I ran today! (5 miles)

I have not run in a month. I have been staying up too late and not getting up early enough for a run. The weather has been good. I have missed some great days for running. I have been working on my website and brainstorming ideas with little to show for it. I was hoping it would be up and running over a month ago, but my web guy has not had time to work on it and I am hoping to take over the work myself very soon. I did have a friend work on a logo and finalized a domain name and here it is (yes that is me in the logo)!
When I take time off from running, even a month off, I start to think about "the good times" meaning when I was running well and really fit. It wasn't too long ago, only a little over a year ago, that I PR'd at the marathon distance and 10 mile distance, and ran my first ultra. The key to these PRs was the training that was happening a year before that. It was maybe the best year of running that I have ever had. It started with the training and build up for my 30 mile run on my 30th birthday. I started really training for that in May 2009 after the OC half marathon (1:27:22). I slowly built up my mileage and ran 30 miles in just over 4 hours for my 30th birthday. I continued to consistently build on that base with my wife as we ran the Twin Cities Marathon in October 2009, and even more intense after that for California International Marathon where I PR'd (2:57:11). I took it easy for a month after that and started really putting in some long miles on the trail for LD50. Two weeks before that race I PR'd at the Charlottesville 10 miler (62:01). I went on to meet my goal of a sub 9 hour race at Leona Divide 50 mile in April 2010.

The keys to this level of fitness I attained were consistent Long runs (30 mile birthday run, a spontaneous AV marathon and Twin Cities Marathon became LONG training runs), and long tempo runs. I was at the point where I was running a 10 mile tempo run at 65 minutes.

I am far from that level of fitness right now. Like I said before, I have not run in a month and minimal running this year. I finally got out for a run today. I left the house at 6:45am and ran 5 miles (down to Lane Park, two laps, and back). It was so much harder than it should have been. I hate that first run back, but I was glad to be back. One good thing about time off is that those little nagging injuries have more time to heal. My right calf felt really good today. I rewarded myself by wearing a brand new pair of ASICS 2150s that have been waiting for me in my closet.

We spent the early afternoon at the beach (pictures to come soon).

Shout out to my friend and colleague Ron Gallagher, who was quoted in an article in the most recent Triathlete Magazine in an article on compression garments.

10 mile easy run

I was suprised how good I felt this morning. Only mild soreness after 20 miles yesterday, my longest run since LD50! I figured a 6 mile run would help loosen up the legs a bit. It took about a mile warm up and I felt great! I ended up running to Clay's house at around 1:00pm and thought I would check to see if anyone needed to get a run in today. Kendall was at the door and said that Clay was ASLEEP but Zac was there and he joined me without any hesitation! We ran another 4 miles together and I showed him my 800 loops off of 65th west. I dropped him off back at his house and started running home. It was at this moment that my legs started to tell me they were done, especially my right calf. No pain just complete fatigue. I made it home for a total of 10 miles in somewhere around 80 minutes. That is 40 miles in the past 3 days!

4 mile recovery run in the fog

I woke up this morning to a thick fog! I didn't have much time but I had to go running in the fog. I could barely see down my street. I ran down to Lane Park, around Joe Walker, and home for 4 easy recovery miles. My right hip is tired. I will need some more easy miles this week.

9 mile marathon pace fast finish run

If I don't get out first thing in the morning it is tough to get out for a run later in the day. We have busy weekends and today was no different. I didn't feel like getting up at 5 am so I slept in and got up with the kids (6:45). Andi went for a run while I stayed with the boys and followed the Las Vegas Half Marathon and California International Marathon that were run today. Ron PR'd in the half marathon with a time of 2:03:30 (A PR by 3.5 minutes and a course best by 10 minutes!) Way to go Ron! David Weary ran CIM in 3:45 (10 minutes off a BQ), he went out in 1:45 but came back in 2:00. Must have been a rough second half. With CIM this weekend that means it is one year since my marathon PR at CIM 2009 (2:57:11)! That is an awesome race, very competitive! This year there were 292 runners under 3 hours and 32 under 2:30! 10 of those sub 3 hour runners were in the 50-54 AG and 9 in the 55-59 AG! I am close to that sub 3 shape right now I think just less long runs. Looking forward to some 20 milers in the next two months in preparation for Surf City!

