Week of May 21 to May 27

SUNDAY

Took Hud to the park. He played for 40 minutes with Winston, a pointer

Went to Atalaya Mountain after. 7 miles with 1,781' and a lot of pleasant people

Week ending Sunday May 27
Hudson gets no credit for running even though he played at the park for over 100 minutes. He does not care
Chris 37.9 miles with 3,601' with a 10K race and one summit


SATURDAY

Day off for Hud

Today was the Santa Fe Run Around - 10K me and 5K Maureen. A solid sleep with a relaxing pre-race morning with an easy 15 minute drive. We ran this race back in 2010 - it is mellow and fun and the course is challenging enough with a long (2 x 1+ miles) but gradual (2 x 130') climb

The race went well - 17 / 65 at 46:32 / 7:29 pace (6:23 / 1:02 faster than 2 years ago). Only negative was rolling my left ankle again on cracked pavement. Duh!


FRIDAY

Went with Hud to the park for some tennis and a quick hello to a pit bull (both on leash)

THURSDAY

Went with Hud to the park for some tennis

Taking a few days of mellow runs. Ran the Santa Fe Run Around 5K course - the real course. The 10K course is just the 5K twice. Nice pace of 7:23


WEDNESDAY

Went with Hud to the park for some tennis on the cold wet grass

Went back early morning to downtown and ran what I remembered to be the Santa Fe Run Around 10K course (this Saturday). Legs are tired but it took 55:42. Booo! 2 years ago I had run the race in 52:55

After I got home - according to Google maps - saw that I had run 6.8 miles. I swear I remembered the course but obviously not. Then again I get lost on simple local trails and got lost at a 10K race last year


TUESDAY

Gave Hud the day off, as promised

Got a late start to the day after a few cocktails with a buddy last night and work was busy so didn't get to run until the late afternoon. Went to Dale Ball and decided to try the new La Piedra trail to the Little Tesuque. There was a warning: "No Trail Signs Beyond This Point" - whatever

The trail was hilly until the ridiculously steep descent down to the Little Tesuque. After the descent made my way back up to the top and headed to the trailhead.

Then it turned into a Blair Witch scene as somehow I ended up back at the top of that ridiculously steep descent. I turned around and after 5 minutes ran into a guy I had passed 10 minutes before. I asked him what was going on. He said keep right and pay attention. I eventually ended back at the car

7.5 miles and 1,000'


MONDAY

Took Hud to the park for some tennis and socializing. He did see one golden and goofed around but he is ready to run away from home if I don't give him a day or more off

Work got busy so wasn't able to run until 1pm - not the best time to run in New Mexico. Got in 7.5 miles with maybe a few hundred feet of gain on the Rail trail from Eldorado out towards Lamy

Most half marathons give out finisher medals. Jemez only did to the 50M & 50K folks. So we bought our own

I bought the Day of the Dead donkey

Maureen bought the glass chilis

Week of May 14 to May 20

SUNDAY

A normal sleep last night. Went to Monsignor Patrick Smith park with Hud. He was pretty excited to be on cool green grass. Hit tennis balls for 15 minutes and were going to head out when old friends from last July showed up - Sadie the Burmese Mountain dog and her owner. Hud and Sadie played a little before heading to the creek and waded around 10 minutes before Hud started ignoring me and harassing dogs on leash (it wasn't an off-leash park)

Went to Dale Ball Trails later in the morning and did a relaxing 3.75 miles with 400' - the Dale Ball Trails are awesome

Week ending Sunday May 20
Hudson 8.5 miles with a Sanitas summit. Hud is bitter he gets no credit for non-structured runs - like the sprints with Trouble and Sadie (from Boulder) on Thursday or today chasing tennis balls. I told him life is tough

Chris 31.5 miles with 4,825' and half-marathon #2


SATURDAY

Yet another restless night of sleep - 4.2 hours

Will do a race report next week but it went well. The punishing course was 13.7 miles with 2,723' of gain, topping out at 8,800'. And it was hot. Finished in 2:18:23 - good for a 10:06 pace and 32nd out of maybe 200-220

