If Life was like Running....

Then things would be a lot better.
The thing with running, is yes it sucks when it's slow and its hot.
But if you keep at, eventually, things will get better. and even if there's blisters, chafing, slow race times and the like, theres also
the moment when the cool breeze hits me, the wave other runners give you like " hey, we are in together", seeing the finish line.
But life isn't that easy. You can't practice life to make it better. Wow, that was a cheesy line. But you know what I mean.
Today I greatly improved my time. We took Eva, our scottish terrier, to the lake Pflugerville trail. The idea was that this would be a training run, with Vince walking with Eva and running with me. I was going to start out first, so Eva wouldn't have to run as far and they would catch up with me.
Only, Eva couldn't take the heat and was pooped after about a mile.
So I ran 2.25 miles and then walked back a quarter of a mile to catch up with them and then walked Eva for a mile till the end of the trail. And by walked Eva I mean walked, poured water on her, gave her water, and carried her some. So my back kinda hurts and stuff. Poor Eva. Its hard being a black dog in Texas.
And poor Vince. He ran/walked with Eva over 2 miles with no water because I had the water cause the focus was on my run. I was going to share it with him, because I thought he was going to be running with me, but he never caught up. So I ended up just giving him the water when I went back for them.
At first I didn't know what to think of it, cause I ran only 2.25 miles when I had wanted to run 4 miles.
But:
a. It was too damn hot. We shouldn't have took so long getting ready. ( But we were finishing an episode of Dexter as we were getting ready and eating our cereal. That series is SOOOOO GOOD!! We have one more episode of Season 2 right now, so don't ruin anything for us)
b. I still did one of my fastest times.
So, yes, I didn't run 4 miles, but I really didn't have it me.
But also yes, I improved my time.
And I'll take all the improvement/good news I can get.

Here's a map of where I ran:
( I'll post later)


Also, this is the link for the 10k race I registered us for! It's going to be our 1st 10k and it's in late September. Im really excited/nervous for this one because it's the first race so far where I haven't even done a run that long! eee!! The furthest I have practiced run is 5.25 miles. So I need to be able to run almost a mile more, and run it well at that. Definetly going to need to increase my long runs!
http://www.heelsandhills.com/

The Heat Returns

I don't care what Vince says about it not being that hot, it WAS.
Lately we've been spoiled by running later in the day and it being either raining or overcast.
Yesterday we ran in Del Rio at Star Park. We just left today. We were there visiting his family.
Star Park is a block that is about .22. So if you run it a little over 5 times, it's a little over a mile.



Above is a picture I took from the car.
I only ran 1.72 miles. I wanted to run a little over 2 miles, so I was kinda bummed about that.
I haven't had any improvements in my time for a while now. But maybe this week will be better... :(
Still, it was nice to have a change of scenery. Now, we can add Del Rio to the list of cities we have run in, which include:
-Round Rock
-Georgetown
-Pflugerville
-Austin
-San Antonio
-Live Oak
-Del Rio

Here is a map of where we ran:


Also, today was the 2010 Boilmaker 15k Race in Utica, New York.Its a race that looks really cool and is one of the rare races that Ive seen that is not the typical distance of 5k, 10k, half marathon and marathon. Heres the website, although it doesn't have the usual info on an upcoming race right now because there was just a race:
http://www.boilermaker.com/

The Rain and me go the distance

So... today I went the furthest I have ever gone!!!! :)
I was still slow!!!
But it was the furthest!!!
And not only that, it rained the WHOLE time I ran the 5.25 miles, except for maybe 5 minutes.
My pace was even slower then the race pace. Ugh, I don't know what it is up lately.
I have been so slow. The good news is that I was really proud of myself for running so far in the rain. I know that in the past I would have just given up.
I am really looking forward to the day when I can run the WHOLE way. But until then, I am working on my intervals. Specifically, I think for this month I will continue my intervals of walking 2 minutes, then running 1 minute, except when after 10 minutes, this month I will only give myself a 1 minute walking for every 10 minutes. So basically it will be like:
2 minutes walking, 1 minute running, 2 minutes walking, 1 minute walking, 2 minutes walking, 1 minute running, 1 MINUTE walking ( then repeat all over every 10 minutes for as long as I am running)
Today I ran 1/8 of a mile without stopping. Which I know a lot of you are like WOW, a whole 1/8th of a mile. MAN, STOP THE PRESSES. To which I say, were YOU OUT RUNNING IN THE RAIN FOR ALMOST AN HOUR AND A HALF?!
To which some of you might say, yes, I was actually. and I actually RAN the whole time.
But nobody likes a show-off. :)

Here's where I ran today:
(I will post the map later)


Also, I came across these statistics and this article while reading a blog on Runners World, it's pretty interesting:

http://www.runningusa.org/node/57770#58231

Race Day- 4 mile Race

So, today was race day.
The good:
1. There were a LOT of people!
2. The Tech shirts we got were really cool and also we got a nice cold runners cloth for our neck at the end.
3. The course was very good and difficult. It was very scenic and not at all boring.
4. The volunteers and hosts of the event were very nice.
5. They had hot dogs, watermelon, water, soda.
6. This was the first race I have done so far where I actually INCREASED the distance raced( previously the furthest I raced was 3.1. So it was only .9 miles more but still)

The Bad:
For the first time in my races( I've only done 3 before) I did not do better then I thought I would. I actually did worse.
However, even though I kind of feel bad about that, I do know that some of it was not under my control.
The race was labeled " flat and fast". There were at least 3 MAJOR hills which I was not at all used to because ( our mistake) we NEVER train on hills. I could really feel the burn.
Also, we had to get up at 5.50 in the morning, so I was tired and not used to that.
And for my final excuse, it rained partly in the race.
I think those 3 factors help explain why I did over 5 minutes worse then I wanted to.

The Ugly:
Despite all the reasons given above, I really think the main reason I did bad was because, from the very beginning, my legs were sore. In fact, they have been sore on and off since wednesday. This week has been the longest amount of miles I have run ( 12.75) since I started running, which may be why they are so sore but still. I feel like I didn't have fighting chance.

The Lessons Learned:
STRETCH MORE!! GET MORE SLEEP!!
PRACTICE HILLS!! CROSS -TRAIN SO MY LEGS WON'T BE SO SORE.

And the wag of the finger goes to not keeping up my intervals. I have been pretty good since the beginning of June of doing my intervals and I was doing them for about the first 75% of the race. But my legs just started to hurt so bad, I walked for like 8 minutes straight and then started back on my intervals.

I hope I do better next time. We will be doing a 10k which is 2.2 miles longer so I am starting to get annoyed with how long it is taking me to run races because the further the distances, the even LONGER I will end up running.

But, I would highly recommend the San Antonio Running Club to people instersted in running races in the San Antonio area.
Here is their websites:
http://www.saroadrunners.com/content.aspx?page_id=0&club_id=736866

2 days till race day

And I ran 2 miles. My pace was not great, but what can you do?
My legs were soreeeeeeeee. It was raining. I felt dehyrated. Some other complaint, lol.
I have been feeling disheartened lately about my running. Last friday I had a great run and I haven't been able to capture the magic again. :(
However, I am happy that despite not feeling well this week, I still ran. And even though I am really nervous about this race on Sunday, I know I have prepared. Ive ran the distance about 5 times in the last month and a half, so I know at the very least I can finish it.
I am also happy because this is the first race that my mama will be at! I hope I make her proud!

Heres the link for where I ran:


Oh and this is a link for the website that talks about the movie Spirit of the Marathon, which is a REALLY good movie we bought about a mohttp://www.marathonmovie.com/