I can do it. I will do it NINE times!

Out-and-back in the morning in Baltimore. A little chilly, but not bad, kind of a boring run. Legs are feeling pretty good, though, and the low elevation here is easy to run in. How convenient! Avg. 7:42/mi pace. (DS2 425.2)

In the evening, I ran to the clubhouse, did 5 on the treadmill at 7:47/mi pace, lifted a bit, then ran back. Treadmills suck. (Adrenaline 27.5)

Ran around a lot trying to find a hill as steep and long as "The Ridge" for a hill workout, but I couldn't find one. So, I ran a couple of different hills that were shorter, twice up a paved but rundown trail (.15), then twice up the road on the other side of that hill (.17), then once up a less steep longer hill that I found later (.3). Hopefully that's somewhat equivalent to 3 times up The Ridge. Ran around some more to make it 5.5 miles. Moved a roadkilled squirrel (with some sticks, not my hands, mind) off the road because it was grossing me out, and earlier I got attacked by a dog. Had quite the adventure! (DS2 430.8)

A couple (needed) hours after an AMAZING dinner in a crab house, I ran on the treadmill again. Started at 8:00/mi pace and every .5 to 1 mile sped up by .1 mph. Ended up going 7:13/mi for most of the last mile, then kicked it down to 6:00/mi for a bit at the end, just for fun. :) (Adrenaline 33.1)

Legs feeling tired out and sore this morning, so I took it really slow and easy. So slow that I'm almost ashamed of how slow it was, so I'll not post my min/mi avg. Hahahahaha. Did a little loop out on Baythorne, then around on Smith Ave and Cross Country Blvd (YEAH!), then back on Rogene and Ivymount that was only about 3.5, so I did a littler loop around Western Run, Dixon, Gernand, and back on Bonnie View to get to my 5 for the morning. I don't really know why I put all the street names in there... mostly I've lost my mind. But my nephew and niece are really cute! (DS2 435.8)

Then the treadmonster at the clubhouse in the nighttime again. So boring. Accidentally hit the stop button at 2.5 ish, oops, but I got it going again straightaway. Slow again, my legs are still tired out. (Adrenaline 38.6)

Way too early in the morning, got up and ran on the treadmill again, thank goodness I don't have to run on that for a long while. But sad to leave and not party with my sis and the kidlets. Anyway, mostly same-old boring run, five miles with a quarter warmup to and a quarter cooldown back. (DS2 441.3)

Then I flew across the country! From Baltimore, Maryland to St. Paul, Minnesota to Portland, Oregon! 

Once I was at Willamette (in Salem, Oregon), I met up with their XC/track team and ran a 1.5 warmup with them, then stretched a lot and went off on a cold and rainy 5 miler with the assistant coach. Fun and muddy on the trails around in some fun parks.
(DS2 447.8)

Jet lag is killing me! I woke up at 4am, with no alarm or anything. Argh. At 7am, I ran 4.5 miles around Salem and in Bush park with Maya (the girl I stayed in the dorms with). Took it nice and easy, just stretched out the legs and got moving. Still was raining and muddy, but much fun. And there was a hill! I was quite surprised, since most of the city I've seen is pretty flat.

Since I'm racing in a random 10k in Springfield tomorrow, we decided to stay in a hotel there tonight. So, after some fun exploring of Oregon's coastal region, we got to a hotel here and I ran 4 sweaty miles on the treadmill. I am so sick of those. (Adrenaline 47.1)

Was feeling pretty tired and not ready to race hard much, so I mostly just had a freakishly fun time at a crazy race in Oregon! Got there and checked in and warmed up a titch (since it was cold and raining), then we got on the line and instead of a gun to start us off, we started to a bagpipe serenade! The course was a trail 5k and a road 5k that we could run in whichever order we wanted.

I did the trail portion first. It was so muddy and slick and wet and beautiful in the woods and overall AWESOME! I was totally soaked and had mud splattered all the way up me by the time I'd finished the first half. Then the road portion entirely kicked my butt. The first mile and a bit was a huge uphill, then a short steep downhill, then we turned around and went up the short steep hill and down the long hill. Ouch. If I hadn't been tired already... still deaded! Then we had another long downhill, some flat bits and then back up the other long hill to the finish. Talk about a killer course! The lady who beat me was amazing - she ran a 36-something and was just blazing the whole way - she almost beat all the guys! And the pipe and drum band was still playing when I finished. Didn't get my official time, awards, or anything because I had to leave right away to catch my flight in Portland at 1:35pm. And we had to push our rental car out of the mud we'd parked in and got splattered with even more muck! What a fun race! I'm so glad I did it, the bagpipers were awesome and made me smile and it was fun to race in such crazy conditions, even though my time off my watch (42:48 - I stopped it a ways late, though) was really slow. Mostly just a PARTY!!! Just got official results - updated! So slow!!!! :) (DS2 454.8)