Brown Socks

Over the funk...

So it has been a week since my "tears on the trails" incident.  One week later it looks like my black cloud has finally passed, but not without a few more aches and pains.

So my workout and run at the gym were good. But, not without pain for the following 2 days. It's been a long time since I have been that sore after a workout...ugh.

Still learning ...

On Thursday I went to the greenbelt for a run, but it was crappy once again.  Halfway down the hill of life my stomach started to turn. I figured I could run through it, but it didn't go away. I made it halfway to the dam (which isn't very far) and turned around to go back to the car. It was too hot and my stomach felt too sick to try to push through it. But then, as I turned around to go back to the car I started to feel better. So I headed down the main trail in the opposite direction, thinking that the issues had passed. But then a mile down the trail, my stomach started turning again.  So, once again I turned around to go back. I'm starting to feel very discouraged at this point...I just wanted to have a good freakin' run! So, I headed back to the HOL and wouldn't you know, halfway up I started to feel better. I actually felt strong going up the hill, so I decided to veer off on the side trail that we took on the Belt course. I went along that for a while, and the stomach issues came back.  I was done playing this game, so I went back to the car and went home.

This whole stomach thing was frustrating me. I hadn't eating anything too crazy for lunch and I felt like I was well hydrated...yet I felt like I had eaten large amounts of roughage, if you know what I mean.  And then I realized that just like last time I had this issue on the trail,  I ate a large bowl of cereal in the morning... Dairy was the culprit! I've read that it can cause GI issues, but hadn't really thought about it...Problem solved, thankfully.

Higher likelihood of injury: 1) trail-running, or 2) running the puppy around the block?

The answer is 2. The puppy cut me off on our run yesterday morning (he's still learning how to run on the leash), twisting my ankle and sending me flying forward (in the middle of the street no less) to land on my right knee. Did I mention that it was in the middle of the street... while half the neighborhood was heading to work?

The fall really did a number on my ankles- I twisted the one, and somehow screwed up the other one that is still healing from my tumble down the hill of death a few weeks ago.  Ouch- another disappointing run...

Friday Hike

 

Can you even see Marcel in this picture in his camouflage?

So yesterday afternoon Marcel and I decided to go somewhere new, and we agreed on the Wild Basin Wilderness Preserve . I've seen the entrance to the preserve many times while driving back and forth on 360, but never gave it much thought. When we were talking about finding a new place to go, it popped into my head.  I'm glad we checked it out- it ended up being a perfect hike- not too far (about 2 miles) and not too flat (you know how Marcel likes the climbs).  I swear this child is going to be kicking my butt on the trail runs soon enough- he was running up the hills like they were flat- not a drop of sweat. Marcel thought the hike was a little short, so I promised him we could go on a hike on Sunday morning while Zack ran.  I figured we would go down to the greenbelt, but he asked to go to Enchanted Rock because he wanted to hike the steep rock spaceship looking thing. He doesn't realize that Enchanted Rock is 80 miles away. I almost said "no, not this weekend", but the more I thought about it, the more I thought a little day trip would be a perfect way to spend our Sunday.  Zack agreed, and Marcel got his way- he will finally get his steep hill this weekend.

Finally, the cloud has passed

On my schedule this week is "recovery".  Recovery from my non existent long run last week. My first inclination was to try to make up for my bad run this weekend, but I decided to keep to the schedule...the next 2 weeks are considered "hard" weeks with two consecutive days of quality workouts and weekend long runs. So I went out this morning to run as long as I could before I needed to be home to go to Marcel's Kung Fu (rumor was that he was to test to his blue-stripe today, but he didn't). I planned to do the Powerline loop, then add on as much as I could before turning around. I ran the loop until the bottom of the hill of death, then decided to continue on the same side and over the hump instead of crossing the creek. I got back to the main trail and ran a bit more, and realized I needed to turn around. I finished my run happy (!) and satisfied that I was over my funk.  My ankles were a bit weak from the puppy incident, and I had to go down the hills a bit slower, but it was all good.

So, tomorrow we are off for a mini day trip which I am looking forward to. Heading to the Hill Country always a great way to get away from our hectic Austin life.  I'm hoping to stop in Fredericksburg to get some fresh bread at the bakery as well.  And maybe some homemade fudge too... mmm.

Friday Hike...Saturday Fall

Friday Hike

Marcel and I went to the greenbelt yesterday to do some hiking and talking.  Marcel's Great Grandma is sick in the hospital and we are going to visit her today,  so I wanted to take the opportunity to talk about sickness and hospitals while we were out on the hike. This will be his first experience being in a hospital (other then being born) and his first time to see someone who is very ill.  I figured that we could talk about life while we were out in nature... It worked- we were able to have a nice talk about what it means to be sick and what to expect while in the hospital- while walking along in a peaceful place.  Oh, and Marcel informed me that the "steep hill" that I found for him to hike up... wasn't steep.

