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September 29, 2004

Just an easy 5 tonight

... and not much else to report. I can't figure out where all that extra time I thought I was going to have this week has gone? Maybe we should cancel that Netflix subscription for the next few months ...

Posted by jenandmats at 9:34 PM

September 28, 2004

2-mile Time Trial

So Steve had us scheduled for a 2-mile time trial tonight on the track. I wasn't going to do it since I'd just done the 2.4-mile relay two weekends ago or so, but then I ran into Ruth, who talked me into it, telling me we'd be doing another one in 9 weeks, and wouldn't it be better to have a direct comparison? I'm such a suckah.

So I put on my fancy racing flats (I have some Reebok Premier Competitions that I'm surprised to really like) and headed over to the track. I'm sure I must have looked obnoxious to most of the other runners in their trainers in my bright yellow slippers, but I was excited to get to wear them again. I don't race too much so I generally don't get my money out of my flats before my feet grow (spread?) out of them.

I ran a pretty nice even pace: a 12:20, with splits of 1:35, 33, 32, 32, 32, 32, 36(ha! savin' up for the last lap) and 26. I had about three guys pass me at the beginning of the second mile, but I knew I was running a nice steady pace and let them go. Maybe I should have tried harder to keep them with me. I wasn't overly tired when I finished.

So again, the McMillan calculator says I'm capable of a 3:15 marathon. Hopefully it'll say something different in December.

Posted by jenandmats at 10:10 PM | Comments (2)

September 27, 2004

Cutback Week!

Yee haw! I'm excited for this recovery week, but not for the reason I should be. My legs are not tired. Well, they're not nearly as tired as they've been during other phases of this training. I didn't have to do my tippy-toe, creepy-crawley start to either of my runs today because I felt fine.

I'm just exicted to only have to bring one change of clothes to work on Wednesday since I only have one run, and I'm excited that tonight after our group run I could hang out and socialize since I didn't have to head out for more miles. And I can sleep in on Wednesday and Friday. For the next seven days running doesn't have to be as all-consuming as it's been the past three weeks. For *that* I'm pretty psyched.

Maybe I'll even get to watch some of the episodes of Six Feet Under that I've had from Netflix for the past several weeks. Since I started this higher-mileage thing we haven't been getting our money's worth from Netflix!

Andy made brownies with chocolate chips. He just gave me one (with some milk) and it's still warm. Life is gooooooood.

Posted by jenandmats at 9:21 PM | Comments (3)

September 26, 2004

Summary - week 11 of 31

Week 11 of 31 (9/20-9/26)
Monday – 7am EZ; 6.5pm hilly
Tuesday – 5am EZ; 12pm hilly
Wednesday – 5am EZ; 6pm EZ
Thursday – 5am EZ; 12.5pm (progressive run w/ last 4.25 at best aerobic effort)
Friday – 7am EZ
Saturday – 18 hilly
Sunday - 7EZ
TOTAL - 91

Posted by jenandmats at 8:55 PM

September 25, 2004

Eighteen and I LIKE IT

A little Alice Cooper, anyone?

I was so restless last night, worrying about my 18-miler this morning: I worried that the bottom of my foot was getting sorer; worried that all the miles of the week would leave me struggling today for the longest run I'd done since Boston; worried that I hadn't had enough water to counteract the big fat margarita I had at happy hour; worried that the greasy tacos al pastor I had at said happy hour would come back to haunt me; worried that I'd be starting in the dark by myself; and, of course, worried that all this worrying would prevent me from getting enough sleep. Ain't that the way it always goes?

And then it all worked out O.K. Better than ok. I started with Andy and Pierre at 6:30, then hooked up with Steve's group. The group started out at a great, nice, relaxed pace and then worked steadily through the hills without any real struggle. And we socialized the whole time. We're all just getting to know one another which makes the time pass so much faster. And they're fun, too. We picked it up on their home stretch, which I really like, even though I still had miles to go. It's a good sign that we'll all work really well together. So many training groups start out pushing the pace and then poop out at the end. My last four miles on my own were fabulous - I felt strong and smooth and not at all like I'd already run 14 miles. Sweet.

