Steve - 7

7 miles in 59:50 (8:32). Done mostly on the streets near my house. I found some industrial area where I can run on dirt/sand along the road for awhile. That was for about 2 miles or so of the total. Felt pretty good after taking the day off yesterday. Body certainly feels different doing a run after a day of "work" than last week in Eugene when I was just hanging out playing ping pong and beating Super Mario Brothers(4 times) with Luke. Speedwork tomorrow. Looking forward to it.

Chris - 1.9

I'm doing this post from work so the time may be slightly off since I'm doing it from memory. I wanted to do a longer run than this but I had to modify it because I had made plans to go see Tansformers 2 after work with my buddy's sister. Since it was a shorter run I decided to run it hard the whole time so I could get a good workout in, and maybe it would qualify as a little speedwork, although I didn't sprint at all during it except for the end like usual. I passed another cute girl on the same side as me while I was running, and actually made slight conversation so that was fun. She must've been on the end of her run because I heard her kinda laugh when I blew on past her after I answered her laboring breathing version of "how are you". Finished my run in 12:13 for a pace of 6:25. Transformers 2 was a pretty good watch! Incredible special effects as I expected....

Luke - 11.7

11.7mi, 87:00 (7:26) Pretty hot and windy again today. Ran in some new shoes...I am now a product tester for a certain shoe company. I'm not really sure how much I'm allowed to say. They made me promise I wouldn't post pictures of em online and stuff. I think they said they want me to wear them for 40mpw, so I figure I can do that much in them and the rest of my weekly mileage in the Frees.

James - 4.6

37:17

Pretty pleased with the distance. Sweaty and hot. Spat on a 4x4 which was parked partially on the road and STILL covered most of the pavement. The other night I put two traffic cones at either end of a 4x4 and left a post-it note suggesting 2009 might be the year to change from a car that burns so much money, atmosphere and precious oil. All friendly-like. ("PS. Native Americans still exist. Please don't use them to jazz up your humdrum life. Thanks." - spare tyre cover had a cliché Native American on it, car was probably called a Cherokee or something.)

I think I'm running out of running stories.

Luke - 7.8

7.8mi, 58:05 (7:26) Most of this was run with the girl that was staying with us while Steve was here. About halfway through she told me she was having a bad run so I should just go on ahead. After making sure she knew the way back I went on ahead, and added an extra 1.8-mile loop onto the 6-mile run. As I was finishing up with that loop, I saw her headed towards me, and when she was just about to pass me, she asked "Am I going the wrong way?" I said yes, and she ran with me a bit more until I knew she actually did know her way back. So it's a good thing I decided to tack on that extra loop, or she would have run at least an extra couple miles on what was already a bad run.

Now everyone is gone again, so I have to get back on my high-mileage schedule. It is supposed to be in the 90ºs here this week, so I'll need to run in the mornings and/or evenings.

Luke/Steve - 8

Track workout! Had to drive to it since the 2 close tracks are both still off limits. The workout called for (400, 300, 200, 300)x4, plus another 400 at the end; 200 rest after the 400s, 300 rest after the 300s, 400 rest after the 200s. So 43234323432343234. We were shooting for 85, 60, and 35 seconds for each distance. The track we ran on was next to a baseball stadium called Swede Johnson Field, so this workout is now called the Swede Johnson.

Our times:

79 64 37 60

86 62 36 59

85 62 37 59

85 61 33 59

66 (85 for Steve)

I (Luke) led the first one and paced it terribly because it's been so long since I've done any track work. After that we settled down, and I think we finished pretty well. The last 400 was just an all-out one; I hit 66 and Steve was dying but managed to hit 85. It was really hot and really windy. On the cooldown I was about a foot away from being hit in the head with a baseball.

This was a fitting way for me (Steve) to end my stay in Eugene. It was probably the toughest track workout I have done in a few years. Since it was all active recovery between each interval, I had to really push myself to hit the prescribed times. The first 300 was always really tough for me because it came after a 400 with only 200 recovery. I had to fight the urge to slow down when it got really hard a few times. It helped tremendously that Luke was there to set the pace. I would usually have him run in the lead against the wind and then tell him jut out to lane 2 and I would finish strong. It was fun that he was pretty much able to run whatever pace I needed. Luke, you truly are an aerobic machine!

The time goals for this workout were a few seconds faster than the pace I usually do my track workouts in, but I was pretty satisfied with the results overall. I will definitely try out the Swede Johnson workout again. That last 400 really sucks. I wanted to die in the final 100.

In any case, I had a great time during my stay at Eugene. Luke was an excellent host. We ran nearly 8 miles for five consecutive days, easily the most amount of mileage I ever done in a 5-day period. We went to DoughCo three times, and almost a fourth time. I wanted to get it delivered at 3am on the day I was leaving, but was too tired after we stuffed our faces with an Indian buffet and some huge post-run smoothies. I hope to make it back again at some point. I can truly appeciate why Eugene is Tracktown, USA. So many great places to run. I feel much stronger aerobically and capable of achieving some huge PRs in the next month.

James - 3.8

32:31

After running for a short but painful while I decided to run for about the same amount of time as my previous run and see how the distances compared (you may remember that last run had a mysterious spurt of speed near its beginning). Despite starting bad this got better throughout, and I am not too distressed to find I did 0.3 miles less in the same amount of time. Avoided millions of cyclists, walkers, dogs, fishers, ducks and passed my mum on her bike. Hooray for healthy families.

Luke/Steve - 7.6

Luke - 71:50

Steve - 72:31

Don't know why we had such different times, I'm pretty sure we ran it all together. This was the hilly run I did a couple weeks ago with Sam, which includes the hill I call The Wall. We took it pretty easy, although hills aren't really very easy even when you're going slow.

Luke/Steve/KB - 8

Luke - 70:42

Steve - 72:41

KB - ~74:00

We did a trail run with lots of hills today. It was made up of a couple parts of the race Chris and I (Luke) did on Memorial Day. I took off at about 5 miles and ran a half-mile fast so I could pee in the woods, and then after Steve and KB caught up, a little later Steve decided he wanted to go fast, so for the last mile+, which was mostly downhill, we picked it up a lot and finished strong. It was a lot of fun.

