Return to Speedwork

Another crisp and clear morning greeted us today as a fairly numerous group gathered for mile repeats. With Tuesday classes being cancelled for the holiday tomorrow, we got some of the Tuesday/Thursday crowd to join us for the festivities. On the menu today was mile repeats. For the AT&T peeps, somewhere in the 5-6 range for repeats, but for recovering marathoners like me, maybe 3 or 4.

Nice conversation as we rolled over to Zilker with Amy, Marcy and Brian, then drills. The call to the post happened next, as Gilbert got the groups together, with their target times. I was in a big pack of maybe 12 runners, many of whom I knew were about my speed for usual workouts, so I figured I was in the right place. At our imaginary beep, we were off. Almost immediately, I realized that we were moving a lot quicker than the normal reconnaissance pace for the first repeat. It felt okay, just a little quick. I soon found myself hanging out at the back of the pack. I managed to close up on the group a bit towards the end of the repeat, but even so, I was surprised to see that my caboose finishing position scored me a 7:08 repeat. Go figure!

2 minutes rest seemed luxurious, and we were off again. This time, I finished maybe 2 people from the back of the group, and still scored a 7:03 repeat. Those folks at the front of the pack were doing some serious repeating! My third repeat was 7:02, and given that I was just coming back to speedwork, I called it a day. I felt fine, and four repeats wouldn't have been terrible, but for a first workout, this was enough. Anne and I ran a slower (8:25) mile repeat for a warmdown lap while our peeps were doing their fourth and fifth repeats, and then I ran back with the gang once they were done.

It was good to meet Martha, at least to put a name to a face, and as always it was fun to hang out with my friends. I stuck around for a while afterwards, once I bundled up with warm and dry clothes, and talked at length with Alex, John, James, Gilbert, and Margaret. Good times...

For the day, about 7.75 total miles, and I'm happy to be back with the speedwork portion of the program. I think we're doing fartleks on Wednesday, which I usually enjoy, so that will make for a good week. A good day at the running office!

New Year's Eve plans? Nope. Don't usually do that, and this year is no exception. I'll cook up a nice dinner here at the hacienda, and we'll try to stay up to watch the ball drop at Times Square. Scintillating, eh? :-) Be safe out there, and let's start 2008 on a good note.

Climb Mt. Niitaka!

Okay, so I stole the title from WWII history class. Sue me. "Climb Mt. Bonnell" would of course be much more accurate, if I were writing about today's run. So, about that run...

6:00am was the start time for today's little jaunt up Mt. Bonnell, via the slightly extended approach Lake Austin Blvd. to Enfield to Exposition to 35th. Once again, running Enfield to Exposition up to 35th, I was happy with my decision to skip the AT&T marathon this year. That's a tough little stretch from about mile 8 to mile 11 or so. But, I digress, as usual. :-)

It was really nice out there this morning, crisp and clear with starting temps around 33 degrees. For me, that's great running weather. Warm hat and gloves at the ready, I hung out in the Annex while we gathered ourselves up for the day's journey. I took the time to chat with Amy as Gilbert talked with us for a bit about things hither and yon, and we finally got going maybe 10 minutes past the scheduled start time.

Amy and I grouped up with Brian and Frank, and our pace pod settled into the day's groove. We had a grand time rolling along up to the first water stop, chatting away about the usual topics. A fairly snappy water stop later, it was time to deal with the hilly stuff. Enfield to Exposition to 35th was rolling, but Amy and I got through that in good shape. Frank and Brian had dropped back to investigate a construction site on Enfield. Amy and I made the turn on Mt. Bonnell Road, and for the first time in quite a while, it was time for a Bonnell Climb. I caught up with a few folks on the climb, which made me feel pretty darned good, and I hung out for a while at the Bonnell water stop talking with Colleen and Eric and a bunch of other folks while my group formed back up. Alex came back by, smiling away, as his group of Bonnelliacs returned from their trip down the backside of Bonnell to the Dry Creek Saloon and back. Fun times.

I was grinning, myself, once again being reminded about how much I enjoy the Bonnell runs, for whatever reason. I guess it's just cool to tell people that you ran up Mt. Bonnell that day. :-) So, a GU, 6 minutes, and some Powerade later, we took off to return to RunTex. Pretty soon, Brian picked up the pace and left us in the dust on Pecos, but Frank, Amy and I maintained our group through "Backwards Scenic" as we picked our way back to the last water stop at Enfield and Lake Austin. The Rogues were coming down Scenic as we were going the other way, and maybe Austin Fit had some groups in there, too. Hard to tell. Certainly it felt like we were running against the human tide!

Gilbert and Kenny were there at the water stop when we arrived, and we exchanged some light-hearted bantering as we took our last GU and had some Accelerade. Oh, Amy was sporting a special holiday flavour of GU, something like Chocolate Mint? She assured me it was pretty yummy, but that's too much for me. Santa put a 6 pack of the special stuff in her stocking. That Santa's quite a guy!

As we rolled down Lake Austin Blvd., I decided that I was officially happy that I'd joined everyone for the full Bonnell Experience today. I was feeling great, and with the snappy weather and all, it was just a great day. Not to mention that my pace pals for the day were such great running friends! Another day to revel in all that my running hobby/avocation has brought my way...

After announcing that we weren't going to do the "fast finish" that Gilbert had suggested, I think we did actually pick it up a bit down the homestretch. Not terribly so, but a little. Frank took a side trail on the way home, and then I pulled away a bit from Amy in the last mile. I guess I was just feeling good, and my legs decided on their own to pull me to the finish at their pace.

I finished nicely, and enjoyed a cup or two of water. There were more Gazelles there, and more opportunities to talk with folks. I feel like I'm back with the gang now that my White Rock recovery time is over, and I'm looking forward to the weeks ahead.

The scoring, for those at home: 10:00, 9:29, 9:26, 9:05 (2:19 GU/Accelerade stop), 9:01, 8:55, 8:50, and 0.68 miles up Bonnell at 9:43/mile pace (6:00 water/Powerade stop), 9:20, 9:05, 9:20 (2:05 GU/Accelerade stop), 9:04, 8:35, 8:47, and 0.86 miles at 8:00/mile pace. Final score was 14.55 miles at 9:06 actual running pace, 9:49/mile counting all the stop time. HR numbers were pretty good, legs feel good, great day at the running office.

It was fun to lead the stretching for the gang afterwards, even though I had to think pretty hard about the correct order of things from time to time. Much conversation followed, as we all enjoyed the bright sunshine and cool temperatures.

For the week, I ended up with a pretty robust 35 miles, although most of it was easy running. I can no longer hide from speedwork, though, so Monday will be mile repeats with the gang at Zilker. It's good to be able to run like this, and I hope to never take it for granted!

More EZ Runnin' With Friends

Today, I met up with Frank and Rachel at the Rock at the leisurely time of 9:15am for a 7 mile spin around LBLake. The weather? It was spectacular! About 38 degrees, bright sun, crisp and clear. Ahhhhhhh.....

It was a rare treat to run with both Frank and Rachel, as they've graduated from my usual pace pod, but I was able to run a semi-MGP pace run today while they slummed along. :-) I had fun chatting away with them as we cruised around the pond, and we covered the usual topics. And, no, I cannot share any of that conversation with you. What is said on the trail stays on the trail, after all.

So, for the day, 6.82 miles, 1:02:29, 9:10 pace or thereabouts. That time includes our quick water stop at Auditorium Shores. We dialed in the pace over the first 3 miles, and then dipped to the 8:40 range for the last 4 miles. I enjoyed myself out there. These runs since White Rock have served to rekindle the running fire that I had let die out a bit, and I'm grateful to Frank, Rachel and other folks who've asked me along. Sometimes you just need a reminder of why we do this in the first place, and if you pay attention, those reminders can come when least expected.

Side note: I was listening to Tom Petty's "Buried Treasure" show on XM radio this morning, and Little Richard's "Lucille" was played. Has there ever been a more perfect rock 'n roll record made? I had the radio cranked, and it made me feel all happy inside. If you don't have a copy, shame on you. If you do, go get it out or kick it up on the iPod and get reacquainted with Mr. Perryman and his rollicking piano riff and those amazing vocals. A slice of recorded musical perfection.

Christmas jogging

After sitting around for a while this afternoon, I couldn't ignore the beautiful weather outside. So, I got geared up and went for a little recovery run. It was bright and sunny, with temps in the mid- to high-50's. Very nice. At any rate, the run was a HR effort, staying well within recovery range. I stayed as much as I could on the water tower trail behind the 'Hood, and ended up with a relaxed 3.5 miles in about 33 minutes. Everything checked out well, so mission accomplished. I've been neglecting these recovery Tuesday/Thursday runs, so for a while, I'm just trying to get back in the habit of doing them, and will slowly build them back up to the regulation 7 miles. There is something to the raw total mileage in a week, and I'll be paying better attention to that in the coming months.

Oscar Peterson and Dan Fogelberg

Now those are two names not usually found in the same place! As is apparent, I'm a music junkie, and my interests are pretty wide-ranging. I've been a fan of both Mr. Peterson and Mr. Fogelberg for decades, and both of them have passed away within the last week. Last year, of course, the great James Brown died on Christmas Day, and this holiday season brought the news of Peterson and Fogelberg's demise. I choose to look at this as an opportunity to think back on their music and what it has meant to me over all these years.

