Happy Turkey Day!

Just wanted to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving. May you eat good, laugh hearty and be surrounded by those that you love!

I FINISHED...

...in 2:34:20!!

Not a PR, but still under a 12 min/mile pace! I am totally okay with that!!

Report later. Time to go get some food (I am STARVING) and then drive home.

New sprint triathlon

I am thinking of doing this one, and in case you hadn't heard of it...



It is sceduled to take place on March 1, 2009 at Deussen Park, Lake Houston.

Okay, enough of playing on the computer, time to get ready for the drive to San Antonio for the Rock 'n' Roll San Antonio Half Marathon.

Results

Okay, after a couple e-mails to HMSA and Run Wild Sports the official results were updated with my teams information. And my individual results were:

Gun Time = 57:05.4

Gun Pace = 11:03 min/mile

Chip Time = 55:45.7

Chip Pace = 10:48 min/mile

Yippee for me!!!

And just think - if I didn't have to exchange the chip I would have been a little faster!

Weekend of fun!!

This past weekend was busy and a ton of fun!

Saturday started with meeting a friend and heading to Old Town Spring for some shopping. I was hoping to find lots of Christmas gifts, but it was not to be. I did find a couple, just not as many as I had wanted. We did find a winery though and stopped for glass to give us fortitude for more shopping – or browsing anyway!

Once the shopping was finished it was off to dinner and then a movie.

Eventually I made it back home and bed to rest up for the 25K the next morning.

I awoke dark and early – no light out yet at that time of the morning – dressed and gathered up all my stuff. And guess what? I remembered my Garmin this time! Yeah for me!

My plan was to do my leg of the relay and then continue on with my team mates for their legs so I could get my miles in.

I met up with my friends (Sandy and Julie) and after a quick pee break right as the gun was going off I joined the throng of other runners.

The goal was to get the 5.1667 mile loop finished in less than one hour, and ideally I was hoping to finish in less than 55 minutes.

Mile 1 – 10:35 – darn good for me!!
Mile 2 – 10:50 – oops, slowed down, but still under 11:00
Mile 3 – 10:36 – sped up a bit
Mile 4 – 10:18 – WOW!!
Mile 5 – 10:58 – I didn't think I slowed down that much. Must have been that killer overpass!!
Last 0.1667 – 2:15 – I am guestimating because I did not mark the time on the Garmin. Also this includes the ankle strap exchange which added several seconds.

Total time ~ 55:32 minutes
Pace ~ 10:45 min/mile

Holy Crap!!!! That is just extraordinary for me!!

This is not official – the timing people do not seem to think that splits are an important thing to see. Actually, our team's results are not even posted. I have e-mailed HMSA asking about it, and hopefully I will get an answer.

The next lap was quite a bit slower because Sandy is more of a walker than a runner. And she is also suffering from shin splints. We chatted the whole time and it was a nice recovery lap!

Julie is more of a runner, but is a little slower than I am. Can you believe it?!! So we started off the third lap and I was feeling good. We made it close to Shepherd and I looked over and saw all these people playing softball. Well, one of the players looked very familiar so I let Julie continue on while I went and checked.

Bad idea!

It wasn't him, but I went around and said hi to a couple other peeps to see if he and his partner (yes, it was the Montrose Softball League) would be showing up later – they were. As you can imagine this took several minutes and now I had to catch back up with Julie so we could finish together. I think it took me about 1.5 to 2 miles to catch her, but I finally did. And boy was I worn out! Teach me to do something like that again!

I called Sandy to let her know we were crossing the overpass and to get ready for us. She was there and we all crossed the finish line together.

Per the Garmin we completed the relay in 3:25:05, and according to FinishCam our gun time was 3:26:17.9. I find it rather interesting that FinishCam has our final time, but the chip people do not have anything posted. But the FinishCam people did not record us crossing with the comment “Sorry, your finish time is beyond the length of the recorded video.” We finished under the 3:30 time limit. Weren't they prepared to record the entire event? Oh well. I would have been nice for Sandy and Julie though since they are training for their first half-marathon.

