Ok, so I'm not really in racing shape these days. And I'm not one to enter a race to use it as a long run, but I had a comped entry from last year's race, so I went ahead and rolled out of bed early yesterday for the drive to The Woodlands. After an absolutely horrible running week (84 and humid at 5:30 am? In October? Really, Houston?), a cold front barreled through late Friday morning leaving the Saturday am temperature in the high 50s. That's more like it...
My goals in this run were threefold: 1) Have fun, 2) Don't make the injury worse, and 3) Finish, in that order.
Fortunately, I managed to accomplish all three. It felt good to toe the starting line at a road race again--it has been 9 months since I've had the chance to do that. Chatting with friends before and after the run and just enjoying the morning on the roads made the trip up there so worthwhile, even if I can't race. My Achilles is sore this morning, but no worse than usual in spite of the 10 miles of concrete. And I did finish, despite having no mileage base (I'm not sure when the last time I ran more than 20 miles in a week was), no speed workouts, and no runs longer than 9 miles since the half marathon in January. I had my doubts, but I think that the weather (and race day adrenaline) got me through it.
The mile markers were all over the place, so it's hard to say what my real splits were. But my overall chip time was 1:17.15, almost 9 minutes slower than last year. No matter--the time wasn't the point. Just getting to the end (and, I think, picking up the pace in the second half) felt really good.
It has been a frustrating year, but somehow it just makes you appreciate the good seasons, and makes you want to work hard to get healthy and come back strong.
Wanted to go hit the bike this morning and shake out some of the soreness, but it's raining, so I passed on that in favor of kicking back with a cup of coffee and watching the Chicago Marathon. The men's lead pack is flying, and Tera Moody is leading the women. Great fun to watch!
Hope you've all had a great weekend of running. Carpe Viam!
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Does anyone out there speak German?
So, it looks like I'm going to have to change the name of the blog. I'm not sure that H-Town Runner is going to make sense when I'm living in Munich. My husband was offered a three year expat assignment beginning in early November, and we thought about it for, oh, about 2.3 seconds before accepting the offer.
It's going to be an adventure. None of us speaks any German, so we're doing a quick basic course now, which we will follow up with an intensive course once we get there. We're trying to pack and get the house ready to lease in a hurry. It's not easy, but we're getting it done.
I will very much miss the running community in Houston. I feel so lucky to have been a part of HARRA and the Al Lawrence Running Club for the last several years--wonderful groups of people that I have really enjoyed running and socializing with. But at the same time, I am looking forward to the running life in Germany--Munich has some beautiful parks and miles of trails along the Isar River that I just can't wait to explore. And I have always loved running in the snow--something I haven't had much chance to do since I moved here from upstate NY twelve years ago.
In the meantime, though, I'm going to try to ignore this pesky injury as best I can and continue to hit the Memorial trail at least a few times a week, as well as some of the races through mid-November, when I head to Germany. The cold front that's supposed to come through tomorrow should make that muuuuuuch more pleasant.
There are two very nice 10-milers this weekend ( I really wish they would run them on separate weekends rather than make everyone choose, but they didn't ask me). Ten For Texas is up in The Woodlands on Saturday morning, and the USA 10 Miler (part of the HARRA series) is on Sunday down in Clear Lake. Last year, thanks to Ike, I was able to do both, as the T4T was delayed until November. This year, I'll just be jogging the Ten for Texas and hoping I can run the whole 10 miles--I haven't run that far since the half in January, and I haven't exactly been running much since. But, the weather should be better than it has been lately, and the event is very well put together--it was one of my favorite races last year, and this year should be no different. Hope to see some of you out there!
I hope that we will see many of you in Germany over the next three years--there are some great "destination races" in that part of the world.
Oh, and, if you can think of a good new name for this blog, I'd love to hear it...
Carpe Viam! (I wonder what that is in Deutsch?)
It's going to be an adventure. None of us speaks any German, so we're doing a quick basic course now, which we will follow up with an intensive course once we get there. We're trying to pack and get the house ready to lease in a hurry. It's not easy, but we're getting it done.
I will very much miss the running community in Houston. I feel so lucky to have been a part of HARRA and the Al Lawrence Running Club for the last several years--wonderful groups of people that I have really enjoyed running and socializing with. But at the same time, I am looking forward to the running life in Germany--Munich has some beautiful parks and miles of trails along the Isar River that I just can't wait to explore. And I have always loved running in the snow--something I haven't had much chance to do since I moved here from upstate NY twelve years ago.
In the meantime, though, I'm going to try to ignore this pesky injury as best I can and continue to hit the Memorial trail at least a few times a week, as well as some of the races through mid-November, when I head to Germany. The cold front that's supposed to come through tomorrow should make that muuuuuuch more pleasant.