Towards the end I(Steve) asked KB if I could pass him because I wanted to up the pace a bit. KB stumbled and nearly fell into the bushes. I stopped for a second, but he waved me off and said "Go!". I then preceded to tell Luke to drop the hammer and we flew the rest of the way. There is one point where we had to slam the brakes on to turn, as we nearly hit a tree. It was a great feeling just blasting down that hill to the finish.

Alison - 4

Distance: 4 miles; Time: 36+ mins; Locale: Treadmill, next to middle-aged Jonas Bros. fan

This is my longest mileage in a month. I am getting back to where I was, and am almost 100% better. My body fat was down about 1.5% from a month ago, so I don't know what I did when I was ailing so bad to keep so fit and healthy.

I am taking it easy on speed, but Monday I will be back on the incline treadmill again. Now that my endurance is returning, I have to gradually work on speed. There is a 5k at midnight in Tarpon Springs (the largest Greek community in the USA) on the 4th of July (when we celebrate our freedom from those poncy Brit bastards, pip pip) but I am not sure I am up for it yet.

Been drinking lots of iced green tea with ginseng, makes me feel healthy.

The heat is 115*F. Even Luke was slightly caught off guard by how extremely debilitating it is to run when it is that oppressively hot. We don't really have seasons here, just Summer followed by Hades. Come visit!

Luke/Steve/KB - 7

3.75mi tempo in 27:51 (7:25/mi)

We ran at 10pm because of being busy earlier in the day, so we went on the roads instead of on the trail where an ankle could get turned pretty easily. After a short 1.25mi warmup, we picked up the pace for an out-and-back section of road. First mile passed in 7:18 (or so, the mile markers were a bit iffy) and the second mile definitely lagged. There was an uphill at the end of the first half, which contributed a bit. The first half was done in 14:16, and everyone felt better the second half (13:35). We went for a bit longer on the cooldown than the warmup. Should be feeling good for the rest of the runs this week.

Chris - 4.51

Got off work early so I was really looking forward to going on a good run and relaxing tonight. I ran a route that I used to run from my old apt complex that takes me over the freeway and down and loops around back over it. I kept having to remind myself to keep my shoulders loose when I started to push myself about halfway through the run. While I was running I found myself missing running in Eugene a bit. I kinda miss getting yelled at by students as Luke and I ran through campus haha. I really wish that I could go to Eugene this weekend and run with those guys and eat calzones from DoughCo. but alas I have to be a best man in a wedding on Sunday, so no go =/. I guess that's a pretty good alternative though! There was something I noted during my run that I wanted to mention, but of course I forgot. My final time was 33:25 for a 7:24 pace. Time to go eat some burritos and play PS3!

James - 4.1

32:28

Even though I did not feel the energy really, at the start of this run I was going much faster than usual. For the first 12 - 13 minutes or so. From then on I went slower and the average pace got less and less impressive, but I was pretty happy with the early speed. Once again it was hot and when I got home I was red all over. I've always put all my emphasis on going far, so short speed runs don't normally appeal, but I kinda want to stretch both ways. Oh and I ate burritos after! And curry two hours later. There is no way I'd have managed that had I not gone running and worked up an appetite.

Luke/Steve - 11.4

11.4mi, 94:33 (8:17) We thought about taking roommate's car to a track for a speed workout, but he ended up needing it, so we went to my plan B schedule, which calls for a long run today. We started by running by Hayward Field, where they were hard at work setting up for Nationals, which start tomorrow. The route ended up being very Pre-focused, as from Hayward we went up to Pre's Rock. That was up a fair-sized hill, so we took it pretty easy at the beginning of the run. From there we went on some trails in the trees and then downhill for a while on a road, and crossed a bridge onto Pre's Trail to complete the experience. So only the first 4 miles had any hill in them, and the rest of the way was fairly flat. We covered most of Pre's Trail and Steve wanted to try and get under 7:30 for the last mile, so from the point that I knew to be a mile from my house, we pushed it, and Steve was strong enough to cover it in 6:52! I was impressed; in addition to it being a fairly long run, it was a sunny 77º, and the last mile has a bit of uphill in it.

Luke/Steve - 2

2mi, 17:55 (8:57) Knowing that both close tracks would be closed for the athletes, I figured we could go at night and no one would care that we were on the track. We went at about 11 and had to hop a fence to get in, and as soon as we got on the track we saw big flashlights. A few security guards came up to us (actually we ran pretty much straight to them) and told us we had to get off the track. We tried to reason with them that since there was no one using the track, it wouldn't matter if we were there, but they were impervious to common sense. I think they thought we'd try to steal hurdles or something. Anyway, we went to the trail that is usually lit up till midnight, and the lights were off! I guess sometimes they shut off at 11, sometimes at 12. Anyway we ran around the streets a bit, and even though Steve was game to go a bit longer, I decided we'd keep it really short so he could save his energy for the harder runs I have in store for him.

Chris - 2.71

Glad I went on a run today. Perfect weather - not too hot and sun was just going down. I tried to pace myself better than I usually do and try to just run how I felt. I tried this route that I couldn't find a road for before, and it turns out that the road actually doesn't go through anymore. It's just an alley to some houses on one side. But I was able to get through easily and continue on. Oh a dog scared the crap out of me, the fence it was behind was set back from the road a little so it didn't see me until I had just passed it and it barked really loud so it sounded much closer than it actually was. My final time was 19:38 for a pace of 7:14, which surprised me because I didn't feel like I was running any faster than I usually do. Maybe it's because I haven't run in a week so my legs were super fresh....

Luke - 5.75

5.75mi, 44:49 (7:47) Went by Hayward Field to see if it looked like it'd be open tomorrow, and it definitely didn't, so after running in the hills a bit, I went over to the HS track a block from my house, and it, too, is closed off for Nationals (you have to show credentials to get in). Steve and I may have to sneak onto the track either really early in the morning or really late at night to do our track workout.

