Category: Last Week in Running

I’ve signed up for the Glass City Marathon in Toledo, Ohio, and I’m on weeks 2 and 3 of 18 in my slightly modified Pfitz 18/55 plan. The marathon is on April 28, 2019. I traveled to Washington, DC and back during the second week (blame that on why I missed posting half of this) for the Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting (TRB).

Week 1 Monday: 10 Miles. I got a running vest based on a recommendation from a friend and used it today. It was dark (cloudy + predawn), and windy (cold front rolling in). I really wanted to crush this run since it seems like every time I run in this park – East Fork Lake State Park – it’s tough and my paces are slow. I kinda did this time, 10.01 miles in 1:28:59 (8:53 min/mile pace).

Week 1 Tuesday: 4 Miles. Started out with form drills in the park. It was warm – warm enough that my gloves were only my finger-less RunLites. It was raining on my way to the park (which is all of a 2 minute drive), but by the time I parked, got my podcast started, and got my gloves on, it stopped. 4.05 miles in 35:59 (8:53 min/mile pace).

Week 1 WINDSday: 8 miles with 4 at HM pace (7:30 – 7:50 min/mile). It was extremely windy. And it was cold – the temperature on Tuesday dropped from about 59 at 4:30 to 49 at 5:30, and it was 32 by the time I started running on WINDSday morning. Ran in the park and the subdivision next to it. Despite the wind, I kept the HM portion of the run within the goal at 7:49 min/mi… but the warm-up and cool-down were slow-ish (low 9s). Overall, 8 miles in 1:07:29 (8:26 min/mile pace).

Week 1 Thursday: 4 miles recovery. I didn’t want to go too far to run, so I ran in the subdivision in the morning. Ran five laps of the subdivision, 4.19 miles in 37:16 (8:54 min/mile pace).

Week 1 Friday/Saturday: I was supposed to do a long run of 14 miles, but sick on Friday and too much to do on Saturday mean I scrubbed it.

Week 2 Monday: 8 miles + 10 strides. Flew to Washington, DC Sunday. It was the trip from Hell because of many cancellations and delays. The snow was still around on Monday and made for a slow run to keep from slipping. 9.67 miles in 1:32:43 (9:35 min/mile pace).

• 

• 

Week 2 Tuesday: 5 recovery miles. Ahh TRB, where going to bed past midnight is the norm. Ran this with a friend and colleague, so we were talking along the way. The sidewalks were better, but there were still plenty of slick spots. 5.27 miles in 50:15 (9:32 min/mile pace).

Week 2 Wednesday: 10 miles. I think I got to bed at 1 AM and got up at 5 AM, so this was not going to be a great run, and there were still slick spots around. Ran across the Arlington Memorial Bridge to Arlington National Cemetery (not into the cemetery, it appeared to be closed with several vehicles waiting for it to open). Then got kinda lost coming back across and ended up running up the Rock Creek Trail until it split at the Whitehurst Freeway. I went west under the freeway to 30th street and then south to the waterfront where I followed to the end before turning around and making my way back down to the National Mall. Overall, 10.36 in 1:37:13 (9:23 min/mile pace).

Week 2 Thursday: 4 Recovery Miles. Ran this one with the same friend and colleague that I ran with on Tuesday. We ran north, I was intending to go past a few places I saw last year, but I forgot where they were. We ran up 16th and crossed over to 14th too early for some (the Freemason building, the Warder Mansion, the Carnegie Institute, and the embassies of Lithuania, Cuba, Spain, Mexico, and Kazakhstan. After we split ways at his hotel, I continued running back to mine and put an additional mile on (because rounding). 5.07 miles in 47:54 (9:28 min/mile pace). Flew back home in the midday.

Week 2 Friday: 15 miles. Ran in East Fork, which is a difficult run in the dark (see Week 1 Monday), as well as in the light. I had intended to get a picture of the sun rising over the waters near the end of my run, but cloudy weather screwed that over. The new vest worked out again. Hydrated with Gatorade Endurance and fueled with one Gatorade Endurance Gel (Vanilla flavor) at around mile 7.5. 15.02 miles in 2:22:06 (9:28 min/mile pace). One good part is that despite “Audrey” (the AfterShokz voice) saying “charge me” a few times starting at around 11.5 miles, my Trekz Airs did not die. Of course, they went straight on the charger when I got home.

