Formula for a Bad Run

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This is a picture of a blister in Riley's mouth. Last night I was
taking him outside after my ride and he grabbed some grass. I can
only assume something bit his lip. The big round egg shaped thing is
the blister on the inside of his lower lip. This was at it's max. I
gave him some horsey antinflammatories and this morning it is a lot
smaller. He doesn't seem bothered at all. I'm sure by this point,
you are wondering what on earth this has to do with a bad run. Well,
because I did not know if the bite would cause a systemic reaction I
got up and walked down to the barn at 10:30 and 1:30 and then got up
at 4am for our run. Getting up that many times doesn't lead to
quality sleep. It was supposed to be a HMGP/easy alternating miles
for 8 miles. It turned out to be a pretty easy run. Just didn't
have it in me. Oh well. I'm going to bed now until noon!

Poor Business Model

I just bought a new running shoe I really like so I decided to get another pair so I would have fresh shoes for San Antonio and Houston.  So I do the typical thing and call Rogue to see if they have my size in stock.  They don't.  Neither does Run Tex.  So I go online and order some.  Free shipping, no tax and 10% off.  And the shoes were in stock.  Got some GU's while I was at it.

I hate to take my business away from local stores but if the norm is for you not to have my size, I'm going to do what I have to to make sure I have what I need.  I have had to "special order" my shoes for the last year or so.

I have heard in the past that the problem was that the companies weren't making shoes fast enough...don't believe it...if that was true then how is it that RRS had my size?

Since I don't run from the store ever (in the North group), I don't really know what's going on there but since it's still open I assume they are getting adequate training and sales business.  In order for that to continue, they are going to have to do a way better job with the shoe situation.  That applies to you too Run Tex.

Concrete Proof

Today was the first time I have ever actually nailed my splits on a CV
workout. And the loops were not on the track either. And I didn't have
to kill myself doing it!! This tells me that I am considerably
stronger than last year. I am looking forward to the half marathon in
San Antonio.

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Best Soul Buster Yet

OK it was a mini soul buster for those doing the 1/2 marathon in San Antonio.  But I felt like I achieved the objectives well.  Started at NW Park.  Easy warm up to Lamar Middle School Track and then 1 mile at 10K pace.  No problem.  Eight miles of long run pace - as Karen said "no butt dragging".  Ran with Josh, Brandon, Jeff, Megan.  Brandon and Jeff ran about 50 feet in front of us until Hancock and Balcones.  I felt that I needed to run a little smarter than that.  No butt dragging going on, just being smart.  Since I have only ever run Hancock from west to east, it was a bit of a surprise to see how much a long rise that is.  Once we had water at the bakery, I ran up front with Jeff and Brandon.  Kept up no problem up North Hills (or maybe they were just being kind).  We were disciplined on Far West being sure not to run too fast as I did not want to trash my quads.  Reined ourselves in along Shoal Creek and ended up back at the track.  Following our instructions, I did not stop.  Just accelerated onto the track and up to HMGP.  Ist mile no problem.  2nd mile a little tougher.  The 2 miles at 10K pace were close but not quite were they should have been.  I put out good effort and never gave up.  Passed Josh and almost lapped Brandon before he realized I was 100m behind him and stood on the gas.  All in all a great run!!  Enjoyable breakfast at Elsie's afterwards.  They do make the best pancakes!  Best part - after all the hideous soul busters I have done in 100% humidity, the weather was freaking perfect!

Catching up

Monday - slept a little extra, no run.

Tuesday - Hill repeats x 5 with 3/4 mile recovery.  My legs were dead on the hill, felt fine on the flat/downhill parts.  4 repeats of plyo sequence - I was not doing so great but got it done.

Wednesday - 4 mile recovery shuffle - might as well have walked.  Silver dog was wondering why I was so slow!  Short easy ride on Riley.

Thursday - 2 mile warm up, 4 mile tempo, 2 mile cool down.  Felt great the whole way.  Nailed the tempo pace without killing myself.  Perfect weather.  Short ride on Riley.  Core and stretching before run.

Friday - no run - longer ride on Riley.  Have soul buster tomorrow.  Weather looks to be ideal.

Beating the odds

Meesha went to the vet today. As I have said before, the vet was
shocked at how good she looked! In the past Meesha has had to be
anesthetized for her shots because she is so mean. Today she was a
star. She only gets a rabies shot now but she only growled a little
and actually ate the treats that were offered.
She is 16, has untreatable hyperthyroid and has an extremely high
heart rate. The vet thought she would not still be alive. Instead she
is holding steady on her weight and is still very active. And
according to the vet her coat is way better than average.
Right now she is sleeping off the shot!!

IBM

Low 50's, sunny, no wind.  Can't ask for better than that!  I was a little nervous.  I have never had more than a mediocre performance in a 10K but decided today I would run at a steady hard effort...that means no Garmin and no worrying about splits.  I was just going to monitor the effort and kick hard at the end.  

Team Road Runner Rogue consisted of myself, Trevor, Brandon, Jeff, Laura Kate and Amy.  We did a 2 mile warm up with Karen  and I felt better in a warm up than I ever have.  Stretched and did drills and strides.  Karen embarressed poor Scott M when she made him demo his impecable running form.  It was his fault - he's the fool that joined us for drills and strides.

Starting line - saw one of my age group competitors lined up and we chatted for a bit.  Then I found Brandon, Jeff and Trevor and we waited as a group.  Great job on the national anthem today.  Wheelchairs went off.  5 minutes later we were off.

Initially I felt some wierd numbness in my left calf but just tuned it out.  In every race the first mile is the toughest.  I just tried to find my rhythm and follow the tangents.  Much less congested than 2 years ago (turns out it was kind of a small race - less than 1500).  I was OK once we hit mile 1 and I was in a groove and running a reasonable pace.  There was a guy from mile 1.5-3.5 who kept trying to cut me off - I finally told him to go away!  I would try to accelerate and he would push the pace to get in front of me and then drift into my line, so I would slow down a bit and he would slow down too.  Once we got onto Gracie Farms, I knew this was my chance - it was uphill - I picked up my pace and dropped his ass - for good.  Never saw him again.  Then I saw this woman who would run - at a decent pace and then walk for maybe 10 steps and then start running again.  No way she was gonna beat me.  So, maintaining my rhythm I slowly but surely gained on her.  Kept her in my sights as we passed the 5 mile marker.  I knew this was where I needed to start my kick.  I picked up the pace a little and started picking off people.  Came around a turn and saw mile 6.  Karen had specifically said that no matter how good or bad the race went we had better be running fast here.  So I picked up the pace.  Now I'm neck and neck with the run/walker.  We are on the home stretch.  She pulls ahead just a little.  Karen, Geezer, Kris and other Rogues were yelling for me to close harder.  In the past I would have been screw it - she's not in my age group (she looked way younger than me) but this time I was like, hell no...and I dug down and sprinted hard to the finish.  No, it was not Usain Bolt like but it was an awesome 100m finish and yes, she was behind me.  Overall time 44:26 - about 1:30 PR. 3rd in my age group.  No complaints from me!  This is how I'm gonna run San Antonio half marathon.  Same attitude - steady effort and big kick at the end!

Now this is what I'm talking about

Slept in until 9:45 this AM.  It was sunny and cool out...perfect weather for my pre IBM race shake out.  Took Silver dog and went for a relaxed 5 mile run.  Silver dog had a great time and hell, the weather was perfect.  Let me say it again...perfect!!  Looks like more of this is on tap for tomorrow.  I have a plan for IBM but have no idea how it will go.  I have not run a 10K in 2 years.  I have a goal range and plan to start a little conservatively.  Karen sent a really inspiring race plan and I intend to follow it as her other race plans have been spot on.  I feel rested...best I've felt since before the New Mexico Marathon.  3 more weeks of hell after this and then a rest week before San Antonio and then 2 months to Houston.  I am looking forward to taking a real break from running and reconnecting with my horse riding.   

Epicurious

Yum! I have made a few recipes from the Epicurious App. This one,
Peppery Spagetti Carbonera with a Poached Egg was amazing. I lightened
it up by using turkey bacon, soy butter, a touch of olive oil and less
parm cheese than the recipe called for. Probably could use a little
green herb for presentation but it was really, really good.

New Product Invented by a Northie

Look at drycarseats.com to see this cool new item designed by one of the Northies who had an injury and time on his hands.

I'll post a picture when I get home from work. I have another idea I'll tell him about since I don't have the time or imclination to jump through the inventor hoops. So simple...why didn't we all think of this before!

Brrrrrr...break out the arm warmers

OK I am a baby.  I don't like hot, hot weather and I definitely don't like cold weather.  I would like to see some crisp, sunny fall weather.  Is that asking too much?  

It was considerably cooler this AM then it has been but there was quite a bit of moisture in the air.  For me that leads to stiff, sore knees and hips.  Ran 10 miles at 8:42 pace (for this sort of weather that is SLOW) and at times felt like I was running MGP!  Our last 5 was was supposed to be a progressive pace from MGP to 10K.  The only mile I actually hit the pace on was the last.  Yeah, that's right.  Couldn't run MGP but somehow managed to suck it up and run at 10K pace.

I wore a singlet and arm warmers.  Took them off after a few miles of the 10 mile part but was glad I had them as we shuffled back to the cars after our 5 mile pick up.

Don't feel like an ice bath right now.  Maybe this afternoon.

5:52

I was lying in bed awake wondering when the front was going to hit. At
exactly 5:52 I heard the wind pick up and within a minute or two the
rain started. Sounded like a hurricaine.

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Hello, it's October...not July

80 degrees with 84% humidity.  Sounds familiar doesn't it.  That was the lovely temperature this morning at 5am.  Makes for great times when attempting to run HMGP.  Not!  Ran with Karen for the first 20 min of easy pace and the 20 min of MGP...both went fine.  She was afraid we would get into a race if we ran HMGP 20 min together so I went first.  Iwas slow but OK for the first 15min, then I just could not convince myself to keep slogging away at 5K effort and not even hitting HMGP.  So I slowed down, way down.  Finished up the last 20 minutes with Karen on easy run pace.

