I'm Running in the Rain

Jodi finally got back home and we were able to resume our running...well, almost. We decided to meet at Terry Hershey Park for the first time.
As I was turning on Memorial (near my old house), I remembered getting drunk off Boones Strawberry wine with some friends at this very park. Only I don't remember it being such a big park. We were just getting drunk by the playground at night. Don't judge me, I was young. And sorry mom if you are reading this post.

I got there alittle early and decided to snap some pictures of our new running place when I noticed the sky getting darker and uglier.



Now, this happened before, but Jodi and I were blessed with just cool weather and no storm. Not this time around. As soon as Jodi got there, the winds picked up. I got a cool video of the tree barely surviving the wind
.

We did a quick stretch to try and beat the rain. I left my camera in the car, but Jodi brought her camera phone. I got some pretty shots of the little stream. This park is so cool.
We chose to go the opposite route we had originally planned, because the clouds were much darker down that way. By the time we got under the overpass, the rain started. We forged on like good little runners, but then quickly turned back to take refuge under the overpass. The winds were too much and blowing stuff in our eyes. At first I thought we were just a bunch of wussies since we were the only ones trying to survive Tropical Storm Terry-Hershey, but more and more people started to show up. This lady almost ate it, while trying to walk two dogs and only one shoe. This biker kept going, but quickly turned around.

After about 10-15 minutes of being huddled up for dear life under the pretty overpass bridge thing, the rain eased up or shall I say the wind eased up. So, we decided to start our run. We walked to this really pretty bridge area, which we walked, as well since you should always think about safety when running. It's not cool to run on a wet wooded bridge. We saw the run group that are there every Tuesday evening, but I guess they were either early or we just spent more time under the overpass than we thought. As soon as we made it past the bridges (yes, there were two), we started to run...finally. The rain was coming down, but not too hard (not yet at least).

There were inclines in our run and we got to see some duckies. Oh and this lady with very short running shorts wizzed past us only to give us a great view of her butt cheeks flabbing under the shorts. EWWWW. We decided to turn around and go back the way we came since the rain and wind were getting stronger. Jodi commented on how she loved to run in the rain. I was okay with it, but I had a white T-shirt on and a white sports bra. Plus, Umbros are not fun to wear when they are soaking wet. Another negative to running in the rain is that I felt like I was going to slip and fall at any minute. We took outside loops instead of just going straight back the way we came just to add more of a run. Again, our run stopped so that we could walk along the wet bridges. The rain was easing up, but I was pretty much done with this run.

We think we hit a mile, but not totally sure. At least some exercise is better than nothing. I did hike up my shorts like that lady just to show what Umbros do when went. They stick to your legs. We said our goodbyes and got in my car to go home...all soaking wet. Jodi said that the rain was pretty much gone after I left and she did more running. Like I said, I was done. I did get this picture as I was leaving of a really cool rainbow in the distance.
Tonight, will be better even though I am on slightly no sleep due to excessive goodby partying last night.

Weekend Exercising

Well, Jodi left and I pretty much deterioted into a no exercising coma all week. I just didn't really feel like it at all. But on Thursday, Mal hit me with the question, "Do you want to run tomorrow morning?" I just couldn't say no. With much arguing about when, we decided to meet at 7:30 a.m. at the dropzone. Unfortunately, that meant I had to get up super early to get everything ready for the weekend. After all my errands and everything, I made it out there by 7:40 a.m.

We both did some stretching and then got on our way close to 8 a.m. We were worried that it was going to be hot, but it wasn't. It was the same 2.2 mile run that I did with her the previous week; however, we added a loop around the neighborhood. This put the run at 3 miles. We started off with a warmup walk and then got to running. We actually made it to the second stop sign, which I have never done before. When we hit the straightaway, I remarked about how Waller can be so beautiful with the early morning dew, noises, and sun over the landscape. It makes for a pretty run. Most of it was run/walk and especially when we hit the turn back into the neighborhood, that was all walk. Well, almost. At one point (nice shaded area), I said, "Let's run to that house about a quarter of a mile." Mal agreed, which meant that we ran a full 2 miles. High-Five for us.

And kudos for us, because both Mal and I got up again to run on Saturday morning. However, I was super sore. I worked my leg muscles so much during my jumps on Friday with Simon (to get ready for the record) and our long run the previous morning made for a difficult time. Immediately, I was hurting in my stomach. At first I thought it was side cramps, but it was not. Apparently, my abs got a work out on Friday. I was actually wishing for side cramps, because at least I can breathe those away...sometimes. Consequently, we only did the 2.2 mile run and it was quite alot of walking. I was still proud that I got up to run two days in a row. That never happens.

I did lots of leg drills on Friday through Sunday to get me prepared for the record. I'm still on probation. I will find out on Friday evening if I get on it or not. Wish me luck!

