Reflection on 2011

Although Mike's Marathon Blog is long retired, I feel compelled to write a reflection post for 2011 like I did for 2010 (actually, the last blog post I wrote was exactly one year ago this week!)

Last year, my goals for 2011 were:

• Lose the weight. When I weighed in at the gym in January of 2011, the scale showed 182 pounds. I got that down to 166 pounds in early July and I'm now hovering in the 168-170 range. It is definitely progress - not back to the 160 pounds that I was 5 years ago...I'd love to get back to that number, but that would take some serious commitment!
• Stay healthy. In 2010 I suffered from three bouts of respiratory infections/inflammation which ceased my running for 3-4 weeks at a time. In 2011, I started working with a pulmonologist and later in the year an allergist to get to the bottom of the issues. I still had the incidents, but I have decreased the amount of time I'm on the shelf when it happens. For 2012, I will be trying allergy shots to see if I can desensitize my system to the triggers of these events so they don't happen in the first place!
• Run More. This is one goal that I fell short. My total mileage for the year is 552 miles - 21 miles LESS than 2010. Again, the main culprits were travel and health. Although I did have a few stretches of a few 20 mile weeks in a row. It's not marathon mileage, but it is definitely what I need to feel like a runner again.
• Schedule more races. Another goal where I fell short. I ran in two races this year - both low-key races from MCRRC. A 4 mile run on Memorial Day and a 8K run earlier this month. Both were PRs (since I had not raced those distances before!!). However, the pace of these were below my PRs for longer distances, so they're really only PRs by default.
• Schedule more time off from work. This is one where I excelled this year. I ended up teaching Israeli Dancing at a BBYO Leadership Camp for Teens for two weeks this summer, which got me away from my work responsibilities (and many other responsibilities) for about 17 days. I brought Sherry and the kids up for the first 8 days I was there - and it was great having some quality time with them.

Other highlights from 2011:

• My big birthday - I turned 40. I still can't believe it. At times I still feel like I'm 20 and just happen to have a 9 year old and 6 year old in the house (yes...I know the math doesn't make sense there!)
• My Israeli Dance group continues to grow! I am now getting between 40-50 dancers each week at the group and word of the group continues to spread. I actually just started a new blog for the Israeli Dance group at http://markidmike.wordpress.com and a Twitter account @MarkidMike
• My day job at Ericsson also continues to go well. I was extremely busy this year with a huge project in 1H2011 in East TX and a bunch of smaller projects in 2H2011 in Georgia, Mississippi and the Carolinas.

My goals for 2012 are pretty much the same as 2011. I would love to put the commitment in place to get back down to my ideal weight of 160 pounds (my doctor says 150-155 would be ideal for me, but I haven't seen numbers like that since I was 17 years old). I want to find a way to stay healthy - I'm hoping the allergy shots will help with this. If I can keep healthy, then I should be able to run more...I'm going to shoot for 750 miles for the year (14-15 miles per week if I can run every week...see not getting sick!). I would like to run a Half Marathon in the Spring and the Fall (see run more which depends on stay healthy!). Finally, I should be able to take more time from work - I will hit my 19th anniversary of working at Nortel (Ericsson bridged my service from Nortel when they purchased my division), so I will get an extra week of vacation.

One other goal - I want to try running with others more often this year. Running has been a solo venture for me most of the time, but I always enjoy when I run with other people. I'm going to try to run a race or two with my 9 year old son. I would love to run more with Sherry. I may also try to arrange some type of pub crawl / beer run with friends of mine. I don't think I'll ever be one to only run with a group, but I'm hoping more of my runs in 2012 will not be solo.

Happy New Year everyone!!!

Reflection on 2010

Although I officially retired the blog earlier this year, I did mention in my final post that I may still post updates to the blog.

As the end of 2010 draws near, I feel I should reflect on the past year and set some goals for the year ahead.

