Urban Coyote

I was finishing up a run at dusk a few days ago when a coyote darted across the street right in front of me. The animal was running so fast it didn't even acknowledge I was coming. It continued on it's merry way without a blink which I was very thankful for...

Tiger Swallowtail

A beautiful yellow tiger swallowtail greeted me this morning as I did a short warm up run before a yoga class today. This is only the second time I see one of these butterflies in my runs. I spotted on for the first time about 2 weeks ago - I was delighted to see the large yellow and black butterfly fluttering around. It was definitely a male since it did not have the blue on top of the wings, just a small patch on the underside.

The black swallowtails are quite common by the reservoir and sometimes I'll run by one that will follow along with me for a while. It always makes my day a bit brighter!

The black swallowtails are apparently very common in Ohio also.

Athletic Conditioning

I started an athletic conditioning class at the gym on Wednesdays. The instructor keeps the class fast paced and challenging. We usually end up with 100 push-ups in 10 to 20 increments, work with free weights, medicine balls, figure 8 elastic bands for squat-jacks, and bosu balls. On Thursday my legs were tired and a bit sore (in a good way). I guess the class is working as intended - it complements my running really well.

Back on track

The sun took a break at lunch time today. The cloud cover made for a pleasant day outside (Houston standards, mind you). I went for a run along the reservoir in the opposite direction I normally track. To my surprise, after I left the groomed part of the trail, the butterflies were there in numbers! My favorite, the swallowtail, followed me for a good quarter of a mile, then came the gulf fritillaries with their silvery adorned wings, the variegated fritillaries, the sulfurs, and a buckeye. They made my day so much happier...

Natural instincts

at the end of my run today I was surprised by a bird at the bottom of the trail. At first it looked injured, but as I approached it quickly moved farther away and re-started the "injury" dance. After a few steps I noticed a small nest with 3 eggs on the ground camouflaged amongst the rocks. I believe the bird felt the nest threatened and started to act injured to distract my attention from the eggs. Very interesting. I came back with my camera and he repeated the dance once again.

It's nice to be back running after a long 12-week break. Today it was more a run-walk-run in the noon heat.

Rodeo Run

Over 10,000 runners participated in the 2009 ConocoPhillips Rodeo Run.

Rest day Friday

I took Friday off from running and just went on a walk with my camera. The butterflies were very patient with me.

Butterflies are coming back

Butterflies are back by the reservoir. My run was quite joyful with the butterflies fluttering along the path - swallowtails, gulf fritillaris, a monarch, a few small earthy-beige ones, a pretty yellow with black wingtips one. It's beeen very dry lately and the reservoir is at the lowest level I've seen. Hopefully this will not affect the birds coming through in the next few months.

Austin Half

The Austin half marathon sure gave me the run for my money yesterday. I finished it at a similar time to last year. I was hoping for a slightly better time, but I had to reduce my endurance training a lot a few weeks before the race due to an injury. And yes, it definitely made a difference. The first 2/3 of the run felt pretty good, but the last 4 miles or so went 'down hill' pretty fast... I had to take walking breaks at the water stops then on the large uphills... not very upsetting since I knew that might happen. I was just hoping I would've been able to push through it for a bit longer than I did!

The marathon website is down since yesterday afternoon... no official results out there...

New running venue

I´ve been running at 3000ft for the past week. It´s nice to have a change of venue and conditions. The route through the park has a few nice gentle inclines. I´ve done a couple of 10K.

Not feeling very well the last couple of days so my plans for a 20K over the weekend did not materialize...

Track on Monday

My track workout this Monday: 4x1200m at 7:30min/mi, 1min recovery. The long run, track, recovery runs and pilates combination seems to be working for me.

Thanks Soaring Ibis Running Coaches and Friends!

http://www.soaringibis.com/

Perfect weather

As you run through the Summer in the heat and humidity you start to believe that "the perfect weather day" will never happen in Houston. Well, today it was perfect for me. Temperatures were in the mid 60s, it was dry and sunny, my lungs and legs were happy - the run was great.

A great 20-miler today

The weather was perfect for a long run this morning. Very crisp, in fact. I ran in my fleece the entire 20 miles.

