W.I.T.H. Loop with the Texas Trail Nerds

Worked 10 hours at MSC

The heat is back. It was an easy day in regards to driving and lifting a bunch of heavy crap. On the other hand, I spent a lot of time in the warehouse where the temperatures were easily over 100 degrees most of the day.

I had another good day of running with my fellow Texas Trail Nerds. Steve, Paula, Moni, Andrea, Kim, and Barb met at Foster Elementary for an easy three mile loop. We have not labeled this particular loop, but today Paula helped with the name. The part where we exit the trails onto Hamilon Road is always different. I don’t know why I can’t consistently exit the same area. Near the end of the run, Paula suggested we call this route the W.I.T.H Loop. (Where In The Hell are we Loop). It’s official, from here forward it is the WITH loop)

My legs felt good, which is a boost to my otherwise busted running ego. I took the lead because Steve was being extremely careful about running on odd surfaces. This year the Houston Marathon will be his 500^th marathon and he doesn’t want anything to happen between now and the race… and I can’t say I blame him!

Run:

2.81 miles

36:51

13:07 pace

NIGHT Trail Run, with the nerds...

I had a long, stressful night at the Fire Department and ended up taking the day off work at MSC.

Today was the first Texas Trail Nerds NIGHT trail run. We ran the three-miler outer loop of East End Park. The sky was pitch black, the air was humid and the forest was alive with intrigue. We heard an array of wildlife in the forest, but only saw a possum and a field rat.

The mileage clicked off fast and my legs felt great for the duration of the run. I was inclined to run additional mileage, but I needed to get some sleep before work tomorrow.

Run:

2.99 miles

38:08

12:45 pace

Alison's 10 years old!

Happy birthday to my wonderful and beautiful daughter, Alison who is turning ten years old today.

I hiked along the Ameri Loop Trail at Lake Houston Park. This trail has quickly become my favorite ten mile hike, although I don’t much like the deep, loose sand near the creeks.

My initial plan was to hike the loop twice, but I lost interest. The temperature is rising again and I was walking under the heat of 90 degrees. I tried using honey stingers as my nutrition. The taste and texture is great, but they upset my stomach. I was nauseated for thirty minutes after consuming the honey stingers. Other than than eating honey stingers I kept everything simple, just water and S-caps.

Late last night I purchased a new Osprey fast pack from REI. The pack is AWESOME, but it moves quite a bit while running. It’s a great day-hike pack, so I'll probably keep it. 

Run:

1.59 miles

19: 30

12:16 pace

Walk:

8.95 miles

2:43:30

18:16 pace

Trinity County Fair

I ran with KWFIT this morning, although that phrase is not entirely true. When the KWFIT season began, I was assigned to the 11:00-12:00/mile pace group, but lately I’ve been running 12:00+/mile on my runs. So, I've kinda been running solo, picking up the occasional "straggler" runner...

I dread the early morning runs on concrete and I spend entirely too much time trying to find a way to get out of it. I’ll continue helping KWFIT, yet it gives very little back to me in return. Each week I want out of the obligation, but I keep telling myself; this is one of the commitments where I have to be a man of my word!

The first few miles were horrible. My legs were heavy and I ached all over, which is somewhat common on early morning runs. Since the distance was over three miles I decided to run my usually 8/2’s. My "assigned" group was already out of sight within a couple miles, so I didn’t feel bad about running a handful of walk intervals.

To my surprise I settled into a decent rhythm during the last two miles. I managed to finish five miles feeling good.

Immediately after the run I drove to Trinity to be with the kids at the annual Trinity County Fair. Alison raised three rabbits for 4H. She showed her rabbits last night and placed 12^th out of 24. Tonight the auction takes place and we’re hoping the buyers are feeling generous.

The kids and I had a great time at the county fair doing general fairground stuff… face painting, rides, food, dancing, etc. On the way home I even took a few minutes out of my day to stop by my parents place. Of course they gave me a small things they need repaired, but that’s normal. I wish I had the time and money to help them more....

It has made for a long day, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Run and walk breaks were combined since the overall pace was less than 13:00/mile.

