Chris - 9.1

86:00 - 9:27 pace

I didn't have to work today (holiday) since I'm working Tue-Sat this week, so Jeeni drove over after she got off at 4. We did a modified version of my Magneto loop. My energy was okay, but my legs were dragging. My calves are pretty sore and tight from trying to land on my midfoot for the whole 18 miler on Saturday. Her shin has been bothering her off and on lately too. Time to get to bed so I can wake up and run 5 in the morning!

Weekly Mileage Totals, 5/22-5/28

Chris - 48.9 (5)

Luke - 38.5 (5)

James - 3.1 (1)

Chris - 18.2

170:01 - 9:20 pace

Luke gave me some good advice on finding places to do long runs - Jeeni and I drove out to Hillsboro and ran along the rural country roads for this epic run. We stashed a water bottle on the loop so we could grab it with about 6-7 miles left. I decided to not put sunscreen on my forehead because I didn't want it running into my eyes, and the weather said it was supposed to be somewhat overcast and rainy. So of course the sun came out for most of the run and I got burnt! She carried a package of these gummy Energy Shot things, so we shared those and stopped at a McDonalds for water and bathroom break. I had visions of picking up the pace a little once we started looping back toward the car, but that never came to fruition. Also thought you guys might like to know that Jeeni and I are officially dating now! Just want to double-check with my boss at work that that's OK, but needless to say I'm pretty pumped. She's an awesome chick.

Luke - 12.5

Warning: this post is super-long and somewhat boring.

Ridgeline Ramble 20k

Going into this race I didn't think a win was probable. Looking at previous years' results, I figured I would need a strong showing to have a chance at keeping up my streak of Eugene-area wins. I developed a strategy based on what I thought I would need to do to ensure a win, namely, run a Course Record. The splits for the CR holder (last year's winner) were 44:xx for the first half and 36:xx for the second half, so that's what I was aiming for. I figured if I ran under the old CR I wouldn't be too upset if I didn't win. That time is super-fast, though, so I wasn't quite 100% on my chances of actually running that. Anyway, my strategy to get the win was to hang out in second place, or just anywhere in the lead pack except actually leading, until the turnoff for Spencer's Butte. I had gone up to Spencer's Butte a good number of times this year, so I knew that section of trail pretty well, and the section of trail right after that is down then back up the Fox Hollow hill Zack and I do all the time. So I planned on using my home-field advantage, going balls-out into the lead at that point and killing those three miles, then hopefully holding on for the second half of the race to get the win. At work on Friday, I visualized pretty much the entire race from start to finish, and I was looking forward to seeing how it would actually play out.

I had to leave my house at 6:40am to bike the four miles to the finish in time to catch the shuttle to the start, and my heavy old bike could barely handle the hill I had to go over. But I made it on time, and got on the school bus with seats too small to handle my legs. On the 20-minute drive to the start, I pinned my number on my singlet and attached my chip to my shoe, and talked with my seat-mate, an older woman who had come down from Portland that morning to run. The shuttle was actually a bit late leaving the finish, so we only got to the start about ten minutes before the run was supposed to begin, and I didn't get in line for the bathroom in time so I and about 20-30 others headed into the woods instead. It usually takes a couple miles of warmup for my stomach to get going, and I didn't have that, so I didn't really go much, and I just had to hope I wouldn't get a cramp during the race.

At the starting line I saw Josh Gordon, who was running the relay with his fiancée, and Adam Booth, the guy who had won last year's 10k in a time almost 2 minutes faster than mine, who was also just doing the relay. There was only one runner with a Rogue Valley Runners jersey, and he was an older guy...last year's top two were both RVR guys, and I had somewhat expected there to be a group from there again this year who would contend for the win. There didn't seem to be anyone that stuck out as obviously faster than me.

