I am one with the levee and the levee with me

Same run as yesterday

10.5 easy downriver. 1:14:00

Miki is the best 

AM - Easy 4 miler

PM - Added another 8 with some of the team. 

AM - 4 miles easy

PM - 6 miles easy with a few of the HS guys. 

8 miles with Anthony and Austin in 53:50 down the canal by the HS. Talked about running goals for the season and some of the upcoming races. Added 2 afterwards in 14:00. Total of 10 in 67:50.

AM - 4 easy. Very cold and windy this morning. Not the most fun I've ever had on a run... just trying to keep goals in mind.

PM - I think the temperature might have actually dropped between morning and afternoon. I showed up to the high school to discover all the guys staying indoors to train on ellipticals and treadmills. So I ran 7 by myself. And then my face fell off.

10 miles

8 miles in 56:12

AM - Up at 6 for morning and greeted by a sub-zero morning. I need to get more warm running clothes, this was miserable. Out 4 in 27:57 and back in 23:11. Felt good otherwise.

PM - Easy 4. 

8 easy miles on the river trail.

First snow of the year left a whopping 1/2 inch on the ground. Probably the most we'll get. Didn't get out on the trail till about 1 am and loved it. The city lights cast a sort of sepia glow to everything, and I was completely by myself. I was surprisingly tired at the end, I forgot how much a little snow takes out of the legs. 77:35 total time.

Only had time for one run today. Headed downstream on the river trail, still a little snow on it but it was mostly compacted and traction was pretty good. Good enough to do the return trip a bit up-tempo. Ran out 6 in 42:00 then returned in 35:40. Felt very, very relaxed. I'm itching to race... Saturday can't come soon enough.

10 easy miles on the river trail. Freezing rain all day made me worried about the run, but once I got to the trail things were okay. Thick ice all over everything, but the snow underneath was crunchy enough that traction was decent. Out in 36:38 and back in 39:40, which really surprised me. Thought I maintained the same pace. Doesn't really matter, but I wonder why 7:20 pace on the way out feels like 8:00 pace on the way back.

Trail was a nightmare tonight and it got worse and worse the more I ran. 10 miles in a glorious 1:25:34.

AM - 4 miles, 7:00 pace

PM - 8 miles alone from Kamiakin. Many of the varsity guys are doing nothing... might be time for a tough love speech. 7:20 pace

4 miles easy with Phil and Austin then another easy 4 by myself with a 1/4 mile pickup at 5:10 pace to get the feel for my goal pace tomorrow. I'm excited. 

Something is changing in my body. I've never felt this good so early in my training, and it almost feels like cheating. After one of our high school runners found out he was anemic, I started taking iron pills just on principle. I don't think I've ever tested low for iron. Anyway, I was surprised at the Orem Thanksgiving run with how good I felt and today was the same way. I can't know for sure if I can give the iron credit, but I have no other explanation for the way I feel. This race felt like a tempo run.

The other thing I learned is that nobody in the Tri-cities can put on a good race. The course was sparsely marked and it was a miracle I made all the right turns. Santa started the race without any warning whatsoever. And the timing was all wrong. Apparently the men's 5k was won in <12:20 and the women's 10k in 29:30. Hahahahaha, hohohohohoho. I had all kinds of people coming up to me afterwards saying, "Did she really beat you by that much?"  

I warmed up with sophomore-Austin and hunted around for an open bathroom, an adventure in itself. There are never enough Port-o-Potties at these things so I ran across the street to a gas station and was delighted to find the bathroom open. Until I walked inside. First thing I noticed was fecal mater covering the sink, like somebody climbed up and squatted over it and let loose. Let loose like I've never seen before. Which in itself deserves some kind of award for the sheer athleticism. Of course there was no toilet paper or paper towels... And I'll cut that story short there. It was better than waiting in the Port-o-Potty line, I promise.

The rain stopped by the start and temps were somewhere below 40 and higher than 32, because thankfully there was no ice on the course. We've had ice like you wouldn't believe all week long and it barely melted in time. So, normally they have a Santa in a crane with a shotgun who starts the race for us, which is as cool as it sounds, but this year they decided to start it with a cannon. Which also had coolness-potential. Santa was still in the crane, but he was supposed to signal with his arms when the cannon would go off. He gave a 1 minute warning. 20 seconds later the cannon went off. I'm ashamed to say that I elbowed a high schooler out of my way to keep from getting boxed. I'm ashamed to say it... but I'd do it again if I had to.

Normally the best competition at this thing is in the 10k, but most of the college guys who are home for the holidays ran the 5k. Bummer. I did get one who is supposedly pretty good, but he finished in 33:50 and was a non-factor up front. Race starts up this old cable bridge that spans the Columbia river. Long uphill followed by long downhill. The whole thing is well over 1/2 mile long. Just before the mile the 5k guys split off and I discovered myself leading the 10k, which is not how I pictured it. 5:08 mile. A high school kid was with me and seemed to be holding on okay. I remembered some of his races against our guys and hoped he could push me for awhile. I let him pull alongside me hoping to share the pace, but he tried to take the lead and started fading shortly after as we climbed an overpass. Oh well. No 2 mile marker available.

