Christmas funk...

It totally sucks that I have to work on Christmas Eve. There are a surprising number of us here today, including a couple of the judges who have a morning docket. Yes, I know that I could have taken one of my vacation days in order to have the holiday off, but I don't think that I should have had to in order to be off on CHRISTMAS EVE. Come on.

I am worried about my knee. It's been several days now since the fall, and it still hurts. It's still oozing gunk out of it too. My boss scared me yesterday and said that I should have gone to the ER to get stitches. To me, it looks like the new skin is forming around it, although the gash is still pretty deep.

So, I obviously haven't been able to run since Saturday. K will tell you that is doing wonders for my mood on top of everything else. Even if my knee were to magically be better within the next day, we'll be traveling until Sunday so it will be hard to get a run in. Then of course I am catastrophizing and worried that I am out of shape and fat with no hope of being able to run Rocky in February with this week lost from training.

I'm not excited about our travel plans - traveling each and every day from now until Sunday. I would much rather stay at home and spend the holidays quietly by ourselves or go somewhere fun like skiing with my dad and brother who are in Colorado for the vacation or to the beach. I haven't even packed yet, and we need to hit the road as soon as I get off work.

I have been giving K fits about what to get me for Christmas. I told him and my family that there really isn't anything that I need. But, of course, K is in a bind because I'll still be disappointed that he didn't come up with something special.

Hope you are having a better holiday than I am so far!

Trail run = fall

Today did not go as planned, as things often don't.

We met up with some folks from HCTR for a no-drop tour of the Greenbelt. The organizer, Henry, was planning on running for 8 hours today allowing others to bail out whenever they needed to. I was hoping for 5-6 hours, but only ended up with around 3 hours due to a fall a little less than 2 hours in. I was really disappointed because one of my goals for today was to work on nutrition, as I had carefully planned and prepared some different foods to eat along the way. One thing that does look promising though is my pre-run breakfast because I didn't have GI issues during the run for the 2nd week in a row today. I'll focus on the small successes right now. I guess another small success is that my legs felt good, other than my knee after I fell. :)

The weather today was a challenge with 60+ temps and high humidity again, but thankfully no 20-30mph wind like last weekend! I seemed to manage my hydration okay - much better today with my Camelbak than negotiating water stops every 1-2 miles at the race last weekend. Again, another small success. Can you tell I am trying to find the positive? See, that's me working on the mental part of training.

Many of the other folks running today were training for Bandera, so we ran some of the lesser used trails that were a bit more technical to prepare for the challenging rocky terrain out there. I felt really skittish and tentative running those sections, in part because I haven't been running terrain like that since our PD group ended in October. I'm way out of practice. Fortunately, Rocky is not like that - the terrain there is much more to my liking. Another factor that made it even more challenging today was that the rocks were incredibly slippery. SUPER slippery. So, taken together, it was perfect conditions for me to take a spill...and I definitely did. I busted my left knee open pretty good, but what actually seems to hurt even more than my leg is the palm of my hand where I tried to brace myself during the fall. I got my leg cleaned out pretty good when we got home (I had to use the loofah soap again to make sure I got all the dirt and debris out - OUCH).

After I fell, I kept going for about an hour it seemed. I called K, who had turned back shortly before I fell, and told him to pick me up at HOL which he did. Breakfast tacos at Rudy's were definitely in order after that. Yum.

Depending on how my knee feels tomorrow (and the weather), I may try to get in a few more miles on my legs to make up for the lost mileage today. I'm definitely looking forward though to the Jemez group starting in a month so that I can build my confidence back up on the more technical trails.

Committed...

No sooner had I finished my previous post about likely running the half at Jemez in May than I crawled into bed last night and told K that I was once again considering running the 50k there. I had been going back and forth between the two distances since we first started talking about it, mostly with how it fits with my race plan for next year.

So, what did I just do? I registered for the 50k.

I'm sure K would like to have me committed right about now. As he somewhat jokingly said last night, my running problem is becoming his problem.