Chris - Facts 101

I feel like I should post since I haven't in so long, but I'm still feeling woozy from one of my best friend's bachelor party Saturday night so I'll settle for doing a Facts 101 post I guess. I've lived in Oregon my whole life. Grew up in Tigard and went to the University of Oregon for college. I met Luke freshman year when he came to visit a mutual friend of ours named Nick. However he didn't get me into running until the summer I graduated. Let's see....I enjoy reading a good fiction novel (Lord of The Rings is always a good one; I'm reading some Star Wars ones right now) and playing my PS3. I like camping, beer, cigars, scotch, getting new shoes, attending kickass concerts with Luke, and playing ping pong and pool. I'm pretty sports oriented - I like playing basketball, baseball, golf, mountain biking, running obviously, and I played soccer when I was younger too. I seriously dislike the job I have right now, and am trying to land something in marketing since that's what my degree is in. I can't think of anything else, so there ya go!

Luke - 10

10mi, 74:25 (7:26) Kind of an odd-feeling run...one minute I'd be feeling great and going just under 7:00 pace, the next minute I'd feel done for and going 8:00 pace. Kept going back and forth.

Saw Tyson Gay at the high school track. I did not challenge him to a race.

James - 4.5

35:58

Felt good! I could have gone further too, if I hadn't needed the toilet from minute one. But then, had I not needed the toilet, would I have run harder on parts of the run, and thus gotten more tired and not actually have been able to go any further than this? Running riddles, eh? It was sunny and sweaty today. I ran a really unusual route that I had trouble measuring just now because I started at a friends house. Said friend, who I was kindly dropping a waterproof coat off to for the Glastonbury festival this weekend, was jointly responsible for forcing me off the wagon on Saturday (Hazee, the other friend being local Luke). So I'm starting the month over. This was the first run in the new month and I feel it's a great start. I'm curious to see how well not drinking will assist my running.

James - 2.15

16:42

Rubbish run, wasn't feeling it at all. Not sure what that means even, it doesn't mean I was hurting. Also I was running with a cardboard box in a plastic bag (boring story) and it rained like hell for a couple of minutes so I took a quick route home. This was yesterday. I've only scanned the entries and comments for the last two weeks, I'll fix that after I update my run from tomorrow. Oh, and I decided to enter the 10K in the nearby city of Sheffield in September, assuming it isn't full up. Motivation!

Steve - 4

19:56. I have a new PR!

I got there late again as usual. Fortunately I had a little more time before this race, but not much. Ran from my parking spot to the start of the race. Maybe like 3/4 of a mile or so. Got to the registration and put my chip on securely. Announcer said the race is starting in less than 3 minutes. Just enough time for a quick bathroom trip. Made it to the start line just as they were getting ready for the national anthem. This was a smaller race so I made it right near the front. Did some high knees, butt kicks, etc for about 1 minute and 45 seconds. Still had some rather obese runners in front of me at the start of the race, but it could have been much worse. I guess some people really want to start at the front, even if they don't plan to run the whole way.When the gun went off, I had plenty of room to operate. My achilles was hurting a bit throughout the race, but I just tried ignore it and keep the same, steady stride. I wanted to open with a 6:25 or so mile and was right at 6:24. The pace felt very manageable. Exactly to plan so far. For the second mile, I made a concerted effort to move past people because if you're not passing people on the second mile, it usually means you're slowing down. I hit the turnaround at 9:25 or so, but I don't think it was the halfway point because the finish wasn't in the same spot as the start. I passed a few more runners and hit the second mile split in 6:20. Another perfect mile. Now I knew I just needed to maintain this same effort for another mile and I had a sub 20 5k(6:26 per mile pace). So you know already now that I did make it, so there's no suspense.

Well I started fading a bit in the last mile. Maybe I let down mentally a bit. Perhaps cuz I didn't run at all on Friday or Saturday. I haven't taken 2 days off from running for more than a month now. So my legs were fresh, yes, but you don't want them to be too fresh, if you know what I mean. The last mile was a lot of work, but when I glanced at my watch as it flipped to 19:00, I could see the finish line not to far off. I began surging and crossed the line at 20:03! Not to worry my friends. That was my gun time. Chip time was 19:56, as was the time on my watch. Final 1.1 miles in 7:11 (6:31 mile pace). Not too much of a dropoff, but my final 200 was probably lacking. I might have held back a little because of my achilles, but what the hell. I'm psyched to have a big PR. One final disclaimer is I wore trainers and not flats, so that's a few seconds I can easily knock off for my next race...

Non-racing related celebrity update from the festivities- One of my wife's friends who ran the race finished a few seconds ahead of Valerie Bertinelli, who is an actress of some acclaim I guess. I only recognized the name because of the weight loss commercials she is on. You can view her time here if you dare...

Luke - 6.25

6.25mi, 48:08 (7:42) Ran very late. Was planning on running at about 7, but roommate asked me at about 6:30 if I wanted to go to a barbecue, so I did that and afterwards we watched Gran Torino and I didn't get home til after midnight. So I ran at 12:30 and managed to catch the only hour of rain we've had since Tuesday. Got shouted at once; couldn't understand him. I gave him a peace sign. Oh and for some reason once the ground was wet, my right shoe started squeaking every step. My left shoe wouldn't squeak at all, no matter how much I changed my stride, and my right shoe wouldn't not squeak, no matter how much I changed my stride. Very odd.

Steve - 5.75

Easy effort mostly on grass. My left achilles started hurting a lot near the end. It's pretty sore the day after. If it's not better on Saturday(after my usual rest day on Friday), then I'll take another day off before race on Sunday. I'm thinking it should be okay tomorrow and I'll do about 4-5 miles on Saturday.

5.75 in 53 min

Steve - 7.75

Ok so I have a lot of detailed information below. Not the most interesting stuff to read, as its really just for my records. Workout was 8x600 with 200 run/walk recovery in between each interval. Goal was to run 5k pace for the first 400 and then accelerate in the last 200. I actually did that in the first one, as it was my fastest time. Did that final 200 in 42 seconds. However, I didn't feel like I could maintain this sort of pace for 7 more, so I dialed it down. They were all pretty even after that. For good measure, I threw in 4 200s with 2 minutes rest in between each at the end. Felt good to go fast.

since 1.75 mi in 18:31

First 400 indicated
2:13(1:31)
2:17(1:32)
2:19(1:33)
2:22(1:37)
2:18 1:33)
2:18(1:33)
2:16 (1:31)
2:18 (1:34)

200s: 35, 34, 34, 34

3.5 mi speedwork
1.75 wu
about .75 mile of actual running recovery
1.75 cool

Luke - 18

18mi, 2:25:30 (8:05) Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Ow.

