The Big Easy and Pie Day!

Well I have a hard time believe that anyone is still reading this, but according to the blog counter someone is. So, I guess I will keep with it. So this week was another on the road. I got up Sunday, feeling surprisingly good after the Switchbacks and boarded a plane for the Big Easy. Now I have been to New Orleans one other time, and I have to be honest I was not a big fan. Don’t get me wrong the food is incredible and the sites are cool, but for the most part it seemed like a very dirty town and I dislike walking down the street and having people hassle me. But, I needed to be there for work so like it or not I was going back.

Right off, I knew this trip was going to be a little better. First, I was staying at the JW Marriot right off the French Quarter in a nice room with a very nice view. Second, a lot of cool people were in town so a good time was going to be had. So I went to bed the first night sure that even though my flights in were super delayed and I got to the hotel 3 hours after I was supposed to be there, this was going to be a great week.

View from my room

Monday morning I woke up with a little bit of a sore throat and that didn’t seem good, but I shook it off and found out that my meetings for that morning had been cancelled (or at least they didn’t need me there). So itching from not running Sunday I decided to hit the roads of New Orleans and get some miles in. I talked with the clerk down at the front desk and he told me that I would have to run on the side walk about a half of a mile to the southwest of the hotel, but then I could just run on the trolley tracks. I asked him if that was something I should do? It did not seem like the best idea if I wanted to avoid getting hit by a trolley, but he told me the trolleys are very slow and most runners in the area do this. It also had the bonus of cutting way down on the street crossings and traffic. So I took his advice and when I reached the trolley tracks found they consisted of a grassy median in the road with the tracks buried in the sides. So it was really just a well worn grass trail. Pretty sweet, oh and the trolley were super slow, in fact the one going in the same direction as me took more than 3 miles before it passed and stayed ahead of me. The view was very neat too; I guess the street I was on (St Charles Ave) is on the parade route for Mardi Gras and they were already setting things up as it was only a few weeks away. On the sides of the street there were all these crazy old trees (to go with the old buildings I guess) that were covered in this cool ivy with beads from parades of the past grown into them. It was really something to see; plus it was warm, which was a nice change from the freezing cold of the past few weeks and there were quite a few other runners out there so I guess the clerk at the hotel knew what he was talking about. When I got to the far end of my run I was at Tulane University and so I made a loop around Audubon Park that is right in front of it, the park was full of people and had this cool lake right in the center. All in all it made for a nice ten mile run and I felt good the whole time. When I walked into the hotel I was met with a welcome surprise, my friend Jeremiah had his afternoon meetings cancelled and wanted to go to lunch. Jeremiah is the clone of Anthony Bourdain and always knows the best spots in any town. I have learned over many travels with him to not question his suggestions.

So Jeremiah said we have to go to Cochon, which is a cool spot near the National WWII Museum. When we got there the lunch crowd had already set in, but we were able to get a spot at the kitchen bar. Kind of like sitting at the sushi bar but with these guys cook in the giant wood burning oven that was way cool, and they also passed us over some samples of what they were cooking which was much cooler. The food was incredible. I mean really incredible, everything I tried was awesome but the whole time we sat there I kept seeing these little cast iron skillets that they were taking in and out of the oven. So when we finished up and started to leave I finally had to ask one of the cooks, “What is with the skillets?” He told me that was the rabbit stew and dumplings. I felt I had been cheated (or would have but the meal I had was incredible) and swore that the next time I came in it would be rabbit stew for sure.

On our walk back to the hotel I was talking with Jeremiah (who is also a History Major) about how I had never seen the WWII Museum, but heard it was very well done. He told me that he and his father had visited almost every major European site from WWII in their travels, but the museum was very well done and they have this crazy 4D movie that we very interesting. Then he insisted that we go check it out. We got there just as a showing of the movie was starting, so we had an hour to kill before the next showing. We bought tickets and started to check out other parts of the museum. This was good and bad; don’t get me wrong if you get the chance to go to the WWII museum do it for sure. But don’t just give yourself an hour like I did. This is a whole day activity. We were about halfway through the “Road to Berlin” exhibit (which is one floor of one of the five buildings that make up the museum) when we realized that we only had about 10 minutes until our movie started. So we rushed through the end of that part and made it to the movie. Just like everything else at the museum the movie was well done, powerful, and it snowed in the theater (I guess that is what makes it 4D). So long story short go to this place. Even though we needed to get back to the hotel and get some work done we ran through one more building before we left, and agreed we would have to come back when we had more time (unfortunately that time did not come this trip). 

Inside one of the buildings

After we got back and got some things done a group of us decided we would meet for dinner. Well the first place we had planned on going was booked up. So the other guys we had in our group said “how about Cochon?” Well you can guess my answer, and in a diet destroying move we headed back to Cochon. As I set down Jeremiah asked what I would be having, I promptly slapped him in the face and yell rabbit stew and dumplings of course. It was spicy and wonderful, a great end to a cool day.