I was introduced to Fogelberg first, back in 10th grade, I think, when I was at a church music camp. A guy there from Houston was playing "Wysteria," from Fogelberg's first album, "Home Free." I thought that was magic, as it was long before I learned how to make my right hand fingers dance around and play that syncopated and flowing picking style. When I got home, I went to the record store and bought that album, and I must have listened to it 10 times through in that first week. Sure, it was a little overtly sentimental, maybe a bit too soft to be called any kind of "rock" music, but the guitar work and his lyrics made sense to me, at least. I went on to have most of his records through the mid-80's, and finally I was able to play my own versions of those tunes when I got more serious about fingerstyle guitar about a decade ago. So, despite the critical scorn that was heaped upon his music, I will always hold a fond spot in my musical memory for Dan Fogelberg. And "Wysteria" is still cool to play on guitar...Fogelberg is gone too soon, felled by prostate cancer, but his music will be a lasting tribute.

Oscar Peterson was a discovery I made in college at Emory. The RA on the dorm floor with us was a jazz fan, and I heard some amazing music coming from his room one day as I walked by. It was some complicated interplay of guitar, bass and piano, and it sounded like everyone was playing solos all at once. Crazy, man, crazy! Upon inquiry, I found that the album was the great "Trio" album featuring Joe Pass, Oscar Peterson, and Neils Pedersen. That weekend, I made my weekly pilgrimage to the record store (Wax 'n Facts), and picked up my own copy. From that chance discovery, I got into Joe Pass and his fabulous guitar work, and I've purchased a bunch of other Oscar Peterson records as well, including a fabulous Christmas CD. Peterson was amazingly fast and fluid, and to this day I can't comprehend how he could play such massive and rolling figures in his left hand while still playing cool melodies and solo flights with his right. Listening on headphones, you can hear him groan along while he plays, sort of singing with himself. Peterson lived to be 82 years old, and he was able to perform until very late in life, so as a musician, that's all one can ask, I think. He's received most every honor a musician can receive, especially in his native Canada, so that's a life well led, I'd say.

So, now I'm going back to settle in with the family as we all go to our separate corners and dig into our gifts. The kids are upstairs on the Wii playing Guitar Hero, I'll be messing around with my books and CD's, and Mary Anne will relax while enjoying her soft and warm clothing. Yeah, I'll get up there to play Guitar Hero, too, but I'll wait for a while. :-)

Merry Christmas!

Catching Up

On Christmas Eve, I am taking the opportunity to catch up a bit with how things have been going since the marathon. Last week, I got out on Tuesday and Thursday for nice little 40-45 minute runs, without real regard for distance. On Saturday, we were in Lufkin visiting family, and I managed to get out on Saturday morning in the drizzle and rain for a little over 8 miles. That was yet another Tour d'Lufkin, visiting several sites from my youth. I went through downtown, past the old Junior High and High School complexes, by the great donut shop and the barbecue places, the churches where I performed in various groups, and of course by many friends' houses. It was a nice tour, even when the rain came down hard at the end of the run. My legs felt great all week, and I feel like I can pick up my running a bit more this week.

This morning, I met up with a few folks (Alicia, Larry, Marcy, Frank, and one other guy who I haven't yet met) for the scheduled "pace run." The AT&T people were supposed to do an easy 2 miles and then 8 miles at MGP. Frank and I ended up trailing those other people, as we enjoyed our 10 mile loop, chatting away on topics here and there. The running was pretty snappy, for me. For Frank, it was loafing, but we ended up with 10.2 miles at 9:12/mile overall pace. That includes two stops for water. Our actual running pace was under 9:00/mile. My HR was in a good range, so it turned out to be just what I needed at this point. I still feel great, and I guess I'll visit the Gazelles on Wednesday to return to light speedwork. The AT&T peeps are doing a stepdown ladder workout, so I'll do maybe fewer repeats or a slightly slower pace or both in order to keep up my "recovery" status.

After the 10 miler, Ava, Carmen, Larry, Frank and I met up at Maudie's for a big breakfast. We sat around, eating and talking, for quite a while. It was a great time, and once again I was reminded just how fine the people are that stay with Gazelles. Sure, we have members from time to time that aren't the most sociable, but by and large, they don't stick around long. We all work very hard at all the workouts, but once the work is over, we really enjoy each other's company. It's just the finest experience I've had as a runner, even 3 years (or is it 4 now?) into my Gazelles membership. Lucky, lucky, lucky...

Now, my Christmas preparations are done, the presents are wrapped, and I'm down to item 14 on my List, which is "Change strings on classical guitar."

Merry Christmas to all out there!

EZ Runnin'

Today, I took my first running steps since the marathon. I met up with Dorothy nice and late (7:30am), and we took a little journey around LBLake. For the first time in a while, the sun was out, and it was crisp and clear. We chatted all the way around, and generally had a fun time. My legs felt really great, with no pains or soreness to speak of. All things considered, it was a great little run. I did 4 striders afterwards, and those went well, too. Happy happy joy joy, blah blah blah. :-)

I scored 4.75 miles, 9:18/mile pace, good things all around. It was great to see everyone again, after being sort of out of the loop for a couple of weeks. We got to move indoors into the Annex for stretching, which was a treat in the breezy conditions outdoors. Stretching was fun as usual.

So, a good start to the post-marathon weeks was had. I'll visit the gym next week and run every other day, more or less, as I do the old reverse taper to get back up to full training volume.

White Rock Marathon 2007 [Entered 12/13]

This year’s White Rock Marathon would be a return visit for me. It was the site of my first marathon way back in December 1992, which is ages ago. Mostly, I remember walking a lot in that race and being really cold. My time was 4:24 and change back in 1992. I hoped for better results this time.

I drove up on Friday, carrying pretty much every combination of running gear for the marathon. Being Texas, we might get almost anything, so I was ready for all those possibilities. The forecast on Friday said that we would get rain, starting temps in the low 60’s, and dropping temperatures during the race. I could be okay with that, but I was hoping for a little better. Oh, well. Nothing I can do about that. I inhaled an entire pizza for dinner on Friday, and slept the sleep of the overserved runner Friday night. Bliss.

After a great night’s sleep on Friday, I was awakened by Randy and Frank, who in separate phone calls maybe 5 minutes apart, both called to inform me of the wonderful race day forecasts that were coming up on TV. Okay. And after I hung up with Frank, my alarm went off to wake me up. Funny, that. They were right, though. Now, the weather dudes were saying rainy conditions and temps in the 40’s to 50’s, coming as early as noon on Saturday. With that in mind, I put on shorts and a singlet, and met Randy and Frank for the ritualistic EZ 3 miler on the race course.

We walked over towards the nearest race course intersection (Ross and Houston), and on the way, we checked out the Dailey Plaza area and the Texas School Book Depository building. I’ve never seen that, despite living in Dallas for a couple of years long ago. It all looks much more compact than it does on the TV reenactments and shows, but it’s still a sad memory. Anyway, we had a nice jog going backwards along the course, and turned around at about the 2 miles to go mark to head back. We finished at the finish line area, so except for the fact that it was still so warm, we felt good about our reconnaissance run. The finishing stretch for those 2 miles is 3M type downhill terrain. Except for some occasionally uncertain footing, it would be a great finish. On the way back to the hotel, we received a very quick and informative presentation from a guy who just hangs out at the JFK site. He was really good, and we all felt bad that we didn’t have any money with us for his gratuity. We tried coming back later to actually pay him a little something, but he wasn’t visible to us at that time.

A shower and a quick trip to get some bagels, and then Frank and I headed to the Expo. Randy had taken care of that on Friday. We did a little light shopping at the Expo, sailed through the packet pickup, sampled some food and drink goodies, and then got out of there. Chores done, we went to our respective corners and chilled out for a while, awaiting the arrival of the other Gazelles.

The three of us drove the race course later in the afternoon, and except for some confusion during the area after the hills coming off the lake, we pretty much knew what was coming on Sunday. I had forgotten just how big White Rock Lake is, but I had correctly remembered that the hills coming off of WR Lake weren’t all that steep, but they would be a test coming that late in the race.

We met up with Larry and Ava and their friends Tim and Rita, and had a nice dinner at Macaroni Grill (I know, why didn’t we go local? Hey, I was quite content with my dinner. Food exploration could wait for a non-marathon trip to Big D.). By the time we left the Mac at 6:30 or so, we could tell that the long-promised cool front was arriving, which was a relief.

Everyone went to their rooms after that, and I puttered around, pinning my bib on my long-sleeved Gazelles shirt, getting all my stuff laid out, my chip in my shoelaces, my gear bag loaded with post-race stuff, and generally staying off my feet. I played some guitar, working on AT&T songs, kept drinking and snacking, and finally turned out the lights at 11:00. All I had to do now was run the race.

I’m not sure how well I really slept, but it didn’t feel like I got as deep into slumberland as I did the night before. I even woke up at 5:00am, way before my alarm was going off, but I just stayed in bed until the beep, gently stretching my legs. Once the alarm went off, it was time for Accelerade and a banana. I put on warm clothes over my race gear for the walk to the start, and met up with Larry and Frank in the lobby. Now I was finally getting a little nervous. We were a bundle of conversational chatter as we strolled over to the start/finish area, sipping our Gatorade and babbling about the race to come. The weather? For me, it was perfect. It was maybe 50 degrees, heavily overcast, even weirdly misty, and the temps were predicted to drop during the day, so this was as warm as it was going to get.

It was pretty exciting at the start/finish area, as the buzz of the runners filled the air. We found the Gazelles/TriZones tent (thanks, Tracy!!) and hung out there for a while. The rain came down a bit, starting maybe 40 minutes before the start, but again, that didn’t bug me too much. Finally, about 25 minutes to the start, I got out of my warm pre-race clothes, put on my custom-made black plastic trash bag and throwaway t-shirt, and packed up my stuff to be dropped off at gear check. Having wished everyone a good race, I sidled into the crowds and waited to run. The rain fell up until maybe 10 minutes to go, and then it stopped. Nice. Wheelchair start, then elite women started, and then finally, we were off!