I meant to go like 13, maybe 13.5 miles, but I underestimated the length of the route I was taking and then I took a wrong turn, so it ended up being 18 tough miles. I wanted to go West since I rarely go that direction, so I figured I'd head out to the start of the Ridgeline Ramble (the race I did the first half of a couple weeks ago) and do the first five miles of it (meaning I'd skip that uphill at the end of my leg of it) and head on home. So I knew from the trailhead home would be 8.5 miles, and I glanced real quick at Google Maps before I headed out and for some reason thought the route I chose to get there would be about 5 miles. This is the route I ended up taking. Even if I didn't take the wrong turn after 6 miles, and the other wrong turn just after 8 miles, it still would have been at least 7 miles there, for 15.5 miles total, with hills, two days after doing 17 miles.

But I made it through okay! My last few miles were fairly slow, but not a total death march, and even though I could barely walk once I'd stopped, I think I am recovering all right and will be fine by tomorrow. But I am definitely doing a much shorter run tomorrow. 10 miles max.

James - 3.4

26:04

Almost didn't go out today due to rain, but managed to run in a perfect dry window. Wasn't as hard as the other day, the health must be returning to my body. Ended at my mums chemist, where I will not have to check in on her in a few weeks, as the other day she handed in her notice! Let's hear it for jobs that are so unenjoyable you can't even hang onto them in a Berlin-wall falling style recession (she hated it for nearly 2 years). I think I am going to write the manager a nasty letter, oh yes.

Alison - 1.5

Time: 15 mins; Distance: 1.5 miles; Locale: Treadmill

Today was my first day back after getting over two back-to-back bouts with bronchitis. Therefore, I took it really easy because I don't want any setbacks as I'm trying to get myself back to where I was before ailing.

It has been around 100*F for about 10 consecutive days with a heat index 10* higher. I think my outside running days are about over until October.

It went pretty well, but I got kinda tired after 15 minutes. Apparently, I run 1.5 miles fast enough to become a JAG, so I guess that's kinda cool. I'm not going to apply though.

Hello to our newest member, and hope the rest of you lot have been well.

Steve - 3

It was 11 o'clock when I finally got out the door for my run. I had my Calc final tonight and got home pretty late. The teacher showed up 45 minutes late for the final. Not sure what his deal was. When he handed out the test, I kind of figured it out. Some of the problems were exactly the same as the practice test and there was even a repeat problem. The same problem was #3 and #27. Fortunately it was an easy one on absolute minimums, so I got "both" right. What a moron! He must have run out of time preparing the test and just hastily threw it together at the absolute last minute. I guess he didn't optimize his time! Har-Har...The final was supposed to emphasize the most recent sections on Applications of the Integral, which suck. But he had only 3-4 problems out of like 27 on that stuff. Whew! I'm terrible at those, so it was a relief. There were even some weird problems that we hadn't done before that seemed out of place. Usually this teacher gives us only the same problems as the practice tests, but slightly tweaked. So that was a strange experience. Anyway, I'm done for now and need to decide if I'm going to take the next course later in the summer.

The run was pretty uneventful. I just wanted to get in an easy effort. 3 miles in 29 minutes. Felt pretty good. Mostly on grass. Got a nice speed workout coming tomorrow night

Luke - 10

10mi, 76:13 (7:37) Same pace as yesterday. I was feeling weird the first half of the run...felt like I didn't know how to run...my form was weird and I just didn't feel comfortable. Three miles from the end I had a 2:00 1/4, and felt like I felt three miles from the end of yesterday's run...like I would have a tough go of it those last few miles. But a mile later I finally started feeling good and was hitting 7:00 pace at most of the 1/4-mile posts. 27 is the most miles I've done in two days since three months ago; hopefully I can keep up that kind of volume for the next week, and then the next month, and then the rest of the year...

Chris - 3.14

Glad I made myself run today. I actually really felt like running but was just busy with getting ready for camping (I'm packing as I write this). I did this same hill run about a month ago. I felt so good during the whole run, I started out quick right out of the gates. Also I passed two very attractive ladies on my run, which made me think I might have to start running more often in the summer =P. Final time was 23:47 for a pace of 7:34. Oh I wanted to mention, I kinda wish I had a Magneto run here. I had one in Eugene, although it wasn't very long, I miss it. Does anyone else know what a Magneto run is? Maybe Luke can explain it to you since I'll be gone camping and unable to respond till Friday....

Luke - 17

17mi, 2:09:43 (7:37) This was almost all on bark. Felt good most of the way; the last couple miles were tough though. The bark trails have every 1/4 mile marked, so I was able to keep track of my pace really easily. I wanted to keep it at about 7:36 pace (1:54 per 1/4) and I was able to do that most of the way. I figured out what 7:36 pace would be for 17 miles (it's 2:09:12) on my run, and was happy to be almost exactly at that even after slowing to about 8:00 pace for sections of the last couple miles.

This is, I suppose, the start of my high-mileage summer.

James - 3.3

27:45

During my trip to Scotland I walked up a mountain that was, at its peak, 1027metres above sea level. If you don't know, as similar as they may seem, the fitness required for running is nothing like the fitness required for climbing uphill for hours on end. And downhill even. My friends, who could never dream of doing a 10K, were constantly having to wait for me. I have done this for several years and I always forget how exhausting it is. But I also always forget how worth it it is when you see the view from the top. I slipped in a patch of snow and skidded down about 10 feet, fantastic.

Anyway! On to todays run. It was hard to run this far after a week and a half off, and looking at it it seems pretty slow. Several cyclists were hovering around me. One ran behind me for over two minutes, during which time I moved over to the side of the canal to let her pass, but she just about passed me once then fell behind again. I also ran past a rowing team on the way out and way back, jumping over their beached oars, and I jumped over a dog too.

