"By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail"

Been putting in some long hours at work this week. Got home around 8:00. Family was still at church, so I went for a run at the local  HS track. No watch, just me and the dark countryside. It was about 75F, but very humid, as it just rained. Can't wait for cooler temps.

The ankle is status quo. Not getting better, not getting worse. I've decided i'm not willing to quit cold-turkey, completely for the months it would take to completely heal itself. So, it's time to start building up the miles...as the temps go down, the miles will go up!

Decided to run at lunch...alone. It was overcast and about 80F and humid. Probably one of the better running days in the past few months.

AP: 7:45

Got an email from the guy organizing Pace Group leaders for the 2011 Cowtown Marathon. I thought about it, and decided to "go for it". I told him to put me down for the 3:40 pace group, for the third straight year. This will give me the incentive I need to get my rear in gear.

Happy Labor Day!

Woke my boys up at 5:20AM. This was no easy task in itself, as we spent yesterday at a pool/BBQ party, and the boys (including this big one), were still tired out.

I haven't run a 5K since May. I've barely run much in the past few months, battling a sore achilles and lack of motivation (I'm not sure which one was worse). Anyways, the Kids' K was fun for the boys. I ran with my youngest (Christian), while his older brother (Ethan) ran off ahead. Christian tried so hard to run the whole thing, but we ended up walking a little. But, when he saw the finish line, he took off and finished with a big 'ole smile! Priceless. I love this race, as all Kids' K finishers receive a trophy (recycled Ft Worth Runners' Club member trophies). The boys love their trophies (Christian hasn't noticed that his says "3rd Place 5K Female", yet...but we won't say anything)

Considering my lack of training lately, I ran a strong 5K -- not much jockying or heroics to mention. Ended up with 21:30, and I took home an event mug for getting 3rd in my AG. (All the fast runners were running the 15K race, which I felt a little guilty about NOT running.

It was a fun family run. We'll be back next year!

Decided to run in the rain w/ Darin at lunch. We found a window in the tropical storm that blew through here to get in 4 easy miles. Very humid.

AP: 7:50

Ran 4 miles w/ Mike, Dave, and Darin at lunch. 93 F, 60% humidity. Not much fun...ready for some cooler temps...any day now.. any day. :)

Walked 1 mile cool down.

AP: 7:45 (4 mile run)

Ran alone at lunch. Another hot/sticky day. Was nice to have cloud cover on the way out, but then it was cloud-less on the way back.

Achilles is still about the same. Something I'm just going to live with -- unless I want to seriously give up running for 4-6 months?? Or surgery (no way).

89F, 65% humidity, partly cloudy, S 10MPH

AP: 7:43

Ran the Jailbreak 3.8 mile "adventure" race on Sunday morning with about 8 of my running buddies. It was a blast!

Got to Darin's house at 8AM. Rode with him and a few others to Texas Motorspeedway, where we caught the shuttle to the paintball park that was hosting the event. It was a great morning. About 75 degrees and sunny.

Got there about 2 hours early. Picked up packet, affixed bib, then walked over to see some of the other "heats" starting and finishing. This event is interesting, as they have waves of about 50-70 people starting every 30 minutes. Our scheduled time was 10:30AM. We could only see the start and a few hundred yards prior to the finish line -- the rest of the course was out in the wilderness.

Around 10:20 we started loading the starting corale. Darin (my competitive running buddy) and I worked our way to near the front. At 10:30 the gate was dropped, the sirens went off and we were off! Down a hill, up a hill, through some mud, around a few baracades..through some more mud, up another hill (and that was just the first 100 yards). I was already breathing hard and my quads and hammies were feeling it. I was wondering what I got myself into.

I let Darin go from the beginning, but kept him in sight. There was lots of mud, and streams. The first major obstacle was a 75 yard chest-deep stream crossing. I tried swimming some of it, but shoes made it difficult, so I just trudged through. I had caught Darin by the other side, but quickly let him get away as I had trouble navigating through the extremely slippery mud immediately after. We meandered through a paintball course consisting of a few sheds, wooded areas, and trails, over piles of haybales, tractor tires, mud holes, and streams. Darin was a little ahead of me when I hit the 40 ft waterslide into the creek. Then I caught him again. We climbed the tire out of the creek nearly together, then we ran together. With about a mile to go we caught Darin's son (Zacahary). I tried to get him to come along and try to beat his day, but he was out of gas. I ended up finishing about 5 seconds behind Darin. I'll get him next time! Darin was 3rd, I placed 4th in our heat. (not bad..I have a feeling a lot of people running this race have never run 3.8 miles before.

It wasn't the usual road-race crowd. Some people wore costumes..it was lots of fun! I'm definitely looking forward to doing it again next year -- but, I don't think I'll make a habit of it.

Here's some pictures if you're interested!

Ran w/ Darin at lunch. 7:45 AP.

Biked 10 miles at lunch time. (to boat and back)

4 miles w/ Dave Chase.

 AP 7:19 in VFFs.

5 miles at lunch w/ Darin, Mike, Dave, and Jo. Jo had knee issues. I was planning to do 5 miles at 8:00. Ended up AP: 7:45.

Weather is getting better. 82F, low humidity. 

Ran in VFFs. Right heel still painful (stress fracture???)