I'm a One Hour Runner (W5D3)

The rain has been a real drag lately. I haven't run since the 3 miles on Monday morning, but I really want to progress with my program. I kicked myself out of bed at 8AM this morning with the goal of running 4.5 miles.

It was in the 50s, but bright and sunny. I grabbed shades from the truck and walked off toward the abandoned golf course/running path behind Scott's house. Lucy's tail was wagging happily and she reached her nose out to catch the light breeze.

I love being able to track distance on the Forerunner. The GPS helped me decide to turn around after reaching the end of the 4th section of the golf course (new territory for me). In all, I found that running 4 sections of the golf course gave me 4.2 miles. I doubled back on the close one to reach 4.5 miles. At that point, I was only 1.5 minutes from running for a full hour, so I kept going just long enough to give me that coveted 60 minutes!

My pace for the whole run averaged around 13 minutes/mile. I'm pretty happy that I didn't sink down to the 14s. I was feeling good, even at the end. I'm not at all worried about reaching 5 miles next weekend.

W5D1

I slacked a bit last week. Between a tight deadline at work, a really rainy day, and being exhausted come Saturday morning, my running schedule suffered.

I'm back at it this week. Today was one of the coldest runs I've ever done. The middle school marquee said 55°, but I got my 3 miles in. I averaged just over 13 minutes per mile.

A science blog I've been reading had a great post on running this morning: To Dad, from a Runner

I found myself identifying: slightly nerdy girl with her head always in a book got started running. We all get started for different reasons but in the end it all boils down to that daily challenge to get out there and get that run in. She's several years ahead of me in speed/distance and definitely an inspiration.

Week 30 Weigh in

Finally some progress! I'm again at 164.8 this morning, a loss of 0.8 for the week, 26.4 overall.

Plodding along

I equaled my current low this morning: 164.8. I'm happy to see that number again, but I have little confidence that I'll be significantly past it anytime soon.

Thinking back, I've always had trouble in the 160s. I was in the 160s when I left college in 2002. I was also in the 160s when I tried Weight Watchers again in 2004. I stopped my last bout with paid Weight Watchers when I'd been on it for a couple of months and had no progress out of the 160s.

This time it's different. The scale isn't moving, but I have no plans to give up. If I keep doing what I'm doing, it WILL move. It will! I just need to be patient and follow my plan.

W4D3

Another 4 mile run this morning. When I started just before 7, it was almost completely dark outside. By the time I finished, the skies were cloudy with big patches of bright blue. A beautiful mid 60s morning.

I'm happy to report that my average pace improved slightly to 13:50/mile. I'm taking these runs nice and slow. I'm even starting to look forward to next week's 4.5 mile run.

Week 29 Weigh in

Another week of little progress. I'm at 165.6, 0.2 lbs down, 25.6 overall loss.

I'm starting to feel like I'm not going to lose anything substantial in October. I've been faithfully avoiding all donuts, desserts, and halloween candy that has shown up at work. I'm eating mostly on plan with a couple of looser (but not overboard) nights each week. My running is going great.

*shrug* I guess it'll drop when it drops. I'll just keep doing what I'm doing.

*EDIT*

Keep doing what I'm doing except for one thing.

I admit it. My water consumption has dropped off. I'm going to make it a goal this week to drink 3 full bottles of water each day at work. And then work hard at keeping fluid consumption up this weekend...

W4D2

An easy (and sunny) 2 miles this morning. I slept in a little and left the apartment a little after 9 AM. It felt good to go out in daylight without fear of overheating.

One of my neighbors was outside working on his truck. We chatted for moment before I took off. He was a little concerned that I'd be too cold (it was in the 60s) in my sleeveless running top (bathing suit material) and biker shorts. I assured him that once I got moving, I'd be just fine.

W4D1

Got up at 6 AM this morning to run 3 miles, mostly in the dark. Lucy was thrilled to see that the armadillos were out again. The jr high marquee said 80°.

