Sadly, I haven't had time to run, swim, or blog the last few days -- things have been incredibly hectic and long, between putting in new closets for myself and the missus, and my 15-hour day at work yesterday (which ended up with roughly 4 hours of sleep last night), nothing has gotten done.
My goal now... go to bed early tonight, sleep in (at least until 8) tomorrow, and be ready and rarin' to go for tomorrow's 5K. Of course, it helps that it's a night race tomorrow (7:30PM), so at least this time I won't sleep through it...
Wish me luck!
Friday, July 20, 2007
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
I lived up to my end of the deal
Yep, I promised I would run either last night or this morning. Well, last night, I ended up putting together a little workbench so that tonight, we could finish the project of putting closets together. Needless to say, I didn't run then. And tonight's going to be ugly, since my wife's closet is a huuuuuuge mess. Which is rather odd for her, being as anal retentive as she is. But that's neither here nor there.
Since I didn't run last night, I forced myself to run this morning. The alarm went off at 6:30, and I finally got up and started moving at around 6:50. I like sleep. I'm not ashamed of that. I can be good at getting up early again, but it doesn't look like it'll happen this week. In any case, I got up and started my run late... about 7:10. It was a little cooler than I expected at that time (about 74 degrees when I left the house), but that wouldn't last.
My legs were really tight. Especially my hamstrings. It got better as the run went on, but my breathing was somewhat labored the whole time, too. I need to remember to take a shot of Serevant before getting out on the road. But, what's important, is that I ran the whole thing. 3.2 miles. No walking at all. That made me at least a little happy, even when after the run, when my legs started crying. Seriously -- I heard sobbing coming from my hamstrings. At least, I think that's where it came from. I can't really put my ear down there to find out.
Oh, when I got back home, it was 80 degrees. I definitely need to start running earlier.
In any case, I finally ran 5K+, just in time to give me a little shot of adrenaline going into the 5K this Saturday night. I might not finish in under 30 minutes (which is my end goal), but I'll finish, and I'll finish strong.
Trivia: The last time I ran the full 5K distance was in April, before my leg problems showed up. It only took three months to get back where I was.
Since I didn't run last night, I forced myself to run this morning. The alarm went off at 6:30, and I finally got up and started moving at around 6:50. I like sleep. I'm not ashamed of that. I can be good at getting up early again, but it doesn't look like it'll happen this week. In any case, I got up and started my run late... about 7:10. It was a little cooler than I expected at that time (about 74 degrees when I left the house), but that wouldn't last.
My legs were really tight. Especially my hamstrings. It got better as the run went on, but my breathing was somewhat labored the whole time, too. I need to remember to take a shot of Serevant before getting out on the road. But, what's important, is that I ran the whole thing. 3.2 miles. No walking at all. That made me at least a little happy, even when after the run, when my legs started crying. Seriously -- I heard sobbing coming from my hamstrings. At least, I think that's where it came from. I can't really put my ear down there to find out.
Oh, when I got back home, it was 80 degrees. I definitely need to start running earlier.
In any case, I finally ran 5K+, just in time to give me a little shot of adrenaline going into the 5K this Saturday night. I might not finish in under 30 minutes (which is my end goal), but I'll finish, and I'll finish strong.
Trivia: The last time I ran the full 5K distance was in April, before my leg problems showed up. It only took three months to get back where I was.
Monday, July 16, 2007
It's been a long weekend
Let me just start by saying... I hate redeyes.
My flight out of San Diego didn't leave SD until 6:55pm (PDT) -- sadly, the meeting was complete before 11AM. And I couldn't find any earlier flights, so I went to one of my favorite restaurants... and had much beer. Finally, I ended up going back to the airport... and had much beer. I got to Phoenix nice and early for my next flight, which left at 11:15 to arrive in Atlanta at 6:00 the next morning... and had much beer. I think I was hoping that I'd be able to sleep and that would make me all sorts of happy for the next day.
I was wrong.
