Running OK

Got out early Saturday for a fantastic long run.  Was looking to get 11 or 12.  Ended up getting 13.5 miles.  Felt great.  Ran from the house to meet D, about 2.5 miles.  Saw a beautiful sunrise outside as I got to D’s house.  We headed out from there.  Great run, the miles just flew by.  Much better than last week’s solo run.  Passed a couple other runners, glad to see people out enjoying the morning.  Temps hovered in the upper 30’s lower 40’s so it was perfect weather.  Ended up with 13.5 miles.  Nike+ gave me 12.46.  It’s not letting me see my history so I can’t get the time, but it was around 2 hours and 5 minutes.

Sunday Carrie, G&A, Boomer and I went for a walk around the neighborhood.  Good to see they are finally making a dent in the limbs left from the ice storm.  Nice brisk pace.  Finished 2.5 miles in 40 minutes.

So we have dinner plans this evening so I decided to get a run in at lunch today. Freaking beautiful weather. Low 50’s not a cloud in the sky, only problem was a slight(10-15mph) wind out of the south. Didn’t know how far I wanted to run, but had an idea of 4 or so. Took off with the nano and went north from the office.

It was a great run. Shorts and long sleeves, but could have been in short sleeves had I packed them. Saw probably 10 other runners on my route, and everyone was grinning ear to ear. Finished in 40:46 and Nike gave me 4.32 miles, so a 9:25 pace. Mapped out to 4.73 miles, so actually clocked an 8:37 pace. Crazy thing was I didn’t feel like I was pushing it at all.

Tomorrow should be a longish morning run.

Oh yeah, did a session of yoga last night.  Still need to keep this up, my legs etal are extremely tight.

Due to the short tempo run on Monday, I decided to head out for another short, quick run Wed. night.  Started out feeling really great, but started getting side stitches around 1 mile, so had to slow down and get the breathing back in rhythm.  Did so and finished with a great feeling and a good kick.  Nike+ gave me 3.17 miles in right around 29 minutes.  Mapped it out and got 3.42 miles.  Don’t think I’ll get a run today, but will try to get some yoga in.

On Monday I set out to get a good tempo run in.  Weather was supposed to be blowing into OK, but was predicted for the far NW corner and the East side of the state.  Didn’t realize a band of rain was blowing through Norman until I went outside already dressed, dog in hand, and Nano ready to go.  Wait a minute, the ground is wet, and the sky looks dark.  Oh well, on with it.  It was sprinkling as I left, and got a little heavier as I progressed.  Decided to keep going, but stay near the house.  As I was just about to take a turn for another loop, it really began raining, so I turned around and headed for the house.  Nike+ gave me 2.06 miles in 16:10 or so.  Mapped out at 2.25 miles.  Not too shabby, but really felt the legs and lungs in the last .5 or so.

Last night I intended to get a little longer tempo run, but the kiddos were not cooperating, still recovering from their 4 month shots.  When 10 pm rolled around and I still hadn’t gotten out, decided to do some Yoga for Paddlers instead.  Been a long time, but the burn felt oh so good.  Definitely need to add this back into the routine on a regular basis.

This was the 1st week for the 16 week OKC training program.  Haven’t officially planned out the training schedule.  Need to get to that this week to begin this weekend.  But I did get out and get a long run Saturday.  I slept in and went around 9:30am.  It was unseasonably warm, temps approaching 70F and a strong southerly wind.  The first 3 miles were horrible and I was completely overdressed for the temps.  The middle of the run went pretty smooth, and I could have easily gotten in another 5-6 if I wanted to (and had a chance to change into short sleeves and shorts).  Overall not to shabby, finished with 10 miles in a little less than 1:30 running time.  Nike + gave me 9.6miles.

Having problems uploading my runs to the Nike site.  Still working on getting the first runs uploaded.

Yesterday, we took a family walk.  Again, it was very warm, but not nearly so windy.  We didn’t even have to use the plastic shield to cover the kiddos.

And bonus Weighed in this am at 209.6, down 1.14lbs.  Woohoo!

