Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Bit by Bit

I'm still out there, just not managing much in the way of blog posts.
Ran 3.25 Sunday with a significant improvement on the pace, then ran 3.6 (was gonna do 3.5 but overshot a bit) yesterday, holding steady on Sunday's pace.
I'm loving the cold weather. Maybe that'll motivate me to take off and just go on a more regular basis.
We'll see.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

5.25 pushing 30

Took Nash for a run this morning. Started at the Sportsplex at the street edge of the Kids Dugout parking lot, ran along the soccer sidewalk and into the woods, did the entire Greenway to 72 and back. 5.25 miles. (It would have been only 5 but I had to back track a bit at one point when Nash told me his toy was "back there, on the floor.")
It was a bit warmer than I would've liked, but still, it was great!
Also, for a moment I thought I had found the Swan Creek Greenway Sculptor. But it turned out to just be the Swan Creek Greenway Restoration Artist. (I saw a man up ahead arranging stones while his wife stood by, waiting. When I caught up to them I called him the Sculptor and it turns out that they just enjoy the Little Altars and he likes to stack them back up whenever they see one that has been knocked down. They seemed like a nice young couple - he's 83, she's 81.)
Isn't it wonderful how exercise makes people so much happier & friendlier?!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Three Days Running

Three in a row, believe or not!
Maybe -- I won't declare it as a certainty just yet -- but maybe I'm back on track.
Ran 4.5-ish this morning.
Again, beautifully cool weather. It was 46 degrees when I started out.
Aahhh.
Now, if I could just get my diet on track.
And I don't mean I'm on a diet, I mean, I need to eat enough food. I need to ditch the Doritos and M&Ms and consume more nutritious calories and probably at least some protein every now and then. And I need to eat actual meals instead of a handful of this and a handful of that whenever I feel a bit hungry.
Today I've had two Morningstar veggie dogs, two cups of wild rice, about two cups of sweet pea salad with edamame mixed in, and three peanut butter cookies. Oh, and a handful of peanut butter M&Ms.
Remember last Sunday when I saw the copperhead on the trail?
Well, today I saw something with the potential to be even more dangerous than that deadly poisonous snake.
Instead of going to the track, I ran from home to the Duck & Run course and then kept going past the turn off to the finish line at the park and turned east on Hobbs Street to head back home.
Just as I crossed Hobbs Street northbound on Beaty, there was a woman approaching the stoplight at the intersection. You know how every now and then you see women driving along putting on mascara? Well, this woman had apparently already made up her face and now had moved on to painting her nails.
Seriously! Painting her nails.
I wish I were making this up, but I'm not.
At least with a deadly poisonous snake, you usually have to provoke it before it does any harm.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Not 5, exactly.

OK. So, that Greenway times two out-and-back with a bit of track mixed in only totals 4.6 miles, not the five I thought I'd gotten in yesterday.
Brian measured it with his Garmin this morning when we ran while taking turns pushing Nash in the jogging stroller (Brian actually did most of the pushing this time.)
Anyway, we ran a little extra when we got back to the Sportsplex to make for a 5-miler.
Nice, cool weather! I love it!

Friday, October 17, 2008

WooHoo! (& Ouch!)

Five miles this morning.
Dropped Nash off at playschool and drove directly to the Sportsplex. Ran the first portion of the Greenway, hopped on the track and ran that little leg behind the baseball field and the high school then hit the newer portion of the Greenway behind the tennis courts at the park. Then, of course, I had to turn around and go back to the Sportsplex. So, thats 1.2 & 2.4 for the two Greenway sections and then another 1.2 - 1.4 along the track. So, Five.
It felt wonderful!
The weather is overcast and wet - it rained all afternoon yesterday and most of the night, too.
It was 59 degrees when I started out and, in fact, my digital thermometer reads 58 right now.
Ahhh! Perfect running weather!
Not only that, but I shaved about a minute per-mile compared with Sunday's run.
WooHoo! (And, a little bit of Ouch!, too, but nothing some good stretching won't cure!)

Half & Half

Nash & I went for a split-in-two run on Tuesday afternoon. It really only totalled about 2.75 miles. I'd been planning to load up the jogging stroller around 5 and head over to the track with my boy when Glen King called around noon to make sure I knew about the Athens Bible School Cross Country Invitational which was to begin at 4 o'clock at the Sportsplex. (I didn't. Thanks, Glen!) Photos and results from the meet made for a few great entries to North Alabama Runner.
So, anyway, Nash & I loaded up and got to the track at 3:30, instead of 5. We ran from the Rec. Center to the woods behind the ballfield and then ran the out-and-back through the woods 1.5 times, getting to the Sportsplex just in time for the beginning of the JV two-mile race.
We stayed for both the Varsity 5Ks (the Girls ran at 4:30, the Boys at 5:10) then ran back through the woods and back to where we parked at the Rec. Center.
I had never been to a Cross Country meet before. It was a cool experience and Nash seemed to enjoy it as well. (His favorite part, of course, was the John Deere Gator that followed the last runner in each race!)

Monday, October 13, 2008

Sprinters & Snakes

Ran four miles yesterday; the same four miles as last Sunday...with minimal improvement on the pace.
What else can I expect, though, having gotten in only one other run this week -- a scant two-miler on Wednesday morning? Two miles. Sppsshh.
That's all I had time for, really. I didn't manage to get out the door until within an hour or so of when I needed to pick up Nash from playschool.
DadburnAndDoggoneItThough!
I'm determined to get out again this afternoon. I've just finished a lunch of chicken taquitos and a Morningstar faux chicken patty...proper enough fuel when you consider my standard lunch is usually more along the lines of Doritos and M&Ms!
I'll let you know how it goes.

P.S.
I saw the most beautiful Rattle Mouth Copper Moccasin yesterday on the trail! Seriously, though...here's what it looked like:

You'd think my pace would've shown a bit more improvement after the all-out mad sprint I hit after first stopping dead still to allow Mr. Snake to cross the trail about 10 feet ahead. Eeek!
I must admit, though, Mr. (or Ms.) Snake sure was pretty...even if frightening!

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Little Altars Everywhere

Went for a glorious run this morning!
Glorious only because I finally got back out there...not because I broke any speed records or anything. All I did was meet the goal I set for myself as I stepped out the door:
Go four miles, maintaining a steady pace...whatever that pace may be.
And so, I did.
It was a very slow four miles, indeed, but since this was my first run since Sept. 6 and only my second run in 10 weeks' time, I'll consider it a success.
I left home and ran the three-quarters of a mile over to the track and then hit the newest portion of the Swan Creek Greenway. On the trail, just as I approached the underpass at Nick Davis Road, I noticed two little stone altars on either side of the trail. For the rest of the run then, all the way to Highway 72, here and there were more little altars. I enjoyed them immensely and began to look forward to them as I would see them in the distance. So, on the off-chance that whoever did this happens across this blog entry,
Thanks!
Your Little Altars Everywhere provided such inspiration today!