So I didn't get out this morning, we went to church, then ran a few errands and got home around 1:00pm. I had about an hour and a half to run and get ready for our afternoon in Acton (Santa was out there!), and we had dinner at my sister-in-laws. My plan was to do 10 easy since my calf was pretty tired after yesterday. After looking at the clock I realized that I didn't have time to do 10 easy, so I planned on 8 and left the house. It started sprinkling just as I left, and with no wind the rain felt nice and cool. I decided my Ranco Vista Loop was a good plan (7.5 miles) but as I started up 45th my legs felt pretty good. I decided to keep up the pace (which was now around 7:15/mi to Hillview MS and then see how I felt. After Hillview it is downhill so I eased up but still maintained 7:00/mi pace. Now I was down on 30th and still cruising along. I decided, "what the heck," and just kept pushing. When I got back to N and 50th I turned left and went up to 55th, down to M-8 and back home to finish 9 miles in a little heavier rain in 62:53 (sub 7:00/mi pace). My calf felt fine. The rain still hasn't let up. Today's workout was faster and longer than the last time I did a similar workout.

Splits 7:33, 7:13, 7:13, 7:22, 6:58, 6:55, 6:47, 6:35, 6:19.

It probably wasn't the smartest decision but I would have dialed back if I didn't feel as good as I did. I get into that same mileage obsession that many people get into sometimes that can just lead down a bad path. The idea that I have to do more, like one more mile is really going to matter. Sometimes the easier pace with less miles may be better in the long run (literally and figuratively). In other words, sometimes the time spent is more important than the distance. I ran pretty hard Thursday and Saturday so was it ok to run at MP today? Maybe, maybe not. We'll see how this week goes. Honestly 7:30 pace feels pretty easy right now.

I have heard other runners and coaches talk about the idea of "callousing," or how running tough workouts toughens us up. I like that idea. The idea that running hard workouts will possibly delay the feelings of fatigue or at least make me more used to those feelings and be able to push through them. Here are some workouts that I think are good at "callousing."

Long Tempo Runs, Threshold Runs, Fast Finish Long Runs, Progression Runs. These runs make me work at a high percentage of my aerobic threshold for a long time, especially toward the end of the run and often, like today, I negative split the workout! Work hard and run fast when I am tired! I love those workouts.

24 miles for the weekend.

Next weekend I'll be following Clay and Dale at the Santa Monica 10k and Chuck at the Rocket City Marathon. Good Luck you guys!

Snow at 3000ft!

My house sits at about 2600ft elevation. I awoke this moring to snow dusted hills just above the aqueduct. I decided to run up there and check it out. It was still very cold and windy. When I got to the aqueduct (3000ft elev.) I did find some snow but mostly a heavy frost over most of the hills. Look at the left side of the picture between the houses. I took the dirt side of the aqueduct and caught the trail up to the Joshua Ranch Trail where there was definitely snow. The trail was covered with half snow, half heavy frost which froze the dirt underneath and made the ground hard instead of muddy. It was even colder and windier at the top. I paused long enough to enjoy the view and start freezing my hands before I headed back home. I got back in just under an hour for a total of 7 miles. It was too cold to be out there much longer. Us west coasters are wimps in the cold!

FYI: The Garmin Forerunner 305 (the watch that I use) is on sale at Walmart.com for $99 bucks! A steal!

Check this out: A 91 year old woman who competes in all track and field events and owns many world records for 90+ age group. Watch her thow the javelin and hammer! Amazing!

Santa Clarita Half Marathon (1:23:25) 15th place!

This picture was taken at sunrise on Saturday morning, again from my front door!

The Santa Clarita Half Marathon was this Sunday morning. Clay had talked about running on Friday at work but, when I didn't hear from him on Saturday I figured he opted out. Then I got a text Saturday night that said, "see you at the starting line at 6:50am." I quickly replied, "Awesome!" We stayed down in Santa Clarita at a Hotel with my mom and step-dad who came out to visit and run the 5k!

The race started at 7:00am so I set my alarm for 5:30 thinking that my cell phone would automatically "fall back." I awoke to my alarm and got dressed and ready, then realized it was still dark out and no one else was up. I went back to bed for an hour, and was ready to go.

The starting temps were in the 50s! Perfect! Standing around I was wishing I had my arm warmers, but once the race started I was glad I didn't have them. My inital plan was to start conservatively at 7:00 pace for 3 miles and then pick it up depending on how my leg felt. I followed the plan, sort of.

