Location: Memorial –> Sabine
Distance: 8 mi
Avg Pace: 11:15
Avg HR: 170 
Temp: 59

This was a hard run.  I think the work week, and possibly Wednesday night's run, had caught up with me.  Even before the halfway mark, I felt like I was done - but once you're past the catacombs, you might as well finish the whole loop.  Though, I'm glad Maureen wanted to do the full 8 miles - even though I felt like I was dragging (I stayed about 20 feet behind Maureen most of the time), I'm glad I put in the miles. 

The air was pretty chilly - almost too chilly - especially along the Bayou.  I think the wind made the temperature feel about 5 degrees colder than it did in the Park.   We also noticed that the ripe guano smell of the Waugh Bridge bat colony was particularly strong, even long after we'd passed the Bridge.   Again, probably the wind.

On the way back, my hands started to feel numb from the cold, with that pins-and-needles feeling you get when your foot falls asleep.  I tend to clench my hands when I run, especially when I'm tried, and I become most aware of it in cold weather.  I have to remember to relax my hands!  But it's good because the chilliness reminded me to take some cheap, disposable cotton gloves to NYC.  If my hands are cold on a Houston evening, I'm sure they'll be even more cold at 5:30am in New York. :) 

Location: Memorial –> Waugh Bridge
Distance: 5.5
Avg Pace: 10:14
Temp: 66

Another night of great running weather.  Temps were in the high 60s, and at that perfect place between too chilly and too warm.  Maureen was at the packet stuffing for the Houston Half this Sunday, so I ran with Michelle, Loren and Richard.  Half the group did the Sabine 8-mile route, and the others did the Waugh Bridge 6 miler.  I stayed with the Waugh Bridge crowd, since the Sabiners were all really fast and I would have had to run the route alone.  Plus, my hatlamp thingy was still broken, and running along the Bayou in the dark is creepy enough, even with a working lamp and a running partner.  

But it was a really good workout, and I kept a pace a little faster than my usual.  I started out running with Michelle, who is really fast.   Then, I heard Loren and Richard talking about the NY marathon behind us, so we started talking about the course, etc.  The whole time, though, I'm trying to keep up, thinking, "if I don't keep up with these folks, I'll have to run the bayou alone…"   I was actually doing better than I expected, thanks to the weather.   

We did have a minute of sheer panic trying to cross Shepherd back to Memorial.  Runners familiar with the Memorial/Shepherd/Allen Parkway routes know that intersection isn't the typical 4-way setup.  Lots of streets feed into that one block area, from all different angles, making crossing at any point a little hairy.  Anyways, I think someone miscalculated there timing of the traffic lights, and within seconds of reaching the middle of the street, cars were coming at us from all directions.  Someone yelled, "stay in the center lane!"….which might have been OK, except that the center lane was actually the left-turn only lane.  So, a few times, cars wanting to turn left started driving towards us in the lane before realizing we were in the road.  Cars were whizzing past, and there aren't any lights where we were (except for car headlights) so cars wouldn't spot us until they were close.  Not good.  Finally there was a break in traffic, we sprinted over to the sidewalk and it was over.  The whole thing probably lasted only 60 seconds max, but it felt longer.   "I just saw my life flashing before my eyes," I said.

We got back to the Park, and I pretended that I didn't want to collapse after keeping up that faster pace.   Later, Loren said "You guys were killing me" because it was a fast pace for him too.  I told him I was SO happy he said that, because I was totally dying too.  

Aftewards, Loren and Judith shared their past NYC Marathon experience, including tips: take it easy on the Verazano, expect a pick-up in energy on 2nd ave and Central Park because of the huge crowds.   

Location: Rose Garden Run (with loops)
Distance: 6.0
Pace: 10:23
Avg HR: 172
Temp: 65 (wonderful)

Chip's route was the regular Rose Garden, with a few tweaks.  We'd stay on the north side of Kirby, and add tempo at several points along the way.  (The start/finish markers in the map are different because my Garmin took a while to locate a satellite).  