• In 2010 I ran fewer miles than in 2009, 2008 or 2007. You need to go back to 2006 - when I first started running seriously and trained for my first half marathon - to get a lower mileage total. Right now I have logged 573 miles for the year - and it is doubtful that I will get another run in during the next week as I'm battling a sinus infection.
• Ironically, although I have run fewer miles this year - I set PRs in the 10 mile (1:29:43) and half marathon (2:11:41).
• I travelled more for my job this year than ever before. My project for the first three quarters of the year was based in Souther California - and I spent one week of every month in Irvine. Since September, my projects have been based in East Texas and the group is based in Atlanta - so I have been traveling to Atlanta and Dallas. Traveling messes up any rhythm that I may have for the week (especially when trying to plan for runs). And being away from home has been hard on Sherry and the boys as well (so taking 1 night trips to Atlanta or Dallas - although more difficult on me - seems to be better for the family)
• With business travel comes business lunches, dinners and happy hours. Which means more food (and beer) than I would normally consume. Which is why I'm about 15 pounds heavier now than I was when I crossed the finish line of the NY Marathon in November 2009.
• Another contributor to the lower mileage is health. Luckily I had no running injuries during 2010. However, I have had three nasty sinus infections - all which have taken two rounds of antibiotics to treat. Once the congestion moves into my chest, it is not a good idea to run - so I have missed 3-4 week chunks of running...and then having to spend a few weeks to ramp back up again.
• In my other hobby, my Israeli Dance group has really grown in 2010 as well. I now get around 35 dancers every week and people stay later. As a result I'm out later every Tuesday night - which makes a morning run on Tuesday morning and Wednesday morning a lot more difficult.
• In 2010 I had some nice vacation time as well. Sherry and I got away for our 15th Anniversary - to a resort spa in the mountains of Pennsylvania for two nights. Then in October we all went on a Disney cruise with my parents and sister and her family. We also took some trips to visit family and friends for B'nai Mitzvahs and Weddings (two trips to Michigan, one to Connecticut and I extended a business trip to stay in Dallas)

As you can see, 2010 was definitely a year of great achievements coupled with some tough challenges.

I haven't set all of my goals for 2011 yet, however, here are a few main goals:

• Lose the weight. Gaining 15 pounds in one year is way too much...I have to get this back to where I was in 2009.
• Stay healthy. I'm going to get a CT scan of my sinuses in the next few weeks and I may go to an ENT. Three sinus infections in one year? That HAS to stop!
• Run more. This will definitely help goal #1 and I'll be able to do this if I achieve goal #2. I don't necessarily need to hit 1,000 miles next year - but somewhere around 750 would be nice.
• Schedule some races. I would like to schedule at least 2 half marathons and perhaps a fall full marathon (maybe Marine Corps??) I loved the 10 mile distance too. Perhaps with all the traveling I'm doing and not having as much time to run long, I should focus on running shorter races and develop more speed. Either way, I need to race a bit more in 2011 to keep my motivation up.
• Schedule more time off from work. With the exception of the two main vacation I took (one for 2 work days and one for 3 work days), I really did not take much vacation time to relax and spend quality time with my family. I need to do more of this (and run more while on vacation!)

I'm sure I'll think of more as the next week goes on, but these are the main goals.

2011 will be a big year for me with a milestone birthday (ends in a zero...). Let's hope my age isn't the only milestone I have to celebrate!

Still Running Short and Slow

I've been out in SoCal again this week. It was a great opportunity to get some running in - the weather was PERFECT! The mornings were in the low 50s and clear skies...daytime highs were in the 80s. It's going to be tough going back to DC where there's still over two feet of snow on the ground everywhere.

I went out for runs both on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Both times my heart rate was elevated, I felt weak and I just didn't have "it".

I'm not sure if it is still related to the sinus infection or stress at work or lack of sleep or lack of running.

On both runs I did out-and-backs from the hotel of 2.5 miles (1.25 out and then returning). Wednesday morning's run could have gone longer but I needed to get back to the hotel room to quickly shower and participate on an early conference call.

Even though the runs were not perfect, it definitely felt great to be out there running!

I'm taking the red eye home tonight. We'll see how that goes. Hopefully I'll be recovered enough for a Saturday morning run. Maybe I'll be able to go for a longer run (like at least 4 or 5 miles!).

Miscellaneous Musings From A Road Warrior...

It looks like my current project will have me on the road - traveling to Southern California - once a month for the next few months. I have never traveled this often in the 16+ years that I have been working....

