2011 almost in the rear view mirror....

A very eventful year for me!

• Finalized divorce
• Vacationed in Maine with dear high school friends and skied at Sunday River
• Did some intense psychotherapy
• Bought a new black 2011 Kia Sorrento 
• Cycled my ass off. Well, I wish. Still there. Won the LifeTime Club Cycling Challenge for Austin with 1000 miles ridden during the Tour!
• Rode the Hotter 'N Hell 30th anniversary 100 mile ride in record heat - 109 deg!
• Sent Megs on trip of a lifetime to Paris
• Renewed my love affair - with running! Ran Decker Challenge Half Marathon as part of the Austin Distance Challenge, a series of 5 races...a 10K (check); 10 miler (check) and three Half Marathons - 2 left to run in 2012!
• Joined Austin Fit to do Saturday long runs with a group and attempt to be more social
• Helped my friends roof their house over the summer
• Volunteered as water stop captain for the Austin Fit marathon group twice
• Climbed Enchanted Rock with Megs

These were just some of the high points for me. Survived a company wide restructuring and a move to a new group, a challenge in itself. My overall goals were met - to improve myself emotionally, spiritually and physically....and to become more social!

On to 2012!

To Mt. Bonnell!!! Er, or not....

Damn I love this thing on long training runs! Hardly even know it's on!

So today was a major victory, on several counts! The first was that I dragged my ass out of bed, knowing it was cold and raining! Score. I drove on down to Town Lake where I met up with my Austin Fit training group, and I was SO grateful to be back with them. I've missed several weeks due to The Calf, but it was feeling great today so off we went. I made a wise decision to back off from the 10:30 per mile group and join the 11 minute per mile group. I knew we were running scenic drive and the surrounding hilly (some short but STEEP hills) area nearby. The plan was to run 5, and then decide if the group wanted to add the 3 miles up/down to Mt. Bonnell. I felt pretty good from the start, I was wearing my Nike running tights and the added compression (slight) on the calf I think really helped! Not to mention I looked awesome. Doh. Score.

I managed to run all the hills, even the steepest, which I swear had me barely moving forward. And no calf pain running the downhills. Considering the stretch on Scenic after all the hills during the Run  For the Water 10 miler was where I tore my calf (at mile 7), I felt truly vindicated. I think I was the only one that really wanted to do the full 10 today, but I was fine with the decision to cut it to 7 miles. Probably very wise, as the calf is not 100%.

I met several of the runners after the run, and everyone was really welcoming and friendly! So I have committed to running the rest of this training session - which culminates with the Austin Half Marathon on Feb 19th - and the I'll see where I am. It's about a minute per mile slower than my "race pace" but that is perfect for a Long Run pace in training for me. I love the accountability of running with a group, and I'm so glad I put my shyness/introversion aside and joined them. If you live near any major city, there is a USA Fit group close to you I bet. I highly recommend them!

Today of course is Christmas Eve and my good friends Tashia and Dennis have graciously invited me to their home for dinner tonight, I'm looking forward to that! And at some point today or tomorrow I'll meet up with Megs for a bit.

Merry Christmas to all!!!

An actual goal for 2012!

I usually make one New Year's Resolution every year, and every year I keep it! That is to not make any stupid New Years Resolutions. While I somewhat laugh when I tell people this, there is much truth to it. I prefer keeping my goal setting - and my attempts to improve myself and my life - an ongoing process.

But you can feel free to call this my New Years Resolution if you'd like. Because it's very important to me that I improve this aspect of my character. Let's call it the Art of Listening. All around me I see people that fail at listening. I realize that I fail at it miserably much of the time.

My sister once lectured (yes, anything over 5 minutes to me is a lecture!) me on the importance of being a good listener. While I did see the points she was beating me over the head with, she surely does not know what I thought of her ideas. I don't think she cared to know. Listening IS caring, one of the most loving things we can give another human being. And conversely, I think there is no greater way to tell someone without a single word that you don't really care about them as you can by not listening to them.

To put aside my own ideas, feelings, and solutions to someone's problems...and to just listen to them, takes real work. To not try and formulate my next thought before they even finish expressing theirs can be baffling as to how hard it is to do. It takes battling that most questionable foe, the ego, to put the other person in the spotlight and leave the spotlight on them, on their need to be heard. I knew my marriage was over when I stopped listening, and when I no longer felt I was being heard.

While not always true, I do think women are better listeners. One big reason I prefer female friends. Not just because they listen better per se, but that I can talk to them about a greater range of subjects and still feel that they are listening. We men can learn much about listening by watching - and hearing, how two women hold a conversation. And there is no feeling like the full attention of a woman to me. At least, as far as I can remember. :O)

Reindeer Run - pain free!