At the start I tried to hold back somewhat, looking to tuck in behind whoever took the lead (and wasn't in the relay). Adam Booth went to the front and kept up a pretty fast pace heading up the hill into the woods, and he was followed by Josh Gordon. I let the two of them go. A guy in a Gorilla Thrilla shirt came up and got into third, and I remembered seeing him on the bus on the way out, but couldn't remember if his number had the R in front of it that people doing the relay have. He was going pretty fast so I had to work a bit to keep close to him. There were a bunch of switchbacks real early on, so I tried to catch a glimpse of his number when I could. I saw a flash of it a couple times and was pretty sure I saw the R, and was pretty sure I remembered seeing that he was in the relay when I saw him on the bus, so I let him go. At that point I was about 60m in front of the next-place guy. My left shoe came untied and I figured there was a lot of race still ahead of me, so I stopped and tied it. I hit my watch as I stopped and again as I started and my shoe-tying split was eight seconds. I'm so fast. Stopping allowed a couple guys to almost catch me, so I ran at their pace and hoped one of them would pass me to allow me to follow my original plan. I was going pretty slowly but neither of them came any closer. I don't know if they were just keeping the same distance on purpose or if that was the pace they wanted to go. As we came out to the first road crossing, about two miles in, the further-back one (the RVR guy) passed the other, and I slowed way down hoping he would pass me too, but we were just going way too slowly, so I led the two of them into the next section of trail. The point where I planned to take off was a little past halfway through this 2-mile section. We headed up a hill, then headed back down, and as I got to the bottom I heard someone wipe out. I almost stopped, and even put my hand on my watch to press stop, but caught myself and instead just sorta turned around and asked if he was okay. It was the RVR guy, and he got up and said he was fine, so we continued on. The other guy passed him as he was falling, and I think put a little distance on him as we kept going. We were going pretty slowly, so I was just taking it as easy as possible without intentionally slowing down. I just kept telling myself to wait until the post (there's a post at the turnoff for the butte). A few times I got far enough ahead of the guy behind me that I couldn't hear him, but at about halfway into the trail it seemed like he was getting ever so slightly closer. I hoped he would be around when I got to the post so he could see me take off...for some reason I thought that was important, in a mental-strategy kind of way I guess. Anyway when I finally got to the post I could hear him behind me and I think he was just close enough to see me. I floored it, and even though that part of the trail was switchbacks going down, I don't think he could see me after just a few seconds. I was booking it down the hill, only slowing down at the hairpin turns of the switchbacks. At the next road crossing there was a small crowd, and a guy said "This is our 20k leader!" so I knew the Gorilla Thrilla guy was indeed doing the relay. I hit my watch as I headed down Fox Hollow, and tore on down the hill. At the unofficial halfway point of the hill I was at 2:38, but there was a turnoff to add a small loop so I didn't get a normal split. I think I would have been right around 5:30. The extra loop included a fair-sized hill followed by a section where I had to walk for a few steps to cross a stream. From there I headed down a hill onto a road for maybe 200m. Up ahead I saw a runner in black...both Josh Gordon and Adam Booth were wearing black, so I had caught up to one of the relay runners. I hit my watch again as I started back up Fox Hollow, and was at 37:30, so an 8-minute ascent would put me about a minute behind CR pace. I was slowly reeling in the runner in black, and caught him about three minutes up the hill. It was Josh Gordon, and we exchanged "Good job"s. I was at 3:49 I think at the unofficial halfway point, so a pretty good pace. Josh Gordon passed me with about 50m to go, in his final sprint before handing off to his fiancée, Renee. I reached the top in 7:42, so probably less than a minute off CR pace. I grabbed a cup of water and took a few sips before discarding it and heading into the next section of trail. It took me about a quarter mile to catch up to Renee, who is fairly fast herself, and I just tucked in behind her for a while as we passed people who were doing the 10k. I only passed her like a mile later, so for that section I was going at less than 100%, which was a breather I probably needed. When I passed her I took off pretty well...it was mostly downhill so I was able to get some speed going again. I passed a few more 10k'ers and didn't see anyone else ahead as I got to the next section of trail. The trail went uphill, and at one point some joker had dumped a pile of dirt right across the trail, so I had to climb over that and get a bit muddy. The next uphill was fairly tough, but I knew it was the last big hill on the trail, so I gave it some effort. From my first-half split I knew my split for the second half would have to be about the same as when I ran it last year as part of a relay with Zack, so from the top I tried to fly down the last section of trail. When I got to the road I knew there was about 5k left, all road, net downhill but with some large rollers. I had mapped out where 1, 2, and 3 miles from the finish were the night before, and at three miles to go I was at 66:09. The CR is 81:xx, so I knew I'd have no chance at that, even with the net downhill. The third-to-last mile was more uphill than I was expecting: the first third of it was straight down, and the rest of it was straight up. It took me 6:22. The second-to-last mile was uphill for the first 100m, then the rest was downhill. Most of the downhill in it was too steep to even go very fast on, it was just killer downhill, as I'm sure I mentioned in last year's write-up. That mile took about 6:15 and I knew I was fading. I kept telling myself that there was a chance one of the other 20k'ers would be finishing strong and could catch me if I didn't keep pushing. The last mile starts with the last uphill of the race, a ~100m, steep one. It felt weird going up it after having gone straight down for almost a mile, but I didn't completely die on it like I had the very first year I ran this race. From the top, got a nice gradual downhill for about a quarter mile, then just had a flat, wide-open road almost all the way to the finish. Around the last curve I took one last look behind me (saw no one, of course) and then headed to the finish. There was a little section where I had to hop up onto the grass and go up a 5-foot mini-hill, then the line was about 25m into a parking lot. As I was heading in the announcer said "This should round out the top 3 in the relay..." then a bit later as he looked up my number said "No, this will be our 20k winner!" and I got a bit of cheering and I smiled and put my arms up a bit as I crossed the line.

My time was 1:24:46, so about 3½ minutes off the CR. (Looking at past results now, the CR holder's time the year before he ran the CR was 1:24:45...so I guess next year I should improve that much!) I think with a bit more competition I would have gone a bit faster, especially in that first three miles when I was really holding back, but I'm just happy to have won.

I got a sweatshirt, a medal, and a trophy for winning...if I'm less lazy at some point in the next few days I'll take a picture of the trophy and post it here.

Luke - 5

5mi, 37:08 (7:25)

Did some on Pre's Trail, with a foray onto the trail that goes around the pond to get a tiny bit of a feel for single-track before tomorrow.

Chris - 5

42:36 - 8:31 pace

Jeeni and I drove over to Cook Park in Tigard after work for this run, and ran around on the trails that go through it. I think this pace is faster than what we usually run because she was getting excited telling me stories about throwing the javelin in college, and her 4x400 team in high school coming within .2 seconds of setting the school record. Afterwards I took her out to dinner at the Applebee's next to her apartments, and we watched the Heat/Bulls game while we ate.

Luke - 5.5

24' w/u, 1600m TT @ 5:03, 14' c/d.

All on bark. Felt fine. Yesterday was my first day off in like two months, and second day off in ~120 days. Next week I'll probably take completely off as a postseason break.

Chris - 4.2

34:09 - 8:07 pace

Ran during lunch with Mike. My legs were pretty dead from the longer run yesterday, and my knee was slightly bugging me so we took it a little easier than usual.

Chris - 9

84:00 - 9:20 pace

For today's run Jeeni and I drove over to Tryon Creek State Park in Lake Oswego to run on the trails there. The distance is more or less a guesstimate since we zig zagged all over the trails, and just aimed to run around an hour and a half. It was pretty fun, going up and down all over the muddy singletrack!

James - 3.1

27:15

"A sobering assessment of a society that drives to the gym to get exercise." - Wall Street Journal

I have a few great stories to accompany my excitingly fast 5K.

The above quote is the single review on the back of a book called Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology. The book is about living without modern technology. I haven't yet read it, but I found it in the thrift store next to our gym. Had I not been walking to the gym from school I never would have seen the quote, which I find funny/amazing.

After leaving the gym (I enjoyed it at that time of day, and hope to do it more), I decided to try and find a shortcut home. I don't think I found one, but the field that I walked through blew my mind. It had trees, water, nature, ducks (go ducks) and all that, which is great. It also has an abandoned tennis court and what appears to be an abandoned office or something (there were a few cars, but it looked pretty abandoned anyway). How could such a nice spot have existed in walking distance of my home without me knowing it until now? The mindset that I'd just gotten about the power of the feet gave me all these ideas for the area, largely involving camping. Festivals? Protests? Simple personal camping? Something exercise-based? Anyway, it proves again that you get a lot more from life when you get off the treadmill (literal or figurative) and go out on foot.

Luke - 4.5

4.5mi, 35:14 (7:49)

Mile loops of 8:26 and 8:01, then a mile loop of flying 50s which took 6:47.

