Luke - 5.5

5.5mi, 39:50 (7:14)
1.4-mile loop of Pre's Trail in 10:28.  Faster than usual, but felt easy.

Jeeni - 5.3

Ran a 5.3 after work today..it was a very rolling hills 5.3, but my last mid-size run before my half in Chicago next weekend.

Luke - 11

11mi, 85:24 (7:45)
Met up at Amazon with another runner and we ran over to Hendricks Park, around to the backside, hopped the railroad tracks (they recently put up a No Trespassing sign, which I guess I have to ignore) and onto Pre's Trail before heading back home.  We had lots of conversations about running, which was nice.

Alison - 4

Post-weight resistance run of 4 miles in 44.5 minutes. We had yoga later; I think I really need a rest day tomorrow!

Since I haven't been improving my time much, today I went for distance. The bad news is I got bored and quit before I was tired cause I was bored -- my book on CD ended and I had been at the gym like 90 mins at this point(honestly that was probably only another few minutes). But the good news is I could have ran more -- I'd like to be able to run an hour straight again by July 2nd. Adding that extra quarter hour is going to be way harder than it seems; I haven't ran that long in ages.

We've been using bok choy as taco wraps, since they are so much less delicate and less crunchy than similar leafy greens but still have lots of iron. This works so well and I recommend it to everyone!

Products I like:
I've also been really liking Lemonade-flavored Designer Whey (they come in single serving, 50-calorie packets sweetened with Stevia). I love lemon-flavor better than anything (including chocolate), so this is a hot commodity right now. They come in orange and berry too. I like mixing the lemon with unsweetened iced tea for an Arnold Palmer protein water. yay! The protein powder isn't gritty so you can't really tell it's even in there, except it will cloud the drink up a bit.

Lauren - 0.76

Legs were tight yesterday with new shoes, and even tighter today with old shoes. Going to hang back for a day and do some yoga stretching. Going to have to work my way up to 5 miles per week smarter. Probably going to keep old shoes just for biking.

Chris & Jeeni - 3.11

29:33

Tried to run a little quicker today. Felt like it, but I think Jeeni forgot to hit her watch at one of the intersections.

Luke - 6.4

6.4mi, 47:28 (7:25)

1.6-mile loop of Pre's Trail in 12:03.

Alison - 3.2

33 mins

Incline 2-4

I was a little anxious today (today was supposed to be my rest day), so I visualized stress drifting toward my feet and then my shoes smashing it out onto the treadmill.

Lauren - 1.07

Note to self: Hydrate. I spent most of this weekend being quite 'Muhrican and eating. And eating. And eating. The next holiday that pops up will be spent running, running, and running. Lucky for me, this will be July 4, possibly one of the hottest months in Houston. Whee. Did I hallucinate or did someone ask about the zombie 5k?

Luke - 6.5

6.5mi, 50:04 (7:42)

Rexius, with Zack.

Alison - 2.31

Fartleks/interval run for about 28 mins.

Slower pace was about 4.2 mph, which is a jogging pace if you have short legs. Everyone stay safe today, especially if you are running on the roads!

P.S. During my run today I listened to LCD Soundsystem - which I tend to do when running intervals.

Alison - 3.07; James - 1

HeartRate: 138
Adjusted Incline from 1.0 to 5.0 every 4 minutes. Ouch.

James ran with me for the first mile and then hung out with the recumbent bikes.

Luke - 8.5

8.5mi, 68:33 (8:03)
Ran on the bike path with Zack.  My legs were feeling real sore so I could barely keep up 8-minute pace.

Zack - 11.2

85:17 (7:37)

Ran to the bike path along the Willamette River with Luke. We were both trying to keep things relaxed as he raced the day before and I did a long, hilly bike ride.  We cruised along easy and split back near Autzen foot bridge.  I cruised over to the short loop of Pre's to tack on a few more miles.