We proceeded to pick up our finisher's reward. We were supposed to get t-shirts for finishing the relay, but something happened and they didn't have them. Instead we got the full 25K finisher’s jacket!! Totally awesome!!

It was now time to head home, but I decided I would check out the softball field again to see if my friends had shown up. They hadn't, so I waited. And waited. And waited some more. But they finally showed up! And it was great to see them.

We hung out until the last game was over. They invited me to meet them at Anita's Bar and Grille for some post game fun. Well that fun continued on to JR's, the Montrose Mining Company and then back to JR's. It was a fun night and a great day! Too bad I had to go home and get ready for my flight to Salt Lake City the next morning!

I just wish straight men could appreciate me as much as gay men do!

Stretching

I have been pretty good with my marathon training and it has showed, but my injury prevention has been the pits and pains are starting to develop. I am the worst person when it comes to stretching and because of it I think I am starting to get plantar fascitiis and ITBS.

During the half on Sunday my hips started hurting and didn't stop until I finished the race. When I ran my hands along my ITB's I felt a little pain with increased pressure. Time to get the roller out.

After getting home and resting a bit, any time I would get up I gimped because my heels hurt like crazy. I kept stretching and doing the alphabet with my feet but it only helped a little. I put on some sandals with 2" heels and that helped a bit more. I eventually filled a bottle with water and froze it - that helped. I am now making sure I do the alphabet with the feet a couple times a day along with icing.

I am going to go get the roller now.

The Official Time

Gun time - 2:34:24.0

Gun pace - 11:47 min/mile

Chip time - 2:32:07.4

Chip pace - 11:36 min/mile

For me - this is absolutely fantastic!!

Split times:

First half = 1:18:38.6 (gun) / 1:16:22.1 (chip)

Second half = 1:15:45.3

Negative split!!! Wooooooo Hoooooooooo!!!!!!

Houston Half

Last year when I participated in this race it was my first "official" half marathon even though I have done the distance plus more on many training runs. Last year I accomplished it in 2:40:10.8 and this year I really wanted to beat that time, but didn't think I would.

Everything seemed to be going okay before I left my place, but then I started feeling a tad not so great in the car. I just prayed that I would be okay until I could get to a port-a-potty (I know - TMI!).

I parked, got all my stuff together then started hoofing it to the start. I looked down at my wrist to check out the time and that is when I realized I had forgot my Garmin on the kitchen counter hooked up to the charger. I was so ticked!

Back to the car I went to drop off my heart rate monitor (lot of good that was going to do me now!) then I made my way towards the start again.

I started feeling better, but still made a pit stop to make sure I was good to go once the gun went off. All I gotta say is that I really should not eat a lot of fatty food the night before a race (I had a tad too much cheese)!! Sorry, more TMI!

I finally made it over to the start and after a few minutes the gun went off. I kept looking for the official time clock as I got closer to the timing mats, but never saw one - all I could do was estimate that it took two to three minutes for me to get to the start line since I was so close to the back. And when I did cross I didn't hear a beep. I just hope that my time actually was recorded.

Since I did not have my watch set with my interval times, my plan was to run a mile then walk about a minute after each mile marker. And I would walk all the up hills.

My nutrition plan was to drink my 16 oz bottle of Endurance Gatorade during the first couple miles, then around one hour do my my first gu and then have another at the 1.5 and 2 hour marks. I really think this helped me a lot!!

I made it to mile marker one 13:34 after the gun. At mile two the pace caller said I was around a 12:50 pace. So much for beating last years time.

Then at mile three they said my pace was around 12:30.

Hmmm - I might get close!

Mile 4 around 12:15

Mile 5 around 12:05

Mile 6 - 11:58

Mile 7 - 11:51

Mile 8 - 11:48

Mile 9 - 11:45

Mile 10 - 11:43

Holy Crap!! I did negative splits for 10 miles!!! Can I keep it going?

Mile 11 - 11:43

Nope, but I'm happy, I stayed the same pace!

