Running OK

Friday night went for a short run to stretch the legs and get ready for Saturday am’s run.  Nothing special 2.5 miles around the neighborhood with the pup.

Saturday went out to the hills of east Norman with A&D to get some hill work.  Had great weather.  Clear skies and around 40 when we left. Watched the sun rise over the rolling hills.  Didn’t get attacked by any dogs.  Went 9.3 miles.  Felt great.  Surprisingly my legs were not killing me afterward, at least until later that evening.

My buddy Dave hooked me up with a ticked to the OU-ATM game.  So nice to get to a home game this year.  Great game with the Sooners winning easily and dominating the whole game and Jermaine Gresham setting a receiving record of 4 TD catches in a game.  ATM did look good when the band took the field at halftime, though.  Gotta love the military style marching band.  And moving on up in the BCS.  Up to 5 and the Big 12 north has teams in the top 6, so the Big 12 Championship should be a big boost.

Having run a pair of Pearls I can say they are extremely comfortable and fairly long lasting. Only problem I’ve found is that very few stores carry them, including my local running shop.

However this Ad campaign makes me want to buy another pair. I especially love “if you’re not sure whether you’re running or jogging, go faster.” That and we don’t make shoes for conveyor belts. Right on.

Got home in time for a feeding so took off for a run.  Began running north from the house toward my old run routes.  I think I like them a little better as there is less traffic.  Still have to cross one major street, but the rest of the routes are much less traveled.  Put in 3.4 miles.  Was really stiff after 9+ miles the last two days, but really needed to get the legs moving.  Really pushed the tempo on the last .5 miles which felt great.

Finished with a 2 mile walk with Carrie, G&A.  A bit cool, but we were all wrapped up.

Saturday I was supposed to get up and run with A&D.  And they weren’t running until 7am, so I would get to sleep in 30 minutes.  Set the alarm, went back to sleep after a 4:30am feeding and woke up at 8am.  Apparently my alarm was not working.  Since they were long gone, decided to make a go of it myself with the pup.  Went for 5 miles.  It felt great and I was fairly rested, so didn’t really get tired.  It was nice and cool, mid 40’s but warming quickly in the beautiful bright blue sunny skies.  And surprising there was no wind.  Only down side was I forgot to take water and didn’t think about this until I was already a little over 2 miles into it, and would have had at least 1.5 miles to get back home.  So I pushed on without.  Not too painful.

Saturday afternoon was a beautiful day and we were lucky enough to get to spend it with a law school buddy and his new bride.  It was a beautiful intimate outdoor ceremony at one of their co-worker’s home in OKC.  Beautiful ceremony, great food, homebrew and no kids.  At least not our.  Grammy and Grandpa were in town and were itching to watch the, so we had no problems letting them have their wish.

Sunday we went to the pumpkin patch at our church and got some good pics.  Will post pics here later.  Went out for a run around 5:30pm.  It got fairly warm, into the low 70’s.  Went 4.5 miles.  Decided not to go for a walk afterward with Carrie, G & A since the sun was setting and it was cooling off.

Good times.

I gotta just say that I love cool weather running.

Monday, I hit the road around 9:45PM.  It had rained all day and had held steady in the low 50’s.  When I left it was upper 40’s and cooling off.  Got in 3.2 miles.  First time to wear a hat due to cold weather.  Woo Hoo.  Didn’t take the dog, and for some reason it was a little still in the hood.  Not much traffic and many dark streets.  Felt kind of spooky at times.  I think all the Halloween decorations are getting to me.

Tuesday was another beautiful day.  It had warmed up a bit, mid 60’s during the day.  Thought the kiddos were down for a nap at 7:45PM so I headed out.  Went for  3.5 miles.  Felt like I was flying.  Got back, and apparently G&A missed me so much they decided to cry the whole time I was away.  Its nice (for me, not so much for Carrie) to be missed.

Still holding at 210lbs.  Now its time to get serious.  I’ve sworn off sweets (Darn you vile temptress!).  We’ll see if that has any impact.  Only bad thing is that all of our wonderful friends and neighbors who have been bringing us dinner for the last couple of weeks continue to show up with delightful homemade desserts.  And I have no will power.  But no longer.  I’m through, its time to get serious.

On a good note, had a great run last night.  Worked in the yard Saturday afternoon and did something to my shoulder, so no run.  It wasn’t really bothering me Sunday even after changing the oil on our 2 vehicles.  We had an awesome cold front blowing through and I decided to get out into the wind.  It was really gusty, with sustained winds in the 20’s and blowing up to the 50’s.  But there was a chill in the air and I actually was glad that I wore a vest.  Got in 3.5 miles.

Squeezed in 3.2 miles last night.  It was very windy and not my best run, but I got it in.

Only got 3-ish hours of sleep last night, so we’ll see about tonight’s run.

After being away from home all weekend, Carrie was itching to go for a walk.  Monday evening we loaded up the jog stroller and went out.  Did about 1.5 miles as G screamed the entire way and it was getting close to feeding time.

Tuesday, got to get back at it.  Went for 3.7 miles.  Felt good, good music, and nice temps, but it was humid as all get out.  There was a bunch of Gulf moisture blowing in from the south.  Today that rain fell and cooled it off a little bit.  I hope the temps stay like this (downward trend) for a while.  I’m so ready for fall and all that it brings, such as cool nights curled up under a blanket.   Now to figure out a way to keep the kids a sleep for more than 2.5 hours so that we can enjoy curling up.

Was at a Walk to Emmaus this weekend. It is held at a retreat center called Canyon Camp, which is down in a beautiful sandstone canyon just outside of Hinton, Oklahoma. Got in 1 good run at 5:45am on Friday morning. Did 3 out and backs of a little over 1 mile each. Also went for a hike to the top of one of the bluffs. IT was probably a 2 mile loop with lots of ups and beautiful scenery.

Saturday had a long break in the middle of the afternoon and went for a great run out of the canyon to the main entry road. It was absolutely the hardest run I’ve undertaken in quite some time. There were 2 great hills, with the low elevation being the start at 1522 feet and the highest point being 1712 feet. Absolutely beautiful day. Heres the map.

Congrats to My Sister-in-law, for being the fastest Jank at the marathon distance, and probably any other distance for that matter.