I have to have a blog title?

This would be my last 20 before Chicago, but since I haven't been able to follow a true plan, and since it went so poorly, I  may try another next weekend. This was my slowest 20 in a couple years, but my HR was way high, and I'm not having  much luck in finding a reason why. It can't be overtraining, because I really haven't been training :)

Anyway it's good to have it done! Now I've got three weeks to decide how to take on Chicago - as an event to be absorbed and enjoyed, as a test of will to push as hard as I can and take what I get, or perhaps to pace my wife to a BQ (I'm not sure she'd enjoy that and probably wouldn't let me :) ). Life is such an interesting thing to be a part of with its unknowns, challenges, rewards, and oddities!

AM: Today I tried to find the course (without a map) for this Saturday's 4.6 mile trail race on Snoqualmie Ridge. I did pretty well for the first third, then lost it at the road. Anyway it was a nice run on very smooth and soft trails - very unlike the technical and steep trails I'm used to. I have a bone scan scheduled for tomorrow morning for my left foot. If it's negative (and I think it will be) then I'm probably looking at posterior tibial tendonitis which isn't much better!

PM: Tried again with Shawn to find the course. We found more of it!

I got a bone scan done on my foot today, but won't get the results for a couple days. I'm 98% convinced I don't have a sfx but instead a strain or tendonitis of the attachment of the anterial tibialis tendon. I'm not sure that's any better though :)

I did an easy 8 miles this evening in some old Montrail stiff trail shoes. It was a very easy pace, and I felt like going longer, but I decided to take it easy on the foot instead. I can be partly smart :)

Any day you can run is a good day, and I ran 6.3 easy, easy  miles today. I may run a local 8k trail race tomorrow morning - and the weather is supposed to be very nice, so I'm looking forward to another good day!

Wow, what a nice weather day! Shawn and I went to this event for some speed work on soft trails. About 90 people showed up for this first time low key event. After  my poor outing a couple weeks ago at a 10k I wanted to try and get another handle on  my fitness. A hilly trail race on very soft footing however is not the best way to get such an evaluation :)

A couple faster guys showed up, but I figured I should still be able to get a top 5 finish. We warmed up on the course with a 3.5 mile run, then lined up at the start line in a grassy field. At the gun I took off way too fast - in fact I was in the lead for a couple hundred meters. All that did is put me in oxygen debt for the hills, and I gave up several positions and felt whupped. I eventually steadied up and got going again though, and by the two mile point was in 3rd place. There was someone right on my shoulder for a half mile or so, but he finally fell off after a hilly section. From there on I was running by myself for the rest of the race.

I finished strong and fast the last 3/4 mile or so, but I was disappointed with  my slow time once again. I averaged only 7:00 mpm, and the course had less than 300' of elevation gain/loss. I should have been able to average at least 30 seconds per mile faster than that I feel. I somehow have lost a tremendous amount of fitness over the last couple months. I'm really looking forward to getting past the Chicago marathon in a couple weeks and hitting the 'Reset' button. I think I'll try and take the rest of October off from running then begin with a much reduced weekly mileage with a day per week on the track and start building back up again.