Where's the Donuts?

Back in pleasant, mild Washington, and the old YMCA loop. The Manette Bridge is temporarily closed so I may have to get creative with some runs. I'm still not feeling right,  kind of drained of energy and sluggish. I hope it's just being a little out of shape. 

Slowly getting back to it, I'm starting to feel like myself again. Another fairly short run, no watch and I kind of wound around Manette to enjoy the evening sun. I did find my watch after I finished though, I had left it on a lawn chair out on the deck sometime last week. 

supernova glide blue 

Longest and best run in weeks, finally feeling a bit more like myself. Henry and I ran on Beach Drive, he started too quickly but I hung on, then pushed him on the return for a series of 7-minute miles. There wasn't any real reason to run faster like that, but it felt good and kind of fun to push the pace. 1:11:00

 supernova glide blue

Late night at work last night, so I'm hustling to get to the office on time this morning. The Shore Drive run, abbrieviated. 22:00

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Cougar Mountain trail run with Krissy and Justin Engle. I took the morning off to meet these guys, I hadn't been to Cougar in awhile. We did a shorter loop to accomodate schedules, which I thought was a good idea since I'm still working back into some shape. But I felt pretty strong throughout, which was encouraging since we ran at an honest clip on the uphill portions. It was a great mid-week run, I can probably call myself a runner again.

Eight's a guess since it wasn't the loop I'm used to. A little over an hour on my new watch. 

brooks cascadia

Quick evening run before Quiz Night at the Manette, I cut it a little short so I'd be there on time. Warm evening, my legs were a little tired from Wednesday's run. YMCA loop, which is a bit hilly so the pace it a little slower. 31:09

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I decided to run a trail half marathon tomorrow up in Port Gamble, so I took it easy this morning. Gray, cool start to the day with the marine layer hanging around, which was nice and comfortable. I ran alone, started slow but worked into a decent, smooth pace. I have a thought in my head to run the Bellingham marathon in six weeks so I spent the run doing the training math. I'll see how tomorrow goes, and then do a road half on Labor Day to gauge my fitness and see if a quality marathon in September is realistic. Part of me says it is, because I had a good early season base before my mid-summer break. The other part says 'you better cram some workouts and 20+ runs in to the next month, or you're a dead man.' Both are probably kind of right, I just need to find where the truth lies and see if I'm up for it. 

Anyone have thoughts on whether six weeks is enough time? Any advice on where to focus? I'm not way out of shape, but I got a little rusty after going to Kenya and it's been slow going to get back in shape. 

42:47

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Today was one of the worst races of my life. But it was also a pretty nice run through the forest for a Sunday morning, and perhaps a really good reminder of what a lazy summer of running feels like. 

My friend Doug Stutz and I drove up to Port Gamble on a cool, cloudy morning for the annual Roots Rock Port Gamble Trails Half Marathon. It's part of the series I like to go to up there, which I've rambled on here about on other occasions. All races are in a really beautiful piece of woods (4,000 acres, in fact), every one is a smoothly run race, and this time there were post-race burgers on the BBQ and locally brewed beer for all participants, since the owner of one of the county's newest microbreweries also happens to be a runner.

So I can complain about a poor performance (I got through 10 miles at a good pace and then my body had enough), I can't complain about the morning.

The short version of the race is that I went in with a desire to gauge my fitness. The last time I ran this far was in June, at the NODM half. So it's been awhile since I've seen this distance, and I knew that would be an obstacle. I started near the back to try and hold myself back and it worked for two miles or so, but I got caught up with a crowd on some single-track stretches, hooked in with this guy named Terry between 5 and 10 and we kept up a good clip, and then I packed it in. We weren't screaming (just under 8/minute miles), but after 10 I really lost all energy (I've never been so hungry on a run) and slowed down quite a bit. I haven't struggled mentally like that in awhile either, which was a little disappointing. At least six people passed me over the last three miles and I didn't have it to hang with any of them. My legs were pretty shot at the finish, more than I'd expect from 13 miles.

This was a new race course, and featured significantly more single track. It's a really winding, up-and-down, narrow course now, which keeps you from ever really striding out, and does tax the legs pretty well. It's fun to run, but even the lead guys had to treat it as a workout rather than a place to run a great time. But at least it's easy to have a great time up there. I'll leave with that memory, and get back to work running now.

brooks cascadia -- I've liked these shoes, though I'm a little worried at the cushioning. My feet really felt beat up by the end. That is expected on a rooty, twisting course, I suppose, but it may be wise to try something else before another 50k attempt.

Easy miles on the Shore Drive loop, legs were a little heavy from yesterday. I rode my bike to/from work as well. 30:25

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Surprisingly good workout for two days after the wreckage on the trails and after a few months away from the track. I ran after work at Bremerton High, it was in the 70s and sunny, and I almost had the place to myself. 

Two miles warm up, then a ladder of intervals that increased by one minute each, from 1 to 5 and back down to 1. One minute rest between each, though I cushioned the 5-minute interval with an extra minute of jogging on either side. I ran 5:50 pace the whole workout, which I was surprised by. Felt the drag by the 3-minute session on the way back down, but still made it through. Another mile cool down. 54:14 total.

adidas adistar (I really like these)

Quick morning run around the neighborhood. 24:04

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Wonderful morning on Beach Drive, no marine layer today and the sun was shining over Mount Rainier nice and early. Met Henry, we ran six or so then met up with Mike, who's still getting back in shape. Medium pace, Henry tends to pull a little out of the gate rather than ease into it. But we were around 7/mile to 7:15/mile the whole time. Felt good, even after the stepped-up mileage this week. So that's a good sign I'm getting back in shape. 1:05:10

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YMCA loop, easy pace after work. 33:14