I want to keep up with posting my runs again as all of this activity on the blog (and new members) has provided the necessary motivation.  I was running quick early in the year before being sidelined with a stress fracture in my shin.  I took the time off from running as an opportunity to work on my swimming and biking and now I have decided to get back into triathlon as I build my mileage back up.  I raced an olympic triathlon (1500 m swim, 40km bike, 10km run) last week and had a blast.  I am looking to do a sprint triathlon on July 28th but other than that will be focusing on running races.  Excuse the long post, but I felt the need to provide a training update after such a long hiatus from this blog.

Hopefully everyone has an excellent Memorial Day!

Lauren - 1.38

This morning, I woke up bright-eyed, bushy-haired, and ready for a run. First, I had Corn Chex with Horizon 2%--this turned out to be an iffy decision. Since moving, I have managed to displace my earbuds, so I ran in almost silence (aside from the sound of sneakers hitting tread). The gym was cool and empty. Perhaps the Memorial Day parties have commenced. Headed to buy new sneaks today since my current shoes are at least a year old (granted, they haven't seen much action).

Running in the News

I feel like I've been hearing nothing but running today. It was on NPR today, in my newsletter from a health site, and available On Demand as Yoga for Runners. Here's the NPR article I mentioned above. Here's what I am listening to on MP3 while I currently run. The times I've run 35 minutes instead of 30 is because I've been too excited to find out what happens at the end of the chapter. Sorry to the group's purists (Luke), but it's been good for me. I am linking it from the best site ever so you will all sign up now for GoodReads accounts. Today was supposed to be my rest today but I think we are going to try the Yoga for Runners! Check your local libraries for similar offerings; Netflix Instant has several good yoga programs (one of which is NOT Yoga for Indie Rockers -- terrible!) I'll let you know what I think in my next running update. Cheers & Beers, APL

Weekly Mileage Totals, 5/20-5/26

Luke - 61.15 (7)
Jeeni - 23.15 (4)
Alison - 17.95 (6)
Chris - 15.3 (3)
Lauren - 1 (1)

118.55 miles in 21 runs by 5 runners.

Lauren - 1

After a few weeks of hemming, hawing, and hemming, I finally took a week and did yoga almost exclusively, 3 days/week for an hour plus. When I went to the treadmill today (because Houston is HOT, yo), I cranked out a ten minute mile non-stop. Given my past wheezing and weakness, this feels monumental. Call me cookie dough, but not for long. Post work-out was plain oats and a banana. Will seek smoothie-type fuel to see how my body best responds. Hydrated very well while at work after my run, and I definitely felt the energy boost. Every day can feel this good. Yes, it can.

Jeeni - 12.15

Saturday- Long run time; Ran first 7 with Chris and then finished off the last 5 on my own. Felt like no energy at the start, hit a couple hills in the middle, but after Chris was done the "I'm over half way and just want to be done" mind set set in and I picked it up for the last 4 miles.

Luke - 13

Ridgeline Ramble 20k, 1:21:29 (4th place)
This recap is really long, so I think I can make it only show these couple lines on the front page and you can click through to see the whole thing.

Chris - 7.3

My watch is still broken and I don't remember the time Jeeni said to me before she went to run her other 5 miles. We didn't go very fast - I think it was around 10 minute pace. But at least I'm getting my mileage up a bit before the marathon training starts. STEVE I BELIEVE YOU STILL NEED TO SIGN UP =).

Alison - 3.0

Pre-yoga run of about 25 minutes. I can feel my core getting stronger from yoga and my legs feel longer and stronger from pilates. Weee! Yoga was an hour so my legs are pretty sore right now. Came home and had a good protein shake: kale, bok choy, choc protein powder, banana, chia seeds (soaked in water for 10 minutes first), ice and flax milk (only 25 cals/cup). It's my new favorite blend.

Luke - 6

6mi, 45:53 (7:38)
1.6-mile loop of Pre's Trail, easy, in the morning.  They were resurfacing one section of the trail and it smelled delicious.

Alison - 3.7

Today I had a post-weight resistance run of about 3.7 miles. I was afraid I was going to fall down the stairs to the lower level of the gym after I was done! I was on a 2.0 incline and it took me about 31 mins, so this was a decent clip for me.

