Luke - 10.5

10.5mi, 83:51 (7:59)

Left the house not knowing where I was going. Started out by heading to the Masonic Cemetery (on Halloween! Spooky!) for some hills, and found a perfect circuit for hill repeats--~45 seconds up a steep hill, then ~90 seconds of mostly gradual downhill back to the start, all on even-surfaced trail. From there headed up and down some hills to the start of the Relentless Hills loop, but instead of going in, took the Ribbon Trail through Hendricks Park and down a muddy little trail to the road. Ran down the road and hopped the railroad tracks to get onto the bike path, then crossed the river and ran a short section of Pre's Trail, then headed back home through campus, adding a loop of Pioneer Cemetery for extra spookiness.

Zack - 5 (5k race)

Corvallis 5k. 18:03 (5:49/mi) 26th place.

Splits were off but course was a legit distance. Splits: 6:12 (too long), 5:57, 5:58 for 1.1 (too short). I felt like I held an even split or negative split. Splits probably more like 5:50, 5:55, 5:45ish on effort. Should have probably went more aggressive off the start. Lost touch with a few people early on who ran 17:30, and ended up in no man's land and solo most of the time. Winner was 14:14 (a 28:20 10km guy!)and the rest of the field was very deep. Lots of fun even though the result was not what I had wanted. Now time for some serious marathon training!

Steve - 7

56:14 (8:02)

On the grass in Brentwood/Santa Monica. No sign of Arnold.  I did see Rob Schneider at Whole Foods in Pasadena last week. So there's that. What I can say, wherever I go, the celebrities come out. 

Weekly Mileage Totals, 10/24-10/30

Luke - 66 (8)

Zack - 39.75 (8)

Steve - 5 (1)

Chris - 3.1 (1)

James - 1 (1)

Zack - 4

Ridgeline Trail run with Erin and Matilida, very slow but fun.

Luke - 12.5

12.5mi, 95:17 (7:37)

Zack, Erin and Matilda were driving up to Ridgeline for a short run (Zack and Erin are running a 5k tomorrow; Matilda is a dog) so I caught a ride with them so I could start my run at the Fox Hollow parking lot. I took Ridgeline over to Dillard Road and turned South, and headed down the road. I haven't been over there in a while, so I had forgotten that there is a ~1.25-mile downhill on the way out. At the bottom of the hill I turned onto an interesting-looking street called Hideaway Hills Road, which turned into gravel after about a quarter mile. I had to force myself to turn around before the end since I didn't want to go like fifteen miles. Headed back the same route, powering up the long hill, and then headed home from Fox Hollow the usual way. Down the hill took 8 minutes, and I was thinking it would be tough to keep up a good pace the rest of the way home, but on Rexius, across the creek from me, there was a guy in UOXC gear and I decided I'd better keep pace with him. That ended up being just about exactly 6-minute mile pace. While we were both stopped at the light, I asked him, "Just out for an easy run today?" He said yeah, and I told him I'd had to go tempo pace to keep up, and he laughed a bit. When the light changed I let him go and just went my easy ~7:40 pace the rest of the way home.

Luke - 8.75

8.75mi, 64:59 (7:25)

1.4-mile loop of Pre's Trail in 10:32 with Zack, then tacked on mile loops of 7:41 and 7:45 without him.

Zack - 5.5

Pre's Trail 1.4 mi loop

Luke - 6

6mi, 44:47 (7:27)

1.6-mile loop of Pre's Trail.

Luke - 5.5

5.5mi, 44:43 (8:09)

Mile loops of 8:00. 7:52, 8:00, and 8:19. Stomach hurt.

Zack - 4.25

33:49 (7:57)
More easy miles on Amazon. Ran with Luke tonight and felt slightly better than yesterday.

Luke - 8.75

8.75mi, 56:15 (6:25)

Fox Hollow. Zack wasn't with me today so I decided to hit it hard. 9:00 for the first 1.5mi, 9:30 for the second 1.5mi. 8:07 up the hill, which put me just over 29 minutes total, by far my fastest for the first half of the run. I knew at that point that 6:45 down the hill and then 6-flat pace the rest of the way would put me at 56 minutes (my PR is 56:02). My stomach started to bother me as I went up the hill, but I tried to power through. Coming down the hill it was getting a bit dark and the trail was muddy, but I was keeping up a good pace. As I got to the bottom of the hill the stomach pain got really bad and stopped me in my tracks. I found a somewhat secluded place with moss nearby and relieved myself, but I wasn't 100% the rest of the run. My downhill split was 6:38, but I just couldn't hit 90s on the bark. Most of the quarters in that section were 92-95. With a mile and a half to go I was at 47:33, so I'd've needed to go sub-5:40 pace to get a PR. I did manage to pick it up and hit 8:42 for that last bit, for a very respectable overall time. I think without stomach problems I definitely could have gone under 56, and 55-flat is probably possible in the future.