Mile 12 - 11:44 (time clock read around 2:08)

Yeah - a positive split, but considering who cares!!

Mile 13 - no idea, but I am sure it was a positive split because I was getting tired and took several small walk breaks!

Mile 13.1 - time clock read around 2:34:20!!!!!!

Woohoo!! PR!!

Then subtract a couple minutes from that and my chip time is around 2:32!!!!

O! M! G!

I PR'd by at least 8 minutes!!!

Yeah me!!!

CLOSED!!

Can you believe it? Registration for the BP MS150 has been closed! They reached 13,000 participants in less than a day - heck, I think it was less than 8 hours!

CRAZY!!

I didn't sign-up. I told myself I wouldn't do it this year and I stayed strong. If it hadn't filled up so quickly, who knows if my resolve would have held out!

Please stop

Why do people think it is okay to send candidate bashing or candidate loving e-mails to everyone in their address book?

Just because they hate/love John McCain or hate/love Barack Obama doesn't mean I do.
Just because they are pro-life/pro-choice doesn't mean I am.
Just because they are gun lovers/gun haters doesn't mean I am.
Just because they do/do not believe in global warming doesn't mean I do.
Just becuase they are/are not for the war in Irag doesn't mean I am.
Just because they are conservative/liberal doesn't mean I am.

I do not push my beliefs on them, why do they think it is acceptable to push theirs on me? I want to respond and say to not send me their political BS, but then I wonder if that would add fuel to the fire or they are family and friends.

I have made up my mind who I am going to vote for and none of your idiotic e-mails are going to get me to change my mind - so please stop sending them!

Loving the weather!

Are you loving the weather? I sure am! The loops around the golf course have been easier and faster. The air conditioning has been turned off in the car and the windows rolled down. If only it would stay like this all year long! I guess it makes us appreciate it even more when we do not experience it that often.

Viv has decided to have a little competition called the Marathon Season Independence Weight Loss Challenge. For a month all entrants monitor their weight and the one who loses the greatest percentage wins. Just a little harmless competition to get people motivated. Hopefully a little less poundage will make me a tad faster for the San Antonio RNR Half Marathon. If I am good maybe I can reach goal #3 - 30 pounds of total weight loss by Thanksgiving. This past month I did not lose anything. All I can say is at least I didn't gain any!

NOT!

The results came back and according to them I am not insulin resistant. I guess that is good news, but I really wanted an explanation and I still do not have one. I told my dietitian and she says we are still going to gear my diet towards me having it.

I went and bought a book at Courtney's suggestion: The Insulin Resistance Diet. Basically it says two things. First, you should not eat carbohydrates alone, but paired with protein so your blood sugar does not spike and your body does not store the excess as fat. Second, you should only have a max of 30 g of carbs in a two hour period with at least 14 g of protein. This is because they say the excess carbs are stored as fat. In people having insulin resistance, the glucose is converted to fat faster than normal people. Hence, it is concluded that the carbohydrates have to balanced by the optimum quantity of protein to maintain a stable blood sugar level.

My dietitian has previously told me that I needed to pair my carbs with a protein, she just never gave me a number to watch. I see her again on Thursday and I will find out what she thinks about this book and its theory. I already know it will be a little difficult - but only when it comes to my breakfast. I really like fruit in the morning, but I have to limit the quantity. I will have to start getting creative with my smoothies!!

Okay, enough of that.

This weekend I participated in the Race for the Cure. I was happy with my results: 35:49.88. This race was pretty much my first ever four years ago, and I have at least seen an improvement. I ran it last year, too, but I did it with a TNT participant (her first time) and even though I wanted to get a better time than my first, I figured doing the event with her was more important. And, it was. You only have one first time, but there are plenty of races to get better results.

Testing has begun

The lab order for my glucose tolerance test never came in the mail, but they did send it to the lab - so that is where I am sitting. Would have come sooner, but due to Ike the clinic was closed last week and they didn't re-open to the public until yesterday.

