Masters weekend races and runs..

SAT: Pacific Association USATF 8K Championships 30:16 at age 49 (brutal being in the final throes of a 10 year age group...ouch!)

http://www.ffsac.com/results/05shriners_overall.htm

SUN: 9.6 mile run on desolate/pristine flat fire road on Mt Tamalpais in the early morning fog with wife and dog...doesn't get much better than that man!!!

MF

Sat. 1:05:28

Sun. 2:00:40

Things are starting to fit together again, finally.

Runinthesun, well done on the 10k. Runguru, I hope you have your family finish their ice cream before getting back in the car. Nice ride!

Health to everyone.

Same old stuff. 10.5 on the Wildwood Trail, including an assault on Pittock Mansion on par with WWG but on Saturday, jogged 10.5 easy on Leif Erickson on Sunday. Still tired from Tuesday I think...Tuesday you ask? Read on.

Lesrun does serve its purpose on occasion despite the mean-spirited vibe. A Letsrun poster from Wisconsin contacted me as he and his wife were in the Northwest and Portland for a few days last week checking it out for a possible move. He is 37, not 39 as I had suggested here last week and ran for the North Carolina Tarheels in college.

We met up for a run and cranked a snappy 11 miles on the Leif Erickson fire road in 72:10s on a warm Tuesday afternoon. It was 6:30s/mile but I guess the route is not that fast up there with the solid hills. It rocked me, I felt pretty shot for three days. He was tired too, even his wife said he had trouble getting out of bed the next day, but I would imagine he bounced back more quickly than I did. He has already run a 1:14 half-marathon this year and was hoping to run 1:13s in Vancouver, B.C. this morning.

He did encourage me to go find a race though. Could happen.

I was finally able to run a quality 10 miles after nursing a strained calf muscle the past week and a half. It felt great tonight - I was just clipping along, actually holding back. I missed a team race yesterday, but I didn't want to chance the calf locking up on me. If things go well this week, I'll be racing on the fourth in Huntington Beach. I am sooooo in need of some speed work, but I should be able to still pop into the mid 16s for 5K on strength. Kinda frustrating, since I know I should be a minute faster with the right training - but being able to do the work is one of the challenges of getting older.

One Keg, we should chat sometime about the old days at UCB and the EBS.....not sure if you know who I am.

Hi OMBTS,

I seem to be getting back into the flow of things of keeping the household together and running what I'm suppose to. Weights and core exercises will resume tomorrow. My son is volunteering at the library and I'll be outside with my mat and big ball doing my stuff for 2 hours, 3-4x a week.

Well, I'm finally under 7 minutes a mile for an hour's run. WHOPPEE! Ran with Dan the Man after not runninng with him for many weeks, and he couldn't believe the progress. We were running along and catching up with each other lives and before we knew it..."hey, that's a 6:50 pace!!" I don't know where it came from, but not too long ago, this was an unheard pace for me to run, especially, at an easy effort. And my friend that's after a long run the day before and a run in the morning. YES! Indeed it is coming around. I'm gearing up for the "offical" training to begin in August.

Went to ZAP Fitness in Boone, North Carolina and trained with Ian Connor, Dan Wilson, Joe Driscoll, met Debbie Thornbill, along with my son Aaron. He had a fantastic time hanging around wiht the athletes.

I was the guest speaker. Told some war stories. The best part for me was that I got to "run with the guys"..haven't done that in the longest time..

Zap has a very fine set up, the athletes there are well taken care of. Beautiful place to train and the food is awesome.

Heading out the door soon...cloudy still very humid. Love it! No soreness.

Ran my fastest 5K (50-55)for the past 5 yrs. 17.38 then broke my foot on Monday. Will be out for several months.

Ouch..!!..Sorry Benfield....I wish you a speedy recovery

My season seems to be over--left Achilles flame-out. Two-weeks off hear and there with all the exercises-ice etc, etc, and its still sore. Its not that bad, but very close to a major flame-out if I continue. However, I have been very please with all the work loads this year and looking forward to indoors. If anyone is going to Spain you can have my entry package.

Sorry to hear about these unfortunate injuries. Wishing all you warriors a speedy recovery!

I went up to Lake Tahoe with the family and ran trails both Saturday and Sunday. Only saw one person both days- I just LOVED my runs this weekend.

Oh, I'm so sorry...ohmygoodness. Well, I'm happy that you ran and ran fast!

Road race 2k Thursday, slow (hills AND turns, ouch!)

Saturday: 4x1000 somewhat easy, erratic (4:07,3:41,3:50,3:35), then weights upper and lower body.

Sunday: Easy 8 miler.

Upcoming week has two tough workouts planned, so kind of held back generally speaking last week.

Hope all the injureds out there heal up quickly.

Ran the Double Dipsea race on Saturday er, I mean ran and walked the race. First time on the infamous Dipsea Trail. It was brutal although, the weather was perfect. Overcast with drizzle to cool things off. The trail is a series of climbs, stairs, mud, rock, poison oak, asphalt and single track. They "handicap" the start so the "oldsters" and females get a head start. I ran conservative and ended up 113th place in 2 hours 32 minutes. Great support from the volunteers. In 31 years of racing, by far the hardest course I've ever run but am glad to have done it. My quads are still screaming at me today!!

Hey there. I have some guesses but could not figure out who you were. I just sent you an e-mail. I hope your calf heals up, it looks like you're still able to get after it.

Reno, Just saw a weather report for this weekend...suppose to be a break in the humidity and heat for this weekend....if the forecast holds up you could get some nice weather

I was traveling in east TX last week and had some great runs at Tyler State Park! What a great place to run. Trails, trails, trails. All very nicely groomed, not too challenging, a perfect place to log some easy miles. I ran on one trail that hugged it's way all around the lake. It was 10 degrees cooler there than back in the DFW area, too. Evenings were actually cool, which in rare here in TX. I'll definetly be going back in Feb. when they have their 25k and 50k races.

Running in the Luke's Locker metroplex championship Master's mile tonight.

For all SoCal track runners, the Birmingham HS (Van Nuys) summer series starts Wednesday night June 29 and continues every Wednesday through August 3. Adult section starts at 7:00 with 1500m followed by essentially a full track meet with 800m and combined 3000/5000 going off about 9:30. Auto timing.

Extremely well run and best of all - it is free.

17000 Haynes Street, Van Nuys, 91406 if you MapQuest it.

Some real talent shows up too. Last year John Godina showed up and threw the shot about, several 800m guys came out to tune up before heading to Europe.