Rookie Mistake

Four miles into my planned twelve-mile run today, I returned home and had to explain to Sweetie what had gone wrong. “I made an error.” I had absent-mindedly left the cotton boxer shorts I had slept in on under my running pants. It’s been almost three years since I’ve run with any cotton touching me.

Lucky sevens

My “plan”, as it were, doesn’t call for a long run this weekend, but does call for another 40-mile week. I haven’t really done many 40-mile weeks during my running career, and almost all of them involved really long weekend runs or 31-mile races. In other words, I’m inexperienced at putting in a lot of

21 on Leif

Somehow I feel like a real runner again once my long runs are 20 miles or longer. Saturday morning I headed out to do 21 on Leif Erickson. Leif is the (car-free) gravel road in Forest Park. It’s a lot less hilly and muddy than the trails, but more hilly and rocky than typical road-running

I want to waste away to nothing

I’ve seen a rule of thumb that says every extra pound you weigh adds about a minute to your marathon time. Although the exact speed gains are up for debate, I suppose it’s clear from basic principles that carrying less weight lets you go faster — assuming you lose the weight without impacting your leg

Who turned up the heat?

It was around 56 degrees and dry for last night’s run, which felt pretty odd for the middle of January. Nice, but odd. I regretted wearing gloves within the first 200 yards, and ended up carrying them, rolled up in one hand, for the whole seven miles.

Sometimes I make funny dinners.

Roasted cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and ceci beans with egg, toast and Parmesan crispy.

OK, now the mud is getting serious

Here are my feet and legs at the end of today’s run: And, no, I didn’t fall down. That’s all from splashing. If you’re looking for mud, the conditions are prime for it in Forest Park right now. I ran 18 miles on Wildwood, starting at Germantown road and running nine miles south then back.

Redmond, OR

Five miles Tuesday, seven Wednesday and three today have advanced me to the city of Redmond, Oregon in my virtual trans-America run. I’ve been in my home state of Oregon since late October, but getting to Redmond makes me feel like I’m getting close now. I’m pretty unfamiliar with the eastern part of the state,

Fast Monday

I probably should not have run as hard as I did last night. I’ve got a lot more training left to do this week and I shouldn’t be wearing myself out. It’s a recipe for getting injured, too. I didn’t feel anything wrong during the run but did feel a tiny bit of brief knee

A good mud run

Since the Hagg Lake 50K in February is most likely to be a slog through mud for much of the way, it’s good to be able to get some nice gooey sloppy wet cold squishy mud training in. You’d think that would be no problem during the winter in NW Oregon, and maybe it isn’t,

A question from the internets: training for a first half-marathon

I was pleased to find that my incessant if sporadic blogging has finally gotten me the recognition as a running authority that I so deserve. (I’m totally kidding, OK?) I got a nice email from someone  today: Hi, Scott – great blog (okay, I haven’t read the whole thing). I’ll be at Eugene; my first

Update

Seven miles Monday and Wednesday evenings; four miles today at lunch. You know what? I think running might be a little easier without the hangovers. I know! Go figure! My biggest complaint this week is I still have some pain in the front right part of my ribcage. Maybe I broke a rib without knowing

Beachy keen

Thirty-eight miles last week, with six days of running. My long run was only 13.1 miles, on the beach north of Seaside: There was a heavy wind blowing from the southwest, which made the trip back a good bit harder than the trip out. There wasn’t much on the beach except for tons of sea-foam.