Another Austin Run at Dawn

Ran once more this morning in downtown Austin. I forgot to start my GPS when I started running but it all came out to about 6 miles, or a little more. Once again it was quite humid, but running before the heat of the day paid off since it got up to over 100 degrees. Finally back home and looking forward to not going anywhere next week.

Early Austin Run

In Austin this week for work and it's hot. Like 100 degrees hot. Got up this morning at 5:30 and hit the trail downtown by 6 a.m. It was muggy but without the sunshine it was not horrible. I ran my 6 miles, missed a few turns and ended up on Barton Street. I turned around before it got crazy uphill. By the time I returned to the hotel my shirt was soaked but it was a good run.

Back to Texas

I woke up early this morning to run before the heat of the day, which is supposed to end up in the upper 90s. It didn't feel horrible when I started but I think it grew more humid as the run went on. I ran 7 miles, with walks every half-mile for the last two. Not my worst run, and not my best.

As I was coming back around the lake at Bonnie Wenk Park, I saw a guy in front of me walking. I passed him and then slowed to walk for a minute. He passed me, and then when I started up again I passed him. The trail took me to the right and he took the shortcut across the grass, where I passed him once more. The same thing happened with the next shortcut, and as I passed him for the fourth time I said, "Didn't I just pass your twin brother?" He laughed and said yes, and we exchanged a few more lines before he started running again. We ran together for about five minutes and I discovered he's been an inconsistent runner and is using an app to help him stay focused. He wants to run a half in the fall but doesn't have one picked out yet. He asked me some questions about my training and I tried to encourage him to keep it up. When we parted he asked my name and I found out his is Raj. That's one of the great parts about running that I don't experience that often - connecting, even briefly, with other people doing the same thing and working through some of the same experiences.

Quick Bay Run

This morning I ran a fast 6 miles. Or at least a fast second half. I ran at 5:30 a.m. local time, which wasn't too bad considering it was 7:30 a.m. home time zone. The first half of the run was mildly slow, but the second half I kicked it up quite a bit. Since I reset my GPS a few months ago this turned out to be my fastest mile (8:00 in the last mile) and fastest 5k (26:04). I owe it all to a lower temperature.

Bay Run

Thunderstorms rolled through Saturday morning, and the rest of the day was packed, and then on Sunday it was well over 100 with the heat index. All that added up to no weekend run. I actually was ready to go late Sunday afternoon before I looked at the weather app on my phone and saw feels like 111 degrees. Run cancelled.

This week I'm in the Bay area in CA, and what a difference. The temperature this morning was in the mid-50s and I went 6 really nice miles. I pumped up the pace later in the run and finished with some low 9's without feeling especially winded or wrung out. I should have brought enough gear to run every day I'm here, but twice will work.

Walking in the Heat

Once again I passed up an opportunity to run early since it was only going to be in the low 90s this afternoon. My strategy of walking early preemptively and every half mile in the second part of the run worked out great. I went 6 miles and survived. Even fifteen minutes after I got home sweat was still streaming down my face and body, but I felt okay. My plan is to run earlier on Saturday, hopefully with less humidity than last weekend. We'll  see.

Early in the Morning

I decided to get up early and run before the high heat of the day. I was out the door by 6:30 a.m. and my plan worked great. Even though it was humid the temperature difference of 20 degrees lower paid off. In fact, this sounds like a Mardi Gras/Bourbon Street reference, but this is the first time in weeks I've kept my shirt on the whole time. Not that I wasn't sweating at the end of 6 miles, but my shirt wasn't absolutely soaked and beginning to chafe certain parts I don't want to be chafed. I also went without iPod, and that was nice, too. A very good run. Not fast, but it didn't need to be.

Total Humidity

Yesterday morning's run was like the half I ran a few months ago. Except with sun. The humidity was off the charts, and the only way it could have been worse is if it was actually raining, and that would have been a relief. I knew early on it was going to be a tough one. I went out with the thought of running either 7 or 9 miles, and settled on 7 when it became apparent even that was going to be a stretch. The last three miles involved a lot of walking, but at least no calf cramps. This is the norm for July running in Texas. Even thought it was tough I still can't complain.

That Was Brutal

I'd hoped to run earlier in the day but my schedule didn't permit it, so I ended up going out about 4 p.m. when the the temperature was in the low 90s and the heat index way over 100 due to the humidity. We had thunderstorms roll through last night and today we paid for it with the heat index. As I told The Wife on my way out the door, if you waited to run in Texas until it was cool, you'd never run. I got in my 6 miles, with plenty of walking along the way, particularly in the last half where I thought it best to walk a little every half mile. The plan on Saturday is to run earlier. It might not mean lower humidity, but lower temperatures sure would help.

Independence Day Run

The thought of running four miles on the 4th of July didn't occur to me until well after I completed my 6 mile run at midday. We took the family to breakfast in downtown McKinney and then hung around for the parade. It was fun, a nice small-town feel to it in the downtown square, and breakfast was excellent as well. The sun was shining brightly by noon, which is about when I started my run. I walked a minute at every mile marker. Not sure I needed to do so, but it helped at the end when I ran all the way up the big hill on Lake Forest. Now to relax and do very little for the rest of the day in order to properly celebrate our nation's independence.

Great Eight

Thunderstorms rolled through overnight and into this morning, and I didn't think I'd be able to get in a run today. However, there was a break in the storm on the radar, and I decided to go for it. I wanted to run 8 miles, and fortunately that's exactly what I did. When I got to the end of the first mile with a pace around 10:30, I knew I was in for a good run. I kept the pace that slow because even though it wasn't overly warm, it was definitely humid. Saw more people out than I thought, particularly dog walkers. Got passed by a guy who wasn't running terribly fast, but I refrained from speeding up and decided that I didn't care if was passed or not. The Garmin tells me this is my longest run since resetting the thing, which means some of my runs like the half-marathon are history. At least they show up in my online tracking even though they're no longer on the device.

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.