I remembered to put the battery in my camera and took some photos along the hike. They are posted over in the right sidebar under "Greenbelt" if you are interested in taking a look.  They mostly have pictures of my son in them, but if you would like to check out the "greenbelt" that a few of us talk about on our blogs- the pictures show many different points on the trails taken over the past year and a half.  The new ones from yesterday are at the bottom, the ones on the top are from last year when the creek actually had water all the way down to Gus Fruh.

Falling

I headed out to the greenbelt early this morning to get an hour run in before we head out of town to see Zack's Grandmother.  I did the same route that I always do but today was able to go about 1/3 of a mile further before turning around! It seems as if finally I am getting a little faster- a few weeks of hill and fartlek workouts apparently makes a difference!  Also, something that has changed in the past few weeks- falling. Whereas I rarely fall while running (and it the worst fall wasn't even on the trail it was on flat Lake Austin Blvd), the past few weeks I have fallen in nearly every run, usually while running down rocky hills.  Today I fell coming down the hill of death, right at a steep sharp turn.  I sliced my knee up in two places and did a number on my ankle.  I better put a first aid kit in the car- this seems to be a regular thing now.

I'll be out of the loop for a few days... hope everyone has a great weekend and if I'm not back by the holiday- Happy 4th of July!

Sunday- Hiking & Fixing the Illegal Yard

Lawn Violation?

On Friday at 5:30 we got the mail, which included a letter from our Homeowners Association citing us for not mowing, edging, or weeding our lawn. We were baffled, especially after we read that it was our second notice and we never received the first. The letter stated that the first citation was sent last week, only one week after we last mowed and edged. They also sent a certified letter, which I had to stand in line for 45 minutes at the post office to get- luckily there as another package there too or I wouldn’t have been pissed. We figured it had to be a mistake- our grass was a little long, but not longer than others (it rained 3 times during the week). No one was at the office when I called to inquire if it was a mix-up. I figured they were cracking down on everyone, because there are some folks with scraggly lawns around the corner. So, in addition to the regularly scheduled mowing, I added "pull the spidery weeds that you can't even see from the road out of the flowerbed, and trim the grass around the edge of the flowerbed with the freaking hand clippers cuz I can’t figure out what their problem is… " to my list of things to do on Sunday…

Greenbelt Hike

So Sunday, per the HOA’s orders we planned to take care of the front yard. But first, Marcel had suggested on Saturday evening that we head down the Greenbelt for a hike while Zack was off on his run. It was all Marcel- no influence on my end at all. I thought he meant the Town Lake Trail at first, but he wanted “to go to the greenbelt and sit on the waterfall” So Saturday morning we got up, watched a cartoon or two, filled our camelbacks, grabbed a Clif Bar, and headed to the Twin Falls Access. We were planning an hour or so, but ended up hiking 2 ½ hours- Marcel didn’t want to turn around because we kept finding side trails with “fun climbs”. He actually enjoyed the steep climbs on the side trails. He also loved hiking through the mud. We took one of the side trails up to the field and back down, ran a bit on the flat parts, went off on a few more steep-ish side trails, and then climbed around on the rocks in the creek at Twin Falls.

Marcel finally tired out right as we were heading back up to the car- getting all dramatic saying that his legs were “dyyyyiiiing”…he held up pretty well for a 5 year old little guy. And he took a killer nap later in the day, which you know is always a good thing.

Trying to "fix" violation...

While Marcel was napping, I went out to tackle the illegal yard. I really didn’t know what the problem was- Zack had mowed and edged as he did last time, but according to the HOA that wasn’t enough (?). So, I went out and trimmed everything around the flower bed, pulled the spidery weed that you couldn’t see, and pulled up some of the ground cover that had spread due to the rain. I actually trimmed the grass (we’ve got the unruly St. Augustine here) with little hand clippers…totally ridiculous. I was miserably hot to be gardening in the afternoon and I was dripping sweat. As I was working in the yard I talked to my neighbors who did not receive a citation and were just as baffled as we were as to why they targeted us. Yeah, it looks much nicer now- but it didn’t look bad in the first place!

So, not to keep complaining about the HOA but, when I called on Monday to inquire about the citation- they couldn’t tell me what the problem was. It appeared that they didn't have a record of the issue at all…What...?

My superhero

Had to post these pictures from the weekend- Saturday morning Mar and I  ran the Miracle Mile Family run.  They gave the kids capes to run in, which was a total selling point for Marcel.  He finished the mile in around 12 minutes or so, only stopping for a moment to scratch a "skeeto bite".  The announcer called him a superhero as he was crossing the finish line- it doesn't get much cooler than that...