Run:

5.22 miles

1:07:16

12:53 pace

Three in the park

Worked 10 hours at MSC

After sleeping nearly 15 hours yesterday, yet I still woke up tired. What the heck!?!? I feel a lot better today, minus a slight headache and general achiness.

I met up with five Texas Trail Nerds at East End Park for the 3-mile outer loop. I struggled for the first couple miles, but slipped into a great rhythm over the last mile. We ran continuous today, which is something I need to work on more. The humidity was higher near the back of the park, but the lower 90 degree temperature helped keep everything in check.

It’s been a good day, even though it has been busy and tiresome…

Run:

3.0 miles

34:51

11:37 pace

Sick

Shortly after getting off work at the fire department I started feeling ill. My off day schedule was packed and I was sure to be busy all day, but I had to put everything on hold.

By the time I got back home at 10am, I was running a 102 degree fever, nauseated/vomiting, and I had general weakness all over.

I slept till 6:30pm. The only reason I woke up was to walk to the Foster Elementary and tell the Texas Trail Nerd gang that I would not be running with them. This was a huge disappointment for me as there were about eight runners in attendance, including Steve Boone.

A few hours later I was back in bed for the remainder of the night…

CASA 5k Trail Race report

A few weeks ago Karen and I decided to run the CASA 5k as a “Texas Trail Nerd club social”. Karen obtained permission from the race director to set our club tent and banner. I took the social a step further and cooked ~20 breakfast tacos the night before. On the race website I didn't see any food sponsors, so I thought this would be a nice treat after to the race.

The morning started off good, even though I’m in a constant cycle of sleep deprivation. We arrived at Jones National Forest an hour early and had no problems setting up our club tent. I was proud to display our club banner and it is starting to feel like we’re a legitimate running club.

During the pre-race announcements the race director acknowledged our club and thanked us for our support. The RD even told the crowd how Karen ran thirty miles the night before and was still here this morning. Again, another proud moment for the Texas Trail Nerds.

My run started bad and never improved. My legs were completely dead and my head was not into the race. It was only a 5k, so I knew I could tough out the mileage. The scenery of the park is stunning, although I found it difficult to run in the 4-6 inches of sand on the jeep roads. My legs never loosened up, so I decided to minimize the suffering with a regimen of 8/2’s.

In the final half mile we were running on a wide compact forest trail. I opened up my stride for a solid finish to an otherwise crappy performance. I’ve spent a lot of time wondering what the problem’s were, but I know it is the same issues; weight, poor nutrition, and more recently... a lack of sleep.

Karen finished her run in a blazing 24:55, which was good enough for the FIRST PLACE FEMALE MASTERS win. Karen is very humble, so much so that I was more excited than she was!

The timing company was having issues with the results, and we had to hang around for nearly an hour before the award ceremony. The wait was well worth it to see Karen receive her medal and for a second “shout out” to the Texas Trail Nerds by the race director. I've realized a couple things... we need a website to direct people to and some type of flyer.

After the race I drove back home from the Woodlands, to prepare for Alison’s ice skating party in College Station, TX. The drive there was a BEAST and took me 3.5 hours due to traffic from a wreck.

I had a blast hanging out with Erin and the kids.  The party was a huge success and everyone seemed to have a great time. I didn't come prepared to skate, but I think I’d like would like to try skating in the future. After the party I hung out with Erin and the kids while we were shopping for Alison’s 4H outfits for the upcoming Trinity County Fair. Alison doesn't like shopping for clothes, so we had our hands full trying to select outfits for the judging and auction. 

It was a long day with a ton of driving, but it was all worth it!

Run (CASA 5k)

3.11 miles

37:22

12:03

Blue Racer and TTN group run

I spent the entire day trying to catch up on neglected errands. Lots of stuff was taken care of, but I still have so much more to do!

I upgraded to the new iPhone 4. I’ve been patiently waiting for the release of the iPhone 5, but every week the release date gets pushed back further. My old iPhone 3G was quickly crapping out, so I had to do something sooner. Knowing my luck, they will probably release the 5 next week....

                                                                                                                                    

Lots of people are reporting an increase in snake sightings, but I have not noticed this to be true. I run lots of trails and seldom see snakes, but today I saw a snake in my back yard that scared the shit out of me. I was walking to my lawn shed and I heard a clicking noise, much like a cricket makes. I was standing a few feet away from my garage and I could not figure out what was making the noise in the rocks. I don’t know how I missed it, but laying on top the rocks was a ~5 foot black snake. 

