It ain't Chinese algebra!

AM- Ryan's loop.

Cumulus (378)

PM- Hospital loop

Y2 (322)

124th street loop.

C2 (13)

Hospital loop.

Cumulus (384)

Bush Park.

Y2 (330)

With this run I passed my years mileage for 2008.  Not sure what I'll end up with in 2009, or what 2010 will bring.

Better than nothing.

C2 (16)

Hospital loop to the HS and then 4 miles on the cross country course.  Last 3 were tempo miles to get home via Ibac and Avery streets.

Cumulus (397)

Ran to Tigard HS, 2 miles around the track and home.

Cumulus (405) 

Ryan's loop, extended to 124th St.

C2 (23)

11 miles on 11-11.  Ryan's loop to 124th, then around to Tigard HS and home after adding a little behind Freddies.

Cumulus (416)

Boones Ferry Rd to THS, couple laps around the xc course and track, then home the same route.

Y2 (339)

Ryan's loop.  Lots of rain.  I need better gear/clothing.

Cumulus (423)

11 miles in Bellevue WA.  Ran around the Microsoft campus for a bit.  Pretty impressive.

C2 (34)

Nada

A mixture of my 3 favorite routes.  Started with the 124th Ave loop, then Avery St. to the HS and one loop around the xc course.  Then down Boones Ferry and around the hospital and home.

Cumulus (438) 

124th Ave loop.  Warmed up the first 2 miles and then pushed the pace the next 5.  Felt good to get the turnover.

Y2 (346)

Tigard HS route.  It's a good route minus the traffic and bad vision across the bridge.

Cumulus (446)

Hospital route in the rain.

Y2 (351) 

Great run on a new course which is always enjoyable.  I ran to Sherwood and along the highway to the YMCA.  Looped back around and came home via 124th Ave past the middle school.  Lots of rolling hills and a couple big hills.

14 miles actually.  After getting home, stretching, drinking chocolate milk and mapping my course I realized I was 1 mile short of my goal.  Put my shoes back on and ran 1 more with a stomach full of milk and Powerade.  Is that pathetic, admirable, or something else all together?

Cumulus (461)

Tigard HS loop.  Perfect weather.  I love running on mornings like this.

Cumulus (470)

Same route as yesterday, plus 124th Ave and Teton Rd at the end.  Awesome weather for November.  I ran in shorts, t-shirt and light gloves.  I'll take 44 degrees the week of Thanksgiving!

C2 (45)

Ryan's loop.  First 3 easy, 4th mile in 5:34, 5th mile easy.

Y2 (356)

Pretty fun run this morning.  I haven't raced since May so my body was in for a surprise.  Last year was won by Max King, local running legend (Olympic Trials in the steeplechase, 2:19 in NYC 2 weeks ago and US National Trail Marathon champion 6 days later).  Needless to say, I was happy he didn't show up.  It's fun to race against him, but honestly we 'race' for about 100 meters and then he's out of reach.

Still solid competition with JJ Moses, Neil Olsen and Bob Julian.  From the gun I went with the leaders but settled into 5th place behind the lead pack.  I could tell right that the next 7 miles weren't going to be easy.  First mile in 5:28.

Moved into 4th and 3rd place during mile 2 as the top 2 runners increased their distance and I didn't want to loose too much ground if I wanted a chance to win.  Second mile in 5:30.  I'm just under 11 minutes at this point and figure I'll be happy just to run an even pace and finish around 44 minutes.

There was a slight uphill on mile three and JJ lost some steam and I passed him and sat on the leader until just before mile 4.  Mile 3 in 5:31 and Mile 4 in 5:36.  I could tell the pace was slowing and I wanted to look strong right here (even if I wasn't feeling strong) so I put on a surge right after the turnaround.  Mile 5 in 5:26.

From this point on I was just hanging on for the win.  It's a cool feeling.  Years ago I would have let negative thoughts creep into my mind and think of all the ways I could loose.  I wish I was mentally strong in HS and college like I am now.  I could still hear JJ about 20-30 feet behind me when his Garmin beeped at the mile markers.  Mile 6 in 5:23 and Mile 7 in 5:18.

Final mile I had to dodge walkers here and there but nothing too bad.  I still didn't know what kind of surge JJ was capable of so I tried to finish as strong as I could.  Mile 8 in 5:15.  Total time in 43:30.  Reward - A frozen turkey breast.  Nice. 

I'm happy with the race but I'm nowhere near 'racing shape.'  It hurt worse than in should have and my calves are all sorts of sore right now.  Bummer.  Oh well.  That's what happens when I don't race for 6 months.  Other than yesterday's 1 mile tempo, I don't think I've ran any miles in the 5 minute range.  99% have been 7:00-7:15 pace for the past 2 months as I've come back from injury.  Anyway, it is what it is.  3 mile warm up and 2 mile cool down as I ran back to finish with Jill.  She did awesome in her longest run ever.  Finished the morning with a Dutch Bros Milky Way Steamer.  Yummy.

Type A (231)

Cumulus (473)

Loop around Medford.  Wanted to see if there were lots of shoppers out so I ran past WalMart, Fred Meyer, Target and the mall.  Lots of cars, especially at Target.

I feel much better post run than pre run.  I was pretty sore this morning after yesterdays race.

C2 (55)

Loop around Medford.  This is such a great place for running.  So many rolling hills, steep hills, flat sections, very little traffic and great weather.

Cumulus (486)

Max Hall hates me.

Zero.  Didn't feel like going before or after work.  Bummer.