Steve - 4.8

45:26 (9:28)

This was a really easy, stretch out the legs, slog it out run. My quads, glutes, and hams were pretty trashed from doing a bunch of lunges, wall sits, and other leg stuff on Sunday. I'm really trying to do that stuff, but I usually only get around to it once a week. Well I got through this run anyway.

Chris - 5.04

39:50 - 7:54 pace

I don't know when I got slow again, but whatever. I'm more happy that my knee was feeling well enough to lengthen this run out to 5 miles. Part of the slower-than-usual pace might've been because today was the first day of my new job so I had to get up 2 hours earlier, and my brain was pretty fried by the end of the day, so my overall energy isn't where it normally is after I get off work. I'm sure this will change before too long. Don't remember if I said this before, but hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!

Alex - 4.12

28:41 (6:57)

Another Pre's Trail lap with my friend Ryan. It looks like we will both be in town until the Civil War (fingers crossed that I don't have to go back to LA sooner) so we'll probably run a lot of these. I think we'd be way faster if we weren't talking so much, but it was fun and necessary. Necessary, because my Mom made french toast, eggs and sausage for breakfast, and I'm obviously eating turkey sandwiches and pumpkin pie like nobody's business.

All caught up.

James - 5.7

52:26

My last run of the week, month and year - possibly (see my previous entry for the explanation). I didn't feel much like running but thought I had better make it a comparable biggie. And it was SUITABLY unique.

First someone on a motorbike passed me three times, which is something I've never seen down the narrow muddy paths of the canal.

Next I passed a load of canal boats covered in Christmas lights, which was very nice, but I had to pass the correspondng crowds who were looking at them. Later I saw an unlit Snowman decoration peeking out from behind a bush, which is creepy when there's no other lights around.

After hitting my turnaround point I was running under a bridge and saw a cucumber in a small section of ground lit up by the streetlights above. I picked it up. I hate when things are pointlessly shrinkwrapped but in this case it meant it was good eating. I should eat more green vegetables anyway. Note: I later dropped it in a puddle whilst avoiding a dog. Picked it up again.

Fourthly I had to actually stop and walk to the nearest pub (so this wasn't one complete run, which disappoints me) due to the Running Shit Demons getting the better of me. Yes, it was a horrible feeling. And yes, I do mean it was as bad as you're thinking.

All this avoiding and running was made harder by the fact that it was so dark after a while that I couldn't even see the puddles and mud that I was failing to avoid. December here is certainly not the worst month of the year to have a break. So healthwise, not the best run ever. But for story value, it was great! So you know I'm not giving up on running for good. This has been my best year for running ever and I want to thank you all for keeping me inspired. New shoes and scorching heat runs from now on!

Steve - 5.72

47:04 (8:12)

Got up early to run before going to Disneyland with the wife and her Mom. Pretty good day! This is my biggest mileage week in a few months.

Alex - 2.35

17:05 (7:15)

This was on Friday 11/27. I was still feeling stuffed from Thanksgiving and had eaten Dickie Jo's (awesome burger spot) and a leftover plate for lunch on Friday so I felt like I needed to get some kind of a run in. I had a bit of a side ache for the first 1/2 mile or so, but was glad that I got an easy run in to help out my digestion.

Then I went to an Oregon Women's basketball game with a friend (Oregon won 117-60something) and out to Rennie's for a drink, where I hung out with Luke and met Zack. I also agreed to do a beer mile with them tomorrow, and now I'm not so sure that I really want to see that happen.

Chris - 4.17

31:57 - 7:39 pace

My buddy woke me up with a phone call this morning at 8:30am to tell me we were meeting for breakfast at 9:30. So I decided it'd be smart to get up and do my run before going to eat so I wouldn't have to shower twice. Kinda funny that I ran 4 miles because I'm essentially lazy. Started out slow and sped up from there. My knee loosened up after a couple miles so I could push it a bit more the last mile. I'm slightly bummed I won't be going to Eugene to run the Beer Mile with Luke and Zack tonight, but my buddies are in town for the holiday so I figured I should stick around and try to spend some time w/ 'em since I don't see them very often. Have fun guys!

Luke - 7.8

7.8mi, 58:03 (7:26)

1.6-mile loop in 12:03, 1.4-mile loop in 10:01. Ran Pre's Trail with Gave, early (9am) the day after Thanksgiving. Yesterday I woke up at 9:45, the Turkey Stuffer long passed. Guess I'll have to wait till December 13 to break my 5k PR. Beer Mile tonight though!

Alex - 4.13

29:21 (7:06)

This run was on Thanksgiving. Thurdsay 11/26. Woke up on Monday without the ability to swallow, all jokes aside, this sucked. (Pun intended) I was staying at a friend's apartment in LA and her roommate's boyfriend left the sliding glass door open downstairs (where I was sleeping) I was unaware of this until I woke up after a night of sleeping in the cold air. I spent Monday-Wednesday taking cold meds and trying to get rid of the ensuing cold so that I would be healthy for Thanksgiving. I felt pretty good on Thanksgiving and I was back in Eugene so I headed out to Pre's Trail with my friend Ryan.

Ryan took me on my first Pre's Trail run last Thanksgiving, which is really what got me started on taking running seriously. It's also responsible for why I normally do a 4 mile run (Pre's Trail is 4.07mi). Over the last year Ryan and I ran regularly on Pre's Trail until he moved to Seattle this fall. Now that I live in LA again it was fun to reconvene for a one year Pre's Trail anniversary and we capped it off with White Chocolate Peppermint Mochas. Yeah, they were good.

And then, like everyone else, I stuffed myself for the rest of the day and capped it off by watching the new Star Trek movie with my family.

