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Thursday, December 29, 2005

After a day off yesterday

After a day off yesterday to recover both physically and mentally from my 12-miler, I did a quick 5K this afternoon before the Georgia Tech bowl game. (We are currently sucking it up against Utah. Boo.) The good news is that I had a good run! 31:40 for the 5K, which is an impressive 10:13/mile for me -- and that's my pace with hills!

(Though I do have to say -- I wonder if I don't enjoy hills more than the endless flat of Houston. Sure, hills involve going up. But they also involve going down! Up is a challenge, but down is fun; flat can get so monotonous.)

I ran my standard Charlotte route that goes up lovely Queens Road with all the tall trees, and past the park. The last half mile is on Lilac Road, which is an enjoyable downhill section before a final 0.1-mile uphill push to the house. Since I start and finish at the same point, I know that the net elevation of the route is zero, but man -- it sure feels nice ending with that awesome extended Lilac downhill.

I probably won't get to run tomorrow, since Mom's got a full schedule for me and I head to the airport in the evening to head down to Atlanta for a few days before getting back to Texas. But I'm hoping to squeeze in a couple 3-4 mile runs on Saturday, Sunday and/or Monday. Carter's neighborhood is nice for running.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Ha ha!

Ha ha!

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

The best thing about today's

The best thing about today's 12.25-mile run is that it's over.

It was not a good run for me. I don't know whether I was tired (probably), not hydrated enough (maybe), or had just psyched myself out (likely) but I just felt dead. It was also a different time of day -- I've always preferred running in the late afternoon but today I headed out at 10:30 a.m. so that Mom and I could shop after lunch.

I ran this 6-mile route twice, stopping for 3 minutes at my house between loops to use the bathroom and sip some Gatorade. Actually, it was 6.13 miles, so two loops was 12.25 miles.

Loop 1 - 6.13 miles, 1:07:36, 11:02/mile
Break - 3:00
Loop 2 - 6.13 miles, 1:10:01, 11:25/mile

So my total time (excluding the break) was 2:17:37, or 11:14/mile. It was not as strong a run as I'd been hoping for, but coming in at an 11:14/mile average is a minor miracle when I consider how sluggish and generally lethargic I felt. I mean, I felt dead. By the last mile, I was walking 30 seconds for every 2-3 minutes of shuffling.

I have to say, I felt "off" from the start. I just never got into a groove, and my legs felt very heavy. Even slight inclines were doing a number of me, and I considered bailing when I got back to the house after the first loop. "I could try again tomorrow," I thought. But I really wanted to knock this thing out, and so I started out again. The second loop was worse, and I'm actually surprised that I finished as close to the first loop time as I did. As I've always said -- I am horrible at judging my pace! I guess I must have been running at a pretty good clip during the times I was running -- because there were definitely a lot of walking breaks on the second loop.

But I'm glad I got my 12 miles out of the way. It would be tough to feel worse than I did today on January 15 during the Half, so I can take comfort in the knowledge that even if the 15th is a repeat of today, I'll still come in under 2:30:00.

Sunday, December 25, 2005

Merry Christmas! All was well

Merry Christmas!

All was well in Sarah-land for the holiday. Dad made it home late and David overslept, so the breakfast crowd was a little smaller than usual: Mom, Brian, Grandmother, Tomas, and me. Tomas is Brian's friend who didn't have enough vacation to go home for the holiday (he's from Panama), so he spent it with us. We even got him a couple presents.

David and Dad were both here by 10:30 and the present-opening began. I wonder if our family does it calmer than most -- we take turns rather than opening everything all at once. We go around the room in a circle each opening one present and repeating until everyone is done with all of theirs. Katie always wins the present battle; she's always the last one with any left. With her spending the holiday in Seattle with Joel's family, I was able to sneak in and take the "most presents" title, beating Brian by one. David, as the one with the least presents, won the title of "most expensive present" with a very nice pair of Bose headphones. :)

All of my gifts were well-received. I gave Katie a homemade calendar, and the boys and I got together to give her an mp3 player. Joel got a backpacking stove from me (which he might trade for a larger, sturdier version). Mom got exercise pants and a homemade calendar as well. Dad got a book ("The Tipping Point") and a Starbucks gift card. Grandmother got an amaryllis and chocolates, two of her standard gifts. (As she says, "I already have everything!") Brian got an REI gift card, headphones, and a book ("Let My People Go Surfing"). David got an iTunes gift card and the Firefly DVDs.

This is the best -- I bought David the Firefly DVDs not knowing if he'd even seen the show, but thinking that he would like it. On Thursday night while Katie and Joel were opening presents, David turns to me and says "hey, have you heard of that show Firefly?" Laughing inside, I say "yes." He says he liked the movie, and had been watching the TV episodes on Sci-Fi channel, and that he'd seen the DVD set at Best Buy that day and almost bought it. I make every attempt to be totally stealth and offhandedly say "oh, well you can get it after Christmas or borrow mine." Last night he again mentioned it, and pondered using Amazon gift cards to buy it. Mom and I very stealthily nudge him away from the purchase. "But it's not like anyone knows I want it," he says.

Luckily he didn't buy it last night, and we all had a good laugh when he opened the DVDs today. I love it when I am so dead on with someone's gift. :)

As for me, what did I get? Plenty! A backpacking stove, a couple shirts, an ornament. A zip-it purse -- it's a purse made entirely out of a zipper -- it is incredibly funny and cool -- who comes up with this stuff?? A bunch of books (including a cool one on digital sports photography), a Barnes & Noble card to buy more books, a Starbucks card, two DVDs ("Batman Begins" and the "Apollo 13" 10th anniversity edition), and some money from Grandmother (1.4x extender here I come). Brian won bonus points this year with his gifts to me -- a black pearl necklace from China and a calendar that he put together online full of photos from his trip there in October. He even took the time to put captions on each one! It might be my favorite present of all this year, partly because it was so unexpected and yet so cool.

We had a lazy afternoon enjoying our presents, and Mom and I went to see Chronicles of Narnia tonight at the theater. I'd already seen it, but knew Mom would love it so I was more than happy to go see it again. I still need to see King Kong.

I didn't go running today, and won't tomorrow (we'll be busy all day with the big family lunch with Aunt Nancy in Chapel Hill). But Tuesday is the day for 12 miles...

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Christmas Eve is here! It

Christmas Eve is here! It was a beautiful day with a Carolina blue sky. I was up very early (6 a.m.) to ride with Mom to take Katie and Joel to the airport and see them off to Seattle. I went back to bed around 8 and slept for another three hours. Ah, the beauty of vacation.