Oh, yeah, goals? I mainly wanted to finish with dignity to erase the nasty memory of AT&T 2007, where I walked most of the 6 miles between 19 and 25. Time? Maybe 3:50 if things broke just right, but I planned to go out comfortably, stay away from stupid pacing early, enjoy the trip around the lake, get up the hills, and then see what I had left for the 5 mile downhill finish. Time wasn’t a big deal to me. This was more about style points for me, I think. I wanted to enjoy a marathon for a change.

And they were off. I was lined up near the 4:00 pace group, and I kept their pace balloons in sight for quite a while…sometimes I was ahead, sometimes I was behind. The first couple of miles were spent watching my footing on the sometimes uneven pavement, but the crowds were not an impediment. I was able to run like I wanted all day. The race organizers had permitted exactly the number of runners that the course could handle. The half marathon started an hour later, so we didn’t have the issue of massive crowds to the half marathon cutoff point like many races do. I enjoyed the handbell choir at about mile 1.5, playing “Deck the Halls.” From there to about mile 4, where we were on Turtle Creek Blvd., the streets had a curious combination of bricks, streetcar tracks, and asphalt, sometimes all at once. I kept to the asphalt as much as possible, given that the other options would be slick with the morning mist and rain.

I ran with an ultramarathon guy from about mile 2 to mile 10 or so, although we wobbled apart a few times at water stops. It was amusing to have someone to chat with a bit. We deciphered the bib colors, which were thoughtfully done. White bibs were pre-registered marathoners. Blue bibs were pre-registered first time marathoners, which I thought was a nice touch. Gold were the late registrants. The bibs had our first names on them, which is great, but it does freak you out a bit when you’re in a strange city and folks are yelling at you late in the race (“Go, Jay, Go!!”).

The course was pretty once we got to Turtle Creek, and for many miles, we cruised through neighborhoods that were almost shockingly loaded with money. Many of the houses were obviously rebuilds on lots that formerly held normally scaled homes. The newer ones were easy to spot, because they were built absolutely to the setback limits of the lots, and all towered skyward from there. Amazing, really. And the Christmas decorations that the homeowners had contracted for were stunning as well. Okay, that’s the end of my social commentary.

I was making good time through this portion of the course as it gently eased uphill to about the 7 mile mark. I was doing a good job of pacing, and I felt fine. I took my gloves off at about mile 5, and tucked them into my waistband. I would need them later. I stayed on my GU schedule of every 4 miles, and took Gatorade on the water stops between the GU stops. The Gatorade was regular strength, but as the race went on, I started diluting it with water to make it better for my tastebuds. Once we reached the peak of the early uphill section, it was time to settle in for a long stretch of gentle downhill or flat running.

When we reached Greenville Avenue late in mile 7, I finally got the first live music of the morning. The band there at the corner was blasting out the inevitable “Sweet Home Alabama.” What is it about that song that it is seemingly played at every marathon? Right after that, we turned onto Ellsworth for a couple of miles, and we had a bunch of bands right in a row on that street. I was pleased with that. It was mostly bands with members who looked to be suspiciously close to my own age or above, but that was okay with me. That just meant they would be playing tunes that were in my wheelhouse! I heard “Gloria” and “Summertime Blues” from full-out bands, a solo acoustic tune from a young woman, and an unidentified rock tune from a band that was literally a “garage band,” in that they were set up in someone’s garage, playing to the street and those of us running by them. After those bands, we drifted down a downhill to the lake and the long journey around it. Good running here.

Around mile 8, I chatted with a guy who was a first-time marathoner, and it turns out that he had lost some 140 pounds last year, and then threw himself into fitness events, doing three 100 mile bike rides, some sprint triathlons, and now the marathon. I cautioned him to run nice and easy since it was still pretty early in the day, and then eased away from him once we hit the lake. I hope he had a good day.

Mile 9 was the last mile split before we really got going on the lake, and then we popped onto Lawther, and started that journey around water. The wind kicked into action on the lake, but it never bugged me all that much. I enjoyed its cooling effects since I was feeling a bit too warm right before that in the neighborhoods. I put the gloves back on around mile 10, and they stayed on for the rest of the race. The temperature was dropping, but the rain was staying away. Awesome! Mile 10 came and went, and it was time to check my numbers. Phase One complete.

Splits miles 1-10: 9:34, 9:10, 9:17, 9:06, 9:07, 9:15, 9:12, 9:04, 8:59, 9:04. I was taking short walks through the water stops, especially when I was taking a GU. Overall pace through 10 miles was 9:11. I could see the 4:00 pacers just ahead, so I was content with where I was. Onward.

For about 3 miles on the lake journey, it seemed like there wasn’t any live music, but it was okay. I was enjoying the trip, and I just took in the sights and sounds of the race as they came. I seem to remember that a drumming group was somewhere around mile 12, and then we found ourselves on an actual big road for a short distance, as we hit Northwest Highway. There was at least one band set up on NW Highway, and they finished up “I’m A Man” as I was running towards them. They started up “Down On The Corner” by Creedence as I passed them. Good job, boys!

After that, it was back on the road along the lake, and although there were more bands along that stretch, as well as some radio stations with their music playing, it was a fairly fallow portion of the course for memorable music. But, then again, I was supposed to be about running, right?

The half marathon point came and went, and I was pleased to note that I was at 2:00:15 at the half. Crowd support was okay at this stretch, apparently because it was easy for folks to park and stroll down to the race course. More running, more pavement, and somewhere in there, I passed Gayle, who was working out a muscle issue. Quick greetings exchanged, I moved on. About at the mile 17 mark, I started thinking about the hills ahead, and made a mental note that it would be okay to walk up the steepest portion of the hills, especially if we had made a navigational error the day before and the hills were steeper than we had seen. The 30K mark came and went, and finally we passed under a big banner proclaiming that the hills were coming…or something to that effect. I was still passing people, and I enjoyed the band right there at mile 19. They were cranking out a Creed tune, I think.

I was relieved when I saw that the hills ahead were indeed the ones that we drove the day before. And it turns out that I was able to get up them without too much agony. I shifted into a hill-climbing gear, and just chugged up them. All that Gazelles hillwork came into play there, for sure! At the 20 mile marker, we had pretty much done all the climbing that remained, and I was pretty happy to be moving along. Okay, Phase Two was complete. 10K to go.

Splits miles 11-20: 9:11, 9:06, 9:06, 9:08, 9:06, 9:31, 9:36, 9:27, 10:00, 10:17. Pace was slipping, but I was just chugging along. Water stop walks were getting a touch longer, but that was still all the walking. Overall pace down to 9:19.

At that point, I reset my goals to focus on keeping the walking down to a minimum, and to find a running gear that I could sustain. My only issue was that my legs were just hurting a bit. No bonking, no other issues, my legs were just very tired. That’s a big issue, of course, but you can handle that sort of thing.

I saw a friend of mine after mile 20, where his band was playing on the course. That was a lift to see and hear them. From there, it was a long long journey down Swiss Avenue and Lakewood. A band played “Proud Mary” at about mile 21, and another band played “Hey, Jealousy” about a mile later. It kept me going, that’s for sure. I was walking a bit here, but still mostly running. A couple of ambulances came through the runners in those last miles, which was sad to see.

Finally, mile 23 came and went. I got sick and tired of a relay runner who popped into action after the hills, though. He was one of those “Hey, runners, let’s go! Almost there! Pick it up!” guys….even though he was only 2 miles into his day, and we were at mile 23. If I could have caught him, I fear that I might have caused him bodily harm. True words.

The half marathoners merged with us after the 24 mile marker, and at that point, I decided I needed to pick it up for the home stretch. The half marathoners merging at that point were, what, 3:10 half marathoners? It wasn’t hard to get around them, that’s for sure. My mile 24 wasn’t pretty, as I think I succumbed to the Walk Daemon a bit more than I’d have liked, but from there, it was better and better.

I had a final surreal moment going under the big overpass after the half marathon merge. We went into the darkness under that overpass, and my eyes started playing tricks on me. It felt like they weren’t adjusting to the darkness, almost like they were switching on and off, flickering. I was happy to get out from under there, that’s for sure! Now we were on the portion of the course that we had run the day before, and I was once again convinced of the usefulness of such a reconnaissance run. I really knew what was coming, and that helped a lot. I enjoyed the downhill nature of the finishing miles, and I was really happy to see that final corner come up at Ross and Houston. I was passing people again during those last miles, and that’s always a confidence booster. I thought I was really moving along, but later split analysis showed that my sense of speed was perhaps distorted. At any rate, I picked it up as best as I could, and finished with a smile on my face (I think). I was done, and I didn’t even hate it!

Splits miles 21-26.21: 10:17, 10:15, 10:35, 11:45 (ugh!), 10:09, 9:34, and 0.21 miles in 2:00 (9:31 pace). Overall, I had dipped to 9:34/mile pace, and a 4:10:51 finishing time. I’ll take it.

I really needed the space blanket after this race, and I found my way to the baggage check without too much trouble. I saw David Vance at Baggage Claim, and heard about his amazing marathon debut! Post-race bag in hand, I went into the American Airlines Center for warmth and a change of clothes. The walk down to the floor of the arena looked daunting, so I found a spot in the stands to change clothes. I checked in with Frank and Randy, and found that they had left the building already. After mixing up my Endurox and changing into warm and dry clothes (how awesome is the simple warm and dry clothing thing?), it was time to head to the hotel. Oh, yeah, the band inside was really good. They were one of those 12 piece bands with horns and everything, and they were slamming on some funky tunes. Very nice.

