H-Town Run Tourist

Where to find inspiration and motivation for running

Where to find inspiration and motivation for running
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Feeling that runner's high.

Jovan Abernathy is an international marathoner and owner of Houston Tourism Gym. To claim your free tour, contact her at info@tourismgymhtx.com. Follow her on Twitter @jovanabernathy. Instagram @TourismGymHtx. Facebook @TourismGymHtx

If you are anything like me, you love the beginning of the year. You check all the running calendars and pick out all your races for the year. You go to the local running store and buy your new shoes. You even get a pair of new socks to go with them. You download some music....to get ready for your first run of the season. You get to the park and put your feet on the cinder path. You about a quarter of a mile in......and you run out of steam. You are just not as motivated as you thought. I know I'm not the only one. Because I made it my job to motivate you I have created a short list of things that can motivate you quickly.

Nothing like good tunes on the open road.

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Music

This sounds like the obvious answer. Of course music is motivating. When was the last time that your heard a song and really felt it? Like, you really got it. When I trained for the Houston marathon in 2008, I was really feeling Refugee by Tom Petty and the Heart Breakers. I had come off of a rough patch and I was ready to move forward. Tom, singing his heart out with, "You don't have to live like a refugee." just resonated with me because I knew that I was not going back to that. I got to acknowledge the hardship, recognize that it was significant and that it was over and agree to move on. This leads me to my training for the 2009 Honolulu Marathon. No Drama by Mary J. Blige was the song. I decided to actively "allow no more drama in my life." Those songs got me through training and the finish line.

Who is your favorite superhero?

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Your favorite Superhero.

My favorite thing to do when I run is to pretend that I have superhuman strength and abilities. I imagine myself in different scenarios overcoming odds and doing super cool things just for the hell of it. Because running did not come naturally for me, it felt like I needed superhuman powers to get through a run. It really seemed to fit. Here are a couple of superheroes who have always done it for me:

The Juggarnaut: Because once he gets started and gains momentum, he cannot be stopped. Not by rain or a heavy wind blowing against him or a slow and steady incline that never seems to end.

The Wolverine: He heals fast. It you have a cramp, a sprain, a pull, or your legs, toes, or feet are hurting, you can be the Wolverine and it will heal in about 10 secs.

The Phoenix: The bad thing about the Phoenix is that there is nothing that she can't do so, for this exercise, you have to be specific. This helps me take my mind off of pain and think about something I like to call "micro impossibilities." If the concrete of the road is bothering your joints, you could imagine that you are the Phoenix and that you can change your drops of sweat into a path that you can run on instead of the concrete. And everyone knows that running on sweat is great for your joints!

Live oaks look like lightening.

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Nature

Nature has a lot of things to glean inspiration from. I am obsessed with fractal patterns. Fractal patterns are reoccurring patterns in nature. They signify how things start from a small seed, grows and replicates. They are the natural order of things and a great example of why science is so cool and how and why you can count on it every single time.

They make me think about all the possibilities that are out there and how everything is connected. Live oaks are native to Houston. Have you ever noticed that the trunk and branches of a live oak tree look exactly like lightning. I see a row of live oaks and I think of a thunder storm because it looks just like that. I makes me think of having a brainstorm. I always ask myself: What else do I have up there? See how this works. Flowers and leaves are great for this too.

If you are on your next run and you are starting to run out of gas or feel pain, remember to look up, look down, and definitely don't forget to look inside yourself. You will find yourself at the finish line.

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Christian Walker's oblique injury appears to be lingering. Composite Getty Image.

Heading into Wednesday's Grapefruit League game, reports indicate that Astros first baseman Christian Walker has been scratched with left oblique soreness.

As Chandler Rome mentions in the post above, Walker missed the entire month of August in 2024 with a left oblique injury. He only hit .231 for the remainder of the season after recovering from the injury.

Walker was off to a hot start this spring, hitting .500 with 3 doubles in 8 at-bats. Hopefully this is just a precautionary move, and he'll be back in the lineup shortly.

However, these are the types of risks owner Jim Crane likes to take. Only willing to commit big money on short-term deals to aging players. Walker will be 34 years old at the end of March. He signed a 3-year, $60 million contract with Houston this offseason.

The reality is, sometimes these moves work, and sometimes they don't. Older players are more likely to have their production falloff and deal with injuries. Michael Brantley is a prime example of getting good value from an older player on a short contract. His 2-year deal for $32 million with the Astros for the 2019 and 2020 seasons turned out to be a solid move. He played the 2019 and 2020 seasons at 32 and 33 years old, respectively. His contracts with the 'Stros following that original deal did not work out nearly as well, with injuries keeping him out of the lineup regularly.

Justin Verlander is another example of Crane's willingness to roll the dice on aging players. Verlander joined the Astros during his age 34 season. Houston saw a wide range of results with Verlander. He won two Cy Young awards and two championships with the club, but also missed significant time due to injury, and struggled to get batter outs when healthy in 2024. Verlander was left off the postseason roster in his final year in Houston.

And we can't help but mention the Jose Abreu contract as a cautionary tale. Especially since the terms of his deal and his age are similar to Walker's.

But clearly, Crane was more comfortable making the cheaper 3-year deal with Walker over extending Kyle Tucker or paying Alex Bregman market value. Had the Astros kept one of those two players, they likely would have felt better about keeping Jon Singleton at first base and passing on Walker.

Only time will tell if the Astros made the right decisions. The trade haul for Kyle Tucker looks terrific so far, but we all know it's not wise to put too much stock in spring training games.

It's also worth noting, both Jose Altuve and Yordan Alvarez missed time in 2023 dealing with oblique injuries.

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