Luke - 11

11mi, 80:54 (7:21)

Fox Hollow, but did the hill twice.

At 1km into the run I was thinking I felt pretty good, thinking I might be around 4:45-4:50 (usually at that point my legs are still getting warmed up and I'm at 5:00-5:15), but I was actually at 4:37...so a good start. Was doing around 7:30 pace on Rexius, then went up the hill in 8:12 and down in 6:38 without stopping at the top as Zack and I normally do. Had some water at the bottom of the hill, then headed back up a little faster...7:57 up, 6:35 down, again without stopping at the top. Just over 7-minute pace on Rexius on the way back, and then 7:20 for the last 1.5. Real good run a day after racing...hopefully it translates to a good race for my hilly 20k on Saturday!

Chris - 12.5

114:39 - 9:10 pace

Did this out & back route with Jeeni starting from work and going south on the Fanno Creek bike trail that goes through Beaverton and Tigard. I am very happy that my knee held out and didn't bother me too much so I could do this run!

Weekly Mileage Totals, 5/15-5/21

Luke - 45.75 (7)

Zack - 12 (2)

Chris - 11.82 (3)

James - 6.5 (2)

Luke - 9

Born To Run Challenge 5k, 16:26 (1st).

So apparently it's hard to run fast without sleeping.

I worked 4am-4pm Monday through Friday this week, and though I always tried to get to bed by 7 (7pm-3am is 8 hours), I usually got there around 9:30, for an average of 5.5 hours of sleep a night. I need like 9 I think. Last week's race went really well on a slightly less than ideal amount of sleep, so I thought I might be able to pull out a good one this week as well. Went to bed at 8 on Friday night and woke up at 7 for the 9am race, so I at least got a little bit back. I forgot to make tea right when I got up so I ended up going without, which I do think hurt me a bit. Other than that was feeling all right, it was already 52º when I left to warmup, and my legs didn't feel completely dead as they often do at the start of a run.

At the start I saw Josh Gordon, who would be running the 15k, since Saturdays are his long tempo days, and he said it looked like there wouldn't be anyone for me to run with...apparently a lot of the UO Running Club was out at the coast for the weekend. There was one guy there in a yellow Hackers jersey (I realized when talking to him afterward that he was the guy that was right behind me for a bit in this race but did the 5k) and Josh said he would probably be with me for a mile or so and then would drop back. At the start the guy was giving final instructions and I tuned out for about 5 seconds and pretty much mid sentence the horn went off, and I don't think I was the only one to be surprised. I was, however, probably the only one to say "Jesus!" out loud and sprint off.

I went right to the front, as usual, and didn't hear anyone behind me after a bit. We got out onto the bike path and I looked at my watch as we passed one of the path's quarter-mile markers and saw 0:41. A couple seconds later I could hear someone behind me and I figured it was the Hacker though I don't know if I actually ever saw him. At the next quarter-mile marker my watch was at 2:00, so I was at 79 seconds, which is 3-4 seconds slower than I wanted to be, so I sped up a bit, and from then on didn't hear anyone behind me. Next two quarters were 77 but I just couldn't really go any faster. Passed the mile mark at 5:19 and tried to keep speeding up. I think the next quarter I saw was another 79, and then I got to the turn-around (it was an out-and-back course). I knew it would be the turn-around because I had been keeping track of my pace so closely, but the arrow on the ground was off to the side, small, and smudged, so you couldn't really tell. There were a couple girls in lawn chairs behind a table of water cups, and after I turned around they were like, "Yeah this is where you turn around. You want water?" Anyway I took my split there and it was 8:15, so obviously nowhere near where I needed to be (my goal was 15:40 and my PR is 16:02...even my pace from last weekend's 8k was 16:17). Passed the Hackers guy about 15 seconds later, and Josh Gordon was in third, and after that there was a group of girls. My time for the second mile was 5:20, though I didn't really know because I had taken the split at halfway also. Most of the people heading out cheered for me, which probably helped slightly, although I did have to shout out once to a group taking up the whole path and not really paying attention, and had to dodge a few other people too, instead of taking the tangents as I was able to do in the first half. Third mile was 5:16, so slightly better but still damn slow, and then :30 for the last .1 for a 16:26.

Hackers guy came in a minute later, and then it was like five minute before anyone else came through. A couple boys came in from the back of the finish chute, having accidentally cut off a chunk of the course, and then the group of girls came in about 4 minutes behind where they would normally have been, because apparently by the time they got to the turn-around, the two course marshal girls there had wandered off, and when the runners turned around on their own a quarter-mile or more later, the girls saw them at some point and said, "Oh you shouldn't have gone this far," and giggled. So that sucks a bit for them, and they were a bit mad.

At the finish they had chocolate milk again, this time in pints, and big baskets of really good muffins alongside the bananas instead of stale bagels...so I had a pint of chocolate milk, 4 blueberry muffins, one cranberry muffin, one poppyseed muffin, and a half a banana. For winning I got the worst prize I have ever gotten, which is fitting since I raced so poorly. It was a free one-month membership to a fitness center that's about 4 miles away, and a free tanning session there. Ha, priceless. I figure I'll try to give them away to someone at work.

Ridgeline Ramble 20k next week for my last race of the season. Hopefully I'll be able to get a bit more sleep this week--I'm probably going to work 4-4 M-W and then 5:30-4 the last two days of the week...and I'll really try to get to bed earlier each night, too.

Luke - 3.25

3.25mi, 26:45 (8:13)

Mile loops of 8:28 and 8:17. Was SO tired...closed my eyes for parts of the run.

Chris - .75

6:29 - 8:38 pace

Another run before work. I was hoping my knee would feel better today so I could do my 5 miler, but I didn't even get a mile before it hurt so bad that I had to stop and turn around and just walk home. This sucks! I'm going to ice it a bunch and hope it feels better by Sunday.

Luke - 6.25

22' w/u, 800@2:28, 400r, 800@2:30, 400r, 400@70, 16' c/d.

Wanted to get a feel for ~5:00 pace for the race Saturday, so I did a couple quick 8s, then a lap a bit faster. Splits were 75/73 for the first one and 75/74 for the second.