Houston Dynamo Go For Goal 5K Run

Houston Dynamo is putting on a 5K run in celebration of the World Cup.

The Houston Dynamo will host the 2010 AT&T MLS All-Star Game at Reliant on Wednesday, July 28, 2010. It will feature the MLS All-Stars vs. Manchester United. In conjunction with the game, the Dynamo will host All-Star Week, which includes a series of events to commemorate the big match.
All-Star Week will kick off Saturday, July 24, 2010 with the Dynamo Charities “Go for Goal 5K Run” and “Dynamo Diesel Kids Fun Run.” The race starts/finishes at Hermann Square in front of the City Hall(Walker & Smith)

Participants will receive an official race T-Shirt and two tickets to the Dynamo game versus the New York Red Bulls on July 31.
The 5K Run is competitive while the 5K Walk & Fun Run is non-competitive and all kids will receive medals. There will be a post-race festival and awards ceremony immediately after the race with food, drink, and live entertainment.
Proceeds will go to Recipe for Success.

It sounds interesting. Plus, you get free tickets to the next game, Dynamo vs. New York Red Bulls. Who can beat that? I can say that I love doing this, because it's for a good cause and it gets me healthy, but I love free stuff.

Heat Waves Boogie at Skydive Houston

At least I ran on Friday morning. I didn't get much running this weekend. We were supposed to all run on Sunday morning at 7 a.m., but that didn't happen. I was up, but not in a running mood per say. I was more in a "Oh my, I have to make this hangover go away" mood.

However, even though I didn't run, I skydived all weekend long. This was the second head down big way skills camp; the last one before the Vertical Texas State Record in a week. I am waiting to see if I get invited. I still have to work on things, but I will be working for sure.

Like my previous post on Head Down skills camp, I worked my muscles and mind. This is why I consider this to be a cross training for my running. My arms and legs and butt are sore as if I did some kind of kickboxing class from Instructor Death. My neck and shoulder is also sore, but that's because I was on a zoo crash jump where someone crashed into me and I then riccocheted into someone else. Oy ve!

I'm not sure about my week in running. Jodi is gone to Los Angeles and we are going to try to run through blue tooths. Yeah, don't ask me. I'm not tonight though, because I am so very tired.

Early Morning Dropzone Run

Since this week was all messed up, I felt I had to run on Friday to make up for the lack of exercising. However, I came to the dropzone last night and knew that I had a good chance of demotivating myself not to run before the big boogie, which starts today. I decided to enlist my friend MaloRee (yes, that's how you spell her name) to run with me. She is home now for good from college and her trips. We have discussed her joining us on our runs or at least just exercising with me for some time. Today was the day, so I told her to be here at 7 a.m. for our run.

At 6:35 a.m., I sent her a text to find out if she was actually going to come since I wasn't going to wake up if she wasn't here. Don't judge me with your judged eyes. She texted me back to say that she was already here. We did some hardcore stretching since I needed it bad and headed out the door. Our run was the same 2.2 mile run that Amy and I did a couple of weeks ago.

This was by far the earliest that I have ever run and it was nice. It's still muggy outside, but it's not dying on the road hot like the afternoon runs that I am used to doing. If anything, this will make me a better runner in the fall. The colder air runs will be a piece of cake with icing on it.

At the stop sign, we started the run. We basically ran/walked the whole thing. Lots of quick stops, which is okay. We even had a sprint in there, as well. I got side cramps really bad again, which only means that I'm in full swing visit mode with Aunt Flow. I don't normally get them this bad.

Thank you to Mal for joining me and my new shorts you bought me. We are going to pick it up for next time. I need to toughen you up for Africa.

The 5 O'Clock Hour Run

There's a reason why no one is running during the middle of a Texas summer between the hours of 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. (okay, really anytime between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.). And the magic reason is that it's UNBELIEVABLY HOT. I'm not talking just hot, I'm talking Africa Hot, scraping my skin off the sidewalk with a spatula hot. So, I deemed myself a moron and continued on without dying somehow.

Now, let me rewind to why I was running at this time and by myself, if you haven't guessed. My uncle came into town last week, but called me last night (yeah, I yelled at him, too) to go out for drinks with the family and to what I found out later to celebrate my cousin's birthday and graduation (yeah, I yelled at them, too). Consequently, I had to cancel on Jodi last night. In fact, the whole training schedule I put up on Tuesday has been thrown out the window. I'm probably going to have to cancel this evening, too. We will use that for next week.

So, I got home about 5:30 p.m. and decided to squeeze in a quick run before I head out for dinner. Quick run?! Ha! I laugh at that oxymoron. I planned to just to do that 1.4 mile run by my house since I knew it well and that I can get it done. I didn't count on the heat, the blazing sun, seeing mirages on the desert type heat.

