Another 16 Miler in the Book

Yesterday Sonya, Darcy, Wendy and I headed out on the Orting Trail at 5:00 am. There are no lights on the trail, so it was dark, but we could see well enough to go. The Orting Trail is on an old railroad grade. It's been paved and is wide enough for us to all run side-by-side, plus it's a very, very slight uphill - so slight you don't even realize it till you reach the turn-around and the run suddenly becomes much easier. We were making the trip out to South Prairie again - another 16 miler. We got to watch the sun come up as we ran toward the mountain - it was a perfect morning. We made it to South Prairie, took a short break and headed back to town. Our time for 16 miles was 3:13:01. Not too bad at all.

This morning Eric ran from our house into Tacoma - following the Rainier to Ruston relay route - a 15 mile run. Sonya and I are planning the same route for our 20 miler, with a few more miles added on. I drove to Pt. Defiance - it turned out to be one of those mornings where only a few runners showed up, and all of them much faster than me. I didn't mind at all, it's been a few weeks since I had a solo run, so I headed into the park on my own. I was thinking that I was nuts, choosing a tough, hilly run the day after a 16 mile run. It actually turned out to be fine - I felt great. All my hill work has paid off - I think that it was the best run I've ever had in the park! George was running trails - I saw him at one viewpoint along the way, then a while later heard a whistle and looked up to see George paralleling me on a trail in the woods. It was funny to catch a glimpse of his head bobbing by through the bushes. We actually talked back and forth for a minute before the trail veered off. I ran 5 miles in about 56 minutes. Heartrates were good both days - today, even with hills I averaged 138 and had a high of 157. Total mileage for the week was 42.

This coming week is busy and my running schedule is all messed up. I'm taking tomorrow off running, as usual - I've got to teach Pilates in the morning, then get to a meeting at work. I'll be in meetings till early afternoon, then home for a bit, back to finish out my summer class, then straight to another work meeting. Tuesday Sonya and I will run eight miles, then I've got an appointment for a CT scan of my heart - time to check up on things again. Wednesday, another eight miles, then more work stuff, plus I've got to get finals graded. Thursday will be a rest day from running due to the planned 18 miler on Friday. I got a sub for the Friday Pilates class so we can get an early start on the run. No runs on Saturday or Sunday. This will be a low mileage week.

Everything shifted so Sonya and I can work an aid station at CCC100 and crew for Rob. We've got the first aid station on the course - only 3.3 miles in, so I'm not sure how much use we'll get. After that, we'll head out to the first crew-accessible aid station to meet up with Rob. Later that night we'll pick up George and Olga and get them to their respective pacing points. Last year I got an hour and a half of sleep in half hour chunks. I was crewing on my own, so except when George was with me and drove, I was afraid to sleep because I might miss Rob coming through. This year with two of us, I'm hoping for a little more sleep. I figure one of us can wait and one can rest, then we'll reverse at the next point. I'm sure we'll be a fun household next week - Eric will be coming off an all-nighter at HTC, so we'll be two cranky, tired runners. Riley will have to be on his best behavior!