The dish in question

The next day I had meetings for most of the day, and I felt like crap (the sickness was upon me). But at the end of the meetings I talked my boss into going for a run with me, which was cool. How many people work for someone that would be willing to run in a strange city with you? We did a short four miles and then went to dinner with a good group in the French Quarter.

On Wednesday was the start of a conference that I was attending in the same hotel that my meetings had been at earlier in the week. As I knew the conference and the obligatory after party would destroy any chance of running, but I had backup and my good friend Stephen from Denver agree to meet me at 5am in the lobby for a 6 mile run. It was so nice to be able to go run in the dark and not freeze to death. I almost didn’t know how to handle it but managed to refrain from way overdressing. The conference was pretty good, and after the first day wrapped we headed with a group to a place called Jacques-Imo’s. This place was also amazing and I had some good local beer as we waited for the other of the five taxis to arrive (not sure what secret way our driver knew but we were the last to leave and got to the restaurant way before the others). I got a fresh fish dish with the hopes I could pretend that it would somehow make up for the day before, but everyone said I should have got the fried chicken. The fish was great, but when I left I texted Brynna a photo of the sign outside (pretty funny) and immediately I got a text back saying “you have to try the fried chicken there” guess I missed the boat again. 

The sign out front

Local Brew

Upon getting back to the hotel I was trying to find a group to go out. Most everyone was going out Thursday night, but I was flying back that night so this would be my only chance. Luckily I was with a group that doesn’t take a lot of convincing to push them out the door so we hit the French Quarter in search of live music and good times. After a while of trying to stay away from Bourbon Street we ended up at the back entrance of Pat O’Brien’s, I mean it is a famous Bourbon Street bar but since we did not go through the Bourbon Street entrance we decided we were in the clear. It was a good time with dueling pianos and some old guy playing a tray (don’t ask), but before I could leave I was told I had to have a hurricane. Now I do not drink hard liquor, or soda. I am a beer guy, but I figured when in Rome. So I got this drink and felt like I poured an entire pack of Fun-Dip in my mouth. Well that was enough to call it a night (reminder I was getting sick this whole time) and I returned to the hotel room with every intention of getting up at 5 for more miles with Stephen. The night ended up being horrible, and the creeping crud had me hacking up all night. So when I got a text from Stephen at 4:50 saying he was out for the run, I decided Thursdays are supposed to be off days anyways and went back to bed. I think it was a good call.

Best I can guess this is 100% sugar

Thursday after Stephen gave his presentation at the conference we decided to sneak out before the break and go to Café Du Monde, this is a happening little (not little) place just on the boarder of the French Quarter that only serves Coffee (with Chicory) and Beignets (kind of a French Donut with tons of powdered sugar). We no more than sat down and Stephen tells the waiter we need a dozen beignets and two coffees (they normally sell the beignets in orders of three for a table). So they brought all of this stuff to the table and Stephen looks at me, then all of this food, and then back to me and said “I might have got a little over zealous with that order”. We did some damage though and put down 5 a piece before the called it good, and spent the entire walk back to the hotel trying to get all the powdered sugar off of us. On the way back we walked through Jackson Square and checked out the statue of Andrew Jackson that they were about to remove. I guess it went to a public vote and it was decided that they didn’t want it around anymore. Seems kind of strange to me, but glad I got to check it out before it was gone. The rest of the day went smooth until we got to the airport and then had the normal last flight of the day drama getting home, ending up with me getting in after midnight but I got there and was grateful to be back home.

All that remained of our battle with beignets

Even the horses are crazy in NOLA

Before Removal

Cool view on the other side of Jackson Square

Friday I got my run in and headed to the Executive Club to discuss the weekend running plans. The decision was made to meet Jeff at 96^th and Riverside for our 16 miles on the Creek Turnpike trail. But got a call from the “Cat Master” that morning that he was having a pet emergency and couldn’t make it for the run. So Sarah, Pip, and I regrouped and decided to change our plans to meet with the Runner’s World group out at the fairground. The group was only running 11 so I hoped to get out there early and get 5 in so we could be done when the group wrapped up. Pip did not like this plan as he wanted more sleep but when I pulled up in front of his house and laid on the horn, he finally conceded to my way of thinking. We had a nice easy 5 mile run and finished up just about right so that we only had to stand around for a minute before taking off again with the Runner’s World gang. With the group this time I got to share some miles with Troy and Kathy Moore. These guys are great and have been running with Runner’s World for a while, but the last few years have been really getting into Triathlons. They have already done some Ironmans and have just been looking incredibly fit lately. So it was cool to get to talk with them about their plans for the year and of course getting to talk about bikes is always fun. When we wrapped up Pip, Sarah, and I grabbed Brynna from the house and hit Dilly Diner for breakfast with Bowie. Then we went our separate ways to prepare for Pie Day.