I did sleep on the flights, at least as much as I could. However, I got back home and was dead tired. At the same time, my wife was planning on throwing one of her coworkers a birthday party that afternoon (one of those no-guys-allowed things), so I stayed up until just before the party and locked myself in the bedroom to sleep. And I woke up at about 8:00 that night, had some dinner, watched some TV, and went back to bed (after biting the inside of my cheek really hard). I figure I went back to bed sometime after 11, and we woke up the next morning close to 10.
And I was still exhausted.
And we had errands to run.
So, we jumped in the car, got some coffee, stopped by Lowe's, unloaded, went to Target, tried to find a lunch place that was open, had lunch, went home, measured the closets, created a plan for new closet organization spaces, went back to Lowe's to get the closet workings, and headed home.
Now, most sane people I know wouldn't start on a weekend project of reorganizing their closets at 8:30PM on a Sunday. I am not most people, and I am definitely not sane. Start I did. Now, my wife suggested we start with my closet, since it would be easier, so we emptied out my closet, put together all the crap, put it in the closet, loaded everything back up, and it all worked wonderfully. And it only took three hours or so -- which wasn't bad. However, that meant it was now 11:30 at night, and we were just starting to get ready for bed. And I'm still all worked up -- to the point I was simply not able to sleep. Until about 3AM. I think I screwed up my internal clock pretty royally.
Needless to say, I did not run today. I may run tonight to get used to the heat so I can run the 5K this Saturday night. But damn, I'm tired. I promise I will run either tonight or tomorrow morning, though!
My flight out of San Diego didn't leave SD until 6:55pm (PDT) -- sadly, the meeting was complete before 11AM. And I couldn't find any earlier flights, so I went to one of my favorite restaurants... and had much beer. Finally, I ended up going back to the airport... and had much beer. I got to Phoenix nice and early for my next flight, which left at 11:15 to arrive in Atlanta at 6:00 the next morning... and had much beer. I think I was hoping that I'd be able to sleep and that would make me all sorts of happy for the next day.
I was wrong.
I did sleep on the flights, at least as much as I could. However, I got back home and was dead tired. At the same time, my wife was planning on throwing one of her coworkers a birthday party that afternoon (one of those no-guys-allowed things), so I stayed up until just before the party and locked myself in the bedroom to sleep. And I woke up at about 8:00 that night, had some dinner, watched some TV, and went back to bed (after biting the inside of my cheek really hard). I figure I went back to bed sometime after 11, and we woke up the next morning close to 10.
And I was still exhausted.
And we had errands to run.
So, we jumped in the car, got some coffee, stopped by Lowe's, unloaded, went to Target, tried to find a lunch place that was open, had lunch, went home, measured the closets, created a plan for new closet organization spaces, went back to Lowe's to get the closet workings, and headed home.
Now, most sane people I know wouldn't start on a weekend project of reorganizing their closets at 8:30PM on a Sunday. I am not most people, and I am definitely not sane. Start I did. Now, my wife suggested we start with my closet, since it would be easier, so we emptied out my closet, put together all the crap, put it in the closet, loaded everything back up, and it all worked wonderfully. And it only took three hours or so -- which wasn't bad. However, that meant it was now 11:30 at night, and we were just starting to get ready for bed. And I'm still all worked up -- to the point I was simply not able to sleep. Until about 3AM. I think I screwed up my internal clock pretty royally.
Needless to say, I did not run today. I may run tonight to get used to the heat so I can run the 5K this Saturday night. But damn, I'm tired. I promise I will run either tonight or tomorrow morning, though!
Thursday, July 12, 2007
The Tale of My Ascent of Mt. Ohellno
So, I've gotten to San Diego, and stayed up until 10:30, and I was exhausted. But, since I just came from the east coast, that doesn't mean much... I still woke up at 3:00 in the morning. And 4:00. And 4:30. And 5:11. At 6:00, I finally started moving, since I could see that the sun was coming up, and I didn't want to run in the dark in a strange area.