When I was in my late 20s, my job at the time had me traveling once every 6-8 weeks or so for 2-3 nights at a time. I was living in Dallas and I had the opportunity to travel to New Jersey a lot for a project with AT&T. I would burn the midnight oil by driving into New York City and hang out with my sister or go Israeli Dancing, staying out until well past midnight, going to work the next day and crashing when I got back home to Dallas. For some reason, I'm following a similar pattern even now. I was in Irvine for four nights - two of those nights I drove up to Los Angeles (about an hour each way) to go Israeli dancing. On Monday night I left LA at 11pm and got to the hotel a little after midnight. Last night I stayed in LA until midnight and arrived at my hotel at about 1:15am. I was still in the office by 8am the next morning. The problem in all of this...my kids are early birds so I will not get to crash and catch up on the sleep that I didn't get this week....

Talking about going back to being in my 20s, one of the nice folks I met at Israeli Dancing last night asked me how long I have been dancing. I stopped to think about this for a few seconds and then said that I guess I have been dancing for close to 20 years. She shook her head in disbelief - she said that I looked way to young...she thought I was in my 20s! Later in our conversation I told her that I don't know too many of the recent dances since I haven't been dancing as much since I had kids. Again a surprised look from her - you're too young to have kids!!! Maybe acting like a 20-something this past week made me look a little younger....

For those of you who don't believe in the power of Social Networking and the internet, this one is for you. My blog is fed over to my Facebook profile, and after I posted about my soaked run on Monday morning a high-school friend of mine wrote me a note that he was also in Irvine, CA for business this week. Whoa! We haven't seen each other in 18 or 19 years. We met for dinner on Tuesday night and it was great to reconnect with him. This reunion never would have happened without social networking apps....

Oh, yeah. This is my running blog. Right. While in rain-soaked Southern California this week I got two runs in. One on Monday morning in the dark and in the rain, and one on Tuesday afternoon. After the rain stopped - and tornado warnings lifted - the sun came out. My project schedule for that night's activities had been sent out already, so I slipped out of the office and went for a run on the Mountains to Sea trail - running towards the ocean. This trail is built on the creek bed that is used as a drainage system. Last month when I ran on this path it was totall dry. On Tuesday afternoon it looked like I was running on the bank of the Potomac River near Great Falls! The trail has underpasses under the roads so runners and cyclists don't have to dodge traffic. However, on Tuesday many of these underpasses were flooded so I had to cross the streets. Except for one which I could not cross - Interstate 405. I ended up having to trudge through a wet mud/sand mixture under the I-405 underpass. It wasn't all that bad, though - there was a Great Blue Heron perched on the bank by the underpass and I ran right near him. What an amazing creature....

Before I was a runner, I don't think I ever saw a Great Blue Heron. I now have seen them on many runs - on my community's lake, running along the C&O canal, while I was running in Boynton Beach, FL and now while running in Irvine, CA. I didn't know what I was missing before I started running....

Splashing In The Dark

I'm in Irvine, CA for business this week. Being that my body is still on East Coast time, I was up early this morning and ready for a run. But it was raining...and dark.

I waited a bit - until 6am here - until I finally left my hotel room, but the sun was no where in sight. Oh well...

I headed out in the direction of the Mountain to Sea Trail, but there was no sidewalk on the side of the street I started on. I crossed to the other side of the street and there was no sidewalk there either, but there was a dirt and gravel path. As I started down the road, though, there was less gravel and more dirt - or should I say mud. Each step felt like the ground was trying to suck my shoes off of my feet. I looked over to the opposite side of the street and found that a sidewalk had started there - nice! I jumped off the dirt path to cross the street and landed in a deep puddle - I also felt mud sling off my shoe and onto my calves.

Luckily I don't take myself too seriously all the time, because the first 1/3 of a mile on this run was a train wreck!

After I finally got onto the sidewalk I got into a groove. About a mile in I passed by someone huddled up in a hooded sweatshirt under an umbrella - probably walking to work. "On your left!" I exclaimed in a joyful tone to let him know I wanted to pass him. He took one look at me - in my shorts, t-shirt and reflective vest - and probably thought I was insane. He did manage a "Good morning" to greet me back.

About 1.5 miles from the hotel is an entrance onto the Mountain to Sea trail. This looked very much like the other bike trails I ran on the last time I was in Irvine (but instead of a dry creek bed there was a good amount of water flowing this time because of the rain). I must admit, I was a little bit nervous running here alone in the dark. I was not afraid of being attacked or mugged by another person - however, I was a bit unsure whether there were any nocturnal critters living near the creek bed that would like to eat a runner as a midnight snack. I've come across foxes and coyotes on the routes near my home in the dawn hours...I wasn't sure if there were similar dangers here.