Strangly, when we got back to NW Park, everyone else was gone...WTF, we could not figure out how they had finished before us!

Fatigue

I ran an easy paced 4 miles today and although the first mile or so was at a death march, I actually was able to get going and felt OK.  I am dead tired...I think more tired than I was yesterday.  Usually I sleep 4 hours or so on Wednesdays since I start sleeping at night on Wednesday nights but today I slept from 9:30 until 4:15.  Trust me, after a warm bath tonight I will have no trouble sleeping tonight and hopefully will be able to drag myself out of bed at 4am!

Karen is working us very hard...I feel sorry for the people she talked into running the half marathon this Sunday.  I'm doing IBM and at least it's after a down week.  I hope all of this pays off.  I feel strong but as everyone knows you are what you are come race day and if the marathon gods are against you ain't nothing you can do.

Tired Legs Part 2

Had a day off on Monday and had intended to do some core and roll my legs. Unfortunately I slept to late and had no time.

Tuesday - 1/2 mile wu, 30 min core, 1 mile hills, 1 mile HMGP (track) x3, 1/2 mile cool down.
Core was uneventful. As we started the first 1 mile hill loop, I knew my easy pace was way too slow but my legs were dead. Did what I could. Slow on the first lap of the mile of HMGP and Karen told me not to sweat the time that I could make it up on the last lap. OK. HMGP is supposed to be 7:15...1st lap 7:04 (oops!!). I pushed a little harder on the second hill loop but my legs were pretty uncooperative. At this point though, I knew I would not have a problem making the HMGP pace. On the second repeat of that I felt myself sliding into the same routine of slogging along on the first 2 laps and was thinking I did not need to do the hard 400m push to make my time again. So I picked up the pace at the 800m mark and resisted pushing really hard for the final 200m - time 7:21. Megan pushed me on the 3rd hill loop and I ran a much more honest pace (didn't time the hill loops, went by effort) and then on the 3rd track repeat Megan was on my heels for the first lap - her goal time is slower than mine so I knew I had to pick it up. My watch malfunctioned (ie I pressed the wrong button!) so Megan watched me cross the finish and said it looked like sub 7:20...I'll take 7:15. That took a 1200m effort this time. I need to practice having a consistant pace on the track. Overall I am really pleased with my effort. I learned a few things...if my legs are still turning over easily, I have plenty of gas left. I never felt like I was struggling on the track even if the slower, easy miles felt tough.

Tomorrow after my easy recovery run I will do another ice bath to try and recover for Thursday's 80 minutes of hell!

Tired legs

Saturday - 2 miles easy, 5 miles MGP, 2 miles easy 5 miles HMGP. My legs were suitably trashed at the end. MGP was not a problem...HMGP was. However, I did post an impressive close over the last half mile of of the HMGP even as my legs were screaming NOOOOO! That, for me is huge. Now I am going to try and build that on that. Did an ice bath and felt OK.

Sunday - 5 miles easy...weather warm and very humid. did a even colder ice bath afterwards and right now, as I type, my legs are aching. I took Ibuprofin 800mg with no effect. Tomorrow I will do TP and stretch and anything else I can to rejuvinate my legs by Tuesday.

Looks like there were some very impressive results at the Portland Marathon. Congrats to everyone who ran!

Small Job

While having my hamstring checked today, Dr Z and I were talking about my lovely job. He has a lead on a potentially way more fun job.  It would only be once a week but it would be some extra cash doing something I enjoy.  If it happens great, if not it's OK.

Revisitng July

0515.  77 degrees 85% humidity.  Tempo run.  I felt like I was running at 10K pace and wasn't getting very close to HMGP.  Oh well, today the effort counted - even Karen agreed.  Looks like slightly cooler and rainy this weekend so perhaps I'll get closer to HMGP on our pace run.

Had a massage and as always the most painful part was my toes!

Better Times

After that last post I almost forgot about the great run we had on Tuesday evening.  Started at Murchison Middle School - easy 1 mile warm up.  4 hill repeats with an easy 3/4 mile jog in between.  Then an easy 1 mile back and 20 minutes of plyometrics and fast running on the track.

It was fun, I worked hard and my legs were trashed by the end.  I feel fine now...no soreness to speak of.  I need a workout like that today to lift my spirits.

I Hate My Job

That's right.  There are many good things about where I work but right now I hate it.  I could easily quit today.  I'm not going to because that would be stupid.  I am going to consider some other lines of work though.

Right now I feel physically ill about it.   That's all.  I'm going to bed now.

Silicon Labs Marathon Relay

Due to a very minor hamstring issue, I did not race in the relay. Initially I was happy not to. I ran around on the closed roads today, getting my run in, so I could cheer on the runners from my group. There is nothing better than just flying down Congress Ave..FUN! Once I saw how much fun everyone was having and let the atmosphere soak in, I was wishing I was racing. It was really fun to just relax and cheer people on though. I also had a great run. Short warm up and then fartlek for 3 miles and then a cool down. My legs felt very good and I am feeling no stiffness or pain tonight at all.

I really miss racing locally. That will be my focus next fall after my summer break.

Easy 10

Since tomorrow is Silicon Relays, we only had to run 10 miles today.
My legs were a little tight but cooperated this week. I am not running
the relay so will be doing the alternate w/o tomorrow. I think I will
do a mile easy down to TLT and then do the 4 mile loop with the pick
ups Karen wants us to do. Then I will jog over to the start finish
area of the relay and cheer on our teams before I head home.
Yay for the return of sunshine.

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Don't laugh too hard

I was getting ready for our run tonight and it was raining lightly and in my opinion it was chilly out so I tossed my arm warmers in my bag.  Yeah...arm warmers.  I wore a sleeveless top and since I don't like cold rain touching me, I figured I'd use them during the warm up.  It wasn't raining at the start so I did not need to use them!

Today was 1 mile warmup and then 1 mile HMGP (7:15) - 1 mile easy - 1 mile HMGP (7:13) - 1 mile HMGP (7:11).  My personal goal was to be disciplined but run each mile of HMGP a little faster than the one before WITHOUT running more than a few seconds faster than actual HMGP (7:12).  The guys were running a little fast at times so I would let them go.  Had them as company on the easy miles.  Felt great the whole time - felt pretty easy which is good!

Then we had happy hour to say good bye to Mark and Debbie before they head off to the base in Louisiana.

Had an appt with Dr Z today.  There is nothing wrong with my hamstring.  I do need to use TP etc on a more regular basis though.

Cool, Rainy weather calls for...

...soup.  I love making soup and I always make simple broth based ones.  I don't really care for cream or pureed soup.  Today, I am making Spicy Rotisserie Chicken Soup.  I saute onion and 1/2 pound of mushrooms, add 2 quarts of low sodium chicken broth, a skinned, chopped rotisserie chicken, some frozen corn and a jalopena seeds and all.  I then let it simmer until it's time to eat.  If I'm hungry I serve it over some pasta.  Tonight I'll steam some green beans and add those.

Yum - fresh raspberries and pineapple for dessert.

Have an appt with Dr Z at Advanced Rehab to check out my hamstring tomorrow- I have no pain, stiffness or discomfort at all but since I had significant issues with it 2 weekends in a row I just need to know running fast isn't going to break it or if it is what I can do to sort of stay in shape.

Caught the hamstring bug

After last Saturday's horrible run my right hamstring seized up. So I
did not run Sunday or Monday. Just gentle stretching and icing. It's
doing a lot better. Did group core workout today and then ran about 3
miles at a very easy pace. Everyone else did CV workout. I am going to
call advanced rehab tomorrow and see if Dr Z can look at it. I am not
doing the relay this weekend. Honestly I'm not all that sad. I need a
little down time.

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Too much

Today after shocking our systems with 2 fairly tough workouts already this week, we were supposed to do 10 miles at easy LR pace and then 4 miles progressing up to HMGP.  I ran OK for 6 miles and then died.  Shuffled the last 4 and could not muster the mental or physical strength to do the last 4.  It was mentally distressing for me...I've been in this spot before and it is tough to dig out.  I plan to take tomorrow off and play it by ear as to whether or not I do my leg of the Relay next weekend.  Will talk to Karen about it.

Not much else to say about it but hopefully it will motivate me to get back to my healthy diet.  Fell of the wagon for a few weeks.

Drill Sargent

Karen had another delightful workout for us.  30 minutes of tough core - no breaks - one exercise after the other and not 10-15 reps - there was a lot of complaining, joking and laughing.  Karen gave us no slack!   She laughed at all the complaints of butt pain from Tuesday but assured us that we would feel better tomorrow.

Then we hit the track for 36 min of 2 min easy/2 min hard.  I felt like I ran hard and smart.  2nd 18 minutes I ran faster for the hard than i did for the first half.  I put pretty much everything I had into it and it looked like everyone did.  However, I did not run stupid.  I will not get injured in speed phase because I'm not paying attention to my form or how I feel.  I did feel like I was flailing a little during the last hard 2 minutes.

Right now I feel pretty good...going to take Ibuprofin and go to bed.  Hope to feel better tomorrow than I did this morning!

Writing a letter to the paper

I have written one or two letters to magazines in the past.  I have an urge to write a letter to the Statesman but because the issue and individual involved is directly tied to my work I won't.

I will air my thoughts here.  The story involves an illegal alien who was allegedly driving drunk and killed an innocent man.  So far the news has blamed the following  - APD, the Travis Co. DA and Immigration.  I haven't seen mention of the driver (who has pled guilty to 3 DWI's in the recent past but because of circumstances beyond the court's control, was not serving time) being held accountable.  The issue has nothing to do with whether he was legal or not in this country...it has to do with the fact that he has a drinking problem, hasn't acknowledged it, hasn't personally sought out help and doesn't accept personal responsibility for his actions.  If he doesn't want to stop drinking, that's fine.  He just needs to stop driving, with or without a license (he has never had one).  He is in jail with a 1st degree murder charge.  Hopefully he will go to prison for a really long time and when he gets out and is deported to the Honduros, he will be too old and feeble minded to bother coming back.

