TEXAS Paul - Out to Pasture - Healing

A beautiful day to start the new year in Austin, Texas.  About 150 of us did the unadvertised annual 13.1 mile RunTex to RunTex to RunTex New Years Day run. 

And for proof just how small-town the governor of Texas can be, he got us organized at the start of the run and he stood on the hood of a parked car and took the picture of all of us runners.  He always does this run with us and did it again this year.  Then after the run in the RunTex store he called us all together and he stood up on a platform and he took the after-run picture.  Austin is a big state with big traditions, but the governor is one of us on a personal level.  We see him in many of the races here locally all year long. 

After the run in the RunTex store they gave each of us a real nice running t-shirt to commemorate the RunTex to RunTex to RunTex event.  They also provided some goodies to eat including hot black-eyed peas which I am told is intended for good fortune during the new year.  I think this is the 4th time I have done this unadvertised running event.

Karen H and I ran together and after the run Lynn, PD, Karen, and I went to breakfast.  A great way to start the new year. 

Ran 10 miles at Brushy Creek starting about 5:07 PM just as the sun was getting close to setting.  Got in 3.5 miles before the sun set and then after 6 miles I joined Bill and the Wednesday night crew and did the warmup drills and then we jogged over to the dam and did our speed workout, 0.5 miles at 6:45 pace, 1.0 mile at 6:30 pace, 0.5 miles at 6:05 pace.  Then finished the 10 mile run with 2 more miles in the dark on the big loop around the park.  A great run. 

Arrived at Brushy Creek Park at 4:00 PM.  Cold temps in the 30's.  I way overdressed and ended up removing my gloves, hat, and long sleeve shirt.  Ran a relaxing easy pace for the entire 10 miles and felt really good.  The purpose of this run was as a recovery type run, after combining last night's 10 mile run with 2 speed miles. 

This is the 3rd consecutive day at 10 or more miles.  I'm going to try to get more running days per week with more miles per day.  The letsrun.com web page really makes a point of getting in the weekly miles and also mixing in lots of easy relaxing days to get recovery runs.  So far so good.  This Saturday we are doing 18 miles so that will put me over 50 miles this week for the first time in over a year. 

Ran the Georgetown route from the new RunTex store with Karen F and Karen H.  A beautiful day with temps in the high 50's at 6:00 AM and temps about 70 degrees by the time we finished.  Then we went to breakfast with Lynn.  A great start of the weekend. This run gives me 51.1 miles for the week, the most I have run in over a year.

A beautiful evening in Austin, Texas with a temp about 75 degrees.  I got in a 10.5 mile run that included doing the Monday night speed work with Donnie's group.  I ran the speed session with Karen F where we did 5 sets of 500 M and 100M with a 100M recovery between each.  A nice fun workout. 

This starts the 3rd week in a row where I am trying to get in at least 10 miles during a run. 

Ran over at Florence HS while Lynn walked the track.  Nice cool evening with temps in the 50's.  This was a recovery run with focus on relaxing with the running stride.  Nice run, easy, legs feel really good. 

Ran at Brushy Creek with Bill S group.  I had a hard time getting away from work so I only had 1 mile warm-up prior to starting drills with the group.  Then for the workout Bill had us run up and down the boat dock hill for 30 minutes which I measure at 3.5 miles.  Then I did 2 mile cool down after the workout.  There just wasn't time to go for another 3.5 miles to get the 10 tonight.  Even so, a nice workout.  Had fun running with Erick on the Boat Dock hill.

Resting heart rate this morning when I woke up was 46, so I don't believe these longer runs are stressing my body.  This is about as low as I ever measure for a morning resting HR.

A beautiful evening in Austin, TX with temps about 55 degrees.  I ran at Brushy Creek and did a relaxing 11 mile run around the park loop and across the dam and on down to the end of the trail and then on up the greenbelt trail past 3 deer that were about 10 feet off the trail, and then turned around and ran back.  On the way back I noticed the sliver of a moon starting to appear in the western sky just after the sun went down.  On the last mile the stars were out and made an enchanting finish to the run. 

Ran Townlake trail with Karen F and Karen H.  Temp at 6:30 AM was about 42 degrees.  We did the 10 mile loop plus an extra mile and then the people bridge loop.  Loads of runners on the trail today. 

Lynn did her walk of the people bridge loop while we ran.  She saw a bum on a bench on the people bridge who smelled of marijuana.  He was gone when we did our people bridge loop. 

Then we went for breakfast at Maudie's.  Nice start of a weekend.  Lynn and I stopped at Home Depot on the return trip home.  Finish remodeling PD's shower this weekend. 

This run gives me over 50 miles a week for 2 in a row which is a record.  Legs feel great. 

A beautiful and pleasant evening in Austin, TX at McNeil HS.  Temp about 58 degrees.  I got to the track early and it was loaded with high school track athletes which made it fun to be running the track while they were doing their relay race training.  I got in 6 miles and then joined Donnie's group for drills and the workout.  About 40 of us in the group tonight.  Donnie had us do 8 sets of 350M with a 50M recovery jog.  I ran with Karen and then we did 2.25 miles recovery.  A really great way to start the week.  Ethan was there tonight as he is on a trip down here from Utah. 

Today I managed a lunchtime run over at Wells Branch Park.  Temp about 60 degrees and perfect for a nice run.  7.25 miles at Boston Marathon qualifying pace.  The plan was to get in at least 3 more miles tonight but I got hung up at work and couldn't get away.  7.25 miles isn't 10, but I'm going to try not to feel guilty for a short mileage day.  Legs feel really good. 

Resting heart rate has been 46 and even down to 45 this week. This is as low as I have ever measured it.

Stopped by Wells Branch park this morning on the way to work and got in 6.6 miles.  A beautiful morning with temps in the high 40's.  Squirrels running across the trail, ducks on the pond, people walking and running on the trail.  This is a nice start to the day.  Plan to join our Wednesday evening Brushy Creek bunch tonight for the speed workout and another 7 miles. 

This evening we ran at Brushy Creek with temps in the mid 50's. I got in 7 miles with the speed intervals right in the middle of the run. After we did drills, Bill had us run over to the dam and then do 5 speed intervals (1/2 mile each) with each one faster than the one before (3:29; 3:23; 3:20; 3:09; 3:01). For most of the run we had a beautiful half moon overhead.

This business of consistently running longer distances mostly at areobic paces seems to be a good thing for extending the running base. So far the experiment seems to be working.

Update on the polymyalsia rheumatica disorder: taking 8mg of prednisone medication per day (5 in the morning; 3 at night). Hopefully this nuisance issue will be gone by spring (2 years of putting up with this stuff).

A nice lunchtime run today for 6.6 miles in temps about 45 degrees.  A nice start to the running day.  Will do more after work. 

Ran tonight at Florence HS.  Lynn went with me and she walked while I did 4 quick miles.  The temps were cold probably about 35 degrees.  I noticed a good strong feeling in the legs tonight even after all the miles I have run lately.  Hopefully this is a result of the extended mileage mostly at an areobic pace. 

A cold morning in Austin, TX, about 29 degrees.  I joined Karen F and Karen H at Austin HS track at 6:30 and we did a warmup mile and then 8 speed mile intervals with a 1 lap recovery between each interval mile, and then 1.5 miles cool down.  Lynn did her walk of the People Bridge loop of Townlake.  Then we all went to Maudie's for breakfast.

The speed mile intervals were moderately difficult as I was just trying to do a pace of 90 seconds per mile faster than my Boston qualifying marathon pace.  So the speed intervals were 8:05 (start easy with the 29 degree temps); 7:37; 7:36; 7:22; 7:19; 7:30; 7:32; 7:25.   The intent was to hold the pace to 7:30 so I backed off after doing the 7:22 and 7:19. 

This finished up another week going over 50 miles and the legs felt great.  So far so good on the longer mileage weeks.  Both Karens think I am goofy for extending my weekly mileage this fast.  This experiment continues. 

An interesting observation this past weekend.  We did mile interval training on Saturday.  I worked the rest of the day remodeling our son's bathroom.  Very tired I slept really good Saturday night into Sunday morning.  I woke from a deep sleep and took my resting heart rate Sunday morning and it was the lowest I have ever measured it at 43.  I did two measurements to make sure the count was correct and they were both 43.  Amazing.  Last week I had counted resting HR at 46 and 45.  Prior to all this long distance and consecutive days running my typical resting HR had been anywhere from 47 to 51.  This is part of the experiment I am doing with this long running days stuff.   

Ran in the morning in the rain at Wells Branch park and got in 6.6 aerobic easy miles.  Then ran in the evening at McNeil HS track doing 6.4 easy miles and 2 miles of track workout with Donnie's group, running with Karen F and Joe.  We did 4 repeats of 700 meters with 100 meters recovery between each.  A fun evening in the misty drizzle part of the time.

Ran in the morning at Wells Branch park and got in 11 miles of aerobic easy running.  During mile 5 as I was crossing a wood plank foot bridge I caught my right toe on a nail that was protruding up about 1/2 inch and I did a face fall landing on both hands and both knees and my stomach, then slid to a stop on the wet bridge.  I was amazed because I didn't even cuss.  I just looked back to see what I had tripped on and then did an assessment of the damage and realized everything was fine, thank goodness.  Then I finished the run with no issues.  A great way to get the week going with two consecutive long mileage days.

My mother turned 100 years old today.  She lives in American Fork, Utah with my sister and is doing great.  She had been living alone in her home up to 2 years ago when she had a fall and broke her hip.  We sold the house and she moved in with my sister as a caregiver since then.  My running friends think I have inherited some longivity genes from her, which is supposed to explain why I am still running marathons and competing at my young age of 60.  I do love to run.

Ran tonight at Brushy Creek park.  Cold weather with temps in the 30's so I dressed for it, but by mile 3 I was pulling off the long sleeve shirt and gloves and hat.  After 5.5 miles I joined Bill and the Wednesday night group where we did our drills and accellerations, and then ran down to the boat dock and did 6 loops from the boat dock and up through the parking lot and back to the stop sign.  Then I did 2 more aerobic miles. 

I could feel the left knee just a little bit after taking the fall yesterday, but not actually an injury, just a nuisance.  No problem.   

Ran tonight over at Florence HS while Lynn walked the track.   It was cold with temps in the high 30's with misty wet air.  However by mile 3 I was taking off my hat and gloves and by mile 6 the long sleeve shirt came off.  At mile 9 the gloves went back on and for mile 10 the long sleeve shirt went back on.  A nice enjoyable run after taking Thursday off to let the left knee cap feel a little better, since the fall last Tuesday morning. 

Yesterday I had a doctor checkup visit and when the nurse came in to take my vital signs, after she took my pulse heart rate she went and got the doctor.  The heart rate was 50 and it alarmed the nurse.  The doctor had some fun and brought in another nurse and asked him if he could explain my low heart rate.  The nurse thought it might be the prednisone medication for the polymyalsia rheumatica, but the doctor used this as a teaching moment and explained to the nurse that they need to ask a few questions of the patient to learn more about life style that may contribute to the low heart rate.  This was fun.  The doctor couldn't hardly believe that I was doing 50 miles a week, but he said that sure explained why my heart was getting so efficient and strong.  There are definite visible benefits to doing the longer runs.  

Beautiful day in Austin, TX, with 6:00 AM temp of 40 degrees.  I met Karen H at RunTex in the Gateway shopping center about 6:00 AM.  We went out and got in a little over 4 miles of easy running prior to the start of the 3M half marathon, then we ran the 3M as bandits but we carried our own drinks so we were not in the way at the aid stations to those who had paid their race fee of $60.   After we finished the 13.1 miles of the 3M race we ran another 4.5 miles on down to the Townlake trail and then ran up to Mopac at Austin HS tennis courts and found Lynn.  Then we all went to breakfast at Maudie's on LaMar.  What a great day.

Prior to the start of the race we saw Ethan and during the race we saw Jim and Lisa (Karen F's friends) and ran with them a couple of miles and talked about watching the movie, Spirit of the Marathon, and other running stuff like the Oyster Adventure Race I did with Karen F and Karen H last October and about the Ironman race Karen H did in Idaho last June and the Muddy Buddy race that Karen F and I have done 4 times.  You can never run out of things to talk about when you are running.  When the sun came up so did the temperature and by the end of our run it was probably in the mid 60's with beautiful sunshine and a slight breeze, probably the best running weather we have had so far this year.

This 21.6 miles was very easy and smooth.  We targeted just running an easy 20 mile training run pace but we were passing up race runners the entire 13.1 miles of the race.  Just too much fun and zero soreness or stiffness even now after completing the 21.6 miles.  We got in the extra mileage because the race finished over on the east end of Austin near the University of Texas football stadium area, so we had the longer distance to run to get back down to the Townlake trail and back up to Mopac. 

Ran at McNeil HS this evening, a beautiful day with temps in the 60's at the time we ran.  I got in 6 miles before the group drills and workout and then a cool down mile after.  Jill had us do 12 sets of 200M hard with 200M recovery jog.  Karen F and Tam and I did 12 sets of sub 5:45 pace 200M intervals.  This was lots of fun.

5:00 AM, 32 degrees in Austin, TX.  Ran with Karen F and Karen H for the annual Karen F birthday run.

1.  LasCruses, New Mexico, 22 degrees this morning I got in a 5 mile run from the hotel through the neighborhoods and around through some agriculture areas.  A nice start of the day.  We are on vacation going to the Tucson, AZ gem and mineral show.

2.  Green Valley, AZ about 30 miles south of Tucson, AZ.  Got in a 6 mile run this afternoon again from the hotel through the neighborhoods, past a golf course, through a river bed wash, through a pecan orchard, along a country road, back along a gravel road past the waste water treatment plant, climbed through a couple of barbed wire fences to get across the river bed wash and back to the hotel.  A beautiful run in about 60 degree temps with the sun beaming. 

After a 5 day trip to Tucson, AZ and back (900 miles each way) and then returning to work this morning, goodness it felt good to get in a run tonight at the Florence HS track, even if it was only 5 miles.  I was late leaving work and then had a 8:00 PM teleconference call from here at home so I sneaked in the 5 mile run prior to the call.  It just felt good to be running instead of driving 900 miles.   At least the Texas weather is okay as it was a little windy but temps in the high 50's or low 60's. 

And then for the 8:00 PM call it turned out that when the Japan team arrived to work this morning (our evening) they must have cancelled the call because I was the only one on the call.  Go figure.

Wednesday morning we are doing a 10 mile run so that is going to be nice. 

A cold morning in Austin, TX with temps in the high 20's.  Ran 10 miles with Karen F.  Nice run.

A beautiful morning in Austin, TX.  Temps about 48 degrees at 6:00 AM down at Austin HS track where Karen H and I did 10 speed interval miles with 1/4 mile recovery between each interval mile. 

Karen's goal was to stay below 8:00 and she averaged 7:54 with a slowest interval of 7:56.  My intent was to stay at 7:30 pace and most of the time I held it down to about 7:30 with the fastest at 7:03.   We went to breakfast over at Maudie's after our run and I messed up the order, as I ordered bacon, eggs & cheese taco wraps instead of potato, egg & cheese taco wraps.  We ate them anyway.

This past week was a busy one at work so I hadn't run since Wednesday morning when Karen F and I did 10 miles, so chalk this one down as almost a recovery easy week that finished on a very good note.  It was the easiest 10 miles of intervals that I have ever done. 

A key as we get ready for Boston in April is to stay injury free and right now all systems are go, no issues, no injuries.  I think the 10 mile days and 50 mile weeks have been good to strengthen the base and continue to bring the heart rate down. 

A beautiful evening in Austin, TX with temps about 62 degrees.  We ran at McNeil HS track and for the first 6 miles we shared the track with the high school track team.  Then Jill had us move over on the softball field to do our drills and workout.

For the workout we ran 10K pace for 300M and then push it hard for the last 100M.  We did this repeat for 3 miles.  A nice workout.  Karen F left in the middle of the workout with an upset stomach. 

The Austin AT&T Marathon is this weekend so lots of the runners were getting ready for the big one here in Austin. 

Ran after work at Brushy Creek.  Temp in the low 50's with a breeze.  I got creative and ran an assortment of routes and on a trail I had never run before.  A relaxing fun evening.  By the time I was doing the last 2 miles it was getting dark and the moon and stars were out.

A fun run.