The walk back was quite refreshing. Sure, my feet were a bit tired of things, but the walk helped my legs. I checked in with my family as I walked, and by the time I was back at Reunion, I was very happy with my day. I’ll skip the details of the interminable wait for the valet folks at the Hyatt, but I will say that Frank and I had a wonderful post-race pizza and adult beverage before hitting the road.

Frank decided to ride back with me instead of dealing with the airport, and I was grateful for the company. We had an amusing stop at a 7-11, though. I filled up the car (and it was quite cold by now outside!), and then wandered in for a Big Gulp Dr. Pepper. Yeah, boy! Anyway, we looked at snack foods and candy, and couldn’t find anything that cried out to us, so we went to check out. The girl at the counter looked up from her phone call and said to Frank and me, “Is that all you’re getting?,” meaning our drinks, and when I said yes, she said, “Okay, go on.” So, I take that to mean that her phone call was more important to her than actually waiting on customers. We laughed for 10 miles about her. Good conversation was had on the drive home, and finally the long day was over. I was happy to be home, and another marathon (number 17) is in the books.

Final thoughts: I think I got about what I deserved from the race on Sunday. I had been doing the Gazelles workouts, but I haven’t been very diligent about the recovery runs between workouts. Those extra weekly miles are important, and I will make sure I take care of that once I start back. Also, I’ve been terrible about getting to the gym for that important weight work. That will be my December project, to get back to the gym and make it a full part of the process. Other than that, I have no complaints. My nutrition was good, my long runs were good, my pacing was good, and I was rested. So, lessons learned, I’m going to enjoy my recovery time, and I’ll be back Gazelle-ing in a few weeks.

Two Of Us [Entered 11/16/07]

Saturday, 11/10, it was time for the last super long run before White Rock. There's not many of us doing that race, so it was a small crew that met at 5:45 for the start of the 20-22 miler. The course was the out and back Shoal Creek run, with the finish on backwards Scenic. 21.5 for the full Monty, about 20 if you cut it by returning via Exposition.

As I've mentioned, I was still a little spooked by my illness earlier in the week, so I wasn't sure I would be able to do much with this run. I figured I'd start out with everyone, pick a nice solid pace, and just see how it went. I had all sorts of bailout options along the way, depending on how my body was reacting and how much energy I actually had. So, it was with some trepidation that I set out for the jaunt.

I settled in with Larry by the first water stop, and I figured he'd soon grow bored with my pace and would move on to catch Randy and Lizette ahead of us, leaving me to cruise the miles with only my thoughts to entertain me. However, he kept assuring me as we went up Exposition that he was happy with the pace, given that he'd run a 50 miler last weekend, and he was racing the 10 Miler in the morning. What a running animal!!

So, the second water/Accelerade stop came and went at Shoal Creek, and I was still feeling pretty good. The pace was solid, and my body seemed ready to continue. All the while, we were talking up a storm. Now, as many of you know, I'm not exactly a reticent individual. Chattering away as we run is usually my forte'. But, Larry is a nonstop source of discussion topics, and on this day, I really appreciated the fact that I could be entertained as we slogged out the miles.

Sooner than I had imagined, we were at the turnaround at Foster, and I was still feeling pretty darned good. Sure, I knew deep down that I was a little lower on stored energy than usual, but Larry kept assuring me that we were doing fine, so I just kept on cruising. We were at 1:38:00 and change at the turnaround, about 10 miles or so, which rolls out to about 9:45/mile, including all the water stops. Pretty nice, and well within training pace range.

Coming back, it still felt pretty good, and at Shoal Creek, I decided that I might as well head home on the longer route option, just in case I kept feeling good. If things caved in, I'd still probably get in 20 miles, and if I felt strong, then I just had to finish the course instead of trying to manufacture additional mileage going the other way. Larry agreed, and so we went on down 35th Street and hit the Backwards Scenic finish. We got a splash and go at the Dry Cleaners, since the weather was a bit muggy and slightly warmer than we've had lately. Still, it was a decent weather day. No real complaints there.

Scenic was actually pretty fun, and again, before I knew it, we were at the last Official Water Stop at Lake Austin and Enfield. 4 miles to go, 17.4 in the books, and I was actually almost dancing when I thought about actually finishing this thing after the week I had had. The whole dancing thing passed quickly from my mind, but honestly, I was pretty pepped up when I took physical inventory at that last stop.

That one in the books, we just had to finish the thing up. I hung with Larry and let him sort of carry me, in a metaphysical manner, down Lake Austin Blvd. to the trail. After negotiating the usual knot of runners at the Mopac bridge, we settled in for those last couple of miles. At this point, I was having some serious internal discussions with myself. Stuff like, "Okay, at the bottom of the little hill after the railroad tracks, I'm going to stop and take a walk." But, Larry was not aware of the voices in my head, and just kept talking me through the miles, so I kept running. More discussions followed, and again and again, I was able to ignore those seductive voices suggesting that I should stop running. I notice that my pace fell off during that mile, but I was still motoring along. Larry finally decided to have a bit of a fast finish with about a half mile to go, but by then, he had done his job, and I was able to pick it up a bit myself for that last half mile. Nice.

Finally, I was at the water coolers, and I could stop running. I owe Larry a huge debt of gratitude for helping me with this difficult run. I'm not sure I would have done as well without his cheerful company and encouragement. Once again, that's the sort of thing that makes me happy to be a Gazelle. It's the people that we run with that make this group what it is, under the leadership of the Pied Piper, Gilbert. On a morning that I was pretty sure would end in a truncated run, I was able to finish the full distance (21.4 miles) at a pace that was totally acceptable.

Final stats were 21.4 miles at 9:58/mile average pace, including all water stop time. Actual running pace was around 9:18/mile. Those were both good numbers for me. Sure, I didn't have the Fast Finish that I've enjoyed the last several times out, but under the conditions, this was a big win for me.

Now, I've just got to continue to improve my energy stores, enjoy these last 4 weeks of sharpening and tapering, and run a marathon. The hardest work is now done.

Thanks again to Larry for carrying me today. Awesome!

EAS Volunteer Stuff and a Pretty Neat Event [Entered 11/10]

Okay, Friday I felt better, but still a little logy from time to time. No running, but lots of fluid intake, eating, and general pampering trying to bring me back up to speed. Still 4 pounds off Monday's morning weigh-in, but I have regained some of my lost self.

Friday, I visited RunTex to grab some coolers from Gilbert so that I could populate the hydration stations for the handful of us going long on Saturday for White Rock. I yacked with a bunch of my fellow Gazelle volunteers there, and scored my volunteer shirts. It should be fun and interesting to be volunteering on Sunday, especially after having seen so much of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into putting on one of these races. It's pretty amazing what all goes into the seemingly simple act of putting on a road race.

Friday night was the last football game for Anderson High School, so we went to see Jake perform with the marching band for the last time this year down at the Burger Stadium. Anderson was playing Akins, which has had a tough year, so we expected a win for our team. The game was very tight, though, 14-7 at halftime after Anderson went for it at the Akins 2 yard line with time running out at the half. They failed to convert, and trailed at the half. The band played great at the half, including a snappy version of Herbie Hancock's "Chameleon," which is a great tune. Anyway, the second half was a back-and-forth affair, and Anderson kept messing up extra points, with two of them blocked, and one missed. In fact, one of the blocked PATs was returned for a 2-point score by Akins. Things looked grim, but Anderson scratched and clawed, and managed to tie up the game very late in the fourth quarter. Akins had a tiny bit of time, though, and came down the field, leaving themselves an opportunity for a game-winning 50 yard field goal. Their coach let the clock run down to 3 seconds so that Anderson wouldn't get a chance to do anything after the kick, and called time out.

Okay, by now, parents in the stands were conferring with each other to see if we play overtime in high school in Texas (we do). We were pretty sure the guy couldn't kick a 50 yarder, so the mood was watchful, but not super nervous. The ball was snapped, the kick was partially blocked, and a lineman type picked up the ball around the 15 yard line. We started yelling that they could return the ball, which the guy knew, of course. He looked around and tossed the ball to Anderson's best player, a senior named R.P. (can't make this stuff up), and somehow, R.P. managed to weave his way through the entire Akins team, 85 yards, for the winning touchdown on the final play of his final game as an Anderson football player. It was really electrifying...honestly!

The coolest thing was right after, though. You could sense all the crowd yelling but holding their breath at the same time (impossible, but stay with me), willing R.P. through the collected players, and then in a microsecond, someone decided to let their excitement bubble over, and the psychological barrier was broken, and 100's of students swarmed the field, running down to pile on the football players and R.P., who was no doubt at the bottom of a heavy pile of humanity. The pure spontaneity of the swarm was a beautiful thing to see, and to their credit, the police on site didn't go nuts, and let the celebration of the freak play go on without too much interference. It was damned cool to see.

So, after a while, and after the poor Akins guys picked themselves up off the field where they had fallen during the runback, and after the post-game handshakes, the football team was joined by all those students on the field for the singing of the school song at the end of the game. It was one of the best things I've seen in a while.

And, for R.P., this was perhaps the highlight of his entire life. Maybe not, but geez...to win the game on such a spectacular play on the last play of your high school football career? I'm not sure how it gets better than that. Wow.

...And the Running Gods Strike Back [Entered 11/10]

Well, after having such a good pace run on Monday, and then a nice relaxing 35 minute cruise on Tuesday morning, I was looking forward to doing the scheduled Wednesday workout of fartleks here in the 'Hood. As Stephen A. Smith would say, though, "HowEVah" the Powers That Control Things conspired to throw me down early on Wednesday morning with illness and destruction upon my poor little body. Was it the Arby's sandwich that I had at lunch? A stray microbe from some other establishment or food item? Or just God playing dice (which Einstein sez HE doesn't do)?

