Hills for breakfast, hold the gnats

55, heavy rain. Easy pace run.

It is "thumbs up" for my new SealSkinz waterproof socks.  Very pricey, but one of the great disadvantages of going to minimal shoes is that I have less and less of a barrier between me and the wet.  Just the low profile alone puts me deeper into every little puddle. And, after all, I do live in a very wet climate!  

I've been contemplating these socks for quite a while.  One reviewer hated them, which made me skeptical enough to pay even more to get them from REI, where I can easily return anything for any reason.  I had my return speech all memorized, and was only wavering on how much hostility to put in my tone...

But they felt as comfortable as any sock, and my feet did stay dry.  At one point, I felt like there might be water coming in, because there was a chilly sensation.  But it turns out that, if your shoe gets a bunch of cold water inside it, your feet are going to feel a temperature change even though they stay dry.  

This short run was a perfect testing ground. Next I'll try them on a little longer run, and eventually a 20 miler.  I hear we are in a La Nina year, so there may be lots of opportunities to test the socks, and then hopefully to enjoy them. 

Can't wait to read everyone's race reports (from today) soon!  

48, a few light showers.  G-A run.  (20 min weights)

I am a little concerned by the fact that there are zero race reports from Chicago as of this writing.  ???

And is it just me, or is the format of the race reports page a little mysterious?  When new reports come in, they are not necessarily at the top of the list.  But the races don't seem to be in alphabetical order or even grouped together by race name.  The most useful format would be most-recent-at-top, but that doesn't seem to be the case.  The only clear rule is that all races from one day are together.  But as a former librarian and a true INTJ, the lack of obvious "filing rules" really bugs me. 

Nice PNW morning: grey and cool.  :)  

45F, clear & starry then overcast. Nice sunrise. General aerobic run. 

I'm rushing this morning.  Here is a funny blog I often read.  And yes, I know it is somewhat pathetic to leech off others' blogs just because I'm too hurried to write my own. So be it. If you get a chuckle, it will be worth it. 

50F with pockets of much warmer and much cooler air all over the neighborhood. Clear and starry.   G-A run.  20 min weights. 

I went about 4.5 miles and stopped at the park bathroom, then two things happened.  

First my Garmin got weird.  This is the second time in the past two weeks it has done something odd, but I thought the first time was low battery. After running a route I know to be 4.5 miles, suddenly the watch said 2.55.  I clicked through some other data screens and then it said 10.77 miles.  Gr.  I re-booted the watch and started over.  

After that it seemed fine, but my one year warranty ends in less than a month. Should I go back into REI and ask for an exchange (for the 3rd time!)? I hate to go through watches like they are paper towels, and all my other runs have been normal this month.  Wait and see? Or operate before the tumor grows?

The second thing that happened at mile 4.5 was this:  I decided to move faster.  I am still technically in my recovery period but I am just so sick and tired of "jogging."  And something clicked.  Maybe it was my audiobook ending, and me switching over to my Running Music playlist.  For whatever reason(s), I just decided to pick up the pace.  And the first mile after that was all uphill so I don't know what I was thinking!  But after a couple of minutes it felt great!   By mile 6 I was only about 20 seconds slower than MP on the flats and downhills, and 45-60 seconds slower than MP on the uphills.  

Time to look forward!  Tentative 2011 marathon schedule:  Yakima River Canyon (April), Newport (June), CIM (December).   Also: Nookachamps Half Marathon (January) and maybe Tacoma half (August).  A half in October as well???  

Next race: Turkey Trot in November.  Might do another 5K in December as well. 

50F, easy pace w/ 8 x 30 sec strides w/ 1 min. recovery. 

Nothing remarkable. Blah. The "good" weather is starting to get to me.  We haven't had a cloudy day for ages it seems.  I want my La Nina!!!!! 

36F at my house when I started - brrr!!!  It may have warmed up to 40.  Thick fog in the valley, clear up on the Ridge.  Endurance run, club run, Leg Builder Hill.   Last un-long run of the marathon recovery period.  

One of my goals in the coming months is to build up more foot and leg strength for wearing my minimalist shoes for long runs and marathons.  The Piranha's felt fairly good today, but I could tell I was right on the edge.

Whine alert.  Forecast looks sunny all the coming week.  I'm sorry, but this is getting ridiculous.  We should be getting snow showers in the mountains and building up our snow pack for skiing.  I know I am weird.  I know I am in a teensy little minority (though there are others! we meet in secret and have special handshakes to recognize each other).  But I'm going to whine anyway.  Enough with the constant sunshine!  If that's what I wanted I would move to California.  If one more person says to me, "Isn't this beautiful weather" I am going to scream: "No it is not bloody beautiful weather! You had your turn! You had all summer and a fairly warm, dry spring." Yes, we had one week of rain in August, which is unusual, and I had to listen to an unending litany of complaints about "not getting any summer this year." It's time for some good, clean, rain. It's time for clouds and filtered light. We are The Evergreen State. Let's see some gray days. I swear I'm going to go get myself some black contact lenses if this keeps up. (Big exhale.) I feel better now.