A beautiful evening in Austin, TX.  Temps in the mid 50's.  Ran again at Brushy Creek.  Bill S couldn't make it so in the middle of our 10 mile run we stopped and I led the drills and got everyone running the workout.  Karen F and I ran lots of trails and had a great run.   The last 2 or 3 miles were under the moon and stars making shadows on the trail from the overhead trees, fun.   

Today was the Austin, TX AT&T Marathon.  We only needed a 22 or 23 mile run, so Karen H and I ran 18.5 miles of the marathon course and then 4.5 miles on the TownLake Trail and on Congress Avenue. 

This was a fun run.  A clear day with cool temps at the start and nice temps throughout the run.  It is sure fun to mix in with the marathoners and enjoy the bands and all the runners and the good crowd support. 

A fun run day. 

Beautiful evening in Austin, TX.  Ran at McNeil HS with Karen F and Daniel F.  A fun night to celebrate with the guys who ran the marathon yesterday.  A fun evening.

Wow, what a nice evening in Austin, TX.  It turned out to be a lot warmer than we had expected with temps in the 70's.  We were sweating a bunch tonight.  I got in 6 miles on the trails before we did the drills, and these miles felt really easy even though I was pushing it a bit.

For the workout Bill had us do 4 of the 3/4 mile loops pushing it hard.  I ran about a 6:20 pace and it felt really good.  Then after the workout I did a mile cooldown.  Just a really nice evening.

A beautiful morning in Austin, TX with a 40 degree temp at 6:00 AM for our start with a bright moon above and the sun coming up with clear skies.  What a great day to run.  Karen F, Karen H and I did the 10 mile loop around Townlake and after 4 miles we did a 3 mile push at 5K race pace down across the Longhorn Dam and back up the other side just past the I-35 overpass.  Karen H is nursing a pinched nerve in the small of her back and butt area, but she hung in there and had a great run with us. 

I did this 3 mile push at a 7:20 pace which was plenty fast for me today.  It felt great.  Then we finished running our 15 miles on the Townlake trail.  Just a really nice run.  Then we went over to Maudie's for breakfast tacos and just like that our weekend had already been a good one.

This past several weeks I think I can feel a benefit of running those 10 mile days during the week.  I think there are benefits that will payoff in 2 months at Boston.  Which reminds me we need to get our airplane tickets and hotel tickets for Boston. 

I usually don't run on Sunday unless there is a race, so I think I will try to use the Sunday blog to note other aspects of my fitness program.

1.  Resting heart rate in the mornings this past week have typically been 47 to 48. 

2.  Polymyalgia Rheumatica muscle disorder status.  It has now officially been 2 years since I started seeing muscle aching symptoms.  The doctor said this disease normally goes away within 2 years, so I am very hopeful I can soon begin reducing my medication. 
A week ago I reduced my Prednisone medication down to 7 mg a day (4 mg in the morning and 3 mg at night).  Today I am noticing aching between the shoulder blades in the back.  Have to watch it and see if I raise the medication back to 8 mg.

3.  Core strength training.  Boy am I missing on this one.  Nothing to report. 
No situps, no crunches, no push-ups, nada. 

A hot evening in Austin, TX at McNeil High School.  Temps in the 80's and high humidity, just a hot evening, so I was sweating like a pig.  I did my warm-up miles pushing the pace with Richard.  Then we did drills and Donnie's workout and then back to pushing the 1.2 mile loop around the high school perimeter.  Donnie ran the last 2.4 miles with me after everyone had gone home.  Just a nice hard workout for most of the 10.25 miles.

A cold front across Texas cooled down the temps from the mid 80's last evening to the high 40's tonight.  So I ran with gloves on at Brushy Creek and got 11 miles in tonight.  A nice run all by myself.  I found a new trail where I had to cross a barbed wire fence and got in 2 miles out and back.  The legs felt great tonight after running 10.25 last night over at McNeil HS.  I still think these long runs during the week are good for strong base building.

All body parts feeling pretty nice, no injuries. 

A beautiful evening in Austin, TX with temps in the 50's and a clear sky perfect for running.  I got over to Brushy Creek and started my run at 5:03 PM. I got in 6 miles before the group workout and then joined Bill and the bunch.  We had 18 of us for the group drills and workout.

For the workout Bill had us do 6 of the 2/3 mile loops.  Joe and Tam ran with me and we had a great run.  Bill wanted us to do each loop faster than the one before and we pushed it good and then better and finally we were really pushing it hard.  I think we averaged about a 6:30 per mile pace with probably the fastest pace of 6:15. 

Then I finished with some cool down mileage.  Just a great workout.  All systems are go, no injuries, no complaints.   

A hot humid morning in Austin, TX with temp in the low 60's at 7:00 AM and high humidity.  Met Karen F and Tam at Austin HS track and did warmup and then did 6 speed mile intervals.  Target was to hold it to 7:30 interval miles and did:  7:37; 7:21; 7:19; 7:30; 7:24; 6:45.  Then Karen and I did a cool down 3.1 mile People Bridge loop on Townlake.  Then Lynn, Karen, and I headed to Maudie's for breakfast.  A great workout and a great way to start the weekent.  

This was especially a good workout since I had taken off Thursday and Friday due to a sore throat and cold that sneaked up on me this past week.  I did major resting Thursday and Friday evenings after coming home from work to get recovery on this stupid cold/throat thing.  Other than that, everything feels really good. 

I usually don't run on Sunday unless there is a race, so I think I will try to use the Sunday blog to note other aspects of my fitness program.

1.  Resting heart rate in the mornings this past week have risen since I got the sore throat and congestion.  Resting HR is typically between 47 to 48, but this past week it has risen into the 50's and this morning it was 57.  This a sure sign that the body is in stress, so recovery is most important over the next couple of days.  Right now I'm impressed that we had such a great speed interval workout yesterday.  

2.  Polymyalgia Rheumatica muscle disorder status.  It has now officially been 2 years since I started seeing muscle aching symptoms.  The doctor said this disease normally goes away within 2 years, so I am very hopeful I can soon begin reducing my medication. 
Two weeks ago I reduced my Prednisone medication down to 7 mg a day (4 mg in the morning and 3 mg at night).  Starting tomorrow I'm reducing it down to 6 mg a day, 3 mg in the morning and 3 mg in the evening.  

3.  Core strength training.  Boy am I missing on this one.  Nothing to report. 
No situps, no crunches, no push-ups, nada. 

Sore right foot.  Yesterday I had a visit at the podiatrist where he treated my right foot for 2 plantar warts.  They do not have to cut them out any more because they have a new medicine made from bees that they can put in the plantar wart for treatment.  The treatment makes them very sore and will cause them to blister. 

The doctor said I should take a couple of days off from running, but if the pain is not too bad on Saturday that I can do my long 26 mile run.  We'll see.  Today/tonight the foot is very sore and I limp like a guy who certainly won't be running before Saturday.

At least I know that my delay is temporary and not like Benn or Kory who have been set back with the Achilles tendon issues.

Later,

Paul

A cold start about 31 degrees at 6:00 AM at Austin HS tennis courts parking lot under Mopac.  Met Karen F, Karen H, Steve, and Jason.  We headed up on the Mt. Bonnell 10 mile loop and at 35th Street, Steve and Jason turned right and returned back to the start.  Karen, Karen and I went on up to Mt. Bonnell and then back to the start, 10 miles. 

Then we started the Twnlake 10 mile loop and Karen F took the Congress Avenue loop to get back to leave for New Orleans at 10:00.  Karen H and I continued on the 10 mile Townlake loop.  When we got around the Longhorn dam and started back up the other side, as we went past the power plant and past the neighborhoods along the cinder block wall by the power plant, we got attacked by a dog that came at us from a side street.  The dog attacked just behind my feet and hit Karen's feet and she screamed.  I turned back to see what had attacked us and the dog was spinning its legs in the gravel of the trail as it turned toward us. 
 
My anger switch flipped and I made the immediate decision that I was going to grab the dog by the throat and slam it against the block wall and kill it.  As I turned toward the dog and started yelling at the top of my voice the dog became a coward and headed back up the street where it had come from.  I chased it yelling at the top of my lungs and brought neighbors out of their houses.  The dog turned into its home as the owner came out and called it into the house.  I yelled at the owner and used a few expletives telling him he better restrain his stupid dog.  By now the entire neighborhood had to be alerted about the stupid dog. 

Karen and I contunued our run and finished the 10 mile loop and then ran the Congress Avenue 5 mile loop to give us 25 miles today.  Boston is 6 weeks away.  My right foot was real sore where the podiatrist treated my two plantar warts on Tuesday.  It feels like a knot at the base of my 4th toe and it was numbed by the 25 miles of running.  Hopefully it will be okay to be back on my running program next week.  Taking a week off this week made it hard to run the 25 miles today.

Anyway, it sure felt good to get back out and running.  A beautiful day with blue skies in Texas and temps in the 50's by the time we got done.

Okay, lets add stupidity to a sore foot.  After the 25 miles this weekend and a very sore right foot due to the plantar wart treatment, this morning at work I saw a nickel on the floor in a friend's office and I bent down and picked it up and put it on his desk.  As I got up I felt a strain in my lower back. 

The rest of the day the lower back pain got worse and worse.  So after work I went to McNeil HS to at least get in some easy jogging or walking and after getting dressed I looked for my running shoes and realized that I had left them home, duh.  So I headed home and walked 3 miles with my wife to see if the lower back would loosen up.  Nope.  So then I came in and laid down on the couch with a heated vibrator and slept until 10:00 PM when I went in and had a hot shower.

At least the lower back pain is no worse than it was this afternoon at work so I'm hopeful to be feeling some better Tuesday.  Obviously I'm having those reflections that we all have at times when we say, "all I want to do is run and feel great, I don't care about speed right now".  

Goodnight. 

Walked at Brushy Creek for 40 minutes, joined the group at 6:00 for drills, walked through the drills, then walked the workout.  Pain in lower back is not as bad as yesterday but it is bad enough when I tried to jog I stopped and walked.  Using different back muscles to support the back makes different muscles stiff and sore, duh.  Next time I pick up a nickel I'm going to be more careful.

On the good news side, today was registration day for the Pikes Peak Marathon in August.  I was lucky again and got through on Active.com and got registered. 

Hopefully by Saturday I will be good enough to go do our run.  I'm not even going to complain about the plantar wart treatment as that is nothing compared to a strained lower back.  All I want to do is run healthy and feel good doing it.  Speed is a good thing, but it is way down on the priority list.

The pain in the lower back has been less and less every day this week, but I still walk funny today and don't know if I will be able to do our Saturday run tomorrow. 

I'm totally refocusing my fitness goals with an emphasis on core strengthening along with the overall running base strengthening.  Speed is totally gone secondary.  Overall health and fitness take first priority.

Finally, after 9 days without running I got to get in some running tonight at McNeil HS.  Very humid and very warm in Austin, TX tonight.  I backed off on the pace most of the night being careful not to stress the lower back.  3.5 miles warmup, then drills, then 2 miles of track work with the group.  We had about 40 people here tonight.  Then a cool down mile with Karen F.

It sure feels good to run again.

Goodness it felt good to get out and run again.  Last week at Brushy Creek all I could do was walk due to the lower back pain, but tonight I got in 4 warmup miles, then did drills, then did the workout.  I didn't push it during the workout but I did run a consistent forward push effort.  Lower back felt like 97% good to go.  No problems tonight.

What a beautiful evening in Austin, TX.  I met Karen F down at Townlake and we ran the 10 mile loop.  Loads of runners all over the place.  Just a great evening for running.  The lower back felt great.  Good to be back.

My wife and I leave for Colorado on Saturday to go see the grand children and our daughter and her husband.  Should be a great weekent. 

My wife and I just returned this morning from a trip to Colorado where we spent the weekend and Monday and Tuesday with our daughter's family.  A 900 mile drive up there on Saturday, working on fences Sunday, Monday, Tuesday.  Stayed at a local hotel and went swimming with the grandchildren twice (Monday evening, Tuesday morning). 

Then headed for home Tuesday evening and drove all night 900 miles taking turns driving and sleeping.  Got home this morning about 10:00 AM, took a nap, went to lunch, and then Lynn and PD dropped me off at Brushy Creek for my run.

It was a hot afternoon in central Texas with temps at 85 degrees that felt like 95 degrees, just real hot.  I got in 9 miles and met back up with Lynn and PD so I called it a day, hot and tired. 

We have a 26 mile run on our calendar for Saturday and then 3 weeks final training for Boston. 

Another hot evening in central Texas with temps at 83 degrees with high humidity.  Somehow these mid 80 degree temperatures sure feel like temps in the 90's.  My wife went with me over to Florence HS and I ran 6 miles while she walked.

On the way home from work today I stopped by the podiatrist office and he checked the two plantar warts that he treated a month ago, and good news they are all gone.  The feet have a clean bill of health.  I think I'm ready to do our 26 mile run on Saturday.  

Boston is only 3 weeks away so we needed a long run this weekend.

Lynn and I drove down to Austn and I met Karen F and Karen H at Austin HS tennis courts at Townlake at 5:30 AM and we ran a loop along Townlake trail down to the People Bridge and then across and up through Austin on Lamar and Shoal Creek way up past Far West then over to Balcones and then back down to Hancock and over to Shoal Creek and then back down to Townalke and Austin HS tennis courts.  Then did the Congress Avenue loop with a mile out and back built in at Congress Avenue which gave us 26.2 for the day.

Good news is that we were able to keep a good consistent pace and got in the distance.  Karen H was really feeling it throughout most of the run, but she hung in there and got it done.

Then we all went over to Maudie's for breakfast tacos and that was the finishing touch to a great start to the weekend.

Using the Sunday blog to note other aspects of my fitness program.

1.  Resting HR is typically between 47 to 48, but this past week it was typically 49 or 50.    

2.  Lower back pain from a couple of weeks ago (picking up a nickel) is pretty much all gone.  I sure need to get on with strengthening the core. 

3.  Plantar wart treatment delcared cured, from the podiatrist last Tuesday.

4.  Polymyalgia Rheumatica muscle disorder status.  It has now officially been 2 years since I started seeing muscle aching symptoms.  The doctor said this disease normally goes away within 2 years, so I am very hopeful I can soon begin reducing my medication.  
Five weeks ago I reduced my Prednisone medication down to 7 mg a day (4 mg in the morning and 3 mg at night).  Two weeks later I reduced it down to 6 mg a day, 3 mg in the morning and 3 mg in the evening.  Two weeks later I reduced it down to 5 mg a day, but after 5 days (March 21st) due to excess neck and high back muscle pain, I moved it back up to 6 mg a day. 

5.  Core strength training.  Boy am I missing on this one.  Nothing to report. 
No situps, no crunches, no push-ups, nada.  The lower back is probably to the point in healing that I can get started on the core now. 

A warm humid evening in Austin, TX with temps about 78 degrees but hot with the humidity.  After our 2.5 mile warmup we were sweating like a pig, but feeling really good.

After the warmup and the accelleration runs Donnie had us do 1.5 miles at a "uncomfortable brisk" pace.   Then we did 400M at mile goal pace (5:52 pace) and a 400M recovery jog, then another 400M mile goal pace (5:40 pace).   

Then we did some cool down mileage and called it a night.  A great workout tonight.  After doing 26.2 miles two days ago I wondered if it would hamper the speed session effort tonight, answer no problem.   

Ran at Brushy Creek with the Wednesday night bunch.  Late leaving work so I didn't get in my early miles.  I pulled in just as the group was heading over to do drills.  Did a quick change into running clothes and joined them. 

Bill had us do a hard push workout tonight.  We did the short loop, the the medium loop, then the long loop, then the medium loop, then the short loop which all added up into a 3 mile workout of pushing it really good.  Temps were in the high 70's or low 80's with high humidity as we all had sweat dripping as we ran and afterword as we did stretching.  Got in 2 easy miles and headed home. 

Overall a short night of running but it really was a great workout.  Having a reasonably large group made it fun as well. 

Got up early and drove down to Wells Branch trail and ran 4 loops and got in 9 miles before going to work.  I ran a steady pace but didn't push it too much.  After doing 26.2 Saturday and pushing it hard on Monday and Wednesday I could feel it some this morning. 

The temperature was reasonable in the upper 60's or low 70's.  Humidity was high again so the sweat like a pig routine was in order.  Cleaned up after the run over in the men's restroom and went to work.