Who really knows? At any rate, I was laid low all day on Wednesday, as weak as a little kitten. I slowly crawled back to normalcy by Thursday, although I still felt like I was hungover and depleted. Yuck.

Too much sharing here in the Blogosphere? Probably. But, it is an element of entries to come.

Pace Running

Monday it was time for a marathon goal pace run. Now, let me give full disclosure here, and point out that it is rare indeed that a group of Gazelles actually runs this workout at true Marathon Goal Pace (MGP). Something about the innate character of our herd makes it more of a race effort than MGP, but again, that might be just me running too fast.

The plan was to go an easy 2 miles, then pick up the last 8 miles of the Longhorn Dam Loop at MGP, or, as Gilbert suggested this morning, "Maybe a little bit faster than MGP." "Little bit" was left to the individual runner to decipher. My tentative MGP is 8:30-8:35 per mile, for a marathon goal of 3:40-3:45. I will further point out that my last two attempts at long pace runs with the group were miserable failures in the August/September time frame. I walked in on both of them, which contributed to my decision to bail on Chicago. So, today's run was very important to me on a psychological level. The physical part was just dragging my body around the trail, and wasn't nearly as critical to me as the mere fact of setting a pace and maintaining it for 8 miles, battling whatever mental daemons that might decide to visit. Weighty stuff, huh?

Anyway, about 8 of us rolled out at 5:45 on a 60 degree morning and began our journey around the trail. The two warmup miles were actually quicker than I sometimes run them, but that's more normal behavior from the group as it nervously approaches the task at hand. A quick drink of water at the rest stop on the trail, and it was time to go! Frank rolled away in a hurry, it seemed like, and Randy and Marcy also got a big lead when they decided to skip that initial water break. I found myself running by myself, trailing some of the Philly marathoners (Ward, Dennis and RuthAnn). My first mile was way quicker than I had anticipated, at 7:55, so I tried to dial the pace down on mile 2. This was unknown territory, since I haven't raced in quite a while, and as noted above, I didn't want to go out too fast and then have to slow to a crawl late. Prudent judgment of pace is the name of the game on this workout, after all. Hence the name...

Anyway, I settled down into a rhythm that felt relatively comfortable and sustainable, and just kept on a'rolling around the trail. It was pretty pleasant, and except for some concentration required on the scattered uphill bumps of the trail, I felt pretty relaxed about the whole deal. Miles rolled by, and I was checking my splits irregularly, just to make sure I wasn't going too far one way or the other off my pace. That groove took me all the way to the finish.

It was a pleasant change to have the sun come up during the workout, so we could actually see the trail surface quite well after about mile 3. That made a big difference to me today, in that I was much more secure about my footing and could just focus on the running effort instead of worrying about a misstep into a hole in the trail. I saw Randy and Marcy grabbing a quick cup of water at Mopac, but I just decided to keep on going to the finish. Let's call it racing strategy. :-) RuthAnn was taking a short water break as well on the Mopac footbridge, so I eased around her as well.

As I entered the last couple of miles, I could sense RuthAnn trailing along behind me. I didn't turn around, but judging from others who were on the trail at that time, it couldn't have been anyone other than her. I used that to keep me honest over that last stretch, making sure I kept the pace up to the finish. I only looked back one time, on the Barton Springs footbridge. It was just a quick glance, and I saw her orange singlet in my peripheral vision. Okey dokey. I could hold her off for a mile, couldn't I? I used all the sneaky racing tricks over that last mile...speeding up on any sort of rise in the trail, putting on short bursts going around corners, and accelerating a tiny bit if I heard her footsteps getting a little louder. It was sort of fun to be able to do all that for a change!

Anyway, the finish line came and went, and it was a fabulous pace run! MGP? Well, probably not, but for me, the value of having run a consistent pace effort trumped any value in having done it at my perceived MGP. What are the stats, you say? For the day, it was 10.1 miles at 8:19/mile, including the short water stop, the early warmup miles, and the pace miles. Snappy! My 8 miles of pace running were knocked out thusly: 7:55, 8:14, 8:00, 8:02, 7:52, 7:53, 7:56, 7:40, and a final 100 yards at 7:02/mile pace. The 8 pace miles were at an average of 7:56/mile, quite a bit quicker than my proposed 8:30/mile MGP.

This was a big win for my psyche today, even if it told me next to nothing about what my MGP should actually be for White Rock. :-) Oh, yeah, this was the second workout in my new speedy shoes, Mizuno Precision 7's. My Filas have expired, and the newest iteration of that shoe has not yet been released. Schade. The Precisions work nicely, although I'm not sure if they'll be my marathon shoes. Probably, but I'm not for sure yet.

Basically, the rest of the week is easy street, marking time until the 20-22 miler on Saturday. I'm looking forward to that run in a big way.

Mt. Bonnell over and over [Entered 11/5/07]

And once again, I return to blogging about running and various ancillary subjects. While I was running today (Saturday) with Amy, she asked me why I wasn't writing lately. I mumbled that I was bummed out about how my training was going in late August and September, and so I just quit writing back then because I felt mopey about it. It's that low running self-esteem thing rearing its ugly head again. But, I'm going to get back in the habit of doing this blog because for one thing, it keeps me accountable in a tentative, virtual way.

So, what's been going on? Well, I bailed on going to Chicago for the marathon, which turned out to be an accidentally good decision. Who knew they'd have historically bad weather this year? Not me. But, my long training runs had been pretty terrible in September, and having to walk in on most of the 20 milers wasn't building any confidence. So, I decided at the end of September to reset my marathon target as the Dallas White Rock Marathon in December. That way, I'd get 10 weeks or more extra to train, while searching for my running mojo.

Almost immediately, I started doing better on the long runs and other workouts. The cooler weather also helped, of course, but it was also a function of regaining confidence little by little as target workouts came and went. I've had 3 really great 20 milers since then, and I've even been able to throw down some fast finishes at the end of those long runs, which was not happening at all in the summer. That brings us to today's tour of Mountain Bonnell.

We had our next-to-last 20 miler last weekend, which went great. This week we went for an easy 7 miler on Monday (I ran with Frank, which was fun), and then we had 6 x 1200m on the track on Wednesday. My times on the 1200s weren't as spiffy as last year at this time, but they were still plenty strong for my marathon goals this year.

Today, we started off with everyone, including all the AT&T folks, for a journey up to Mt. Bonnell. I really like this run for some reason. I guess rolling hills suit my particular running strengths, whatever those may be. I ran with a pod of folks, but mostly hung out with Amy. This was a rare opportunity to run the whole route with her, since we were finally on the same workout on a Saturday. For the most part, I was running today for strength and for fun, as it was sandwiched in between the two more important 20+ milers. It still had some testy bits as the road turned upward, but it was still loads of fun. Weather was nice again, in the high 50s, and that made for an enjoyable day.

Once we navigated through Scenic and up to the top of Bonnell the first time, it was an opportunity to do a GU and enjoy some chilled sports beverages with the peeps. Having tanked up, Amy and I headed down the backside of Bonnell for the out-and-back journey to the Dry Creek Saloon. For me, it's more uncomfortable to go down the steep hills than up them, but maybe I'm in the minority on that. Still, we turned around in the darkness still hanging around us, and made the ascent of the backside without undue agony. As it turns out, Alex ran by us as we were heading out to the Saloon, with Ivi, but it was so dark I didn't realize that it was him until he told me at stretching. Sorry, Alex!

After another quick water/Accelerade stop, Amy and I headed down Bonnell, up 35th, and then down Exposition. Again, I was feeling pretty good, enjoying the day. Still, it was nice to come up on the last water/Accelerade stop at O. Henry. Several groups passed in various directions as we navigated that stretch, as Expo was its usual busy running self on a Saturday morning.

Even though I said I wasn't going for a "fast finish" to this run, Amy and I did end up picking up the pace ever so gently through the last 3.2 miles. It didn't feel like a crazy acceleration, but by the end I could tell that we had eased it into a quicker gear, especially once we got to the trail.

Another day of long running in the books, and it was a fun one! Amy and I had a chance to discuss several issues of lasting importance, but, alas, those discussions stay on the trail. The old "What happens in Vegas..." deal, you know. The viral song of the day that I sprung on the crew was REO Speedwagon's "Take It On The Run," and it was a pretty strong choice. You know that one..."I heard it from a friend, who heard it from a friend, who heard that you've been messing a-round..." Poetry.

The stats were 14.95 miles of running at 9:06 actual running pace. With water stops included, we drifted to 9:47/mile. Not bad. Fast finish miles were 8:44, 8:31, 8:26, and 0.2 miles at 7:35. Altogether a good workout.

The full stretching ritual followed as we reestablished out corner outpost at Riverside and First Street, which was a fun way to polish off the day.

Just 5 weeks until White Rock, and I'm feeling better about it every day.

10K in 6 Easy Pieces

Today was a long and challenging workout. We've been handed a bunch of these ladders to deal with this marathon training season, and each has had its difficulties. I've done okay on them, mind you, but they are both physically and mentally grueling.

Today, you say? After the easy warmup and drills at Zilker, we were sent out for a 3K, 2 x 2K, and 3 x 1K ladder. No real guidelines on pace, but I hoped to improve on my pace as the intervals got shorter, and wanted to have my last interval of each group be the quickest one. There was some confusion at the start, as most of the folks took off when Gilbert asked us to get started, despite his desire to have us go out in groups. I found myself trailing most of my normal peeps, but I started with Carmen, Jenny (or is it Ginny?), and Amy for the 3K loop and a half. I had thought I'd shoot for 8:00/mile pace for the 3K, but we hit the mile marker at something like 7:50, so I just stayed with the gang as we passed through a bunch of the folks who had gone out ahead of us. I was surprised at our 14:14 time for the interval. It clicked out at 1.81 miles, so that's 7:52/mile pace. Nice start. Amy had gone out ahead of us on this lap.

