I'm not dead

Just recovered from twisting my ankle a little over a month ago. I am a very clumsy person, grace is not in my vocabulary and I fell down the last step at the Lincoln Memorial. It was my left ankle and it didn't get near as gnarly as my really bad blow out a couple of years ago. It still hurt like a son of a bitch. I ran twice last week, 5k both times. Slow and easy. And I've been walking with the dog too. He needs it. Anyways, I missed the Cap 10K and the Austin 10/20. There will be other races. Haven't tested any distance really, but I'm thinking I may still sign up for the Komen 10K. We'll see.

Moving Along

Footloose and fancy free. Three miles this morning. Feeling good. Actually, feeling a little guilty. I guess if I don't have anything to "train" for I become kind of a lazy bones. Excuses that I would put aside while training have come back. "It's too cold." "I could use a little more sleep." "I'm not training for anything." Ha. I'm gonna work on that. Because, even though I don't have a marathon or half coming up in the immediate future, I've got some 10K's and a ten miler coming up. So hopefully there will be more running soon.

4 Miles of Fun

Today was a great run. Don't know why it was any different from any of my other runs, but it felt great and I still feel good. I think I finally cleared my head of some of the crud that's been bogging it down this week. Shitty things keep happening to those that I care about, but I've come to terms that there is nothing I can do to stop those things. You just have to roll with the punches.
My Aunt passed away yesterday, so that kinda sucks. She was pretty old and had been sick for a long time, so in a way it was kind of a good thing. I feel bad for my Uncle, but things will be all right.
A buddy of mine will be going into the hospital tomorrow because his doctors believe that his cancer is back. They found a grape sized tumor on one of his lungs. Not good. So hopes and prayers are with him.
BUT I am really looking forward to this weekend and the next week has some pretty good things going on. So good bye funk and hello fun. Ha.

Three Miles with the Dog

Got in three miles with Gus the dog today. He's a trooper. He's going to be 10 this year. Old man. So, is three miles seven miles in dog miles? Ha.

Feeling Better

All right, caught whatever was going around my family shortly after that last post. I'm still not feeling 100%, but I think that is mostly allergies. I got out there and got a good three miles in this morning. 8:28 pace, tried to really concentrate on not heel striking. It was a nice morning out as well, almost full moon, little wind, good temp.
This weekend I spent most of my time working on our raised bed garden. I was going to build a box, but was able to find a pre-made one. Bought a yard of dirt and a ton of veggies and am very excited about our garden. My little girl spent most of the weekend with me and we had a wonderful time driving all over San Antonio and working on the garden.
Other than feeling better and our garden, I am having kind of a funky week so far. Found out a former place of employment, Sundance Records and Tapes, in San Marcos, TX will be shutting their doors after 35 years of service. I spent five of the best years of my life working at this store. The first conversation I ever had with my wife happened when she came in to buy a CD. So many good memories from that place. The people I worked with and the experiences I had there are second to none. If I could have made a living from working there I never would have left. Every chance I get, I go by there and buy some CD's or a shirt. I don't know anybody who works there anymore, except for the manager, but it is still a damn fine record store. I feel heartbroken that it is closing.
Secondly, a guy I grew up with killed himself on Sunday. We were not great friends, if we saw each other at a party or a show, we'd catch up and make small talk. He was very good friends with some of my good friends though and my heart is heavy for them. It is shocking to know that someone I knew is gone and that they made the decision to end their life. He had some issues and had worked for a long time to correct them. But I guess his demons wouldn't leave him alone. I hope he has found peace.
Anyways, I'm usually not such a downer. Hopefully these clouds pass soon and things will be brighter soon. After all, this is only a moment in time and eventually these things will pass. Things will get better, they always do.

Wednesday Dog Walking

Well, I did get a nice three miler in last night. Felt pretty good. I just don't like running in all that traffic. Even when I am on the sidewalk, I feel like I am playing Frogger. This morning was pretty nice, Gus and I almost got three miles in 41 minutes. That old man sure does like his walks. It's been pretty gross here the last couple of days. Very humid and swampy out. Even though it has been in the high 60's, low 70's we've had to turn our AC on because of the humidity. If you don't it gets really nasty in our house. I don't like sweating in my house while watching TV.

Hey, I'm supposed to be blogging. Whoops.

