Sunday, 10.12 - 17 miles: Chalk it Up

Laura and I volunteered for 10 hours yesterday at Artpace’s Chalk It Up festival. Nearly 12,000 people showed up to view chalk drawing and creations along historic Houston Street. Laura and I were volunteer coordinators and sticker passer outers. We spent the latter part of our day assisting a photographer who was using a ladder to get an areal picture of every piece of “chalk” work. We then helped with clean up. It’s safe to say that we were exhausted once we got home and even more exhausted now.

Friday, Laura and I both agreed that we needed a change in venue for our five mile run. Running our weekday runs in the neighborhood is simply convenient. It’s clearly mapped out and we are obviously familiar with the routes. However, it does get redundant and quite simply boring after running the same routes over and over. So a simple fix was to find a different path. We decided to head out to a section on River Road that runs along the Guadalupe River. My father-in-law has taken me on a bike ride that included this stretch and I thought it would be the perfect setting for Laura and me. We parked one car at a road side store at the end of our route and drove five miles up river to the start of our route. I didn't expect it to get dark so quickly but the moonlight gave us a perfect amount of lighting and the flies that flew in our mouths gave us the needed fuel...It got a little creepy, but it was the perfect change that we needed.

Today, Laura ran 14 straight miles during my 17 miler! She didn’t have any pain but didn’t want to push it too far. This being her first Sunday run since her injury, I was really impressed!!! Now running 18 miles next Sunday won’t be as overwhelming since she did 14 today. She is really happy about returning to our normal running schedule and I’m more thrilled to have my running buddy back! -A

Thursday, 10.09 – 8 miles: Cliff Bar

Nice run today. Laura did four mile after she got off work and finished without any pain! I’m really hopeful that she will make a full recovery. Laura’s goal for Sunday’s long run is to go 10 miles with no pain. This should determine if she is fully recovered.


My goal for Sunday and here on out, is concentrating on hydrating, fueling and carb loading. So far we’ve been pretty disciplined in this area except for incorporating protein during our long runs. This Sunday, I’m going to use Cliff Bar during the 17er. I’ve used CB in climbing, hiking and cycling and the taste isn’t bad. Plus, a friend suggested it. Luckily, Laura loves to cook and she has been cooking pasta and other carb enriched meals during the week. I’m lucky to have her to cook for us because otherwise, it would be mac and cheese or roman noodles. -A

Tuesday, 10.07 – 5 miles: La's back!!!

Yesterday was a great run! I ran mile one solo and the rest of the five miles with Laura!!! Her return was well anticipated and a pleasant relief that she completed with no severe pain. Her Achilles tendon wasn’t giving her a problem but she did feel some tightness in her left calf. We are going to monitor it over the next few runs and then make a judgment call. We feel that she will be able to determine how well she is once she runs 8 to 10 miles this week. If no sign of serve pain returns this week then she’ll be ready to return to the normal running schedule for week 10.

The good thing for Laura is that she is cardiovascularly prepared to run 26.2. However, it’s not quite clear if she is physically prepared. If the pain returns in these shorter runs, it will result to her wearing a boot for the next six weeks. If this is the case, Laura is prepared to hang up her running shoes for this race and prepare for the next. Hopefully, though, this won’t be the case and Laura and I will cross the finish line, holding hands!

Sunday, 10.05 - 16 miles: Friends

"Winning effort


"Winning is not everything, but the effort to win is. -Zig Ziglar


"To run a marathon, we train for months. Although we may not expect to win, we hope at least to do well in our age group or to top a personal best. When the big day comes, we strive to meet whatever goal we’ve set for ourselves – to win, in other words, on our own terms. If we don’t, are we losers? How could we be? We’ve worked hard, gotten into great shape, perhaps even made a new friend. These things have more lasting importance than any transient reward for crossing the finish line first.



