There's a lot of catch-up work to do here and I'm going to try to to it in one post or less.

EWEB Run To Stay Warm Half-Marathon--Eugene, OR--November 21, 2009

This was my 3rd half-marathon in a 9-week span and looking back, it may have been a little much. I finished. And my pace wasn't too far behind Champoeg in September, but a wrong turn at about the 7 mile mark turned my race into a 14+ mile half-marathon. The course was beautiful though, running along both sides of the Willamette River, past Autzen Stadium and through the Eugene trail system, which the city has seemed to have perfected, perhaps even better than Portland (ARE YOU PAYING ATTENTION SALEM?!?--Let's see, a winding river--check; developed parks on both sides of the river--check; easy access from one side to the other--check; connection between the four--FOUR!--parks along the riverfront.....City of Salem please check in...where are you city of Salem?)

Making a wrong turn and then having to backtrack was an interesting experience. The mental effects were far more disasterous than having to run an extra mile. Up to that point I was feeling very good. Good pace, breathing was normal, one mile at a time, good thoughts going through my head. When I realized I was off course, those thoughts instantly turned negative. Mostly I was frustrated at myself for being a moron (I turned where the 10k runners were going rather than continuing on). My first thoughts were about how far off my pace I would be now. These were followed by wondering/worrying about how much further I would have to run and if I would be able to do it. These thoughts inevitably led to heavy-feeling legs, sore knees, laborious breathing and all the rest. Was not an enjoyable final 6 miles.

After the disappointing experience in Eugene, I scaled back my runs (distance and frequency) for a few weeks to let my body rest. My legs felt heavy, my knees hurt and though I felt good about what I had accomplished a few short months of running, half-marathons were never the goal. The goal was/is to run the Newport Marathon on June 5th, 2010 and looking at the miles I'll be putting in between now and then, I knew December was a month I needed to rest and recover.

First Run Portland--Portland, OR--January 1, 2010

This was a simple 5k that went off at midnight. Pretty good setup. Big party at the World Trade Center in Downtown Portland, around 1000 or so runners, a simple out and back on the main road along the river. Covered pavilion area, lots of bathrooms, decent food and long sleeve T-shirts included. All in all, a good time. I think my time ended up being in the 23:15 range or so. This was my first attempt at a night run, and it wasn't so bad. Getting home and going to bed at 3am didn't do wonders for me the next day, but sitting around all day waiting for midnight to come didn't have too much of an effect (for someone who is usually going to bed around 10pm, though, the day just seemed to go on and on and on)

So that's pretty much it. I've been running a lot of short runs the last few weeks, 3-5 miles at at time. I feel pretty good. The weather has been suprisingly good for these parts. Two bitter cold, but dry, weeks at the beginning of December have given way to occasional rain, but warmer days and nights (45-55 degrees). Seems like there's been a lot less rain than in recent years, but I'm never going to be one to complain about that.