I called Pita’s house. I don’t know why. I just did. Someone picked up the phone. I said, “Pito?”. A voice responded, “Aqui estoy”. It was him, loud and clear. Then I woke up.
I spent last night at the Ronald McDonald House located inside the Texas Children’s Hospital while Tomate stayed with Tutus a couple of floors up in his hospital room. This is where I had my dream. Anyway, Tutus is one of the few people Pito asked me about just a couple of days before his passing. Tutus just got moved out of the ICU - that’s a good sign.
I had a running buddy for today’s long run…I’m not sure he’ll ever come running with me again because I’m pretty sure I talked his ear off. :) You see, unless I’m actually in a race, for the most part, I train by my self…except for the time I ran Afton with Sally and Lumpy, I’ve always run my longer weekend long runs completely alone. So it was nice to have someone to chat with during the long 14 miles…except like I mentioned earlier, I did most of the chatting.
Anyway, let’s call my running buddy, Spechter. Spechter is a co-worker friend who is actually training for his debut marathon which happens to be the ING New York City Marathon coming up in November. We both put our name in for the lottery…he got in, I did not. We’re two weeks apart in our training for our repective marathons and we just happen to have similar long runs to do this weekend. He’s naturally a good and fast runner but he’s recovering from an injury. He was forced to run at my pace - I’m sure that under normal/non-injured circumstances my pace would have held him back a bit - but it was good for his recovery otherwise he probably would have added to the strain of his injury by going “all out” (Spechter, you know I’m right).
It was a beautiful cool morning with a most magnificent sunrise (don’t see those too often - I’m usually all about the sunsets). I was doing great until the last 1 1/2 miles when I really started to feel the warmer temperatures. My right calf muscle and gluteus (that’s right) started to cramp. I stopped and walked about 10-15 steps, felt a little better, then ran to catch up with Spechter. Then we came to the final stretch - less than a mile to the finish and I just could not do it…I was starting to cramp up again. I continued to run a little further then I made the mistake of looking up ahead toward the finish and I saw it - The Hill. I’m sure it was only about a quarter mile climb, but it felt more like a half a mile. I tried to run it and “finish strong”…Spechter even went into “supportive runner” mode to help me get through the climb, but I could not do it. I told Spechter to go ahead and I walked most of the hill finishing about 1 1/2 minutes behind him.
I drove straight to Woodlawn Park near chez moi to run my final mile (I actually had a 15 miler scheduled). It was treacherous and totally unproductive. I should have just called it quits and gone home. I finished the mile, got home, showered, ate, then I started to feel sick. Stomach cramps, aches, and a tremendous headache. I took some aspirin, vegged in front of the TV, and then slept it off. Dehydration? I don’t know, I felt like I was drinking enough (ran with my CamelBack). I also had an energy bar mid run (maybe I should have probably taken the Gu instead for the electrolytes). I’m thinking maybe it was sunstroke…?
This week I ran with the Monarchs and a Tomato by my side.
Tomate has been pacing along side me during some of my midweek runs. He’s “in training” to pace my Ragnar Relay team runners during the night portion of the race. I know I have not been posting much about the relay, it’s just become somewhat of a headache. I’ll admit it now, I think I took up more that I could handle. Next time, I’ll look for a team to join, but I refuse to be team “captain” again. It’s too much and my plate is officially full. Now don’t get me wrong, I think the team is great and with a few exceptions the runners are very excited to partake in this event…it’s just become too much work for ME.
Anyway, back to the Monarchs…Tuesday’s 7 miler was particularly interesting because it is Monarch migration season and they were all over the place. It was fun having them flutter all around me as I ran. Also, a cool front blew in and most of my runs have taken place in 60 -70 degree temps this week which is amazing because technically it’s still summer! The cool front stayed long enough for me to enjoy all my midweek runs in the outdoors with cool breezes, cool temperatures, beautiful sunsets and almost no humidity. Overall, it has been a very productive week #10.
On Thursday all weather forcasts predicted Ike would make landfall somewhere around the Corpus Christi, TX area which according to many a meterologist translated to torrential rains, some serious flooding and 100 mph winds all the way to San Antonio. Ok, it seemed a bit far fetched at the time but who knows…that’s why they are the meteorologists. Anyway, of course some people went into a mad frenzy buying supplies and clearing patio furniture and other items that could potentially become hazardous flying objects. We didn’t really stock up on anything, but we did clear the patio furniture, but really I was just planning on enjoying a relatively cool, rainy weekend with time to catch up on some reading and do whole lot of nothingness…you know how much I love the rain. I knew Punxsk8erdude’s soccer game would be cancelled and I just needed to figure out what to do with my long run.