So, the race calendar for 2009 looks like this so far:

Bandera 50k 01/10/09 - "C" race (solely training run for Rocky)
Rocky Raccoon 50 mile 02/07/09 - "A" race (first race at that distance)
Prickly Pear 50k 03/07/09 - "B" race (should be "easiest" 50k course I have done so will hope for a PR)
Jemez Mountain Trail Run 50k 05/16/09 - "A" race (first race at elevation)
St. George Marathon 10/03/09 - "A" race (BQ)

Of course all of that is contingent on me remaining healthy and focused. We'll see how the year goes!

Thursday night ramblings....

-Today is K's 29th birthday. 29. He's such a young pup. :) I still think of him as older, closer to my age though. It was a pretty low-key day with dinner at Louie's 106 downtown followed by yummy cheesecake at home that my mom ordered from Junior's in New York. His gifts are coming - a ski trip to Breckenridge, CO in a few weeks and tickets to a Spurs vs. Trailblazers game to see former OSU star Greg Oden play in the spring.

-I really need a break from work. I'm wiped out. Unfortunately, the upcoming holidays will be quite busy. We're making our third trip to Dallas within the past month on Wednesday. I have to work on Christmas Eve, although we are hoping that it will be an early release day (especially since we didn't get out early on the day before Thanksgiving). We're driving up to Dallas as soon as I get off work and will see my mom before flying out of DFW on Thursday afternoon to head to Ohio. We arrive in Columbus on Christmas evening and plan to stay there overnight before driving out to see his family on Friday. Then, we're flying back to DFW on Saturday evening and driving back to Austin on Sunday. So it will be a very quick (and likely tiring with some form of travel each day) trip. In part we are doing this so that I don't have to take off any additional days from work because I am hoarding all of my vacation days for a 2 week trip to Singapore next summer. The other issue is that I didn't want to visit his family for very long. Continuing to illustrate why I feel the way that I do about his family, we received a Christmas card from one of his sisters earlier this week that was addressed on a typed label to K then my name was handwritten in after it, almost as an afterthought. Hmph.

-I have all but decided that I am going to turn down the offer to take over my colleague's private practice. It's somewhat hard for me to believe that I have now turned down an interview at one of the nation's top children's hospitals which likely would have turned into a job offer and an offer to take over a lucrative private practice in favor of remaining in my current job. A lot of different factors went into the decision-making process. I have also decided that I am not going to teach again, for now at least. While the extra money was nice (and afforded a few extra luxuries - mostly spoiling K) and it offered some variety in my professional responsibilities, it was more than I want to take on right now. Maybe that will change in the future, but for now it's the right decision.

-I miss training with a group, seeing my running buddies, and training for a common goal. We saw some of our trail running peeps at the Brenda's Christmas party last week which was nice. And, we'll likely see many of them at Bandera in a couple of weeks. We're then going to join the Rogue training group for Jemez which starts at the end of January. I think several people from our Palo Duro group may do this one as well. After Palo Duro, I remember talking with Joe about the Jemez race and telling him that I was nervous about doing a mountain run, but he said that's why I should do it then! If I'm going to do it, then I want to do it with Joe and the others. I haven't decided on the distance yet though, but I may just do the half marathon because of the timing of the race at the beginning of marathon training for St. George.

-No apparent problems with recovery from White Rock last weekend. I had a massage on Tuesday evening and my legs felt great afterwards! I was somewhat sore on Monday, but didn't really have any problems walking or climbing up/down stairs. This just reinforces for me that I did the right thing by not "racing" or trying to run any harder than I did. I didn't want to prolong my recovery and compromise my longer term goal of running the 50-miler in February.

White Rock...

When did 26.2 miles turn into a "training run"? Seriously. That's nuts. I'm nuts.
Let me back up and tell you how I ended up at the start line of the White Rock Marathon in Dallas this morning. My training plan for Rocky had me scheduled for 24 miles today. Since I'm training on my own right now, it's harder to get in these long long runs on my own without support. So, I opted to run White Rock to get in the miles on a marked course with fluids provided along the way. When I registered for the race, I had to give a projected finish time. Since my plan was to run solely as a training run, then K and I figured 4:30ish would be reasonable. With how strong I have felt lately, I figured I could run faster than that if I actually tried...and if everything else fell into place. However, with today's projected weather forecast of 60+ degrees at the 8am start rising to 70+ degrees after noon coupled with 20-30+ mph winds, I wisely abandoned that plan and just focused on finishing.

