Adrienne Langelier Racing

So April is over and one of my fave months is beginning. I ended up with 170.8 for this month's mileage and squeaked by Edwin in our little contest for the most miles. I think 170 is a respectable number!

As for on the campus side of things, believe it or not, I received a nom. today for Excellence in Writing. Apparently I write better in my familiar APA style instead of blogging! :-) I am putting my head down for the last week and a half or so before a brief break.

Saturday I am doing the running leg in a SHSU sponsored triathlon with a couple friends. Besides the 85-degree forecast, it should be a lot of fun. It's a quick 2-mile jaunt across Sam, and I'm gunning for a 13:00 split. Tri Psy (our team) is looking to get in in a little over an hour. I should post something about this event over the weekend.

Mileages:

Since 11/12/07: 1033

Month of April: 170.8

Month of May: ???

That is all for now, peace!

This is my rip-off of the Runner's World section. I was in Medina, TX this weekend for my sister's bachelorette party. I think staying in a guesthouse in the middle of nowhere is great when a big bunch of women make fools of themselves! I myself channeled my inner washed-up rapper and rocked the mike on my aunt's karaoke machine (the song will remain nameless for the moment)! Hey, the Maid of Honor is not to be upstaged, except for maybe by the bride :)!

Saturday morning I couldn't resist getting a trail run in on this ranch. I ran along the Medina River for a stretch before heading through some valleys. It was an absolutely gorgeous morning and the temp was perfect. There were also whitetail deer and wild turkeys everywhere! I put in just under 6 miles before going back to decorate and prepare for the festivities.

As for the mileage, April is winding down. After a hectic week, I put in 33 this past week-probably good for my legs. My 2130's just got retired today and I switched brands of "tires" and got some new Mizuno Wave Rider 11's. I did some speedwork in them today and so far rate them as super-awesome.

For the mileage:

Since 11/12: 1019

Month of April: 159.1

This week (not much to report yet!): 6

Well, it's been quite a week so far!

At the university, I managed to give 2 different presentations, land a 99 on one of them, and take a nasty exam (of which I still don't have the result-eek!) Needless to say I'm close to spent academically for this week. On a bright note, the semester has a little over 2 weeks to go and I finish up teaching soon as well-I think I can hang!

Amazingly, I have been stubborn enough to net some mileage this week (21ish to date), though I am a tad behind my usual, but gotta be flexible sometimes. Today, I got in mile 1000 (actually 1001) within a span of 5 months and 15 days! Probably not a big feat for some, but nonetheless I'm pretty pleased.

An for this weekend, the fun begins. My sister is getting married a week from Saturday, and it her shower/bachelorette weekend this weekend. I leave today for some Maid of Honor duties and hopefully getting in a little R & R in the Hill Country. Might also try to get a scenic run in or two. The five-hour drive from Sugar Land may be a bit tedious, but hey, your little sister only gets married once!

That's all for now-have a beautiful day!

BTW...Congrats again to Norman L.!

Despite a slow start (resting is important!), I managed to get in just over 41 miles in this week. I put in just over 15 this morning at HSP.


I had a decent run this morning, a little hot, but my bottle full of Heed seemed to get me through ok. Somewhere along the outer loop I ran into the Renegades (7hillers Chris, Hans, John, and Phillip) and listened to them exaggerate about their distance-those guys are always amusing! I also learned that I prefer to run without music on the trails, my MP3 player was almost a distraction for some reason today. I guess I may have a little bit of an "inner naturalist", at least when it comes to running through the woods. After finishing up, I chatted a bit with a fellow runner (and fellow Aggie-sorry Katy!) about Surfside and the like.

My miles accumulation is as follows for the time being:

This week (4/14-4/20): 41.6

Month of April: 117.35

Since 11/12/07: 980

Even with my upcoming presentations, etc. and my sister's bachelorette party/shower weekend, I think I'll get the 1000. Yay!

Now off to my usual fun Sunday afternoon activity of working on papers!

