7/26 run

I'm in Vegas, on a last-minute trip. Woot! I decided to put in three miles during the heat of the day, which in hindsight was a mistake. The first mile was fine - hot (96 degrees), so I got a bit winded and parched right away, but not unbearable. I ran into trouble in the second mile. I had some trouble breathing, and was clearly getting overheated, so had to walk a bit about 1.5 miles into it. I made it down the strip just fine, and then turned onto a side road for the last mile or so, at which point things went very badly. As soon as I crossed the strip, I decided to walk for a minute to catch my breath again. When I started running again, I had no strength at all in my legs - it was like running through mud. My arms had gone numb, breathing was difficult, and I was getting dizzy. Dehydration! *sigh* I wound up walking the 3/4 miles or so back to the hotel, where I deeply enjoyed re-entering air conditioning and finding some water to drink. So, I only ran about 2.1 miles, and I think it was around 23 minutes or so - didn't really pay attention and don't really care.

MMR majique:

Random musings

I've decided to make this an easy week, as my achilles' have been hurting for a week and my hamstring cramped like a bastard this morning, so I'm taking tonight off. Instead, I'll make you all suffer through whatever's inside my head!

* I want these. I really, really want them.

* What's with the Chinese women and their distance running program? In the mid '90's, they were breaking records - by mind-boggling margins - always in Beijing or Shanghai. Then they just disappeared. Look at the 3000-meter world record. See how far ahead of everyone else Junxia is? Just not possible by legal means, sorry. It's WAY too fishy. Same with the 10,000 - a record set, again, by Junxia in Beijing, 5 days before she ran an impossibly fast 3000! I just don't buy it, and it sounds like there were performance-enhancing drugs involved. Huh. Fancy that.

* I look forward to the women's 10,000 at the Olympics sooooo much. Flanagan and Goucher pushing the Africans? Are you kidding me? It'd be nice to see two medals (especially a gold!) but I think only one is more likely. My guess? Flanagan pushes the pace, not wanting to deal with the kick of a Dibaba or the other Africans. Hopefully she doesn't go out too fast - if she can get in under 31:00, she's got a medal. Due to my crush (*le sigh*), I kinda hope Goucher wins the whole thing, but I think she's most likely to finish 5th or 6th.

* Americans will all make the final, but they're going to get their asses kicked in the women's 5,000. They just don't have sub-14:30's in them, especially in that weather and after what should be a brutal 10,000. 2012, maybe.

* Speaking of Gouchers, Adam Goucher is going to be a monster in the half marathon and marathon (Kara might be, too, when/if she moves up). I'd love to see Hall and Goucher fighting out some 2:05 marathons for the next five years!

* Sorry, American men! Your Olympics are going to be difficult in the distance events. Predictions:

800: Symmonds makes the final, finishes around 8th. Wheating gets into the semis, Smith doesn't survive the heats
1500: Hope! Lagat seems unbeatable, but it's a different year. I'll be a homer and say he wins it. Leo Manzano and Lopez Lomong might survive the semis, getting the whole team into the finals. Unlikely, though.
3000 Steeple: Um, seriously. Nobody's making the finals.
5000: Lagat will make the final, and if the field plays into his hands with a slow, tactical race, could win or medal again. My money says we'll get our first sub 13:00, and no American medals. Tegenkamp and Dobson, enjoy the experience and the semis.
10000: If the race is slower and tactical, Abdi could be in the running, but I think he's most likely to finish around 5th or 6th. Rupp and Torres won't be competitive.
Marathon: Hall could surprise and pull off a medal run, but I think it's not his time yet - 4th is my prediction. In 2012, Hall's going to blow the field up, though!

That's one medal, for you kids counting at home. Five medals is the absolute most we could win (Symmonds, Lagat twice, Abdi and Hall) in the most optimistic viewing, and we could easily be left with no medals above the sprints - again. We've had worse showings, but still.