I'm not running with the Sunday girls tomorrow, unfortunately. We're going to do the Time Warp tonight. Andy's never seen Rocky Horror and our crazy/weird friends have a pretty big group going to an 11:55pm show. You think anyone will notice if I just doze off in the middle? That'd be dangerous at one of those shows.

Oh ... I took an ice bath this morning (a la Blondie and Alison) but don't know if I did it right. I'm nearly positive it wasn't as cold as it could have been but I'm *ok* with that. I sat there 10 minutes. Is that long enough? And I waited until after our breakfast outing to take it, so it didn't get done until about 1.5-2 hours after I finished. Is that too long to wait? The food's more important, right?

Posted by jenandmats at 5:03 PM | Comments (4)

September 24, 2004

Gilbert Tuhabonye

I just ran 7 this morning. Only one run. I feel spoiled!

I promised myself that the next time I didn't really have much to write about I'd mention Gilbert, who is a coach here in town who has become immensely popular since he showed up a few years ago. I finally made time to run with him this summer and had a great time, because of both him and his group of runners. He's an assistant coach for Steve's marathon group now, too, so I still get to see him at least once a week. Richard has also run with him.

Gilbert's story is such an amazing one; after knowing him and realizing what he's been through you never hear stories about genocide in other countries with quite the same sense of detachment.

I think his bio may say he represented Burundi this year in Athens, but he didn't. There was some confusion in the selection/ qualification of the team that was somewhat Suzy Favor Hamilton-esque, and he didn't get to go. It was a big disappointment to him, but he seemed to take it all in stride.

Posted by jenandmats at 9:05 PM | Comments (2)

September 23, 2004

Bad feedback

Tonight I was trying to actually accomplish something during my 12-miler. The plan was to do three 4-mile loops: go out really easy and relaxed on the first one, run the second run at the pace I eventually worked into on the first one, and then on the last one I was going to find my "high-end aerobic pace," an idea I found on the letsrun site. It's an idea found in an article by John Kellog, which reads in relevant part:
"The general idea on a high-end aerobic run is to find the fastest pace at which you can run without feeling as though you're having to fight to sustain the pace."

My first mile was a long one; I don't know exactly how long, but it was in the 11-minute range! I started out really tiptoeing, and felt like my groin needed to pop (this happens to me pretty frequently, actually.) Overall the first loop was just under 40 minutes which included a bathroom stop - stopping my watch isn't something I normally worry about when I stop so I completely forgot!

The comfortable middle loop was an 8:10 pace, and then we moved into what was supposed to be that "'high-end aerobic" pace. It wasn't hard, but it wasn't easy. It turned out to be 7:47 pace. I couln't believe it. That is so completely lame. It was on the trail and it was dark, but man that's slow for a girl who's targeting 6:50 pace for 26.2 miles.

So now I'm in a mini funk. And *that,* my friends, is why I don't time many of my runs. So many of the people on the trail are so slow you can run around there and feel like you're flying. But the watch doesn't lie. And right now in my head I have the line from Jack Johnson's The Horizon Has Been Defeated, "Things can go bad ... and make you wanna run away."

But really it's just a mini-funk. It doesn't mean that I can't run fast, it's just that I'm amazed at what *doesn't* feel easy. I'll get over it quick. Maybe just in time for our marathon training group's two-mile time trial next week. I can't *wait.* I plugged my 2.4-mile race pace from the relay into a race prediction calculator which said I could run a 3:14 marathon. Well yes I can, actually. Thaaaaanks.

This afternoon I went to 7-11 to get a pre-run Slim Fast and all they had were the Atkin's-friendly version. Also ... this week three bathrooms on three different runs had no TP. It's not my week! Reminds me of Eugene Levy's character in Splash. "What a WEEK I'm having!"

Posted by jenandmats at 10:21 PM | Comments (3)

September 21, 2004

Two good runs today.

