Sometimes an old love calls to you and wakes you up again inside.

The roads have been my partner for about six months now. They're straightforward. Predictible. Safe.

Getting back on the Northshore trail was like finding an old boyfriend from 15 years ago. He's familiar, but changed. You know him, you know his faults, you know his great areas. But still, he's grown, a bit new, yet still comfortable.

There were surprise twists and turns I didn't remember. There were a few ups that made me stop to rethink what I was doing and some downs that were pure joy and fast. The trail wandered around and many times, I really wasn't sure where I was. Then occasionally, I'd come across a spot I'd been before and sighed with relief, only to wind up in another new area. There were turns I wasn't expecting. But the warm friendliess wrapped itself around me.

A calm came over me at times when all I could hear was the wind, creaking limbs, and the occasional critter scampering under the brush to avoid the heavy foot pounding. I could hear my heart and my breath. I could feel the sweat from the warm air on my face and body. It was as soothing as curling up close.

An hour later, I was spent. I was in my happy place. Maybe it's a relationship worth re-kindling.

Inspiration from a total stranger

For a long time, I was a purist. I didn't run with an iPod, even on my long trail runs. I like to stay in my mind and especially in trail running, enjoy the scenery. There were a few times, I'd plug in, but not often.

These days, I've grown to rely on it more with the longer runs. I enjoy the music and it keeps my mind from getting too bored. Today though, the damn thing was goofed up. I've noticed that it's a little buggy sometimes when I recharge it. The next time I play it, all the treble is gone so all I hear is the background. Grrr...this morning I really wanted to work with the music since the training plan called for 75 minutes, 35 of which were tempo drills. But maybe it happened for a reason that it didn't work.

I was about 15 minutes into the warmup when a guy walked up with an Austin 70.3 race shirt on. He parked it on the treadmill next to me, so I asked him how he liked the race, how long he's been racing, etc. I normally am not much of a talker running, even less so at the gym, but he responded, then kept chattering back.

Turns out he lost over 100lbs in a year and now he's at the point where it's been off for quite a while. He's stablized at his current weight, which appears to be that of a normal guy. Amazing! I just am in awe of people, like my friends Janna and Deeann, who have managed to take off incredible amounts of weight like that and keep it off. And most times, they find themselves in a new life and a whole new outlook.

Sure enough, this guy was the same way. He tried his first 5k, then got into a couple of sprints, then found himself improving so much, he did a 70.3 last year and in a decent time. Wow! That's incredible. Now he has himself a coach and is working to do two 70.3's this season and possibly a full IM next year.

The guy has guts, that's for sure. I left him after my workout and he still had about an hour to go to finish his. Can you imagine doing 14 miles on the treadmill? That was his plan and he was already nearly halfway through it. It's really inspiring.

So for once, I was happy that the iPod was down. I got in a good workout, good chat, and managed to meet a potential new training comrade.

My workout for the day? I shifted my schedule a tad this week for other conflicts.
75min run.
20 min warmup
35 mins tempo -- 3 mins fast/2 mins recover 7x
20 mins recover/cooldown
Ended up with 7.6 miles. I'm content with that considering the warmup and cooldown were done at 5.7-5.8mph.

Swim tonight. Cycle tomorrow 2 hours.

Train hard y'all!

Saturday run

Saturday morning was busy. My folks were flying in from San Diego in the afternoon, so all the errands, cleaning, shopping and oh yeah, homework, had to be crunched in before they arrived. Amazingly enough, I was looking forward to getting in a run that morning as well and made it a priority. After all, many of my peeps were out running the Cross Timbers trail race up on Lake Texoma.

I get up at the crack of dawn nearly every day whether I want to or not. Even if it's a weekend. Sure enough, 6am, the eyes popped open for a new day. It was still a little too cool for this blood, so I got some cleaning done and made the list for the rest of the day.

By about 8:30 the mercury rose just enough and I was ready to roll. I decided that I'd do about 6 miles and wanted to get in a few small hills. There's a route through Highland Village that is perfect. I plotted the out-back up on mapmyrun.com, laced up the shoes, grabbed the iPod and left.

I almost always hate the first 1/2 to 3/4 mile as the legs warm up and stretch out. Usually, I'm ready to quit, but have to power through it. Same thing happened. But by the time I reached my turn at Brazos about a mile into it, they felt great. The music was playing hard (did you know Simon and Garfunkel have some great running pace tunes?). The pavement just flowed under the feet. It felt fantastic and I knew the pace felt great - less strained than usual.

