the road goes on forever...

My best friend is graduating today so I don't have much time to write up a report. But don't get too excited, the course was short (3.03) so this doesn't count as my first sub-19 5k. I need to see 3.1 on my Garmin to make it official! I will come back later with a way too long race report, because this morning was pretty eventful. To add some suspense, let's just say I was crying before the race (but not in a really bad way, if that makes sense). 

Okay, so here is my morning. Last year the race was a little long (like a minute) so I knew the race wouldn't be one to go for time, more so just to run hard and try to get grand prix points.  It is for the Humane Society and I knew they would be "advertising" the shelter dogs but I guess I didn't realize what that would entail. To go to the bathroom you had to go through all of the animals... the cats, the bunnies, the dogs, all of them. So needless to say I sobbed the entire way to the bathroom. 

So the race starts, and it is about 70% on trails, which are of course.... trails... sand, roots, you know. My first mile was in 6:03, which I am really happy about, it's about time I get a good start. And I never really died per say, but I definitely got really tired at some points. It was a pretty flat course, a few teensie hills, and then the finish was on top of a monster hill. It was huge, and I had no idea the finish was right at the top or I would have pushed it a little bit harder. So I finished with a little bit left. I raced the clock for sub-19, just in case, but looked down at my watch and it said 3.03 miles. I guess there is a chance it is right, Garmin's do go crazy in the woods some times, but I find it easier to just deny my time and try again next time. Kinda stinks though because it's the second week in a row I would have PRed if the course was measure correctly (last time long, this time short).   But I did win, and got 30 grand prix points out of it, which I didn't expect at all!

After the race there was a ton of food, and they had a stage that they were taking some of the dogs on and introducing them to the crowd.  I hope some of them got adopted. Some of them were super cool dogs. If I had a yard I would have taken home a truck full. I took one for a walk and I loved her. There were at least a dozen I wanted. The shelter said they get 60-70 animals a day... and they only had 60-70 animals. Which makes it super sad to think about the others that don't get adopted, and don't get to live a full life :( So sad. I love that I love animals so much, but they also break my heart.  There were only 2 bunnies, and one was a female lop, white with brown spots, the I knew Lewis would just loooove to snuggle with. I was one storm chase away from adopting her, but I can't get a new bunny just to take to Jason's apartment and make him watch her, especially not knowing if she is well-behaved or potty trained like Lewis. But if she is still there when I get back in June she will probably be mine. It breaks my heart thinking of her being in that cage, but at least she has food and a cool, dry place to live. 

Anyway, enough about the animals, I could go on forever. As for the running is concerned I think today proved I can go under 19 (since I got this time on the trails). I finished right behind a guy I know that goes consistently under 19, so it is looking good. Also, most people went slower on this race than the others, and I actually ran faster.  Next 5k is May 23 in Mississippi (between storm chasing and Greece), so if the days is right (and the course accurate) maybe that will be my day.

I'll have to see if anyone from the track club actually measured the course. If so, then I will be willing to accept my time. 

Easy 6 (54:47). Actually, I am thinking more like 6.17. I will Garmin it tomorrow and see how close I am :)

6 easy. This was supposed to be a fartlek but after two accelerations my calves were screaming at me. So I started to head home, but encouraged myself to run past my house and finish my planned distance at an easy pace. It went pretty well once I slowed down (a lot).

Packing for an entire MONTH now! Not an easy task. (And the rabbit and turtle make it harder because they have more stuff than me!) 

3 miles easy, 4 mile tempo (about 6:55 pace), 5 miles easy. I only planned to do 11 but I just wanted to get the longest run in possible before I leave for storm chasing. I could have done a few more if I had the time.

Off to chase tornadoes, hopefully I'll see some great storms and have some time to run in between. I definitely don't want to lose what I have worked so hard for.

I'll be back with chasing updates! Looks like we may be off to Oklahoma but I'm not sure yet.

We drove to Dallas last night and stayed in a pretty nice hotel (won't happen often) which actually had treadmills. I didn't run though because I don't want to over do it after running so far yesterday (relative to my other runs lately).

We plan on heading up north a little to chase this afternoon, although it isn't looking very good. It also isn't looking good for the next few days, and the long range models show bad news for the rest of the trip. But I guess it only takes one good storm to make it a successful trip. 

Yesterday we got on a storm that supposedly dropped a tornado, but it we were in no position to get to that part of the storm.  We did go near the core though and experience a little hail and what not.  Drove to Brownwood, TX where we spent the night. No pics yet. Looks like today we will do some tourist stuff nearby and home something pops up later in the afternoon.

Ran through town around the hotel, maybe a little more than 6. Lots of people cleaning up their yards, picking up what is left of their trees.  Some flooded roads.  Ran at 7:15 and it was crazy humid.  Moderate run with some surges and a fast start and finish. Ran okay but didn't feel great. Probably a little tired from Thursday.

