TexasLindsey

5 miles at 8am around my neighborhood.  Weather= 58F, not sure about humidity,  8mph wind, partly cloudy.  Average pace=9:07/m.  

 My kids went to daycare today again.  It's getting easier.  Jake said he loves school. Ryan is eating all his food now.  I ran a 5 miler after I dropped them off.  It felt rather hard considering I was only going an easy pace.  It wasn't that much fun during but I did feel extremely happy after the run...  reminded me why I love running.  Still, I long for those days where I'm having a good run during the actual run.  Gotta run more often for that to happen.  I just am going through this difficult transition phase while I begin the process of returning to work.  I have to figure out a new routine that works for my new life.  I'm still in a period where it changes daily so it's not easy.

4.2 miles at 8:30am.  Weather=60F, 10mph wind, sunny.  Average pace=8:58/m.

9.5 miles at 7am with my running group at Trinity River.  Weather= 63F, 71% humidity, 53 dew point, 7mph wind, sunny.  Average pace=8:10/m.  (8:19, 8:01, 8:00, 8:06, 8:06, 8:02, 8:10, 8:05, 8:23, 8:47)

 Decided to meet the group today.  I haven't done a Saturday morning run with them since December.  At first when I got there there weren't any of the people I normally run with standing around.  I walked up to a group of ultra runners I'm friendly with who run like 20 miles on Saturdays at like 11:00 pace.   I talked to them a little while and they said, "oh, you can't be here, you're too fast."  I never know what to say when people say this to me.  I said, oh I'm not fast... I've actually gotten really slow from a winter of not running much.  Then they started asking me what I thought was slow and what I thought not running much was.  Now, I know from experience that there is just no good way to answer this without it being awkward ... I said, "well, I suppose speed is relative.  I'm not concentrating on speed right now though."   I get the feeling that some of them were thinking I was snobby or something.   I should have told them that I admire them for running ultras...  

 Eventually, Tim showed up.  He said Ashley was still injured and went to 24 fitness for spin class instead.  A guy named Ross that I run with sometimes also showed up.  We agreed to do 10 today.  After the first 2 miles I put my iPod on full blast and made it a tempo run.   I got ahead of the guys for much of miles 2-8 but they weren't too far behind.  After mile 8 though, I bonked.  I ran the final two miles on fumes.  Ross went ahead at mile 8.  Then Tim went ahead at 9.  

My foot had blood blisters at the end of it.  I think I need new socks.  I'm pretty happy though because the blisters were the only problem I had.  My legs felt really good all day!  The 8:00 pace felt like what 7:15 did a few months ago but I'll take it.  I'll get back up to speed eventually.  I love running!

6 miles around my neighborhood at 3pm.  Weather=70F, 71% humidity, 61 dew point, 5mph wind, sunny.  Garmin wasn't charged so no pace info.

 I start my new job on April 30th.  They gave me the salary I asked for so I'm super happy.  Things are really working out well at the moment.  I have no running injuries.  The weather is great.  My kids went to daycare today and I cleaned entire house, did several loads of laundry and organized my entire office.... unbelievable the things I can get done when I have some babysitting all day.   Now I'm going to go pick them up!   This has been a great day!

6 miles around my neighborhood at 6pm. Weather=78F, 52% humidity, 59 dew point, 5mph wind, sunny.  Average pace=8:59/m.

 Nice sweaty run.  Legs felt great!   

6.2 miles at the river at 1pm.  Weather=77F, 69% humidity, 66 dew point, 20mph wind gusting to 25mph, sunny.  Average pace=8:55/m.

I've got a sinus infection.  This is like the 5th illness I've had in about 3 months.  My kids keep getting sick and passing it back and forth and to my husband and I.   It is so frustrating.  

My sinuses are pretty clogged today but I decided to run a really slow and easy 6 miler to test a theory that running helps illnesses like this.  I figure the increased body temp might help kill off bacteria... heck, isn't that the whole purpose of a fever?  So an exercise induced fever might work just as well...  Also, I figure the increased blood flow increases the flow of white blood cells to the infected sinuses.   I'm not a doctor though so all this could be BS.   

6 miles at 5:30pm around my neighborhood.  Weather=80F, 33% humidity, 46 dew point, 8mph wind, sunny.  Average pace=8:50/m.

 Easy run around the neighborhood.  It was hot!  My legs felt great though.  It's so nice to run without injury!  I know I say that on every post nowadays but I guess I am just so happy because it seemed that I always had some pain here or there going on in the past.  I guess that's the benefit of not running many miles the last few months... 

 So on Friday I tested the theory that running helps a sinus infection.  Jury is still out on that one.  I actually got worse but I don't know if that was inevitable or if the running made it worse.  I ended up going to the doctor and getting medicine.  My entire family got sick.  Both my kids had ear infections and eye infections... I guess these things are going to happen more and more now that they are going to daycare.   