After we strolled across the dewy grass soccer fields to the top of the course, it was a chance to catch our breath. Once we got up there, Amy, Jenny and I matched up again, and hit the first of the 2K loops. I was feeling pretty good, and we took turns leading the way. We hit the mile marker around 7:40, and finished the 1.2 miles in 9:14, or 7:46/mile. So far, so good.

A cup of water and 2 minutes later, we were off again for our second 2K. Amy didn't have to do the second 2K, so it was just Jenny and me from this point on. We pushed each other a bit and finished that one quicker than the first, which was great to see. It had felt a bit faster, but it's good when your perception meets with reality. That one was 1.2 miles at 9:03, or 7:40/mile. Through 7K of the 10K of intervals, I was right on schedule.

Another cup of water and 2 minutes, and it was time for the 3 x 1K "half laps." The first two 1000's were Jenny and me again, and we clicked those off in 4:21 and 4:24, 7:01 and 7:06/mile respectively. On the thousands, we got bonus rest with the walk across the fields again. Still, we were happy when we reached the starting line for the last repeat. We gathered up Renee for that one, and took off. I was hoping for a fast finish, and it turned out great! We snapped across the line in 4:15, or 6:51/mile, for the last repeat.

I was tired, but pretty stoked. 10K (or thereabouts) of repeats done. That's a long day. I helped pick up all the cups around the coolers, and after chatting with Gilbert about the courses for the Saturday and Monday workouts, I headed back to RunTex with a gaggle of folks. Let's see, it was Frank, Larry, Renee, and someone else....gosh, my brain is failing me. Anyway, I was happy that we actually ran back at a true cooldown pace for a change.

Endurox and some good stretching later, and the long day was done. I scored 9.4 miles total running for the day. At least these ladder workouts have been going well. Saturday is, for me, 13-14 miles, and then Monday is the Labor Day Gazelles Pace Race 10 Miler. Yikes!

EZ Runnin' + Strides

Today, Gilbert gave us an easy day after the hard long run on Saturday. We took a relaxed cruise around the 7 mile loop at Lady Bird Lake, followed by 10 x 100m striders. I started off with a small pack of people, but after about 2 miles, I found myself running alone, and that was okay, I guess. As the run wore on, I actually picked it up a little each mile, and it continued to feel pretty casual. I made a couple of micro-stops for water since we could, and still ended up with a 9:30/mile overall pace, including the water stop time. HR numbers were good, and my legs actually felt great from the start. Often, I'm a bundle of stiff and sore leg muscles on these Monday workouts, but today, no such problems. Cool.

The striders weren't too bad, either. I experienced none of the usual first strider clumsiness, and by the time we were done, I was feeling pretty sporty.

For the day, 7 miles of easy running and probably 800 meters of striders. I got in a quick 15 minute stretching session before scooting off to get Jake on the school bus. The first day of school was not as exciting for Jake and Sarah this year, as they enter 8th and 9th grade, but I think they are secretly happy that another school year is underway. Maybe. :-)

20 Miles and a Cold Soak [Entered 8/26/07]

I suppose it's time that I get back on the Blog, so here's the lowdown on yesterday's (Saturday's) latest long run. A couple of weeks ago, I struggled a lot with a 20 miler, which was a fairly negative experience. I got through 18 miles okay, and then it was as if I was unplugged from the source of internal energy stores. Demoralized, I walk/jogged it in from there, and that's hard to push out of your mind. I followed that up with a blowup this past Monday on the planned pace run, which I was not able to finish. Yikes! Alex would say that letting those bad workouts stay with me is negative thinking, which would be correct. Still, my naturally sunny disposition was sorely tested by those bookend badly executed runs. I did have two good Wednesdays, though, doing a Zilker and then track-based ladder workout in consecutive weeks (details to perhaps show up in time). So, I faced the Saturday 20 miler with some shaky internal emotional wiring.

After analyzing the last 20 miler, I decided that (a) I was still probably a little tired after my yearly visit to guitar camp, and (b) I did a poor job of eating and hydrating the days leading up to that run. This week, I wasn't at guitar camp, so that was taken care of, and I did a more scientific job of loading up with carbs on Friday and Saturday morning. I used the information in the Monique Ryan nutrition book, and I was much better off this particular Saturday. No loss of power, and except for the usual long-run fatigue in those last miles, I felt pretty darned good.

The weather was the usual. Humid and warm, but it may have been a tiny bit less warm than two weeks ago. The sun stayed away until late in the run, which was a good thing. I dropped coolers at the 20 mile turnaround, and then made my way to the park at Robert E. Lee to meet the peeps for the start of our tour ("a three (and a half) hour tour"). I was ready to go by a little after 5:15am, but stayed around to see who wanted to get going with me. After some wobbling around, we finally got moving at 5:25am. Not as early as I'd hoped, but at least I had some running partners. After an initial leg to Mopac, we stopped briefly for a quick cup or two of water, just in case we were ahead of the first official water stop, wherever that was going to be. After that point, my group quickly turned into Amy, Marty and me. Amy was "just" going 14 miles, but it was great to be able to run with her again for a while. We settled into a nice relaxed groove through the hills of Exposition, and made it to the Shoal Creek water/Accelerade stop feeling pretty good. Alex and his faster people caught us just before that stop, the first of several groups that came by us during the outbound leg of the journey. Alex was exceedingly happy for so early in the morning, but that's all good. :-)

Sean was nice enough to be helping out with the water/Accelerade logistics this morning, and I got a quick chance to chat with him while I took a GU, drank plenty of water, and then moved on. So far, so good. 25% done! I had lost one of my 5 GUs somewhere along the way, so Amy was nice enough to give me one of her extra Vanilla Bean GUs to boost my supply back up. How cool is that?!

Splits, miles 1-5: 10:05, 0.4 miles at 10:10 pace, 1:01 water stop at Mopac, then 9:54, 9:52, 9:46, and 0.75 miles at 9:48. 2:34 water/Accelerade/GU stop at Shoal Creek. Relaxed running pace of 9:55/mile, excluding water stops.

We dropped Amy off at the Hancock turnaround, and she slapped the sign ceremoniously and headed back. Bye, Amy! From there, Marty and I had plenty of time to chat and discuss things of little import. Our pace quickened now that the course had leveled out a bit, and we settled into a nice mid-run effort. There was an unexpected water stop at White Rock, and we grabbed a cup or two there. Going up White Rock and up Great Northern, we were running against the tide of the Rogues as they were doing their "Lab" run. As I understand it, they do multiple loops of a 3.5 mile course. That's convenient for logistics like water, but it would be hard mentally. Anyway, we made it to the turnaround in pretty good shape. My water/Accelerade coolers had magically doubled since I dropped them off earlier in the day (Bernard and Sean put out coolers despite the ones I had left). Oh, well, better to have too much water than not enough!

Another decent water/Accelerade/GU stop later, it was time to head back south. So far, so good, even though we weren't halfway yet due to a quirk of the course layout.

Splits miles 6-9.3: 9:30, 9:20, 0.37 at 9:41/mile, 1:24 water/Accelerade stop, then 9:11 and 0.77 miles at 9:37/mile. Longer 2:32 water/Accelerade/GU stop at the turnaround. Running pace dropped to 9:42/mile overall.

Marty and I passed some more people heading to the turnaround, so we found that we weren't the last Gazelles out there. The faster folks were mostly doing 22 miles, so we had an opportunity to finish before most of them came back by us. It became a goal somewhere back in my subconscious brain. We caught Laura on Great Northern, and saw Brad and Jan coming north as we were heading back. That's always good to see your fellow Gazelles. Now that we were retracing our steps, it was a matter of watching the mileage count down as we passed the halfway point of the day's planned mileage. We hit that White Rock water/Accelerade stop on the way back, chatting briefly with Dennis, and then did the shady Shoal Creek portion on to the stop right before 38th Street. This was pretty uneventful (which, truthfully, is the way most of these long runs go), but we kept chugging along nicely through here. There was a long traffic stop at 2222, but we just enjoyed that brief respite. We laughed about how, as runners starting out many years ago, we'd jog in place at stoplights while waiting. Now, we just take those as divine intervention, and catch our breath a bit.

The 38th/Shoal Creek water/Accelerade/GU stop was briefly amusing because the cups had run out. With no new cups, we resorted to several techniques, including holding up the coolers to pour them into our mouths, using an empty ClifBlox bag as a nifty reusable cup, and finally, resorting to picking a relatively clean cup from the trash sack and reusing it. Maybe that bothers some folks, but it worked for us. Sean showed up before we left, and we actually got to use new cups, too. That was a pretty long stop, as several small pace pods passed each other, but we were ready to finish this thing. Onward!

Splits miles 10-13.4: 9:12, 0.76 miles at 9:15/mile, 1:57 water/Accelerade stop, then 0.34 miles at 8:58/mile, an 0:34 traffic light delay, then 9:02 and 9:06 to the water/Accelerade/GU stop. That was a long 4:22 stop, but what the heck. Running pace down to 9:31/mile, not including all that stoppage time. Don't worry, I'll account for it at the end!!

