What a Week

I had been wondering what Shelly from Northern Exposure had been up to the last decade, so what a surprise to see she is now a Vice Presidential candidate. I knew winning Miss Northwest Passage was the beginning of great things for her. Let me be the first to predict that the Mayor of Palmer Lake (population 2000) will soon be appointed Secretary of State.

I got back into the swing of things this week with my running and tested the hamstring out with a mild tempo run. One of my main training beliefs is that you should do some form of speedwork and hill work at all times in your training cycle, rather than waiting till you are in shape. The main difference being that it isn't at the same intensity when you are out of shape or just coming back from an injury.

We had a nice weekend which included going up to Breckenridge where Judy and Jill (Rick's wife) ran the Breck Crest Half marathon. Breck is at 9600 feet, and the race went up to 12,500 feet so it isn't exactly a PR course! There was great weather this year, unlike 2004 when Rick, Judy, and I ran in a full-blown blizzard and all dropped out. Jill ran about 3:00 and Judy was close behind in 3:04, while Rick and I did some hiking/running on the trails. We also saw several other ultrarunners who were doing one of the races. Bob Sweeney just moved to Colorado and was trying out his first high altitude race. Bob Africa won the marathon and Darcy Africa, who is expecting a child, ran the 5 mile event.

Week Log:
8/25 mon. 30:00 on TreadMill, 7:00 pace.
8/26 tue. 1:08:00 Greenland Loop from work. 7:20 pace.
8/27 wed. 45:00 Reservoir trail with Darwin. Hilly/slow.
8/28 thu. 35:00, incl. 2.5 mile tempo run @ 6:20 pace, Palmer Lake
8/29 fri. Hike 1:15:00 with Judy
8/30 sat. 2:25:00 long run with CRUD. Rampart Range Rd to Williams Canyon to Waldo Canyon to Ute Indian Trail.
8/31 sun. Hike 1:00:00. Run 35:00 slow/hilly in Breckenridge.
Week – 6:00:00 / 42 miles