Chris & Jeeni - 5

47:35 (9:30) We ran a 5 miler when chris got off work down the road and half of it was a run we used to do at lunch from work a lot last summer..it wasn't too bad considering my legs felt dead from yesterday and Chris is getting antsy to run faster, but his legs are still getting used to running...thanks for the invite Luke it works!

Luke - 5.5

5.5mi, 40:17 (7:19)
1.4-mile loop of Pre's Trail in 10:32, with Zack.  Took it easy but the pace was slightly quicker than usual again, that's been happening this week a bit.  Hopefully it translates into fast when racing.

Alison - 3.0

Farleks for 35 minutes. Ouch.

Luke - 8.75

8.75mi, 61:29 (7:01)
Fox Hollow with Zack.  On the way out I was taking it easy but the pace was pretty fast anyway.  I wanted to do a good hard effort up and a good hard effort down.  I went 7:07 up and then waited for Zack at the top...my heart rate was through the roof; 7:07 is only a couple seconds off my PR.  5:29 down didn't feel quite as hard but is pretty fast too.  On the way back we were doing a pretty good pace again, a lot of it being Zack pushing it.  This was a good last hard run before the Ridgeline Ramble on Saturday.

Jeeni - 3

26.36- 8:33 pace.
Went on a run after work and since I got home late, tried to run a bit faster to make it to Chris' work by 5:10. Ended up being my quickest run this month..and of course I finally ran under 9's when I wasn't with Chris :)
Also, Luke could you please email me the link so that I can get set up to be able to post? I know I can only comment currently. My gmail is jschantin@gmail.com Thanks!

Alison - 2.5

Had yoga tonight so didn't want to overdo it. Post-weight training run of 31 minutes. Resistance level 3; Incline 2.0.

Luke - 8.5

17' w/u; 15x400m@80", 100m/45" rest; 16' c/d.
The guys I ran with Sunday morning convinced me to come out for a track workout today, and I was thinking it would be really tough, but it ended up being right on.  The original plan was 20x400m@77", which I think is a bit fast/voluminous for me, but when I showed up today it had turned into 80" pace, just a little faster than tempo effort for as many as felt comfortable.  There were five of us doing most of them, plus a couple other guys that did portions.  We were going to do slightly different paces but ended up just all shooting for 80 every one of them, and 100m rest in 45 seconds.  We were able to talk intermittently, so no one was really hurting or anything.  I stopped at fifteen because they were starting to get tougher (and my stomach was starting to hurt a bit).  Exact splits: 80, 77, 82, 80, 82. 80, 81, 80, 80, 80, 80, 81, 80, 80, 80.  Dialed in!

Chris & Jeeni - 3

27:25 - 9:08 pace

Quick little run after work. Did a loop by Jeeni's house before she goes to girls night and I go home to drink and play video games =).

Luke - 6.4

6.4mi, 45:24 (7:05)
1.6-mile loop of Pre's Trail in 11:31.  Felt real good/fast today for whatever reason, but was thinking that might be a bad thing because I'd rather take it slow and feel good for my workout tomorrow instead.  Hopefully I can get both..

Alison - 2.25

Post weight resistance run; pre-pilates run. About 28 mins plus cool down and warm up. Fartleks. Have shedded some major weight, per my weekly weight-in, which has only helped me become better at running again. Dang, why are 5Ks so expensive? We want to do the Color Run but it's $40/person! Yikes.

James - 0

Hi guys. No run update I'm afraid but a few bits of news.

Today was the tenth Great Manchester Run and my excellent friend Luke (AKA 'English Luke') took part for the first time. He raised money for Cancer Research in memory of our friend Gary. Gary's brothers did the run as well. Wish I could have been there, but I donated and I also happened to be wearing my 2007 Run shirt at the time. His time was 1:13, which is 2 minutes faster than my first 10K, and I did that at the sprightly age of 18, so good job!

