So today was my 48th birthday…aaaaand I’m on a business trip.

My being gone on my day happens occasionally because of one particular conference, the last time was two years ago. It’s weird and usually a bummer of a day none the less. I’m not big on getting attention, so I usually don’t let anyone know it’s my birthday…

Thankfully, with technology, I did get a bunch of b-day wishes today through Facebook and texts…which was nice to see throughout the day.

Anyway, I started my day early (0500) so I could get a long slow run in before my meetings started this afternoon. I usually do my long runs on Sunday, but there is a Women’s half marathon here in Chicago tomorrow and I knew it would be a madhouse along the Lakefront Trail…

I headed North out on Chicago’s Lakefront Trail and went to the northern end and back – 18.5 miles total, door-to-door. It felt pretty good. I modified my run-walk ratio to 3:1 today and that seemed to be better on my knee. I managed a 10:45 pace, obeying my doctor’s counsel about keeping it slow and ran on crushed rock paths when I could. There were tons of runners out later in the morning – I think prep training for the B of A Chicago Marathon kicked off today for a lot of clubs in the area.

The weather was excellent! Here are a few pictures from the run:

Wonderful running weather!

da Bean!

I could get used to this trail… [though the humidity would be tough!0

My card from my wonderful wife!

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My friend Denise sent me a birthday text while I was on my run.

Since I was running, I asked SIRI to read me the text. Here is the epic SIRI transcript:

Happy [birthday cake][birthday cake][birthday cake][birthday cake][birthday cake]
Birthday [short cake][short cake][short cake][short cake][short cake]!!!!
Treating yourself to something fun? [hamburger][hamburger][french fries][french fries][slice of pizza][slice of pizza]
Assuming you’re working today? [computer][computer][computer][mobile phone][mobile phone][mobile phone]

I totally started cracking up when it was read…!

The rest of the day was spent either in my room chilling or in my meeting this afternoon. I hit a local burger place for dinner (by myself) and then headed to a mixer for the conference.

It was a bit of a different birthday…

Training Journal – 6/22/13:

• Current plan: Not sure right now…since I am cleared to run, I want to find a run/race for July
• Today’s session: 18 mile long run
  
• Comments: I did 18.51 @ 10:45 min/mile pace. Felt good to run and the 3:1 run:walk ratio worked better than the 4:1. I’m still working on the race report for last week’s Half Marathon…hopefully I’ll finish it tomorrow evening.