It ain't Chinese algebra!

10 miles to the west of town.  I ate too much junk over the weekend and paid the price this morning.

11 miles up to the north freeway exit and back with some wandering on the side streets here and there.  46 degrees but rainy and breezy so just a touch chilly.  Off to Eugene today so hopefully more miles tonight.

PM: 11 miles with an attempt at some speed work.  Ran 4 miles from the hotel to Sheldon HS for some 1k repeats around the track.  Goal was (as always) to run consistent times.  My stomach, right hip, and body in general felt like junk.  The wind was brutal in the hometretch and got worse throught to run.  Springtime weather...

Anyway, I was shooting for 5 repeats but had to call it quits after 4.  I just felt like trash; dizzy and light headed during the rest periods, close to losing my lunch during the intervals, right hip pain and I just wasn't having fun.  No sense in pushing through it and ending up in a bad place.  Splits were 3:12, 3:05, 3:08, 3:07.  Ran a couple more miles on the astroturf football field very slowly, then jogged to Subway for dinner and finally back to the hotel.  You win some and lose some...

Ran past Autzen Stadium and north past Garden Valley Clinic into Springfield.  Quick stop at the Starbucks for a bathroom break and then around Costco before returning to the hotel.  Hip felt ok.  Body in general felt ok.  Overall felt....just ok.

8 miles in GP.  I ran south around the golf course and eventually to the parking lot of Cathedral Hills trail system.  Hip felt much better, I'm guessing because of the stretching last night.  Hopefully that's all I need to do in order to get back to feeling great.

PM: 9 miles on the hotel treadmill.  Just to rainy/windy to go outside tonight.

10 miles in Eugene.  I'm soaking wet.  Absolutely drenched.  And I've never seen the Willamette River running so high.  In fact, I started my run in Alton Baker Park and had to turn around due to the trails being submerged in water.  Eventually made it over to Hayward Field (still closed...what's the deal?) and then to South Eugene HS to run a few miles on the track.  One of the best HS tracks I've ran on.  Back to the hotel to make 10 miles for the day.

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Once again, I didn't sign up before the deadline for the Willamette Invitational.  Sheesh.  You'd think I'd learn.  So no 5K for me tonight.  That's okay I suppose.  I wasn't looking forward to getting home around 1 AM. 

What a morning.  Ended up being a good run but I really had to force myself out the door.  It rained all night long and the wind was consistent at 15-20 MPH.  I just didn't feel like battling the elements for 2+ hours.  Eventually got out the door just after 7 and it rained for the first 60 minutes.  I was drenched within 5 minutes and just tried to keep a positive outlook for the first section (although truth be told, I was trying to decide if cutting the run short after 5 miles would be worth it...).

Anyway, I'll have to name this course '3 up 3 down' or something like that.  Tried to pound my legs a bit and I was successful. Ran up 7th street to Anderson dental (about 6 miles), then back into town via Highland Ave to the Farmers Market.  Quick bathroom stop and then back up again to Club NW and once again back into town to Expert Tire.  Final climb up 9th street (past the HS) to Hillcrest and back down on Beacon.  From the top of Beacon, I could barely see Fred Meyer/McDonalds.  I made me feel like I was hundreds of feet above them....and I guess I was.  It was a 300 ft drop in just under 1.5 miles.  Yikes.

Total climbing was 1133 ft for the run.  Ran 20 miles in 6:33/average and then 1 mile cool down in just under 9 minutes.  Feeling like I finished my week on a positive note.