Runners: Carolyn, Russ and Jim

Weather: 40's and Cloudy

Comments: Ran from 24th and Quimby up to the Wildwood, out to Leif Ericksen and then back. Enjoyed a good breakfast at Stepping Stones. Good Times.

Runners: Carolyn, Russ and Jim

Weather: 40 and Cloudy

Comments: New trail! Okay it was a little muddy but great to make new routes.

Runners: Carolyn, Russ and Jim

Weather: Sunny and low 20's

Comments: What a great adventure run! Layers, Hotties, and watch out for ice. Doesn't get much better.

Runners: Carolyn, Russ and Jim

Weather: Sunny and Mid-20's

Comments: What a cold start to the RTSW. Carolyn got abandoned, bit and may have bonked but still ran under 2 hours. I'm not sure how Russ sleeps at night with all the lies he tells "I can't keep up this pace." Uh ya you can. And I finally ran what the online race predictors told me I should be able to based on past races. Carolyn was 13/34 in age group and I was 10/24. Russ was 7/17. Carolyn won that contest. Good racing!

Runners: Carolyn, Russ and Jim

Weather: Low 40's and Cloudy

Comments: Last long run before RTSW. Good loop up Council Crest and over to Terwilliger. We seem to keep dodging the bad weather. Hopefully our luck will continue through next week.

Runners: Jim

Weather: 50's and Cloudy

Comments: Finally made a run to Stepping Stones! Thanks to Ruth, Dezi and the boys who met me at 24th and Quimby. It was exactly 10 miles from my house after I went to 25th instead of 24th. Overall downhill is the way to run. Why didn't I think of this years ago?

Runners: Russ and Jim

Weather: 50's and Cloudy

Comments: Thought for sure this was going to be the first misery run of the season. Guess not. Great weather. We stuck to the road to get ready for RTSW.

Runners: Carolyn, Russ and Jim

Weather: 50 and Cloudy

Comments: Another great weather day and good loop. Unfortunately the Run to Stay Warm will not have such great conditions.

Runners: Carolyn, Russ and Jim

Weather: Low 40's, Sunny

Comments: Great running weather. Over all time was average (1:25) but the moving time (1:08) was very good. Only the second time we have ever had to wait for the bridge, this time on the way back. Oh ya and Carolyn saw a big rat and screamed bloody murder.

Runners: Carolyn, Russ and Jim

Weather: Upper 40's and Cloudy

Comments: Almost 2K of elevation gain over 11 miles is a good run. Great weather too. When our long run reaches 13 miles we will celebrate by finishing at a good breakfast spot.

Runners: Carolyn, Russ and Jim

Weather: Mid 40's and Sunny

Comments: Another good loop. Looks like we are 1 month ahead of last year. We did nearly the exact loop last Nov 2nd in nearly the same time. Time to sign up for Run To Stay Warm.

Runners: Carolyn, Russ and Jim

Weather: Upper 50's and Cloudy

Comments: Good loop today. Congratulations Grandpa Russ!

Runners: Carolyn and Jim

Weather: Upper 50's and Partly Cloudy

Comments: Pretty sure we are the first to run the new trail from Marquam trail over to the Terwilliger. Will be nice when its done. We can still run on the existing trail. We mixed up the new bridge with the old one. It is still in place down the trail. According to the map there will be more access from Fairmont road. That opens up more options for a combination of road and trail.

Here is a link to the map of the project

Runners: Jim

Weather: Low 60's and Sunny

Comments: Poached my own race today. I was signed up but didn't notice the numbers needed to be picked up at Skyline Burger. I thought the numbers would be at the start so that is where I had Ruth drop me off. So I just ran and timed myself. No big deal.

Runners: Carolyn, Russ and Jim

Weather: Upper 50's and Sunny

Comments: Nice to get back to loops versus out and backs. Just have to make the circle a little bigger each week.

Hikers: Carolyn, Brian and Jim

Weather: 60's and Sunny

Comments: Dog Mountain is the steepest hike I have ever been on. If you like a hike with a great view at the end this one is for you.



Here is the elevation chart:

Runners: Russ and Jim

Weather: Sunny and Upper 50's

Comments: Yet another mid week run up the hill. I would love to continue 6-7 mile runs during the week after school starts.

Runners: Jim and Russ

Weather: 60's and Sunny

Comments: Good run up Council Crest - again - seems to be the go to course for the summer.

Runners: Jim and a few hundred others

Weather: Lower 60's and Partly Cloudy

Comments: I am finally figuring out how to run the second half of a race faster than the first. It is about time!

The first picture is from January when I went out too fast. The second is from August with a negative split second half. The August run had a major hill climb. Running negative splits resulted in a lower average HR:

Runners: Carolyn, Russ and Jim

Weather: 60 and Cloudy

Comments: A good summer run. We experienced a little more wildlife than normal. I swallowed a bug and Carolyn jumped over a mole that was eating a slug on the trail. Good Times:

Runners: Carolyn, Russ and Jim

Weather: 50's and Cloudy

Comments: Heavy traffic on the Wildwood today. Even talked to guy from out of town who wanted to make sure he was not lost. Happy Anniversary Russ!

Runners: Russ and Jim

Weather: 60 and Partly Cloudy

Comments: Better to be running late than not at all.

Runners: Jim

Weather: 60's and Cloudy

Comments: Took a rare solo run up Council Crest today. It seems way harder when the pain is not shared.