We chased a storm around Marathon, TX yesterday. There was no hope of tornadoes due to lack of rotation, but it was still a severe thunderstorm in terms of hail and heavy wind. We punched the core of the storm, parked the van under a picnic table roof on the side of the road (harder than it sounds) and watched the hail come down.  We probably saw a few gulf ball sized stones, and when the storm passed we drove down the street and it looked like it had snowed. The road was covered with about 2 inches of hail for about a mile. I'll try to put up a picture later.

Spent the night in Alpine, TX. Woke up and ran 8 miles around town and through the Sul Ross State University campus.  Probably headed to Colorado (and maybe Utah) in the next day or so.

Marginal risk again today, probably some more of what we had yesterday. We did get to see some cool storm structure and some hail and wind, so it's better than nothing.

We very illegally hiked and waded through the Rio Grande yesterday so that I could step foot in Mexico for the first time. It was actually somewhat tretcherous, and I just kept thinking about how mad I would be if I broke my ankle while doing it. But we made it, and I have officially been to Mexico.  No storms.

Ran around the parking lot of our hotel in Midland, Texas this morning. Tuesday is interval day so I found a stretch of industrial road next to the hotel that was about 450 meters long or so. Did 3 x up and back and 3 x one way. The times don't matter at all, but they were 3:49. 3:37, 3:30, 1:39, 1:32, 1:28.  Not bad (I guess?), but I was dead after the last one. Which is a good thing.

Should get an okay chase day in today. Keep your fingers crossed.

Miss you, pig. 

If interested, you can follow our storm chase on my fellow-chaser's blog:

thetae.blogspot.com 

We got good sunset pictures of a shelf cloud today, so when he updates there should be some pretty pics. 

interstate tempo run in OKC... ugh

Wichita, Kansas

6 in Madison, Wisconsin.

Our chase is over, forget I ever said anything about it :(  We're slowly heading home today.

6 in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

Was going to do some kind of speed work but my calf pain is back :( Not at full force yet though. It went away after 3.5 miles, but I just kept it easy and did a couple of strides within the last two miles.  Soooo sick of running by myself. The track club has definitely spoiled me.

I am officially in between storm chasing and my Greece trip, and I figured running a race between would be a great work out and motivator to keep at it til I get back to Tallahassee. I am in Mississippi, and I am "undefeated" in my races here in Jackson so that adds a little excitement as well.

Long story short, the course ran a little long on my Garmin (3.22) and everyone I asked had at least 3.16. So that is a good 15-20 seconds. I normally wouldn't care, but I really want a new PR and I am having trouble getting it because all the courses are a little off, making it tough. But it will happen one day. I still don't know if I count the sub-19 from a little while back. I think I will if I never do it again :)

There was a hill named "heartbreak hill" on the course and it made me never want to run Boston, because it hurt like heck and I can only imagine how it would feel during a marathon. Guess I'll find out in less than a year.

One boy finished the one mile fun run on crutches because he has a debilitating disease. Jason and I both cried, it was really inspirational. I need to watch him run before every race.

All in all, this was a good workout and I got a cool piece of local pottery.

I did, however, pull my calf a little walking around after the race. I was still able to get my cool down in and my other calf actually caused the most pain. When I stopped my cool down I felt my legs tighten up instantly (and I was only doing like 9:20 pace). The one I tweeked is hurting when I walk right now. It's higher up, towards the inside almost to my knee. This is different than where they normally hurt. So I need to keep stretching today, and I can't wait for my "stick" to get here. This puts a lot of pressure on you ratteltrap, I am looking for a little miracle!

Recovery Run. My calf (the left one, not the one I "tweeked") hurt to the touch and I thought there was no way it would make it. Much to my surprise, it didn't hurt at all, just a little tightness towards the end.  Glad I was able to get the miles in. 

I planned on doing 1 x 1600 and 8 x 400 on the track, but 800 meters into my workout a man came and told me I had to leave because they were locking the gates of the track.  I got reallllly frustrated but found a neighborhood nearby and did another 800 (estimated) and then did 8 x 85 second intervals. All in all it turned out pretty well.

I saw a goose with a broken leg at the park where I warmed up, so I plan on calling animal control tomorrow to help the poor guy out :( 

4 mile warm up, 4 mile tempo (first mile 6:58 down to last mile 6:38), 4 mile cool down

Got attacked... or at least highly threatened... by a bird during my half mile walk after my run.  I thought I was going to have to hit the bird, which would have made me feel bad, but luckily a car went by and distracted it. Crazy! 

Pretty well-paced run.  Calf pain pretty bad at mile 2, I think it's because I started off at a fairly quick pace, and my calves need a 9 minute mile (or 3) before they can get into it.  Pain was much more dull by mile 4.  

Got my stick in the mail! Hope it helps.  

Off to Greece tomorrow!! Hopefully I'll be able to find somewhere and somewhen to run.