Date: 12/20/2009
Time: 8:34am
Duration: 0:49:39
Location: Neighborhood loop

Sport: Running
Workout: 5 mile recovery run
Distance: 5.03 miles

Weather: Mid 30s, sunny, windy
People: Alone

Comments:
Slept in a bit, but had to get up to get my run over with relatively early since my day was packed completely full of back-to-back activities. Run was okay. A little chilly when there was a headwind. One house was obviously feeding deer in their driveway, since there were about 15 deer collected there.

Date: 12/19/2009
Time: 7:05am
Duration: 1:5629
Location: Jollyville Park and Ride area

Sport: Running
Workout: 12 mile easy run
Distance: 11.80 miles

Weather: Low 40s, warming up to the low 50s
People: Kris, Andi, Mike, Lori, then Megan, Belle and Kirsten at random times

Comments:
Down week, short run. And as with all short runs, it was painful and seemed to last forever. But it was fun anyway, if cold to start, and we got through it. Mike decided to try to out-friendly-goodmorning me, and scared several pedestrians with his aggressively friendly good morninging.

Date: 12/17/2009
Time: 5:01am
Duration: 0:59:28
Location: NW Park

Sport: Running
Workout: 6 mile easy run
Distance: 5.94 miles

Weather: Low 40s, raining
People: Kris, Mike, Brian, Adele

Comments:
I didn't realize it was raining until I was just about to leave for the run. Which is probably good, because it was too late to consider backing out.

It was cold and wet and miserable, but Kris wore a trashbag for a lot of the time, and that was funny enough to get us through it. And Adele is back in town for the holidays, so we got to catch up with her some.

Date: 12/15/2009
Time: 5:51pm
Duration: 0:58:31
Location: IM Fields and surrounding areas

Sport: Running
Workout: 6 mile easy run
Distance: 5.75 miles

Weather: 40s, windy, cold
People: Lots

Comments:
A recovery week, so no speed workouts. Karen decided we'd do a fun light-viewing run and costume contest, so we met at the IM fields. Since there was no point in me taking a bus all the way home and then getting a ride all the way back to campus, I just stayed late at work and took a bus to the IF. While wearing knee-high Christmas socks and curly ribbon on my head. I got some looks.

The run was okay. It was through a lot of trafficy areas when people were trying to get home, and we got lost/turned around a few times, even though Karen wrote the directions and was in the lead. And the lights were pretty disappointing. The only lights we saw were on 37th, and they've toned that WAY WAY down. Way down. Only one house where you really went "wow".

But it was a fun run anyway. We all stayed together until the last mile or so, and lots of good conversation and mocking.

Date: 12/13/2009
Time: 1:38pm
Duration: 0:51:13
Location: McKinney Falls State Park

Sport: Running
Workout: 5 mile easy run
Distance: 5.27 miles

Weather: Mid 60s, maybe, sunny
People: Joleen's friend Beth for 3 miles, then alone for the last few

Comments:
The TxFe holiday party invite said there were both trails and roads to run on at the park, so we decided to sleep in on Sunday, eat breakfast, then drive out and do our runs in the park. Latest non-evening run I've done for a long time, but the weather was fantastic. Given who showed up for the run (not many people, and all fast), I figured I'd be running alone, and had anticipated doing so, but when we started, Joleen's friend Beth mentioned she'd be running alone, so I said maybe we could run together. And it worked out pretty well.

The trail wasn't a real trail, but it wasn't a smooth paved road either. Somewhat middle ground. Torn up enough to turn my ankle a few times just because I'm used to road running, but no bad turns. Beth and I chatted and enjoyed the scenery, and had no idea where we were. Then we saw Vicki and Laurie on the side of the trail and they said they'd just come down from the dining hall (where we started), so I knew we were somewhere back where we started. I needed 2 more miles, though, so I kept going. Beth had said she was tiring, and if she had to walk I should go on without her. She seemed sincere enough when she said it, so when we got to the big hill, she started walking and I kept going. At the fork, V&L were looking at the map, so I stopped and consulted the map with them, pointing out where I'd gone the last loop, and deciding I'd go the other way and try to find the dining hall via the roads rather than the trail.