Personally I have had a turbulent time with running stuff recently. I've seen a few doctors about immigration stuff (green card process nearly done!) and I asked one to take a look at my ankle. He only had a quick look but he said the sprain was perhaps chronic, that I should have dealt with it earlier. I basically heard him say "you peaked and you won't be able to run the same again, ever" and was quite horrified. But Alison is convinced he was just trying to scare me into taking care of it. I am about to pick up the phone and make an appointment to get an x-ray, and I am going back to see the initial doctor next week. We've just joined a new gym so I am doing a little exercise (they have yoga and other similar classes so I am trying whatever works), but am too paranoid to run for the time being. Alison and I have also bought a blender for ourselves and loads of supplements for me so we are on a new health kick. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Luke - 13

13mi, 11:46:12 (8:10)
Ran with a couple other guys on Pre's Trail, then the roads out to a park with hazelnut orchards, did a few laps on trails there, then headed back.  All really easy.  Felt good except for being hung over.  The guys had some good, funny running stories which made the time go by really fast.

Alison - 3.5

Post-core class run of 3.5 miles in 35 minutes, so a pretty slow pace, but I'm still working on longevity. James was asleep and did not accompany me. I've been working out in the mornings and he's been doing stuff at night when we go into pilates or yoga classes, but he's still needing to stay off the ankle. His x-ray is on Friday.

Weekly Mileage Totals, 5/13-5/19

Luke - 55 (7)
Chris - 13.08 (3)
Jeeni - 4.08 (1)
Alison - 7.75 (3)

79.91 miles in 14 runs by 4 runners.

Luke - 2.5

Beer Mile, 7:26 (1st place)

Drank Budweiser.  I never really pushed too crazy hard...second place was thirty seconds back after a lap plus two beers, so I just kept it that way and made sure not to throw up before the finish.  Didn't throw up after, even, which is unusual for me.  Walked a few times to burp, but had a nice finishing kick the last 100m.  Might be able to take a minute off my time on my next one, in two weeks, which should have some better competition.

Chris - 6

51:33 - 8:35 pace

I played 9 holes this morning (shot a 53) with a couple people from Platt, then went over to my parents to wash my moms car as a belated Mothers Day present. I ran an out & back route mostly on a walking/biking path that goes from Tigard toward Beaverton. I felt pretty good the whole way, and enjoyed pushing myself a bit. I think my body is going to be yelling at me a bit tomorrow but that's a good thing.

Luke - 8

8mi, 59:56 (7:29)
1.6-mile loop in 12:13, 1.4-mile loop in 10:34.

Alison - 2.9

HeartRate: 138
Time: 31 min
Incline: 2.0 - 4.0

Luke - 10.25

10.25mi, 91:19 (8:54)
Have no idea how long this run actually was.  Went up to Relentless Hills and wandered around a bunch.  There was a pickup and some sort of earth mover up by The Wall, and since I didn't really want to get too near the earth mover I just went down the back side of The Wall...it's usually pretty overgrown and not great for running, but I guess the earth mover had already been over this area because it was all mowed just about flat.  And by "flat" I mean "uniform", not "parallel to the surface of the earth", because it's a giant hill.  Probably somewhere between a quarter-mile and a half-mile of really steep slope.  At the bottom I got on the road for an out-and-back because I wanted to see how long the road was (it's a bit less than a mile).  Back in the trails I wandered around a bunch, and I looked for the old overturned car that's always been there, but either I forgot where it was or someone removed it.  Probably the former.  I found a fun little singletrack trail that I haven't been on before and it ended up coming out onto a road and I had no idea where I was.  After a minute of looking around and a minute of thinking real hard I realized which road it was; I've run on it once (it's a dead end and I didn't see the trail that time) and picked someone up in the taxi there once.  I ran back to a more main road, and went up the back side of Hendricks Park on what could be called an extension of the Ribbon Trail, then down another trail in Hendricks, and took roads the last mile or two home.
I took it really relaxed today; I didn't run Wednesday because my shin was hurting and then didn't run yesterday because I was tired and lazy.  So today I just wanted to go run around for the sake of running around.  Beer Mile tomorrow!  Ridgeline Ramble a week later...I don't think I'll do quite as well as I'd hoped cause the last two weeks didn't go as well as I'd hoped, but it should be fun anyway.