I did a quick leg stretch, got my ipod all ready, and started my warmup walk around the back area of my house before my starting point. Since I had heard alot of ACDC these last couple of weeks, I decided to try something different. I put on Fast and the Furious Tokyo Drift Soundtrack. I remembered how this soundtrack really helped me, while I worked out to get away from the stress at my IBM job (when I worked like 50-60 hours a week). And yes, I love Tokyo Drift, but I hated the other Fast and the Furious movies with the very bad acting (especially the second one). Tokyo Drift had a cooler plot and it was all about drifting...in parking lots. Moving on...

I started my walk and as the music moved, so did my hips and some dips. This soundtrack always makes me move my hips ala Shakira style. So, I got alittle more exercise. However, I immediately got a side cramp. Stupid heat, stupid hip moving, stupid whatever excuse I can come up with to use. When I got to the sidewalk and passed the little construction zone, I started my run. I was on a roll. I felt faster, I was moving to the music. I was trying hard to ignore that stupid side cramp and eventually, it worked. What I didn't realize was that the starting point was pretty much in the shade. When I rounded the corner halfway to the turnaround, the sun hit me and hit me hard like five shots of Jagermeister. All of sudden, my pace slowed and all I wanted to do was just stop, drop, and roll into a fetal position asking, "Why God have you forsaken me?". But I persevered. I focused on just making it to the turnaround point and the music, but I couldn't help but notice that I was the only moron out there doing anything. Even the kids weren't out.

Most of the run was all in the sun; I was so happy to hit a patch of trees with shade even if I passed through it like a small Texas town. But as luck would have it, the clouds covered the sun and gave me some relief. I felt my pace speed up just alittle bit. So, I kept running and running I did. I managed to make it farther than I ever have. The sun was coming back out from under the cloud and all I kept thinking to keep me motivated, "make it to there so I can get some shade." I made it to the stopsign and kept going. When I hit a big patch of shade, I stopped. I had to walk and I walked (shaking my hips some more) until I hit the next stopsign. I started to run again, but didn't last long. All the beginning part of the run was now sunny, but still had more shade than what I just went through. I was done and coudln't run anymore. I walked the rest of the way home for a nice cooldown.

Even though, it wasn't my best run since I think I did that in about 20 minutes, I still did it on my own and ran the farthest that I have ever ran for that little neighborhood run.

Tonight, I will either run that run again with Jodi or by myself or not at all. I have so much to do for the Heat Waves Boogie this weekend at Skydive Houston. Be there or be lame!

Galveston Sand Crabs 5K and 10K

There is a possibility that we may end up doing the Houston Half Marathon in October, because of the lottery system implemented for the Chevron Houston Marathon in January (meaning, we may not go). So, Jodi and I are scouting for 10Ks around Texas to get me prepared. We both really enjoyed the Galveston Sand Crabs 5K and 10K Run since it's at night and they will have a beach party thing afterwards. Amy said she would like to go, as well and we can just make it a girl's night. We run, we party, and we go to our hotel. Sounds like fun to me. Who's with me?

Mom, you up for practicing your night photography?

My First Official 5K!

Saturday morning, June 12, 2010, was the morning of my first official 5K (Woodland's 5K series ). I was super excited about it and even got some butterflies in my stomach like when I played in my first basketball game or my first skydiving competition. I had run three miles before, but this was different. We were going to be timed and I was running with lots of other people besides Jodi, Jules, or Amy.

I stayed with Jodi on Friday night since the run was by her house. The thought was that we could sleep in a little more and get to the race early. As a surprise since she said she couldn't make it, my mother, Kandace Heimer came out to take pictures (a great photographer, website). That was an awesome show of support on her side, but that's how she rolls. She has always been to my big sporting events whether it was a basketball game or my first big National Skydiving competition last October (doubt she will come to Chicago this year). I told her that she will need to come to my half marathon. And I'm glad my mother did come, because Jodi's boyfriend, Lucky was supposed to be there to take pictures and get us Gatorade. He didn't get there in time so they wouldn't let him park in the school since we were running and all within the school area.

Our plan was to get there 30 minutes early to stretch and warm-up; however, that plan didn't go quite so well. My mother was calling me to yell that they were starting and that we would miss it. But we finally got there with five minutes to spare, which gave us barely any time to stretch. There was no warm-up walk. Since Jodi and I practiced the two laps around the school as the warm-up, I assumed we would do the same. Yeah, not so much. When they started, they started...running. Holy Snikes Batman, I was not ready. My mother is yelling at me, "Go kristi, what did you think this was?"