Suck it Up!!

Yesterday, Karen enjoyed inflicting pain on the entire team.  We met at Anderson High and after a 15 min easy warm up did 20 min alternating plyometrics and fast running.  Then we did 2 minutes of suicides and then another 20 minutes of the plyo/running combo.  My hands are still sore from doing burpees on the track and my butt is killing me from all of it.  Those of you who have done the Cruise with Ruth E. and thought that was hard ain't seen anything.  This was much tougher and Karen was way meaner than Ruth!   I'll admit it...I'm a weakling.  Karen's purpose was to show everyone how "weak" we are even after all the running we did this summer.  What I learned from it is that I can suck it up and try a little harder when I think I can't.  My butt is killing me today but I got out the door and did an easy 4 mile recovery run - the first mile was tough and then I was fine.  Will try and get out for an easy 2-3 mile shake out run in the AM since we have another track workout on Thurs PM and a progressive run on Sat.  

In the past, I have given up when it seemed too hard.  This time around I am going to try a whole lot harder to hang on even when I think it is impossible.

Love/hate relationship with rain

Saturday was a 10 mile run in the rain. Felt nice to have cooler temps. Rain didn't bother me other than slightly heavy shoes. Karen failed to tell us to bring xc spikes for the section on the Far West foot bridge that is under construction. Nice slippy, slidy mud. Unremarkable and slow run...did have some right hamstring and calf tightness/pain but only on the downhills. Uphills felt fine.

After the run I made breakfast and then slept from 11 until 4:30pm. Got up and retrieved Riley from the pasture...this is one of the parts I hate...he was covered in mud! Gave him a bath and put him in a stall to dry off. Ate dinner and then rode.

Today, after being at work all night, I was whipped. Slept from 8:15 am until 6:15 pm and then forced myself out of bed. Obviously no run. Why am I so tired? Allergies. Even with meds I am suffering bad. They wear me down. Hopefully it will dry up soon. This is the biggest reason I hate rain. I am hoping I feel better tomorrow so I can get even a short run in. At the rate I am blowing my nose I am doubtful.

Aqua Jogging

Karen decided that the New Mexico folks could endure an hour of aqua jogging in her pool on Tuesday night.  Everyone else ran 6 miles of hills in her neighborhood.  Having never aqua jogged before I had no idea what to expect.  It was kinda fun...only 4 people bothered to show up for that and i'm glad I did.  My legs felt like they had been clubbed with baseball bats before and today feel almost normal.  My light massage tomorrow should put them right back into pre race condition.

No running until Saturday per Karen.  I'm going to try and get on my bike for a ride tomorrow to keep things loose.  

Otherwise will get back to giving Riley some exercise.

New Mexico marathon 2009

Friday - arrived in Albuquerque just before 1:30pm.  Free shuttle to the hotel - Best Western Rio Grande.  Gorgeous mountains to the north, sunny and warm...not hot.

Since I was early for typical 3pm check in, I fully expected not to be able to check in right away.  The clerk at the desk immediately found me a room so I could go put my stuff up.  I was hungry so decided to head out to Old Town to look for food.  In the pre race phase so no mexican food today!  Ended up with a tasty chef salad with bread.

Walked around a little but after walking too much pre Boston, I was cautious.  Later on, went for dinner and a quick trip to Walmart to stock up on water and snacks.

Earlyish to bed, watched bad TV, read a book and got about 7 hours sleep.  Up for a 7:30 am pre race run with the team.  That could have been a race breaker right there.  Karen seemed a little cranky since she had injured herself and couldn't run.  The turn around place was not clear and everyone overshot it.  Karen then proceeded to chastise me for a misunderstanding between her and some other runners that involved a comment I made and that put a damper on things.  Thank goodness when I talked to the others about it, they told me Karen had completely misunderstood what they had said.  Whew...everyone happy again.  Quick breakfast and the first of what seemed like 100's of bottles of water.  It is very dry in New mexico, and you never tire of drinking water like you do in Austin.  Even when you know you feel hydrated, you are still thirsty.

The "expo" was down the street at the Hotel Albuquerque which was a whole lot more swanky than the Best Western.  The expo was nothing special.  Only a couple of venders.  Jeff Galloway was the featured speaker...no one from our group was impressed by him saying we would go faster if we run/walked - more on that later.

The rest of the day was filled with lunch, tea and a cookie at Starbucks while I sat on their patio soaking up the sun and pleasant temperatures and read my book - felt like a real vacation.  A group of us drove the course and were surprised at how moderate the hills up and down were.  Not nearly as bad as we had been led to believe.  

Dinner and then to bed by 9pm.  Wake up call arranged for 2:30 AM.

Slept on and off - total of maybe 4 hours of sleep.  No trouble getting up.  Ate my breakfast, used my stick on my legs and headed downstairs.  It was not cold out in the slightest but pleasantly cool.  I wore a jacket and long pants over my race uniform.  Champion Chip was timing and instead of those ridiculous sticky tape things Austin makes you use, they had disposable chips which laced onto your shoes.

We took a school bus from the hotel to the start on Tramway Bvd.  They had a small strip mall for us to hangout at.  Plenty of porta potties for the small marathon field.  Official photographers got some good pictures of our red and green team.  A classical guitarist helped us relaxed with soothing music and they had luminaires all around the parking lot.  Quite a different feel from a big city marathon.  James Gelb had a problem with his Garmin and after trying to get someone from our group to give him their watch (no one would) he managed to get a watch from the race director.  Try accessing the race director 15 min before any large race!  

Low key start - I think there was a sign that said start on one side and finish on the other.  Luminairies lined the course for the first few hundred meters.  Decent job on the national anthem - here was another difference.  Everyone was quiet...there was no chit/chat.  Then the race director said on your marks, get set, go.  No air horn, no fire works.

The first 8 miles were gently rolling up and down.  I planned to run pretty conservatively on this part.  I stuck to my plan and pretty much nailed my goal time for this section.  The mountains were to our right, Albuquerque to our left.  It was pitch dark - occasionally we would run by a street light.  Brandon Smith and I ran together through this part.  I felt great - no effort at all.  Not a lot of people out cheering but hey...it was 5:30 AM!  The police were very friendly, traffic was light (the roads are not closed) and the hydration stations well manned.  As we ran up the base of the mountain, the sun started to peak out over the mountains.  It was a little cloudy so probably not as spectacular as it could have been.  Way, way out over Albuquerque, you could see pink light starting to light up the city.

The next 8 miles essentially were down hill.  Not net down hill like Boston but DOWNHILL.  It was some very easy running.  People in our group claimed to see all sorts of animals.  I didn't see any.  I could feel some tension in my abds and back near the bottom of the hill but nothing bothersome.  I was on target for pace and nutrition. 

Saw Karen, Ryan and Matt on their bikes at mile 16.  I was still doing OK at this point and was still with Brandon.  By mile 17 the wheels started coming off.  Had trouble getting my legs to turn over and felt like I was working too hard.  I did pass some guys who were walking so it could have been worse.  I kept reminding myself that this was a C race.  Time didn't matter, being smart did.

The race went for 4-5 miles on a bike path.  Nice to have if you are training but it sucked for the race.  Not sure what it was about the path...it was paved and the footing was good but I just could not stay in the groove.  I decided that I needed to focus on hydration and nutrition so I did something I have never done before.  I walked through 3 water areas.  So I can say with authority that run/walking does not make you faster...it makes you slower.  So I had 3 slow miles on the bike path.  I accepted them for what they were.  Nothing I could do about it...what was done was done.  I passed quite a few people in a worse place than me.  There was some freak on a bike attempting to sing while biking and it was bad!  Once off the bike path I was amazingly able to pick up my pace and with 4 miles to go dug down deep and got going.  A high point was the four girls walking the half marathon who wanted to try and keep with me because I was so fast (ha!) and then one of them informed the rest of them in a hushed voice "she's on mile 24".  Brandon was out of sight at this point and I will admit I was surprised.  In the end he had a great race.  I saw Karen et all one more time and tried hard to keep the faster pace coming.  One more slight sinking spell but I yanked my self out of it and kept moving.  I visualized Karen in front of me with a rope tied around her pulling me along.

I was glad to see the finish...but not completely relieved as I was at Boston.  I felt OK.  Not completely trashed like in Boston.  I got my medal.  Cool pottery medals.  Grabbed some water, orange slices and cookies and my post run bag.  Met up with Karen and Mary and proceeded to cheer the rest of our team and lots of other people into the finish.  One guy from Austin wearing a Rogue trail race shirt looked surprised and then really happy when he got a bunch of tired Austin women screaming for him at the finish!   

After everyone was done, Karen was hot footing it back to the hotel so she and Ryan could leave.  She reminded me to do an ice bath but as a quick after thought, I went to check the results.  Crap...8th overall woman??  1st in my age group???  The winning woman was 48 and had a decent time.  My time was not so great but I'll take it given we have done no speed work at all.  Pretty much everyone from Team Rogue Roadrunners settled down on the ground to wait for the awards ceremony.  Imagine that...they gave out all the awards...not just overall men and women.  They madfe everyone feel equally important and even had some random draw prizes too.  Our team definitely deserved the spirit award.  We cheered hard for anyone from Austin that placed...and there were several.  My only physical complaint was my left foot. Some pretty significant neuroma pain from mile 17 on.  Took my shoes off after I finished and had some foot cramping.  Karen felt that was from the downhill.  I hope it won't be such an issue at Houston.

My overall impression - Albuquerque is a neat town...nice weather, less traffic than Austin, cool scenary.  Pretty much everyone in our group was wondering how they could move there.  Brandon deserved the MVP award for our team.  He stopped to help a lady who had fallen...the best I could do was slow down and wait for him.  Pretty much everyone in our group though he deserved to place in his age group...he had a really good race and finished 4th in his grp.  If you look at reviews of this race, they aren't great.  I could find no fault.  I would certainly go back again and I can't say that about all the races I have done.  The hotel was reasonably priced and convenient..had a pool and hot tub and a decent restaurant.  Old Town was within walking distance and had several good restaurants.  We went to a Mexican one for lunch and then for dinner had salads and pizza and beer and then headed over to the Chocolate Factory for dessert.  Ate candy and ice cream outside (cool enough for a jacket) while we watched a Labor Day fireworks display.  