Alison - 2.75

HeartRate: 142
Duration: 25 min
Incline: 1.5

I was really stiff so we took a mile-long walk that night.

Chris & Jeeni - 4.08

38:55 - 9:32 pace

We ran a figure eight loop by her place. Jeeni told me it annoyed her that we post her mileage based on what I add, even though her true mileage is much higher. Maybe she'll buck up and post a run or two on her own...although I don't think she ever got set up as an admin on here.

Alison - 2.1

138 HeartRate (my target was between 130-150)
Incline 2.0
Time: 21 minutes

A pretty easy run after taking a month-long break (sans a run a week ago) -- we joined a new gym (which is actually my old gym) and I like it a lot. I'm running 10-minute miles, so lots of improvement to go to get back to the PRs I was setting 5 years ago. Can I do at 30 what I was achieving at 25? I think so.

Luke - 6.25

6.25mi, 49:44 (7:57)
Mile loops of 8:20, 7:59, 7:48, 7:54, and 7:48.  First three with Zack.

Chris - 3

27:25 - 9:08 pace

Ran a quick 3 mile out & back near my house. I wanted to do 4 but Jeeni and I have somewhere to go so I had to cut it a little short. Felt decent going out, but the hill I ran up after the turnaround point sapped my energy pretty good.

Luke - 15.2

15.2mi, 2:06:53 (8:20)
The Butte run, but did the 1.6-mile loop on the way back also.  My legs were pretty dead for the last three miles or so...the rest of the run they didn't feel so hot but the splits were a bit faster than usual.  I guess that's to be expected after a few days of mileage-laziness: a bit faster from being tapered, a bit out of shape from having not run enough the past five days.  The four (4) pull-ups on the way back felt pretty good though.
Splits: 12:05, 14:42, 9:01, 7:12, 8:25, 3:48, 3:18 (58:35) / 3:25, 2:41, 6:21, 5:47, 13:38 (1.6), 8:14, 15:41, 12:27.

Luke - 7.8

7.8mi, 57:21 (7:21)
1.6-mile loop in 11:54, 1.4-mile loop in 10:24.  Ran with Zack for the first ~4.5 miles.

Luke - 5

5mi, 34:34 (6:54)
Same route as Friday, but instead of doing the first half easy and the second half hard, just did a straight-up acceleration run.  Splits for bark loops in the middle of the run were 4:29 for 1k, 8:45 for 2k (forgot to take a split), and 4:15 for 1k.
There was some crazy stuff going on in Portland...a lot of the streets were closed and there were a ton of people on bikes...not racing, just doing a course.  There were booths set up all over the place for people to stop at...a lot of them were booths like you'd see at a packet pick-up for a marathon, and some were little things like lemonade stands.  In the park where I ran they had a climbing wall set up in the middle, and the whole park was crawling with people (I had to dodge them quite often).  The positive part of all of this is I got to hurdle a bunch of little "street closed" barriers.

Weekly Mileage Totals, 5/6-5/12

Luke - 40.5 (5)
Chris - 11 (3)
Steve - 9.54 (1)
Jeeni - 6 (3)
James - 1.5 (1)

68.54 miles in 13 runs by 5 runners.

James - 1.5

15:40

We are still bouncing around free gym trials so runs are haphazard. Did the same trail run as last week and god if this little distance didn't take it out of me.

Chris - 5

48:05 (9:37 pace)

Jeeni is running 10 miles this morning, so I did the first 5 with her. Felt fairly good - ran a nice easy pace. Only stopped two or three times to stretch and argue =)

Luke - 5

5mi, 33:27 (6:41)
Was up in Portland for the weekend, where I don't know all the places to run.  Ran from where I was staying ~2km to a park where there was a ~1km bark loop, ran it four times, and went back the same way.  Went easy on the way out and for the first two loops, then picked it up for the last two loops and on the way home.  Splits on the bark loop were 4:47, 4:41, 3:50, and 3:36.

By the way, bark trails outside of Eugene are inferior.  In Eugene it's bark-dust (like sawdust), and other places have bark chips like on a playground.  This particular trail was freshly-barked on half of it, so the bark chips were 3-4 inches deep and very difficult to run on.  I am so spoiled to live in Eugene...I don't think I can ever move.