I was/am worried about my shoes, because on the day of my last run I wore them out somewhere, which I never normally do (it was to vote in the EU elections - a fascist party won a seat in my region, which has bummed me out no end). Directly next to the polling place, where I was planning to vote Green, I saw some small fires in a public park. Thinking it stupid to ignore them so I could go and vote for someone else to be environmentally responsible on my behalf, I went in and stamped them out. I was still stupid though and didnt clean them when I got in so today I put them on and noticed hardened burnt phone book stuck to the bottom, or whatever kids in the park had been burning. They seemed alright while running though. Oh and when 5 minutes later I left the polling place, a huge fire engine was there to put out the non-fires. Because people who do perfectly simple things for themselves in their own communities are weird, so it's better to call authority figures simply because you can, regardless of them maybe having better things to do or their vehicle being more polluting than what they showed up to douse. Or us being perhaps more than grown-up children with mobile phones and credit cards living in giant legolands where we don't know how to do anything on our own.

Whilst camping I drank 7 nights running, then drank on an 8th night back home because I was DJing and that is our form of payment. A month of soberness is on the cards, and coupled with running today felt like a good detoxing start.

Steve - 12.4

My longest run ever. 12.4 miles in 1:54:22 (9:13). Yeh that's right almost 2 hrs! I ran on the Manhattan Beach wood chip trail for 7.5 miles and then ran all the way home. It's almost 5 miles, mostly sidewalk. I wanted to try it out. I got to run through this tunnel where it felt like I was going against a 50 mph headwind. Airplanes roll by on top of the tunnel and cars are screaming by at like 60 mph. There's a tiny little sidewalk that I stayed on. Of course some asshole honked at me and scared the shit out of me cuz the sound was amplified so much. Not sure why he honked, though. To remind me not to run into the middle of the street?

Here's the breakdown:
3.75 mi in 36:14 (9:40)
3.75 mi in 34:48 (9:16)
4.9 mi in 43:19 (8:50)

Chris - 1.5

I decided earlier this week that I was going to do a mile time trail with my buddy P-A. He's been running a lot b/c he wants to lose weight for his upcoming wedding, among other things. So I told him that we should do a mile time trail to see how fast he's gotten, and since I haven't tried to beat my old PR since I ran it in Eugene with Luke. We ended up doing it in Mt. Vernon, WA while visitng our buddy Dan. Did a really light jog with them to the track and warmed up. Dan had to run with his dog Otto outside of the track, so I stood with my watch and cheered P-A on while he did his four laps. He ended up finishing in 7:24. His goal was under 7:45 so he was really happy. I had a lot of fun cheering him on, I even ran just in front of him the last 100 meters yelling at him to catch me. For my mile, I started out way too fast (I was really excited to do a fast time). It was really tough to set my pace b/c I hardly ever just run one mile. My goal was 1:25 a lap and my first lap was 1:12! I tried my best not to totally die the next two laps, then got a little second wind the last lap and ended up finishing in 5:40! My splits were 1:12, 1:26, 1:35 and 1:26.

KB - 5

Did 600meter speed workout today.

1.5 warm
4 600's with 200 meter recovery
1.5 cool

Steve - 9

Tempo run on the wood chips. Had a hard time keeping my target pace because my legs get tired faster. The trail gets kind of deep around the second and third mile and slows me down a good deal. Aerobically I didn't have trouble. It was all in the legs. Hit 40 miles for the week! Lots of milestones for me lately. Hopefully a big PR next Sunday in my 5k...

2 mi wu in 19
4 mi tempo in 29:48 (7:35, 7:21, 7:28, 7:24)
3 mi cool in 28:04 (final mile in 8:18)
9 miles in 76

KB - 7

I didn't time the run. I actually felt like a runner today though. I didn't finish and then crawl inside and lay down. I felt good. It was a feeling I havent felt in quite some time

Luke - 10.75

10.75mi, 79:55 (7:26)

Yup.

Steve - 5.2

My legs felt like anvils today, so it was a bit of struggle to get my run in. After I watched the Magic choke away the Finals, I headed out for a shakeout run after yesterday's blazing workout. Just about every muscle in my legs was tight. I couldn't go much faster than 10 min/mile without any pain. 5.2 mi in 54 min. It was my first run in my new Mizuno Wave Inspire 4s. I don't really know if I like them yet because I felt so dead on the run. I actually returned the pair I got from Zappos and then ordered the same exact pair for 20 dollars cheaper from Running Warehouse. Both sites have very generous return policies, so I recommend either site for your next pair of shoes.

Chris - 3.39

Did that hill run again. I swear everytime I get to that long stretch of straight road that goes uphill for a ways it always looks longer and steeper than I remember it! So I just put my head down and grinded it out. Felt pretty decent today. Someone finally yelled at me when I was out on my run. I think they might have decided to because I had on my bright orange gym shorts to compliment my green and yellow shoes, but I was stretching my calves using a light pole and some kid yelled 'yeah you stretch!' as he drove by. I thought it was pretty funny. I was planning to run the same exact route as I did last Wednesday, but toward the top of the hill I spotted a bark trail going off the street, so I decided to run over and check it out. Turned out (of course) that it just went uphill farther and farther. So after a bit I turned around and bombed back down. I had to make myself slow down at the end so I didn't fly out into the street. Final time was 25:32 for a 7:31 pace. Time to go watch the Magic beat the Loser Lakers!

Luke - 12

12mi, 89:33 (7:27) Almost all on bark. 7:20s were feeling fairly easy, which is good. Tonight I'm going to all-you-can-eat wings; if I eat more than my friend he's paying...last time we did this I beat him 36-26 so I'm looking forward to my free meal.

Steve - 8.75

Hit the track today with Flyers for a speed workout. After missing last week's workout, I was chomping at the bit for this one. The workout was three sets of :800, 4oor, 400, 100r, 400, no r, 800. It's a pretty hard workout because there isn't much recovery. I did 2 full sets plus a third set of my own design.