Today I did a quick three miles amidst stationary cycling and strength training. I started out with slow with an 8-minute pace and finished up at about a 6:47 pace. With a left leg that has been on the fritz lately, I did not want to push it. Right now, I'm just over 100 miles for April-Edwin could be way ahead of me! With 964 miles in the books since mid-Nov., hopefully I'll get past the 1000 mark next week-granted the leg lets me!

That's all I gots for today, presentation/exam week is looming and I have to get ready!! With the semester wrapping up, I'm hoping to finish the year off with a 4.0. Wish me luck!

I will divert today for something I find important.

4.16.2007

April 16th a day many of us won't soon forget. As a student, teacher, and human being, I find myself still shaken by this incident. Today I actually find myself more affected than I expected.

I have been provided with an opportunity to study the effects resulting from the shooting last year. This information is to be presented by my much more qualified colleagues and I later in the year. I hope this research on this sensitive subject will end up being helpful to these individuals affected in some way. I have to take a step back today, however, just to observe the magnitude of incidents like these-they unfortunately open your eyes to a darker side of people, often unknown, and is something that goes much beyond research. It is almost beyond understandable. I am, however, impressed with the Virgina Tech's student body in carrying on after tragic circumstances-yet not losing sight of the meaning of one year ago.


I know that I feel blessed to still be able to walk across Sam Houston's campus with relatively little fear. I am fortunate to have friends and colleagues who are still here. As we all go about our Wednesday, I ask everyone to keep the victims and their families in your thoughts and prayers.

Exactly one week after clocking in a satisfactory performance at Hog's Hunt, I returned to the park for a little training run. Due to a nagging soreness in my left calf muscle (perhaps a freak strength training accident, but who really knows), I took a conservative approach to this one, listening to my legs, enjoying yet another Saturday with outstanding weather. As I undertook the outer loop I made a point to slow it down and take a look around a bit. If I didn't know any better, I would think I was at the zoo, I had never seen so many animals in one run before!-I guess the local wildlife returned from hiding after Hog's Hunt last weekend.

Here is a list of all the critters I encountered (too bad I don't run with my camera on me):

-a fox (my favorite sighting)
-woodpecker (illusive little things)
-3 of the largest deer I've ever seen
-crane
-grass snake &
-owl
-not to mention the usual squirrels and such

Luckily, I did not see a hog or coral snake, for, I find those encounters a bit unnerving. As for the leg, it actually loosened up and felt better during the run, and I ended up getting around 13 miles in. While yesterday was not as fun as last Saturday, it was one of my neater park runs to date.

As for the mileage for the week/month it is as follows:
This week (Mon.-Sun.): 44
Month of April: 78.5
Since 11/12/08 (When I first started logging miles) 938.4-I might get 1000 in 6 mos!

K put me on this cool little thingy...

"Desiring living life to the fullest."

This could be one of the most "philosophical" post I may ever post!

I think that sums it up fairly well. According to close friends and family, I came out of the womb determined, curious, and a little stubborn. I try to not be one to let life pass me by. If I think it's possible, I am likely to want to try it. Whatever it is I attempt, it gets my all-out effort. I may not be the most talented individual out there, but I sure like to get out there and try to exceed my expectations. There is so much out there to experience, and I hope to at least encounter some of it before the end (not to sound too morbid)!

I think this view helps shape how I approach most things. Obviously, this is how I view running; running makes me feel alive, running is thrilling to me. There is a inherent purity to getting out there, regardless of the type of day I'm having, regardless of the pressure of school and work is, and just letting it all go. The fact that I am hopefully prolonging my life and doing something good for myself is a bonus.

I actually came into running somewhat accidentally. I still don't get my (SMALL) string of successes I have had this season. I have always liked to run to keep in shape and have worked as a Certified Personal Trainer, but I never really got into racing. I decided upon starting my grad. program that I was going to try something different and entered the Huntsville Half Marathon last October, hoping to clock in at around 2 hrs or so. I had no idea what to expect; somehow I ended up taking first for the women. I was in shock for at least half the day. Since then, I have done a few more different distances, including the marathon and love them all. I never thought that joining the local running club would connect me to so many wonderful people!