The photo in our booth at Breakfast

Around dinner time I was still not feeling 100% with this stupid head cold, but everyone was meeting at Pip and Sarah’s for a pie party and I was not going to miss that. It was a blast watch what everyone came up with for their dream pies; I of course went overboard with this vegetarian shepherd pie idea. So I took a bread baking tin and wrapped pie crust around it, filled it with sweet potatoes, black beans, and a bunch of other veggies, then topped it with this crazy mash potato and broccoli concoction that I made. It sounds crazy, and it was, but it came out alright and I ate way too much. On Sunday I was still feeling out of it, so I put my run off till in the afternoon but I finally got out there and did my 11 miles. Maybe not the best plan but I actually felt pretty good the whole run, so that was nice. All in all I felt like it was a good way to close out the week, and I am looking forward to the next week of staying in town.

Pie a la Stormy

Over the past few months I have been focusing on my diet. People tell me all the time that with how much I run it must be nice to be able to eat whatever I want. Well that is just not true (believe me I wish it was). Running, or any working out for that matter, is great for being healthy but the only way to control your weight is to focus on your diet. Years ago a friend of mine Kurt Egli turning me on to a calorie tracking app “My Fitness Pal” and while I am sure that there is a million apps like this out there the point is the same. If you think about everything you put in your body throughout the day, and keep track of that where you can look back on it you will be amazed at how it will affect your eating. I find myself drinking a lot less of my calories, and eating a lot more fruits and veggies just for the sake of getting to eat more. If you haven’t taken a good look at your diet I suggest you consider it. Now think about what I am saying here, not go on a diet. A “diet” is often a temporary thing; your diet is a whole approach to food. While we tend to get side tracked and sometimes end up in New Orleans for a week, continuing to make small changes in the way we eat can really get you to where you want to be for whatever event you are getting ready for. Since October when I weighed in at 206 this past week I got below 180 for the first time I a while. And not surprisingly I have already seen my ankle issues go away and my shin that has been bugging me since the beginning of the year now feels great. But most importantly I feel a lot better. It is crazy how much we get stuck on eating thinks that for the most part make us feel like crap after we eat it. Anyways, I will get off my soap box and say “Go Run” and have fun.

Frosted Trails and SnowyPeaks

Another week of running is in the books. This last week I was in Farmington, New Mexico for work, so not many funny stories of running with friends but I still have a few things to think about, and “oh boy” wait till we get to the weekend.

Landing Monday for a week in the field, no I did not get to hang in Colorado the whole time.

Like I said above one of the hardest things about traveling is doing all the runs solo. It is true that every now and again you might find an awesome local running group to share some miles with, but in this case it was a series of solo runs, and some interesting workouts on the off days (I am sure people were wondering who was stomping up an down the hotel stairs for 45 mins). Because it was just me, I tried to keep my pace a little stronger for this week, but that is not what I am going to talk about here. What I want to talk about is the amazing adventure that you can (and will) have by busting out of your hotel and hitting the local trails and streets while traveling. It is easy to fall into the rut of just pounding out your training miles on the treadmill in the hotel, the excuses are limitless and for the most part totally justifiable. And I am not going to bag on treadmill running, I have a treadmill and I really like it. Sometimes it is a great option, and I have to admit I seriously considered it last week because let me tell you it was cold as hell in Farmington. But I was lucky to get back to the hotel most nights before it got too late (aka too dark), and I figured you can’t pick the weather on race day so I should just deal with whatever Mother Nature had to throw at me. So how cold was it? Oh what is the word I am looking for? Stupid cold, complete with beard frost, but it was also beyond beautiful. I found out that just down the street from my hotel was a crushed rock path that followed the Animas River. The path was dotted with strange, mostly empty, pads of brick (like they planned to put something there and never got around to it) and sections of the crushed path did not get that much sun light and were still basically packed snow.