Also, new low on the scale. At 164.8, I've dipped my toe into the bottom half of the 160s.

W3D3 - New Program!

With my 10k race coming up quickly and the new training monitoring abilities available on my Forerunner, I've decided to switch to another program: Hal Higdon's 10K Novice, but only for the running distances. Following the cross training schedule there is a little bit more than I can handle. I just know I'd be setting myself up for failure.

I started with W3D3 and a 4 mile run this morning. I kept my pace nice and slow, averaging 14:11 minutes per mile (56:48 minutes running).

For purposes of "goal completion", I'm counting this run as One Hour Runner W9D3 (54 minutes minimum). When I manage a 60 minute run, I'll consider OHR completed.

My legs have been sore all day. I really hope I didn't overdo it.

Week 28 Weigh In

No change this week. I'm again at 165.8, 25.4 lbs overall loss.

Strollin' Along

I was supposed to run 49 minutes this morning, finishing off W8 of One Hour Runner.

Patricia woke me up with a 7:15 AM phone call to see if I was still planning to run at Meyer Park. I'd forgotten to set an alarm and probably would have just run locally if she hadn't prodded me.

We met at Meyer at 9AM. I was eager to try out my new Garmin Forerunner 305, but not really feeling like a long run this morning. We managed 2.5 miles at 12:22 minutes per mile average. I have to call it a "short" run.

W8D2

Kind of a weird jog this morning. I had a 9AM meeting downtown, so I got going right after 6 to give myself time to commute. It was still very dark outside. I could see stars twinkling brightly between the clouds.

Armadillos were out in force. I think I saw more live armadillos this morning than in my entire ~4 years in Texas. Lucy was impressed and intrigued.

I also managed to swallow a bug. This kicked off several minutes of alternating trying to spit it's remains out, retching, and wondering if an allergic reaction was about to start. (It didn't. I think my nose was just having trouble dealing with the amount of air passing through it after I closed my mouth.)

I think I only ended up running two 12-minute pace miles before I gave up and started walking.

YAY! My Forerunner 305 should arrive today!

W8D1

It was pouring yesterday morning, so my Monday jog had to be postponed.

This morning was muggy and ugly. Soooo hot! Got my 30 minutes in and dripped my way back home.

Week 27 Weigh in

Finally! At 165.8, I'm down 1.2 for the week, 25.4 total loss. It's so nice to be moving again after 2 weeks of maintaining.

Komen Houston Race for the Cure 5k

There I am, bib #6801, moving along in the biggest crowd I've ever run in! Over 4000 people ran in the competitive 5k and thousands more were there for the walk that followed. Downtown was SUCH a traffic jam!

At 37:59 (2671st place, 212th in my age group!), I improved my 5K PR time by about 2 1/2 minutes. Sadly, I didn't manage to run the entire race. There were a couple of underpass hills that just looking at sapped my will to run. I did manage to hit the 3 mile mark in 36 (and change) minutes, so I'm now averaging just over 12 minutes per mile.

Goings on

A few quick updates:

I'm running in the Houston Komen Race for the Cure 5k tomorrow. I'm really hoping to improve my 5k time. We'll see how it goes.

I just ordered a Garmin Forerunner 305 wrist-mount sports GPS with HRM. This should help immensely as I kick off training for my Thanksgiving day 10k race. I'm looking forward to finally being able to train for time AND distance.

And I'm down to 166.2 this morning, once again hitting 25 lbs lost. I closed out September down only 3.2 lbs, but I'm happy with my progress. I'm in fairly new territory here and feeling great about myself.

SIOA - Mini-widespread faucets

Got a clunky ugly centerset faucet in your bathroom? Update with a mini widespread!

More mini-widespreads

SIOA - Dansko Shoes

New Category - "Stuff I'm Obsessing About" - where I toss up a quick post about something that has caught my interest.

Dansko's cool new shoe offerings-
Brianna Pump


Solstice Clog


More from Dansko at Endless.com