Memorial to Gene

The memorial service for Gene was held today at 2 p.m. at the Sun office in Dallas. Paula brought in lots of "Gene stuff" (cans of Spam from the collection, t-shirts, license plates, CDs, pictures he took, flamingos). Roger put together a picture slide show. Geoff delivered the eulogy. "The George" followed Geoff with a nice presentation, more or less also an eulogy. I followed George with a brief talk, mostly off-the-cuff since I just couldn't figure out what to really talk about ahead of time. A few people then got up and told short Gene stories. It was really nice and well-done. It still just doesn't seem possible that he is truly gone. How can that be? But he is. Gone gone gone.

Since most of my really good friends in Dallas were present at the service, I went around having my picture taken with them. Why? Because when Gene died, I searched through all my pictures and realized I didn't have many photos of him, let alone of him and me together. I needed to rectify that situation with my still present buddies.

After the service, 15 of us or so went to the Flying Saucer. I felt so happy being able to spend time with my friends. I really miss them. After leaving the Saucer, I went to Coppell to visit Dave, Lisa, & Madison. We figured it was this time last year that I was last there. Sigh. Time flies so quickly.

Workout

November 1
8:06 a.m. CT
Warm up: .2 mile walk
Distance: 6.82 miles
Duration: 1:12:49
Pace ave: 10:40
HR ave 168, max 187
Cool down: .5 mile walk
@start: 60, 80%, partly cloudy, SSW@5
@end: 63, 76%, sunny, SSW@5

First run in about a week and a half. It was a lot warmer here in Plano than in Belfast or Deepcut. Heart fitness has degraded a little. HR was higher than it used to be for this pace. Essentially had the same HR info as for the half marathon at a 10:23 pace & similar weather. It was great to get out and moving again, but I was pretty tired and a little sore (quads and left ankle) by the end.

I didn't expect my pace to be a fast as it was. I have discovered, though, that I tend to run faster than I expect on the first run back after having been bone-idle for a while. Ok, I wasn't completely idle in the UK since we walked a lot during the day on our mini-adventures, but I sure wasn't running much.

Food

Breakfast: 10:30 a.m. light Yoplait yogurt, apple.
Lunch: 1:30 p.m. @Subway: 6" turkey on honey oat bread with veggies, no cheese or dressing; Diet Coke.
Supper: 5:00 p.m. @Flying Saucer: 2 Paulaner Hefe-Weizen, cheese soup in a sourdough bowl.

Morning Stats

N/A

Bright, Sunny 8 Miles

It's looking like the memorial service for Gene will be held sometime the first week of November in Dallas. I'm glad. I'll have just returned from the UK on 10/29, but at least I'll be able to be there with everyone else. When I'm out running and think of oddball things, my first impulse it to share it with GB [Gene-Bob, and, no, Bob is not really part of his name any more than Bob is part of mine or any other of the "Bobs," e.g. Jill-Bob, Roger-Bob, etc. Good thing we don't have any Bob's ... "Bob-Bob" would be a bit much.] when I get back, and then I catch myself: no more sharing with GB, no more getting wacky things from GB, no more GB at all. There's a rather large void where there ought to be GB. On the good news side, they found Pandora the cat still alive & presumably okay in the house. The firemen put food & water out for her on the 24th & there is still enough to last until Paula gets there this coming Sunday.

There is a half marathon around White Rock Lake on 11/2 that I ran last year. Since it looks like I'll be down there anyway, I'm considering registering for it.

Workout

October 3
8:51 a.m. CT
Warm up: .45 mile walk
Distance: 8.12 miles
Duration: 1:26:34
Pace ave: 10:39
HR ave 155, max 178
Cool down: .45 mile walk
@start: 52, 78%, sunny, SW@3
@end: 66, 43%, sunny, WSW@7

The temperature really warmed up quickly today. At 8:05 it was 43, up to 52 by 8:45. At any rate, this was a good run. I tacked a mile onto the outbound leg of the McCarty Road route in order to bump the total to about 8 miles. I almost got caught by a train again heading south on Hall Sreet, but I downshifted and made it. The crossing lights were on, but the train was moving fairly slowly giving me probably 40 or 50 yards of clearance: plenty to cross three feet of track.

I was getting hot on the way back and started feeling a bit overly fatigued, but I chugged up McCarty Hill and all the others anyway. At least I don't regret it when I run up them. I always regret NOT running up them. Legs are ever so slightly sore now at 8:30 p.m.

