Running OK

It is here.  The greatest time of the year.  College football started tonight.  Tulsa v. UL-Monroe on ESPN2HD and LSU v. Miss. State on ESPNHD.  Not the best of match-ups, but hey its college football.  Actually both of the first halves ended up being fairly close.  Always fun to cheer for the underdog when they are playing decently and I have no vested interest in a team.  I may have gone to college in Louisiana, but it wasn’t at LSU, so no I don’t cheer for them.  Plus they have Les Miles at the helm, and after his years at OSU and having to hear his raspy voice on the nightly news I’m even less inclined to cheer for them.

Waited to half-time and then went on a great run.  Four miles in the dark with temps in the mid 70’s.  What more can you ask for?

We had a quick trip to the hospital this am due to not feeling Baby A, “Squirt”, move this morning.  Everything ended up fine, guess Squirt was just sleeping.  We didn’t get released until 1 and were starving, so went to a local OK City restaurant, the Grateful Bean for lunch.  The Bean is an old fashioned soda fountain that is known for its great drinks and homemade ice cream.  The food is pretty great too.

But today I had one of the best ice cream flavors I’ve ever tasted.  I’m a huge fan of fresh made pesto and have grown my own basil for the last few summers trying to perfect my pesto.  So I’m pretty picky about it.  But when I saw Pesto ice cream on the board, I specifically ate less than half my lunch to save room.  And I wasn’t disappointed.  It was a rich and creamy, slightly vanilla flavored base with fresh pesto mixed in. Fresh chopped basil, slight lemon tones, and little bits of Parmesan cheese.  Wow.  Highly recommend.

With the babies taking their own time, and tonight being $0.40 wing night, we headed to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner to try to heat them out.  So far hasn’t worked, but the wings were good.

Which leads to the run.  I was really feeling the need to run after those 2 meals, so at 9pm laced up the sneaks and went out.  Great, not-so-hot night.  Got in 3.5 miles in the moonlight and loved every step.

Playing the waiting game with the birth now.  Not really nervous, but have a vibe of waiting for the expected to happen.

Yesterday I was still feeling the effects of the 8.25 on Saturday, but after a delicious brunch with friends after church I was feeling the need to stretch the legs.  Made a quick 2.5 around the neighborhood.  It was hot and steamy, but my mistake from running at 5pm.

Today I was still feeling a little sore, but after a long night thinking the births were imminent, I needed to run and get refreshed.  After cooking dinner, went out for a run around 7:45.  Only planned on a 3 miler, but once I got out it felt good.  Wound up getting in around 4 miles in around 38 min.

Finished up with some “speed” walking around the block with Carrie.  We’ll get those kids moving one way or another.

Another good Saturday am run. Almost phoned it in when the alarm went off at 5:20, but I knew A & D were waiting on me. Well, turned out D and one of A’s friends who has just moved back to Norman. We met a little earlier this week 5:45am so that A could make it home by 7am. As she wasn’t there we ended up just adding a mile onto the run. We did 6 miles in just under an hour. No one else showed at 7am and A’s friend had enough so D and I went back out for 2.25 more miles.  8.25 total.  It was a great run. Not tired, at least until this evening after taking care of Carrie all day, doing laundry, hitting the grocery store and mowing the yard.

Did take some of the benefits from the run and killed them with a fantastic dinner at Pepe Delgado’s, without a doubt the very best in interior mexican food in Norman, OK.

Thursday I was not in much of a mood to go run. Went in to the office for 6 hours, after working from home for 3 prior to that, and worked more from the house afterward. Then Carrie and I went to grab a bite to eat at a local place with great soups, sandwiches with free home-made foccacia breadsticks and cookie with every meal. Unfortunately, I was way too full afterward to get out and run.

Today, worked from home until 11:00 and then went for a run. Sun was blazing, but the wind was whipping and it was only in the upper 80’s. The sun was warm, so I didn’t do any of the usual routes, but ran down the shadiest oak lined streets I could find. Forgot the forerunner, so don’t know how far I went. Ran for about 35 minutes and felt fresh the whole time, so I’m guessing in the neighborhood of 3.5 to 4 miles.

Quick shower and off to work.

