Running

Marisa and I were able to rescue a little puppy out at the state park last night. I met up with some people from the club outside the park. Myself and another runner were the first to arrive so we were just standing around chatting. All of a sudden, he said look at that coming out of the woods. I turned around and saw a little puppy slowly approaching. It looked like it was a corgi/dachshund mix.

At first the girl was very scared and timid, but it wasn’t long before she was running around joyfully. It was drizzling outside (and had poured) so she was soaked and smelly. I decided that I would take her into the park with us because I couldn’t leave her in this little lot by the highway. She came in and proceeded to run around.

Marisa arrived at the park with her ride and saw the dog. Everyone told her it was her new puppy. At first she resisted but decided she would give it a shot. At least give the dog a night without rain and then a trip to the shelter. That’s better than being killed by a coyote or rattlesnake in the wild.

I put the puppy in my truck with the window down until we got back from the run. Don’t worry, the temp was in the mid to lower 70s and there was little direct sun to heat up the truck. When I got back she ran around again. She is an awesome dog, so I’m glad she was saved.

I went out this evening after work and ran 7 miles on the trails. It felt alright but there was certainly some lingering pain in the IT Band area. I’ve started to incorporate some different stretches before and after runs along with more cross training. I’m hoping that all of this creates a situation where my body can correct itself. It sure felt good to be out in nature again for a little over an hour.

Alright a rare victory at work this past week. It’s been a crazy couple of weeks but things should slow down. I rarely talk about my personal life but sometimes it factors into my running, so I guess it doesn’t hurt to mention it.

I’ve been on the road for work the past couple weeks. The timing couldn’t have been better with the unfortunate knee/ligament injuries. I was able to focus on work without worrying about what I needed to do with running.

Today was good because I was able to get a good punishment on a felony trial. My client was found guilty (not surprising) and received an appropriate punishment. I can’t help but think that part of that sentence came from my work with him beforehand and at trial.

After I made it home I decided that I had gone long enough without running. I went out to the trails and ran 5 easy miles. I think my time was a pathetically slow 49 minutes but I finished it up without feeling any pain. I’ve been reading a lot of information about what happened to me and I’m convinced it was mostly from switching shoes to a type that doesn’t help my pronation. I’ll continue with more cross-training, but I’m going to slow down on the shoes that precepitated this injury.

I love running. I’ve never understood anyone who runs and says they hate running. My only guess is that they are really what is termed a “jogger” and do it because they believe it to be good exercise. I don’t disagree but if I hated running then I’d find exercise that I didn’t hate.

But, I digress. I love running, but I don’t enjoy the heat. This presents a big problem in the 100 plus degree days of the Summer. Some people in my running club try to avoid it by running an hour later than they normally do. I’ve look at the thermostat and saw that the temperature usually doesn’t vary in a significant way. For instance, today the temperature at five was 96 and at six it was (you guessed it) 96. Even if I waited until now at 10:35pm, it is still an intolerable 90 degrees. Waiting one hour in the scorching hours of the day doesn’t cool off the temperature enough to make it worth it for me.

I get off work around 5. I like to run in the daylight. So I’m suck with running in the morning (when it is actually cooler) or running in the heat. I start work at 6ish in the morning so that’s out. It means that I am going to run in the heat.

I’ll explain in another post about how I deal with it. But basically I always go from work to my run. I hate breaking up my day with small amounts of time. So I go from waking up, to exercising, to home. None of that waking, working, home for an hour, working out, and then home again. It’s not consistent enough for me. That means I take a water bottle with whatever fluid in it to work along with my work out clothes. I also will take an endurolyte tablet IF I’m planning on running over 5 miles. Any distance under that doesn’t help me and actually is harmful.

Hopefully the heat will only last another couple months. But I’m reminded that it was in the mid seventies when I ran the Bandera 50K in January. Alas…

You won’t see my logging 30-40 miles this week as is my typical mileage. When the temps get into the 100s I stay inside. No need to risk serious heat-related injuries for a few hours on the trails.

Last Sunday we celebrated the belated birthday of one runner and the actual birthday of another (nobody else knew it was his birthday) after the run. I found the celebration in the middle of my run, so I stopped and shared greetings with everyone while skipping the sparkly and cupcakes.

After I took off on my own I came to a bridge across a little feeder stream. I was shocked to find some 30ish year old guy laying prone across the bridge. On either side of the bridge there was a little tiny bit of unmanicured ground which I wasn’t going to jump down to if I didn’t have to.

Slowly I approached this man and saw his chest moving in his relaxed slumber. There was enough room that I could easily step over him.

EXCUSE ME!

