Where's the Donuts?

Just a guess at how long I ran today, it was an untraditional workout (and I'm not saying that just because I was in lefty Seattle). 

I stayed over there Saturday night after the Crab Apple Cup (nice job UW), woke up and ran over to the race course. I had missed Dale by the time I saw the half runners, so I ran the course backward until I found the marathon leaders. The guy in seventh place, by the way, was wearing an Elvis costume. He had held the world record for a marathon while dressed like The King until last year, when someone ran a 2:49 and took it. He ended up at 2:42, reclaiming the mark. 

Back to my story, I kept going until I was at the top of a hill at about mile 19.5. I cheered people on for about an hour, saw a few folks from Kitsap that I recognize, and then my friend Danny was coming up the course. He was aiming for just over four hours, and I figured he'd need some pacing through the hills. Our friend Chris also joined. Danny was feeling great and had run conservatively to that point, we ended up passing a lot of people between 20-24. It was great, a lot of fun and I think lightened him up. Also, at the 24 aid station they had DONUTS. So Chris and I ran past the water/gatorades and went straight for the sugar, then hung around eating treats while all these poor suckers slogged their way to the last two miles. I know the running gods will punish me for that one, but it was a great time for a donut.

After that I peeled off on Eastlake, picked up the pace and ran about three miles back to my uncle's house alone. So I'm not sure of the exact distance, but I'm guessing around 12. I was running for 1:34 total, a mix of really comfortable nine minute miles and then some 7-minute pacing. Great morning, overcast and really mild, and I was glad to have done that instead of the whole 26.2. Those are for 2010 right now.

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Treadmill miles, 7:47s. 

pearl izumi trail

Four on the treadmill, usual pace. 

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Nine's an estimate, but no matter how long the run was it was one of the best of the year. Through happenstance last week I reconnected with a girl I knew in high school, who now happens to have become a pretty good ultrarunner (fourth in the national trail marathon championship this fall, and just finished a Grand Canyon R2R2R).

So we met up in Discovery Park in Seattle to do some trails. Absolutely perfect fall Pacific Northwest Day, chilly but the sun was out. We did two laps of the park, catching up and playing the game where we find out how many runners we know in common (she paced Leland Barker at the Hard Rock one year, and knew some other Utah names from running the Wasatch 100). Kept a real good pace, had to be close to 7/min miles since we were conversational (but not easily, at least for me), the course had enough hills to be honest but nothing too challenging. Fun run, and I think I've also been convinced into my first ultra, next March at a 50k near Bellingham.

Followed that up warming up with some coffee, then went to Husky Stadium and watched the UW win its season finale against Cal.

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