For Whom the Dogs Bark

60F, 84% humidity, wind N 4 mph.  The cool air came in and it was wondrous out there.  Only problem is that I have some severe leftover stiffness from Saturday, very surprising since I didn't think I ran that hard.  My legs are definitely lagging my heart in the fitness area.  Actually ran with an altered gait for much of the run trying to get comfortable.  It evened out some but not a good run.  Went 7.10 miles in 58:56, average pace 8:18 per mile in regular shoes, actually 8:12 per mile if I throw out the first warmup mile.  Harder than it should have been but I got it in.

My daughter does early morning seminary, this is her first year, and friends have been driving her in order to accommodate my running schedule.  This week and next I am returning the favor since I only have to run an hour now that I am tapering.  This morning was tough, though.  I ran at 4:30, did the seminary run at 5:45 and somehow made it downtown for jury duty at 8:00 a.m.  The things we do.

56F, 86% humidity, calm and clear.  Beautiful out there.  I am not yet getting the cool weather pop I had hoped for.  Ankle still feels weak when I land on it, but I stubbornly went out there anyway, it was actually a little better today.  Ran 7.13 in 1:00:36, average pace 8:30 per mile, 8:12 per mile after taking out the warmup lap, regular shoes.

Jury duty yesterday was something else.  My strategy for not getting picked is to go in dressed to the max, makes me look educated which is not a good quality in a juror.  Lawyers are not exempt in Texas like in some states, but we almost never get picked.  Would have been a personal scheduling disaster if I had been.  I got on a panel for a murder trial for a teenager who spoke no English, juror No. 1 in a panel of 64.  Right out of the box the Assistant DA asked somebody what they would think if juror No. 1 shot juror No. 2 just because I didn't like him.  I chimed in that I was just putting him out of his misery so he wouldn't have to do jury duty.  Everybody laughed except for the DA. It went downhill from there, but I didn't get picked, so something worked.  I was worried, though.  Most of the men on the panel either wanted to fry the kid or set him free, all without knowing any facts about the case whatsoever.  I thought they might have to pick me out of desperation, but they ended up picking 10 women and 2 men.  They had to go all the way to the back row to get their 12 but I think they somehow came up with a good jury.

63F, 75% humidity, wind NW 5 mph.  Beautiful day to be out there running.   Went 7.11 miles in 1:12:22, average pace 10:11 per mile, low heart rate and regular shoes.  That is a good pace for regular shoes, although 10 days ago I did a low heart rate run at 10:06 per mile.  That run was in flat shoes but at 72F and high humidity.  I noticed my blog entry for that day says I ran at 10:11 per mile but I re-calculated and it was 10:06, so that was a very good day.  Maybe the next time I strap on the flats I will get under 10.  That used to be a fantasy goal but now it is realistic, gotta love progress.

Trying to get the fatigue out of my legs, and trying to hone in on a goal for Hartford.  Obviously a minimum is 3:45 but some of my times on shorter runs are indicating a possibility for a faster race.  I want to be (1) realistic, (2) ambitious and (3) not blow my BQ chances by going out too hard.  I have noticed that running is like money -- never quite enough.

60F, 83% humidity, calm.  Thank goodness it warmed up a little bit!  Ran 7.05 in 1:07:29, low heart rate except for 2 and regular shoes.  The two fast miles were 7:11, 1 mile cooldown, then 7:05.  Tried to run smoothly but don't know how well I did.  Would like to be able to run a 6:30 mile but that isn't in the cards yet.  I am running a 5K with my kids on Saturday, probably a little late in the taper but it is important and it is still 7 days out.  I think I will target about 7:15, which would put me under 22:30, a nice PR if I can pull it off.

I have been riding my friend Wade about the heat he is going to get in St. George, but I am actually a little worried, especially for my friends at the back of the pack.  They are going to be roasting if it doesn't let up a little.  The National Guard (or whoever those guys were) is going to have its hands full.

66F, 78% humidity, wind N 3 mph.   Warming up quite nicely but it won't last, we are back down in the 50s starting tomorrow I think.  I looked up Hartford this morning and it was hotter and more humid than Houston.  Uh oh.  But their 10 day forecast is uniformly in the low 50s, so I think that was either a typo or some wierd, short-lived weather pattern.

I stayed up late working last night so got out late this morning.  I ran 7.11 miles in 1:14:26, 10:28 per mile, low heart rate and regular shoes.  Have been watching my right foot very closely this week, so no flat shoe runs for a while, but I think it will be OK.  I had back problems two years ago, herniated disc pushing against my sciatic nerve on the right side, and ended up with numbness in my right foot which still lingers.  So earlier this week out running, every 10th step or so it was like my foot was giving out underneath me, not necessarily painful but folding like a wet noodle.  My daughter reported that she had a very similar condition when she was pregnant, so I'm pretty sure that it is a nerve problem.  Not too hard to compensate for it at a slow pace but it made for some funny looking stride breaks when I got into the low 7s yesterday, wouldn't have even been able to run that fast a couple of days earlier.  I could still feel it this morning but it held my weight fine the whole run.  So fragile.

60F, 80% humidity, wind N 3 mph.  Beautiful Saturday morning, was thinking about all the St. George runners, hope all goes well with all of them.  Byron and Marci, my brother in law and sister in law from Woodland Hills, ran it.  They just called and said the heat was brutal.

I ran a local 5K this morning, a breast cancer fundraiser for which my firm is one of the sponsors.  There were 32,000 runners in all, a real zoo in downtown Houston.  Only 3,000+ were entered in the timed race, however, most wanted to just slog it or walk it.  I had 3 of my 5 kids entered, as well as my son-in-law and daughter-in-law, so it was a family event.  My wife stayed home with the granddaughters so they didn't have to get up.

I got down there a little early and got the last ones in our group registered.  I wanted to run about 6 ahead of the race but there wasn't time.  I ran 3 at about 9:30 pace to warm up, then entered the race corral from the front end, as I knew with that many runners a good time was hopeless unless I managed to get close to the front.  I placed myself a few rows back and that was about right.

After the gun went off I was bobbing and weaving a little but saw I was running a 6:45 pace, which explained why my legs felt heavy but at least I knew I was OK with the speed.  Mile splits were 7:07, 7:07, 7:17 and 1:02 (7:15).  The last mile was fairly significant uphill, including a steep down and up underpass, so compensating for that I ran an even pace throughout.  I ran at 187-188 bpm the entire last mile, felt like I gave it pretty much everything I had and finished in 22:33, close to a 2-minute improvement over my time on this same course (different race) in March.  I looked around and didn't see any other geezers so I thought I might have a chance of placing.  We stuck around for the awards ceremony, something I never do, and sure enough I won the 55+ division, which had 95 runners entered.  Overall I was 243 out of 3182 finishers in the timed race.  Got a nice crystal plaque that is going front and center in my office.

Last week of taper coming up.  This is the week I have the most trouble getting it right.  I am suspicious of tapers in general, but I must admit my legs are feeling stronger today.  This 5K time translates to about a 3:40 marathon, eerily close to what my time trial half marathon from 15 days ago graded out to as well.  I think there is a message here: Don't try anything dumb in Hartford.

Here is the obligatory post-race shot, sorry about the shaded eyes.