A month ago my neighbor asked me if I’ve seen the “blue racer” that has been hanging around. Until today I had not seen the snake. I now understand how the snake get's his name. Once I noticed the snake he picked his head up a few inches and moved about one foot towards me. I panicked and jumped backwards, which startled the snake. In the blink of an eye the snake was gone. He is now apparently living under my shed. (This is not a picture of the actual snake, but this is exactly what he looked like)

The second gathering of the Texas Trail Nerds for the week was another huge success. Ten runners ran 4.58 miles along the ‘Amended Barbs loop”. Once we reached the soccer fields, we lost most of our light and elected to run the greenbelts the remainder of the way home. 

Great run, which was followed by pizza and trash talking at NY Pizzeria. We ran 8/2’s. Below is the total pace/distance, because I didn't separate the walks from the runs. I've decided to log the mileage this way, as long as the pace is Sub-14:00/mile.

My camcorder has started taking HORRIBLE pictures when it is not perfectly still, but in the mess, I tend to find some really cool obscure pictures.

Life is Good

Run:

4.58 miles

59:20

12:57 pace

Outer perimeter of East End Park

Worked 10.5 hours at MSC

Meet up with the Texas Trail Nerds for another great run at East End Park. Steve and Paula showed up again, along with several other runners I had not met before. I like the fact that we have a wide variety of paces. Today the group was eight runners strong for a stroll around the outer perimeter of the park.

Steve went through a lot of trouble to get me to a quote for club shirts. I’m excited about the prices and hope to get an order filled within the next couple of weeks.

The evening was complete with a trip to NY pizzeria…

Run:

2.76 miles

30:20

10:59 pace

Cardio-O-Plenty

Ran with KWFIT this morning. I struggled with my run. My nutrition is in the gutters and I haven’t been sleeping as much as I should. The sleep is easy to fix, but I HAVE to get my head right and start eating better!

Even though I haven’t run in two days, my legs were heavy and sore. I ran continuous for the first 3.5 miles. From that point on I ran 8/2’s. The first few miles were mostly solo, but I joined a fellow half’er at the midway point and we ran the remainder of the six mile route together.

The two minute walk breaks were refreshing and allowed me to settle into a rhythm during the final two miles. I finished strong with a decent pace. Immediately after I finished my run I drove to The Woodlands.

Karen started running a 40-mile training run at 5am and I told her I would join her as soon as I could. I’m not strong enough to run with her, but I was able to ride my bike alongside her.  I felt bad because she waited more than 30-minutes for my arrival. 

Within 10-minutes of my arrival we were on the road. Immediately, I was shocked by Karen’s blazing fast pace. If I remember correctly, she said she ran the first 20 miles under a 10:00/min pace! The entire time I was following her, I never had a clue where we were. Most of the route was similar in appearance to Kingwood, although I was uber impressed with the extra wide greenbelts!

The miles clicked off faster than I expected. Everything was peachy until about 11:00am, when the sun was high in the sky. With the sun directly overhead, the route was completed under equal parts of shade and sun. Karen didn't allow the heat to change HER run. Her posture and gait looked flawless and her pace didn’t seem to slow whatsoever.

Over the last five miles my lower back pain became quite bothersome. I kept this information to myself, as I did not want to pass along any negative vibes to Karen while she was in a vulnerable state of mind. I had eaten a granola bar before my run at 6am, but that was nearly six hours prior. I was hungry, tired, and ready to be done. We kept our conversation lively, helping both of us finish on a positive note.

We arrived back at Karen’s house with 39.10 miles. Karen convinced me to ditch my bike and run the last mile with her. After cycling for 4-hours, it was hard to transition into running and I found it difficult to keep up with Karen’s speedy pace. After a small walk break we dropped the hammer and finished the final half mile of an epic jaunt through The Woodlands.

I had aspirations of logging 38 miles, since today is my 38^th birthday, but I settled for 27 miles and a nap. I didn’t do anything the rest of the day, other than hang out at the house.

