The Dreaded "Tweak"

Websters defines "tweak" as: "to pinch and pull with a sudden jerk and twist" and that is what I felt this morning in the back of my leg running strides at Eleanor Tinsley Park today around 6AM. I think the injury is minor and I hope to run a long run on Saturday after 72 hours of rest, but this does put me in a lousy mood.

And it started out great. I got up this morning to join the Will's Hills group at 5:30. Will scheduled one of his more intense workouts which included after an initial warm-up run, the following workout: 1) a half mile warm up run, 2) a hard one mile run, 3) a slow jog to Eleanor Tinsley Park, 4) 10 strides/sprints of approximately 100 meters, 5) 12 minutes of fairly steep hills, then 5) another hard one mile and a 6) cool down back to home base. Try it sometime, especially in the middle of August!

Today, however, was dark and damp and cold. After an initial sluggishness during the first mile, I started to feel pretty good. But it was during the eighth stride that I felt the dreaded tweak. Instead of trying to finish the work-out, I slowly jogged back to home base. Maybe I'm getting a little smarter in my old age!

Mentally, I am trying to figure out why this happened: was it the run late last night being too close to the morning workout? was it lack of a proper warm up on a cold morning? did I just come down wrong on a dark uneven surface while trying to sprint? Why does this have to happen when I've become happy with my running for the first time in months?

Also, mentally, I am thinking about when I can run again. I have had injuries that were alot worse. The pain is isolated and does not spread when I walk or go up and down stairs.

I'm optimistic that the recovery will be short, but for now the dreaded 'tweak' has ruined my day!!

Let It Snow

Real runners don't let a little snow get in the way of our Ritual Wednesday BCRR Club Run! (Photos: E. Rodriguez)

Hey you wimps out there who were too wuss to come out to play in the cold (you know who you are)!! We had a blast running in the snow without you!! Truly a unique experience in Houston... We had fun warming up at Valhalla after thanks to the generousity of Jay Byers, who funded the tab. Thanks Jay.

K. Mahon

BCRR Christmas party!!!

Yesterday, the BCRR holiday bash was a total BLAST. We started with BCRR trivia and a game of Bingo. Surprisingly, all the draws for Bingo winners were won by BCRR beautiful ladies except Mark Fraser. Guys, I smell something fishy here :-) A big round of applause for April Murphy for putting together all those fun events.

DJ was simply awesome. Who would have thought that after ~12-21 mile long run in the morning so many people will be on their toes dancing for almost two hours. I took some pictures/video which are posted below.