Personal Marks

We had a group training run this morning: a foggy morning at Victor Ashe Park. Today, I reached a couple of milestones. First off, I ran a personal best of 7 miles. Previously, the longest I had run was 6.2 miles at the Expo 10K back in May. More importantly, I've now passed the half way mark towards the half-marathon in March. Second, I ran for 1 hour and 16 minutes... longer than I've run at any point.
We ran cross country this morning which also presented challenges. Though easier on the joints, it requires a bit more effort to move.
All and all, I'm very happy with today's results.
And this is the week to get back on schedule with running!!

New Gear

Ah yes, I'm a running advertisement for Nike. Sarah and I went to Pigeon Forge before Christmas. For those that don't know, Pigeon Forge = outlet stores and tourist traps.
We had planned earlier in the month to get new running gear for the next year.
So I bought a new hat, 2 shirts (red and blue), long pants and running shorts. So here's the thing about the shirts... they both are XXL in size. (For the record, I generally wear a Large and sometimes an XL in size.) I guess they run a little small.
Next purchase in a couple of weeks, new shoes.

Afternoon run

The weather in Knoxville has been downright awful the past couple of weeks. Rain, rain and more rain. The good news for Knoxville is that after a couple of years, the town finally has a surplus in rain for the year. The bad news is that it hasn't been good running weather. That and the holidays, mean I haven't been out as much as I should. In fact, since my last update, I ran only once in the past 2 weeks.
This afternoon, a run of 5.14 miles in 49:01 at Victor Ashe Park. I wish I could say it wasn't that bad, but after not running, I was glad when it was finished. Still, I did finish.

Evening Run

First run in 12 days.
3 miles in 28:15. Not my best at all, but I got out there and hit the pavement.

Picture

A picture near the finish of the 2008 Race for the Cure back in October. It was a fun, but challenging 5K that wound through downtown Knoxville and finished at World's Fair Park. I finished with a time of 25:37.

It was also fun because the race was the same weekend as the 2008 Body-For-Life Tennessee Champions Weekend. My wife Sarah organized our group run and there were about 40 of us running in our orange t-shirts.

After running several races that were photographed at the end, I've learned to try to smile at the end, otherwise, even if it's sheer determination, you look like death warmed over crossing the finish line.

Hills and Valleys

It always seems to happen.
You make a major accomplishment, hoping to move higher and then instead of moving up, you move down. 11 days ago I ran 4.8 miles; I haven't run since. This morning I got on the scale and my weight was 202.5, the highest it's been since early 2004. I'm not going to say that I've put on a whole bunch of weight in the last 11 days. Truth be told, it's been steadily rising for the past 2 months. It's in the past and there's nothing I can do about that. I can only control the here and now and beyond.
As part of my training, I have to run 3 times this week. I'm going to have push myself out the door and hit the pavement.
This valley will fall as far as I will allow it, it's time for a turnaround.