It was a long day, but I spent it doing the things that make me happiest.

Run:

6.83 miles

1:19:16

11:36 pace

Walk:

0.47 mile

7:52

16:44 pace

Cycle (Trail bike, crewing Karen):

19.63 miles

3:54:58

5.01 mph

Kayaking at Sunset

Worked 8 hours at MSC

After work I rushed to get a haircut and then I went kayaking. The low water levels on the lake have brought my time boating on the water to a halt. Today I launched under the HWY 59 Bridge. The shore/water level was ideal for launching, but I had to haul my boat more than 100 yards from the parking lot to the shoreline.

I kayaked to the big bend East of the townhouses on the river, which was probably 1.0-1.25 miles from the bridge. Nice day on the water at sunset.

Kayak:

2.50 miles

45:00

TTN at East End Park with Steve Boone!

Worked 10 hours at MSC

After work I met up with the Texas Trail Nerds at East End Park. Local running legend, Steve Boone and his wife joined the TTN group for an easy three miles through the outer perimeter of East End Park.

I took great pleasure talking about Steve and Paula’s running bio with the group. In a nut shell Steve has done the following;

Completed 486 marathons

NEVER DNF’d

Race director of; Bear Chase marathon, Mudd Maxx, Texas marathon and many more

Founder of the 50-states club

Completed FIVE marathons in EVERY state

Makes HUGE charitable donations as a result of his RD’ing

And a lot more cool facts!

We had our largest group run yet, with 11-runners in attendance! Steve quickly took the lead at a speedy pace. The lead group stopped every ¾ mile, enabling the other runners to catch up before taking off for the next segment. EVERYONE seemed to have a great run this evening.

Two female runners started after the majority of the runners took off. The trails were getting dark, so once we were done Steve and I went back out to find the girls. We found them a half mile from the finish, and they were appreciative that someone actually came back to find them. Steve and I made it clear that we would never leave anyone on the trails. It’s simple “Trail Nerd Code”.

After the run; Steve, Paula, Brian, and I had pizza at New York Pizzeria. I picked Steve’s mind about starting up a successful social-running club. He gave me lots of suggestions and I think Karen and I are on the right path.

I’m probably going to order cotton t-shirts in the next couple weeks and maybe allow the members to purchase technical shirts with our logo on them. If everything goes as planned, I’d like to set a goal of hosting a small late spring trail run. Details to come…

Run:

3.3 miles

34:35

10:29 pace

Tale of two trails

Even though I was sleepy from a long and “interesting” day at the fire department, I took advantage of my day off and the cooler temperatures. That’s right, I went trail running! Fellow TTN member Jess and I ran at Lake Houston Park. This was her first time on these trails, so we elected to follow an equal walk/run interval and keep everything fun and easy.

The trails were in perfect condition and I noticed lots of new additions to the park. The park ranger at the front desk said many of the improvements are coming from grants. Glad to see grants being used for something that benefits me!

I have a sense of well being on the trails and it’s where I’m happiest.

We ran to the Primitive campsites and then followed the new Ameri trail to the 2.5 mile point before turning around. Jess did a great job on the trail. During the run I passed on information about ascending and descending elevation changes with minimal effort. It’s a conscious effort to change the way you’ve always run, but Jess did a great job.

We both stumbled over hidden roots several times, but one of those roots sent Jess to the ground. Before I knew she had fallen, she was back on her feet and dusting herself off. She survived the fall with just a couple scratches.

I was feeling really good after the run, so I decided today would be a good day for a double. Andrea joined me for the second trail run. She’s not been running much and asked me to keep a slow pace.

Before we started running something came over me. Every ounce of energy was drained out of my body. We ran the same equal walk/run intervals as I had done earlier in the day.

The temperature was much warmer and the sun was directly overhead, leaving us with minimal shade for a large part of the run. Neither of us talked much due to the conditions. We toughed out the run, but now my legs are dead and I’m completely exhausted. I’m not too sure how smart the second run was, but it’s done. Nearly 9.5 miles total on the trails. I’m happy with that.

The distances for both runs are combined below.

Run:
4.5 miles

55:53

12:25 pace

Walk:

4.91 miles

1:28:57

18:07 pace