Before the run started, I was talking with Maureen and Matt and one of the clips for my headlamp-thingy snapped off.  Oops!  Fortunately, I carried it in my hand on the run, and it worked just fine. 

The weather was excellent - cool, with very little humidity.  No more of that suffocating feeling during 90 degree workouts. Maureen and I made our way along the route, and got passed by the super-fast runners as they were heading back to the Park.  Matt turned around to join us for a few miles to make sure we took the right route.  When we crossed back over Memorial, Matt took off and then Bessie arrived to be our final shepherd for the evening.   After finishing, I was hardly sweating and didn't feel thirsty at all.   I love this weather. 

Shoe Update:

On Saturday's TLT run, I wore the Adrenaline 5s (versus the current 7 model) - no blisters at all on my left foot, but I did get some irritation (not quite a blister) on my right toe.   So, I decided to experiment.   I wore an Adrenaline 5 on my left foot, and an Adrenaline 7 on my right…..and my feet were very happy.  I figured if one strategy was mixing insoles, why not try mixing shoes?  hee hee      I probably won't mix shoes for the Marathon, though - I've decided to run in the Adrenaline 5s.   I'm pretty sure they have at least 26.2 miles left in them.  

Location: Mem –> Sabine
Distance: 8.24mi

Good night, weather wise - not too hot or humid.  It was a small group, just 6 of us.  It was Maureen's birthday, so she chose the workout - 8 miles to Sabine.  Chip told us to build in some tempo at different parts of the run.

The run started out OK.  Talked to Maureen about some data analyses I've been trying to figure out at work, so that was really helpful.  She's getting a Garmin from her sons for her birthday, so I'm very happy for her. 

I had put the insole from the New Balance into the Brooks shoes, but I could feel the blister (or hot spot, whatever) re-emerging on my left arch.  crap.  I spent the next few miles slowing down and trying not to think about it, which of course meant I thought too much about not thinking about it.  At mile 7, a blister started forming on my right foot in the same place as the one on my left.  whee!

Chip suggested I wear my old New Balances for the Marathon, since the Brooks are obviously giving me problems.  I may do that, because I'd much rather deal with post-race soreness than blisters during.   Someone suggested wearing an older version of the Adrenalines.  I might actually have an old pair of the GTS 6 that could get me through…..hmmmmm.  Matt also suggested wearing Vicks Vaporub instead of BodyGlide, since the Vicks might cool down any hotspots. 

In the meantime, I hope this blister heals before tonight's Strider Run.  :) 

Might as well start with some good news.

• No pain the achilles tendon
• Great weather
• I figured out how to set the auto pause and pace alerts on my Garmin. 
• My new MP3 player works pretty well

Now the bad news:

• Only made it to 14.5 of my planned 21 miles
• Walked about a mile
• Have a big blister on the arch of my left foot
• Time to rethink my goal pace/finish time

This run sucked.  Sucked.   Did I mention it sucked?

The first 9 miles were fine.  I kept checking my Garmin to keep the pace right around 11-11:15, so that I could start the run slow and get familiar with how that pace felt.  Didn't have too much of a problem in terms of effort.  I did notice that even though I kept what felt like an even pace, my Garmin would fluctuate from a 10:00 to 12:30 pace over just a few seconds. hmm. Maybe bad satellite reception because of the tall trees?  

Starting around mile 4, I started feeling the beginnings of a blister on the arch of my left foot.  wtf.  I was wearing Wrightsocks, a pair of tried and true Brooks Adrenalines….plus, I had slathered BodyGlide all over my feet, including the spot where the blister was forming.  A little into mile 6, I stopped to loosen the shoe a little - but I guess the problem was from the arch because there was no improvement.  I decided to ignore it.

I also noticed that the Autopause function on the Garmin didn't work consistently. When I stopped to retie my shoes, take quick drink from the water fountain, the Autopause would kick in only a few times.  hmm.  