What a great day to run in Austin, TX.  Temps at 6:00 AM about 48 degrees.  Lynn and I drove down to Townlake at the Austin HS tennis court parking lot and met Karen F, Tam, Duke, Steve S, and Rick B.  Karen H has the flu so she took the weekend off, figuring Boston is only 2 weeks away and no reason to tempt fate by running when she was not up to it.  Lynn did her People Bridge walk while the rest of us took off on the 10 mile Longhorn Dam loop. 

After the first 4 miles we ran race pace for 3 miles.  We did this because our Boston training schedule showed us with a 5K race for today, so Karen and I figured a 3 mile race pace in the middle of our 15 mile run would fill that requirement.  I led the group and ran a 7:04 for the first mile, then mile 2 started up and over the Longhorn Dam and up over by the Power Plant.  Those hill sections took a little toll and I finished mile 2 at 7:31, a little disappointed, so I pushed it hard for the 3rd mile that finished just as we went under I-35.  I did the 3rd mile in 6:59 which was much more satisfying.  Then I headed back to meet Karen and Tam as they came in running hard about 2:30 behind me.  Then Duke and Steve came in.  A very satisfying run today which was 4 seconds faster than I did this a few weeks ago.

Then we finished the 10 mile loop, losing Tam and Duke along the way as Tam basically walked the rest of the way.  Karen had run him into the ground on the 3 mile push.  Then Karen F and I did the 5 mile Congress Avenue loop finishing a great morning of running.  Boston, here I come.

Then we went over to Maudie's for breakfast tacos (potatoes, eggs, and cheese).  Karen F brought her god-daughter, Taylor who is visiting for a few days.  As we sat there eating our breakfast, Jessie James (of the motorcycle shows on TV) came in and sat down to breakfast two tables away from us.  We didn't bother him, but Lynn sure thought it was cool, as she likes to see the motorcycle chop shop shows on TV.  Our son, PD, just bought a Buell Lightening sport bike.  A fun day.

Using the Sunday blog to note other aspects of my fitness program.

1.  Resting HR this morning was 46.  This is a good thing, the best in the past 5 or 6 weeks.   

2.  Polymyalgia Rheumatica muscle disorder status.  It has now officially been over 2 years since I started seeing muscle aching symptoms.  The doctor said this disease normally goes away within 2 years, so I am very hopeful I can soon begin reducing my medication.  
Six weeks ago I reduced my Prednisone medication down to 7 mg a day (4 mg in the morning and 3 mg at night).  Two weeks later I reduced it down to 6 mg a day, 3 mg in the morning and 3 mg in the evening.  Two weeks later I reduced it down to 5 mg a day, but after 5 days (March 21st) due to excess neck and high back muscle pain, I moved it back up to 6 mg a day.  Still at 6 mg a day. 
I visited the rheumatologist this past week and he basically said to hang in there and see where the recovery goes.  He noted that some people actually have to go on long term taking a minimum dosage of prednisone, hmmmmmm, I don't like that.  We will see.   

3.  Hopefully nothing to really mention, but for the past week or two after I run I notice a pain on the top of my right foot and some swelling from the base of the toes that goes half way up the foot.  When I curl the toes or lift the toes "up" it puts a strain through the top of the foot where the swelling is.  Hopefully this nuisance will go away if I ignore it and don't overdo the running. 

4.  Core strength training.  Boy am I missing on this one.  Nothing to report. 
No situps, no crunches, no push-ups, nada.  The lower back is probably to the point in healing that I can get started on the core now. 

Ran at McNeil HS with the Monday night bunch.  There were about 50 of us there tonight.  A hot evening with temps in the mid 80's and humidity again.  But a fun run with all the people that showed up.  No way to know all the names any more, just too many.

Duke ran the cool down mile with me after we got through with the workout. 

Sunday I pushed the lawn mower for about 6 hours on our property giving the first mow of the year.  A great aerobic workout and I could even feel it with the upper body work through the shoulders and back.  Good work. 

Another hot humid evening in Austin, TX.  We ran at Brushy Creek tonight.  3 miles warm-up.  Drills.  4 miles hard.  1 mile cool down.  The 4 hard miles consisted of 5 loops of the medium long loop running each one faster than the one before with a 100 meter recovery between each. 

Tom (Pikes Peak with me this year) ran with me tonight.  I showed him my trail running shoes (Brooks Cascadia).  He is going to RunTex and get some good trail shoes.

All systems felt good tonight.  I think I'm on track to have a decent Boston in 12 days.

What a great day in Austin, TX.  Lynn and I drove down to Austin HS track and met Karen F and Karen H at 6:30 AM.  Beautiful morning with very low humidity and temps in the high 40's as we got started with our speed intervals.  A gorgeous sunrise as we were running on the track.  Lynn did her walk of the People Bridge loop on Townlake as we did our speed intervals.

Karen H was just finishing her 2nd week with the flu and is in recovery mode and wondered just what she could do today, but she did great with Karen F helping pace her through the intervals.  My goal was just to beat 7:30 for each interval and run comfortably fast.  My intervals were 7:25; 7:11; 7:17; 7:14; 6:38.  Then we went over on the Townlake trail and did the Congress Avenue Bridge loop with an extra mile up into town to 5th Street due to road closures from the Art festival.  The fragrence from flowers and tree blossoms was strong along the trail and almost gives you a runners high smelling them as you run.  It reminded me of running past the orange groves when I was in San Jose, CA from 1991 to 1998 and would get a runners high from the pungent orange grove fragrence.  Good memories.

Then we went ove to Maudie's for breakfast tacos and they really did a good job on them today.  Just a great start to the weekend.  Karen F and I did some planning talk for our Boston trip next week.  Karen't mother is going to go to her first Boston Marathon so we figured she will be able to spend some time with Lynn while Karen and I run the marathon. 

Another gorgeous evening in Austin, TX.  Low humidity, temp probably in the mid 70's, just a beautiful evening at McNeil HS track.  Probably 40 of us there.  Donnie announced to the group that there were two of us running Boston next week.  It was fun talking with lots of running friends a week before Boston.

3 warm-up miles, drills, then Donnie had us run 2 each 700M at 5K pace, then 4 each 300M at 1-mile speed pace.  A good workout.  I held back a little being careful not to push it too hard and take a chance of a strain.  Then 1 mile cool down.

Amazing, we have had two of the best weather weeks that we ever see here in Austin.  All systems are still go for Boston. 

A great evening at Brushy Creek with a little wind and lots of clouds, a storm is approaching.  Temps were in the high 70's or low 80's.  A great evening to run. 

Bill had us run over across the dam where we did the drills.  Then he had us do 4 miles of the dam hill loop.  Veronica stayed with me and we had a really nice run.  On the first loop on our way back up the hill trail we passed 4 para-military guys.  I led the way and as I passed the lead guy he looked over at the grey bearded old man and couldn't handle it.  He picked up the pace to stay even with me and then we started up the steep concrete part of the trail up to the top of the dam, and he could hardly keep up when one of the guys yelled at him to join the group and he backed off.  Veronica said it looked like he was real happy to rejoin the group, fun. 

Then we all ran back over to the other side of the dam and did our stretch drills.  A nice workout.  As far as Boston goes all looks well.  We leave Friday morning and arrive in Boston about 1:30 PM.  We'll head for Copley Square and do our packet pickup.  Sunday we will watch the olympic trials where 4 ladies from here in Austin will be running.  Karen H. and I will bring Texas flags and wave to them for encouragement.  Should be a great time.

What a beautiful day in Boston.  The clouds parted just as the race started and we were on our way.  I was confident to run between 3:45 and 3:55 and hoping for better, but by the 14th and 15th mile I could feel it in the legs and knew from the past two years that the pace was going to slow down every mile from here.  The first half of the race I steadily passed other runners.  By mile 14 and 15 I was running even with the other runners, and from mile 16 on it was a mix of staying with the other runners and recognizing that about 2/3 of them were slowly steadily passing me, which was a little frustrating, but what a great day and a great race.  I have to remember that I have lots of running friends back in Austin that wish they were qualified for Boston and could be here, as it is a privilege and an honor. 

I'm convinced that this muscle disorder, Polymyalgia Rheumatica, is the root of my challenges the past two years.  I'm still on 6mg of prednisone medication per day and hoping to get off the medication soon.  However, I saw too many other runners with real handicaps so I have no complaints.

How fast some things can change.  Only 5 years ago I was running 4 marathons between 3:15:56 and 3:19:03.  Then the PMR hit 2 years ago.  Lesson:  enjoy all your running, do your best under the conditions, and as long as you know you trained well and ran well, that is all you can do. 

The crowd was the best I have seen in 8 years here at Boston, and it is great every year, but this one was special.  The good news is that even though I could feel the legs beginning to suffer I was able to keep up the running and not get into a bunch of recovery walks, other than when I would drink the Gatorade at the aid stations.  On Heartbreak Hill it was satisfying to be passing some runners who had begun to walk.  I had dedicated mile 21 to Kory and thought of him as I pushed it up Heartbreak.  Mile 13 was dedicated to Benn and as I passed all the screaming girls at Wellesley College I thought of Benn and how he will enjoy these girls.  I resisted doing any kissing with the girls holding "Kiss Me" signs. 

My running partner Karen H had a similar experience as I did, as she had been recovering from the flu for the past several weeks.  Still, a great race that we loved to run.

Sunday we went down and watched the American women do their olympic trials.  What a great experience that was.  We got to see them 6 times during their 26.2 mile run (including the start and finish) because they did a loop course that brought them back through town.  These are fast women with the winner, Deena Kastor, running a 2:29:35.  By the time the women finished at 2:45 they were looking real slow which makes no sense at all because they had just run a awesome race.  And the women who were finishing just under 3 hours were looking extremely slow by the end of the race, but again, finishing under 3 hours is an awesome run.  Goodness, what fun this was.

I'm guaranteed to be in St. George this fall so I'll hope for more recovery from the PMR and be ready to run a decent time, hopefully. 

Right now it is time to prepare for the Pikes Peak Marathon in August.  The training focuses primarily on strength training and strength endurance.  The training starts today.   

The recovery from Boston is going really well so I brought my running clothes to work and went to Brushy Creek and joined the group with a mile warm-up and then we did drills.  After drills Bill had us run over to the boat dock parking and we ran a loop on the trail, then recovery up the road to the dam.  Then a mile loop across the dam and back where most of us saw a rattle snake on the path about 100 meters from the start.  Then recovery down the hill to the boat dock.  Then a mile loop on the trail.  Then we did stretches to finish up.  A nice workout that was easier than I thought it would be only 2 days since Boston. 

I talked with Tom and told him that our Pikes Peak training starts today.  We are going to have fun.

7:00 AM, temp in mid 60's, met Karen H and Tom H at Austin HS tennis court parking lot.  Ran the 10 mile Longhorn Dam loop of Townlake.  Beautiful morning after thunderstorms went through central Texas last night.  Only 5 days since Karen and I did Boston and this 10 mile run felt really good, but by the last few miles we could tell we were working. 

Went over to Maudie's for breakfast tacos.  After that Lynn and I drove up to Georgetown and went out to Lake Georgetown to scope out the possiblity of some running trails that Tom and I could use for part of our Pikes Peak Marathon training.  They have a 26 mile trail that runs all the way around Lake Georgetown and part of it goes down to the bottom of the dam and then back up the other side.  Looks like a possibility for PPM training.  We will have to check it out.

Anyway, good news is there are no injuries or strains from running Boston, so all systems should be go to move on into the PPM training with a focus on strength endurance more than speed.  Tom is excited as this will be his first PPM. 

A beautiful warm evening in Austin, TX, with temps in the 80's but fresh air after the rain storms we had this weekend.  2 miles warm-up, then drills with Donnie and the group.  We had about 30 or more of us here tonight.  A lot of folks were doing congrats for me and Aaron doing Boston last Monday, good friends.

Then Donnie had us do "circuits".  Run hard 100 meters then do 10 push-ups, run hard 100 meters then do 10 lunges, run 100 meters hard then do 10 ab-crunches, run hard 100 meters then do 10 jumps.  Repeat this routine for all 4 laps of one mile.  Karen F and I ran this one together.

Then we ran 2 miles cool-down after a lap walking recovery.  A fun evening.  Only one week since Boston but it felt really good to give it a push. 

Cross training tonight on the weights.  35 minutes of leg extensions, leg curls, ab-crunches, push-ups.  I increased the weight each round.  Legs felt shaky after the workout, felt good. 

A nice warm evening in Georgetown, TX.  I met Tom at 5:00 PM at the parking lot near the Lake Georgetown dam.  Tom had to be back by 1 hr 30 min, so we went on a discovery trail run along the northeast side of the lake.  A nice challenging trail with rocks and roots and tree branches and all with enough up and down running to make this a good challenging run. 

We pushed the pace at 10 minute segments and then took a 1 minute recovery walk, and repeated this for the entire run.  By the time we finished I could really feel it in the upper legs.  A great workout.  We will probably do this kind of running on most Wednesday's as part of the Pikes Peak Marathon training. 

Ran alone at Lake Georgetown.  Warm evening with temps in the 80's but not too humid tonight.  I did some exploring, starting at the top of Outlook Park and running down below the dam and back up, then across the dam and over to the Cedar Park area and found the running trail on that side of the lake.  Ran the trail which had several nice up and down rough rocky segments.  This was my first time on this trail and it was special to do some discovering.

On the return trip I found the trail that went down below the dam and back to the trail that I had run at the beginning of the run. 

I wore my heart monitor and watched it so I could run different segments in different heart rate ranges.  During part of the run I would do some fartlek runs and push the pace getting the HR up to 165 and it felt good to do it.  Overall just a great run to discover these new trails.  It will be fun to show Tom these trails next Wednesday evening. 

A beautiful morning in central Texas, temps in the low 60's, no breeze, blue skies.  Since I was going to run alone today, my wife, Lynn, drove the car as I ran the country roads out here.  She would stop each mile and hand me a sports drink at the end of each mle. 

I ran in the 60% HR zone (108 - 125) for the first 3 miles, then moved it up to the 70% HR zone (126 - 143) for the next 3 miles, and then mixed the 70% and 80% (144 - 161) HR zone for the rest of the way.  This was interesting to watch the HR monitor instead of the mileage pace.  I had initially figured I may go 15 miles today but there were enough hills in the 13 miles I did that by the time 13 miles were done that was enough, 13 days since doing Boston. 

The most excitement for the run was being challenged by a few barking dogs.  Only two of them came out on the road so I yelled at them and threw rocks, no big deal, as I could tell they were only trying to make noise.  I did think of putting on my pistol belt next time and carry the .38 special with the bird shot loads next time, just to put a good scare in some of the dogs.  I doubt I will actually do that, but I may put it in the car just in case.  The 2nd most excitement was seeing a Roadrunner bird on the way home, as we usually don't see a lot of them.

As I ran I thought about some of the guys from the FastRunning blog that are injured.  It sure is a blessing to be running healthy with no issues at all as far as basic running goes.  My polymyalsia rheumatica slows me down from running marathons as fast as I want to, but nothing is holding me back from having a great experience either on the trails or out on the road like today.  Feeling pretty good today. 

A beautiful evening in Austin, TX after rain storms over night and during the day.  A cool breeze with temps in the high 70's and cloudy, just nice.  We had about 40 of us at McNeil HS.  I got in 2.25 miles warmup, then we did drills.  Then Donnie had us do 1 mile strong, then 700 M stronger, then 300 M pushing very hard with 100M recovery jog between each. 

I ran with Andy, Joe and Veronica for the first mile which we ran at 6:56 pace, then the 700M at 6:28 pace, then 300M at a 5:41 pace.  Then I did my cool down with Veronica.  Then Donnie had us do the stretch exercises.  A nice workout.

Strength workout tonight.  Leg curls, leg extensions, leg press, 20 reps each increasing the weight each set for a total of 4 sets.  Also 3 sets of crunches and 1 set of pushups.  Workout took about 35 minutes.  A nice workout. 

A hot evening in central TX.  Met Tom H at Lake Georgetown Outlook Park.  We ran the route that I did last Friday down to the bottom of the dam, across the trail to the end of the dam, up to the top of the dam and into Cedar Breaks Park.  Then on down the trail with some great footing challenges.  Then we returned back tracking.  A great run.  Tom is excited about running Pikes Peak in August.