Logistically, this was an "easy" race in terms of traveling, packet pick-up, proximity of our hotel to the start/finish line, and overall race organization. A+ in all those areas.

The race started at 8am, which I was initially excited about since I would get to sleep in a little bit. However, that quickly changed when I realized how warm it was going to be today. With that in mind, I wish we would have started at 7am.

The race was seeded into 3 corrals by projected finish time. I started at the front of the second corral. K gave me a kiss and sent me on my way. Since he doesn't feel that comfortable driving around Dallas on his own, I wasn't sure whether I would see him along the course. But, he made it over to mile 2ish so I stopped to stretch for a minute when I saw him because my shins were feeling tight. Thankfully, that went away in the next mile or so.

I really enjoyed the first half of the course because it went through some of my old stomping grounds when I lived in Dallas. I ran by effort and never looked at my watch. I had no idea about any of my mile splits - I didn't want to stress about it. Thankfully, the wind didn't really make it's presence known until we hit the lake, a little less than halfway in by that point. And, that is reflected in my times. For those of you who remember, recall the wind tunnel that the 20-miler was in Round Rock back in 2006. That's what this was like. The winds were so strong that I could barely maintain forward momentum at times. And, the lake is about 9 miles around. It just sucked pure and simple. Mentally this was a bad stretch for me.

I was also having a hard time managing hydration in the warm temps. Thankfully, there were aid stations nearly every mile on the course, and I stopped at nearly all of them - walking through and taking 2 cups each time. I never got to the point where my stomach was sloshing, although the last couple of miles nearly approached that feeling. The good news is that I didn't have to make a bathroom stop on the course! That was definitely a positive.

I saw a friendly face at around mile 18.5 and stopped for encouragement and to check in. That's when I got the news that K was just up ahead past mile 19. I really needed that pick me up! K was positioned at the beginning of the "Dolly Parton" hills, which really weren't much hills in my opinion. I stopped to talk with K for a few minutes and told him that I would probably finish in around 4:30.

The last few miles were on a slight downhill on Swiss Avenue back into downtown, which was a welcome relief. The wind came and went a little during this stretch, but my main issue here was the rising temps and hydration. I just wanted to be done. And, I was in 4:33. Again, not stellar, but appropriate for the conditions, my training, and the purpose of the run.

Next weekend I get to do this all over again. Lucky me! But this time I am definitely running trail. Ah, sweet trail.

"So, what did you learn today?"

As we were walking back to the car after the race yesterday morning, K asked me what I learned that day (it better be something good because he was not gung-ho about me running this weekend or waking up early to come support me at the race). It was an excellent question!

So, here's what I learned from running Decker yesterday:

1. I reminded myself that Decker is a hilly, boring course (that I am grateful was not made worse by the typical Decker winds yesterday).

2. I have got to get my GI issues under control, although the culprit yesterday was clearly eating lots of "bad" foods at our Christmas party on Saturday night. Regardless, this is a huge issue that I need to address before I really try to PR in a distance race because making a bathroom stop obviously takes time.

3. I have to improve the mental aspect of my running. Physically, I felt fine yesterday. But, mentally, I just let go at several points in the race, mostly when I hit the hills in mile 10. Thank goodness for the Rogue waterstop shortly after that so that I could mentally regroup with their support.

4. I am beginning to wonder (again) whether my beloved Wave Creations are the "best" shoe for me. I have some serious blisters that have developed, always in the same spots too. I just don't want to have to go through the whole shoe shopping thing again though. Ugh.

5. I am a stronger runner (duh) than I was when I previously ran that race in 2005, although if I remember correctly I hadn't been feeling well and was doped up on Dayquil when I ran it that time. Phillip and I ran together, and I remember reminding him that we didn't have to "race" it per our coach. Mindful of White Rock this weekend, I also did not set out to run aggressively this year.

