Running in the Lap of the Gods

Yesterday I had one of my best runs in recent memory. Not in terms of time or pace or any of those incidentals, but in terms of sheer enjoyment.

I got to Old Settlers Park at 6am to get in a 6 mile run (6 at 6 - has a ring do it, don't ya think?) before my group arrived. It took me a mile or so to get into a rhythm, but by the time I got out of the park and onto the dark country roads I had relaxed into a leisurely pace and was in the groove. The sky opened up into a mosaic of stars, a seemingly endless cosmic highway, and I enjoyed the feel of the cool early morning (good news folks, Fall is coming). The world seemed to begin and end within the beam of my headlamp - alone with my thoughts I could have been the only person in existence. Just before I reached my turnaround, an armadillo wandered across the road in front of me (I passed him again on the way back), glanced up and then continued his pottering. These are the kind of magical mornings you live for as a runner, when everything comes together just right and running is effortless. Runs like this make me realize how good life really is and I am so grateful to be fit and healthy, and able to be out there doing this. The moral of the story is that there is so much more to running than times and distances. Whatever your pace or ability level, do it for the enjoyment and everything else will just flow.

I got back to the pavilion just as dawn was breaking, dumped off my headlamp, refilled my water, picked up my group and headed back out. I positioned myself in the middle of the group and moved up and down chatting to friends old and new. We took a slightly different route and I stopped at the turnaround to sweep the last runner. I ran with him for a mile or so and then took off and hit the last 2 miles hard.

I got back to the pavilion, socialized a bit and helped do teardown. By then, Nancy had arrived with Gavin so I strapped him into the jogging stroller and we all took off for my third 6 miler of the day. This was a nice easy-paced run and I spent the entire time talking and laughing with Gavin. We pointed out the horses and the cows and he told me all about his hopes to spot elephants and tigers along the way. We had a grand old time - I think I've found my mental equal, and he's 3 years old. I'd promised him that if he was a good boy I'd play on the swings with him when we got back to the park, and sure enough he wanted daddy to chase him. We spent a good 30 to 40 minutes tearing around and playing on the slides. Nancy had brought a picnic (tea and trail mix) which we enjoyed, and we had a lovely time.

So three runs, all different and all super enjoyable in different ways. What a great day. That along with a fast downtown 4 miles this morning made for a great running weekend. Bring it on.

2008/2009 Training Season - Week 2

Saturday 9/6/2008
road - 6 miles (pre-RRFit run). Done - 49:14 (8:12 pace)
road - 6 miles (RRFit run). Done - 47:15 (7:53 pace)
road - 6 miles (post-RRFit run). Done - pushed jogging stroller w/Gavin and Nancy (untimed)

Sunday 9/7/2008
road - 4 miles. Done - 29:30 (7:23 pace). Ran a fast downtown run w/Angel.

Monday 9/8/2008
am - road - 6 miles. Done - 53:57. Recovery run - felt tired.
pm - crosstrain. Did not do this - fixed annoying problems with DVR instead. :-(

Tuesday 9/9/2008
am - road - 6 miles. Done - 52:09. Felt good and could have gone faster, but the dog kept dragging behind. I think I could run this a lot better without him, but our early morning neighborhood runs have always been our special time (and he gets so excited to be going with me) and I don't want to lose them. Poor old boy is getting old - I know the feeling.

Wednesday 9/10/2008
am - road/trail - 6 miles. Did not do this - Gavin crept into our bed in the middle of the night and cuddled up with me. Decided that was more fun than getting up at 4am to run.
pm - road - 6 miles. Done. Ran w/Jeff.

Thursday 9/11/2008
crosstrain

Friday 9/12/2008
Rest

JDarkroom - a Great Tool for Writers

Any good writer will tell you that the best way to write is quickly and without thinking. Let the words flow and keep going, even if it's crap - that's what revisions are for. So what is the biggest problem for writers? That's easy - distractions. Today's computers are super machines full of interactive whatsits and clickable thingamijiggs. They can do almost anything and often leave you accomplishing nothing. In short they are one big distraction. The solution? JDarkroom.

JDarkroom is a great little freeware text editor I found that eliminates all distractions by taking out the bells and whistles and rolling back the years to give you a good old fashioned fullscreen editor. No toolbars, no scrollbars, no choice of fonts, no clickable "interactive assistant", nothing but green text on a black screen. A writer's dream.

I was somewhat skeptical, but the complete lack of any visual stimulus is very refreshing and enables me to "just write". It is an adaptation of a shareware Mac application called "WriteRoom" and runs as a Java app, which makes it platform independent. I'm running mine on an ancient Linux-powered laptop and it is super fast.

So if you find yourself struggling to complete a writing project in Word or the like, download this cracking little app and give it a go. You may be surprised at how much more productive you become.

Mark's "Pierluigi" Spaghetti and Meatballs

This is one of my staple pasta dishes - tasty, great for carb loading several nights before a long run and with a good lean bit of protein thrown in for good measure it makes a great recovery meal too.

I like to make the meatballs and spaghetti sauce in large batches on lazy Sunday afternoons and freeze them in small portions. That way I always have some on hand - especially handy since Gavin loves them. The first time I made them, he asked me what they were and I came up with "Pierluigi's spaghetti and meatballs" because it sounded very Italian. He loved it when daddy pretended to be Pierluigi and the name just stuck.

I've been stuck on making them ever since.