Well, calf pain free anyway!! I had a great weekend with my lovely daughter. She tagged along Sunday morning at the Austin Reindeer run, and played photographer!

Here I am with requisite antlers!

The weather was perfect!! High 40's - just a slight breeze and no rain! Overcast the whole race...The course was a out and back - around 215 finishers so it was a nice, small race. Donated a stuffed animal for the Toys for Tots campaign and registered - SO glad I read the race info, since they only allowed timed runners till 8:30!

Santa was really tall!!!!

Megs is NOT a morning person, but luckily the start time was 9am...more races should do this since it's no longer 100 degs out! We lined up and although I thought I was starting pretty far back, it only took about 5 seconds to cross the line. My goal was to try and get under a 10 min/mile pace, a full two minutes per mile faster than I ran at Decker last weekend. What I love about running the 5K is that although it's painful to run as hard as I usually do, you know it's only 3 miles and some change. This was an out and back course, which I decided I really love. You can see a lot of the other runners coming back towards you when you run as slow as I am right now! Better for girl watching!

The course was on Camp Mabry, a National Guard training camp smack dab in the middle of Austin. The course wound around the parade field and then took a slight downhill. That was just before the one decent sized hill, which I motored up pretty well....it took us up to the turnaround, and then we of course got to run DOWN it, which I loved of course. My quads are in awesome shape, so downhills are easy for me. I had no pain whatever from my calf, so I was really really excited about that. All I was really concentrating on was breathing and people watching. There were a lot of cute costumes! I got "chicked" at about mile 2 by another runner wearing her orange Decker Challenge tech t (as I was) and try as I could I was not able to keep up with her. It did help me run a negative split my last mile though! According to the Garmin, my splits were 10:02, 10:02 and 9:33 - total time 29:37. I was so happy to see that finish line! I had NO sprint left in me, it was all I could do to hold that pace at the end. I was pumped to come in under 30 minutes! And at a 9:32 avg pace! I ran into Scottydog from the Runner's World Beginners forum and we had a nice chat after the race. Man, that guy runs - it was his THIRD race that weekend and 73rd this year!

My half marathon training group (Austin Fit) runs at a 10:30 pace, so I think this weekend I will finally be able to run with them again! I picked up my tech t from them Saturday - I volunteered at the marathon group benchmark run - and it is AWESOME!! Asics brand - really nice racing singlet. Pics to come!

Megs shot some video of my crossing the finish line that I will post soon! Here I am in orange of course:

I was so glad to see Santa!

The Art of Racing in the Rain - I hope!

Hopefully I can shake off my usual pre-race dread and remember that I actually LIKE running in the rain - and so I have decided to run the Austin Reindeer Run Sunday! It's pretty last minute but I have recovered from last weekend's race so well I want to give this one a shot. I'm going to shoot to run this in under 30 minutes, which will require me to run pretty damn hard compared to the pace I ran last weekend - a full 2 minutes per mile faster average. But hey, it's only 5K (3.1 miles) and the 5K is SUPPOSED to be painful. It always amazes me just how long 3.1 miles can be when you are running at a fast pace. And what a great workout it really is.

I nixed heading downtown tonight to see the Bodeans since the weather was horrible (it's been raining for what seems like a week) and I was itching to run. So I headed to LifeTime and I'm really glad I did! The weather has really been getting to me - I slept late today! Woke up feeling so lazy. At times like this I don't let myself think much, I just start getting my clothes ready and head out.

I warmed up with my Trigger Point stretches and then - since my iPod shuffle battery was dead (!) I hit the stationary bike first. The new ones at the gym are so cool - they have a power cord you can connect your iPod to, with a separate headphone jack. Really convenient and it charges while you ride! Then I hit the treadmill for a 5K run that went really well, I pumped up the pace and felt strong tonight. Hard to believe I ran a 13.1 mile race 4 days ago! Then I hit the elliptical for a fun hour and finished with a nice soak in the empty (yay!) hot tub.

Here at work and I see I can pick up my packet for the race in the morning when I get off work and register then. I'm excited, haven't raced a 5K in years! Even though the forecast is for rain, I'm not going to let that deter me. After all, 3M or the Austin Half could also get rain and I will have to run those, the entry fees are paid and that is WAY too much $ to forfeit!

Race report to follow! Here is a great picture from Decker....not sure what part of the course this is....I normally hate my race pics but I bought this one in a 8X10 for my shrine to myself....lol!