Zack - 4.25

34:36 (8:08)
Recovery run on Amazon, very slow and it was all I could handle. The cumulative effect of 24 days in a row must have generated this sort of fatigue. My muscles were twitching throughout the day at work and the down week in mileage/prep for Sunday's 5k is occurring at the proper time.

James - 1

15:00

As I was doing 4mph according to the machine, I shall assume that is the time and distance. Sort of.

I started out by walking and slowly progressed to that speed. Thankfully I had no toe problems. I was going to try going faster but Alison was ready to leave, which was probably a blessing in disguise. I'll slowly ramp it up next time (and try to understand how to make measurements on the treadmills).

Luke - 4.25

4.25mi, 30:59 (7:17)

Mile loops of 7:38, 7:33, and 6:19.

Zack - 7

2 loops on Amazon warmup, over to the track for 10 x 300 at ~3km pace(100 rest). Wildly varied splits, felt a bit awkward but still got the work in: 61, 57, 58, 60, 59, 61, 60, 62, 58, 62. 1 loop Amazon cooldown.

James - 0

Next update will be a real number, I promise. Tonight we're both going to the gym and I am considering trying a light run for the first time since my broken toe injury just over a month ago. Any advice for the path to recovery ahead? Anyone want to talk me out of it?

Also I wanted to share this short video I got from flotrack. A nice message from a country most Westerners know too little about (with runners coming slightly ahead of the curve).

Haile Gebrselassie Road to NYC Marathon: Part 3, Haile & Ethiopia
In the third part of the series, Haile Gebrselassie gives us some insight on Ethiopia, where it is as a country, and ways it is struggling. Haile, who lives a comfortable life, could live anywhere in the world however he believes he has a duty to stay in his native country to inspire other Ethiopians.

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

Zack - 5.5

5.5 miles 41:48 (7:36)

Short loop of Pre's Trail in a cold rain. Sun set midway through, but I had enough twilight to run without losing the trail. 1.4 mi loop in 10:58.

Luke - 6

6mi, 45:19 (7:33)

1.6-mile loop of Pre's Trail.

Zack - 5.25

36:24 (6:58)
Wu jog, 4 miles steady (6:53, 6:54, 6:47, 6:42), cooldown. A few seconds too quick for marathon pace, especially on the soft surface of Amazon but a nice controlled effort. Form stayed together well throughout. Running the Corvallis 5km next Sunday, shooting for a quick time based on mileage rather than speed work. 17:45 perhaps?!

Luke - 14.25

14.25mi, 1:48:38 (7:37)

Took Rexius to the base of the Fox Hollow trail but went around to the side of the hill before taking an alternate route up. Then took Ridgeline to Dillard Road on the "lower" trail, took Dillard to the Easternmost section of Ridgeline, went up and over Mount Baldy to Spring Boulevard, where I turned around and went the alternate route back to Dillard. Back up Dillard to Ridgeline, took the "upper" trail to Fox Hollow, and went down the usual way, but just before the bottom headed West for a short loop that took me back to Rexius, then took the usual route home. 7:15 pace last three miles, and the rest of it was pretty solid too. Definitely a good run to start the week.

Zack - 4

In Portland, ran a small portion of the very hilly Wildwood Trail in Washington Park with Erin and Matilda. Amazing well-maintained 30ish mile forested dirt/gravel trail in the NW that I cannot wait to explore more.

Steve - 5

40:39 (8:05)

Ran in Santa Monica with a friend. My first run since the half marathon. Had 6 days off from running. I'm feeling ok. I rode the bike pretty hard for an hour on Saturday. My run went through Brentwood and I was privileged to be graced by the presence of one Arnold Schwarzneger. I'm not gonna take the time to look up the spelling. Anyway, he was riding his bike on the other side of the street. My first celeb sighting since I shared a smoothie with Lamar Odom last year in a local smoothie joint.

Chris - 3.1

Got a little bit of a late start this morning, but figured I was okay....until I hit traffic on 26 behind a crash. So as soon as I got into downtown Portland I found a place to park on the street (Park and Market) and ran toward the waterfront. Figured I could just use that as my warmup. I had about 10 minutes to use the bathroom, check in my extra clothes and get to the start line. Five guys I work with were running in the race too. I saw them way in the back of the race line and thought about going to say hey, but I had 3 minutes left and wanted to stretch and warm up a little more before I headed up to the front. It was pouring down rain early this morning, but we got lucky with the 5k. No rain and a little blue sky even!

I didn't have high hopes for this race considering I was sick and hardly ran the past 2 weeks. Also the shin/knee bruise I have hurts like hell when I flex my shin muscle, so I had a very slight limp the whole race. Here's a map of the race route. Not particularly flat. I started out okay, but didn't feel like I really hit my stride until a little over a mile in. They had this 5K sign for when we turned off of Naito, but it didn't say 1 MILE so I didn't hit my watch. Came through the 2nd mile marker @ 13:46. I knew I had absolutely no shot to break my 19:20 from RFTC, so I just did my best to stride out on the downhill portions and concentrate on catching as many of the 10k and half marathon people as I could before the finish. That was nice because usually I'm the one getting passed in the last mile, haha. Maybe I actually didn't start too fast this time! Passed mile 3 with a 6:26 split, then had to run uphill away from the waterfront to the finish. Came through with a final time of 20:53.