We could win as many as 7 medals at 800 and above for the women, but a minimum of 2:
800: Hazel Clark could go bronze, although I think the field's just too deep - probably 6th or 7th
1500: Rowbury medals. Guaranteed.
Steeple: One medal. Barringer or Willard, can't predict who pulls out the bronze.
5000: Sorry, guys, it just ain't gonna happen.
10000: Flanagan medals, possibly Goucher.
Marathon: Kastor could surprise!

* Russia's back! 800, Steeple, you name it they've got runners at the top of the lists. Japan could easily surprise and sweep the marathon, and it's just as likely that Kenyans and Ethiopians could run the table at everything above 400m. This is gonna be fun to watch!

* I can't WAIT for the freakin' Olympics to start!

Race, first victory!

I've been running 17 days, and I've already won a race - woot! Okay, so it was a jogger's mile at an all-comer's meet - meaning you predict your time and the closest to their predicted time wins. And yeah, I came in 33rd out of 40 people if you measure strictly by actual, you know, performance. I'm still a winner!

I predicted an 8:00 mile, and came in one second off, in 7:59. They don't give you your pace after the first lap, but I hit that in 1:58, so it looks like my pace was pretty consistent. I've been on my feet at a company event for the last two days, so my legs were a bit stiff and my feet are killing me. Warming up, I was just hopeful I wouldn't wind up running an 8:30 and embarrassing myself, by the race took off faster than last week and I just followed along. My breathing never went anaerobic, and I recovered very quickly, so as with last week, there's clearly more in the tank, maybe as low as 7:40 if I really, really push myself. We'll see!

7/20 Run

Long run Sunday! Putting up my 4th run in 5 days, I made it my longest run yet. I went out to the East Lake Sammamish trail, which I highly recommend, and did a little over 5 miles in 52:40. Out in 27:07, back in 25:33 - woot for negative splits! It comes out to about a 10:18 pace - I was hoping to come in somewhere between 10 and 11 pace, so I'm pretty happy that taking it as easy as I did got me into the low 10's.

The trail is great - crushed rock, pretty flat. It hugs the lake most of the time, and gives a nice mix of shade and sun; wonderful on a nice day like today! My shins have been hurting lately (too much running on sidewalks), so it felt really nice to be on softer ground. Makes me really look forward to cross country season! I was surprised, after running harder than I planned yesterday, that I had no soreness and felt pretty loose throughout the run. It really is nice to feel like I can get myself back in shape.

And as always, Map my Run magic:

7/19 Run

My first Saturday Morning run with the Eastside Runners (I'm a member! woot!) - 3 miles (really a 5k) by the Kirkland waterfront. This was actually just the 12k's of Christmas course in reverse. I told them I'd run it at a roughly 10:00 pace, as the course is a bit hilly and I'm not really in any kind of shape yet, but I finished in 28:50 - a 9:25 pace. Woot!

I also finally got around to weighing myself last night. With my shame included, came in at 192. So, I've got a starting point there, too.

And now, the Map my Run magic:

7/17 Run

Nice recovery from yesterday; ran the 3 mile loop near the house in 32:14. Felt a little tight and heavy, but nothing unexpected after a long day planted on my ass at work and the up-tempo mile last night. (No soreness from that, by the way!)

Today was day 11 back in running!

7/16 run - a race!

Today I made my first foray back to "competitive" track, with a visit to Club Northwest's every-Wednesday-in-the-summer All-Comer's meet. I signed up for the "jogger's mile", in which you write down your predicted time, and the runner who finishes closest to that time wins. I predicted 8:12, and ran an 8:04 (woot!), so 8 seconds difference. Looking at past races, I imagine this will put me somewhere around the top 5.

More importantly, I ran an 8:04 on 9 days' training! Damn straight. Goal for next week, 7:50.

An article about the night Pre died

I'm a Pre-ophile, a group that was small when I was in high school but has grown immensely in the last 10 years.  My mother went to high school with Pre at Marshfield, and I remember the day he died - my mother's reaction was visceral, and stuck with me.  Knowing most of the stories about the night of his death, this article was of great interest - and really shed some new light on the event. 

