Taking On 2010

I started the new year off right- running (and in Huntsville, not Lubbock, since we are down here visiting for a few days; but don’t worry- I’ll be running in Lubbock this year too :-P).

Before we came down, I noticed the upcoming Seven Hills Running Club club run and mentioned it to Becky, curious if she would be interested. She thought it was a great idea, which is how I ended up getting my butt kicked by Hans and Lavonne in the New Years Resolution Run 5k at Veterans Memorial Parkway. The only way I caught up to them in the last tenth or two of the race was because I had some fast sprints in the last half mile. Yay for fast twitch fibers and being in my twenties so they work without too much speed training.

I was proud of myself for running the whole 5k despite the hills and going to sleep at 4am and waking up at 10am. It would have been so easy to say I was too tired to run and should stay home instead, to have signed up for the 1 mile run or walk, or to have walked the hills- but I didn’t. I signed up for the 5k and ran it for a time of 34:54 ( not too bad).

My friend Becky walked the 1 mile and got first place with a time of 14:40 (I think). She told me after she wished she had signed up for the 5k walk instead because when she got to the turn around point, she was still more than ready to go.

When we were leaving, she asked if I wanted to walk some more and I said sure, so we went walking in the Rolling Brook neighborhood for 2 miles. On the route we saw Marisa in her truck. She was understandably surprised to see me since I live in Lubbock now. I told her we were in town for a few days and I plan to run at the park on Sunday. She said she might be there before driving off in her truck so she could get home and we could finish walking (and so none of us were blocking traffic anymore).

After that we came back to Becky’s house and that is where I am now. If this account is incoherent in any way, I am blaming it on my need for sleep. :-P

Since November 7th: The Highlights

In no particular order, here are some of the highlights of my running since November 7th:

-ran for the first and second time ever through snow (brrr...)
-saw a turkey in a neighborhood twice (a female turkey; it was after the Thanksgiving break)
-ran by one of the playa lakes and saw a blue heron scoop up a large goldfish
-ran with John and Hans at Huntsville State Park during our Thanksgiving break
-ran with a friend before and during the Carol of Lights at Texas Tech
-ran on one of Houston's hike and bike trails near Andrew's parent's house and saw three nutria rats on the other side of the Bayou
-kept running despite the holidays (always a challenge)
-got new winter running gear (tights and 1/4 zip top, both coldgear underarmour)
-found out my good friend and running partner is moving back to Spring in the next week and a half (boo)
-signed up for Loop the Lake (a 2 or 5 mile run hosted by the West Texas Running Club January 9th at 10am; I'm running the 5 mile route)

More later! :-D

Mon. 11/2 - Sat. 11/7

My running and walking mileage for the past 6 days (Mon.-Sat.):

Monday:ran 4.08 (on my own in the evening)
Tuesday: walked 4.26 (with Natalie and Bailey)
Wednesday: ran 3.18 (with Megan and Ace)
Thursday: none
Friday: walked 1.42 (with Kara and Conner)
Saturday: ran 6.12 (with Megan, Ace, and Zach)

Total running: 13.38 miles
Total walking: 5.68 miles

All of these run/walks were at the 19th Street Park except for today's late morning run which was at Mackenzie Park. It was the hardest run of the week due to its length, the 80 degree heat, lack of shade, and more cross country terrain (hills, rocks, grass, and asphalt mixed throughout). I tried to minimize the effects of heat and dehydration by drinking enough water during the run and Gatorade after, but I still felt ugh later and had a headache. Yay.

Random things I saw on the run today:
a regional cross country meet in progress
CDs placed at intervals along the road
golfers
Lubbock's version of an amusement park- Joyland
prairie dogs

I hope all who ran Rocky Raccoon had a fun and safe run!

All for now!

Running Update

The last time I posted I was running with the early morning crowd. This ended sometime in September when Andrew developed what we assume is a bunion on his right foot, and he put away his running shoes for an indeterminate amount of time. Shortly after this, I stopped getting up for these early morning runs too.

There were several reasons I switched my schedule. While I love running with a group and the motivation it provides, I was feeling more dread and frustration than motivation. At that point I was getting up an hour early to eat breakfast then drive to a neighborhood to run in the dark and the cold while trying to keep up with runners who were easily faster than me. Plus, my heels and arches had begun to ache, and I was concerned that if I kept pushing myself to maintain this much faster pace on concrete and asphalt after only recently switching from trails, I would be joining Andrew on the running bench.