Part of the River Trail in Farmington

A couple of things struck me about this trail. First, the number of people that were using it, this trail was not wasted on the people of Farmington. This has not been the case on all of my travels, you would be surprised how many amazing trails I have found that were basically empty, but here despite the cold there was a good number of people out there walking up and down the trail (did a say the trail was beautiful, because it was). Next the trail was quite, despite going under several roadways there was not a great deal of road noise so I was treated to the sound of the river and about 100 million geese that were hanging out in the water. This is a special part about being a traveler and a runner. As a runner we get to experience places in a way that you don’t get if you never leave a car. It is a much deeper look into these towns, and by braving whatever it is that makes you not want to leave the hotel (weather, dark, or the unknown) will allow you to be rewarded with things you get to carry with you the rest of your life. My first run this week got started a little late, so as the run went on I found myself running in the dark. The part of the trail I was on did not have any additional lighting and I was too stupid to pack a headlamp.The moon not much help as it was not bright but the little bit of light that was out was reflecting off the snow which made me relatively sure that I would not slip and die. I was shooting for 11 miles that night and did not want to end up doing loops, so when the trail was coming to an end (despite the growing dark) I shot off on a side trail that was heavy with snow. My decision was almost immediately rewarded with something amazing. As I came around what I assume were camping sites on this side trail I ran right into a herd of mule deer just hanging out on the trail. This must be a safe spot for them because they made no attempt to move and did not seem too worried about me being there. So there I was in the dark, in the woods, with a herd of deer just feet from me. I made my way past them and was having trouble shaking how cool that experience was. So before I knew it, it was time to turn around where I was even more surprised to find they still had not moved. The deer covered the trail and did not care that I was there. Pretty amazing stuff if you ask me. But this was not the end of the surprises that the trail had for me this trip.

This was my view in the field this week, not too shabby! About 6000 ft.

The next night we got back to the hotel a little earlier and I only had 9 miles so I thought here is my chance to knock this run out before the sun went down. It was a little warmer that day so much of the frozen hard pack ground was now soft and squishy in places, but still a great trail. I saw even more people out than the day before. The people seemed  friendly and there was a 5k amount of waving. As the run went on I approached one of those brick sections of the trail and something cool happened. This being a shorter run for the week, I was really trying to push the pace as much as I could while still holding it for the whole run, but as I approached the brick section I noticed that a kid's bike and two of those razor scooters where on the side of the trail. As I got close to the pile of kid transporters, three kids that had to be around 6 or 8 years old jumped out of the woods and mounted their various modes of speedy trail conveyance. So here I am in an obvious race with these kids and they are laughing and having a good time. I will not leave you in suspense, they won but we all left the area with a smile on our faces. I gave them a thumb up and told them that they were awesome. As I left that section of the trail I realized that this what I had just been part of was stranger than the herd of deer from the night before. How often do you see a group of kids just playing by the river? It was pretty cool. Almost right after that I ended up in a fairly weird spot. It was actually an area they called the “All Veterans Memorial” but on first glance I thought I had run into a satanic worship site. Let me explain, this area was similar to the other brick pad sections but much larger. In the center of the section were 5 pillars that had super realistic eagles on the top of them all facing the center. These pillars were connected by a huge upside down star. And, in the center of that star a weird orb fountain, seemed pretty crazy to me particularly as it was getting dark. But when I found a picture of it in the daylight maybe it is less satanic than I thought. As for the non-running parts of the trip itself I was in luck, because one of the guys traveling with me was also on a diet. So we were able to forgo our normal road trip diet of hamburgers and beers, and this time ate fairly reasonably. It is never easy to keep up a diet while on the road, but let me say if you can talk your co-workers into sharing in the misery it really helps. Running is all about sharing and caring, mostly sharing pain and misery and caring that you are not the only one suffering.

I stole this photo off the internet, but you get the idea.

On Friday I got up early (4am) to get to the airport and fly back to Tulsa, I had to get back for my annual check-up at 1:30pm with the doctors. There I found out I had officially lost 20 lbs since October so that was a big win. I celebrated with a 10 mile run before hitting the pub to meet with the Executive Club. Much of the discussion this week focused on the race the next day. My hope was to get a quick dinner and hit the road before too late to get to my hotel in Poteau for the Switchcbacks 50k 8am Saturday morning. Sleep be damned. Around 8pm Pip, Sarah, and I loaded up in the hot rod Fiesta to get to the hotel. It was a fairly uneventful trip but we were surprised as we pulled up to the hotel to find my cycling team’s van out front. Turns out their winter training camp was in the same area (I am currently taking a break from cycling till after Western States). So we were greeted by many familiar faces and said some quick "hi" and "what are you doing here" talk before we rushed to bed. Luckily the race had a fairly late start so we got some sleep in our room that shared a wall with the elevators. We could have complained, but the beds were soft and we were two hours closer to the start line than if we had left from Tulsa, so it was a win.

Turnoff for the Race start line.

When we showed up to the race we found a spot in the ditch along the dirt road right by our buddies Jenn, Jenny, Scott, Allyson, Rachel, and Wes. Victor and John found spots much closer to the start line because they got there the night before and camped out. Friday was a beautiful day in the 60s but the morning of the race was plenty cold and the rain/sleet started right before the gun went off. We stayed warm however because we had the warm smiles of Shannon and Jody (our friends from NWA) to keep us warm, lol. We all had a good laugh and a spirited discussion about how stupid this activity was.

A bad photo Clint took at the start line.

