Where's the Donuts?

Little more than 5 on the treadmill at the Y. The TV shorted out at mile 2.5 though, so I suffered through with my thoughts and a blank screen for half the run. 40:00 

supernova glide blue

An odd afternoon start for the inaugural Jingle Bell Run in Port Orchard. This is one of those national fundraiser runs, I'm actually doing the Seattle version next week with my cousin. But since it took place on the Slug training course I couldn't say no. Mike and Brian joined me. 

Good winter afternoon to run: temp around 40, cloudy sky but no precipitation. It just felt Christmassy, and most of the runners had some goofy elf outfit or Santa hat on. Not me though. 

We let the high school kids sprint the first 400 as usual, then a pack of four pulled ahead and Mike and I stayed together 40 yards behind. We kept a good pace and stayed in touch, didn't rush and let the leaders drop. I left Mike at the two-mile mark or so (no markers, this was actually an extremely simple and unorganized race -- at the start, because they had so many more people show up than expected, the organizer finally just said 'no more numbers, just go run.') After leaving Mike I picked off two guys, then chased down second place and just about caught him. 75 more meters and he was mine, I ended back 3 seconds. (The winner ran away from us though, 16:37.) Then I got interviewed for the local online radio show (with tough questions like, "Is it cold out there?" and "You wore shorts?"), and went and bought a post-race donut from the bakery down the block.

As I sit here I'm a little peeved to not break 17 minutes, because I seem to be a little stuck there. But for a winter run without any recent speed work or even that many miles, it was pretty encouraging to stick that pace. So I'll take that, and decide this week whether next week's Jingle Bell will be an attack on 17 minutes or a fun jog with my cousin.

Sunny morning so I did a few easy miles around the neighborhood. Not that a 5k demands a lot of recovery, but I was a little stiff and it felt good to loosen up. 23:00

supernova glide blue -- 155

Five on the YMCA treadmill after work. The problem is that only two of three treadmill TVs work there, and I drew numero three and couldn't watch the football game while I ran. At least it's a sucky game I missed while I stared at a blank screen. 38:00

 supernova glide blue -- 160

Dark and quiet run on a not-too-cold morning, Manette Hills loop. 45:05

supernova glide blue -- 166

Ten with Mike and Brian on Beach Drive, on a cold, dry morning. We kept the pace slower, mostly hitting around 7:30 (one low-7 outlier). First time out to the five-mile turnaround point in quite some time. Feels good to be back in the rhythm. 1:15:00

supernova glide blue --  176

Technically this is a race report, but I wasn't really racing so I'm not categorizing it that way. I ran the Seattle Jingle Bell Run 5k, but as a pacer for my cousin's wife, who has been getting into running over the past year. It was fun, Alicia beat her goal by more than a minute, and we saw a lot of people in dopey Christmas costumes. And got free donuts at the finish. A little warm-up because I was running late after locking myself out of the house this morning. I was running to the start line from the parking garage, essentially. But I made it just in time.

We spent a lot of time on the first mile weaving around the slowpokes and strollers, ran a 9:30. I told Alicia we needed to pick it up, and she followed right along as we started to pass more people on the I-5 express lanes. 8:30 for the second mile. Then one just under 8 for the third mile, and 40 seconds or so for the 0.1. She was pretty happy with the time, and ran a smart race. No cool down, she had zero interest in that after the race. So we got coffee instead and watched the other finishers, there were plenty.

Morning run on the Warren-Manette Bridge loop, w/Shore Drive. Cold, but dry with clear skies as the horizon lit up. 39:27

supernova glide blue -- 181

 Morning on the Manette Hills loop w/YMCA, great full moon for most of the run and finished off with a beautiful bright pink sunrise on the mountains over the Cascades. Good inspiration for the day. 44:10

supernova glide blue -- 187

Two days off was probably one too many, but it's December, right? Back at it today, out to Illahee State Park and down to the beach, then back up the trail with a reverse loop through the campground. Tacked on 11th/Shore Drive to add two miles to the usual route. Ran into Justin J. walking his dog and I hadn't talked to him for awhile, so I took a break at 52 minutes then ran home. It was an odd, uniquely Pacific Northwest afternoon (took the day off today): extremely mild, kind of damp but not rainy, gray with some sun breaks far in the distance over the Cascades, and very quiet and peaceful outside. It's 5 now and I could probably go to bed, like it's hibernation time. You've got to be here to get it. 58:00

supernova glide blue -- 195

Green Mountain. I outsmarted the weather by sleeping in and heading up above the marine layer of fog and clouds. I dropped off some packages at the post office in Silverdale, where it was gray and cold, and after climbing up Green Mountain and hitting the ridge just past the Beaver Pond found the day was actually clear and beautiful at 2,000 feet. 