Since it was a strange area, I decided to keep it simple. There's a main road right here with a sidewalk, so I thought I would just run up the road for a while and then run back. That's when I went outside and saw this road...
Now, being from Florida, I've completely forgotten what hills look like. But you guys out west certainly have them. With a vengeance. I'm pretty sure it was about a 60 degree incline. So, I studied the west face of this peak, and came up with a plan. I started my ascent to base camp alpha, remembering to take small steps and conserve some energy. I started a 5 minute run/1 minute walk to head up to the summit. And it felt pretty good. The other part of this trip was to find the Rubio's in the village at the base of the mountain -- and I found it about halfway up. Oh, boy... I better really want some fish tacos later to make that trip again. But up, up, up I went. Finally, when I saw a mountain goat bound past me, I decided that I'd gone up high enough. 13 and a half minutes of climing -- definitely not bad for a Florida boy.
The downhill part was (obviously) much easier, but I'm still remembering to take small steps. I'm not sure what I looked like doing this run, but I'm betting it was kinda funny. I made it back down to the bottom in another 13 minutes, so I still had some time to go, so I turned around and went back up -- and that was the tortuous part. My legs felt like jelly... but they didn't hurt, so I pushed on through. I only went up another couple minutes, found a good marker to turn around at so that I could map my run, and went back down. And that brings us to now.
It turns out that it was a short run... only 2.69 miles. I have to admit that I'm disappointed in that, but it felt good to get some hill work in. It's not like we have them all over the place at home. I definitely feel more confident that I won't die during next week's bridge run.
Since it was a strange area, I decided to keep it simple. There's a main road right here with a sidewalk, so I thought I would just run up the road for a while and then run back. That's when I went outside and saw this road...
Now, being from Florida, I've completely forgotten what hills look like. But you guys out west certainly have them. With a vengeance. I'm pretty sure it was about a 60 degree incline. So, I studied the west face of this peak, and came up with a plan. I started my ascent to base camp alpha, remembering to take small steps and conserve some energy. I started a 5 minute run/1 minute walk to head up to the summit. And it felt pretty good. The other part of this trip was to find the Rubio's in the village at the base of the mountain -- and I found it about halfway up. Oh, boy... I better really want some fish tacos later to make that trip again. But up, up, up I went. Finally, when I saw a mountain goat bound past me, I decided that I'd gone up high enough. 13 and a half minutes of climing -- definitely not bad for a Florida boy.
The downhill part was (obviously) much easier, but I'm still remembering to take small steps. I'm not sure what I looked like doing this run, but I'm betting it was kinda funny. I made it back down to the bottom in another 13 minutes, so I still had some time to go, so I turned around and went back up -- and that was the tortuous part. My legs felt like jelly... but they didn't hurt, so I pushed on through. I only went up another couple minutes, found a good marker to turn around at so that I could map my run, and went back down. And that brings us to now.
It turns out that it was a short run... only 2.69 miles. I have to admit that I'm disappointed in that, but it felt good to get some hill work in. It's not like we have them all over the place at home. I definitely feel more confident that I won't die during next week's bridge run.
Training across the country
Before I get to the tale of today's run, let me first mention a little about the trip out here. I flew out of Jacksonville, through Atlanta and Phoenix, and finally made it to San Diego a little past 7:00 last night (PDT). Two connections... and both were actually pretty good for my training!
We were sitting on the plane in Jacksonville, having boarded on time, which was kind of a surprise to begin with. After a little while, we realized something -- we were still on the ground. About ten minutes after we were supposed to push off (1:05), the captain came on the PA and told us that there was a ground stop in Atlanta due to weather, and he was bringing the jetway back to give us some A/C. At 1:45, he told us that we were going to have to sit for at least another 15 minutes. We finally got clearance to leave at 2:09, which was 5 minutes before we were supposed to land in Atlanta. Now, this guy was one hell of a driver, because he got us there pretty quickly, although it was really bumpy going into Atlanta. We landed at 3:30 or so. No problem -- my next flight leaves at 4:15. Which means that it started boarding pretty soon. I only had to get from B8 to A20, which isn't that bad, but I still went pretty quickly to get there.