My weekend plans are generally to rest! TRB is tough because of early morning sessions and late night bar sessions. It doesn’t help that last weekend was on my feet 100% of Saturday and a lot of walking on Sunday and the rest of the week.

I’ve signed up for the Glass City Marathon in Toledo, Ohio, and I’ve moved around the runs in the Pfitz 18/55 plan. This is the first week of 18 on the plan.

Monday (New Year’s Eve): 8 miles + 10x100m strides. It was raining the entire time, somewhere between steady and pouring. It was a quality run in the park, though. Overall, 9.19 miles in 1:17:17 (8:24 min/mile pace).

Tuesday (New Year’s Day): Recovery 3 miles. This is on the plan as a rest day, but I think I’d feel better about the later stages of the plan if I ran a little, so I ran 3 miles in a drizzle. Kept it in the neighborhood. Overall, 3.32 miles in 29:43 (8:57 min/mile pace).

Wednesday: Medium Distance 10 Miles. So clearly this is a harder plan than the last one, because it waited several weeks to make me think my legs were going to fall off. Ran this one in East Fork to get some topography and found a new part of the bike path. I was hoping to make it to Batavia, but the path seemed to end on a country road. I decided the waist water pack was too much bouncing, and had to make a pitstop. Overall, 10.01 miles in 1:31:04 (9:06 min/mile pace).

Thursday: Recovery 5 Miles. Ran 5 miles in the park. It wasn’t the fastest five miles… which might have something to do with Wednesday’s 10 mile run and the thought of Friday’s run, but I got it done. 5.19 miles in 46:08 (8:58 min/mile pace).

Friday: 13 miles with 8 miles at M pace. This was harsh. It wasn’t warm out (30F), but it may have been too warm for the pullover on top of the long sleeve shirt. My paces have been down this week, mostly because I’ve been burning the candle from both ends (I’ve been building an office on the weekends… fortunately, I extinguished the flame in the middle of the candle, which was repairing my wife’s car). Kept it in the park and the subdivision next to it (it looked too muddy in the dark to go over to the other subdivision). And I ran an extra 0.1 miles because I could. The first 3 miles were 26:49 (8:56 min/mi pace), the 8 miles at M pace were in 1:06:01 (8:15 min/mile pace, right on the high edge of the target), and the last two were in 18:12 (9:06 min/mi pace). Overall, 13.1 in 1:51:52 (8:32 min/mile pace). That was my half marathon time a few years ago. Progress!

Overall, 40.81 miles. This was a high week, and much higher than the initial runup to the marathon last year.

So I’ve signed up for the Glass City Marathon in Toledo, Ohio, and I’ve moved around the runs in the Pfitz 18/55 plan. This is leading up to the first week of 18 on the plan.

Monday: 8 miles with 4 @ HM Pace: It was cold in the morning, and I woke up with enough time to start work by 6:00 AM. I figured that by 11:30, I could have 5.5 hours in and I expected (and told my boss) that I’d be taking some PTO. The backstory there is that I changed jobs, starting my new one on December 3, and because of that, I had 18 hours of PTO to use for holidays and other days. Christmas is a definite no-go, so that’s around 8 to use, leaving 10 for days like Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve (and the Cincinnati Bearcats play on Christmas Eve, I’m an alum and adjunct faculty, so I *want* to watch them). To make a long story short (too late!), I decided to run at lunch when I might be able to wear shorts instead of pants.

Tuesday: Rest. Christmas Day. I like my wife married to me, so I didn’t even think about running. I ran today’s easy 3 miles on the Sunday before, and it was partly to test some new shoes.

Wednesday: 9 miles. This plan certainly drops the gloves quickly. Nice little big run in the middle of the week. Unfortunately, I was suffering from a cold on Christmas and was completely run down when I woke up. I skipped the run, probably for the better.

Thursday: 4 miles. Recovery Miles. Felt worlds better that yesterday and ran 4 miles around the park. 4 miles in 35:33 (8:53 min/mile pace).