After a few errands with Mom, I headed out for my run. I decided to up the distance even more since I probably won't run tomorrow (or if I do, only 3 miles). I did 3 miles Thursday, 5 yesterday, and did 7 today along this very picturesque route. There were quite a few sizable hills and I was a bit sluggish, so I took a few walking breaks during the last bit of the bigger hills. Because of that, imagine my surprise to come home, measure the route officially on Gmaps Pedometer, and see that I did 7 miles in 1:13:34 -- 10:31/mile!

Charlotte really seems to bring out the best in my running. I'm sure it has a lot to do with the fact that for each of the past three years when I come home for Christmas, I've been in the final phase of training for a big January event (Half, Full, Half). But still. The weather here is usually my ideal running weather -- sunny, clear and around 50 degrees during the day -- and it's fun to run at home. I'm extremely happy to be back to the point where I can sustain a 10:30 pace over a good distance.

Friday, December 23, 2005

OH! This is for all

OH! This is for all the Firefly and Serenity fans. Katie and Joel and I were driving out to Walmart today, and as we turned a corner I glanced at a sign advertising office space for rent. I wouldn't have thought twice about it -- I'm constantly reading signs just out of habit -- but the name on the sign immediately caught my attention. The name of the person to call with inquiries about office space: Jubal Early.

Friday, December 23, 2005

Running in Charlotte is blissful.

Running in Charlotte is blissful. The streets are pretty, the air seems clearer, and I don't even mind the hills -- at least not too much.

Yesterday Katie and I did 3 miles together in 32:30 (10:50/mile). It was my first run since the 10.7 miles I did last Sunday, so I was definitely due! We headed out as the sun was going down and gabbed the whole time. I'm sure I talked a lot more than she did. :) I like being able to run with her when I'm home. We had early Christmas tonight -- she and Joel got to open all their presents, and we got to open ours from them. They're leaving early tomorrow morning to spend Christmas with his family in Seattle, but we've gotten to hang out together the past two days. Joel fits into our family just like another brother. I'm glad my sister married such a funny guy.

Today I ran alone and followed a 4.5 mile route I found online -- and then modified it for me. (Yay Google Pedometer!) I added a bit here and there and ended up doing 4.9 miles in 51:54, or 10:36/mile. I certainly did not realize I'd been going quite that fast, but was pleasantly surprised when I did the math at the end. That explains why I was feeling pretty tired in spots, especially the uphill portions! Heh.

Since I'm on vacation, I'm hoping to fit in a run almost every day for the next week. I really enjoy running around my neighborhood since I make it back to Charlotte only once or twice a year. It's a very refreshing change of scenery. I know I won't get a run on the 26th because we head up to Chapel Hill for lunch with my aunt, but hopefully every other day.

I'm aiming to do a 12-miler on the 27th. I even found a route online that goes right by my house! Perfect. I used that same website for running routes last year when I was doing marathon training. After Christmas I emailed the webmaster to tell him how much I appreciated his routes; I'm glad to see the site is still there.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Home again, home again, jiggity

Home again, home again, jiggity jog. Charlotte is cold! The pilot came on the speaker last night as the plane descended (half an hour late) to say that the temperature was 26 degrees. I live in Texas now, people. I can't handle it. It is sad and pathetic because I used to like the cold. Now I only like it if I'm running. Brr.

My grandmother just headed to bed and stopped to ask if I was updating my blog. She seemed surprised when I said "yes." Funny.

Not much to say, actually, other than I'm home for the holidays and home is nice. Mom and Katie and I went to the mother/daughter lunch with the Mickles, Easts, and Diehls today so that was fun. Mom and I went to Huntersville to pick up Grandmother, Katie and I went for a run, Joel got here after working his final day before vacation, and we spent the evening eating pizza, playing spoons and Scattergories, and laughing. My family is awesome.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

Santa Claus paid us a

Santa Claus paid us a visit at our faux group meeting.

We then proceeded to follow him down the hall giggling as he greeted everyone and left a trail of "who was that??" behind him.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

I read something recently out

I read something recently out in the running and blogging community written by a guy who is a very accomplished local runner and someone who trains extremely hard. I've never met him in person but I have a lot of respect for his work ethic, running talent, and his dedication to the local running community. But in his comments, he implied that he is upset by runners who aren't on a constant quest for improvement -- runners who don't approach every race with the intention of setting a new personal record at the distance.

Runners like me.

It got me thinking about why I run, and what my goals are. (For the record, I believe this person reads this blog occasionally, and so I hope he'll understand that I'm not trying to use this entry as a retort. I think he actually brought up a very interesting issue.)

If I went into every race with the intention of PRing, my running "career" probably would have lasted about 3 months. I would've run some races, but the first time I didn't PR I would have gotten mad at myself and quit. It's one of my more annoying and frustraing traits. But my running life is now entering its 4th year precisely because I don't try to PR each and every time.

Look -- let's be honest. I'm not built to be a runner, and I don't have natural running talent. I'm never going to be a truly competitive runner, so why kill myself just to get to the point where I can do 7 minute miles? I'd rather stick to a level of running that I can sustain that is happy and enjoyable rather than push myself to the point where I'm not enjoying it just to shave a few minutes off my 5K time.

I think I may be among the minority, at least in the group of Houston runners I've gotten to know over the past year, in thinking that way. And I know there are many runners out there who disagree with my opinion and don't understand why I wouldn't want to keep pushing to be the best I can possibly be, but hey -- that's me, that's my personality. I push myself to the point where I am satisfied, and for me, that is enough.

It's odd, actually, because I can be a very competitive person. But running has become something I do for me, not for anyone else, and I just don't have that desire to go-go-go train-train-train. I don't mean to come off as pessimistic or unmotivated -- I do train, I do try to improve, and I do want to improve.

But I have a limit; there is a line somewhere that I won't cross. It's not a time or pace line as much as it is an "enjoyment" line. There is a point where running ceases to be fun for me. I came close to that point at the end of my marathon training (that 22-miler alone did me in!), and my running suffered this year because of it. So I took a step back and reevaluated (and continue to reevaluate) and that's why I'm doing the Half this year and not the full marathon. I wasn't ready to start training that much, again. Not yet.

I'm ok with that, and in the end, I think most of my runner friends are as well. The one thing that really drew me to the running community, and the one thing that has kept me involved, is that overall I find runners to be some of the most accepting people I've ever met. Most don't care how fast or how far you run, as long as you just run! Period. It's an individual sport and you can get as little or as much as you want out of it -- that's the beauty of running.

