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.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA