Week 15

Leif Erickson Trail, Portland, Oregon

My weekday runs were great this week but my long run REALLY sucked.  More on that below...  in the meantime, here's the week:

Monday - 5 @ 10:21
Tuesday - 5 @ 9:31
Wednesday - 5 @ 10:04
Thursday - 8 @ 10:07
Friday - rest
Saturday - 11 @ 10-ish (my Garmin wasn't working properly so I ended up just turning it off)
Sunday - rest

As I typed that, I realized that I actually had a fairly tough week.  I was tired and felt slow all week.  The high mileage is definitely getting to me - the step-back week went more or less unnoticed by my legs when I find that it usually make me feel more bouncy and energetic. 

I ran solo on Thursday and did the Sellwood to Hawthorne bridge loop.  The stretch on the Eastside is always a slog and it was especially so on this day.  Add to that, a sudden and fierce urge to pee and it turned into a tense race to the bathrooms under the Hawthorne.  I honestly wasn't sure I was going to make it and the raging river beside me didn't help but, alas, I managed not to pee my pants!!  After that, the rest of the run was uneventful...  and I even got back to the office to a text from a friend who saw me out running AND told me that I have a cute ass:). 

Saturday's planned group run was the Leif Erickson trail.  This trail is always a challenge for me in my Fingers because it is just way too rocky.  I went to bed early and woke up to a text from our fearless leader that she was too sick to make the run.  This also meant that Faith didn't have a ride to the run and I woke up too late to give her a ride.  I was reassured, though, that other peeps were going so I decided to tough it out rather than running a route in my own neighborhood.  We arrived at the trailhead to find that only one other person made it!!  And, he ran with Ty so I ended up running solo - again.  Which is normally not a big deal for me but I really could have used the distraction of pleasant conversation. 

We were supposed to run 12 miles but I met up with Ty at 5.5 and he convinced me that the extra mile wasn't worth it and I should just turn around rather than risking injury or getting more discouraged.  The only nice thing I have to say about this run is that I was really ready to burn off some frustration when we hit the asphalt with only half mile to go.  I hit it hard and even kept the speed up when we hit the trail again at the very end - I felt like I was skimming the rocks.  The lesson here is that I will not be running that trail again.

My feet were still pretty sore and beat up this morning but I'm sure that I'll be fine to make all my workouts this week.  In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have run there at all.  The mud and partially decomposed leaves made it even more dangerous because it wasn't always easy to see the rocks.  I even had to stop a couple of times to regroup and focus on relaxing my feet so that they hits wouldn't hurt quite so badly.  I'm very thankful that this Saturday's long run will be on the Waterfront which should make for a hill and rock free run - woohoo!!