Noon Hour "Quickie"

No I didn't go home for lunch, nor did I meet Bonnie at some sleezebag roachcoach motel either. I decided for my last thirty minutes of lunch I would get up and try out my new orthotics. I wore my old and trusty NB's to work today. I didn't bring any walking/running clothes tho, so I need to work on that for the future. Anyway, for the record I eeked out another two miles for the month, 113 miles and some change for July. But even more importantly, I did run some, maybe not quite half of the distance and I did not feel any blister pain. So better socks, better orthotics, and a couple of strategically placed bandaids (that conjurs up thoughts...but I won't go there), seemed to be helping nicely and has proven that I should be able to run tomorrow morning as planned.

Distance: 2.00 miles
Time: 26:00 minutes (MOL...more or less)
Pace: 13:00

Not bad for being in jeans and a button up collared shirt.

Rest Day

Well today will be a day of rest. I'm curious does anyone have any tried and true remedies for toe blisters? I would appreciate any advice. I've taken a needle under the skin outside of the blister and drained the fluid from both of them. I also got a new orthotic yesterday that seems to take the pressure off my toes and as a result the blisters aren't too painful now. The area on my heel is doing ok, I still have it covered with neosporin and a large bandaid. If I HAD to run today I believe I could and I'm supposed to run 4-5 miles tomorrow morning, so I'll see how things go in getting that accomplished.

Why is it that when we get one pain going our way (shin splints in my case) something else pops up (blisters). The blisters are totally new to me. I wore my older New Balance shoes on Saturday for our long run (14 miles), same shoes I ran my half marathon (13.2 miles) in back in April. In April though I did not experience any issues with blisters...I don't remember any that is. Frustrated.

This is a photo of some flowering plant that I took when my brother and I went to Vail, CO in June for the mud run. It's amazing how heart-shaped the blooms are on the plant, sorry I didn't get a photo that was more focused. Does anyone know what this is called?

Another Humid Monday

There ought to be a song with that for a name. This was a recovery day from the 14 miles on Saturday. I bought a new pair of shoes on Saturday during the Edmond Crazy Days Sale, a pair of Brooks Vapor 7's, and I can't remember if I mentioned that in yesterday's post or not, oh well. I ran in them this morning. I work my normal low profile "dri-fit" socks, but these shoes hit me a bit higher in the heel than my other shoes. When I took them off I had a bit of a bloody mess on my right heel. I don't think it is anything bad but it did rub quite a bit, calling for a bandaid back there for a while and a taller sock it seems too.

Total Time: 55:01
Total Distance: 4.04 miles
Mile 1: 15:10
Mile 2: 13:11
Mile 3: 13:33
Mile 4: 12:45
198.59 ft.: 0:20
Avg Pace: 13:37
Avg HR: 128
MAX HR: 161

Temp was 73 degrees and humidity was 94%, after the first mile I felt as if I had a shower running over me.

I don't plan on running tomorrow....so with today's mileage I finish the month with 111.70 miles...woohoo...that will be tough for me to match.

Have a tremendously wonderful Monday!!!

I've Been Tagged - Thanks Nikki

Caution, go pee before taking this quiz....not responsible for you laughing so hard you piddle. I am tagging Michelle, Mary, Scott

I hope I get this right:

Take My Quiz on QuizYourFriends.com Can you Ace my quiz? Yes! No Let's Find Out!

Ok, I had to change colors on several things, most obvious was my background to make this quiz thing work....next week I'll change things again...isn't that a man's perogative...or....is it a woman's perogative to tell the man how it will be. Whatever it is, don't forget to read the post below about our training run yesterday.

14 Miles of Training and 107.66 Miles For July

Oh my God, Wow, incredible. I set my alarm last night at some godawful 12:30 plus time frame to get up at 3:30 AM, barely 3 hours of sleep, because I also iced my left shin for a while in bed. I fell asleep and woke up at 1:10 or so and took the ice off and promptly went back to dreamland. The next thing I knew my cell phone was ringing and it was 4:05 AM, one of my running buddies was calling to confirm we would run today. In a frantic motion I got dressed and ready, and he picked me up at 4:25 instead of 4:15. No time to sit and wake up as I heated my shins up with a heating pad. I did get some heat on the left one, and thankfully neither were hurting much if at all from the 5k at midnight.