I prefer another scenario: After Pre dropped off Frank Shorter on Skyline Loop, he was away from people — alone for the first time all day. Now he could reflect and be proud of his most recent accomplishment, the Finnish track tour.

Prefontaine was no different than the rest of us in that regard. He had hopes and dreams and conversations with himself. Perhaps he was having one of those conversations as he descended Skyline Boulevard. Reliving the recent past, planning for the future, daydreaming. He just wasn’t thinking about the here and now. It’s something all of us do every day.

Don’t blame Steve for that; don’t blame anybody. Blame the road, blame the car — but don’t blame Steve.

I’m sorry if this all seems too morbid, especially during what is such a celebratory mood in Eugene. But I present this because I believe that’s the way Steve would have wanted it: for all of us to forget how he died, and to just remember how he lived — how he did truly live.

Copyright © 2008 — The Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon, USA

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7/13 Run

Didn't run yesterday - took the day off and did 7 hours (!) of yard work. Pretty good run today; it was 82 out and my calves are killing me, but seemed like a good day for my first "long" run. Took a bike trail out for 2 miles (21 minutes) and back, in 40:44. According to map my run, it's 4.08 miles at 9:59 pace. 13.4 miles since I started this blog!

Map my Run sez:

High school news

Laurynne Chetalat - who pushed Jordan Hasay to the brink in their 9:52 femme a femme 3200 at the California state championships - just came in 6th at the IAAF World Junior Championships in a very surprising 9:15.11 - the 5th fastest 3000 by a US high-school girl of all time, and fastest since '96. This translates to a sub-9:50 3200 (and 9:53-ish 2 mile), putting her second all-time at that distance.

methinks Jordan's going to be pushed when they see each other again in college! With Chetalat, Kosinski and Hasay coming up, I think the middle distances are going to be strong for American women for a while! Now if we could just get some consistency out of Alan Webb...

Ray ranks 'em - women's distance (US)

Yeah, this is definitive, so what? You sayin' my lists aren't the final word? Ha!

Okay, so distance, for my purposes, is defined as 5k/10k. Anything longer than that stands on its own (besides, this is a track blog, and we don't run a lot of half marathons on the track, right?).

1. Shalane Flanagan
2. Kara Goucher (woman doesn't have her own website - how is this possible?)

3. (and way behind those two) Lauren Fleshman
4. Jenn Rhines
5. Sara Slattery

Goucher is a really, really close second - these two will tussle for the next few years. My hope is we'll see them trade American Records for a while. We need a rivalry! Flanagan needs to start going all McEnroe on the track; throwing punches when people pass her or something. I'm also leaving off some serious talents that may be moving up the list in the next year - Arianna Lambie, Molly Huddle, maybe Alicia Shay when she gets healthy again.

7/11 Run

Ran a couple miles around 10:00pm at an easy pace, to recover from last night - which was harder than I thought! 2.3 miles in 24:39 - the last half mile up 80th is uphill, and I still managed to cover it in 5:19. I'm damn slow, but I've put in four runs so far this week!

And now, the Map My Run magic:

7/10 run

I'll try to keep my runs up to date here; later posts will be, um, better. So, today I ran 3 miles by the house in 28:58. It was 32:00 on Tuesday, and around 36:00 last week, so good improvements, right? And now we'll see how the Map My Run embed tool works!

7/8 run

3 miles near the house in 32:00. Ish. I forgot to bring a watch, sue me. I'm out of shape and forgot how to do all this running stuff...

Back at the runnin'!

Ran to the local track, put out a 8:23 mile, and just like that, I have my starting point. I haven't been running regularly in years, but the fire's been relit by, you guessed it, two recent trips to Hayward Field - for the Pre Classic in June and Olympic Trials on the 4th. We'll see where this goes!