Thursday some good stiffness again with abductors but more specific at the top inside of the legs.  Feel great by Friday when I'm writing this entry. 

Wow, this one was fun.  I met Tom H down in Austin, TX at the Barton Springs Pool parking lot at 6:30 AM.  We ran the Barton Springs greenbelt up to the Hill of Life and back including a couple of stray runs on side trails.

We saw Reni and Charlene from my old Pikes Peak training group on our way up and on our way back.  At the top of the HOL we saw Jeff and 4 or 5 guys who will be running a 100 miler late this summer.  Tom had never run the HOL so it was really fun pacing him up this one today.  HOL is 1/2 mile long, steep, rugged.  A great run.

A few near pitfalls on this run as I tripped 9 times on rocks and roots but did not go down, whew!  However, with about 1 mile to go I was wearing my running hat with the brim low on my forehead as I focused on the trail so I didn't trip again.  All of a sudden SMACK to my forehead as I smashed into a tree limb that was hanging across the trail.  My head snapped back and I could hear the sound of cartledge being forced unexpectedly in the reverse direction as I stumbled trying not to go down.  For just a moment I wondered if I had broken my neck, duh.  Good news all was okay with only my pride suffering.

Heart rates during the run were mostly in the 70% zone (126-143) or 80% zone (144-161).  Pushing it up the HOL the HR was pumping in the 90% zone at 165 BPM and it really felt good pushing hard up the HOL.  I reminded Tom that the 3 miles at Pikes Peak up the "W's" is relentless much like the effort up the HOL today, but for 3 miles instead of 1/2 mile.  Then after getting to the top of the W's the Pkes Peak trail gives some relief as it continues up the mountain, but you are measurably drained by the time you finish the W's.  He is looking forward to it.   

Back to Barton Springs Pool, hot and sweaty, we went to the far end of the springs pool and walked out in the spring with all our running clothes on including trail running shoes and we cooled down in the springs in water deep enough that we went swimming. Cold water felt awesome.

A beautiful evening in Austin, TX with overcast skies and temps in the 70's and a light breeze, just nice.  Easy slow warmup in the 60% and 70% heart rates.  Then drills with the group, about 35 or 40 of us.  Tam even showed up tonight as he didn't have to work late.

After drills Donnie had us do 5 sets of 400M medium hard, 100M recovery, 200M hard, 100M recovery, and repeat 5 times.  I ran the workout with Tom and Tam, a great workout.  Then we did a recovery run, just a nice evening. 

All body parts feeling great, no injuries or stresses.  I saw a guy at work on crutches today who had sprained an ankle really bad playing basketball over the weekend.  Too many runners on the fastrunning blog with injuries.  All I want to do is stay healthy and keep on running. 

Worked late so I couldn't get away for the run with Tom at Lake Georgetown trails.  So I went home and got my wife and we went over to Florence HS track.  She walked while I ran.  We watched the thunderstorms as they approached and headed for home just to get there as the rain started. 

As I write this report the TV weather reports are showing tornado warnings a couple of miles south of us and a mile north of us.  We have lots of lightening and winds and rain.  Amazing that the WIFI connection for the computer is working.  The TV satellite was out for about 30 minutes and just came back on.  Last night about 3:30 we woke up and watched the severe weather with white lightening right overhead, an amazing show.  We got 2 inches of rain last night.  Getting more tonight. 

Anyway, it sure felt good to finally get out and get in a run tonight.  HR 60% range the first mile, 70% the next mile, and 80% range the last three miles.  Hot and humid. 

As some of you would know during the past week we didn't know if I would be able to join Karen for this year's Muddy Buddy race (our 5th Muddy Buddy) in Austin, TX.  My 100 year old mother has lived a good healthy life but during the last week the Hospice workers have told my sisters (Lynda and Suzanne) that mother could go at any hour.  If she would have passed away earlier in the week then Lynn and Paul Dean and I would have been on the road to Utah and would not have been here in Texas today for the race.  Mother was willing to pass away at any time but her body held on for several days longer than the Hospice team had thought.  She finally received her reward and moved on to heaven Saturday night, so we will not be leaving for Utah (via Colorado - Desiree) until Monday morning for a Wednesday funeral.  

The Muddy Buddy link is shown below.
Link: http://www.www.muddybuddy.com/results.php
When the official race photo's are available if you search for them, our race bib number for our team name "Boston Bound" was 857. 

For those not familiar with the Muddy Buddy series, they do the race in 9 locations around the country.  You do the race as a 2 person team.  One team member starts on the bike and 2 minutes later the other team member starts running.  There are 5 segments in the race and the team members switch off biking and running each segment and there are obstacles at the end of each segment that you have to work through. 
 
The biking is done on some tough terrain trails with some of the hills very technical and steep and rocky.  The trail is loaded with bikers and runners and can be dangerous as you navigate around slower participants.  Last year Karen wiped out on the 3rd segment on her bike and tore up her forearm and foreleg.  This year neither of us had any falls and the chain did not come off the bike, a great year.  We ran and biked our guts out and earned every ounce of glory, and did a great mud swim through the mud pit at the end of the race. 

Our wave of the race had 12 teams and started at 8:56 AM as we were entered in the coed division with ages adding up to 96 or higher (the oldest group).  We may have been the oldest team there with our ages adding up to 106.  The last 3 years even though we are a coed team we had to compete against the men's teams in the same age group, and we won the race 2 of the last 3 years.  So, I predicted a win again this year because now we were just competing against coed teams. 
 
We ran and biked and did the obstacles as hard and fast as we could because you really never know how close the competition is behind you.  After the race finish times were posted, we noted that we also beat all of the men's teams of the same age category, and we would have finished 2nd if we had competed against the younger coed teams from the 2 divisions below us, so it was a real nice race.  Our finish time was 41 minutes 23 seconds (I may be off a second or two). 
 
Andy and Shea from our Monday night running group at McNeil High School were also registered and ran the Muddy Buddy, but they were in the youthful coed teams so we were not competing against them.  They ran a great race and took 2nd place in their division, finishing with a time about 20 seconds ahead of us.  They are focusing already on next year and a 1st place finish in their division. 

The last week has been a blur as we have driven over 52 hours of travel to get to Utah for my mother's funeral, to do the funeral in Payson on Wednesday morning, then drive from Payson to Hyde Park for the burial, and back to Lehi to Lynn's mom's home for the night.  We spent Thursday with family doing an outing at Thanksgiving Point at the dinosaur museum and then going over to Cabella's.  A busy day.  Then we drove Friday to Colorado to my daughter's home, and then drove all night Saturday night / Sunday morning to get back home in Texas.  Did a long sleep when we got home, and then got behind the push mower for 6 hours mowing the lawn and then 2 hours with my grand-daughter jumping on the trampoline and pushing her in the swing.  I'm taking credit for a 16 mile run from this 8 hours of cross training walking and running. 

Hot in Austin, TX.  Tied a record at 96 degrees and lots of humidity.  Even with the holiday today we still had about 25 of us there at McNeil High School.  Both Karens made it.  They had rode their bikes for 173 miles over the past 3 days in prep for their Ride the Rockies in 3 weeks. 

After running at McNeil, Lynn and Tapainga (my grand-daughter) met me at Brushy Creek where they have the water park sprinklers.  It felt great to get cooled down prior to doing a mile with Tapainga.  She had a great time.  When we finished at 7:50 PM the water sprinklers had turned off so we didn't get the wash after our run, darn.  A great night of running.

Met Tom at the Hill of Life this morning at 7:00 AM and we ran 8 reps of the HOL.  A great run with heart rate bouncing at 170 as we finished each rep and HR at 165 to 167 for most of the run each rep.  The HOL is 1/2 mile long, steep, rocky, perfect training for Pikes Peak.  One rep gives you 1 mile. 

Last Thursday the podiatrist treated what was left of plantar seed warts with the special medicine that is derived from beetles.  So the pain in the right foot was pretty good this morning which made this run even more special as I ran mostly from the push of the left leg and pivoted with the right leg/foot.  It really felt good to get out and sweat profusely.

We met some old guys (68 and 70 years old) who are training to climb a 19,000 foot mountain in Africa in mid July.  These guys are in awesome condition.  I never would have guessed they were that old.  I told them about the book, Younger Next Year, and told them that they are doing the single most important thing to prolong a quality life, with their conditioning exercise that they obviously embrace.  They are going to get copies of the book.

Just a great run.  Then when I got home, Lynn and I took our grand-daughter, Tapainga, down to Russell Beach on Lake Georgetown and Tapainga and I went swimming and had a ball.  What a day.  We helped 3 other boys gather rocks off the lake bottom and built a fortress with them on the beach.  Tapainga thinks Texas is awesome. 

I am on a business trip in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.  Arrived on Monday afternoon and aftersettling in at the hotel I drove over to Wake Forest University and ran 8 miles on their track and then 2 miles on a trail here.  Nice run.  Beautiful area, lots of green trees everywhere.  Not too hot compared to Texas.  Talked with a guy on their track team who runs the 400M as his specialty.  He is impressed with those of us who run marathons.  Fun evening. 

I am putting 4 miles equivalent for this workout.  I went down into the hotel fitness center and someone already had the treadmill, so I climbed on the bike/spin machine and pushed hard for 29 minutes 15 seconds and rode the equivalent of 10 miles at a pace of 20.4 miles per hour.  I had to set the resistance level high enough so it would register the speed of the ride and it got me to sweating like a pig.  Burned 340 calories.  A great workout that left my legs wobbly when I got up after doing the 10 miles.  I will want to do this one more. 

Ran on the treadmill in the hotel.  For much of the last mile I set the incline to the peak 12% grade and did a power walk like we do climbing most of Pikes Peak.  Felt great to work that way. 

Met Tom H at Barton Springs Pool at 6:00 AM.  Temp then about 76 degrees with high humidity.  At 6:00 I realized that I hadn't dropped off a cooler at the top of the Hill of Life, so I drove up to the HOL and dropped off my cooler.  In my haste the bottle of sports drink that I had put on my car by the windshield wiper fell off onto Hwy 360 so I lost it.  Anyway, we were short about 2 bottles on this run.

We left Barton Springs Pool at about 6:20 AM and ran up the Greenbelt trail for 7 miles to the bottom of the HOL.  The Greenbelt trail is generally rocky and even has one point where we hang on to a large chain along the face of a cliff to transverse the narrow foot holds.  With the lack of rain lately in Texas the springs creek was dry most of the way up to the HOL.

After we got to the HOL we ran 4 loops up and down the HOL where the heart rate worked at 164 as we approached the top of the HOL on most of the runs up.  By now the temp was about 90 degrees with the high humidity.  We didn't push it too hard on the HOL due to the length of the total run and our lack of fluids.  With our shortage of fluids we decided to call it at 4 reps and then headed back to the Barton Springs Pool to finish our run.  We saw Remie again today on her Pikes Peak training run.  She was part of my training group in 2005 for my first Pikes Peak Marathon training.  By the end of the run the temp was about 93 degrees and humid.  We were hot and sweating like a pig. 

After the run we cooled off in the Barton Springs water just below the natural pool area.  It sure felt good to get cooled off.  Then we changed running clothes and headed over to Maudie's and had breakfast with Karen F and Karen H.  They finished their last training bike ride this morning for their preparation for their 400 mile ride in the Rockies that they leave for in one week. 

Then I headed home and got Lynn and our grand-daughter, Tapainga, and went down to Inner Space Caverns and took the tour down into the cave.  We had a great time and got lots of pictures.  Tapainga got to carry a tour guide flashlight the last 15 minutes of the tour and led the tour to the finish.  A great time.

Then we came home to watch the Belmont horse race and hoped to see Big Brown win the Triple Crown, but his jockey pulled him up in the stretch run because the horse didn't have it today, darn.   

99 degrees hot and humid.  I was the first one at McNeil HS track tonight and did an experiment running easy in the heat and monitoring my heart rate.  It was proof to me that the extremen heat and humidity does take a toll as my HR bounced in the mid 150's even though I was really holding back for easy warm-up miles. 

During our drills it even bounced in the 150's, and for the workout Donnie had us doing circuits with pushups, lunges, crunches, and jumps mixed in with running.  The HR was 167 most of the time duing the workout and that was again with me holding back a bunch.  Just a hot night, but we still had about 40 of us there for the workout tonight, a fun group.  

Another 100 degree day in Austin, TX.  The weatherman said this is like the 12th or 13th in a row of 100 or more.  No big deal, just go run at Brushy Creek.  I kept the heart rate in the mid 150's for most of the run with a highest of 159. 

Tonight was another of the RunTex Summer Series 5K races at Brushy Creek.  I ran the course but didn't figure doing a race tonight, just get in the run.  Fun to see some of the guys I know who were doing the Summer Series. 

After the run, hot and sweaty, I jumped in the water fountain/showers where the kids play and cooled off before going home.  Feels so good after a run. 

ISO 9001 audit has kept me really busy the past two weeks, but this is the last week of my granddaughter's vacation here in Texas, so when I got home we took her down to Brushy Creek to the water park where she could play in the fountains while Lynn watched her and while I would run the 1 mile loop.  After each loop I would go over in the water fountains and cool off, a great way to run in 99 degree Texas humid weather. 

We leave Saturday morning and drive all day to get to the Colorado Springs area to our daughter's home.  My running highlight scheduled for the weekend will be running half way up Pikes Peak to Barr Camp and back down.  This will be a great training run. 

We drove up to Colorado Springs, CO area for our grandson's birthday this weekend and stayed in Manitou Springs Sunday night. I got up at 6:00 and got ready for a run half way up Pikes Peak to Barr Camp and back. What a great run.  The temperature was wonderful in the low 50's for this run.  The further up the mountain I ran the more I got into the clouds, a beautiful scene.  

Running up the 3 miles of the W's was a great reminder of the relentless up, up, up that the W's are so famous for.  It was a great reminder of how this mountain wears on muscles an tests your conditioning.  It tested mine today.  

I caught up with a guy, Carl Olson, from the Colorado Springs area and ran with him most of the way up to Barr Camp. He is training for the half marathon Pikes Peak Ascent in August, his 7th one. It was good to work with him.

Even after the W's the mountain still goes up, up, up except for part of a mile through the saddle where the trail flattens out. I monitored my heart rate on this ascent to Barr Camp and basically kept it in the mid 150's, under control pretty good. During the race last year through the W's the heart rate was in the low 170's and I noted that my ascent time to Barr Camp was comparable with last year's ascent to that point, so I think this may be a good sign.

After taking a short break at Barr Camp I headed back down the trail and pushed it at a strong pace most of the way basically simulating race day pacing. It was interesting to note the heart rate on the descent averaging in the mid to low 130's, so the limiting factor on the descent is not the heart condition at all, but it is the condition of the legs after doing the uphill climb to over 14,000 feet elevation during the race. Today at Barr Camp the elevation was 10,200 feet so it is not as much a limiting factor as the full ascent to the summit.

My ascent time to Barr Camp from the trail head was 1 hr 50 min which is very respectable based on my previous years training. The descent down from Barr Camp to the trail head was 1 hr 9 min which is 1 minute faster than I have done that part of the trail in training runs over the past 2 years. Then I ran on down into town and down to the motel to join the family.

Then we drove over to Palmer Park and did a 2 mile run with my granddaughter and grandson. A great day of running.

After running on Pikes Peak on Monday, and then the 14 hour ride back to Texas from Colorado on Tuesday, we slept in this morning.  Today is also a vacation day so when I got up I worked behind the lawn mower for 4 hours that I am going to call cross training equal to 12 miles of running at a 20 minute per mile pace (lawn mower pace).  Out here in the country living we have lots of lawn and weeds to mow.  Our driveway is 400 feet long plus the lawn around the house so there is plenty of mowing to do.  The temperature is 92 degrees already and with the Texas humidity I was ready for a shower and a break by 12:15 PM. 

Ouch, what a run!  Thursday after work I visited the podiatrist for what I thought was a final visit to tell me that the plantar wart on the right forefoot was gone.  He had done two treatments of the beetle juice.  I thought the treatements were over.  Wrong.  After he trimmed the dead skin away he said there was still some seeds left and he was surprised, so he trimmed deeper in the foot and then put another treatement of the beetle juice and said not to run Thursday night, but if I could stand the pain I could run on Saturday. 