Mark's "Pierluigi" Spaghetti and Meatballs

Meatballs (makes 18)
3 slices wholewheat bread, crusts removed
1 cup skimmed milk
2 eggs
1 package Jennie-O lean ground turkey (about 1.25lbs)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Fresh parsley, finely chopped

Put the bread in a small bowl and pour the milk over it
In another larger bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Add in the turkey, garlic, Parmesan, parsley and cinnamon and combine.
Squeeze the milk from the bread and crumble into the turkey mix. Season with salt and pepper and mix by hand.
Form into 18 balls and place on a baking tray. Place the tray in the freezer until the meatballs are hard and then store in a large freezer bag until ready to use.


Spaghetti Sauce
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 bell pepper, chopped
8oz mushrooms, chopped
1 tin (15oz) Italian diced tomatoes
1 large tin (29oz) tomato sauce
Basil, parsley, oregano to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
Add the onion, garlic, bell pepper and mushrooms, and saute for about 10 minutes or until browned.
Stir in the Italian diced tomatoes and juice and cook for another 5 minutes.
Add the tomato sauce and the herbs, and season with salt and pepper.
Reduce the heat to low, cover and let cook for 30 minutes.
Divide into 2 cup portions. Can be stored in containers and frozen if needed.


Bringing it all together
Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat and spray with olive oil.
Add the meatballs and cook for 10 minutes, turning half way through.
Add the spaghetti sauce, turn the heat to low, cover and cook for 30 minutes.
Cook the spaghetti as directed on the packet (or better still make your own)
Pour spaghetti into a pasta bowl, add the sauce and meatballs and toss.
Top with mozzarella (or shaved Parmesan) and parsley.
Enjoy.

Tip : make a little extra and take some to work with you for a midmorning snack.

The Things you See

As I was driving into Dallas last week I passed a giant billboard advertising a local undertaker's services. They were exceedingly happy to announce an "Early Fall deal" and were offering an "all in" price of $999. Passing motorists were urged to call immediately - there must be some bloody strange impulse buyers in Dallas.

And moving on to impulse biters - it serves you right. That's the first thing that came to mind (between fits of laughter) when I read this story about a Welsh angler who caught a blue shark off the coast of Devon and was then bitten while having his picture taken with it. The best comment of the article came from the Shark Trust who confirmed this was not a shark attack. "When you've stuck a hook in something's mouth and dragged it through the water and put it on a boat, you've basically attacked the shark. If the shark accidentally bites you it's hardly its fault." Brilliant.

And finally a big hello to readers in my hometown of Neath, South Wales. One of the local papers there came across my blog recently, read about my plans to run a 100 mile race and wrote an article about me - I guess not too many folks from Neath move to Texas and run ultras. The article was published last week - my dad called me all excited and read it to me. I think he's carrying it around town with him.

Mrs Welshrunner goes Olympic

I hate triathlons. I think it's because they take up so much time - you have to get there the day before to rack your bike, there's all the hassle of transition and you have to get up super early the morning of (not to mention the start of the swim that brings to mind middle-aged housewives at the January sales). Add all this together and I have no desire at all to do one. Mrs Welshrunner, however, loves them, and she did her first Olympic distance triathlon this morning. Her dad had come down for the weekend, so he babysat Gavin while we got up and out the door by 5am. I was on "crew" duty, so I took a camping chair which I happily sat in while Nancy went into the transition zone (which was guarded closer than Fort Knox). She was gone for a while and I found myself nodding off and eventually fell asleep. I must have been snoozing away for about 10 minutes before she came back and woke me up.

Her swim wave was due to get going around 7:30am, so we moved over to the edge of Town Lake. I gave her a good luck kiss, saw her off and moved myself and the chair over to the swim exit. I enjoyed myself people watching for a while and got chatting to a guy who set up his chair next to mine.

Once she finished the swim, I uprooted myself and headed over to Congress where I set up camp again on the bike route. She was going to do three loops of the bike course, so when she came past the second time round I took the chair back to the car and waited for her to come round again before heading back to the transition area.

Finally all that was left was the run. Nancy was looking good and seemed to have relaxed into a rhythm. The course was laid out in such a way that I could pace her in many places, cut off and pick her up again further down the track. I did this for a while and at one point I got talking to one of the policemen while I waited at an out-and-back. He was a nice guy and we chatted about the busy weekend, with the UT football game, the Human Race, the Austin Triathlon, Batfest and a surprise visit by President Bush. We both gave Nancy a good cheer when she got back. I set off with her again and ran most of the rest of the way with her before peeling off just before the finish line. She smashed her goal time by a good 13 minutes and I was super proud of her.

Then this afternoon I took advantage of Austin's Free Day of Yoga and went to a "Hot Yoga" class at Yogagroove on Great Northern. This is a style of yoga taught in a 105F room which concentrates on 26 positions and 2 breathing exercises. It encourages muscle flexibility and helps detoxify the body through sweating. I've been having issues for a while with stiff and sore muscles due to running (and my general lack of stretching - bad me) and I certainly feel a lot more relaxed right now. The class was a lot of fun - it was 90 minutes long and I got a really good workout (and a really good detox if the amount of sweat that poured off me is anything to go by). They have a good deal for new people with a 30 day unlimited yoga pass for $28. I may just try it out.

Now that I'm detoxified, I'm off to make some quesadillas for supper. Hey, it's not all bad - I'm using spinach tortillas!!!