Before the end of the 9th mile, I decided to do all 7 loops at the Park.  Yeah, I know, crazy.   I had originally planned to break off after 3 loops then head Downtown for the GRB route (13 mi).  But, those 3 loops seemed to go by pretty easily and I really liked the cool shade the trees were providing.   I knew on Allen Parkway, I wouldn't have the same shade.  Listening to music helped pass the time, and I liked being surrounded by other joggers in the Park.  Since I decided to stay in the Park, I took a break to grab two more bottles for my fuel belt from my car (I left them in there to pick up on the way out to GRB).  I returned to the Loop feeling pretty positive about the run so far.  Ha!

Mile 10 was the beginning of the end.  It seemed to happen so quickly.  My pace was dropping, and I was starting to feel drained.  The gu I had taken wasn't kicking in, so I took some jelly beans.  Nothing. 

Mile 11, I started having weird problems with thirst.  The weather really wasn't bad at all (cool, even!), and my fuel belt had 2 bottles of Accelerade - but all they did was make me more thirsty.    I stopped at a water fountain, dumped out one of the bottles and filled it with water.  The water helped for a little bit, but I still couldn't shake the thirsty feeling.   Finish Strong had a tent next to the tennis courts, with four igloos full of water and Gatorade. Sylvia (Felix's wife) on duty, and I asked if the drinks were for everyone.  She said yes, so I took some cold water and Gatorade.  A relief, but short lived.  I was starting to feel really discouraged, and was developing a cramp from all the liquid. 

Mile 12 to 14, it all fell apart. The motivation/confidence I had just a few miles back were gone.  I was shufffling along, trying to focus.   I turned off my Garmin Pace Alert since it kept going off.  I felt sick and drained.  I eventually resorted to walking.  But worse than anything physical, the feelings of discouragement and failure was the worst.  Lots of negative self-talk: I didn't put enough into the SMART training, maybe I shouldn't do NYC after all, I can't do this, my time will be WORSE than Houston, I'm just not meant to run.   It was like flashbacks to that bad 30K two years ago.  I tried jogging on and off, but basically I was done.  I walked another mile, thinking I would at least WALK the 21 to get the miles in……but I gave up (yup, gave up) and walked back to my car, feeling like shit. 

I'm feeling better now than I did in the morning, but still pretty discouraged.  Three weeks left till NYC, and I feel really unprepared.  The 21-miler I did when training for the Houston Marathon seemed to go better.  If today's run was supposed to be a measure of how I'll do in NYC, then crap.

(click here for full route map) 

Location:  Memorial Park –> Allen Parkway catacombs –> Sabine Bridge
Distance: 8.34 mi
Time: 1:31
Avg Pace: 10:56
Avg HR: 164
Temp: 75, humidity 54% (yay!) 

Tonight's run was one of my best this year, thanks to the cold front that came in this afternoon.  The temperature was a cool [x], with such little Houston humidity, you could *almost* feel some fall crispness.  The park was busy and crowded with people training for various fall races or just taking advantage of the cool weather.  

A little after 7pm, our group of about 10? Striders headed out.  Most were doing the 6-mile Jackson Hill route.  Chip and Matt were doing 8 miles to Sabine, so Maureen and I decided to tackle it too.  Thanks to the weather, I had a good start, keeping the pace around 10:00 (pretty good for me).   We crossed the bridge over Memorial and after a quick water stop, headed towards Sabine.  I turned on my trusty hat-lamp-thingy and took a deep breath before as we crossed under the disgusting Waugh bridge - 100ft filled with the stench of bat guano, and the sounds of millions of bats chirping.  Yuck. 

The cool weather was still working for me - it's amazing how high humidity drains me of energy.  I can't wait till winter.   We got to the catacombs - a stretch of gravel among huge concrete pillars, under the Memorial Dr bridge.  There aren't any lights, so it's pitch black and creepy as hell.  It would be impossible to run through there without any sort of light.  