James - 4.1

30:31

Happy Thanksgiving yank chums...

Not an interesting run. So cold I think it slowed me down.

Now that I am moving in a month, I need to maximise my time here at home. That means getting packed, ready, and spending time with my family and friends. So, I am leaving work in a week (hard-hitting resignation letter HERE), and making other cuts. At the end of this week I'm going to put a hold on the running... don't cry! I know my running will suffer, but as you're all aware, when you get into it running can take up a lot more time than you might think. I'll start again when I settle in in the US, and enter races. Alison and I can run together and that will inspire us both like it inspires you lot when you run together!

And I'll keep coming here and reading!

Steve - 5.72

48:15 (8:24)

Got in some good mileage on my usual dirt/sand route.

Steve - 3.94

31:54(8:06)

Just got in something quick cuz I didnt have much time. About time to order another new pair of shoes. Im closing in on 500 miles for my current pair. They are still in good shape though, so I'll keep them in the rotation.

Chris - 4.17

30:42 - 7:21 pace

Can't remember much about this run except I was in a great mood since it was my last work day before I start my new job! So I made myself run hard even though my knee was being a piece of shit.

Luke - 4.25

4.25mi, 32:21 (7:36)

Mile loops of 7:48, 7:34, and 7:33. Ran with Zack's friend Gave. Turkey Stuffer 5k tomorrow, Beer Mile on Friday night!

Luke - 9.3

9.3mi, 66:23 (7:08)

1.6-mile loop in 11:40, 1.4-mile loop in 9:36, ten minutes barefoot on grass. That's right--hot enough to run barefoot today! I wish I could have done more of it but I'm out of barefoot shape, so my feet couldn't go more than that. Really good run anyway. It was 55º, which normally would seem cold but lately highs have been around 42º. Plus it was sunny for the first time in a long time. Shorts, t-shirt, no mittens or hat.

Luke - 5.5

5.5mi, 41:34 (7:33)

Mile loops of 7:48, 7:34, 7:26, and 7:28. Left foot hurt a little--I need to run more.

Chris - 4.17

31:24 - 7:31 pace

I'm trying to not worry about setting a fast pace, and just going with how my knee/hip feels for the day. For some reason today it felt better than ever. I thought about doing 5 since the knee was hardly bothering me, but I didn't want to push it too much. I'll keep doing this medium length route until my hip feels strong enought to go 5 or more. Which I hope is sooner rather than later because I miss my Magneto loop.

James - 5.3

41:01

I got my US Visa confirmation today!

So I went on a victory run, and it was easy! Just about the furthest I've run in a long while. It was dark and wet, and I ran around an almost empty park, at one point sticking my arms in the air and going "WOO!" I did of course see someone walking their dog less than a minute later, but who cares.

The international element of this blog will soon be diluted! Runnin' in the sun...

Alex - 6.40

44:54 (7:00)

This run also felt great. It got dark towards the end and the uneven and wobbly trail of Manhattan Beach became difficult to manage. I don't think my stride was pretty, but I felt great.

Luke - 7.25

7.25mi, 56:36 (7:48)

Mile loops of 7:57, 7:38, 7:38, 7:43, 7:47, and 7:37. Body felt tired and my ankle was hurting, which I think proves that running less injures you more.

Steve - 9.6

For once I thought I had arrived to a race early. I was there 45 minutes early, which is like a miracle for me. The site said the 5k started at 7:30. But it was kind of weird because they had a "Team 5k" at 7 and the "Individual 5k" at 7:30. This is what it said when I did the online registration. But also on the site it says all divisions start at 7 am. So my friend and I who signed up both thought it started at 7:30. When I was checking in, no one at the race knew what was going on. Some people thought another 5k went off at 7:30 and others didn't. Well I had to make a pit stop, and figured I would run at 7:30. Turns out the 10k started at 7:30. I finally was able to find someone who knew what was going on. He just told me to run the 10k and that the 5k went off at 7. This race was some little rinky dink race for a bunch of accountants. The name was the Power by Numbers 10k/5k. How clever.

Anyways, once I got over not being able to run the 5k, I had to mentally prepare myself for the 10k. I knew it was going to be tough because I haven't been doing much mileage. Most of my runs are right around 6 miles, so I knew I wasn't in optimal shape. Plus I did a 7-miler yesterday. I figured that wouldn't affect me for a 5k. There was like 80 people in the 10k and I didn't really have anyone to run with. I passed a bunch of people after the first mile and then reeled in a few others over the course of the race. Ended up with a decent time of 41:56, which is a PR for me because I have only run a few 10ks. I really don't know how to run a 10k because I wasn't really that tired at the end. My legs were a bit sore because of all the mileage, but I think I left a lot on the course. The splits were all over the place, but I think that was more because the course was messed up. When it's all said and done, I logged a bunch of miles and I got a PR. Could have been much worse...(Damn you Zach and your Ohio State Buckeyes)

6:40, 6:54, 6:22, 7:17, 6:44, 7:08, 51

1.7 wup 17:54
10k 41:56 (6:45)
1.7 cd 14:44

Weekly Mileage Totals, 11/15-11/21

Luke - 22.5 (3)

Steve - 21.64 (4)
Alex - 21.0 (4)

James - 13 (3)

Chris - 12.51 (3)

Chris - 4.17

31:52 - 7:38 pace

No part of this run was enjoyable. My knee was tight and hurting, I felt nauseous at times, and after I stopped to stretch at one point, I felt slightly like I was going to pass out after I started up again. Whatever. Looking forward to playing basketball tomorrow. Oh and....

GO DUCKS!!