Well, the weekend I hoped for was not to be. By Friday Ike had taken a northward turn and was heading straight for Galveston, TX instead. We still hoped for some rain but as the hours went by, the chances dimished. Ike made landfall around the Galveston area Friday night or rather in the early wee hours of Saturday morning. We woke up here in San Antonio to a nice breeze and lots of sunshine and not a drop of rain. :( Punxsk8erdude’s game was NOT cancelled but it did actually pour out on the soccer fields for about 10 whole minutes during half time, but that was it. That was all the rain we had. The clouds cleared, the breeze stopped, the humidity set in, and it became hot…just hot.
Anyway, I decided to save my 10 miler until Sunday. Luckily some sort of a front (not Ike) had blown in and for most of the day it was overcast and breezy and dare I say it, even cool!!! I headed out in the afternoon, sans sunblock AND sans visor…BIG mistake! About 3 miles into my run, the sky began to clear and then the sun came out in full force! Mother nature must be upset with me or something! So I finished 7 miles, with the sun in my eyes and the heat bearing down on me…I had to call it “temporary quits”. I had left some chicken baking in the oven for dinner and I had hoped to be done with my 10 miles by now, but my legs were so spent and I felt “sun tired” if there’s even such a thing. If I had had my runnng cap I think I would have been alright but instead this head of mine full of thick dark crazy hair was just soaking up all those rays and I just wasn’t feeling well. Anyway, I came home, took care of the chicken, fed the boys and then went on to complete my final 3. It was sunset by now and I was feeling better, running better, breathing better and I finished. In the end, I managed to get away from Ike. 
Finally!!! That’s how long it took me to get here! It’s been a while since I really enjoyed my weekend long run and I just ran a great 13 miler. I’m not sure exactly what made it so great except for the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It wasn’t my fastest, nor was I in top form, I didn’t even change my route…as a matter of fact, I’d had a tough week battling a sinus/head congestion and I’d had some crappy midweek runs feeling tired and sleep deprived. I took it easy on Saturday, did nothing all day but sleep in, go to Punxsk8erdude’s soccer game and vegetate in front of the TV. I slept in again on Sunday and actually did not get out to run until around 7:30 in the evening. By then the sun was setting (beautiful sunset by the way), it had cooled down considerably (some sort of a front blew in), AND there was virtually NO HUMIDITY!!! I was breathing easy and my legs felt stronger than ever before. Oh yeah, and I ran the last mile with my hair down. It was that good.
“Surely the strange beauty of the world must somewhere rest on pure joy!” -Louise Bogan, What the Woman Lived
Chasing Gustav
So Tutus was finally was added to the national lung transfer waitlist and we decided to go hang with him in Houston this past weekend and take advantage of the fact that we were all off (from work, school, and soccer) and Tutus was actually not hospitalized at the moment. The problem was that Gustav was on it’s way. We were a bit apprehensive during the roadtrip because traffic was quite hectic in the opposite direction we were going. Everyone seemed to be leaving the Houston area as we were heading towards it. So there we were…chasing Gustav.
Anyway, we discovered that Gustav took a northward turn and was expected to hit Louisiana instead. So…we decided to spend Saturday (the day before Gustav was expected to make landfall) at the beach and we headed towards Galveston, TX. It turned out to be a beautiful day. I did nothing but relax, read, and bask in the sun while the rest of the guys (Punsk8erdude, Tutus, Elvis, Moon & Tomate) frolicked in the water. Bella, hung out with me, she’s Tutus’ Boston Terrier (she’s total crazy cuteness!).
I missed my weekend long run and decided to make it up on Monday morning (Labor Day) in Houston before returning home. So I mapped a 6 mile out & back route through the Houston/Bellaire area and headed out with Tomate accompanying me on his bike. It was a very difficult run, the only thing pleasant about it was the scenery and the fact that Tomate was there with lots of water. It was not as hot as it could have been and thank goodness for that Gustav breeze, but boy was it humid! I did quite a bit of walking but I did complete my 12 and felt good about it afterwards.
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 Punxsk8erdude, 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.
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!
