For Whom the Dogs Bark

46F, 93%, W 5 mph.  Ran 10.10 miles in 1:40.22, average 9:56 per mile.  It's now Friday night and I don't remember anything about this run, good thing I wrote it down.

33F, 93%, ESE 2 mph.  10.07 miles in 1:40:08, 9:57 per mile.

PM 59F, 55%, S 4 mph.  9.28 miles.  Ran it from work, kind of hard but don't know how hard.  Didn't have a watch or a heart rate monitor.  Ran from downtown along Buffalo Bayou to the corner of the Memorial Park loop and back.  In the Memorial Village area there is a running/biking/swimming store, so I stopped to buy body glide.  They had everything on sale and were trying to sell me more stuff.  I finally pointed out my sweaty condition and reminded them I was on foot.  They laughed and let me go.  My old stick was down to tiny bits.

Early a.m., ran 10.18 miles in 1:43:26, average 10:09 per mile.  Forgot to write down the weather.  Took my wife's parents to the airport.  Last night we had 15 people at the house, but they are leaving quickly now, Christmas is almost over.  That's all.

70F, 56%, SE 3 mph in the late afternoon, close to 60F by the time I finished.  Kind of a reverse run, started out in broad daylight and ended up so dark I couldn't see my feet.  This run was nice, never thought 70 could feel so comfortable.  I was actually cold by the time I finished.  The air was very un-Houston like, almost smelled like running in Utah at the end of the day, except the air was heavier.  This is my new favorite running weather.

This week has been pretty hit and miss running-wise.  We have been in a death march at work for the last 10 days, trying to get a deal closed by 12:30 this afternoon.  We have had that deadline for about a week, and we finished about 5 minutes early.  Spent the afternoon paying property taxes, figuring out income taxes, finishing off church contributions, generally getting ready for a long business trip that starts on Sunday.  Feels good to be done with that deal, but now I'm jumping into another one.  There probably won't be much running for a couple of weeks, but that might be OK.  For whatever reason (this is not a whine) my body is not responding to training right now, in terms of heart rate at least.  But I feel great when I run -- very confusing. 

Heading to Huntsville in the morning for a trail run with Wade.

Oh yeah, I forgot, 10.20 miles in 1:42:32, average pace 10:03 per mile.

50F, 89%, calm and heavy fog.  Wade and I drove to Huntsville State Park with the object of running a lap of the Rocky Raccoon 100.  We are planning to pace D. Crockett in about a month when he runs the real thing, so it seemed like a good idea to check it out.  We got there just before daylight and puttered around a little bit until it got light.  The sun never broke through the fog, so the weather was nothing to complain about.

This trail is soft and well-marked, but has roots sticking up almost the entire distance.  For an old klutz like me it was impossible to pick up my feet on every step -- I went down twice, stubbed my toe badly twice and got a mild twisted ankle once, so I have battle scars.  (This afternoon I was taking a quick nap waiting for Clint and Becky to arrive at the airport, and everytime I would drift off my foot would catch a root and I was falling all over again until I woke up, so counting those I fell a total of 7 times today.)  Wade had one close call but he never fell.  There were several other runners out there doing the same thing (running, not falling), one couple was running the trail like it was a track.

I ran in my Jingas, curious as to whether they would do for trail running.  They were OK, but I wore an old pair with thicker soles, and the soles were coming off by the time I finished.  Off to the landfill for those shoes, I'm going to have to figure out something else, don't want to wear heavy shoes.

A lap is 20 miles, but we quit a little early because we had to get home, almost noon by the time we got back.  Time goes quickly on Saturdays when you don't start before sun up.  17.61 miles at 10:27 per mile.  This was a tough run.  Next step is to try it in the dark.  Not sure I'm going to be able to do two laps with Mr. Crockett, and I'm not sure how anybody does five.