7 Again

Yesterday morning was cool and a little breezy, but at least the sun was out. When I ran at about 8:30 the temperature was about 40 degrees. It got warmer later in the day, but I went to Ft. Worth for a basketball game with some friends. I went 7 miles again and overall did pretty well, although my right knee felt a little "puffy." It feels okay today but it did cause me to walk for about 45 seconds when I was near mile six. A couple of days off before the next run will help.

Worst Day Ever

It rained for about four days straight and I didn't even try to run on Tuesday. And then came the day I'd been dreading. The day my little brother died. He fought stomach cancer for six months and early yesterday it won. I won't go into all my thoughts and memories here, but in summary, it's been tough.

I had a bad night on Wednesday, clearly, and went down for a nap early afternoon on Thursday. When I woke up the sun was shining, surprisingly, and even though it was cold I went out for a 6-mile run. There was no catharsis, clarity, closure, or anything close to that. It was just a few moments to get out and burn off some energy. That was enough.

Enjoyable

Today it was in the upper 50s when I ran before lunch and breezy from the southwest-ish. I went 7 miles and felt good all the way, including up the big hill. Plenty of people were out but not as many as I would have thought, especially around the lake by the dog park. Nevertheless it was nice and I feel good, including the knees. I think it was the weighted blanket that caused the issues over the past couple of months. I wore my newer shoes all three runs this week and with no knee soreness I think I can eliminate them as the problem.

This Is How I Roll Now

Yes, it was another cold and breezy day. True to my word I went out for a 6-miler and remembered why it's not necessarily a bad thing to run in the cold. As before I was trying to find patches of sunlight to get that incremental bit of warmth, but it was late in the day and those patches disappeared into shadow. By the time I got home the sun was almost down. The hot shower felt pretty darn good.

Back to the Cold

Again, it's all relative when it comes to cold. But 45 degrees and a blustery north wind certainly does qualify here in Texas. I decided to wear my newer shoes again since I've come up with a theory on why my knees have been sore the past few weeks/months - I think maybe it's the weighted blanket we use during winter. For some reason I've noticed that soreness more when I get up in the morning and at times during the evening, so the past few nights I've been sleeping under regular covers. We'll see if my theory is true or not.

Anyway, I went 5 miles in the cold today and it was a pretty good run. Just like I said last week, I'm not going to let bad weather keep me from running.

This is the Type of Day I Expect in Texas

Today was so nice and sunny - 75 degrees. Yesterday would have been nice to run as well with a temperature about 10 degrees lower, but I was focused on smoking a brisket all day. The wait paid off and it was beautiful out there. This is typical Texas weather in February. I went 6 miles and enjoyed it all. I'm not foolish enough to believe that Spring is here to stay but I'll enjoy it whenever it shows its face.