The slow rolling hills start in at about mile 2. The last time I'd done this route was before the half marathon in December. I was struggling that time. This time, they didn't feel hard at all. I motored up them and by the time I realized it, I was at the turnaround point. I stood there for a moment, then looked ahead of me to the next hill which peaked about 1/2 mile away.

Aw, what the hell? I was still feeling strong, so I extended the run another 1/2 mile and conquored this next hill before turning around. I noticed several other runners heading out for their runs. Most everyone waves in this part of town, even if they're on the other side of the street. Nice.

At about mile 4-5ish, the boredom started kicking in. This is where I tend to walk a few minutes before running again. I'm normally not tired, just bored of the pace. This time, I managed to plow through it (some friends were in my head telling me not to stop) and continue.

Again, before I knew it, I looked up and noticed the water tower that's close to the 1-mile mark. Holy crap, I'm almost done? Sure enough I'd hit the turn back onto the main road and back to the house. The legs kicked in and I pushed the pace the last mile or so, only stopping briefly for the traffic light crossing. Amazing!

So I re-mapped with the turnaround point, and sure enough, I'd added an extra mile more than I'd planned. Yippee! I'm hoping more runs continue like this. It's encouraging.

Train hard, y'all.

10.5 miles

I've resigned myself to just finishing the half marathon in a few weeks. I'd hoped for about a 2:15 finish, but after today's long run, I'll just settle to finish. It's been a busy few months and I just haven't put in the time necessary to do well. That said, I'm okay with it. :)

Today I did a 10.5 miler, much to my own surprise. I'd mapped out a run at 10.3, but somehow got turned around a bit, so I rerouted on my own. I thought I might have only done about 9-9.5, but when I remapped the route I actually took, I was surprised to see 10.5. Yay! Here's what it looks like.
http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/tx/highland-village/588125830713335446

Starting temperature - 68. Breezy south wind. Above average humidity. New shoes (1/2 size larger because of rubbing with the old ones).

I always hate the first mile or so of my long runs. It takes a while for stuff to stretch out and settlle into a good pattern. But by mile 2-3, it feels great. This is a new route I've been wanting to do to really change up the scenery. It's perfect for at least the first 5 miles or so. There are rolling hills through the Highland Village area, miles 3 through 6. Some of these hills kick my butt. I store this info so that I use routes through here in training for the half IM next year. Kansas is hilly.

For the most part, I feel pretty good through mile 5. I take a couple of Clif Blox at the 1/2 hour point and they kick in about 10 minutes later, thankfully. The wheels started coming off around 5.5 miles. I was getting tired from the hills and running straight into the wind. There was construction, so no sidewalk, but luckily, a good portion of the road was closed and hard-packed dirt. I stayed there. Downed a vanilla Gu at the 1 hour mark. I thought I'd missed a turn so I thought my route was cut about a mile short at this point. Dangit.

Miles 5.5 to 6.5 were the busiest for traffic around the mall and because of a narrow, busy road with no shoulder. I'm going to have to work around that area again, unless I do it early in the morning. I walked a lot through this time, partly due to the traffic, partly just being exhausted. My Gatorade was nearly out and I couldn't find anything open to just refill with water. Ugh.

When I hit the light at Morris/Valley Ridge, I considered going straight home, but then turned right to adjust the course a bit to make up what I thought were lost miles. At this point, I figured I'd finish at about 9 miles. I forced myself to pass up another shortcut and continued on to College Rd which would give me 2 options on mileage and getting home.

At about mile 9 (which I thought was less at this point) I started to feel a little light headed, probably from the humidity, climbing temps, and not enough water. I decided to cut the run a bit and turn onto Kirkpatrick to come home, rather than go all the way to Garden Ridge. It was a good decision as it turns out. Had I continued on like I thought about doing, it would've added about another mile to the route. I was hot and light headed. It was good to be almost home.

Finally I turned onto my street and made it home. I was disappointed with the time (right at 2 hours) for 10.5 miles. I did walk several times for about a minute at a time. I think the gel and blox were done at the right times, but I wish I'd had more water/gatorade. I kept thinking I needed to just fill up with someone's hose. Next time I probably will.

Next week is 11+, then "taper" for the race. Whew! I can't wait to call the Lufkins to see how theirs went.

The agony and ecstacy

Sunday I had to get in a long run. I theory, it was supposed to be 7 miles according to the training log. I was supposed to meet with my prospective trainer that afternoon in Coppell, where my gym is, and thought about just doing my mileage there after we were finished. I mapped out a run and thought it would be fine.

I met with Alma, the trainer, and had a great time. We talked and I was able to pick her brain on training and tri tips (not the beef, but the race). She even printed out elevation and maps for my Kansas race to discuss. I like her!

