It ain't Chinese algebra!

AM: 10 miles on the Tigard HS loop.  Easy.

Cumulus (355) 

PM: 6 miles in Pendleton.  I ran from the hotel to the college only to find out they didn't have a track.  Next I ran to the HS and jumped on their track for a couple miles and then back to the hotel.  It's so much hotter here compared to Portland.

Boston (424)

About a week ago I signed up to run the 5000m at the Portland Track Festival this weekend.  In years past they've had two heats with the elites (low 13's to mid 14's) on Friday night and then the rest on Saturday night.  Today they released the heat list and with only 19 people signed up for the 5K, there is only 1 heat.

That sucks.  A lot.  I have no problem finishing with one of the worst times.  In fact I was planning on it.  I'd love to hit somewhere around 15:30 but that's still a full 2+ minutes behind the lead pack of runners.  I'm guessing I'll get lapped just after the 2 mile mark.  Yuck.  Anyway, out of the 19 runners, I have the 3rd slowest time.  Hopefully the 2 behind me still show up. :)

AM: 15 miles in Pendleton.  I've enjoyed running on the bike path by the river but today I ventured out east of town on some country roads.  About 8 miles outside of town I hit a section of road that had about 10 houses in both sides.  In these types of places I'm always on the lookout for dogs that rome free and aren't confined to their yard.  There was a dog at the very last house that was relaxing on its porch until it saw me and then it jumped into full flight mode and chased me a quarter mile down the road.  I was in a full sprint until it gave up the chase.

But now I had a problem.  I was 8 miles outside of a town I didn't know and as far as I could tell, the only way back to town was to return past the dog that was now sitting in the middle of the road, watching my every move and barking non-stop.  I stood there for 10 minutes before a car approached--I waved it down and asked for a ride past the dog so I could pass safely and continue my run in peace.  Thankfully the lady agreed and even commented as we drove that she was a runner, had been chased by the same dog a number of times and now runs in the opposite direction to avoid the same situation.  800 meters down the road I thanked her again, jumped out of the car and made my return to the hotel.  Fun stuff...

Lunar (310)

PM: 5 miles around Pendleton, with 3 of them on the track.  Very hot.

Boston (429)

10 miles in Pendleton.  My legs felt HEAVY. Hopefully they can bounce back before Friday night.

Lunar (320)

Just 4 miles this morning.  My legs are dead right now and I want to have something in them at the race tomorrow night.  I read last night that Nike's Dan Browne has joined the field for the 5000, along with Bernard Lagat's brother, Robert Cheseret, who has ran a 13:13 and competes for the US Army.  As of right now there are 10 guys that all run sub-14.  Needless to say, I'm looking forward to getting lapped after the first mile.

Cumulus (359)

4 miles to warm up around the Lewis and Clark campus.  I felt fine before the race--not great but not bad either.  No complaints.  I saw Dan Browne about 10 minutes before the start of the race as we were both warming up on the infield.  I said "I'll be the first guy you pass so just let me know when you see me and I'll get out of your way."  He laughed and wished me luck.  Seemed like a nice guy.

My goals going into the race were to A) smile and have fun, B) run even splits of 75/lap, C) enjoy the experience.  I'm not certain, but it seemed like there were about 20-25 runners so I lined up on the outside of the second tier.  The gun fired and soon I was near the back of the pack--perfect for what I wanted.  I think I had one guy behind me is all, but I hung closely with 4 guys ahead of me through the first 5-6 laps. 

• 74
• 74
• 74
• 75 (4:57)
• 75
• 75
• 76
• 77 (5:04, 10:01)

I was very pleased with the first mile as it didn't feel hard, nor was it easy, but it did feel manageable.  There was a bit of a headwind on the backstretch and I hesitated passing the 3 guys I was running with as we were now in no-mans land behind the elite runners (got lapped by them around the 2k mark)

• 77
• 77
• 76
• 73 (5:05, 15:06)
• 34 (15:40)

1 mile cool down barefoot at the track and then 3 miles after getting home to work out the stiffness.

Lunar (327)

I ran at the park in my five fingers.  Surprisingly, I felt really good this morning after running late last night.  No soreness, no issues.  It felt GREAT to run in these shoes after a couple weeks of not using them.

VFF (71)