Most of the runners there were actual runners that do this quite a lot. Us (me)...not so much. We kept a nice, easy pace throughout. We rounded the two laps (my mother was there throughout the run taking pictures like a ninja with
that camera) and headed out. Another slight difference was that we practiced going to the right after we got out of the school parking lot; the run was actually to the left. Everything felt so off. Our pace stayed pretty good though and we only stopped for a quick walk twice. One time, I had to stop, because I was cramping really bad in my side. I couldn't shake it. The second time we stopped, we went up this steep incline (yes, it was) to a bridge and I thought my legs were going to collapse. Jodi pushed me on saying, "just make it to the bottom of the bridge." And I did, but I had to stop for a quick walk. Both walking points were only 10 seconds. After the second walk stop, Jodi told me that we were going to run the rest of the way back. Wait, What? That is a long way back. She is such an evil fairy. Sometime throughout the run, I started getting hot and had to take off my shirt.

When, we got to the end of the run, Jodi pushed me to run harder for the last little sprint to the finish line. She came in 40th place and I came in 41rst place. It wasn't last place, so I'll take it. They put our place number on these little popsicle sticks, but I was really wanting my finish time. I wasn't sure what our total time was, because we never kept time before. I at least know it was under 40 minutes since the race was completed with all runners within 45 minutes. They were supposed to post the results, but I haven't found them yet online. We also did a great deal of stretching at the end to make up for the lack of stretching in the beginning. And I needed it. I didn't realize how sore I was until I got back to the dropzone and was piddling around for an hour. I should have jumped.

I'm so happy that I was able to accomplish this and it was the longest run that I have ever done. It was also the most running that I have ever done. I am getting stronger every session; however, I still hate running though.

Thanks to Jodi for being the evil fairy that she is with the whole training pushiness; it really keeps me going. Thanks to my mother, the awesomist, award winning photographer for showing up and providing all the pictures on this post (and hopefully many more to come).

June 10, 2010

The euphoria from our great Memorial Park run was over. Last week, there was no traffic, I found a spot quickly to park, and it wasn't packed. Let's see, there was an accident on the exit right after the exit for Memorial Park. Now, it wasn't a parking lot on the Katy Freeway, but it was stop and go, stop and go. However, the exit was a parking lot. I even had time to stop and text, because we weren't even moving. When I finally got up to the front (which is a yield), the car in front of me started going without looking. I almost witnessed an accident. I made it to the parking area and there was nothing. One car parallel parked so bad that they made it impossible for two cars to be parked in front or behind their car. Maybe that was the point, but it sucked nonetheless. I saw two open spots, but obviously the cars didn't learn about how to properly park their car. The cars on each side of the space were crossing the lines, which made it difficult for my little car to actually fit. By the time I got to the third empty space with the same scenario, I went for it anyways. I just parked my car alittle out of the lane so that it would fit. I guess the fact that we were on the brink of a massive storm scared people away last week, because the park was packed last night.

I got there early, but Jodi said she was going to head out early, as well, because traffic was so bad. So, I turned my ipod on to Monster Ballads and stretched and worked out. I was also people watching. A thought occurred to me, "Do these people just come here to be seen or are they really here to work out?" My little workouts included chair dips (for the arms), crunches, side crunches, some leg thing that I saw this muscle guy do, and planks. I noticed this guy with a weird body as if he had been in the sun too long and he worked out so much that his body didn't accept it. He just sat there on the corner doing workouts. Oh and I saw this other man with a petticoat of hair on his back. Gross.

Finally, Jodi showed up. I didn't yell at her about stretching, because I had a birthday thing to go to last night. We did a warm up walk and started running. I don't know if it's the fact that it was 102 with a heat index of 105 or that I'm about to get my monthly visit from Aunt Flow, but I could barely run the mile. I made it to the mile marker and had to stop for water. I kept going afterwards, but I constantly had to stop. As a result, it was a longer run than last week. I stopped alot to walk. But Jodi did notice that my run pace has picked up. Kudos to me. Somewhere around the two mile marker, I took off my top and so did Jodi. We had our sports bras on; so didn't get all excited. I normally don't do that, but it was just too hot.

We made it back to end and did a short cool down walk. I went to my car to grab my clothes, we did a quick stretch (weird body guy was still there doing the same workout), and I headed to the bathroom to change. Putting on your hot work clothes after a sweaty run...well, is just sweaty. Next time, I will be more prepared with better, cooler clothes.

Jodi and I aren't running today, because we are resting for our big 5K tomorrow. Yes, it's my first official 5K at the Woodlands. I'm super excited. I hope my mom can come out to take pictures. I may try to do a yoga thing or skydive today to at least get some simple exercise.

Wish me good luck tomorrow.