And I need to calibrate it. Not too far off, but every little bit helps.

Went to the local running store to pick up the + kit between Christmas and N.Y. for the new Nano. The first unit wouldn’t recognize the sensor. Tried all of the suggested troubleshooting to no avail. Unfortunately, the store had some great (for their employees) hours over the holidays so yesterday was the first day I was back in Norman early enough to stop by and exchange. No hassle-walked in with the non-working unit and out with a new one.

Got it home, plugged it in, and voila it was cooking. Couldn’t wait to put it to use, but had to wait until after dinner. (Ummmm, $0.30 fajitas tacos dinner, Happy 30th B-day T.C.!)

Let the food settle and set out into the chilly evening. Strong south wind. Should have headed south, but went north instead. Finished in 28.58min and + registered 3.12 miles. Mapped it out this morning and got 3.32 miles. So I’ll try calibrating this weekend.

Tomorrow-long run.

So we were at Target yesterday picking up some bedding for our new king sized mattress, and they were having a sale on scales.  I’ve been hating ours for years, an old timey, spring-loaded piece that would vary in multiple pounds if moved an inch or so on the ground.  Not accurate at all.  So being a new year and new (or re-loaded) goals, we bought a new one.  Got it home and put it down.  Tested it with clothes on the make sure it worked.  Waited till this am to get the official starting weight for 2008.

211.4lbs.  Actually a little less than what I was expecting, so that’s good news.  And not too far off from what I’ve been hovering around on the old scale (which could tell me 208 and 213 at the same time, just stepping off and back on).

So the commitment is to drop into the 190’s.  No set date, but I’m thinking down to 200 by the Austin 1/2 marathon in late February, and 195 or so by OKC in late April.  Definitely doable.

Here’s how: 1)  I’m done with desert.  It is my nemesis and always has been.  No more.  We are through.  Its not you its me.  We just can’t keep going around like this.  If I need sweets animal crackers or lo/no-fat yogurt it is.  If you see me with those tasty Elvis PB cups, slap me.  (Okay, don’t slap me, but slap them out of my hand an/or laugh at me like Nelson).

2)  Watching out for fatty foods and avoiding them.  Simple enough.

3)  Run, run, run, walk, yoga, bike, paddle, swim.  Goal of some sort of physical activity at least 6 days a week.

4) Stay on top of blogging about the progress.

There you go.  Bring on the year.

Happy 2008!  To new beginnings and a clean slate.

We had a fantastic New Years Eve with R&R.  Made us forget it was a work day and made it a very enjoyable night.

Actually ended up the last week of ’07 with 3 runs.  One was a very hard temp run of just over 4 miles.  The legs were screaming, but it felt so good.

Spent most of the 1st day of 2008 out looking for bedding for our new bed.  Stepped up to a king size to make room for kiddos jumping in with us.   But found time once they went down this evening to make it out.  It was a chilly evening.  Clear skies, 27F, but no wind.  Also no one out.  Had the streets to myself.  Loved every step of the 4.17miles.  Can’t wait for many more miles in ’08.

It warmed up here a bit Friday and everything thawed out which was nice.  Then it decided to turn cold yet again.  Saturday it was cold (upper 20’s) and we had some nice gusty winds in the 20+ mph range with big old snow flakes thrown in.  IT was blowing to hard to stick, though.  Headed out and got in 8 miles.  Running into the wind sucked, but going with it was good.

Great run overall, and got to tour a bunch of the surrounding neighborhoods to see all the downed lumber.  What a sight.  There was one house that I give my “Making the best of a bad situation” award to; they had a front yard full of limbs and had strung their Christmas lights all over them.  Went back that night to show Carrie.  It looked like they had shrubs across the front of their yard which they had decorated.  Too funny.

Was going to run Sunday after our church’s Candlelight Carol Service, but we didn’t get home until.  10pm.  Oh well.  Oh yeah, I have a head cold now.  It stinks.  No running yesterday or today.  We’ll see about tomorrow.