30 days of running Archives

A Good Run…

December 29, 2012 by David Creech Leave a Comment

I didn’t want to run today.

I haven’t really been out on a real run since the wedding in October. My failure to complete 30 Days of Running coupled with all of the travel from the wedding/honeymoon, then the stress and fatigue of moving in November. I just haven’t felt good enough to run.

My wife and I have developed a tradition of running on Christmas and Thanksgiving. I didn’t run on Thanksgiving, but I did bike. This Christmas I knew we’d be running and we did a decent cold and windy 5 mile run. That’s not a lot of miles for most of you “runners” but it’s a fair amount for me after 2 months of no running and dealing with pain. So it took a toll.

Then we did another short run two days later. Still sore but we did it. And then there was today…

I really didn’t want to run. My feet were sore, my quads very sore and I just didn’t feel like it. I lobbied heavily for No-Run, she almost bought in but ultimately didn’t and we left for a run.

The Memorial Park Loop was busy, people everywhere. As we started our run my feet settled in pretty quick and the pain went away. It was a nippy 34 degrees but the sun was out so it was nice, just the way I like it. As we passed more and more people I started feeling better and could feel my body settle into a solid stride. For once, I was setting the pace on this run (Merelyn usually sets the pace as I struggle to keep up).

The more people I passed the more people I wanted to pass. I started getting the race mentality and looking for stronger runners along the trail that I could chase down and pass. Soon, we were passing nearly everyone and my stride felt easy and natural and I pushed it on.

I didn’t make any new PRs or break any records but it was a good run and, more importantly, it felt good.

I’m glad I ran today.

30 Days of Running – Failure…

October 20, 2012 by David Creech 13 Comments

Well, it started out with the best of intentions…

The last update was day 8 and it was a good 3 mile run.

Day 9 we were swamped with wedding guests and as they continued to pour in, I took time to myself and got in a decent 2.5 mile run.

Day 10 was our wedding day, I still managed to get a short run in, but didn’t track the distance. I would guess it was somewhere around a 2 mile run, but I was focused on a mission and didn’t track time or distance and stopped several times to investigate stick-piles.

Day 11, the day after the wedding, we had time scheduled with our photographer to do the “trash the dress” shots in the lake. We casually hiked a mile or two to get some of the shots, but there was no running on this day.

After Day 10, there was no more running. We endured marathon-level air travel to get to Costa Rica which left my wife and I exhausted. We intended to do some trail running at the resort in Costa Rica, but what passed for “hiking trails” there were not what we expected. Very short hikes to small vistas, certainly nothing that we could really run.

Then I spent most of our second night and third day there sick. Really, it was 24 hours of abdominal interval training with 2-3 minutes of intense ab work at 1-hour intervals. Good times.

The next two days after my, um, “Interval Training” were filled with tours. These did included some hiking, but for the most part were nothing I would consider exercise. I will get in to the disappointing nature of Adventure Tourism in another post.

After that, more travel back home, another couple of exhausted days of recovery and then catching up on work after being gone for two weeks. 30 Days of Running died…

Now I knew I was taking on something that would be difficult, if not impossible, to stick with through a wedding and honeymoon. It was just something I did NOT want to keep putting off. It was a now or never sort of decision.

So now the decision to make is: do I resurrect 30 Days of Running and start from scratch? Was it annoying to see the daily running reports on my blog? Should I find a better way to report the runs and stay accountable? What do you guys think?

30 Days of Running – Day 8…

October 2, 2012 by David Creech Leave a Comment

Writing this one a day late, things are really starting to get busy up here in Tahoe. So much to do to pull the wedding together and now people are starting to show up fast and furious!

We did manage to sneak away for a bit yesterday to get a run in. We did the same 3 mile loop around the casinos and back to the hotel. This time it was mid-day and warm (but still way more pleasant than running in Phoenix). I’m starting to feel a little better on the hills and finishing strong.

Today’s Run…

Left the hotel at 3:24 PM.

Weather was a warm 75 degrees. Ran on pavement.

Total run was 3 miles in 29 minutes 30 seconds. Felt good and finished strong.

My foot is feeling much better today! YAY!

30 Days of Running – Day 7…

September 30, 2012 by David Creech Leave a Comment

This morning my foot was killing me! This is a bunch of crap, it’s SO sore.

Best thing for it? A run…sure, why not!

I have to get the run in right? So let’s do this thing. We picked a route that dropped down the road from the hotel to the lake, then along the lake for a bit before curving back up the hill and across the border in to Nevada. The hill was rough, especially at about 6,500 ft, but Merelyn and I busted it out.

It was actually a pretty nice run once I got used to running with the pain in my foot. Ouch.

Today’s Run…

Left the hotel at 8:24 AM.

Weather was a nice, chilly 40 degrees. Ran on pavement.

Total run was 3.05 miles in 33 minutes. Felt good and finished strong, despite the fighting the thin air.

I really want my foot to stop hurting! Stupid foot!