Photo of the race course I stole from TZ

That is me crossing the River

If you are unfamiliar with the switchbacks, I encourage you to look it up. It is a rough and beautiful course with lots of climbing and river crossings to ensure you get your "cost of race" to "time in the woods" formula to the max benefits (dollar per hours on the trail one of the cheapest races around). I wanted to make sure I kept this as a training run. Not meaning that I would not run hard, but I did not want to "race" this course. I needed to not trash my running for the next week or worse injure myself and be down for a few weeks. To keep this promise to myself I started towards the back of the field, and as this is all trails there was a lot of log jamming at the start of the race. This forced me to ease into the race and by the time I broke free from the mid pack I was far enough from the lead group to not worry about them. There are plenty of places to trip and fall, or slip and crack your head on this course. So I took every tricky spot very carefully and made it to the first out and back without much drama. The course is set up with an out and back in one direction with the 25k runners and then back through the start finish line and on to an out and back in the other direction for the second 25k. Because of this layout no matter where you are in the field you get to see all the runners. It is pretty awesome. I got to see John having a blast in his crazy outfit and Rachel crushing the course on her first time at this race. Shannon was not too far ahead of me at the first turn around so after getting a tortilla filled with peanut butter from Kate at the top of Winding Stair, I was able to catch up to Shannon and we ran together for a while. For some reason anytime I got around Shannon I started tripping on everything my feet could find. This must have distracted Shannon because he ended up turning an ankle and had to drop to the 25k. It sucked, I was having fun running with him and the rest of the course was devoid of people for the most part. But I ran with a smile on my face, the rain had stopped and I was making fairly good time on the climbs. I am in general a very weak downhill runner, but I was able to really limit my time walking on the climbs and kept it at a jog for most of the climbing sections. About 200 ft from the second turnaround you have the biggest river crossing of the race. This seemed a little unnecessary but all part of the fun. The water was high, very cold, and moving fast. So I tried to look for the positives and decided it was just a free vasectomy, lol as no one would be able to have kids after freezing to death in that river. On the other side I was treated to awesome volunteers and some cheese quesadillas. Then it was time to turn back and get right back into the river. I finished strong and got to hang around with everyone for several hours at the finish before heading to Jenn O’s house for a post-run homemade pizza party. At the finish I got to talk with the man behind the race Tommy for a while. I also found out that Rachel had won the 25k as first overall female and Victor had come in Second overall in the 50k. Later when Sarah came in and she was the 3rd overall female in the 50k. So it was a great race for team TATUR or the OK Dirtbaggers or the Executive Club or whatever stupid name we have come up with for this week.

Aid Station at top with Kate making tasty snacks

Rachel on her way to victory

Sarah picks her way through the river

Jody, Me, Sarah, and Pip at the finish

The ride back was entertaining with some laughs and snacks. And the pizza was just what the doctor ordered for post race recovery. I had to leave early unfortunately and get back to the house to pack for my next work trip. I was on a plane for New Orleans Sunday afternoon, but that adventure is for next week. Run hard my friends and remember to enjoy all the stupidity we share on these adventures.

A special thanks to Tommy who not only put on the race, but hauled water to the out and back aid station which had no road access. Think about that guys, this man is so dedicated to his race that he hand hauled water for 200 runners to the top of a mountain. You have to love that. 

Cold noses and warm soup.

This was a great week for running, and some might say the weekend was a little rough. But we will get to that. So this week was a down week for me, cutting back from 55 total miles last week to 44 miles this week. I am doing a slow build up in my schedule for Western but I still like to dial it back every three weeks or so. With the week being shorter I wanted to make sure to get some quality runs in. So I did a lot of hill work this week. On Tuesday Sarah, Pip, Jenny, and I headed out to the Botanical Gardens for that climb. We had a pretty steady pace going but then Sarah decided that she wanted to take advantage for the downhills and really picked up the pace. I am telling you guys on these downhills she was moving. So before we knew it, the whole group picked up the pace on both the uphills and downhills. All in all, my last 4 miles were all below 8 min pace. Pip said it was one of his better runs in the last few weeks. I am a strong advocate for keeping your pace under control for training runs. But you would be surprised how much a strong run can boost your training, and some times you have to just grab them when you can. That feeling you get when you finish a hard effort is one of the best feelings in running. That sense of quiet you get inside when you stop and catch your breath is awesome. We all left that run with a smile on our face, and the slightly better weather made the run a complete success. There are not just a whole lot of spots in the area that you can get long solid climbs and descents like out there, it is just too bad they went and put that chip seal down on the road. I really preferred the gravel.

