Schedule

This is the major races; I imagine there will be a healthy amount of 5, 10, and 15Ks thrown in there.

January

5th Bandera 50K

February

2nd Rocky Raccoon 50 Mile

23rd Ramp Romp 5K

March

1st Doggies Run 25K or

1st Lone Star Trail Run 25K

22nd Grasslands 50 Mile

April

5th Hogs Hunt 50K

26th Run the Woodlands 5K

May

10th Run the Woodlands 5K

June

14th Run the Woodlands 5K

July

August

September

October

TBA Power Pedal Trail Stride 50K

TBA Fall Lone Star Trail Run 25K

11th Heartland 100

November

TBA Rocky Raccoon 50K

December

This past week wasn’t a very high mileage week for me. I only put in 26 miles, but I was thwarted by a little rain and a lot of laziness.

Sunday I ran a quick five mile run in the park. After the run, I met up with some people from the running club as they were about to go on their 7 mile run.

Monday is typically a day for cross training, but I didn’t do anything. Tuesday it was raining, so I didn’t go on a run then either.

Wednesday, in order to make up for my sloth, I ran a 9 mile loop. However, I encountered some people from the running club and added an couple extra miles to the 9.

Thursday was a rather slow 7 mile run; whereas, Friday was a quick 3.5 mile run.

I missed the club race on Saturday evening because I was out hiking with a friend. That ended my week.

This weekend is the Hog’s Hunt 50K. I really want to run quick enough to catch a hog — or at least scare them off the trail — so I’ve been told to rest.

Screw that! I ran an easy 10 miles yesterday. It started with seven slow miles around the back trail. Then I ran in the club fun run which was about 3.5 miles. My mistake was drinking 12 ounces of Gatorade right before the start of the race. (Sue me, I was thirsty from the seven miles). So I was sloshing around and feeling a little gross on the “fun” run. Needless to say — I slowed down and accepted a crappy time.

Today I hit the trails on my mountain bike. I raced through one of the loops in about 70% of the time it normally takes me to ride it.

Tomorrow I will tone it down a little and just run a few miles. Then I’ll probably rest the rest of the week until the run on Saturday.

Alright, so I feel bad that I didn’t go to either the 50 mile run or the Waco 5-0. I felt so bad that I just paid to run in a 50K this weekend — ack! I’ll be at the Lone Star run if anyone else out there is going. It’s in Coldsprings, TX. I’ve heard very little about this run but just wanted something to bury the guilt.

Now I will have this 50K and another 50K at the end of the month. So much fun in so little time. Blah.

Yesterday was cross training on the mountain bike. Today I did a quick 7 mile trail run. Tomorrow will be a day off running because my legs need to recover. Saturday I plan to meet a couple friends to run 2 loops for a total of 14 miles. I believe that a couple people will come to join us on the second loop. Then Sunday I might go five miles if I feel alright.

This was a pretty nice weekend for my running. I didn’t run at all on Friday, because I wanted some recovery time. But I ran 21 miles on Saturday, a 7 mile trail run today, and finished the day with a 5K club run which I finished in 25 minutes and 23 seconds. All in all, not too bad for a weekend.

I’m letting my legs heal today. No running!

I know it’s a little late, but I believe these will be the races I really try to run this year:

February:

10 — East Texas 50K on trails in Tyler, TX. This race is held at Tyler State Park and should be a good one this year.

24 - Cross Timbers 50 mile run on trails at Lake Texoma at the Oklahoma/Texas border.

March:

10 — Waco Five-O 50K trail run. This one shouldn’t be too bad because it has a lot of college kids who think they can handle it despite little training.

31 — Hog’s Hunt 50K at Huntsville State Park in Huntsville, TX.

April:

7 — Flapjack Best of Time 5 mile road race in Dallas, TX. This one is a club race for the Dallas Running Club.

29 — Texas Roundup 10k, Austin, TX.

May:

6 — the MAZE 30k trail run in Austin, TX.

June:

2 — Kettle Moraine 100 mile trail run in Whitewater, Wisconsin.

July:

Month off!

August:

18 — Pikes Peak Half Marathon in Colorado Springs, CO

September:

3 — Fort Worth Running Club Labor Day 15K

30 — Rock ‘N Relays (Solo) 21 miles in Dallas, TX

October:

13 — Heartland 100 Mile in Cassody, KS which is close to my hometown.

27 — Rocky Raccoon 50K in Huntsville, TX

November:

16-18 — Ultracentric 24 Hour Run in Grapevine, TX

December:

9 — White Rock Marathon in Dallas, TX

TBA — Sunmart 50 mile in Huntsville, TX.

I’m trying to decide whether to run the Cross Timbers 50M or a smaller race called the Doogies Run 50M. They are both here in Texas but the Doogies would be closer to me and probably an easier course. It would also give me an extra week to prepare. The Cross Timbers is a little larger, further away, and a more difficult course. I’m leaning towards the Cross Timbers. Any thoughts?

Ugh, I so didn’t feel my run today. After two days of running 6.7 miles, I think that my legs wanted to reject me when I tried to go on another longer run. It’s probably not the distance that is the problem but the terrain.

I have moved to a place with a lot more hills than I am used to running. This certainly causes more of a work out than just running on flat ground. I like it because I feel like it will prepare me for more challenging terrains, but I don’t really like it for a fun run.

This is too bad but I feel like I should take a day off tomorrow.

Do you run on Friday? I think that a lot of people take Friday off because they are going to go out with friends or family, they have a race on Saturday, there aren’t many groups that want to run on Friday, or any mixture of those reasons.

I think that it’s one of the best days for me to run. I do enjoy going out with friends on Friday night, but I am able to take off from work a little earlier. This gives me enough time that I am able to go on a speed workout. Since I’m going out, I will be taking a shower regardless, so I might as well get a workout.

Are you as convinced that Friday is a good day to run?