~-~

Christmas arrives faster and faster each year. Wasn't it just July, like, yesterday? I'm flying home to Charlotte tonight and am looking forward to some rest and relaxation. I'll be in Atlanta for New Years, and back at work on January 3. Christmas will be different this year because Katie will celebrating in Seattle with Joel and his family. But they don't leave until Saturday so I'll get a couple days to chill with the Chalmers.

~-~

Be nice to your UPS man. He's crazy busy and he deserves it. :)

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

There are two weeks left

There are two weeks left in 2005 and soon it will be official -- this will be the first year since college that I haven't left the country at least once. (Going to Vancouver and Whistler back in March doesn't really count. Canada's just not far enough away.) I had managed to overlook this fact in an attempt to suppress any restlessness, until Josh walked into my office 10 minutes ago to ask me a few questions about Peru. He's thinking of doing the Inca Trail this fall. He was mainly interested in whether he should spend a half day or 2.5 days in Lima, so I chatted about our activities during the day we spent in the Peruvian capital.

Lima wasn't even that nice; on my list of coolest cities visited it ranks pretty low. But as Josh left my office I found myself staring off into space for a moment, deep in memories of our Peru trip. I can't believe we didn't leave the country this year. It's good that I have Patagonia to look forward to in two short months -- otherwise I might go crazy and die of wanderlust.

~-~

Last year I signed up for this little Secret Santa thing where you are randomly assigned someone and buy them something off their Amazon wishlist. I bought someone a present, but never got one in return. Oh well, Christmas is about giving, right? This year I signed up again and last week ordered something for a random girl in Atlanta. I'd sort of forgotten about the "receiving" part until I got a package from Amazon yesterday. "Hmm," I thought, "I thought I made sure that all the gifts I ordered for the family were shipped to Charlotte." But then I opened it and realized it was a present for me! Thank you, random person in Chicago who sent me a Secret Santa gift!

~-~

Yesterday Jen, Jason and I bought season tickets for the Astros. Woohoo, I am once again a season ticket holder! Hope this season goes at least somewhat like last year's. Though I could do without the 15-30 mid-May record. And the World Series sweep.

Monday, December 19, 2005

One final note on my

One final note on my run yesterday in Seabrook -- I saw a ton of other runners. I saw some of them repeatedly. Since it's only a 6-mile out-and-back I can only imagine that many of them were out doing the same thing as me -- training for the Half or Marathon. It was nice to think that we were all in it together!

Today Jen posted one of my favorite shots even taken of me on her photoblog today. I'm sitting on a large rock on the edge of Chasm Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park and looking up at the face of Longs Peak. I love shots of me camping. Somehow they seem more gritty and real.

That sounds weird -- "favorite shots of me." I know a lot of people don't like to have their photo taken, but I don't mind very much. In fact, I sort of like it, if I think it's going to be a good shot. I'm not sure if that makes me vain or not; it's just a personality trait, or something. Anyway. That shot is one of my favorites ever taken of me.

I downloaded the soundtrack for "The Chronicles of Narnia" and have been listening to it all weekend. I have many varied tastes in music, but I always have a soft spot for good, inspiring instrumental pieces. If I had to guess, I'd say it's a result of my many years of band.

Instrumental music can get me going in a way that other music can't. I put a couple movie soundtrack songs (from my two most recent movie soundtrack purchases, "Narnia" and "Serenity") on my mp3 player as I headed out for my long run yesterday. By the time I hit 10 miles I was ready to stop, but suddenly the battle song from "Narnia" came up. Perhaps I should put more good instrumental stuff on my running playlist, because it really got me going! I probably ran the last half mile faster than anything else, though I was slowed slightly by my need to wave my arms as if I were conducting the really good parts...

I suppose I'll know that I've found the guy for me when I can conduct in the air without feeling embarassed. Because that's what I do when I'm alone and a song comes on and I want to emphasize all the good notes. You've heard of air-guitar; well, I air-conduct. I spent too much time following a drum major to not find myself wanting to direct the orchestra in my mp3 player.

I'm sure I was quite a sight -- running down the last bit of the trail towards the pool sweaty, breathless, and waving my arms like a lunatic.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

I am so tired. And

I am so tired. And I think I'm in the pre-cold stage for the bazillionth time this fall. And my knees hurt. And my face is a tiny bit sunburned. BUT I gutted through my long run today. And I mean gutted. I didn't want to do it. I tried to talk myself out of it. But I told myself it was necessary, and so at 11:15 I found myself beginning to run. I told myself I'd go for 2 hours or 10 miles, whichever came first.

I wasn't feeling very motivated at the start, and the fact that the "out" leg involved going into a fairly strong headwind at times didn't help. But in the end, it didn't turn out to be so bad. I ran on the Seabrook trails, from the pool to Pine Gully to the pool to Pine Gully to the pool. Two out-and-backs for a total of what actually turned out to be 10.7 miles. (I knew it was slightly more than 10. Didn't know that "slightly" was close to another mile.) I did the first out-and-back in exactly an hour, and the second slightly faster for a total of 1:59:23, or an 11:09/mile pace. Average heart rate was 184.

I took a few quick walking breaks, both to help myself out and to mimic what I will be doing during the half marathon since I always walk through the water stations. I did 19 minutes running, 1 minute walking four times in a row. I hit a low point and did a 9/1 bit. Then a 14/1 bit. And then ran the final 15 minutes to the end thanks to a good song that queued up on the mp3 player at just the right time to get me through.

I was slightly overdressed. It looked and felt colder when I left than it actually was (due to the fact that the sun came out just as I began the run). It was probably in the upper 50s at the end of my run, and I'd dressed for upper 40s. I was wearing capris, a long sleeve shirt, and gloves. The gloves came off after the first hour and I just carried them the rest of the way.

One more long run and I'll be ready for the Half! My plan had been to do 11 next Sunday and 12 the following Sunday. Well, since those Sundays are Christmas and New Years Day, it probably won't happen. I will probably compromise and do 12-13 miles on the 27th or 28th...

(Oh yeah, and yesterday I did my scheduled 45 minutes of cross-training on the elliptical. I thought about running, but the weather was nasty.)

Friday, December 16, 2005

Cari, Chris and I went

Cari, Chris and I went to see "Narnia" on Wednesday night. I got there first, so I just went ahead and bought all three tickets. I emailed them both yesterday asking them to transfer the $8.25 back to my bank account. When you transfer the money, you have the opportunity to write a note or description of the transaction that shows up both on your statement and on the person you're transferring the money to. I was just balancing my checkbook and saw the following:

DATE         DESCRIPTION         AMOUNT
12/15/2005   narnia              8.25
             STAR-PC
12/15/2005   i want a unicorn    8.25
             STAR-PC

I'll let you guess whose deposit is whose.