One of my Favorite Thoughts on Hill Training from "Running and Being"

On Wednesday I put out a call for anyone who wanted to join me in a little not so well know training area I have. The neighborhood my grandma lived in while I was growing up. Mount Manor in West Tulsa is a hilly older place with some sweet, but short trails hidden in the back. The first to answer the call was Ed and Christy, who showed up and burned up the road. Unfortunately, I am too slow getting off work and they were finished by the time I got out there. But, I did eventually make it out and had Pip and Sarah in tow. For this evening I had 8 miles, so we did them as reversing loops around the outside of the neighborhood. Each circuit was one mile. Surprisingly it didn't get boring and seemed to go by pretty smooth. Not burning up of the road like the night before, but I was happy with my pace after the harder effort at the Gardens. It really is a cool little neighborhood. Much of the discussion that night centered around Pips political debates with his barber and me changing from the Fitbit Surge to the new Garmin 235. I really liked the Fitbit, even if it wasn't the most accurate GPS watch because the app and the amount of information was just amazing. Plus we all have them so we were constantly challenging each other, but the Garmin is a better watch and with the addition of the through the skin heart rate built into the watch I made the move. I was hoping I could import the data into the Fitbit app and stay on the challenges, but no such luck. Also brought up were the advantages of tear-away pants and why they ever went out of style.

Detailed Instructions

Thursday was an off day for me, and because this was a down week I decided to skip the gym and get some other things done. I travel a lot for work, and will be on the road for the next two weeks. And seeing as it will be 3 degrees in Farmington NM next week I decided it was time to get a proper coat for the field. Pip and I hit Drysdales, and if you have never been to that store in Tulsa, go check it out. The most Oklahoma of all stores in town. Before Drysdales I did make a short stop to Runner’s World Tulsa to reload on GU and body glide to be ready for the weeks ahead. I wise man once told me that if you can control your stomach and chafing you can run forever. I also believe it is important to know how your body with react to different foods and whatnot while running, so I have been trying a little of everything to see how I handle it. This time I picked up some Maple Bacon flavored GU, my opinion is it taste like eating the bottom of a maple syrup container. But I am sure some people love it.

Rush does not care if the Trails are muddy

On Friday I got of work a little early so I took Rush to Turkey for 8 miles before I hit the pub and it was a disaster. I have not seen Turkey so muddy and torn up since the 2010 Snake Run. If you ask me, I would say steer clear of there for a while until it drys out. I know some people think that is me being a whiny runner, but remember two important things for success in training. First, don't get hurt. All your training means nothing if you hurt yourself and have to take weeks off. It is slick and loose out there which can easily lead to an injury. Second, make the miles count. If you have to tiptoe around and crawl down and up climbs you are not spending enough of your training run running, so you have to ask yourself what am I getting out of this. Now if you are just messing around and having fun, ignore all of that. However, for me the run that was suppose to have helped me decompress from the previous week and ended up just making me more stressed out. But Rush was happy and I got my 8 miles, so I decided to get to McNellie's and I could decompress there. So got to the Pub around 5 and Wes had a chair ready to go for me to post up as we waited for the rest of the Members of the "Executive Club" to show. They did not disappoint, excluding Pip and Sarah who got off at regular times and still needed to get their runs in, and the members shared lies and solved all the world problems. Mostly the weekend training and what to eat.

Lots of Mud

Better Alternative 

On Saturday the Runner’s World Training Group had 10 miles. My schedule only had 9 but figured 10 would be easier with the group than 9 on my own. So I pulled up to the parking lot of the Tulsa Fairgrounds just as the snow was really starting to pick up. Did I fail to mention that it was snowing? Yes, yes it was and it was not yet cold enough to keep it solid, so it was a windy wet mess for the whole run. But, don't worry we all made it through and another group that was finishing up around the same time showed us the best way to beat the cold, Shots! After getting into dry clothes Grand Master Wes and I decided to cook up some Huevos Rancheros from a recipe had found. We cook enough for anyone who showed up and plenty did. In the end we didn't really follow the instructions but everyone seemed happy enough and making 12 servings for $40 is a big win over our standard $1000000 tab at Mom’s Diner (even if Mom's Diner is worth any amount they charge). After getting our fill of such a fancy breakfast we decided we needed some culture, so we headed to the Philbrook Museum for their Andy Warhol exhibit. We are so sophisticated. We all went our separate way for a while after that, until dinner when I made some crazy black bean and sweet potato tacos and most everyone found their way back out to the house. It was great, and before everyone went home we had a plan for Sunday.

Sarah Excited about the Snow

Syd not impressed

Pro Runners Handling the weather

After Run Pick-up

Classy

We knew that the run Sunday"s run would have to be early. Our friend Rachel was having a waffle party at 9am and who would want to miss a Waffle Party? But we also knew that it was going to be 13 degrees in the morning. So you could easily see our issue, life and death decisions had to be made. We decided that waffles are worth more than our personal safety so we headed out for 9 miles at 6:30 am. Allyson, Pip, Sarah, and Jenn O joined the fun. It was crazy cold and required some dodging of ice but otherwise was pretty nice. Pip and I were rewarded with some frozen beards as a result. And we only showed up a little late to the waffle party, thanks Sarah! Too many waffles were had by all, and the toppings ranged from you normal peanut butter and bananas to fried chicken. And of the 16 or so people there, I am pretty sure 20 brought stuff for mimosas. I didn't not partake but the Orange Sherbet Mimosas did look pretty awesome. From there we did a little shopping for furniture and hatched a plan for another dinner at the house. This time spinach salad and lentil soup. Wes got called into work (totally lame Verizon) but we picked up a Victor and Danielle along the way, ending a great weekend with some good laughs around the table. And as a bonus, right before bed, I got to talk with my good buddy Hunter, a good friend from Houston that has recently been infected with the running bug. He was having some foot issues so we had a long talk about Shoes, lacing strategy, and Socks. Very exciting.