I usually feel overwhelmed after I race and don't often make an effort to get together with others afterwards.  This time was different.  I feel a much better connection with the team and we really had a good time.  It was like a mini vacation.

Tomorrow

No time to type up a race report...that will come tomorrow.

Dragging

I cannot believe how tired I am. Two nights of inadequate sleep is not
a good thing. As soon as I get home, I am going to bed. Other than
that, I feel pretty good.

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Race

I will post a race report tomorrow. Altitude definitely a factor -
time 3:39:56 - 8th overall woman - 1st in my age group.

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2:30am

Went to bed at 9pm. Slept on and off. Looking forward to being done
the run today so I can take a nap. Feeling good in general.

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How hard can it be?

With such a cheery design on the official race shirt, how hard can
this race be?

Saturday

Started the day with a minor headache. It's either the altitude or my
allergies. Good news is that a couple of advil fixed it. Went on a 4
mile easy run and got yelled at by Karen due to a misunderstanding
between some of the other runners and her. Thankfully it all worked
out and everyone seems happy. Except Karen who apparently injured her
back and can't run. She and Ryan and Matt are renting bikes so they
can ride around the course encouraging runners.
Went to the "expo". Nothing special. Listened to 5 min of Jeff
Gallo"walker" extoll the virtues of run/walking. Not. Everyone from
Karen's group got up and left.
Drove the course with Mike, Kris, Andrea and Daniel. First 8 miles is
a mix of long gradual climbs, flat, short downhills and one steeper
up. Next 6-7 miles downhill - no up, no flat - only down. Definitely
going to be important not to trash my quads on that part. From mile 15
to the finish it's pretty much completely flat. Half on bike trails,
half on city streets. I think this is going to be an interesting
race. There won't be any crowd support or many people to run with.
Thankfully I don't mind running on my own. I am going to use my Garmin
and bring my shuffle. Just in case.
The weather should be great. I sat outside enjoying some herbal tea
earlier, reading a book. And no, I wasn't dripping in sweat.
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Friday

Uneventful trip to ABQ. It rained in the mountains and produced a
gorgeous rainbow. In this picture you can see the mountais and the
rainbow. Sorry the picture ain't great. Made a trip to Walmart to
get snacks and water. Reminded me why I don't shop at Walmart as a
rule. Feels hot but after the rain it was almost chilly.

Airport security questionable

I rarely travel by air and if I do I usually check a bag. This time I
was determined to take a minimum of stuff with me. I was surprised
when I saw the sign about the gels, shampoos and so forth being in a
ziplock baggie. Oops...they are in my toiletry bag. I just pretended I
didn't see the sign and proceeded thru. No one opened my bag or seemed
to care about my non complience

Thank goodness because I have headache and feel a little worried about
the whole weekend. I always feel guilty leaving my cat.

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Dri-Fit

Have you ever read the label that comes with your Nike Dri-Fit clothes (typically issued to Team Rogue).  I quote - "this garment features Dri-Fit fabric that wicks perspiration to keep you dry and comfortable".  Right.  There have been few days this summer when I have been running and felt dry and comfortable no matter what I was wearing.  OK, maybe compared to if I was wearing a cotton t-shirt.  I believe Nike is based in Oregon so they would have no idea that dry and comfortable in Texas involves AC while it may not in Oregon.  Of course we don't perspire in Texas, we sweat!

Things looking good in NM

Yesterday we had an easy 3 mile run and then 2 miles on the track.  I am now remembering what I liked so much about my first Rogue group.  The runs were short and it all seemed so easy.  That was yesterday.  One mile on the track at 400easy/400MGP and then another mile at 400mgp/400 faster than mgp.  I ran 1 min/mile pace faster on the faster part.  I felt super smooth and it was just effortless.  My legs are feeling really rested.  I'm feeling good about my run in New Mexico on Sunday.

This morning we had the option to run a couple of easy miles or take it off.  It was so nice out, I took Silver dog for her first easy 2 miler of the season.  That was one happy dog!  Her endorphins were running so high that she even let me check out her sore ear.  She got bitten by a tick the other day and would try to bite me if I touched her ear.  I had to muzzle her to get the tick off.  Her ear looks fine.

Checked the weather forecast for ABQ for Sunday...high 81 and low 60.  Yipeee!!!!  40% chance of rain but I don't care at all about that.

One week to go

Easy 10 mile run today.  My legs felt a little heavy but for me that's kind of typical a week out from the marathon.  I'm going to stretch and roll my legs this week.  Also have a massage.  I have written out my race plan - looks solid but I am prepared to slow down on the initial 8 miles if the altitude becomes an issue.

Since this is a small race (I'm guessing from the #s in the past 500-700 runners), I can't decide if I will take some form of entertainment.  I think I will try and resurrect one of my shuffles and make up a suitable play list during my down time this week.  I can decide at the last minute and if I decide I'm hating it's small enough it shouldn't bother me for the rest of the run.

My cat is not eating again...I am not worried...either she does or she doesn't.  I'll only be gone 3.5 days next weekend so it shouldn't be too bad for my neighbor to kittysit her.  

4 more days of work.  Then 5 whole days off.  Then a week of no running.  Not sure what I'll do with myself.

Finally

Yesterday I noticed the temps and humidity were both much more
manageable than usual early in the day. It was quite pleasant but
humid in the evening. I turned my AC off and opened up some windows
last night and when I went to bed was treated to a symphony of rain.
No wild thunder. Just rain and wind. I pictured myself on the coast
with a storm blowing in from the coast. It is just not the same
listening to a rain storm with the windows closed. That has not been
possible until now.

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Woo,hoo

The guy I was gonna be a witness against pled out late last night.
Too bad it took 2 phone calls on my part for them to get around to
calling me at 10:45 today. Thank goodness my hair person is super
flexible and is fitting me in this afternoon. I am using my wasted day
off to clean house!
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It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood

While it is supposed to be over 100 again today I feel like it is
starting to cool off a little. It was mid 70's this morning. Felt
great. Not overly humid. Had a fairly fast run with a solid last 2
mile close.
My laptop is having a hard time with my crappy broadband so I am
sitting on my porch typing this on my phone. Enjoyed breakfast on the
porch with Meesha today too. This is my kind of weather. Warm enough
for shorts and barefeet but not so hot that you're dripping the minute
you leave the AC.

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Grrrrr.....

Tomorrow I am scheduled to be in court as a witness against a fool
that hasn't recognized over the last 18mths that he was too drunk to
drive. I don't mind doing my part to make the streets of Austin safer
for everyone but I am mildly annoyed as I am pretty sure that the
courts are closed now and the prosecuter knows whether or not the
trial is on or not. I already cancelled a hair appt I have had for 2
months and will probably have to go to NM with skanky looking hair
unless I color it myself. I love how the person I talked to on the
phone says "I'll call you as soon as I hear anything". In my
experience that means either not at all or 10 min before I'm supposed
to be there.

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Glue

We are deep in our taper for New Mexico. Tuesday we ran a whopping 5 miles. A 3 mile hilly loop at a nice conversational 8:20 pace and then 1 mile at NM MGP (3:30 pace) - it felt so slow I even had time to pick a piece of lint off a finger. I was very consistant in pace and ended up 3 seconds fast. Then we did 200m push/200m recovery for 1 mile - on the push, I felt like my feet were stuck in glue. I felt soooooo slow. I was down in the mid 6min/mile range so I guess that's not too bad. I totally feel like I have lost every bit of speed I ever had.

As far as New Mexico goes, I plan to have a really good time. I feel like I have gelled better with the group this time and I feel pretty fit. I am not going to worry about a thing. Who knows what the weather will be like, we don't really know what the course will be like - we have an idea, but you never know until you get out there, we don't know if and how the altitude will affect us. Doesn't matter, I have my plan and if there is a problem, well I'll adjust. The best part is that I plan to be done the race by 9am! I'll have the whole rest of the day to suntan by the hotel pool, maybe go to a movie, take a nap, shop...whatever. It will be a fun mini vacation.

What would you do?

At the dinner event last night which was very casual, one woman (I
know her well) showed up wearing a very low cut top with the wrong
bra. Maybe it fit in the past but she has gained weight and it doesn't
fit now. She was practically falling out of the top. Maybe she needs a
mirror at home but it was nasty. Obviously I couldn't say anything
right then but I was embarressed for her. Do you say something or let
this happen again?

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Restaurant Review

Last night I drove to Dripping Springs for a birthday get together for
a really good friend I haven't seen in ages.

We all met at Rolling in Thyme and Dough. It is a bakery but they have
a variety of lunch items they serve Monday thru Saturday. Thursdays
they have a dinner menu from 6-9pm. Every week is different theme.
This week was a Homage to Julia Child. Most of the dishes looked kind
of rich - read cooked in butter, so I chose the Nicoise Salad. It was
the right choice. Light and the right amount. I treated my self to a
slice of peach pie for dessert.

All of the food is prepared from organic locally grown produce and meat.

The salad consisted of fresh greens with a vinagrette drsg (too much
drsg in my opinion) with fresh tuna, green beans, hard boiled eggs and
tomatoes. Other than the drsg issue it was good. My biggest complaint
was that they serve a slice (tiny) of baguette with it that in my
opinion was stale. If I'm paying $9.95 for a salad I could make for
$2.00 there better be a generous serving of bread and it better be
fresh.

They have an open mike. Most of the musicians were great however I was
wanting to hit the buzzer on at least one.

If you go, it is BYOB but there is a liquor store across the street.

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WOW!!!