Chris - 6.9

58:05 - 8:25 pace

Did this run before work. This was supposed to be an 8 miler, but I had to stop and walk a bunch of times because the inside of my knee was hurting. I am not happy. I think I tweaked it last night during our basketball game. It feels like a ligament strain, and it really tough to just run through.

James - 3.1

31:56

So, after Mondays walkabout fiasco, and Tuesday nights gym visit turned into a Waffle House visit, I decided I better go out and do well today. This run:

+ Equaled my best outdoors USA distance
+ Featured several minutes of upslope running that I haven't had much practice with since moving here (which I think makes it my best outdoor run)
+ Was barely any slower than 5K on the treadmill where it isn't quite so hot

I thought I had done 3.9miles but I measured it wrong. Also, my muscles are still hurting the day after, is that a good sign or worrying? Also, the route had brand new graffiti telling me that the end of the world is coming and that my pastor is wrong! Confusingly it said the year 2012 as well though.

Luke - 6.5

6.5, 49:17 (7:34)

Rexius with Zack. Felt pretty bad the first half, then took a pitstop at halfway and felt great the rest of the run. The stomach problems are happening almost every run now; Zack suggested it might be from not enough sleep, which seems about right. If I ever get on insurance I might see a doctor about it.

Zack - 6.5

49:17 (7:34)
Rexius with Luke, sunshine and trail in good condition. Some splits on Rexius: 7:52, 7:51, ~7:10.

Luke - 5.5

5.5mi, 41:00 (7:27)

1.4-mile loop of Pre's Trail in 10:32, with Zack. A bit of stomach pain, mostly just tired.

Chris - 4.17

34:13 - 8:12 pace

Did this run before work. Felt very stiff with heavy legs. Stopped to stretch a couple times. I'm moving my other runs this week to Thurs-Fri because our Platt bball team is playing my old roommate Curt's work bball team tomorrow and I want fresh legs so I can put the hurt down on them!

Zack - 5.5

5.5 miles 41:04
Pre's Trail 1.4 mi loop with Luke in the evening.

Today I became a PhD candidate in chemistry, passed my last oral qualifying exam! It has been a very rough past few weeks (months). I have had weeks of from 30-50 miles and only 23 last week due to the final push for this exam, but expect much more activity from me soon!

James - 3.4 (*)

* in that this wasn't actually a run but a botched attempt so there's no time.

This is me walking around trying to locate the gym that I've been going to for over 6 months, but that I've never gotten to on foot. I went to my first class of summer in silly gym friendly clothing, carrying a larger bag than I would have for gym stuff, lunch and many library books.

It takes a while to walk that far and be as far off course as I turned out to be. Bow to my stupidity.

Still, at least I know how to get there now, and it was a not insignificant amount of exercise. It left me suffering from balls-to-thigh rubbing pains so I went for a swim afterwards too.

Luke - 6.5

6.5mi, 49:42 (7:38)

Mile loops of 7:57, 7:46, and 7:44, then two 1k loops of flying 50s, then another mile loop in 7:36.

Luke - 8.75

8.75mi, 68:28 (7:49)

Fox Hollow for the first time in a long time. 8:48 up, 7:10 down, 7:20 pace on the way back.

Weekly Mileage Totals, 5/8-5/14

Luke - 44.3 (7)

Chris - 32.72 (4)

James - 6.8 (2)

James - 3.7

33:45

Whilst not much to report compared to what some of the rest of you have been doing (I've just had a glance at the recent entries, will read them more closely a little later), this is my new USA record! Pretty much. I did do 3.8 when Chris was here, but that had a several minute break in it, and this one also had a break, but it was 30 seconds to tie a shoelace that I feared would lead to my death if not dealt with (and only 8 minutes in). Not a bad pace either, keeping most of it at 7mph instead of going from 5 to 8 steadily seemed to work better.

Got my first class of the summer tomorrow, gonna start going to the gym after it.

Luke - 11

CASA Champions For Children 8k, 26:04 (1st).

Was definitely not sure how I'd do on this one because of a kind of crazy week. After Saturday through Tuesday nights in the cab, I had to do a lot of walking for errands on Wednesday on about two hours of sleep, and then worked 4am to 4pm in the sheet metal shop on Thursday and Friday, mostly standing, in big ol boots. Probably got eleven total hours of sleep Wednesday and Thursday nights. Hadn't had time to go to the store so dinner Friday night was one (1) packet of Ramen, and breakfast before the race was a mug of tea. Got a good amount of sleep the night before, about 10½ hours, so that was good (although when I woke up at 7 I wanted to go back to bed). Got a bit of a later start than usual, starting my warmup (running to the race) at 7:50 for an 8:30 start. Picked up my packet just before 8:15, changed into my race shoes, did a couple short easy strides, ditched my warmup clothes/shoes near a bush by the start/finish, and headed to the line. Randy Hilliard, who I have mentioned on here before, was there so I talked to him for a bit. I also recognized the cousin of my old roommate Patrick...his mom (Patrick's aunt) was putting on this race for CASA, which is Court-Appointed Special Advocates, an organization that pairs up abused kids with volunteer advocates...definitely a good cause and all that. Anyway also on the line was one guy who looked semi-fast, although he had one of those giant Garmin watches so I told myself there was no way I'd let him beat me.

At the gun I took off pretty fast like I always do, going right to the front. There was a small rise and then a slightly bigger downhill, so the downhill got me going pretty well. Just as I started thinking I would be running the whole race alone in front, Garmin guy came up behind me and soon passed me. I was like, sweet, a little competition. I tucked in behind him and just let him do the work for a bit. After not too long I felt like we were going a bit too slow, but I stayed behind him anyway and figured I would let him take us through the one-mile mark, then I would count down from 15 and take off if we were in fact too slow (I don't know why but I always think of that as my go-to strategy--going not right at the mile mark, but 15 seconds later). Since the race was on the bike path, there are quarter-mile markers on the ground that I was able to check. The first split I got from those was either an 81 or 84...I can't remember which, but too slow nevertheless. I thought about waiting for the mile mark (this was at about .75mi), but decided against that and instead threw in a nice surge. Passed Garmin guy and just about passed the lead bike as well, I guess he wasn't really ready for my surge. Kept up a pretty steady effort and passed mile 1 in 5:11, which I was very happy with, not crazy fast or crazy slow. Thanks Garmin guy. Mile 2 I felt good on too, any time I noticed I wasn't where I needed to be speedwise I was able to throw in a surge (and many times almost pass the lead bike again). Went through mile 2 at 5:13, so I figured I was right where I wanted to be. I was trying to treat the race like a 5k, so really going out hard the first three miles, and I was thinking just behind 5:10 pace would be ideal.

