Location: Memorial Park
Distance: 3.0

Mile 1: 10:42
Mile 2: 10:43
Mile 3: 9:38
Total Time: 31:04

Avg/Max HR: 183/193

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This morning’s run was freezing, raining, muddy, slippery and generally altogether uncomfortable (bordering on miserable)….and I feel awesome because I had a good run and finished the entire course. Yay!

I woke up at 4am and heard steady rain outside. Not good. The Weather Channel said the temp would be in the low 40’s for the run, so adding rain into the mix really sucked. When I stepped out of the house, it was much colder than I expected, so for the first time this year I brought out the ugly running tights….though what they lack in fashion, they more than make up in function. heh.

The city had closed down the Memorial Park exit off of 610, so I drove all the way to 290 and back….and made it to the start of the run with mere minutes to spare. I saw Jon and 30 seconds after, we were off.

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So, I’ve decided to run tomorrow’s 21-miler the way I plan to for the Marathon….taking it VERY slow and easy, walking through the water stops and stopping to stretch the ITB. Since my ultimate goal for the Marathon is simply to finish under 6 hours (the course time limit), my pace needs to be below 13:30 min/miles. That really doesn’t sound bad at all. Hopefully, I’ll see Jon and Steve at the run tomorrow (hope you feel better, Holden!).

I took a break from running this week and spent time on the bike and elliptical machines instead. After Sunday’s race, I didn’t want to burn out on running. Hopefully, my legs will feel fresh for tomorrow’s run.

In other news….I got a phone call yesterday from Bill, the HMSA 25K race director, who said that my medium windshirt was ready for pickup from FleetFeet in the Village. (They had run out of shirts when I finished and I was put on a raincheck list). When I got to FleetFeet, they said they never received any mediums, so I ended up with a small windshirt in a very unique neon green color. I wasn’t sure what a windshirt was, but I discovered it looks just like a sweatshirt with very, very, very thin, tent-like material that makes ruffling noises if there’s a breeze. heh.

Also, I’ve signed up to volunteer at the Houston Strider’s Longest Long Run on Dec. 24th. Yay!

As I’ve said before, what other use is there for a digital camera than taking hundreds of pictures of one’s cats?

This is Skokie. He’s 10 yrs old, and was named after Skokie, Il., because a friend I was with when I got him was from Skokie. Skokie (and his brother, Boerne, who died earlier this year) were rescues - I got them when they were 3 weeks old. You can read about their rescue story here.

Since 1995, Skokie and Boerne have moved with me from San Antonio, to Houston, Atlanta, NY (Brooklyn, yo!), and back to Houston.

After Boerne died, Skokie seemed depressed. He was always crying, following me around, wanting to be picked up and carried around…so, in September I went to the Houston SPCA and adopted…..
Blossom!

She’s 5 years old and a purebred seal-point Siamese. Her adoption card said the reason her owner dropped her off was “marking territory” - but Blossom has yet to show any of that behavior. I guess the closest she gets to “marking territory” is always rubbing her face all over me and Skokie.

Blossom’s the stereotypical bratty little sister to Skokie. She follows him around, harrasses him, and pushes him out of the way when he’s on my lap. But, the two of them get along well, which I’m very grateful for…..except when they start chasing each other around the house at 6am.

The Recovery:
First of all, thanks SO MUCH to everyone who left such supportive and encouraging comments following my 30K survival shuffle. I truly, truly appreciate it.

My 30K results are finally posted. For about a day, only finish times up to 4:00 hours were posted and I was worried that perhaps I didn’t actually finish the course within regulation time. Then, I checked the results again and there I was, with a time of 4:08. They don’t have any 10K splits for me and listed my chip time the same as the gun time, but it’s probably only a difference of 10-20 seconds so no biggie.

I’m pretty much recovered from Sunday. No more soreness/stiffness, and mentally I’m feeling a lot better than I was on Monday. Last night at the gym, I decided to forego a run on the dreadmill and spent 45 min on the bike instead. It was nice to take a break from running and give my quads a much needed workout.

The 21-Miler:
Saturday’s HoustonFit training run is 21 miles and has all the works - police officers at traffic intersections, water stops, a first aid station and EMTs on bikes. Plus, Fort Bend Fit is joining us. With a 5:30am start time, those Fort Bend Fit people are gonna have one verrrry early commute. I have a hard enough time making it from the Med Center.

Anyways, I haven’t decided whether I’m running the full 21 miles (stopping at water stops), or joining the 5/1 group (run 5 minutes, walk 1 minute, repeat). Doing the course 5/1 would be easier on my legs and I’d still get the mileage in….on the other hand, this is the longest run before January 15th, and it would be good to treat this as a full “dress rehearsal” for the Marathon. Anyways, I’m going to see how I feel on Friday and make a decision then.

The Countdown:
The marathon is a month from TOMORROW. Amazing. Although there isn’t a whole lot of training time left before I start tapering, there are some goals I want to work on before January 15th:

• Strength - I really haven’t been keeping up with any pilates/core exercises or strength training like I should, and I can feel the difference in my runs and overall fitness. So, back to a regular routine of stretching and weights!
• Diet - Basically, I need to stop eating so much crap. heh. More greens, more protein, more complex carbs. Not a problem - except for the fact that I’ll probably have to cut back on my visits to Star Pizza. mmmm…deep dish Margarita pizza…..
• Runs - Now that my work hours are calming down for the holidays, I’ll be getting out of the office earlier (6pm) giving me better running options than the dreadmill. Ugh. It’s definitely better than not running at all, but it’s not much fun running on a human-sized hamster wheel.
• Mental - Since Sunday, I’ve been reading various articles on sports psychology for runners, mental training, etc. I need to strengthen my strategies against negative thoughts that might pop up before/during a race. It’s been really interesting to read sports psychology theories on peformance, cognition and behavior among athletes. Yes, I’m a nerd.
• Sleep - I need to get more sleep during the week. Pretty simple and straightforward.

It may be too close to January 15th for these things to make much difference (especially the strength training), but at least working on them will give me better confidence on race day.

This particular race report isn’t going to be as thorough as my other ones….partly because I really, really want to put on some SalonPas and take a nap, but mostly because today was my worst race to date and rehashing it isn’t going to be much fun.

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