On June 17th, I did a mile time trial as part of the Houston Heat land assessments.  My mile time:  10:20.
Since then, I've been running loops with fellow Houston Heat-ers (HHers) on a fairly regular basis. 

This morning, my SMART mile time trial:   9:24! 

If I can improve by a minute with just easy, but consistent runs, I wonder how much I'll improve now that I'm doing SMART?  (yay!)
Steve said we'll do time trials again in a few months - I wonder if I can get it under 9min?  That would definitely be a mile PR for me….

escapevelocity will be getting a new look. check back soon. i promise this time.

No, I didn’t fall off the face of the earth.  Though in a couple of days I’ll be on the other side of it.  I’m spending 2 weeks in Korea with my mom.  I’m really looking forward to seeing my grandma, our thousands of relatives and hanging out in Seoul.  Plus, I get to see Elaine!!! We have plans to find some good jjajjangmyun.  mmmm

Ok, random stuff:

• Dragon Boating:  Still managing the HoustonHeat.org website, though I’m spending much less time now that it’s up and running more smoothly now.  In August, we went to Tampa for the National Dragonboat Championships, and we did well enough in the 250m time trials to make it to the Gold division in the 500m finals - and finished Bronze in the Gold B division, and 7th overall!  Not bad, given that our team had only trained for 3 months, it was our first time competing and we kept up with experienced teams who’ve been around for years.  We’re still practicing on the water every Saturday & Sunday, with two land workouts each week.  Last week, one of the Coaches had us crawling backwards up a hill in Allen Parkway - seemed easy at first, but it was a serious workout for the arms, shoulders and abs.  I was sore for days. 
• Running:  I’ve been running with some DB people in the mornings at Memorial Park, and then a few long runs on the weekends.  Two of us are doing the Koala/Luke’s Half in October, and the others are training for the Chicago marathon.  We did 11 miles last Saturday, and there were definitely lots of runners out.  Marathon season has arrived.
• Project Runway:  This season is boring.  I still watch, but fourfour’s reviews are far better than the show itself.  I finally stopped by Chloe Dao’s Lot 8 store in the Village.  She was selling a mix of her own stuff, some Japanese labels and also some Emmet McCarthy dresses.  I’ll never understand why her final collection on the show was so fugly - the clothes she makes and sells in her store look really nice.
• Korean Dramas:  You know you’re addicted when it’s 2am, you’ve been crying from some weepy storyline, and you promise yourself…”just one more episode…then I’ll go to bed….”   I should watch more Korean movies, so I don’t get caught up in 16+ episodes.   I did finally see OldBoy and JSA recently - both pretty good movies.
• The Cats: Skokie & Blossom are still their happy, furry selves.  

Anyways, I couldn’t not blog about my trip to Korea, so here ends my 2-month hiatus/break/procrastination/avoidance/whatever from escapevelocity.   It’s been so long since I’ve posted anything here, I couldn’t remember how to log into the backend.   Then I spent a few minutes deleting over 2,000 spam comments.  geez.

Sorry, everyone, for the lack of updates. I'm still around, just caught up in stuff. I'm still running, though not as frequently - most of my running sessions have been replaced by time at the gym, and Saturday morning dragon boating on the Bayou. I've called uncle to the stifling Houston summer heat, and have moved my fitness activities indoors and onto the water. Running lesson: I did learn something interesting recently about my attitude to running in the heat. A couple of weeks ago, I met Alex after work for a run at Hermann Park. As I pulled into the parking lot, I realized to my horror, that I had forgotten my Amphipod bottle filled with its usual dose of Cytomax sports drink. "I forgot my water bottle so I might die, just to let you know," I joked to Alex. Well, to my surprise, the run went a lot better than expected, and I wasn't feeling uncomfortably dehydrated as I had expected. I realized that the water bottle - and specifically the Cytomax - were like a crutch. During our run, we stopped just 3 times for a quick 5 second sip of water - with my Amphipod and Cytomax, I would have been swigging every 5 minutes….and still feeling dehydrated. We ended up running about 4-5 miles, and it was much easier than I expected. John wondered if my dependence on sports drinks might be leftover from Marathon training, with the weekly loooong runs and emphasis on hydration, hydration, hydration. Sure, the sports drinks help during 10+ mile runs, and they definitely got me through the Marathon…..but just water works fine. Finishing that run with Alex was a good learning experience, and it was also a confidence boost with my running.

 
Going to Korea: I'm going to Korea with my mom at the end of September. My grandmother's health hasn't been great the past few years. We'll be in Seoul for 3 weeks from mid September to early October (right before Chusok). The last time I visited Korea was 1991.

I’m officially registered for my first Half Marathon!  The Houston Half Marathon is basically the 20K with an extra .7 mile added, making it an official 13.1 miles. Plus, it’s managed by the Houston Striders.

I stumbled across this interesting report at MarathonGuide.com presenting marathon statistics for 2005.  The part I found most interesting was the ranking of marathons by number of registered finishers:

2005 Largest USA Marathons
Both New York and Chicago did not increase their registration limits in 2005 and so continued with their respective ranking as number one and two marathons in the USA. The LA Marathon and Marine Corps Marathon each added more than 2,500 finishers - and the Nike 26.2 (which can’t quite decide if it’s a women’s race or not) nearly doubled in size. Shaking up the top 25 rankings was the New Las Vegas Marathon, which as an inaugural event, debuted at number 8 and just missed the record for an inaugural event which was set by the Rock N Roll Arizona Marathon in 2004. In total, the country’s 25 largest marathons, accounted for more than 70% of total marathon finishes in the USA in 2005.

A while back, I registered for the New York Marathon.  Here’s an excerpt from the email I received this morning:

Thank you again for applying for the ING New York City Marathon 2006. I am sorry to inform you that, unfortunately, you were not selected in the random lottery drawing. I wish we could accept everyone, but we have to limit the size of the field to ensure a top-quality experience–and I hope you get to experience it yourself one day!

So, I’m not running NYC this year…though actually, I’m relieved.  Mentally, I’m not quite ready to jump into an intense Marathon training regimen again (which I’d have to start NOW if I’d gotten in), and I’m really hating training in the heat these days. 

I had considered Chicago as a backup to New York, but now my next race goal is the Koala/Luke’s Locker Half Marathon on October 29th.  This race used to be a 20K, but adding just ~1.08K bumps it up as Houston’s second Half Marathon event!   Plus, it’s managed by the fabulous Houston Striders.

Speaking of the Striders, a version of my Bay to Breakers race report is in the June issue of Stridelines.  :)