Monday, October 20, 2014, 7:06 pm

3.15 mi, 28 ft gain, 27:14. Road in town, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

Achilles were sore most of the run, getting a little better as it went on. Ran in the dark. Used my headlamp and carried a flashlight. When running roads in the dark, I usually use the handheld flashlight for visibility for cars coming from behind me. If I’m coming up to an intersection, I’ll turn the flashlight on pointing backwards to make sure anyone trying to turn coming from behind me can see me.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014, 4:57 pm

4.07 mi, 441 ft gain, 1:16:27. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #2, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

Not bad starting out. Achilles started bothering me about .25 mi in. Then felt better after 1.3 mi or so. The heel cup on this pair of Superiors has worn much softer than the other pair. They also have over 200 mi more on them than the other pair. I also removed a plastic piece off the heel. I might remove some more.

Wandered through the woods a bit. Found some mushrooms. A pretty good run.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014, 4:52 pm

3.15 mi, 28 ft gain, 27:12. Road in town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

I wasn’t looking forward to running in the rain today. Wore a beanie, gloves, long sleeve tech shirt, and compression shorts. I’d rather dress warmly than wear rain gear. If the run had been much longer, I probably would have taken the beanie off.

Anyway, it wasn’t raining that hard, but more than a drizzle. It was kind of windy several times, blowing the rain sideways. A little achilles discomfort, but getting better. My pace was faster than it has been on these kind of runs. I think it was a combination of subconsciously wanting to finish quickly and my body knowing that I can or should go faster to warm up.

One thing I don’t like about the MR10v2 is that the outsole is not full coverage. There are spaces on the bottom where water was splashing up through from the road. So my feet got wet even avoiding the puddles. After that, I splashed right through the rest of the puddles in my path.

A pretty good run for being so short, wet and starting to get a little cold (at least compared to the summer we had).

Thursday, October 23, 2014, 4:30 pm

3.14 mi, 28 ft gain, 20:11. Road in town, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

I could hear thunder to the west before I started, so I hurried to get out the door. I left the dogs home, because I didn’t want to be carrying their metal leashes if the electrical storm blew in.

It’s been raining all day, not to bad when I started running. Like yesterday, I started faster than usual. My achilles felt decently ok today. Only a little minor discomfort for a minute or two. Also like yesterday, the weather was a factor in keeping my pace up.

After about 1.3 mi, the rain really started to come down. Fortunately, there wasn’t much wind. Just before leaving, a weather advisory came in on my phone, warning of high winds tomorrow through Saturday. I’m not really looking forward to the rain and wind together.

The rain slowed down a little by about 2.2 mi. By then, I was starting to lose a little energy and wanted to slow down. I kept up the pace anyway. I ran negative splits each mile and finished the last .14 mi at 5:54/mi pace.

Strava estimated my best 2 mi at 12:14 and best 5k at 19:42. It also gave me my second best 1 mi at 6:03. With a proper warmup, I think I can still take 20-30 seconds off my 5k time at about the same level effort. My splits were 6:59 for mi 1, 6:15 mi for 2, 6:04 mi for 3, 0:51 for last 0.14 mi. I’m closer to my goal of sub 18 min 5k than I thought.

Friday, October 24, 2014, 4:08 pm

3.14 mi, 28 ft gain, 28:29. Road in town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

A little discomfort at left achilles attachment to heel from 0.2-0.5 mi or so. Rest of the run was good. A little warmer than expected. Started with hat, gloves, long sleeve. Took off the hat about 5 min in, and rolled up the sleeves shortly after that. No rain and the roads were pretty dry. Supposed to be windy tonight into tomorrow.

Saturday, October 25, 2014, 5:44 pm

8.29 mi,  1084 ft gain, 1:20:53. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #2, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

It was just drizzling when I started. Minor left heel/achilles discomfort from about 0.2-0.6 mi. It also took about 1 mi for my legs to warm up. Went out to Olney creek. Then headed up the hill. It was starting to get dark before I got to the top of the first climb, but I went without a light for a while longer. I went over the hill out to the point overlooking the houses by gate #1.

