Heaven Help Me

In an instant, the tides have changed. The cool, crisp yet sunny fall weather has given way to overcast skies, wind, and rain.

Sunday was the last of the pleasant days, I'm afraid, and even that showed signs of change. I had read the night before of something called the Orionids, a meteor shower that peaks every year on Oct 21, near the constellation Orion. Since I've been running into (ha ha) this Orion dude a lot lately, I thought it would be a great opportunity to catch some falling stars. It was decidedly less exciting at 5:45 am Sunday morning, bleary eyed, trying to stay upright in a strong forceful wind that kicked up every fallen leaf and swayed trees back and forth all around me. I didn't see a single meteor, but I did do 13 miles before 8:00 am.

Monday brought more wind, plus rain. Maybe my mind is playing tricks on me, but I've started to feel a tickle in my throat and just a touch of stuffiness in my nose. In response, I've been loading up on juice and fluids, and regretting the number of times I've driven past the "flu shots available" signs without stopping. I've even given Airborne a try, which for me to do so means I'm desperate. I just don't want anything to interrupt my already irregular training! Tomorrow's 5-miler will be a game-day decision.

Lastly, I'm going to need help over the next few months. I received an email a while ago asking for volunteers to help with an upcoming race. Seemed like a good idea at the time and a chance to give something back to the running community. We just had our first meeting. Just about every volunteer is the head of a committee (seems like there are no committee members, just heads, hmmmm ...). Somehow, I ended up as the 5K Run for Hope committee "chair". This is for the MS Society. I'm half excited, half scared silly, and fully humbled by this. I've yet to determine exactly what needs to happen, but I suspect most of the hard work will be done by the local running store that handles a lot of these races. It's all for a good cause and should be a fun experience. If anyone wants to come along for the ride, there's plenty of room ... don't be shy now!

Keep On Truckin'

I've been in town for almost 2 weeks now - yay! In that time span, my beloved Longhorns have sunk into the toilet, leading to my new-found interest in them Cowboys, and I've been trying to keep up with running.

While some runs are still a struggle, there's more good runs than bad runs now, and I'm really happy about that. I was up to 18 miles last weekend for my long run, and it went easier than expected even if my time was off a bit at 3:15 and change.

Here's some good news I found today. I'm a big fan of GU, and totally won over by their Expresso Love flavor. New for the holidays ... Mint Chocolate.
I've got to get me some.

Is It Friday Yet?

I think I hit a new low this morning as I boarded my 6:50 am flight in Chicago, and it was already my 2nd flight of the day. I was in transit from Indianapolis to Washington DC, where I landed, went to the client, spent 2 hours enduring a royal a$$-chewing on behalf of the mother ship corporation, left, and flew back home. At least I can take comfort in knowing that the problems pre-dated my involvement, but being the person called upon to clean up someone else's mess didn't do much to make me less of an easy target.

My trips this week weren't all bad. I had an 8 mile EZ run on the schedule for Wednesday, and my hotel in Indianapolis came with a free pass to the gym next door. Since I neither own a treadmill nor belong to a gym, I rarely run on a treadmill, and completing 8 miles on one last night is probably an indoor distance record for me!

By the time I finished, I was famished. After a shower, I drove around looking for something reasonably acceptable and ended up at Panera Bread, where I had this conversation when placing my order:

Me: How big is this crispani thing?

She: Um, it's pretty big. I think it's enough to like feed 2 people.

Me: Oh (pause)

She: (sensing my hesitation) ... but I think you can probably finish it ...

Me: Actually, I was thinking it's not going to be enough!

I ended with a BBQ chicken crispani, a bowl of chicken noodle soup, and an ice tea. For the record, I couldn't finish the darn thing.

Half Way There And It's About Time!

Week 9 of marathon training and I've reached the half way point finally. I've also missed more runs during this training season than I have in the past, but I'm not stressing out over it. Most of the misses were due to work and travel schedules.

Like this week for example. Instead of 3 EZ runs, I only managed one, albeit a fun one. Tuesday morning, 5:30 am, Las Vegas strip. It was chillier than I expected, felt like in the low 60's maybe, and I'm glad I decided against going shirtless. This is the view alongside the Bellagio, where I was NOT staying ($500+ a night? No way to hide that expense report).