Runners: Carolyn, Russ and Jim

Weather: 60's and Muggy

Comments: And again we inch the long run a little longer. Good job guys. Next stop the bench.

Runners: Carolyn and Jim

Weather: Perfect

Comments: Very nice 8 mile loop. Good choice Carolyn.

Runners: Russ and Jim

Weather: 50's and Sunny

Comments: Nearly identical to last week's run.

Runners: Carolyn and Jim

Weather: 50's and Sunny

Comments: Finally! Back out on the trail. We called this long run #1 for the summer. It would be nice to build up the distance to about 12 miles over the summer.

Runners: Carolyn, Russ and Jim

Weather: 60 and Sunny

Comments: Short run up to Council Crest and back. Something happened with the elevation. We did not find a new deep whole to run into (-300'.)

Runners: Carolyn, Russ and Jim

Weather: 50 and Sunny

Comments: We did the Wildwood to Marquam loop with the shortcut today. It is about 8.25 miles and very hilly. I am going to figure out some way to add to this loop so it is 10 miles with out adding climbing.

Runners: Russ and Jim

Weather: 50 and Cloudy

Comments: We ran an old route with a new twist today. From Hawthorne Bridge to Council Crest is now called a short run. Our moving time of 1:10 is the fastest I could find by 2 minutes.

Runner: Russ, Carolyn and Jim

Weather: 40 and Sunny

Comments: Nice run today. Carolyn and I reined in Russ for awhile but there was no stopping him going up the last hill to Council Crest.

Runners: Carolyn and Jim

Weather: 50 and Partly Sunny

Comments: Nearly perfect running weather today. What a nice surprise. It seems like we saw a few more runners on the trail today than is typical. I did see a spike in page views of this running blog last week. Maybe people are actually reading this and trying out the Wildwood. Who knows?

Runners: Russ and Jim

Weather: 50 and Sunny

Comments: Good short run today. I think we are running a good speed that we need to maintain for awhile before trying to speed up.

Runners: Carolyn and Jim

Weather: low 30's and Cloudy

Comments: It has been a little over a year since we last did the Council Crest to Terwilliger loop. Last time our average moving pace was 10:51 and this it was 10:49. I love improvements.

Runners: Russ and Jim

Weather: Upper 40's and Misty

Comments: Perfect running weather today. This was our second attempt at a negative split short run. This time we did three pickups on the way back. The average moving pace was 10:23. Our next goal for the short runs will be to get that into the 9 minute range.

Runners: Russ and Jim

Weather: Low 30's and Sunny

Comments: Went for a Jim's Adventure Run today. Ended up a with a new 7 mile loop. Thanks for playing along Russ.

Runner: Jim

Weather: 50's and Cloudy

Comments: Champoeg 10K. I need to run a few more times on a flat course before I race on a flat course. According to my Garmin the course was a little long. Here is an interesting comparison of the splits from the Forest Grove and Champoeg races. The first set of numbers are March 2th and the second set are from January 5th:



My effort as measured by heart rate stays fairly constant but my times steadily slow down. I need to reverse that and have my times steadily get faster as the race unfolds.

Runners: Russ, Carolyn and Jim

Weather: Upper 30's and Cloudy

Comments: Good long run today. Next week is the Champoeg 10k. Here is a look at the improvement from January 28th compared to today on the exact same run:

January 28th February 23rd

We start out the same pace for the first three miles but then finish faster.

Runners: Russ, Carolyn and Jim

Weather: Low 40's and Cloudy

Comments: We still need a new name for the short run turn around spot. Hernia Hill is catchy but time to update. Practiced negative splits by marking the turn around time.

Runners: Russ and Jim

Weather: Mid 30's and Cloudy

Comments: Stretched out long run out a bit to 8. Had to estimate because my watch was not charged up. Pretty good estimate especially compared to how I guessed before GPS. Surprisingly cold at the end of the run. Shouldn't be long before we get into some of the best running weather of the year.

Runners: Carolyn, Russ and Jim

Weather: Low 40's and Sunny

Comments: I like our new short/long alternating weeks. Especially the short. I took note of our average moving pace (11:46) and next short run we'll just try to nudge that down a little bit.

Runners: Russ and Jim

Weather: Low 40's and Cloudy

Comments: Nice short long run today. No matter what Pittock Hill is a @!#@!!%*!

Runners: Carolyn, Russ and Jim

Weather: Upper 20's and Partly Foggy

Comments: Lots of runners out on the trail today. This was the first "long" run in the alternating shorter / longer runs. With this weather pattern maybe we will get a few more sunny runs in before the rains / snow comes back. Maybe.

Runners: Jim

Weather: Low 30's and Cloudy

Comments: Ran the first in a series of 7 10ks this year. It is amazing how a few small changes in technique result in a much better running experience. Following the Pose running method I turned my wrists a bit so my thumbs are facing upwards. Voila an 8:18 pace for 6.3 miles without much training. Now its time to train:

Runners: Jim

Weather: Low 30's and Windy

Comments: Went for a rare solo trail run. I "ran" up Pittock hill but it seemed slower than a walk. It was. I compared to to our run two weeks ago when Carolyn and I walked up the hill. The good news is my moving pace improved dramatically over the break from 12:10 to 12:05!

Runners: Ruth and Jim

Weather: 32 and Clear

Comments: Ran / Walked a 5k at Midnight to start the new year off right! A New Year's Tradition at last. Hopefully they send us the shirts soon.