Chris & Jeeni - 3

Before I write about our run, I wanted to let everyone know that I looked at my spreadsheet and got the total for my miles in 2011 - 609.51! Pretty awesome!

27:59 (9:19 pace)
Both of us were really tired again but made ourselves go run. I felt better once I was running.

Luke - 2.25

2.25mi, 20:07 (8:56)
A mile loop in 8:53.  Felt terrible, mostly from being tired, but got out the door since Zack was running.  Was gonna do four loops, but I was pretty much just falling forward the entire time and it didn't seem to be doing me any good so I went home and went to bed.  SLEEP IS IMPORTANT GUYS

Luke - 11.75

11.75mi, 95:08 (8:05)
Drove up to the Fox Hollow parking lot and ran West to where the trail ends at Blanton, then turned around and went pretty dang hard for what was pretty much the first 10k of the Ridgeline Ramble course, then did the 1.6-mile loop easy.  My legs and breathing felt decent for the hard portion, but my stomach was giving me trouble off and on.  My gastroenterologist hasn't figured out what's wrong with me and told me to take Immodium a half hour before my run, and if that doesn't work, he said we'd "talk about [me] running less."  (I'm not gonna do that.)  The Immodium hasn't exactly worked, but it has made things different, so I'm trying to figure out if I can take a certain amount at a certain time and figure out a way to make it work.  Anyway on the run my ascent of Fox Hollow was 8:09, which is decent after 5+ miles hard.
Yesterday I was going to run twice but on my morning run my ankles were kinda feeling weak and then at work my shin was hurting, so I decided it would be prudent to not go too crazy on the mileage, and I instead watched the Mariners somehow win a baseball game.

Chris & Jeeni - 3

26:55 (?? pace)

The hoffman calculator isn't working and I'm not at home so I don't know what our exact pace was. Felt alright on the run. A bit tired and sluggish but that wasn't from the running. I finally walked to the library yesterday and got a library card and checked out a book by Lee Child called '61 Hours'. I love the Jack Reacher novels so I'm excited to read this one. I also randomly saw 'Once A Runner' while I was looking for my book. Yay for running!

Luke - 5.5

5.5mi, 50:48 (9:14)
Rexius without the mile on the far end, super-early.  Felt (and was) slow.

Steve - 9.54

Today was this Nike mile challenge thing. My legs didn't feel great and it was super hot out. There was like 25 people running in the sub 6 minute group. As soon as we started I went right to the back. There were lots of fast people. I hit the first lap in 81ish. Felt OK. I passed a few people in the next 200 but it started getting pretty hard. My next lap was slower, not quite sure what the split was. I tried to pick it up after 800 and passed a few more people. Just tried to alive in the next 400 to get to the ball lap. I hit 1200 in about 4:08. I knew 5:20 was basically out of the window. I tried to surge but the legs didn't have much juice. Finally got the last 100m and tried to kick as a bunch of kids that I had passed were kicking for the final 100 as well. I think 4 of us finished at about the same time. I hit the line in 5:32 high. Kind of disappointed but I think my legs were pretty beat from my 10-miler on the bark yesterday and I was kind of dehydrated too. Or I am just not in as good of shape as I thought/hoped. Afterwards, I ran 5 miles.

Luke - 16

16mi, 2:07:53 (7:59)
Ran up to Hendricks Park and met up with eight other runners for an easy long run.  We took the Ribbon Trail to Spring Street, then took Ridgeline to Fox Hollow, came down and took Rexius and Amazon to the high school, then took streets back to where we started.  I did about 3.5 miles from my house to where we met and back, and the other ~12.5 with the group.  Overall it was not too hard, but the last mile or so my stomach was hurting a bit.  Legs should be fine by tomorrow; I'm hoping to get after the mileage pretty well this week (and next).

Weekly Mileage Totals, 4/29-5/5

Luke - 74.5 (9)
Steve - 32.47 (4)
Chris - 6 (2)
James - 3 (2)

115.97 miles in 17 runs by 4 runners.

