Too Cold to Hold 10K race at White Rock Lake

 Lily and I, we went to the too cold to hold 10K race at white rock lake in Dallas, with three of her colleagues, on Saturday February 16th.

We got up at 6 AM, had a very light breakfast, then drove to white rock lake in dark, under very light drizzle.

When we got to Norbuck Park by the lake, where the race would start and finish, it was about 7:25am, the parking around the park was full. We managed to find a curbside parking space ~ quarter mile away from the park. It was a cold gloomy day with temperature hovering around 35F, and light northern wind. We stayed in the car until 7:45am before walking toward the park.

The Norbuck Park was full with people, buzzed with excitement. Sponsors' tents were open for business. It was truly too cold to hold - runners lined up in font of more than a dozen portable toilets to relieve.

There were actually three races on this day, a half marathon, a 10K race and a 5K race. Half marathon stated at 8am, 10K race and 5K race started at the same time at 8:30am, with 10K corral in the front, 5K in the back.

Half marathon started at 8am

Among the 5 runners in our group, Lily and two others are actually half marathon runners, they took the 10K race as their practice for an upcoming half marathon race in April. Chris and I were the true 10K runners, our target was to finish the race within 60 minutes.

Our race started at 8:30am promptly, the fast runners in our group quickly pulled ahead. I focused on my own run, turned my tracker on when crossing the starting gate. From my training for this race, I knew that if I could keep my pace at 6 minute a kilometer, I should be able to finish 10K within 60 minutes. This pace is the optimal pace to my physical condition, too slow I would have knee pain around  5km distance, and too fast I would not be able to hold on to the pace.

Physically I know approximately if I am at ~ 6 minute a kilometer. I also used the tracker on my watch as a reference, checked ~ every kilometer. I also used other runners as my references. As I was approaching 1 mile marker, I noticed a 20 something young runner was in front of me at a steady pace, so I used her as my reference. When our distance was increased I would try to keep up.  At around 4 mile marker, I realized that my tracked distance was longer than the marker. I felt good physically so I accelerated to increase my pace, passed the imagined "pacer".  I used a couple other runners as my pacer the rest of the way.

Chris passed me at about 5 mile distance, I upped my pace a little and kept within 10 yards from him. When I reached 6 mile marker - the last one for 10K (6.2 miles) race, a young lady passed me and challenged me in the process - "come on, let us go". I still had a lot in my tank. I accelerated, and ran much faster than my 6 minute pace, which turned out to be 4:38/kilometer, I took over her and passed Chris along the way. I finished my 10K in less than 58 minutes, a personal best record, and 3 seconds ahead of Chris. Lily finished about 7 minutes ahead of me, and achieved her personal best for 10K run. She won her division!

Despite the gloomy sky, we had a great time at the race and for a good cause - the races benefited Genesis Women's Shelter and Support Services in Dallas.

10K race trail

my 10k pace chart

I kept running after I crossed the finish line for photo op

Lily won her division while achieving personal best

Invasions of Rodents

We heard stories about squirrels damaging wires on solar panels on the roofs, and mouse setting nests under hood of cars; never thought this type of tales could happen to us.

Squirrel invasion 

A few years ago we saw squirrels on our roofs; did not pay much attention to them; thinking that they would get off and go to their nests in the trees.

One day I heard animals running above ceilings - but did not see them on the roof. When I got to attic I saw a lot animal droppings on the attic floor, as well as tracks on the insulation materials!! I cleaned the attic, applied a lot of squirrel repellent, and placed a sonic rodent repelling device in the attic.

sonic repellent dev

I also saw squirrels jumping from a tree in the front yard onto the roof, and from roof to the tree's branches. One day I saw a group of 6 squirrels get off the tree, and crossed the street into a neighbor's yard - where there  was a much bigger tree. I took actions right then  - cut long tree branches which were approaching the house, applied mole max  - a rodent repellent.

Every time I saw a squirrel on my territory, I would either apply more rodent repellent,   or cut more tree branches!! With these sustained actions, I rarely see squirrels in my yard now.


Mice under Hood

Early January, there had been extended cold spell in north Texas. One day when I got home in the afternoon, I noticed a lot black droppings on the garage floor - knowing that mouses were there the previous night to get a warm shelter - I swept the floor and applied some baits inside the garage. The next day I was pleased to notice that there were few dropping on the floor. The third day afternoon I was surprised to see that floor was covered by black droppings - looking carefully some of the "droppings" were fluffy  - those were chewed up insulation materials!!!  I instantly inferred that mice got into Lily's car. When she got home later in the day, we opened her car's hood, we saw mouse baits all over the places!! We were worried - what if the mice damage the wires in her car, what if they got into the house .....


We checked online to see how to deal with these, we talked to friends and co-workers about the situations, asked what they did,  and formed an action plan:

1) clean up the car, have it checked
2) block entrance  - some small openings near the garage door - to the garage

3) bought traps and poisonous bait  - place the trap and baits outside the garage

Despite the lousy blockage to the openings near the garage door, the mice were stopped almost immediately. 

The baits in the traps were consumed in about a week, not sure if any mice were killed by it or not.

I placed more baits in the traps and moved the traps away from the foundations. Yesterday after overnight rain, I saw a dead mouse in alley! This is consistent with the bait's function - it needs water to kill mouse.

Not professional eradication of rodents, but so far they are kept away from my house.