This was the start of a very sporadic running schedule in regards to time and place. Some of my runs were with my friend Megan and her dalmatian, Ace. We would run a route that took us through neighborhoods and streets near our complex. We tried running in one of the larger parks but after having some junior or high school kids squeal their tires and try to talk to us we decided that was not a good fit. I did not want to run the morning crowd route since it crossed several major streets and was highly trafficked later in the day. Ideally I wanted to find something resembling trail running. I figured that the combination of new running shoes and a softer running surface would help me feel better sooner.

Then my upstairs neighbor Mike told me about a park off of 19th Street that had a 0.7 mile gravel jogging track and a 0.8 mile runner-made wider loop of dirt and grass. I ran my first run there on my birthday, October 13th. While nothing like Huntsville State Park, it had its perks. I liked the scenery of the playa lake with trees in and around it, the location in a nice neighborhood not too far a drive from my complex, the size, and the variety of people and pets. It even had some minimal lighting as dark approached. Since then most of my runs, by myself or with Megan and Ace, have been at this park. I also walk there on days I do not run with my friend Natalie and her dog Bailey.

I varied a little when Megan, Ace, and I ran in the park and the neighborhood surrounding it recently. The older houses with their trees crowded close to them made me miss runs in the Avenues of Huntsville. Still no hills, but I miss the trees more than the hills anyway. And then Saturday I ran with Kelly at a place called Ransom Canyon that had hills (*gasp!*). So yes, they apparently do allow some variation in landscape near Lubbock.

Today I ran in the 19th street park for 4 miles, following the runner-created trail while listening to my ipod. I forced myself to stick below a 12 minute pace for most of the run (I had been running as slow as a 13 or 14 minute pace recently) and see how my feet would handle it. Finally my feet are starting to feel good again with no twinges.

For now I plan to keep running with various friends and on my own at least 3 days a week so I can be ready to run a few races next semester. Fun times.

4th Run in Lubbock

We ran our 4th Lubbock run this morning. I kept to a pace of roughly 11:08 and completed 4.38 miles. So far so good...

6am...I mean 7am...I mean 6am...um...7am?

Last night I remembered weekend runs are at 7 NOT 6 which was a little frustrating since I had told one of my neighbors (Hayden, owner of Loki) earlier in the day that I would meet her at the dog park at 8am and to knock on my door if we weren't out already. It wasn't a big deal really- we were only 10 minutes late- but it was a little annoying to me nonetheless. I don't like forgetting things. :-/

The dogs (Loki, Molly, and Annie) played for about an hour while Andrew, Mike, Hayden, and I watched them and chatted...and tried to keep Molly and Loki, the two puppies, from rolling in the puddles from the sprinklers. I see puddles all the time here- NOT from rain but from the elaborate sprinkler system that seems to exist all over Lubbock. Loki has a habit of finding a puddle and just plopping into it while the rest of us try to entice him away from it. Oh well. I think Hayden and I have both gotten used to sometimes having to hose our respective puppies off after visiting the dog park.

Unfortunately, this has been a morning of running a little behind (no pun intended). We woke up at 6:30, ate breakfast, got ready, and left at about 6:50. Andrew tried to take a slightly different route which then ended up being a slower and longer rather than a faster route. We ended up weaving through the named and numbered streets, trying to get to 20th and Elgin by 7am. We made it there at 7:07 and Suzanne and Terry were still there.

We ran 4 miles of which I ran a 11:43 pace so not as fast as earlier this week. I had a better idea where I was going today, and actually having light to see by helped drastically on figuring out where I was. Terry, Suzanne, and Andrew stayed ahead of me for most of the run. I kept an eye out for Suzanne's lime green running shirt. Overall it was a decent run for a Sunday morning on roads. I hope all the trail runners in Huntsville enjoy their 9:30am run.

My 2nd Lubbock Run

This morning was my second 6am run with the E20s, and today there was 4 of us (with none of the 3 from Wednesday). This time Drew and I knew that the dark corner with the flickering streetlamp was the right corner, so I felt a little less like I was entering the beginning of a horror flick. Although one of the runners did tell us an interesting story...apparently (I think recently?) they found a guy lying face up in the ivy of the yard below the freaky lamp. The runner checked to make sure he was breathing (which he was) and left him to sleep off his partying. Fun times.

I felt more comfortable for this run. The runners had a pace slightly faster than mine, and so I did not feel like I was constantly trying to catch up or holding the group back. I walked a few times but not as much as on Wednesday, and according to my GPS I ran 4.39 with a pace of 10:43 whereas Wednesday I ran 4.29 with a pace of 11:01. Both of my paces are faster than I have recorded since I started keeping track in February but I am guessing that the low humidity and lack of hills is at least partially to blame. In the early morning here it is actually a little chilly...Anyway, all for now.