It is hard to keep even splits at the beginning of the race. There were way too many slower runners up at the front and I'm sure I elbowed a few people just trying to break free the first quarter mile. The entire first mile is uphill and the second mile is down hill. My splits there were 6:37 and 6:22. This was not 7:00 pace but every time I looked at my watch it said around 6:30 pace and it felt very comfortable so I continued on.

The next 4 miles are fairly flat and the splits were 6:18, 6:13, 6:19, 6:22. I got a few sharp zingers of pain in my calf during these miles and forced myself to hold back. Looking back, I am amazed that I was able to hold this kind of pace during these miles. When I felt the calf I started to think, "oh boy here we go again." After that I didn't get any sharp pain the rest of the race.

It was at this point where the race really started to get fun. A female runner caught up to me and I tried to stay with her for a while but felt like I was pushing a little to hard and fell back. This portion of the race is slightly up hill to mile 9, then you turn back down the other side of the wash and run downhill to the finish. After about a half mile I caught up with this same girl and we were running stride for stride. I find myself running with women at some of these marathons and half marathons because they tend to be really good at keeping an even pace. Looking ahead I could see two other female runners. We passed one quickly and the other was farther up ahead. It was then that I said to her, "that girl is coming back to us, lets go get her" and we slowly reeled her in just before the nine mile mark. Miles 7 to 9 were 6:24, 6:25, 6:22 and I said, "If we can make it to mile 9 we have some downhill waiting for us."

I was taking gatorade about every three miles and felt good about it. I carried two gels but did not use either one. We were really cruising down hill and there were people on the course cheering for this girl running with me, "Go Holly!" "You are the first girl!" I tried to make sure she stayed with me. We had passed the last girl really strong and I knew we were quite a ways ahead. Miles 10 and 11 were 6:04 and 6:08 and Holly was really breathing hard. I told her, "relax and settle down, we still have 3 miles to go!" At one point to keep her motivated I ran through and aid station yelling, "Go Holly!" and pointing behind me. All the kids there started yelling, "Go Holly!" It was awesome.

With two miles to go Holly started to fade and I was getting pretty tired. We had gone through the 10 mile mark at 63:26! At this point I was trying to hold on myself and would occasionally yell, "c'mon Holly" behind me. The last mile is tough because you have to go over 2 bridge walkways before the finish. My last two mile splits were 6:14 and 6:26 for a final time of 1:23:25 (avg pace 6:22). I turned around to see Holly finish behind me as the first female finisher in 1:23:46! When the official results were put online I found her name Holly Kopp and after a quick "google" found that she is from Alaska, 19 years old, and runs cross country for The Masters College in Santa Clarita! Congratulations Holly!

I was very pleased with my time. I was 4th in my age group (tough age group). I remember a man calling out places at about the 5 mile mark and I was 35th, I ended up 15th! I was hoping to just break 1:26. After reading this some of you may not believe me when I complain about my calf and that it is only 90% but it really does not feel equal to the left side. I did not have the strength there to push in the last mile and was passed by a runner at the finish line. Normally I would not let that happen. I have learned how to manage the calf tightness over the past month. It is more sore and definitely tighter than the left right now.

Here is what the mile splits look like together. 6:37, 6:22, 6:18, 6:13, 6:19, 6:22, 6:24, 6:25, 6:22, 6:04, 6:08, 6:14, 6:26.

I saw Clay finish in 1:40 and was suprised to see David Weary finishing right with him! Sounds like they had a fun race together too.

My father-in-law Don Crane finished (with a cold) in just under 2:06, good for 6th out of 23 for males 60-64! Nice work Don!

My mom and brother-in-law both finished the 5k in 31 minutes, and my step-dad Brad who was competing on the 2nd anniversary of his back surgery, finished the 5k in 49:28 (a PR by over 10 minutes!)


My pal Ron Gallagher fought some nasty headwinds on the bike at the Silverman half ironman but finished faster than last year in 8:08!


The New York Marathon was this morning and the highlight for the US was Shalane Flanagan's debut in 2:28:40 for a 2nd place finish and US Marathon Champion! She is one tough cookie! See her post race interview here.
Meb was 6th and Dathan was 8th, but the big news for the men was that world record holder Haile Gebrselassie dropped out at mile 16 and, in a post race press conference, retired from competitive racing. It was an emotional announcement and a sad day for the running community.

6 miles yesterday!