We were off and picked up our other running partner. I had grabbed things as I ran out of the house (OFF spray, Garmin, wallet, cell phone, bottle of water, visor, hand towel) and we were on our way. At the partners house I got in the back seat and in the process I dropped first the can of OFF and broke the plastic lid/cap but if you held it right it would still spray. Then I dropped the Bio-Freeze and it rolled away from me. That took a while to find in the dark and it turned out to be in the middle of the street. Now totally collected we were off again to our running route.

We put out bags of water/gatorade at 3/6/9/12 miles. Side note here that my two partners have been doing this alot longer than I have and have had water bags mistaken for trash and have had to recover them from trash cans, so now they attached preprinted labels that explain it is NOT TRASH but fuel for runners in training and PLEASE do not throw away.

We did a rather circuitous route through various areas of Oklahoma City and Nichols Hills, yes I do mean hills, not tall ones, but still they count as an elevation change associated with a larger number and while on foot they might have well Mt. Everest at several points. I love running, oh yes I do indeedy. But why do we have to have hills on a route. If I wanted hills I could have stayed in Colorado or Wyoming for the weekend.

Before I forget....somewherer around the completion of mile 7...I surpassed 100 miles for the month of July...woohhoooooooo!!!!!!! Yes I'm excited about that...I feel great in fact. Not much pain in the shins, way less in fact that I had invisioned after doing 14 miles on top of a 5k race last night.

Someone wrote about things they saw this week along their running route, so I thought it would be interesting list things that we noticed:

Nails
Beer Bottles
Beer Cans
Pennies
Dead Bird
Bunnies (yes these bunnies were still alive)
Dogs (all on leashes thank the Lord)
Dead Cat
Dead Cat Odor (pee yewwwww)
Old Sock
Squirrel (alive)
Beautiful Full Moon
Glorious Sun Rise
Gallons of Sweat!!!!!!

We did 14 miles exactly for our early morning efforts. I can't believe I lasted that long. I got very big compliments from both of my partners for enduring the 5k at midnight and then sticking out this long run just a few scant hours later. They both felt I finished strong which made me feel very good.

Total Distance: 14 miles
Times:
Mile 1: 16:45
Mile 2: 15:12
Mile 3: 13:20
Mile 4: 14:00
Mile 5: 16:07
Mile 6: 13:11
Mile 7: 14:57
Mile 8: 13:06
Mile 9: 13:47
Mile 10: 13:22
Mile 11: 14:17
Mile 12: 12:47
Mile 13: 14:22
Mile 14: 13:26
Total Time: 3:18:38
Avg Pace: 14:11
Avg HR: 140
MAX HR: 164

We conveniently parked our vehicle at a local dining establishment that serves a great breakfast so after we had cooled down we went inside for breakfast.

On the way home we stopped at one of our local specialized running stores and I bought two new pairs of running shorts for $10 each. After getting home and getting cleaned up Bonnie and went back to the same store where she bought several new running tops and shorts as well as 2 running skirts (a first for her). Then we went to the other local running store where we've been buying our shoes because she had some foot problems last night. She got forefoot inserts to help her stop "toe clawing" as she runs and of course we had to purchase some other apparel while there. I got 3 more pairs of running shorts, a tank top and matching shorts that look somewhat like the stars and stripes, and...AND another pair of Brooks shoes (Vapor 7's). I'll try to get a photo of them tomorrow sometime. They were on sale ok!!!!!

This was Crazy Sale Days in Edmond, OK and everyone that does retail was having a sidewalk sale of some sort. So overall we did really good on our buys, some of them were 75% off, most were 50% off.

I did get about an hour nap this afternoon and I'm sitting here rather content with myself and all that I/we accomplished this weekend.

