Late Run at the Park

Mary Sweeten, Amber Crowley and I ran 3 miles at the park at 6:30 this evening. While Mary has been running trails on a regular basis, it was Amber's first run with us in several months. She did well. Hans Jaeger, Chris Wilson, Josh Holden, John Cook and Amy Lanham were already running when we got there. This was Amy's first time running with the group. She attended the Seven Hills Running Club dinner meeting earlier this month and hopefully, she will join the club. The earlier group waited for Mary, Amber and I to finish and we all stayed around for a while to get re-hydrated.

Cool Monday Run

Enjoyed the cooler temperature today. Megan Crank and I ran 3.5 miles on the trails at the park this evening with Norman Langwell. He is just back from his weekend in Austin with the Governor. You read it here first; the Governor said that he wants to run Sunmart this year.
Megan and Norman got a little extra exercise. We met at the service road parking lot outside the park. They had to push my VW bug to get it started. We'll call it cross-training.

Despite the Nice Weather

I received some disturbing news about the illness of a relative this afternoon and just did not feel like running, despite the cool and dry weather. So, I went to the track and ran one mile+. I'll call it a rest day.

New City of Huntsville 5K

Megan Crank, the City of Huntsville Recreation Director and newest member of the Seven Hills Running Club, put on the first ever city-sponsored race this morning. The official name of the race was the City of Huntsville & Wiesner-Huntsville 5K. She had 42 runners on the hilly Huntsville 5K course. I put out the signs early this morning and worked the finish line. Drew Bean, 19, of Orange was the overall winner with a time of 15:29. This is a new course record. The old record of 16:08 was set by Ben Schulz in the 2005 Huntsville 5K. Five-time Huntsville 5K winner, Carlo Deason, of Houston also ran this morning and posted a time of 17:58. Megan did a great job with the race and, hopefully, she will continue with the race next year.
Katy was not at the race and I am sure she will blog why not.
After gathering up all the equipment and signs, Marilynn and my son, Ben, and I met True and Esther Cousins at the Rodeo Mexican Restaurant for a healthy Mexican breakfast.
I took a nap and then ran an unplanned route on the streets of Huntsville. It turned out to be 3.5 miles.

Back on the Trails with Katy

Katy is back from her trip to Mexico and we hit the trails this morning. It was not too hot, but it was very humid. We did 9 miles. My left knee was much better; it is back to its normal soreness and stiffness to match my right knee.
Tomorrow is the City of Huntsville's 5K run on campus. I picked up all the Seven Hills Running Club's signs and other equipment from our storage site and will get up early tomorrow and put it all in place. I'll then work the finish line for the race.

Finally Got Ben on the Trails

I have been running trails for about 13 years and for the first time, I got my son, Ben, out for a trail run today. He has run a lot of road races with me over the years, but never trails. Ben, Mariah and I did about 3.2 miles, while Hans, Chris, John and Curtis did 4.4. After the run, we had our usual post-run party.

Knee is Better

Went to the Astros game last night with Marilynn and my sons, Ben and Kenny and his friend, Jennie. We had a good time and the Astros won.

Ran trails again this evening with Mary and Mariah Reynolds. Mariah is new to trail running, but seems to really enjoy the experience. Mary was not feeling too well, so we only did 3 miles. My knee felt better, as I expected it would. Hans Jaeger, Christopher Wilson, John Cook and Josh Holden were also running. They did the outer loop. Another Seven Hills Running Club member, Darren Grant, was running trails on his own.

Sore Knee

My left knee was very sore this morning after falling on it two days in a row on the trails. I think it is structurally okay and will get better in a few days. Got in a mile run at the track this morning. Going to the Astros game tonight. Back to the trails tomorrow; just got to remember to fall on my right side.

Hot on the Trails

Ran 3.5 miles on the trails at the Huntsville State Park this evening with Mary Sweeten. It was hot and humid. I had fallen yesterday on my left knee. It was was painful when I started running today, but it eased up a bit. Darn, then I fell again today on the same knee. I never got around to icing it when I got home. Maybe an ice cold beer will have the same effect.

Sunday Trail Run

Went to church at 11 this morning and then had lunch at Chili's. Ran trails alone at the Huntsville State Park at 4. Did the 6.7-mile outer loop. With no one pushing me, I took it easy; it was hot and humid, anyway. Today was my 1,941st consecutive day of running. Is that a milestone? I was born in 1941.

Starting a Blog

I spend a lot of time on the computer, much of it brousing running web sites, reviewing the blogs of runner friends and communicating with other runners. Jon Walk and Katy Lampson have suggested that I begin a blog. Since I signed up to run the 2009 Texas Independence Relay (TIR) with the Battling Bloggers of the Texas Republic team, I feel obligated to at least try out blogging.
My running routine may be somewhat boring, in that I am a creature of habit. I run every day. A rest day means a shorter run. I tend to run the same races year after year, even though I try some new ones. I have only run one race outside the state of Texas. I spent 22 and a half years in the Army and 20 years with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. I have traveled all 50 states and lived in 9 of them. I also lived in Germany, France and Vietnam and made numerous overseas trips while in the Army and while working for the state. Except to visit the kids and relatives, traveling is not one of my priorities.
This morning, I drove over to College Station and ran the Cornerstone Cougar 5K. Had never run this race before. The weather was cool and the course was through a nice and fairly flat neighborhood. There were three in my 60-69 age group and I got 2nd with a time of 31:47. The 3rd place winner was an old friend, George Boykin. I visited with the race winner, Clint Sherrouse. Clint was the winner of the Huntsville Half Marathon in 2004 and 2005 and is a regular on the trails at the Huntsville State Park. There were probably less that 100 in the race and everyone won a door prize. Mine was a one-pound bag of Starbucks Coffee (suggested retail value $9.95, actual value 99 cents).