Followed the run with a nice protein shake.

30 Days of Running – Day 6…

September 30, 2012 by David Creech 2 Comments

Day six was a very busy day! Saturday was spent all day traveling to Tahoe. By the time we made it up to South Lake, we were both exhausted and I really wanted to spend a night getting used to the elevation change. So instead of going for a late run, we decided to walk to dinner. It wasn’t a run, but it was something…

Today’s Run…

Left the hotel at 7:30PM.

The weather in Tahoe last night was AMAZING! Nice, clear, cool, slight breeze…perfect. Walk (mostly) on pavement.

Total run was 4.2 miles.

My left foot is a mess since I got here. I don’t know what is going on with it this time, but it really sore. The walk helped.

30 Days of Running – Day 5…

September 28, 2012 by David Creech 2 Comments

Today’s run started late and I was a little worried about the heat, but it turned out to be pretty nice. After the shorter run yesterday, my legs and feet felt great and the run finally felt easier. I kept an easy pace that didn’t feel too sluggish, my breathing was pretty controlled and it didn’t feel like a struggle.

At about 20 minutes in I decided to push a little harder and up the pace some. Still not breaking any records, but my time is improving.

Today’s Run…

Left the house at 8:40AM.

Weather was a sunny 78 degrees with a clear sky. Ran on pavement.

Total run was 3.25 miles in 29 minutes 45 seconds. Felt good and finished strong.

I’ve still got some random twitchy thing going on in left leg above the ankle. The bottoms of both feet are sore and tender too, but I am chalking that up to the trail run.

Followed the run with a dip in the pool and a protein shake with banana and peanut butter.

30 Days of Running – Day 4…

September 27, 2012 by David Creech Leave a Comment

I treated today as a rest day. I was still feeling the effects from the trail run in my ankles this morning and felt like I could benefit from something a little different. So I did a much shorter run today and focused on trying to open up a little bit and run faster. I think this proves I still have a long way to go to get back even to where I was before Summer.

Today’s Run…

Left the house at 7:50AM.

Weather was a sunny 77 degrees with a clear sky. Ran on pavement.

Total run was 1.5 miles in 12 minutes 30 seconds. Felt slow at first but I finished strong.

Left ankle and foot are sore but muscles feel good. I’ve got some weird twitchiness the tendons just above the ankle joint, not sure what to do with that.

Followed the run with a cup of coffee and water.

30 Days of Running – Day 3…

September 26, 2012 by David Creech Leave a Comment

When my buddy sent me a message last night asking if I was up for a hike/trail run in the morning I was excited at the opportunity to get off the pavement! I prefer trail running over pavement running any day of the week.

I got up earlier than usual to make sure we could hit the trail before 7AM. The weather was amazing this morning and the trail wasn’t very crowded at all. I strapped on the GeigerRig 500 and we hit the trail.

Today’s Run…

Left the house at 6:30AM and was on the trail by 7AM exactly.

Weather was a nice 74 degrees with a clear sky. Ran/hiked Thunderbird Mountain trail.

Total trail was 3.6 miles and we probably ran close to 3 miles of it. Total time on the trail was 51 minutes.

Run was slow, but felt good. My legs were not as sore or tired as I expected them to be. My left ankle felt weak but I’m sure that’s due to running pavement and will improve with more trail running.

Followed the run with a protein shake with peanut butter and banana.

30 Days of Running – Day 1…

September 24, 2012 by David Creech Leave a Comment

Thanks to some of the new treatment I’ve been getting from the Body Tune-up Shop here in Scottsdale I am feeling good enough to start running again. Dave has done amazing things in a just a few short sessions to make me feel stronger, lighter and pain free. The type of work that he does is all about restoring the body’s natural alignment, core strength and postural correction. The difference is pretty impressive.

So, with my body feeling better and the weather getting much nicer out here in the desert, I want to renew my running routine. I’ve been reading a new book called Running the Edge by Tim Catalano and Olympic runner Adam Goucher. Even though I’ve been super busy I’ve been voraciously reading this book every chance I get and it has me excited about running again.

I plan to run every day for the next 30 days and log each day here, like a running journal. By the end of 30 days I hope I will have developed a running habit and will either create another challenge for myself or just keep running because I want to. But these 30 days I will try to get back in to running and will make getting the run in a priority. They won’t be long runs, and I’m sure they won’t be fast runs (not yet) but I will get something in every day.

That said, I am getting married and going on my honeymoon next month so, I will have to be flexible and adjust as needed. But the intent is there…run every day.

If anyone wants to share any tips, advice or encouragement….comment below!

Today’s run

Left the house at 7:10AM

Weather was a beautiful 75 degrees with a cloudy sky. Ran on pavement.

I ran (if you could call it that) 3.25 miles in 31 minutes.

The run felt slow and awkward since I haven’t run much all summer. I am also not a huge fan of running early in the morning but this morning was nice and I wanted to get it in.

Followed the run with a quick dip in the pool (felt great), and a protein shake with banana.