So, all that being said, I ran 1:57 (which included a bathroom stop at mile 4, walking through water stops, and walking a few hills). Not stellar, but appropriate for the purpose of the run.

I'm hesitant to put this out there, but I feel fairly confident that I can PR at White Rock this weekend (provided that my stomach cooperates!). However, that isn't the goal of this run so I don't want myself to get caught up in that mindset of racing the clock. In my training plan, this is just supposed to be about getting the mileage in, recovering well, and being able to run long distance again next weekend. Besides, my (longer-term) goal is not simply to get a new marathon PR, but it is to qualify for Boston - and, I know that I can't do that this weekend. The plan for that is still at St. George in 2009.

"I have a running problem..."

That is what I told K last night.

I can't stop. That's the problem.

I had been looking forward to the upcoming weekend since it was our first in awhile that didn't revolve around running. It was also designated as an "off" weekend for me in my training schedule for Rocky in February, especially since I haven't had one of those in I can't remember how long.

Just a few short hours after telling K last night just how excited I was about having a running-free weekend, I cautiously approached him saying "I just had a crazy idea...." He knows me well enough to be concerned. He responded that my "crazy ideas" usually wind up with us several hours outside of Austin getting up early to go run somewhere. I assured him that this time it wasn't nearly that far. :)

My initial idea was that we would run the relay at Decker together on Sunday, which he immediately shot down. Well, then fine, I'll run the whole thing myself. So, here we go again...

Oh, and have I mentioned that I'm running the marathon at White Rock next weekend (as a training run for Rocky)?

Yes, I know I have a problem. I even told K that he should hide my running shoes from me (road and trail).

But, no, I don't think that I am overtraining. I take days off appropriately, I really do. And, I also don't necessarily think that I am overracing, although we have certainly run a lot of races over the past few months. I haven't necessarily run all-out intense effort trying to PR at any of them. And, I don't plan to at Decker either (or at White Rock).

I am so grateful that I am able to run again after having a year of inconsistency (and slowness) due to my shin issues. I am vigilant about getting a massage every 2-2 1/2 weeks now, and I don't have any nagging injuries or pains that I am currently dealing with. Perhaps most importantly, I feel invigorated by running again, mostly with the new challenges of pushing my limits to see just how far I can go. I'll get back to working on how fast I can go next year, but for now it's nice to know that the speed is still in there to be drawn out again with the proper training when I'm ready for it. I also enjoy the camraderie with my fellow runners so much, many of whom have become such good friends. So, that is why I will be up early on likely another cold Sunday morning and find myself at the start line with 13.1 miles ahead.

Time...

There just doesn't seem to be nearly enough of it.

Despite the 4-day holiday weekend, I still have several items on my to-do list that went unfinished. And, with my students turning in their final videos this week and final grades due in two weeks, I don't see how many of the remaining items will get done either. Sigh.

Given that K and I haven't managed the holidays well for the past couple of years, I think we're off to a good start this year. On Wednesday after I got off work, we headed up to Dallas for Thanksgiving with my mom's side of the family. We had been anticipating an early release day at work on Wednesday, but no such luck. So, we didn't hit the road until a little after 5pm...ugh. Traffic was terrible, which was no big surprise. With a brief stop in Belton for dinner at Schoepf's BBQ for dinner, we didn't make it to Dallas until 10:30pm. We stayed at a very cute boutique hotel in downtown Dallas, which we really enjoyed so that was a nice end to the day.

On Thursday morning, we ran the Dallas YMCA Turkey Trot (8 miles), which started and finished a few blocks away from our hotel so it was nice to be able to walk over. It was pretty chilly early in the morning (meaning that I overdressed), but it turned out to be a nice day for running. I was flirting with the idea of running hard just for kicks, but that quickly changed within the first mile due to the crowds. There were thousands of people there who did not seed themselves properly at all...there were walkers and people with dogs who were ahead of us which was really frustrating trying to get going at a decent pace in the first mile or so. Regardless, I'm still okay with how I ran...1:08 including a stop to shed layers.