Seems like Mondays and Tuesdays are generally pretty good; it's Wednesday, my scheduled midweek long run day, when things start all going to pot. So I've decided to bump up my Tuesday and Thursday afternoon runs to 11-12 miles and leave Wednesday with two shorter easy runs. It means that I'll be running twice a day four days a week, but it will give me a good recovery day in between two harder efforts. Eventually Tuesday and Thursday will become workout days and I'll need that recovery even more. I just hope there's enough recovery time between Thursday night workouts and my Saturday morning long runs.

Blondie ... I got my new Oakleys in yesterday, and I must say I look pretty damn cool in them. Well, cooler than I would be otherwise, which isn't very cool. Interestingly, though, today was the first run I actually used them for, and the sky clouded up and we got a little rain, even (sooo much nicer than last week.) So I ended up running with them on my head instead of on my face. Good timing.

Posted by jenandmats at 9:08 PM | Comments (2)

September 20, 2004

Austin City Limits Music Festival Weekend

It's always so strange to reach the end of something that you've looked forward to for a long time. Andy and I purchased our three-day pass for ACL Fest months ago. This is the festival's third year and the first two mark two of the best weekends we've ever had.

This year was just as good, although there was a point on Friday night when we tried to see Franz Ferdinand but couldn't get close enough to hear well and I was overwhelmed by the crowd and the cigarette smoke and thought maybe the festival had grown too big for its own good. I was disappointed to have to walk away from that show, which got rave reviews, but we quickly got our groove back at one of the smaller stages.

For me, the highlights of this year were Joe Ely (no Butch Hancock, though, Meghan) and Terry Allen on Friday night, and Elvis Costello on Sunday afternoon. I was a little skeptical of the Elvis Costello show since it was at 4:30pm; I wondered how rockin' he could get in 96 degree heat. He didn't seem to notice, actually. He rocked like it was 11:30 on a Saturday night. For the rest of the day on Sunday - even after we'd seen other acts - I was walking around singing "AAA-li-son... I know... This world's... Been killin' YOU ..." I'm STILL singin' it. He finished with "Pump it Up" which could have gone on for the rest of the afternoon for all I cared. So fun. Patty Griffin was excellent, as usual, except that I think there was something wrong with the speakers. We could hear her, but it wasn't as loud as it could have been. Cake was also a highlight and the last full show we caught. I'm embarrassed to say that although I've been familiar with them since very early on (they're from Sacramento and were popular with the UC Davis and Slackramento State crowds,) this was the first time I'd seen them.

Meghan - we saw Ben Harper, but only from afar, and we didn't watch the whole show. We'd set up our base camp in the shade of a tree in the middle of the park and could hear him from there. He was very very small, but we could hear ok. He was a little mellow for a festival closer, and by that time I was burned and buzzed and sweaty and dirty and still singing "Alison" and ready to head back home. Last year he was later on Sunday, before REM, and it was perfect to just sit back and chill out listening to him. Plus, this year as we were sitting there listening to him I started to realize that something we'd looked forward to for so long was coming to an end. It was kinda sad. (Well, except that the weekend had been so fun.)

And yes I managed to run, too! I took Friday off like I'd said I would, which helped with the 16 I had to do Saturday. I ran with the Rogue group, and I think we've got a little group of faster people forming, which is nice (especially since one of the guys has done the group before and knows the routes!) Our route Saturday was really hilly, which was a tough way to end a tough week, but I got through. Sunday's run was 100% social and a good way to wrap things up.

Keep your fingers crossed for me. This third week before a cutback week is always hard to get through! Maybe it'll help that this week temperatures are only supposed to be in the *low* 90s. Yay.

Posted by jenandmats at 9:36 PM | Comments (3)

September 19, 2004

Summary - week 10 of 31

Week 10 of 31 (9/13-9/19)
Monday – 5am EZ; 9pm hilly
Tuesday – 5am EZ; 9pm (marathon training group did 16x strides on the track)
Wednesday – 15EZ
Thursday – 6am EZ; 9pm EZ
Friday – OFF
Saturday – 16 hilly
Sunday - 7EZ
TOTAL - 81

Posted by jenandmats at 11:43 AM

September 16, 2004

Wiped Out

Running today was *rough*. I'm pooped. I'm taking tomorrow off. I need it and it's a good time to take it - it's roughly right in the middle of my three-week block. And I have a massage scheduled!! Perfecto!