Today I got an actual paper ticket in the mail for our flight from Buenos Aires to El Calafate in February. We're really going to Patagonia. Yippee!

Friday, December 16, 2005

The San Jose Earthquakes are

The San Jose Earthquakes are officially moving to Houston! I'm excited about having major league soccer in town. I wonder how much season tickets will cost? They should be playing their first season at the University of Houston stadium, so it's actually closer than the Astros.

Too bad Landon Donovan isn't still with them. We could've actually made good on our offer to give him a tour of NASA when his team moved to Houston...

Yesterday I worked 11.5 hours, thanks to the sim I backseated last night. It was my last as backseat. From here on out I sit hot seat, starting next Tuesday. Of course, next Tuesday's sim is a little different and will be one run, which will be uphill, since it's a post-insertion sim. (To do post-insertion, you have to insert, which means no abort, so why do you really need the ARD in the first place, eh?) My first "real" sim is the Thursday after New Years.

Great. I will go home for two weeks, forget everything I've learned, and then have to sit console for the first "real" time. Great.

Anyway, I got home tired and then vented with Becca for an hour or so. That's always fun. (Seriously, it is.)

And finally, a new JibJab cartoon celebrates 2005...

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Sigh. Sigh sigh sigh. Today,

Sigh. Sigh sigh sigh. Today, for the first time in a while, I felt like I was talking to a brick wall. It was upsetting. I felt very strongly about the topic but was being watched with uncomprehending (or maybe just unsympathetic) eyes.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

This commercial for the Sony

This commercial for the Sony Bravia TV is by far the coolest commercial I've seen in a long time. It's not CGI either. They actually sent 250,000 superballs bouncing along the streets of San Francisco.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Random. I happened to look

Random.

I happened to look at my photoblog site stats this morning (which I hardly ever do) and saw that I'd gotten a few hits from a message board. I went there to check it out (use login name "Veller", password "Hello", thanks Bugmenot!) and it turns out that it's a message board string about a hand sign someone is calling "The Annie" that is actually the Hook 'em Horns sign. And because of that, some girl apparently hotlinked to this photo on my photoblog.

Random. I think this is the first time I've seen a photo of mine show up in a completely unexpected place.

Anyway. I've thrown myself a bit off my half marathon training schedule in the past couple weeks, partly because of laziness (like not going for my long run on Sunday and putting it off until Monday) and partly because of work (I'll be here until 9:00 tonight for a sim, so no running for me tonight).

I'm hoping to make my "departure" from the schedule as non-impact as possible by sticking to the important runs. After bailing on Sunday, I already mentioned how I did my long run on Monday. Well, that meant that I wasn't in much of a mood, or rather, my legs weren't in much of a mood, to do my scheduled 3.5 miles yesterday. So I skipped it.

I promised to get back on track today with my speed session, knowing already that I won't be able to run tomorrow night because of work. Then: torrential rains all afternoon yesterday. Scary stuff. Lightning, flash flooding on the roads, tornado watches, etc. Not a good day to run outside.

SO I did my speedwork on the dreadmill. I mean, treadmill. And it actually went ok. For some reason I find that I have to slow down a bit when I run on the 'mill, so I decided to make my intervals time-based instead of distance-based. After a 1-mile (12:00 pace) warmup, I did 45 minutes of intervals. Nine sets of 5 minutes each, where I ran the first two minutes at 6.7 mph (a hair under 9:00 pace) and the next 3 minutes at 4.5 mph (13:20 pace) to recover. Overall I think the strategy did a decent job of approximating the ~2:10/3:20 400m run/jog repeats I did the last time. I finished with an abbreviated 2/3 mile cooldown (12:00 pace again).

Overall I covered less distance, but the 8:57 pace is slower than I'd have been doing on the trail outside. The treadmill just slows me down somehow. Who knows. Anyway, total distance covered was 5.68 miles, so after taking out the 1.68 of warmup and cooldown, my intervals covered 4 miles total. If I'd done the true 9x400 repeats outside it'd have been 4.5 miles. So, not too far off. I was happy with the workout.

I'll run a few miles on Saturday and then try for 10 on Sunday and hopefully I'll be back on schedule! I have to say -- having a schedule (as well as knowing the running bloggers are keeping tabs on me) has been really helpful on the motivation front...

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

After mentioning how much cash

After mentioning how much cash I had to drop yesterday for a plane ticket, I might as well mention what the plan is. There is always a plan. Dum dum dummmmmmm. To help everyone out, I have created this handy dandy illustrated guide to the upcoming trip.

At the moment, "we" are Becca, Jen, Gavin, Karen, me, and possibly Emily. And maybe possibly slight chance of Jose, if he's not broke. Anyway.

On February 17 after work we will catch a plane from Houston to Buenos Aires. Argentina! Yeah! After a day in the city, we will catch another plane from Buenos Aires to El Calafate, still in Argentina, but waaaaaay down at the bottom of the world:

See? Very exciting. It's practically Antartica, only better, with mountains and funny animals!

From February 19 until February 27 we will be in Patagonia, a place that has been calling to me for a while now. We will visit El Parque Nacional Los Glaciares and see...los glaciares!

Then we will cross the border into Chile and go to the single place that has been calling to me the most, Torres Del Paine. I mean, just look:

See? SO AWESOME.

We will also see these:

On February 27 I will probably cry as I have to get on a plane in Punta Arenas to fly up to Santiago, Chile. We will spend that day in Santiago before boarding a plane that night to come back to Houston via Atlanta.

I am muy excited. Don't you want to come along?

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

This morning I backseated a

This morning I backseated a sim with Marc, and he let me / made me take the last run in the hot seat. It was my first official run and... I didn't crash the shuttle! Hurrah!

Thankfully it was a pretty calm run, relatively speaking. (Or at least relative to the 3rd run which featured an SSME stuck in the bucket, then drifting, then out behind a data path, then another engine out, a progressively increasing Item 9 dump, TAL, a manifold fail, chasing throttles, and a mass update!)

Anyway, on my run: there was a hot bucket (but everything updated as it should), BFS engaged in first stage (so I had to check IYs based on the yaw rate), an OMS engine failed (but before OMS assist so there was no delta OMS), and the center SSME suffered hydraulic lockup around 5:00 (but no drift). The right engine went out as well, but only a bit ahead of MECO so there was no real impact to the ARD.

And if you just understood all that and know what to do, congratulations, you can be an ARD! Heh. I really just wanted to write it all down to see how it sounded. Sounds like Greek, eh? Scary that I am actually starting to understand.

