Where's the Donuts?

Treadmill miles, 7:47s. 

pearl izumi trail

Four on the treadmill, usual pace. 

supernova glide --  102

Nine's an estimate, but no matter how long the run was it was one of the best of the year. Through happenstance last week I reconnected with a girl I knew in high school, who now happens to have become a pretty good ultrarunner (fourth in the national trail marathon championship this fall, and just finished a Grand Canyon R2R2R).

So we met up in Discovery Park in Seattle to do some trails. Absolutely perfect fall Pacific Northwest Day, chilly but the sun was out. We did two laps of the park, catching up and playing the game where we find out how many runners we know in common (she paced Leland Barker at the Hard Rock one year, and knew some other Utah names from running the Wasatch 100). Kept a real good pace, had to be close to 7/min miles since we were conversational (but not easily, at least for me), the course had enough hills to be honest but nothing too challenging. Fun run, and I think I've also been convinced into my first ultra, next March at a 50k near Bellingham.

Followed that up warming up with some coffee, then went to Husky Stadium and watched the UW win its season finale against Cal.

supernova glide - 111

Can't be ashamed of the treadmill today, my Utah bretheren look like they all stayed inside also. My excuse is that it's fuh-reezing for the Pacific Northwest (under 30 all day, single digits overnight), so just wait and see what kind of a weenie I am when it snows this weekend. Good run to clear the head out though, even if the Y was a little full. 8/min miles, 40:00

supernova glide 

11th-Shore Drive loop before dawn. Frigid out, but kind of nice because the roads are so dry. The humidity is unusually low for here (for now, supposed to snow Friday), so there's little frost on the ground even though its dipping down to single digits. So I enjoyed the crisp run, stayed warm enough, didn't see anyone else, and got my first frostillicus beard of the season. No watch, but a pretty easy pace. 

supernova glide -- 121

Out on trails again and without a watch, so the seven miles is an estimate. Mike and I decided to pass on an early morning run with the Slugs, and met up at Illahee Preserve after the sun came up instead. It was cold, but I couldn't see my breath nor did a frostillicus beard develop -- so it wasn't that cold. Nice to be on the trails there also, staying away from slippery roads. Illahee isn't a huge area, but it's criss-crossed pretty well with single track so we just wound around for 45 minutes, hit the parking lot, then decided to go out for another short loop. Nice run, easy pace and a few hills to make us work, then a cup of coffee at the bakery afterward. Just under an hour total.

supernova glide -- 133

Even though the weather has mellowed and warmed up a bit, it's still pretty dark out at 6. So a treadmill run again, five miles this time with three at a quicker pace than my usual 8/min. miles. Felt really good, except when the Bears-Packers highlights came on. I think Cutler just threw another interception. 39:10

supernova glide  -- 138

Just shy of five on the 11th/Shore Drive loop, it was lightly misting when I started but the heavy rain held off. Medium pace, though I felt like I was pushing around the 3 mile mark and backed off a little for the hills coming home. Otherwise a nice run, and it put me over 1,000 miles for the year. That's a little under what I had originally set out to do (Oct/Nov were a little more of a break than planned), but now I've got another 2010 goal. 35:35

supernova glide -- 143

Four on the treadmill, pretty easy pace. Breaking in a new pair of trail shoes for the winter. 31:20

Brooks Cascadia — 4

a.m. -- I wanted to go have breakfast with the Slugs because I hadn't seen people in a few weeks. Mike wanted to run a few so I said alright, but only a few because I had afternoon running plans also. We know how that goes after you get out there, and we ended up going to the three-mile marker and back on Beach Drive, and at a decent pace (7:15s). Felt fine, didn't rain much on us, but I had more coming... (43:46, supernova glide)

p.m. -- Krissy took me up to Cougar Mountain, where she runs trails with a group weekly. It's a pretty vast wilderness area really close to Bellevue, so even though the parking lot had a 15-20 cars the trails felt really empty (it was really foggy and drizzly outside, so that may have played a part also). The whole loop has pretty good elevation change, but nothing that's incredibly taxing in one stretch other than one steep 500-foot gain near the summit. So some good hills that balance climbing and pounding down, but we kept a good pace and were at conversational pace the whole time. We even added a three-mile loop (that included that steep stretch) halfway through because it was so nice to be out. I was a little fatigued by the last mile in my hamstrings and quads, but I should probably expect that (and post-run snacks at a bakery replentished the muscles pretty quickly). Great trails, and they were in really good shape after a wet December. I liked how the Brooks Cascadia felt also, good shoe so far. (2:02:00, Brooks Cascadia, 17)

All in all, a great day of running. Sunday I was tired (and too busy to notice it until after noon, actually), but the kind of beat that tells you that the day before was a fun day, not torture. Everything healthy otherwise, so that's a good sign to start the coming year.

Finally back to running. I took an unplanned week off running up to Christmas; for no reason other than it's tough to get out running working 12-hour days with six hours of sleep. It was a busy time to get ready for vacation and Christmas stuff around here. But I got through and was really, really ready to stretch my legs down in Kansas. 

Sunny morning and cold, had to be in the twenties. There was snow on the ground but not deep, and Timm and I ran a really pretty rural trail behind my grandmother's house. They built a trail on top of a dike, you look down at housing developments on old wheat fields on one side, and a lazy frozen river on the other. And, since it's Kansas, you can see for miles at like 35' elevation. Real easy pace, just talking with Timm, maybe 8:30s. I left him for the last mile, picked up a bit just to get that pent up energy out of me. 

brooks cascadia -- 23

Another Kansas morning, no sun this time. Let Timm sleep in, just got lost (literally, at the end) in the subdivisions my uncle and aunt live near. Cold and gray, but the footing was fine and there was no one out on the streets. A little quicker pace than Monday, but still easy and not much more than 7:30s or so. 

brooks cascadia -- 28

Snowy morning this time, but Timm and I ran slowly and stuck to the empty roads in Central Salina. It was warm enough that the ice had melted, so our feet were a little wet but the footing was alright. Only four this time, we got cold and went inside. About 30 minutes.

brooks cascadia -- 32

One last Kansas run with Timm, another 30 minutes around my uncle and aunt's neighborhood. Ran a good bit on some spongy grass around Salina South High School, Kansas has this nice type of short prairie grass that is nice in the winter. Sunny this time around, but cold cold cold. Had to be in the teens, though the wind held off until afternoon thankfully (or not, since in the p.m. we stood in a pasture for a few hours shooting shotguns and nearly froze our fingers and toes). Time to fly back home.

brooks cascadia -- 36