Struck off on my own again, running randomly on the road. Fish drove by and told me the dining hall was a left then a right (or vice versa, I forget). I tried that, and didn't find it. I saw V&L again where the trail crosses the road, and ran over to them to look at the map. They pointed out where I should go, and finally I made it back to the dining hall. And everyone freaked out because Beth wasn't with me, and went to search for her. And she was fine, just lost on the road like I had been. But they collected her and drove her back and she wasn't miffed at me for leaving her since she'd said to.

Overall, it was a good run. Nice change of scenery.

Ohyeah, and this was my first run in new shoes. I figured after 21 miles, I was already gonna be sore, so might as well get the weirdness out of the way when I was sore and on odd terrain. They actually felt just fine.

Date: 12/12/2009
Time: 6:34am
Duration: 3:20:41
Location: NW park and all about

Sport: Running
Workout: 7 mile warmup, 7 miles @ MGP, 7 mile longrun pace
Distance: 21.26 miles

Weather: Around 42, drizzly and wet
People: At various times, Andi, Mike, Brian, Kris, LauraKate, Lori, Belle, Megan and Stewart

Comments:
Cold and wet means not great attitudes starting out, so it was a slow and negative first few miles. Well, actually, we were pretty chatty and animated, but none of us felt real good about the 7 miles of MGP in the middle.

Once we got to that point, we all, as assigned, stopped clumping, and Andi, Megan (who had run back to do MGP with us) and I sped up to try to get to our MGP. Mike and Stewart stayed right behind us, pacing off of us. It took us a while to get to our MGP, but we were darn close to it, and felt okay doing it, so it was actually a good exercise. Our last few miles, we picked it up more and went too fast, but we were still able to be.. somewhat conversational. Somewhat. So overall we averaged close to MGP, and it wasn't nearly as bad as we thought it would be. So.. yay. It was only 7 miles, but at least MGP didn't feel like HMGP.

The last 7 miles were painful. LauraKate and Kris rejoined us, and we gutted it out slowly but surely.

MGP: 8:23 (Andi said 8:24)

Splits:
8:34
8:30
8:26
8:28
8:31
8:19
8:14

Date: 12/10/2009
Time: 4:51am
Duration: 1:11:50
Location: Anderson HS neighborhood

Sport: Running
Workout: 8 mile progressive pace run
Distance: 8.01 miles

Weather: 32 degrees, dark
People: Mike, Kris, 1 mile with James

Comments:
Mike had an early meeting, so we started early to accommodate him. 4:50am. 32 degrees. Hard to convince myself to get out of bed. But we all made it. Er.. except Brian, who'd emailed overnight saying he didn't feel well.

I was wearing a lot of layers, I was tired, I was cold, and those layers made it really hard to see my watch, so I did a lot of running by perceived effort. Wasn't a great workout, times-wise. But it is what it is. It was just mentally and physically tough when it's that early and that cold.

warmup, 9:02, 9:15, 8:42, 8:51, 8:35, 8:21, 8:52

Just a mess. 5 and 6 should have been MGP, 7 and 8 should have been faster. I'm not sure what happened. I think I need a one-on-one with Karen so she can tell me that 3:40 is still possible, 'cause it's not feelin' real good right now.

This past Saturday, we ran our first 20-miler in several months, ramping our distance back up one last time before we taper for the Houston Marathon. 20 miles is daunting in any circumstances, but a cold front came through Friday night, so when we met up at 6am to run, it was 27 degrees. I'm not sure what my coldest run ever has been, but I'm fairly sure it must be in the 20s somewhere, given that most of my running has been in Austin, and Austin doesn't get much colder than that generally.

It took us a long time to warm up, and boy were the first 4 miles or so filled with constant complaining, but it ended up being a really fun run. There's something magical about runs that're 18 miles or more. It feels like you're on some sort of epic quest or something. Robyn and I used to joke about a little hobbit bard with a lute following us around, singing our praises as we quested.

This run was extra fun, because we were all so very slap-happy from the cold. Full of bad jokes, random statements (Lori all of a sudden calls out "bacon!") and most significantly, frozen lips. None of us could enunciate to save our lives, and we were constantly mocking each others' attempts (and failures) to form coherent words.