Tweaked a few things in my routine and had an amazing run tonight.
Didn't hurt that it was at least 5 degrees cooler and it was shady for
almost the entire run.
Had some residual pain and stiffness in my right hip and hammie but
after 3 miles I was able to drop my pace about 1 minute per mile with
no effort. Seven miles of easy pace and then one mile of straights and
curves. No problem. Coulda done some hill repeats after that. Not
feeling the run at all and my shorts were not dripping at the end.
Great run.

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Running is an education in itself

Today we had our "base buster". It was 80 degrees and extremely humid at the start. Waffled about carrying water and in the end did...and I'm glad I did. Started with 4 to 5 miles of up hill. Not a problem. Ran at an easy pace. The next few were flat to rolling and then the last section down to Brentwood school were downhill to flat. I made myself be very disaplined about pace and nutrition. I estimate I drank about 64 oz of water - maybe more with the cups of water Karen had for us at the school. The last 8 miles consisted of 4 miles at progressive pace - I nailed it and ran it smart. The last 4 miles were supposed to be at MGP. I struggled a little for the first 2.5 miles and then just sucked it up and pushed the pace at the end. It was a good learning experience. I took 4 Gu's - for 21 miles, that should have been plenty...I still felt my legs were saying no on the last 4 miles. Over all I was happy with my effort.

Then I went to a talk Meredith gave about fluids and electrolytes. Very helpful. She helped me get some insights into some issues I have had. I need to do a sweat test. Providing I am not too tired in the AM, I will do it on my 8-9 mile run. I need to drastically increase the amount of Na+ I take in during these runs when it is so hot and humid and drink more too. Less Na+ when I'm not running and plain water after the run. Any NUUN should be taken prior to a run and possibly one litre max per day. She thinks with these small changes I should have fewer problems running out of gas at the end of the runs and less problems with fluid retention.

Running vs horse riding (ownership)

The biggest difference between the 2 is that it doesn't matter if you are a Dellionaire and you run...it is no advantage.  Running comes down to genes and hard work.  Buying a $200 pair of shoes makes no difference and doesn't affect anyone else.

If you have $50K+ to blow you can go to Europe and buy yourself a badass dressage horse...doesn't matter if you can ride or even safely handle the horse.  You can still own it.  Having any sort of horse and not having any sort of horsemanship skills is a recipe for disaster.  That nightmare effects everyone that has to handle the horse.  I dealt with that sort of crap at the barn today and the owner of the horse felt it was completely justifiable when it refused to get on her trailer and knocked her over.   She just didn't get it when I told her the situation was dangerous.  Just made excuses.

When I see that sort of thing I just appreciate Mr Low Maintenance Riley all the more. 

Stiff Toes

Had a massage today.  Everything was good - even my hip flexors - except my toes.  In fact my massage person (a different one than usual) was kind of concerned.  I'll admit that I can't spread my toes on the left foot.  I'm sure there is a ton of scar tissue from my neuroma and planters but she said my toes curl up in a bad way.  It's that way on both feet but I can spread my toes on the right.  At this point, I don't think it will be a career ending injury.

Easy 10 mile run today.  Ran with Karen and Megan.  Legs a little heavy at the start but had plenty left at the end.  Strides felt easy.  Temperature about 8 degrees cooler than usual but it was very humid.

Health Care Reform

That seems to be in the headlines a lot lately.  A friend at work showed me a news clip about an ER doc in Kentucky who said that there were 2 words missing from the Health Care Reform ideas...personal responsibility.  Duh!!  I've been thinking that forever.

I hear people complain that they can't afford health care/insurance or whatever.  Here is the problem with that complaint...

1.  the same person just consumed a 12 pack of beer and does so on a daily basis

2.  or is on their 5th DWI - that costs plenty

3.  or got caught with drugs

4  or is addicted to drugs

5.  or is morbidly obese - it costs a lot to get that fat and stay that fat.  It does not cost a lot to eat little enough to be thin...you just don't need that much food.

6.  or gets no exercise...walking 30 min a day is free other than a reasonable pair of shoes from Academy.

7.  or doesn't do anything to take care of a health condition they already have so the costs to care for it when they can be bothered have escalated.

8.  or smokes any amount.

I have seen zillions of people who have no respect for their body and have no interest in taking better care of themselves.  That is why health care costs so much.  A lot of those people blame everyone else for their health problems and have a lawyer on retainer to sue the poor medical community for something that is not their fault.  That is why health care costs so much.  It drives me insane...sometimes I think I need a different job.

To all of you out there that eat right, maintain a reasonable weight or or working towards it and exercise on a regular basis...keep it up and thank you for doing your part.

Making Progress

Karen is having us put a plan together for a marathon goal in New Mexico. Today we were to run 4 miles warm up, 4 miles progressive, 2 miles cool down. I ran with Karen for the first 4 miles (she ran in the AM so was only doing 4) - our easy pace consisted on 9:03, 8:09, 8:09, 7:59. She told us since it was so hot, we could run 2 more miles easy and then just 2 miles of progressive. Our pace was supposed to end up at 10-15 seconds faster than MGP. I ran 1 easy mile and then picked up the pace to 8:15, the last 2 miles were 8:01 and 7:32. The last mile was a little fast. I cooled down really easy with Brandon. A very successful workout. I feel nicely worn out but not at all sore.

Getting Ready

This weekend coming up we have our "Base Buster". Essentially it will be a practice run at progressive pace for the New Mexico marathon. My goal time in New Mexico is 3:28. I have contemplated different approaches but essentially will take it pretty easy on the up hill and down hill parts at the start and save my legs for the last half which is pancake flat.

One of my problems in Boston this year was not taking it seriously. I ate way too much the day before and was inadequately hydrated. I also spent way too much time on my feet. So this week I am working on eating correctly with a light meal on Friday night. I have one physical task to do on early Friday morning but after that I will take a nap, hydrate and rest. I am practicing what I will do in New Mexico. I also have a massage on Thursday. The best I could do before New Mexico was 4 days prior (I prefer 5-6 days) so I'll see how this goes. I can always cancel my massage before NM if I have a negative result this week.

I had a very good run on Saturday - 10 miles at 8:20 pace and then an easy run on Sunday - 10 miles at 9:00 pace. Sunday's run was much hillier and my legs were a little tired. I also ran in the afternoon when it was hot. Had planned an easy run on Monday but felt tired so will just suck it up and do 10-12 on Tuesday evening.

Meesha Rocks

I took Meesha for a check up today and the vet was stunned at how
great she looked. Somehow she gained a pound in the last month. Her
coat is glossy and soft. My vet said she didn't expect Meesha to still
be alive. She has chronic tachycardia which eventually will wear her
heart out. Meesha was also very well behaved. She only growled once.
The vet had to listen to her heart beat between purrs.

My vet is the best. She was perfectly happy to get down on the floor
to interact with Meesha and examine her. Meesha does not like being on
the table.

I guess I was worrying for nothing.

Toughen up

Monday - moderate paced 5 miles on Monday PM - my new mantra is "Toughen Up". So who cares if it is 100+ degrees...I'm still going to put out my best effort...no more whining about it! Had a decent run but did stop for a minute or 2 in the shade at mile 4.

Tuesday - 3 miles easy in downtown Austin in the AM. Annoying because of the traffic. Did this run to keep my legs loose for the afternoon run. 5 miles hilly loop in PM with 1 mile straights and curves. Calves a little tight when I got out of bed but a good coating of Freeze It worked great. Ran strongly for the 5 mile loop. Able to keep up with out killing myself on the hills. Straights and curves was interesting - my legs were not to happy with actually having to go fast. Felt good to stretch them out though. Very satisfied with my effort. I feel real benefit from this base building. I hope I can keep this progress going in the fall.

Feeling strong

Thursday of last week marked the last run of the week for me as I was at a horse show all weekend. 12 miles from Anderson High. Definitely one of my strongest runs of the season. No pain at all besides the usual stiffness for the first 1/2 mile or so. Forgot my Garmin so ran with my watch and by feel. I ran 6 days straight from Sat thru Thurs and totalled 60.5 miles. Did not feel it at all at the end of Thursday's run.

Horse show went well - many things learned and a plan is in motion to prepare me and Riley to kick some jumper butt in 2010. We will not be showing again until then. From now until the Houston Marathon, I will be working on basics for my self and building my strength so I can be a more effective rider. Riley will be working at getting fitter so that after Houston we will be both ready to really get to work for the show season. Strangely, while I am certainly the fittest rider I know, it still tires me out if Riley is difficult when he jumps. He is very powerful over the fences and I have a great deal of trouble staying with him.

This week is a down week for the North group. I will cut back a little but not a ton since I missed last weeks run on Sat. I will aim to run between 45-50 miles and plan to run everyday except Friday. Our first big long run is on August 15th so I also want to be sure I'm not fatigued going into that.

Meesha is not so good again. Eating very little. Seems to be spending more time laying around than usual but still seems bright. I'll take her to the vet for a check up this week.

Depressing

I just checked the 10 day forecast...except for Friday, it's gonna be
over 100 degrees. I sure hope this means we are in for a perfect fall
and winter. Knowing our luck, it will flood all fall and freeze all
winter!!

This weather pattern is solidifying my plans for 2010. No fall
marathon for me!! Not sure I can do this again anytime soon.
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Anxiety Attack

It did not help that as I was driving to our 6:30pm run, the guy on the radio reminded me that this was the hottest July on record. For some reason, I have not acclimated to the 100 degree temps at all. I'm OK in the mornings but being out in the full on sun and heat just isn't working. Today we were to run 4 miles warm up, 2 miles steady state (that being strictly effort based and not worrying about actual pace) and 4 miles cool down. I figured I'd be good for maybe 8-8:10 for the steady state - maybe!
As we got started we ran up a slight rise in the sun and I paniked in my head thinking "I'm not even going to make it 4 miles). I ran with Brandon and we decided to stick to an easy pace for the first 4. Appaerently that was nobody elses plan as they took off for the first 4 miles. By mile 3 though, I noticed that the front group was coming back to us.
Brandon was thinking 8:15 was doable for the steady state so we started carefully, planning to pick up the pace on the second mile if we felt OK. First mile 7:59!! Second mile 7:59!! I was really happy as we had not being pushing very hard to get that done. I thought I'd do the last 4 miles cool down but my legs and head weren't in it so I cut it a little short and did 3.25 instead.
So overall, a good run - especially being that it was Tuesday and Tuesdays aren't usually very good to me.