Fast forward another four hours, and we land at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, AZ at 5:15. My next flight leaves at 6:15, so this again, shouldn't be a problem. Except that my boarding pass has no gate information on it. Naturally, I would normally find the little monitors and find out where my next flight is, but I'm in a Delta terminal, and my next flight is on USAir. Now, this is where I start to appreciate just about every other airport I've ever been in, including Atlanta. Most of the time, if you're just switching terminals to get to another airline, there is some mechanism to get you there without having to go through security again. Not here. So, I exit security, wander around until I find the exit, catch the bus to terminal 4, and see a loooooong line at security there. And it's important to remember that a plane leaving at 6:15 starts boarding at 5:45. So now it's 5:30, and I'm at the back of this line. It moved pretty quickly, and I didn't have that much of a problem, but let me tell you -- if you're a terrorist trying to get through an airport security line, pick another airport. These guys inspected my ID more than anywhere else I've ever been. Good job, guys, but definitely irritating. Oh, and then I got to the plane and realized that I left my copy of Marathon, by Jeff Galloway, on the other plane. Whoops. Don't worry... I've already hit up Amazon to get another copy.
Finally, I get to San Diego, grab my cab, and head out. And the cabbie was nice enough to take me through the drive-thru at In-N-Out. Oh, was it good...
Now, seasoned traveler that I am, I stayed up until my normal time to make sure that I'm fighting the jet lag. But I did eventually go to bed, which leads to my next post...
We were sitting on the plane in Jacksonville, having boarded on time, which was kind of a surprise to begin with. After a little while, we realized something -- we were still on the ground. About ten minutes after we were supposed to push off (1:05), the captain came on the PA and told us that there was a ground stop in Atlanta due to weather, and he was bringing the jetway back to give us some A/C. At 1:45, he told us that we were going to have to sit for at least another 15 minutes. We finally got clearance to leave at 2:09, which was 5 minutes before we were supposed to land in Atlanta. Now, this guy was one hell of a driver, because he got us there pretty quickly, although it was really bumpy going into Atlanta. We landed at 3:30 or so. No problem -- my next flight leaves at 4:15. Which means that it started boarding pretty soon. I only had to get from B8 to A20, which isn't that bad, but I still went pretty quickly to get there.
Fast forward another four hours, and we land at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, AZ at 5:15. My next flight leaves at 6:15, so this again, shouldn't be a problem. Except that my boarding pass has no gate information on it. Naturally, I would normally find the little monitors and find out where my next flight is, but I'm in a Delta terminal, and my next flight is on USAir. Now, this is where I start to appreciate just about every other airport I've ever been in, including Atlanta. Most of the time, if you're just switching terminals to get to another airline, there is some mechanism to get you there without having to go through security again. Not here. So, I exit security, wander around until I find the exit, catch the bus to terminal 4, and see a loooooong line at security there. And it's important to remember that a plane leaving at 6:15 starts boarding at 5:45. So now it's 5:30, and I'm at the back of this line. It moved pretty quickly, and I didn't have that much of a problem, but let me tell you -- if you're a terrorist trying to get through an airport security line, pick another airport. These guys inspected my ID more than anywhere else I've ever been. Good job, guys, but definitely irritating. Oh, and then I got to the plane and realized that I left my copy of Marathon, by Jeff Galloway, on the other plane. Whoops. Don't worry... I've already hit up Amazon to get another copy.
Finally, I get to San Diego, grab my cab, and head out. And the cabbie was nice enough to take me through the drive-thru at In-N-Out. Oh, was it good...
Now, seasoned traveler that I am, I stayed up until my normal time to make sure that I'm fighting the jet lag. But I did eventually go to bed, which leads to my next post...