Oh, I’m sorry…I didn’t want to bother you…

*Glares*

I just stepped over so I could continue on my run. You might move…

No! You step and walk on the ground.

At this point I turned around and started to leave. The guy had stood up and was wanting a confrontation. YOU GOD#$%@ RUNNERS THINK YOU RULE THE WORLD! echoes after me.

Geez. I don’t know why I have to have such odd experiences when I run, but it makes for pretty interesting stories so I shouldn’t complain.

This day last year I posted my favorites from a Runner’s World story about 101 Kicks in the Butt. Here it is:

In the May issue of Runner’s World, there was an article entitled “101 Kicks in the Butt” which listed things to provide running motivation. All 101 don’t work for me, but I have found some that I think are good.

1. Create a blog (obviously, this is something that I decided to do. It provides some motivation and potentially puts the world on notice when I don’t finish my runs.)
2. Go soft (this one is saying not to run roads everyday. well, i barely run roads every week. I am always on the trails)
3. Sign up now (sign up for a winter marathon during the summer. it’ll keep you motivated)
4. Buddy Up (I like to run alone most of the time but it’s nice to run with friends on occasions)
5. Have a Daily Goal (this one came from Scott Jurek who says that workout runs should have a goal just like race goals: maybe it’s a technique goal, maybe a pace goal, or something like running fast at the end.)
6. Run through a spring storm (as long as there isn’t lightening, I enjoy running in the rain)
7. Remember (you almost always feel better after a run than before it)

Those are some of their suggestions that work for me.

Yesterday morning I ran the outer loop at Huntsville State Park. This is about seven miles. I brought along water as my check of the weather showed it was already 90 degrees. Make no mistake about it, it was a brutal run.

I did see a few deer grazing near the perimeter road at the far southwest side of the park. I also ran into about three single mothers with six or seven kids. They were on the Triple C looking for the Alligator Branch trail. They had come from the nature center and were trying to get back to their campsite. I let them know they made a wrong turn and got them turned back around. On the way in I ran into J.C. who was running until he couldn’t run anymore.

In the evening I went back to the park and ran five miles with Phillip. It was raining when I got to the park, so we waited until the rain died down. Then about a mile into the run it started to pour. It rained down on us just about as hard as I’ve ever run in at the park. It was still fun.

I’ll be traveling to Amarillo (first time to see that west Texas city) for work, so I’ll be away from the blog for a couple days. However, I am going to see if I can check out Palo Duro Canyon for a little running. It sort of depends on how far it is from where I’m working but it’s a definite possibility that excites me.

• The nature center to amys crossing (inner loop) trail has been rerouted to add about 200 meters. I like it. 7 miles with phillip. #
• I am going to run five and attempt to beat the rainfall. Iron and wine sings "between the trees and cicadas singing around the pond I sp … #
• you" fantastic. #

Yesterday I worked out by running hill repeats. I found a good hill that was steep and long enough to take a minute or so to run up. I did it for 45 minutes. It sucked.

Today I went out with a friend from the running club to run a little at the park. I wanted to run five miles so that’s what we did. It was starting to rain when we started and proceeded to come down harder. I decided that I should run shirtless since I was getting soaked anyways. After about four miles we found a group from the running club. They were about 2 minutes in front of us. We ended up catching them by the end of the run. All in all it was a good day of running.

“There is a port-a-cactus just up the trail” — Paul Stone

Bandera kicked my butt, no doubt. I’m thinking it’s slightly due to all the fantastic peppermint ice cream I’ve been eating this past month, yet it’s almost all due to the killer hills and rough terrain.

I left my house to pick up Debbie for a night in San Antonio. We ended up in SA, TX at about 8pm, had dinner (Mi Tierra), and went to our hotel to sleep. We got up at 4:30 and and left SA for Bandera about 5am. It was dark outside so I didn’t know what the terrain was around me after we were west of SA. I’m glad I didn’t know.

I picked up my packet, used the restroom, and found my way to where the 50K and 25K were starting. Bandera does a good job of having each of the three races start at different points. the 25K had the joy of starting the race with the Lucky hill and ending it with Lucky. The 50K also started with a killer hill but at least it wasn’t Lucky. Meanwhile, the 100K started a little different direction and joined up with the 50K shortly after the start of the race. The race started promptly at 7:30 with a light fog and the sun rising.

The first section of the 50K was probably the most difficult. The initial hill is something unlike any hill I have had the pleasure of running. I walked most of the uphill and tried to run the downhills. Even that was dangerous as it was steep with lots of big and small loose rocks. Even hiking this would give you a major workout.