I ran on the trail for a little over a mile. I then turned back towards the hotel so my full run would be in the 4.5 mile range.

Along the way there were plenty more deep puddles to (accidentally) run through. By the time I got back to my hotel I was soaked from head to toe - and still had a bit of mud over my legs. I'm it was quite a sight!

Run stats were 4.68 miles at a 9:51/mile pace. Avg HR of 153. And probably one of my wettest runs to date.

A Week Of Contrasts

As I got off the plane last night in BWI Airport, it was quiet. Deserted. What a contrast from when I left on Sunday afternoon - the hustle, bustle of Thanksgiving weekend travel (really...what was I thinking agreeing to go on a business trip the weekend after Thanksgiving???).

However, it was not the only contrast that I had observed this past week.

First of all, the contrast of being alone in a hotel room versus being at home. In some ways, it was nice not having household responsibilities to worry about. My time was my own - I didn't have to juggle my time between the schedules of my wife and kids. In some ways it was very nice, but on the other hand gets lonely quick. Whenever I'm on a business trip I try to spend the least amount of time that I can in the actual hotel room.

Most of the time I'm out of town, I try to go to an Israeli Dance group - and this week was no exception! I met up with a few people that I knew - and met some other dancers as well. Israeli Dancing in a different city is always a great experience - the familiar music, everyone moving together as one large group and the social aspect of meeting people with a similar interest definitely makes me feel more at home while on the road. On my hour-drive back from dancing in LA to my hotel in Irvine, I reflected on the contrasts between my two current hobbies - Israeli dancing and running. Israeli dance groups are almost always at night (and many groups go until midnight or later) while I usually run early in the mornings (it's hard to dance one night and run the next morning...). Israeli dancing is an activity that involves interacting with lots of people while I'm usually running alone or with one other person. Apart from the fact that both are physical activities (dancing is more anaerobic - normally there's a good 30 second break between the time one dance ends and the next one starts - where running is continuous aerobic exercise for a long period of time), these two hobbies seem to be on opposite ends of the spectrum from one another.

There is also a big contrast between the project I'll be working on in SoCal vs the one I recently completed in the DC area. My current project is all dealing with live equipment - so all activities must be done at night (I'm hoping I won't need to be working at night with our crews most of the time!). Also, since it is established equipment in our customer's network, they already have their way of doing things. I felt my role this week was more to find out what the current processes are so I don't step on too many toes while starting out. My last project was a completely new build. Work was done during the day and I could create the way of doing things with my team. This new project will be different, but I'm up for the challenge!

Finding My Way Through Irvine

I'm in Irvine, CA for business. I'm kicking off a new project with one of our largest customers. It's a great opportunity for me, even if I am only "on loan" to this other group for the time being.

I have mixed feelings about business trips - I don't mind the travel and I love being in new places. However, I also like having my routine...and business trips really messes that up.

I finally arrived at my hotel on Sunday night at 11:30pm Pacific (that's 2:30am in my home Eastern time zone). My cellphone rang at 2am Pacific with issues at one of the maintenance window activities I was managing. By the time I "woke up" in the morning, I was really tired and in no mood for a run.

After the workday, I decided to head out for dinner and watch Monday Night Football - which starts at 6pm out here. Wow! I walked over to an awesome place called the Yard House and had some very good food (seared tuna and hot spinach and cheese dip) and excellent beer (Young's Chocolate Stout and Maredsous 8). On the way back from the restaurant, I found that there was a bike path behind my hotel - and I had seen the path on my walk to the restaurant - so I knew what I was going to do for my run the next morning!

One of the benefits to running with a Garmin Forerunner (305), is that I no longer need to meticulously map out my runs beforehand to see where I'm going to go and how long it is going to take. I can just get up and go - RedG maps everything out and tells me how far I have gone. As long as I remember where I'm going - so I can get back to point A - I don't have to think too much about my route anymore.

I ended up waking up a little before 5am (this Pacific time zone stuff is killing me!). It was still dark outside so I waited about an hour until the sun started coming up. It was a crisp 50 degrees, and although there was a chill in the air it felt great running in shorts and a short-sleeve shirt again. I guess 50 degrees is cold for California since everyone else who was out on the bike path that morning was bundled up!