Steve - 7

58:49 (8:24)

Ran on the very same trail in MB as Alex. I was there around 3. Who knows if I ran by Alex? Probably not unless he is a middle aged guy shirtless guy, a 12-year-old boy kicking a soccer ball, or one of a seemingly infinite supply of overweight dog walkers. Anyway, legs were aching a bit on this run, but I wanted to get in some good miles.

(9:25, 8:22. 8:11, 8:33, 8:22, 8:23, 7:32)

Alex - 6.42

46:32 (7:15)

This was on the trail in Manhattan Beach. Felt like going farther than normal yesterday and I'm glad I did. I felt really good throughout this run and wasn't even that exhausted when I finished. Even more impressive was that I drank a lot the night before so this was supposed to just be a purge run, but it ended up being really strong. I'll probably go and knock out some more later this afternoon. I'm going to add this mileage to my weekly mileage since it was run yesterday.

James - 4.1

29:15

I ran in the rain in lots of green military looking clobber (that's clothing).

Here's a video I thought you sport-loving Americans might like. You've been going on about ducks or something a lot lately, and I know the topic of this video is about a different part of the country completely (New York) and I believe a different sport, so don't think me ignorant.. but it is funny.



http://www.illdoctrine.com/

Luke - 8.25

8.25mi, 61:16 (7:25)

Pretty sure I did more than this--I was thinking 8.75 or 9, but even though I was going pretty well there's no way I was under 7:00 pace so I'm calling it 8.25...I might have forgotten to start my watch back up at some point or something.

I did the hill run with The Wall in it, but tried going a different way to get there. I have in the past come back on a trail that goes next to the golf course, but I've never gone out that way so I wasn't sure exactly where I was going. I ended up running on the golf course a bit...it had been raining all day so the grass was super-slick, and there was one steep drop-off where I stepped and slid about fifteen feet then had my legs go out from under me and I landed on my ribs. Got up real fast to see if anyone had seen me fall, but no one was golfing in the rain, of course. I was trying to get from the golf course up to a trail that went through the woods, but I couldn't find the trail that connected the two. Went into the woods a little bit and found a bunch of golf balls, but I didn't take any home with me. Did throw one at the green--didn't get it in the hole but it would only have been about an eight-foot putt. I kind of want to invent clubless golfing. Driving and putting would be harder but chip shots would be a lot easier.

Once I finally found my way to the trail it was a pretty good run. There were a few uphills that were tough because my feet kept slipping, but mostly the rain just made everything more fun. When I got back my shoes were covered in mud--I don't think you can see the Swoosh any more, so maybe James will be happy that I'm no longer advertising for Nike.

Steve - 4

37:44

I sore and tired and didn't feel like doing this run at all.

Chris - 4.17

31:50 - 7:38 pace

I saw a dog get hit by a car on my run tonight. Well, I heard the 'BAM' and saw it lying in the road after it got hit. I ran by as this guy went out into the road to check on it, and this lady came out with a little kid in her arms and saw what happened and ran inside to get a big piece of cardboard to lift it off the street and back to their house. I stopped a little ways past the side street to survey the scene and try to decide if I should offer some sort of help. I finally decided after awhile that there was nothing I could do that they couldn't do themselves, so I turned around and finished my run with a heavy heart. I can't even imagine how awful the person driving the car that hit the dog felt.

Side note: my knee/hip is feeling better/stronger every run. Still some pain but not nearly as bad as on Tuesday's run.

Alex - 4.58

33:58 (7:24)

Well, I'm not going to lie to you and tell you that felt good. Over the first mile I stopped approximately 3 times due to side aches. And while my run tracking graph on Nike+ is normally a steady incline that reaches a plateau about a mile into my run and stay there until the end, this run looked like rolling hills on a graph. But I'm glad I grunted through it, even at a slow pace and feel better for having gotten a run in today.

Steve - 5. 3

Skipped out on the Flyers workout this week and ran at a track closer to my house instead. Pretty much the same tempo run as last week, except I didn't push it all in this one. I tried to keep an even effort and did for the most part. After recovering for a few minutes, knocked out an easy 84 400. Felt great. I'm doing a 5K on Sunday. I'm shooting to break 19.

10:08 1 mile
21:01 (7:06, 6:54, 7:01)
2:03 300 cd
84 400
7:25 cd 1150

Luke - 4.25

4.25mi, 25:40 (6:02)

Story time! Epic night...

Zack and I were lying around in the living room at about 8:30, feeling sorry for ourselves, not a joule of energy between us. Zack said he wanted to go fast tonight but knew he just didn't have it in him, and neither of us could think of a good reason to get off our asses and out the door. We started talking about the Beer Mile we're going to do Thanksgiving weekend when his friends are here visiting, and I offered that we should have beer and then run, just to spice things up a bit. I knew he wouldn't be down for that, of course. But then I had an idea that I figured he couldn't say no to: I'd have beers and then race a sober him. The plan evolved to the following:

I would take two 16-ounce beers onto the porch, and at the gun he would start running and I would start drinking. I couldn't start running until I'd finished my beers. First to finish three Amazon mile loops and return home (4.25 miles total) is the winner.

We both put on racing kits and flats and got out the door. We were definitely infinitely more excited to run than we had been ten minutes prior. I said, "Ready, set, go," and we started our watches and I grabbed a beer and started going while Zack sprinted off down the sidewalk. For some reason before I started I had visions of just pounding the first 16 and moving on to the second and finishing it without pause. Of course instead I got about 3/4 of the way through the first and had to burp. I finished it pretty quickly anyway and moved on to the second. As I was taking a burp-break from it I checked my watch which was at forty seconds and decided I would still be able to win if I started only a minute later than Z.

