Every day is a new day

Last long run before the relay that starts Friday night at 6:00 PM.  I will not run til about 02:00 AM on Saturday.  It was a beautiful sunny day with temps about 50-52 at 8:00 AM.  Ran a 3.3 mile warm up at 9:00/ mile pace.

  Then met up with the group for the planned 8 mile Green Lake run.  It turned out we ended up at 4.3 miles at the turnaround and did this at a 9:00/ mile pace as well but it included at least ten significant hills.  Turned around and ran back, and as a side note I have a great deal more respect for all those stroller runners.  I took my turn with the stroller for the biggest hill and a total of a little over a mile.  I was worn out!  It was of course harder to run up hills but it was really hard running down as well.  It was ok on the flats but this course had little of that.  So all you folks looking for better training ideas...... push a stroller. Ended the group run at 8.6 (12.3 for me) miles and then ran a slow cooldown for the last 3.35 with one other person. 

 She is a steady runner but does not push much for speed.  I did the old very slow but steady increase in speed to see if she would follow.  Ended up she finished the 15.65 going at least  30 seconds/mile faster than she thought she could.  We are all looking forward to the race.

Another 1.35 miles in the evening just to loosen up.  Felt good to move. I am looking forward to running in the middle of the night during the relay.  It is a great time running from Skagway Alaska to Whitehorse, Yukon Territories.  !46 teams, near zero population it is a great time.

Planned day off.

Legs still hurt from Sundays run.  I suspect the very hilly nature of the run was mostly responsible.  Of course it might have been the uphill mile with the jogging stroller.

Ran a very slow 3 miles on the treadmill to lossen up.  Tonight is mountain run with the group.  Hope this warm up keeps the legs loose.

P.M  I did a 2 mile warm up in 18:00 before the mountain run.  Because of this weekends race we shortened the run to 2.7 miles to turnaround and only 1200' elevation gain.  I kept to the mormal pace but it felt pretty easy.  Kept it slow on the run back down.  Legs are tired so will be careful the next two days.

Just 5 easy treadmill miles in 45 minutes as a taper day for this weekend.

Last run before leaving in the morning for the race.  Steve and I did the CC course plus .15 in a very easy 30 minutes just enough to shake out the legs.  Felt good no new issues.

Leave in the morning for the Skagway, AK to Whitehorse, Yukon Territories relay run.  Ten legs, ten runners doing legs as varied as   from 5.6 mile mountain leg to 16.2 mile rolling hills leg to 13.1 downhill leg.  We start at 7:30 PM and will end up 110 miles down the road some 15-16 hours later.  We are a team all over fifty five men and five women. We will finish near the middle of the pack but will be better in our senior mixed division.  A total of over 140 teams will be racing in what can only be described as a great event.  Last years highlight included a runner followed up the mountain leg by a bear, it was close enough for him to be able to feel the breath on his legs.  The bear followed him for many minutes before tiring of the race.

My leg will start about 2:00 AM and is a 14 mile route with one major climb and three or four moderate hills.  Looking forward to it.

Just back from the Klondike Trail of '98 road relay race.  Take one RV, ten mixed masters and a remote, hilly and historic 1898 gold rush route from Skagway, AK to Whitehorse Yukon Territory.  Total distance 110 miles. The group is more fun than competitive.  Makes for an interesting weekend.

My leg 5 route is described as follows:

Description of Leg 5
After leaving Checkpoint #5, runners will follow the shoreline of Tutshi Lake. The lake is to the right with steep mountains very close to the road on the left. This leg of the race consists of mostly rolling hills with lots of curves. At about KM 14.5 there is a fairly challenging 2.5.KM uphill stretch, followed by a 3 KM downhill.

We started at 7:30 P.M. with my leg starting at 01:45 AM.   I started out slow not sure what the hills were really like and did not want to burn out early.  Running at night with no reference, no experience and no GPS makes for a cautious run.  Two early hills confirmed my need to be careful.  Then about 4 miles of flat got me into a steady pace.  I passed and was passed by the same number of runners.  When we hit the hill,( one of those that has a passing lane due to steepness), I slowed to moutain climb pace and worked my way up the 1.5 mile climb.  When I got to the top I knew a long downhill was due.  I actually passed one of the guys that had passed me in the second mile during the downhill portion.  The leg finished with two short but steep uphill only sections.

End result is I had a lot of gas left in the tank, felt great and should have been quite a bit more aggressive on the first half.  Oh well, we were a fun run group not a competitive group.  ,  I ended up at 2:00:30 for an 8:38 pace, well below my 8:15 expectation.  But given the hills and cautious nature on the first half, I am satisfied with the race.  Next year I will try to run the leg I do in advance to avoid being too cautious.