I am noticing it gets dark faster now and there is often a nice breeze in the evening. I can totally live with that.

Diet update - I'm down to 144...yay!!!

Stupid

Hot=slow!! I decided I was too tired to run on Sunday morning after work. So I decided I would run 8 miles after work. It was 100+ degrees and there is NO shade where I live. I did a 3.5 mile loop, stopped at my driveway and grabbed a new water bottle. Ran down to the shadeless but flat neighborhood across 969 and refilled my bottle at the convenience store. Did a loop through the neighborhood, refilled at the store and shuffled home. I was satisfied with 7.5 miles. It was slow!! I will run when I get home tomorrow even if my eyes are closed the whole time. The good news is the run tomorrow will be subtracted from the miles I run in the heat on Tues PM...this is my new strategy to get as few super slow runs in as possible. I am not adapting to the heat and it is just an exercise in survival everytime.
I forced my self to eat dinner when I got home and took a "cold" shower.
I drank 4 hand held water bottles (I'm guessing 16oz each) and still lost 2.6 lbs in 7.5 miles.
Speaking of weight, I am heading the right direction finally. I was well hydrated before the run and am at 145. 5 weeks - 5 pounds...I'm not going to do anything different and if I get to 140 yay but if not, I'll be close. Then it will be 2-3 more pounds before Houston and I'll be good to go.

Runtex to Barton Springs

The north group has been begging Karen for a run to Barton Springs for weeks. Finally she treated us with a surprisingly challenging 20 miler that end up at Barton Springs. The south group joined us and did some MGP while we logged some base miles. I ran in my new Asics and of course Karen was freaking since I had never worn them. They were fine - could use a little more cushion in the left forefoot but otherwise great. I ran with Karen the whole way - we would take turns pushing the pace a little and at mile 17 she suggested we just ease up a little and finish the run. Right Karen...she picked up the pace the whole way. I hung on pretty well but decided that I'm not about to waste a kick on some base miles so I let her go for the last 1/2 mile. Barton Springs was awesome!!! The cold water felt so darn good. Afterwards, I went to Whole Foods and had a breakfast taco and raspberry square and water. Indulged with a 90 minute massage. Had a kind of crappy nap prior to going to work. However, I will say the compression socks I put on immediately after the soak at Barton Springs and again for work work great - much less leg fatigue.

Shoe drama

I had ordered some replacement shows from Rogue. I went yesterday
after my run and the guy working there was horrified at the amount of
outward sag there was. He said it was caused by too much stability
plus my orthotic set up. The shoes above are some old Mizunos I wear
at work but you can see they suffer the same problem. So I tried some
neutral shoes and will use them plus my inserts for now.
Also got some knee high support socks to help reduce my calf/ankle/
foot swelling.

I need to practice grabbing my iPhone faster

I'm driving around the HEB parking lot yesterday and make note of 2 cyclists.  I swear, one was completely naked.  Turns out he was, other than the skin colored thong he had on.  Sorry I was unable to get a picture for your viewing pleasure.  He did not resemble any of the cyclists Sadie had on her post!

Weekly Wrap up

Tuesday - 8 miles of hell.  It was hot (now there's a surprise!) and my legs were like logs.  I was supposed to run 10 but after 8 I knew that wasn't happening.  Since I ran less, I had time to do strides and core before I went to work.

Wednesday AM - less than 12 hours after the run from hell, I had a very pleasant 9 mile run with some moderate hills.  Tried to say hi to the cutest donkey ever but it ran away.  Watched a guy gallop a very attractive horse on the exercise track near my house.  All in all, a nice run.  Made better because I don't have a functioning watch and my Garmin had a low battery.

Thursday AM - 12 miles with Karen, Trevor and Mike.  After 2 miles I was mildly concerned that I would get dropped. Sucked it up and hung on.  Ran the last 4 with just Karen as the guys were just running 10.  Karen told me to pick up the pace for the last mile (I'm sure she was just tired of our back and forth increase of pace and wanted to get rid of me!).  I enjoy running with Karen - we are well matched in pace and push each other just the right amount.  I am pleased with my running - I'm keeping up a lot better this time around.  Going to tweak my schedule and run 30 min on Mondays and cut down the number of miles on Tuesdays.

Friday - Meesha ran around all night and then started some meowing nonsense at 3 am.  I got up and fed her and went back to sleep until 9:30AM.  Am having a hard time getting going with laundry, house cleaning etc.

Sold Out

Unbelievable...the Houston marathon and Half Marathon sold out.  It opened at 0001 Friday morning and the site crashed at that time.  Our north team group is using Houston as our A race and it looks like everyone signed up fast enough.  And got great hotel rooms!!!

Friday/Saturday

Riley did fine in his first 2 classes.  I did not run Friday AM - too tired.  By Friday afternoon, my legs were so puffed up, I could not get my riding boots on.  Thankfully a friend who was riding at the same time has the same sized feet and bigger calves so I wore her boots.  Jumper classes went OK...Riley is starting to think not jumping might be an option...not good.  He jumped his first real jumper class and went clean but was slow.

Saturday - I had planned to run at 4am...at 4 am I thought better of it and went back to sleep until 6am.  At this point, I was running late but got to the show and ready to ride.  Not so good...Riley stopped twice.  Once for absolutely no good reason...Came up with a plan for the evening jumper class.

Jumper classic - no big deal but you win a few bucks!  I had put a different bit on Riley's bridle and carried a bat so I could spank him if necessary.  Course looked pretty challenging. My only goal was for Riley to go clean in the first course.  He did and went clean in the jump off.  He is a little slow in the jump off because he is inexperienced so I take longer turns than most people so he can clearly understand what he is supposed to be doing.  Ended up 4th.  I was really pleased.  Another 6 months of training and he will be competitive with the other horses.

Time for bed...I'm tired.

Thursday

Medium long run from Mccallum High.  Easy flat loop.  Ran 2 miles extra before the official run.  Felt great on the run -really strong, no over heating and enjoyed not carrying water!  Plan to sign up for Houston first thing on Friday AM.

Went and spent the day setting jumps for the horse show.  Definitely tired at the end of the day.

Keeping busy

Saturday - ran 18 miles and it went well. Had a minor sinking spell at mile 16 but got my act together and finished nice and strong. What can I say...hot and humid. Short spell of minor butt pain.
Sunday - fantastic 5 miler on a road I don't often run on. Pretty much 2.5 miles up hill - turn around and 2.5 miles downhill.

Monday - Riley (the horse) choked. That means he got his dinner stuck in his esophagus and couldn't swallow it. Fortunately the vet was able to get it cleared pretty easily. Riley is a total light weight - he got a dose of sedation for a 600lb horse (he is 1100lbs) and it totally kicked his ass. He could barely stand up. Any way he spent a miserable 20hrs in a stall with no food and all his buddies were outside - I finally threw caution to the wind and put him back out with his friends on Tuesday afternoon since he wasn't drinking enough water. So far, so good.

Tuesday - I am at a horseshow this coming weekend so won't be doing the long run. I am going to do as much mileage as I can but I know I can't show my horse and run 18 miles on the same morning. I will run 5 miles on Friday, Sat and maybe a little longer on Sunday. Just depends how tired I am. Anyway, I added 2 on to the run on Tuesday for a total of 10.2. Felt great for the first 8 and then got over heated and dizzy on the last 2.

Thursday

I reluctantly got up at 4 am this morning for the 5:15 run.  Not too many people at the workout considering how hot it's gonna be this evening.  Karen seemed a little agitated about the number of people missing.  Sounds like she may nix the afternoon workouts and go strictly with AM because of the heat...hopefully it will cool down even a little, soon.  She is worried about people's safety when it so hot.  The little weirdness in my right glute/hip/groin was completely gone this morning.  I did a warm bath with epsom salts last night and used the foam roller this morning.  My run was slow pace wise but spot on effort wise today.  However, it looked like everyone was slow.

On the horse side of things, Riley had his massage today and Amy wondered if he had a little upset stomach since he was cranky and he has been kicking out a little when I ride.  I ordered him some special "whole food" treats to help with that and got him some Aloe Juice for his feed.  Other than that, he is doing great.

I had the pleasure of sending Judge Biscoe (the head of Travis Co. commissioners court) an email, as did a group of other horse people in Austin regarding the sad state of the footing at the Expo Center.  The County is refusing to pay for additional sand in areas where it is needed.  Apparently the flood of emails were very effective and the footing is being taken care of right now.  Too bad the City of Austin isn't as reasonable.  I'm sure the people that run the facilities owned and operated by the County were not happy to get the call from the Judge!

"Get off the Internet"

That was one of the emails I saw on my work email last night.  It was a mass email sent out to all employees during Michael Jackson's Memorial.  Apparently critical functions were failing because too many people were on line (and not working).  I thought it was pretty funny!!

Why I love my job!

I have a photo from work I really want to post - it sums up the worst part of my job. However, knowing how the internet works, it would catch up with me in a bad way so instead I'll sum it it up in a few words:

a guy who turned 21 today goes out drinking to celebrate. He ends up depositing all of his alcohol and pasta dinner - maybe pizza on the floor of my office. EMS comes to get him and while they are holding him in a semi-standing position, I have to pull his vomit soaked pants off.
As EMS says - what a great birthday - $700 bill from EMS, $3000 bill from the ER and a PI. Yay!!

Struggling...a little

Saturday we did a 10.5 mile run from Coach's house - then a dip in the pool, food and silly games. The run sucked - 80 degrees and high humidity but the fun part was just that fun. I felt like I rehydrated pretty well as well as drinking plenty on the run but by Sunday I had a persistant headache which I couldn't shake. I blew off my 5 mile run.

Monday - still feeling tired with a little headache. Continuing to work on food choices and hydrating.

