1/2 Marathon Training - Day 37

I wasn't much up for doing anything yesterday morning so running was a no-go... put it off till today. Unfortunately that means I'll be running 3 days in a row. Angela has decided that she wants to start running in the evenings, so we'll probably be going solo here for a while. Temps are getting cooler here lately... upper 50's during my run this morning. Plus I got started a bit earlier today as well so it was dark the entire time. Entire run felt good for a change. 25min 25sec (10min 10sec mile).

[UPDATE] Angela ran 2 miles after work today in 21min 35sec (10:47 mile)

1/2 Marathon Training - Day 34

Time for our first 3 miler :-) Angela was up for it (ok... as much as a motivated type person that hates running can be up for it!) I wasn't... In other words, pretty typical! It's been suggested that on longer runs water should be consumed about every 20min so we decided to put some dixie cups out on our mail box, and then run 2 laps around our 1.5mile course. This way we could get a little water halfway through without having to carry it. turned out pretty well... after the first mile and a half we dropped to a walk, downed the water, tossed the cups in the yard and continued on... felt like real runners ;-) Things went pretty well. Angela stuck with me up until about 2.5mile then she dropped to a walk for just a short distance. I picked it up with about 1/3mile to go and had a good finish. End result M-31min 30sec (10:30mile), A-32min 20sec (10:47mile)

1/2 Marathon Training - Day 32

Ugh... This morning wasn't exactly stellar for either of us :-( Angela mentioned not feeling up for it but wanted to get it over with anyway. I suggested we do 2 laps around our 1 mile route instead of our normal 2 mile route. That way she could bow out if needed and not have a long walk home ;-) We agreed that was the plan so off we went. It didn't feel too bad to begin with but after about 3/4mi it did. After the 1st lap Angela dropped to a walk, I checked my watch and noticed it had been about 10min 40sec, and continued on. I actually dropped to a walk as well on a hill with about 1/2 mile to go... but only for a short ways. End result was 23min 8sec (11min 34sec mile). Angela finished about 45sec later. We'll need to regroup before Sunday's 3.0 miler :-/

1/2 Marathon Training - Day 29 & 31

Monday night Angela had a soccer game so the Tuesday morning run was just me. I felt good, but turned out the pace was slower than I thought... 10 min 14 sec mile for a total of 20 min 28 sec for the total 2 miles.

Last night Angela finally decided to get some running shoes (uh oh... she's committed now!) This morning we both did the 2 miles together... she took off like a rocket! Note to self... must be the shoes ;-) Since I planned on running a quicker pace today I decided to try to hang with her... I soon relized she was going way faster than I wanted so I settled into my usual spot... behind her :-\ I was definitely running a quicker pace than normal though so I was ok with that. She maintained her lead for quite a ways and I was struggling. That quick pace in the beginning was wearing on me. Overall the end result was a 19 min 58 sec total (9 min 59 sec mile) for me, and a 20 min 23 sec total (10 min 11 sec mile) for Angela. I may give her strategy one more shot (start strong then back it down after that in the hopes it feels "easier" to keep going for the long haul)... but if today is any indication... it's painful!

Boston Trip & Aerobatics

So Angela's sister Alicia has been asking us for a while to come visit her in Boston where she's on "temporary" assignment for work. This past weekend we finally went. The first day there we started out by simply being lazy (hey, it's vacation!) followed a little bit later by a tour of Fenway Park, and the we attended the game later that night. Unfortunately Boston lost, but it also happened to be the night the famous Citgo sign was relit for the first time since July! The large 3,600 square foot sign had all of it's lights replaced and just by luck we happened to be there the night they relit it.

On Saturday we headed North into New Hampshire and eventually made our way to an apple festival Angela had her eyes on. It was pretty neat, we got to pick our own apples, and they had some of the best ice cream I've ever tasted! Saturday afternoon we simply took the long way home and stopped at a bunch of places along the way taking it all in. Lots of pretty country up there.


Sunday was what I'd really been waiting for. We went whale watching before heading to the airport... All indications were we got very lucky with all the activity we saw! The whales were almost posing for us! We got some good pictures :-)



Monday I took a vaction day to attend the National Aerobatics competition up in Sherman Texas with some friends. I had never been and we used it as an excuse to be camera geeks for the day. Ever seen the the photographers around the end zones of an NFL game... yeah, it sorta looked like that, just most of us had less expensive equipment ;-) Unfortunately it turns out the planes were WAY higher than we had expected so even with some really nice zoom lenses, the picture taking wasn't all it could have been. We enjoyed walking around the planes though.

(I hope to get a picture or 2 up here in the next couple of days)

Anyway... these are my excuses for not running Friday & Sunday... and I'm stickin' to 'em!

1/2 Marathon Training - Day 24

Angela joined me this morning... Hooray! She left me like I was standing still in the 1st qtr mile... boooo! I had to fight the urges to try to keep up and instead stick with my pace. Kept the head down, focused, and only occasionally looked up to make sure she wasn't leaving me too bad ;-) I was impressed, she did pretty well... the last run longer than a mile and a half we did she walked part of it. Not today. She eventually slowed, and I over took her, but she ran the whole thing... nice! Today's run wound up being 20min 53sec for 2.0miles (10min 26sec mile).