Friday: 12 miles. It was harsh. Decided to go up to East Fork. It was dark and rainy, but not cold. I didn’t feel ‘with it’, and my pace showed it. Worse, I needed to relieve myself and there was no good place until mile 9/10 where one of the campground loops had an open bathroom (after checking at a park around mile 4 and the loop prior to the one I was running in). After that pitstop, I was able to throw down some speedier miles. 12.01 miles in 1:57:43 (9:48 min/mile).

Hopefully next week I can cobble together one solid week of training. This week topped out around 25 miles. I clearly need to make it to East Fork a little more often because it is hillier than the park around the corner.

I’m building up to the Pfitzinger 18/55 plan for a spring marathon.

Monday: 8 miles. Ran 8 miles in the park and the neighborhood next to it. I tried to cross over to the other neighborhood, but after slipping on mud and realizing the mud would be too deep crossing over, I stayed in that subdivision and in the park. Late in the run, my podcast (the BibRave Podcast) ended, and I attempted to use my AfterShokz to tell the Google Assistant to play my Epic Running Playlist, and it failed. Later that day, after configuring the Google Assistant, I think I have it fixed. Between the AfterShokz and the new phone (I got a Google Pixel 3 a few weeks ago), it’s nice! 8.02 miles in 1:08:18 (8:31 min/mile pace).

• 

• 

Tuesday: 3 miles + 7 strides. I had a dentist appointment in the morning, so I slept in and ran at lunch. The temperature had started the day around the upper 20s, but by lunchtime it was around 40. I kept in the subdivision, and ran way too fast. 4 miles overall in 30:51 (7:42 min/mile pace).

Wednesday: 8 miles. The morning was cold, and I kinda wussed out and ran after a lunch meeting and after-lunch seminar. Ran 8 fast miles around the park and the neighboring two subdivisions. Christmas is in the air, the dog walkers were all courteous, and the only walkers without dogs moved aside before I said anything. It was NICE! I started my run with gloves on, but after 2 miles ran to my truck and stuck them under a windshield wiper. 8.05 in 1:06:35 (8:16 min/mile pace).

Thursday: 4 miles + 7 strides. It was supposed to be rainy all day except the morning, so I was already going to get out in the morning. It was raining anyway, and my quads were sore from two days of too-fast running. Stayed in the park for this one. 5.14 miles in 46:06 (8:58 min/mile pace… thanks to the strides, it was 9:11 min/mile before them!)

Friday: 11 miles. I had intended to run 11 miles, but also needed to put in a lot of hours for work, and thought I’d move this to Saturday and skip Sunday. Then, my wife got sick (so sick that I slept on the couch) and overslept (by HOURS) and had to watch the kids. The run never happened. On the bright side, Amazon came with some new shoes!

Sunday: 3 miles + 7 strides. Ran Tuesday’s miles today since Tuesday is Christmas. Ran some laps around the subdivision (and my wife is feeling better, THANK GOD!).

25 miles this week, and 24 last week. I think I’m rested enough to kick things up a notch. That being said…

Merry Christmas Eve to me, I signed up for my second marathon. 🎄🎄🎄 @GCM_Toledo pic.twitter.com/J61ZV9W2LF

— Andrew Rohne 🍺🏃🍕 (@HamBrew807) December 24, 2018

This shouldn’t be a shock, I’ve talked about doing this and decided to finally give them my check card number and register. Flat, fast, and hopefully NO YELLOW FLAGS! 🙂

First week at the new job! I spent last Sunday driving from Cincinnati to Evansville, Indiana in preparation for a few days there. After dinner on Sunday evening and finding out that I’d have to switch hotels due to an error in my reservation, I sat in the hotel bar drinking a mediocre IPA, finishing up Advanced Marathoning, and figuring out a training plan for a spring marathon.

Monday: 6 miles. Ran down the street from Hotel #1 to the Ohio Riverfront and along the riverfront. The temperature was still warm-ish and the route is fairly flat. 6 miles in 52:22 (8:42 min/mile pace).