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
On the road again...
Yep, I'm traveling again. Those of you who know me from way back know that I used to travel for my job, up to and including 100% travel. I've been lucky enough in the past year to have a job that doesn't require too much travel. However, when I do have to fly out, it's been pretty good so far.
Today's destination? San Diego, CA
I love, love, love San Diego. I've said often that if there were anywhere on the west coast that I could live, it would be SD. As a matter of fact, we even spent half of our honeymoon in San Diego, and had an absolute blast there. Now, sadly, this trip isn't going to be nearly as much fun as that was. For instance, I'm staying way north of downtown, and won't even have a car, so I can't really head out to the Yard House for a quick half-yard of some delicious brew. However, I am looking forward to some of the other fine left-coast food that's out there. Oh, yeah... I'm definitely having the cab stop by an In 'N' Out on the way to the airport. And, if I did my research correctly, there's a Rubio's just down the street from the hotel.
Mmm... fish tacos...
Oh, yeah, I'm definitely bringing my running gear so I can try to get a nice run in. I think I found a good course to run right near the hotel, but I'm not really sure. And, since it's a work trip, I'm bringing a laptop with me, so I should be able to blog about the wonders of a hilly world.
Now, let's hope I can get through Atlanta and Phoenix with no problem.
Today's destination? San Diego, CA
I love, love, love San Diego. I've said often that if there were anywhere on the west coast that I could live, it would be SD. As a matter of fact, we even spent half of our honeymoon in San Diego, and had an absolute blast there. Now, sadly, this trip isn't going to be nearly as much fun as that was. For instance, I'm staying way north of downtown, and won't even have a car, so I can't really head out to the Yard House for a quick half-yard of some delicious brew. However, I am looking forward to some of the other fine left-coast food that's out there. Oh, yeah... I'm definitely having the cab stop by an In 'N' Out on the way to the airport. And, if I did my research correctly, there's a Rubio's just down the street from the hotel.
Mmm... fish tacos...
Oh, yeah, I'm definitely bringing my running gear so I can try to get a nice run in. I think I found a good course to run right near the hotel, but I'm not really sure. And, since it's a work trip, I'm bringing a laptop with me, so I should be able to blog about the wonders of a hilly world.
Now, let's hope I can get through Atlanta and Phoenix with no problem.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Not getting lost... now that's new
This morning, I tried the same route that I did on Saturday, when I took a wrong turn. Today, however, the running gods were smiling on me (plus, I had just run it a few days ago), and I managed to get the whole thing in without any wrong turns at all. Hooray me.
The whole thing was 3.2 miles, so just over 5K length. And I did it all in 33 minutes. Now, that's slightly disappointing, as I'm hoping to break my plateau of 30 minutes in the 5K next weekend, but then I started thinking about several things:
Tonight, my lovely wife and I are going to give the swimming a try again. She says her shoulder is feeling much better, and I'm going to see what I can do to have her use it as little as possible. I'm not really sure how to do that just yet, but I'll think of something.
The whole thing was 3.2 miles, so just over 5K length. And I did it all in 33 minutes. Now, that's slightly disappointing, as I'm hoping to break my plateau of 30 minutes in the 5K next weekend, but then I started thinking about several things:
- Oh... My... God... it's hot. Yes, it's Florida. But it was 76 when I left at 6:50-ish this morning, and damn near 80 when I got back at 7:30-ish. Naturally, that's going to slow you down.
- It has been a while since I was able to run that 30 minute 5K, and I didn't do much in the meantime -- except have my leg sliced into and pieces of it removed.
- Oh, and let's not forget that the race is running over two bridges in downtown Jacksonville next Friday night. It's going to be even hotter than, plus I get the fun uphill parts of running the bridges.
Tonight, my lovely wife and I are going to give the swimming a try again. She says her shoulder is feeling much better, and I'm going to see what I can do to have her use it as little as possible. I'm not really sure how to do that just yet, but I'll think of something.
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