Where's the Donuts?

Wonderful New Year's Day run. Mike and I met Chris Lemke and Shari at Gold Creek parking lot, and ran out the Gold Creek trail until it splits with GM6 road. Rather than head uphill on the trial as usual, we took the lower path and then the wider GM6 forest road. That kept us out of the way of horse traffic and let us run side by side slowly and chat. Chris and Shari were running really easy, and we stuck with them (10 min/miles, probably) most of the way before leaving them closer to the horse camp. At the horse camp there was a pancake breakfast, so we paid and had some pancakes and eggs and a small cup of cowboy coffee, then ran back down via Wildcat-Gold Creek trail. We didn't hit the Vista loop, but when we got on the ridge just below the view was spectacular. We saw a silouette of Mount Rainier and the trees of the Bremerton Watershed sticking out from a sea of fog that was blanketing Puget Sound. Pretty incredible scene, and there I was with no camera. Sun never came out down below today, so I'll savor the memory. 

About 8 miles in 1:20 or so. Felt healthy and we sped up a bit and raced on some of the steep downhill. 

Easy five miles on a beautiful sunny winter day. Warren-Manette bridge loop, with a quick stop at Evergreen to look at the scenery. A number of others out enjoying the weather. 

I'm still feeling a little fatigued around 20 minutes in, but that's likely this cold I have. My abductor was a little sore to get started, Wednesday's trailing may have stretched it a bit. Other than that feeling pretty strong for a comfortable pace. 38:50

Illahee Forest with Mike. Comfortable pace from Almira Lot, north route to south then doubled back on Bootleg Trail. Hip flexor/abductors feel fine, though for the second day in a row my ankle has stiffened up following the run. 39:45

Back on the treadmill at the Y, evening run. I can feel a difference from just a few weeks ago, no need to slowly work into a run and no pain in hip flexor/abdomen that I had been dealing with on warming up. Set the pace about 7:45 and ran strong. 31:00

YMCA treadmill on a rainy evening. Very mild soreness early in my abductor. Abdomen feels fine. 35:00

90 minutes of morning basketball at the Y.

When I hurt myself last fall I made my goal to be healthy by the time Nookachamps came around. In that sense I succeeded. This wasn't a fast race, but it was a good run and I felt healthy. Not completely out of the woods, because my groin did stiffen up following the race, but overall very encouraging. 

It was a wet and windy day, and coupled with Nookachamps' relatively difficult course makes it always more of a race to gauge winter fitness rather than do something fast. (Which wasn't the point anyway.) I started back in the crowd with my cousins Eric and Alicia, who were running the 5k. My first mile was likely in the 8/min range, I really focused on an easy start and didn't rush out. My warm-up wasn't long, so I needed the time to get into it anyway. 

After two miles the crowd was strung out, and other than a fierce headwind when we turned south off Swan Road and up the hill through the dairy, things were ok. I consistenty passed other racers, keeping a good pace but certainly in control rather than "going for it." One young guy passed me at the 5-mile mark (which is on the last hill), so I settled behind him maybe 10 yards for the final mile. We picked up one racer, and I probably could have surged to beat him. But I was feeling sporting, since he didn't know the course and kept shouting questions back at me on the last few turns that weren't marked well. I caught him and kind of pointed him through the last little loops, but then relaxed so he could beat me by two or three seconds. 

At the finish the sky really opened up, so I just jogged right through and straight back to the gym. Grabbed a quick drink, found Eric and Alicia and we drove to my parents' house (a mile away) for showers and pancakes. I felt a little worried without a cool down, but nothing cramped up too badly. So all in all a decent day and it's good to have a race under my belt. On the way to being healthy for 2014. 

Met Mike for what is becoming our new little routine. Evergreen Park to Lions Park, back via Manette and downtown loop. Then coffee at Scout Cafe. 

Legs felt very good for the day after a race, and nothing lingering from the heavier than usual effort on Saturday. 42:12

Met Mike at Illahee Forest, ran around at an easy pace for 35 minutes. A little cold, but dry and quiet. Left abductor a little stiff the first 15 minutes or so. 

Just an awful week of running, for no good reason other than too much work getting me bogged down and things spiraling from there. I wish I could turn that around, but now I'm flying to Cincinnati for a week where it's 20 degrees or so, with day-long meetings every day. 

YMCA loop on a quiet, cloudy, chilly Sunday morning. A little tightness in my left hamstring following the run. 

Rocky Point run from Mike's house, with his dog in tow. The hills meant we ranged from 7:40s to 8:15s, but averaged around 8 min/miles. Left hamstring was still a little tight from yesterday, but it felt good the times we stretched out the pace a little. 

Hour of basketball, we actually had 4-on-4 this time and got to run a bit.

Short one on the treadmill after work. 

Morning basketball.

Morning basketball, ran full court with 3-on-3 to get a little extra exercise in. Too bad there's no Fast Basketball Blog for me to be entering these on.