After the race, we headed out to Lake Ray Hubbard for a yummy Thanksgiving meal at my aunt and uncle's new house. We don't see them very often, so it was a nice change of pace to spend the holiday with them. K and I filled up then took home leftovers for dinner.

On Friday morning, we went to the Dallas Museum of Art for the King Tut exhibit. There were some interesting artifacts, many of which were very well-preserved. No trip to Dallas is complete without a meal at Snuffer's so we had lunch there afterwards before dropping my brother off at the airport then heading back to Austin. Thankfully, the drive back was much smoother than the drive up there. Once back home, we decided to go out on Friday evening to run a couple of errands and do some Christmas shopping, which included the purchase of a new TV for K. He's so spoiled.

We ran more errands on Saturday, which included getting our Christmas tree and decorating it last night to get ready for the holiday party we are hosting for my co-workers next weekend. We decided to splurge on getting our house cleaned by a service this week because I just simply don't have enough time to get everything done by myself.

I got up early this morning to do my long run. The plan was for 20, but I was really lacking in motivation to get out the door and in the first few miles so I wasn't sure how it was actually going to go. I opted to run 2 full loops on Town Lake, mostly to save time because I didn't really have the time to drive somewhere like Bastrop, running on true trail would take me significantly longer to cover the same distance, and I didn't necessarily want the extra pounding from the roads for 20 miles. So, this seemed like the easiest (if not the most interesting) choice. And, it worked out fine. I had a good run and ran a pretty solid, consistent pace to finish in a little over 3 hours + 2 bathroom stops. (Sorry Holly for not stopping to chat! I was worried I would have a hard time getting going again if I stopped.).

With my run done, it was time for lunch and a nap before going to see Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy at The Long Center this evening. What a fun show! We topped off the night with dinner at Polvo's. Now it's time for another busy week ahead...

A Sunday jaunt through the woods...

Ah, now I remember what that feels like. Having a bad run. I have been fortunate that I haven't had one of those in awhile. I guess I needed reminding...

I had 18 miles on the schedule for this weekend. Originally, I had planned to run by myself (or meet up with the Bandera group) at Bastrop yesterday morning. However, K had other things in mind for the weekend, and we agreed to run out there together today instead. After sleeping in this morning, we headed out for an afternoon run. The weather wasn't too warm or too cold, so that didn't seem to be a huge factor in how things played out for me.

My plan was to run 2 loops (15.5 miles) + a short out and back to get the additional mileage in. I tried something new for a trail run (or really any run for that matter these days) and ran with K's Ipod Shuffle for a distraction. I generally prefer to focus on the sights and sounds around me while running, as well as my internal experience, so this was pretty different for me...and, I really enjoyed it. I don't think that I will use it on a regular basis, especially on a crowded trail run, but it might serve a good purpose every now and then.

The first loop was relatively uneventful other than the realization that I had forgotten to take my Immodium to prevent GI issues. Fortunately, I was able to make it to a bathroom at a campsite nearby when the time came. With that detour and backtracking to the start afterwards, I was able to get a little extra mileage in before starting out on my second loop. I saw K a couple of miles in, as he was getting close to finishing up, and told him that this was much harder than the races we've run the past two weekends (San Antonio Half and Rocky Raccoon 25k), both of which I ran much faster than I ran today. He suggested that I just turn back and head back in with him which would have put me at about 12 miles total for the day. I told him that the only person that would hurt would be me in the end, so I pushed on. I finally finished the second loop and made it back to the car only to tell K that I had one more mile to go so I was going to run it on the road and he could pick me up at the nearby campground. I think he was stunned by that. But, I did it. 18 miles, mission accomplished.

And, a good reminder to always respect the distance.

Relief...

Such a good feeling.

I am relieved that Ohio State beat Michigan today. If not, K would have been in a very negative mood which would have put a damper on our weekend. To show my support for the game today, I made Three-Way Cincinnati Chili for lunch today, which apparently is quite the big deal in Ohio. One of my staff members gave me a couple of the local brands of chili mix with the recipe to fix "if I am truly going to be an Ohio wife." I didn't know what to expect, but it was actually quite yummy and I think K enjoyed the nostalgic meal as well.

