I ran the Clark County Running Club (CCRC) Turkey Trot 5K. I ran a 19:25 and came in 12th overall and 1st for my age group (however, 55, 49 and 51 year olds smoked me). CCRC had 200 runners finish a new record for the club. Results

This was my first race since the marathon. I am happy with the results. It is the fastest 5K I have run while in my 30's. Although, I think I have a sub 19 minute 5K in me if I train for it.

More important than race results, CCRC gave out 12 or so Turkeys by raffle and I won one!

I survived the Marathon. Barely. I ran a fantastic 22 mile race, unfortunately, the race was actually 26.2 miles. In classic rookie fashion I ran too fast for the beginning of the race and didn't quite have it for the end of the race.

I did run close to my plan B time with a 3:21:02. I placed 410 out of 6314. So not too bad for my first marathon.

I started with the 3:15 pace group for the first several miles. Then on 4th ave a surged ahead to get at the an aid station and found myself well ahead of this group. The rookie mistake was not slowing back down and sticking with the group. Instead I bridged up to the 3:10 pace group over the next few miles.

I ran with the 3:10 pace group till we got over the St. Johns bridge, mile 18, then I let them go knowing I could not maintain that pace. This was not a problem.

However, I kept slowing down. My legs got heavy and by mile 22 I had to take walk breaks. The full blown proverbial wall. That was the longest 4 miles of my life. It felt like I limped in.

At least I could make a show of it for the last mile when my family got to see me at the finish.

I learned a lot about the distance. Hopefully, I will be wise enough to apply it next time out. I am thankful I can run. I am thankful I completed the race. I am thankful I left nothing out on the course.

In the finishers area I was gobbling up food like I was a man on the brink of starvation. By the time I got to my family at the reunion area I had both hands full of food and gifts.

Over at discovermagazine.com they have a fascinating article,
Born to Run, about humans ability to run long distances.

A few interesting points:

• We can out run all other animals over long distances
• Our Achilles tendon, knee and arch of the foot act as springs
• We have larger butts than other bipeds that may be a substitute for a tail that balances during running
• We have the ability to sweat and dissipate heat greater than other animals

Runners already knew a lot of this but these guys are proving it scientifically. Born to Run

Another article at U.S. News and World Report, shows a study that older runners live longer and have fewer disabilities than other healthy individuals.

I am just saying, running is good.

This is my peak week of workouts. This is my peak long run. Today I ran 23+ miles on the Portland Marathon course. I forgot to bring a map so I was running from the memory of looking at a map. I took a couple of wrong turns. First, I stayed on Thurman too long and then missed the change to NW St Helens rd when I was on the right road for a block. Second, coming off the Saint Johns bridge I needed to go south a block to catch Willamette Blvd earlier. I purposefully cut out the Front St industrial area to shorten the run to 23 miles.

Regardless, I was tired by the end of it. It was warm. I started at 7:00 AM but the sun was up and it was a perfectly clear day. I was dragging the last few miles until I caught sight of the fountain on Naito Parkway and Salmon which means I have about a half a mile to go. I had a rush of energy. I can only hope this happens on marathon day.

Here is the course I ran today:

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I ran in Forest Park on Leif Erickson Dr. Forest Park is the largest park in a metropolitan area in the United States. It is beautiful.

It is also challenging. I was trying to do a Marathon Goal Pace (MPG), 7:24 per mile, run for 13 out of 16 miles. But I only could hold that pace for 8 miles due to the hills and terrain. It was still a great workout.

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For our anniversary we went to the beach for a couple of days. We had good weather and a great time with the girls. Lots of sand and surf.

I got a 20 plus miler in while were were at Long Beach. It was a relatively quick (for a 20 miler) 8:40 per mile average.

I am amazed at the difference temperature has made in my long runs of late. In the middle of August I was running my round trip around the Columbia river from I5 to I205 in 80+ degree weather and I hit the wall and had to walk.

This Long Beach run was in 55-60 degree weather and it felt great. I am really glad the Portland marathon will be in October early in the morning. It should be great running weather.

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I have registered for the Portland Marathon. I am bib number 3611. This is a big step psychologically. I have a couple of months to put in a few more 20 mile runs and some serious tempo runs.

I have added the countdown timer on the right hand bar to psych myself up.

David

I ran the Lacamas Lake Half Marathon today. I am very happy with the results. I ran a 1:32:00 at around 7:01 pace. I came in 16th 17th place out of 372 and 3rd in my age group. Not too bad. Mostly I am happy because this projects well for a BQ at the Portland Marathon.

The Lacamas Lake run was very hilly. The splits are crazy from 7:30 to 6:35. It had long slogging uphills then break neck down hills. I am just glad I could hang on to a steady 7 minute pace. The final hill at the 12 mile mark was daunting. I felt like I was just getting the lactic acid washed out when I crossed the finish line.

Several thoughts:

• What a difference a month makes (since the Pacific Crest Half Marathon where I hit the wall)
• They should have called it the Camas Hills Half Marathon
• I can run down hill fast! :)
• Running in the NW rocks! It rained or drizzled through much of the race keeping us all cool.

Here is the GPS tour of the race:

I have chronicled some of my knee problems before. This reoccurring knee issue is what kept me from running for years until in 2007 I decided I would work through it no mater what it took. Which meant not running on it in pain but focusing on recovery, stretching and strength work outs.

I have read a lot of material on running knee problems but I could never quite "diagnose" what particular ailment I had: Runner's knee, Patellar tendinitis, or other scary sounding problems. My pain was my left knee on the outside slightly under the knee cap.

I had seen several articles on IT Band Syndrome but I never identified it as my issue, until I ran across the Runner's World Running Doc blog entry: IT Band Syndrome.

This was just before my running of the Pacific Crest Half Marathon and i quickly put the Running Doc's stretching advise in place. I also stepped up the use of the Runner's World Build a better knee stretches and exercises.

So, I ran my first twenty miler in prepararation for the Portland Marathon.

It was quite exhausting. The temperature was 75+ and rising. On the Portland, Oregon side of the Columbia river there is zero shade. It is a beautiful run but I was very glad to see the small trees and a tiny bit of shade back on the Vancouver, Washington side of the river.

I averaged 9:09 per mile and that includes several walk breaks to hydrate. I immediately jumped in the river when I was done and cooled down.

Here is the GPS tour of the route:

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David