I stood around at the finish waiting for the guys I work with. One of my bosses quit smoking a month or so ago and this was his first race ever, and also longest mileage. I guess they all ran together and came through around 37 minutes. We all went and got some pizza and our extra clothes, had a beer or two and then headed out.

Side note - I obviously hadn't brought my wallet down to the race from my car, and they were checking freaking ID's and wouldn't let me go through the line to get a beer, so one of my buddies from work gave me his. I'm pretty sure they weren't checking them last year because I've never had my driver's license with me for a race. Anyway, that was dumb. Cheers for beer after a race though!

Weekly Mileage Totals, 10/17-10/23

Zack - 49.55 (7)

Luke - 42 (6)

Steve - 13.1 (1)

Chris - 6.94 (2)

Luke - 11.35

11.35mi, 83:28 (7:21)

Some bike path, then the 1.6-mile loop of Pre's Trail in 11:12. Hustled home because I had to pick up my bike from the shop before they closed.

Zack - 5.5

Pre's Trail in the morning before driving to Portland. Beautiful fall day, sunny on this run. Easy pace.

Luke - 6.5

Mile time trial, 4:49.

Warmed up 22 minutes, went to the bathroom, did some strides, shed my shirt, and ran. Zack and his friend Sam also participated. Splits were 1.5 seconds for the first 9m, then 69, 73, 73, 71. I might have been able to go a bit faster with a longer warmup, I think, and having some competition would definitely have helped. Zack ran 5:18 and Sam ran 5:49.

Chris - 3.47

25:54 - 7:27 pace

Well, it would seem I'm starting to get some energy back even though I'm still trying to shed the end of my cold. Unfortunately I found out about 100 yards into my run that I have some sort of bruise along the top of my left shin that created some pain when landing and pushing off on that foot. Can't decide if I'm dumb to have continued on the rest of my run, or just an f'ing badass. I'll ice it tonight. Signed up for the Run Like Hell 5k last night, so I'll go pick up my packet tomorrow over in NE Portland.

Here's to hoping the race goes well Sunday even though I was sick and couldn't run very much, and that the weather isn't too crappy. I think my goal is just to beat the 19:20 I ran for Race for The Cure.

splits: 13:03 - 12:50

Zack - 6.5

Mile PR of 5:18 (76, 82, 83, 77). 2 loops Amazon warmup, 2 loops cooldown.

Luke - 4.25

4.25mi, 34:25 (8:05)

Mile loops of 8:06, 7:59, and 8:30. Ran with Zack after watching the Oregon game and consuming multiple adult beverages. We both epitomized the phrase "I feel like shit."

Zack - 4.25

3 loops Amazon after the Ducks game/a few beers. Not very successful.

Luke - 8.25

8.25mi, 67:26 (8:10)

Took the Ribbon Trail to Relentless Hills, then came back the usual way. It's getting a bit chilly, but the trails are great right now, mostly covered with leaves.

Luke - 8.75

8.75mi, 64:47 (7:24)

Fox Hollow with Zack. 8:56 up, 6:27 down, accel from 7-minute pace to 6-minute pace on the bark on the way back. I was feeling pretty out of breath before I even got to the uphill, and the hill of course was hard (always is), but on the downhill I was feeling nice and bouncy, and I continued to not feel bad on the way back. Only downside to the run was the amount of bugs out...Zack and I both got multiple gnats in the eyes and mouth.

Zack - 8.75

65:57 (7:32)
Fox Hollow. Super tired mind and body, but headed out for a hard typical Wed. run in perfect 65F conditions with Luke. Felt a little rough heading out Rexius and kept getting swarms of bugs hitting my face. Up the hill steady in 9:19, back down kind of fast but stayed back from Luke in 6:58. On Rexius, wanted to do about goal marathon pace (~6:50-7). Settled into a 6:45 first mile, and finished a bit fast with 0.75 mi in 4:55 (6:33/mi).

Luke - 2.9

2.9mi, 21:56 (7:33)

My bike got a flat tire on the way to work Tuesday night, so I ran home. Kinda glad I was forced to, because while I wanted to run home, I doubt I would have had the energy and motivation to do so after biking home. While on vacation I had forgotten how hard it is to run on work days. Gotta get back into the habit of running once every work day and twice every off day.

Zack - 6.5

49:14 (7:34)
Average night run, still not fully recovered from Sunday. Adidas trail including a bathroom stop after the 4th loop. Splits: 7:42, 7:41, 7:42, 7:37, 7:32. Slept a solid 8.5 hrs after, much needed.

Zack - 5.25

41:27 (7:54)
Recovery run. Very sore legs and long day at work. Amazon loops: 8:09, 8:01, 7:59, 7:57.

