HURTING

Mark took it easy on me this morning.  No walking even though I was frickin HURTING the entire run.  The humidity had to be 100%!!!  Thankfully we had 2 brief stops for traffic on both sides of I35.  We walked in the last 150yrds for a cool down.

killed

Easy 4+ miles this morning.  First run in 12 days.  Needed an easy shakeout run before I get killed tomorrow morning.

BIG

Scratch that last blog post.  While reading the fine print in the race doc for RR100 I see that their is no crew parking at Nature Center and Park Rd aid stations anymore.  That changes everything.  That single change reverts it back to how that race was years ago.  The runner sees his crew only at the main start/ finish area (every 20 miles) and that was total drag for this runner and family/crew/ wife.

I know that some runners are very self sufficient and have little or no crew or pacers but Misty is an integral part of any success I might have had all these years.  To put it plainly, there's no way I'd be able to finish RR100 only seeing Misty/crew every 20 miles.

So, in my quest to do something REALLY BIG I'm run the Rouge-Orleans event in Feb 2014.  It is a 126.2 mile run from Baton Rouge to New Orleans.  It is predominantly a relay but 26 people finished the solo in '13.  They give you 42hrs to finish and it all coincides with Mardi Gras.

married

Okay, here we go.  I'm going public, however public my blog is.  My announcement has everything to do with keeping up with the Jones's.  All my running pals have accomplished extraordinary feats of endurance that far overshadow my 2 finishes at the Rocky Raccoon 100 mile.

Well, I believe I have my opportunity to do something over the top and scratch that big itch.

The number of runners wanting to run the Rocky Raccoon 100 mile and 50 mile has gone through the roof the last few years so the RD has decided to have them on back to back weekends in 2014.  The 100 on Feb 1 and the 50 on Feb 8th.

While I was running this past Tuesday morning I had an epiphany.  A very twisted one at that.  Why not run both RR's?  After thinking about it for a few miles I thought, "I really think I could do it".   And I really do think I can do it.  I have to do it.  I have to do one really big thing, one thing with a big wow factor and I think this is it.  I'm already working for it now, 81/2 months out.

Mark and I argued like a married couple this morning on our 7 mile run.  I was wrong.  Our time was 1:16:52!!

ankle

Diana and I had a good 7.4 this morning at Lady Bird Lake.  We did what has become our new Thursday morning run, the Pleasant Valley to Lamar loop in 1:17.  We've been super consistent on our times for this loop doing it in 1:16 and 1:18 our last several times out.  I'm planning on 2-7 mile loops Saturday morning.

My ankle is much better but there is still some soreness when I sit cross legged on the floor at night so I'm still a little nervous about getting out on the trails even though I'm really starting to jones for some dirt and trees!!!!  I have been pretty diligent with strengthening exercises the last couple of weeks.

meandered

Changed up my Tuesday morning run this morning.  I started at Auditorium Shores, did the 1st street/ Lamar loop and returned to the public area and did dead hangs off the chin up bar and 30 jumping jacks.  Then I ran the Congress loop, came back and did the dead hangs and jumping jacks again.  I can't even remember what loop I did next but I just meandered between Congress and Lamar and did a total of 6.75 miles and 3 sets of dead hangs and jumping jacks.  I had a great time, changed the routine and got in some upper body stuff along the way!!

benchmark

Had a great 7.4 at LBL this morning in 1:16.  Mark, Shan and I did the 7.4 (Lamar- Pleasant Valley) loop in 1:18 3 weeks ago so now we are setting some benchmarks.

I'm really happy with my 86 miles in April.  We've had a whole lot going on the past few months with home renovation and out of town travel.  It's going to be that way for the next 6 weeks or so too so I have to stay focused and get the miles in when I can.