The path ran against a wide creek bed that was completely dry. I suppose that when it rains here, this probably flows like a river - there were lots of signs warning about flooding conditions. The trail was very nice - a wide asphalt path that went under the major streets. No worrying about stopping for traffic or watching for cars - awesome!

I ran for about a mile and a quarter, and then the path stopped at a street that it did not go under. When I got up to the road, there was no crosswalk and there was a median in the middle of the road. I guess it was time to turn back towards the hotel and then continue on past the hotel. After passing the hotel, I was able to go another mile before the path ended in that direction. So my out-and-back one way and out-and-back the other way route was a bit over 4.5 miles. I had run nice and easy at a 10:15/mile average pace.

Later today, I took a look at Google maps to figure out if this path goes further than that street where I stopped on my way out. It ends up that if I go up to the street, turn right and go about a tenth of a mile, I'll be able to pick up the path to go under the road and continue on. And there's a long network of paths after that. So...it looks like I'll be good for a longer run tomorrow and/or on Thursday. Woo hoo!

Back To The 20 Mile Week

My normal "base training" while not focusing on a particular race has been a 20 mile week. I usually run 4 times a week - 3 weekday runs of 3-5 miles and a longer weekend run in the 6-10 mile range.

Since the marathon, I haven't had a 20 mile week yet. First it was due to recovery and then it was due to time constraints.

This past week had its fair share of time constraint issues, but I was able to squeeze in runs where I could and I logged 21 miles over five runs. Hooray!

These runs included slipping out for a 4.5 mile run on Thanksgiving morning after the turkey was in the oven, meeting up with a friend that I went to high school and UofM with (neither of us were runners back then and we only reconnected when he searched for descriptions of the Turkey Chase and found my blog!), and a short Sunday morning run.

Sunday's run was chilly - about 31 degrees. It was my first sub-freezing run of the season. I wore running tights, a heavier long sleeve shirt and a beanie...winter is a-coming! I didn't want to run long because I traveled later that afternoon to Irvine, CA for work. I left my house at around 12:30pm Eastern and finally arrived at my hotel around 11:30pm Pacific - 14 hours door to door. Yuck.

However, when I walked out of my hotel this morning I saw how beautiful the weather was. I am so psyched to run out here!!!

BTW...if you take a look over on my training log, I have now logged 978.9 miles for the year. If I repeat last week's 21.1 miles, I will hit my 1,000 mile goal! Woo hoo!!!

Cold Settling In

My cold has lingered for a few days and it is now settling into my chest.  Grrrrrr.  Just what I needed - NOT!

Anyhow, if it is any consolation, I wasn't going to be getting a run in over the next few days anyhow.  We're heading up to the NY/NJ area to visit some family and I wasn't going to be bringing my running gear this time around.

However, this brings the number of non-running days to six in a row.  By the time I get a chance to run again it will be nine days off.

This also means that I will not be making my 1,000 mile goal for the year (unless I go for a 30 miler on Dec 31 - very doubtful).  I'm actually OK with not achieving this goal.  Last year I ran 600 miles for the year (my best ever) so hitting 970 definitely is nothing to cry about.  Plus, I didn't set the 1,000 mile goal until July.   Out of the 5 mid-year goals I set, I achieved 3 of them (5K PR of 25:17, ran 2 Half Marathons, enjoyed running).  I did not run a sub 2:11 half marathon (one of my HMs was more of a training run and the other was too humid for me to finish at that pace) and now I did not hit the 1,000 mile mark.

So...I think I know what two of my goals for next year will be!

I am also thinking about trying to train and run with either my son (he's 6 years old but has shown interest in running) or my dad (he's a 62 year old smoker who is in decent shape by playing golf and tennis...I'm kinda thinking that perhaps having him start with running will help him quit the smoking habit) for a 5K.  We'll see if I can convince either of them - or BOTH!

Runner's Envy

As I'm still recovering from my foot "realigning" (two trips to the chiro for my foot and he told me to not run for a few days) and fighting whatever illness has been coming on (I've had low energy since Sunday evening - I've hit the sack in the 9:30pm to 10:30pm range each night - way earlier than normal), I was not going to run today.

However, it was a balmy Christmas Day - temps in the high 40s!  I saw so many runners outside (including my wife who went out for a morning run...if I couldn't enjoy it, at least I could watch the kids so she could, right?).

I was so envious.  I knew that I wanted to run on such a glorious day, but it was better to rest.