Prophetic words, if I could stand the pain.  Friday evening I cut a hole out of my right shoe insole to make a pain reduction spot for the plantar wart treatment.  This helped during today's run, but regardless the foot pain was ugly for the whole run, I felt so brave.   

So, this morning Lynn and I dropped off a cooler at the top of the Hill of Life and then I met Tom at 6:18 AM at Zilker Park at the Barton Springs Pool.  Lynn did her walk over to the Town Lake trail while Tom and I took off on our 21 mile run.  We ran the Greenbelt up to the HOL and then did 7 HOL runs, and then ran the 7 miles back to Barton Springs Pool.  I had plenty of time to talk with Tom about my run half way up Pikes Peak last Monday, this was fun. 

By the time we finished the last 3 miles the temperature was up to 95 degrees and humid.  My fingers and feet were swelling so even though we had hydrated really well I knew I needed to hydrate even better.  Tom's heart rate was going up into the 170's and he had a headache so we were both suffering by the last 3 miles.  This was frustrating because we had had a great run up to that point, interesting.  Anyway we finished with me limping pretty good with the sore right foot.   

It just felt good to know we got in the run.  Lynn and I drove home and I got showered up and have rested on the couch watching the Boston-St. Louis baseball game.  Rooting for Boston, but St. Louis jumped on them for 8 runs in the first 2 innings, darn.  So I slept through part of the game and woke for a final score of 9 to 3, darn. 

After a tough 21 miles on the greenbelt and Hill of Life on Saturday, I spent 1.5 hours behind the lownmower on Sunday so I'll take credit for 3 miles of cross training. 

101 degrees in Austin, TX, and to my surprise we had 40 of us at McNeil High School tonight, amazing.  Tam even showed up.  After drills Donnie had us do "circuits" tonight with push-ups, crunches, lunges, and jumps every 100 Meters for 4 laps of the track.  A hot night and a good workout.  Heartrate held at 165 during the workout. 

Met Tom at Lake Georgetown at 4:30 PM.  Temp 98 degrees, but there was a breeze blowing so that helped.  We ran two loops of the route across the dam, on down the road, back up the hill, then down through the rocky face of the dam, the back across the bottom of the dam, then down the rocks to the parking lot at the bottom of the dam, then across to the hill that went back up to the starting point.  Repeat a 2nd time.  6 miles of heat and good running.  Heart rate stayed about 155 for most of the run and in the mid 160's on the uphill sections.  Tom's HR was generally about 10 to 12 beats higher than mine. 

Went home and watched Cal State Fullerton beat Georgia in the last game of the College World Series, a great series for Fresno State.  They set a record as the lowest ranked team to win the College World Series.  Don't we love the underdogs? 

Met Tom at 6:00 AM at the top of the Hill of Life in Austin, TX.  Temp in the high 70's and high humidity.  We did 11 reps of the HOL.  Heart rate generally in the mid 150's on the ascent and down to 133 on the descent, same HR as I had at Pikes Peak two weeks ago. 

The last 4 reps were the fastest of all, even as the day warmed up into the 90's.  We pushed the last ascent the most and got the HR up into the high 160's, a great run.  Afterwords we drove down to Barton Springs and dipped in the spring to cool down, wow what a refreshing dip.  Then Lynn and Tom and I went over to Maudie's and had breakfast with Karen F and Karen H who gave us their report on the week they had in Colorado riding the Rockies on their bikes.  Boy, did they have some stories, wow.  What a great way to start the weekend. 

10 miles credit after 5 hours behind the lawn mower out in the fields for my wife's ponies.  The fields look a lot better.  I split this mowing into two sessions with a nap in the middle.  Texas temps at 100 degrees as I hydrated as good as I could. 

Again, we had 40 of us at McNeil HS in the Texas heat and humidity in the mid 90's, which is a drop in the temp because there were some possible rain clouds south of us.  Tam even made it tonight for his 2nd week in a row.  Daniel made it too, as I had not seen Daniel for over 3 months so I ran easy part of the run and warm-up with Daniel.

I chased Gustavo for the first two sections of the workout and pushed it pretty good getting my heart rate up to 177 which may be a record.  I guess the heat combined with pushing it got the heart going good.  I ran three more sets with Daniel and then did my own cool down mile.  Again a nice workout just to be here enjoying the good company and getting in a run that pushed my heart. 

This one was fun and different.  To celebrate Karen H's birthday we did a 5:00 AM run from Karen F's home in Austin.  Tom met us there and a new guy named Mike (from Dallas) met us too.  So the 5 of us took off from Karen's home and did the run through the streets of west Austin down to the Town Lake Trail and then up through town back to Karen's home.  A nice run and we pushed it just hard enough that I felt it the rest of the day while at work. 

A great way to start the day.  This weekend will be a killer.  7.5 miles on the greenbelt to the Hill of Life, then 8 to 10 HOL, then 7.5 miles back down the greenbelt to Barton Springs Pool.  Temps will approach 100 degrees by the time we get done.  I'm going to get some salt tablets and electrolyte replacement pills to prevent swelling of the fingers and feet.

Walked 2 hours behind the lawn mower in the horse's field after work, so I'll claim 5 miles of cross training.  Getting ready for 22 to 24 miles on the greenbelt and the HOL on Saturday morning. 

On the way home from work I stopped by the RunTex store in Georgetown and bought two containers of Nuun tablets which are used to enhance electrolytes for the long run on Saturday.  The last long run we did there ended with fingers swelling which suggested I need better hydration including electrolytes and salt which are both included in the Nuuns tablets. 

An awesome day in Austin, TX.  I met Tom at 6:15 AM at Barton Springs Pool and headed up the Greenbelt trail 7 miles to the base of the Hill of Life where we did 10 HOL repeats and then ran back to Barton Springs Pool for a total of 24 miles.  This was the best run this year on the Greenbelt and HOL.  The last two times we have run the Greenbelt and HOL we have ended up stressed at the end of the run even with swollen fingers and feet due to the heat and lack of hydration at the end of the run, but not today, just an awesome day.

Thursday after work I stopped by the RunTex store in Georgetown and picked up some of the Nuun electrolyte tablets and I used them today on this run each time I would open a new bottle of sports drink I would drop in a Nunn tablet and load up the electrolytes.  I think it may have helped with the hydration today.

On the HOL today we sure saw a bunch of people who recognized us from the past couple of months.  We saw the guys who are going to Africa next week to hike up Mt. Kilimanjero, the tallest mountain in Africa, 19,340 feet.  Those guys are pumped.

We met a couple of guys we had never seen before and got to talking to them at the bottom of the HOL on one of our loops.  One of the guys is 67 years old and quite an athlete, but looking at both his knees it looks like he had zippers on both sides of both knees due to all the various surgeries that he has had.  He is biking and running on a new replacement knee on one leg.  Anyway it sure made me happy not to have any injuries and never to have needed any surgeries.

At the top of the HOL after our 10th ascent we ran into Mike R. who I had run with for 2 years back in 2000 and 2001.  Mike is the guy I talk about who ran his first 100 miler at the end of our marathon-a-month group, and during that 100 miler he fell asleep while standing there taking a pee during the night, demonstrating the stress the body takes during a 100 miler race.  Mike and I had a few good laughs talking about some of our running days.  He has run several 100 milers now and even done 2 of the Western States 100 milers which is the classic of the 100 Miler races here in the USA. 

We met a new guy named Richard V. who had his dog, Jack, with him and has run Pikes Peak before.  He confirmed many of the things that I have been telling Tom in preparation for Tom's first Pikes Peak Marathon next month.  After our 10th HOL ascent we ran with Richard along a trail high above the Greenbelt that I have never run on that took us to a scenic outlook view of the valley below where the Greenbelt trail runs, a beautiful view that I have never seen in several years of running the Greenbelt here in Austin.   

Bottom line today, we met so many genuinely good people that it really reinforced the fact that when you are a runner you mix with a very special bunch of people, and they are everywhere you go as a runner.  So many good people.

With about 5 miles to go on the way back down the Greenbelt, Tom tripped and took a very hard fall banging his left forearm and his left knee.  It took his watch off its band.  Fortunately he wasn't seriously hurt, but that was sure a reminder that no matter how focused you think you are, on the trail you can go down any time.  Stay focused, focused, focused. 

When we got back to the Barton Springs Pool, Lynn was waiting for us and happy that we had made it back okay.  We walked down to the spring and joined a bunch of people and their dogs in the spring to get refreshed and get the sweat and smell off us.  What a sight, all the men, women, children and dogs swimming and wading in the spring.  Thank goodness there is enough of a water flow that you don't worry about dipping in the spring with the dogs.  This is just another of the good things about Austin, TX.  Austin is famous for Zilker Park and the Barton Springs Pool.  I told Tom that someday when I am gone from Austin I will have many fond memories of dipping in the spring after hard sweaty runs. 

Talk about a great start to the weekend. 

Slept for an hour after dinner and then Lynn went with me over to Florence HS.  We have had rain the past two days which helped cool the temps down into the 80's but the humidity was real high. 

I got in 4 miles mixing in the track and the bleacher steps.  This was a good workout even if it was only 4 miles. 

After our 24 miles on the Greenbelt and Hill of Life last Saturday I had felt a "stress" in the outside of the right foot plantar tendon, so I have held off for a couple of days just to be sure nothing bad happens.  The foot felt great tonight so I think all is well. 

Today Lynn and I drove to Bryan, TX to attend Joe B's mother's funeral (98 years old).  Karen H and Karen F drove down as well and we met Gordon there as well.  Joe was very pleased to see some of his running family in attendance at the funeral.  On the way home Lynn and I picked up 2 pizza's and when we got home I had 3 pieces and then took a 2 hour nap before running.  It was feeling really good to rest in bed but I got up anyway, dressed to run, and loaded up in the car. 

PD went with Lynn and I over to Florence HS for tonight's workout.  The temps were in the low 90's and humid so the sweat flowed well again tonight.  Once again I did the track and the bleacher steps for the workout.  This is a good mix to break up the routine of running laps on the track.  1 mile on the track for warmup at 8:25 pace.  Then 3 miles with the bleachers added in (7:35; 7:25; 7:15).  Then 1 mile cool down at 8:10. 

The right foot plantar tendon felt great again tonight.  After the 24 miles on the greenbelt last Saturday I felt some sensitivity in that right foot plantar, but it looks like all is well. 

Worked late.  Got home.  Ate supper. Dressed and went running over at Florence HS.  1 mile warm-up where my tummy was loaded and legs felt like lead pipes.  Then ran 2 segments of laps and the stadium steps.  Tummy still tight.  Need a rest room stop, no rest room.  Legs loosened up a little.  Lynn had to go to the rest room too, so we headed home.

At least I got enough of a run in to get loosened up.  Saturday will be 14 loops of the Hill of Life. 

14 Hill of Life loops, awesome run.  Met Tom at 6:15 AM at the top of the HOL and proceeded to have one of the best runs we have done in this year's Pikes Peak Marathon training.  Last week's 24 miles with 10 HOL repeats was really good, but today's 14 HOL repeats were just really good. 

We did a negative split even though the day got hotter the longer we ran, go figure.  Our descent times were running 40 to 45 seconds faster the 2nd 7 repeats than the 1st 7 repeats.  And our ascent times were running 15 seconds faster the second 7 repeats, go figure. 

Heart rates on the ascent for me were typically 155 on the first 1/4 mile where we run and then typically 145 to 149 on the next 3/4 miles where we power walk.  Tom's HR was running 168 to 170 the first 1/4 mile and then 160 the last 3/4 mile on the ascents. 

We saw the two guys who are going to run Mt. Whitney, and the guy who is going to run the Teatons in Wyoming, and the scout troop that is going to Montana next week, and Dave who just moved to Austin from Phoenix.  We didn't typically stop for more than a few seconds in our transitions at the bottom or top of the HOL, but we took longer breaks when these guys would want to talk to us about Pikes Peak. 

While we ran, Lynn hiked around and picked up rocks for her collection.  Then after the run we went down to Barton Springs where Tom and I went for a swim dip and got refreshed and cleaned up.  Again today there were adults and children and dogs swimming in Barton Springs.  Then we drove over to Maudie's and met Karen H and had breakfast, just a great start to the day.  We basically committed with Karen to run a triathalon on Labor Day weekend here in Austin, should be fun. 

We walked away today feeling really good about our Pikes Peak training.  Hopefully we will continue to get stronger over the next two weeks when we do our longest run (3 weeks prior to the marathon). 

What a great evening in Austin, TX.  During the afternoon the temperature was over 100 degrees, then some rain clouds came in and dropped the temperature over 20 degrees and hid the sun with clouds.  The humidity was still really high, but it made for a great night of running at McNeil High School track.

We had 40 of us there again tonight.  After 1.5 miles warmup we did drills and then Donnie had us do 1 mile medium hard, 100 meter recovry, the 800 meters faster, then 100 meter recovery, then 400 meters faster, then 100 meter recovery, then 200 meters faster. 

I ran with Gordon and Veronica and another guy.  Three or four others started out with us but couldn't keep up.  We did the 1 mile at a 7:24 pace, then the 800 meters at a 6:52 pace, then 400 meters at a 6:08 pace, then 200 meters at a 5:20 pace.  During this workout I got my heart rate up to 178 which is as high as I have ever seen my HR so that was fun, just a great workout.

After the workout we did a cooldown mile and then did the stretches with Donnie and the group.

Today is my grand-daughter's 9th birthday.  She called me at work to tell me about all the fun things they were doing in Colorado Springs, CO today, for fun.

Tonight it was 95 degrees and humid as I met Tom H at Lake Georgetown where we ran the trail that goes over to Jim Hogg Park.  We tried to keep a pace that would hold our heart rate steady, mine in the mid 140's and Tom's in the low 160's.  We did an out and back.  At the end of the out Tom's HR got going up to 179 and mine was up in the 160's, so we backed off to get things back under control.  Tom tripped 3 times and I tripped 4 times, but neither of us fell.  A nice run. 

A nice warm evening in Florence, TX, with temps in the low 90's and the sun setting and the moon rising.  I did 4 sets of the track and the stadium bleachers while Lynn walked the track.  Two other guys on the track tonight which is unusual for Florence HS. 

What a great 16 miles on the Hill of Life today.  Lynn and I met Tom at 6:00 AM at the top of the Hill of Life, temperature at that time in the 70's with high humidity, but it felt great.  By the time we were done the temperature was in the 90's, but with great hydration the heat was no big deal.  After the run we went down to Barton Springs and joined the people and the dogs in the spring to get cooled off and cleaned up.  A great day.

During the run we saw the two guys who are training for the Mt. Whitney climb, and the guy who is training to climb the Grand Tetons in Wyoming and then do the rim to rim hike of the Grand Canyon.  We also met two guys, Andrew and Chris, who are training for their first Pikes Peak ascent.  Met a young lady who is from Colorado who was biking the trail, she said she didn't take up biking until she got down here to Austin.

Our heart rates today were behaving very well with mine running 155 on the first 1/4 mile of the ascent and 145 to 149 during the rest of the ascent.  I enhanced the electrolytes with the Nuuns tablets added to my sports drink.  On the descent we have really picked it up over the last few weeks as our footing and pace have been feeling easy and smooth.  In the past our descent was typically 5min 15sec but today on the last 8 descents our times were running from 4:09 (the last descent) to 4:12, 4:15, 4:32, 4:38, 4:39, 4:40, 4:42.  Just a really nice workout where we felt strong the entire workout and walked away still very confident about our training.

Next week is the big one, 26 miles starting at Barton Springs Pool 7.5 miles up the greenbelt to the top of the Hill of Life, then finish 12 HOL, then return back to Barton Springs Pool..  That is going to be a great workout.    

What a night at McNeil HS. 102 degrees with humidity so I didn't expect to see too many runners here tonight, but to my surprise we had about 50 runners tonight with 7 or 8 of them new to the group. What kind of insanity gets into this bunch? I understand my insanity but not so many others. A great night.

Donnie had us do 600 meters hard, then pushups, then 600 meters hard and then lunges, then 600 meters hard and then crunches, and then 600 meters and then jumps.

Daniel was here tonight and we had some good talk. Tam made it. Joe and the rest of the regulars too. A fun crazy night of running.

What a beautiful early evening in Georgetown, TX, with temps about 96 degrees, humid, and some clouds building in the sky. I believe the wind and clouds are pushed here from Hurricane Dolly down on the Gulf coast. I was ready at 5:00 PM to meet Tom at Lake Georgetown, but he called and said he had been delayed with a meeting, so I took off alone.