Smiling so it must have been downhill! I think this was at about mile  9!

The Bodeans live!

So here I am, in the Live Music Capital of the World, and I rarely go listen to live music. I admit it. Almost a sin in this town, believe me. We have some unreal talent and I used to go to 6th street all the time when I was younger. 

I was browsing Austin360.com to find something different for Megs and I to do this weekend, and I found the Armadillo Christmas Bazaar is here at the Palmer Events Center downtown. A cool mix of music, art and Christmas gifts of all types all under one huge roof. Checking the music slate I saw the Bodeans will be there Thursday night at 8pm - and I am going! How can you beat $8 tickets? 

See? I do things besides run - some that I can even post about!! :O)

Post race blues and 3M is 45 days out!

I have the inevitable post race blues, and what a lousy time to get them. I think some of this is really holiday induced, and I do my best to fight that. But the truth is since Mom died it has never been the same, and the divorce did nothing to make it any better obviously. I'll do my best to make it a happier one for Megan, and hopefully just looking at the above race profile for the 3M half on Jan 29th will help! Gotta love a course like this, even if I cannot get anywhere NEAR the times I posted in the last two times I ran it (both 1:55 and change). They also have one sweet medal waiting for me at the finish line. With my calf really feeling fantastic considering it's only 3 days since my race, I'm happy about the progress I'm making. I may run a little tonight on the treadmill. I did a great workout Monday night after my Trigger Point Massage/stretching class at Hill Country Running. An hour on the elliptical and 30 min on the stationary bike felt so good. 

Tonight Megs and I are going to see "The Sitter". I could seriously use some laughs right about now!

Third time IS the charm at Decker Challenge!

This is the elevation profile for yesterdays half marathon. It does not do the difficulty of this race justice! But you get an idea of just how many hills there are! 12-13 of them! And those at mile 5,6,8,10 are memorable! I can still feel myself running them!

I'm still so happy that I was able to run all the hills, all the way to the top. I think I ran the smartest race I have ever ran. Right from the start, I paced myself and took it easy. I have to remind myself that my "slow" pace is some other runner's impossible pace. I'm recovering from an injury, and yet I can still drift into " I USED to be able to run such and such pace". Total waste of time and not the reality. Not to mention you can let that suck all the fun out of a race. I managed during the race to have a great time, focusing on my music, my pace and praying the calf did not lock up! I slowed and ran a shorter stride up every hill and felt like I did my best out there. In the end that is all you can hope for. I set out to finish above all else, and my Distance Challenge is still intact with 7 weeks to rest and train for the next half marathon, which is on a mostly flat to downhill course (3M Half).

I have much to be proud of and I will stay focused on that. When I started running, I felt that anything under 12 min/mile pace would be awesome. I ran 11:57 pace over the course! Gotta love that. The weather looked pretty iffy 30 minutes from the start there was a downpour! Cloudy, 41 degrees at the start but the rain did stop before we began! No major headwind for the first 3 mile stretch where normally we are pasted by a North wind. There was a slight 5-10mph breeze out of the east, but we only headed Easterly for a couple of miles and I was soaked in sweat in no time anyway. I ditched my throwaway gloves and my sweatshirt by the 1 mile point, I always warm up really fast.

The race was really, really well organized, all the water stops were so smooth. It helped to be running where I was, in a sort of no-man's land for much of the race. No one right behind me, no one right ahead. I passed about 44 people total on the last half of the race, even though my pace slowed for the longest hills of the course. Most people were walking the hills, and I felt if I started walking the calf might lock up as it did on the Turkey Trot. Hitting the 8 1/2 mile point was huge for a mental lift, because that was the longest I had ran this year. And I was going strong. Smart is knowing what pace you can maintain, and holding to it.

The last mile was as always the hardest! The course used to be a 20K, so the added mile was put in that made it a slow, painful climb to the last tenth of a mile to the finish. Some people were really hurting at this point. The adrenaline of knowing I had ran the entire race (stopped only long enough to drink a cup of water at each of about 4 water stops) and had my Distance Challenge intact kept me rolling.

Picked up my finishers medal, which I was not even aware they gave out! And my refrigerator magnet, 3 races down and two to go!

I will be so proud if I can finish the last two races! I have 7 weeks to get ready for 3M, but there is only a 3 week recovery period between the two races. That will be a challenge!

It's dreary and overcast here today still, I have had enough of this weather! It would be nice close to Christmas, but I could sure use a couple sunny days!

Finisher!!! Woohoo!!!!!

My cool finishers medal!

