How Do You Describe Your Runs?

I know the grammar isn't complete, but isn't that what Twitter has made us do?

"Just finished an invigorating and lung busting 4.4 mile rainy cold hilly run"

If I was given much more space on Twitter who knows how many more adjectives I could have come up with? :)

The run was just as I said it: Invigorating, lung busting, rainy, cold, and hilly. I was very pleased with it, but it (mostly the hills) kicked my butt..... and I loved it!

I was running a new route. My daughter was running 4 miles with a friend and needed a ride to her house. I figured I would take her there and run my 4+ mile run from there as well. I figured we would get back close to the same time and all would be good. It was a good run, but with a bit more hills then I had hoped to run. When I got back my phone rang and she asked..... are you back yet? She was inside eating some soup. We drove what she "said" was 4 miles...... She is outside in our neighborhood right now running two more miles to bring her day to 5 miles...... you do the math :)

How do you describe your runs?

Tim Wilson - blog.262quest.com - subscribe - follow blog - virtual4now

Are You a Listener?

There are two kinds of runners - those that listen, and those that don't.

I listen..... sometimes.

OK, there are more than two kinds of runners, and there is more than one definition of listening when coming to running. The kind of listening I am talking about here is the type that is piped into your ears, usually by some type of audio device.

I am a listener with many broad avenues. I will sometimes listen to something, and other times I will not. I will not listen to anything when I am running a race, but not because we are "not allowed" but rather because I like to fully experience the race and those I am running it with.

When I do listen, many times all I listen to is the radio. I will tune in a number of different stations and just hit the road. When I am listening to the radio it is usually for background noise and not for a specific purpose. My two favorite genres are Country and Classic Rock.

Other times I listen to audio books, or podcasts. I am amazed at how well I can focus on what is being read when other times when I am listening to music I can't even tell you what had just played. Right now I just started listening to the Bible which I am trying to listen to in it's entirety over the next year using the Daily Audio Bible Podcast.

So........

What do you listen to? Do you listen to anything other than the sound of your foot-falls and heavy breathing?

I was recently contacted by a company working along side the running music producer AudioFuel and the Virgin London Marathon. They are looking for people to vote for their favorite running tracks. These votes will help build this years soundtrack for the London Marathon which will later be available on iTunes. If you are interested in helping Music and Motivation create this soundtrack make sure you stop by and vote no later than February 1st.

Are you interested in what this soundtrack is like? They have also provided a free fuel sampler which can be downloaded here.

Once you have voted why not chime in.... Are you a listener? If so, of what?

Tim Wilson - blog.262quest.com - subscribe - follow blog - virtual4now

My Girls Are Beasts!

I think that is how the kids say it these days isn't it? They are Beasts!

My two daughters and I went out for a 3+ mile run and just ran until the watch said 3 miles and then ran home. We finished at 3.3 miles. This was the fastest Ashlee has run this distance. She kept all three miles under 10 minutes, and had an overall pace of 9:35. :)

The kicker was that it rained on us steadily the entire run..... luckily it wasn't too cold at the very nice 57 degrees. Truth be told I was thinking that I was going to get some negative feedback (nice way of saying complaining) from one if not both of them but I didn't hear any. Now, we all three talked about it, but there was no reluctance to running at all.

Tomorrow we are all getting into a new schedule. For the girls it is the first official track practice so they will both be running with their team after school. For me that means I will have very few opportunities to run with them other than the weekend longer runs. This is both good and bad. I will miss running with them, but it will allow me to get back to my personal routine of morning running, and will allow me to kick up my mileage as well as my speed work. I have used the training with my daughters as an excuse to not do these two things as much as I should be.

Stay tuned for my plans for upcoming races - I have not been focusing on my own running/training, but rather my girls, so I have not been thinking races as much lately..... but that will change now.

Tim Wilson - blog.262quest.com - subscribe - follow blog - virtual4now

Cold - Rain - Run

Cool weather, but not too bad - but COLD rain the entire 4.55 mile run.

My daughter Payton and I went out to run 4 miles and I asked her if she was OK with us mixing it up a bit and taking a different route. I mentioned there were a couple hills, but shouldn't be too bad. Half way up the second hill she said she doesn't like to "mix it up" because it is too hard. I mentioned she could never count on an easy run with me because the easy runs don't make you great!

After her shower she says she is feeling much better, I don't think the cold rain helped things out at all.

• Cold run in the rain on a Saturday morning - Check!
• Being lazy and laying around the house the rest of the day watching movies - Still to do!

Tim Wilson - blog.262quest.com - subscribe - follow blog - virtual4now

A Great Day Of Running At The Wilson Household!