Tuesday - woke up Tuesday afternoon feeling great. Drank my usual Accelerade pre run and had hopes of a good run. It was hot, a little humid and windy. I set out at a conservative pace, carried water, took some Endurotabs but unfortunately by mile 5 it was falling apart. A little dizzy and lightheaded. I stopped and ate some Sport Beans and got going again. At the 6 mile water stop, I ate the rest of my sport beans and 2 more endurolytes and drank some water. Felt OK but slow on the remaining 2 miles. Because I ran so slow today, I did not have time for a core w/o. Will do that on Wed.

I'm thinking my iratic diet is not helping so I am starting a food diary to make sure I'm getting enough of everything and to be accountable. I'm thinking of completing my food diary for a couple of weeks and then checking in with Meredith to see where the problems are.

Plans for the rest of the week - 5 miles Wednesday AM, 10 miles Thurs AM (both at a conservative pace no matter how good I feel), lunch with a friend whose visiting from CA on Friday.

Spa Friday

Got my hair colored and cut and then considered taking a nap on the
salon's super comfy sofa. Decided on a pedicure instead. What relaxing
way to catch up on trashy magazines and come out looking better than
when I went in.
Went home and made some delicious homemade chicken salad.

Sleep

So does the fact that I woke up to my cat crashing around in the kitchen while she was looking for a snack at 2:30am and then didn't go back to sleep until my alarm went off at 4am mean 4.5 hours was all my body needed?

I broke down and gave her a can of cat food at 2:30 in hopes that she would eat and go to bed.  No such luck.  She was busy getting on and off the bed and drinking water and then the obvious trip to the litter box the rest of the night.  I think she lay down for 20 minutes total. Obviously she needs more activity during the day because she never bothers me when I sleep during the day.

Broken record

I have tried hard to not obsess over my weight and despite people kindly telling me that they have never thought I should not be running in only a sports bra, my weight is creeping up in a bad way.  I know perfectly well why and the only way to get it under control, is for me to eat better food and be less lazy.  It's July 1st and I am going to try once again to get things in check.  However, I am not dieting.  I am eliminating foods from my diet that don't contribute to good running...cake, cookies, chips.  I figure if I am careful but not obsessive, I should be down 5-8 lbs by September.

In other news I have been doing well on my runs...we got an extra down week due to the heat and are enjoying slightly cooler temps.  Keeping on top of my hydration.  Am going to be doing the 5:15am runs on Thursday from now on.

Took Meesha to the vet today just to weigh her...6.15lbs.  Yikes.  However the tech thought she looked really healthy despite the drastic weight loss.  She continues to eat fairly well and is active.  She thoroughly enjoyed the ride in the car.  Stopped at the Manor Farmers market and got some tasty yellow cherry tomatoes and peppers.

Silver dog enjoyed a 30 min run today and then a nice cool bath and roll in the dirt.

Running South

Today we started at NW Park.  As always hot and humid was on the menu.  My shorts were dripping by mile 6.  Ran with Karen, Brandon, and James.  Everyone in our group is carrying hand held water just to survive between the water stops.  Ran past Team Rogue on Duval.

Uneventful run for the most part but I chose not to pick up the pace on the last 2 miles today as Brandon was really suffering and I felt it smarter to make sure he made it back in one piece.  So a little slow today but I felt comfortable the whole way.

Interupted sleep

Jeez, I make every effort to get a good nights sleep only to have
meesha galloping around all night meowing. Eventually I got up and
tossed her outside. That lasted an hour and then she's scratching on
the door wanting in. I think she was hungry and not willing to eat
what was left on her plate. I am not about to start feeding my pets in
the middle of the night. She has unbelievable energy for a cat that is
losing about 1/2 a pound a month no matter how much she eats. Right
now she's napping so she will be all rested for a repeat performance
tonight.

Sent from my iPhone

Surprise

I had planned to try and get to the AM run today since it was going to 105 degrees today.  Unfortunately that plan fell through as it was too busy at work and we were down one nurse.  I figured it would be another death march like Tuesday.  Karen sent out an email starting the run at 6:30 instead of 6:15.  Temps were 105 with 25% humidity at the start.  Started out at an easy pace up North Hills.   Let Karen, Debbie and Jim go ahead and tucked in with James to maintain an easy pace.  Mile 4 involved a long gradual up hill - I settled into a conservative pace and let James go.  Mid way up the hill, my climbing legs kicked in and I passed James and started gaining on the other 3.  Tried to be patient as we were only half way through the run.  Passed Debbie with authority on North Hills and let Jim and Karen hammer to the mile 5 water stop.  After a quick refill of my water bottle we headed back out up North Hills.  I was patient and put a little hurt on Jim as we neared the top.  My overall goal was to have the last 2 miles be my fastest 2.  Granted the last 2 miles are flat to downhill but if you're trashed, you're trashed.  Jim caught back up on Greystone and every time I picked up the pace he was right there.  I checked my garmin and I was right where I should have been so I locked into my pace...I did not let myself get sucked into a foot race and let him go.  Last 2 miles 8:02 and 7:57.  Woo, hoo!!  Did my strides and core workout.  Feeling great!!  Oh yeah...it was 99 degrees as I drove home at 8:30.

Drained

Ran our 8 mile group run this afternoon. I started slow and continued slow for pretty much the whole run. I ran from shady patch to shady patch and carried water. I crawled up the one long gradual hill. I am a little worried about the 8 mile climb at 6500 ft in New Mexico in September. At least it will be in the 50's...or so they say. In the end, I managed to pick up the pace for the last 2 miles and turned a shamefully slow run into a slow run with a decent finish. I was so beat at the end, I could barely enjoy my popsicle or do the core workout. My heart rate was still in the 80's at 9:30pm and my BP was a little low. I'm working on hydrating but I'm not hungry or thirsty. I need an IV. It is interesting in how on Tuesday and Thursday evenings it is a survival run with a lot of people running on their own with earphones. On the cooler Sat AM's, more people run together and seem chattier.
AM going to try and run 40 min when I get home in the morning to avoid another 100+ degree run. Try is the operative word.

Saturday run

Started from our new location again today.  Karen has started adding in hills again.  Nothing major but some steep downs and long climbs up.  It was warm and humid but managable because there was good cloud cover.  Ran 16.3 miles at 8:30 pace.  Able to push the pace at the end although I opened it up a little soon and we had a couple of steep ups that are a huge disadvantage for me.  However, gradual downhills and flat are my friends.  I felt strong and smooth on those parts and was able to drop the pace significantly towards the end.

Ran with Karen the whole way as she believes I can create pace control for her at the start.  Our first 2 miles were 8:35 and 8:18 so I failed.  She was also grumbling by the end so next time I'll slow down more at the start and open it up at the end.  However, she has to slow down when I do or it's pointless!

Concrete or not, I am looking forward to Houston...I think it will be a good race for me.

coincidence??

I think not.  I don't know anything about computers or broadband but I have quite a bit of trouble with my broadband service out here in the sticks.  Just this morning and for the last few weeks, I have had no service hence the number of posts via iPhone.  So I called and grumbled today.  They said something about a service fee and since I don't pay for this service I said I would have to check with my landlord.  Turns out she was in Dallas all day so likely didn't get the email  Strangely enough, with no actual physical intervention on the broadband people's part, I seem to have great service now.  Let's see how long it lasts.  

My version of...

...you won't get it if you don't ask. I was at Pet co. buying cat and
dog food and I see on one brand (Wellness) if you buy a 12lb bag of
dry cat food you get 6 cans of high $ catfood free. My cat doesn't eat
Wellness brand dry food but my dog does. So I ask the manager if I can
have the free cat food anyway since I'm buying the dog food. She says
sure. Yay, free cat food.

Sent from my iPhone

Wednesday and Thursday

I was too tired to face running in 100 degree temps on Wed. So I
didn't. Slept extra instead.
Thurs I left work 2 hrs early and did the 5:15 am run. What an amazing
difference. My legs felt like the had turbo boosters on them. I
carried water with me and other than a very quick potty break at mile
5 did not stop. Ended up with a nice solid 10 miles with a speedy last
1/4 mile. What I did learn was how I feel at that effort. On the days
I have to run in the heat, I will put out that amount of effort.
Now I'm waiting on getting my monthly massage. I'm tired so it will
probably end up being a nap.
Sent from my iPhone

Tuesday run

That is the temp gauge in my car on my way to our lovely 6:15 pm run
on Tuesday. It sucked. What is remarkable to me is that apparently
some people are immune to triple digit temps and can run well when it
is super hot.

Oops

I finally got my macro schedule for the summer...problem is, I can't seem to read the numbers right. Did 12 miles on Sat only to find out when I got home, it should have been 14!
We started from a new location and had a great run up around Duval, Jollyville and all the nice shady neighborhoods in that area. It was very humid but after running in the afternoons all week, the heat wasn't really a factor. I ran smart - ran strong for the first few miles and then settled into a more conservative pace for about 3 miles and then picked up the pace for the last half. Felt really strong all the way to the finish.
Went for breakfast tacos afterwards and then enjoyed a lengthy nap! I have noticed that a significant portion of my days off work are spent sleeping now that I am back in the groove with the running.

Thinking

Ran 8 miles in 95 degree heat and 55% humidity yesterday. Karen has
started adding hills. I was out of sorts a little. Tired, not making
great food choices (a bowl of cereal and a veggie breakfast patty
doesn't seem right) and slightly cranky. I felt good until about mile
5 and then it turned into work. I am still happy with my overall pace
and sucked it up when I wasn't having a great run at the end. I am
doing well with the hydration. Already on 2nd liter for the day.
Averaging 4 liters every day.
I am enjoying reading the triathlon blogs. I'm thinking - could I do
one? I know I can but do I want to? Not sure an ironman is in the
cards at this point due to time constraints. A half - absolutely. May
make the longhorn half my goal race next year.

