My Life as a Non Runner

Lately I would have to classify myself as a non runner due pretty much to running very little or never. When I do run I have to take walk breaks much like when I first started six years ago and that stinks. My clothes do not fit the same and I have been making lame attempts to run just to somewhat fit into my pants. Business has been challenging the last 2 months so that has taken away from workouts as well. For me I tend to loose focus in training when other parts of my life are distracting me. Some continue to be dedicated through good and bad times but not me. Things are picking up at work but it always seems to be something lately. Work starts to go better and then something crops up with the kids and so on. We lost our dedicated and loving dog Lucy on Friday. She was suffering greatly and now she is in a better place. We miss her. So this is how life has been for a non runner that misses running and sunnier days.

XC Relay Report

Another weekend of hills seemed to be on the agenda for me. I headed to the Tornado's XC relay on Saturday after a day of setting up for another event later that evening. My formal attire was stashed in a friend's hotel room before I left because I knew there was no way I could make it home before the banquet started. The plan was to be the first runner and then get straight to my car afterwards and fly down the freeway in time to get there before the 6:30pm dinner. This race was much harder than I remember. The last time I ran this was year before last and I was in much better shape. This year I was happy to get through the race in one piece. Definitely not an easy time. Either way after the heat and hills and some short recovery it was back to Clear Lake for a nice dinner and good company. After the program my phone rang so I stepped outside and my friend Jackie told me we placed second overall. I was pretty surprised but I had a good team and they were able to really pick it up and smoke the course. I enjoyed meeting all the girls and I look forward to another good team next year! The rest of the night included some good beverages and dancing (as best I could on sore legs). All in all a really good end to the day.

Toughest 10K

I got a strange idea last week about entering a race. What better to do after several months of very little running but enter a race? Actually the slower more relaxed approach I have taken to my runs has been a good thing for me. I think I forgot how to enjoy just taking a nice jog with friends. Anyway I decided to run the Kemah bridge on Thursday morning with one of my favorite running friends. We survived (much to our surprise) and it put another idea in my mind. Maybe I should run the Toughest 10K on Saturday. I really had no idea if I could even finish. My long run has been only 6 miles and no hill training. I showed up at the boardwalk Saturday and decided to just run how I felt and walk if I needed to. I really enjoyed seeing all of the running friends I had missed over the last several months. A long lost family member even showed up (my second cousin). Very interesting. So we chat and catch up and then the race starts. I go out easy and just try to stay comfortable because I know the bridge is sitting there waiting and I have to make the climb 4 times. Ouch. I get through the first two climbs OK and I try to keep the fit people in view. The third time up I am starting to feel bad and I really want to walk but I keep chugging. Finally the last climb is behind me and I move forward to the painful finish. Thankfully my family is there to congratulate me on my finish. I hurry home and on the way I get a call that I left my age group award behind. I really did not even think I could place on such a tough course so I was happy. This was over 7 minutes slower that my 10K PR but I think my performance was better than I have ever done. Good times with friends and a workout that kicked my butt (in a good way)! All in all not too bad...

I Got the Music Back

So I finally found my ipod in an old gym bag (been really long time since I showed my face at the Y). Now I am getting up regularly to run 3-5 miles most days. The run this morning did not feel good, the humidity really overwhelmed me. When I run a little later in the day (6:30 am instead of 5am) I can tolerate the heat because the humidity is somewhat lower. Anyway I am glad to be back in some kind of routine. I need to find a race to train for when it gets a little cooler. I am thinking something short like a 5K or 10K. Registration for Houston is approaching and I would like to register for the half but even that sounds so long. My long runs right now top out at 7 miles. I suppose January is far enough off that I may be in decent shape by then.

Wii Fit Running

Our family decided to get on board with the Wii Fit trend even if a little late. I of course had to try out the running as my first activity. Oh let me back up I had to do my fitness test and get my Wii Fit age and BMI. Wow I am 47 with a BMI of 20, yikes. Anyway after a few more tests it seems for all of us the Wii added 12 years to your real age. So I get over this and go for a short run. With this activity you do not use the balance board you just run in place for around half a mile. The more you workout you unlock more activities. I am now at the longer runs (a few miles) and I have wised up and gotten on the treadmill while I do these. The running in place was not working for me and it killed my calves. I really like the Yoga and strength exercises and the kids love the balance games and running. Of course I like running outside better but lately with work there is just little opportunity.

Ten Things I Hate About Running

I actually love running but right now it is fighting me so I will list my hates related to this addictive and frustrating sport:

1. How slow it is to make progress

2. How quickly fitness is lost

3. Not being able to run speed without blasting my ipod (I can't find my ipod right now so speed is suffering)

4. How hard it is to get motivated sometimes

5. Seeing how easy it is for some people to run 5-10 miles daily for years on end (what is with that anyway?)

6. Being in a new age group and all of the really fast peeps turned by age right after me (or just before)

7. Hot weather

8. Early morning running ( I love my Clear Lake group but man I can never make it on time)

9. Realizing it will be years if ever before I make some of my running goals and by then I probably won't even care...

10. I forgot ten but you get the point...

A good thing - Having a sweet daughter that reads this over my shoulder and offers to loan me her ipod :)

A Missed Workout (Sort Of)

I have now caught up on all of my blog reading so now I can get around to posting something. I missed my track workout last night due to a late meeting. I was really bothered by this since I had just started to get into training again. I got home about 7:30 pm and quickly changed to do my track on the treadmill. This was a hard workout mainly because the treadmill is very hard mentally and I just wanted to be finished. The workout was 4X 400 meters, 5 minute rest, 4X 400 meters. The good thing about being on the treadmill was all I had to do was set the speed and keep up. I didn't reduce the speed the entire workout so I was happy about that. I even raised the incline for good measure. I felt terrible this morning but I still met the Kroger group for a 5 miler at 5 am. Today at work I am ready to just fall asleep but sadly I have another evening meeting and I just hope I can survive. Happy Wednesday to all!