This was my second run of the day. My first run early this morning was a three mile tempo run at 8:01 pace in 32 degree weather. Both of my daughters needed to get a run in today so I came home and ran again with them.

My oldest daughter Ashlee (my newer runner) needed to do her first tempo type run today. Up until this point we have been building mileage and a base and not worrying about any speed whatsover. I am not really worried about speed yet, but she needs to push herself to find a pace that will give her a better workout and progress her fitness. I planned on only taking her two miles since her longest distance to date is only 3.1. We started out at a pace that I thought she could handle for two miles but started wondering if I didn't take her out too fast when we hit the first mile at 9:04. The fastest she had run a mile up until this point has been about 9:50 and lately when building the miles some have been close to 11:00. We continued on and I kept checking with her to see how she was doing and she said she was doing good. As I always do and always encourage others to do I told her we needed to finish strong. I was absolutly floored when the second mile came in at 8:15...... much faster than I had expected or anticipated. She felt really good and was happy with her run. (17:19)

My second daughter Payton (the runner) and I went back out for another two miles to finish up 4 miles. We ran a couple hard hills and finished the last two miles at the exact same overall pace as the first two miles at another 17:19. The temperature this evening had dropped back down to 32 degrees but the wind had picked up and it felt like 23 degrees.

A great day of running for the Wilson household!

Tim Wilson - blog.262quest.com - subscribe - follow blog - virtual4now

It Sure Has Been Cold Running Weather!

This past couple weeks has been the longest cold stretch I can remember since we moved to Georgia 10 years ago. This past week I am not sure it got much over freezing during the day, if at all.

This hasn't stopped me (us) from running although it has been more difficult to get up and out the door, I am just very happy my wife bought me a long sleeve under-armor (type) shirt for Christmas..... it was the best gift :)

Monday morning was the coldest run that I have had this week, and one of my coldest ever. It was 18 degrees with a wind chill of 6 degrees.

Tuesday was still cold but I waited till after work to go running with my daughters when it warmed up to 29 degrees. We ran 2.5 miles all together - Ashlee, my new runner is up to 2.5 miles now! :) We dropped her off at home and Payton and I continued to make it a 4.1 mile run.

Wednesday I just didn't have it in me to get up and out the door after a less than perfect nights sleep, and by the time I got home dinner was ready and I just couldn't do it. There will be days like this...... so I am told :)

Thursday I started the morning with much more self discipline, plus it wasn't quite as cold as it had been the last three mornings :). It was a nice warm 26 degrees, especially since the wind wasn't blowing. It was comfortable, and after the first couple miles turned into a really good 4 mile run.

Today was just plain cold! We got our blizzard here in Georgia last night. It could be compared to a light dusting in most northern states, but for us it is downright treacherous. The schools were all closed and many businesses were either closed or had a delayed opening. I chose not to get up and run this morning because it would be too difficult and dangerous to run and avoid the icy patches all over the roads without any daylight to help me.

Our office closed at 4:00 so everyone could make it home before dark and it was a good thing because there is still a lot of icy patches all over, many of which you wouldn't see in the dark. This also gave me an opportunity to go for a run with my daughter Payton while we could still see those icy spots on the roads and sidewalks.

It was a really cold 3.1 mile run - especially for it being 5 in the afternoon. It was also tough to watch for and avoid all the icy spots in the road and sidewalks, but much better than if it had been dark. It is currently 23 and really windy with a wind chill of 9 degrees.

They are telling us it is going to remain cold over the weekend and then start to warm up a bit. I like running in the cold..... but I have had almost enough........ I never said I was hard core like you northerners are :)

Tim Wilson - blog.262quest.com - subscribe - follow blog - virtual4now

Family Running.... and Some Fast Miles

My two girls and I went out for a run. It was a bit cold at 38 and windy, but quite nice to run in. All three of us took off for the first 2 miles and I told Payton to go ahead and run and I would stay back with Ashlee since this was only the second time she had run 2 miles. Ashlee did good until about 1.5 miles again and then said she couldn't keep going. She complained quite a bit and said her legs were bleeding on the inside. :) We had to stop and walk a little bit off and on for the last .4 of the second mile but she completed it running.

After dropping Ashlee off Payton had a good 3 or 4 tenths of a mile on me. This was more than I anticipated because I didn't anticipate walking part of the second mile with Ashlee. I thought I would catch Payton by the 3 mile mark, but as hard as I ran I couldn't catch her. I ended up not catching her till about the 3.7 mile mark, it took me 1.7 miles to catch her. I was running down in the low 7's with a 7:25 and then a 7:17 just to try and catch her. That is the fastest I have run in quite some time.... probably since before starting training for the marathon.

Tim Wilson - blog.262quest.com - subscribe - follow blog - virtual4now