I ran across the dam and then looped back up over the dam down to the trail and back across the front of the dam and then back up the trail to the start which is 3 miles. I repeated the loop again and the wind picked up and clouds shaded out the sun. The winds whipped up artistic designs on Lake Georgetown as I ran across the dam (1 mile) which was very entertaining. A nice run where I pushed the heart rate up to 171 at the end of the dam mile, and up to 167 coming up the hill from below the dam. Just a nice run, peaceful by myself, but nice.

Lynn and I drove over to Florence HS about 8:00 PM.  A nice evening since we got some rain today from Hurricane Dolly, not too much but it was nice.  Temp was in the 80's and of course humidity was high, but a nice evenng.  I ran the stadium steps loops and got in a nice quick workout.

I could not believe it but all there was at the track was women, 10 of them, and me.  For a little while an old man and his wife were also there.  Everyone else was walking or sitting.  Interesting evening as I worked my butt off on the stadium steps and track while they watched.  I just felt blessed to be healthy enough to work hard and enjoy it. Getting ready for Saturday's 26 miles on the greenbelt and the Hill of Life. 

A great day on the greenbelt and the Hill of Life.  I met Tom at 6:00 AM at the Barton Springs Pool after we had each positioned our coolers at the top of the HOL.  We ran the greenbelt 7 miles up to the base of the HOL and on the way about mile 5 I tripped on a root and went down on the palms of my hands which was frustrating because I had earlier complimented us on all this training and neither of experiencing an injury (later).  The temperature at the start was moderate in the low 80's or high 70's but with high humidity as usual, but the run up to the HOL overall was a really comfortable run.

Then we did 12 repeats on the HOL where we saw more bicycle crazy's who tried to navigate the HOL and we saw more people out with their dogs walking down to the Barton Springs Creek, and a Cub Scout group, and a bunch of people who recognized us and encourged us with our Pikes Peak training.  We saw Mike R. who I had run with 6 years ago with our marathon-a-month group, so we had a nice chat with Mike at the top of the HOL.  We also saw Mark L. who I had trained for the Pikes Peak Marathon 3 years ago, fun to see Mark.

In 4 years of training on the HOL I have never had any kind of serious fall, probably in doing over 320 reps of the HOL over that time.  But today on my 3rd loop on the way down I had a goofy trip on my left foot which sprained the ankle (not too seriously) and I fell down and rolled to the side of the trail.  Nothing too serious but the ankle did swell and I have been icing it here at home this afternoon.  We went on and finished our 12 reps of the HOL and then our 7.5 mile return greenbelt run back to the Barton Springs Pool.  On the way back we saw Abe D. who I had trained with for Pikes Peak 3 years ago, who had beat me by 10 seconds in our first Pikes Peak Marathon, fun to see Abe.

On the way back the temperature had reached 95 degrees and it took a toll on our heart rate as we cautiously slowed the pace to control our heart rates.  My HR was staying about 150 to 154 for the last 4 miles while Tom's HR was bouncing at 168 to 175.  We have sure found it curious that Tom's HR continues to stay about 15 to 20 beats higher than mine on our training runs.  Anyway we finished the run and then went over into the Barton Springs to cool down and get the sweaty smell off.  As usual the spring was loaded with adults, children, and dogs.  I counted 11 dogs in the spring that people were throwing tennis balls out into the water for the dogs to retrieve, crazy and fun to watch.  Tom and I both worked our way to our usual spot where the water falls into the lower springs pool.  That is where the freshest and cleanest water enters the springs pool.  Anyway a great day to do 26 miles and we both felt great after the run.  Now we enter the taper phase of our training, should be fun.

I met Tom at Lake Georgetown at 5:00 PM and we ran the trail over toward Jim Boggs Park.  It was only 97 degrees (finally under 100 degrees) as we got started.  Both of us kept catching the tip of our toe on a rock or root and fortuately recovering before falling down, until in the first mile on our return Tom went down hard after tripping.  Not good.

Anyway, a great run on a very hot day.  My heart rate was hitting 155 and Tom was hitting over 175 at the peak of our efforts.  Amazing how his HR keeps hitting 20 beats higher than mine, go figure. 

I needed this run after spraining my left ankle last Saturday on the Hill of Life.  The ankle felt fine tonight. 

Met Tom at the top of the Hill of Life at 6:00 AM to do 12 miles up and down reps.  Had to use the flashlight on the first loop down and back up the HOL.  Good news today neither of us tripped or fell down.  We had a great workout and saw several folks who wished us their best as we have two weeks until Pikes Peak. 

The guy who is going up to the Teton's in two weeks was there too.  And we met 3 more Pikes Peak runners and Mike R. was there today as well. 

We both set PR's on the descent today, crazy.  On our 8th descent today we got into a pace where we were pushing it despite the dangers of the rocks and roots.  I had on my new Mizuno Wave Ascend 3 trail shoes and they handled the HOL trail really well today.  On the 8th descent we did it in 4min 04 sec.  I generally try to do a safe descent at about 4:45 to 5:15, but we pushed it good on the 8th descent. 

Then on the 9th descent Tom decided to give it the full push and throw all caution to the wind.  He wanted to see what was the fastest possible descent for him, hoping to make it without falling.  I told him he was crazy, just two weeks before our Pikes Peak Marathon, why take a chance to get injured?  Anyway, he took off and flew down the hill almost without touching the ground, leaping over the rocks, and finished at about a 6 minute pace in 2 minutes and 55 seconds.  Absolutely unreal.  I'm so glad I didn't find him in a pile of bones and blood on the side of the trail as I did my descent in 4 min 20 sec. 

Then we went down to the Barton Springs below the pool and washed off and cooled down in the spring with the other people and their dogs.  Tom headed for home and Lynn and I went over to Maudie's and had breakfast with Karen F. and Karen H.  They had done a 15 mile run up Mt. Bonnell and down Shoal Creek.  What a great start to a hot day in Texas where the temperature will reach 104 degrees today.   

105 degrees with humidity at McNeil HS tonight, and we still had over 40 of us there for the workout. Donnie had us form into teams of two and whild one member ran a 400 meter lap the other member did circuit exercises (pushups, situps, lunges, jumps). We did this for 8 laps of the track so it turned out to be a nice workout in the hot weather.

Nice runs today.  At 5:00 AM I met Karen F and Karen H at Karen F's home in Austin and we did the 10 mile loop down to Town Lake and around Austin and back up LaMar to Karen's home.  A nice run.  Very humid after some rain last night.  Sweat like a pig.

Tonight I met Tom at Lake Georgetown and we did 6.5 miles across the dam and then down past the dam and down the trail toward Georgetown and then back up to Outlook Park.  It was hot with temps in the high 90's, but still a nice run. 

Pikes Peak is only 1 1/2 weeks away.  Should be a great race. 

Met Tom and Karen F and Karen H at 6:00 AM and did the Mt. Bonnell 10 mile loop and then the 3 mile People Bridge loop around Town Lake.  Had a really nice run.  One week to go for Pikes Peak.  Then we got cleaned up at the shower at Deep Eddy.  Then we went to Maudie's for breakfast.  A nice start to the weekend.

A nice evening in Austin, TX at McNeil HS.  Temp was down to about 94 degrees (last Monday 104) with high humidity, but it really felt cool compared to the past several weeks.  I got in a nice warm-up, then we did drills.  There were probably almost 60 of us here tonight, amazing. 

For the workout Donnie had us do 1500 meters at a medium pace, then 100 meters recovery jog.  Then 700 meters faster, then 100 meters recovery jog.  Then 300 meters faster.  I ran this one with Joe, good to see him. 

After the workout I did a recovery mile and then we did the group stretches.  Everyone wished Tom and me to have a great race at Pikes Peak this weekend.  This Monday evening run group is a really good bunch of people. 

Drove to Colorado Springs on Thursday (14 hour drive) and stayed at our daughter's home.  It rained all night in the valley and they said it was snowing up on Pikes Peak. A great night with the grand-children. 

Then today we met Tom and his wife and son in Manitou Springs and drove to the top of Pikes Peak.  We got lucky and picked a one hour window when they opened the road to the top.  Due to severe fog and clouds and snow they had closed the road, and after we got to the top they again closed the road.

It was so foggy at the top we couldn't see the gift shop or the Cob RR station.  We found a park guy in his truck and he pointed out the directions.  We were within 20 car lengths of the gift shop and couldn't see it.  Tom and I ran down the Pikes Peak trail so Tom could get a feel for what it is like to run at 14,000 feet.  This was a good thing, what a great experience.  It was cold, wind blowing, light snow, foggy and clouds.  Awesome.  Now he knows what to expect on Sunday morning.

We had a slow cautious trip back down the mountain in the cars, but we made it.  At the runners expo we got to talk with Matt Carpenter, the worldclass legend of the Pikes Peak Marathon.  A gracious man who didn't act like a celebrity, but he certainly is as he spanked the best in the world when they came here a couple of years ago for Pikes Peak.

Then we had Tom and his family come out to our daughter's home for dinner.  A nice day. We will meet in Manitou Springs on Saturday as we are both staying one block from the start line of the race at the Villa Inn.  This race is already fun. 

This is a quick early version of our Pikes Peak vacation and race report. We just arrived home this evening (Tuesday) after driving all day from Colorado, so this is a quick short race report.

The race was on Sunday. We drove to Colorado on Thursday, stayed at Desiree's home on Thursday evening and Friday evening.  It rained Thursday night and Friday and Saturday.

PD, Lynda, Bobby, and I drove up to the top of Pikes Peak on Friday in the fog and clouds. Tom H and his wife Yvonne and son Joseph drove up with us.  Tom and I ran about 1/3 of a mile down the trail and then back up, just to give Tom a feel for running at 14,000 feet altitude.  We all had a ball up there in the fog, fortunately finding the gift shop and spending some time there.

Saturday evening I pinned the dedication to the back of my running singlet, "In Memory of MOM, 1908 - 2008".  Mother passed away in May this year at 100 years old.  During the race a lot of runners gave me encouragement about the dedication.  During the race several times I thought of how mom enjoyed hearing about the races.  She would have loved hearing about this one.

Tom joined me Sunday morning prior to the race at 6:30 AM.  We got our family pictures (Lynn, PD, me, Desiree, Sid, Tapainga, Chaise, Bobby, Madge, and Lynda) and with Tom's family, and some pictures of the top of the snow covered mountain.  The announcer at the start line gave a warning that the temperature at the top of Pikes Peak was 29 degrees with a 32 degree high forecast with 2 to 3 inches of snow at the summit and a storm heading this way, so he said if necessary they would call off the race (sounded like just an official required caution warning).  The temperature in Manitou Springs at the start was a nice 51 degrees.

There are a library of stories to tell about this race, but the short fast summary is that we had snow falling a couple of inches deep on the mountain and packed on the trail for the last 2 miles to the top making a extremely dangerous situation for close to 800 runners going up and down the mountain sharing the same narrow trail.  But what an awesome experience!!  I was full of energy and the legs felt great this year compared to the rubber legs during much of the race last year.

I also took my new Flip Video camera with me and recorded video of much of the run up through the snow.  The family loves seeing first hand what I experienced up in the snow.  I was the only runner that I remember (or that we saw on video) who ran to the summit wearing just shorts and a singlet and a pair of gloves in the cold and snow.  Everyone else we saw had pulled on long weather pants and jackets and ear muffs and gloves.  The reason I do this is because on the ascent I build enough body heat that I do not need the long sleeve shirt or jacket or pants on the ascent.  On the descent for the first 2 miles through the snow and ice I did put on a long sleeve running shirt that I had wrapped around my waist.

I saw runners slipping and falling in the snow and ice conditions, but fortunately none of the runners that I saw got hurt.  On the descent I really took off from the A-Frame (tree line) for 2 miles and had a couple of younger runners tailing me as we flew past other runners.  This was rather dangerous for me as we leaped over large rocks and roots and risked falling on our face, but fortunately none of the disasters caught up with us.  Finally with about a half mile to go to Barr Camp I told these guys that I knew I could not keep this up for the rest of the race so I let them go, and then I backed it down a little and ran my own pace, still steadily passing runners and having a great experience.

With about 5 miles to go a guy from New Mexico caught me and he was running strong.  We ran together for about 200 meters and talked and finally I let him go.  I noticed the grey hair on the back of his head as he took off and I wondered if he was in my age group (60-64).  It turns out he won my age group.  Fortunately I was only 4 minutes 30 seconds behind him to take 2nd place (6 hours 42 minutes 30 seconds).  I had been hoping for a podium finish today and I got it.  There were 33 men registered in my age group.  23 finished.  The guy who took 3rd place finished 4 minutes 37 seconds behind me. The 4th place guy finished 2 minutes 53 seconds behind him, so the top 4 finished pretty close to each other.

I was the oldest Texas runner again this year and my 2nd place finish is the highest placing of any Texas runner in their respective age groups.  There were three who finished 5th in their age group.  There were a total of 41 Texas runners.

Just a great race.  One thing that made it especially good for the family was that I used my cell phone to let them know when I had 4 miles to go, then 2 miles to go, then 1 mile to go, so they knew when to be watching for me.  Just for the good looks I really flew into the finish area as I came down Ruxton Avenue.  Paul Dean was catching it on his Flip Video.

Tom was running his first Pikes Peak Marathon and finished the race successfully and had stories to tell also.  What an experience.  After the race and a visit to the massage tables and the awards ceremony where I got my picture taken with Matt Carpenter (the legend of the Pikes Peak Marathon) we went back to the hotel and went swimming and the hot tub.  We both feel great with no injuries or any problems after the race.

The family had a ball while we were racing as they went through the shops in Manitou Springs.  Then on Tuesday we drove down to the Royal Gorge near Canon City, CO.  We had an absolute ball there.  PD, Sid and I got strapped into the Sky Coaster and had the ride of our lives.  A full fun day with everyone.

From this vacation and race we have a mass of pictures and video.  PD is going to build us a nice DVD with all the pictures and video.  Can't wait for the DVD.

Met Karen F and Steve S at the Austin HS tennis court parking below Mopac at 6:30.  Lynn did her walk while we ran the 10 mile Town Lake loop down past Longhorn Dam.  A nice run just 6 days since finishing Pikes Peak and the legs really did feel good.  Only 6 weeks until St. George Marathon.  I need to work in some recovery from Pikes Peak and get some training for St. George. 

Temps today were moderate probably in the low 80's.  Quite humid.  After the run we showered off at Deep Eddy and then went for breakfast at Maudie's.  Then Lynn and I and Karen and Elisesha (spelling) went over to Karen's and watched the Pikes Peak race DVD that PD has put together, his Beta version 1.0.  This was fun as they got to see the flip video for much of the race up toward the top of Pikes Peak, in the snow and ice, great video.

This is the way to start off a weekend. 

A fun silly evening at McNeil HS track.  I forgot my running shoes, but one of the ladies, Jennifer, had an extra pair that was one size too small but I was able to wear them anyway.  Nice lady.

Tam showed up again.  His new running play has him running on Monday's only.  Good to see Tam.  Tom was there too, our first Monday night run with the group since our Pikes Peak race, fun. 

We had 50 of us there again tonight, awesome.  After drills Bill had us do 1500 meters medium hard (7:20 pace), then 100 meters recovery.  Then 700 meters faster (6:40 pace) and 100 meters recovery.  Then 300 meters hard (sub 6:00 pace) felt really good.  Gordon paced our group.

Normally I would have had 2 to 4 miles warm-up, but without shoes I didn't make that.  Still a fun evening, good to get out. 

This week at work has been busy with our community service Juvenille Diabetes carnival in two buildings on both shifts.  A busy time as I was in charge of organizing and running the carnival.  Late getting home last night (9:15 PM).  We finished up today after lunch. 

Went over to Florence HS to run tonight and found the high school football team on the field playing a game so we came home and just went up and down the driveway (450 feet one way).  Not much happening, but good just to get out. 

We are planning on 10 to 15 miles on Saturday morning, should be fun.   

Nice run to start a Labor Day weekend.  Met Karen F., Karen H., and Tom H. down at the Austin HS tennis courts at 6:00 AM.  A moderate temp day with temps in the 80's and moderate humidity, not as bad as yesterday.  While we ran our 15 miles, Lynn did her walk of the People Bridge loop.  She saw a homeless guy peeing off the bridge down into Townlake, duh. 