So tonight I'll rest up for ACL Fest this weekend. Becky ... tomorrow night I'll be sitting in the park listening to Patty Griffin! And then either Terry Allen or Ryan Adams, and then Franz Ferdinand (whom I'm not all that familiar with, but my brother says they're really good) and then Sheryl Crow. We're going to miss most of Saturday for a wedding (boo.) And then the fun starts again on SUNDAY. If any of you have time to peruse the schedule and have suggestions as to whom we should see, lemme know. Please.

Andy is watching a video of a knee implant surgery using his company's system. It's funny how into it he is. It's interesting, but I'm not nearly as riveted as he is. In fact ... I'm afraid I'm only hanging on to consciousness by a thin thread. It's going to be a big weekend and I need some sleep!

Posted by jenandmats at 9:20 PM | Comments (2)

September 15, 2004

Jen and Lance, marathon training together on the trail

Remember last week I commented on not noticing people when I was running on the trail? It happened again. Only this time I ran right toward Lance Armstrong and his running buddy on an otherwise deserted stretch of trail and never saw Lance. I was running with my friend Julie who told me it was him right after we'd passed him. His friend had caught my eye; he was looking at us like he knew us, which didn't really surprise me since between the two of us Julie and I know a good chunk of the runners out on the trail. So I made eye contact with the friend and smiled and said hi. Never even bothered to check the other guy out.

Julie was pretty excited. She's a *huge* cycling fan. She says he's training for the NYC Marathon. I was a little embarrassed that right before we ran past them I'd been (sort-of) pretend whining in a loud voice, asking if we were almost there yet (it was sooooo hot and gross outside.) Always good to look like a big fat baby in front of one of the worlds toughest dudes.

Next time I'll hide my huffing and puffing and politely say "Bonjour."

And now for something completely different. Has anyone else noticed that the new bodyglide is even more stinky than the old version? I could barely stand myself near the end of my run. I didn't chafe, though ...

Now all three of us are on the "nasty college couch." It's a tight fit and I don't think Matty's too comfy, but I think she's happy nonetheless. Can't wait till she starts to snore again.

Posted by jenandmats at 9:44 PM | Comments (7)

September 14, 2004

Ewwwww

Well tonight was downright icky. It poured rain all through the late afternoon without cooling things off, so by the time I hit the trail at 5:30 it was just hot and soupy.

I met Steve's group for workout. We did 2 miles of strides, which is more than I've ever done before in one workout. Hope I didn't make myself sore.

I just had to re-schedule an already complicated situation for the morning with my friends. I had planned to do my regular semi-long run tomorrow morning, and meet different people at different points, but as I was driving home tonight all soggy and gross I just couldn't bear the thought of getting up early again tomorrow for more of the same. So instead of running at 6am in the unbearable humidity I'll run at 6pm in the unbearable *heat* and humidity. I'm a real smahty-pants. I don't care, though; I'm looking forward to sleeping in!! And having breakfast with Andy (and Matty)!

Posted by jenandmats at 9:25 PM

September 13, 2004

well I hope I can keep it up

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I've hit a good groove with this high mileage thing. I probably shouldn't be making judgments about it just yet, seeing as I've only just started week 2 of a 3 week block of high miles, but one thing I've noticed the past few days is that all my runs feel pretty much the same. There are fewer peaks and valleys over the course of the week. It takes me a while to get going, but once I get moving there are a lot fewer peaks and valleys over the course of each run, even. I just go. I also notice that I'm a lot less sore when I get up after sitting at work for long periods of time on the days I run in the morning.