Took Tuesday off. Felt nice to do so, but I was ready to do something Wednesday. By 5:30pm I hadn’t been out, so I decided to get a quick 3 miles in. It was actually very nice outside, 85 F and low humidity. Only downside was a 25-30 mph winds, but hey it is Oklahoma, and it helped cool me off even more.

Only had 30 minutes to run, so chose to hit my 3 mile loop and hit it hard. Everything felt great, and I felt as though I was flying. First time in a long time I have actually had to pull the dog to keep up. But I think it was more of him being tired from “hunting” all day. Actually he finally caught a squirrel earlier in the day, and was going non-stop around the yard looking for another after I took the first one away from him.

Good run 3 miles in 24 minutes give or take a half minute.

Monday evening finished filling in some holes dug by the dog in the backyard as we will have visitors soon who may use the backyard, and I really don’t want twisted ankles. The sun was beginning to set and I was already hot from moving 50 lb bags of dirt, so away I went. Ran 3 miles with a .2 mile hike to look at the river (drainage ditch) behind my neighborhood to see what the level was looking and to see if the huge strainer behind the play wave I’ve been dying to paddle had washed out in the Saturday rains. It had, but had dropped out to unfloatable levels. Good run though.

On a good note, was at the Dr’s office for Carrie’s visit today and saw an old Runner’s World about 101 motivational tips and number 1 was start a blog. Check.

Saturday was a great run day. My friends A & D have been trying to get a running/walking group going at church on Saturday mornings. Both have been long term runners and are both currently training for the Austin Marathon in February.

The group officially meets at 7 am for a quick devotion and then run or walk, depending on the crowd, but A & D meet at 6 to get some miles in before the group meets. Usual route of 5 miles to be back in time for the others. The pace is generally a nice conversational 9.5min/mile.

Both A & D have 2 kids under age 8 and are used to rising early to run. I am not. Both A & D are extremely punctual. I am not, especially at 6. In the am. For the prior 3 weeks I had done well, arriving on time, or at least they were being polite and waiting a few minutes past 6 for me to get there, but this week at 6:05 when I pulled up, they were nowhere to be seen. So do I drive to another point on the course and wait for them. Nah, I decided to get some tempo in, at the beginning of the run, not in the middle after a warm-up, nope, I began hoofing it. It actually felt great. first two miles were both 7:59, and the third was 8:24 and included the catch. Kind of fun to be the catcher than the catchee.

Funny story of the catch. I being a larger sized male and A & D being smaller, but feisty ladies, and it being 6: 20am, I thought better than simply moseying up next to them. So when I was 25 yards back, I announced my presence by shouting “Good Morning”, to which both A & D jumped a few feet off the ground and shouted. But it got their adrenaline going, and we all had a good laugh.

Finished the 5 and then got another 2.5 miles of run/walking with a newish runner. Breakfast afterward of Panera.

We got the remnants of Tropical Storm Erin Saturday afternoon through today, so it got very humid and wet. I was considering not running today since I got a longish run Friday and Saturday and mowed the lawn Saturday as well, but the dog was restless and per Cesar Milan’s instructions, he needed some exercise. So pounded out a very warm 3 miles around 6:30pm.

Went out this morning for a run before it got to hot. As in, it was only 84F when I left the house, at 8:30am. Looks like we may get some rain from the tropical storm that hit TX as the sky is cloudy and it is extremely humid.

Finished 5.5 miles and felt every bit of it. Not a dry spot on me by the time I made it home. Good news is that it wasn’t 95+ and it even started to sprinkle after I was in and showered.

Skipped yesterday’s cardio to celebrate Carrie’s birthday. Ummmm, gelato. But did an ab workout on the fitness ball.

Just to begin a blog of my running/biking/kayaking/hiking adventures from deep in the heart of Norman, OK. From time to time, I’m sure I’ll post some rants and other insights.

My goal is to drop 20 lbs from my current sympathy “baby weight” of 210 to 190. Let the fun begin.

Today was 4.75 miles around Norman in the 96 degree heat. Went out from the house and headed toward the old oaks around OU campus. Good run, but hot, hot, hot! Can’t wait for fall, or at least a cold front.

Stay tuned for further runs.