We ran up to Mt. Bonnell and saw a live armadillo run across the road right in front of us, fun.  Then we ran up to 2222 and over to Shoal Creek and then down to LaMar and down to the Town Lake trail and back to the start.  Just a really nice run.  Tom and Karen H. picked up the pace the last mile and we pushed in for a nice finish.  Then we got showered off at Deep Eddy and then over to Maudie's for breakfast. 

During this run we were able to tell Karen H. some of the stories from our Pikes Peak Marathon race because she was in Ohio last weekend during our run.  Tomorrow is the Human Race 10K, should be fun. 

The Nike Human Race was held in 30 cities around the world, 5 of them in the USA.  Austin, TX was one of the 5 US cities.  6:30 PM start so it was 96 degrees and high humidity where 15,000 of us were crammed into downtown on Congress Avenue.  I picked up Tom H. and Karen H. and we drove to Austin and got there about an hour before the race so we got parked at the Post Office for $7.00.  An easy walk over to Congress Avenue and 6th street for the start. 

We took a quick trip through the portapotty line and then headed over to the starting line.  We made a decision in this heat to just do a fun run of this event, no sense to race in 96 degree temperatures.  So we enjoyed the pre-race show as they introduced several gold medal winners from the US Olympic team who were from Austin, and introduced Lance Armstrong also from Austin.  Lance is now working on his running race life and had a great race finishing 6th place in this race. 

Overall of the 30 cities worldwide Austin finished in 2nd place overall as a city so despite the heat many of the runners took this race seriously.  Tom, Karen and I just ran a easy pace and finished in 60 minutes, nothing to write home about other than the event and the heat and taking part in a worldwide show.  We saw Karen F at about the 4.5 mile mark.  She finished a little over a minute ahead of us.  For all of us this was basically just a hot early evening run. 

After the race Lynn and Karen H. and I went over to Rounders and had pizza.  Karen had not brought a 2nd shirt with her so she put a towel over her shoulders to cover her sports bra, which we agreed fit into the Austin motto of "keep Austin weird".   A relaxing stop before going home. 

A hot evening in Florence, TX.  Lynn and I drove over to Florence HS for my run and found the high school band on the football field practicing their marching maneuvers and a few students on the track.  Lynn walked while I ran.

I ran 3 miles steady at a 7:45 pace and then as I started the last mile there were 3 high school boys running and they were about 20 meters behind me as I started my last mile.  I ran 3 laps at a 7:20 pace and then the boys tried to catch me as I started my last 300 meters.  As I approached the curve for the last 200 meters the boys made their move to catch me and so I picked it up and raced in the last 200 meters.  They fell back and didn't make it past me, fun. 

I got to sweating like a pig and felt like even though it was just 4 miles it was a good workout. 

Went to Brushy Creek after work and did two miles warm-up, being careful because the bottom outside of the right heel is tender, feeling like it is bruised. 

Then we did drills and then the workout with 3 loops adding up to 2 miles.  The right heel seemed to take the workout pretty well.

Tonight at home I'm putting the right foot and heel on ice as I watch the Republican National Convention.  Waiting for Sarah Palin's acceptance speech. 

A nice run today.  We had planned to do 18 miles but I talked Karen F. and Karen H. into just going 15 as I was being careful with the right foot/heel tenderness.  We met at 6:00 AM with Steve S. and Jason K. and headed out on the 10 mile Longhorn Dam route of Townlake.  After 4 miles when we got to the 8 mile marker we ran hard for 3 miles to the 5 mile marker.  This is a great push in the middle of a long run.  Then we finished the 10 mile loop and then Karen F. and Karen H. and I did the 5 mile Congress Avenue loop.  The right foot behaved quite well, but when we got to Maudie's for breakfast Karen had them bring me a bag of ice so I nursed the foot while we ate.

After breakfast Lynn and I went to the Container Store and then I used the gym pass that Karen H. had given me and I went in and used the pool and swam for 500 meters.  It really did feel good to get in a swim.  I need to be ready to swim 800 meters in two weeks at the Inks Lake Triathlon.  What a great start to the weekend. 

Prednisone update.  It has been 2 1/2 years since the Polymyalgia Rheumatica muscle disorder struck.  Most of my race times have suffered pretty much during this time.  The prednisone medication dosage was 15 mg at the start of the treatment, then settled down to 10 for several months, then I gradually worked the dosage down 1 mg at a time.  A couple of times I tried to take the dosage down to 4 or 5 mg but the pain in the neck and shoulders and back would get too severe so I would bump it back up to 8 mg.

Over the past 2 months I could finally feel deep inside my muscles a change for the better and I gradually dropped the dosage down to 5 mg and then down to 4 mg and for the past week down to 3 mg.  So far so good.  I'll stay on 3 mg until after the St. George Marathon on October 4th.  Then drop to 2 mg and see what happens.  This is good news.

What a nice night at McNeil High School track.  After my warm-up miles the group got started with our drills.  There were between 55 and 60 of us there tonight, amazing.  The temperature was 95 degrees with medium humidity so it really did feel alright to run. 

I'm still being careful with the right foot heel bruise and/or plantar tendon stress, so I put a 2nd insole insert in both of my running shoes.  It felt like I was running on soft rubber cushion.  No issue at all tonight with the right foot.   

Donnie had us do Yasso 800's so I ran 4 of them in 3:27 each.  Then did a cool down mile and then the stretching with Donnie and the group.  A nice night.  The goal is to do a total of 10 Yasso 800's at that pace and it should project a 3:27 marathon as long as you are doing your other marathon training distances. 

Still on only 3 mg. of prednisone medication for the PMR.  The neck and back and shoulders are managing the pain very well.  I know the true healing is taking place.  Proof of that is the improved Pikes Peak Marathon time almost an hour faster than last year.  Lots of good news.

A great night at Brushy Creek.  Temp in the low 90's felt great.  I got in some warm-up miles and then we did drills.  There were 21 of us there tonight, a nice bunch.  We jogged across the dam and then did the hill loop workout.  This is always a great workout.  My loops took 5:09, 5:20, 5:07, 5:04, 5:10.  Then we ran back across the dam where I got in the water park fountains and got washed off, felt great. 

I had double shoe insoles again tonight to protect my right heel, and it worked because there were no problems with the foot. 

With Hurricane Ike coming into Texas we will have to see what we do with our Saturday run as the hurricane is supposed to be close to Austin by Saturday morning.  Wait and see.  Gustavo said tonight he would like to start joining us on some of our Saturday runs. 

Hurricane Ike was slamming Houston Saturday morning but it only sent light winds over here in Austin with high humidity and temps in the 80's at 6:00 AM.  

I met Tom and Karen F. and Karen H. down at Town Lake and we did the 10 mile loop up and back from Mt. Bonnell and then we did the Congress Avenue Bridge loop of the Town Lake trail.  Then we got cleaned up at Deep Eddy showers and then over to Maudie's for breakfast tacos.  Lynn did her walk of the People Bridge loop.

The right foot plantar tendon and the right heel are tender again after this run but they seem to be holding okay.  Next Saturday we are doing 22 miles so I really need to be careful with the right foot.  Again I had double insole liners in the shoes to soften the impact. 

Still a great run and a great way to start the weekend. 

What a nice evening in Austin, TX with temps in the low 80's or high 70's, just a beautiful evening with a moderate breeze to even cool us more.  Just a nice evening.  I got to McNeil HS early hoping for an early start but the McNeil HS women's track team was on the track so I did my warmup mile out in the parking lot. 

When we finally got the track I started my Yasso 800's with a goal to do 10 of them at 3:30 each, which would predict a 3hr 30min marathon in St. George.  My Yasso times were 3:29; 3:25; 3:28; 3:24; 3:24; 3:27; 3:22; 3:23; 3:24; 3:20.  So if the prediction model works this should predict something between 3:24 and 3:29 for St. George.  I would be elated with a time in that range.  Hopefully with the healing I have seen with the PMR so I have been able to keep at the 3mg per day prednisone, and the energized race I had at Pikes Peak 4 weeks ago, this bodes well for St. George.  Time will tell. 

What a week at work, extra busy and wrapped around Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) work.  I ran our Jail-a-thon at work and spent lots of time on my feet and didn't get the hydration that I need to do, and on top of that I didn't get in a run since Monday.  When I left work last night with sore legs and feet I suspected this 22 miles today might be tougher than it should have been.  I hate it when I'm right on stuff like this. 

So, I met Karen F. and Karen H. and Tom H. this morning at 6:00 AM and we did a 17 mile loop up Mt. Bonnell and then on up to Far West Blvd and over to Shoal Creek and down to 45th street and then on over to the University of Texas past the football stadium, then past the state Capital and then down to the Town Lake Trail and back to the start at Mopac.  By the last 2 miles of this 17 mile segment I was really feeling it in the legs.  Oh well, then the goal just became the quest to finish the 22 miles with the Congress Avenue loop of Town Lake.  It wasn't pretty.  Karen F. and I reminisced about a 22 mile run in February a few years ago when she had to bait me with the vision of a cup of hot chocalate.  Today we were just glad to get it done. Over the past 10 years we can count the number of bad runs I have had on one hand, it just doesn't happen, but it did today.

Last Monday after doing the 10 Yasso 800 meter runs I was really feeling good about what I expected to do with this 22 mile run.  Oh well, two weeks of taper to St. George which needs to include some great hydration and some consistent running this coming week. 

I got to McNeil HS track early and got in 4 miles warmup before the group started at 6:00 PM  for drills and accellerations.  We had a big group again with about 55 runners.  The temperature was in the mid 90's with high humidity at the start and by the time I left for home it was 88 degrees.  Worked up a good sweat tonight.

My goal tonight was to get in the distance and not worry too much about speed, so it was a medium effort night.  After the frustration of the 22 mile run on Saturday this was a decent night of running. 

After my running I did a routine of push-ups as I'm on the schedule from the push-up plan on the link:  http://hundredpushups.com/. 

A georgeous evening in Austin, TX at Brushy Creek park.  I got in 3 miles warm-up before the group met and did drills.  There were 18 of us here tonight.  Then Richard had us do loops on the .6 mile trail, each one faster than the one before it.  I did 4:29; 4:23; 4:19; 3:59; and then I did a mile of cool down and then did the push-up routine.  When I started out with my first warm-up mile the legs felt heavy, but the more I ran the better it felt.  A pretty nice night.

I met Karen F. at Town Lake at 4:00 PM this afternoon and we had a great 7 mile run on the I-35 loop.  Temp was 94 degrees at the start and 91 at the end.  Just an awesome run. 

What a difference a week makes.  Today I met Karen F., Karen H., and Tom H. at Austin HS track, near Town Lake and we did 8 speed interval miles.  It was actually a cool almost cold morning with temps in the low 60's or high 50's, wow did it feel nice.  About half way through after mile 4 Steve Stu. showed up and ran with us.  These mile interval times will seem very slow to runners like Kory but for us these were just right this morning.  My target was to go at 7:30 miles, but I ran 7:28; 7:23; 7:26; 7:24; 7:19; 7:23; 7:23; 7:13. 

Karen F. had an absolutely great day as she said she felt better doing these repeats than she has felt in many years, and Karen H. surprised us by keeping up and having the best interval workout of her life.  Tom hadn't done mile intervals before and really enjoyed this one.

During our last mile interval Steve Sis., my running coach 3 years ago for Pikes Peak who has become the women's track team coach at the University of Texas, showed up at the track with about 12 or 14 women from the UT women's track team.  It was fun to watch them do some running and watch Steve coach.  I talked with him for a minute and he asked how my Polymyalsia Rheumatica was doing and he was glad to hear the report that I'm feeling lots of improvement and am down to 3mg of prednisone a day.  It was also fun to tell him that I got 2nd place this year at Pikes Peak, since when he coached me 3 years ago I got 3rd place in my age group.

Then we ran the 3 mile People Bridge loop on Town Lake and then went over to Maudie's for breakfast.  Just a great start to a beautiful weekend.  St. George is only a week away, should be fun.    

A nice evening in Austin, TX at McNeil HS with temps about 92 when I got to the track and about 85 when I left.  After 3 warmup miles we did drills where we counted 73 runners in the group tonight, the largest group we have ever had at the track, awesome. 

For the workout Donnie had us do 10 each 200 meter runs with a 50 meter recovery each.  I ran with Tam and Tom until Tom had to leave for work.  We ran our 200 meter intervals at paces between 5:36 / mile pace and 6:10 pace, just a fun night.  A fun and invigorating workout.  After the workout I did my push-up routine and really felt good. 

We only have 5 days until St. George so it was good to have a workout where we pushed it and felt really good with it. 

The good news:  I qualified for my 9th and 10th consecutive Boston Marathons.  Bad news: 7 weeks of recovery since running a hard Pikes Peak Marathon was not enough recovery time for me.  I guess it is true that the older you get the more recovery time you need.  Mentally I do not want to admit that recovery rule, as I basically try to ignore age differences between me and younger runners. 

My goal was to run with the 3:30 pace group and beat 3:30 for the first time in 4 years.  The 3:30 finish requires a pace of 8:00 min per mile.  I still think it can be done, but I'm going to have to really focus 6 months of training on that goal.  It wasn't too many years ago that I could run a 3:30 marathon almost at will, on any given weekend if I needed to.  It looks like that has changed.  I ended up finishing 20th place out of 99 men in my age group (60-64).  

I actually enjoyed the rain that we had the entire length of the race.  The rain kept me cool so there were no heat related issues.  I went out with the 3:30 pace group and felt fine for the first two miles, but I did notice the up hill sections at the end of both mile 1 and mile 2.  I had ignored those little hills in previous years (plenty of energy), but I noticed them this year.  I was still with the 3:30 pace group feeling pretty good at that point. 

Mile 1: 8:22. Mile 2: 8:18.  The pace group picked it up into mile 3 to make up for the easy start.  My mile 3 was 7:59.  The pace group had moved out a little bit ahead of me by the end of mile 3.  I started to realize I was going to get disappointed today as far as the 3:30 goal was concerned.   

Mile 4:  8:10.  Mile 5:  8:09.  By mile 5 the 3:30 pace group was about 200 meters ahead of me.  I started assessing the impact of the Pikes Peak Marathon.  A 2nd place there in my age group there was going to take a big toll today. 

Mile 6:  8:08.  Mile 7: 8:10.  Then mile 8, Veyo Hill.  This is the beast of this race.  Mile 8:  10:49, a very disappointing mile.  All of a sudden the legs felt like iron weights.  Now I knew this race was going to get really serious.  All along I had assumed that a Boston qualifying race was in the books.  Now I realized that I was going to have to work for it.

Mile 9 starts just before you crest the Veyo hill so I pushed it up and over the hill and then down the other side.  Mile 9:  9:02.  Way too slow.

Mile 10 and 11 are the long gentle up hill miles.  Mile 10: 8:58.  Mile 11: 9:46.  By now the mental games were in full force.  Recollections of other tough races run through your mind.  The good news for having lots of veteran race experience is that you understand those feelings when things get tough, so you have to toughen up.  And understanding the course I knew that after mile 12 we were in for lots of downhill running, which is good news.

Mile 12 includes some downhill and at the end more of the gentle uphill so it is a recovery mile and in my condition the uphill section took its toll.  Mile 12:  9:14. 

Mile 13:  9:00.  At the half marathon check point I was at 1 hour 56 minutes, only 4 minutes ahead of the imaginary Boston Qualifier runner.  By now I knew who my competition was, the imaginary Boston Qualifier runner.  He chased me last November in San Antonio when I took 1st place in my age group and was the only Boston Qualifier out of 23 runners on a very hot day.  I disappointed the BQ runner on that day and now in St. George he wanted his revenge.  I suspect old BQ runner had not realized just how tough it can be running up the Veyo hill in mile 8 so he must have fallen back, but I knew he would be after me now.

Although I had given up on the 3:30 pace group long ago, now I was encouraged at the thought of most of the remaining 13.1 miles being downhill.  Since the BQ runner can't go over 9 minutes a mile I was confident that he wouldn't catch me.

Mile 14:  9:07.  Not a lot of downhill but it was a start.

Mile 15: 8:35.   The 2nd half of this mile really gets steep downhill.  This was the fastest mile of the 2nd half of the race (a blistering 8:35), nothing to write home about, until mile 21.  