There are two very nice 10-milers this weekend ( I really wish they would run them on separate weekends rather than make everyone choose, but they didn't ask me). Ten For Texas is up in The Woodlands on Saturday morning, and the USA 10 Miler (part of the HARRA series) is on Sunday down in Clear Lake. Last year, thanks to Ike, I was able to do both, as the T4T was delayed until November. This year, I'll just be jogging the Ten for Texas and hoping I can run the whole 10 miles--I haven't run that far since the half in January, and I haven't exactly been running much since. But, the weather should be better than it has been lately, and the event is very well put together--it was one of my favorite races last year, and this year should be no different. Hope to see some of you out there!
I hope that we will see many of you in Germany over the next three years--there are some great "destination races" in that part of the world.
Oh, and, if you can think of a good new name for this blog, I'd love to hear it...
Carpe Viam! (I wonder what that is in Deutsch?)
Sunday, September 13, 2009
The definition of insanity...
...is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.
I must be nuts, then. I'll wake up one morning, my Achilles will be really sore, I'll baby it, ice it, massage it, run in the pool, etc., etc. In a few days, I'll wake up, and it won't hurt. So I go for a run...and by the end of the day, it's really sore. So I baby it, ice it, massage it, cross train, etc. And in a few days, I wake up and it doesn't hurt. So I go for a run...lather, rinse, repeat.
This thing just isn't going away.
I would like to say that I"m going to be smart, take a month off, blah, blah, blah. But I'd only be kidding myself. So, I'll just treat it as best I can and see how it goes...
It's kind of like watching the Irish. I kept thinking that this was the year they were going to turn the corner, that Charlie had his recruits and everyone was on the same page. And then he called plays like he was playing Nintendo football. Throwing a bomb on second down instead of running to kill the clock and force UM to use their timeouts? Really Charlie? The guy coaching the freshman team at St. Joe's down the street could have called a better game. Good grief.
But I"ll keep watching, and I'll keep expecting a win. Because that's just the way it is.
Carpe Viam!
I must be nuts, then. I'll wake up one morning, my Achilles will be really sore, I'll baby it, ice it, massage it, run in the pool, etc., etc. In a few days, I'll wake up, and it won't hurt. So I go for a run...and by the end of the day, it's really sore. So I baby it, ice it, massage it, cross train, etc. And in a few days, I wake up and it doesn't hurt. So I go for a run...lather, rinse, repeat.
This thing just isn't going away.
I would like to say that I"m going to be smart, take a month off, blah, blah, blah. But I'd only be kidding myself. So, I'll just treat it as best I can and see how it goes...
It's kind of like watching the Irish. I kept thinking that this was the year they were going to turn the corner, that Charlie had his recruits and everyone was on the same page. And then he called plays like he was playing Nintendo football. Throwing a bomb on second down instead of running to kill the clock and force UM to use their timeouts? Really Charlie? The guy coaching the freshman team at St. Joe's down the street could have called a better game. Good grief.
But I"ll keep watching, and I'll keep expecting a win. Because that's just the way it is.
Carpe Viam!
Sunday, August 30, 2009
The long run is getting longer...
It was an unusual Saturday morning run. In general, there might be one, or at the most two, women joining the guys for a long run. This weekend we had 5! I wasn't going long, though--just 9, compared to the 13-18 that the rest of the group had planned. As our fearless leader described the course, I realized that if I didn't just do about 4.5 out and then head back to the park, the 8.5 mile point would pass within a half mile of my house. Perfect! So, I had a great 9 miler with the group, then hopped on my bike and headed back to the park to get the car, with a quick pit stop at the HARRA Party in the Park. All in all, a great morning!
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Dathan Ritzenhein broke Bob Kennedy's 13 year old 5000m record yesterday with is 12:56. Unreal--what a great result for him! If you can find it, check out the video of the last few laps. He was reeling in some great runners down the stretch...
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Carpe Viam!
-------------------------------------------
Dathan Ritzenhein broke Bob Kennedy's 13 year old 5000m record yesterday with is 12:56. Unreal--what a great result for him! If you can find it, check out the video of the last few laps. He was reeling in some great runners down the stretch...
-------------------------------------------
Carpe Viam!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Keep on truckin'
One story from Saturday that I thought I should probably share. I was crossing from the asphalt bike path east of the running loop back to the loop at the end of my run. I looked up to make sure the light was red for the traffic coming out of the park. It was, and so I started across the street in front of a pickup truck. As I got in front of the truck, he gunned it, just for a second, and the truck lurched toward me and then stopped. I jumped back out of the way, took a deep breath, and headed back to the curb thinking that the light had turned green on me. As I got back to the curb, I glanced up at the light.
Still red. Hmmph.
I crossed behind him and finished the run. Grrrrrr....
Be careful out there.
----------------------------------------------------------
Decided to see how much get-up-and-go I have in my legs after such a long layoff. Haven't done a real workout since January, so I figured I'd start with a short, easy tempo-ish run. Warmed up with a mile easy, then did 2 miles at 7:15 and 7:01, then an easy cool down mile. Felt surprisingly good. I'll keep building the miles slowly and hope for the best--next thing on the schedule is Ten for Texas in October. Hopefully we'll get a nice cool day...
