Memorial Day Merriment

AM: 61 mins.
8+ miles
PM: 90 mins. tennis domination

For a day that started out with hardly anything on the agenda, our Memorial Day turned into quite an enjoyable affair. Jordan and I slept in and lounged for a bit before fielding a call from Scotty requesting a run. He swung over to Main Street and the three of us set off toward Sutton Woods, the 1.5-mile shaded trail loop about two miles from our place. Remarkably, this was my first time over there since arriving in Norman, and I was immediately reminded of why I enjoy it so much: plenty of tree cover and soft surfaces throughout. However, I was dragging a bit despite the relaxed pace, no doubt fatigued from the past week's efforts. By the time we finished our loops and popped back onto the streets I was hot and tired. So, naturally, I suggested we detour past the Andrews Park "Splashpad" (finally turned on for the summer) to cool off for a few minutes.


It. Was. Awesome.

Upon returning home, we spent the rest of the morning watching virtual no-name Wesley Korir rack up $189k at the LA Marathon and enjoying a sumptuous brunch of apple-streusal waffles, eggs and potatoes. The food was clearly the highlight of the morning for me, but watching the former Louisville runner win the race of his life was certainly more inspiring.

Less than an hour later, Jordan and Scotty were chomping at the bit to get out onto the tennis courts, so we embarked on an unprecedented third consecutive day of play. After an extended warm-up period which included various combinations of 2-on-1, the boys suggested we play a series of 1-on-1 games, winner stays on the court. Because I am a lady and not one to gloat, I will spare you all the gory details. However let's just say that an hour later I was standing undefeated at 10 games to 0, having bested both Jordan and Scotty in 5 games apiece, before nobly stepping aside and allowing the two losers to play each other for a bit. To say that it was my crowning athletic achievement of 2009 is both sad and true.

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Lake Draper Long Run

AM: 88 mins.
12 miles
PM: 60 mins. tennis

So, sometime last night while Jordan and I were enjoying Pinot on the Patio at Benvenuti's with Coleman and Kristi (or maybe it was later at Blu...who can remember really), I might have mentioned (read: begged) to Kristi that I would love some company for a girl-paced long run on Sunday. Much to my surprise and delight, she needed little convincing, provided we could find some soft surfaces for the outing and that we didn't start too early in the morning. Since Jordan and I were hoping to get out to the dirt roads around Draper anyway, this was a perfect plan.

Fast forward to 10am Sunday, when our group rendezvoused at the lake plus one member (Scotty, obviously). Even Coleman, who's been battling injury since Jesus was a small boy, was up for a few miles. Kristi and I fell into a comfortable early pace, not caring that the boys passed us up less than a mile in, and soon were engaged in conversation. I enjoyed the company enough to almost not notice that we were running uphill the entire way out, or that the heat and humidity were rising markedly. However, by the time we popped out at a paved road crossing near six miles, it became obvious that with no water or shade neither of us were going to enjoy running the 14 miles that my schedule dictated. Since I was already over mileage for the week I was game for turning around early, so we flipped a U a few minutes later and headed back.

Now, while the run up to this point had been nothing if not pleasant, I'm not going to lie: the last 30 minutes were pretty tough. Simply put, we were hot and thirsty. At one point we stopped to "stretch" and ended up practically wading into the lake to splash water on our dirt-caked bodies. We may or may not have enjoyed a few much-needed gulps of Gatorade when we stumbled upon Scotty's water bottle a few miles from the finish; without it we would've all but resorted to Gallowalking the rest of the way in. I was supremely grateful for Kristi's company on this run and hope she'll join me for a few more jaunts this summer.

Oh, and my apple juice cravings from last summer have returned full force. I drank almost an entire half-gallon today after the run and I have never tasted a sweeter nectar.

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Easy Run on the GT

AM: 45 mins.
6 miles
PM: 30 mins. tennis

For the first time in several weeks, I did this morning's run completely solo. It felt strange to be out there without Jordan or even Scotty, but they'd taken an early morning trip up to a local marathon to help pace a buddy through the final 6-8 miles of his run. Since I knew that I wouldn't be running their pace and I wanted to sleep in for a change, I slept blissfully through Jordan's 7am departure and didn't stir again until almost 9. Heaven.

Wanting to be on some softer surfaces for the second time this week (the first being on the OU rec fields during Thursday's outing), I headed up to the grass track for some easy loops. With hardly any wind to speak of, it was an ideal morning to be out there, and my body was supremely grateful for a reprieve from the pavement. There's talk of taking the long run out to Lake Draper tomorrow, which means more soft surfaces, so we'll keep our fingers crossed that it doesn't rain tonight and spoil our plans.

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OKC River Trail & Other Shenanigans

AM: 89 mins.
~12.5 miles
Wind: 13-15mph
PM: 60 mins. tennis

Scotty, Jordan and I were out the door and on the road early this morning for a field trip. Instead of hitting up the roads around Norman, we opted to venture up to the city for some new turf. Our decision was largely aided by the fact that Lake Draper, our preferred soft surface option, was still wet from the recent rain, and also that there was an international-distance (whatever that means) triathlon taking place in the city. We were hoping to spectate for a bit and let the competitive buzz carry us through our run.


The boathouse, where all the action happened

The drive took at most 20 minutes, and before I knew it we were parked at the Bass Pro Shop just a few hundred meters away from the triathlon start...or so we thought. Turns out those meters were "as the crow flies" or, in our case, "as the cyclists ride," but we were forced to take a rather roundabout route to circumnavigate both the interstate on-ramp and the influx of competitors barreling through on two wheels. As a result, almost four miles of the run had passed by the time we made it to the boathouse. This is where all the action was, so we hung out for a few minutes to observe. After that we headed out on the nearby river trail (no idea which river), which I'd never run on before, so even though the bike path was paved it was still a nice diversion from our typical routes.


A section of the bike path along the river

Oh, and I can't believe I forgot to mention this, but the air temperature was--dare I say--bordering on COLD this morning! As in, a few clicks under 50 degrees when we woke up. Definitely not the norm for mid-May and not what we were expecting, but it sure was a pleasant treat. As a result, the entirety of our run took place under sunny skies and pleasant temperatures. It was so nice that I didn't even complain when the wind nearly blew me backwards on the return trip, or when I got dropped by the boys halfway through the run.

By the time our morning of running and spectating was over, our party consisted of four hungry athletes (did I mention Carrot Top joined us? Yeah, he did. I could add that at the top of the blog but I'm lazy.). Though one would expect our options in downtown OKC to be plentiful, we opted to go for the sure thing and patronized the IHOP a few blocks over. Dad, I know your eyes are welling with tears of pride as you read this.

Not wanting the amazingly gorgeous day to go to waste, Jordan and I suited up again in the afternoon and headed back over to the park for some tennis action. While we're still far from stellar--hell, we're not even adequate at this point--we both agreed that our quality of play was markedly increased from the previous day (which coincided with a decrease in our quantity of shouted obscenities). After two days in a row of this foreign mode of exercise, it's almost guaranteed I'll be unable to walk tomorrow.

Oh, and have I mentioned it was a gorgeous day? What a perfect end to the weekend, and a great beginning to the summer.

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Back in the Swing of Things

AM: 6 miles
PM: 45 mins. tennis

True to our word, we decided to take advantage of an easy single-run day to smack a few balls around on the courts. Given that neither of us have played since the last time we played together, which was, oh, about 11 months ago, let's just say things were pretty ugly at the outset. That said, we've made the commitment to play twice a week this summer in hopes of regaining some semblance of our former racquet-wielding prowess.

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