I put on my headlamp and got my flashlight before starting up the first climb headed back. I felt good and wanted just a little more mileage for the day, so I did that first steep climb twice. This was about the same time that the rain really started coming down. I had taken my hat off and rolled up my sleeves. I started to get a little cold from the rain, so I got my hat out and rolled the sleeves down. Before heading back to the car I went out to the little hill to break 8 mi for the run.

The run was good. The rain was ok. I was soaked when I got in the car and sat for a couple minutes to let the heater warm up before driving home. I’m still not sure about the 12 hour race next weekend.

As I write this, the power has been out in the neighborhood for about 20 minutes. The heavy rain has kept going, and the wind is picking up too. I’m a little worried about the cottonwood tree out front that I’ve warned the landlord about. A large branch almost came down on the house over the summer and several others have come down since I’ve lived here.

Sunday, October 26, 2014, 4:36 pm

11.04 mi, 2202 ft gain, 2:06:17. Upper Wallace Falls from home, Solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

I didn’t really feel like I had much speed in my legs from the start. I took it easy through town to the TH. I had to speed up a little as I got closer, though. I needed a pitstop pretty badly. After a few minutes, I signed the log book and started up the trail.

The trail was wet and had some mud and water in a few spots on some of the flatter sections. Fortunately, the steep parts weren’t too slick. Thanks to the trail designers, builders and maintenance crews for good drainage.

I still didn’t feel particularly fast, but the climbing didn’t feel too difficult. As it turned out, I had my fastest ascent yet and took the CR on two of the Strava climbing segments. I think it helped my total ascent time with there only being 3 or 4 groups of people on the trail, and they were all on the flatter, wider first half.

The middle falls was absolutely roaring from all the rain recently. I didn’t stop for photos though. When I ran by the valley overlook, the sun was barely breaking through the clouds, lighting up the valley, clouds, fog and mist from the waterfall. I didn’t stop on the way up, though. I figured I could get back down there before sunset. The upper falls weren’t quite as impressive as the middle falls, mostly because you can’t see the bottom from the view point.

I rested for a minute or so, drinking water and eating a couple dates, before starting back down. I took it slow for the first 0.25 mi down or so. It’s the steepest section, the stairs can be quite slippery when wet, and my legs were still a little fatigued from the climb. My legs recovered after a couple minutes. I still took it fairly easy on the descent. It was wet, leaves obscured some of the rocks and roots, and I was losing light.

When I came around the switchback and caught a glimpse of part of the view from the valley overlook, I had to stop. It was gorgeous. I wrote previously about being completely absorbed by the moment in regards to meditation and running. This moment goes near the top of the list. It made my weekend and quite possibly my whole month.

Not only did the sunset light up the entire valley, clouds, and fog, the overlook seemed to float on the glowing mist from the roaring falls. I took some photos, but there’s no way to fully capture the beauty of the scene or the moment.

I couldn’t stick around for too long, however, as the same sunset that created such a beautiful scene would also be making it progressively more difficult to see obstacles on the trail. So, I headed off down the trail.

I could still see glimpses of the sunset through the trees for a little while. While still amazing, the light would also get in my eyes and make it harder to see the trail. I managed anyway, going a little slower than I would have otherwise.

I didn’t see another person until I was back on the RR grade about 0.3 mi from the TH. I made it back to the TH a few minutes after the sun had set. I managed to keep my footing the whole time. I only slid in the mud a little bit a couple times. Slick mud and slick rocks seem to be just beyond limits of the Altra Superior 1.5’s traction.

I signed back out in the log book and had a sip of water from the fountain. I still had plenty of water in my Nathan Elevation hydration bladder, but the cold water was nice. I ate my last two dates before heading down the road for home.

The 3.2 mi home seemed a little more difficult than would normally expect. But it was certainly inline with my experience on the way to the TH earlier. I just didn’t have much speed in my legs. It was still pretty light until the last mile, but I pulled out my headlamp before leaving the State Park, for visibility’s sake for traffic. There wasn’t much traffic, even on US2, which was a little surprising for a Sunday evening. That’s OK by me. It’s easier to cross the highway with very little traffic or bumper to bumper. Lots of traffic that’s still moving makes it tough.

Parts of the run were completely unremarkable, other parts were great, and just a few amazing views elevated my enjoyment exponentially.

Weekly totals: 36 mi, 3728 ft gain.