Just after the second mile mark there was a turnaround, so I was able to see how close everyone was and all that. Garmin guy was probably almost 30 seconds back at that point. Randy Hilliard was in fourth or fifth, and I gave him a "Way to go Randy" and also gave a "Good job Patrick's cousin" to Jackson Mestler, who was in tenthish, but whose name I couldn't remember until his friend was cheering him on at the finish line.

Crossed the river and took a hard right onto the bike path on the other side, passing up the water station, and crossed what they claimed was the third mile marker in 4:59. I knew that wasn't right. My next, uneventful mile was 5:28, so I figure I really ran a couple of 5:13s or so. Last mile really tried to push it; the two biggest hills were in this mile but it's not like they were actually long. The first was getting onto the bridge back over the river, and then after the bridge the path takes a sharp turn and heads downhill fairly steeply, goes under a different bridge, then goes uphill just as steeply. Short, but takes a bit of effort. Throughout the race I'd been using the lead bike as motivation...even though I wasn't actually competing against him, of course, it was nice to have someone in front of me to aim for. Anyway just after that nonsense it was like 200-300m to the finish, and I was able to kick it in hard. Thought I might be under 26, but was certainly not disappointed with 26:04 (5:11 last .97mi). My watch said 26:04 and the clock said 26:04 as I finished, but the official results have me at 26:07...lame.

After the race they had chocolate milk! I had 3 half-pints, and 2 half-bananas, and a bottle of some weird pomegranate sports drink. The second-place guy (Garmin guy) came through just over 27, and they announced his name as "Jason Vaughn". I thought they might have messed up or something, but I went up to him after the chute and congratulated him and asked if his last name was Vaughn and he said yes! Also Jill (Patrick's aunt; race director) asked if we were related, we had a pretty funny conversation there, kind of a weird coincidence. I got a random prize of a Nike shirt. It's slightly small but very cool-looking, I like it a lot. I stuck around for the awards, and for winning I got a big blue ribbon and a metal thing shaped like a silhouette of a runner and with a hook below, apparently for putting race medals on. Kinda cool I guess.

Really good morning. 26:04 is my best PR according to running calculators, and more importantly to me I felt really good doing it, so it gave me a lot of confidence going forward...my other races recently I haven't felt very fast or fit, and I was able to do well here even after a crazy week of working 71 hours and not getting enough sleep or proper nutrition. 5k next week, should be in the 15s finally, hopefully even somewhere near 15:40...I'm excited!

Oh and ~3mi c/d.

Chris - 16.17

139:07 - 8:36 pace

Farthest run ever (again). Since Jeeni is in Seattle this weekend, I did this route with one of the guys I work with that did the 15 miler last week. Pretty much did the same route as the 13 miler I did a couple 3 weeks ago, but extended it with a loop instead of just going out and back. I have absolutely no idea how this guy kept up this pace with me for 14+ miles, considering he hasn't been running all that much during the week. He had to stop and walk the last couple miles, and told me to go on ahead. I'm really happy with how this run turned out!

And I am officially a fan of ice baths.

Luke - 5.25

5.25mi, 40:01 (7:37)

Ran home from work, which is a different place now! The route starts off with 1.5-2 miles through industrial and commercial areas with lots of cars, so it's not the greatest. I wasn't thinking clearly when I was leaving for work at 3:40 in the morning (I wonder why!), so I wore my nicer jeans and took my wallet and cell phone with me even though I knew I would be running home...so I had to stuff my jeans in my toolbox (along with my boots, so it was like trying to close a stuffed suitcase) and run with my wallet and cell phone like a dork, or James or something.

Luke - 5

22' w/u, 1600m@5:17 (81, 80, 78, 76), 400r, 400m@70, 200r, 200m@32-33, 5' c/d.

My foot had been feeling funny so I figured I'd start with some mile loops with Zack and then if I felt good I'd do a quick couple things on the track. It felt fine so I went for it. The mile felt pretty good, accel'ed the whole way, I just wanted to run somewhere near my 8k race pace before Saturday. Had some stomach pain on the recovery lap so it was 400m plus standing in one place for 2-3 minutes. The 70 felt quick and not crazy hard. The stomach pain came back on the recovery 200 so it was 200m plus standing in one place for probably over 5 minutes. Messed up with my watch so I didn't get a time, but I think my watch was at :27.xx when I started and it was at 1:00.33 when I finished. Stomach really hurt after so I had to stand around a bunch before jogging home in a bit of pain. Legs good though!

Chris - 4.25

40:10 - 9:27 pace

Did this run with Jeeni around her apartment complex after work. I'm pretty happy with how my legs felt after all of yesterdays exercise, even though they were still a bit stiff. We modified our route a little bit at the end because we wanted to go down to a park and walk around a bit. The sun was out today...great day for a run and walk in the park!

Luke - 2.9

2.9mi, 22:19 (7:41)

Ran home from work...for the last time!

Chris - 4.2

30:35 - 7:16 pace

I hadn't planned on doing this lunch run this fast, but when I got into the locker room to change I saw that one of the guys I work with had written on the white board his PR for the "classic 4.2" out and back we do a lot. This is the same guy that has tried to tell me he ran the 4.2 in 27-28 minutes a couple years ago...except he didn't have a stopwatch so I don't believe him. Anyway, I started laughing out loud because once I saw his time (31:04) I knew I had to go destroy it during my run. It was fun to run fast but I'm sure I'll regret it during our basketball games tonight!

James - 3.1

5:00
----
12:54
12:42

This is a split up run, with the first being a cut-short gym visit and the rest outside this afternoon, split in two by an errand. It felt hard won though due to heat, upward slopes and sleeplessness.

I needed to get some medicine and unfortunately the dreaded Wal*mart had it for a much cheaper price than anywhere else. I found out that the nearest one was surprisingly close, next to where one of my routes turns around. I cleaned up while I was there and left-handed (Luke might remember what that means) one of these Sobe Citrus Energy drinks. (People will start talking when you click that, be warned.) It was very pleasant partway through my workout so I was sad to find it is owned by Pepsi, though given the exclusive deals large retailers tend to make with certain producers, not surprised. Running with all this stuff wasn't much fun but not a big deal.

