No Saturday race today

No race today, but am doing a 5K in College Station tomorrow morning.  I spent some time today re-measuring a 5K course on campus.  It will be used for a race in December.  Afterwards, I ran a 2-mile loop around the campus.  It is really getting warm again, after a week or so of cold weather.

Two days of laps

We had a running club business meeting and potluck dinner last night, so I ran laps at the track yesterday afternoon.  After the meeting last night, I left at 8 p.m. and drove up to Tyler, arriving about 10:30 p.m.  I spent most of today at the hospital in support of my niece, who was having serious surgery.  I drove back to Huntsville tonight and run laps at the track about 9:30 p.m.

2-Miles and 5K

I ran 2 miles on the roads at the park yesterday.  This evening, I met up with the Wednesday evening group and ran a 5K on the streets at 6 p.m. with a flashlight.  This cold weather feels great.  It is suppose to freeze again tonight.

Soldier Marathon

We spent Thursday night in Mobile, Alabama.  I got up early Friday morning and ran laps around the hotel parking lot before driving up to Columbus, Georgia for the Soldier Marathon on Saturday.  We had perfect weather for the marathon (50's and 60's).  There were 700+ running the full marathon and many more running the half and 5K.  I think about 2,500 total.  I finished in a slow 6:34:09, which placed me 4th of 5 in the 70 to 74 age group.  They changed the course somewhat from last year.  This year, it crossed the river and went into Alabama for a short distance.  My wife had lived on post at Fort Benning in the late 50's, so we spent some time finding her house and some other haunts.  We spent Saturday night in Phenix City, Alabama (across the river from Columbus) and then drove down to Hammond, Louisiana on Monday.  We stopped in Mobile and found the church where my parents were married in 1921.  It is still an active church, but in a bad part of downtown Mobile.  It is so bad and there is a chain link fence with locked gates surrounding the church.  Then, we detoured from I-10 and visited the Mississippi beaches near Biloxi.  I ran some highway from the hotel in Hammond yesterday evening and survived the traffic.  After driving back from Hammond today, I ran laps at the track and then worked out at Iron Works.

Mobile

After a long drive to Mobile, AL today, I arrived at the hotel just as it was getting dark.  The hotel is in the middle of a very busy area, so there is no access to a good place to run.  So, I ran loops around the outer perimeter of the hotel parking lot until I ran for 15-minutes +

Short road run

In keeping with my plan to rest up for this Saturday's marathon, I ran 1.5 miles on streets in Huntsville this evening.

Forgot to blog yesterday

Not that I had anything important to say yesterday, but I forgot to blog last night.  All those falls at the 25K trail run seem to catch up with me yesterday.  I felt very tired and my back was sore.  After working out at Iron Works, I ran laps at the track.
Then, I received an email from Paul, who lives in Tyler and is the race director for the Rocky Raccoon 25K.  He asked me to go to the park and remove the flagging on part of the course.  So, this morning, I went out and walked about 2 miles and removed the flagging and gel packages that the litter bug runners left on the trail.  Then, I ran back to my truck.  I did not see another person on the trails.

Sunday Night 5K

As I do every first Sunday of the month, I went down to The Woodlands to run the Sunday Night 5K.  I finished in 38:39.  Gosh, 38 something is getting to be my regular 5K time.  I need to do better.

Rocky Raccoon 25K

I got up at 4:30 this morning and went out to Huntsville State Park.  I started working traffic control at 5:30 and then ran the 25K (15.5 miles) at 8 a.m.  My intention was to finish the race and not screw up my sore ankle.  I managed to do that, but I tripped on roots several times and fell.  My ankle is not any worse tonight, but my body is sore from falling.  I finished in 4:34:30, a little off my 25K PR of 2:31:00, set in 1995.  This was my 13th consecutive year for running the Rocky Raccoon 50K or 25K.

Friday routine

Since I have a 25K tomorrow at Huntsville State Park, I ran 1 mile+ this afternoon on the roads.  This evening, I went out to the park, met up with Jacob and Jan and we drove to the back of the park to set up the aid station for the race tomorrow.  I have to be there at 5:30 in the morning to direct traffic and the 25K does not start until 8.

Ankle, again

My ankle was hurting again this evening, so I limited my run this evening to 2 miles on the park roads.  The 25K on the trails Saturday will be a test.  My goal will be to survive without making my ankle worse or otherwise injuring myself with 4 more marathons on the schedule.

New Wednesday evening group

Steve started a new training group for Wednesday evening runs.  Four of us showed up this evening; we started at the Baptist Church on Sycamore and ran the Huntsville 5K course.  It rained most of the day and rained during most of our run this evening.

Darned Ankle

The darned ankle I sprained 4 weeks ago is still hurting and I have a 25K trail run this Saturday and a marathon the next Saturday.  I ran 2 miles on the park roads this evening.  I wish it would freeze, so the mosquitoes would go away or whatever they do when it gets cold.

Back to Monday

As usual on Monday, I worked out at Iron Works and then ran the roads around town.  The route turned out to be 2.8 miles.  Today was our 46th anniversary, so my wife and I went out to dinner tonight.  I went to Vietnam a few weeks after we got married in 1967; it is hard to believe it has been that long since Vietnam.

Sunday at the park

After watching the disappointing Cowboy - Detroit game this afternoon, I went out to the park and ran 3.5 miles on the trails.  We had a heavy rain last night and it really cleaned off the trails.  My next race is a 25K at the park next Saturday.

Run the Woodlands 5K

There were a lot of race choices this morning, but I went down to The Woodlands and ran the Run the Woodlands 5K.  Because of road constructions, they have not held this race for a while.  Normally, it is on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of every month.  In any case, I got to visit with a few friends.  I finished the race in 38:17.  While down there, I visited some stores and had breakfast at IHOP before heading back to Huntsville.  This afternoon, I attended the Sam Houston - Northwestern State football game.

Can't believe how much faster my computer works

My computer is running so much faster.  Where can I go to get a new human browser to make me run faster?  Since I have a 5K in the morning, I went to the track this afternoon and ran laps.

At the computer shop

For months, I have been having computer problems.  It takes forever to do anything.  Even when I post on this blog, I cannot go back and edit the narrative.  I assumed that I needed memory and I had more memory added.  I took it in to the shop today and stayed with them while they worked on it.  It turned out that my Internet Explorer browser was messed up.  They switched me to Google Chrome and now the computer is super fast.  Now, I can even edit the narrative in this blog.  I cannot imagine how much time and frustration the slowness has cost me for months.
I met up with the group at the park this evening and ran 3 miles on the park roads.  The ankle felt a little better.

Unplanned route in the avenues

After working out at Iron Works, I went to the track and ran an unplanned route in the avenues.  Even ran down a couple streets I had never been on before.  The route turned out to be 3.3 miles.

Half roads, half trails

James and I were the only runners who showed up at the park this evening.  We started out running on the park roads and ended up running on the trails.  I had this fear of screwing up my ankle, with a marathon on the roads coming up in a week and a half.  I am not sure how far we ran, but it was probably about two and a half miles.  This cool weather feels great.