I ran for awhile with a guy who told me that he had ran quite a few Bandera races and let me know I was in for a day of fun. About a half mile before Nachos, I saw him again as he was hobbling to the aid station with a broken foot. He didn’t want any assistance from runners though. I also ran with and talked to [--updated with name -- John Sharp] who trained out there. He let me know that once I made it to Nachos, I was in the clear. That was about 10 miles into the run, so I had some good news as I passed over those very difficult sections.

Bandera was very well marked. I had thought about carrying a map because I wasn’t sure how it would be. There was a lot of crossing over different trails and changing up the direction. However, the marking was great. They only marked the intersections instead of the entire trail. I think this worked well as you knew once you were going the right way nothing would change.

After Nachos, I was out there with just a few groups of people for much of the race. I did a lot more walking than normal because I wasn’t properly trained for the race. It didn’t help that it was a little over 70 degrees without any clouds. I didn’t get enough sodium, so I was bloated and dehydrated pretty soon into the race. I wasn’t ever able to shake that.

After the Chupas aid station it was onto an area that was more open pasture. I got some delicious Clif Bloks from a guy named Phillip who was out there for fun and to run with his friend through the Nachos section of the race. I also ran with a couple other people for a little while.

Once I made it to the Crossroads aid station, a guy from the Hill Country Trail Runners let me know that I wasn’t taking enough enduralytes with the current temperature. I was taking one an hour and he said I needed at least two, so I grabbed a couple and took them with a bottle of Heed and headed out. This section that went out around the two sisters and came back in was one of the worst for me. I wanted to be done and I was tired of climbing these hills. My calves were completely thrashed, so I had a difficult time climbing.

Once I made it back to the Crossroads a volunteer who had finished the 25K let me know what I was in for with the Lucky section. He said about 2.2 miles was covered and flat with good trail and then 2 miles of lucky was left where it would be brutal. Taking that advice, I ran the 2.2 miles almost the entire way. Then when I got to lucky, I climbed it as quick as I could and descended it slowly so as to not hurt myself.

Once I made it to the Last Chance aid station, I got some gatorade and water and ran the last .5 mile to finish in about 7 hours and 27 minutes.

All and all, this was the most difficult race I have run. I look forward to running the course again as it was a lot of fun. I loved the nature surrounding me even if the hills were pretty rough. Next year I will come more prepared!

I love the holidays. It’s fun to get to see family members that I haven’t seen in awhile; it’s fun to eat a lot of good food; and it’s fun to run with my stepfather.

He’s older than me, but he is consistently faster. He’s always good about giving me tips and advice about my own running, so I like to run with him. We only went out once this week but it was good.

I also went out on my own during a little snowfall. I don’t have much of that now that I’ve moved to Texas. I thought it would be a little more fun than it was due to the snow hitting my eyes pretty hard.

A good holidays!

Yesterday, my training run went a lot better than expected. I went out to the trails after work thinking that I would just run the seven mile loop alone. It was a gloomy day because of a gray overcast and a little water on the ground from a rain earlier in the day.

I decided that I didn’t want to run alone, so I called my friend Phillip to see if he wanted to go. He said he needed to see if his daughter was going to hang out at his place or if she was just dropping by. He called me back a few minutes later and said he’d be at the park in ten minutes.

I’m glad that I called him because he came with his Jack Russell who was more than excited to run. We started at a fast pace, so it wasn’t long before Phillip and Bandit were far ahead of me.

Around mile 4, I noticed that my pace was a lot better that it normally was. In fact, I thought that I might be able to finish the run in under 1 hour. With this thought, I started to get a little bit of a second wind. I decided to push the pace and caught up with Phillip and Bandit. With about two miles left, I passed Phillip and Bandit and started to run 8 minute miles.

Ultimately, I finished in 59:43. That’s the first time I’ve ever run that loop in under an hour.

I’ve decided that it’s time for me to step up the running. I can’t believe that it’s back to the racing season. I’m happy that some of the races are sending me emails to let me know that I should sign up for this years race. It’s cool that they are good at reminding me. So, anyhow, more distance to prepare.

It doesn’t matter to me if work is really busy, I still make time for a run. There isn’t much that can simultaneously focus me on my life, work, and goals and destress me more than running. So why forego that just because work is stressful?

This week I will be very busy with a felony criminal trial just to turn around and had have a civil trial the following week. It’s not typical for me to have back to back trials but you can bet I went on a run yesterday!

Yesterday was a good day of running. Today was a really sucky day. It’s not good to run when it’s 95ish degrees. It’s really not good to run 6 some miles.

Woo! I need to run with my friend from the running club more often. The last time we did the seven mile loop, I came in about 2 minutes earlier than my PR. We ran a five mile loop today, and we finished it about 4 minutes quicker than my previous PR. It took us 41 minutes which is just over an 8 minute mile.

