and we'll run for our lives

I'm about half way through my training for the 2nd annual Rock 'n Roll half marathon in San Antonio. Last year's Rock 'n Roll was my first race ever, I'm excited to go back there. The course is pretty flat, and the bands are pretty frequent, but the crowd was pretty sparse. This year I'll be running with at least 2 other friends, RO'D and LD, which will be an exciting addition.

I've been running on Saturday mornings with AustinFit since mid May, and even through all my traveling, I've stayed pretty much on track. I've done a lot of reading about running in the heat, because, well, it's been hot here. Today was our 58th 100+ degree day this summer. The record high was in 1923 with 66 over 100 days. The average is something like 14. So, to say it's a heat wave is an understatement. I read one article that said that it takes as much as two weeks to get used to running in heat this extreme. Which is pretty awesome since my summer started with about 2.5 weeks in Austin, 2.5 weeks in cool, crisp, San Francisco. Followed by 2.5 weeks in blazing Austin, and 2 weeks in glorious Los Angeles. If you're keeping up with this - I've basically been allowing myself enough time to get acclimated before I leave again. I say, training at it's best.

I read another article that indicated that your pace increases 30 sec/mile for every 10 degrees it is above 60. So, perhaps my 12ish minute miles are ok, considering it's routinely 90 by the time I'm running. I've been disappointed with my times, its been slower than I'd like - and tougher than I'd like. But, I'm hoping this is all heat-based, and will get easier quickly once mid-October rolls around.

Last Saturday I did a 9 mile run, and it was pretty difficult. I've been having some awesome calf problems - the worst of which came on Saturday. It's like tiny seizures in my calf muscles, you can watch them twitching away. After about 6 miles, I'd get instant charlie horses whenever I flexed my toes. This made running up hills difficult, as I use my toes often for this. I gave myself a gold star for making it to the end, even though there were longer stretches of walking in there. When I got home, I was sprawled out on a chair in the living room, RO'D was in the kitchen, and we were having some sort of conversation. In the middle of it I began yelping in pain, tried to stand up, nearly collapsed, and yelped some more.

What happened?? Are you ok??
I pointed my toe, I won't do that anymore!

I was kind of a mess, but after some TLC from the massage stick, and some pretty painful stretching, I felt better. And I've been at it ever since - so hopefully tomorrows 3 miles will be a little less painful!

This year, I'm doing one thing a little different - I've decided to try and raise money for the Huntington's Disease Society of America through my running. It's an organization that has become increasingly important to me, the disease has been plaguing the family of a very close friend of mine for many generations. The Huntington's Disease Society of America is a great organization that is involved in funding research, and helping with both patients and their families as they try to cope with this devastating disease. For those of you who may not be aware, HD is a genetic disease that is dominant - so anyone who has the gene will develop the symptoms. It is a neurodegenerative disease, meaning it affects your brain to some extreme degree. I've been blown away by the generosity that my friends and their friends have shown so far. I started with a goal of $1,000 and this was achieved in just one month. I've updated my goal to $1,500, in hopes to do even more good. Please consider donating if you can.