Race for the Roses 5K

In just one hour and five minutes I'll be at the starting line for the Race for the Roses 5K.

My last 5K, I didn't do all the things that the running mags and coaches tell you to do to prepare for a race - I didn't taper, I didn't get breakfast the morning of the race, I didn't take some NSAIDs that morning... and I ended up being a full minute plus slower than my previous best.

This time I'm doing all the good things they tell you to do. I haven't run since Thursday, I had a big bowl of spaghetti last night, lots of water, plenty of sleep, breakfast of PB&J on toast... I weighed in at 178.5 lb this morning.

Here's hoping it all helps me. My previous best time was, as noted before, 28:04.

This morning it's 40° F - that's frickin' cold but not too cold... I hope.

Hour and a half

I ran an hour and a half yesterday. I did it by time and not by distance. I also wanted to try a different route - running the same loops over and over again is boring.

My weight was 181 lb. in the morning. The temperature was fine, in the low 50s, but when I first woke up it was raining. I had a small breakfast, sat down to watch some teevee, and waited out the rain. When it stopped raining around 11:30 AM, I headed out.

I went east along the Springwater Corridor Trail, over McLoughlin, and then cut over to SE 39th, then all the way up to Woodstock. Past Reed College, down past the Rhododendron Gardens, then wound my way east towards SE Milwaukie Blvd. From there I took some water at the trailhead for the Oaks Bottom Wetlands trail, along with some Cliff Bloks, and continued on.

In order to use up more time, when I got back to my neighborhood I wound up and down the streets until I had just over an hour and a half.

I did have to take several walking breaks, but on the other hand, I haven't run that far in a long time. It felt good, even though towards the end my legs were draggin'.

My reward afterward was an apple-smoked bacon and white cheddar cheeseburger from Mike's Drive-In. So fucking good.

I'm going to run the Running With The Wolves 5K next Sunday. Last year I ran the 10K but I want to wait a while after my awesome run last weekend. It'll be fun to see how well I do in a 5K. My best-ever time in the 5K was last year - 28:06.

Let's see if I can blow that away...