Silicon Labs Austin Marathon Relay - 26.2 Miles, 4:03:14

This morning I ran the 12K leg of the Marathon Relay. I had a great team. The nicest part is, we all ran about the same pace. I managed run the 12K in 1:08:50. According to the chip time, that puts me at a 9:14/mile pace. That's faster than I originally thought. The run was a lot of fun!

Many thanks to Shelley Metcalf, Chalio Flores, Christy Tashjian and Jonah Tashjian.

Intervals

I'll be honest, I forgot to document what I did this morning. I ran intervals of 800, 400 and 200 but can't remember how many of each?? So annoying.

11.77 Miles, ~2:00:00, pace 10:12

Ran with a good friend this morning. Was scheduled for 16 miles but my body said I was done at 11. Chalio really pushed me this morning. He's also new to running and training for the marathon in Feb. It was a nice run but my left leg tightened up on me. I'm also adjusting my form a bit from hitting heal first to trying to land a little further up on the ball of my foot. Its supposed to be better for your joints but it sure it harder on the muscles.

Lots of changes this week. I also added in weights. I've been working on my upper body but this week I added legs to the weight workout.

1x1600; 2x1200; 1x800

Have I ever said that I really enjoy intervals. I've been trying to run longer intervals.

6.0256 miles, 0:58:25, pace 9:42

Felt much better this morning. Its nice to be back in the routine. I made it to the Y yesterday and got my weights in. I also ended up walking on the eliptical for about 30 mins. This morning's run was much better than Saturday.

Interesting experience this morning. There's a section of my 6 mile loop that takes me off of the sidewalk and onto the road for approximately 200 yards. I've never really worried about a vest or anything even though there are no lights in that area. Its usually fairly deserted at the times that I run. This morning, a black Licoln Navigator, with dark tinted windows and big rims stopped after passing me in that area and waited for me to catch up. I was a little nervous when I approached the window. The young man in the car just said "man you need a vest, I couldn't see you!" and handed me a worker's yellow and orange vest with reflective sections on it.

I'm sure my mumbled "thank you.", as I accepted the vest, didn't fully expressed my feelings. I was taken aback that this man would take the time, not only to stop and warn me that I wasn't visible, but to choose to do something about it. Since I will probably never see him again, and would probably not recognize him if I did, I can only express my thanks here on the web and hope it makes a difference.

~7 miles, 1:10, pace 10:00

Wow, tough run this morning. I have been slacking on running . A tropical storm (Hermine) dropped 12-14 inches of rain on Austin this week. I haven't run all week and when I went to the Y to workout, it was closed because they were nervous the dam on the other side of the highway may give.

Excuses aside, I had planned to run 15 this morning. I got my new hydration belt. The ampiphod velocity full tilt. It holds a 20 oz bottle that rides right in the small of your back. It took some adjustment to get the belt to ride correctly. When I first started it wasn't tight enough, so the bottle was bouncing all around. I had to cinch it down pretty tight. Even with the belt riding correctly, it caused my shorts to rub a bit on my lower back. I'm going to have to work on that.

I also tried my first gel during a run. I tired the Strawberry Clif Shot. The flavor and palatability wasn't bad but it didn't do much for my energy. I'm not sure I can blame the gel for this one though. I chose to stay awake until 2:00 AM reading when I knew I was getting up at 4:00 to run. I only made 7 of the planned 15 and had to walk 3 miles home from Twin Creeks.

7.195 miles; approx 1:15; pace 10:00

I had planned to run an easy 10 this morning. I should have probably turned around and come home after the first mile. It was kind of a hard morning. Starting off with dropping the peanut butter on my foot. No seriously, i did. and it hurt. a lot. This was one morning that I shouldn't have pushed through. I made it through seven, which I'm proud of, but I did end up having to walk the last 2 miles home.

To top it off, I dropped my MP3 player and cracked the screen. The good news is, it still works. I just can't read what's playing. Ah well, probably time to invest in a new one with more than 128mB of memory anyway.