Zack - 12.8

98:04 (7:40)
Hungover in the morning, so this run was postponed until about 5PM. Kept a comfortable pace throughout, ran the bike path to Valley River Center and back along the bike path on the other side of the river. Got to Autzen footbridge and went and did Pre's Trail until the Springfield foot bridge. Bike path to riverfront field for 1.5 mi barefoot on the grass. Felt great, nice and chilly. ~60F-->52F by the end. Stomach hurt some at about 50 min in (due to mass quantities of beer the previous evening), but I felt better after about 75 min.

Luke - 4.75

4.75mi, 37:46 (7:57)

Don't know what this run was, or if it was on this day. I have a time and a mileage written on a mirror.

Steve - 13.1

1:37:19(7:26). Not a great race, but I did my best.

So logistically everything went as planned. I woke up at 5 am, got dropped off at the race around 6:15. Plenty of time to take a few leaks and get up to the very front of wave 1. I jogged around for about 5-6 minutes and that felt like it was enough. The weather was perfect. Overcast but not rainy. Pretty much no sun at all.

My plan was to run about 7:15-7:20 for the first mile and just negative split from there. My goal going in was to break 1:30, or to break to 7:00 mile/pace, which is like 1:31:xx. I got off to a nice smooth start and clipped the first mile at 7:01 and felt great. It was a bit faster than planned, but I was feeling good. There was a bit of a hill in mile 2 so my mile time faded a bit. Came through mile 3 at 6:56 and I was feeling confident. At some point in mile 4, I started to falter. The weird groin/lower stomach muscle(sports hernia) thing I have started acting up again. Pretty much it feels like a really bad cramp in the side. It sucked to have it flair up so early in the race. I knew it was going to be really tough to keep close to a 7 min pace with the pain. I had to squeeze with one hand at various points to lessen the pain while I ran swinging only my left arm. After about 2 miles of doing that on and off the pain did fade somewhat, somehow, although my mile times were fading as well. When I crossed 6 miles at 36:16, I knew it would be really tough to make up that 1:16 to get down to 7:00 min pace for the entire race. I started feeling better on miles 7 and 8 and started thinking I was going to have a shot to start running close to 7 min miles. It felt like I was running that pace but I was actually 7:20 and 7:16. After that little surge, I started to fade again. I was at over 60 minutes at an average pace and distance that I haven't run for a few months.

It was starting to become more of a quest to finish the race respectably, rather than running for a time. The sports hernia wasn't bothering me, but my body was starting to wear down. I just kept thinking about getting to the mile 12 marker and finishing strong. Miles 10,11,12 went by in 23:55. I think I missed the splits because I was trying not to look at my watch too much. Also at the mile 11 marker they had donut holes. At that moment I was thinking that is the last thing on Earth I want to eat with 2 miles to go. I had been taking small bites of a Clif Bar and grabbing water every other mile so I was thoroughly fueled up. When I did finally hit mile 12, I picked it up. People had been passing me somewhat for the last few miles so I wanted to catch a few people. I got a surge of adrenaline that carried me to the last turn of the race. I knew there would be about .3 miles from there so I picked it up again and passed a few people. I cruised into the line in 1:37:19.

My take on the race is that I did the best I could, considering I haven't trained as much as I would have liked. In hindsight, 1:30 was a bit unrealistic since I didn't get that many long runs in. I think last year when I ran 1:40, I was in much better shape. However, a comical series of events added about 7-8 minutes to my time. Last year I was regularly getting in 8 mile runs with long tempo efforts. This year I was only doing about 20 miles a week during August and September. Anyway, I'm glad I pulled through and that I made it through the race without ever stopping.

Splits below:

7:01, 7:10, 6:56, 7:15, 7:22, 7:34, 7:20, 7:16, 7:28, 23:55, 7:14, 48

Chris - 3.47

27:57 - 8:03 pace

Starting to feel a bit better. Body is still in recovery/rest mode, but I figured it'd feel good to get outside for some fresh air. On my way back, I passed a couple kids walking across the street. The younger one put up his hand real quick as I passed by and said "Bang bang". I laughed as I continued on and said "You got me!" to which he paused and then replied, "Then why aren't you dead?".

splits: 13:33 - 14:24

Weekly Mileage Totals, 10/10-10/16

Luke - 59 (7)

Zack - 52.9 (8)

Chris - 13.55 (3)

Steve - 9.97 (2)

Zack - 8

72:00 (9:00)
Super easy run with my buddy Sam down in Oak Ridge (Salmon Creek trail) on a mix of single-track trail, gravel road, and a forest road with zero traffic. Excellent day, very easy pace but a nice way to finish off my highest mileage week ever. (52.9 miles!)

Luke - 6.3

6.3mi, 47:48 (7:35)

Don't know what this run was, or if it was on this day. Wrote it on a mirror forever ago.

Zack - 5

37:10 (7:26)
Didn't feel like running much, Amazon run at about 8PM. 3 loops: 7:50, 7:48, 7:46. Then decided to just do a few fast quarters on the track coming home in 75, 73.