My split for the beer was 1:00.07, so mission accomplished there. I put my mittens on as I ran, and right away I felt heavy and couldn't stop burping. The first kilometer I don't think I put any ground on Zack--I definitely never saw him up in front of me at any point in it. Although it might not be exactly 1000 meters, it is over swampy grass for a bit of it so I think it somewhat evens out timewise. I covered it in 3:32, which would be 5:41 pace, so definitely a good clip, and better than I expected. I hit the 1/4mi mark of the trail in 87, and figured if I could keep that up I'd win. Half mile passed at 2:54, so right on still. And I saw Zack on his way back and he didn't look too far in front of me. When the trail straightened out again it looked a bit further, though. I came through the mile at 5:55 and thought I had closed a bit on Zack. A half mile (3:00) later I was within 15 meters, but was feeling the beer. Just felt heavy and tight all over. I hung around behind Zack for another 600 meters, then put on a big surge and passed him while making an airplane noise. Because I am mature. I figured maybe he would think I was doing better than I was and it might get to him mentally. Race tactics! I crossed the second mile at 6:09, 5-10 meters in front of Zack, and immediately started feeling worse. I could tell Zack was hanging on (I don't think my false bravado fooled him!) and I was definitely worried that I'd throw up or cramp up and he'd fly past me. At one point I started remembering the drinking of the beer, which was not a good taste to remember, so I put it right out of my head. A little past halfway through we passed a jogger, and at first I thought he'd see us and be impressed, but then I realized we were going pretty slow by that point so he probably didn't even notice. That hurt my pride so I picked it up a little, and I think I pulled away from Zack at that point. Crossed the third mile-loop at 6:34, so definitely much slower, but Zack had also slowed down. The last kilometer wasn't too terrible (don't get me wrong, I've felt much much better) and I just kept reminding myself that I could falter at any moment and Zack wasn't too far back. I was also thinking that if I threw up I might have to do a penalty lap on the track...

I finished in a total time of 26:40, the last kilometer being a couple seconds faster than my first, and Zack was twenty seconds behind. We both felt awful at the end (of course). A half hour later and I am pretty much recovered though! Not a bad night of running.

James - 4

29:07

Not good! Felt bad, felt like a long way. Went slow. As I often do, I ran past my old school, only today I ran past on a school day at the time when the kids are leaving. Road BLOCKED with parents picking their kids up (this isn't Sprawltown USA where you live miles away, this is just stupid, selfish behaviour). I also ran past a co-worker with her two dogs. Hmm. My life shrunk down to a single run. Depressing. Must improve life.

Alex - 4.62

4.13 @ 29:32 (7:08)
.49 @ 4:50 (9:47)

Back in LA, this was on the Manhattan Beach trail. After a week of road runs the wobbly wood chip track felt way more difficult, good to mix up surfaces. It's a lot warmer here in LA, but if felt nice. After my real run I did a very light, but steep, uphill run as a sort of cool down. I logged it on my Nike+ so I figured I might as well take credit for the mileage.

Chris - 4.17

32:19 - 7:44 pace

I was going to run this weekend, but I slept in super late on Saturday and then went to see 'This Is It' with my mom, and had a previously scheduled appointment to play Modern Warfare 2 for the rest of the day. Sunday we played basketball at my church for the first time since last spring. Had about 12 guys show up and played for 2 1/2 hours. It was a lot of fun until yesterday when I woke up and realized that just about every muscle in my body was sore. The good news is that I realized today that one of those muscles was not my hip! My knee hurt just about the whole time I was playing Sunday though. Getting on to tonight's run: my left hammy is probably the most sore, and thus constricted my stride a bit. I think that helped my knee though, because the last mile when I was feeling looser my knee hurt like bloody hell. This injury continues to perplex me. Time to go watch the end of the Gonzaga/MSU game that I taped and have some dinner!

Oh yeah! I know some of you already know this, but I was offered that job/promotion yesterday! I'm meeting with my new manager on Friday to finalize the details, and I'm crossing my fingers that I can start on Monday. Woo-hoo!

Luke - 10

10mi, 72:18 (7:13)

3.5-mile loop in 25:19 and 24:00. I ran the first 3.25 relatively easy, then picked it up on the second, downhill portion of the loop. I split 12:20 for that and then tried to beat that on the uphill portion of my second time around. I got 11:58 for that and then took the downhill easier except for the last 1/4mi of it, which I ran in 88. It started pouring as soon as I finished that up, and I was soaked by the time I got home a mile and a half later.

Steve - 5.34

47:14 (8:51)

Had to cut my usual route short because of nature-related issues. One probably shouldn't eat a lot of chips right before running. Anyway, pretty good run otherwise.

Alex - 5.38

38:47 (7:12)

My last day in NYC and it was a beautiful one. Crisp, sunny, minimal wind. Great final run of this trip. Back to LA tomorrow morning. I have a 7 am flight, which means I'm leaving for the airport at 5 am. I'm going to go get some breakfast at 4:00 am. I don't really feel like I'm gonna be up for a run in the middle of the night, so I'll just do it at lunch time tomorrow in LA.

Oh, also, I enjoyed going for the 5.38 today. Gonna try to go above 5 for my daily runs a little more often (I normally do about 4)

James - 4.9

42:46

Same route as last 4.9er. 3 minutes slower. Dodging those mud puddles takes it out of you, but that's just as excuse. But hey, mileage.

This makes the 3rd runnning day in a row where I have then gone out drinking that evening (although tonight will hopefully be lighter than the last two). I reckon it mostly undoes the good, healthwise. Gotta put a stop to that. Thinking more and more about going teetotal these days (stop that laughing).