Maureen's race also went well - her first half marathon and she chose a brutal one. Here she is at the finish

FRIDAY

Restless night of sleep - 4.75 hours

Took today off work and am relaxing and "carbing up" (i.e. eating lots - yogurt, protein bar, blueberry pancakes, quiche, chocolate cake, veggie chicken sandwhich with cheese and tomato, smoothie and a few manicotti stuffed shells)

Not much grass at the house so took Hud for a short half mile trot in the evening. He was pretty bitter I bothered him on his day off


THURSDAY

Took Hud to Dry Creek before we began the drive to Santa Fe. We did our 2.1 mile loop and ran into Dick, Trouble and Sadie (his daughter's 14-week old puppy) back at the trailhead. We joined them for another 20 minutes of all dogs chasing and zipping. Hud is beat

Picked up our race stuff in Los Alamos and cruised around. Very nice technical shirts

WEDNESDAY

Went to Mount Sanitas at dawn for two reasons; i) tire Hudson out for the drive and ii) test the ankle on a real mountain. After 10 minutes took the "bandage brace" off as my foot was turning blue. After the summit put it back on after stretching it so it
"ripped" a few times - much better. 2.6 miles and 1,357'


TUESDAY

Dry Creek with Hud. Taped the ankle and no pain. Hud ran his third fastest 2.1 mile loop out of 92 times at a 7:52 pace

Bought an ankle "bandage brace" and tried it out at Marshall Mesa. It worked very well although when I took it off I could see how tight it was. The run gave a lot of confidence that the ankle will not be an issue assuming I don't do anything stupid. 4.8 miles with 300' of gain on a very technical trail (super rocky) at an 8:31 pace

Watched this tonight - great movie




MONDAY

After spending Sunday with ice and pillows, gave the ankle several short test runs. The first was with Hud at dawn - a little over 7 minutes of mostly walking at Dry Creek.

Worked for AT&T in the comfy chair all morning so I could keep icing and keep it elevated. Went to Bobolink in the afternoon and was able to jog for an easy half mile with no pain. Good news

I wanted to try was hills but resisted the urge to be stupid and simply ran up and down the driveway three times

Week of May 7 to May 13

SUNDAY

Dry Creek with Hudson. 2.1 miles on yet another cool overcast morning

Went to Green Mountain for a final hard run. At the Amphitheatre / Saddle Rock junction was sub-10 (good). At the Saddle Rock / Greenman junction was sub-26 (great). At the "boulder gate" was sub-31 - giving hope for the seemingly unattainable goal of a sub-70 Green. After signing the summit register began the descent and took a look - a sub-45 ascent (my fastest)

Sprinted down while trying not to slip on the wet rocks and crack my skull. At the Ranger / Greenman junction was ~56. 2 miles to go with 14 minutes. The next 0.6 strecth was smooth and gently sloping. I was running fast and even thought (thinking is a bad mistake) "I'm running too fast and out-of-control" when "CRACK" - my ankle rolled and it hurt. I could still run so I kept running. The final mile is "technical" (i.e. easy to fall) but no tumbles and passed the trailhead - 1:09:34!

Woo-hoo!

Went straight to the cold creek to try and keep the swelling down. Today will be a day with an elevated foot either on ice or compressed

Week ending Sunday May 13
Hudson 12.4 miles with a Sanitas summit
Chris 45.5 miles with 9,495'


SATURDAY

Dry Creek with Hudson. 2.1 miles on a chilly morning

Kept it mellow today. Will do a final Green Mountain tomorrow and then taper for next Saturday's race. So ran an easy 2.1 miles with 250' up near Georgetown above 9,000' (the race will be between 7,000' and 9,000')

Also found a perfect pack for long runs like next week - light but just big enough for extra socks and a hat and so on...

