Wherein Life Returns to Normal
Finally finished the big transaction I’ve been doing at work. It’s taken two solid months of negotiation, most of the Christmas vacation, several weeks in Palo Alto, and finally back to back all-nighters, but it finally closed at 4 am Thursday. Last night I slept for 11 hours and took the day off today. Would have liked an outdoor run but it was pretty frosty this morning, so i went to the Y and hit the treadmill. It has been hard to keep up with the running and it showed today. My four mile pace was slower than it has been in awhile…I decided to not worry about pace and just try and be comfortable. The pace will come back. Did some stretches and situps and drove back home in the bright sun–life feels great today.
Workout:
- Type: Run
- Date: 01/27/2012
- Time: 11:53:36
- Total Time: 00:35:38.00
- Calories: 503
- Distance: 4 miles
- Average Pace: 8:54.12/mile
Filed under: Run
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Cold Run on Stanford Campus
Back in Palo Alto for work this week, this time staying at the Sheraton near the entrance to Stanford. Finally I had my chance to run the campus drive loop. Only one problem–very cold. My iphone claimed it was 33 degrees at 7:15 when I began. But I talked myself into it. Wore a new, warmer long sleeve jersey with sleeves that can be pulled down over your hands. That proved to be very necessary, as I felt pretty cold on the back half. The Stanford campus is beautiful, and looks might expensive. Most of it the loop run is on a running path next to the road, but you hit a spot on the back loop where that disappears and you have to go off-road a bit through a field before catching up with the road later. That part slowed me down a bit as I was a concerned about not getting lost. Overall though I think I was slowed more by cold. Hope to run it again in slightly warmer weather when i can look around a bit more.
Workout:
- Type: Run
- Date: 01/18/2012
- Time: 09:10:20
- Total Time: 00:44:00.00
- Calories: 621
- Distance: 5.01 miles
- Average Pace: 8:47.09/mile
Filed under: Run
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Awesome Run in the Baylands
Been stuck down in Palo Alto for work all week, spending too much time in conference rooms. One of my colleagues has an old friend who lives down here, and there was a proposal that he pick us up at our hotel at dawn for a run. When my alarm went off this morning it seemed like a bad idea–I was tired, it was still dark, and it was COLD out there–all I had to wear was a long-sleeve shirt and shorts. But I knew it would be worth it, and was it ever. Friend drove us over to a trail in the Baylands Preserve, and we set out as it was growing light. I was the slowest runner of this group of four by a fair amount–two of them run at a 7 minute mile pace, left to my own devices I’d probably run this distance at an 8:40 pace, and our last guy was somewhere in between. We started out going at something much closer to my pace, and although it was freezing the scenery was fantastic. We ran a long loop that started along the highway, then wound through the wetlands and came back along the bay. Saw lots of wildlife and innumerable birds. Coolest thing, oddly, was seeing a skunk scuttle across the path ahead of us and then stare at us from a short way off as we went by. At about the half-way point, the fast runners opened it up, and I was soon motoring along by myself in the back. In fact I probably slowed as they sped up, because I had been going a little faster than I would have on my own. The day grew lighter, I warmed up a bit and hit a comfortable groove. I lost sight of the two fast guys, but never lost sight of the middle guy, so it worked out great (important because it was highly possible to take a wrong turn on the network of trails and get lost–in fact our host (one of the fast guys) actually ran back towards the end just to make sure I didn’t). Ultimately finished at a pretty good clip for this distance. And of course now I feel just great. Definitely one of the highlights of the trip.
Workout:
- Type: Run
- Date: 01/13/2012
- Time: 10:14:24
- Total Time: 00:47:00.00
- Calories: 694
- Distance: 5.5 miles
- Average Pace: 8:32.82/mile
Filed under: Run
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Cold Morning Run in Palo Alto
Crazy work schedule has hindered my workout schedule. Last week I blew an opportunity to walk out the door of my hotel and have what I am guessing would have been a lovely run on the Stanford campus. Back this week but unfortunately my hotel is now a few miles away from said campus. So this morning, I made it happen but was forced to do a not-very-scenic run up El Camino Real from my hotel to the edge of the Stanford campus and back. Turned out to be almost exactly four miles round trip. For all that road traffic it wasn’t so bad and I didn’t feel like I was breathing exhaust the whole way. Real problem was it was kind of cold…if I am able to run tomorrow I may warm up first in the hotel’s fitness center.