Anyway, after we met, I headed out to chase sunset, thinking I'd get my 7-ish miles and/or 7 minutes in before the sun went down. As I started out on the route I'd mapped out, I realized that the Andy Brown park which I was running near, had just over a 6 mile loop beckoning me to run to keep it from getting boring. Sure enough, I succumbed to the whole thing, and added with the mileage to get from the YMCA to the park entrance, it ended up coming to 8.5 miles! WTF!!??

The legs (and side stitches) balked at me at first, like they always do the first mile or two, but then I got into a groove. I kept going, but told myself that I'd do a 1 minute walk once I got to the far duck pond or 35 minutes, whichever came first. Fortunately, I didn't have to choose, as they came at about the same time. I decided to suck down a gel, walk for a minute, then keep going.

It was a great move looking back. The gel kicked in about 10 minutes later and carried me through to the end. I thought I'd end up walking maybe the last 1/2 mile or so, but kept carrying on until I made it back to the car 85 minutes later! Holy crap! For someone not training well this was awesome!

But I paid for it on Monday.

Damn I'm sore. To top it off, I did my first upper body workout with Alma on Tuesday and she pushed me to do weights I certainly wouldn't have done on my own. I'm learning from her and think she'll be great to develop the core muscles I'll need to help set the base for when I start really training in January.

Oh and I'm cussing her name today. I'm so sore, typing hurts right now. Everything from the waist up hurts. It's a good hurt though. It's the agony and the ecstasy all rolled into one.

6.3 mile run

The past week or two has been chaos. I interviewed for, then got a new job so my life has been turned upside down. Of course, I have to admit to a few happy hours to celebrate the change, which lead to less sleep and not wanting to get up in the morning to work out. It's an ugly cycle. The nights I didn't go out, I stewed about what the change would bring and all the worrying. Suffice to say, I have a week under my belt now at the new job and it's time to get back on the road. The half is coming up really soon!

So it's been a while since I've posted. Or run.

I'm sort of wierd about the time to run. I do best first thing in the morning before I've had a diet Coke and much to eat. If I get a shower, likely I won't run either. I will occasionally run in the afternoon after I get off work, but that's only if lunch wasn't too big. You've gotta get through the hangups, right? LOL!

Saturday I didn't run. We had a trail cleanup for our trail running club I organized, then I had a ton of homework to get done. So I did what I had to do. Procrastinated it until Sunday afternoon.

Long story short, I ended up prying myself away from my Accounting studying to go for a run. Damn, it felt great! The last run I'd done was 2 weeks before (but I rode 145 miles on my bike in between), but it wasn't bad. I needed to up the mileage and did by a mile.

The weather was a perfect 73-ish degrees and I planned the route to mostly be a crosswind and the headwind at only the beginning. I'm no dummy. I went to mapmyrun.com and plotted out a 6-ish miler, extending one of my regular 5-mile runs to include a new area.

I purposely left and headed toward the newer part of the route first, so that I would be forced to finish the whole route. I couldn't get to a crossroads and opt out. I had to do the whole thing. I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to make it.

This time of year is just gorgeous. The leaves are starting to change here and lawns are sprinkled with fun Halloween decorations. Some even play music. Most decorations make me laugh at the creativity or ostentatiousness of it all. It passes the time, and I like that.

It was tough to get in the groove at first; side stitches take over at about a mile or so. But they sort themselves out by the time I hit a major intersection at nearly 3 miles in. I turned the corner and walked for the time it took to get to the next sign, maybe 30-ish seconds. The legs started finally feeling stronger as I pushed up a small incline (I can't even call it a hill). The next thing I knew, I saw the power lines that go down the middle of the final turnoff street and I was thrilled. I hung on with exactly a 10mph pace, which for as little as I've trained, I'll take.

By Monday evening, everything was tightening up and I'm sore. It will get better. Now if I could only catch those Lufkins!

We Will, We Will Rock You!

What a great run today!

I'm in the 3rd week of training for the Rock-n-Roll Half in Las Vegas in December. Today was my first five miler in a long, long time. I remember when five was an easy run; now it was my "long" run for the week.

I was a tad worried this week wouldn't be as good. I hadn't gotten in any of my regular training runs for this week since I was a little distracted finding out I got a new job (starting soon). My long run from last week was delayed until Monday, so I figured I was way behind.

I plotted out a course on www.mapmyrun.com to make sure what I was planning to do was about 5 miles. Thankfully, it turns out it's 5.25! I'll take it! I grabbed my new iPod stacked with a running playlist and headed out the door.