I did get out for a run yesterday. I was sore from hitting the trails hard on Saturday. It was definitely a recovery run at 9:00 pace again. After about 3 miles my right calf started to talk to me again. It was whispering but still talking so I slowed even more. I couldn't figure out why until I remembered that I rolled the same ankle Saturday. The sun was right in my face and I raised my hand to block it when I missed a step and rolled it. My peroneals are still sore today so I think my calf had to do some extra work causing some tightness. It is fine today, besides the peroneal soreness. Sunday was one of those runs you just want to be over with, until I got home and saw this sunrise! This picture was taken from my front door!

Race Results: Keira Henninger won the Diablo 50k in a female course record this weekend in 5:38:16! Congratulations Keira! She was the second overall finisher.

If anyone was planning on running next year's Boston Marathon, I hope you signed up today, because registration started this morning at 9:00 am and they filled the 25,000+ slots by 5:00 pm! Read the RW article on this record closure.

8 mile aqueduct run with Dale and Clay

Dale and I set up a 5:45 am meeting time at 60th and the aqueduct this morning. The plan was 7-8 miles. There was another car up there but I didn't take any notice. Dale showed up soon after, we got our headlamps on and walked out to the asphalt side and someone was walking towards us. It was Clay, so all three of us headed east toward Highland. It was a beautiful morning (see pictures below). The sun started to come up as we made the turn back. Dale and I picked it up for the two middle miles. My splits were 7:10 and 7:30. My right calf started to tighten right at the 5 mile mark and I slowed down and took it easy on the way back.

Total mileage for September was 67 (I only ran 11 days this month), which brings my 2010 mileage to 999!

Good luck to Chuck Fieland this weekend as he attempts a marathon double with the New Hampshire and Maine Marathons on back to back days.

Good luck to Sergio Reyes at the USA men's marathon championships at the Twin Cities Marathon on Sunday.

Side note: I saw that Ed Whitlock (who ran two sub 3 hour marathons over the age of 70) just ran the Toronto Half Marathon in 1:34 at the young age of 79!

Finally, Thirsty Thursdays with Jack Daniels are back on Flotrack. Check out this week's segment.

Good thing I got my run in this morning!

I got in an easy 7 miles this morning. It was a beautiful morning with no wind. I wish I could have gone longer. I was just starting to loosen up from my Tuesday track workout when I had to turn home. I ran my 3 hill tour of Quartz Hill, zig-zagging back home from L-8 and 70th.



By the afternoon the view from my front door looked like this.

And by night fall the same view looked like this.

The wind is blowing the smoke and fire to the east. We actually have clear skies above us right now. They have evacuated homes in Palmdale to the southeast of us. It is scary and sad to watch. It is burning some of the trails I have run above the aqueduct.

Track workout #2 (6 x 800m)

I was able to get to the High Desert Runners interval night tonight. Clay's workout was 6x800m and he wanted Zac to run 2:45s. I was unsure weather or not I could hang with that time. Two weeks ago when I ran the same workout I only ran that fast on the last 800m of the workout. It was extremely windy tonight. I ran to Joe Walker from my house (1.5 miles), then did another 1.5 miles while I waited for everyone to arrive. I was picking it up on the back stretch of each lap (with the wind) and noticed that I was hitting exactly 20 seconds each time. When everyone arrived we did some warm up drills and then started the workout. I talked Zac into taking turns leading so we each got to draft for one lap of each 800. The first 800 was a warm up that I lead in 2:54. Then we dropped the hammer down. The next two were 2:40 and the last three were around 2:42! The last three got progressively harder to maintain pace on the second lap. I haven't run that fast in a long time. Zac started to have foot pain again on the last 800, my advice was to call it for the day and take a few days off. I cooled down by running home for a total of 9 miles today. I expect some soreness tomorrow.

I came home to this sunset!

I found a new blog from UVA where I attended a Running Medicine Seminar this past April. The blog is uvaendurosport.wordpress.com check it out. There is some excellent running articles here. A MUST READ!

Finally, this week Andrew Wheating ran 3:30.9 1500m (a 7 second PR and 5th fastest US 1500m ever) in Monaco! Check out this webpage with the race video and post race interview. It is a great interview because Wheating is so excited about his performance. How does one of the top 1500m runners in the country PR by 7 SECONDS? WILL POWER! ABSOLUTE WILL POWER!
"Make it one lap, lets go for one more. Once more around, I'm still in this. Third lap, LET'S DO THIS! Before you know it there's 300 to go and this is the best part of the race, LET'S GO!"