Yes!!! I finished!!! Not only did I finish, I ran every hill! Including the monsters at mile 5, mile 6, mile 9, mile 10....you get the idea! They don't call it the Decker Challenge for nothing!

I'll finish this post later, right now I need to get ice on my calf....here's the happy finisher!

Pretty damn proud of myself!

Last minute pre-race jitters!

I actually love them! Ok, not the worries about that-part-of-the-anatomy which will remain nameless, but the normal jitters are a part of anything exciting. I think it's usually more excitement than nerves, but then again I'm usually not worried about injury. This is a whole new ball game! I've learned so much, it's all a part of this wonderful hobby - the one that is other sport's punishment! lol

The race has cool new tech T's that are not pieces of crap - but per my usual rule I won't wear it until I earn it - by finishing. Which I will do if I have to crawl 13.1 miles. I have 4 hours to finish, thank God there are fools that are running TWO laps of this thing. Superhuman. One article I read said this is now THE toughest race on the Austin race schedule, and having finished this twice, I agree.

Weather is ALWAYS a factor at Decker. Tomorrow is not "that bad" lol...temp at start is projected to be 41, with a 10% chance of rain. No real wind to speak of, so that is a BIG plus. There always seems to be a headwind at this race for the first 5 mile stretch before the first turn....I'll take colder and even rain if we can go without major wind! I warm up fast, so I'll be more than ready to drop my sweatshirt (old!) outer layer when we hit the clothes drop at 2 miles. I doubt I will wear any pants, those are just hell to get off over shoes. Not that I care about losing any time, mind you, but I'd probably overheat. I read somewhere you should dress for 10 degrees over the start temp, and that's a good rule of thumb for me.

More tomorrow post race. Time to catch a movie and get my brain on something else!

Vertical Horizon- Everything You Want (with lyrics) - Proof I can post about something non-running related!

Love this song! Especially cool is the way the chorus changes for the final time.....Heard this last night playing in the background of a movie - "Boys and Girls" with the always delectable Claire Forlani (Meet Joe Black). I could seriously have wet dreams about her at 53. Serious ones.

Over thinking everything, par for the course

The awesome medal for the Austin Half (on right). Feb 29th. Hope I still have 2 legs!

This injury thing is really fucking with my head. I alternate between thinking I can't run a mile and thinking they will have to amputate the freaking leg.

After last Saturday's awesome run, I made another attempt on the dreadmill that I think was too soon. The calf was on it's way to another cramp/pull/whateverthefuckitis, so I cut it short at 3.5 miles. That was Monday morning after my last ART session with Dr Wagenblast. At least till next month, unless there is some major catastrophe Sunday in the half marathon.

I'm thinking (see, there I go again) that I will keep the pace slow like I did Saturday and if I get to the 7 mile point safely I might gradually increase the speed a little, but only on the downhill stretches. If things are good, I am NOT going to take any huge risks. Time is out the window, and believe me that is no small issue for me. I'm much more competitive than I ever want to admit, and it will kill me to get chicked and dicked the entire race. No, those are not sexual terms, just what I call it when women pass me and men pass me respectively. It helps to find humor when you are sucking hind tit. I am just praying that there is someone slower than me. Anyone. Ruben Stoddard passes me in this thing and I will so quit running forever till next week again.

Last night I did some treadmill work and walked/jogged a little on the dreadmill. Nothing drastic as things still felt tight and sore. Now I plan to ease into the weekend and not do anything that might hurt the calf at all. I have no fear about the distance, as long as I can run through any cramps I get....and I think I can. The real problem is trusting that the ART is working and I still need to do it. I know it will be really cold Sunday - the forecast is for like 38 at the start, so a good warmup will be essential. Four days and counting till race day. Time to watch "Without Limits" again and to start psyching myself up for a epic Decker Challenge. They are always memorable!

Finally, the end is in sight!

Saturday morning I woke up really early and drove out to Decker Lake. How early? In time to watch the "sunrise"....but due to the rain there was no sun to be seen! Running in the rain never bothers me, I am soaked with sweat after a couple of miles anyway. I know, ewww. TMI. So I threw on my Nike hat (I am a Nike clothes Ho although I have never liked their shoes....lol) and a windbreaker. Let's correct that, I TRIED to throw on a windbreaker I had been given years ago. The thing is I never tried it on! Epic Fail does not do it justice. Thankfully although it was a little breezy it was only about 60 degrees. With 100% humidity, I knew it would be a test!

