Catching up, and moving right along.

I've been running around so much lately! I can't believe it's been over 10 days since I've written anything, and the time seriously has flown.

I seem to be intensifying my running. Not only that, I've found some regular yoga practice sessions that I look forward to. I'm realizing that the bigger picture seems to be one of personal growth, learning how to improve my health overall, as well as how to improve my running abilities and now yoga (it's definitely "sticking" to me).

My runs for the last several days have pretty much consisted of my regular routes at the usual evil early hours of the day. There have been a couple standouts, though. Last Wednesday things were all "on" for me. I don't know what it was - a good pasta lunch, the right amount of fluid, the addition of Gu2O to my now-habitual water bottle strapped to my hand, or the nice air that night.... I was tight for time, so I was only doing "4 maybe 6" as I told my neighbor as I ran into her. I cranked out a great 8 miler that night for some reason. Everything was just sync and flowing. This is one reason why I do this, without a doubt.

The Gu2O was added because I had a lousy 10-miler (10.85 per sporttracks) the Sunday before. When I got back in, I did some reading and learned that I had pretty much encountered classic dehyrdation (it was a mid-70s humid day). I'm learning a lot about how my body likes to be fueled. I picked up the powder on Tuesday night and was going to try it on a quick run Wednesday morning, but lightning in the AM killed that idea....which of course brought me to my smooth Wednesday night cruise.

Today (Sunday) I had a great lakefront run, even going out around the Montrose bird sanctuary for the truly stunning view of the city to the south. The wind was seriously howling out there, as the weather was threatening the whole time. Some sun, big dark clouds, and wind were the ingredients. It was a nice low-60s temperature, though. I didn't have a set plan for how much I was going to run, but I knew I wanted to go farther than last week. At the decision point (Fullerton) I could go in for about 12, or continue south and get a couple more or so (I wasn't sure at the time). I decided to go for it, and I'm glad I did. I realized at that moment I'm not going to improve my endurance by running the same distances (ok, not entirely true, but still). I was rewarded with 14.5 for the day. Also, I didn't take any walking breaks (i.e. to down a gel shot). In the interest of training I figured out how to get the shot and dispose of the wrapper while on the move. I even refilled my bottle while on the move. I carried a couple of 10oz bottles in this Amphipod belt, and dumped them into my handheld when it was empty. I guess that's cool to me because I did the whole run running. I mean, that's the point, ultimately...I don't think there's anything wrong with walking, but personally it seems like an improvement.

I had a yoga session with Jody a couple hours later. I'd not done a run of this length and then gone in for yoga, so I was a little nervous about burning out. Happily the opposite happened, and I'm hooked. I got a great workout, some excellent stretching, and I feel pretty close to fully recovered. I did a headstand, too!

Finally, I have to mention that I went to a hydration seminar on Friday night, presented by Krissy Moehl and the Piper's Alley Fleet Feet. I was actually relatively familiar with what she was talking about, thanks to the reading I'd done since my near-bonk from the week before. What I *really* liked about the presentation was hearing her talk about the ultrarunning that she does. I keep saying to myself that "I have no goal but to run," but I honestly want to be able to perform (which is to say "survive," perhaps) at those levels. To be able to run those distances. I'm very glad I went. She was a great speaker, had cool pictures and interesting stories, and provided an awesome inspiration. Wow. Thanks!