(We were all covered in frost to some degree, but one guy ran by and the entire back of his shirt was covered in frost. The sun was beaming down on his back as he passed us, and it made his whole back sparkle. We decided he was a vampire. Hence the title of the post.)

And as magical as 18+ mile runs are while you're doing them, the best part is how you feel for the rest of the day. Exhausted, frozen to the core, starving, but incredibly self-satisfied. I've found nothing else that gives me that same feeling you get after running 20 miles, taking a hot shower and eating a hearty breakfast. Magical!

Date: 12/09/2009
Time: 11:01am
Duration: 0:42:17
Location: Out and back from Campus on Duval

Sport: Running
Workout: 5 mile easy run
Distance: 4.47 miles

Weather: Mid 30s, sunny, windy
People: Alone

Comments:
I couldn't make myself get up to run in the morning, so I took my stuff with me to see if I could make myself run at lunch, when it got warmer. Except it didn't get warmer. But at least the sun came out, so I forced myself to change and get out there. At first I told myself I just had to do the 3 mile loop. Then I decided to do a small out and back first to add distance. Then I figured I'd just do 2 miles out and then come back. Then I ran a little extra. So I did more than I expected to do, which was nice. Mind games.

It was really cold on the way out.. I overdressed with 3 shirts and gloves, and was never warm on the way out. On the way back, the wind was at my back, and I had to take off the gloves and push my sleeves up.

But a good run. When I don't do my from-home route, my easy and recovery runs are always much faster. That whole 'entire first mile uphill' thing always kills me from home.

Date: 12/08/2009
Time: 5:44pm
Duration: 1:11:06
Location: Anderson HS track

Sport: Running
Workout: 1mi w/u, 5 x 2k @ 15k pace on the track, 0.5mi c/d
Distance: 8:13 miles

Weather: Mid 50s, foggy
People: Alone for w/u, Andi, LauraKate and Megan (and sometimes Brian) for CV

Comments:
I wasn't set up for success during this workout. Bus broke down and we had to wait for another bus, which meant I got home too late to get a ride with Karen. Walked as fast as possible from the bus back home, changed, fed the animals, then left the house right at the time the workout was starting and ran to Anderson from my house. Ending up being almost 1.5 miles instead of 1, but I timed it perfectly, as 30 seconds after I got to the track, my people got back from doing their 1 mile warmup around the school.

So I was angry at the bus and stressed that it wouldn't work out. I hadn't had time to go to the bathroom. My calves were very sore from my massage the day before. Just.. kind of a mess.

We'd previously done 3 and 4 iterations of CV, and this would be our longest, and hopefully our last. 5 is a lot of CV iterations. But at least we were on the track, since it was dark and trafficy and wet on the road where we normally do them.

Not great success, unfortunately Our goal was 9:42, and our splits were:
10:24
9:47
9:54
9:55
10:06

Not sure why we couldn't manage to hit it. My stomach started out really not feeling well for the first 3, calmed down for 4, then got reeeally bad for 5. Thought I'd have to walk it in, but I got through it.

Very glad that's over with.

Date: 12/06/2009
Time: 9:24am
Duration: 0:50:21
Location: Neighborhood loop

Sport: Running
Workout: 5 mile recovery run
Distance: 5.01 miles

Weather: Mid 40s and drizzly/foggy
People: Alone

Comments:
Perfect Decker weather for those out there doing Decker.

Date: 12/05/2009
Time: 6:06am
Duration: 3:14:12
Location: Crestview route, from/to Rogue

Sport: Running
Workout: 20 mile long run
Distance: 19.84 miles

Weather: Started 27 degrees, eventually warmed up around 40
People: Andi, Kris, Lori, Mike, Brian, very briefly Jeff

Comments:
Brr. 27 is cold. It took us a long time to warm up at all. I actually wore my gloves until mile 16 or so, which is rare for me, 'cause my hands normally warm up so fast.

It was a good, fun run, though. Mostly flat, so my right hamstring behaved itself fairly well, other than having to get up onto curbs a lot.