Matty and I are hangning out on the "nasty college couch" together. This is the only piece of furniture she's allowed on. One of her fluffy yellow cauliflowered Labrador ears (she's had hematomas in both ears and they didn't heal up flat; they're all wrinkled) is flipped inside out and she's starting to snore. I think I just might be where she is in a few minutes.

Posted by jenandmats at 9:03 PM

September 12, 2004

Summary - week 9 of 31

Week 9 of 31 (9/5-9/12)
Monday – 12 EZ w/ 8x strides
Tuesday – 5am EZ; 9pm EZ
Wednesday – 14EZ
Thursday – 5.5am EZ; 9pm EZ
Friday – 7 EZ
Saturday – 7am EZ; 6.5pm w/ 2.5 mi race (6:15/ mi 1st lap, 6:16/mi 2nd)
Sunday - 14.5 hilly
TOTAL - 89.5

Posted by jenandmats at 2:40 PM | Comments (3)

September 11, 2004

Zilker Relays

Well I'm happy with it. According to the results (which seem like they could be reliable for us but are questionable for other teams) I did my two 1.25 (or so) mile loops at 6:15 and 6:16 pace. I'll take it! I'm happy that it was faster than my 5K pr pace *and* that I ran pretty consistently. Most people ran considerably slower on the second lap. And I felt good.

Man that was fun. Again. Last year we closed down the party and this year we held that honor again. We had a good group of us left at the end who hung out. It's such a great way to start off the running year. We got 4th in our division by less than 30 seconds, though. Bummer! We were 3 minutes faster than last year, which was the goal, so yay us!

Posted by jenandmats at 10:57 PM | Comments (1)

September 10, 2004

Fessing up

I actually have a race tomorrow, too. But it's not nearly as "serious" as Blondie's or Beth's. It's a four-person relay that should be a lot of fun. I'm running with Andy and our friends Shannon and Paul - we were all a team last year, and a somewhat sorry one at that. Shannon still hadn't quite gotten back into shape after having had her first kid, Andy and Paul just really hadn't been running much, and I was running on an undiagnosed but very much present metatarsal stress fracture. So my goal (*ahem* I mean, our goal) is to just do better than last year! I've been riding everyone's butt about this since July; I hope they're ready!

I don't have a whole lot of expectation for my performance tomorrow, especially since I'm nearing the end of a big week. I think we all feel the same - Shannon's been warning me of groin problems, Paul's been warning me of Achilles problems, Andy's just been his regular noncommittal self, and I've got this "high-mileage" excuse, but none of us wants to make an ass of himself/herself! So keep your fingers crossed for us.

BUT ... realistically, nobody's really going to be paying us much attention. I think some of the more serious training groups, like Gilbert's, have worked to put some good teams together. In fact, the only women's team I know of is pretty kick-ass; I doubt anyone will be able to come near them. Why didn't they try to "share the love" and put together some teams to get some real competition?

As I was reading Beth's blog tonight and her comment about being shy about sharing her goals, I started thinking about how many people I know - especially women - who regularly understate their goals for races. I think it's because we've placed such a high premium on "humility" that it makes us reluctant to really say what we'd like to do. It's the same pressure that makes us play down our accomplishments when we achieve them. I must say that I generally don't subscribe to the "humility" line of thinking, although most of the time I feel *really* self-conscious about sharing my goals or accomplishments. When people ask what my goals are for a race, I'll give a straightforward answer as to what I think can do. And when I've run a great race I don't do much to hide my excitement. And in both cases I worry that people think I'm full of myself. But in both cases I think that false humility is a worse option. (Plus, by now, most of my friends would be able to smell the insincerity a mile a way!)

That being said, I honestly don't have a whole lot of expectation for tomorrow. (Well - I'd *better* do better than I did with a stress fracture!) I'm saving the expectations for January and February!

Whew! Forgive the rambling. It's the margarita I had with dinner (you'd think I'da had enough of those last week!)