Stick number one has occurred, I drank the drink and am now patiently waiting to go get stick number two taken care of which is 30 minutes after drinking the drink. Stick three is 30 minutes after that, and then one hour later I get stuck the fourth and final time.

Before I moved to Texas I used to be a medical technologist, so I know the drill and can now sympathize a little bit more with all the patients I had to do this to!

When the doctors office opens I will head over there and set up an appointment with the doc, but I am hoping they will tell me the results prior to that. Because if they are normal, there is no need for me to come in.

Hermann Park Golf Course

Tonight, I finally ventured over to the golf course for a run. I hadn't been over there since last Friday and wasn't sure what to expect. By the looks of the huge piles of cut up trees and branches lining the parking lot there must have been a lot of downed trees. There are two large trees still blocking the trails, but overall I think they have done a real good job in cleaning things up. And from what I can see, there are not many more trees to clear up on the golf course. I am sure they are working as fast as they can so they can open back up.

There were quite a few people out for a walk, jog or run - more than I normally see. Wonder if they were just tired of being cooped up, or were getting ready for the Houston Marathon.

There is still a street light not working along Almeda. Police officers were directing traffic when I was on my way over to the course, but they had left by the time I was headed back home. I crossed the street quickly and made sure that the cars were stopped. I made it safely and as I was continuing on my way I heard someone screaming and then I heard screeching brakes. Someone wasn't paying attention, but their passenger sure was! The car stopped without crashing into anyone, but it was close. I wonder how many times other people in the same situation around the city have not stopped in time this past week. It will be nice when all the power is back and all the street lights are fixed.

My First Hurricane

Okay, it wasn’t really my first, but it was my first experience of a direct hit. I have lived in Houston for over 11 years and am pretty surprised I didn’t experience one sooner.

I am one of the very lucky ones who survived the experience without any damage to my place or car. I lost power around 1:00 a.m. on Saturday with the water following suit shortly after that, but considering that was a pretty minor inconvenience. I did not get either back until sometime on Tuesday. I took off for a friend’s house in Humble on Monday because I was in dire need of a shower. Doing the basic wipe down was not cutting it!

I started the week before Ike with six gallons of bottled water, an emergency stash of cash and working flashlights and lanterns. On Tuesday I went to the store and bought a bunch of canned goods. Wednesday’s preparations consisted of buying some extra propane, some AA batteries and filling up my car’s gas tank. I was thankful for the last one, because when I went to work on Thursday the lines at the gas stations were very long.

Thursday I had to go get my tire fixed (because the night before I noticed a huge bolt very close to the sidewall of my tire), so I made my way over to Sam’s Club. Talk about a zoo!! The lines were extremely long; I would say at least 20 people deep. My tire had to be replaced, but because I had such minimal tread wear all I had to pay for was the installation. So lucky. The next lucky thing – they let me buy batteries (for the radio) and TP at their counter so I didn’t have to wait in the regular line. Even more lucky!!

I was now set.

Friday consisted of the final touches. I cleaned house, put some breakables away, went for a final run around the golf course, made sure all my dishes and clothes were clean, then filled up the bath and wash tubs with water.

I then sat down on the couch and watched the news coverage until the power went out.

That is when the fun began. The wind started howling, the windows shook when a major gust came through, the metal carports on top of my apartment complex started creaking and groaning, the sky would light up, etc. Needless to say – I did not get a good night’s sleep.

The next morning, I put on an old pair of tennis shoes and went walking around the area. And the next day I took a drive around the Heights and Memorial drive. Here are some of the pics I took:



On Monday, I found out a friend of mine had power so I hightailed it to her house with the contents of my fridge and freezer (which were not bad yet) along with my big, powerful blender and a bottle of rum! You see, I had a huge bag of frozen strawberries in the freezer, and what could I make with those – strawberry daiquiris, strawberry pina coloda’s and strawberry mojitos (the last recipe was not that great, but everyone else was okay with them so they did not go to waste!).

The next day I found out I had power, so after we all headed out for dinner I went home. It was so nice to be home in my own bed with the electricity and water back.