Happy Thanksgiving Everybody

At this time last year, I was doing GE's Run Through the Woods in the Woodlands, finishing my first ever timed/medal-receiving run. 

Since then I've completed four half-marathons and have a fifth in 3 weeks. 

It's been a busy year. 

Hope all is well with everybody out there.

Starting Already

So, do you really love the religious aspect of Christmas so much, or do you love hating every possible nuance that you can - however tenuously - attribute to an assault on Christmas/Christianity?  It's not even Thanksgiving yet and I'm already seeing posts related to the war.  While I wouldn't dare speak for Jesus, I have a hard time believing he'd spend a whole lot of time worrying about what people call a tree during a December holiday co-opted from a pagan religion as a marketing tool. 
In my opinion (not that you asked, but if you're not interested, then you can stop reading now), if you want to say Merry Christmas, say it.  If someone doesn't say it to you, that's not an assault on your faith.  At worst, it's an acknowledgment that not everybody in this country celebrates Christmas and it's presumptuous to assume that everybody does.  If you want to call it a Christmas Tree, then call it a Christmas Tree.  How does it harm you in even the slightest to have anybody else call it anything else? 

4 Halves does not equal 2 wholes

So, I did my fourth half marathon of the year last week.  I don't know why I keep doing this to myself, as I really don't like running.  That's not quite accurate, as I know why I do it - I might not like running, but I like not being as overweight as I had been. 

The Vancouver Rock and Roll half marathon was on a very nice day with a beautiful run through a really nice city.  I'd recommend it, though I'm disappointed in my time (leg cramps at km 15 slowed me a whole bunch). 

I notice I enjoy running the races more when I have someone running with me.  We aren't on the same pace, but sharing the experience with someone else makes the whole thing that much more enjoyable. 

The Donner and Blitzen 21k is next month - I think I'm going to sign up for it, because apparently I never learn.

It's Not You, it's Your Position

For the unclear - Kim Davis is not being punished for her religious beliefs. She's allowed to hold whatever beliefs she wants, whether it's in line with the law or not. The Office of the County Clerk of Rowan County is NOT allowed to act on those beliefs; its function is to perform the job tasked to it. If the person holding that position refuses to do his or her job, then the holder of the office is liable for any punishment that might come his or her way.

The County Clerk of Rowan County refused to follow a judicial order and the County Clerk of Rowan County is being held in contempt for refusing to follow the judicial order. Kim Davis and her supporters believe this is about her - the individual. They are wrong. This is about the position, which happens to be held by her.

If Kim Davis wants to get out of jail, then she can do one of two things. She can issue the marriage licenses the holder of the Office of the County Clerk is obliged to issue, or she can resign, and allow another person hold that office and be bound by the obligations attached thereto. She doesn't get to have both, and this is where she's stuck.

8 Mile(s)

Running the hills, even the small ones around our new house, is a different animal than the flat running I did back in Texas. 

I'm excited that I am back up to 8 mile runs after about 6 weeks of return to training, but that's still 5 miles short of a half marathon.  I'm going to try to kick my distance up another mile next week for my long run, but more importantly, I need to find a way to get a fourth run in during the week.  I don't know why I'm struggling with that, but I have a hunch it's because I'm no longer running in the morning before work.  The change in run time affects my motivation, as I'm less interested in getting out there after a long day at work.

Still, the views are nicer here than in my old neighborhood (I can see the Cascades and the Olympics from various points in my run), so that helps out a lot. 

Vancouver is coming up soon!  I'll try to get some pictures to share.

Running Along

As the one person who still reads this noticed, I completed two half marathons whilst still living in Texas.  Both were flat courses in that there were very few hills, which was helpful.  I finished Galveston in 2:02:14 and I finished the Woodlands in 1:58:50.

Then, upon relocation up to the PNW, I immediately took part in the Rock n' Roll Seattle Half Marathon, which was decidedly NOT a flat course.  I noticed the leg cramps were palpable.  I did finish the race, but it was SLOW.  I don't even know for sure what my finish time was, but it was somewhere around 2:41. 

After struggling with the Seattle half marathon, I did the only sensible thing, which was to sign up for another half marathon - this one being the Rock n' Roll Vancouver half marathon in October.  While not nearly as hilly as Seattle from what I've seen, it's definitely not flat like we had in Texas.  This means that I've had to get back to training (which I needed to do regardless, as I was falling out of shape). 

Running in this area is a bigger challenge than down in the Houston area, in part because there are not exactly any flat areas on which to run where we live.  This is not necessarily a bad thing, as training on hills uses a bit more energy and in theory should help me be more prepared for upcoming half marathons, but it does mean that my training has taken even more of a step back than it had by taking the better part of two months off (relocation, new job, new home, etc. meant less time for running, which in turn meant losing fitness).