Posted by jenandmats at 8:59 PM

September 9, 2004

Aahhhhhh

Another great day for running. This morning I ran with (sometimes behind) some friends and then ran on my own again tonight. I *think* I may be starting to prefer running on my own. If I can focus on my form for the first mile or two I can get into a groove where it just feels like I'm moving without working. Not without effort, but without laboring, if that makes any sense. If I'm running with someone else I don't pay as much attention to what I'm doing and I think I run sloppy. Plus, I'm forcing myself to run at someone else's pace, which in most cases is too fast at the start (which may be because I'm *old* as Alison suggested?)

Looks like Austin's A-Rod (Andy Roddick) is making a great comeback tonight. I keep seeing ads for the Wimbledon movie - I *want* it to be good but it looks like it could be a stinker.

Posted by jenandmats at 9:26 PM | Comments (2)

September 8, 2004

Change in the weather

Finally! This morning was gorgeous. Low 60s probably. I was tired at the end of my 14 but not dragging. I almost got a little cold while stretching on the bridge over the river.

I've been really oblivious to people on the trail lately. I had two people today (one of whom is a co-worker who until recently was my supervisor) tell me that I ran by them on the trail without even noticing them. And yesterday I didn't see Andy running toward me until he leaned over and said "Hey Jen" pretty much right into my ear. I think I must be zoning more than usual. Maybe it's a coping mechanism to help me get through all these miles.

Posted by jenandmats at 6:24 PM

September 7, 2004

Steve says it's ok

Our friend Steve, who's also the coach for our marathon training program, says it's ok that I'm taking my sweet time running my miles while I'm still base training. Good. Tonight I ran 3 miles, went to workout which was 10 minutes of warmup and then detailed explanation of running drills (so standing around for 40 minutes or so with some drills mixed in) and then another 5 miles. At least I only stopped for water once - ok twice - on the last 5 miles.

Our workout group tonight was huge. Andy thinks there were probably 70 people there. There are 4 possible workout times and I think we must have picked the most popular one. Well ... I wanted social and I guess that's what I got!

Posted by jenandmats at 10:18 PM | Comments (2)

September 6, 2004

Distance Challenge Series

This morning kicked off our marathon build-up Distance Challenge Series. I haven’t done the distance challenge since the one in 1999-2000 because it just hadsn’t fit with my marathon training. The way it was set up the past few years, at least half of the races were on killer hilly courses and the races are run every 2-3 weeks, so it just seemed like a good way to get hurt. Plus, one of the races – the 30K the month before the race – was a mean little bastard from which a good number of people emerged hurt and unable to do the marathon. The 30K also conflicted with the Houston Marathon, which for my extended family is an annual big event. The addition of the half in Houston made it even more of a must-do for me, since it’s a fast and flat course, and a perfect four weeks out from Motorola. We just don’t have any true flat races here in Austin. Makes it tougher to get a good gauge of fitness, especially when gauging it for a downhill marathon.

This year the organizers added the Congress Avenue Mile as the kickoff event for the Distance Challenge series, which doesn’t make a whole helluva lot of sense to me. It’s a downhill mile. I’ve done a downhill mile before and it was more of an exercise in not falling over than a race. For people like me who are currently building a base for the marathon it just seems like a silly risk. A downhill spaz-out on tired legs isn’t necessarily a guaranteed injury, but I don’t think one should be too surprised if it happens, either.

It was sure fun to watch, though. One of these days, after I’ve squeezed out that last marathon pr I’ll probably take on the Distance Challenge as a whole and see how I can do in a series of races. Unfortunately for me, they started ranking people for the whole series two years after the last time I did it! The last time I completed the series, that whole year I figured that if they’d been keeping track I would have done really well. Oh well. I just think doing well in the series the way it’s configured now would likely be a detriment to doing my absolute best in the marathon.

Seeing as how I’m treating this as my one “last shot” at the marathon for a while I just don’t want to get to February thinking “oh I shoulda (or shouldn’ta) …” I want to get as much right as I possibly can; control the things I can control, so that I can line up on 2/13 thinking that I really couldn’t have done much more. Wouldn’t that be an awesome feeling?