Thanks to Jodi

I titled this post, "Thanks to Jodi," even though she sucks for dissing me last night for our run in which I was forced to run alone. I was at Target when she called to tell me that she will be working late, but if she gets out in time, she will meet me by my house for our run. However, I knew that I couldn't wait for her, because I will get lazy and not want to run if I sat on the couch for a couple of minutes. Since I had changed earlier into my workout clothes before I went to Target, all I had to do was put on my tennis shoes, hook up my new ipod/ipod holder, stretch, and head out the door.

Now, I haven't done this run in a LONG time. It's a nice little 1.4 mile run and one that I used to huff and puff all the way to completion. I couldn't even run a mile. Last night, was something else and a big accomplishment. I walked away from and around my house in an opposite direction than my normal start point just so I could add a little extra warm-up walk. I put on my compiliation of ACDC and pushed PLAY to start the run.

By the way, nothing gets you more in the mood to do anything, especially exercising than listening to ACDC's Who Made Who. It's such a song to get you pumped up.

When I got to the sidewalk (mind you, this is still before my starting point), I started to run. I had to stop two times for a quick second to fix the volume on the ipod (going upwind resulted in hearing the wind more distinctively over the music) and to let a car go. But I ran all the way until I hit the turnaround point and then some. Usually by this point, I would have already stopped maybe four times for walking time. Not this time and something that kept me motivated to keep on going. I at least ran a mile before I stopped for a quick walk and then I picked it right back up again. Everytime I hit my short goal point (where I thought I should start walking), I blew through it. I even ran through my end point where I finally stopped when the sidewalk changed pavement for a long cool down walk. I'm pretty sure my run total was 2 miles, but don't quote me on that at all.

So, all in all, I was pretty proud of myself that I could do that when I couldn't do it before. I struggled quite a bit in the beginning before I ever started training with Jodi. I would have easily stopped to walk anytime I felt just alittle bit uncomfortable. But in my defense, I was still battling the foot thing and sometimes I stopped, because the foot was hurting. Also, a reason why I bought running shoes instead of using my Vans. Jodi has made me a better runner and I thank her for the help. But I hate running alone and she better not cancel on me tonight!

I'm not sure where we are running, but I'm going to suggest Memorial Park since we are going to the naughty place with dollar bills for a friend's birthday that's close by there.

On a side, bottom, whatever note, I can see that I have lost weight. I'm actually wearing an outfit that I have not been able to wear since before my foot surgery. My pants still are alittle tight in the tummy area (still working on it), but it's not giving me the massive cameltoe that it did these last couple of months. The corsett (not really) looking shirt now can be buttoned up. I actually gave up on this outfit in Feburary. And I'm okay with wearing this to the strip club tonight, because damn, I am proud!

Big Announcement on Houston Chevron Marathon Registration Changes

I am copying this directly from the email that was sent to me and the pdf on the homepage of the Houston Marathon. This is the race that I plan to do in January, but things might change from here until then. For instance, I may not get in to the race at all. I shortened it a bit, but you can click here for the full press release.

Houston Marathon Committee Implements Lottery System for Marathon, Half Marathon Race Registration. New approach gives runners equal opportunity to register for popular events HOUSTON (Jun. 7, 2010) – In order to provide runners an equal opportunity to participate in the annual Chevron Houston Marathon and Aramco Houston Half Marathon, the Houston Marathon Committee is adopting a lottery system for the 2011 races.

Utilizing open registration, the 2010 marathon and half marathon sold out in less than 60 hours. Switching to a lottery selection process gives all runners the same opportunity to register and be selected to run in the races. The lottery eliminates challenges caused by high-traffic volume to the event website, which resulted in individuals missing registration before the races reached their field limits.

To enter the lottery for the 2011 Chevron Houston Marathon or Aramco Houston Half Marathon, runners must register on the event website (houstonmarathon.com) during a 17-day period starting at 6:00 a.m. CST on Tuesday, July 27 and extending to 11:59 p.m. CST on Thursday, August 12. The Houston Marathon Committee will announce participants for each race on Tuesday, August 17. The combined participant cap for the races will remain at 22,000 with 11,000 reserved for each of the marathon and half marathon fields.

A Relay Run with a Big Group

So, I was on Runner's World looking up random running events when I came across the Ragner Relay. I thought to myself, "Self, this is pretty cool and what a way to see the scenery." What I also like is that it's over a couple of days and can run in the night; some of the courses go through multiple states. So, I sent it to Jodi to see what she thought and I didn't have to twist her arm to take this journey with me. I just have to get 10 more people and a car/truck/van all decorated. Naturally, it would be a Skydive Houston team and skydiving theme automobile. I really love the New York one and we both collectively love the Connecticut/Boston one. I could go see a Red Sox game when I am done.

Hot Undies Run in Houston

So, Jodi found this interesting two mile run on Saturday, August 21, 2010 p.m. I think it sounds like so much fun.