6.75 miles at 10am around my neighborhood.  Weather=69F, 60% humidity, 55 dew point, 15mph wind (according to weather.com but I think it was more than that!), sunny, birds chirping, bluebonnets blooming, butterflies everywhere.  Average pace=9:22/m.

I love this new route I have been running lately.  It's out and back but depending on which street I take out of my neighborhood, it's either 6 miles or 6.75 miles.  The first mile out is relatively flat.  Then the next 1.2 miles is net downhill about 2-3% grade.  Then the next 1.6 miles is uphill about 3% grade.  Then the turn around.  So it's 1.6 miles downhill, 1.2 miles uphill, 1 mile relatively flat.   It's just a nice up and down workout that is split into sections of easy and hard.  

My kids are in daycare today.  After the whole family being sick for a 2 weeks, this house is a mess!  I've got so much to do that I don't know where to start.  I seem to keep coming up with other things to do other than laundry and dishes.   I thought maybe running this morning would get me motivated.  Um, now that I'm back... no, that didn't work.  I'm thinking now about going grocery shopping and then going for another 3 mile run.  I thought maybe doing doubles might be a good way to jump start my running again.  Or maybe that's just my subconscious trying to get out of doing the dishes?  

5 miles at 6:30pm around my neighborhood.  Weather= 76F, 43% humidity, 52 dew point, 19mph wind, sunny.  Average pace=8:38/m.   

Race at Fort Worth Zoo this morning at 7:00am.  Weather=50F, 65% humidity, 8mph wind, sunny.  Average pace=7:43/m.

mile 1- 7:56

mile 2- 7:55

mile 3- 7:51

mile 4- 7:52

mile 5- 7:49

mile 6- 7:09

final .26- 6:36 pace

This was a huge race.  There were thousands of people.  They said a thousand more than last year.  I was told it took 10 minutes to get everyone across the starting line in the 10k and even longer in the 5k.  

I started this race with a bang.  Within the first 15 seconds of crossing the starting line a teenage boy plowed through the crowd elbowing people out of his way.  My friends Ashley and Wendy were behind me and he pushed them and they yelled at him.  Then he came up on me and elbowed me.  I lost my balance and skidded into the street.  I skinned my right knee, left hip, both hands.  My hands were especially bad.  It hurt.  I was kinda confused but I got up and kept running.  Ashley and Wendy saw it happen and were trying to help me but I told them to go ahead, don't let it ruin their race.  

 For the first mile I was really shook up and my hands hurt.  I felt like crying for a minute or two.  I got behind Wendy and Ashley and I started loosing sight of them through the twists and turns in the zoo.  I realized that thinking negative was going to make this race suck.  I need to buck up and quit complaining.  This fall was going to make me that much more proud for finishing this race.  So I decided to block the pain and focus.  

I caught up to Ashley at 1.5 miles but I never saw Wendy again.  I fell in behind this girl that I recognized from another race.  She was extremely muscular.  I've never seen any girl with bigger calf muscles.  I just followed her because she was going a pace that felt comfortable to me at the time.  There was another girl running along side her in pink.  Another girl kept surging past us and then falling behind us.  

The course is very hilly in the first 5 miles.  The 6th mile was mostly downhill.  The final .25 mile was flat.  I coasted along those 5 miles.   I noticed that I started picking people off in the 5th mile.  There were several people who were getting tired from the hills I guess.  I knew that downhill was coming though so I just hung on until then.  As soon as my watch clicked mile 5, I opened it up.  

I caught muscular calf girl, pink girl, about 4 guys, surge girl, and then I closed in on two girls ahead of me with less than a hundred yards left.  They sensed me coming up on them and speeded up.  I almost gave up but found another gear at the last minute.  I passed one but was about 1 second behind the other one when we crossed the finish.  My running store was announcing the race and I could hear my friend James on the microphone saying, "Great kick, Lindsey!"  

Wendy ended up finishing 2 minutes ahead of me.  Ashley was about 1 minute behind me.  There were several people from the running group standing around.  Everyone was laughing at me for falling.  I fall more than anyone else -by far!  I don't know if it's bad luck or clumsiness. 

So I guess I'm mostly happy with the race.  It's bittersweet.  I never got really in the zone in this race.  I never felt really confident.  I was just going through the motions of what I know works for me.  I don't know if this was because I'm out of shape or because of the fall at the beginning.  Last year I ran this race in 45 minutes (7:16/m) and this year it was 48 minutes (7:43/m).  I guess that's not too far off.  I'm happy with my final kick at the end.  