I easily ran into a dozen or more die-hard runners out there despite the early hour. Unfortunately, no Elvis sightings to report. Sigh.

On Wednesday I was in Minneapolis but missed my run. On Thursday I was back home but missed my run again. On Friday I wasn't supposed to run, but I half-heartedly went out for 2-3 miles just to keep the joints working.

This morning, I wasn't looking forward to my 7-mile pace run, but I knew I could not ignore it. I've yet to hit any of my pace run goal times, but I've been coming close. My past two weekend attempts at this distance were 1:02:13 and 1:01:31. Today, 59:32. Yeah baby. It's about time.

Tour des Fleurs 20K

It was a beautiful morning yesterday, even if I had to get up at 5:30am. Race time was 7:30am. A 15-mile LSD was on the docket, but this 20K presented a nice change of "pace" :-)

Plus, I got to run with the one and only Runner Susan! I called her when I got to the race, and she was just arriving with her friend from Ohio, Marta, and her mom.

Marta's fast. And she ran NYC last year, and she's running it again this year with Susan. They're going to have a blast. Anyone out there running NYC - go over to Susan's site and let her know. How can a meetup in NYC go wrong?

The race was at White Rock Lake, over some of the same route as the White Rock Marathon. Susan and I ran the first 3 miles together, and then we split up. The rest of the race just kind of flew by. I didn't really have a goal time in mind since this was just a training run. Instead, I was thinking about the hot dogs and beer that Susan said they laid out last year - that sounded really good during the run. By the time I finished though, all I wanted was water. I saw the free beer, but no sight or smell of hot dogs anywhere.

I finished in 1:59:22. Marta finished ahead of me, and Susan was behind me just a bit. Somehow I missed both of them at the finish! Oh well, we'll just have to do this again next year.

My Other Running Log

As marathon training enters it's 8th week, I can last longer out there, but I'm sure not getting faster. Not even in the shortest distance. That brutal reality hit home when I crossed the finish line last weekend in my 5K Corporate Challenge in 25:38. That's slower than the first 5K I ran this year, back in March. Plus, it was held on a Sunday, so I had to choose between a 5K race and a 14-mile LSD run. Right, some decisions are just too easy.

That might explain why I continue to flirt with missing most of my pace run target times. My EZ runs are no gimmes either. In their place, I've decided to enjoy what I can from my runs ...

... like last week, when I was in-and-out of Washington D.C., and managed to get in 2 early morning runs. Yes, it was tough getting up at essentially 4:30 AM CST, but there was no other way. On Tuesday, I did about 4 miles from Dupont Circle to the Washington Monument and back. It was 9-11, and it was a bit sobering to see all the flags at half-mast encircling the monument. On Wednesday, I extended the run to reach Congress before turning back, for about 7 miles.

Everything's relative, but I don't travel as much as I used to. When I think of all the places I've been, there's a slew of run-of-the-mill impersonal nameless faceless places interspersed with an occasional spectacular 5-star locale. The views from my hotel window are like a running log ;-) of my life on the road. All exist now only in my fading memory, except that I started keeping track of them here. Better late than never.

Let's Try That Again

Tomorrow is pace day. It's 6 weeks into marathon training, and I've yet to hit my first pace run on pace! For a while, it was the blood donation explanation, but I think that has since expired. Maybe my timing for a 3:45 marathon is just too ambitious. Anyway, I'll give it my best shot again tomorrow for a 6-mile run and see what happens. C'est la vie!

I think I've dropped 5 lbs since this thing started. I now hover between 155 and 160. If I could eat normally instead of thinking I constantly need to fuel up like there's no tomorrow, I'd be lighter and faster. Food is now mostly viewed as carbs, protein, or hydration. Things like taste, expiration dates, and "how old are these leftovers again?" are no longer relevant.

For an entire week, I went to Central Market for lunch (it's like a Whole Foods), and I'd get the same thing - a small salad from the salad bar, and a big tub of cottage cheese. I never ate so much cottage cheese in my life. After a week, the taste just got to me and I couldn't take it anymore. I took a week off, and darn if I didn't start yearning for that cottage cheese again! So back I went, and now it's a regular cheese on, cheese off, thing.