Luke - 4.25

4.25mi, 34:05 (8:01)
Mile loops of 8:14, 8:03, and 7:58.

Steve - 10

85:50 (8:35 My watch died about 4 miles in so time is approximate. I hadn't charged it for awhile. I was running on the bark trail in Manhattan Beach so I at least I had the mileage markers for guidance. I was glad to get up to double digits for the first time in a few months. I have done some 9.x runs lately but for some reason I had a hard time getting myself to 10. It's tough to do on this trail because a full out-and-back is 7.5. So I have to add in 2.5 miles by repeating portions of the run. I never want to do it at the end of the run so this time I did a mini out-and-back in the middle of the run. It's pretty hot this weekend. When I got back to my car which I stupidly parked in the sun, my phone had a message saying it was too hot to use and I had to lower the temperature. Anyway tomorrow I'm running in this mile contest thing in Santa Monica. I plan to run about 5:20. We'll see.

Luke - 10

Cinco De Mayo Five 5-Miler, 27:55 (1st place)
At the Bring In Spring 5k one of my prizes was comped entry into this race...I was gonna give it to Zack but he had to be in Portland this weekend and wasn't sure he wanted to do a race anyway...so I went ahead and ran it.  There was a 5k and a 5-mile, and I decided to do the latter because I figured it'd be less pressure and I'd be able to get more miles in.  I was able to get about 2.5 miles of warmup and the same for cooldown feeling pretty good this morning.  At the start I saw Orestes Gutierrez, who was doing the 5k, and this fast guy Alex Jones who has done a bunch of races lately with results like 15:15 5k, 31:30 10k, and 70' half-marathon.  I talked to him a little before the race and he said he'd be doing the 5-miler, so I figured I wouldn't end up with a win today.
At the start Alex took off like a shot; I think he was shooting for 5:00 pace.  I ran just behind Orestes for the first ~200m, and then he pulled away a bit.  Another guy in an orange Saucony jersey came up and passed me at about a quarter-mile in, but after about a half mile of hanging out a couple seconds behind him I was able to pass him and pull away a bit.  The course went out on the bike path for just over a mile, then took a right to do an out-and-back over a bridge; the 5k went back the exact same way while the 5-miler took a right where the 5kers went left, and did another out-and-back.  Coming over the bridge I tried to get closer to Orestes but didn't quite make it; and I saw Alex (and gave him a high five) coming back pretty far ahead and looking fast.  As I got back to the turnoff I tried to look ahead to the 5-mile course to see how much distance Alex had on me, but didn't see him.  There were some volunteers with water telling people to go left for the 5k and right for the 5-mile, and as I made the right turn one of them said, "You're the leader."  I said, "What?" and kept going, and wasn't sure if Alex had taken a wrong turn accidentally or on purpose, or if the guy was wrong, or what.  I was all alone heading to the turnaround, and after about 3/4 of a mile I was wondering if I might've missed a chalk arrow on the ground, as sometimes these races aren't super-well-marked.  Finally I spotted some chalk on the ground, and I almost turned around at it while wondering why it was an E, and then realized it was a 3 from the other direction and the turnaround was another ~200m up ahead.  When I turned around I of course hadn't seen Alex so I knew he hadn't done the 5-mile; the next runner was about thirty seconds behind me.  My first mile was 5:13; I didn't see the second mile marker but my split was 11:13 at three miles, so I had slowed down a bunch (probably because there was no one for me to try to catch or try to hold off).  Fourth mile was 5:43, a fine effort, nothing too taxing.  As I came around the last corner to the finish there was a 5k runner who looked like he'd finish in front of me, so I gave a good kick and just barely got him at the line...I know he's not competition or anything, but it's always good to have a body there to try and get in front of.  My last mile was another 5:43.
I talked to Alex after the race and he had apparently just decided at like a mile and a half in to do the 5k?  Said something about there being too many turns?  It was kind of a weird conversation.  Anyway for the win I got a $20 gift card to JC Penny, and of course a medal.  I saw this morning that Blue Dog Meadery was one of the sponsors so I was really hoping the winners would get a bottle of mead, but alas that was not the case.  They had a couple piñatas hanging on the start/finish arch, and Alex and I each got to whack them with a baseball bat...they were filled with candy and a rolled-up comped entry into a Memorial Day race, and kids and adults scrambled for it all when they exploded.  I took a few pieces of candy on my way out; also they gave everyone an awesome chocolate bar when we picked up our race numbers, so some nice sweets to start off the day.
results

