For Whom the Dogs Bark

56F, 93% humidity, gathering clouds but calm.  Good running weather.  Ran 4 then did the seminary run, then 4 more then a second GI break then 4 more.  So overall speed was down, but I was slower this morning no matter how you cut it.  I ran 12.10 miles in 2:03:02, average pace 10:10 per mile, flat shoes.  Too much rich food over the weekend.  But it was a fun weekend meeting bloggers and monitoring their races.   My daughter-in-law's bosses were a sponsor of the half marathon, so she and my son drew duty at one of the stations.  They passed out water and Gatorade, but my daughter-in-law was also in charge of the music and organizing cheers.  Her bosses were so impressed they promised a raise.  We'll see if that holds up today as they are recovering from their hangovers.

66F, 94% humidity, wind S 13-20 mph.  Almost summertime temperatures.  Ran 4.44 miles at low heart rate (regular shoes), then came back in to do the seminary run.

After dropping my daughter off, the car thermometer read-out headed south.  It went from 66 to 41 in about 10 minutes, first time I have seen anything like that.  By the time I got back in my neighborhood the wind was rocking my vehicle and there was lightning and thunder, so I wimped out and went to the clubhouse, waited around for the only treadmill that was working, settled for 1 mile on the elliptical.  Finally the treadmill opened up and I got two more miles on it at low heart rate, then my phone rang and my daughter's ride home had fallen through. Back to pick her up.

By this time the weather had calmed down, 42F, 100% humidity, wind NW 16-30, so I put on beanie and gloves, went back out and ran 3 more in the 8:30 to 9:00 range, frankly it felt better than the slow miles earlier.  Total miles on my Garmin were 7.40 in 1:13, 9:54 pace.  Adding 3 for the clubhouse miles, so a total of 10.40.  Then back to the house to take my daughter to the bus stop, too cold to have the little darling wait in the wind.  Let's see, I was out there in shorts, something wrong here.  At that point I called it a day.

My legs and feet hurt all day yesterday, got worse as the day wore on, I figured I had an injury.  The good news this morning is that all seems well.  We are bracing for some serious winter weather here in the next few days.  I know, I know, everybody else already has it.

19F, 62% humidity, wind NNW 12 mph, 7F wind chill, partly cloudy.  It was already 21F when I went to bed last night, so this could have been worse.  With lower than usual humidity it didn't turn out to be all that bad.  Certainly the cold was a distraction, and it was tough running against the wind, but perhaps two shirts and a pullover were a little much?  Had to shed the pullover after 2 miles.  I considered passing on this run because I was afraid that frost bite would ruin my complexion.  But I'm glad I went out there, and I'm happy to report that I look the same, for better or worse.  Wind chill-wise, this is the lowest temperature I remember for a couple of decades, and it will be similar tomorrow morning.

The objective was to get this over as soon as possible, so I "warmed up" as fast as I could, 9:13 and 8:13, then hit mid-7s plus a little for the rest of the run, 7:42, 7:34, 7:34, 7:28, 7:33, 7:30, 7:35 and 7:29.  I figured it was useless to try to get a heart rate reading, but as it turned out I was sweating enough I could have done it.  I am estimating 165-175 for the 8 hard ones, but not sure.  Total distance 10.07 in 1:18:37, average pace 7:48 and flat shoes.

Speaking of which, here they are:

This is my first pair of flat shoes and they are just about done after about 500 miles.  (Regular shoes still going strong after a couple of thousand miles.)  Most of the wear is on the outside ball, which is generally correct I think.  But the right foot has a hole in that spot and the left foot still has a little bit of tread.  I wonder if I am striking unevenly.  I don't have a coach, but it would be interesting if I could find somebody really good who could take my stride apart and put it together again.

27F, 16WC, 57% humidity, wind N12-20 mph.  Balmy.  Ran 10.22 miles in 1:47:18, average pace 10:30 per mile, regular shoes.  No heart rate data today.  Even though the wind chill was almost 10 degrees warmer than yesterday and the humidity was lower, that was the coldest I've been in a while.  Something about going slower I guess, but I had to after running hard yesterday.  I started to feel lethargic toward the end, possibly more from lack of sleep than the cold though.  Still bone dry, but snow predicted for tonight.  Wade said he'll run with me if there is snow in the morning.  If there is snow in the morning I may not run, last time I did that I practically got a concussion when I fell, probably did.  But I don't think there will be much if any.  Some of the Canadians in town are having a great time laughing at all the school closures, etc., but I tell them they don't want to be out on the road competing for freeway lanes with a bunch of rednecks with slick tires, they are better off at home.

26F/18WC/NW 8mph/85% at start, 25F/15WC/10mph/85% at end.  Colder than yesterday, but ran it hard:  9:42, 8:12, 7:53, 7:44, 7:43, 7:39, 7:44, 7:42, 7:34 and 7:38, 10.16 miles in 1:21:00, 7:58 per mile.  The cold isn't so bad running hard, at times it felt almost good, but not quite.

The snow never materialized, of course, but instead we had ice.  There was enough moisture in the air that it put a layer of ice over everything, particularly bridges.  I left for work early and got there late because all the freeways were closed.  Over 800 wrecks in Houston today.  Roads were dry by this afternoon, but it was a good thing they cancelled school today, would have been a mess out there.  I don't care where it is, clear ice on the roads is dangerous.

20F, 89% humidity, calm and clear.  It was sterling weather out there this morning, by the time we finished the sun was up -- clear, cold and calm.  With no wind the cold wasn't really noticeable.  Met the group at the Y.  They were doing their shakeout run one week out from the Houston marathon.  Forgot my Garmin (yes, it's true), but according to Wade's watch we ran 8.44 miles at about a 9:00 pace, regular shoes.  Easy run, but decided not to go out again for another loop, too much to do today.