Weekly Mileage Totals, 11/8-11/14

Luke - 45.5 (6)

Zack - 30.25 (5)

Steve - 18.98 (3)

Alex - 17.68 (4)

James - 12.5 (3)

Chris - 7.37 (3)

Zack - 10

I just want it to be known that I ran 10 more miles than Luke today.

73:32 (7:21)
1.5 mile wu, 3.5 miles very muddy Rexius (7:22, 7:27, 7:17, 3:40), then back to the Amazon Trail, 3.5 laps (7:25, 7:25, 6:59 9th mile!) and then back home easy.

Longest run since the summer! Legs are coming around, had some time midday to run in the light. Took yesterday off and decided that I was going to run 10. Ran to the Rexius Trail, my legs were feeling tight and choppy. As the run progressed, I started to have better turnover and a smoother stride. Capped off the 9th mile on the Amazon Trail in 6:59! This run, an Ohio State win, a Ducks win, some beer and checking out NCAA XC West Regionals made for a solid Saturday.

Steve - 5.74

47:01 (8:11)

Easy effort on the dirt. 2 minutes faster than when I did this exact route on Monday. I wasn't trying to run it faster, but probably ended up that way cuz I had 2 days off in a row and it was early in the day instead of a late night run after work.

James - 3.5

26:54

Ran a different route. Was fun. Running in long sleeves and fleeces certainly isn't overheating me. Tuesday Thurday Saturday, consistent two day intervals, woohoo!

Chris - 1.95

13:33 - 6:56 pace

It was fairly cold out and my knee was bothering me for 3/4 of the run. I guess it loosened up toward the end because I felt stronger the last 1/4, but I didn't want to push my luck by extending the route. Time to watch the 2nd half of the Blazer game!

Alex - 4.52

32:19 (7:09)

Windy. Like, Wind Tunnel Resistance Training Windy.

Luke - 6.25

6.25mi, 47:06 (7:32)

Mile loops of 7;50, 7:41, 7:23, 7:13, and 7:05. Got up early to run before class, and boy was the first mile a struggle. I was expecting to never get under 8:00 pace, so it was a nice surprise to have such a good run.

James - 4.9

39:54

Longest distance in a while! Managed it partially because I was PISSED OFF about something (an argument about Remembrance/Veterans day, which you can see in full on my facebook status, yippee) and thought about it the whole time! Do any of you have experience of this? Also, scraping just under the goal I set myself towards the end (40 mins) is very satisfying.

Luke - 9.25

9.25mi, 71:52 (7:46)

Mile loops of 8:00, 7:57, 7:49, 7:51, 7:52, 7:37, and 7:27. Decided to go a bit slower tonight...would have gone a bit longer but had to get back for The Office and Always Sunny.

I was going to run twice today but after going to bed at 11:20, I slept through my 8:30am alarm and got up at 1pm instead. That's almost 14 hours of sleep! I guess I needed it.

Chris - 1.95

14:10 - 7:15 pace

I know this run is ridiculously short, but I wanted to do a shorter run to see how my knee felt. Stronger today. Still some weakness, but I was able to really push myself the second half of the run and work up a good sweat. I might do a bunch of short runs like this until my knee gets strong enough to do 5-6 milers without much pain.

Zack - 4.25

31:52 (7:30)
3 laps on the Amazon, didn't get a lot of sleep the night before and I was tired. Easy laps of (7:37, 7:32, 7:27).

Alex -4.03

28:31 (7:04)

Basically the same run as yesterday except that when I got to the river I went on the track and just did track laps. It's colder and rainier today. It's about 48 degrees and drizzling with the occasionally spurt of heavier rain.

My hands were cold.

Luke - 6.25

6.25mi, 45:38 (7:18)

Mile loops of 7:39, 7:27, 7:11, 6:46, and 7:04. I wasn't sure if the lights on the trail had updated their clock for Standard Time so I figured I'd run until the lights turned off whether it was at 10 or 11. I probably actually wouldn't have run a whole extra hour if they had stayed on, but I didn't have to make that decision because they turned off at 10:00:48 and I ran the last 200m of my last loop in the dark. I figured I would make up for it by running a classic Luke Thursday of 11+7.

Steve - 7.5

Track workout with the Flyers. I have been gradually increasing the length of my tempo runs each week. My plan was to run a 3 miler today in 21 minutes. Convinced a fellow Flyer to join me. We got a little too chatty and the pace slowed at times, but it went pretty much to plan. On the penultimate lap, I noticed we slowed down. So when we crossed the 2.75 mile mark, I said we needed to run the last lap in 1:38 to hit 7:00 for the last mile. When we rounded the first curve, we started to catch up the rest of the group that was running an interval. My friend took off to catch them and of course I followed. We passed most of them and ended up running a 1:31 for the final 400. Not a great idea because you're not supposed to push on a tempo, which I did (on the last lap) unfortunately. After a few minutes rest, I ended up doing an 800 and a 400. It didn't feel as good as last week. I ended up taking an extra rest day this week because I was a little sore from the extra speedwork.

2.5 warmup
3 mile tempo in 21:02 (7:09, 7:00, 6:53)
800 2:55 (1:29, 1:26)
400 84
1 mile cd + 400 recovery after 800

Zack - 5.25

38:15 (7:17)
4 laps on the Amazon, feeling great. Progression with Luke in (7:39, 7:27, 7:11, 6:46).

Alex - 4.23

30:46 (7:15)

I'm in NYC now, but I'm staying in the East Village (not convenient for Central Park runs) so I ran over to the East River and ran along that for awhile. Unfortunately some of the area was under construction so I had to essentially ran back and forth on the same part of the river, but it was still nice.

