Better today.

4.4 miles while the dryer dried my stuff.

Let me ask all my lovely readers something.

How do you choose marathon pace for the first marathon? Should I go with standard long run pace, or maybe a little faster?

The race predictor calculators say I should be able to run under 3:50, but that seems rediculous.

One of the 10% of my runs that falls below average.

I've estimated that 1 out of 10 of my runs falls below the average. Which is mathematically possible so long as those 10% are way way way below average. I'm exaggerating a bit, because it was nice for about 8 miles, and bearable for 2 more, and I had to walk a bit of the last two.

I drove down to Nasa Road 1 to run around the Space Center and Mud Lake. I'd rather not have to drive anywhere, but I find it difficult to psych myself up for another 2+ hour run around my neighborhood. I've been on these roads a billion times, and it seems that all I'm doing lately is dodging school busses, and crazy half-asleep parents taking their ugly kids to school.

I saw a skunk on NR1. And I saw a guy walking with sunglasses on already, it was before the sun had even risen. Both the skunk and the gangsta passed without incident.

Unsuccessful pighunt.

Okay, okay, so I may have promised that today's post would be better than average. I had a feeling that today would be the day when I would finally catch one of those magical pigs on the Seabrook trails and make him grant me a wish. I was prepared for a high speed chase, for possibly an epic hand to hoof battle. I was prepared to fight dirty, smearing mud in the pigs eyes, biting his little pig ears, punches and kicks to the groin, whatever it took.

I didn't even see any pigs, only a few stupid deer and a little black snake. So the post to end all posts will come at a later time, perhaps next Sunday. It has become more and more obvious that the main focus of all this training has nothing to do with some silly footrace, or testing my limits, or expanding my self confidence or anything like that. I just want to catch one of those pigs.

I felt a little tired, with rubbery legs for a while, but I managed to find a nice rhythm and enjoy this run. 10 weeks to go.

15 miles

I've decided I'm going to write this blog as if there actually were people reading it.

As you all know, it was a bit of a difficult week for me runningwise. And a few extra days off and a few difficult runs had me convinced that I had lost fitness in just a few days. "You've never been slower or fatter," said my inner voice. But I guess that was a bit of an exaggeration, and I felt pretty good today, and even had a good rhythm going for much of it. I didn't feel overly dehydrated or overheated at the end. So I'll count it as a rest week and move on.

For my records, this was my route : Bah!

Today was Ballunar Festival Day at the Space Center. There were at least 50 hot air balloons so that was cool. And one guy at the club led us through some Yogo stuff so that was cool too. I'm going to spend some more time stretching out, I occasionally have some minor tendonitises in my achilleseses, so I should pay more attention to them.

I hope all my lovely readers have a great day. Stay tuned for the next installment! I guarantee it will be the greatest blog entry that has ever been concieved by mortal man. You just might name your children after me when you read it. You might even change your grown kids' names.

Bridge

4 trips on the Kemah bridge with the club.

I felt quite sluggish and tired, which makes me think my motivation problems aren't 100% psychological.

Trying to kick the whybothers.

Ran only one mile today, because it seems I have a kind of a head cold. I call it the "whybothers."

Getting up at 4:00 for 12 miles... why bother?
Preparing a healthy dinner... why bother?


I think I'll sit down tonight and write out the reasons for bothering to do all this. I guess I learned something in that Cognitive Behavioral Psychology class.

10K at the trails.

It's become a bit of a weekly ritual for me, an easy sunday evening 10K at the Seabrook trails. I felt good and ran the whole way. I did start late and it was quite dark for the return trip. For part of the run, I even ran with my arms outstretched in front of me so that I wouldn't run into a tree. A more intelligent person would have walked a bit until the darkest part had been passed.

I saw three deer cross the trail just in front of me, but didn't see any of the magical pigs.

After a run in the dark, whether it is late like today, or rediculously early, things look and feel differently. The air seem cleaner, lights are brighter and more vibrant.

-- 11 weeks until the NYCM.

The first post.

I'm currently training for the New York City Marathon, my first marathon. This week was a recovery week, where my weekly mileage was about 32 (38 counting tomorrow). Last week was a weekly mileage PR for me (50.4 miles), with a long run PR as well (18.4 miles).

I guess things are on track for the marathon which is 11 weeks from now. I have no major aches or pains, although I was excessively fatigued from last weeks long run. Only yesterday did I start to feel like my old self.

Today's run went well, I started around 5:10 AM and ran 3 miles with Jim and Tonya from the Clear Lake Fitness Club. We then met up with the main group and I ran 9 more with the group.