It was nice to run in the country side with rolling hills just West of Houston. The sag support team was also great. We had our own personalized bags with water, gatorade, energy gels, salty cookies, and nuts throughout the course!

It sure was nice to run with the group. Last week's 18-miler I was on my own... by mile 15 I had run out of conversations with myself and the last 3 miles were a tough negotiation with my legs. Today, I was OK until mile 18 but for the last two I needed a few walking breaks to actually make it through...

My legs are tired but very happy right now!

Not one, but two snakes in the path

The brush grass along the sides of the levee has been recently cut (1-3 days which displaced the snakes out of their hiding places. As I was running up on the levee I actually jumped over a quite big adult Yellowbelly Water Snake. It sure startled me - this is the first time I encountered any snakes all the way up there. I stopped and watched it for while. The snake was also unsure about me. Its tail was pulsing side to side quite rapidly. Had it been a rattle snake, it would've sounded like true maracas.

Then 300m later, another snake! This time it was a small one. I think it was a young botched water snake similar to the one saw a few weeks ago. It was brown with tiny spots on its back.

http://www.houstonherp.com/YellowbellyWS.html

Rainy Day Track Workout

The day was dark and wet. Track workout was in the gym today. It was actually a good strong workout 2x(4x800m) with 60s recovery between 800's and 3min recovery between sets. The word was to do it at a 10K pace. My splits were 4x7:47 and 3x7:42 + 1x7:30. For me a 7:30 min/mi is great. I have never been able to run a race that fast. Maybe it's time to try a 5K again after a few more sessions of speed work... who knows.

Saturday Run

15 miles - great run. Made me want to do the marathon again.

Right now I'm wavering between doing the half-marathon in Austin or a full marathon in January.

The Houston Marathon is sold out - so it will be difficult, unless I can get a number from someone that got injured and can't run. Another option on the same day is Phoenix/Scottsdale - it's a Rock'N'Roll Marathon with many bands along the course. Should be a fun one. The Walt Disney Marathon is also in January - I was signed up for Disney many years ago but got sick. I transfered my number to the half-marathon and ran that instead with a burning fever. Yeah, not a very smart thing to do... I want to think that several years later I'm a bit smarter!

Roseate Spoonbills are back!

And I have pictures this time! I was able to get really close to the water without spooking the birds.

I was a bit concerned about going down the levee since I had the encounter with the bloched water snake on Monday. But the photos from the levee were just too far and not very gratifying. The grass was not as tall as it looked and going down was just fine.

The spoonbills we great - just posing away. They were very curious about me being there. The camera clicks did get them intrigued.

On the way out, I also spotted some deer tracks on the mud at the edge of the water. So much life is hidden away in the woods.

A snake in my path

I was hoping snakes brought good luck. Yesterday as I was starting my run I hopped over one. It was camouflaged in the grass and I saw it as I went over it and it raised up and opened it's mouth wide warning me I was in its territory. Luckily, I was moving faster than it was.

This morning though luck didn't materialize. I got a ticket on the freeway in a under posted zone...I'll blame it on bad luck from the snake yesterday. I'm quite annoyed at having to spend 6 hours of my life now in defensive driving school in addition to paying $100+ in court fees. @$#$%@#$%@$%.

Just found it on the web http://www.houstonherp.com/BlotchedWS.html

The one I encountered though was about half this size.

Debris and twisted trees

September 20, 2008

A week after hurricane Ike hit, the debris and damage from the winds is still everywhere. I set out on a 10 mile run this morning through West U, Zoo, and around the Hermann Park Golf Course.

Many are still without power. A common sighting were extensions cords running from houses on one side of the street where power has been restored to others on the other side that still have no power. Piles and piles of tree limbs and bags of leafs are sitting on the side walks and street corners. The golf course remains closed with large trees twisted from the wind toppled over across the greens.

An incredible amount of work still needs to be done to put the city back together
.

Dragonfly Lovefest

The butterflies are gone. Don't know if was the rain and wind or if it's just that time year, end September, early October. Reservoir water levels came up after Ike and remain high. Water is stagnant and started to smell, making outside runs at lunch time quite unpleasant. Dragonflies continue their lovefest.