Midnight Streak Update

Well we are done and I need to get to bed so I can "maybe" get up early and do a long run. Actually I will say a prayer that we don't run until Sunday morning. My shins are aching tonight. We ran the race, it was hot...around 82 degrees, and humid too, probably at least 80% I'll have to look and see.

Bonnie PR'ed again!!!!!! She finished just under 37 minutes, around 36:50 I think. I did 36:47 just ahead of her. She was a trooper in the heat and humidity. We did see plenty of topless runners, unfortunately they were all men.....sigh...just didn't get my motor running. We did chase a girl that had USAF across her butt though and tried to stay close to beat her. However, she found some energy at the end and beat us....but she was probably a good 25 years younger than we were too.

My times:

Total Distance: 3.16 miles
Mile 1: 11:33
Mile 2: 11:50
Mile 3: 12:10
.16 Mile: 1:13
Avg Pace: 11:39
Avg HR: 152
MAX HR: 178 Humidity working on me again!!!

Sweet dreams to all you great runners from the back of the pack.

Midnight Streak (5k) in OKC

Tonight Bonnie and I will be streaking in OKC at the Fair Grounds....no we won't be running in the buff. It's a Midnight Streak that benefits the City Arts Center. How it got it's name is something we don't know. It starts at 11:00 PM so the temperature should be hovering around 80 degrees or so, it's 82 currently at 9:15 pm.

When I was in college at Texas A&M back in the dark ages of the '70s there was actually a streaking team on campus. "They"...notice I did not say "we"... prided themselves in always being able to elude the campus cops, which didn't really take alot of effort in those days. They would even announce a streaking event...almost to give the cops a headstart but the streakers always seem to have "more skin in the game" and could out run the best that the cops could throw at them.

At this point I'm not sure if we will be doing our long run (14 or so miles) tomorrow or Sunday morning. As a result Bonnie has agreed that as soon as we are done with the 5k we aren't hanging around for any door prize giveaway (unless they are really cool) instead we are heading straight home to bed just in case I need to get up and be ready leave by 4:15 AM. No rest for the weary it seems.....but maybe we won't run until Sunday morning.

It feels really cool to know that I don't even have 10 miles left to break the century mark for the first time ever for a months total mileage. That just seems cool. Yes I'm kind of proud of that mark.

SHOE UPDATE: I've run twice in the Brooks Dyad 4's and they seem to be doing ok. I'm going to wear them tonight and see how I do in them. I'm going to go back to my tried and true NB's when we run long this weekend. Next weekend if all goes well I will do a long run in the new shoes.

The Body is Weird

Well no I didn't run yesterday or this morning. So I'm back in Denver tonight and decided to get my run in just before dark. It was risky business as there are storms brewing in the metroplex and after I got started I did see some lightning in the area but it never got close. Tonight I struggled. Probably the heat (86 degrees), maybe some humidity with rain close, and yes I guess the altitude may have had an impact tonight. Or it could have just been the fact that I was running in the evening instead of the early morning hours where I'm more accustomed to run.

I did three miles, the time was not respectable at all, but I'll log it anyway....it gets me over 90 miles for the month....woohoo...with our long run on Saturday I should pass the century mark.

Total Distance: 3 miles
Mile 1: 12:05
Mile 2: 12:27
Mile 3: 12:33
Avg Pace: 12:21
Total Time: 37:05
Avg HR: 137
MAX HR: 151

Even at this altitude my heart rate stayed within good limits.

Altitude Running

Several have asked me about the effects that I may experience normally running in the Oklahoma City area (elevation roughly 1,100 feet) and then running in Colorado (ranging from 5,000-8,000 feet). While there is a significant change in altitude between the two areas I don't feel that much difference with my body. My times seem slower, but not noticeably so, maybe a minute or so slower. I can't explain it. I wasn't any more tired after my run yesterday than I normally would be after running 4 miles.

I didn't get my wakeup call this morning in time to run, so there is a chance I might run late this afternoon or early evening. I think today in Gillette, WY the highs are supposed to peak around 86 or 87. Yesterday it was 100 degrees when I drove into town around 6:30 pm.