Today I did my first eight mile run since moving up here.  I technically did 13.1 here, as I did complete the RNR Seattle half, but honestly, after 6.2 miles, I had to walk a lot (those hills were killer on my flatland-trained legs).  So, I'm getting back up there, and I'm confident I'll be good come October, and might even be able to challenge my PR, though, I'm mostly in it for the medals.

And, because this is what I do, I'm eyeballing a couple more half marathons, so that I can have 6 by the end of the year.

Time May Change Me

It's been several months now since I last posted.  Quite a bit has changed.  I have left Texas to return to the Pacific Northwest, near where I lived when I enlisted 20 years ago.  I've started work for a large corporation in the procurement department, and while I knew it was a different world than I'd been working in, I didn't necessarily appreciate just what a difference it was. 

I want to say I'm happy.  I really do.

Running along

I've not made many posts, recently, but I can say that, after my first half marathon, I chose, for some reason, to sign up for the Woodlands half marathon at the end of February. 

Actually, I do know the reason - my friend signed up, and I told him that if he were to sign up, then I would, as well. 

The weather was cold - 38 degrees at the outset.  Not my favorite temperature for starting.  It was a good run, though.  I found the 2 hour pace group and stuck right behind or even with them for the first 12 miles, even managing to chat with a few folks here and there. 

As we got back to where the corrals were placed, I heard one of the pacers state that we had about 6 minutes left to run, at which point, I started to increase my speed.  I can't say that I sprinted, as there's really no such thing as a sprint in my legs after 12 miles, but I definitely sped up.  I don't know how far ahead of the pace group I was, but I finished at 1:58:50, which was about 3.5 minutes faster than my time at the Galveston half marathon. 

I don't really do pictures, so you will have to take my word for it, but, rest assured, I felt good, if chilly, afterwards.

Half Run

And, after 4 months of training, I found myself at the starting line of the Galveston Half Marathon.

I'm still not very comfortable referring to myself as a "runner," but I did manage to run the full half marathon.  I did feel for the guys and gals who were running the full marathon, as they still had another lap around the course. 

13 miles is a long, long way to run.  I started off well, running between 8:30 and 9:00 for the first 6-7 miles.  Then I started to get tired.  I got slower and slower throughout the run, which is unfortunate, as I was about 2 and a quarter minutes shy of the pace I'd hoped to complete the half marathon.  I don't have the results available yet, but my app on my phone indicates that I finished somewhere around 2:02. 

The route was nice.  You turn the corner, go up a little bit near the Pleasure Pier (which just sounds like something from Pinocchio to me), turn right and you're on the seawall. Running on the seawall was gorgeous - you can't be any closer to the beach, and there's hardly anyone out in the water. you run along the seawall for a mile or so, then do a short turnaround and head back for a few miles before you go up a small incline and through some resorty-looking area, then back around and into Galveston city again.  The meanest thing the planners did was make the stretch after the last turn like 10 city blocks. These aren't normal city blocks, though - these are industrial strength, Texas sized city blocks, to match the Texas sized last mile, which by my estimation was about 7.3 standard miles. It's rather disheartening to run block after block without seeing the finish line get any closer. But, I did keep going. I'm happy to say that I did run the entire race, and then very quickly made it to the port-o-can, because I had to go from about the 0.4 mile mark.

I think, if they were to ask my input, the one thing I'd request, not that they care, or that it might even be feasible, is that they reverse the route, so that you're running along the seawall for the last portion of the race.  That 10 block run at the end would be much less daunting at the beginning, in my opinion.

Galveston was a nice location for a half (or full, I'm sure) marathon, but I'm not sure I'm going to sign up again next year.  We'll have to see how I'm feeling.  I was really wiped by the end of this.  Part of it might have been the temperature - I'd been training between 30-50 degrees, but the run day temperature was in the mid-60s, which was less pleasant than I'd hoped, oddly. 

I do feel better now, if a little tired.
 

Running For Some Reason

So, back in October, I decided that I needed to start exercising again, as I saw my weight starting to creep upwards again.  I didn't have time to go to the gym every day, as my work has me driving about a 200 mile round trip each day, so I had to come up with a different plan.

For convenience sake, I opted to go for a quick run in the mornings before I headed out. 

Long story short, after about 2 months, I decided to sign up for a half-marathon.  I will be running the Galveston Half Marathon in about 2.5 weeks, this after buying my first pair of actual running shoes shortly after Thanksgiving. 

I'll let y'all know how it turns out.