I think I have another day or two of rest for both issues.  Unfortunately, that coincides exactly with when we're taking a trip up to NY/NJ to visit some family...and smelly, sweaty running clothes don't exactly travel well.  So my next run may be on December 31.  :-(

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll feel much better tomorrow and get out for a run on Saturday.  Maybe I'll also be able to get out early on Sunday morning before we hit the road.

Exhausting Trip

Yesterday's Total Calorie Intake:  ????

I made my flight yesterday morning in plenty of time.  I pretty much tossed and turned all night - anxious I was going to oversleep and miss the flight - so I rolled out of bed at 3:25am (my thought was "what's the use of trying to sleep for another 40 min?") and made it to the airport by 4:30am.  Surprisingly, there were lines at the baggage check / ticketing counters and at security at that time.  Wow!  Luckily, I only had a carry-on bag so I only had to deal with the security lines.

On the flight I caught up on some pleasure reading.  I don't read often enough (OK...my schedule is a bit manic, so I don't make much time for it).  So far this year I read Hal Higdon's Marathon book and I had started the Alan Sillitoe classic The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.  I had been a few months behind on reading my Runner's World subscription and had started to catch up over the past two weeks.

When I originally picked up The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, I thought it was a novel and not a collection of vignettes.  So I was a bit surprised when I finished up what I thought was the first "chapter" of the book and in the next "chapter" an entirely different character and situation was being described.  So far, I'm finding the book enjoyable - but not riveting, so after a while I put it down and read some of the RW magazine.  I found the style of the first vignette - about a teen delinquent who is sent to a reform school - similar to the writing style of Catcher in the Rye (at least what I remember of Catcher...I mean, I read it almost 20 years ago!)  When the main character arrives at the reform school, they force upon him the sport of long distance running.  At first he resists it, but then he realizes how free he feels while running those long distances each morning that he starts to long for those runs.  Needless to say, I was able to relate to much of the narrative about those frosty, morning runs.

I am happy to say I am now on the current month's edition of Runner's World - hooray!  The feature article is on Kara and Adam Goucher.  If I would have looked at the cover weeks ago and saw Kara Goucher there I'm sure I would have dropped everything and read it on the spot - she is awesome!  She bronzed in the 10K at the Osaka World Championships, came in first at a big HM in England - beating Paula Radcliffe, and won the mile at this year's indoor Millrose Games...oh, and she's extremely attractive to boot.  I'm crossing my fingers that she'll do well at the Olympic Track Trials next month, because I'd love to see her at the Olympics this summer.

The article got me thinking about this summer's Olympics.  In the past, the only Olympic track and field personalities that I had heard of were sprinters - Carl Lewis, Ben Johnson, Michael Johnson, Marion Jones, etc. (I'm a little young to have cheered on Steve Prefontaine...).  I guess I had heard of Joan Benoit Samuelson before the '84 Olympics, but that was most likely due to the Women's Marathon being new that year and she was the favorite to win the first one.  This year, I really don't know who the sprinters are, but I am familiar with - and somewhat following during the past year - the middle and long distance runners.  I believe this is the first year since I was a youngster that I'm psyched to watch Track and Field at the Olympics.

As for the rest of my trip, the course was useful for the networking and face time with my Director, however, I felt the material was a bit of a review for me.  A lot of Stephen Covey ideas and strategies on how to influence others and budget time.

And I always eat horribly while traveling - food with higher fat content and larger portions than necessary - so I'm glad I'm back home and ready to get back in the "eating right" routine.

2:45am

2:45am is when I got home last night (this morning?)

I dozed off a bit on the plane and I was exhausted on my drive home and then I had trouble falling asleep when I got home. Unbelievable!

The kids woke up around 5:30am, so between 5:30am and 7:30am (when my wife took them out of the house to drive my older son to school) I was in an interrupted sleep. I finally got out of bed around 8:30am or so when I figured that I wouldn't fall back to sleep.

Needless to say, I will most likely not run today. My first non-scheduled rest day so far. (I almost took one a few weeks ago, but I ended up running after all - I doubt this will happen today).

I'll rest up today and tomorrow in preparation for the big 18 miler this weekend.

DFW Airport :-(

So, I'm blogging from DFW Airport - 9:30pm local time.

