Early Saturday morning run

MC and I got up early for a Saturday morning (6 a.m.), but you have to if you're going to run a little distance in the summer months. Yes, in Greenville, summer is in full swing. Temp at that time is 71 degrees -- and the sun isn't even up.

Last weekend, the Swamp Rabbit Trail opened for its entire 14-mile length, so on Sunday, we rode our bikes from Furman U. to Downtown Greenville on the newly opened trail. When we arrived downtown, we were surprised to see the Artisphere in full swing. Apparently, Artisphere is one of the top local art shows in the country. It was jammed packed, to say the least. We had to get off the bikes and walk them through the crowds.

Our plan this morning was to go the southern-most portion through downtown to the new trail connector and back. I put in at a church and met MC about a mile up the trail in Cleveland Park. We had a great run, which is hard not to if you like running through downtown parks and trails. The shade was fine throughout and by the time I finished up, the sun was starting to heat up the trail. I guess we started at about 7:30 and ended around 9.

The Swamp Rabbit is a real amenity for Greenville, and has helped to revitalize the downtown area, which 10 years ago was practically vacant and a little dangerous. It is good to see a progressive mindset that looks at long-range planning and how that attracts business while improving the quality of life as well. Around here, there could be such a conservative mindset that spending on parks and recreation would be frowned upon (and there certainly is that element here). But more progressive cities draw businesses and a high-caliber workforce.

7.75 miles on the Swamp Rabbit Trail, 1:13:10, 9.25 pace, 75 degrees
Pictures above were taken on an earlier run.

Genius: The Pretender, Foo Fighters

On Wednesday, I ran 5.25 miles with the following playlist. Very good run; ran with MC the first 3 miles.

The Pretender, Foo Fighters
By the Way, Red Hot Chili Peppers
Smile Like You Mean It, The Killers
On Call, Kings of Leon
The World Has Turned and Left Me Here, Wheezer
Bullet with Butterfly Wings, Smashing Pumpkins
Chocolate, Snow Patrol
DOA, Foo Fighters
Juicebox, The Strokes
The Bucket, Kings of Leon
Are You Gonna Go My Way, Lenny Kravitz
The Sound of Settling, Death Cab For Cutie

5.25 miles from home, don't recall time, pace or temp

New Shoes!!!

I love running in new shoes. The difference between the new shoes and the old ones is so pronounced, and I feel like running is easy! Of course, in a few weeks they'll feel like the old ones, but for now I love them.

I've still been training for the Bolder Boulder, but, like Kyle, just haven't had a lot of time to write. It's 3 weeks from tomorrow. I'm feeling pretty good that I"ll make my goal (under 11 min per mile) but that remains to be seen. Lynn mapped out the course on one of the google map sites, and hallelujah, it's easier than what I've been running! My normal training course has about 450 feet of total elevation gain, and the BB only has about 150 so I'm stoked!

I had to go to Vegas for work this week (ugh - I do NOT like Vegas), and we stayed out at Red Rock Resort - kind of in the middle of nowhere. It's a big place, and I did do some running while I was there. It was 1.3 mi around the perimeter so I circled it a for an hour. Weird story here - as I was leaving, I stopped to get the Garmin GPS working and heard some shouting. I saw this woman in the street very upset and screaming at someone. She was getting more and more upset and started jumping up and down and shaking her fists. She lost her sunglasses and her hairpiece and I was just starting to ask if I could help her when another woman who was also running did the same thing. Immediately, we hear someone tell us to move along and see there are 5 or so security people watching this. So we went on our way. The woman then started to scream that she hated everyone and was going to kill us all. Yikes! So I hurried along and started my run. As I came around the perimeter, I found her lying face down on the sidewalk. I asked her if she needed help but she didn't respond. She was breathing so I decided to go for help - quite frankly I was afraid to startle her as I wasn't sure what she would do. I went to security and told them about it - they said they'd take care of it. Next time around, she was still there in the same position. There was a bus parked on the street, 3 men chatting and two joggers sitting on the wall. I asked if they'd called for help for her and they said "does she need it?" Face down on the sidewalk? Odds are good ... They said they'd call security again and I watched him dial the phone. 3rd time around, she's still there, but at least she was sitting up. Very odd - not sure what was wrong, but not a lot of people seemed to care.

Anyway, that was during the week, and today was the long run. I did actually "Run with Genius" today. Lynn convinced me I was scared of the coyotes for nothing, and I would be fine with the iPod. It was an absolutely gorgeous day to start, but lots of haze over the mountains. It was low 60s and sunny. We started a little later than normal (slept late this morning) so it was a little warmer than I like. There were a lot of runners out, too. I think everyone is training for the BB. Ran a little different course, but offered a spectacular view of the Flatirons and Long's Peak. I need to take the camera next time - that would be an amazing shot. There is still a lot of snow on the peaks as we continue to have spring snow.

So here's the Genius list. It is a long one because we did 7.5 mi and I'm a turtle...


Please Chris Isaak
Blood And Roses The Smithereens
Bitter Tears INXS
Slave To Love Bryan Ferry
Bring Me Some Water Melissa Etheridge
Black & White Sarah McLachlan
Primavera Santana
Forever Blue Chris Isaak
Come Running Van Morrison
The Other Side David Gray
Saved By Zero The Fixx
All The Girls Love Alice Elton John
The Pretender Jackson Browne
Carefree Highway Gordon Lightfoot
Fumbling Towards Ecstasy Sarah McLachlan
Speak Of The Devil Chris Isaak
By My Side INXS
Similar Features Melissa Etheridge
All Fired Up Pat Benatar
Waiting In Vain Annie Lennox

Total Distance - 7.5 miles, total time 1hr 25 min, avg pace 11:21 min/mi

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!