I am relieved that I (finally!) just finished writing all of my thank-you notes from the wedding within the 3-month recommended timeline. Whew! That has been a task that has been hanging over my shoulders since we got back from the honeymoon, but it seems like our time has been filled with so many other things since then (out of town running trips, teaching stuff, etc.) that it has just been impossible to find the time. This was the first weekend of the past few where we were (a) in town, (b) not focused on running (although I have an 18-miler out at Bastrop planned for tomorrow), and (c) not busy doing things for my class.

I am relieved that the semester is almost over. There is one more class remaining after Thanksgiving, but it just consists of the students completing their course evaluations and turning in their final video/paper projects so I don't have any prep work to do for it. However, I will be quite busy for the 1 1/2 weeks after that grading their projects and getting the final grades in. I'm really skeptical of whether this is something that I want to do again. While the extra money has been nice and has allowed me/us to do some additional things, it has been A LOT of work on top of my full-time job. It has come at the expense of time with K and friends, as well as time for myself. I have been so focused on career for so many years at the expense of other things that I don't want to go back to that. Other things are more important to me at this point in my life.

I am relieved that K and I have each other. We had a (very) rare night out downtown last night for dinner and drinks with a single friend of K's. It reminded me (as if I needed reminding) that I am so glad to be out of that lifestyle. I think K might have even realized it too.

Rock 'n Roll San Antonio Half-Marathon...

Our trip to San Antonio started out well enough, but there were several bumps along the way, particularly in relation to race events.

We drove down on Friday right after work without any problems. We grabbed a quick bite to eat once we got to town then headed over to the AT&T Center for the Spurs vs. Rockets game. We had a good time. The Spurs came from behind at the end to win, so the atmosphere was pretty charged. Afterwards, we got settled into our hotel and called it a night.

We got up early on Saturday morning because we had a lot of things on the agenda. However, K getting to watch the Ohio State game at 11 was the key event. I wanted to get my packet early before the crowds got too bad and I didn't want to be rushed going through the Expo, so I went to the Alamodome by myself when they opened at 9am. This was the first irritation about the race - having to pay 10 bucks to park in a lot on the far side of the building from where the entrance was and walking a quarter mile (at least) in super strong winds to get in only to be underwhelmed by the Expo itself. I like a good Expo, but I was in and out within 40 minutes. After that, I made a quick trip to El Mercado, a Mexican shopping area downtown, before heading back to the hotel to check on K. Once the game was over, I took K down to the Expo to pick up his packet. I dropped him off while he ran in to get his packet so that we wouldn't have to pay for parking again. Unfortunately, it took longer than expected because they were limiting the amount of people who could get in at one time since the crowds were so big by that point. Once we finished there, we headed out to a shopping center in the far northwest part of town to get a item that was on our wedding registry that was only available at that particular Macy's. What we didn't count on though was a travel nightmare because they closed the highway at that particular junction. It was a total mess. After much searching for the item, our trip to Macy's was a success thankfully. Then, it was time to find a place to get some pasta for dinner. We were definitely not in the "busy" part of town with the majority of the out-of-towners for the race, but the wait time at all the Italian restaurants was still pretty long. I think the city was seriously underprepared for what it got with the influx of participants and spectators for the race (the race was capped at 30,000). Once we got the requisite pasta dinner, we went to bed fairly early because 5:30am comes pretty quickly. I got a decent night's sleep, although K didn't fare so well.