Great Hump Day to all.

Monday Run on Tuesday

I didn't get to run before heading to the airport yesterday morning, I didn't get to run last night, or I should say I ChOsE not to run last night after dinner. We at Italian, at Mazziono's, not sure on the spelling. It was on the 16th Street Mall here in Denver, and we ate family style so we got to try several dishes. I had a bit of chicken marsala, lasagna, chicken parmasian...well you know what I mean. I took smaller portions than anyone else so I generally felt good about what I had eaten. I had also eaten a grilled chicken salad for lunch. Not too bad a day....and I surprised myself, no liquer and no wine last night.

I did get up this morning and ran 4 miles here in the Mile Hi City. The times are listed below:

Total Distance: 4.02 miles
Mile 1: 11:16
Mile 2: 11:38
Mile 3: 13:03
Mile 4: 13:31
Total Time: 49:43
Avg Pace: 12:22
Avg HR: 135
MAX HR: 150

Not a bad run at this elevation I would think. And I'm impressed I was able to keep my heart rate down.

It's Tuesday make the most of it!!!

Delayed at the Airport

Well here I sit, delayed on my flight to Denver for about an hour it appears. I could have ran after all this morning if I could have foreseen the delay.

As I sat here I watched a soldier preparing to board another flight. Apparently TSA relaxes their restrictions on non-travellers being in the boarding area for our brave fighting men and women, as he had his family there with him (wife, 2 daughters and son). I'm not sure how many might shed a tear for someone they don't even know, but I'll admit that I did. Watching them saying goodbye, all the hugs, photos, kisses, and more hugs and kisses, to the final wave as he entered the jet-way, it was very touching. That has to be the ultimate in goodbyes, not knowing if you will see him again. He was dressed in desert camo so I assume he must be headed to Iraq. His son was trying valiently to not cry (he appeared to be about 14 or so) and I don't if he was successful or not. I said a prayer for the soldier and his family and for all men and women defending freedom around the world. What a tearful sight.

I read an article in the current Runner's World magazine here at the airport about Project Hope, where two American women are dedicating efforts to help under-priveledged kids in Kenya gain access to running shoes and clothing, giving these kids, most of whom are orphans from parents that have died of AIDS, an opportunity to do something with their lives. It got me to thinking....

When I was at my cardiologists office in late June she was jumping up and down excited about my running and my progress since my bypass surgery in 2005. She said she wanted to make me her poster person for cardiac rehab work. I'm just an "over-the-hill" runner wanna-be, but it seems that I'm doing more than most that have gone thru this type of surgery. I may talk further with her to see if there is anything I can do to encourage cardiac care patients to get out and exercise more.....not just give up and sit in the easy chair. I know I can't "make" people exercise...but if they can see where I've been....what I've overcome, not just with the cardiac surgery but also with my weight loss perhaps they will see a light for themselves, an opportunity to extend their own life by improving their health through some form of consistent exercise. It doesn't even have to be running...or as with my case at the moment...run/walk. I enjoy speaking and wouldn't mind addressing rehab groups if that would be an appropriate avenue to take. Just thinking outside the box so to speak.

Yesterday was a day of rest and I feel that it was good to have that down time. Today I will run but it won't be until this evening after I get settled in Denver. I have to caution myself and remind myself to eat a light dinner, as I am sure I won't get the run in until after dinner sometime. Last week I had another 30+ mile week...woohoo....and it felt great. I've got 83 miles and some change for the month...with a goal of doing 100+ for the month...first time ever if I can get there. We have another long run scheduled for this weekend so I should be able to make it.

I hope everyone has a great Monday and a fantastic week!!!

Long Run Does Not Quite Equal 12 Miles Today

Well, our long run started about an hour later than it should...for a personal reason of my running partner and it was ok that we were late. That caused us to be running across the dam (3 miles) directly into the morning sun and it was reflecting off the water and eventually affected both of us...draining what energy we had left....we had already done about 7 miles...so things were cut short at 11.36 miles.