I ran the seven mile loop today in about 1:03 minutes. That’s a good deal better then the run yesterday. I’d like to get that time down to about 50 minutes, because I’d enjoy being at 7 minute miles. That’s a lot to shave off.

It used to be that running two miles a few times a week made me feel like a good runner. Now I am running 6 or 7 miles a few times a week and thinking that is normal. All this ultra running and loving the trails is making me more interested in pushing my body further and further.

I am finally moved and connected to the internet again. It’s very nice to finally have a link to the outside world! I went on a run at Huntsville State Park the other day to try out their trails, but I found they were too wet. I only made it about a mile and a half.

I haven’t run in over three days, so my legs are itching for a run. I think this evening I am going to run 8 or 9 miles just to see some different areas of the city. Overall it seems like a pretty boring place, but it’s only temporary so I’ll just enjoy the running.

Isn’t it great when you feel nothing but strength on your run? The past two nights have been a breeze. I love it when I feel just as strong, today I even felt stronger, at the end of the run, as I did at the beginning.

Yesterday I ran about 2.5 miles in a very quick run. Today I ran 3 miles, lifted weights, and finished up with 25 minutes of cardio on the elliptical machine.

My biggest running weakness is stopping to walk. It doesn’t matter if I’m just going to run a quick two miles or a long 12 miles, I will stop and walk. I know that it’s a mental hurdle but it’s one that has been with me for a few years now. I’m not sure what the deal is because I used to always keep in motion and finish strong, but I don’t do that anymore.

Today was one of the first times that I have changed that with a really strong run. I did stop but it was only to retie my shoes. Not only did I finish the run strong but I went into my apartment workout center and ran another two miles on the treadmill.

When I started my run, I was a little frustrated with myself because I knew I wasn’t going to be able to run a long run. My goal was to make today my weekly long run, but I had to change for a few reasons. I started the run so late that it would be dark by the end, I didn’t dress properly with the cold coming at nightfall, and I realized my chest was more congested than I anticipated. Instead of a long run, I made it a fairly quick four miles. Then I ran two more on the treadmill.

I guess six miles and breaking a mental block isn’t too shabby.

I’ve always been the type of runner who enjoys going out alone. When I run, it is the time I have to myself to relax and enjoy the world moving around me. When someone else is running with me there is a distraction I cannot stop. I will say that even though I enjoy running alone; I don’t enjoy being alone on the trails.

Today was like that because there was almost nobody on my running path. I like to see other people as we cross paths so that I can give them a friendly nod and hand wave but today was silence. The wind was blowing hard, the leaves were crackling, and the temperature was a warm 79 degrees. Perhaps this is why people stayed in?

It’s days like these when I wish I had a running buddy.

It was my first ultramarathon and I loved every minute of it! Unfortunately, the week before the race, I hurt my foot when I fell off a bridge while mountain biking. Leading up to the race, I did everything that I could to let my foot heal but it wasn’t enough to not feel the pain.

That said, I wasn’t about to let a silly foot injury stop me from my first ultra. I went to the hotel and signed up for it about the time the 48 hour runners were in their sixth hour. It was only appropriate that I sign up for the six hour run and bow in respect to the people running the 48 and 24 hour runs. I would have gone for the 12 hour but my work schedule conflicted with it on Saturday.

Saturday I went to the race site as soon as I was finished working. As I got out of my truck, I met a runner who was also running in his first ultra. As it turned out, he was able to demolish me pretty easily. I think that there were about 15 people who were running the six hour race and we seemed like a happy group as we gathered around the start.

Once I got into the groove of running it was clear that my foot was going to cause some problems, but I resigned myself to the fact that I’d probably have to walk a considerable amount. While the foot was fresh, I pushed myself for about 9 miles so that I could get some quick mileage. The asphalt was a little rough to run on but Grapevine Lake was a refreshing view so the 2.4 mile circuit didn’t become too boring.

It was probably around mile 10 that I really had to slow down my pace because of foot pain. I walked it a little and then would run another mile or two. The foot was the only problem as nutrition and refreshments were plenty. The race was well stocked with all the food and drinks I needed, so I made sure to keep myself pretty refreshed.

By the 5th hour, I was just enjoying the run and had learned how to handle my foot. I enjoyed running with a lot of people who I had either read about or heard about. My overall distance was only 25 miles but it wasn’t too terrible for a first ultra and not having an entirely healthy body. My goal for the next six hour would be to hit about 34 miles.

I would go out to run this morning if my back didn’t feel like someone took a sludgehammer to it.