800 3:06 (1:33, 1:33)
400 1:30
400 1:34
800 3:13 (1:40, 133)

800 3:08 (1:36, 1:32)
400 1:30
400 1:32
800 3:06 (1:34, 1:32)

800 3:09 (1:37, 1:32)
400 1:23
400 1:18

My focus for the 800s was to run 3:10 or faster with negative splits. I accomplished that on nearly each one. Man it was hard to knock out the last 800 of the first two sets with no recovery after running a 400. Fortunately there is a guy who handled most of the pacing duties. I just let him pull me along. He was running even, so I would usually try to catch and/or pass him in the last 150. For my third set decided to run an 800. Went out too slow in the first 400, but I cranked up in the last 400. After that(and 400 recovery), I decided to let fly a faster 400. I ran it in 1:23 and I felt good. It felt like a good time to see if I could crank out a sub 80 400. I ran the first 100 pretty damn hard and then tried to maintain as much as I could and hit the line in 78. Not bad. Hopefully I can do four of those in a row in a month. It was a great workout, as usual, I made sure I didn't have to push myself too much to hit my goal times.

2 mi wu in 20
1.5 mi cd 15:21
1.25 mi recovery
4 mi speed work

Luke - 7.5

7.5mi, 65:03 (8:40) Sam (guy who ran under Chris' name at that 5k) wanted to run 5 or 6 miles, so I asked if he wanted to do 5-6 with hills with me, and he said sure. I took him on a really hilly route and he was definitely feeling it on some of the last uphills. I don't know exactly how far we went, but it was definitely farther than 6 miles. I called it 7.5, but there were so many tough hills that it was easily as hard as a flat 10-miler. Sam said the last time he ran for over an hour was when he did a half marathon a little over a year ago, so I definitely pushed him...but I think he sorta enjoyed it. The last couple miles were all downhill and neither of us were out of breath at all on those. After a lot of uphill, flat or downhill is super easy.

I'm probably going to take Steve on this run when he's here. Sam was my guinea pig and he survived it, so that run will be our easy day.

Steve - 6.8

I skipped my calculus class last night, even though its the last class before my final next week. I didn't really feel like sitting there and pretending to pay attention. I'll study hard on my own this week anyway. So since I had some extra time, I got in a nice run. 6.8 miles in 67 minutes. Most of it was done on long, slow grass. My legs got kind of tired after a few miles, but I started feeling better as the run went on. Ended up running the last mile in about 8:40 mile pace. It was a an easy effort, as I have a track workout on Wednesday night. I'm hoping to get to 40 miles this week.

Luke - 15

15mi, 1:52:23 (7:29) First ran a 3.5-mile loop twice, in 26:27 and 25:56 (7:33 and 7:24 pace), then did my usual mile loop five times on the way home. The five loops were tough, especially the third and fourth. The times on those were 7:16, 7:09, 7:37, 7:33, 6:50. I was definitely feeling tired by the end...I guess this is the longest run I've done since March though, so it makes sense.

Looking forward to being done with school for the summer (just one final paper left) so I can get a lot of rest and do a lot of mileage.

KB - 5.5 miles

Ran in the hottest part of the day today and I regret it. It wasn't even that hot. But I remembered something about halfway thru my run... I don't like the heat. It was probably somewhere in the low 70's so I shouldn't complain. Anyways, the run went alright. I maybe went out too fast, but did alright keeping my pace. Some guy passed me like I was standing still. Slightly disheartening, but I got over it really quick because some old lady walking thru the park was like "Oh, my!" when I ran by her. It made me feel good.

Chris - 4.91

Did an out and back. Didn't get a negative split. I was too excited to run today and spent too much energy going out. Oh well! My splits were 17:46 and 18:22. Nice day for a run, not much to report. My stomach started to bother me but that kinda went away. Final time was 36:08 for a pace of 7:21.

KB - 4 miles

So I ran a 4 mile route that encompasses some of the adidas trail and amazon park area. While running this route I was feeling good... maybe even great until a bum yelled at me. Now don't get me wrong, I understand that bums yell sometimes, but this particular time I was more confused than anything. This bum yelled at me, and i type this verbatim "hey you faggy-short runaway... go get a job!" I was confused because I have a job; and if I didn't, how would he know. Plus, chances are HE doesn't have a job. Well this is my first post... thanks for welcoming me to the group.

Luke - 6.5

6.5mi, 45:04 (6:56) I was planning on going about twice this far, but a couple miles into the run I got passed by a professional runner who I follow on Twitter because I am a nerd like that. I wanted to see how fast she was going, so I picked it up from ~7:20 pace to 6:00 pace and ran a few meters behind her for a little less than a mile, and then she picked it up to about 5:30 pace so I decided to slow back down so I could finish 10-14 miles. About a half mile later I passed her as she was walking, but I never really felt great and my stomach was starting to hurt a bit so I decided to just do the 6.5 and save my longer run for tomorrow.

5 miles into the run I had to wait at a light for at least a full minute (the one busy street I have to cross the whole run), and once I'd crossed I saw the runner from before coming up on me again. She wasn't going too much faster than me, so when she caught me she said hello. I had seen her Twitter earlier in the day saying she was scared to run with the pollen being so bad, so I asked if the pollen was treating her okay. She said, "Oh man, it's awful! Is it bothering you too?" and I was like "No, I follow you on Twitter and saw you had mentioned it." For some reason, at the time, I didn't think this was a weird thing to say, but I was telling my roommate and his girlfriend about it and they were laughing and stuff, and I sorta realized later it's a pretty ridiculous thing to say. Anyway, she didn't think it was weird either and just talked about the pollen for a bit, and then we talked about running for a mile or so, at which point she split off. I found out it's a lot easier to run sub-6 pace when you're running with someone. It's been a while since I've run with anyone fast (except for during a race).