We were up at 5:20 this morning and left the hotel by 6am. Silly us because we (along with thousands of other runners) thought that this would be sufficient time to get to the race before it started at 7:30am. We did what the race organizers wanted us to do in terms of parking at the AT&T Center and getting bused over to the start area. The highway was jammed getting there. Once we finally parked, this is what we were greeted with:
It was absolutely ridiculous! It took us about 20 minutes to get through the line until we got on a bus. We were on the bus at the start time of the race (7:30am). And, there were still THOUSANDS of people waiting for a bus at that point, even more than when we had arrived! I'm not kidding. When we were finally dropped off, we had to walk several blocks to the start area. Once we arrived, it was organized chaos. The race apparently had not been delayed to wait for the arrival of all the runners so the corrals were being sent off in waves. We still had to drop our gear though. After that, we made our way up to the start area and jumped in with the next corral being sent out (which was much slower than our original assigned corrals). Not the best way to start a race obviously. I have no idea what they did for all those people who were still waiting to get on a bus at that point!

So, finally, I'm running. Since I have revised my training goals to focus on the 50-miler at Rocky in February, my plan today was not to race because this really should have been an "off" weekend for me in my new training plan. Mission accomplished. I ran comfortably easy and never let myself get caught up in my splits or running a hard effort. Overall, I'm pleased with how I ran (1:56 which included a 2-minute stop to take off my top layer and put up my gloves after mile 3), especially since this was the longest distance that I have run on the road since Big Sur in February. The course could be pretty fast, I think, as there were only two small hills on the course, although one was at mile 13! After the finish, I was ready to get the heck out of there. There was just too many people everywhere. K and I met up at our designated meeting spot then started the trek out to the buses to get shuttled back to the AT&T Center. This involved more walking and stairs, so I'm sure the marathoners did not care for that. More walking around the AT&T Center to get to our car from where we were dropped off by the bus too.

Given that this was the inaugural event for the race, there are obviously a lot of kinks that they need to work out for next year. I also felt like the whole "Rock 'n Roll" thing was somewhat overrated. Overall, I wasn't terribly impressed. I'm just glad that this wasn't a key race for me.

Another great race weekend!

After work yesterday, we drove out to Huntsville for the Rocky Raccoon 25k. Neither of us had been out there before, so it was something different for us. I was hoping to make it there by 7:30pm in time to pick up our packets so that we could sleep in a little extra this morning, but no such luck. We arrived in Huntsville around 7:45 and set about finding something for dinner. There weren't many choices for a pasta dinner, so we settled on a buffet (which ended up having pasta) instead. It was good, quick, and close to our hotel so it was a good choice. Once we arrived at our hotel, we were surprised to learn that it had just opened less than 2 weeks ago. As a result, our room with a hot tub in it wasn't ready yet, so we got a regular suite instead. If you ever find yourself in Huntsville, I highly recommend the Holiday Inn out there! We settled in for the night and watched some tv before calling it a night.

Since we were running the 25k instead of the 50k today, we got the benefit of some additional sleep since our race didn't start until 8am. What a treat! We even got to take advantage of the complimentary breakfast at the hotel before leaving for the race start. It was a short drive over to Huntsville State Park where we were greeted by this sign shortly after driving through the park entrance...
Needless to say, it freaked me out.

We arrived at The Lodge and picked up our packets then sat in the car for awhile to stay warm. The start was very near the water which was covered with fog.
In true trail running fashion, the race start was somewhat anti-climatic. The race director made a few announcements then sent us on our way. There were several hundred folks running and we spent the first mile on the road before entering the trail. I didn't really have a race plan for today other than to just run by how I felt, especially since I wasn't exactly sure what the course would be like. I thought 2:30ish would be a good "A" goal though. The course ended up reminding me a lot of Bastrop (which I always enjoy!) - lots of pine trees, roots, and sand (not that I enjoy running through sand though), but with less rollers. The first half of the course had several long straightaways (uphill and downhill) and I really got to let loose with several sub 9 minute miles here. I couldn't believe how great my legs and cardio felt (running at that comfortably "fast" pace). The second half of the course was more winding, over bridges, and through swampland (which K dubbed as "Alligator Alley"). My miles were slightly slower here due to the terrain change, as well as likely to my complete lack of nutrition (other than a few chips for salt at aid stations) and inconsistent hydration. I don't know what I was thinking! I was feeling so good (and I wouldn't say that I ever really bonked) and I think I got caught in the mindset that I'm "only" running 15.5 miles so it's not that important as it had been on my longer long runs. Lesson learned. I made it through though without the GI issues that I usually have (thanks Stephanie for the tip about taking Immodium pre-race). Anyway, I still finished feeling quite strong with a major kick at the end (so I know I had way too much left in me) and met my goal with a time of 2:34. I know I could have run faster too.