All right, slacked off there a bit. Still running. Running fast. The half marathon was awesome and I've recovered pretty well. Last Thursday, 02/23 I ran a pretty good three miler. After work, shitty, stressful day. I planned on taking it really slow, Garmin clicks off the first mile and I'm at 7:50. I put the brakes on and ended up with a second mile of 8:20 and a final mile of 9:05. I think I was taking out some aggression on that first mile.
Saturday was the Run for the Bluebonnets 5K in Bastrop. I love this 5K. It was my first race and it means a lot to me. Again, I was planning on taking it easy and going slow and again, that didn't happen. My buddy Cory ran it with me and this was his first race as well. He wanted to run fast and had been badgering me all week to run it fast with him. The morning of the race I told him I'd set a fast pace for a mile or two and then let him take it to the finish. Well, I ended up running the whole thing at a 7:52 pace. It felt pretty damned good.
Sunday, nothing. And yesterday I got in another two miles with Gus. He's old but loves the walking. I wanted to go this morning, but it was rainy and gross, so I opted for sleep. Maybe another after work run this afternoon, we'll see.

Two Miles With Gus

Today was my first activity since the half marathon on Sunday. All in all, I'm feeling pretty good. My legs aren't feeling bad at all, a little stiff, but that is about it. My glutes were pretty sore but that has gone away. Gonna try to run a little tomorrow, see how that goes. And I've got a 5k on Saturday. Not really gonna try and break any records or anything, just a fun run that I like. It was my very first organized run. This will be the third year I've run it. Pretty awesome.

Austin Half Marathon

Well, it's done. 2:07:08 I wish I'd gone a little faster, but I really can't complain. The whole experience was pretty awesome. My only complaint is about me. I COULD NOT SLEEP last night. At all. And it's nobody's fault but my own. My nervous energy just would not let me sleep. I ended up getting roughly three hours total. It sucked. But, barring that, I had a blast. From the beginning of the day to the end of the race, it was great. It was a little chilly and standing around got a little cold. But as the start time got closer and the sun started to come up, it got warmer. The lead up was great, Lance Armstrong got up and gave a great speech, the mayor of Austin gave a good speech, President Obama sent a telegram. And the moment when the National Anthem started and the whole group got quiet. Goosebumps!! The race was very hilly, up and down a lot. The first 5 miles were pretty much a long, long up hill. Then you make a turn and then it is downhill for about 4 miles. I bonked at mile 9-9.5, my legs just stopped. I walked for about 3 minutes. Then for the rest of the race it was mostly running with some walking. All in all, it was a great experience and I cannot wait for my next run. I've taken a two hour nap now and ate my weight in a Freebirds Burrito and had a couple of beers. I'm feeling pretty good.

Half Marathon Training, 2 miles

Well, this was my last run before the Half. Really felt good this morning. Took it easy and just tried to be smooth and free. A coach for an Austin running club posted a step by step description of the route yesterday. I've poured over that thing several times. I even pulled up Google Maps street view of Austin and went step by step along with the write up. There is one big hill at 12 miles that is going to suck. 80 ft climb in less than a quarter mile. OH FUN!! I am really excited and getting a little nervous. I can't wait till about 9 on Sunday. I should be drinking a beer about that time. Ha.

Half Marathon Training, 2 miles

Taper week!! 2 mile runs are too much fun. 4 DAYS TO HALF MARATHON DAY!!! Can't wait until race day.

Half Marathon training, 3 miles

Welp, this was the last longish run before the Half on Sunday. Come on Sunday, I am ready for it to be here. Felt really good this morning. The first mile was a little slow, working out the kinks of not doing anything since the 12 miler on Saturday. The second mile was nice and slow and mile three was awesome. I felt great. BRING IT ON AUSTIN HALF MARATHON!!!

Half Marathon Awesome Training, 12 Miles

This was an awesome run. I felt great. I am so ready to next weeks half marathon. I CANNOT WAIT!!! This will be my second half and going into my first one, I felt like I wasn't prepared enough. I feel the opposite for this one. I'm hoping to beat two hours, but if I don't, that's all right. I spent a good deal of time yesterday looking at the route and all the information online, pouring over details and trying to figure out where big hills will be and all that jazz. It's going to be so much fun. And to start and finish at the Capitol will be really cool. I'm a history major and I took a ton of Texas history classes, so the Capitol building is a special place for me. Easy week and then 13.1!!!!

Half Marathon training, 3 miles

Three more mile, three more miles, three more miles. Today was just a run, nothing more, nothing less. Felt good, weather was ok. Tired today, need some sleep, which I will get tomorrow. Rest day. Yay me.