Beard Frost is the Best Frost

Creepy Family Dinner, not sure what Pip is doing

A good start to a Shoe Running Problem

Some of the best socks

My big struggle this week has been sleep. We are currently fostering an adorable 5 week old puppy, but you know what puppies can do for getting a solid night sleep. Let me tell you, I can feel the difference. If I got anything out of the Fitbit, and now the Garmin, it is using that sleep tracking can make all the difference in your training. It is one of the things I love about running, it is a whole life activity. And everything you do has an effect on it. I used to really believe that I could get by on 5-6 hours of sleep, and I did alright. But now that I am really aware of not only how close I am getting to that 8 hour goal, but the quality as well it has really got me out of a rut in my training. If you have not tracked you thought about your sleep, remember it is all part of the training and just as important as the running for getting where you want to be in race day.

Not as peaceful as it looks

Wrapping up 2015 and Kick starting 2016

Well we closed out 2015 in Oklahoma with some typical Oklahoma weather; giving all of us stupid enough to spend the holidays running a great lesson in what not to wear. I had some fairly big running weeks for the last two, which gave me plenty of chances to be over dressed and sweating to death, or freezing cold and dying of hypothermia. Most times in the same run. If there is one thing that I hate about the winter time when it comes to running it is the exponential growth in the amount of laundry. Many of my running crew high tailed it out of town for the holidays, but I managed to find plenty of poor saps to run with me, and even took advantage of a few solo run opportunities, which I find acceptable in small numbers.

Sounds about right

If you are like me than the weekends are your times for big miles and big brunches. Right now the Runner’s World training is going so that makes for a sweet guaranteed running group for Saturdays. So for the 26^th I had to get in 16 miles. My good OLD running friend Jeff (I call him the cat master) agreed to meet me before light to get in 8 miles so that I could join the RW group for my final 8 at 8 o’clock. This worked out well, not only because Jeff is a great runner and my little running buddy Rush managed to not kill me while chasing squirrels, but because those solid miles with Jeff were without rain and set me up for a killer final eight with the group.

Jeff in his natural Habitat

There are several awesome groups to run with at RW, you have Ed and the Honey Badger, or Patty and the Dominators, but on this day I wondered over to the fast group for no reason. We were joined by a few high school kids from the Edison CC team, so the final 8 miles went at a stupid 7:30 pace; pretty good for hill and rain. But it was deceiving because it was still fairly warm outside. So on Sunday when the rain was still going I decided to just brave the weather and do my 9 miles by myself. This turned out to be a terrible idea, it was cold, the wind was crazy, and most importantly I had no one to make suffer with me.

Just look at the Results

Then during the last week people started to trickle back into town. So I conned Jenn O into going to the YMCA with me. I love the Y, and have been going there my whole life. In fact if you happen to go into the downtown branch you will see a banner for my mother who has been an instructor for over 25 years. But anyways, Jenn told me that there is this secret (not secret at all, I am just an idiot) cardio room upstairs that has two, count them two, rowing machines. So my plan was that if I am taking a day off running then I would hit one of these for 30 minutes for cross training. Let me tell you a little training tip, rowing is hard. That is all. Then on Tuesday I took Jenn and Jenny (yes everyone I know is named Jennifer so keep up) to one of my favorite training spots, the road to the Botanical Gardens. It is a 3 mile out and back with a vicious climb every time. We did it three time and on the last lap I got a little in front of Jenn and Jenny (truth be told I think they only let me get away so they could girl talk) and at this point it was fairly dark out. I was wearing a high viz green hat and jacket and was running on the correct side of the road and just ahead of my coming the other way the girls were running along on the wrong side of the road. No big deal, I though, they will just move over as I get close. Not what happened, I guess they were so caught up in their conversation that they did not see me till I was about to run over Jenny. This let to Jenny freaking out and screaming, and my laughing to myself and shaking my head as I moved on down the road.

Brynna, Alyson, Rachael, Danielle, Jenn O, and Jenny down low

On New Year’s Eve Jenn and I hit the river early for our 9 miles, this time Rush was a lot less manageable but we survived, and then figured we would take it easy until the festivities that night. The night did not disappoint. 