Luke - 10

10mi, 83:44 (8:22)

2.5 miles of mostly-flat bike path to the trail, 2 miles uphill, 1 mile of rolling hills, 2 miles downhill, and 2.5 miles back. Always a tough run, but I finished fairly strong.

Chris - 5.04

44:37 - 8:51 pace

My cold is worse today - runny nose and scratchy throat. I thought my legs and energy were actually better at the start of this run, but I guess I slowed down from there. Not sure if I'm going to be able to run 5 tomorrow and 4 on Saturday to get over 20...

Luke - 6.25

6.25mi, 50:48 (8:07)

Same route as Monday. My legs were fairly dead from yesterday. Hopefully they'll feel a lot better tomorrow morning when I do my tough ten-miler before heading back to Oregon.

Zack - 4.25

31:30 (7:24)
Quick Amazon run. On the end of the first lap I had a guy running just behind me, so I eased to about the same pace and we start running together. Nice chat w/ 50ish yr old dude named Gene prepping for a marathon down in California this weekend. I ran a few more loops with him and it made this short run even shorter. Splits: 7:40, 7:26, 7:42.

Luke - 8

3x400m, 100r; 2x800m, 400r; 1200m, 400r; 2x800m, 400r; 3x400m, 100r:

75, 75, 75

2:30, 2:30

3:48

2:30, 2:29

71, 70, 68.

Ran at CalTech with Steve's running group, the Flyers. There was a good group for me to run with, where I finished each rep just at the front. About halfway through I noticed some irritation on my foot, and I took off my sock and found I had a blister a bit bigger than the size of a quarter on the bottom of my foot...I guess my feet weren't used to the Mondo track surface. Was happy to finish the workout faster than I started. Afterwards I was SO HUNGRY and then I ate a ton and I was SO FULL.

Steve - 5.37

Joined by Luke today for the Flyers workout, but I decided to do some 1600s around half marathon race pace(6:52 or so). A friend of mine who is running the full marathon on Sunday ran the 1600s with me. We were way too fast on the first and hair slow on the final two. Legs felt pretty good overall though. I just need to go out conservatively in the first few miles then gradually whittle my pace down towards 6:50. It was interesting to see Luke run with the "A" group in my club. Some of the big guns didn't run cuz they are running Long Beach this weekend, but he was finishing a second or two ahead in most of the intervals...

1.8 mi 17:03 wup
3x1600 in 6:37, 6:54, 6:58 (2x400 rec)
.69 mi in 6:59 cd

Chris - 5.04

42:12 - 8:22 pace

Fighting off a cold, so I changed my mileage plan for the week to include a shorter run today. Hopefully with a lot of rest and vitamin C I'll feel strong enough by Saturday to do my 8 miler and get into the mid 20's overall. Was cold enough tonight to wear my long sleeve tech shirt.

Luke - 6

6mi, 44:52 (7:28)

Easy am run with a mile barefoot on the grass. Going out to Pasadena tonight to run with Steve's track group.

Zack - 8.75

68:02 (7:46)
30th Fox Hollow climb of the year! Solo in mild, sunny weather. Despite the high mileage this week, felt solid. Cruised out EZ (~7:40 pace), hit the climb super hard from the start but eased up as my quads didn't really want me climbing. Managed a 9:11 up and went back down in a conservative 7:48 (it was getting quite dark). On Rexius heading home I decided to settle into a fast pace and went 1.75 mi in 11:44 (6:42/mi) comfortably. Very enjoyable run!

My quarterly PhD. qualifying exam is today. Once this is completed, then the rest of the week I will be relatively stress free and should be able to stay on target and pile on the miles. 50-55 is the target this week! Good running from all of you guys lately, the persistence will certainly pay dividends!

Luke - 10.5

10.5mi, 84:18 (8:01)

Ran to a park near here where there are lots of hills, and just ran around a bunch and came home. Here is a topo map of the area.

Zack - 7.25

54:07 (7:27)
Once again Adidas loops at night! Legs had some zip but I tried to relax and save the fast running for later in the week. Still allowed for a relaxed progression with splits: 7:47, 7:46, 7:32, 7:31, 7:26, 7:00.

Zack - 4.25

4.25 miles 32:20 (7:36)
Much easier to get these Amazon loops done at 9PM, felt better than the morning.

Steve - 4.6

39:57 (8:45)

Two flat loops at Griffith Park. Legs felt pretty good. I had a dream last night that I woke up late for my half marathon. So for some reason I kept waking up thinking the race was that morning and that I was late. Weird. Anyways, I definitely will be there very early this year.

Luke - 6.25

6.25mi, 47:51 (7:39)

The same run I did on Saturday. My calves were pretty tight from racing. It was near 90º so I ran shirtless and got in the pool right after (but only up to my waist cause the pool is pretty cold).

