Run for the Roses, and I got to meet a few fantastic people.

I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, on the west side of the Cascades.  I like the rain.  I do everything in the rain.  It is a function of having grown up in the rain.  I firmly believe the State bird should be the SLUG, and the state flower is MOSS.  That or the razor fern.  I actually like ferns.  I move around, I have been in places that have two seasons, and in places with four, complete with snow and ice and such.  I, however, prefer to live here in the PNW, where we have four seasons, Spring (warming rain), Summer (warm rain), Fall (cooling rain) and Winter (cold rain).  Why would I want to live somewhere that averages three feet of rain a year?  Everything stays mostly green all year round.  I can run in January outside, and not worry about my water bottle freezing, and I can get out in July and August in the mornings and not fight with temps in the triple-digits.  What does this have to do with the race on Saturday?  Well, for the past few months, we have had temps that barely reached 60, Saturday was 60 at 7:00 am.  By the time the race was well under way it was hot to my moss and algae covered self.  But I still had a lot of fun.

Wow, fighting colds is tiring

So we are about 11 days to my first Pikermi.  I am actually getting kinda jazzed about it.  I am, however, fighting the start of a cold.  How do I know this?  My throat has that lovely scratchy feel, and I am Tired.  I didn't even here the alarm go off this morning, and I woke up just in time to get in the shower and get to work.  Not really the auspicious start to the day I was hoping for.  There are several reasons that I am getting excited for the 24th to get here, and it just isn't about me.

Wow, Time's fun when you're having flies

Well, where has all the time gone?  When last we left our intrepid runner, he was contemplating a Pikermi in July.  Well, lots of stuff happened and that isn't one of them.  First, I ran the two 10K's and kicked butt for first time runs.  Both were under an hour, so I was quite pleased with that.  I met some odd folks at one of the races in town this summer.  One of them dragged me by force into a web-site called "Runners World".  They have a place there called "the Loop".  It is half-forum half-blog site, altogether fun and supportive of those who run.  I'll come back to this, more updates....

Ankles are still sore

I slept in today, and then went out for my long run.  This week's long run was another 5 miler, I had to gut it out a bit, and then once I got home, iced both of the ankles.  The left is sore from Sunday's run on back roads.  I hugged the side of the road and my left foot was constantly striking on the edge of the road, and thus my foot was angled to the side.  This stressed the tendons and the joint.  It may be a bit sore for a few weeks, but I think I can work through it, we shall have to see.

So today's run was around town on city streets and sidewalks.  That makes for a nice place to run, and our little town is pretty quite in the mornings.  There are very few cars that one has to contend with during the runs.  I stay off the main drags so I only see a handful of cars even when starting out at 9 am.  Later on in the summer, that course will be filled in town with the Saturday market crowds, and I will have to adjust my routes a bit, but by then I should be in full Pikermi training, so my long runs will be incorporating a large hill and back roads more and more.  I will need to get out a bit earlier to work around potential traffic on the back roads so that I can keep my ankles off the edges.  I don't think it will be too much of a problem, but still, I would like to live to see the race.

I just read an article about how much water to drink during the day, and it seems like a crazy amount.  Here is a link to that article: LINK.  I would say it is safe to assume that we all do not drink enough water.  It is easier if you carry a water bottle, but that is a lot of water.  I need to be drinking about 100 ounces a day according to that, and if I adjust for my caffeine: I need 95 ounces for my weight, plus an additional 20 for my coffee habit, makes for 115 ounces of water a day.  For those of you playing along at home, that means I need to drink a gallon of water every day.  I already drink three bottles about everyday, so I need to add in two more.  That won't be too hard, but that is still a lot of water.


Next week, starting Tuesday to give my ankles some rest, is 4 miles, 2 miles, 4 miles, a day off, then 5 miles.  So I am adding 2 miles to my weekly total next week.  Run days are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.  I just hope my ankles heal up while I move forward.  I really don't want to take time off.  But, at this point, I am early enough in the cycle, that I would still make it through the next two races, it would just be harder to finish with good times.