The True Runners, Sid, Evey, Pippin, Rush

It started at Victor’s crash pad before the Race into the New Year, and we drove right by his place at first. That is because all the lights were out in the house and there was this crazy strobe light in the living room. I hesitantly approached the door, and walking into a full on crazy dance party. As fun as this looked (not fun) I just made my way to the kitchen where there was normal light and would just check on the craziness from time to time. In the end the dance party was pretty much Rachael and a lot of destroyed pieces of tensile all over Victor’s living room. All the girls dressed up for the run in ball dresses, and I wore a tuxedo jacket, tie, and a vest for the race; however, Victor did not have a sweet outfit. This had to be remedied, so I took all the leftover pieces of tensile and piled them on his head, and Danielle safety pinned it all to his stocking cap (crisis averted). The race was cold but awesome as always, with Rachael crushing the course and coming in second overall female at just over 20 minutes, but by far the fastest runner in a ball gown.

Victor's Hat for the Win

New Year’s Day most of my running crew was at the Polar Bear plunge. I did not attend this year, but have on several occasions. Out of this has come a little bit of a New Year’s tradition of food at Stormy’s house after the race. So I took the chance to get a jump start on the cooking. I had back up after I got back from the gym, Wes showed up as support and we hit the store. In years past we did waffles and such but I never felt like they were a big hit, so this time I wanted to try something totally different. I talked Wes into us trying a quiche, and he said “whatever dude” (standard Wes response). We retrieved the items for our quest and attacked the kitchen. Brynna even made a gluten-free pie crust so we would have that option covered. Before we knew it we had 5 quiches going and I was getting a little nervous that we overdid it. As if hearing my worries Jenn O called right then and said that she hoped I would not be mad but like 15 people are coming over. So it all worked out. The quiches were not a disaster, and other people brought enough snacks and alcohol to cover us finishing the cooking. Now I was not going to drink much as I had twenty miles in the morning, but that did not stop some people. I will not get into the details, but let us just say the party went on for many hours, and ended with someone almost going through a window (loss of balance not fighting) and a lot of 90’s hip hop. What I mean to say is it was a total success.

The Polar Bear Crew

Finally we get to the last weekend of running, I was particularly excited because this big weekend was followed by a down week, and I really feel like I needed it. The 20 miles on Saturday went well, even though I got there a little late and missed the early group. But despite the cold when I pulled up there was Jenn O and Jenny waiting for me to show up so that we could catch the group. We got going and finally caught the early Dommies group, at which point Jenn O was feeling staying out late the night before and held back. I was starting to get in the grove and convinced Jenny to go with me to get some extra miles before the official RW group started. In the end I still had a bunch of running to get done, and when I wrapped up (not alone thanks to Jeff [not Cat Master Jeff, another Jeff] all runners have the same name) Wes was the only one still at Runner’s World. So we decided to hit Brunch at the home base, McNellies. We had an awesome breakfast there, and plotted another run on Sunday from McNellies so that we could finish and have brunch there again. Word of the plan got out and it was such a great plan that we had Pip, Sarah, Scott, Allyson, Jenn O, Jenny and Chris join us. Pip and Sarah had been out of town for two weeks visiting their folks; the only problem for them was that it was 70 degrees in Georgia and not 70 degrees in Tulsa. So Sarah took on the run with one arm warmer and one glove somehow and almost died. She lived, and Jenny somehow magically found us, because her text messaging screwed up the night before and didn’t get our messages about running until we were already on the move. But everything turned out right and we not only had a nice sized group but were treated to some of the best running views you can get while road running as we topped Reservoir Hill twice on the trip. And then, of course, we had McNellies to greet us at the end who’s warm embrace of chicken and waffles or biscuits and gravy ensured that all the caloric burn we had in those nine miles was immediately undone.

A PSA to all

Ok well that was way too long, and I promise to keep the future post shorter. I doubt they will be less rambley but hey, no one has to read this crap. The main point I have about these last two weeks is the importance of a great running crew. Those people you meet up with on the trails or road are some of the best people around. And I know that if you are new to running it can sometimes be intimidating to join such a large group, but it is just like going to the gym for the first time, it might seem crazy at first and you might not be sure what to do but there is a secret, we love to talk. Runners love when people are interested in their training, and they are dying to tell you all about it. So do yourself a favor, make a running plan (or have someone help you make one, like Google) go to one of these runs and start telling people about your plan, ask them about theirs and start comparing notes. Running is never easy, and even for me it is a struggle to get up and going every time. And, I hate to say this but just wanting to stay in shape or have a hot body is not going to get you out of bed in the dark and cold to get to those runs. You have to find out what running means to you, and decide what you need to do to stay engaged in it. It is not for the love of running that I do it as much as I do; it is for those people standing in the dark and cold waiting for me. What kind of person would I be if I let them down? 

Just Look at those Faces, how could you say no?