Alcohol is verboten too. That's usually not a problem as I'm not a big drinker. Of course, as soon as I took this stance, we had an obligatory client dinner at an old traditional steak house in Tampa last week. "Yes, I'd love an ice tea on the company nickel please". Then I followed that up with a wedding reception for S.'s cousin at the Four Seasons here in Dallas. "Yes, I'd love an ice tea from the OPEN BAR please. Make that two ice teas." %$!@^#*&!

In other news, summer is so over already. School started two weeks ago, and we now have two 6-graders who have moved up to middle school and a new kindergartner started in our old elementary school. Soccer, volleyball and gymnastics are back in full force. The local race season is heating up again too, but I'm not signed up for anything. Oh, except my first corporate challenge 5K coming up week after next. And possibly the Tour de Fleurs 10K/20K after that (yes, Susan, I'm still thinking about it!).

Duh

I was sitting in the plane last night when I felt a slight twinge in my forearm. A little leftover sting from last week. It suddenly dawned on me ... here's one good reason why my runs were so bad last weekend. What a week it was, that I even forgot I had donated blood on Thursday, had a rest day on Friday, and then attempted my pace run on Saturday morning. Duh! No wonder I was out of gas on that run!

I'm in San Francisco for a couple of days. There's a 3-mile EZ run in the plan for the morning. I'm hoping the red blood cells are back at full strength by then.

Speed Bump

Could it be there's trouble ahead? I said I would run Memphis for fun and as a tune-up to Disney, but I started my training plan gunning for a PR. No need to wait, trouble's already here ...

This is my 3rd week of training. My EZ runs and LSD runs have been workable, even it takes some effort to complete on time. My pace runs have been off the mark, and today, it was way off. It was only a 5-mile pace run. I had to stop 3 times during the run, which almost always never happens, and finally, I decided I was just plain out of gas.

It's been a tough week at work, and that might have had something to do with it. One of those weeks where on Monday morning, you're already wondering how in the world you're going to make it to Friday.

Or it could have been last night when I passed out around 8:00, and then was up at 2:00 am watching Hawaii 5-0 reruns from Netflix. It's amusing watching how they operated back then without cellphones, internet access, or A/C in their cars in Honolulu, all while wearing a suit and tie. Hmm, come to think of it, that theme song might not be a bad running song!

Anyway, one bad run does not a season make. I'll just keep plugging along. LSD run tomorrow; at a slow enough pace, I can go forever.

Just A Hunk, A Hunk Of Burning Love

I couldn't sleep last night. For a natural born sleeper who has logged many-a-hour asleep in taxis, buses, trains and countless planes, that was a rare occurrence. My mind was ablaze, my body was a wreck. Marathon training had commenced. 1 down, 17 weeks to go.

It should have been a simple enough week 1. Tue/Wed/Thu 3-5-3 EZ runs, Sat 5-pace run, and Sun 8-LSD run. The mind had to learn all over again that a 6:00am wake-up call cannot be snoozed away, no sirree, Bob ... not anymore. The body had to learn all over again that the mind is in charge and not the other way around. I've been eating like a horse and sleeping like a pig, but I still feel hungry like the wolf and I'm waking up tired as a dog! Is my mind playing tricks on me already? Is my running getting worse than my writing? Do I really want to go through with this?

Well, in a word, yes. That's exactly why I signed up. Otherwise, I'd be stumbling from one mediocre run to another. Week 1 shook the cobwebs off. I'm hoping week 2 will be better. I'll find out tomorrow at 6:00 am.

In the meantime, here's my new favorite running song, which is giving Rocky a run for it's money. Just what I need to get the heart pumping. Quite apropos for this time of year, don't you think?

Lord Almighty,
feel my temperature rising.
Higher, higher,
it's burning through to my soul.
Girl girl girl,
you've gone and set me on fire.
My brain is flaming.
I don't know which way to go.

Your kisses lift me higher,
like the sweet song of a choir.
And you light my morning sky
with burning love.

Ooh ooh ooh,
I feel my temperature rising.
Help me, I'm flaming,
I must be a hundred and nine.
Burning burning burning,
and nothing can cool me.
I just might turn into smoke,
but I feel fine.