…and thus ends my attempt to quit drinking coffee, originally uploaded by escapevelocity.

Iced coffee with soy and splenda. Notice the water to keep me hydrated.

Location: Memorial –> Spotts Park
Distance: 5.3 (?)
Temp: 78 (ahh)

• Tonight's workout kicked my ass.  First, we ran 2 miles to Spotts Park.  I had run this park during the Tour de Bayou series, and remembered that Spotts had some seriously steep hills.  eek
• One thing I've noticed is that it always takes me at least 10-15 minutes to really get into running - that first mile or so is always a little uncomfortable and difficult.  Maureen put it perfectly - it feels awkward, and a little difficult to get into your rhythm.  Tonight, it seemed to take a little longer to find my pace, and I even wondered if I'd be able to make it through the night's run.  
• Matt explained the workout - 20 minutes of hillwork, divided into 2 sets of 10 minutes each…with a twist.  Each of us had to define our own routes and make the hillwork as easy or difficult as we wanted.  This free-choice option definitely added a challenge, because we were responsible for creating our own workouts.  Surprisingly, it motivated me to really push myself.   I remembered Chip's advice about using my arms, so I swung my arms like a crazy person going up each hill, and it really helped.  At the top, my thighs were burning and chest felt like exploding, but it was great….in a crazy, masochistic way, I guess. 
• The drill for the run back to the Park was 180×180s…..3 minutes at 80%, 3 minutes at 20%.  I ran with Maureen - our first couple of 80% paces were good, which was a nice surprise.   Either I didn't work hard enough at hillwork, or my endurance has improved?  We were joined by Cassie and Randi, and by this time my 80% and 20% paces were pretty equal. bleh.  The others were chatting pretty easily, but all I was thinking was: must….not…..die….
• Matt kept running back and forth past us, making sure everyone was OK.  At one point, he sprinted past like it was nothing, and I yelled "show off!"  heh
• A guy sitting in a lawnchair on his driveway offered us some beer from his fridge as we ran past. ha!
• At the Park, we did some core work before leaving.  
• Felt nauseaus when I got home - I need to cool down better next time.  

Location: River Oaks Rose Garden Run
Distance: 5.74
Temp: relatively cool (for Houston)

• Brought my friend Minh from Houston Heat to Strider Club Run.  He had txt'd me about running that evening, so I invited him to the Strider Run since Wednesdays are open to guests.  We got to the park just before 7pm, and met up with the group of Striders - including Hoang, another dragonboater and new Strider member (yay).
• I told Minh we were doing 4 miles….but it turned out to be 6.  Oops!
• We headed out, and I hung in the back with Minh and Hoang.  Chatted about random stuff and gawked at the ginormous houses in River Oaks - seriously, do people really need houses THAT big? 
• The temperature was great - the coolest its been all year.  The thunderstorms earlier in the day cooled things down. 
• Heading back after the halfway mark, I was surprised at how good I was still feeling.  I tried to figure out what it could be…getting an extra recovery day on Tuesday, the swimming/strength training, the changes I've made to my diet, doing the SMARTie workouts…..could be anything, I guess.  But of course, the researcher in me needs to know the contributing factors behind everything. 
• We took the dreaded Memorial stretch back to the Park.  Hoang sprinted off ahead of us.  We stopped at the water fountain at Starbucks for water.  Afterwards, I tried keeping pace with Hoang, but no luck.    Minh and I ran back in - I'm huffing and puffing, and he's gliding along.  Later, tells me it was only his 2nd time to ever run 6 miles.  I was like, how come it looked so easy for you?? 
• Afterwards, we get cold drinks from the Holy Strider Cooler.  ahhh.  Ann said her Garmin logged the run as 5.74 miles.
• I went to Lee's car to get my SMART singlet (yay!!), and Steeve gave Minh a free Strider dry-fit and copy of Stridelines.  He was impressed with how nice everyone was - yup!  Striders are cool.   Hoang said none of the HFit coaches ever spent time talking to people one on one like Steeeve did. 