In other news, I just spent $850 on a plane ticket to South America! Patagonia here I come. :)

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

I was a lazy bum

I was a lazy bum (relatively speaking) on Sunday and skipped my scheduled long run, so I promised myself that I would do it last night. Otherwise I'd miss it entirely, and that wasn't a good option. So I headed out from work a tad early to do three laps on the Gilruth trail. I timed it just perfectly -- any later and the first half of my last lap (the wooded part) would have been completely dark. As it was, there was just enough light left for me to run without turning an ankle.

The Gilruth trail is 2.9 miles (wish they could find a way to add a tenth), so my splits are a bit wacky. I decided to just hit my watch on the miles, or else I'd never know exactly where I was after the first loop. Then about a half mile into the second loop, the battery in my mp3 player died! I'd forgotten to change it! Argh!!

Fortunately, no sooner than the battery died, David (the guy I met at the Reindeer Run a couple weekends ago) ran up from behind me. We ended up running the rest of my second loop together and chatting, so it turned out that the dead headphones weren't the end of the world. :)

As he headed inside for a bathroom break, I added a tenth of a mile to my second loop to stop by my car to pick up a fresh battery. That made the second loop an even 3 miles.

First Loop:
Mile 1 - 11:00
Mile 2 - 10:55
Final .9 - 9:38
(31:33 loop)

Second Loop:
Mile 1 - 10:52
Mile 2 - 11:12 (chatting with my new friend David)
Mile 3 - 11:45 (a full mile, including a pause at my car to get a new battery for my mp3 player!)
(33:49 loop)

Third Loop:
Mile 1 - 10:46
Mile 2 - 11:03 (including a pause to gulp from the water fountain)
Final .9 - 9:18
(31:07 loop)

Totals:
8.8 miles
1:36:31
10:58/mile
183 average heart rate

I'm really happy with the run. Almost 9 miles (my training schedule called for 8), which is farther than I've run since, well, the marathon last January. I'm feeling good about the upcoming Half. It'd still take a miracle for me to equal my two 2:15 halfs of 2004, but I'm thinking that my 11:00/mile goal may just be doable.

Best part? I felt good for the entire run tonight, and I didn't take any walking breaks! It was only in the last 1.5 miles that I started to tighten up -- my hips started to ache in that vaguely familiar way that I remember from marathon training -- the ache that says "wow, Sarah, you've made us poor legs and hips run farther than we have recently..."

Hooray for good long runs.

Monday, December 12, 2005

I'll just call this entry

I'll just call this entry "Fun with Photos of the HRBers!" Here are the Houston Running Bloggers (all but a couple of us) at Run The Woodlands on Saturday morning:

Then today, I caught most of the HRBers that ran the Jingle Bell Run (I was shooting for Karen), including...

Speedy Sam:

Gavin's dad Mike (not a blogger, but still):

Lisa, the race's resident celebrity (she was #1! I wanna be #1! guess I'll have to go into broadcasting):

Cassie:

Waverly:

And finally, Jon and Joe Paterno (and Jon ran the 30K only hours before this race -- he's crazy!):

My camera missed Keith, but he was in the crowd as well. I saw everyone, and Jessica, at the finish, where I also got to manhandle a 400mm lens that Bryant (another photographer) had rented. Oooooooooh it was big. Ooooooooh it was niiiiiice.

I wish I could send you all prints, but they belong to Karen. Visit her site to buy them!

Saturday, December 10, 2005

We had a grand ol'

We had a grand ol' time at Run The Woodlands this morning. It was the self-proclaimed "Bloggers Edition" and almost everyone made it out: Jon and Waverly, Cassie and Manny, Jessica, Jen, Edwin, Joe, and Keith. Even Steve and Holden came out to volunteer and cheer while saving their legs for the 30K tomorrow. (The links to their blogs are all in the sidebar -- I'm too lazy to do it again here!) Add Gavin and Mike (Gavin's dad) to that list and I knew almost half of the runners in attendance. Not bad for my first appearance at the race. :)

I've always liked the idea behind Run the Woodlands and like it more after having run one -- it's a 5K held on the 2nd and 4th Saturday of each month. There's no formal registration, no t-shirts, no prizes, and no hype. Just put $1 in the bucket (which covers Gatorade, timing, and the little stuff) and off you go. There were 35 finishers this morning, I think. As for me, well, I had a great race, my best in a long while.

It wasn't quite as cold as I'd expected, so the temperature was my version of ideal -- hovering around 50 degrees at the start. The race begins at an elementary school and starts with two laps around the parking lot before heading out for a large loop around the neighborhood. My initial plan had been to keep Cassie and Manny in my sights, figuring they'd run something like 30:00. I quickly discovered two problems with this plan. First, the path was curvy enough and the trees were thick enough that I couldn't consistently keep tabs on people more than a hundred feet or so ahead of me. Second, Cassie and Manny were flying!

As they pulled farther and farther away, I decided to focus on a girl in front of me wearing a knit hat and going about my pace. I followed her until somewhere around 1.25 miles where she suddenly paused, not sure which way to go. She looked at me, and I laughed, saying "I don't know which way to go either!" She laughed as well -- she'd been counting on me to tell her if she went off course, I'd been counting on her to lead me in the right direction. We decided to go straight, which was the most obvious choice and ended up being the right one.

Now that we were side by side, we starting chatting. Her name was Alexa and she's only been running for 3 months so far -- today's 5K was her first race ever. I thought that was pretty cool, so we talked a lot about running and why we each started doing it, and what we liked about it. I told her about training for the marathon and she said something like "wow, I can't imagine ever doing that." I replied with "yeah, that's what I thought when I first started running too -- you'd be surprised what you eventually start thinking of doing!" I really enjoyed running with her. She'd never run more than about 2 miles before, so having me there helped keep her going. And she was slightly faster than me, so having her there kept me going. We stayed together for the rest of the race until she pulled slightly ahead of me at the end to finish strong in front of her family (who were all there waiting for her). I felt good the whole way, breathing hard but not hard enough that talking was impossible. I could have picked up the pace a bit, but was having fun with Alexa.

Next thing I knew, we were turning back into the school parking lot and about to hit the finish. I glanced at my watch and was surprised. My final time? 31:21! That's a 10:07/mile average! (My best average pace in months, over any distance.) I was really excited, and felt even better when I overheard Jon comment to someone that "wow, that's a great finish for Sarah!" Better yet is the knowledge that I still had something left -- I felt good enough and strong enough at the end that I know I could have finished even faster.

