Tomate dusted off my mountain bike (it’s been about a year since that poor thing has seen the light of day) and we decided to go for a ride at the Mission Park Trails. Tomate has actually been riding quite a bit since he volunteered to be a pacer during the night portion of the Ragnar Relay in October. Anyway, it’s good crosstraining for me so Punxsk8terdude, Tomate, and I headed out to the Missions. It was raining when we got there, but hey…it’s just water. It was a short ride…somewhere around 12-15 miles…but we had a good time. I had forgotten how pretty the southern portion of the San Antonio River is. The Rock n’ Roll San Antonio Marathon route will actually cover parts of this area. I’m looking forward to that. 
Author Archive for Toots
I just finished week #5 of marathon training that ended with a 10 mile long run, the 1st double digit run in this training program. I simply don’t remember getting here. I know I’ve averaged about 1 missed run a week for the last couple of weeks, but I’ve been running for 5 weeks now and don’t really remember my runs. I do keep a running journal and every single run has been logged, but without actually looking through the journal, I just don’t remember most of what I’ve run so far. Should I be worried about this?
Anyway, I purposely postponed my long run until this afternoon because the weather man promised me rain. I think I felt something equivalent to a spit somewhere along my 10 mile route. Needless to say, the rain never came, at least not in my ‘hood, but the weather was pleasant…just warm, not hot, overcast, and there was a cool breeze, no really there was!
It’s been a tough last couple of weeks and I must say running has been great therapy. I have not missed too many runs…but I did not run today’s 5 miler like I should have. I was feeling great this morning but by the time I got home from work I had developed all sorts of aches and pains and a scratchy throat…kind of like when your getting the flu. I got home and fell asleep for a couple of hours…I’m still not feeling better. I’m just sitting here, sipping on some tea, feeling a little chilly (yes, you read that right) and about to go back to bed.
In Loving Memory
”A human being does not cease to exist at death. It is change, not destruction, which takes place.” -Florence Nightingale
”It is not dying, but living, that is the preparation for Death.” -Margo Asquith
”It’s only another adventure, after all.” -Dorothy Eden
”Watching a peaceful death of a human being reminds us of a falling star; one of the million lights in a vast sky that flares up for a brief moment only to disappear into the endless night forever.” -Elizabeth Kuber-Ross
I’m officially registered to run the full Rock n’ Roll San Antonio Marathon on November 16th.
Except for the lack of time due to work, the unexpected out of town guests, Sole Mates administrative stuff, my dad’s hospitalization, & mom in general…training week #1 was tough but uneventful. I “squeezed” in a couple of lunch break 3 mile treadmill runs at work, but I made it a point to run my 6 miler outdoors on Saturday morning. It was a pleasant escape. Anyway, I survived….
I had hoped Banana & I guess bibi would make it down to San Antonio on time for this race to keep with our 4 mile race tradition. Neither were able to make here until later that day (I think they purposely planned it that way). My boys were out of town and due to Pito’s condition, Pito & Pita were unable to make it out to the run. So it was just me, myself, and moi.
It was the morning of the 4th of July and the start of the race was conveniently just a 4 short blocks from my house. This is the first year that this race is held at this location. The day before, as in previous years, people had staked out prime picnic & BBQ areas throughout the park and camped overnight to claim and secure those coveted spots where they would be celebrating the 4th of July festivities and admiring the fireworks display that were to take place later that evening. Boy were they in for a rude awakening that morning! They got an early wake up call as over 500 runners ran past their “campgrounds”. We ended up with a nice little bunch of spectators…many sleepy-eyed campers came out of their tents to cheer us on. It was all good.
Oh, yes, I had another quasi Big Cat encounter…ok, so it was the mom of a Big Cat friend (my virtual running group). She’s training for RNR San Antonio with a training group and I also met a few of her training partners. Oh, and I had a brief encounter during the race with one of the teammates from the Carrabba’s Half that I ran a couple of weeks ago. He was doing much better since the Carrabba’s incident where (I later found out) he passed out immediately after crossing the finish line due to heat exhaustion. He was much better prepared this time around….