So after waiting for enough daylight to see fairly well, I drove the course for next Sunday's Decker Challenge. I am so glad that I did!! My memory sucks, it has a selection process I will never understand, and I thought all the hills were much bigger than they actually are. Not to say the course is easy, because it's not, the hills come one right after the other. But many are long, gradual rises and matching downhill portions balance some of that out. So that raised my confidence level. The plan after talking to my Doc on Friday was for me to run 4 miles or so Saturday, and before say Thursday run half the distance (13.1) of the Decker race by Weds so we can sort things out pre-race. After thinking this over more (imagine ME thinking too much!) I decided since the calf felt pretty well on Thursday night (a couple miles on the treadmill finally pain free), I would go pretty long. So I started near the start line (it's inside a fenced in property that the gates are locked on) and headed over the first 2.5 miles of the course. 3 pretty good sized rolling hills that I knew would test the calf, and of course those same 3 hills coming back. Total distance I ran was 5.5 miles at a very slow pace! 11:15 - 11:30 with the last .5 miles at 10 min pace just to see how it was feeling. I had a little tightness at about .7-.8 miles which is consistent with most of my runs and made me really nervous. However, I think the slower pace really helped and it stretched out nicely and from there I settled into what was a very, very enjoyable run. I haven't enjoyed any run that much since the IBM 10K. Raising my pace the last .5 miles really helped my confidence too, I was not even breathing hard up and down those hills. At the end, it did not seize up like it did after earlier runs, and I was able to walk with just a little soreness. I went home a very happy camper, with much more confidence that I can run - and finish - this half marathon Sunday. That means so much to me! I did my trigger point stretches and iced the calf a little, and I was doing fine. There was a little soreness, a little tightness, but I expected that. If I can keep working every day, keep my pace really slow at the start of Decker, I have the feeling all will go well.It will take a lot of patience and discipline to run a smart race and finish, but that is what racing is all about.
I felt so good I took Megan shopping, and man did we ever do some walking!! Two malls and about 5 hours later, I was pretty much done! We did go out for a drive to look at some Christmas lights, but a lot of people are not putting theirs up, or just have not done so yet. It was pretty lean. Still, we had a great day together....

GEL-Noosa Tri™ 6 @ ASICSAmerica

GEL-Noosa Tri™ 6 @ ASICSAmerica:

Damn I want these!!! Who cares if I don't run Tri's??? 

The Calf - part XVIII

Some day I'm going to look back on this period in my running "career" and laugh. Some day is NOT today. I took a night off from working out Weds night - and that was wise. It's still early in the post-Turkey Trot healing stage. I am seeing Dr Wagenblast for another 4 sessions of Active Release Techniques before my next insane undertaking, which you can see from the ticker is the Decker Challenge. In my mind it's the 3rd toughest run in Austin I've ever done - just barely on the heels of the Austin Marathon and the ARA 30K, which is no longer a part of the Distance Challenge. Decker is not called a challenge for nothing - very little of it is flat, the weather always seems to suck, and it's now a full 13.1 miles. The last 2 times I ran it it was a 20K. So another mile of the fun this year.
I'm headed out after work this morning to scout out the course, I may post some pics/video of it. I want to reacquaint myself with the course - and this is something I rarely do when I am in good health. I prefer to just let the course throw at me what it will. That strategy backfired at the Run For The Water 10 miler this year as the hills sapped everything my calves had and I think directly contributed to my calf strain. The cramp I had last week at the Turkey Trot interestingly enough came right AFTER the worst of the hills. So with Decker I am going to formulate an intelligent plan for once, one that will have me walk the major hills and not waste valuable strength. Hopefully that will also translate to less, or no, cramping. The goal here is obvious - finish no matter what, and live to race another day. 3M is not until Jan 29th, so I will have a lot of time to recover. I really hope to go into 3M completely healed. My doc thinks the calf is still right on track, despite the strain I had during the Trot. That's comforting news. I know with a sane workout routine I can at least maintain my current weight and leg strength until I can get Decker behind me.
I am quite bummed that I can't keep running Saturday runs with my Austin Fit training group....they are much further on in their training and I can't risk this calf on the training runs. Once the Distance Challenge is over, I will definitely get back on track with them, for the 2013 Austin Marathon. With any luck I might be able to get in a fall 2012 marathon. Much depends on the summer and how this calf injury heals.

On a more personal note, I went shopping a little with Megs tonight - we headed out to Barton Creek mall. We always enjoy that mall at Christmas time, it's the nicest one in Austin and the decorations are awesome. We'll head back there this weekend for more shopping. Tonight we ate at the cafe in Nordstrom's, one of our favorite places to eat in all of Austin. Fantastic crab bisque there!

I'm perking up finally I think. There is hope!