Where's the Donuts?

Morning run, cold and sunny outside. Warren-Manette bridge loop. Felt good. 37:50 

Morning basketball.

Evening YMCA run, moderate place, plenty of stretching. 

Morning basketball. We seem to be stuck on 2-on-2, unfortunately. 

A little less than an hour in Illahee Preserve on a wonderful spring day. Left hamstring got sore and tight though. Not as much the hip, more the hammy. 53:50 

Practice run on the Chuckanut 50k course. Beautiful spring Sunday, plenty of folks out on the mountain, ran with Krissy from Clayton Beach parking lot (which is now being called Lost Lake, apparently). We planned on the middle 30k of the race from that parking lot, which is everything but the 10k out and back portions to Fairhaven. 

Wanted to go nice and easy, since I'm not confident of my mileage right now. So we started out slow, hiked a bit here and there up to Frangrance Lake, then ran the whole way to Cleator Road. Walked maybe the first half up Cleator, when it leveled out we ran again, and hiked the final steep stretch. Stopped at the top to talk with some folks doing the same thing, then ran the ridge (beautiful view of Mount Baker; best I've ever seen), then after dropping down to Lost Lake we more or less hiked or ran slowly up all the hills you climb out. I was a little low on energy and water, but other than that we probably *could* have run a little harder. But no reason too, really. This was just covering some distance. 

My legs were a little tired there, but really none of the tightness or pain that has been bothering me. Very, very encouraging. Finally up Lost Lake and then the big downhill to Chinscraper. There my left hip flexor started barking (more fatigue than anything; its just not real strong yet), so we skipped Chinscraper and ran up the road to where the split to Frangrance Lake is, then took that route back in (which is the same as the new course map). My legs actually responded really well at that point, I thought I was cooked but found energy and ran a nice pace in (helps that it's downhill). But I finished well, not too beat up, tired but not entirely spent. A very positive sign for two weeks from now, and I have some confidence I can finish this bad boy. I won't go fast, but I'll go. 3:33 total on our feet. 

Real easy run around Manette as a recovery, nice and slow in the evening twilight. No pain from yesterday, and not even that much fatigue. A little tight in both hips, so it was nice to loosen up some and then stretch awhile. No watch. 

2-on-2 for 40 minutes, then I ran two miles on the treadmill. Left hip kind of hurt afteward and was tight during the day.

Came down with a fever and upset stomach late last night, so I had to skipped the planned run at Banner Forest with Lemke. I slept in, then took another nap, then finally went to Illahee for an easy lap. Starting to feel better now after sweating a bit. Legs felt fine. 30:57 

Y treadmill

A much different experience than in the past at Chuckanut, and I'm keeping this brief on the race details because journaling this run for the record will be of little help in the future. This is more a reminder of where my mind was in 2015. 

Mild morning, though it had rained heavily the day before and opened up again just as we got underway at 8. Interesting story to the start was that I was the last person in line for potty, the last to enter and exit the stall, and I made it to the start line with 10 seconds to spare. Never cut it that closely before. 

Three weeks ago I didn't know if I'd run the whole thing, let alone race. As I've been writing, there hasn't been enough time in life to run as I should. That's the way it's been. But the practice run with Krissy encouraged me, so I started with a good mindset. About 59 minutes for 10k on Interurban; 42 minutes to Cleator Road; 35:50 to the Ridge; 1:28 to Chinscraper. This was the 3:45 mark, if my math is right. I had really enjoyed the run up to this point, and felt very good about it. Nice pacing, kept my cool and fueling, chatted with a few people as the miles went by. But the course was very, very muddy, more than I'd ever seen it, and the downhill portions just tore my knees apart. So I was pretty tired, and knew from my trainig that this was the outer limit already. 

So I completely hiked Chinscraper, which isn't too much different than what I'd do under "normal" circumstances. Just tried to conserve what I could and enjoy it rather than suffer. Only passed by 2 guys, I think. 

But after Chinscraper there wasn't much left. I was passed by a few on the descent to Frangrance Lake, though I kept a respectable pace, but after that point I slowed more, took some hike breaks, especially where things were steep. Many people passed me. 

By the time I was on the Interurban again, I had had enough. But not in a discouraging way, which was interesting and hopefully alright, in the competative sense. I didn't *need* to suffer on the way in, as you always do on Chuckanut's final 10k. I was ok with walking/jogging, looking up at the trees or out at the water when the view opened, and I focused on simply enjoying moving ahead easily. A few people asked "Are you ok?" and I smiled back. "Yes, this is what I want to do." I wasn't forced into a walk by an injury, it was just admitting to myself that's where I was, and forcing a jog, while good for mental toughness, would have saved 20 minutes on what was by far my slowest time anyway. So I let them pass, and cheered people on as they cleared the 6-hour mark. Good for them. I wanted to finish with a smile, which I did as I slowly jogged it in. 

And Saturday night I was fatigued by not broken, I made it to a birthday part and enjoyed eating a lot; Sunday morning my knees were as painful as I've ever felt -- but that pain was gone by Monday mid-day. Those are good things, I still covered the distance and supported a race I really enjoy and love, and that's that. I'll be back. 

Distance is a guess in Banner Forest, with all its twists and turns. But an hour exactly with Lemke on a perfect spring morning, sun just coming up as we took off. I jogged a bit Monday and played hoops Thursday, so I knew I'd recovered from the 50k. Just a bit of pain in the right knee, otherwise legs feel fine. Surprisingly fine in the hip flexors, I did not expect that. 

Basketball in the a.m., then 1.5 after Jaguars practice becuase the sun was still out and it was a pleasant evening. 

Rainy night, four on the Y treadmill.