Bonnie met us just before the dam and ran the last 4.5 - 5.0 miles with us. Clyde and I were tired, she was fresh and it showed. She was even flirting with some fisherman in a boat that was near the dam at one point and threatened to flash her ta-ta's at him because he kept looking at her....ohh boy am I in trouble. She later said that the only reason she didn't do it was that she got no encouragement from me. My wife the exhibitionist.

The run was a good one overall. I do need to invest in a pair of good sunglasses....hint...Oakley's are really all they are advertised to be. I think I might get a pair as an award for finishing my first marathon....September 16, St. Charles, MO. I ran again in my old NB's and they did me well...no significant leg or ankle pain. I am wearing the heels down on them quite a bit so I hope I can find a replacement....maybe the Brooks bad boys shown below will fit the bill....I hope so...

Total Distance: 11.36 miles
Mile 1: 14:10
Mile 2: 12:55
Mile 3: 14:02
Mile 4: 12:42
Mile 5: 14:45
Mile 6: 12:40
Mile 7: 13:31
Mile 8: 13:16
Mile 9: 13:31
Mile 10: 14:48
Mile 11: 13:38
Last .37: 5:12
Avg Pace: 13:40
Avg HR: 138
MAX HR: 163

Long Run

Today will be a long run, 12 plus slightly more. Since my running partner drew up the route I don't know yet what the "slightly more" will be, but I'm assuming it will be something "slightly less" than half marathon distance, or we would be callingit 13 miles.

I'm excited that we've worked our way back up to almost the half marathon distance that I was running in April. I will be running in my old shoes again, since I just picked up the new ones yesterday and haven't had a chance to turn even a mile in them yet.

According to the Weather Channel, it is 73 degrees, 88% humidity, and no rain in this mornings forecast.

If anyone has races this morning or any time today I wish them all well.

News!!!!!@@!!!!!

I took my Brooks Beasts in and exchanged them for Brooks Dyad 4's, and got some money back too. They are still motion control shoes but not near what the Beasts were. I'm running long tomorrow so it may be Sunday or Monday before I can try them out.

Here are the new bad boys....

Another 4 Mile Day

It's Friday, woohoo and it was another 4 mile day. 73 degrees and according to the Weather Channel, it is 90% humidity, and according to the way I was sweating I believe every percentage of it. Maybe my brain went into a humidity meltdown, I can't think of a single solitary thing to write about, how incredible.

The mosquitos weren't bad, I didn't get chased by any dogs, there were no irate drivers that can't seem to understand on the route that I take they generally have an entire other lane that they could use rather than try to crowd me to the curb, oh and truly great news, there was no rain, no lightning, and very little wind.

Total distance: 4.01 miles
Mile 1: 11:02
Mile 2: 12:42
Mile 3: 12:28
Mile 4: 11:41
40 feet: 0:05
Pace : 11:58
Avg HR: 139
MAX HR: 162

TGIF....it's time to parteeeeeee!!!!

Running in the Rockies!!!!

My work schedule got changed for next week. I will be in Denver early Monday morning till mid-afternoon Tuesday so I get to run in the Mile High City downtown area either Monday evening or Tuesday morning. Then I motor up to the great state of Wyoming for at least one night in Gillette and then a night in the Douglass/Casper area, so I'll get the opportunity to run in that wonderfully wild state as well. Thursday should see me staying out near the Denver airport and will give me an opportunity to run in that area and will hopefully get a great backdrop view of the Colorado Rockies. If my feeble old mind can remember I'll try to take a camera along and take some photos of the different areas I run in.

Today was a rest day. I'm going to do 3 to 4 miles tomorrow morning at an easy slow pace in preparation for a long run on Saturday morning of 12+ miles. I'm getting excited....this is approaching the HM distance for me again, and if I forget the struggles with the Brooks Beasts and just focus on using my old shoes, the running is alot of fun and I am left at the end of each run feeling as if I could run further. According to Jeff Galloway that is how you should feel when doing the run/walk routines that he advocates.

Everyone recognizes that yesterday was hump day, but does everyone realize that this is a "happy day" it's "So Happy It's Thursday", so make the most of it.