Chris - 3.47

24:59 - 7:11 pace

Not quite as fast as I was hoping for this tempo run, but it still kicked my ass at any rate. I had 3 eggs and 2 waffles for breakfast around 11, and discovered that stuff was still in my stomach toward the end of the run when it started yelling at me to stop. I need to do more of these, maybe twice a week (?) before the race. I don't like how foreign it was to my body to be pushing itself that hard anaerobically. I used to be really used to it...maybe from basketball.

splits: 12:04 - 12:55

Zack - 3.8

30:07 (7:55)
Recovery run at 7:30AM on Amazon with 2 mile loops (7:58, 7:55) and a 1km loop (5:01) in the interest of time. Long day at work so easier to get in the miles and recover in split sessions. Also nice to not have to run all of them in the dark! Plan is get up around 50 this week.

I don't think I have mentioned this to the blog, but I signed up for my first marathon Feb 5th. The Death Valley Borax marathon , should be a surreal experience and a psychological test but the weather conditions could allow a reasonable time. It is a certified course, potential Boston qualifier. Now it is just time to train and get the weekly mileage up. The plan is two workouts a week on average, a speed/tempo focused one midweek and long runs/marathon pace/a couple 5k-10k races on the weekend.

Zack - 11.6

94:55 (8:10)
Long cold rainy run up to the nastiest hills on Ridgeline, very difficult but fun! Meandered over to 29th Ave, went on Lorane Hwy to Madison Street (this section is brutally steep) and through to Wayne Morse Park continued to Storey Blvd for even more uphills, over to Blanton to meet up on the start of Ridgeline. I was steady but the switchback sections early on were tough coupled with the long downhills of Willamette and Fox Hollow. Made it down to Rexius and I had some tight legs but managed ~7:30 pace for that 1.75 mi stretch. Exhausted afterwards due to a touch of dehydration i'd suspect.

Luke - 12

Citrus Heritage 5k/10k

I had gone to bed at like 8:30 on Saturday, so getting up at 4:45 wasn't too bad. Had a bagel and a banana and took a quick shower and my mother and I left for Riverside at about 5:20. Got to the mall where it was being held just before 6, and went and registered for both the races and then my mom and I went back to the car and drove to the parking garage since we'd parked in a lot that was a bit far from the start/finish. Started warming up about 6:25, did a couple miles and then changed into my racing shoes (the Universes) and put my jersey on (a cool new Adidas one that I bought a couple days ago). Did a couple strides and went to the front of the start (when I got there the entire front was a group of junior-high kids). No one there looked particularly fast, there was a guy with dreadlocks who looked like a high-schooler, who I figured would go out too fast, and some Masters-looking guys. We ended up starting like 5 minutes before 7, which I'd've been pissed about if I'd missed the start. A few people went out pretty quick but died just as quickly, and I found myself in first after about a quarter mile. Dreadlocks guy was right behind me, and actually passed me at about 3/4-mile. I was hoping he would die at about a mile, but he was putting distance on me. Came through the mile at 4:53, which I assumed was off because it definitely didn't feel that fast. An older guy in blue passed me just past the mile mark, so I ran with him for a bit trying to catch dreadlocks, but they both ended up taking off from me. The course was pretty much out-and-back, so I could see them in front of me, the guy in blue maybe close enough to catch, and I could see that no one was close to catching me. Passed the second mile in 5:22, but I'm guessing my mile splits were closer to 5:05/5:10, which is right where I wanted to be. There was a slight downhill on the way back, so I tried to hit it hard, but I wasn't catching up at all. I didn't see a third mile marker, but my last split was 5:46, which is 5:14 pace. As I got to the end I didn't think I'd be near 16, so I thought about letting up a bit to save energy for the second race, but I still kicked a bit, and ended up at 16:02. I think if I'd really gone all out I could have knocked a second off that, but not the 2 or 3 needed for 16-flat or sub-16. A big PR anyway, and I got $75 for my third-place finish.

The guy who won ran a 15:25, and they said his name was "Ezekias Sisay" which sounded sufficiently Kenyan enough for me not to worry about losing to him. Turns out his name is actually Ezkyas Sisay, and he was the 2006 Ethiopian National Champion in the Steeplechase, and has run 29:49 for 10k and something like 1:03 for a half marathon (though I didn't find that out until Monday). He and two women were there from Flagstaff to do some training and get paid. I asked him between races if he was doing the 10k also and he said, "Yes, training."