Half Marathon training, 5 miles AND 2000 MILES!!

Really, really good run this morning. Legs felt fresh, kept losing myself in thought and would look up and another mile had passed. The weather was all right, stupid wind of course, the moon was out and bright. All around a good run. And today I crossed the 2000 miles logged on dailymile. Pretty awesome. I cannot believe that I have walked/ran more than 2000 miles. What a good day.

Half Marathon training, 3 miles

Another three miles in the bank. 3 miles from breaking the 2000 recorded miles barrier. Pretty stoked about that. Good run this morning, feeling great. Getting nervous now about the half marathon. I wish I'd kept the quote, but read somewhere about envisioning what you want to do while running and this morning I kept seeing myself crossing the finish line in two weeks. I like it. Yesterday was a rest day, no running, but I did 30 minutes of Planks, Push Ups and AbRipperX. Sunday was a cross training day so I did the CardioX workout from P90X. Man, that thing really kicks your booty in 45 minutes. I was sweating like crazy. Feeling great today, really looking forward to getting my 5 miles tomorrow.

Half Marathon Training, 11 miles

This was pretty awesome. I didn't break any time barriers but getting out there and getting it done was nice. When I woke up it was storming pretty good. I waited about 30 minutes and the storm moved off, for the most part, and I went. There were lots of big puddles, some running water, mud and the occasional rain shower and my old friend, the WIND. Other than that, this was a pretty awesome run. I was very wary of today's run because of the rough week that I've had, head cold, general crappy week. But this was excellent and I am so happy I did it. Yay me.

Should Have Just Gone Swimming

Got out there this morning and got three long miles. Yay me!! BUT legs were stiff and the run felt slow. And it was 100% humidity, so breathing was tough and it was like running in soup. BUT I GOT OUT THERE! Still feeling some affects from the head cold and the aforementioned leg issues. BUT I GOT OUT THERE! Feel really good now, I'm not going to get my 11 miles tomorrow, but I'll rock them on Sunday. The wife has a UIL competition tomorrow, so I am hanging out with the coolest three year old in the world tomorrow.

Rasafracka!

Throat feels better, but now I can't breathe through my nose and even though I just slept 7 hours, I feel exhausted. Come hell or high water my ass will be running tomorrow morning!!!!!

Still Not Happy

Still feeling like poo. Not really like poo, but my throat hurts. Nothing else is wrong, just throat hurts. Really annoying, especially with the half marathon a couple of weeks away. This shit better clear up soon.

Not a Happy Camper

Well, it was stormy again all night and this morning and I woke up with a scratchy throat and feeling kinda poopy. Dammit. I don't need to be getting sick right now. EFFFFFFF!!! I'm doing everything I can to beat this thing back. Green Tea, Vitamins our the wazoo, Echinacea, etc... Go away sickness!

Friday, Saturday and Sunday

All right, updates!! Friday, 3 miles, 26 minutes, felt great. Saturday, 6.2 miles, 55 minutes, felt great, FU wind. Sunday, lazy day, park and train with the kid, CardioX at home. UGH, I forgot how much I love/hate P90X stuff. But I feel great about it. Can't wait for my longer runs coming in the next couple of weeks. Next Saturday, 11 miles, then 12 the next Saturday and then 13.1 on the 19th. I'm feeling better now, then earlier this month. I'm really feeling good about my conditioning and really looking forward to this Half Marathon. And to all of my races in the next couple of months. It is awesome to look at my calendar and see all these races written down. So much running coming up. It is AWESOME!!!

Half Marathon training, 5 miles, and unintended rest day due to STORM

Well, I was supposed to get my five miles in yesterday, but all hell was breaking loose in San Antonio at 4 in the morning, so I went back to sleep. Anyways, I got up this morning and got my 5 in today. And it was really good. Started off a little slow but ended up really going at the end. Mile 5 was at a 8:15 pace. That made me feel really good. And yesterday, I did get a workout in. I'm trying to get rid of my gut, once again, so I did the P90X Ab Ripper, plus some planks. Also threw in some push ups, curls and some other things. I'm feeling pretty good today, but I bet the Abs start hurting sometime in the near future. I've never puked from working out, but damn if I didn't want to hurl yesterday during the Ab Ripper. I pretty sure that is a good thing.