Quick Wednesday Update

I ran this morning in my old NB's and was able to do a full 4 miles run/walk normal routine. I felt some shin pain in my left leg, but that has been there at about that same level for a while. No pain in my ankles though and nothing that made me want to stop at any point in time.

Total Time: 48:56
Mile 1: 12:17
Mile 2: 11:50
Mile 3: 12:14
Mile 4: 12:29
10 ft: :03
Pace: 12:18
Avg HR: 129
MAX HR: 150

For a run where I was alone I feel that it was a good run. I did slow down, normally if I'm alone on a run I will start out faster, in the 10:30 range or so. If nothing else, the numbers are consistent.

Happy HUMP Day everyone

Tuesday Update

I'm in Liberal, Kansas tonight. As I packed to leave this morning I decided to leave the Beasts at home and wear my old and somewhat trusty New Balance shoes. Even though I had some pain this morning as we ran, I have to admit that the pain has significantly lessened as the day progressed. I'm not painfree as I write this at 10 PM but I feel alot better. Tomorrow morning I will attempt a very slow easy run here. The humidity is around 30% here and maybe that will help things too.

Sorta Run...Sorta Walk

It was one of those days this morning, actually it started last night when I stepped on something in the house and felt like I had a piece of glass in my right forefoot. I looked and thought I could feel it and pulled but only took off small flap of skin. Now it was painful to walk barefooted. Bonnie wanted to try a walk in my new shoes so I put them on and off we went. We did 2 miles, I'll detail it below, and my forefoot was a little sore but tolerable.

This morning I forgot my watch, but wore my heart rate monitor, go figure. So we were going to do 2 and 1's. We did that for about 1.5 miles, maybe 2 miles and the last mile I had to walk, my shins and calves were quivering. Is this stemming from the new shoes or is it the mileage? I'm training harder than I did for the HM in April, but not that much harder. I'm going out of town this morning and will be back tomorrow night, so I may not run tomorrow morning and see how things are by then. This pain seems to start around my ankles and then moves upward, which makes me think it has to be related to the new Brooks and their motion control. I'm tempted to put them in the closest for a week and see if this clears itself up.

Last night:
Total: 2.01 miles
Mile 1: 17:07
Mile 2: 16:03
42 feet: 0:11
Pace: 16:37
Avg HR: 109
MAX HR: 120

Special Note: Last night we should get extra credit for additional effort of constantly keeping our arms moving to ward off the mosquito's even though we applied OFF.

This morning's guesstimate:
Total: 3.00 miles
Time: 42 minutes
Pace: 13:59

Two Runs - Night and Day Difference

Last night Bonnie and I went out at 9:00 PM to do an easy run. I think a combination of things came into play that presented road blocks for me. 1st - it was only one day after doing 11 miles. 2nd - it was still 88 degrees out. 3rd -the humidity was over 90%. 4th - I was wearing my new Brooks Beasts that I'm still not adjusted to yet. 5th - I don't think I adequately warmed up. So the end result of all this was we only ran 2 miles and I was in pain most of the way. My ankles and shins hurt beyond belief. It got to the point when we got back to the vehicle that Bonnie thought I might collapse and I might not have been far from it. That was most unusual to say the least.

Fade to this morning. We did 4.59 miles, very little pain, not completely gone away but not anything like last night. But the temperture was around 72, granted the humidity was still around 90%, but I was wearing my old trusted New Balance shoes again, and we did more of a warm up walk than we did last night.

The really big change I think were the shoes. I'm still not used to them being so controlling of my foot motion and I think that was causing me some of the pain.

Times:
Sunday:
Mile 1: 13:32
Mile 2: 13:48
Last: :51
Total: 28:12
Pace: 13:38
Avg HR: 135
MAX HR: 149

Monday:
Mile 1: 15:23
Mile 2: 16:07
Mile 3: 13:31
Mile 4: 13:32
Last .59: 7:20
Pace: 14:22
Avg HR: 131
MAX HR: 157

Slow and steady for Monday, but I needed that.