I was supposed to leave at 7:35pm, however, my original flight was canceled and the next flight they booked me on - 8:45pm departure - is now departing at 10:10pm. I'm now supposed to land at DCA at 1:45am.

So much for running tomorrow morning.

It will be very nice to be back home and get into a routine again. At times business travel is nice, but it definitely takes its toll. Trying to eat right while on the road is a struggle - not due to a lack of healthy choices, but more due to the humongous sized portions when eating out. Luckily I ran 6 miles on Monday and 9 miles on Tuesday to counterbalance the portion distortion.

If my running shoes weren't in my checked luggage, perhaps I would have done some running around DFW :-)

Running In Richardson (TX)

I am in Richardson, TX for a training course this week (Lean Six Sigma - DMADV and Lean Process training).

I flew into DFW last night and I didn't get to my hotel until 12 midnight. On the schedule was a breakfast meeting with our financial adviser at 7:30am (we still use him even though we moved from Dallas in 1999 - if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right???) and class starts at 8:30am. Also on the schedule was a 5 mile run, so I set my alarm for 5:10 am - I could get sleep on Monday night, right????

After a not so good sleep, my alarm went off. I was considering going back to bed, but I figured if I didn't sleep well from midnight to 5am, was I really going to sleep any better from 5am to 6:30am??? So off I went.

Since I got into the hotel so late, I did not have time to plot out a running route. I lived in Richardson for 4 years and have run here on business trips before, but I did not have my routes saved on RunningAhead so I wasn't sure which route was a 5 miler. I took a stab and ran towards my old neighborhood, then north on Floyd past UTD (where I received my Masters Degree), into the Cottonwood Creek neighborhood and past Beth Torah, then back onto Campbell towards the hotel.

During my run I was not watching the time - just watching my heart rate. Again, my heart rate was a little higher than I wanted it. I am a "dissociative" runner and tend to get lost in my thoughts (or music) while running instead of being tuned in to what my body is telling me. I didn't run with music this morning and I still wasn't listening to my body - this is definitely something I'll have to practice a bit more before my first marathon on May 4.

At the end of the run, my watch was registering 1:05:25 / average HR 154. Based on how I felt my pace was, I knew that this was longer than a 5 miler. I finally had an opportunity to map the route during my lunch break - 6.1 miles. I guess since I knocked a mile off of a few of my runs last week that I'm compensating for it this week!

Getting Back On Track

Yesterday's Total Calorie Intake - ???

(Exercise Calories:  404)

Total Net Calories - ???

I'm back from my business trip - which means I can get back into more of a routine when it comes to food.  I kind of threw caution to the wind the past few days when it came to calories.  I did make conscientious choices - yesterday I really wanted to have a blueberry muffin from the breakfast tray so I cut one in half (after a eating a full bagel with cream cheese and some apple slices...I know I really did not need that muffin!), and for lunch I got a black bean and rice burrito at the airport and I chose not to have cheese or sour cream thrown in.  However, I know that while at home I never would have had that muffin, and I would have only eaten half of that Chipotle-style burrito and saved the rest for lunch the next day.

I got home on an earlier flight so I was able to have a Valentine's Day dinner with Sherry.  I picked up sushi for us and hit the liquor store beforehand and got a bottle of sake...more easily avoided calories (Valentine's Day comes once a year...right?).

So...yesterday I ended up eating 3 pretty large meals.  That would have been fine after this weekend's 12 mile run - but yesterday was a 3.5 miler at an easy pace.

It's time to get back on track and count them calories!

Acid Reflux = Payback :-(

Yesterday's Total Calorie Intake: ???? (definitely too much!)

I'm on a business trip and I let my calorie counting slide yesterday. First of all, one day off will not ruin my progress - as long as I have the discipline to get back to counting calories either today or tomorrow. Second of all, I did make some choices to eat a better/healthier/lower caloric alternative in many cases...I started the day off with a packet of oatmeal at the hotel's continental breakfast instead of a danish, muffin or eggs; at lunch I chose a veggie sandwich over a fresh mozzarella and tomato sandwich (although that mozzarella sandwich still sounds good!). However, I did hit the sweets harder than normal since there was a cookie tray in the meeting room. I also had a few cups of coffee (very acidic and has given me reflux in the past). And we had a really large dinner at a restaurant in downtown Nashville - complete with appetizers and a few beers (no dessert as we all loaded up on the cookie tray earlier!).

