Where's the Donuts?

The annual Slug Club run and breakfast assembly began at Manchester Library. We took a photo with a beautiful winter sunrise as backdrop, and those of us not resting (half the club ran either a marathon or half marathon yesterday) went for a run. Mike and I ran with Don Feldman, who set a far too aggressive pace (particularly for a guy who's only been back running for a month). We ran to the state park, left Don behind and took a wrong turn for a loop through the campground, then ran back into Don and took the correct path to the waterfront. Then we hustled back to Manchester, pushing the pace a bit on the last mile (no watches). It was pretty cold, maybe we just wanted to be done. Then breakfast up at Doug's house. 

Now it's time to start thinking about 2013. Last night I was talked into the Nookachamps run, which I was on the fence about because I'm just not in shape yet. So I'll head north in two weeks for the 10k to start my year. Bloomsday is on the schedule again, and this year the Windermere Marathon in Spokane in May. Chuckanut is a maybe (need to decide by Friday), and then another trail ultra this summer (possibly Crow Pass again, if the timing works, otherwise I'll be on the lookout). Most important will simply be to keep running and stay healthy, and to get my lazy butt going again. The sun today helps.  

Illahee Preserve with Mike before dawn. Pretty dark in there, so the pace was slow. Then some other friends showed up when we finished and we did trail maintenance for a few hours. 50:42

cascadia V 

Out and back for 30 minutes on the Burke-Gilman Trail. 

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Y treadmill after work, 7:47 pace. 

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Illahee State Park, down to the dock and back home. I need to remember the hill climb, I was gassed on the way back up. Can't have that for the 50k in March. I'll need to be back here a few times before then. 47:13

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Evergreen Park with Mike on a cold morning. Up the bridge to Lions Park, then through Stevenson Canyon, back down by Harrison and across the Manette Bridge. 55:00 

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Warren-Manette bridges loop on a cold morning (relatively speaking, that is, it's not like I'm in Arctic Utah these days). 40:02

If anyone is curious what this route looks like from ground level (and not prone to motion sickness), a guy at my work made a video: http://www.kitsapsun.com/videos/detail/bremertons-bridge-to-bridge-trail/

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Manette Hills loop, nice and dry outside. 43:15

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Y treadmill, with a few ups/downs thrown in to the run to keep it interesting. 39:30 

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I went to sunny California a few days before a work meeting began, visiting a friend and then doing some exploring. I drove to Santa Barbara and found a trail that would take me into the mountains above the city. I parked at a busy trailhead (holiday, or these rich people just don't work) and headed up the San Ysidra Trail. The first mile is moderate and crosses a creek a few times, though the water was low. Then I started a consistent climb (I'm guessing it was about 2,000 foot elevation gain, I turned just below the summit). I took one small detour after getting out of the woods, then found the correct trail again and really mountain goated up an exposed face. I was laboring (In-N-Out for lunch didn't help), but the views back over SB and up and down the Pacific Coast were stunning. We don't have that scenery here. After 40 minutes of climbing I turned and bombed back down, burning my quads in the process and getting some footwork practice in. Wonderful run on a sunny, 80-degree day. 1:07:00

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At the work meeting on the Oxnard, Calif. waterfront, I met a fellow editor who is a 2:50 marathoner and training for Boston. So we met up before dawn for some miles. We just wound around the harbor, easily warming up and then letting our competitive instincts get the best of us. By mile 3 we were easily running sub-7s and telling running stories, and I don't think either of us wanted to be the guy to say "we should back off." So it was a good workout, and I was feeling the hill from Monday. We did a cool down jog on a beach trail, which was nice, then settled in for 8 hours of sitting in a meeting. 

The bad news is at the end of the meeting Mike told me that his ankle, which has been giving him problems, was aggravated during our run. So pushing it put him on the shelf the rest of the week, and I feel bad about that.

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Easy miles on my own because Mike took the day off, ran the other direction down the beach before breakfast. 32:20 

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Back in Bremerton, I slept in a bit and met Mike at Evergreen Park after the sun was up. Up the Warren Bridge, out to Tracyton boat launch, back through Eastpark to Perry Ave and then Manette. A little inconsistent with the pace, we ran as quickly as 7/min. but varied up to 7:30s. We both kind of struggled with that today for some reason. I am missing that SoCal sun already. 1:19:00

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Easy run in Illahee Preserve. A little beat up from yesterday's 90 minutes of basketball after the run. 30:15 

brooks cascadia 

11th-Shore Drive loop. Left ankle was a little creaky as I got started and the left plantar, which bothers me from time to time lately, also felt sore. 36:16

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Evening run at the Y and I sweated all over everything. It's been a really busy week and I can feel that I'm holding off a cold. Started at 8/min pace and worked down to 7:41. 46:20 

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