Hot Rodders and 1/2 Marathon Training - Day 22

Ok, so we made it to the drag strip Sunday night. The local 1/8th mile stip has "Fun-n-Grudge" racing on Sunday nights, so my friend with the 2010 SS Camaro and I (with my 2002 Z28) headed to the track. It was the first time either of us had been so there were some nerves involved... but a lot more fun involved!!! We got to beat on our cars a little bit, do it legally, and more importantly find out who had the faster car ;-) Seriously though... it was all in good fun and we're still friends :-)




As far as the training... what is it with these short runs following the long ones being a reality check! Today was a mile and a half. The pace felt quicker than Sunday, but not excessively so. I tried to maintain the quicker pace but keep it in check slightly to save some. I only slowed up after a little over a mile, but that was only for about an 1/8th or so. I picked it up at the end for about twice the distance I usually do. I expected a sub-10min mile, but when all was said and done I was surprised to see a time of 15min 36sec (or a 10min 24sec mile)... hmmm... Thinking afterwards about what could've caused me to feel like it was faster when it really wasn't: sleep (less than 7hrs the last 2 nights in a row), nutrition maybe (haven't been keeping track of it too much), I just stink at running and really don't know what I'm doing (I think we've found our answer!)

1/2 Marathon Training - Day 20

As weird as it sounds, I was looking forward to today's run... first time doing 2.5 miles. Now I didn't say I was excited, or looking forward to running... I still don't really like running! But I was looking forward to today's 2.5mile run. I've been gaining some confidence with my running so even though it was my longest run to date, I was looking forward to seeing if I could do it. So the goal today was simply to finish it... sorta like my eventual goal for the half-marathon... just finish it! No goal for pace today, just see if I can finish all 2.5 miles running! I'm happy to say I did! ... and in 26min 17sec, so pace turned out to be a 10min 31sec mile, so that wasn't too bad either... BONUS!

Hot Rod Wanna-Be's and 1/2 Marthon Training - Day 19

Last night a friend of mine from work and I planned on racing each other at the local 1/4-mile drag strip (Texas Motorplex) down in Ennis TX. It was all for fun -- I had recently made some mods to my 2002 Z28, and her new ride is a 2010 SS Camaro -- and we were ready to race ;-) Unfortunately the track made the VERY last minute decision to cancel the races due to delayed construction work because of all the rain we've had recently. Oh well... we'll have to plan it again real soon!

Yesterday the schedule said we were supposed to run a mile and a half... that didn't happen either. Didn't get enough sleep the night before and REALLY didn't feel up to it.

Ahhh... sleep is a wonderful thing! This morning we awoke after about 9+ hours of sleep (I was closer to 10... Angela got up before me). Ate a little something, Angela went to the farmers market and picked up some goodies, then we went for our run after she returned. Very humid today, but cloudy and a bit windy. It was all good though. I pushed myself a bit harder than usual but was careful not to push too hard (maybe a wuss... who knows...) The end result was a 9min 42sec mile average for the mile and a half... good enough! Maybe there's something to this sleep thing!

1/2 Marathon Training - Day 17

Tropical Storm Hermine has been dumping on us the last few days so it made for an easy excuse not to run on Tuesday. Of course, I could've done some sort of cardio work in doors, but didn't. This morning though the skys were dry - not clear, just no rain falling... it was humid! So it was time to get a run in. I didn't have any problems with getting winded, which was nice although surprising. My problem was energy. I got a late start so there was a lot of traffic with the parents getting their kids to school. I had to make 2 little brief stops to wait on cars to pass... the end result was a time of 15min 45sec for 1.5miles.

1st Birthday & 1/2 Marathon Training - Day 13

This weekend was the party for my niece's 1st birthday. Of course, a lot of family was in town and it was great to see everyone. The old niece enjoyed all the attention and of course all the gifts as well :-) It was fun seeing her, and she's always a blast! Happy Birthday Kailyn!

As Sunday began, it was becoming apparent a run wasn't going to happen before church... so, we waited until afterwards. I wished I would've made myself go earlier :-/ By the time we got around to making the run it was 90+ degrees outside... yuck! Since we were doing our first 2 mile run today it was a new route. Things were going well up until about a mile and a quarter. Angela fell back a bit, and then my knee started burning some. We both dropped to a walk for a short bit and then picked it back up (knee was fine after the walk, thank goodness!) All in all we dropped to a walk 3 times, each time for about an 1/8th of a mile. The end result was just shy of 22 min for the 2 miles... off of my goal of a 10min mile, but it didn't surprise me. Just have to keep at it... smartly of course :-)

Oh wow... just looked at the schedule... no more 1.0 mile runs. Huh... :-/

Dinner & 1/2 Marathon Training - Day 11

Last night Angela & I went out to dinner with Adrian & his wife Jenny. Adrian is an engineer that works in the same group as Angela and they had been talking about the 4 of us getting together for dinner for a while... it finally happened last night. We had a wonderful time! Thanks guys, and hope to do it again soon.

Today we're off, but I had to get up to get the trash out before the guys came to pick it up... they come early in our neighborhood! I let Angela sleep in... heck, I wasn't in any hurry to go running, so why not ;-) I made breakfast, and after an hour or so we decided to finally head out. It was a good run... I liked the pace and felt good today... probably the best I've felt so far. Hopefully I can keep that going because the runs only get longer from here. I was happy I was able to keep a pace right around a 10min mile.

1/2 Marathon Training - Day 10

No runnung today. It was thundering, lightning & raining outside this morning. So we'll plan on doing today's 1.5mi run tomorrow instead of the planned 1 miler.