FRIDAY

Day off for Hud

Went to Bergen Peak with Maureen early. It was cool with a light drizzle and no one else was on the trail when we started. 11.2 miles with 2,100' in 2:10 and a light snow at the end

Plus we have 4 baby raccoons in our fireplace


THURSDAY

Dry Creek with Hudson. 2.1 miles. Hud is beat - constantly falling asleep all day

Tomorrow we're heading up to Evergreen very early for a long mountain run, so kept it short this afternoon. 3.2 miles at a 7:41 pace on the Bobolink. Also tried out these nifty socks. Both comfy and weird

WEDNESDAY

Dry Creek with Hudson. Just as we finished we ran into Dick and Trouble so we joined them for a loop. 3.5 miles plus all the sprints Hud did with Trouble

Green Mountain in the afternoon. It was hot but 15 degrees cooler in the woods. It was an awesome run and everyone I saw was in a good mood

10 days until our half marathon. We're heading down there next Thursday
http://jemezmountaintrailruns.blogspot.com/


TUESDAY

Mount Sanitas with Hudson at 6am. It was cold and sunny so Hud was full of energy. 2.6 miles with 1,357'

Hogback and Lime Kiln in the late morning. 6 miles with 1,100'

Watched the Haulin' Ass movie. We'll try to attend a few of the races this year: http://www.packburroracing.com/


MONDAY

Day off - needed the rest plus it rained

Week of April 30 to May 6

SUNDAY

Dry Creek with Hudson. Ended up doing 3.1 miles as we saw Dick (person) and Trouble (dog)

Went to Reynolds Park in Conifer. A great run - 5.9 miles with 1,485' at a brisk pace

Week ending Sunday May 6
Hudson 15.8 flat miles
Chris 49.3 miles with 8,179'


SATURDAY

Dry Creek with Hudson. 2.1 miles. His 6th consecutive morning of running - he's ready for a day off. Maybe Monday since it's supposed to rain

Went to Bergen Peak in Evergreen, one of my favorite runs. 9.4 miles with anywhere from 1,900' up of gain in 1:43:14 - over 20 minutes off two prior summits. Everyone is always friendly in Evergreen

FRIDAY

Dry Creek with Hudson. 2.1 miles. It was busy at 6:15am - 2 collies, a puppy, a stocky lab and some unknown dog we've met three times this week. 5 straight days for Hud on a hot week - 89.6F this afternoon at the house. He even walked in the creek near the end which is unusual. The stocky lab joined

Green Mountain after. A good time - 1:18:22. Legs were dead at the summit after running more steep sections than usual


THURSDAY

Dry Creek with Hudson. 2.1 miles. Took the rest of the day off

Instead of race photos Saturday's 15K had a finish line video. Exciting. My greatness is from 19:33 to 19:46




WEDNESDAY

Dry Creek with Hudson. 2.1 miles

Early afternoon went back to South Mesa and ran the same route but the other direction. Added a little more on for 5.8 miles with 1,150'

My main race for 2013 will be a Pack Burro race. Bought this movie today for motivation

Haulin' Ass the movie from Trevor Velin on Vimeo.

TUESDAY

Back still sore but improving. Dry Creek with Hudson at 3 minutes quicker than yesterday. 2.1 miles

Early afternoon went for a really fun run on new trails. South Mesa trailhead up Towhee to Shadow Canyon to Mesa and back a different spur of Mesa into the South Boulder Peak area. Explored an old mining dump and then up to Shadown Canyon and back on Homestead. 5 miles with 1,050'


MONDAY

Back was sore but good enough to try running. Went with Hudson to Dry Creek at 6am for a slow (me, not Hud) 2.1 miles

After a staff call at work went to Lime Kiln trail at noon. Slow but able to run the entire way (after a little walking at the beginning until back was looser). 2 miles with 250'

April
Hudson 52.5 miles
Chris 175.8 miles with 36,675'

Stole this photo from my favorite running blog. It's the free beer garden from Saturday's race