While a 10:39 pace isn't exactly blindingly fast, I'm pretty pleased with myself to be able to hold it for 8 miles. A few years back, I'd have been happy to hold a 12 minute pace for that long. Of course, I'd be even more pleased to hold an 8 minute pace for 13.1 miles. Maybe one day, if I get rid of the extra weight and keep the proper diet and training consistent, I'll get there.

Food

Pre-run & during run: 8:40 a.m. diluted Gatorade.
Breakfast: 11:35 a.m. banana, red grapes, white peach, 1/2 oz almonds.
Lunch: 1:30 p.m. bean soup, Triscuits, Laughing Cow Light French Onion, grape tomatoes, red pear.
Afternoon Snack: 4:15 p.m. 3 Triscuits, honey.
Supper: 6:30 p.m. big salad - mixed baby greens, cauliflower, green bell pepper, carrot, onion, grape tomatoes, raisins, 1/2 oz sunflower seeds, fat-free Italian; 6 dark Kisses.

Evening Snack: 8:30 p.m. 6 Triscuits.

Morning Stats

weight: 146.2, post run 144.4
bf: 28%
pulse: n/a
bp: n/a
bg: n/a

This Run's For Gene

I thought about Gene a lot during my run today. I'm having a hard time remembering very many specific stories to tell, but the "essence of Gene" is strong. He went to several Dallas Stars games with me. He & George kindly rearranged a few small things in my house when I was out of town once. That was perplexing to come home to. He & Judy visited once (again when I was gone) and went off and left the water running to the horses' water trough. We went on a DQ quest to Van Alstyne (it had closed, unbeknownst to us) which then took us to Sherman and back to McKinney. He chauffeured me to and from the airport a lot, and let me keep Ziggy Z at his house on those trips. He always had a theme to his salads when we went to a salad bar place: green things, round things, things with holes, white stuff, things that started with some specific letter, or whatever else oddball criterion he came up with.

Workout

October 1

8:02 a.m. CT
Warm up: .45 mile walk
Distance: 7.11 miles
Duration: 1:13:39

Pace ave: 10:21
HR ave 144, max 177
Cool down: .45 mile walk
@start: 42/40, 92%, sunny, W@4
@end: 55, 67%, sunny, NW@9

What a fantastic run! Fabulous weather, although I was still pretty hot and sweaty toward the end. First run of the cool season with a wind chill. Woohoo!

Anyway, I set a course PR today by almost a minute (54 seconds) and was over 5 minutes faster than when I ran it last week. I could have continued on at that pace, but I'm not sure how much farther. I seriously doubt I could have carried it another 6 miles. I guess I'll get there eventually. Maybe the boatload of chips and fig newtons last night helped. :-) :-) :-)

I think it's getting to be time for new shoes again. Too many little aches and pains showing up that shouldn't be there. For me, that the new shoes signal. If they remain after new shoes, well, I guess that's just age.

Food

Pre-run: 7:50 a.m. diluted Gatorade.

Breakfast: 10:00 a.m. banana, white peach, green grapes, 1/2 oz almonds.

Lunch: 11:45 a.m. @grandparents' - bean soup, Kashi crackers, boiled potatoes & cabbage, cooked apples with Breyers Carb Smart Vanilla Ice Cream.
Afternoon Snack: 4:00 p.m. Kashi crackers, Laughing Cow Light French Onion.
Supper: 6:30 p.m. whole wheat pita, hummus, corn on the cob with Smart Balance & salt, lite yogurt.

Evening Snack: roll of Wild Cherry Lifesavers.

I've been doing some serious grazing this afternoon and evening. Yikes. Might as well have ordered a pizza and been done with it.

Morning Stats

weight: 145.8, post run 144.6
bf: 29%
pulse: n/a
bp: n/a
bg: n/a

A Passing: Gene Saunders

I learned today that one of my dearest & best friends died at his home of natural causes on September 19th in Dallas. He had just turned 51 on the 11th. As it turns out, he was found an estimated 4 days after his death. We didn't email or talk or chat every day, but in the past few days I'd been wondering why he hadn't updated his blog or forwarded the link to something weird or odd or obscure. It wasn't unusual to go a week or two sometimes without much communication followed by several weeks of email or chat every day. I can't quite find the words at the moment to describe how much Gene meant to me.

Here's his blog site: Gene Bob. And here's an obit of sorts: Gene Saunders.

I miss all my friends in Dallas so much, and now there is one less. I don't want to say goodbye, but I guess I have to ... one tear at a time.