Monday, August 18, 2014, 7:04 pm

3.1 mi, 138 ft gain, 42:00. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #2, with dogs. Altra Lone Peak 1.5

A little stiff from yesterday, so I took it easy today. Olney creek for the dogs. Wandered in the woods a little on game trails. Started feeling better a little before 2 miles. Usually don’t take water on a run this short, but as I said in Monday’s post, I wanted to keep up my water intake.

I usually take the day after a long run off, but I’ve been thinking about running everyday for a while and figured I’d try it out for a while. Good so far after 6 days.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014, 6:48 pm

7.3 mi, 308 ft gain, 1:21:49 . Kellogg Lake Tree Farm #4, with dogs. Altra Lone Peak 1.5

Legs a little heavy to start, warmed up after a bit over a mile. Ran the roads to the trail through a clearcut, meeting up with road #3. Ran to the trail connecting to road #2, then to Olney creek. The dogs played a bit. On the way back, we passed a family, couple and young son, out for a walk. The dogs were well behaved, which is not always the case when they see people after a long time in the woods without seeing anyone. Sometimes they start to think they own the place. Ran down road #3 the other direction a little ways before heading back. I really enjoyed the run.

Wednesday, August 20, 2014, 4:14 pm

6.1 mi, 280 ft gain, 1:13:44. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #2, with dogs. Altra Lone Peak 1.5

Legs were kind of stiff. Took about 2 miles to warm up, but they felt good after that. Ran out past Olney creek to the end of the road at the wetland. Saw a large bird of prey in the trees between Olney and the wetland. Saw another one circling over the wetland. Posted a pic of the circling bird on Instagram. Ran up the small hill through the clearcut on the way back. Saw a small white bird along the road in the clearcut. It had small grey or brown markings, but was nearly all white. First white bird I remember seeing in Washington. Post a pic of the white bird as well, though I couldn’t get close enough for a very good shot. Looking online, it looked pretty close to a McKay’s bunting, but they’re very rare and live in a small area of Alaska, so I doubt that was it.

After the first couple miles I felt pretty good. My easy pace has gotten better this year. I might add some regular speed work this fall or winter.

Thursday, August 21, 2014, 7:33 pm

6 mi, 803 ft gain, 1:06:54. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #2, with dogs. Altra Lone Peak 1.5

Legs a little stiff to start, loosened up fairly quickly. Out to Olney creek for the dogs to splash around. Then up the hill for a view of the sunset. The sun was about halfway past the horizon as I got close to the top, but just a sliver by the time I got through the trees at the top to a good view point. I was hoping for a photo before it slipped below the horizon. The view was still worth the climb. The climb was worth the climb too.

I’ve stuck to logging roads this week. After Sunday’s long run, the space between my left ankle and achilles was swollen. It was a little sore Sunday, but not really since then. The swelling was reduced after each run since then, but came back for a couple days. No more swelling today. There is sort of a popping or rubbing between my achilles and something else about an inch above my left ankle when it stretches to near the limit. I generally only reach that point on steep hills, so I’ll wait a little while to get back to more climbing. I could probably use the easier miles for a bit of a rest this week anyway.

Friday, August 22, 2014, 6:51 pm

7.37 mi, 814 ft gain, 1:13:55. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1, with dogs. Altra Lone Peak 1.5

No discomfort. Still sticking to logging roads. Wanted a little climbing. Felt good. There was a rainbow when I left the house. It lasted about 45 minutes into the run. Then there was a great sunset.

Saturday, August 23, 2014, 6:15 pm

13.17 mi, 2080 ft gain, 2:10:35. Olney Falls DNR Rd, Solo. Altra Lone Peak 1.5

I’ve wanted to run this road for a while and finally got around to it. Legs didn’t take nearly as long to loosen up as the past few days. The road was more hilly than I expected, but none of it was all that steep. I planned to do about 10 miles, but felt good so I kept going to make it half marathon distance. I saw a big bodied 2pt buck a couple miles in. I couldn’t get my phone out fast enough to get a photo though. I also saw a goldfinch around 6 miles out. They’re Washington’s state bird, but I’ve only ever seen a couple. Besides the bugs and the more common song birds, I had no other company on the run.

It was nice to turn around based on chosen mileage rather than lack of time to beat the sunset. I didn’t have much more time before dark anyway. Wallace Lake was another couple miles past where I turned around. Another time, perhaps.

I had 2x 20oz handheld water bottles, 2 salt caps and about a dozen blackberries from the side of the road. As I was about to back out of the dirt parking spot at the gate, a WDFW officer (fish and wildlife) pulled up. He was just checking on hunting activity in the area. Spoke briefly. I guess a couple more cars were parked there while I was running. I said that I didn’t see anyone.

The gradual ascent and descent (compared to a lot of the trails in the area), were nice. I don’t get too many climbs 5 mile long climbs. More often they’re steeper and shorter, or lots of little rolling ups and downs.

No discomfort from earlier in the week.

Sunday, August 24, 2014, 6:07 pm

10.1 mi, 2656 ft gain, 1:54:47. Wallace Lake via Upper Wallace Falls, Solo. Altra Lone Peak 1.5

Was planning to run the DNR Rd again. Traffic from weekenders heading west on US2 was terrible. Would have taken at least a half hour to go the two miles to the turn off for the DNR Rd. Went to Wallace Falls State Park instead. Steeper than I had planned. Didn’t quite have my climbing legs today, so I took it relatively easy up to the DNR Rd junction toward Wallace Lake. Some power hiking practice on the steep parts. Once to the top though, it leveled out pretty well. My speed legs were just fine today, however. I pushed the pace from the top of the falls to the lake and then back down to the TH. Had a new PR on the descent from the upper falls.

Weekly Totals: 53.1 mi, 7h54min, 7081 ft gain