Mile 16:  9:05.  This slow mile time shocked me.  Mile 16 has a steep first half and then the 2nd half is still downhill, so I was very disappointed at a 9:05 on this mile.  This mile put some thoughts in my head wondering if I was going to muster up the effort to stay ahead of the imaginary BQ runner.  I hate that guy, but he does inspire me to push harder.

Mile 17: 8:48.   Mile 18:  8:44.  Okay, at least I put some more distance between me and the BQ runner.

Mile 19:  9:57.   Mile 19 has the hill at the end and it took a toll today.  The imaginary BQ guy closed the gap by almost a minute.  This was bad.

Mile 20:  10:05.  Not enough downhill in this mile.  The imaginary BQ guy closed another minute on me.  Very bad news.  When we drove the course on Friday afternoon we noticed that there was cell phone service at the mile 20 marker, so I called my wife and let her know that I finally made it to the mile 20 marker.  This gives her a better idea of when to start looking for me at the finish.

Mile 21:  8:35.  So as I moved into the last 6.2 miles my focus was to try to stay as consistent as I could and hold off the imaginary BQ guy.  So my mantra for the last 6.2 miles was a repeated "energy to the legs, energy to the legs".  My total focus was to drive energy to the legs so I could run steady and stay ahead of that awful imaginary BQ guy.  I was really happy with the 8:35 time for mile 21 after such a slow mile 20. 

Mile 22:  9:07.  Steady, good.

Mile 23:  8:47.  Wow, this felt fast (ha, ha).  I called Lynn and told her "3 miles to go".

Mile 24:  8:57.  Still steady.  The mantra was working.  I called Lynn, "2 miles to go".

Mile 25:  9:04.  Still steady even though the course had flattened out on the streets in town.  I called Lynn, "1 mile to go".  

Mile 26:  8:58.  I caught up with a guy from Dallas and talked with him and decided to run the rest of the race with him as we both had on Texas running shorts (and I had the Texas singlet).  We did look good. 

Last 0.2 mile:  1:39.  About a 8:15 pace which felt like I was flying (wow).   

My 3:54:04 time beat the imaginary BQ guy by almost 6 minutes, so that was at least satisfying.  Understanding how my legs felt during most of the race and gathering up the mental focus to push the limit of what energy I had was satisfying too.  Young energetic explosive runners probably cannot imagine feeling satisfied with a race that only beats a 4 hour finish by 6 minutes, but some day you will.  But, give me 6 months to prepare now for Boston and I plan on a much better Boston race than I had in St. George. 

The other reason I was hoping for a better time is that the Polymyalgia Rheumatica muscle disorder that has plagued me for 2 and 1/2 years seems to be going away as I am down to 3 mg of prednisone medication a day right now, and with St. George out of the way I am going to reduce the medication down to 2 mg a day and see how it feels.  I'm counting on this issue to be gone and not affect me in Boston.  This isn't an excuse, but it is a reality.  We all have things to deal with, so deal with them and get on with it. 

I had my Flip Video camera with me on this race and documented lots of good scenes, like the fires at the start line, and the Veyo Hill, and much of the last mile and through the finish line.  This will be a great video to show my Texas friends what the St. George Marathon is like.   

Post race the only thing close to an injury is the bottom of the right heel again feels bruised, just like it did after Pikes Peak.  I do need to get full recovery on that one.  Otherwise I feel fine, just a little stiffness which is expected. 

Lynn, Bobby, Madge and I headed for Texas right after the race.  We drove to Gallup, New Mexico and stayed there Saturday night, and then drove all day Sunday and got home at 11:00 PM.  Nice to be home.  To get to St. George for the marathon, Lynn and I left our home near Austin, TX at 4:30 AM Texas time and drove 16 hours to Flagstaff, Arizona and stayed there Thursday night, and then drove about another 5 hours to St. George on Friday morning and got there about 1:00 PM Friday.  A long drive, but worth it.  Beautiful country in northern Arizona and southern Utah, awesome. 

On the ride home Saturday and Sunday the legs were extremely tight and cramping in the car, but by today at work they were feeling pretty good.  Tonight we walked our lane up to the road and back and got in 2 miles of nice walking under the stars and the half moon.  A beautiful cool night in central Texas, the nicest in probably 6 months.  The legs felt great.  Tomorrow I'm going to give it a try at Brushy Creek. 

I ran tonight after work at Wells Branch park with Mike S., our ISO 9001 auditor.  He is in town doing the ISO 14001 audit.  Nice temps in the low 80's with low humidity, just a nice evening.  It has been 4 days since St. George and the right heel did not have any pain at all, no bruise feeling which is very good.

After our run I did my push-up routine and felt great with that too.  A nice start back to running.  I'm making my plans for how I will change my running prep for 2009 Boston.  I'm thinking about a focus on tempo runs on Wednesday night runs and a focus on finishing the long weekend runs with a marathon pace push on the last few miles of each long run.  I'm also going to develop a leg strength routine on the workout bench.  And finally I'm going to develop a sit-up routine similar to my push-up routine.  This feels like a fresh beginning.

After a week of recovery it sure felt good to get out and get in a run.  I went to Brushy Creek and got in a mile warmup and then we did drills and then did the mid distance loop running faster with each loop. 

One problem, my running shoes did not have their insole in them because I had taken the insoles out after getting wet running St. George Marathon.  So after a recovery week for the tender heel of course running without insoles has tenderized the heel again, duh.

Anyway it sure felt good to get back out. 

One other thing.  After St. George I reduced my prednisone medication down to 2 mg a day, however by the end of the week the pain in the back and neck was getting quite bad so I increased the prednisone dosage to 4 mg on Saturday and then up to 5 mg on Tuesday.  Darn, I had been hoping that the Polymyalgia Rheumatica had healed enough to get down to 2 mg of medication.  Oh, well. 

Nice 10 mile run up Mt. Bonnell with Karen F., Karen H., Steve S., and Tom H.  A beautiful Saturday morning. 

A nice run this evening down at Town Lake with Karen F.  Just a really nice run where we pushed it really good during the middle 3 miles.  It felt good to "work" this hard. 

What a beautiful running evening at  Brushy Creek.  I got in 3 warmup miles on the trail across the dam and down the other side and back, a nice warmup.  Then Bill led us in drills, we had 24 of us there tonight, a big group for the Wednesday night bunch.

For the workout Bill had us run a figure 8 on the Brushy Creek trails.  Each loop was 0.9 miles long.  I ran the first two loops with a couple of other runners and did 6:45 and 6:42, then I took off on my own for the last two loops and did 6:17 and 6:21.  These last two felt like I was running at a 6:45 pace which proved to be a great workout.  This was two runs in a row where I knew I had "worked" good.  Monday evening with Karen was a "work" night as well.  Felt really good to work like this and to feel good going away. 

Getting ready for the Susan G. Komen Race For The Cure of breast cancer on Nov. 2nd.

What a perfect morning in Austin, TX for a run with a temperature of 47 degrees at 6:00 AM as we arrived at the Austin HS track across the road from Town Lake.  I met Karen F.  and we did a warm-up mile and then did our first 1 mile speed interval at 7:29.  Then Tom showed up and then Karen H. and Steve S. showed up and they all joined us.  In total Karen F. and I got in 8 speed interval miles and then we all went and did the 3 mile Town Lake People Bridge loop and then we went to Maudie's for breakfast tacos. 

The sun was just rising against the Austin city skyline as we finished the 8 interval miles, a beautiful picture.  I played the rabbit and led our group in the intervals with times of: 7:29, 7:17, 7:16, 7:17, 7:11, 7:15, 7:18, 7:14.  The rest of our group ran in the range of 7:22 to 7:28.  We all had a great morning of speed intervals.  Of course my times are 30 seconds a mile slower than I would have done 5 years ago but, oh well it was a great workout.

Next week we do the Susan G. Koeman 5K race here in Austin.  Prednisone medication update: I'm back on 5 mg a day since the week at 2 mg a day left too much pain in the back and shoulders.  I think I'll drop back to 4 mg on Monday.  Nobody knows what starts this darn Polymyalgia Rheumatica and there is no cure, as it just has to run its course. 

A beautiful evening at McNeil HS track.  Perfect weather, temps in the low 70's or high 60's.  3 warm-up miles, drills and accellerations, and then Donnie had us do eight 350 meter runs with a 50 meter recovery.  I ran with Tam and Tom, lots of fun.  Then we did stretches after the workout.

Donnie reported on his marathon Sunday up in Waco where he won his age group with a sub 3:15 marathon, only his second marathon ever. 

Beautiful evening at Brushy Creek with temps in the 60's, clear sky, sun setting as we finished the run.  I got in a warm-up mile, then we did drills, then we ran across the dam to the hill loop.  We did 35 minutes of hill loops where I ran with Tom for his last training run before doing the New York Marathon this weekend. We ran steady with purpose but we didn't push it hard like I ran last Wednesday.  Then we ran back across the dam to the start.  Just a really nice evening to run.

Mowed down grass and weeds in our lower 3 acres of pasture for about 2 hours to clear a path along the fence line.  Then worked on putting up about 450 feet of fence.  The posts were already in with barbed wire already installed from 6 years ago.  We put up a square wire fence to keep the neighbor's goats out of our lower 3 acres.  This was a lot of time on my feet considering we have a race on Sunday morning, but I drank lots of sports drink throughout the day.  I don't think it had any serious affect on the race results, 3rd place in my age group. 

Lynn and I drove to Austin and picked up Karen F.and Karen H. and we drove to Auditorium Shores for the Susan G. Komen breast cancer 5K race.  A warm November morning with temperatures in the low 80's.  Last year I won my age group with a 6:59 pace, beating the winner from the previous year by about 40 seconds. 

This year I ran a 7:07 pace and the guy I beat last year by 40 seconds turned the tables on me and beat me this year by 22 seconds.  What a fun race and what a great workout.  The race starts on Congress Avenue Bridge, over Town Lake, and heads up Congress Avenue toward the state capital.  The route takes a few turns up some hills so when I finished the first mile in 7:19 I felt pretty good about it having worked pretty hard that mile.  The second mile continues up more hills and goes back behind the state capital and finishes on the beginning of the downhill.  I finished mile 2 in 7:19 as well.  Mile three is mostly downhill but with some turns that flatten out and finishes while crossing the 1st Street bridge.  My mile 3 time was 6:45, and then I sprinted on in to the finish line with a total finish time of 22:03.  Last year my finish time was 21:47. 

So, I took 3rd place in my age group (out of 22 runners) this year, and Karen F. finished 43 seconds behind me and took 3rd place in her age group (out of 115 runners) and Karen H. took 4th place in the same age group.

After the race we went over to Maudie's for breakfast tacos and Joe and Angel joined us as well.  A nice group get together. 

A warm evening in Austin, TX at McNeil HS track with temps in the mid to low 80's.  Got in my warm-up miles and then we did drills while the high school football team worked out on the field so we had lights for the first part of our workout.

Donnie had us do Yasso 800's tonight.  My right heel was tender after racing yesterday and my left hamstring has been real tight so I didn't overdo it and ran 6 Yasso's at 3:36 each.  Just a nice general workout.  The lights were turned off during our workout so it got immediately dark.  We had about 45 or 50 of us here tonight, a nice group.

A nice warm evening at Brushy Creek with temps in the mid to low 80's while I ran my warmup miles on the trails, then Bill had us do drills and then we jogged over to the dam where we did a 3-2-1 workout of the entire half mile length of the dam.  I ran with Tom H. and got his race report after he had run the New York City Marathon 2 days ago.  He liked it. 

The moon was half full which helped give us some additional light during our run tonight, a nice evening.  About 18 to 20 of us here tonight, a nice group.

What a nice morning in Austin, TX.  45 degrees at 6:00 as we met down at Town Lake and Mopac.  Just the 3 of us this morning, Karen F., Karen H. and me.  Lynn did her walk while we went for our 15 mile run up to Mt. Bonnell, then up to 2222, over to Shoal Creek, down to 24th, up behind the State Capital, down Congress to the Town Lake trail and then back up to Mopac to finish.  A really nice run.  Then of course over to Maudie's for breakfast tacos. 

Full moon.  Temps in the 70's.  Brushy Creek.  3 miles warmup.  Drills. Then we ran the boat ramp hill and over into the parking lot and circle back to the top of the hill.  We did this run 6 times.  The loop we ran was just short of a half mile.  Tom ran with me the first 3 loops and then he had to leave to go to work.  My times were 3:21; 3:21; 3:05; 3:00; 3:04; 3:04.  A nice workout.

I went to the foot doctor and told him about what I thought was a bruised right heel.  He X-Rayed the foot and declared a bone spur / plantar plantar fasciitis.  He had orthotics ordered that should be here in a little over a week.  He said I have one of the highest arched feet that he has seen and that the orthotic will really help. 

Nice 13 mile run with Karen H. and Tom H.  We did the 10 mile Mt. Bonnell loop and then the People Bridge loop on Town Lake.  Lynn did her walk and found some nice flint rocks.  Then we all went to Maudie's for breakfast tacos.  Karen F. and lots of other runners from our circle are in San Antonio to run the marathon or half marathon on Sunday.

A nice night at McNeil HS track.  I got there early and got in 6 miles warm-up before the running group showed up.  Temps were in the high 60's or low 70's, just right.  We had about 55 of us in the group tonight.  Lots of great marathon and half marathon stories from Sunday's San Antonio races.  After the drills and accellerations, Donnie had us do 4 each 300 meters ladder and then some 700 meter loops as well.  Tom and I did the 4 each 300 meter runs with times of 1:21; 1:16; 1:11; and 1:00 (a 5:20 mile pace).  Tom had to go to work and I had enough after getting the 6 warm-up miles as well, so we just did a cool down 1/4 mile and we were on our way. 

The right heel is still some painful (plantar fasciitis) as I wait for my orthotics in a week (next Tuesday).  A great night of running, though.

I untaped the right foot and was on my way to the foot doctor after work tonight to get retaped for the plantar fasciitis but they said they were closing early so I didn't get it taped back up.  I'll do it myself. 

Cold front blowing in this evening.  Lynn and I went over to Florence HS track and I did 3 miles, just to give me some time on my feet running. Anyway, it felt good just to get out for a little run tonight.  With the wind blowing and getting cold I felt sorry for Lynn and decided to cut my run short. 

A nice cool morning in Austin, TX, about 51 degrees at 6:00 start time.  We ran 15 miles including the Turkey Trot 5 mile course that will be run on Thanksgiving Day.

What a beautiful evening in Austin, TX, with temps feeling cool in the low 60's, clear sky wtih stars.  I was late leaving work so I only got in 1 mile warm-up.  Then we did drills and accellerations.  We had about 60 of us there tonight, another nice big group. 

Donnie had us do "Circuits" tonight. Run 100M and do pushups, run 100M and do lunges, run 100M and do crunches, run 100M and do jumps.  Repeat for a total of 4 times.  Then Tom and I did a cool-down mile and then we joined the group for the stretches.  Not a lot of distance but it all took about an hour, just a nice quick evening.

Joined Tom and Karen F. and Karen H at 6:00 AM.  Ran the 5 mile Congress Avenue loop and took a side run out past Zilker Park and up in the hills on the southwest end of Austin.  We ran up Wilke hill twice during this run and ran up past the Gus Farah entrance to the Greenbelt.  A nice run. 

I was wearing my new orthotics on this run and by the time we were finished the pain in my right heel was quite bad.  I'm going to add cushion on top of the orthotic.

Met Karen F. and Karen H. at Austin HS track at 6:30 AM.  Nice cool morning with temps in the mid 30's.  We did a warm-up mile and a quarter and then did 4 speed interval miles with a 1/4 mile recovery between each.  Actually I only got in 3 and a half speed interval miles because my right heel pain made me call it quits during the last speed interval mile. 

Then we headed for the Town Lake trail for a few easy miles.  I pulled off at the People Bridge loop and only got in 3.1 miles on this one.  The right foot pain was getting ugly.

Lynn and I headed for home.  It has been almost 4 months since the Pikes Peak Marathon where I injured the right heel.  I thought it was a bruise.  The doctor says it is plantar fasciitis which is why I got an orthotic two weeks ago. 

Big decision.  I have decided to take a month off from running to try to get real deep healing on the right foot.  This will be the first time in years that I have taken a month off from running.  I'll have to figure out what to do to get in my aerobic training without the pounding of running.