Luke - 6.5

6.5mi, 53:16 (8:11)
Rexius without the top mile, and then a mile loop in 7:53 on the way home.  Also did three (3) pull-ups.  Ran at 10pm; I would have gone sooner but I was busy doing important things like eating chips and watching Sherlock.

Luke - 5.5

5.5mi, 42:47 (7:46)
1.4-mile loop of Pre's Trail in 11:10.  Easy morning run, felt pretty sluggish.

Luke - 10.7

10.7mi, 84:11 (7:52)
Did the Fox-Hollow-plus-1.6 run, but added the extra little hill plus stream crossing before going up Fox Hollow.  Ran with Zack for the first ~3.5mi, and then went hard for up Fox Hollow, the 1.6-mile loop, and down Fox Hollow before coming back easy.  Going up I didn't get a complete split because of the added section leading into it, but it would have been about 7:45.  Coming down was 5:57.  Stomach hurt on the last couple miles, when I was going easy.

James - 1.5

16:22

Without the gym membership hanging over me, insisting I should use it, I was back on the trail. Around 8pm, barely starting to go dark when I'm done, beautiful. No great new distance but getting a bit faster.

Luke - 7.8

7.8mi, 58:06 (7:26)
1.6-mile loop in 12:07, 1.4-mile loop in 10:24.  With Zack.

Chris - 3

29:07 - 9:42 pace

Ok I'm starting to get tired of running so friggin slow. I'll be doing 4 or 5 miles on Saturday with Jeeni so hopefully that will go well.

Steve - 7

52:10 (7:24) Ran all on concrete which I hate. But that's what the group was doing. So the time is naturally faster than usual. Last 2 miles were 6:57. Probably should have run a bit slower cuz I didn't feel great.

Luke - 7.75

7.75mi, 64:33 (8:19)
Drove up to Dillard Road and parked at the Ridgeline trailhead.  Took it West to Fox Hollow at a decent clip, then descended Fox Hollow pretty dang fast.  Took the extra loop up a hill, over a stream, and on the road for a second before heading back up Fox Hollow.  The ascent was 7:56, which is definitely decent, and was especially hard directly after the fast previous mile and a half.  Continued back East towards Dillard at a slightly more reasonable effort.  Saw someone way up ahead, and wasn't sure if it was a bicyclist or not, but then saw another flash of their green jacket and could tell they were running, probably about the same speed as me.  I picked it up to try and catch him or her, but didn't quite make it in the ~half-mile before the trail split and they went the opposite way as me.  When I got back to Dillard I stopped for a minute and was like, "Oh my, I can't breathe."  Felt like I'd done a lot more than the 4ish I'd actually done.  But because I am not weak I did not get back in my car; I instead headed down the road and then went up Mount Baldy and down the other side, then took a bunch of random trails on the side of the hill before coming back up Dillard and finishing up.

Steve - 6.25

Track workout. Finally did a real track workout instead of a tempo run since I'm trying to do either tempo or fartlek on Saturday from now on. Working out with a group that was doing 3x(1200, 400r, 400, 150r). It's actually kind of a tough workout. I managed 4:27, 4:29, 4:27 for the 1200s. For the 400s I managed 78, 80, 80. Felt OK, had to push a bit on the tail end of the 1200s. I'm running a mile race on the track this weekend. Nike is doing some event in Santa Monica and I want to see what I can do. There should be 15-20 people or so running sub 6 pace. I'm gonna shoot for 5:20. That would be 80 second 400s. I think I should be able to do that. I kind of had my mind on that during the workout as I didn't want to run any slower than 80 for 400, but not too much faster either. 400, 400, 400, 450