On a side note:  we watched the 5k finish and there was a guy that crossed at 14:55.  He looked so fast!  It was exciting to watch!   The final people had just crossed the start line and he was finishing already.  

5.8 miles at 2pm around my neighborhood.  Weather=74F, 25% humidity, 4mph wind, sunny.  Average pace=9:19/m.

I am sore from the race on Saturday.  My arms and my glutes are the most sore.  I guess because I haven't raced in months.  Also, my hip hurts from where I fell.  Just running easy today.

3.5 miles at the river at 10:30am.  Average pace=8:56/m.  Then 3.5 miles around my neighborhood at 11:20am.  Average pace=9:28/m.  Weather=79F, 56% humidity, 63 dew point, 28mph wind, sunny. 

I went to Trinity river to run today and I discovered that the park area is closed because they are getting ready for Mayfest.  The parking lot by my running store was unusually empty because of it.  I went ahead and parked and started out on the trail in the opposite direction as the park which was still open.  I immediately noticed that there were way fewer people out today than usual.  There was also an abnormally high number of homeless people today.  I started feeling a little uneasy about going this direction all by myself.  This direction goes off into secluded trails.  Normally there are so many people out, I don't feel strange about it.  The plan was to do 10 today but I decided to cut it short.  I only ended up with 3.5 miles.  

So I drove back to my house to run some more.  This is just not my day though.  I started out running and a gust of wind blew me off the sidewalk.  There was a 3 inch drop to the grass below on this section so as I came off the sidewalk I started feeling my ankle roll.  In order to prevent breaking my ankle, I just fell to the ground instead.  I landed on my hands and knees exactly where I still have scabs from my fall at the race on Saturday. Uh, ouch!  I was like are you serious?!  Again! In less than a week?!  Now my hands are bleeding again...  Great. 

I was near my house so I considered going home and forgetting about running more today but decided to press on. I had intended to run 6.5 around the neighborhood to make my 10 for the day.  Once again I ended up cutting the run short because I was dying of thirst and getting a headache.  Running against 30mph wind up hills was starting to wear on my nerves. 

At one point I was running up a hill and a squirrel that was startled by me coming toward it started running into the street just as two cars were coming down the hill FAST.  I stopped and pointed to the squirrel so the cars would see it.  I just knew that squirrel was going to get run over!  The squirrel ran about 2/3 across the street and got spoked by the car and started to run back.  The car literally went over the squirrel but the tires missed running him over by like 1/2 an inch!  Then the squirrel is coming back across the street right in front of the second car.  The second car put on the brakes and once again missed the squirrel by about maybe an inch.  The squirrel ran back on the sidewalk past me and up a tree.  Whew!  

I know it was a squirrel but it freaked me out.  I would have felt so bad had it gotten run over.  I had all this adreline but not in a good way.  I started running again up that stupid hill against the 30mph wind with the sun beating down.  Yeah, by this point I was just ready to be done today.  This was just not my day. 

4 miles at 6pm pushing Jake in the running stroller.  Weather=85F, 44% humidity, 23mph wind, sunny. 

This was a tough workout because I was going up the biggest hills against the wind and the running stroller is like a sail that catches the wind.  You can't pump your arms because you're pushing the stroller.  It's hard work! 

I ran into Ashley and Tim while I was running.  They were in a car driving by and stopped to talk.  Tim said they were ready to start doing the 5 am running again.  I agreed to meet them tomorrow morning at that time.  It's going to suck waking up at 4:30!  I'm glad though because the only time I've really been consistent with running 40+ miles a week was when I was running in the morning.  With me starting work soon, it's a good time to start. 

Oh, my running watch wasn't charged so I don't have pace.  I thought the charger or the watch was going out because even though it sits on the cradle sometimes it's not charged.  Well, I figured it out!  I noticed there was a black smudge on one of the metal charger thingys on the back of the watch.  I cleaned it with some alcohol and presto it's good as new... the charger is working better than it has in months!  I feel so proud!

6.4 miles at 5am around my neighborhood.  Weather=71F, 78% humidity, 63 dew point, 15mph wind, dark.  Average pace=9:09/m.  (9:25, 8:57, 8:40, 8:47, 9:32, 8:48, 9:45)

Met Ashley and Tim at the corner.  It felt like a tough run but looking at the pace now I see that it was not as fast as I thought.  I think the humidity and the talking made it feel more tough.  I think that 9:32 mile might be a mistake though.  I must have not stopped my watch when we stopped to drink at the top of a hill.   

It was fun though!  I miss running with Ash and Tim.  I've been running by myself for the majority of these last few months.  We're going to start meeting at 5 on two or three weekday mornings.   It's so hard waking up at 4:30 am but it's so worth it!  I always have a great day when I run in the morning.  :)  

Legs are feeling GREAT!  I'll never take for granted NOT having injuries again!