I finished in 39:44, 12th in my age division….I don’t know the total number of runners per category, so I’m not sure how I did overall, but I was quite pleased with my finishing time.
About a week ago I sort of decided to run a half marathon…I don’t know why…perhaps I was feeling a little adventurous??? I don’t know, Sally, I think it’s the tattoo. Actually a friend invited me to run with him and a couple of his co-workers as part of their corporate team. I agreed…mainly because well, it was FREE (his company paid our entry fees). I’ve never actually “raced” a half. Of course, I’ve run the distance before (and beyond) during marathon training runs, but for some reason I’ve never actually entered to run any half marathon races - ok, so there was that Nerstrand Big Woods ”incident”…but you know what I mean. Anyway, I got 2 free technical shirts out of it, one from the race itself & one from the team (you know, sometimes, it’s all about “the shirt” 
). Oh, yeah, the legs were also getting “antsy” since San Diego RNR & the recovery time thereafter.
So…to recap:
1. free registration
2. 4 person team
3. 2 technical shirts
4. the only “girl” on the team
5. 2 potty stops mid run - not sure why…have never done this in a marathon…over hydrated perhaps???
6. 1 WRONG TURN (AAARGH!) Boy was I peeved!
7. running an extra .4 miles because of the wrong turn…so technically I ran a 13.5 “half”?
8. 4 different loops around McAllister Park trails
9. being the 2nd to finish from our team
10. crossing the finish line TWICE! (1st time due to wrong turn - don’t worry, did not let them “scan” my number at the finish…let them know I still needed 1 more loop and they gladly sent me on my way with a “WE’VE GOT A LOST ONE!!! 
)
11. final finishing time of 2:36…not so bad afterall…I don’t think so anyway including “lost” time.
12. the best post race meal EVER!!! ~sponsored by Carrabba’s Italian Grill - of course! 
13. 1 additional black toe nail (to match the other from San Diego RNR) Heh!
Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve run in the evening! It’s like 9pm is the new 7am! There were so many people at the park. I forgot how busy summer evenings can be. It really is the best time to get some outdoor physical activity done around here. The evenings tend to be a lot less humid, breezy, and they feel cooler - technically it’s much cooler “temperature-wise” in the morning but the humidity is usually quite horrid. I literally break into a sweat by just walking out the front door to my car when I leave for work each morning. Anyway, the run was pleasant and relaxed, just 2 laps around the asphalt path which is roughly about 2.66 miles. Still just taking it easy….
Did I mention I’m running a half this weekend? A half marathon that is. Don’t ask, I’ll write more about it later.
This past week became somewhat of a “recovery” run week. Honestly I still really haven’t figured out those “recovery runs” yet. In the past I’ve taken anywhere from 2-3 weeks off from running after completing a marathon…this time I just got “antsy” and really felt like running much sooner than before. It’s been a scorcher of a week, everyday hovering at around 98F-100F (and that’s without the heat index!), so I opted to run indoors on a treadmill at the gym with Garner Girt after work on Wednesday…ok, let me rephrase that - I ran on a treadmill while Garner Girt walked on a treadmill next to mine…it was nice company even though it was indoors on a treadmill. It was a 3 miler and the legs actually felt pretty good. On Saturday I tried it again, this time outdoors. I had planned on a 4 miler but instead I was barely able to complete 3 miles…I practically had to crawl home. Thinking back on this particular run, I realized that I wasn’t very well hydrated (been slacking on that a bit since the marathon). I’ve also been eating junk (I can’t seem to be able to stop) and I haven’t been sleeping enough (I don’t know why…school’s over, soccer’s over, I’m not “in training”, I’ve caught up with all my DVR’d shows from months back - wait, maybe that’s the reason - too much TV???). Anyway, technically I have a bit more time in my hands but no self discipline what so ever….