Workout:
- Type: Run
- Date: 01/10/2012
- Time: 12:53:35
- Total Time: 00:36:00.00
- Calories: 509
- Distance: 4.1 miles
- Average Pace: 8:47.09/mile
Filed under: Run
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New Year’s Day Run, or, today we all start again at zero
A beautiful start to the year…sunny and warm (mid-40s) this morning. I drove down to the lake so I could have a more pleasant run. Headed south from the parking lot North of Mt. Baker beach and ran down towards Seward. Had to be back in time for my bride to leave for yoga, so I limited myself to 22 minutes out, which got me nicely to the 2.5 mile mark, and I made it back with a bit of a negative split.
The lake was absolutely gorgeous this morning…smooth as glass, with the sun’s low angle giving everything a mystical glow. Rainier was out but cut in half by a bank of white clouds. On the way back I saw a bunch of people taking the polar bear plunge into Lake Washington!
So glad to start off the year with some strong numbers in the distance column. Last year I had two lingering injuries that inhibited training for either of my big races and kept my overall running numbers way down. This year I hope to make up for it, and post some better numbers.
Workout:
- Type: Run
- Date: 01/01/2012
- Time: 11:19:27
- Total Time: 00:43:27.00
- Calories: 614
- Distance: 5 miles
- Average Pace: 8:41.74/mile
Filed under: Run
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5 Between the Holidays
Managed to get to the gym this morning and, feeling a little ambitious, I decided to go for 5. Was running at about an 8:30 pace for the first 3, but really slowed down for the last two miles…still, great to get it in.
Workout:
- Type: Run
- Date: 12/28/2011
- Time: 13:00:52
- Total Time: 00:43:33.00
- Calories: 615
- Distance: 5 miles
- Average Pace: 8:42.5/mile
Filed under: Run
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Christmas Run
After the kids ran through their ginormous pile of loot, but before we sat down to our late breakfast of pancakes, I snuck out for a quick run. I took the ridgeline route south to the hill above the 90 tunnel and back–four miles. It was raining and very windy–some of the gusts were enough to stand me up. But on the way back I was going with the wind and it was a lot more comfortable. Hills were more trouble than I remember–so much so that I almost can’t believe my time was as good as it was.
Merry Chirstmas!
Workout:
- Type: Run
- Date: 12/25/2011
- Time: 12:21:37
- Total Time: 00:34:18.00
- Calories: 506
- Distance: 4 miles
- Average Pace: 8:34.29/mile
Filed under: Run
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Solstice Run!
The Winter Solstice is as good a day as any–maybe better than most–to notch a good workout. Took a late lunch and headed to the health club, and the basketball court emptied out during my run. So just for fun, when I hit the 2 mile mark, I upped the pace and sprinted (by my standards to 2.5, then stopped to go shoot some free throws in a winded/tired condition. Then went back and finished one more mile at an 8:06 pace. So my overall pace was a little faster than it probably would have been if I’d just run 3.5 straight.
Workout:
- Type: Run
- Date: 12/21/2011
- Time: 15:21:10
- Total Time: 00:29:21.00
- Calories: 433
- Distance: 3.5 miles
- Average Pace: 8:22.79/mile
Filed under: Run
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Outstanding Outdoor Run
Nice and mild today–high 40s, low wind, a little sun–so I took a chance and went outside for a run today. Very glad I did–weather was just perfect for a long-sleeve shirt and shorts. And I ran it surprisingly fast–can’t remember the last time I averaged 8:18 over four miles. Great way to start the week!
Workout:
- Type: Run
- Date: 12/19/2011
- Time: 13:49:10
- Total Time: 00:33:14.00
- Calories: 491
- Distance: 4 miles
- Average Pace: 8:18.61/mile
Filed under: Run
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Hoops–Get out there and run!
Perfect storm on the attendance front–too many guys out of town or with holiday commitments–and we very nearly forfeited. In fact we tried to forfeit, and the league told us to show up with what we had and they’d put together a run with players from the last game. (LOVE that attitude.) We managed to scrape together 5 and picked up 1 from the game before, and I very nearly ran the whole thing–took one break for about one minute of game time in the second half. We lost–fell behind by about 12 in the beginning and couldn’t keep up, although we played more of less even thereafter. But a GREAT run. Felt fantastic afterwards. I scored at least a dozen, and hit all my free throws, which is a nice feeling.
Workout:
- Type: Other
- Date: 12/13/2011
- Total Time: 00:50:00.00
- Calories: 326
Filed under: Hoops
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