Las Vegas

3 miles, 6am run. Managed to swing a work trip to see comedy show and check out new Palazzo Hotel next to Venitian.

Bayou Run

5 miles, Bayou Run. Kenyan Way on week break before marathon program starts.

Cornelio Garibay Benefit Run

Tornados Running Club hosted a benefit run for Cornelio Garibay:

"Cornelio suffered a broken ankle a couple of weeks ago and has no health insurance and will be out of work for about 3 months. Cornelio has lived and raced in Houston for over 20 years. He is still one of the top runners in Houston and runs for the Al Lawrence Running Club.This non-competitive, untimed run consists of two 2-mile loops through the HoChiMinh Trails.We will meet by the baseball fields at the Picnic Loop, south of Memorial Drive, across from Memorial Park. There is no cost for this run, but we will gladly accept donations"

5:30pm start - but shaded in trees. Fast on the jeep track to start. So I rolled over on left ankle. On second lap I saw there is concrete ridge across the path I'd missed seeing first time. Almost needed a second benefit :-) But able to run on it. Then went wrong way. Not continuing on Orange Trail. Instead went sharp right down the gully. They called me back. Paused for 2 drinks of water before second lap. Kept an eye on heart rate and tried to keep consistent effort. Had to walk up gully second time round and tough last mile. 34:00, 3.6 miles. Probably second last as many opted for 1 lap.

They were well prepared for plenty of folks since event widely advertised through Houston Marathon e-mail. So plenty of beer available after the run.

This was first outing for replacement Garmin. For some reason it was on for warm down and drive to next party! Hoping this one works better.

Kenyan Way Time Trial

2 mile time trial. 16:35. Soft underfoot - not flooded. Stayed downtown after informative Strength Training Seminar and made it to morning Time Trial. No e-mail cancellation by 5:30am (but with hindsight I wasn't in the morning group e-mail). But radar showed band of rain would pass by. No-one at base - but ran anyway. No rain or lightening. Garmin stopped working so 0.5 mile splits missing and it wouldn't stop at end. So have a replacement on order after a 40 minute wait with Garmin suport.

As usual - not my best in morning. 2.2 mile w/u. Minimal w/d. Tired all day. KW rescheduled it for Thu morning...

Kenyan Nights

5.5 miles. 15:00 hills. 3.5 w/u, 0.5 w/d. Gentle due to heat and the upcoming time trial.

Garmin lap button not working during hill session. Will be call Garmin for a replacement.

Atlanta

In Atlanta for a friend of a friend's house warming party. 6 mile slow, early morning run - looking for quiet roads and sidewalks to run on in a Northeast suburb. Also had arrived late Fri and Atlanta is an hour ahead. Followed some other runners in distance guessing they knew best places. Plenty of hills - especially for me. Tried to hydrate prior to run - but legs got tired. Interestingly heart rate stayed really low. No heat to contend with.

Return on Sunday was interesting. Thunderstorms rolled into ATL at departure time. 3 airport closures for westbound traffic resulted in a 4:50 delay trapped for entire time on a full plane in seat 10D which doesn't recline.

Progressive Run

8 miles. Alternate to Kenyan Nights with rain moving workout to Memorial park again. Decided to just come home and do scheduled progressive run at Terry Hershey Park. Missed Lap 6 - Garmin 405 froze-up. Would not respond to lap or stop buttons. Hilly course and slippery where wet. Stayed on cycle path. No trails today.

Memorial Park Runners Loop

3 miles. Squeezed in a run at Memorial Park after a work happy hour. Burning off the Guinness calories.

Kenyan Nights

Hills. 7 miles. Luis stood in for Sean. Session started little early so I saw them start as I came around Shepperd Bridge. Saw 2 hill circuits laid out. Session not obvious - a new course to me. Saw some people alternate between circuits - but nothing consistent. I settled on swapping circuits after 2 laps. Had a quick water break at 10 minutes. The next set swapping every 3 laps felt better. Form got progressively better throughout the workout. 42:00 w/u, 20:00 hills, 8:00 w/d. Missed core to make it back in time for Home Owners Association meeting.

So doing a longer warm-up despite 92F was to make up a little for weekend where active but unable to go running. It's the off season anyway so not going to worry family time or travel impacting training time. At the risk of not reaching full potential the off time is seriously reducing injury risk - especially when I compare to other runners blogged experiences. So I'm off to a work happy hour Tue night :-)

July 4th

Finally purchased new iPod Nano for longer workouts. iPod Classic practically died many months ago. Watched fireworks from park.

Kenyan Nights

6 miles. Workout moved to Memorial Park due to afternoon t-storms. 3 miles progressive run. Unfortunately Garmin lap button didn't work for 2nd split.