K did not set out to race today, rather he wanted to run easy and enjoy himself. He ran easy, but I don't think he enjoyed himself. We didn't hang around long after the race was over, but we stopped at the HCTR aid station on our way out of the park since it was near the road. We talked to Joe and Robert for a bit. Joe asked me how I liked the course and I told him that I really enjoyed it. He said that whenever I am ready to move up to the 50-mile distance then he directs a 50 and 100-mile race out there in February (also called Rocky Raccoon). Well, I think I'm ready (for the 50-miler). Yes, you read that right. That is my next goal race, and I've already mapped out a training schedule for it which fits pretty well with some other running and non-running things going on in the next couple of months. I'm excited!!!! (I think that K is less excited about it than I am though. And, no, he has no plans to run that distance...ever).

On our way back to the hotel, we passed the HUGE statue of Sam Houston on the side of the highway.
We were fortunate to get a late check-out at the hotel, which worked out perfectly for K to get to watch the Ohio State game before we headed back to Austin this afternoon.

All in all, the trip was a success! And, I'm looking forward to doing it again.

Tuesday night events...

We had a pretty packed evening today. I went for a 5-mile run in the neighborhood after work then got ready to go the HCTR meeting at Mangia afterwards. It was nice to see some familiar faces from our Palo Duro group, as well as many new ones. We got to hear about several races from different folks, including the 100-miler at Cactus Rose out at Bandera last weekend. As we were leaving, I told K that I'm not *that* crazy...but I think I am refining my boundaries and realizing that I just might be 50-miler crazy, probably sooner rather than later. K wasn't surprised by my statement. After the meeting, we went to an election party at Jovita's hosted by some of my co-workers. There was a good turnout of folks, and we stayed until the announcement of the winner. I have nothing to say on that topic.

Diversity...

This weekend was quite busy for us (as usual) and filled with a variety of things.

After K and I got into an argument on Friday regarding his indecision about what to bring to the Halloween party we were going to that night, I decided to boycott the holiday (even though I had really been looking forward to it). K went to the party by himself, while I went for a short run in the neighborhood and had some much appreciated couch time with the DVR. The porch light wasn't working, coupled with my negative mood for dealing with people at that point, so I had a bucket full of Halloween candy that I let sit on the coffee table. I made K take it to work today so that I wouldn't be tempted by having it in the house.

On Saturday, we had to make nice with each other because we had a lunch meeting with the psychologist and his wife who are interested in selling me the private practice. They live just around the corner from us here in Travis Heights so we went to their house for lunch and an overview of the practice. I knew most of the broad picture already, but I was interested in having K hear the information and have the chance to ask questions.

Then, it was off to get a massage in the afternoon before heading out to Dripping Springs that evening for a house concert hosted by my boss at their new space they are building out there for musicians to play at. The weather was perfect, the music was great, and it was nice to get out of town and enjoy a slower pace for a few hours.

I took advantage of the time change on Sunday morning to get an extra hour of sleep before heading out for my run. I ran from our house out to Mayfield Park (via Scenic) then back on 35th to Exposition to Lake Austin Blvd. I cut my run short at about 12 miles total and had K pick me up at the Rock because I just wasn't mentally into being out there on the roads. I'm starting to seriously wonder if I really want to run roads again, for now at least. Physically, I felt fine, which is good. It's hard to believe that I'm still only 2 weeks out from Palo Duro too.

In the afternoon, we went shopping at Crate & Barrel and Macy's to get some of the remaining items on our wedding registry. Then, we topped off the day with dinner at Curra's.

The next couple of weekends will be busy in their own way. We have races out of town this weekend and next weekend. My students are also turning in their 2nd video/paper projects on Wednesday so I have to find time to get them graded in between everything else going on.

And, somehow I thought that things would slow down after the wedding....Silly mel.