Gordo Running

This morning was Shannon Trail Series Race #2 put on by the San Angelo Road Lizards at the San Angelo State Park.  I volunteered to give my legs some more down time and just to cheer everyone on.  It turned out to be a bit more well attended than I expected given the freezing temperatures and snow.  Yes! snow!  I'm pretty sure that this is the first snow I've seen in Texas since 2010. We went on a course preview run Tuesday night and it seemed fairly challenging.  There is a section of road that has treacherous tufts of grass which very nearly took me out.    After the flat of the road, there's a steep downhill followed by an uphill.  Of course, I was chasing Kent in the dark on Tuesday night so it all seemed steep with dangerous footing.  We also were hunted by some animal.  OK, so in truth, we heard an animal off to our left.  It was probably a deer running away.  But, in my mind, it was a mountain lion that saw how...

"They" say that you can tell how brutal a race is by how long it takes you to decide you're going to do another one.  Now "they" are talking about ultra marathons, but isn't anything past 26.22 miles considered an ultra?  ("They" is the Trail Runner Nation podcast)  If we're going by that logic, I've actually never run a marathon.  I've now run eight ultras, including seven 26.5(ish) mile races and a 50K. So, yes, I'm already thinking about my next marathon.  I'm using what worked and didn't work from Houston to start planning for next year.  I don't yet know which marathon(s) I'll run in the "2017 season," but I'm sure the TNT runners will have some sort of say in it.  As I outlined in  Almost...Almost , Terri's pace plan along with Jason's tweaks and Ryan's steadfastness worked.  The thing is, it worked for a 26.22 mile course, not 26.5. Courses are marked for the shortest possible dista...

I started mentally writing this post moments after crossing the finish line.  It took me a few minutes to get through collecting my medal, a couple water bottles, a mug, and a finisher's shirt.  From there I had to shamble through a sea of smiling faces and congratulatory hugs between friends and family members to get to our reunion area.  All I wanted to do was lay down.  Anywhere would have sufficed. During that walk from the finish line to the "T" (for TNT runners, get it?) section of the reunion section, I was deep in that overly emotional post-marathon state.  You know, the way you get after you've trained for months and have exerted just about every last bit of energy.  Of course, I say you as if everyone does feel that way.  Maybe it's just me.  I didn't know how to feel.  The "sweat" in my eyes was from what? pride? disappointment? the Gatorade I kept dumping in my eye instead of my mouth at the aid stations? (literally did that 3 ti...

Mila and I were running the other day (if you can believe that in a running blog).  After a few minutes of quiet, I looked over and asked what she was listening to.  She had borrowed my iPod Mini (You know, the one with the engraving saying that Chris Boyce is the real MVP) and was listening to my playlist of maybe 40 songs, the vast majority of them my own downloads.  All she did was shrug her shoulders and admit that she had no idea. Now, every time we run together, Mila asks to take the iPod, knowing that she had only requested that I download maybe a handful of those songs.  It got me thinking about music while running.  On a semi-related note, isn't it the worst when only one headphone works?  Especially when it's a song that plays individual instruments on different sides? Anyway. My tastes have changed a bit since I started running.  In fact, when I started, I couldn't imagine running without music blasting in my ears.  I needed someth...

Hey!  I did a small race today (OK, I started writing this the same day, just publishing it a day later after finishing up).  Well, I didn't exactly race, I but I did go run.  I mean, there was free hot chocolate, so how could I not?  The base sporadically has fun runs and, as leader of the burgeoning "Make Goodfellow Great" Run Club, I should probably be there.  I signed up a few weeks ago and there were already 45 people signed up.  Due to the freezing temperatures... maybe 25 showed up.  We here in San Angelo are not exactly used to temperatures below 50 degrees, so it wasn't a big surprise that there was such a small turnout.   Most of the runners appeared to be students.  I mean, what better would they have to do on a late Saturday morning?  Anyway, checked in with the Marine PFCs (who were a little surprised that an NCO was actually there running), picked out my complimentary mug, and headed to the starting area for our rout...