This morning was payback time...

I started to get an acid reflux type of burning in my esophagus and stomach during my run this morning. Yowsers! Today I'll try to be more careful - at least on the acidic food side of things.

My run was decent. I'm not staying in a pretty part of Nashville. It's a pretty industrial area near the airport, so I was running past warehouses...there was a sidewalk for about half of my run, but then I was running on the side of the road (which was not very well kept). I'm glad I brought my reflector vest.

I had contemplated skipping the run this morning, however, I have a 12 miler coming up on Saturday. I wanted to have a rest day tomorrow leading up to the 12 miler, but I did not want to have 3 rest days leading up to that long run because I did not want to feel sluggish. That thought got me out of bed and in my running clothes.

A Few Airport Sprints

Yesterday's Total Calorie Intake: 2450
(Exercise Calories: 743)
Total Net Calories: 1707

I have meetings in Nashville today and tomorrow, so I was scheduled to fly out last night. My original flight was scheduled to depart BWI Airport at 9:20pm, however, there was a 7:40pm flight beforehand so if I was really lucky, I was hoping to get onto that flight. I could not leave until 6:30pm since Sherry was tutoring, so in order to make the earlier flight I'd need to make it to the airport with no traffic, fly through security (I was not checking a bag this time) and hope for a close gate and a small delay on the departure of the earlier flight. I knew it was asking a lot.

The weather was bad - freezing rain started falling around 3pm in the Washington, DC area - so traffic was going to be horrendous. I also checked the departure times for both flights - the early one was now scheduled to leave at 7:50pm and my flight had been pushed out until 10:30pm. OK, I thought to myself, "at least I'll be able to make my flight..."

I left my house around 6:45pm. Traffic was moving pretty well despite the sleet, until I got to I-495 (the Capitol Beltway). I had to be on this road for at least 15 miles before picking up either I-95 North or the Balt-Wash Parkway. I don't think my car went more than 20 mph the entire time I was on the Beltway. At this point, I figured there was no way I was getting to get on the earlier flight.

I decided to take the Balt-Wash parkway and traffic was moving at a normal pace...Hooray! I made it to BWI Airport and parked at 8:20pm. I called Southwest for the status of both planes - the early one was showing an 8:20pm departure and my flight was still showing 10:30pm. "Oh well", I thought. When the parking shuttle bus dropped me off at the terminal it was completely empty so I was able to fly through security (as much as taking one's shoes, belt, coat and watch off, taking out your laptop computer and ziplock baggie full of toiletry items to put in separate bins and then reassembling everything on the other side will allow you to fly!).

I took a look at the flight board - the earlier flight had "Boarding" listed next to it - hooray! I still have a chance! Gate B11 (no...It couldn't have been B1 or B4 or something closer). I started walking towards the B concourse and I hear an announcement calling 2 or 3 travelers for the flight to Nashville. I start to pick up my pace a bit. I get to the B concourse and there's another announcement calling all last passengers to Nashville. At this point I cradle my duffle bag in my arms and start to sprint down the B concourse.

I made it to the gate panting (I'm used to running long distances - but not at a sprinting pace!). I went to the gate agent and showed my boarding pass and asked "I'm on the later Nashville flight which is delayed...can I get on this one?". Her response surprised me, "No, I'm sorry you can't. The gate door is closed." We were both standing next to the open gate door. "It looks like the gate door is open to me," I said. "Well, it shouldn't be" was her reply and then she went onto the jetbridge and closed the door. I could not believe that just happened!!!!

I walked away from the gate and checked the gate of my flight - A3. I started to walk back through the B concourse. I got about half way through when I heard over the loudspeaker "Those passengers trying to get onto flight 1107 to Nashville, please return to gate B11". I turned around and sprinted again to the gate waving my boarding pass as I got near. It ends up that I was not the only one who had asked to do this, and the gate agents finally had a bit of compassion for us (I think that since the plane had to be de-iced again and was not about to take off made their decision a bit easier).

That's how I got a few more sprints in today :-) I don't recommend this workout to anyone....

FWIW, I'm very glad that they did let me on that flight. When I finally arrived in Nashville - around 10:20pm local time - I asked the gate agent there if my original flight had left Baltimore yet. "No, it is currently scheduled to depart at 12:50am - if it gets out at all. The plane itself has not left Providence, RI yet". Boy, did I luck out!!!!