7-14-07

Interesting, but late run tonight. We went to dinner and a movie, so we got back late, and ran late. We decided to run in the downtown area tonight because of the street lights(there is not lighting at the dam park). We didn't start running until 8:30 pm, so it started to get dark almost immediately after we started.

I was supposed to go six miles today, but due to starting late, I decided to only run four. It was very humid, and by the end of 4 miles, my shirt weighed as much as a dumbbell. I kind of anticipated some problems tonight because me left foot has been bothering me a little. I cramped last night ( a little), and my left calf has been a little tight all day. But once I started running tonight, all of the little aches evaporated. I also thought since I'd run 6 miles for the last two night, that my legs might rebel, so the 4 mile short run was probably a good break. I'm icing my foot right now (rolling it on a frozen water bottle on the floor), to try and ease the discomfort in it.

7-13-07 (Friday the 13th)

Tonight was kind of hard. I was scheduled for 6 miles - which I completed, and a little more, but it was still pretty hard. We waited until later in the evening again so it would be cooler, and we ran the dam route backwards again, starting at the West Point entrance. I'm liking the reverse route just because it gives a nice flat area to coast on for about 2 1/2 miles in the middle of the route, and the beginning and end are the hills. I was determined to finish 6 tonight, but at about mile 3, my legs felt like lead - there was just no snap in them at all. I pushed on through and by about mile 4 or 5 things had gotten better. I even wound up doing about a 1/4 mile more to meet up with Steph.

She was doing a 25 minute nonstop run ( with 5 minute warm-up and cool-down walks), and instead of turning around at th 13 minute mark, she just ran on to see how far she would get in 25 minutes, then she'd walk back while I was returning. We crossed paths on my return trip, at about my 3.25 marker. When I got to the end, I knew she was still a good bit behind me, so I ran by the Jeep, picked up our Gatorade bottles, and started running back again - figuring that I'd meet her, let her have her Gatorade, and we'd walk back together. Great plan, but she walks faster than me - so I met her, gave her drink to her, and started walking back, but she was pacing much faster than me, so I let her go and took a nice slow cool-down walk.


All total - I ran about 6 1/4 miles. I don't have exact times (still not wearing my watch), but I saw Steph stop running when I was at about the 3.25 mark - this equals 35 minutes (her 5 minute warm up walk, and 25 minutes of walking). So I ran my first 3 miles about about 10:30 per mile (very rough estimate) - and it FELT like the last 3 miles went faster.

Another 6 mile run scheduled for Sat Night.

7-12-07 Weird feeling

It's so weird to feel this way. I was supposed to do 4 miles tonight, but there were no plans tonight, my daughter was away from the house, Steph had no big plans for the evening, and when I got to 4 miles, it seemed like too good of an evening to waste. I worked late, so we got to the dam later than usual, and the temp was nice. We started at the opposite end of the park, which put several hills early in the run, and gave a new scenery perspective.

When I got to the 2mile mark and was preparing to turn around, this little voice in my head ( I call it the stupid wrestler that I used to be) called out and said, "Hey, the dam is just a mile further down the road - that's a 6 mile run on a great evening to run...I'll meet you at the 3 mile turnaround." So, there I was, rocking along, singing a song, and adding 2 miles to my planned run. When I got back around and met Steph walking to meet me, she was just grinning - she knew what I'd done. My legs didn't bark at me, the pain in my hip/groin didn't make itself known, my feet felt good, the longer I ran, the easier it got and the faster I went - It was just a GREAT night running - I felt like I could have gone forever. That is a weird sensation, especially to someone who used to run because he had to do it.


Steph also had a GREAT run, she said that when she got to the halfway point, she was still waiting for it to get difficult. She's well into C25K (the original version), but instead of running 4 days a week, she's running 5 so she run when I do. Today was 25 minutes (I think), and she said it just flew by, and was very enjoyable. She's even talking about running a local 5K with me next year.

7-10-07

Late Post:

I almost forgot to do a post for my run yesterday!

Hopefully the schedule can begin to get back to a little more normal now - I was scheduled to run 6 miles tonight. I left the house around 5:30 because I had a commitment @ 7pm with family, and knew I would need more than an hour to cover the miles. I finished the 6 miles okay, but it was very hot and more humid than any person should have to deal with. By the time I got done with my run, it looked like I'd just gotten out of the sauna. The humidity was far worse than the heat, but I still would have liked to wait until later in the evening to run. I'm glad I didn't because we didn't get back home until after 10pm.

The 6 miles went alright, but I did notice a little discomfort in my hip (towards the front near the groin) that felt like a strained or damaged tendon. I've had the pulling pain for most of my life, but it's just been an annoyance more than anything. It didn't bother me for most of the run, but towards the end of it, I did notice it more. I iced the area well, as well as my thighs. As I was icing it, I remembered that I'd had a hernia repaired on that side when I was in high school - I wonder if what I'm feeling is related to the patching material the put in me back then? I'll keep a monitor on it.

7-8-07 - Didn't run tonight bacause my knee was bothering me. I probably bruised it a little during the race, and the run Steph and I did after the race on Saturday. I'm scheduled to run 6 miles on Tuesday, so hopefully it will feel better by tomorrow night.