• 

• 

Tuesday: 3 miles + 7 strides.  Despite being forced to switch hotels, I drove back to the riverfront to run again. 4 miles in 33:17 (8:18 min/mile pace).

Wednesday: 7 miles. Ran along the riverfront and went exploring a little and ended up going past a bakery (that was nice) and running to the end of the sidewalk forcing me to turn around a half mile early. So on my way back, I ran a different way and found the route I SHOULD have been running on. 7.1 miles in 51:45 (8:25 min/mile pace).

Thursday: 3 miles + 7 strides. Back at home, ran in the township park. 4.07 miles in 34:19 (8:26 min/mile pace).

Friday: 10 miles long run. Ran in the park and the nearby subdivision on a cold morning. Didn’t go fast. 10.01 miles in 1:28:55 (8:53 min/mile pace).

That’s it for another week and a week that started me building up to the Pfitzinger 18/55 plan. 31.2 miles over the week.

For the first time in a very long time, I don’t have a race on the calendar in ink. I do have a few in pencil, though.

This week began with some back pain. It’s mild, but irritating enough. Also, I’m past the two half marathons, so I took it easy.

Monday: Ran 3.28 miles in the cold. It was supposed to be rainy, but fortunately not. I did cut back some of my Monday and Wednesday pre-run form drills and post-run squats due to the back pain. Stayed in Friendship Park for this one. Time of 29:16, pace 8:55 min/mile.

Tuesday: Ran 3.2 miles in the very cold. Back felt better. Because of the cold and some precipitation Monday evening, I stayed on the Cincinnati side and ran down to Paul Brown Stadium and back. Time of 27:43, pace 8:40 min/mile.

Wednesday: Ran 4 miles in the very cold, across the Purple People Bridge and back across the semi-icy Suspension Bridge. Time of 35:25, pace 8:49 min/mile (mostly caused by a slow mile around and across that semi-icy bridge).

Thursday: Ran 6 miles in the very cold, including the last 1/4 mile in ice rain. Kept it in the park – Friendship and through Sawyer Point, Yeatman’s Cove, and Smale Park and around the Bengal’s Practice Field and then up the Purple People Bridge because I wanted to try my new phone at night (but it wasn’t dark enough).

• 

• 

• 

Friday: ran 8-ish miles across all four Ohio River bridges – the Clay Wade Bailey, Suspension, Taylor Southgate, and Purple People Bridge all in that order. I did miss the Veteran’s Bridge (between Newport and Covington), but that bridge is meh anyway. Ran it faster than I intended, probably because the weather broke and it was in the mid-40s in the morning. 8.26 miles in 1:10:38 for an 8:33 min/mile pace.

Overall, that’s 136 miles for the month. Not as much as October, but with two taper weeks, it felt good… and two PRs – 1:42:33 in the Honor Run Half and then turning around 13 days later and laying down a 1:39:35 in the Hungry Turkey Half was NICE!

Ch, ch, ch, changes…

Downtown Cincy is a great spot for running. The parks are 2.5 miles long, so it’s easy to fit 5 miles of running in the park. If you want to add to it, the bridges are all about a quarter of a mile long and can easily open up 7-8 mile routes (and they’re scenic, too!). And they become the foundation for some longer runs, like out Eastern Avenue (part of the Flying Pig Marathon course), Eden Park (part of the Flying Pig Half and Full Marathon course), 8th Street Viaduct, KY-8 towards Ludlow, KY-1120 towards Highland Heights (if you’re into pain, it’s all hill but it has a great view of the east side of the Ohio River Valley if you make it to the freakily-high overpass over I-275). 

From here through the foreseeable future, I’ll be working from my home in Batavia, Ohio. My running opportunities have some limits as well as some opportunities.

Limits

It’s going to be more difficult to figure out my near-exact 24 foot spacing for the form and mobility drills I do on Monday and Wednesday pre-runs. I’ll have to convert these to parking spots or something. 

• 

• 

Another limit is that the closest two places to run are my neighborhood and Batavia Township Park. If you’ve followed me on Strava (you likely don’t, but feel free to) and you see a run with just a distance, it was probably in my neighborhood (I don’t willingly show where I live to random strangers on the Internet). There’s a little topography to it, although Garmin claims only 12 feet over 3 miles… there’s a little bit more, but not much more.