While I am posting too-many-links-to-bother-with, right now I'm listening to this English big beat dance music DJ called Judge Jules. Click here before Saturday if you're feeling adventurous, to 1) Celebrate Luke getting time off to go to Germany (where they love this stuff) and 2) To hear electronic DJs talk about loving Public Enemy and continuing the SomeRunning hip hop theme that Steve and I have had going lately. I am not far into it yet but minutes 15-25 have some really good music if you only want to try a small segment. The repetitive beats could help with pacing!

Luke - 2.9

2.9mi, 26:31 (9:08)

Ran home from work.

Chris - 8.1

78:29 - 9:41 pace

Jeeni and I did this run from my house after work today. We were chatting the whole time, so I wasn't really paying attention to how slow we were running. Oh well. I have another basketball double header tomorrow night so I'll be running during lunch.

Luke - 9.25

9.25mi, 71:21 (7:42)

So on the drive home from Bloomsday I got a call from my old boss at the steel place, asking what it would take to get me back there...I said I'd think about it, then the next day told him I'd need a couple days off in June for a trip to Seattle I'm taking to see some Mariners games, then a couple weeks off in Aug or Sept to go to Germany, and I'd have to get $15.50/hr (when I left last I was making $13.50)...he said he'd try, then called back a couple days later to say he could give me $14.50...I said nope...then a couple days later he called back again and said he got me what I wanted. So my last night taxiing is Tuesday, then I start back at the steel place on Thursday. Anyway I have been trying to buy a bike but have so far been unsuccessful, and today I had to go pee in a cup for my new old job, so I took a taxi up there and wore some old jeans over running shorts and running shoes, and then just left the old jeans in the bathroom there and ran home on the bike path. Some mile splits from the middle of the run were: 7:40, 7:46, 7:37, and 7:40.

Luke - 8

Re-Run Run 1-Mile: 4:55, 1st place.

The race started at 9, but packet pickup was from 7am-7:45 because the 5k portion of the event started at 8. That meant my schedule before the race was: wake up Saturday morning and laze about, walk 3mi to work at 6pm on Saturday, work 7pm-7am, run 3mi from work to the race, pick up my packet at 7:40am, sit around in the cold for a half hour, then go for a second warmup. So pretty much an ideal schedule! Anyway there were like a dozen people in the race because most people were doing the 5k. Zack showed up (a couple miles into his run) just before the race started so I was able to give him my warmup clothes to hold.

Not much to recap on the race since it was only a mile long. Started fast, tried to keep going fast. No one else was close; one kid was like 45 seconds back. It had rained intermittently throughout the night, so even though it wasn't raining during the race the ground was still a bit slick. There were a couple tight corners that I had to really try to dig in on. As I was coming around the last few turns the announcer was doing a good job of getting the crowd into it, telling them that I might break five, which would be really fast. So I got a good applause for the final kick. The clock said 4:53 or 4:54 when I crossed; my watch said 4:55.51, and in the results I got a 4:58. Anyway, doesn't really matter since it's not a PR.

The t-shirts for the event were race shirts from other races all over the country and the awards were medals from a bunch of different races, which I thought was a pretty cool idea. I ended up getting a Eugene Marathon shirt, which, given the selection, I thought was pretty lame. At the finish I got a medal from the Gasparilla Distance Classic (much cooler) and then at the awards ceremony I got a medal from the Catalina Eco-Marathon (very cool). The random prizes were pretty good, including three gift certificates for a free pair of Brooks running shoes, but I didn't win anything.

Ran home to cool down, and about a mile in Zack came up behind me on the end of his run, so I joined him...it was a lot better to go his quickish pace than the plodding I had been doing.

Got home and had to wait around for the landlord to come by and look at a thing, so I finally got to sleep at about noon, for the first time in close to thirty hours.

Weekly Mileage Totals, 5/1-5/7

Luke - 40.55 (8)

Steve - 38.25 (5)

Chris - 29.45 (4)

James - 4.5 (2)

Luke - 3.3

3.3mi, 27:31 (8:20)

Ran to work.

Chris - 15

147:48 - 9:51 pace

I did this run today with Jeeni and Nick and Jeff (Nick and Jeff are on my Hood to Coast team and are training for that). She mapped the out & back route from Jeff's house in West Linn - it was fairly flat and went through a park or two, with 3 available stops for water and bathrooms at the turnaround point. I had bought some GU energy gel when I got my new shoes earlier this week, so I carried that with me and ate it after we had been going almost an hour. The run itself went pretty well. I definitely could have done this faster if I wasn't running with the 3 of them, but the guy who wrote up the marathon training program really stresses that you shouldn't be trying to kill yourself on these longer runs...so it's probably good I had them to slow me down. My legs are definitely feeling it! I took a 12 minute ice bath after I got back and ate a bunch of food. I'm starting to feel more and more confident about not only completing the marathon, but maybe even running a half respectable time. Eight more weeks!

Steve - 9.65

74:29 (7:45)

Tempo down in Long Beach. Took my car in for an oil change and there happened to be a park about 3 miles away. I got a lift over there and got my tempo in mostly on grass. Distances are approximate as I did them later in gmaps. I think the tempo distance is too long but oh well. I just wanted to get in about 30 minutes at tempo effort.

1.85 mi wup in 17:14
4.64 tempo in 30:39
3.15 mi cd in 26:55

Luke - 4.75

4.75mi, 38:10 (8:02)

After watching the Mariners win on a walkoff, did mile loops of 8:03, 8:02, and 8:07 then two laps of strides on the high school track on the way home.

James - 2.5

23:16

I thought this would be proof that treadmills really slow you down, but I guess it just feels that way at the time. Average of about 9:19 I think.

Today I had to return the rental African-American Literature textbook that I mentioned getting and running with in this post (featuring the lyrics of several hip hop classics). So I decided to drop it off and run back home, completing the cycle. It is typical that the textbook I have found most interesting is the one I was able to rent (and thus, of course, did, to save money). I read it until 5 minutes before the bookstore closed so that I wouldn't be "fined" the other $70 of the book. I got an A in the class!