Renee and Leslie were just ahead of Marty and me going up and over the bridge on 35th Street, so we sort of used the old mental "elastic band" trick with them. I envisioned that I had lassoed them with an elastic band, and even though they were slightly pulling away, the tension in that imaginary band was pulling me along. I hope that they didn't feel an actual physical pull from my invisible cord! Marty stayed with me to the dry cleaners, where we grabbed a quick drink of water and doused our heads with a little water, as well. At that point, Marty told me to go on, that he needed to back it down a bit for the homestretch. After thanking him for helping me to get that far, I was off to do the Scenic route "backwards."

I stayed in the shade as much as possible, and shifted into my climbing gear for any uphill bumps, and made pretty good progress during those hilly miles. I came upon another Gazelles water/Accelerade aid station along Scenic Dr., and stopped very briefly there for two cups of refreshment. I passed up Renee and Leslie there, but they'd catch me again, later. Anthony passed me on his bike as I eased down the little hill near River Dr., and then as I made the two turns to take me along the Lake Austin portion of the route, I heard Alex's happy voice way behind me. I was making my way up that long hill when he caught and passed me, but he gave me some encouraging words as he went by, and I was doing well enough that I was able to accept those encouraging words without getting grumpy about it. That's not always the case, of course, but today, I was still hanging in there pretty strong. I managed to keep Alex in sight for most of the last bit of the Scenic route to the last official water/Accelerade/GU stop at Lake Austin Blvd., and that made me feel pretty good, as well. Finally done with the hilly stuff, all I had to do now was fight off any mental demons in the last couple of miles.

Splits miles 14-16.7: 9:19, 0.34 miles at 9:01/mile, 1:01 water stop at the dry cleaners, 0.55 miles at 9:07, 0:37 water/Accelerade stop, then 9:17 and 0.47 miles at 9:09/mile. 2:49 water/Accelerade/GU stop. Running pace 9:28/mile.

Renee and Leslie caught me and left me in the dust at that stop. They later revealed their secret strategy of running along the north side of Lake Austin Blvd., to enjoy a much more shaded running course for a mile or so. I failed to grasp that idea as I ran along by myself, but I was proud that I pushed through that long, straight stretch of sunny road without giving up too much time. After a seemingly endless passage of time, I finally reached Veterans, and was able to enjoy the fact that I was going to have a good finish to this run. My legs were tired, but I felt okay, given that I was over 18 miles into my running day. I took advantage of the outdoor shower at Mopac, and doused my head really quickly for a little extra relief, but didn't take on any more drinking water there. Dodging several groups of walkers and such on the trail didn't even bother me this morning, due to my good mood. I was even able to pick it up a little in the last bit of the run, and was very happy to reach the parking lot at Rbt. E. Lee for the big finish. Done!

Splits miles 17-20: 9:18, 0.71 miles at 9:08/mile, 0:23 water shower stop (Ahhhh...), 9:34 (trail traffic, but who cares?), and 0.43 miles at 9:09/mile. Final totals were 19.85 miles at 9:26/mile running pace. With the voluminous stoppage time included, the overall pace for the day slipped to 10:24/mile, but given the conditions, I'll take that.

After some significant huffing and puffing, I paired up with Renee for some striders (I did 4 of them), and I actually felt okay doing them. My legs felt good, at least. I've felt much worse doing striders after a really long run before, so this was a big improvement! After that, I got on my Endurox IV drip (just kidding!), and led the group in stretching. I continued to feel very good, although tired. Once we got finished with all the stretching, I joined a good crew for the Barton Springs cold soak. That was simply awesome! We had a lot of laughs after the total immersion start to the cold soak (that's just the only way to get in that chilly water), and the 30 minutes of chillin' went by in a flash. It's just amazing how much better you feel after you let the healing waters do their therapeutic thing.

We had various discussions while soaking, which seemed to be fairly focused on food by the end of the soak. Our bodies were starting to feel better, and now that the muscle aches and general fatigue were pushed back by the water, the brain was starting to tell us all to seek food in a big way.

And that's that. It was a good day of running, and it left me in a really good mood. I wasn't able to get that serious nap until the NASCAR race at night, but the soothing sounds of stock cars roaring around the short track at Bristol helped me nod off.

2 and a half laps at a time (Track 1000's)

Today, we gathered the herd for a visit to the Austin High track and 1000m repeats. It was lots of running round and round the oval. Almost all of the group that I've been running speedwork with ditched me today, so it was just Dennis, Amy and me as a pace pod. I guess it must have been something I said. :-)

Gilbert asked us to run the 1000's at the same pace as the 1200's from last week. That made sense to me, since I had noticed that the 1200's were done at a faster pace than the 1000's a few weeks prior to that. We aimed for 4:30 per 1000m, or about 7:15/mile. I did 5 x 1000m the last time we did this workout, so I set out to do at least 6, maybe 7 repeats today.

After a slightly slower 4:35 first 1000, we really got the bus rolling. The splits were 4:35, 4:31, 4:31, 4:30, 4:30, and a last 4:20. Gilbert told us 6 was a good number, and I was pleased that we were so consistent and that I could get faster on the last repeat. Except for that last repeat, I felt fairly comfortable. Stressed, but not unduly so. Was it 10K pace? Not really. But it was right in line with the 1200's.

Frank and I did our 200m striders, and then after some chatting with Gilbert about this weekend's long run route, Frank, Colleen and I headed back to RunTex.

I scored 8.45 miles for the day. Full stretching with Colleen, and I was off. I stopped at Gold's Gym for a quick core/upper workout, and then got cleaned up so I could get my massage from Ron. The massage found lots of junk in my quads and calves, but as usual, Ron worked all that out. I'm ready now for the long 20 miler on Saturday, and with a little recovery jogging tomorrow, it'll be a pretty solid workout week.

I've got plenty to do to get ready for guitar camp next week, but that easy 45-50 minute run tomorrow morning should be just the ticket to get me going.

Easy running in the Hood [Entered 7/25/07]

Yep, it's Tuesday, and that meant another easy run here in the 'Hood. I ran again in the new Creation 8's, a mere 45 minutes to shake loose some of the junk remaining from yesterday's pace run. I averaged 9:23/mile, and I felt much better after the run than before. No gym visit, though, due to errands galore.

Pace Running [Entered 7/25/07]

Monday, I showed up, vocal chords shot from all the jabbering at the reunion parties over the weekend, for a pace run with the Gazelles. I'd missed the first one of the training season a few weeks ago, so I was keen on getting this one in today. Weather was in ditto land, so we can dispense with that.

Kenny was there with Bernard to administrate the workout, since Gilbert was in Missouri for the day. The workout for us was a 3/5 run. That is, 3 miles nice and easy for warmup, and then 5 miles at a theoretical marathon goal pace (MGP). As usual, MGP is a concept that we trample over during these workouts. Just like "80% effort" and "10K pace," these suggestions tend to get put aside once the runs begin.

I did my easy 3 miles with Colleen and David(?), and we arrived at the mobile water stop all ready to go. I grabbed a couple cups of Accelerade and water, and then took off. My sense of pace was probably off, and I darted ahead of everyone for a mile or so. I was definitely too fast for the first mile or two, but it felt okay, so I just found a pace that felt tolerable and soldiered on. I got caught by the time we reached the water stop at Austin High School, and then after a quick cup of water there (only 13 seconds for that one), I took off again. I got caught once more as we hit the trail on the south side of Town Lake, but settled in and managed to recover my pace for the last mile.

It was definitely too fast, but for a workout I'll take it. Splits were: 10:11, 9:55, and 0.93 miles at 9:16/mile (warmups), then a 1:57 water/accelerade stop. Pace miles were 7:59, 8:06, 0.54 miles at 8:07/mile, 0:13 water stop, 8:21, 8:05, and 0.48 miles at 7:43/mile. I averaged 8:08/mile for the pace miles, including the brief water stop. Overall, including all water stop time, I was at 8:59/mile for the 8 mile day. Altogether a good workout. I easily managed to drop my pace over a minute from the 3 mile warmup to the 5 mile pace running, so mission accomplished.

Next time, I'll start out slightly easier on the pace miles, maybe 8:15-8:30/mile, and hope to finish strong.

Once we were done, I did 4 x 100m striders and then called it a day. 8.2 miles for the workout to start the week.

Most of the full stretching regimen followed, and my day was done.

When the Rain Comes... [Entered 7/25/07]

Friday, I had to get in my short long run (yep, it's oxymoronic) before leaving for a weekend of moderate debauchery at my 30th year high school reunion. I visited the gym yesterday for 30 minutes of indoor cycling and a core/upper body workout, by the way. Anyway, I got down to a deserted RunTex early on Friday, under threatening skies. I sat in the car for a bit, to see if the weather would either go ahead and let loose (as it did) or blow over. I had plenty of time to get the run in, so I had that luxury.

I guess I dozed off a bit as the rain pattered on my windshield, because the next thing I knew, Gilbert was knocking on my window. I got out and chatted with him briefly, and then he flew off with the Bomb Runners. It started raining pretty hard right after that, so I almost decided to bag the run entirely. As it was, I'd have to leave the iPod in the truck due to excessive rain. I moved the truck in preparation for leaving, and then finally decided to just get out and try running. I made a deal with myself to just get out and run at least the Longhorn Dam route. That worked, and I hit the trail by about 6:15am.

From there, it was a series of psychological tests, as I passed various opportunities to cut the run shorter. I ended up doing the full Grove loop, with only a couple of large streams to jump over east of the Longhorn Dam, and with only the one detour through Zilker Park around Point Neff. As it turns out, I think I could have gone around Point Neff, but that's not a big deal. It was fun to be able to actually run most of the trail, after it's been under water in spots for several weeks.