I also am diligently working on my Master's thesis on body image and disordered eating and am greatly enjoying the process. I lucked out to have a great mentor at SHSU who helped me find a little corner in psychology that I am passionate about. As difficult as it is sometimes, I wouldn't have it any other way! If it were easy, then it would be meaningless.

My mother and I have had many conversations about life in general, and we have come up with a little saying: "Don't let life suck the life out of you." Things are as wonderful or as terrible as you make them. Good words to remember when things get hairy. I don't know exactly where I will be within the next 10 years, but that's part of the fun of it!

To all those doing some marathonin' and half-marathonin' tomorrow, I wish you well. Have fun and run hard! I will be posting later my entry for K's memoir game and my mileage for the week (should roll in with about 40ish, but we'll see). Till then, have a happy Friday!

First of all, congrats to all you guys who ran today!


Well, I completed a race this morning on the trails that I train on every week-how fun can that be? Apparently, pretty dang fun! About 2/3 of so of the course I had never been on. This proved difficult when I took a wrong turn and lost about a minute or two of my time, I would have finished in about 1:55ish, hadn't I gotten confused! Apparently survey tape tied between 2 trees didn't mean "run through this"! Oops!

I quickly realized my error and hauled it back to where I was (thank God I hadn't gotten too far). I saw two runners at that juncture, and instinct took over, telling me to sprint ahead...I probably looked like a crazy person out there, but at least that gave me my mental (and race) edge back! Strangely enough, I barely felt it going into my last 5 miles.

Feeling rather sheepish, I ran down a stretch of the outer loop to another new trail,-at least I had learned my lesson about the tape by then! It was there I started seeing 50k'ers out there, including Ken, so I said hi and kept on truckin'. Luckily, I was still in the lead for the women.

The final part of the race came a little later than I anticipated, as I mistook an aid station as the way to the finish. I corrected my error before taking off again this time and continued on. This was the point I get to in the race where I start thinking "is it done yet?"-I had no clue where I was in conjunction to the lodge area since this was yet another new trail.

Eventually I encountered more and more brave 50k runners and knew I was close. I checked my watch to make sure I was still under my goal time of 2:00, which I was, and started to put it on for the last mile or so. There I saw many of my TIR teammates, cheered them on and a couple 7hillers as well. As I emerged from the woods back into semi-civilization I made my way to the finish line.

1:57:46 was my time, 1st female finisher, misstep and all. Great ending to an entertaining run. Felt good throughout, great weather, and nice crowd... And free supplements, for us poor grad students, that goes a long way!

Hello to all my fellow runners and friends!

Well, tomorrow is Hog's Hunt, and I am steadfastly remaining at the 25K distance! I can go for that 50K later on! I think I have prepped fairly well: I did low impact/wts. on Mon., 9 on Tues., 6 on W., and 4 yesterday, and today I am not running a step. (unless I have to chase the dog or something!) I guess this is kind of a mini-taper, or something like that, to use Tommy's terminology.

Trail conditions should be, well, typical trail conditions due to the thunderstorm today. Plenty of mud to go around! At least we don't have to worry about the loose sand! I am going out there hoping to stick to my rule #1 (see my old post) and do the best I can. If I feel energized in the opening few miles, that should bode well for the race.

Anyhoo, I look forward to seeing some of my 'Blogger teammates out in nature and not crammed in a van! (not that there's anything wrong with that!) Tomorrow should be fun, stay tuned for the recap.

I'm spent for the day, so no good April Fool's jokes here! :)
But:

I was able to register today for the Houston Marathon on 1/18. I'm super-excited, even though I have several months to go! After completing Surfside, I set my sights on running in a larger, urban setting. Given the elites running obviously will make me look snail-like, I can focus on bettering my time competing with myself and taking in some new scenery in downtown H-Town! Supposedly the spectators are good for morale as well. I have set a goal of finishing under my previous time and a top-15 finish in my age group...

I don't have too much to post today, I had some projects due and labs to teach. I put in a fairly easy 8 miles this morning and will probably take it easier as Saturday approaches. Gettin excited about it!

Bye for now!