Where's the Donuts?

Morning hoops; 3s. 

Y treadmill after work, 7:47-7:41 pace, felt really nice and easy. 38:30 

Y basketball, 3-on-3 today.

Real easy around Manette, 11th-Shore Drive. My left foot had a sharp pain on a step as I finished coming up Jacobson. Walked a bit and then it eased off, but something to watch for.

A few people from work decided to run the annual Jingle Bell Run in Port Orchard as a group, so I joined in. I figured any time around 18 minutes would be very good, considering I've done no training for any kind of tempo. 

It was a relatively nice morning, a little drippy and cool but nothing extreme. I parked at SKHS, anticipating a big crowd downtown, and jogged a mile to the start line. Met up with co-workers and milled around with some other friends I found, checked in, warmed up another mile. I thought the race was a 1 p.m. start, so I was ready to go. But they held everything after the kids' race, and waited until 1:30. Oh well. Tucked into the second row, smaller field than I expected. 

I let the high school kids scream out ahead, made the start comfortable. By a mile in I was about 5/6 place, and working a good comfortable pace. I more or less held the position and held the pace the entire race. I never felt like I was falling apart, but the extra gear clearly is not there right now. It's a very flat out-and-back course, so it's simple in the mind and as I returned I was ejoying cheering and giving high fives to people on their way out. Cruised in a few seconds behind the fourth-place finisher. 

So it was an excellent day for having not raced for so long, and great for the confidence to know I'm not too out of shape. And nothing hurt, which was a real success and makes me feel good. 

Stood around for a bit cheering the Girls on the Run kids, then jogged back uphill to SKHS. 

Y ball, 3-on-3, but one of the more intense games we've had in awhile. Guess everyone was awake today. 

Y treadmill, ran a 7:47-7:41 pace, nice and easy. Everything felt good, stretched and did some core for awhile afterward.

Y ball, and we had enough to run one game of 5-on-5. But it's a little disjointed when you aren't used to it, and the subsequent 3s was more fun. 

Dropped my car at Bremerton Auto Repair mid-morning (no work), then ran out Perry to Illahee Preserve. One backward loop from the Riddell parking lot, then cleaned up a few branches from last night's windstorm. I felt really sluggish to start but was running free by the end. Rachel met me and we walked for another 45 minutes with her dogs, and then drove back to get the car. 42:00 

Started at Evergreen Park, only Marit was there from our work group. We went different directions. Across Warren Bridge, loop down around Lions Park, then back via Manette Bridge and downtown. Easy pace, felt good on a quiet morning. 41:00 

Y treadmill after work. 7:45ish pace. Watched GSW-Memphis. Good game. 31:00 

Y treadmill after work. 31:00 

It was dark, and really dumping rain at Banner Forest this morning. Chris Lemke and I met up and ran around (and eventually through) the muddy and puddly trails this morning. Pace is pretty hard to predict when it's that sloppy, but it was a nice run and by dawn the rain eased a bit. And it was warm (50), at least. 52:00 

My left foot had a funny shooting pain on a few steps, it's something I notice from time to time. I worry it's a small stress fracture in there, nothing that bothers me day to day but if I'm cold or step wrong I'll feel it. 

Played a little basketball with Josh at the Y after having breakfast, just some bump to get the heart pumping again for 30 minutes or so. Felt the foot a few times then as well, so I was very careful. 

Mild (50s), partly sunny afternoon in Illahee Forest, and it was beautiful for a December day. Ran really lightly and easily around the preserve, not too many people in there, felt good. Left foot was fine more or less, though I felt a little funny cramp on my left calf as I finished that hung around through the evening. 31:00 

Y basketball. 2-on-2, a little ragged but it felt like we really exhausted ourselves after an hour. 

Short little run in Illahee Preserve with Timm, who flew down from Alaska for Christmas. Real easy and light pace, and didn't run long because we had to get to the airport. 28:00

Broke up a really, really lazy Christmas Day with a run to the Skagit Valley College trail from my parents house. Cool and drizzly, did a loop at SVC then an extension through the new neighborhood being built nearby. Ran with Timm so the pace was very relaxed and convesational. 31:00

Woke up at my parents house in the dark and then picked up Krissy, who was in town to see her folks, and we drove up to Fairhaven. We ran from downtown to the Interurban Trail, essentially the start of Chuckanut 50k. Went out the trail for 30 minutes and back, at a pretty decent clip. Very quiet day, cloudy and mild morning. 

My left foot had just a touch of the pain I've felt occassionally, came about midway on the return, but didn't last long. Otherwise felt very nice to be up there. 57:00 

Easy 4 miles in Mount Vernon, ran slowly with Timm. One loop at SVC, then out Francis Road to 30th and back to Martin through the new developments. No watch.