Saints Victorious!

Congrats to the New Orleans Saints for the winning the Super Bowl! NO should be partying for about the rest of their lives, and I can only imagine the Mardi Gras festivities this year to be beyond out of control. A nice touching moment from Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees and his son in the video above. Sort of wish I was doing the Mardi Gras half, but probably better that I didn't :) Got to watch the Reebox Indoor Games on Saturday, and was pretty motivated to see Bernard Legat and Nick Willis tear it up in the 5K and mile - Legat actually set an indoor American record, congrats to him!

Weekend running went ok. Friday, enjoyed the day off and had dinner/drinks with Pat and Crystal - looks like we are back on our customary Friday night dinners and Blue Moon. Saturday, did our long run with Tom and Pat on trails. Had snowed a little on Friday, so there was some snow and a few slippery spots on the trail. Weather was chilly but sunny, so bearable. First few miles had a little layer of slushy snow, but was fine to run through. Felt pretty good through the first half of the run, and was very peaceful on the trails. Wind was being blocked by the trees, and was perfect to run. Coming back, got cloudier and consequently chillier. Legs started to feel pretty heavy, and by the last few miles I was getting really tired. Going uphill in the snow wasn't helping things either. Was definitely running on fumes the last mile. Total mileage: 14 miles - don't have the splits on hand, but hit 8:45 average. Highlight of the run was around the 10th mile, when we encountered a car coming towards us on the crosswalk. The driver is going pretty quick, so we basically stopped halfway on the crosswalk to let him pass. Well, the jackass slams on his brakes at the last second in true dramatic fashion, does the palms up thing and definitely dropped an f bomb. Crystal yells at the driver "It's a crosswalk!!!!" and theatrically points up and down the entire cross walk. And I flipped the driver the bird as he honked at us while we were running away. Hilarious stuff, always entertaining to watch Crystal engage in her "flirtatious" bantering with the ridiculous drivers of Glen Carbon.

Legs were absolutely dead the rest of the day, felt like I had run 20 miles, didn't do much the rest of the day/night but watched my Illini take out 5th ranked Michigan State at home :) Sunday, slept in, dragged my sorry carcass out for the scheduled pace run. Starting to get sick, and felt like garbage. Weather was cold but sunny. Started out immediately at pace (should have warmed up), was going a little faster than I should have but felt good. Second mile, started feeling like crap again and my legs were starting to give out. Struggled through the next couple miles when I had to stop for a break. Jogged the 5th mile and felt sorry for myself for a while, but snapped out of my funk and literally made myself finish the last 2 miles at pace. Felt better, but died out on the last hilly mile. Was completely done, not a very good run at all. Total mileage: 7 miles - splits were: 7:00, 6:58, 7:03, 7:02, bad mile, 6:56, 6:52.

Well, the week started out well but kind of died off at the end. Got in 42 miles, so pleased about that and hoping I feel better soon. Legs are so heavy today, so will be going on a very slow jog this evening after work assuming that it isn't snowing like crazy tonight...