Sometimes I feel too old to do this.

I ran this morning, after a five-day layoff. Unfortunately, today's run was preceded by 2.5 beers at lunch yesterday, which was followed by a margarita on the rocks and a beer during happy hour/dinner. I drank plenty of water yesterday, but somehow I don't think it was enough. I really felt as if I was struggling today.

I decided to take Bailey with me again. She made it most of the way into the first half of the run before needing to squat and leave the remains of yesterday's dinner, so I carried the lovely bag, and we continued on (I stopped my timer for this). I ended up doing both halves in just over 6 minutes, so my timing was good, even if I did not feel great.

I dropped her off at home, once we had done the full, approximately 1.2 miles. I did the same run again without her, and the second time was worse. I ran the first half in 6:36 (I did walk for about 10 or 15 seconds up the killer hill), and then, surprisingly, it took me 6:51 on the way back. I think the heat/humidity was getting to me. However, I ran for another 8:30, just so I could get in 3 miles.

I passed some guy on my way back, who appeared to be in his 60s. He might have even been in his 70s. I really wanted to ask him how he does it. He might have been running slowly, but he was doing it. Some days, like today, I just feel old. Not 60 or 70 old, but not as if I am in my mid to late 30s, since that is how I think of my 43-year-old self most of the time. :-)

We have a beach trip coming up in less than a month now, so I want to keep this up. As with last weekend, I walked Bailey again in the evening, so I am definitely getting enough exercise. But now I need to work on not eating every couple of hours.

Here's to next week.

Running with and without the dog

Since I started (sort of) running again, I have tried to do it sans dog more often than not. The dog tends to want to stop and sniff, and, more annoying, do her business. Running with a plastic bag of Bailey's waste is not very pleasant.

This morning, however, Bailey actually went to the bathroom in our yard. So, I decided I would take her with me. We ran the usual route, and she stopped to sniff only a few times. Each time I pulled her away, and it was fine. I did the 1.2 mile trip in about 13 minutes, although I did not time it. I was actually kind of glad she was slowing down going up the huge hill at the halfway point.

Since I had not run in six days, I decided to drop her back off at home, and go out again. I repeated the same run I had just been on. My timing was about what it was last week, although since I had just run it, I think that makes my timing an improvement. This time around, I ran 6:20 on the way up and 6:27 on the way back. When I finished that run, I ran for another 6:30 around my street and up and down the field at the end of the street.

So I got in about 3 miles. And I ran for over 30 minutes (with that quick break in between to drop the dog off). It was a little humid; the temps felt warmer than the 65 or so degrees my weather app claimed. This presented a challenge with my prescription sunglasses as they kept sliding down my nose do their heaviness (and my sweat).

My knees hurt a little, but my hamstring hurt less than usual. I will probably next go out Thursday or Friday.

Still going

I tend to run after dinner. It typically takes me 30 minutes to clean up after dinner (and, sadly, probably only 7 or 8 minutes to eat dinner), so my food has had a little time to digest. But that is not ideal. Fortunately, traffic was kind to me today, and I made it home just a little after 5:30, which gave me enough time for a short, pre-dinner run.

I did my "usual" run down my street, then down, up, down, and up the hill at the top of the other street. This evening, it took me 6:24 for the first half and 6:24 on the way back. I don't think I have ever done both trips in exactly the same time; I tend to run about 20 or 30 seconds faster coming back, since the killer hill is at the end of the first half. In any event, I ran a little faster than I did last week. And I did not walk the end of the killer hill as much as I wanted to.

After that, I ran for just over 9 minutes up and down my street, so I could come close to hitting 2 miles. In fact, I may have run a little more than 2 miles now that I think about it. My round-trip run is about 1.2 miles, and I did that in just under 13 minutes. But I had to come home, eat, do the dishes, and go vote, so I could not keep going, even though I felt good enough to do so (not including the slight pain in my left hamstring). After all that dinner stuff, I ended up walking with the kid and the dog to vote; it is a short walk there and back. And then we took Bailey on another walk after that.

So all in all, I got in a good bit of exercise, and in really great weather to boot. I will most likely run again this weekend. But I am already starting to think about 5Ks. I have not set an "official" goal of running one, because the reality is that I can tire of this. But it is definitely at the front of my mind.

My longest run yet

I took a few days off from running. At least I think. Maybe I ran Monday or Tuesday; maybe I did not. But I am leaning towards no. I did, however, run last evening. Sans dog!

This time, I started off running/jogging, right out of the gate. I ran about .6 miles (my usual route with Bailey before we turn around); however, just before I got to the top of that very steep hill at the almost .6 mark, I walked for about 20 to 30 seconds. My heart rate was around 180, which is about 100 percent of my maximum heart rate. As I have said here before, even when I was in the best shape of my life, I still would hit that high (although 10 to 20 years ago that would have been okay). Regardless, once I got to the top, I turned around, and I ran back down the hill, backwards because it is too tough on my knees. When I got back home, I had run about 1.2 miles for about 13:30. So more than a 10-minute mile, but not much.

I continued to run for another approximately 12 minutes, which also included walking for about 20 to 30 seconds up another crazy-steep hill. I ended my bit with about 5 minutes of walking. I am guessing I ran a little over 2 miles total; I am not sure how it breaks down after the 1.2 miles because I ran up and down my street a few times before getting bored and running elsewhere. Once I decided I should finish my run, I really could have kept going, but I decided that was good. I am glad I picked last evening, when the temps were around 70; when Bailey and I walked tonight, it was around 80 and humid. No thanks!

My right knee hurt during most of the run, but not horribly. But the rest of me felt pretty good. I have not decided if I will go with running 1, 2, or 3 times a week, but my goal is to hit one of those!I still worry about ruining my knees. But I do think I am in good shape, so no worries there, particularly since I have no plan to ever run more than 3 or 4 miles again.

I am also continuing to walk most days at work, for anywhere from 10 to 25 minutes.

Now if only I could curtail the eating...

A longer run

The running thing is going okay. On Monday, before I went out of town for most of the workweek, I got in a short (but long for me) run. I think I broke it in half, but I really don't recall. Then I was out of town for the next four days where I ate pretty much non-stop.

Saturday morning, I decided I had better get back on track. And since it was supposed to hit almost 90, I figured I had better run in the morning. So I leashed the dog, and off we went. We jogged/ran for about 11 minutes before Bailey decided to squat and go. Sigh. So I turned around after that and headed home. After dropping her "present" and her off, I went back out for another just over 11 minutes. All told, I ran about 26 minutes, so surely I ran over 2 miles. It was tough and humid and over 70 degrees, but I did it.

Unfortunately my knees hurt a bit yesterday, so I may not be able to keep up this running 2-3 times per week deal. I will just have to see how I feel tomorrow night.