Monday, May 17, 2010

Watershed #3 - Still no 12 hour

This was my third running at the Watershed Preserve 12 hour race. Some day I may actually have to stay for the full 12 hours. In 2006, I ran 7 loops in 5:43:05. In 2007, I ran 6 loops in 5:02:01. For 2010, I wasn't sure even during the race how long or how far I was going to go. After completing every step of the marathon distance with good friend Mark Hartinger (and most of that with Michael Cartwright also adding the the general fun and mayhem), Mark went to get his trekking poles for some practice and I started running by myself. Lap six went pretty well and I headed back out for lap seven. Glancing at my watch, I figured if I kept the pace I could finish seven laps in 6:30 or a bit under. Had to push a bit to maintain the pace, but hit the aid station in 6:27:18. At that point, I called it a day. It was good to see so many familiar faces and to spend over four and a half hours running with Mark. I'm still waffling some about Cascade Crest, but I did just send in my entry for Blanchard Mt. Guess I'll keep running for a bit longer.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Not enough miles, not enough motivation

After a decent two loop run at Lord Hill on May 1st, I spent the next week out of town and not running. 12 hour days at a business expo don't offer much opportunity to fit in even a treadmill run. A weekend with one day spent at the UW track as a spectator and the other day being Mother's Day meant a zero mileage total for the weekend.
I am still struggling with the knowledge of how many miles I need to log to be capable of running Cascade Crest at the end of August. Just can't get excited about committing my summer to running and not having much time to do anything else. The Watershed 12 hour run is this Saturday. I would like to complete 50 miles in well under 10 hours. Not sure if this is practical given my current fitness level, but we will see how things go.