February 14, 2006
Roses are red, bullets are lead…Happy Valentine's day. So I am back from my jog along the North Olympic Discovery Trail. Maybe this is a good time to recount some of the things that I have discovered:

• It is scary to jog along the trail after dark so it is good not to think about the dead body they found last year.
• It is nice to jog on a night with a full moon and a low tide with the surf breaking over the rocks on shore. You can almost hear it over the rustling of your hood.
• It is difficult to jog uphill.
• When you don't wear underwear under your spandex shorts they can ride up into your crotch causing some uncomfortable chaffing. Or so I've been told.
• When it is dark you can't tell that the big dog running and barking at you is actually on a chain.
• You stay warmer if you don't focus all your attention on how cold you are.
• After you pass something and can't see it anymore, don't be surprised at how close it is when you turn around. You really haven't run that far. Hey, there's the hospital, it seems like I passed that hours ago…

So, to save time I decided not to walk. I just put on my shoes and went running out the door. Andrea didn't want me to run along the dark part of the trail so I went along the road to Francis and then down to the lighted part of the trail. It took me 15 minutes to run to the yellow pole and another 7 to run back to Francis. I walked up the hill to the crosswalk (2.5 min.) and ran home. When I got to the house I needed another 45 seconds to make a cool 30 minutes of run time, so I just ran around the block. If I just tack another 40 minutes onto that, I will be all set for March 19th. So here's a thing that makes me nervous. I can't yet run a 10 minute mile. Lets say that I run this race with an 11 minute mile…13.1 x 11 = 2 hours 24 minutes. My longest run is only going to be 90 minutes. That is not long enough. Maybe it would be if 90 minutes meant between 9 and 10 miles but for me it will mean between 7 and 8 miles. That is just over half the distance. I am not even a novice yet and I want to modify the training program.
And another thing. The running part takes long enough, do I get any training credit for the blog. It has started to take some time.