They are revamping the park area there (thus the construction), but it's pretty nice, good cement/brick boardwalk type sidewalk along the river and lots of football fields, baseball parks and even a track. I did one mile on the track before heading back to my sister's apartment. I only have shorts and t-shirts for running right now, and the weather is starting to turn. In another week or two I'd be freezing my ass off. But right now it's in the 50s and great running weather.

Finally, my body is feeling better every day. Less issues with the knee and my cold symptoms are almost completely gone.

Chris - 3.47

26:38 - 7:40 pace

I hate this stupid IT band injury! I'm mulling not running until I rehab it enough so it isn't so weak that half my run is shitty. Except I don't want to fall behind all of the work I put in this summer to get fast. This sucks.

I went and got Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on the way home from work. So excited to play it!

Luke - 11

11mi, 75:39 (6:52)

1.6-mile loop in 11:47 and 11:16, 1.4-mile loop in 9:19 and 8:46. I think that is the fastest I've ever done that shorter loop. My legs were feeling pretty fast right from the get-go so I let myself push it a bit. Got a bug in my eye at one point and I blinked a lot and thought I might have gotten it out, but when I got home my eye was a bit red and I found the little guy way under my eyelid and had to use a Q-tip to get him out.

James - 4.1

28:28

Today should be a work day, but it's not, so I ran. It went really well despite the dark, cold, wet ground, etc. Outran a bunch of cars, ran past loads in traffic jams because of road closures.

Zack - 4.25

31:26 (7:24)

Easy run after yesterday's quicker pace and exhausting multiple chem exams earlier in the day. Survived to run 3 laps on the Amazon in the rain for the first two. Splits for some tired legs/mind: (7:30, 7:30, 7:20).

Steve - 5.74

49:43 (8:40)

Pretty smooth effort on the dirt/sand. Temperature is dropping here, but it's still not really that cold (although my fellow Los Angelesians might not agree). I did pretty much this same run about 3 minutes slower last Monday. I wouldn't call it an easy effort though, because I noticed I'm a bit sore. Good start to the week.

Luke - 6.25

6.25mi, 48:49 (7:50)

Mile loops of 7:59, 7:40, 7:48, 7:38, and 7:47. Was feeling pretty tired; I'm still behind on sleep.

Zack - 6.5

48:51 (7:31)

First really fun run in a while, and actually not in the dark for once. 1.5 mile wu ~7:55 pace, 3.5 miles increasing pace on wet Rexius (7:33, 7:26, 6:48, 3:11!). 1.5 mile cd ~8:00/mi. Great run with increasing difficulty into tempo pace. Proper warmups and cooldowns as well.

Luke - 6.5

6.5mi, 48:48 (7:30)

5mi. acceleration run down to 6:20 pace the last half mile, then 1.5 cooldown.

Alex - 4.88

34:51 (7:08)

Sorry I wasn't able to coordinate for this weekend, Steve. We probably just missed each other on the trail today. I got out there at 3:15.

Continuing to feel better both with my knee and my cold. Didn't even feel like I was working that hard for this one. Off to New York tomorrow, hoping I can get some decent Central Park runs in.

Weekly Mileage Totals, 11/1-11/7

Luke - 24.25 (4)

Steve - 21.3 (4)

Zack - 20 (4)

Alex - 11.88 (3)

Chris - 9.92 (2)

James - 7.2 (2)

Steve - 6

48:02 (8:00)

Ran on the trail in Manhattan Beach. Progressed nicely and closed with a 6:57 mile. Splits were 8:47, 8:14, 8:09, 8:04, 7:51, 6:57. Feels like my easy runs are getting faster.

Luke - 6.5

6.5mi, 47:43 (7:20)

Mile loops of 7:30, 7:30, 7:07, 7:00, and 6:55. I still have crap on my lungs or whatever, but these short runs are going pretty well. Hopefully next week I'll be able to do more serious mileage.

Zack - 4.25

31:50 (7:29)

3 laps Amazon

James - 3.1

26:00

I'm in London for my Visa interview, which was yesterday at the US Embassy. I think it went well for the most part. I brought my running stuff with me since I've been bored of my routes lately. I hope I'll get admiration for this dedication.

I ran round a park near my friends house where I'm staying. Despite the excitement of a new place, it wasn't that fun. I had to get up at 6am for my appointment yesterday so my sleep is all off, and there were some inclines so steep that running down them without slowing considerably would have been falling-down-dangerous. Nice park though! Ducks and dogs and pedallo thingies. Christ it's cold.

Not sure if I will run again before I leave on Monday, since the next few days are likely to involve drinking, which is why I crammed this in now.

Steve - 3.9

36:29 (9:21)

Slow run around my neighborhood. Just wanted to get something easy in.

Luke - 6.25

6.25mi, 45:35 (7:17)

Mile loops of 7:29, 7:33, 7:26, 7:20, and 5:57. On the last one I had to jog at parts because my stomach was hurting. Overall pretty nice run though. It was raining the whole time.

Zack - 5.25

4 laps Amazon w/ Luke in the pouring rain. (7:29, 7:33, 7:26, 7:20).

Alex - 3.97

27:45 (6:58)

I felt really good today. I ran in Marina Del Rey again and really tried to lengthen my strides in the last half a mile. It really pushed me and this was probably my best run since I hurt my knee in early October.

Steve - 5.6

This was a great workout with the Flyers. I wanted to get in a nice tempo run and then afterwards jumped in a few intervals for the heck of it because I was feeling really good. I was shooting for about 7 min/mile pace for a 2.5 mile tempo, and was pretty much right on (17:37, 7:03 pace). I stood around for a few minutes before joining another Flyer for an 800. I wanted to run it in 3:00 and I nailed it exactly. Then, still feeling really good, I decided to jump on a 400. Wanted to hit 85 and I was right there at 86. Both intervals felt real smooth and easy, which is great because I never train close to this pace. So I know the slower tempo stuff has made me stronger. Looking forward to breaking 19 real soon, but I probably won't have a chance til Thanksgiving. Look out Chris!