Carpe viam!
Still red. Hmmph.
I crossed behind him and finished the run. Grrrrrr....
Be careful out there.
----------------------------------------------------------
Decided to see how much get-up-and-go I have in my legs after such a long layoff. Haven't done a real workout since January, so I figured I'd start with a short, easy tempo-ish run. Warmed up with a mile easy, then did 2 miles at 7:15 and 7:01, then an easy cool down mile. Felt surprisingly good. I'll keep building the miles slowly and hope for the best--next thing on the schedule is Ten for Texas in October. Hopefully we'll get a nice cool day...
Carpe viam!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
There's nothing like that first "cold" front...
Man, what a great morning! There were about 100,000 people out running on the streets around Memorial Park--a little crowded, but still a great sight! The marathon/half-marathon training groups are in full swing, and the slightly cooler temperatures (mid-70s instead of mid-80s) seemed to put a little extra spring in everyone's step. I hung a bit behind my running buddies most of the way, but managed to keep what felt like a pretty respectable pace for my something-less-than-8-miler. I forgot to start my watch when we started, but decided quickly to leave it off and just run by feel, and I think that was the right call.
We started at the pool, went out long around Memorial Park, and then ran up Crestwood to Blossom and out to Jackson Hill. After a stop for some ice cold Gatorade, we ran across the pedestrian bridge, and I headed back to the park while my group headed into downtown for a tour of the Hilton/GRB/Minute Maid area and back. All in all it was a great run--I was a little tired at the end, but felt pretty strong.
Carpe Viam!
We started at the pool, went out long around Memorial Park, and then ran up Crestwood to Blossom and out to Jackson Hill. After a stop for some ice cold Gatorade, we ran across the pedestrian bridge, and I headed back to the park while my group headed into downtown for a tour of the Hilton/GRB/Minute Maid area and back. All in all it was a great run--I was a little tired at the end, but felt pretty strong.
Carpe Viam!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
And now, a word from our sponsor
This post is going to sound like a product shill. And, well, it probably is. But I promise that I don't work for, or get any money from, this company for any reason.
You may remember a few months back that I suddenly recovered quickly from my knee injury, thanks to a few days' worth of work on the Quadballer from Trigger Point Therapy. When my Achilles flared up a couple of months ago, I had visions of months in the pool, sleep lost because the night splint is uncomfortable, lots of time at the doc, and expensive rounds of PT. After doing all of the exercises that I knew to do from my last round of AT, a lot of cross-training (and very little running), and several nights of trying unsuccessfully to sleep in the boot, I decided to go back to their website and invest in the Foot and Lower Leg Kit. If it works, great! If not, it's just a small expense added on to the much larger expense of PT and time in the pool away from running.
At the risk of jinxing it, Trigger Point seems to be 2 for 2. I've been using the kit for about a week, and still running, and I feel better than I have in months. Just a minor twinge when I get up in the morning and start to walk, which goes away within a few steps, and no pain at all when I run or afterwards. I think that I babied it enough that it didn't go downhill quickly, and the TP kit massage seems to be reversing it. Here's hoping...
...and now, back to our regularly scheduled program...
...........................................
Hope you've been watching the World Championships in Berlin this week. Jenny Barringer set a new AR in the 3000 Steeple. Dathan Ritzenhein PR'd in the 10,000, finishing 6th. And, well, you've probably seen what Usain Bolt did in the 100. Unreal. Mens' 1500m final is today, I think--it'll be interesting to see how the Americans run.
Carpe Viam!
You may remember a few months back that I suddenly recovered quickly from my knee injury, thanks to a few days' worth of work on the Quadballer from Trigger Point Therapy. When my Achilles flared up a couple of months ago, I had visions of months in the pool, sleep lost because the night splint is uncomfortable, lots of time at the doc, and expensive rounds of PT. After doing all of the exercises that I knew to do from my last round of AT, a lot of cross-training (and very little running), and several nights of trying unsuccessfully to sleep in the boot, I decided to go back to their website and invest in the Foot and Lower Leg Kit. If it works, great! If not, it's just a small expense added on to the much larger expense of PT and time in the pool away from running.
At the risk of jinxing it, Trigger Point seems to be 2 for 2. I've been using the kit for about a week, and still running, and I feel better than I have in months. Just a minor twinge when I get up in the morning and start to walk, which goes away within a few steps, and no pain at all when I run or afterwards. I think that I babied it enough that it didn't go downhill quickly, and the TP kit massage seems to be reversing it. Here's hoping...
...and now, back to our regularly scheduled program...
...........................................
Hope you've been watching the World Championships in Berlin this week. Jenny Barringer set a new AR in the 3000 Steeple. Dathan Ritzenhein PR'd in the 10,000, finishing 6th. And, well, you've probably seen what Usain Bolt did in the 100. Unreal. Mens' 1500m final is today, I think--it'll be interesting to see how the Americans run.
Carpe Viam!
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