Catching Up, Nine Runs

I've been running but not blogging. Twenty miles a week, lots of five-mile runs. Pretty soon I'll have to do some longer ones, but right now this feels good. Here are nine runs:

Thursday, Dec 4:

North St Paul Community Center, about 5.4 miles in 49 minutes. I forgot my watch, but there is a nice clock on the wall that I can check about every 40 seconds, and that did just fine. Because I had run last night, I just wanted to run 9's and the clock on the wall told me that I was holding that pace. My sweeties were there too, and ran a 5k in a time that was good for them.


Wednesday, Dec 3:

Woodbury Runners, 5.2 miles in 49:06, for a pace of 9:27. I suspect that the distance may actually be a little longer than 5.2, maybe a tenth or two more. It’s measured on Google Earth, which does not always take the jogs and jags of a trail entirely into account. Tonight the trail was snow-covered almost the whole way, not slippery but a little energy-sapping. Nevertheless it was a delight to run in the crisp 17-degree air on that crunchy snow. I walked up some hills and probably slowed down a bit toward the end.

This was a nighttime run on trails that are frequently in wooded areas and are unlighted. I wear a little LED lamp on the visor of my cap, but tonight when I ran alone for part of the run I also used a very bright handheld flashlight.

I was sick as a dog yesterday: fever, vomiting, dehydrated, and very sleepy. 24-hour stomach flu - fine today.


Monday, Dec 1:

Nice 4.4-mile run in local streets. A little snow, not enough to be dangerous or slow down the run. Uneventful. Temp 18. First mile 8:55, total time for 4.4 miles 40:33, overall pace 9:13. Plenty good for dex day.


Saturday, Nov 29:

Saint Croix Valley Runners, five miles as always. I started out in the back with Charlie, and after he split off to finish his shorter run I tried to catch up. Almost caught Wayne - finished about a half minute back in 43:28, which is 8:42 pace. Tempo run for me.


Thursday, Nov 27:

Thanksgiving morning. In the past few years I’ve sent out an email to the St Croix Valley Runners and we’ve done our standard Saturday morning run on Thankgiving morning. I did that this year too, but screwed up the email and sent it only to myself. Tsk.

Wayne showed up anyway, though, and we had an enjoyable run together, fairly well matched in speed. Then off to Thanksgiving dinner to compensate for the run and then some. Time 44:37, pace 8:55.


Wednesday, Nov 26:

Second run of the day. Woodbury Runners. I ran the 5.2-mile route with Rich, which is fairly easy for me and not quite so for Rich. He's a natural and would be as fast as me if he got the chance to run as much as I do, but I do enjoy taking it easy once in a while. That’s hard to do when I run by myself.

Trails were mostly clear of ice - just a few places I walked gingerly. Time 57:35, pace 11:04.


Wednesday, Nov 26:

Nice run in the local neighborhood, 5.1 miles, slightly hilly. My watch reset itself to Midnight Jan 1 during the run, so I don’t have the total time. 27:45 last 3.1 miles, which is a pace of 8:57. Enjoyable run, plenty cool.

I think that's my watch's way of letting me know it wants a new battery.


Saturday, Nov 22:

St Croix Valley Runners, another trail run to celebrate Roy’s long and faithful attendance at our regular Saturday runs. This time we ran in a Park Reserve, only a few miles from Stillwater, on a route that measured 5.3 miles on Google Earth. Finish time was 53:23, for a pace of 10:08. I was in the lead, so we couldn’t go very fast, and we did stop to reconnoiter a couple of times.

If I were a poet, I could write pages about this beautiful park, and especially this morning’s run. A very light, fluffy snow had fallen overnight, perhaps a half inch, so the snow was not enough to make the trail slippery but the runners in the back could follow the tracks of the runners ahead. Perfect quiet - no sound except the pad-pad of running shoes on half-frozen grass, and the conversation of the runners. Just a lovely time outdoors.

As an extra surprise, Roy himself showed up, though we thought he was gone for good. He doesn’t live here any more, but has reason to visit on weekends, and perhaps we’ll see him again. That would be nice.

No pains, no problems. Always nice to say after a trail run. Brooks Ghost shoes.


Thursday, Nov. 20:

North St Paul Community Center overhead track. Today’s pace was whatever felt good. Turned out to be just a little faster than Tuesday’s run, which is fine. I thought the last mile was a bit faster than the others, but it turned out it wasn’t reallyvery much faster.

No pains, no strain.

Splits: 8:48, 8:41, 8:40, 8:37, 8:33, total 43:19, pace 8:40.