So after the 5k I walked around a bit and did a little bit of jogging and just generally tried to keep my legs feeling as loose as possible. At the line for the 10k the competition looked a bit better (the prize money was double that of the 5k) and I figured I wouldn't have much of a shot of placing in the money. At the start there was a big group, maybe 12-15, in front of me, but by mile 1 I was in tenth. Passed it at 5:43, which seemed slow, but was probably right since my legs were a bit tired. In front of me was a guy in gray, who I tried to catch up to. Wasn't able to catch him by mile 2, which I passed in 5:45, but the guy in front of him, in white, looked like he was dying. I didn't see mile markers for 3 or 4, but I caught the guy in white at about 3 miles (it took forever!) but hadn't really caught up to the guy in gray at all. At the turnaround I could see the people in front, led by Sisay, with a chick (who looked like Tirunesh Dibaba) in third place overall. The fourth mile was a perfectly gradual downhill, so I put a big move in to catch the guy in gray. I caught him at the bottom of the hill, held him off as the course went up a slight incline, and then took off from him as the course flattened out. I focused on the next guy, who was wearing a Morocco jersey (green on front, red on back) and looked slightly like Hicham El Guerrouj. My split for miles 3-5 was 16:34, which was probably something like 5:40/5:35/5:19. As I tried to catch Morocco guy, guy in gray caught back up, and I held him off and pulled away, then he caught back up again, and I held him off and pulled away, then he caught back up one last time before I was able to break him for good. About a half a mile to go I was still a good fifty or sixty meters back of Morocco guy, but I was definitely closing. We turned into the mall parking lot and I passed the sixth mile marker in 5:22, 20-30 meters back of Morocco guy. I started really kicking and as we turned around the last corner I was 10-15 meters back with about 100 meters to go. He hadn't looked back in a while so I don't think he knew how close I was. I was really kicking hard, but my legs were pretty dead from having 9 miles of hard running in them already. I was about 5m back at 50m to go, and he looked back and saw me and kicked a little harder, but I was still running him down, and the crowd was getting pumped, but at the end my legs just couldn't get to that next gear and he and I finished with the same time, but with him ahead of me. My time was 34:31, which I am fine with under the circumstances. The winner was the same guy who won the 5k, and apparently it was a close finish for him as well, 32:22 to 32:23. Third place was 32:52, so even if I'd gone in fresh I wouldn't have been in the money. The first place female ran 33:0x, which is ridiculously fast.

Overall a very successful day, and my mom and sister and nephew were all out to see me race, which was fun. I got a third-place medal for the 5k, and a second-place medal for the 10k since I was second in my age group (they wouldn't give me a first-place medal for winning my age group in the 5k though). Next stop, 15s!

Weekly Mileage Totals, 10/3-10/9

Luke - 42.5 (5)

Zack - 38.9 (6)

Chris - 23.87 (4)

Steve - 23.3 (4)

Zack - 4.25

31:00 (7:17)
Amazon loops, didn't feel like running much today. Planning on going longer tomorrow. 7:35, 7:27, 7:23 splits.

Steve - 3

25:43 (8:34)

The front of my lower right leg has been sore for a few days now. Being the paranoid injury prone runner that I am, I fear the worst (stress fracture). Right along the bone is painful to the touch. I decided to just do an easy 3 miler just to get something in. I feel like I need to take a few weeks off from running after my half marathon on Oct. 17. I'm going to ride the bike in the gym and renew my acquaintance with the weight room. On Sunday I got in a hard 50 minute ride on the bike. I did about 11 miles on level 5 resistance, whatever that means.

Luke - 6.25

6.25mi, 48:35 (7:46)

Easy morning run. Races tomorrow.

Chris - 8.18

67:57 - 8:18 pace

Felt like I did a pretty good job of pacing myself on the longest run I've done in awhile. My knees started tweaking a little toward the end, and the bottom outside of my left foot started to cramp a bit, but other than that it was a successful run!

Zack - 5.25

40:34 (7:43)
EZ Adidas Trail loops. 7:52, 7:47, 7:50, 7:51

Steve - 5.5

47:40 (8:40)

One of those late night runs I just had to get through. Been like that a lot lately. All kinds of aches and pains I have had lately. I need to get my legs and core stronger in the weight room.

Chris - 6.45

50:15 - 7:47 pace

I've done more miles already this week than I did all of last week, so that's good. Started this one out easy, then tried to pick it up going in. With about 2 miles to go, a guy appeared out of a side street about 100 yards in front of me, so of course I had to catch him. Went flying down a hill and made up a lot of ground, then slowly pulled him in until I was right behind him, then put on a burst of speed for ~40 yards to leave him in the dust.

Plan is to do a longer run tomorrow, and then intervals Monday. I'd do them Saturday but I'm helping my dad clean out a garage and then playing golf with him (weather permitting). Also last night I went bowling again with Platt people and had one of the best games of my life - a 176.

Zack - 6.75

47:56 (7:06)

22 min wu on Amazon with mile loops of 7:50, 7:46. Really was effortless so I decided to do my tempo run tonight instead of tomorrow that I had originally intended. Did a few strides and then set off to run a true controlled tempo. Wanted to target ~6:20 to start and stay very relaxed then slowly speed up if I was able to without straining. The run went just about as planned!

3 mi in 18:44 (6:21, 6:19, 6:04).

Luke - 6

6mi, 46:34 (7:45)

In California now, just an easy run, the usual route from here to a softball field, a mile barefoot, and back.