By the way, everytime I run through the catacombs, I think of these homeless guys I surveyed for a research study at work.  I went to Sam Houston Park one night with the outreach team from SEARCH to administer health surveys.  Two guys were trying to be funny all night, cracking corny jokes and making marriage proposals to me and my intern.  Eventually they got bored and one announced, "Hey Joe - let's go down to the Bayou and scare some of those lawyers jogging down there."  (Don't know why they specified lawyers).  I said they shouldn't be scaring people, it wasn't funny and they started giggling like kids.  I asked why they liked scaring joggers and they said, "It's easy!  All we do is stand there, and those lawyers get freaked out."  One stood completely still like a statue, while the other started jumping and waving his arms around, mimicking a scared jogger/lawyer. Then they hurried off, saying "We have to go - it's almost 7pm.  All the lawyers are coming out."   Great.  In the spectrum of the homeless population, these guys were harmless….but I definitely made a mental note: do not jog along Allen Parkway alone.  At 7pm.  Especially with lawyers. 

Back to the run.  We made it to Sabine, stopped for a quick water break, then headed back to the Park along Allen Parkway.  Whenever we stopped at an intersection, I tried marking the stops on my Garmin by pressing LAP…..but got confused and gave up.  I guess it's time to RTFM again.  But otherwise, my energy level was still pretty good.  We skipped our usual water stop at Shell, thanks (again) to the cooler weather.  During the last half mile, I felt a surge of energy and was able to push the pace to 9:30!  Where the hell did that come from? 

So, it was a good end to a great run.  But, now two problems (which are hopefully minor): 

- Around mile 5, I felt a blister starting on my right big toe joint.  I thought my shoe might be too loose, so I stopped at Sheperd to tighten the laces.  No help.  I was wearing my usual socks, but I was in a new pair of shoes.  Maybe they need more breaking in?  I'm going to try some WrightSocks to see if those help.   I really hope it's not the shoes, especially this close to the Marathon. 

- Achilles tendon pain.  My right calf is painfully stiff.  I had been having problems with my achilles, so I got a new pair of shoes in case the pain was from wearing down my old pair.  I ran in the new shoes on Sunday (Conroe hills), and my legs felt great.  But tonight, the run was easier than Sunday but my achilles is throbbing.  Hopefully it's just because I was compensating for the blister with my right foot during the run.  I've been slathering Icy Hot on my leg, and now I smell like menthol.  My cat took one whiff, and disappeared under the bed.  ha. 

Location - Conroe, TX
Distance - approx 9.5 (had Garmin woes again)
Temp - 74
Avg HR - 151
Pace - 12:43

Went up to Conroe for some hill work.  I was late getting to Memorial, so I headed on up to Conroe.  I made it to the meeting spot at the church parking lot, but didn't see any cars…..worried that I was in the wrong place, I drove further up the road but found no other church. I turned around and the others were arriving just as I pulled back in.  Turns out Matt and Bill (?) had waited for me back at Memorial (sorry!!!).  

Barb and I decided to start before the others.  But before we left, Steeeve gave a warning about the route - "there's no shoulder, and you'll probably get yelled at by angry fishermen."  Ok, I thought, this is going to be interesting. 

So, when Barb said there were some big hills in Conroe, she wasn't kidding.  The first two hills were a little intimidating - they were so high, cars would appear on one peak, then disappear for a minute until they reappeared on the next peak.  Definitely not the hills we have in the city. 

But, I actually didn't mind the hills as much as the drivers.  Steeve was right about the lack of any shoulder to run on - it was either the road, or bumpy grass.  And while we didn't encounter any angry fishermen, we did dodge a number of pickup trucks speeding past us.  The scariest parts were the tops of the hills - I kept worrying a truck would come flying over top, giving us miliseconds to scramble off the road.  

The group of fast runners veered off to do more hills (showoffs :P), and Barb and I turned off into a neighborhood with pricey-looking homes.  The neighborhood was built on a slope, so although we didn't encounter any more steepish hills, it was still an effort.   The neighborhood was peaceful and quiet - at one point, we saw a mother deer with three babies crossing the road.  Later on, Carrie spotted another deer munching on grass in someone's yard.  Made for a nice run. 

After we finished the run, my legs felt great.  No pain in the achilles.  I figured it was the worn out shoes after all.  Too bad it wouldn't last, though.  

Afterwards, we went to Ryan's for breakfast buffet.  I ended up missing the exit on the way there.  Great.