• The Tuesday night SMART run was canceled because of lightning and thunderstorms. Instead of putting my miles in at the gym, I stayed in and caught up on stuff around the house.
• This morning (Wed), I woke up at 4:30am for some reason, and couldn’t go back to sleep. At 6am, I headed over to the gym for some quick strength training.
• Doing things like the seated row or lat pulls, I can still feel a big difference in strength between my right and left shoulders. I know it’s partly because I stopped going to physical therapy 2 months earlier than I was supposed to (heh heh)….my impatience got the better of me, and I started going to dragon boat practices to prepare for our Long Beach competition. But, the physical therapy was costing me $60 a week, and I was looking at another $480. I figured getting back into paddling and other activities is a much cheaper solution.
• Afterwards, I did a 20 min cooldown on the stationary bike.
• It’s 2:15pm, and the sky is pitch black. The forecast is saying more thunderstorms and flooding tonight. I hope the Strider Club Run isn’t rained out tonight - it’ll suck doing 4 miles on the dreadmill instead.

Location: UT Gym

• 20 minutes warmup on the bike.
• 20 minutes weights
• 15 minutes swimming - they shut down the pool early because of lightning.  boo.  

• In the evening, I put in 4 miles.  It was supposed to be 5 miles for Sunday, but a too-long afternoon nap put me behind schedule for the whole day.   I got to the park at 8:30 and put in 1 mile as a warmup.  I was meeting a friend at 9pm to run 3 miles, so I did some core while I waited.
• We ended up running the loop at a faster pace than usual - I was feeling pretty good through the run.  I think the warmup really helped.  

Location: Memorial –> George R. Brown
Distance: 13 miles
Temp: 88

• Got to Memorial Park at about 5:50am.  The park was already crowded with a mix of marathon training groups and preparations for the HARRA Party in the Park at 8am. 
• We did our 2 mile warmup via Crestwood –> Blossom –> Jackson Hill.   As usual, I brought up the rear, this time with Maureen and Randi.   Blossom was busy - we must have passed 5-6 packs of runners from various running groups.  Caught up with the faster SMARTies at Jackson Hill, stretched, then Heather explained the two routes for the morning: 13 miles vs 8 miles.  
• I felt pretty good the first 6 miles.  It was hot, but not like last week's run.  At the halfway point, we slipped into the GRB hotel for some water and to stand in the wonderfully chilly lobby. 
• Heading back, I started struggling between miles 7 and 8, so I took some Gu and water - I think this is where I lost my hat (see below).  By mile 8, I had fallen about 50 meters behind Randi.  It wasn't comfortable, but I knew I could make it through. 
• Right after I crossed Waugh, I looked down at my fuel belt and realized my hat was gone!!  :(  I had attached it to my belt during the warmup, and was planning to wear it when it got sunnier.  I felt terrible because it was a gift from some friends who had recently visited NYC.   I turned around to jog back up Allen Parkway, checking along the path for my hat.  I returned to the spot where I had pulled out my Gu and water bottle near Eleanor Tinsley, but no luck.    I knew I had it at the Hilton next to the Convention Center….but I wasn't prepared to turn my 13 miles into 18+ by jogging back through Downtown.  So, I headed back to the park.  :( 
• On the way back, I saw Vic doing his long run.  Yay Vic! 
• I tried to pick up the pace on the way back down Allen Parkway, but it wiped me out.  I started doing walk breaks at Memorial/Shepherd and stopped in the Shell station to refill with cold water.   I continued my run/walk/run/walk back to the Park, and decided to skip the 2-3 mile cooldown and just walked back to my car.  bleh.   Surprisingly, my actual mileage was just below 13 (12.92), thanks to my hat-searching time.  
• At the Party in the Park, I saw June (yay!) and Jessica.  Yay!

If you happen to see my hat, it is: white, dri-fit cap with "NYC Half Marathon" printed on it.  It looks like the hat below, but the letters are in lime green letters.  There's also a green apple printed on the side.  Please contact me if you happen to see it on Allen Parkway.   *sigh*