"It’s great to set challenging goals for myself and then try to achieve them. Sometimes I will, but even when I don’t, I’ll have done some extraordinary work. "


- Linda Picone, The Daily Book of Positive Quotations p. 302

Sick'em

Tuesday’s five mile run was done in some pretty hot weather. I took off from our house at a quarter after five and left our common neighborhood paths and ran an old familiar route. It’s not one of our favorites because of the back-to-back hills and the lack of shade. Plus, there’s heavy traffic which means for some sections we are forced to run on the hard sidewalk. However, it’s one of my favorites because it’s a simple four mile loop with no backtracking; except for the added out-and-back mile to get my total five miles. Not a very interesting run, especially since Laura is still absent, but there is something worth noting that did happen. Harassers – the one thing all runners and cyclist must deal with.

This time it was just some annoying teenagers screaming out of their Kia Rio. In the past, I’ve had a can thrown at me and several who swerved close into me or drove dangerously close by me. Typically though, it’s some punk high school kid screaming out their window. This stuff is expected to happen so I’m not going to waste anymore space than I’ve already done by giving examples and expressing how I feel. However, when I step over to the other side, I’ll bring havoc on those who choose to harass runners and cyclist. -A

Yesterdays's Run

Well, I have not been on a run since last Sunday...a week and one day ago. I guess to say that I have not been 'on a run' in that amount of time isn't totally accurate. I actually went 'on a run' yesterday evening...but I did not 'GO Running.' The truth is, Aaron went on a long 16 m run last night. We normally do our long runs downtown on Sunday mornings. However, we went to a neighbors wedding Saturday night, and it kept us up later than we had planned. With several important things to accomplish on our Sunday afternoon (i.e. our traditional Sunday nap while subconsciously watching football,) Aaron was not able to run until Sunday evening. He had a long way to run and no running buddy. He set off on a 4 mi loop around the neighborhood that he would complete 4 x's, and I headed off to HEB to grab 4 vital items we needed for the week. On my way home, I backtracked through the neighborhood until I found my best friend. When I pulled onto the same street as Aaron, I could see him trudging along, solo, in the distance. A mix of emotions hit me, but the strongest feeling was one of joy! Aaron was working so hard to continue to achieve our goal! I was so incredibly proud of him! I pulled up next to him, and kept him company for the rest of his first loop. Several times during his run, I took Jewels (our Jeep) out looking for Aaron. I provided him with a running soundtrack, water bottles, Cytomax sports drink, conversation, and even took pictures and a video of him running. I decided to drive with him the last 4 mi of his run. I pulled Jewels out of the driveway, put her flashers on, and turned up the tunes. I really admire Aaron for running the entire 16 mi in our neighborhood, that he is convinced has more hills. It would have been hard for me to pass the house 4 x's without stopping/quitting! He ran so smooth and controlled on his Sunday run. He has really turned into a great runner and will do well in the marathon and any other event he desires to strive for, in the future. As Aaron crossed the 16 m finish line, he reached in the car window and held my hand. Then we gave each other a HUGE high-five (circa 1980's)!!! :) It was such a great run for the both of us. While I can't 'Go running' for several more days, I will go for a run with Aaron ANY day! -L

Good news, bad news, and...wait, what?!?

I waited yesterday until after 5 pm to hear from the doc, but I was impressed that he actually called me the day after my MRI with my results. He said the good news is that I have NOT torn my achilles tendon! My diagnosis is achilles tendonitis. He is not going to require me to wear a boot, because he says that I would lose muscle mass so fast, the marathon would no longer be an option. However, the bad news is that I am not clear to run or "do any activity where my foot leaves and strikes the ground." I cannot go walking, jogging, running or even think about those activities until my follow-up in two weeks. I can swim and possibly bike, if they do not cause more aggravation. I need to continue to ice my leg and was instructed by the doc to "take aleve until it burns a whole in my stomach." He did say that he saw "some very interesting bone inconsistencies, possibly due to stress...but will discuss this more at the follow-up." Wait...What?!? I have no idea what this means or if it is even significant. I did not have a chance to process this and ask about it with all of the other info he was spouting out. However, when I figure out this new mystery, I will explain in detail. Until then, I plan on following the doc's instructions to the 'T'. Hopefully I will be able to return to training very soon!!! -L