It's been a while, hasn't it? When I have time, I try and write once a week. Hopefully this'll be the first of a few weekly blogs. Don't worry, I haven't stopped running, I've just been in classes between college (only 3 left!) and Air Force training. So, let's get caught up, shall we? I'm in the heart of my 50 mile (Wild Hare) training (which I introduced in my
last entry). September was my first 200 mile month ever (hit 200) and this past week, due to shuffling some long runs around, was probably my heaviest week ever at 63 miles. Don't worry, I took some pics of my last couple long runs.
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looking goofy after 20 miles a few weeks ago
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| double rainbow at the start of my 22 miler last weekend |
And a few while I was running solo on Arden Rd yesterday morning. The run went well, was able to run mile 22 in 8:57 and my last 800m in roughly 4:10. My foot started hurting, but I think a lot of that was due to the type of pavement I was running on.
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| 4 in before the sun came up! |
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| It was a bit lonely out there but kinda pretty |
Running in San Antonio is always awesome. I think, in part, because that's where I started running. There are so many different established routes as well as explorable neighborhoods. Beyond just cool places to run, San Antonio is awesome to run because of the people I get to run with. On this trip, I spent a lot of weeekend mornings running with Jason, Anne, and Tracy. They're training for the Chicago marathon and hopefully Jason will be able to qualify for Boston. (yes most of these I took from other Anne's Facebook) One of the weekends we got separated for a bit while I ran 22 and they ran 16. And, of course, runs were finished with brunch. (Because I'm super basic)
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| Nope, we're not sucking in at all. And that's NOT a 9 am beer in our hands |
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| the Tower of the Americas looking like the Washington Monument in the fog |
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| right at the end of one of their runs with my blurry camera |
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| during one of our mid-run meetups with Jason |
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| another midrun meetup, at the "cold drinking fountain" |
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| following the breadcrumbs left by Anne and Tracy |
I also got to do a couple IAAP track days and meet up with Legions of Leonidas. We took advantage of those runs and went to dinner with Christian and Joseph also
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| back at Brack track |
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| warm up stretches w/ IAAP |
I also got to re-run some of my favorite areas in San Antonio. I spent 20 miles on the Leon Valley Greenway one morning. I spent considerable time running around Blue Star, the King WIlliam district, and the Pearl on the riverwalk. I did, however, miss the MLK area.
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| Pearsall Park |
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| trying to tame "the dragon" |
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| the view from atop one of the hills in Pearsall Park |
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| scooting around downtown |
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| Hays street bridge/Alamo Beer |
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| Hemisfair Park |
I even got a couple of my classmates to hit the track with me for speedwork one morning.
Before I go further about me, please consider donating to help Jose Iniguez get back on his feet. I don't know exactly what happened, but I know he's had a health scare and has spent the week in the hospital. Jose is instrumental in the San Antonio running community and is one of the friendliest, warmest people you will ever meet. He has given so much of himself to the runners of San Antonio and needs some help now. The gofundme site is
here.
I have done a couple of races since I last wrote, including a few PRs. On my way to pick up Mila and her mom from the airport, I stopped at the Runners' Ranch and took part in the luau run. It's a 4 person relay where each leg runs 1.75 sandy, hilly miles around the Iniguez ranch. I met my teammates upon arrival and actually had to draft a teamless runner to complete our team. We had a good time and all ran better than we expected. We didn't place in our division, but did come in 8th overall. Plus, I got this really poor quality pic of my shirt.
The next race that I ran was the Southland Shuffle here in San Angelo. The Southland Shuffle is portrayed as an old school no frills race. There is no online entry, no race t shirt, and no monetary prizes. The entry fee is $3 and you'd better show up with cash. The course winds through San Angelo neighborhoods and includes some rolling hills. I decided to just do the 2 miler and it turned out pretty well. I set a two mile PR, finishing in 13:52. That was good enough for 5th place overall and 2nd in my age group. I had to leave fairly quickly as I had some plans, but I did get to see one of my students, Dick WIlliams, win the 6 mile race.
While not a race per se, I took part in the IAAP Michael's Fight 2 mile time trial. This was a 2 mile fundraiser for Michael, a young man battling cancer. I had some incidents during the run, namely having to stop and tie my shoe not once but twice. So, my clock time was somewhere around 14:40. However, I set two PRs on my watch. I ran the 1.5 mile in 9:53 and finished 2 in 13:34. Paul got pics and they are NOT pretty.
Finally, we had the NCOA 5k. It was billed as a workout session, but I decided to race it. I ended up setting another PR! I finished in 21:51, roughly 9 seconds faster than my previous. I ran 21:08 at the Pink Ribbon Run last year but that course was just shy of 3 miles.
Blog updates
I've been surprised at how many people continue to read the blog even though I haven't written in a few months.
The Struggle is now my most widely read entry, with over 260 views. I also have quite a few updates to the
San Angelo 5k rankings since I last updated them in
July. Here's what I've got:
Amy Daniels enters the female 20-29 rankings at #5.
Tim Smith enters the male 40-49 rankings at #3.
Roxanne Arispe takes the #1 spot in the female 40-49 rankings.
Martha Fay is #1 in the female 50-59 rankings and Kim Greenfield is #5.
Blanca De La Rosa takes over the #1 spot in the female 60-69 rankings.
Paul Foxcroft is #2 in the 70+ male division.
I am waiting to see if some of the speedsters from the Armydillo Run participate in more local races before putting them in the rankings.
Good luck in Chicago Tracy, Anne, and Jason! I'll be following along.
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