After the race, Jon invited all of the HRBers to his house for breakfast and we got to all hang out and talk. It was a lot of fun (thanks for having us Jon!), and I got to hear about everyone else's run this morning. A lot of us had good days -- Edwin, Jessica, Jon and Waverly all set PRs I think. Cassie had her best 5K since her ITB injury, and beat Jon by a second (it was the orange shirt, Jon)! Jen had a nice run to stretch her legs before doing the 30K tomorrow. Keith tacked the 5K onto the end of an 11-mile run to get in his distance for the day. Gavin ran an great 21:30 (though he didn't come to breakfast).

I loved the race and loved the course. If The Woodlands were only a little closer to Clear Lake I'd run this race as often as possible!

Friday, December 09, 2005

I've been a slacker this

I've been a slacker this week. After my 7-mile run on Sunday, I skipped my scheduled Tuesday run and didn't do any cross-training on Wednesday. Yesterday the cold weather was not exactly inspiring, but I knew I needed to run! So I hit the treadmill. The dreaded treadmill. I won't even bother to rehash how much I hate the treadmill -- if you've read my blog for a while, you know.

I resolved to run for 3 miles at whatever pace felt comfortable, so I ended up at about 34:30 or an 11:30/mile average. Closer to 12:00 for the first mile, closer to 11:00 for the last. My legs felt pretty tight so I decided not to push it any more than that.

From there it was back home for a quick shower and off to my branch's Christmas party. It was fun and funny as it usually is, though my gift got stolen -- twice. I ended up with hot chocolate mix and pancake mix. Could've been worse.

I've got quite the weekend planned. I'm spending tonight at Gavin's parents house (along with Gavin and Jen) so that I can go do tomorrow's Run the Woodlands: Bloggers Edition 5K. It is going to be cold. Brrrr. Tomorrow night is the annual holiday boat parade down in Kemah, then on Sunday I'm shooting the Jingle Bell 5-Miler and playing soccer. Sometime between all that I'm attempting to turn the Air Babes/AE Female Mafia into a comic book page.

For those of you that know me, Becca, Karen and Jen -- what should each of our powers be? I want something Batman-ish, i.e. no telepathy or anything like that. I want each of us to have some cool gadget, you know, that we could've used our mad engineering skills to have made...

Thursday, December 08, 2005

JSC decorates for Christmas --

JSC decorates for Christmas -- lights and banners and such. They also put four of those wooden, light-up deer out at the main guard shack, the kind that move their heads and stuff. Today as we came back from lunch, two of them were lying on their sides. "Robot deer down! I repeat: robot deer down!" George called gleefully.

See? That is a lunch conversation.

I'm currently trying to figure out if I have enough hours for the week to leave at 4. That would give me just enough time to go running for half an hour, shower, find a white elephant gift, and make it to the branch Christmas party at 6:30. The other issue? Whether to run outside or on the treadmill. It is COLD here today -- and I really do mean cold, not Houston cold. It's 38 degrees outside at 3:30, and the wind chill is 26! (I love having a weather station on top of my building.)

Treadmill it will be. I didn't bring warm enough clothes for 26!

And finally, a couple thoughts on baseball:

+ The Astros have parted ways with Roger Clemens, at least until May 1. They didn't offer him salary arbitration. He can retire, or he can sign with anybody else. It's sad and unfortunate after the past two awesome seasons, but it was necessary. The Astros were paralyzed by Carlos Beltran last year, and can't afford to let the same thing happen with Clemens. If Rocket can't commit, the Astros need to start looking to spend that $20 million now, while there are good free agents still available.

+ The Braves signed Edgar Renteria to replace Rafael Furcal. I'm impressed!

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

After too many months of

After too many months of getting in the habit of eating out, we have resolved to start packing lunches again (except Fridays of course). As we walked down to lunch today, I wondered where Rich was...

Me: Oh, so now that we're eating in the cafeteria again, Rich is too good to eat with us?
George: No, he's going to eat with his other friends.
Me: I see how it is.
George: He said he feels guilty for not eating with them as much anymore.
Me: Well they could all come and sit with us. His friends are nice enough.
George: No.
Me: (assuming he's joking, I laugh) Oh wait -- you're serious? No?
George: Yeah, I'm serious. They always talk about politics or religion and get into deep debates and arguments. It's annoying. I don't want to talk about serious stuff at lunch.

Later as we sit enjoying our food and chatting...

Me: So this movie called Silent Hill is coming out in the spring and there's a contest for it. You design the movie poster and if you win, it gets printed and put on display in theaters.
Matt: Don't you need to know what the movie is about before you make a poster?
Me: It's a horror movie. Duh. Can't you tell from the name?
Matt: No. Silent Hill? That could be anything! It could be a war movie, or a chick flick, or anything.
Bini: I dunno, it sounds like a horror movie title.
Me: Yeah, I mean, if it were a war movie it would be Bloody Hill. Sci-fi, you know, Alien Hill. A chick flick would have to be Running-Through-The-Wildflowers Hill...
George: (laughing) See? This is a lunch conversation.

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

One of the best things

One of the best things in the entire world is not sleeping. Rather, it's that moment in the morning after you've woken up when you hit the snooze button, roll over, snuggle the covers up around your head, and sink back into the bed. That is one of the best things in the entire world.

Of course, it's something I've been experiencing a little bit too often lately. After working 9.5 hours yesterday thanks to my morning sim, I stumbled in today just after 9:00. Without coffee, since I'm trying very hard to limit my Starbucks intake. And that's when I remembered that I'm out of coffee filters for the machine here in the office. Sigh.

The good news is that I may be closing in on resolving my neural net's issues -- the sim versus the real world. Or actually, the sim of the sim versus the sim of the real world. Too many sims.

I was just reading a bit on a graphic design blog and came across one of my biggest pet peeves: people who write "loose" when they mean "lose." They are two entirely different words. And it's a design blog! You're in a career that's all about appearances! Learn to spell, or at least use spell-checker!

This concludes my rambling.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Three things that have caught

Three things that have caught my eye lately:

+ Candy Cane for Your Portrait
I love little projects like this. I would love to work up the guts to do something like this myself. I considered what Houston location would work well for something like this, since it would need to be a place that has a lot of pedestrian traffic. Sadly my little piece of suburbia wouldn't suffice, however, setting up outside, say, an Astros game would be awesome. Must file the idea away for next season. Baseball Card for Your Portrait?

+ Understanding Local Max
"You've got a very good job... To do better, you'd either have to move to another firm, move to another town, switch careers or go back to school. And all of them have costs and very uncertain returns, so you stay."

+ 2006 Winter Olympics medals
I think they are the coolest. Seriously. They're unique, they're simple, and they're extremely eye-catching. I like the way the ribbon runs through the center, and how there is text imprinted on the thin edge of each (not visible in the photo in that article). They're elegant.