Hot Undies Run in Houston
Beat the Houston heat! Run 2 miles in your undies! Jog through misting stations. Follow up with a great cool down party, DJ music, and raffles. Hosted by Brian O'Neill's Traditional Irish Pub and BON Running Club, located in Rice Village, near Rice University, University of Houston, medical campuses, and downtown Houston. This is a charity event for the benefit of the Children's Tumor Foundation. Participants of this event will help make a difference in the lives of children and adults affected by the Neurofibromatosis disorders. Join us for this worthy cause!

Who's with me?

Yoga Fusion, 5ks, and Skydiving Bliss

Since I was late getting my last post about my activities for Friday uploaded, I'm going to just combine them all into one. You as a reader will probably like that better anyways.

Yoga Fusion
Jodi and I weren't scheduled to run until the evening, so I thought I would pop in some yoga video workouts (free from OnDemand) before everyone woke up at my house. Also, I wanted to use my new yoga mat that I got for my birthday. Thanks Mal.

As I was scrolling through the menu, I saw Yoga Fusion and thought, why not?! I understand the why not. I guess I was looking for a yoga that was all about the stretching and this one was far from calming music and light voices. Yoga Fusion was hard. I was working muscles and everything, totally sweating, begging for her to move on to the next pose. About 15 minutes in to it, my breast were hanging out of my tank top as I'm in the downward dog running man thing, when my brother-in-law came out of the bedroom. Then, my husband with all dogs came barreling out of the our room a minute later. Yoga Fusion was over. I'm not sure if I will do that again.

Woodlands Trial Run
I met up with Jodi that evening after 7 to practice the 5K run that we are doing next Saturday. We did some stretching, mainly my calves since they were still sore after the Tempo Training the previous day. We started with a warm-up walk twice around the school and then begin running to the right as they will do next Saturday. The run is a large loop around back to the school and is a different type of run for me since it was on a sidewalk and it's woodsy (that's why they call it The Woodlands).

I can tell that my endurance is picking up and it makes me feel good. We did the 5 1s, but we didn't have a stopwatch to accurately do it. We just kind of went on what we thought was five minutes and one minute. I could have done more, but I wanted to get used to this since that's how we will be training from here on out for the half marathon. When we got to the road to take us back to the school, there was no street sign to let us know that this was in fact the correct road. Jodi walked over to the street sign on the opposite side of the road to see and sure enough, this was the road to take. I did walk with her since it's just more exercise for me. It was a quick run/walk back to the school. We did some stretching and talked about our high school flashbacks. Nice.

Skydiving Bliss
I'm back baby and it feels good. I really needed that Head Down Skills Camp in more ways than one. It really brought me back up with freeflying confidence and just jumping all day long. Saturday, The Outlaws had training scheduled and boy did we train. It's been awhile. Because of my foot, I have been so conservative with flying my canopy that any type of funkiness was met with me sitting out the day. Our training has also been canceled due to bad weather. At most, we had done six jumps. Not anymore. Yesterday, we did 10 and it was awesome.

We started out by working on the front part of our routine (eagles) for the first part and then practice docking on a formation and tracking away for the second part. I learned at the camp that I was no good at tracking away from a formation; therefore, I used the bottom half of the training jumps to really work on it since this will save my life and others. The second jump was all about the tracking to get the feel. I thought I got the feel, but it turns out that I didn't. It took about five jumps to really get it. Shannon had told me to turn, look for the camera guy, and then look at my toes. I wished someone had said that sooner, because I turned and burned. By doing that, I was in the track hauling and when I went to my back, I looked back to see that Shannon and Jon were far from me. YES! After that, I never had a problem again. I can't wait for skills camp in two weeks.

We also brought in different moves since we are trying to clean up our routine and add more of a degree of difficulty. We added the 69 rotation and the flip down to totem. It was cool. We spent the day working on the pieces of the routine and then brought them all together for the ninth jump. Unfortunately, I had a major brain fart on my part and we spent the jump laughing and just doing whatever. I think we did a sit carve, which is not anything like what we are supposed to do.

On jump 10, we decided to do something different. We combined with other fun jumpers do a hybrid. It was the best hybrid that I have ever been a part of in five years. And for some, it was their first time. BEER! We had four belly people, four hangers, two stingers, and one video guy. The hybrid worked so beautifully that I actually didn't know what to do with all that time. What a great way to end a great day. Pictures to come soon.

Sunday
I'm not sure what I will be doing today as far as jumping. I don't have training. However, I will be jumping and running around. I may even hit the pool again. So, it's all exercise. And I didn't run today. Amy was going out of town and Jodi is playing Volleyball. I guess I could have ran myself, but not so much. Since I didn't run, I will probably ask Jodi to run on a Monday. Oh, I hate running on Mondays.

