Sean's Running Blog

A ridiculous 58 degrees this afternoon for my lunchtime run along the Samammish River trail. It's good to be back home and run among the trees and clean air. The weather has just been amazing. The normal afternoon high here in early December is 47. So warm temps and no rain continue to reign although that is finally supposed to change in the next day or so.

Another relatively warm (47 degrees) run this morning with no rain and a bit of mist to help cool me down. As much as I prefer running in the daylight, the solitude and quiet of the early morning darkness is refreshing.

Kind of a weird workout today. Coach wanted me to work on my kick heading into USATF Cross Country Club Nationals next weekend in Spokane. So I did 800m at 72 second pace with the final 100m being nearly all out. Then jogged a mile at 7:00 pace before jumping into a second 800m at the same pace but starting the kick with 200m to go. Jogged another 7:00 mile and then did 1200 meters at 72 second per lap pace but starting the kick with 300 meters to go. Cool down included running up the Parkway to my house...a gain of some 500-600 feet. Good workout. Nice and short.

Cool but sunny run along the Samammish River trail. Still can't believe the weather we've been getting. Not a flake of snow at the ski resorts. I might have to mow my lawn again.

A chilly, cloudless early morning run this morning through Snoqualmie Ridge. Six weeks into the rainy season, I have run in the rain only three times and one of those was in Utah. Weird winter.

Well, the family schedule today required that I get my run in early. So I left the house at 7am while it was still dark and ran down to the high school track (4 miles). It was 30 degrees, coldest temps of the season so far. I was cold the entire way. I wore pants and a jacket on the way down thinking I would shed both for the workout. Not a chance. It felt even colder int he valley. The infield grass was frozen and even the track had frozen dew on it making it a bit slick. The planned workout was 2M in 9:40 with a 12 minute jog before doing one more mile at 4:50. Well, let's just say it didn't work out that way. Running in head to toe clothing is generally not a recipe for speed and the temperatures and early hour of the morning made the workout a joke. I ran one mile in 4:58 and then went into my 12 minute rest jog skipping the second mile. I would have been lucky to finish the two miles in 10:00. Came back and ran another mile in 4:58 and then ran home. Sadly, in the 45 minutes of post workout running, the temperature rose 12 degrees. If I had been able to start my workout an hour later I think things would have gone a bit better. Oh well.