I did just one GU during this journey, and supplemented my CamelBak with stops at the Holly power plant, Mopac and between First Street and the old power station. This was sort of a cruise, in alternating heavy and light rain, and I ended up drenched but happy that I made the effort. I scored 13.8 miles at a relatively pedestrian 9:40/mile average, including water stop time. I was around 9:15/mile actual running speed.

So, except for extremely squishy shoes (first run in new Creation 8's), it was a good effort.

For the week, 25.6 miles in three runs. My calves feel fine after the big cramping last weekend, so I'm back on track.

Now, about that reunion? Maybe I'll report on that later...

Fast Stuff, 3 Laps at a Time

Finally, Wednesday I headed down to rejoin my Gazelles friends for a track workout. It's been a while, so I was looking forward to seeing everyone. My leg felt pretty good this morning, and it was even somewhat cooler out there. Can't complain about that!

Gentle warmup running led us to the track at AHS, and we split up into two bunches to do the drills. Gilbert set up the groups, and off we went. He told my group to aim for 400m splits in the 1:45-1:50 range. That's 5:15-5:30 per 1200m. Okey dokey.

I led the first couple of repeats, and we gently picked it up each repeat, right in range. The 1200's didn't seem any harder than 800's or 1000's, even though our pacing was the same. Go figure. The group had thinned down by the third repeat, which we clicked off even quicker. For the fourth and last repeat, we let the hammer down a bit, and kicked the pace faster still. I'm very happy with our times, especially considering how I felt just Monday! The 1200 splits were 5:27, 5:24, 5:23, and 5:15, so that's exactly as ordered. The 1200's were in a modest 7:13/mile average pace, but I'm pleased all the same.

Dennis and I did our 3 x 200m striders, and it was only on the third strider that the left calf barked at me a bit. Nothing big, but I could tell that was quite enough for my legs today. I ran back to RunTex with Colleen, and got caught up on her travels as we ran.

For a change, I stayed and did the full stretching, and that felt pretty good. Rachel hung out with us, along with Lisa, so it was like old home week. Gilbert told me that I had looked "tired" during the track work, which I can only attribute to my somewhat dodgy musculoskeletal condition. I felt pretty good today, but I suppose I appeared to be off form.

For the day, 7.22 miles. I'll aim to do a super easy HR run tomorrow, in the 45-50 minute range, and get in a gym visit. Friday, I have to do the scheduled Grove run (about 13.5 miles) on my own because of my high school reunion this weekend. But, I'll be back for Gazelles on Monday, whatever the workout may be. Busy, busy.

Step, Ouch, Step, Ouch! [Entered 7/18/07]

Monday and Tuesday...the calf recovery continued. I woke up ready to go on Monday for the scheduled easy running and circuit work, but I was severely hobbled. My calf hurt to the point that I wasn't moving at all normally, so after taking some ibuprofen, I climbed back into bed. Discretion being the better part of valor and all that stuff... I spent Monday gently stretching and massaging my calf, trying to get it to the point that it functioned better. After some walking around and careful attention, it felt better by the end of the day. But, there was no running on Monday. Tuesday, I continued the self-treatment, and then headed down to let Ron work my legs over. I suffered a bit more than usual, due to the residual effects of the calf cramp and my failure to stretch after the long run on Friday. But, by the end of the massage, he was able to work the calf pretty deeply, and I wasn't begging for the deep tissue work to end. So, I was assured that I hadn't messed up anything too badly, and that was a big relief. I even got out Tuesday evening for a gentle 45 minute jog, right at 4.6 miles, just to get the legs moving a bit. It didn't even hurt to run, so I was quite happy about that. Gazelles on Wednesday!!

A Week At the Beach [Entered 7/18/07]

We drove all day on Sunday to get to Gulf Shores, AL, and our family beach vacation with my siblings and my Mom. 12 hours in the car is a little rugged, but except for a stretch where I had to drive through a driving rainstorm, it was uneventful. It was great to spend a week with everyone in one place, and we did a good job building some fairly complex sand structures. Tuesday, we built the Sydney Opera House complex, and that turned out great. It was funny to see who recognized one of the 10 most recognizable buildings in the world. At Gulf Shores, it was about a 40% recognition rate, not including young kids. I'll post some pics once I get them downloaded. Wednesday, after a kid asked us if we'd ever built a sand submarine, I came up with the somewhat demented idea of a large submarine being attacked by a large sea creature. The whole sand sculpture ended up about 18 feet long, with a large sub being engulfed by a creature that had characteristics of a giant squid, a crab, a lizard, and a shark. Again, pictures may reveal things more clearly. This one was a big hit. Thursday, we finished up our presentation (we had sand groupies by this point in the week) with a large-scale Porsche convertible loosely based on the 911 model. We built this one big enough that smaller children could sit inside of it, and we had a dozen or so people come over and pose their children in the sand car. That was probably the most fun, but the sub/monster combo was the better sculpture. Friday, we had to start the journey back.

The running, you say? Well, I was not very inspired. I woke up Monday through Wednesday at the beep of my watch at 5:45am, and utterly failed to leave the room on any of those early mornings. C'est la vie. I wish I could report that I diligently got out there and did some miles, but alas, I did not.

However, I knew I had to do the scheduled 18 miler at the very least. So, on Friday, after gorging myself on Mellow Mushroom pizza on Thursday night, I was up and out of the condo at 5:45am, running. I had checked Gmap, and found that I could head west towards Ft. Morgan (a historic fort from Civil War times), and it was almost exactly 9 miles to the end of the peninsula. So, it was easy directions for the 18 miler. It was muggy, but somewhat overcast, so I had about as good conditions as could be expected in southern Alabama in mid-July. With the GPS synched, the iPod loaded, a Camelbak with 32 ounces of ice water, and a 20 oz. bottle of Gatorade, I set out, exited the property onto AL 180, and headed west.

It proved to be much more of a mental test than I had anticipated. I've never run more than 16 miles by myself in one run, so this was a new personal record. I drank from the Gatorade on the way out, finishing it up somewhere around mile 7, and got rid of that handheld distraction. I did my GU every 3-4 miles, and walked through all the water stops. I figured I'd just keep moving since I was alone, even though I'd shorten the actual running distance a little doing it that way. There was a volunteer fire department, several bird watching conservatories, a lot of traffic with people towing boats to the end of the pier, and of course, lots of condos along the way. The road was almost arrow-straight for the most part, which was both good and bad. It was good that people could see you from a long way away, and thus was safer, but it was bad in that you couldn't make a mental game of getting to a corner ahead. The road was pretty darned flat, as well. I started craving a hill, just for variety. :-)

I reached the end of the ferry pier, did my sun pose looking back east and then into Mobile Bay for a bit, sipping water, and then it was time to head back. I was working harder and harder, it seemed, as I turned back into the sun, heading east, but I focused on getting to the next landmark one at a time, trying to break up the journey into bits that I could manage. I took my last GU (actually, it was an Enervitene I had left over from Indy) at about mile 13.5, finished off my water (it would have been great to have another cold bottle of water at that point!), and fought my way home. There was a big water tower at the Beach Club entrance, and I finally spotted it about the time I did that last water stop. The bad thing was that it was so large, and the road so straight, that it was a lot farther to the finish than I would have liked. Oh, well. With the count on the iPod at something like 40 songs so far, I trudged on. My pace was slowing a bit due to the heat, but I kept at it, and soon enough, the actual entrance to the condo place appeared. After rubbing my eyes to make sure it wasn't a mirage, I gratefully turned into the drive, and finished the run off with a modicum of style.

The run was just under 18 miles (17.98). With all water stop time included, it was 9:54/mile pace. That's a bit slower than usual, but with the combination of a solo run and less than ideal water supplies, I'll take it. The main thing is that I got out there, finally, and knocked out the most important run of the week. Actual running pace was more like 9:30-9:35/mile. I probably covered a half mile of that total during my walk-through water stops.

I found my way to the pool area, and spent a few luxurious minutes letting the beach shower cool me off. That was truly a great feeling. I figured I'd kick off my shoes before getting back under the shower for a more thorough dousing, and instead, I caused a massive calf cramp in my left leg as I pointed my foot downward. Ouch!!!!! It was one of those cramps that you can see. It looked like a small mouse had crawled under my skin. All I could do was sit down carefully and grab the cramped muscle with my thumbs, pressing on it. Eventually, and it seemed like a very long time, the cramp crawled out of my calf (you could feel it slide away under my thumbs), and I could breathe again. Man, that hurt!! I gingerly took off the other shoe, and enjoyed that cool shower some more, and then headed back upstairs to get going on our homeward journey.

I should have stretched, I should have iced the calf, and I should have taken ibuprofen. But, instead, we walked to the beach one more time, enjoyed the early morning sounds and sights on the beach until about 10:00am, and then it was time to go. I did chug an Endurox (12 oz.) and another Gatorade (20 oz.), along with a bottle of water, so I wasn't totally a post-run goof, but I certainly wasn't practicing what I preach to other runners. :-) After cramming the Tahoe full of our gear (we don't pack lightly when we drive somewhere), it was time to start back to Texas.

I suffered from my lack of stretching every time we stopped for gas or food. I tried to plead with the stretching gods by gently stretching at all those opportunities, but they weren't having much sympathy for me. Sigh... We had bad traffic issues, big rain, and other road maladies on Friday, but we finally made it to Baton Rouge around 5:00, and found a hotel for the night. We celebrated by having some Mexican food there (we had had plenty of seafood during the week, so it was time to get back to other cuisine). I slept the sleep of the very fatigued that night, and although I was very sore on Saturday, I was mostly rejuvenated. At least that portion of the drive only featured the usual craziness around Houston.

So, a good vacation, one quality run, small pangs of guilt over missing the other runs, and no sunburn. Good times...