Steve - 10.5

I knew this race was going to be tough after not running much this week in the wake of my Achilles injury. I didn't help matters by not allowing a lot of time to get there. I made it to the main parking lot 20 minutes before the start. Problem was parking costs 10 dollars and I didn't have any dollars. So I had to drive another mile to find a parking spot. I had 10 minutes to get to the start and check in. I usually prefer to ease into my warmup, but I didn't have a choice on this race day. As approached the start line, I heard the national anthem playing. I made it to the race check-in, got my bib, laced in the chip on my shoe, and got as far forward in the crowd as I could. The gun went off and I had to run through the dregs of the competitive running world for 200 meters before I could settle into my pace. I don't really have any other description of the race besides just trying to run evenly while ignoring the pain. There were mile markers for once finally, so I have my splits. (6:45, 6:42, 6:38, :37) My chip fell off with a mile left, so no official time, but I crossed the line in 20:42 on my watch. No doubt that if I could have warmed up more and had some extra time before the race, I could have been much closer to 20 flat. I'll take this time though. My PR (20:36) will fall in my next race(maybe June 21, two days before I fly to Eugene) as I get back into my regular mileage and workouts this week.

1 mile wu
5K in 20:42 (6:45, 6:42, 6:38, :37)
6.4 mile cd in 59:39 (9:19)

Steve - 8.5

10 am - Drove to Manhattan Beach woodchips trail
11 am - Completed 7.5 miles in 64 min (8:32). Achilles feeling much better.
11:15 pm - Arrived at Robeks for post workout smoothie. No sign of Lamar Odom. Oh yeh, I saw him there last Sunday drinking two shots of wheatgrass! He did not enjoy it at all. Apparently he's more of a junk food guy.
11:20 pm- My car wont start. Damn it.
12:00 pm- Tow truck arrives with my bucket at the car repair shop, roughly 1 mile from my place.
12:15 pm - I run the distance back to my house at a pretty decent clip.
3:10 pm- I get dropped off at the repair shop by the wife. 720 dollars lighter, a new fuel pump and some other stuff later, I drive off the lot.
4:00 pm- Arrive at the Massage Therapy Clinic. Helps me forget about the 720 dollars.
11:00 pm- Come up with stupid idea to write post recounting day's adventures in itemized, short, and punchy style
12:00 am- Write the post while watching the original Land of the Lost on the Chill channel. I didn't even realize there was an original, but I somehow stumbled onto it flipping channels. Check out this beauty on Youtube. All I can say is Wow.

Luke - 7.5

7.5mi, 58:31 (7:48) Some big hills.

With about a mile to go in the run, I was going down a hill that's steep enough that I don't go straight down, I go back and forth across the road so I'm not pounding all the way down (or falling). Near the end of it, as it got a bit less steep, I stopped holding myself back and took some long strides, and found myself running on my toes. After a few strides I was picking up a lot of speed and felt great. At the bottom of the hill I turned the corner and was going crazy fast and there were five or six HSers on skateboards and I went by them at top speed and one of them was like "That guy was flying."

And I was.

It felt good to go so fast. It didn't even last 100 meters, but I was really going. It's fun to run like that.

Tomorrow I'm going to the Pre Classic, where there are a bunch of great races lined up, and everyone will be going much faster than I ever have. If you don't live in some strange country, you can watch it on TV. Check your local listings? I think it's on at 1pm on NBC in L.A., and maybe 4pm in Florida? Portland is probably 1pm also, but it's live in Eugene so maybe it is in P-town as well.

Luke - 10

10mi, 72:12 (7:13) When I woke up, the right side of my neck, upper back, and upper arm were all in pain. I think I slept funny. So when I ran I couldn't really turn my head very well. This happened once when I was at James' place, and when we went on a run James tried to make me run out in front of a truck.

Anyway the run started out real slow but the last 3 miles were under 6:30 pace.

Steve - 3.1

Achilles still feels like crap. I did 3.1 miles in 30 minutes on the treadmill. Had some moderate pain, so its improving. But I didn't want to push it too much. I have 48 hours before my race, but I think I'll be ready. The intensity of the pain is decreasing. I just dont want to go too hard and blow it out. I did some swimming after the run for extra aerobic work. Got in about 15 minutes worth of my crappy attempt at the breast stroke where you dont dunk your head under the water. Anyway, I'm going to probably run 5-6 miles with strides thrown in tomorrow assuming no setbacks.

Oh I was watching NFL network late on Wednesday night and they had a feature on Chad Ocho Cinco Johnson. They showed him running on a sand hill. I was like, "hey that looks like the Manhattan Beach one." When they came back from commercial, they did like a 2 minute piece on how he is training in L.A. for awhile and sure enough it was the Manhattan Beach sand dune! He was doing some speed drills going up the hill.

One more tidbit. I ordered some new shoes (Mizuno Wave Inspire 4) from Zappos.com on that same night. I tried to use Paypal for the checkout, but it wasn't working. So I did the online chat support thing to figure out what was wrong. Ended up speaking with a bird(gal for you Americans) named Sharon. When she explained that Paypal was down in a funny, excited way using all-caps phrases, I couldn't resist messing with her. I said I wasn't sure if I wanted to do the transaction now, because it wouldn't be secure. But if she gave me the go-ahead, then I would throw caution to the wind and play Russian Roulette with my credit card in the crazy world of E-Commerce. I didn't phrase it exactly like that, but you get the idea. Well she assured me it was OK and said she would upgrade me to free next day shipping (25 dollar value) for free. Not only that, but all my future purchases would also be treated the same! So I rolled the dice* and put in my credit card, and now the shoes should arrive on Friday. I can also send them back for free if they don't work out. Who would have thought shopping online could be so much fun?...

Notes:
* I am not actually adverse to using my CC online

New Guy

So a couple weeks ago I was at the bar and my friends and I were talking to these guys and I was of course bragging about all of you and our awesome blog, and one of the guys showed interest, so I wrote his Email down on a coupon for lunchmeat that was in my wallet, and then didn't Email him the next day because I figured he didn't actually care all that much and it was just the beer talking. But then a couple days ago I was on a run and the same guy passed on his bike and when he saw it was me he slammed on the brakes, and I stopped too, and he told me that he was, in fact, interested, so after that run I actually did Email him, and so now he's gonna post here with us. Cool? Cool.

