Another Morning Run

My schedule allowed me to run again in the morning hours today. It was good because the sky was overcast and the temperature hadn't spiked up yet. As I'm writing this in the afternoon the sun is out and the temperature is about 10 degrees higher. The humidity was fairly high but not horrible. I ran my 6 miles and about mile 3.5 felt a little like my heart rate was up and not everything was working in sync. I kept it slow and walked for a minute at mile 5, and then once again up the big hill. I also had coffee this morning, so maybe the caffeine had an effect. One other thing I noticed is that since I've been back from vacation and not wearing the "recovery" flip-flops my knee has stopped aching and hurting at odd times. I'll just stick with my usual method of natural recovery.

Running or Swimming

The humidity made yesterday's run feel like swimming through moist air. I ran after a morning meeting and made my 6 miles down the usual path. I actually felt pretty good for most of the run, and because of the humidity walked at miles 3, 4, and 5, and most of the way up the big hill. No complaints, though, and glad to be able to get out and sweat a lot.

An Unexpected Run

I woke up this morning to thunderstorms. The forecast called for them to end sometime mid-afternoon, at which point I'd already be sitting in a movie theater with The Wife. I ate breakfast and lunch as normal, fully expecting to run tomorrow morning before church. I even took a shower, which I don't normally do if I'm expecting to run later in the day. No use taking two in one day.

The clouds remained but the rain dried up around noon, and I realized I had time to run. The temperature was in the low 70s, which also was an incentive. The humidity was about normal for this time of year and right after a storm, but it was manageable. I decided to go for it.

I ran 7 miles, which my Garmin said was my longest run since the reboot. The only time I walked was when I removed my soaked shirt right after mile 5. Other than that it was a nice steady pace that fit the humidity. Not a lot of people out today, but I didn't expect many. For the first time since vacation I took along the iPod and listened to some Old 97's, my favorite live band and constant running companion for the past 10+ years. At the end it was all sweat and an end to the week after being gone, and even though I contemplated extending the run another mile it wasn't worth any risk just to get to the 20-mile mark for the week. Maybe next week. We'll see how the weather goes.

Hills and Humidity

I was able to get out this morning after my first couple of calls and run while it was cloudy. I decided to take my 6 miles over the hills in the Stonebridge area. The temperature was 75 degrees, and my timing was pretty good. The only time I walked was coming up on Ridge on the return before I started running up hill. My heart rate was pretty high at that point and I walked a minute before continuing. Fortunately the wind was out of the east and as I turned onto Virginia Parkway I kept running up the even bigger hill there. All in all a run that I feel good about.

Run With Your Butt

Spent all of last week on vacation and missed four runs, but it was one of those good-to-get-away-from-it deals. And probably good for recovery, too. I thought about running Sunday, my first day back, but decided to extend the vacation with one more day of inactivity. Good choice. Plus it was Father's Day.

Today I had an early call, and then my 8:30 stood me up, and I decided to get out before the day heated up. It was only 75 degrees at that point, but high humidity. I figured that was better than 91 degrees with high humidity. It was actually a good first run after the trip. I ran my 6 miles with a short walk break at miles 4 and 5, but no break going up the big hill. Also, I went without iPod, just enjoying the nice day. At times it was a struggle to maintain posture, being out of practice and all, but I kept telling myself to "run with your butt." That helped me engage the glutes and improve posture. It's not the best mantra in the world, but at least for today it worked.

More Heatness

Today's 6-miler was pretty non-eventful. I did see more rabbits than people, and at one point I wondered if I'd wandered far off course into Disney World. The temperature was in the mid-80s and sunny. I did my walk every mile routine again, and once again it worked. I'm probably still to the point of running in the mornings soon, but this week I've had early meetings every day. It's still a good de-stresser to run after work, but this is Texas. Sometimes you just have to adapt a little.

Weird Knee Sounds

This morning I walked upstairs and as I walked off the last stair a loud, kind of gross, sound came from my left knee. It hurt momentarily, but when I took a couple of steps I realized it felt the best it's felt in a couple of weeks. Not that it's been hurting that much, but occasionally I get a twinge or notice it feels a little tender, rarely when I'm running. Anyway, on today's 6-mile run it felt fine. The temperature was about 90 degrees, and I walked progressively longer at each mile marker, including a longer walk up the big hill. I had a long work day and then had to chase down a cartridge for the upstairs shower at a plumbing supply company, which meant I got out later than usual. It didn't matter a whole lot temperature-wise, but I think I was the beneficiary of a little more shade than if I'd run earlier.

Weird Day

Today was quite an odd day, kind of schizophrenic. The Wife and I went to a movie last night and this morning I slept 'til 9, then took The Boy to his first full day of work at a local grocery store. After that I started working on a leaky shower, which went pretty well until I turned on the water to the house, and long story short, we determined it probably had a slow leak over the past few years and the work I did made it worse, resulting in the fact that we now have no water in the house. I came up with an idea on my 7-mile run to funnel the drip out to the tub, but the leak actually turned out to be worse. The good news is that I got my shower in, albeit very quickly.

A lot of rain over the last couple of days, and I was wondering if I would get in a run today. I did, and it was very humid. I did my walking for a minute at every mile marker, and kept that up throughout the run. I don't usually take off my shirt during a run, but hey, I've lost some weight and gotten a little bit of a tan, so it's not as gross as it used to be. That was only for the last couple of miles, so for the few people who saw - it could have been worse.

Different Scenery

The FVRP wanted to run together today, and I thought a change of scenery would be nice. We ran a route I've run before in his neighborhood, but it's been well over a year. I ran 6 miles and he did two less since he's getting back into shape. For the first day of June in Texas it actually wasn't too bad. Cloud cover and humid, but overall it went okay. We walked at every mile, which has been my method lately. I felt good at the end, and running a different route to change things up is usually a good choice.