No 3 mile marker available. The level of discomfort I felt in the race leveled off about here and never got worse.

4 miles reached in 20:57. Cool, a little slower than I'd hoped, but I was alone and close to my time from the Orem race. Guessed on a few of the unmarked turns. Correctly, it turns out. Reached 5 miles in 26:15. Thought I had picked it up at mile 4, but this was one of my slower miles.

The 5 mile mark turns you down into the industrial district of Pasco. There was one cone marking the 10k course and then I was supposed to take a left to head to the warehouse where the race finished. There were 4 lefts to choose from. 2 of them looked viable and neither had any sign of being the right one. I took the last one and was correct. The race officials were halfway down the road walking away from the turn. I'm trying to hold back my comments, but I want it to be known I'm seething inside even as I write.

5k and 10k finishes converged into a long straightaway into the warehouse. A long, muddy straightaway. Chip timing had me at 32:28, I stopped my watch a little late at 32:33, so I'm rounding to 32:32 for my race report. I trust my watch, plus 32:32 just has a cool look to it. *Correction - Official results posted on the web have me at 32:32.

I felt awesome. I wish I'd had someone there at the end. In Orem I finished in 5:01 and I felt equally as good here, just with no one to catch. I think there are good things to come this year.

The hot Dr. Pepper they served afterwards may have been the best part. And I won a 2-person 1-night stay at the Red Lion Hotel which I plan to pawn off for as much Mt Dew as I can get.

Splits:

1 - 5:08

2 through 4 - 15:49 (20:57)

5 - 5:18 (26:15)

6.2 - 6:17

AM - Met with Phil and Austin for 6.5 at 7:00 on the nose around Thompson Hill. Legs are doing okay everywhere but the calves, which are in agony. Not as much agony as after Orem, but agony nevertheless. Kept going to 63:05 for 9 miles.

PM - Added 4 on the river trail in 29:15.

8.5 miles with Phil at about 6:45 pace. Added 1.5 more for an even 10.

Not my favorite run I've ever done. 12 miles at 1 am and I'm still feeling fatigue from the race. 90:02 total time. 

10 miles in the parent's neighborhood, 7:05 pace. Added 6x100m hill strides.

Another late night run. 12 miles in the Rancho Reata area, heading down to Gage and Keene. With about 3 miles to go a sharp pain started on the outside of my right calf... gave me a good scare. Stretched it a bit and slowed way down for the rest of the run. 42:30 out and 46:30 back for 1:29:00 total time. Scraped the heck out of it and iced it to death for good measure when I got back. We'll see how it does.

AM - 6.5 with Phil and Austin up in Rancho Reata because my alarm didn't go off and I didn't wake up in time to meet them at the school. Added 1.5 for an even 8. 55:18 total time.

The calf is definitely not 100%, time will tell if it gets better or worse. More scraping and icing when I got home. I've had a tough time keeping my calves loose and it's catching up with me.

PM - 4 mile easy run, no watch. Planned for 5 miles but felt pretty tired and decided not to push it and settle for the 69 mile week. 

PM 1 - So it snowed about 1/2 inch last night which meant I got called into work early and messed up my morning run. But I got off early, so I guess it evens out.

I bought some slip-on ice spikes awhile back for my running shoes and tried them out today. I figured that since I took myself out for a month about a year ago on ice it might be a good idea to have some handy for really bad days. But I totally underestimated the weight of these things. They're just a little stretchy rubber sole that slips over your shoe with teflon studs in them, and they felt pretty light at the time of purchase, but to run in them is like tying bricks to my feet. Which I think would be about equally as effective for ice traction but would cost about $20 less. I could feel my knees and shin muscles straining under the stress of lifting my feet... it was horrible and I ditched them about 6:00 into my run.

The trail actually had decent traction and I managed 7:00 pace out for 5.3 and decided I was in the mood for something uptempo. I had 5:40 pace in mind but I was a little speed happy and went 5:35 which in the snow felt like 5:15-5:20. Tempo'd back to where I ditched my stupid ice spikes, about 4.1 ish. 22:47 total time. This is all guesswork, of course, I need to get out there and measure the course with a wheel, but I figure I'm within 10 seconds/mile, which is good enough for now. 

Oh, and the pain in my calf is completely gone today. Another victory for Josse's scraping techniques.... best money I ever spent was having her work on me. 

AM - 10 miles downstream on the river trail. 

PM - Easy 4 in Rancho Reata.  Every so often I have a run that is just so simple, so perfect, so euphoric... it reminds me why I love to run in the first place. This was one of these. I got out at about 11:30, it had just snowed a couple inches, nobody was on the road. The moon was poking through the clouds and I had the roads to myself, the snow muffling all sound around me. It was brilliant.

Meant to do another run today, but I'm low on sleep and my body's tired so I chose sleep over the run. I work nights every other week and I just finished up my last shift this week, so the rest of the week will be smooth sailing.

Ran 4.7 with Austin from Kamiakin at 7:01 pace. Moving pretty good for the amount of snow on the ground. Added another 3.5.

10 miles from Desert Hills. 4 with Austin. 7:30 average.