And one irritation:

+ Why, for the love of all things good and wholesome, why won't my headset just stay on my ear? In the course of a 4-hour sim, the damn thing fell off my ear at least half a dozen times.

Monday, December 05, 2005

We have one last extra

We have one last extra credit opportunity in my graphic design class. I'm not sure if I have the time to do it, but heck, you guys know that I'm going to at least give it a shot. Here's the prompt; I need some ideas for a story!

Overview: Create an original Comic Book (or Graphic Novel) page in Adobe Illustrator. Create the story, the text, the ambience, and the characters yourself.

Details: The page can be any other page except the front or back cover. Include enough comic book elements to make a professional publish-quality page. Include several panels separated by gutters. Include elements like narration boxes, thought bubbles, and dialog bubbles. Play with the standard elements of comic design. The standard comic book dimension is 10"h x 7"w.

Monday, December 05, 2005

Unfortunately I had to run

Unfortunately I had to run yesterday before the cold front came through, so it was muggy and warm. It did rain a bit during the run which was cooling, but not enough.

I did 7 miles in 1:20:25, or 11:29/mile, with an average heart rate of 183. However, this 7-miler could easily be divided into two very different halves. The first was great! As I pulled into the parking lot next to the park where the trails begin, I saw Stephanie running past. (She's also training for the half.) I waved her over, quickly got set to go, and we ended up running my first half hour (and her last half hour) together. That half hour, and the 10 minutes after she pulled off to go home, were great -- I felt pretty good. But around 40 minutes, something just died. I took a ton of short walking breaks in the second 40 minutes of my run, probably 5-6 minutes cumulative time. While the first 40 minutes were probably somewhere around a solid 11:00 pace, the last 40 had to have been more like 12:00/mile.

I can't even explain it. I just felt dead. Maybe it's from the intervals I did on Wednesday or the 5K of Saturday.

Regardless, I'm happy that I at least covered the distance. My training schedule said 6 miles, but I pushed through to 7 since I've been feeling better this week. I was secretly hoping that my leg issues would go away as they have before, and miraculously, they have. And so suddenly. Last Sunday's long run was filled with pain, but I haven't experienced it since. It's so frustrating, because now I feel like it couldn't have been all that bad if it disappeared so quickly! But it was. Bad.

Sunday, December 04, 2005

My final graphic design class

My final graphic design class is Monday, and our final assignment was to do a technical illustration. I chose to do a T-38, the astronaut training jet.

Here's my photo:

And here's my illustration:

I've been staring at it long enough that my eyes have gone a little buggy, so if there's anything out-of-place or odd-looking, let me know. Here is a larger version if you really wanna inspect it...

Saturday, December 03, 2005

I'm sitting here working on

I'm sitting here working on homework while watching the Big 12 Championship. If you are a Colorado fan, I'm sorry. Your team is being slaughtered. It's 70-3. And there's still 7 minutes left. In the third quarter. And Texas just pulled their starting quarterback and is now giving the backup some experience. Wow. This is a massacre.

Saturday, December 03, 2005

Reindeer Run 5K

Rich, Gavin and I did the Reindeer Run this morning, a 5K held only a mile and a half away from my apartment. It's one of my favorite runs to do each year because it has a nice course, is well-organized, and has a happy fun "small neighborhood gathering" feel, even though it draws 500 runners.

In years past I remember this race being very cold, but unfortunately Houston has not gotten the "IT'S DECEMBER NOW!!" memo this year and this morning's weather was 75 degrees -- and muggy.

Despite the weather, I was able to get close to my amended (as of Thursday) goal time and turn in my best 5K time in recent memory: 32:45.

I covered mile 1 in 10:52 as I eased into the race and saw how my legs were doing (good!). Just after mile 1, I heard a "hi" next to me and looked over to see a man that I've been seeing a lot out on the Gilruth trail lately -- we've both been running out there after work. We introduced ourselves and chatted for the entire second mile before he pulled ahead again. He's also training for the half marathon and was actually doing the course 3 times to make a 9-mile run. He'd done one lap before the race, was using the race as his second lap, and then planned to do one more. He'd finished his first lap slightly late and so he started the race a couple minutes behind everyone else. He caught up to me, slowed to my pace for a mile, then took off again.

I felt pretty tired during the second mile and figured I'd probably sped up a bit running with David, but it turns out that I was probably just breathing harder because I was talking! The second mile passed in 10:54, so as David pulled ahead I resolved to do the final mile in something more like 10:30.

The muggy air started to get to me around the 2.5-mile point and I had to do a few minutes of my "don't walk don't walk don't walk" chant. (Thursday's run was the first in a long time that I'd done entirely without a walking break, a feat that I repeated today; my fitness level is finally getting back to where it used to be!) As I turned the corner to cover the final .15 miles, I felt ever-so-slightly sick, but I managed to cross the line in 32:45 -- I ran the last 1.1 mile segment in 11:00 flat, or a 10:00/mile pace. I was pretty happy about that.

I turned to walk back to meet Gavin, who finished in just over 24:00, and before I could even get the tenth of a mile back to where Gavin was, Rich came across in 34:15. That's an awesome time for him, especially since he said he was going to run 12:00 miles. Yeah right. :)

I saw a bunch of other coworkers while we milled around afterwards. During the last mile there were two girls about 100 feet ahead of me that I was focusing on, hoping to catch them. I didn't quite make it, but after the race I saw them again and it turns out one of them was Erin (who works in my division)! I hadn't recognized her from the back, and didn't even figure it out until I mentioned my time and she said "oh, you finished right behind us!" I paused, walked around behind her and her friend Alicia, and laughed. "Yep -- I was trying to catch you!!" I said.

Floyd was also there (I see him a lot), as well as Charlie with his kids. This race has a ton of stuff for kids to do, including a petting zoo. Yes, a petting zoo. They had some goats, and a calf, and a deer, and a couple chickens, and a llama. I was so amused.

All in all it was another fun Reindeer Run, and I'm feeling happy with my running heading into next week's Blogger Meetup at Run the Woodlands!

Friday, December 02, 2005

I'd planned to go out

I'd planned to go out last night and do a 3-mile run at 11:00/mile pace. I wanted to see if I could do that pace consistently without leg pain after running Tuesday (12:30/mile) and Wednesday (speed work) with only twinges of pain -- nothing like what was affecting me over the past month.

I started out right on target and was feeling so good at mile 1 that I decided to pick it up a bit. I thought about Sam's run the other day where he did 3 miles in 7, 6, and then 5 minutes (damn that's fast) and ruefully thought "I couldn't even do an 11-10-9 minute progression. Maybe 11-10:30-10..." And I was feeling good enough that I decided to go for it.