I made several extensions to my quickest route home, including running around our complex 1.5 times before going in. I so nearly gave in when I went past our flat the first time, but the pain was worth it.

Steve - 4.4

36 (8:11)

Got in some easy miles at Griffith Park.

Chris - 4.2

34:57 - 8:19 pace

Lunch run by myself today. I had brought my stuff to work yesterday but decided my body was feeling too drained and sore to run, so I just tried to do a really easy run today since I have the 15 miler tomorrow. This is the second run I've done in my new Mizuno Wave Musha 3's. They don't have much in the way of cushioning, but they feel nice and light and fit my foot well.

splits: 17:55 - 17:02

Luke - 5.75

After 22' w/u, went to the track for (6,4,2,4)x2, with 200 rest after the 6s, 400 after the 4s, and 600 after the 2s. Went 1:50, 70, 32, then my stomach hit me with some super-intense pain as soon as I finished the 200. I went to the bathroom for a bit and came back and resumed the workout, going 71, 1:46, and 71, then the stomach pain was again too bad to continue. Mostly walked home, but jogged some of it. It's too bad, my legs felt great (that 1:46 is quite fast) but my stomach wouldn't let me make the most of it. Hopefully it cooperates for the road mile I'm doing on Sunday.

Oh and I was wearing these brand new shoes, and they felt pretty good.

Steve - 7

800s with the Flyers. I wanted to start around 3:00 and then work my way down. My other goal was to keep an honest recovery because sometimes my group slacks off. I minimized the walking that most people usually do for about 50m after each rep. I did a solid 400m jog without stopping between each rep. The workout went pretty well I think. I decided to include a decimal point for my splits below because all of them seemed to be above .5 and I didn't want to rob myself of so many seconds...

1 mile wup in 9:11
7x800 in (3:00.6, 3:02.9, 2:58.4 2:56.9, 2:58.6, 2:56.5, 2:57)
1 mile cd in 8:20

Chris - 3

23:41 - 7:53

Lunch run. I more or less was sleep running this route today - got only 6 hours of sleep last night, coupled with the beers we had at the game and I am feeling it today. Unfortunately we have a double header for basketball tonight, and the FIRST game starts at 8:40pm. This is going to be brutal...

Luke - 2.9

2.9mi, 24:21 (8:23)

Ran home from work.

James - 2

17:59 (8:57)

A friend of mine on Facebook posted this quote from Graffiti artist Banksy:

The human race is the most stupid and unfair kind of race. A lot of the runners don't even get decent sneakers or clean drinking water.

Some runners are born with a massive head start, every possible help along the way and still the referees seem to be on their side.

It's not surprising a lot of people have given up competing altogether and gone to sit in the grandstand, eat junk and shout abuse.

What the human race needs is a lot more streakers.

He has more great quotes here: http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/28811

And you can see some of his kickass art here.

Luke - 6.75

6.75mi, 51:13 (7:35)

Mile loops of 7:56 and 7:40, then flying 50s for a mile, then ran to work. Weather is getting a lot better...

Chris - 7.25

62:27 - 8:36 pace

Ran with Jeeni after work, since she's going to be out of town tomorrow for a Platt Tool Day. Did the same route as last time. This was my first time having stomach issues while running with her. I was praying to be able to hold out until we got back to work, but when she stopped for water I decided that wasn't going to happen so I told her I'd meet her up by the port-o-pottie and took off.

After we got back to the office I had to shower quick because I had got Timbers MLS tickets for tonights game against the San Jose Earthquakes and we were going to ride the MAX into downtown Portland. It was a pretty good game, they lost by 1 in the final minute of double overtime.

Luke - 2.9

2.9mi, 26:55 (9:16)

Ran home from work. Real tough, but it makes the second run of the day a ton better.

Steve - 7.4

67 (9:03)

Ran early in the morning. Felt OK not great. I need to do at least one and ideally two of these morning runs every week. Pace was probably faster but not sure. All on dirt.

Luke - 4.2

4.2mi, 33:57 (8:05)

Ran home from the car rental place with Zack. Very tough! Feet hurt especially, but legs had a bit of leftover tiredness too.

Oh and fun story: when driving back into Eugene with Zack, we were figuring out if we'd need to get gas before we got into town. I knew my first fill-up was at 322 miles into the trip, and I had gotten 10.47 gallons, so I figured it was an 11-gallon tank and that we'd be good till over 330 miles, even if the gas mileage wasn't quite as good. Getting to Eugene would be about 327 miles, so I figured we'd be in there like swimwear with maybe 10 or more miles to spare. The light had been on for like thirty miles already but we went for it. Cruised into the gas station and got it filled up with exactly 10.999 gallons. I kept the receipt.

Luke - 10

Bloomsday 2011: 41:45, 66th place.

I put off writing this until like two week later, so it will probably be less detailed than expected.

Was planning on taking the bus from my friend Ted's house in Spokane Valley, where I was staying, into town (they had a special shuttle running all morning) but when I woke up and showered and all that, he got up too and offered to drive me in. We stopped off at Fred Meyer first for me to grab a bagel and banana, since he had almost no food in his house. Got downtown and as he was about to drop me off, I realized I didn't have the chip thing for my shoe, which you of course have to have to get a time and all that. I freaked out a tiny bit (mostly swore a bunch) and told Ted he'd have to drive me back and forth again, and I resigned myself to going without warming up. Then a block or two before the freeway I found my chip in my bag. Haha. So he dropped me off with plenty of time to go. I warmed up on the street below the street it starts on...there were ~55,000 runners, so the start takes up about 6-7 blocks of one four-lane street. My warmup was running from the street that crosses the front of the start to the street that crosses the back of the start, and back, twice, and then running around a few more places. Found a honey bucket about 15 minutes before the start, then took off my socks and put my shoes back on, did a few strides, and headed to the start. I had to show my number each time I went near the start to show that I was elite-seeded and could enter from the front (if you're in a different section you have to enter from the back of your section, so when I was a kid I would get there like 90 minutes before the start and stand in the middle of the giant crowd for the whole time).

At the start, a guy was doing the national anthem when I got in. When he was done I went over and stripped for a high schooler. I mean I took off my warmups and gave them to one of the high school kids whose job it was to take the elite guys' stuff and put it in a bag and bring it to the finish line. Then I did some strides with the Kenyans and a couple Ethiopians, including my good friend Ezkyas Sisay. Didn't really feel great, but I wouldn't know how the day would go until I started running. Was one row back on the start line, with 55,000 people behind me.