1.6 wup 15:34
2.5 tempo in 17:37 (7:17, 6:54, 3:25)
800 3:00 (1:29, 1:31)
400 86
8:33 cd 1200

Luke - 5.25

5.25mi, 41:23 (7:52)

Mile loops of 7:48, 7:44, 7:24, and 8:20. I was coughing up crap the whole run. I started to feel good at the end of the third loop, but right when I started the fourth I just felt like death. School is starting to get busy, so it will be tough to stay healthy and rested and keep up the mileage for the next few weeks...but I will certainly try.

Chris - 3.47

26:15 - 7:33 pace

I took my short out & back to test out how my knee/hip was feeling, and decided if I was feeling good by the turn-around point I would take a right to tackle the Beaverton version of Luke's Wall. It climbs about 500 ft in a half a mile or something ridiculous like that. Unfortunately at about 11 mins my knee suddenly tightened up and started hurting. POS. So I spent the rest of the run trying different strides lengths and gaits to see if it would alleviate any of the pain. I really should get out my old physical therapy notes and start doing free standing squats and stuff to strengthen up that hip muscle more. I'm going to take a few days off (against my will), so I can concentrate on rehabbing it and giving it some rest.

Oh in other news, I know I was talking before about potentially getting a new job/promotion at my work. Well this week the hiring manager had me meet with the credit manager and company president/COO to get their opinions on me. I ended up talking to the president for like an hour, that was pretty neat. I even remembered to mention I had a marketing concentration and it sounded like he might take me up on some help with projects in the future! So things are looking up so far, just waiting to hear back from the hiring manager again...

Alex - 3.83

27:03 (7:02)

Another run in Marina Del Rey. Feeling much better. Going to try to run every day this week to whip my butt back into shape.

Zack - 4.25

3 laps Amazon w/ Luke: 7:48, 7:44, 7:24.

Felt okay, but obviously not fast since my running has been very limited by my grad student life (or a lack thereof) and a super sore right shin/ankle. However, after some serious icing..I felt better after this run. Hope to be on the mend, time will tell.

Alex - 4.08

28:57 (7:05)

Okay, back to present day runs!

I'm in LA now, flew in this morning, and was really craving a decent run for the first time in ages. The last time I ran 4 miles was October 19th. My knee was giving me some trouble on the first couple of miles again, but the last two miles felt really good. I ran around Marina Del Rey which is all concrete and pavement, but it really felt good to get back in it. My whole body is just starting to feel soft so I've gotta get back to daily runs. I just have to push through the first two miles while my knee warms up, and eventually it'll improve. Cold symptoms are starting to fade too.

Steve, we should try to meet up for a Manhattan Beach run this week or weekend.

Oh, did I mention, Go Ducks! I'm going to try to get up to Stanford this week for the game, but it's not looking good.

Alex - 2.00

13:50 (6:54)

This run was on Halloween before the game, GO DUCKS! I had basically been on my couch taking Dayquil and drinking Gatorade all week, and I wanted to get my blood going and see how I felt. My knee was still an issue until about 1.5 miles in and then it started to loosen up.

By the way, GO DUCKS!!!

Alex - 2.68

18:24 (6:52)

This was last week, I'm just way behind on posts. This was a street run in Eugene. My knee has still been an issue, and I had quite a cold last week, luckily I never got the oink (Swine Flu). I'm starting to feel a little better, but the last three weeks have sucked for running.

Steve - 5.8

53:39 (9:15)

Nice and foggy in L.A. tonight. It was pretty warm despite the sun setting at like 4 pm now because of the stupid time change. Ran on the dirt/sand of my glorious industrial route that goes all the way up to beach and passes a sewage plant along the way. Good old El Segundo. Anyway, yeh pretty good run. I felt some pain in the ol' hip, but I just need to continue to make my legs stronger and more flexible and see if that helps.

Luke - 6.25

6.25mi, 48:02 (7:41)

Mile loops of 7:37, 7:32, 7:36, 8:03, and 7:19. Felt really weird tonight, I guess I raged too hard on Halloween weekend...before I left I was thinking I'd be happy with a pace in the single digits, so I was definitely happy with not being too damn slow. I was all over the place on the paces, especially near the end. The last quarter of the fourth one was like 2:30, then on the last one I was going super slow at the beginning, then my feet were freezing and one of them felt like there was a giant rock in my shoe, and after I stopped to check it out and realized it was just feeling weird because it was frozen, I started bouncing along and was feeling fast and effortless but with crazy form...so at the half-mile mark I decided to do a fast quarter so I got up on my toes and was bouncing along again, sometimes with insanely long strides, sometimes with little fast strides, and came through at 76 seconds for it, then proceeded to go 2:15 for the last quarter.

I guess this would be a good time to talk about this weekend...

I ran Friday morning before class, then after class I was planning on going to Goodwill or wherever to get a costume, so I invited my friend Sam over since he needed to go too, but Zack got off work later than expected (like almost 8:00--and he had left the house before 7 that morning) and we ended up not having time to go. We had sort of planned to not really do anything Friday night since we were going to get up before 6 Friday morning for GameDay. GameDay is the ESPN show that runs for 2 hours before the Saturday college football games, and they pick the best game each week and broadcast live from that town. Since the games start at noon on the East coast, the broadcast goes from 7am to 9am on the West coast. A few hundred people had camped out in line to be the first ones in so they could be in the front row behind the people talking, and another few thousand showed up a bit before 7 so there was a huge crowd, a lot of them with big signs and stuff. It's a fun thing to be a part of--everybody cheers whenever one of the guys says something about our team, and boos when they say something about any rival of ours.

