Yesterday at 10:30pm I took part in my first official TATUR event, an informal night run organized by several of the “regulars”. The plan was to meet at the QuickTrip at 94th and Riverside and head east on the Creek Turnpike Trail about 7 miles before turning back. Though the temperature was kind of cool all day, the humidity was still lingering from the morning rains.
TATUR night run on June 28, 2008 ~ Photo: Ken Childress
A lot of things tried to keep me from running today. The commute home from work took longer since I left earlier than usual and had slight traffic, it started raining really hard less than a mile from my house, and I didn’t feel like getting on the trail once I got inside. After I convinced myself to go, I noticed that the Riverparks trail is fenced off at 31st so I drove up to the dam on Riverside but couldn’t find parking. I finally opted for the parking lot adjacent to the bRRidge.
In the spirit of trying to establish a training rhythm, I followed through on my declaration that I’d hit the trail one more time today. Though it was still hot, I decided if I didn’t go around 5pm I probably wouldn’t go at all.
Something’s up with the Riverparks trail so my usual route from 41st to 71st and back is all screwed up. The parking lot at 41st and Riverside is in fact completely blocked off. All this is for good measure, though, as the area from 31st to 48th is getting a revamp.
My recent training has been really bad and I’m in danger of not being prepared for Lake Tahoe next month. I’ve been meaning to get out on the trail as much as possible, but work has gotten in the way quite a bit. This week was a real challenge with long days followed by work-related dinners in the evening, which really left no time for running.
1. How would you describe your running 10 years ago?
More regular, much faster, and more painful. I used to train 6x/week at a 1/7th-mile indoor track at The University of Texas at Austin. I’d regularly run half-marathons on the track holding a ~7:45/mile pace. I can remember how painful it was mile after mile to keep holding this pace. These days, I enjoy taking it much slower, taking pictures along the way, and just getting out there to cross the finish line.
Today is the first time I’ve made it more than one loop around LaFortune Park. Usually I burn myself out near the end of the loop and decide to just stop after three miles. So I throttled it back for the first two miles but was feeling good so pushed the pace just slightly. I made sure I held pace as much as I could, even on the uphills, and near the 2.5 mile mark, I was feeling really great.