Where's the Donuts?

Fastrunning blogger Aaron and I met up on the far north end of the Kitsap Peninsula today for 9 morning miles through a sleepy little town called Hansville and to a county park on the water (Twin Spits Road to Point No Point). Picture perfect morning, beautiful view of the islands, I even saw a seal -- though more hills than we anticipated. But those were probably good for us, and they whizzed by. Pretty easy pace, well above 8 minute miles but it was comfortable (for my legs, at least) and a good weekend run. My hamstring is still a little sore, but I've babied it and it hasn't flared up much lately.

 Week off from work here, so I was able to run at my leisure today. Except my "leisure" included lawn mowing and a lot of yard work I had to catch up on. But a mid-day break for a run was pleasant, and its warm but not too warm. One of my usual routes, uphill through Manette and down 18th Ave to Wheaton Way, then back along Shore Drive.

I'm headed to Zacatecas, Mexico later in the week, so hopefully I can use some of Paul's tips for running while on vacation/work trips to maintain some miles.

Out Wheaton Way, down Warren Ave Bridge through Evergreen Park, back over Manette Bridge. Easy pace to start, but I stretched my legs out a bit on some flat stretches. Once my hamstrings loosen up I felt kind of peppy. 

Easy miles on a treadmill in Mexico. The roads here weren't quite the place to get mileage, plus I would have been lost. 

Paul's in town and we made it up to watch some of the Ragnar Northwest Passage Race. We ran about 8 miles of the course backwards (around leg 32, Paul will probably know for certain), decent pace for most of it. I think we were between 7-8 minutes per mile. 

The new Ragnar race is beautiful, I'm in for next year. Sea level air, good views, rolling hills on fairly quiet highways (definitely quiet when compared to the Phoenix roads), no killer legs like Ragnar at WBR. And beautiful weather to boot, nothing warmer than 75 all day, and mild overnight.  No blaze orange shirts either, Dan and Tanner came up with a new design.
 

Another run on part of the Ragnar race course, on a beautiful mild morning. I turned back and let Paul pace a team until the end (so he can give a scouting report of legs 33-36). I was sore from yesterday. Didn't run real fast, probably around 8 min. miles. I'm pretty stiff, maybe slacking off the past two weeks wasn't wise. 

Took Paul on one of my usual routes with a little addition to it, through Manette to Wheaton Way, to Lions Park, back to the Warren Bridge, through Evergreen Park and back across Manette Bridge. Pretty easy, though we pushed a little at times, maybe closer to 7/min. miles than we initially intended. Run was probably a bit more than 6 miles, but not by much. 48 minutes. Legs are a little sore from the weekend miles, but my hamstrings feel much, much better than they did at the beginning of the month. 

Easy (if you don't count the hills) run through Manette. The loop that goes by the YMCA this morning. Sunshine came back after a little rain yesterday, should be a good week. 'Running with the Buffaloes' has me inspired.