So Friday night we weren't going to do anything, but then Sam was thinking of going out, so we joined him, and went to the Beer Stein and then a bar, and got home a bit before 2. We slept for 4 hours then got up still a bit drunk (hung over?) and walked to GameDay. I had planned on getting a run in afterwards, maybe a little morning 10-miler, but when we got back we invited Sam to breakfast, and both Zack and I like to do it up right when we have guests, so we made a massive breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and turkey bacon. And not just any old pancakes, either. I had some Halloween candy around, so I tried making Butterfinger pancakes (not so good) and Reese's pancakes (pretty good!) in addition to some super-soft banana pancakes, some chocolate chip pancakes, and one plain pancake. After a breakfast like that, and only 4 hours of sleep the night before, we all needed naps, so we slept until about 1:00.

Then my roommate from last year and his fiancée got into town, down from Portland, and wanted to go out to lunch, so we went out with them (although I only had beer, no food, since I'd had so many pancakes). The food took so long to come that once lunch was over we only had time to swing by a couple houses for a few things we needed, and then my friends dropped us off at the game (actually a few blocks from it, since traffic was so crazy near the stadium).

Normally Oregon fans wear yellow, but since this was a Halloween night game we all wore black. I had a black hooded fleece thing, and to be a little blacker and a little SCARIER I also had a menacing black ski mask. We got to the game about 100 minutes before it started, but we were 2/3 of the way up in the student section. Not bad seats by any means, though.

Oregon's football stadium, Autzen, is known for being super loud. It actually holds the record for loudest college football game ever, when it topped out at 127.2 decibels two years ago against USC. This game was also against USC, and their freshman quarterback had said he wasn't scared of the loudness at all. This is, of course, the wrong thing to say, because we will just be louder and it will definitely affect you.

When the game started, Oregon was on defense, and when Oregon is on defense, Autzen yells. I yelled as loudly as I could every single defensive down of the entire game. The effectiveness of a loud stadium can be measured by how many false start violations the opposing team has. USC had six in the first half, which is a lot. So every time Oregon was on defense I yelled and clapped (my hands hurt after one quarter), and when Oregon was on offense I put my ski mask and hood on and was silent. My throat was hurting a bit by halftime, but I was able to keep yelling when the second half started up. Lucky for us, Oregon absolutely crushed USC, so the fourth quarter was relatively easy for the fans. The team actually scored more points than USC had given up in something like ten years, and was the first team to beat USC with their current coach by more than 7 points--we won by 27. My prediction before the game was UO 24, USC 10, but it ended up being almost exactly double that: UO 47, USC 20.

When the game ended, the fans rushed the field, and I was no exception. We ran around and jumped up and down in the crowd for a while before finally leaving the stadium.

Once we left, we met up with Sam's (extremely drunk) friend and a group of us walked home. My ex-roommate and his fiancée got to my place just as Zack and I did, and we hung out and waited for Sam et al to show up with beer so we could head to someone else's house. We waited forever and Sam never showed up, and after multiple calls I ended up having to run down to the store they were at a couple blocks away and pay for the beer because somehow none of the four of them were able. When we finally got back to my place, my Portland friends had to leave, so we said goodbye and the rest of us headed out to someone else's house. Since we had never had time to go get costumes, we had to throw stuff together, and Zack went as a lumberjack and I was I suppose a ninja or something--I just wore the hoodie and skimask I had worn to the game. With jeans.

The place we went wasn't like a huge party or anything, but there were a few people and we hung out and had beers and ordered DoughCo and left pretty late.

Sunday I woke up late feeling pretty crappy, and due to all my yelling the night before, could pretty much not talk. I spent the day doing homework and didn't ever have time to run, for the second day in a row.

Today I still can't talk, and I think I'm slightly sick in addition to that, but tomorrow I have the day off so I should be able to run a couple times and hopefully recover a bit.

I'm not even going to bother editing this post at all.

James - 4.1

29:08

Dark, cold and some rain - welcome to winter! I ran harder than average for the first 6 or 7 minutes, and while I couldn't keep it up, I did manage to keep going all this time (aside from 2 near pedestrian collisions, which is wierd because it never normally happens at all). Pasta is my friend.

Zack - 6.25

Amazon Trail: 3 laps. No watch, no splits.

I know I have not posted in a while because I have only ran a few times the past couple of weeks with a nagging shin/ankle pain and the runs have been pretty rough. In the mean time, I have started swimming again and have simply been destroyed by school/work. I hope to start my regular routine back up again ASAP and keep Chris and Steve off my heels in the 5k for a while longer. Keep up the solid running everyone.

Chris - 6.45

49:06 - 7:36 pace

I had planned on doing 8.7, and my energy was fine. unfortunately my left hip/knee was feeling tight the whole run and my knee was killing me by the end, so when I hit the point where I could've extended it I decided to just head home. I wonder if the colder weather is to blame, cuz this hasn't happened in a long time. Oh and have you guys heard of crackle.com? I found out about it recently and was watching an old Three Stooges episode on it earlier today! It's pretty cool, if only just for that. Oh that reminds me. I don't know if you guys ever watched the show Perfect Strangers growing up, but I did and loved it. That's a link for some episodes of it. I recommend you try watching some, it's pretty funny!

Weekly Mileage Totals, 10/25-10/31

Luke - 63.25 (7)
Steve - 20.11 (4)
Chris - 17.92 (4)
James - 9.1 (2)
Alison - 4 (1)
Alex - 3.14 (1)