Steve - 4.8

Track workout with the Flyers on a wet track. I wasn't feeling great today so I just banged out a 3 mile tempo in 21:32. Need to get some good easy mileage on Thursday and Saturday

1mi 10:10 wup
3 mi tempo in 21:32
.8 mi cd in 9:02

Chris - 4.2

30:51 - 7:20 pace

Ran during lunch @ work with a new guy named Corey. He was in better shape than I thought he'd be, which was nice. Was able to do a decent pace without pushing it too much. Ran in my old Haywards that I keep in the locker room, and boy oh boy I can tell how little cushioning is left in those after using my Mizunos for most of my runs.

Luke - 8.75

8.75mi, sl:ow.

Fox Hollow with Zack right when I got off work in the morning. It was freezing (well fortysomethingº, but still) but I only have giant gloves so I went without...that was a mistake, and I am going to buy some normal gloves soon. Up Fox Hollow in 9:32, which wasn't all-out or anything but it was still work. That hill is always hard, even if you take it easy. Down in 8:01 and my stomach started hurting; a half-mile later I gave the key to Zack and lagged back, then started walking. Walked about a mile, to the closest portaloo, and relieved just enough pressure to be able to jog the mile and a half home. WHATEVER, I'm done with that run, now I'm flying to California for a week and a half, races Sunday, then mileage again, Beer Mile 10/22, hundred-mile week 11/14-20, hill phase 1/'11, fast stuff fast stuff fast stuff taper 15:30 32:30 40:00 2:50, mileage mileage mileage sub-15 sub-31 sub-2:40 profit! chicks happiness mileage mileage mileage beer.

Zack - 8.75

70:52 (8:05)
Very early and chilly run with Luke, 43F. Fox Hollow climb 29, legs had no zip and I was sleepy but overall a pleasant run.

Luke - 6.5

6.5mi, 47:53 (7:22)

Zack - 8.4

63:08 (7:30)

Steady easy run of both Pre's Loops on a perfect sunny evening with 0.6 mi barefoot on the Riverfront Fields. Let my mind wander and didn't worry about much on this one. 1.4 mi loop of Pre's in 10:35.

Zack - 5.5

39:14 (7:08)
Pre's Trail loop. Super easy run having had some time off. Felt like fall with cooler temperatures.

Chris - 5.04

37:39 - 7:28 pace

Felt great after my low mileage last week. Definitely could've gone faster but I didn't want to kill myself since I want to run tomorrow and Wednesday. I passed two different cops on my way out and then halfway thru my run, then at the end of my route near my neighborhood they were both parked outside a house with a guy and two girls. I wanted to stop and ask what was going on.

Time to clean up and play some Uncharted 2!

Steve - 10

80:33 (8:03)

I talked with Luke earlier in the week and he advised me to get in a 10 mile run so I did just that. Plan was to do 5 miles easy, 5 miles around half marathon pace(6:50-7:00). I went out to Manhattan Beach to run the trail so I knew it would be really tough to keep a sub 7 pace. The trail is 7.5 miles so I know I would have to run an extra 1.25 mile out-and-back. I ended up running 5.25 miles easy and then 4.75 hard. Hit 5.25 miles in 46:16(8:49) and then brought home the final 4.75 in 35:17(7:26). The first mile of the faster portion was pretty slow (about 7:56), but I was able to pick up pretty well. I didn't have much juice at the end though and finished the last mile in 7:08. Not sure exactly what to take out of this run because my half marathon will be on road and wood chips slow the pace considerably. I do feel a bit more confident having done a 10-mile run since I haven't hit double digits for a few months.

Luke - 15

15mi, 2:02:25 (8:09)

Did Relentless Hills, then headed up to Ridgeline and went from Spring Blvd to Fox Hollow; 7:47 down, 7:55 pace for the last 3.5 miles. Fifteen miles was wholly unnecessary today, but it's the route I felt like going.

Weekly Mileage Totals, 9/26-10/2

Luke - 75 (9)

Steve - 31.65 (5)

Chris - 13.39 (3)

Alison - 3.1 (1)

James - 0 (0)

Luke - 8

8mi, 61:35 (7:41)

A fairly hilly course mostly on road. Back in time to watch the Duck game, which has started out pretty ugly but they just scored and recovered an onside kick after being down 21-3, so it should at least be interesting!

Steve - 5.3

46:45

Ran to the post office and dropped off a letter. I was able to run on some grass for about half the way. I didn't watch the Michigan game until later at night and it was awesome. Denard Robinson is more awesome than awesome actually.

Luke - 6.5

2x5x200m, 200/600r. I didn't get all the splits, but the first one was 34 and the rest were 32-33. I was hoping/expecting to be a couple seconds faster than that, but I think this week's mileage got to me a little. Also my stomach didn't feel great and the bathroom at the track was closed for repairs.

Luke - 4.25

4.25mi, 33:41 (7:55)

Mile loops of 8:16, 7:56, and 7:48.

I promised myself last night that I would run right when I woke up. Usually these promises end up broken as when I wake up I "forget" or rationalize to myself why it's not a good idea to run right then. But today I followed through, yaaaay.