Storm of the Century

Last night all hell broke loose in San Antonio. It was raining cats and dogs, lightning, thunder, wind, hail. You name it, we had it. I woke up at 3:45 to get ready to run and it was still berserker out there. So I did the logical thing and went back to sleep for an hour. I know, I should have done a P90X workout or something, but I didn't. I'll have to make up the miles the rest of this week. I'll just run 5 tomorrow, 3 Friday and do my 10K on Saturday. It'll all be good.

Half Marathon training, 3 miles

Another training run done. 3.01 mile, 26:13. Felt pretty good, the weather was pleasant. I'm scared that the cold is coming. We've been blessed with an amazingly tame winter, but I know the cold is going to get here soon. UGH. Other than that, not much going on here. Trying to recover from the hectic weekend, need more sleep.

The weekend and Monday

Well Saturday was a big test for my upcoming half marathon. And I did well. 10 miles, 1:33:13. I would have liked it to be sub 1:30 but with the way my long runs have been recently I'll find solace in the fact that I was able to complete the whole ten miles without stopping and walking. GO ME!! The rest of the weekend was a pretty hectic jumble of fun. We drove to Houston, went to the hospital, hung out with my new niece, went out to dinner with the in-laws, went to bed, got up, breakfast, hospital, back to San Antonio. It was hectic but it was great. The new niece is pretty effing cute. Today is a rest day, so no running today, just work and grocery store. Looking forward to my runs this week and my badass wife has a 5K on Saturday. Can't wait.

Rest Day

No running today.  Rest day.  But, most awesome news of the day, my Brother in-law and Sister in-law had their baby girl this morning.  Congrats to them.  I can't wait to go to Houston tomorrow and see the new bambino.

Races, Races, Races

All right, here are the races I've got coming up and some that I haven't signed up for yet, but am seriously considering.

2/19/2012: Austin Marathon
02/25/2012: Run for the Bluebonnets 5K, Bastrop, TX
03/25/2012: Statesman Capitol 10K, Austin, TX
04/15/2012: Austin 10/20, Austin, TX
05/12/2012: Komen Race for the Cure 10K, San Antonio, TX  So stoked they have a 10K this year.
11/11/2012: Rock and Roll Marathon, San Antonio, TX  First marathon!!!

Half Marathon training, 3 miles

Good run this morning.  3 miles, 26 minutes.  Not setting any world records but running very comfortably.  Been having some fun this week too.  My wife is doing a scavenger hunt as part of a weekly challenge over at Do Life and I've been helping her check things off her list. It's been fun helping her come up with ways to get some of these things done.  Even our three year old is chipping in.  Fun for the whole family.  AND tomorrow I should become an uncle again.  Looking forward to heading to Houston this weekend to see the new niece.

Half Marathon training, 5 miles

Today's run was pretty good.  I've been having some difficulty with my longer runs lately, not pain, just my legs getting fatigued.  I am pretty sure this is due to the couple of weeks I missed due to cedar fever and the holidays.  Today was the first day that I felt really good on a distance run.  No thanks to the weather.  The temp was fine, 41 degrees, there humidity was great, 50% and it was clear as can be.  BUT the wind sucked.  Or, I guess, blew.  14-20 mph, gusty.  Blech!  Anyways, I hate the wind.  I don't mind cold, at all, but cold and windy, I hate it.  But for the love of running, I will tolerate it.

New year, time to start blogging again

Things are going well. In November I completed my first half marathon, the Rock and Roll San Antonio Half Marathon.  It was pretty awesome.  I finished in just over two hours, 02:03:18.  I was pleased, I really wanted to break 2 hours but I am happy with my result.  A week after that I did the Warrior Dash.  This was awesome. I had a whole bunch of fun with this race.  My bro in-law and a friend of his took part as well.  A week after that I did a virtual 5K for Thanksgiving.  We were in Denver and my wife and sister did so as well.  It was nice to run in Denver.  My biggest joy though was running with my dad.  We did a little workout together and ran a little.  He is coming back to running after having not run in years.  He's in great shape, just not running shape.  He was a marathoner, back in the day, and feels compelled to run again.  I love it.  It was a joy to run with him, except he's a fast dude.  It was hard to keep up.  Right now I have three races on the horizon.  I have the Austin half marathon in February, the Bluebonnet 5k in Bastrop a week later and then the Cap 10K in Austin at the end of March.  Pretty stoked about this year and hope to keep running like a wild man.  And keep up with this blog.