Major Catching Up to Do

Wow! It would be an understatement to say the last week and a half hasn’t been busy. Work (lots of it), travel, preparing for travel, and of course a fair amount of running. I suppose I should start out by recapping my running for the past couple of weeks.

Week 2:
Total Number of Runs Logged: 8
Total Miles Logged: 34.5
Total Time Spent Running: 4 hours, 20 minutes, and 19 seconds
Average Pace: 7:31

That makes my new "as of" total after 2 weeks of running:
Total Number of Runs Logged: 16
Total Miles Logged: 83.9
Total Time Spent Running: 10 hours, 44 minutes, and 36 seconds
Average Pace: 7:41

Now, my 2nd week of running had my first “great” run, but the real highlight of the week was not the distance but the location. Friday night Stephanie I flew to Hong Kong for the three-day weekend. Later on I’ll post pictures and blog about our adventures (Check it out on my Stephanie's Blog here), but for now I’ll just talk about the running. While most studies would probably say that running in a colder climate is easier than the hot and humid of someplace like Guam especially with regards to muscle fatigue and endurance. That’s probably true; however, after nearly a year and a half of running in Guam, I’ve come quite accustomed to it. Going from running in 80+ degree weather one day to around 50 degree weather the next is quite a shock to the system. . I am really not sure about the air quality in Hong Kong compared to Guam, but I will say that it was noticeably harder to breathe in the very “crisp” air. I ran about 5 miles on both Sunday and Monday and although the cold air provided a new challenge, it was great running in a new environment. Hopefully in future travel adventures I’ll continue my running as well. The running blog and goal for 1200 miles this will hopefully encourage me to maintain an active lifestyle even when on “vacation”.

Week in Review (3-9 Jan)

One Week down, only 51 more to go! I could say something about if I was able to keep this pace up I'd finish off the year with 1700+ miles logged, but realistically I don't know if that is possible. Instead, like any other addiction (though I'm far from addicted to running), I'll take it a day/week/month at a time. Here's a look back at the week:
Total Number of Runs Logged: 6
Total Miles Logged: 33.4
Total Time Spent Running: 4 hours, 19 minutes, 23 seconds
Average Pace: 7:46 min/mile

That brings the yearly totals to: (I'm counting the 1st and 2nd of January in this one)
Total Number of Runs Logged: 8
Total Miles Logged: 49.4
Total Time Spent Running: 6 hours, 24 minutes, and 17 seconds
Average Pace: 7:46 min/mile

REFLECTION TIME!!
A week into the program, and I feel good. I wouldn't say "excited" comes to mind when I'm waking up in the morning, but I am not regretting my typically morning runs one bit. My body feels good and while I am usually a bit tired and very sweaty after running, I haven't been sore or stiff before or after the runs. I know I am not stretching enough, but that is something I'll have to work to make time for. I will be in TX in a few weeks, and was reviewing running/triathlon events that were going to be going on while I was there. There is a 50/100 mile race in Huntsville one of the weekends I'll be there. I thought about signing up for a good minute, but with the 50 mile event already full, I knew that it wasn't realistic for me to try a 100 mile race when my longest run in the past year+ has only been 13.1 miles. Still, it's good to know I am excited about doing an ultramarathon and that the thought of doing one does cross my mine. I'll keep my eyes out for such events near me, and hopefully the opportunity will present itself. Until then, I'll just keep on running.