At the gun the fast people took off in a hurry and I was at the back of the elite group pretty quick. Tried to settle into a rhythm, making sure I wasn't getting too excited and going too fast. First mile was fairly flat, with some downhill near the end, and I ran a 5:09. Slightly fast even though I was trying to slow myself down. Second mile had a bit of downhill at the start, then a short flat section, then started uphill, and I did not feel at all strong going up. 5:24 for that one. Third mile was pretty much all uphill...the elites ran about even splits the first two miles and then like 25 seconds slower the third mile...I ran a 5:52. It hurt. I didn't get a split on the fourth mile even though I saw the marker...I forgot to even look at my watch. Just after that there was a downhill, the course crossed a flat bridge, and then started up Doomsday Hill. I was pretty excited for that because of one of the things I had planned so as to keep the race fun. I've noticed I run better when I have fun racing, so if there's a chance to do something unique or whatever, I'll do it, like wearing the Flash outfit for that Halloween 10-miler, or the dress shirt for the 5k a few weeks ago, or just telling myself to look forward to DoughCo or beer after a run...anyway for Bloomsday I had looked up the bands playing along the course (there are like 35) to see if any were any good, and there was one that I really liked, a pop-punk band (Chris, you'd probably like em) from there in Spokane called Small Town Nation. I listened to their stuff on MySpace and bought their album on iTunes since I had a gift card left over from Christmas, and a couple days before the race I sent them a message on MySpace saying that I'd give them the rock sign as I passed, and that I'd definitely be the first person to do that since I'm fast. I said I hoped they were playing one of my two favorite songs of theirs, and I told them I was wearing a red singlet so they should look out for me at about 24 minutes into the race. I checked my Email the day before the race and hadn't gotten a response from them so I wasn't sure if they'd even gotten my message, but I was looking forward to hearing them playing anyway...they were playing at the corner just before Doomsday Hill, and I figured hearing some familiar tunes might help me get up a little more easily. As I crossed the bridge I heard a song I recognized, and I think I sped up a little, and then as I came up to them I gave them the rock sign and the lead singer/guitarist saw me, stopped playing/singing, and said "This is it, this is it!" The rest of the band stopped mid-song, and he counted off "1! 2! 3! 4!" to the drummer and they started playing one of the songs I had mentioned was my favorite. The song starts out just instrumental, and over that the lead singer shouted, "This is for you, [unintelligible] guy!" Probably like "MySpace guy" or "Red jersey guy". Anyway, I got extremely pumped and was smiling huge at that, and charged up the hill as they played for me. I must have passed like fifteen guys going up the hill, and then throughout the rest of the race whenever I was slowing down I thought about the guy stopping playing and saying "This is it!" and I'd smile and speed up. Hahaha, I'm a huge dork. Anyway the fifth mile marker was at the top of Doomsday, and I passed it with a 2-mile split of 11:22. Even though I was excited and feeling slightly better the rest of the race, I was still a hurtin' unit, and passed miles six and seven at 5:47 and 5:39. I could tell I wouldn't be anywhere near my goal of 39:low but just tried to keep pushing. 2:29 the last .46 (5:23 pace) and I was glad to be done.

I saw my old one-armed high school coach at the finish and talked to him briefly...he didn't recognize me at first because I was so short back then. A high schooler came up and handed me my bag of stuff from the start and then I headed through the area to the shirt pickup. Bloomsday does a very cool thing with the shirts...the design and color of the shirts are a big secret and you don't get one until and unless you finish. Every time I've run it I've hoped for a yellow shirt, which they haven't had since 1979...and this year they were yellow! Kind of a paler yellow than I'd hoped, but still cool, and a great design, as always. From there I headed straight to the bar, where I met Ted, who had my wallet, cell phone, and jeans. They had a sign on the door that said "We open at 10am", so we waited outside for a bit since it was not yet 9:50. At about 9:54 a guy walked up and went straight in, so we followed and there were actually a couple people in there already and a bunch of bartenders. Got a great seat and started in on drinking. By about 10:05 the place was packed, and after two beers for me and one for Ted we left, at about 10:15-10:20. We gave our seats to the guys standing behind us and they were super-excited because they were pretty much the best seats in the house. Went to another bar and I had a giant (32oz) plastic cup of beer and Ted had a regular-sized (12oz) plastic cup of beer. We left and walked to Ted's car, which was a 20-25 minute walk because there is of course no parking anywhere near the start/finish on Bloomsday morning. Drove back out to the valley and stopped by Fred Meyer again, this time for beer. Ted got a couple of his friends to come out in the middle of the day on a Sunday and we played ping-pong in his garage and I drank lots of PBR. At some point we went to a Boston's for pizza and I had a beer there too, then we headed back to Ted's place and played horseshoes while I drank more beer. Then his friends left and a different friend came over and the three of us went to a bar, where I didn't drink any beer. Haha, just kidding, I drank tons. We got back to Ted's place somewhere between 1am and 2am and passed out. The next day, believe it or not, I had a hangover--and after only 13+ straight hours of drinking...I'm such a lightweight.

Racewise, I of course wasn't too excited about my time being a couple minutes slow...I think I tapered too much; I never really felt sharp in the week or two leading up to the race. Next time I'll at least keep the mileage around 40 instead of down below 30.

Other than the time, a fun weekend. I'm glad I took the trip.

Steve is faster than Luke in all distances <=400m...but not really.

Steve - 10

78:34 (7:51)

Ran down in Manhattan Beach on the bark with a friend. I told him after 7 miles, I wanted to finish the the last 3 miles around 7:00 per mile. We got to 7 miles in 57:34 (about 8:20 pace) and then he dragged me in the final 3 miles. It was really tough, especially the last mile. I had to lose my shirt in that mile cuz my legs were dying and I wanted to feel light. The last mile turned out to be 6:55 and I hit exactly 21:00 for 3 miles. I would hazard to guess its the fastest time I have ever run 10 miles in.

Weekly Mileage Totals, 4/24-4/30

Luke - 37.5 (8)

Chris - 24.45 (4)

Zack - 21.3 (3)

Steve - 16.84 (2)

James - 5.62 (3)