Posted by jenandmats at 1:34 PM

September 5, 2004

First Day of "School"

Yesterday was the first day of the Rogue Training program that I'm going to be following. Each year these programs get bigger and bigger (and more and more expensive.) It's amazing. It's a good thing our group is going to be doing some new routes; I don't think there's room enough on the trail for us and the Austin Fit program, which is also enor-moose.

The group only ran 7 miles so I had to add on before and after, which wasn't so fun. I'm going to try to get in any extra mileage I have to do before they meet so that I can socialize afterward. It's hard to pull yourself away for more miles when everyone else is standing around socializing afterward!

Speaking of socializing, this morning I ran an EZ 7, and I stopped to talk with people every two miles or so. It took me probably 1:40 to do 7 miles! The biggest break came at the end of my first 4, when I ran into an old acquaintance who can really talk up a storm! But I had two other pretty good chat stops, too. I wonder if I'd be better off if I didn't stop so much. I find I do it a lot when I'm out on the trail on the weekends and in the afternoons. I'm still getting the mileage in, and today was just a recovery run. Is it ok to do this while I'm just running base miles? Just wonderin'. It sure made for a nice Sunday morning!

Posted by jenandmats at 11:35 AM | Comments (1)

Summary - week 8 of 31

Week 8 of 31 (8/30-9/4)
Monday – OFF
Tuesday – OFF
Wednesday – OFF
Thursday – 12K Cancun
Friday – OFF
Saturday – 14
Sunday - 7
TOTAL - 28

Posted by jenandmats at 11:32 AM

Summary - week 7 of 31

Week 7 of 31 (8/23-8/29)
Monday – 7am; 7pm hilly
Tuesday – 7pm EZ
Wednesday – 14am
Thursday – 6am EZ; 8pm EZ
Friday – 7am EZ
Saturday – 17 somewhat hilly
Sunday - 12K EZ
TOTAL - 80

Posted by jenandmats at 11:22 AM

September 4, 2004

Mileage High

Last week was a mileage milestone for me with 80. I felt surprisingly good on Sunday as I finished up with 7EZ in Cancun with Andy, which could be due to one of at least three things: 1) I was in the first few hours of a long-awaited vacation and was just feeling good in general; 2) I finished up my 17 on Saturday by taking a dip in Barton Springs Pool’s 68 degree water; or 3) Andy and I walked the Keep Austin Weird 5K with yellow lab Matty and two of our non-running friends on Saturday night after the long run Saturday morning.

Keep Austin Weird was pretty fun, even though it was pretty warm. I posted a 1:24 5K!! Our friend Ruth is the race organizer - she did a great job. We particularly liked the donut, bacon, jalepeno popper, pizza, and french fry stops. And then watching Bob Schneider afterward was a great way to wrap up a big week (runningwise, anyway.)

Posted by jenandmats at 7:23 PM

home again, home again

Man I’m glad to be home. There’s only so much white sandy beach, turquoise water, cool ocean breeze, beautiful sunset, frosty beverage and great company a girl can handle, ya know? After a while it just becomes tiresome.

Right.

I imagine there are vacation snobs out there who look down their noses at a week timeshare in a notoriously touristy town, preferring themselves pursuing more creative or athletic endeavors in a more exotic locale. I just think they’re not trying hard enough. With a little effort it is quite possible to thoroughly enjoy oneself lounging all day on a beach with soft sand that somehow never gets too hot for the short walk down to the perfectly cool and gentle Caribbean. That is, as long as you can maintain your sense of humor when, at dinner, you’re accosted by a band of mariachi and a staff of waiters who put enormous sombreros (and fake braids for the ladies) on your heads, hand you fake rifles, take your picture, and then offer (blackmail you with?) the pictures for 100 pesos.

I did run. I swear. Twice. The main drag down the hotel strip is marked every kilometer, even, which made figuring out where to turn around plenty easy. It wasn’t all that fun, though, really, since I never managed to make it out of bed before 7:30 and had to run in the heat, through all kinds of pedestrian traffic.

Ooh. Andy’s making smoothies.

Posted by jenandmats at 4:29 PM | Comments (1)