, just in case I became Bear Chow.

The road that I was traveling was a 3 mile one-way run. 3 miles uphill and 3 miles down hill. At some points, I thought I would turn around early, but I actually went all the way. Turned around and made it back. If When I run Boston, I will run this road or others in the park as a training for the initial downhill section of the Boston Marathon course.

Split times: 30:48 and 24:43 for a total of 55:21

No that’s not a misprint. Some how, I was able to crank up my speed, thanks to gravity and the fact that you use some different muscles on downhill running, I was able to keep up my speed the entire way down. So, I ended up running 10 miles (for the day) in 1:29:56 (although this number is useless for predictions).

But with all that running, I was hungry and wanted to get some food. I had decided that I would eat some gluten by eating the wings plus the beer…. but I forgot that you can get naked at Hooters. Okay, the person getting naked at Hooters will end up having one arrested. You can get your wings “naked” (i.e. no breading). So, that was the gluten source that I was most worried about. My reaction to gluten (now that I have been off of it) is less pronounced with beer (which is nice), so coupled with the fact that I busted my ass on the running, I figured that the beer would a nice way to get some calories back.

So, I sat at the bar, watching ESPN (under closed captioning) and had 20 Naked 911 Wings +2 Yuengling Drafts. You know what, the wings were GOOD. The sauce was actually spicy hot, the wings were a decent size. It hit the spot.  Now, sitting at the bar watching ESPN makes it a little obvious when you are turning around trying to absorb the atmosphere, but it does lend credence to see what the fry-cooks are doing, especially when it comes to your food. All I can say is that fry-cooks were some weird looking dudes. I don’t know if the management just hires these dudes to avoid employee relationships or what. But despite their appearance, they fried up some mean wings.

But in the presentation of the check, I was hit by some marketing ploy… would I support the Hooter’s Breast Cancer Fundraising Campaign. A restaurant that is named after slang for women’s breast, known for marketing their waitress’ breasts so that Men (and some women) will frequent their restaurant to see said breasts is campaigning for the fight against breast cancer. Oh yeah, that’s marketing that I can’t decline… sign me up! I’m blogging about this! Actually, you get to write your name on one of the little cards (that very few people read), So I put my name and a plug for my website.

I did make it to Lowe’s and got back home without a problem and not too much later than I normally would. Next time I go to the mountains, I am going to run on one of the trails, but I doubt that I will frequent Hooters in the near future. It’s a nice place to go for wings, but if you are like me and the guy next to me at the bar. It’s a little creepy when you are there sitting by yourself watching the fry-cooks when you aren’t straining your neck to see the TV.

Anyway, here’s a picture of me from my run… and I have more pictures (and videos) to post soon.