Thursday, November 20, 2008

Been a while

Wow, no posts since May. Guess I should post something. Daughter Kelsey didn't ride STP with me, but I rode with some other friends and it worked out okay. I didn't run a single ultra over the summer and struggled to run essentially two 10k's and a 5k as a part of the Ragnar relay. My left hip continues to be a pain and my enthusiasm for running still isn't back.

On the other hand, I have been doing some woodworking and have added to the tool collection in the garage. At this rate, we will never fit a car in the garage.

Daughter Kelsey walked for the Central Washington XC team and ended up running with the varsity. They had a small team and also some injuries, but she worked her way up to the top five any case. Daughter #2 Meghan is now engaged and will be married next July, after graduating from WWU in June.

Life continues, even without much running.

Monday, May 26, 2008

Got Wheels

Well, I backed down from the 50 mile to the 50k at Mt. Si. It was a wimp out, but the right thing for me to do, given my mileage. That is old news at this point in time. I have slipped back into not running once again, but am putting in some hard work in the spinning classes and spending some time on my bike. I also purchased a road bike for #3 daughter as a HS graduation present. She hopes to ride STP with me in July as a one day ride. Today we one lap of the Lake Stevens Half Iron Man bike course - about 30 miles for our total ride in around two hours, give or take. The course has some good hills, so Kelsey got an honest workout. We'll see if she can pull things together for STP in a month and a half or not.
Along with the 30 today, I road a significantly faster 55 Saturday that also included some decent hill work. I seem to have a bit more enthusiasm for the biking than the running, at any rate. That's all for now.

Saturday, April 05, 2008

It will be ugly

Having managed to finish Chuckant, I had hoped to up my mileage in preparation for the Mt. Si 50 mile run. It hasn't happened. Work has been in a major upheaval and my running has been inconsistent. Worst of all, I haven't been able to fit in the long runs necessary to build my "time on my feet" endurance. And to add insult to injury, I have come down with a nasty cold. So, instead of being out for a long run this morning, I am sitting here with a box of tissues and a fountain for a nose. This will be my 10th run at Mt. Si and all but last year have been the 50 mile distance, so I want to stick with the 50 again this year. Good friends Carol O'Hear and Mark Hartinger will not be running this year. Probably for the best, I expect to be walking quite a bit. I just hope the weather is decent and the usual assortment of other friends are present.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Mud but no rain at Chuckanut

After DNF-ing last year with a poor attitude, I finished this year's run in a personal worst time of 5:44:52. This is 15 minutes slower than my previous slowest time and 53 minutes off my course PR. I'm not surprised by the time, nor really disappointed; I simply haven't been running enough to have any endurance. My calves were cramping quite a bit on the downhills and I never felt smooth or comfortable when running. Part of that was due to my footwear selection - my trail shoes had the soles falling off and I wore an old pair of road shoes. I should have looked to see how bad the tread was when selecting the shoes. There was nearly no tread left under the balls of my feet or the heels. This didn't help my progress in the mud, either uphill or down.

Enough negativity. I got to see and chat with a great number of my running friends and ran a fairly smart run, given my current fitness level. On the important score card, I got multiple hugs from Krissy, Olga, Ronda, Karen, Cheri, Chris, and Christel. I hope I haven't forgotten anyone. You can see I had my priorities straight. I also left my watch in the car and had no idea of my time until I crossed the finish line. Glenn T. was everywhere on the course and took several photos that actually look like I was running. This photo is one of his. Next up - Mt. Si for my 10th running of the event. I hope to have my miles up a bit before the 50 miler. After logging my race, I realized that this was my 80th marathon or ultra and my 9th running at Chuckanut (with 8 finishes).

Monday, February 25, 2008

Invest in Youth Fund Run Results


The fifth annual running benefitted from some of the best weather conditions yet. We had 28 runners finish at least a marathon in the 6 hour time slot. Fred Johnson edged out Tony C for top honors in the last half hour of running. Both ran over 40 miles, but Fred finished about 5 minutes ahead of tc. Linda Barton was top finisher for the women; completing a 50k in 5:29.