Luke - 12.75

12.75mi, 98:02 (7:41) I picked up a new pair of shoes the other day just to have something to alternate my Frees with, but the selection wasn't great. I ended up with a pair of trail running shoes called the Brooks Cascadia. So of course today I used them on trails, and of course trails means hills. Did part of the course of the race Chris and I did a week and a half ago. Felt pretty good; I think yesterday's short run helped in that regard.

The shoes felt okay...a lot more support than I'm used to though. I could definitely tell that the shoe was holding my foot in position instead of the other way around. They were nice for the downhill parts of the trail, but were so much heavier than I'm used to that the uphills were pretty tough.

James - 2.7

21:18

I'm not going to be able to run or update until Monday June 15th because I'm going camping in Scotland for a week this weekend, so I thought I would run a second day in a row (and hey, I'll be doing a lot of hard day-long hill walking, so it's not all just consuming beer and bean burgers). I was going to do the same route a 3rd time but it was just too hard going. Maybe it was partially because of it being the second day in a row, but also I didn't eat before leaving which I normally do. I didn't feel good when I woke up either. And this was immediately after I read Chris' post about having a crap run because he didn't eat. And I tempted fate by ignoring such warnings!

Some schoolgirl shouted "For Gods sake dude, tie your shoelace!" because my lace had come undone at about minute 3. I felt like I was running over there with you bodacious dudes. Radical.

PS. Alison requests that she is not kicked out of the cool runners club (ie. this blog) due to temporary inactivity. She has been very ill!

James - 4

30:28

I ran the same exact distance as a few days ago (well, "exact") and got this time of over a minute faster. It wasn't quite as hot, although still nice weather, and I didn't stop in the middle. I guess as far as momentum is concerned that might have helped.

Oh, edited to add a story. My mum works locally in a chemist (pharmacy) and she has a boss who treats her badly (mainly he just refuses to talk to her and often it's just the two of them in there). So when I run on days she is working I will often end my run at the chemist so I can pop in and say hello and cheer her up for 2 minutes and let that dickhead manager know that, well, we're aware of what's happening, if nothing else. Today I was pretty pumped up so I decided to walk in, and she didn't see me at first, and I collapsed right in front of the counter, on purpose. Considering nearly everyone who comes in is ill, she almost panicked until she saw it was me, hah.

Steve - 3.6

3.6 miles in 40 min. I was able to walk without a limp today, but my achilles is still pretty sore. I skipped the track workout and just ran near my house. I stayed on concrete because the uneven grass seemed like it would hurt my achilles more. I don't feel any worse a few hours after the run, so that's a good sign. Still feel pain when walking though. I'm hoping to do easy runs like this the rest of the week, and then put in a longer effort on Saturday with strides before my race on Sunday. It sucks because I really can't afford a setback, but I also don't want to get a serious injury. It's a delicate balance. Oh and it's National Running Day, so I had to run! Thanks for the reminder, Luke....

Chris - 3.22

What a great run. I had great energy the whole time, and even though my left calf started to tighten up toward the end I was able to push it all the way. I ran up the big hill behind my place. Mapmyrun.com says I climbed about 371 ft in a mile and a half. I don't know if that's very much or not but it felt like it! Also, I've started to do pushups and crunches everyday before I shower after work. I can already tell it's working so that's pretty cool. One of my best friends (who usually isn't that active) is getting married and is running and working out every day and kinda spurred me on to do this. I'm always in better shape than him so I can't let him outdo me now! My final time was 25:01 for a pace of 7:46.

Luke - 6.5

6.5mi, 48:58 (7:32)  Easy.

Luke - 14

14mi, 1:49:05 (7:47)  Before I left I promised myself calzones if I did at least 14 miles.  It was getting dark, so I would be running on the lighted bark trail mile loop.  It has been sunny here the past couple weeks, but when I left it was cloudy and windy.  By the time I got to the trail (1km away) it was raining lightly.  By the time I'd finished one loop, it was pouring.  The pouring continued for the next 10 miles.  There was lightning, some of it pretty close, and the rain was just ridiculous for so long.  At the end of the run the rain died down to just a sprinkle, and I had to do a couple laps on the high school track to bring my total up to 14.  On one of the laps, the sprinkler was hitting the track...it was a heavy duty sprinkler and when it sprayed me, I noticed it felt almost exactly how the rain had felt earlier, except the rain was continuous.

I've noticed that rain puts me in a good mood, so I was pretty happy all night, especially with the calzones and some beer.

Steve - .75

Before you start laughing at the distance of this run...please look at where it was done:



As you can see, it's a very steep sand hill, roughly 100 meters in horizontal distance! Having said all that, I think it was a big mistake for me to run here. My right achilles is the sorest its ever been in my life. I did 6 reps of a combination of walking and running up this beast. I then ran down fast each time. A friend from the Flyers was running with some other people here and asked me to join him. Big mistake. I don't know if i can do my track workout tomorrow night. I'm limping a good deal the day after.

Here is the photo out the window from our hotel of the L.A. Marathon start...



Click the image to get the full appreciation

Luke - 10

10mi, 75:53 (7:41)  Body felt tired most of run, but started feeling stronger near the end of the run.  I took the insoles out of my shoes before I started, and they felt great, and I didn't have to hassle with putting the right one back in every couple miles.  It felt almost like running barefoot; I think I'll continue to run without them.  I've been thinking about getting a second pair of shoes and alternating wearing each pair, so maybe I'll get a pair for when I'll be running on the road more, and use the insole-less Frees for runs that are mostly on bark, like today.

Intro Post 101

I have bronchitis and can't run, so I thought I would get us all going on an intro post.

I'm Alison, 27, in FL, and I'm an attorney working in the public interest. I'm pretty much a vegan (I eat honey), and do really well on a meat-free diet. I like pilates, yoga and tai chi, but I'm most known for my epic skills in mini golf. I also watch tons of movies, and my running helps me combat this sedentary lifestyle. I'm allergic to roses, I hate cheese, and lotus pods gross me out. I'm really into art and my boyfriend (James) took me to Italy over Christmas and I got to see tons of it. I'm conversational in Spanish, I like cooking, and I enjoy petting dogs of all shapes and sizes.


That's more than enough about me, what about you?