Nice Morning

Today's 4-miler went well. A nice day the last of May, with abundant sunshine and a bit of a breeze. I drank plenty of coffee to start off the day and had to wait until it made it through my system before heading out. The temperature was right about 80 degrees, which means I walked at each mile marker. I ran into one of my pub friends at three miles and talked with him for about ten minutes before finishing the last mile. Now it's on to some yard work and other chores on a lovely Saturday.

Second Serving

Another serving of soup today in the form of high humidity. The temperature was in the mid-80s but with lots of moisture in the air. I thought about running longer but ended up at 3 miles. The will to go farther was there at the beginning, but I felt like I was running in slow-motion. I walked at the mile markers as well as the midpoint, so not my strongest run ever. Still, as always it was good to get out and sweat. We also got some intermittent clouds along the way, which helped. I also enjoyed watching the big cranes moving air handling units on and off the roof at the high school as I passed by. It's amazing how tall those lifts are. If I was a kid I'd probably beg my mom to go sit where I could watch them for hours. As an adult, that option's still on the table.

Soupy Run

Storms came through over the weekend and left everything humid and soupy. I decided to run mid-morning rather than letting it get steamy this afternoon. 3 miles with a walk at the two-mile point, but otherwise pretty good. It felt slow, probably because I was. I certainly wasn't going to do any speedwork in these conditions. I know the rain will end soon and we'll be in the throes of summer, but I'm okay with that. At least I can count on Texas to make things interesting.

Sprinting

Well, I missed Thursday due to family obligations. Today was super-humid and I knew a run wasn't going to go well. So, I walked 2 miles, but with a wrinkle thrown in. I sprinted twice, going and coming back over the bridge on Lake Forest. It's about 250 yards and I thought, hey, let's do something different. On the second sprint I got under a 6-minute pace, which is still pretty fast for this guy. Yeah, I probably should have sucked it up for a run, but this was a nice change. At a certain point in life we stop sprinting for anything, unless it's an emergency. This was just for fun and I enjoyed it. A+, would highly recommend.

The Return

I'm back from traveling and ready to run. Gosh, I miss it when the schedule goes haywire. Went to Las Vegas and Atlanta last week. Very tiring, but mostly good. Now that I'm back in Texas, the weather cooperated and I got out for 3 miles today to get back into the swing of things. Sunny, breezy from the north, and 81 degrees. You know what that means. Walking at the mile markers. Good thing since this was a get-back-into-it type of run. Felt good and happy to be out on the paths. No future travel plans, at least for now. Which means there's no excuse for not running unless there's lightning out there. Let's see what I can do to keep going as we enter the summer months.

Managing the Days

Yep, I was able to get in a 3-mile run today before the rest of the week goes down the tubes. It's one of the rare Monday runs these days and nice weather certainly helped. Sun shining, breeze from the north, and temperature in the low 70s. Can't ask for much more than that. I mean, I could ask, but that's probably not going to get me anywhere. I'll take it, though. Over the next several days I won't be running but I'll get in plenty of walking, I'm sure. Next week I can hopefully get back on track with the running thing.

Sick

The best-laid plans and all that. Tuesday I got sick for the first time in a long while, which involved a fever and chills. It coincided with an extremely rainy day, so I probably wouldn't have gotten out anyway. Still, I'm not a fan of being sick, but then, who is? I even went to bed at 7 pm that night. The fever finally broke a few hours after midnight, but I didn't feel back to normal until a short nap Wednesday afternoon seemed to set things right. Thursday I still felt like I was in recovery, so it wasn't until today that I ran again. What a nice day! Sunny, a nice breeze, and temperature around 70 degrees. I went west for a change of pace, 4 miles total, which included walking up the big hill where the route comes up Ridge and then east on Virginia. I felt pretty good overall after the bout of sickness. Unfortunately, I know this next week's schedule is not going to be conducive to running. Hoping I can at least get out Monday.

Nice and Mild

The temperature was 62 degrees this morning when I set out for a 4-miler, sunny with a nice breeze from the north. A nice run overall, with a break about 1.5 miles in when I ran into a friend and talked for a few minutes about his recent trip to Oklahoma. On the return leg I started thinking about how this ended up being a decent running week with three outings, but about half the mileage I used to run. I consoled myself with the realization that at least I'm still running and that's a good thing. I can increase the mileage, but getting out is the main goal. I suppose it was a chance to feel bad about setting the bar lower as far as mileage, but I decided to go with the fact I'm still running and still want to run. That's what I want.

After the Rain

We got rain yesterday. A lot of rain. I'm not sure we've had that much in such a short amount of time since we've lived here the past ten years. It was probably in the range of four inches or so, which is a lot for Texas. Yesterday was trash pickup day and the neighbors' bins seemed like they were about to float away with all the water rushing down the street. One of the parks was flooded when I drove by it yesterday after the rain stopped, and when I ran today I could see water lines well above the stream and neighborhood pond along my route. Anyway, that left it nice and humid for today. I ran 3 miles, well, all of it except a couple of minutes at the two-mile mark. I've been feeling kind of fatigued lately and that's a sure sign I'm not getting enough exercise. I plan to keep going and hopefully feeling less crummy. Regardless of the rain or humidity.