Tempo Training in the Stormy Clouds

So, Jodi sent me this link and tells me that we will be doing this thing they called Tempo Training. It's to help build up your speed by basically running hard for three minutes and light jogging for one minute. Sounds easy enough, WRONG! I will say that Jodi wasn't as evil as she could have been. I mean, she could have forced me to keep on going just like the training said, but then, I may have died. I certainly couldn't breathe.

I got there alittle early and she got there alittle late. All day, it's been a monsoon around the Houston area, but my little area had scary clouds and little bark. As I'm waiting for her, I see the clouds getting darker and scarier, but luckily, it only cooled the weather and didn't storm down on us like the next Noah flood.

Once Jodi got there, we did some light stretching. Note to self, if you are doing tempo training for the first time, stretch out your calves like alot. Not just alittle, but alot. My calves hurt now even though I stretched them out really well after our workout. So, we start the hard run for three minutes, which is the fastest that I have ever run for a long period of time. The three minutes couldn't come fast enough. In fact, it felt like 10 minutes. I'm huffing and puffing trying to calm my breathing down just a wee bit. We get to the light jog for a minute, finally. Then, we start the run. I swear that three minutes felt like an hour. I somehow made it, but this time, I had to walk for 90 seconds. I just couldn't anymore. I could barely continue you on and we weren't halfway done. We went over the 90 seconds, but then we picked up the hard run again. It didn't last long, because I just couldn't. However, instead of following the plan, Jodi tailored it the more out of shape person plan. Instead of doing three minutes for each hard run, we did less time, but more runs. We did about four more of those and I thought I was going to not make it. Overall, it was a total of one and half miles.

Stretch! Stretch! Stretch!

Jodi and I have put this Tempo Training in our plan and will probably do this every Thursday. Oh happy happy joy joy! If you can guess that reference, you get a cookie.

Tonight, we are going to run the Woodlands 5k run for practice so that I can see what that's like before my official first 5K next Saturday.

The Dingle Marathon

Earlier today, Jodi found the Dingle Maraton. Don't let the name full you; this could be a hard one. It's set in Dingle Ireland and even has the Ultra Marathon, which is 50 miles. Whew! I hurt just saying that. Jodi and I (and Ashley) were all interested in going to the Dublin Marathon. Main points of highlight for the Dublin one is that they serve freaking Guinness at the end of the run. Okay, this is what I read when this statement hit my eyes "More than half of the participants are usually overseas runners combining the run with pint consuming and exploring of the Irish capital." I'm not sure if the Dingle Marathon (it just sounds so funny to say) has Guinness at the end or maybe even during, but man, the scenery is breathtaking. We might hit both, but doing either the half or full marathon. I don't think my legs could handle the whopping 50 miler at the Dingle one.

Memorial Park Run on National Running Day

Last night was pretty cool. I hit 3 miles, met a great group of people, got a learning lesson on training for marathons/half marathons, and had a change of the running scenery. It felt good and I needed it. I was feeling a little verklempt (yeah, I'm bringing it back) and was hoping to have my endorphins pulsating through me enough to explode a pick-me-up kind of happy mood. And that it did.

Both Jodi and I got there 30 minutes early, because traffic was not really all that crazy. Luke's Locker (the ones that put on the Woodlands 5K series), USAFIT Houston, and KOALA Health & Wellness Center had tents with gallons of Gatorade and water for the runners at the 3 Mile Marker and passing out stickers for National Running Day. These stickers also gave us 10% off our next purchase at Luke's Locker . Jodi and I went over to this area (I'm not sure what to call it, but it looks like a playground for adults to stretch and workout) so that we could stretch while we waited for the big group run to begin at 6 p.m. We also took in the scenery and it was a mighty fine scenery. I mean we ogled at the soccer players at Bear Creek Park, but the guys here are really good looking and so in shape. Anyhoo, I digress.

Our before picture


We walked back over to the area and then they placed us in to groups of how long you can run a mile. Of course, we were in the back, in the walker's group, because we (really me) were really running at 10-11 minutes. Yeah, I'm still a slow runner, don't judge me. We started our run and basically left the walkers. They were just walking way too much. The run was totally different than what I have been exposed to at Bear Creek Park. First of all, there is quite a few people all running fast, the run is like a rocky trail (supposed to be better on your knees than the asphalt), and it's uneven. I felt like I was going to slip in fall, but I never did. It was an adjustment to get used to and probably won't for another couple of runs. When it was about probably the 1 Mile Marker (didn't really notice the mile marker plaques on the ground until the 1 1/2 Mile Marker), I felt like I was losing steam. Jodi was talking about my legs burning and that wasn't the problem, it was my breath. I just couldn't catch it. So, we eased up on the running and then stopped for some water. What's nice about this park is that there is water fountains and even some portapotties all around the run. We said, "Hello," to a couple of people from the USAFIT Houston group. Obviously, I was looking like death, because they kept mentioning to me that the Walking Group was back there.