"It's friendly...it's always what can we do to better each other, its never I'm gonna kick your butt."
--Andrew Wheating on international track & field competition


Hard things take time to do. Impossible things take a little longer.
--Percy Cerutty, an athletics coach in the 1950s and 1960s


Don't be concerned with what you can't do. Work on what you can do - then count your blessings.
--Alan Robinson, 56-year-old partially paralyzed marathon runner


It takes patience to become the best runner you can be. Top athletes realize that running is a long-term sport. It is set up for people who value delayed gratification and who like hard-earned success.
--Anthony Famiglietti, two-time Olympian and six-time national champion

HDR Cross Country Co-ed Relay Night

I didn't want my first mile of the day to be in the race, and I was stiff from my track workout yesterday, so I got in an easy 3 miles this morning. Boy was that a good idea. It wasn't pretty, but I felt so much better afterward.

It was the hottest day of the year so far out here. My car read as high as 109 degrees this afternoon. It was also very "muggy," and the sky was dark to the east. Andi and I left for Pelona Vista Park and got sprinkled on as we were driving. Our team for the co-ed relay consisted of Andi, me, and Zac Patten (Team Valley PT), and after talking with Clay at work, we decided that we could be in the top 5. Before the race the air was very thick and we could hardly see the mountains to the south. It got windy just in time for the race. Andi lead off our team with a solid first mile in around 6:48 putting us somewhere around 15th place. I chose the middle mile that contains the "killer hill" because I feel very confident running up the hill and closing hard. I picked off about 5 people by the top of the hill and another 2 or three on the back stretch. I didn't get an exact split but estimate it to be about 5:55 and handed off to Zac. He picked off a few more runners to finish in 5th place with a team time of 18:56! We were the first team to finish with non-high school team members. Certainly the first team with two members over 30! Thanks to Zac for running with us old folks! It was a lot of fun. Zac's teammates won the relay in a relay record, some were around 17:19! See Clay's blog for more pictures.

Total miles for the day was 5.

The weather continued to be very humid but the wind stopped right after the race (of course) and was calm all evening. After watching the news, it was lots worse in other areas. Palmdale got dumped on with flash floods, and there are three fires from lightning near Hemet. Here is a picture from my front door (looking west) of the clouds and sunset when I got home.

Beautiful morning for a 6 miler

We have had beautiful weather the past two mornings. I took a picture from my front door again to brag to all my mid-west readers. I ran up to the aqueduct, ran a bit up there and then back home for 6 miles in about 46 minutes.

I found this video by coach Jay interviewing one of his athletes after a workout before the Gate River 15k this weekend. It made me think about how long it takes a runner to be able to do certain workouts by feel. I was talking with Bob at the running clinic about running recovery runs "by feel." I have been running since I was 12 (18 years now) and just in the last two years have I felt more confident about a good sense of pacing. Growing up in high school I was always the one my coach went to in workouts when the pace was off. I have always been good at pacing others to PRs or certain splits in workouts. Only recently have I felt more confidence in running at threshold pace and marathon pace and knowing how hard I can push for how long. I think it takes many years and tens of thousands of miles to perfect this, and I am far from perfect. Running intervals on a track at different paces certainly helps. Also, sometimes leaving the watch and the ipod at home on a hard workout, and listening to your body's natural cues, can be very enlightening.

Renee Metivier Baillie on training from CoachJayJohnson on Vimeo.

By the way Sergio Reyes is also running at the USA 15k championships at the Gate River Run in Jacksonville, FL tomorrow. I will post results when I get them.

Finally, there is an event in Las Vegas tomorrow that I would love to try next year called "Scale the Strat." It is a race up the stair well, 108 stories, to the top of the Stratosphere Tower. Prelims Saturday and a top-50 final on Sunday. I think I could be competitive.

12 mile long run (1:31:07)

Clay was right on with his post today. It was a glorious day to run. Andi got out for a run in the morning and I left at around 1 pm to go while the boys were napping. I had planned on at least an hour but as I ran that ETA got longer and longer. In planning for the LD50 I have decided to try and make as many runs on hilly routes has possible. Today my goal was to go long and hit as many hills in Quartz Hill as possible. The temperatures at 1 pm were just warm enough to go with shorts and a short-sleeved shirt. I set my Ipod shuffle and started out UP N to the top. After that I went UP M to the end and got on some of the dirt roads that looped back around to L-8. I turned back toward home at L and 72nd and zig-zagged UP 70th, UP 65th, and UP 60th. I realized I would be just over 10 miles if I ran back home so I decided to run down 55th an extra mile and turn around to finish UP 55th. 1700ft of total ascent over the 10 miles. I finished the 12 miles in 1:31:07 (avg pace 7:35), although my pace was anywhere but steady due to all the hills. Here are my mile splits: 7:46, 8:10, 7:27, 7:34, 7:17, 7:21, 7:52, 7:53, 7:36, 7:10, 7:23, 7:30.

