Running at Rockmont

I've been slack; still running, but not taking the time to write. I do have a Genius list to post, but forgot to bring the iPod to the Dripolator, where I'm writing this morning. The Dripolator is a local coffee shop in Black Mountain, NC. We have a cottage there, and I've been fortunate to come a little early this week and have this run on Wednesday with Jake and Wheeler. MC will be joining us today.

I pulled into Camp Rockmont around 3:30, where ran for 53 minutes. Don't have any idea how far, but sure it was at least 5 miles. Camp Rockmont is just outside Black Mountain, and is where MC, LC, Mandy, Courtney and Natalie worked during their college summers. They have multiple hiking trails, but I stayed mostly on the dirt and gravel roads and open fields.

The dogs love running out there, and I prefer running in the mountains myself. The weather was perfect (60 degrees, mostly sunny with a nice breeze), and getting away from traffic and letting the dogs lead off leash is always a treat.

And we had the added bonus of running into Hap and John working on some engineering magic before the camp opens for the summer. MC and Mandy are to join us today for another run.

I love to run for its own sake, but the added benefit is I stay in shape to hike. Took the dogs on Thursday for a 7.5-mile hike on the Graybeard trail out at Montreat. It's a great trek through the forest with a great view from the peak.

Wheeler took a slide down a very large slippery rock into a pool at the bottom. While sliding down, he scrambled to get clear, but his efforts resembled something from the Flintstones -- no traction at all. My work was to get him out without getting Jake in the same predicament. Tough to say the least. Jake and I couldn't reach him, so we decided to approach from the back. When we got out of sight, Wheeler started whimpering like a whimperer and climbed out on his own.

He was so excited to be with us, he couldn't settle down, but that is his usual state. He led the way up the summit and back down, with Jake right at my heels. That is, when they weren't splashing into the many streams to take a dip.

They slept well the rest of the day, and I took to a hammock. Great day indeed.

hiatus from writing, but not running...

Wow. It's been a long time since I wrote anything! I apologize. But sometimes life gets in the way. Thanks to Patti for her contributions from out West. Running with Coyotes, you go girl!

Two runs deserve highlighting from the past month: One with our Goddaughter Mattie and her parents, our dear friends Mike and Lucy Clay McGehee. We put Mattie in the Bob and took of with her down the Swamp Rabbit trail downtown, starting at Reedy River Falls Park and going to Cleveland Park and back. Great run and great weather: low 50s, breezy, sunny. Lots of folks out too. A great day.

The second highlight run was in Little Rock, AR, with our nephew, Rome, and his mom and dad on the bike. If you haven't been to LR in a while, it has changed quite a bit. We ran at Two Rivers Park, one of the initiatives Gov. Mike Huckabee instituted when he went on his health kick (dropping 100+ pounds and running a marathon). Also, got to run with Jake and Wheeler off leash, and they were great -- staying with us all the way and not bothering the folks along the way.

Both runs were a little less than 4 miles.

There were more, but I've forgotten them by now... I did record a couple of runs (4.5 miles each) with the Genius, so here it is:

Genius: She Talks to Angels, Black Crowes
(this is 2 runs, but continued Genius list)

She Talks to Angels, Black Crowes
Run-Around, Blues Traveler
Midnight Rider, The Allman Brothers Band
Over the Hills and Far Away, Led Zeppeli n
Pride and Joy, Stevie Ray Vaughn and Double Trouble
All Apologies, Nirvana
Behind Blue Eyes, The Who
After Midnight, Eric Clapton
Voodoo Chile, Jimi Hendrix
When the Levee Breaks, Led Zeppelin
Taper Jean Girl, Kings of Leon
Here We Go, Dispatch
Twice as Hard, Black Crowes
What You Want, John Butler Trio
Pinball Wizard, The Who
Thunder Road, Bruce Springsteen

Windy Day

Did my distance run today. I'm doing 6 miles right now and adding a 1/2 mile per week. Once I get to 10 miles I'll add 1 mile per week. My goal is 14 miles as I plan to do a half marathon in September. Also works out great because the East Boulder Trail where I mainly run is 7 miles long so out and back is 14 miles. Right now I am doing run/walks for the 6 miles with 8 min running and 2 min walking. It was a pretty, sunny day but the wind was so strong! The worst hill I run was straight into the wind. I didn't think I would make it. Lynn, my husband, ran with me, and he's such a sweetheart - he tried to block the wind for me. But I was a little too slow for him and that didn't last long. We were entertained by all the people out flying kites in the wind. There were some pretty cool ones out there.

Pretty tired now, but a good tired. Having a glass of wine before heading into the kitchen to make dinner. Going with grilled lamb and spring veggies. Happy Easter!

Total distance (including walking warm up and cool down): 6.75 miles, 1h 24m, 12:31 pace

And the training begins ...

Today I enter the world of blogging. I've been late to most online forums - why should this be different? Ha. Thank you, Kyle, for inviting me to share my trials and tribulations as I train for the Bolder Boulder.

A disclaimer - I do not run with Genius, as much as I'd like to. I run mainly on trails, and I'm afraid of a coyote sneaking up on me. While it may sound irrational, there are signs posted about coyotes in the area, and I've even run into one on the trail. Completely freaked me out!

I live in Boulder, Colorado and am ashamed to say I have never run the BB (one of the largest 10Ks in the country) in the 4 years I have lived here. I always plan to do it, but then get distracted and before you know it, it's 2 weeks away and I've done nothing to train. So this year, I registered as soon as it opened in order to take that excuse away. We've had a fairly cold winter so the snow didn't fully melt until a few weeks ago. I've just recently come out of hibernation to start my runs, and I am not very fast nor doing a lot of distance yet.

Luckily, I work from home so it's pretty easy to work runs in. Right now, it's too dark in the morning to get much of a run in, so I'm running at lunch. I just put my running clothes on in the morning, and as soon as my last morning call finishes I am out the door. I'm using a modified program for marathon training, and I run a specific time during the week rather than worrying about distance. I do run/walk combos for an hour and each week I am increasing the time of the run portion before walking. I focus on distance on the weekend. More on that on a weekend post. As I said, I'm recently out of hibernation, so runs are 15 min and walks are 2 min.

Today was a great day! It was a perfect temperature - 55 degrees, shorts and t-shirt weather for me - and the trails were dry enough (snow last week kept me on the roads). Call me crazy, but I think I do better at altitude. I was at my sister's in Waco, TX earlier this week and ran while I was there. Not sure if it was the 20 degree diff (75+) or the awful concrete streets, but I was suffering! I thought I was going to sail through it with all those extra red blood cells from Colorado. Not so much ... But today I felt fantastic. I had to hold myself back! No coyotes, but tons of people out with their dogs, bikes, babies, etc. I love Boulder - everyone is outside doing things all the time.

Tonight it's supposed to rain/snow. I hope I can get out tomorrow!