The result? A total 3-mile time of 31:25 with an average heart rate of 176 which broke down into:

1 - 11:04
2 - 10:34
3 - 9:47!!

Yes, a 10:28/mile average and a 9:47 final mile! And I wasn't dead at the end either. I felt good. Strong. Breathing hard, but not out of control. It felt good. It was just the run I needed heading into Saturday's Reindeer Run 5K. My goal time for Saturday had been 34:00, but after last night I have to admit that I'm going to try for last night's pace -- and a finish time more like 32:30. Even if I can't do it on Saturday (it's supposed to be warmer outside) I'm pumped about last night.

Thursday, December 01, 2005

I'm trying to make up

I'm trying to make up my Christmas list to pass on to Mom, and I'm actually having trouble. What should I ask for?? Has anybody heard me mention wanting something lately that I didn't just go out and buy?

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Ok, this is going to

Ok, this is going to make me sound like an idiot, but last night I finally figured out how to use the lap timer on my heart rate monitor (which I've had for almost two years) and more importantly, recall the data afterwards. Better late than never, right?

I did my second speed workout, and changed things a bit from the first one that I did two weeks ago. Then, I did 5x400 with 400 recovery, with the speed 400s at ~1:50 and the recoveries ~4:00 walking. Last night I did 7x400 with 400 recovery, but changed my pacing. I did the speed repeats in ~2:10, and jogged the recoveries instead of walking them.

I did discover afterwards that my measurements are a bit off. I run on a trail between the 1-mile and 1.25-mile markers, and it turns out that the 1.25-mile marker is short by about 20 meters. So...my workout was really more like 7x380. Close enough.

(Rich had suggested the marker was off on Tuesday, and it turns out he was right according to Gmaps pedometer. But the 1-mile marker and the 1.5-marker, where I turn around when I'm doing 3 miles, are both correctly placed.)

1 mile warmup - 12:05

7x400 speed intervals / 400 jogging recovery
2:05 / 3:17
2:05 / 3:20
2:10 / 3:24
2:09 / 3:22
2:08 / 3:28
2:09 / 3:23
2:06 / 3:12

1 mile cooldown - 12:02

My average heart rate over the entire 1:02:23 workout (5.5 miles which actually comes out to 11:21/mile -- which is actually not a bad overall average! -- perhaps I should run all my races as "speed" workouts!) was 176.

Others are starting to answer Jon's end-of-year running questionnaire, so I'll take a shot as well:

What were your top 10 events in 2005?

Ten is a lot, and will include more than half of the races I've done this year (since I've done about 15). The links will take you to my blog entry about the event. My rankings are far more based on my particular feelings about an event and how I ran than how well the event was organized. Oh, and a couple of them aren't running.

1) Houston Marathon (January 16, Houston). First of all, I did it!! My first marathon! And I met my goal time of 5 hours! I've never been prouder of myself than I was that day. :)

2) Rodeo Run 10K (February 26, Houston). I set my 10K PR at that race, a performance that came more or less out of the blue. The weather was crappy, I almost missed the start, and yet I still set a PR. Weird.

3) Marine Corps Marathon 8K (October 30, Washington DC). I always love doing races in other cities because the change of scenery is so nice. The course for the 8K wasn't very exciting (mostly it was a long route around the Pentagon) but I really liked the finish. Climbing the hill to the Iwo Jima memorial was exhilirating, even if the hill itself sucked. After finishing the 8K I watched a lot of the marathon, which was also fun.

4) Yuri's Night 5K (April 9, Webster). Shameless bit of self-promotion for the race I organize. ;) In 2005 we had ~120 runners. In 2006 I'd love to hit 200.

5) St. John's Reindeer Run 5K (December 3, Nassau Bay). Ok, this run hasn't actually happened yet but I'm listing it anyway because it's one of the runs I look forward to most each year. This will be my 4th year to run it. I enjoy the course (the neighborhood is one of my two favorite places to run in Clear Lake), I like the foam reindeer antlers they give you, and it's well-organized. It also has sentimental value since it's the race where I set my 5K PR back in 2003. Haven't matched 29:18 since.

6) Uptown Turkey Trot 10K (November 24, Houston). The first race in Houston that I've done 4 times, i.e. every year since I moved here. I think the course has changed every year, but I like the festive atmosphere on the morning of Thanksgiving as everyone is happy to be with friends and family and have the day off work.

7) MS150 (April 16-17, Houston to Austin). Not running, but still a great event. It was my second year doing the ride, and I rode with Team Mission Control. It was just as fun as the first year, and I've already signed up for 2006.

8) Houston Urban Adventure Race (July 30, Houston). This would rank higher on the list if the weather hadn't been so awful. Just imagine: July. Houston. Even though the race began in the evening and finished after dark, it was HOT and HUMID. I walked more than I ran, I think. Regardless, it was still a really fun event that involved running, biking, and figuring out the fastest way to get from place to place to pick up clues. Oh, and it started on the field at Minute Maid Park! I definitely want to do it again in 2006.

9) Seabrook Marathon Relay (March 13, Seabrook). I'm not sure I'd want to do the full marathon since it's four laps of the same thing. But doing one lap as a member of a relay team was quite enjoyable. The Seabrook trail is one of my two favorite places to run in Clear Lake even though I don't run it very often.

10) Koala 20K Relay (October 16, Houston). This race finally got me running again after a long summer of slacking off and being completely unmotivated. The course is boring, but I turned in a good performance, 11:00/mile, and I finally met Cassie.

What one person - or more than one, if necessary - inspired you to achieve more this year or to perservere or endure more as a runner?

This is a tough one because after about March, it really wasn't a very good year for me and running. For most of the summer I was really suffering from lack of motivation, lack of inspiration, and a general feeling of being burned out after working so hard up to and just after the marathon. But getting to know the group of people now known as the Houston Running Bloggers inspired me to start running regularly again this fall. So that's something.

What are some of your goals for 2006?

+ Run the Houston Half Marathon on January 15 and finish under 2:30:00. This is a far cry from my 2:15 half marathons in early 2004 (in Houston and Austin), but I haven't trained as well this year.
+ Ride the MS150 and actually train for it this time. That means doing at least a couple long (40+ mile) training rides instead of just gutting through the two days without training. I figure training will make my butt and legs much happier come the actual ride.
+ Do at least one triathlon, hopefully Olympic distance (I've only done sprint distance before). Hopefully more than one triathlon. I really enjoy them.
+ THE BIG ONE: Maintain at least some level of running fitness over the summer (unlike the past two summers) so that when October rolls around and I want to start running regularly again, I can do so without all the pain and agony and frustration!!