Due to the tightness and soreness in my right foot, I decided to break out a new pair of New Balance 1224s for the run today. I have yet another new pair still waiting in the wings (I found them online at the end of last year for 40 bucks a pair; reg 130). I felt tightness and occasional sharp pains in the plantar fascia of both feet during the run, but most of the run felt great. I finished the workout with an ice bath again. The best thing about the winter...the water comes out of my hose at just the right temperature for an ice bath, no ice cubes needed.

The weather today started off crisp, clear, and sunny. It ended like this (from my front door)!

WOW!
(no photoshopping necessary)

RECOVERY

Well I finally got out for a run today to start the return to running again. Below is a picture from my front door. Not too cold out side, but poured last night. The first few steps felt ok but after a few more both of my calves felt like baseballs. They didn't cramp up they just still feel very tight. The pain did get a little better after about 1.5 miles. I stopped the run at 3 miles which took me about 30 minutes. The calves seem to be the only lagging soreness although my quads did start to fatigue after the 3 miles. My nervous system is shot! I will post more on proper recovery soon, just wanted to get a quick post in.
I leave you with this video I found. One ultrarunner's preview of the LA Marathon course.

8 mile easy run (59:43)

My left hamstring feels like it is on the verge of cramping all the time. There is some neural tension as I can also feel it in the arch of my foot. It doesn't seem to affect me too much on the run but I do feel myself compensating slightly. Running doesn't seem to make it worse.

Because of these symptoms I took it fairly easy today. It was almost like a fartlek workout as I would pick up the pace a little to test the left leg at faster speeds off and on. Average pace over 8 miles was 7:28. The afternoon sun was borderline hot! What month are we in? Here is a picture of the clouds after I finished my run. Cool!

14 mile fast finish group run!

We had a group of 8 (Me, Andi, Dawn, Clay, Dale, Chuck, Michael, and Dan) out on Saturday morning for our 14 mile fast finish run on the aqueduct at Ave. S. Well it was supposed to be a fast finish run, and some people did a great job (Dale, Dawn, Andi). I was not feeling it today from the beginning. My left calf was very tight and bothering me the whole time. I ran with Dan Ham and we did pick it up after 10 miles but not as much as we would have liked to. We averaged between 8:20 and 8:30 for the first 10 miles and then Dan and I ran 7:14, 7:21, 7:22, 7:25 for the last 4 miles slowing down a great deal on the last half mile where Dale pushed it in and caught us. Clay ran with Andi for the last 4 miles and Dawn (who ran a hard 10 with us) got on her bike to help pull Andi along as well. Their last 4 miles were 7:44, 7:54, 7:32, 7:19. Andi wasn't understanding that just because we are hoping to run 3:45 at Twin Cities that doesn't mean that 8:35 is her marathon pace. I tried to explain that based on her July 4th 5k 21:19 that her marathon pace should be 7:45 and that she did her fast finish run today perfectly, finishing with a mile at threshold pace, but I still don't think she understood. Her VDOT predicts a 3:23 marathon but she doesn't have the base mileage to pull off such a time. Also we are on vacation for the week after the marathon and would like to be able to walk around fairly normally afterward. That's ok, she is progressing beautifully. I on there other hand required two ice baths and stretching the rest of the day on my left leg. I completed the 14 miles in 1:54:10 (8:09 pace).

We are scheduled for 18 miles next weekend and are talking about driving down to Santa Clarita on Saturday and running on the Paseo for something different. Well see how my leg feels by the end of the week.

It is a good thing we ran on Saturday morning because by Saturday afternoon this was the view from my front porch.My sister in law was evacuated last night from their house in Acton, CA!

We did not run today, we were pretty tired and feared poor air quality. I also thought it best to give my left leg an extra day to recover, so I got a good core workout doing yard work!

In the National track news Dathan Ritzenhein broke the American Record in the 5k on Friday with a time of 12:56! He was third in the race behind the best in the world. Amazing! Look out Ryan Hall, that time gives him a VDOT equivalent of 2:04:13 for the marathon!

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack

Track and Field Videos on Flotrack