I've done this route several times before, but always counterclockwise and usually in the dark, early morning hours. I decided to run it the other way to shake things up. About 1/4 mile into it, I got a sharp side stitch and walked for a minute or so before going again. I decided that I'd make it to Morris Blvd before taking a walk break, roughly 2 miles or so away.

Mist and drizzle mixed with sweat as I warmed up. I made it to Morris for the turn and still felt great so I spotted a traffic light and aimed for it, thinking I'd take a quick break then. And after passing that mark without walking, I aimed for the Valley Ridge turn. I swear this route is uphill the whole way. I was going at a nice even pace; the temps were good; and stil felt like I could run forever.

I continued without stopping, then looked up to see the final turn to the house just up ahead. Holy cow, where did the miles go and how the heck did it feel so good still? As I rounded the corner and neared the house, Queen came on with We Are the Champions and I rocked it to the house! What an awesome run.

Week 1 - 79 days to go

To some of you, this may sound silly, but today I ran 3 miles. Granted it was still on the treadmill but the milage is done. No walking. It's a small accomplisment, but for me right now, it's huge! I'm excited.

This week, I officially started my half marathon training for the Las Vegas Rock-n-Roll Half in December which I will be running with my fabulous friends, Greg and Deeann. It's just what I needed to keep me going since I deferred my Toyota Triathlon entry until next year.

I did about 2 minutes of walking, then kicked the belt up to about 5.8 for the first 1/2 mile. After that, I'd increase by .1 each 1/4 mile up to 1.5 miles. Then I upped the speed by .1 every 1/2 mile so I ended the last 1/2 mile at a 6.3 (9:21-ish pace). I like these workouts as it leaves the speed for the end. I think I'll start doing more speedwork on the treadmill in a few weeks, but don't want to risk more damage for now.

This weekend, I need to get in 4 miles. I don't think it will be a problem. Yay!

Running haiku

Distant lightning glows
Footbeats keep the rhythmic pulse
Summer morning steam

There's always a conversation or song in my head. It can be exhausting. Many times I can't get it out and it just replays itself over and over, much like the movie Groundhog Day. Sometimes this happens when I'm running so I try to rechannel the noise into a creative outlet. I've written papers for school or blog entries as I run or ride many times.

Today, it was just a simple haiku that kept my mind running. It's not necessarily a good one, but it fell into the footstep patterns. Enjoy.

Random thoughts popping through my brain

On TV: There are only two days left until Survivor starts again. Yay! It's my favorite season of all. I'm struggling to figure out who will win the $1M this season as none of the "characters" pop out at me . Usually, there is one, or two even, who you can pinpoint to make it to the end.

On the Season: My favorite time of year, though is fall. I love the warm days and cooler mornings. The colors are rich and vibrant, unlike the pastels of spring. There's a certain smell in the air, maybe anticipation of the holidays coming up soon. It's almost time to start firing up the oven to bake cookies and warm treats.

On Fall: Warm treats are great, but not when you're at the top of your tubby scale. Wow, I dropped about 10lbs a year ago and somehow it's creeped back up and even has added a few more. I'm off to Belize here soon and need to get down to a shape that doesn't involve popping out of my bathing suit. Ugh!

On Exercise: Tried running (more like joggling) this morning since the weather is cooler. Well, it's cooler, but is still humid. I did only 2 miles and man, it was a struggle. In my early morning shadows, the legs and arms just didn't look like those of an athlete. They looked like a bird flailing after being hit by a car. Okay, maybe not that bad, but you get the picture. It was neither graceful, nor pretty. I miss the days when 5 miles was an "easy" run. The mileage will come back soon enough, as long as I get my butt back into it.

On Work: I'm so frustrated with my job right now. I LIKE to be in the middle of a lot of motion. When I moved teams back in February, I thought it might be a great opportunity to learn just one thing and learn it well. Well, I'm learning that I don't do well with only one thing (hence 2 jobs, writing online, sports etc.). I'm frustrated and bored. I'm starting to shake the trees to see what else I can do in the company without taking too big of a pay hit. I'm hoping I can hang on until January when the new budgets hit.

On Change: I'm excited for my friend, Becky. She has been frustrated in her job in the mortgage industry for quite some time now and has made a concerted effort to get out of it. Wow, when she does something, she does it BIG. She took some tests last week to become an insurance auditor. She passed them and gave notice on her job over the weekend. She literally could leave any moment now to go take care of business along the Texas Coast in the aftermath of Ike. Wow! I know this is a huge change for her, especially knowing she has to leave her wonderful boyfriend, Mike, behind, but I'm so proud of her for jumping in with both feet. She's smart and resourceful. I know she'll do well.