That Was Pleasant

Yeah, yeah. I should have run yesterday. Cold, sure, but it was sunny, and how many sunny days do you get in January in Seattle?

Three it turns out. So far anyway. Stuck together with the two at the end of last year we've managed to run together five sunny days in a row, unheard of for this time of year. Completely clear - but cold. Last week's snow is still on the ground, including the track.

So it was off to the slough trail.

The trail is dead flat and runs from Marymoor Park around the north end of Lake Washington and on into Seattle. I don't run the whole thing, of course, just six miles today, three out and back.

Nothing too fast. The first two miles about "race pace" (around 7:45/mile), then 2.5 at about a 9 minute pace, then back to 8:15 or 8:30 for the last mile and a half. It was good. A little over 50 minutes for the whole thing, not bad considering I haven't run six miles since August or so.

The only odd thing was that my feet were going numb, my right foot in particular. It went away immediately when I stopped. Maybe the cold? Maybe not having run that far in a while? Perhaps. But my bold and daring theory is that my calf muscles are squeezing the blood vessels and restricting the blood flow. What do you think? I think it's a good theory. Good for me. And the run was good, too.

Best Run of the Year

Setting the bar low is the key, isn't it? Ran the Resolution Run this morning. It was a gorgeous morning, clear and wind-free. A little cool - below freezing at the start, but warming up to the mid-30s by the end. 

In light of my calf (still tight from Monday), I set a goal of 25 minutes and came in just under that, about 8 minutes a mile. No bad considering my calf started cramping.

In the car.

On the drive over to the race.

I don't get it. Yeah, I strained it on Monday. Light run Tuesday. Bike on Wednesday. Day off Thursday AND Friday, yet when I started driving over this morning after TWO DAYS REST my calf started cramping up. I hadn't even run yet, for heaven's sake. It gave me problems during the warm up, of course, so I resolved not to push. I woke up this morning thinking that sub-24 was very doable, but dropped back to 25 minutes, which is about an 8 minute mile pace.

And my leg gave me no trouble at all during the run.

And when I got done and was walking around after the run it started cramping again.

I don't get it. I don't get it and I don't like it. Grrrrrr.

But it does set a pretty low bar for the next 5K I run this year. I guess that's a good thing. And it is my best run of the year so far.