Sent from my iPhone

Heart rate

So to entertain myself, I am going to run with my heart rate monitor and keep track of variables such as temp/wind/humidity and my average heart rate and pace. Tuesday I did 6 miles on a relatively flat course. I was not wearing my heart rate moniter but I guarentee you my heart was way higher than it should have been. My pace was 8:24/mile. It was about 95 degrees with no wind. Wednesday I ran 30 min with the monitor and tried to keep my heart rate below 150bpm. At the end of the run the average pace was 8:48 and average HR was 149. It was 95 degrees or so and quite windy. I will wear the monitor on Thurs PM and see what happens when I run in a group. I expect the conditions to be similar.

Today one of the buttons on the stupid wrist band broke and although I can still make it work, it pushes me closer to buying a Garmin with integrated HR monitor.

All in all, I'm feeling pretty good on the runs and am determined to try not to fall into the same rut I was in last year. Not sure if I can but I'll try.

Have a couple of conflicts with the long runs this summer but I think I will sacrifice one long run and one morning of a horse show. Will talk to Karen about it so she has no reason to get bent out of shape.

Butt kicking

It appears Karen surfs the net in her idle time. She sent me a nasty
little email about the evils of even running a slow 5K during base
phase. It irritated me little. I know why she doesn't want us doing
extracurricular activities like that but I haven't received a paycheck
from her or Rogue yet and I'm an adult.
Probably woundnt have bothered me as much if I wasn't feeling like I
was on the verge of being screwed by my work as far as my schedule
goes as well.

Sent from my iPhone

Fun times

Today I ran the Run for the Heros 5K.  I work for the Travis Co. Sheriffs Dept so I ran representing them and Rogue.  Since we are in base phase, I took it easy and ran HMGP.  The race was at SouthPark Meadows and in my opinion it was not that great of a course.  Way to many turns.  However, the race was secondary.  I wanted to support the Sheriff's team and APD who put on the race.  The race was won by Allison who works at Rogue.  I ended up 3rd open woman.  The Sheriff was pumped to see one of his people  get an award.  I think I posed for more pictures than Kara Goucher did at Boston!  Actually lots of TCSO people did well over all.  I talked with the Sheriff about the marathons and he actually asked more than once if I ran the whole way.  I'll give him bonus points for knowing how many miles are in a marathon.  He seemed motivated by the performance of his people to step up his training.  Overall good times.   Ended up doing around 5 miles total.

6:17

Thats the time I woke up.  6:30.  That's the time the run started.  I've done this before so I didn't panic, made a call so I would have turn by turns available, took care of Silver dog and drove down to the start.  Today breakfast consisted of 12oz of Accelerade.  I was only running 10 miles today but i took a GU just in case I got a low blood sugar attack.  Started with an easy first mile and then busted the run out.  Averaged 8:17.  As Karen said afterwards: perfect.  The last 2 miles were a little uncomfortable but I was able to maintain my form and slowed up just a little.  Did our new core routine and stretched.  Amazing how pleasant it is doing this at NorthWest park in the sunshine and warmth compared to chilly windy winter days.

I'm looking forward to next week when I'll run with the group.  As for today, I'm going to buy an alarm clock that works :) and visit a friend who essentially is my adopted grandmother.  She is the mother in law of the person I take my jumping lessons with.  She took care of Riley while he was laid up.  I just heard she is back to riding some horses around her ranch!!  Great news.  She is 80+ years old, has emphysema and is blind in one eye.  I hope I can still ride when I'm over 80.

It's not easy but you can do it!

I just finished reading Priscilla's blog.  Here's my version of "if I can do it so can you...".

I ran in high school and college - wasn't great but I got it done.  After college I did mountain bike and road racing for a mind numbing 10+ years.  Then I sat on my butt and got fat while riding horses.

When I decided to lose weight I knew I would have to exercise.  I figured my running days were over but surely I could walk.  Walked 3 then 5 then 7 and finally 10 miles at Town Lake.  Just like Priscilla, I'm not a fan of the trail.  Then I decided walking took too long.  So I tried running.  First 30 seconds and then slowly but surely building up to 3 miles.  By the time the summer was over, I could run 10 miles slowly, I had done a free Rogue program for the Lance Armstrong 10K and joined Rogue to do the AT&T marathon.  

I had no idea what I was getting into and after we did the 2 mile time trial and my predicted time was 3:50 (my BQ time) I decided no matter what I would qualify for Boston.  Tons of people said no way.  When I finished Steve promptly said "beginners luck" - this was about 10 seconds after I crossed the finish line.

At that point, I had no idea how hard qualifying for Boston was for a lot of people, I figured that if I could, it couldn't be that hard.  I have developed a huge respect for those people because I have tried 3 times to break 3:30 and haven't done it yet.

Today, I was picking up my race number for the Run for the Heros and I was talking to a lady who had run the Austin Marathon 2 years ago.  We talked about Boston and she said there was no way she could qualify.  I told her that it would not be easy but that if she worked at it, some day, she too could qualify.

Another amazing thing happened today.  I ran Tues, Wed and Thurs this week - had an excellent run yesterday.  I felt great today - positive, limber and rode my horse better than ever.  This was after 6 weeks of dreading starting back up.  Right now, I'm looking forward to each and every run and will take the crappy runs with a smile instead of beating myself up.

Cooler

Surprising what a north wind does.  It was cooler for our PM run yesterday...quite nice out actually.   I ran 6 miles with Karen and Jim.  Best part - Karen had to repeatedly tell me to slow down in the last few miles.  Averaged 8:02.  I'm feeling good and karen actually wants us to go just a hair slower so that is good.  Used my heart rate monitor and even when we were running 7:50's my heart rate was 148-155.  Better than I thought.

Riley looks like he is losing some weight - likely because it's hot and food is his lowest priority.  He likes grass and that's about it.  You just can't live on grass in this part of Texas.  Slight possibility he has a stomach ulcer so I am going to try him on an antacid.  If he does better he will get the high dollar ulcer treatment and then stay on antacids.  However, he doesn't fit the profile of  a horse with an ulcer.  He lives outside, has hay/grass available 24/7, eats very little grain and generally lives a stress free life.  Oh well, I may just have to have a skinny horse over the summer.

100 degrees

Whew. It was too hot today for the run. OK in the shade but unbearable
when the sun was beating down on my head. Thankfully we only had to
run 6 miles and my Garmin said 5.59. Worked for me. I felt a little
nauseous and lightheaded but got the run done at a respectable pace.
Did 5 strides and a new core w/o which I am going to have to work at
at home. Got some motivation from the group today which is good. Need
to readjust my food and sleep to running.
Sent from my iPhone

Not looking good for running

This weekend I went on a fantastic trip to Belleville with some friends to let our horses jump some cross country jumps.  For my horse they were about 3' high (not big) but they don't fall down and they require a slightly different ride than regular show jumping jumps.  Riley loved it and as always exceeded all expectations.  The coach was very impressed with him and her husband was pretty much drooling over him as he is the type of horse he used to ride.   Long legs, short back and super athletic.  I surprised myself by riding well - the running as increased my fitness alot.  I am committed to the Houston marathon but I'm not out to set the world on fire.  I will shoot for a PR (ie breaking 3:30) but I think it needs to be a little more fun than the last session.  After Houston is done, I'm going to seriously reevaluate what I want to do with myself.  Right now my running vacation has ended and it's time to get back in the running saddle.  I have enjoyed this 6 weeks a ton and wish it could go on.  

When not to use Facebook

So a nurse at my work called in sick on Wednesday...I see on her facebook comments she mentioned she was standing in line at DPS on Wed at noon.  I thought you were sick!!   Grrr.  Good thing I don't supervise her.

I'm worried

It's less than a week until training starts.  Despite not running much lately, my heel is still sore and now my right achilles is acting up.  Yesterday I attempted 6 miles.  Made it 3 miles at a moderate pace and then was too hot so took a few walk breaks on the way home.  I had carried water with me and that still didn't help.

I am going to go out on my bike tomorrow since that doesn't bother me at all.  I had signed up for a 10K in Round Rock - has obstacles part way and I thought it would be a fun way to get a 6 mile run in.  I had no intention of racing it - just taking it easy.  Now I'm not sure I will do it at all.

I have an opportunity to go on a fun horsy weekend on Sat/Sun - I am considering doing that but there are reasons why I don't want to do that either.

I'm really hoping that getting back in a routine with the group will pull me out of this funk.

Impulse shopping

So yesterday I decided to get a bike rack for my car so I could bring
my bike into town easily and do errands from a central location (ie
the car dealership while my car is serviced). While I was at my
favorite bike store, I decided to get a bike computer so I could see
how fast and how far I was going. Now you would think that it would
also be cool to know how long it took to get from point a to point b
so you could have an average speed. Seems the model I chose (the
cheapest one) does not have a timer or average speed mode. Oh well,
I'll just have to wear my watch!! The bike rack serves my needs very
well and it was kinds cool riding my bike to my massage and then lunch
while my car was taken care of. I will say that the place I had lunch
was great. After taking great lengths to lock my bike up, they told me
I could bring it inside next time. The Honda dealership was good too.
They babysat it for me while I relaxed inside while my car got it's
complimentary bath. Can't say the same for most drivers in Austin. I
made every effort to stay on back streets but every now and then you
gotta take a busy street. It was a little scary. Oh well, I am not
detered.

Sent from my iPhone

Ambivilance

I finally signed up for my next Rogue program.  Honestly I had some serious second thoughts about it.  Partly because I had a really great time at the horse show this weekend and wouldn't mind getting another horse to work with and partly because I have been eating terribly and feel like crap.

I am still a little upper body sore and tired from the show - moving those jumps is hard work.

I had a lousy run yesterday - I'm thinking poor nutrition and inadequate hydration.

My long term plan is to give myself leeway during the summer with the workouts and enjoy the 3 horse shows I have planned.  I will continue to give myself a little leeway as far as a race goal in Houston.  Karen's idea of a time for me seems way to aggressive but I'll work towards it.  No worries if I don't get there.

Once Houston is complete, I will reevaluate my life goals and see if racing is what I want to continue or if I want to get a young horse to work with.  I can't do both.