Anyway, one of the guys (and a Coach) caught up to us and started talking about everything. He asked how we trained, blah blah blah. We basically stayed with him for the rest of the run. And I'm pretty sure I know him from somewhere else. He does the 5 1s, which means that you run for five minutes, fast walk for 1 minute. He talked about his first marathon and how he was trying to run through it all, but the 5 1s caught up to him and ultimately beat him to the finish line. So, now he does this for all marathons. He said that sometimes, he does 2 1s instead. He was heading to a marathon on Sunday in Wyoming and just got back from one somewhere. He does alot of marathons throughout the year. Sheesh, I am just trying to train for a half. He also had a watch, which beeped at him whenever it was time to walk or to run and he always had me get water when we hit a walking point. It was good and made me realize that I need to get a stopwatch of some sort like that to keep up with it.

When we finally reached the 3 Mile Marker (in a run), it was done. I made it a point to make it to the plaque so that there was no confusion on how many miles I did. I was tired, but felt great that I just did 3 miles. Jodi gave me a high-five and told me that I just did a 5K. WEEEEEE!

Now, it wasn't all running, but this worked out so much better. We sat around and talked with the group and drank some Gatorade. Apparently, they train the 5 1s, because ultimately it increases your speed and it doesn't get you tired at the end of the marathon when you are about to collapse and maybe not finish at all. It's something that Jodi and I will start to use in our training. I will probably join them or the USAFIT for the Cypress area since it's close to my home and the dropzone. What's great is that I can go in to any of the groups across the nation as long as I belong to one. I just haven't decided yet to join at all, because it cost money (only $120 for new members). However, it would be good for us both since they teach correct training tips. I think that Jodi is joining the one for the Woodlands area. If you want to find a USAFIT running group in your area, then click this site.

We said our goodbyes to the new nice people that we met. Although, they could only be nice to us to get us suckered in to their cult. NAAAHHH! When Jodi and I got to the car, we took a picture of us how we look afterwards (we also took a before picture). I will post those pictures in the next couple of days since I forgot the doohicky that connects my camera to the computer.
We also had a change in our training schedule (will update the Training Schedule Page, as well) for tonight. Instead of the Cemetary run, we are going back to Memorial Park. It will make our journey longer to get to the restuarant and the movie, but we really like this area to run. The change happened Jodi is doing 6 miles on Saturday and doesn't want to do a 5 mile run tonight. So, we will stick with the 3 mile run like last night. Then, we go for some authentic South African food (well, we are bringing a South African with us to verify) and then off to see Sex and the City 2. I didn't like the first movie, but this one got me excited (okay, really Aiden got me super excited). I will ignore the reviews and see it anways. They should have just set everything in Morocco like the filming. Moving on...this is a blog about running...seriously, about runnning.

Tomorrow, we run the Woodlands 5k run for practice.

Happy National Running Day

I didn't run last night, which felt awful, because of two events that had occurred. The first one was going to the hospital to see my brand new baby niece, Eliana Joelle Anderson (5 lbs, 5.6 oz) born at 2:18 p.m. yesterday. So, I'm the proud aunt of two beautiful nieces (well, I think Eliana will be beautiful...can't tell right now). The second event was going back to the dropzone to celebrate Potter's birthday. Chef cooked up a delicious grub and made a special cake in the shape of a Jagermeister bottle. It was pretty awesome. I have also been bad about drinking this week (Monday was Memorial Day and yesterday was a birthday); at least, I didn't drink too much.

Anyways, back today. Happy National Running Day. June 2 marks a day when people come together to make their lives better with a run. It doesn't matter how long or how you do it, just get out there and run. Quit sitting on the couch eating your bon bons and watching soaps. Lace up the shoes, put on some comfortable clothes, plug in your ipod, and run Forest run.

In honor of this day, Jodi and I (hopefully Jules, but I haven't talked to her yet) are heading to Memorial Park to run with other people. It will be a 3 mile course starting at the Tennis Center. This will also be the first time for both Jodi and I to run this park and I'm super excited for the change of scenery. I got this from the Chevron Houston Marathon site, which means that people training for the marathon will be out there running, as well. I think even my company running group will be out there, too.

Hey and this will also be my first attempt at running three miles. Whew! Good luck to me.

Be out running or be lame!

Adventure Marathons

I found this site when I was looking up the actual date for the Honolulu Marathon. Wow! This has some amazing locales for running a marthon or a half marathon. I especially love the Great Wall of China and the Greenland one. They are all awesome, but those two were already on my list of places to go. Although, I was planning a trip to Africa sometime in my life. Running with the Giraffes and zebras and lions...um...yes please.