I added an extra half mile or so to get to a better viewpoint, then followed the usual trail. I was a little sapped today, the later-than-usual start after only a banana for breakfast wasn't something I anticipated well. So I walked the hills a bit more than planned, and was pretty fatigued and hungry at the end. Wonderful weather at the viewpoint though, even saw Mt. Rainier. We call this "winter" in the Pacific Northwest, but it could have been April (I was overheating a bit with shorts and a long-sleeve) and I hope we get a few more weeks like this. 1:40:00

brooks cascadia red

Easy Sunday morning run with Mike, we missed our usual Saturday workout so today was fellowship day. Met at Evergreen Park, ran to Lions Park and then back via Manette Bridge and downtown. Then some coffee at Samudra. I was a little sluggish from Saturday and my left foot is a little sore on the outside edge. 40:30

supernova glide blue -- 200

Morning on Warren-Manette bridges route. 37:25

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Just an easy shorty on the almost-shortest-day of the year so I could get to work early. The sun still hasn't come up. 11th-Shore Drive-home. 24:05

supernova glide blue -- 208

First mid-week workout of the winter this morning. Two miles warm-up, then 4 tempo miles (10k pace) on Tracyton Beach Road — 6:09, 6:18, 6:05, 6:05 — then three cool down miles back. That last fast mile really taxed me, I was ready to be done about halfway through it. But I'm glad I went for four. Felt pretty good, actually, though breathing hard like that in the cold morning air takes some getting used to. 1:02:00

supernova glide blue 

YMCA treadmill, 7:40 pace. 35:04

supernova glide blue

The Thanksgiving morning tradition has become a Christmas Eve tradition as well, and the same group of 70 or so runners got together in Silverdale again. Mike and both wanted more miles than the community run provides, so we met 30 minutes earlier and threw on another three miles to Old Towne and back. It worked well, because when we wrapped that up everyone was ready to roll, and the wind had calmed down and sun come up. Five slow miles followed, chatting mostly with Bill Dewey and Brian Begley. Relaxed way to start Christmas. 1:02:00

supernova glide blue 

Eight at the Illahee Forest Preserve, I've finally come up with a good loop that gets decent mileage without being too repetitive. It was really quiet in there today, I saw two other people the whole hour. But a classic PNW winter day: gray the whole time but mild; I ran in shorts, and on the golf course adjacent to the preserve I heard people golfing. Turned my ankle slightly at the 31-minute mark, but after giving it a minute or two and cinching up my shoes tighter it seemed to feel ok and not a big deal. Tomorrow morning will be the test, of course. 1:02:00 

brooks cascadia IV

40 minutes on the YMCA treadmill, the dry December finally broke, and with a vengeance. I'm lucky the power was on to run the machine, though without power I wouldn't have had to watch whatever crappy college bowl was on. These are just filler so ESPN can sell more ads, right? Ugh.

On the bright side, my ankle felt fine after yesterday's twist. 40:00 

supernova glide blue -- 234

Eight at a medium pace on Tracyton Beach Road, 7:15/mile or so. Rained hard, then sky broke, then more rain to finish. 58:20

 supernova glide blue -- 242

Unintended day off yesterday, but it'll still be a solid week and a great December to get the running year started. I went up to Green Mountain, cold at the start (well, cold for here -- 35 degrees) but actually pretty pleasant with some high clouds. Good Olympics views though the Green Mountain vista was a little socked in. 

I felt much better than two weeks ago; better energy and strength, and I spent much less time walking uphill than that run and was just moving far better. So that's a good indicator, even if some of it is simple fueling. The strange part is the time (1:40:58) was about the same. I think my lookout addition may have been a few minutes longer this time out, that may explain it.

So that's it for 2011. A bit of a down year for me in terms of racing and miles because of the break in late summer, but the past two months have me energized and back in shape, and I'm encouraged to start 2012. I've sketched out some races through June, with the focus on another Chuckanut 50k and the Newport Marathon. I have a few ideas for the rest of the year kicking around, but two employees going on maternity leave in May will dictate how some of my traveling goes over the summer, so we need to plan that out before any registration.