Opportunities

So the big opportunity is above. I’ve done some of my running at East Fork Lake, including some of my hill repeats in the last half marathon training cycle and my 18 mile training run for my first marathon was run here. There’s also trails that I haven’t explored.

Another opportunity is that my new job will require more travel. So I’m going to be adding to the number of states I’ve run in. Currently, I think I’m up to 9: Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia, Maryland (both Baltimore and DC), Vermont, New Hampshire, Oregon, Colorado, and Florida. Only 41 left to go!

On to next week!

Race Week! I ran the Hungry Turkey Half Marathon on November 24. Now begins the off-season.

Monday: Not really having a plan for the between-the-halves, I ran 6 miles across the Clay Wade Bailey bridge and back across the Purple People Bridge. In the rain. And the wind. At least it was in the low-40s and not below freezing. 6.02 miles in 52:18 (8:41 min/mile pace).

Tuesday: Recovery-ish or something like that. Ran 3 miles and 7 strides across the Suspension Bridge and back across the Purple People Bridge. It was a little warmer than Monday, but also a little gusty. 4 miles in 33:26 (8:20 min/mile).

Wednesday: Ran 3 miles in Yeatman’s Cove and Smale park. The first mile felt sluggish, but my watch beeped at 8:22, so it was faster than it felt. It was quite cold (30 or so) and windy. 3 miles in 25:16 (8:24 min/mile pace).

Thursday: Ran around 3 miles in the neighborhood on a very cold and frosty morning. It was Thanksgiving and I was set to go to my in-laws for the day. Ran 3.02 miles in 25:57 (8:36 min/mile pace).

Friday: Ran 2 miles around the subdivision. This was an optional run, but I did it anyway because I got up before everyone else. 2.16 miles in 19:01 (8:48 min/mile pace).

Saturday: RACE DAY! There will be a full race report and BibRave Review coming, but spoiler alert: it went well!

31 miles on the week. Not too bad for a week with a holiday. Cheers!

This is a week between the races. I just ran the Honor Run Half Marathon, and next week is the Hungry Turkey Half on November 24, 2018, use this link to sign up for that race (affiliate link).

Monday: Rest! I rested from the Honor Run Half and worked on finishing an office in my basement.

Tuesday: Recovery. Ran 3 miles and 7 strides across the Suspension Bridge and the Purple People Bridge. It was supposed to be snowy, and it kinda was, but mostly just wet. It wasn’t as cold as last Sunday, either. Overall 4 miles in 34:16 (8:33 min/mile pace).

Wednesday: Long-ish Run. Since I’m between two half marathons and nothing I do now would change the outcome of the next one, I decided to just run 5 miles. In the very cold. Ran across the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge and back across the Purple People Bridge, stopping to take the image below from Covington. 5.26 miles in 45:55 (8:45 min/mile pace).

Thursday: Recovery. Ran 3 miles and 7 strides in the park. It was icy out, so I wanted to stay off the bridges. 4 miles in 33:46 (8:25 min/mile pace).

• 

• 

• 

• 

Friday: Long Slow Distance. Ran 90 minutes in Friendship Park, across the Purple People Bridge, all the way across Covington’s Riverfront Path to the end and then backtracking to the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge. After crossing back to Cincinnati, I went out past the Bengal’s Practice Field and back into Smale Park and Yeatman’s Cove… since I wasn’t done, I continued into Friendship Park to do the loop near the Boathouse and back. It was cold, windy at times. Fueled with a Gatorade Endurance Gel at 45 minutes and drank Lemon-Lime Gatorade Endurance throughout. Negative-splitted 10.43 miles, for a pace of 8:39 min/mile.

Saturday: Recovery Run. Ran the neighborhood loop almost four times (three and cut off across the street from my house). 3.13 miles in 27:18 (8:44 min/mile pace).

That’s it for the week. The rest of the weekend was spent working in my basement wishing I was brewing beer instead of installing insulation and studs and electrical boxes. Total for the week was 40 miles, including the half marathon last Sunday. Cheers!

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiits TAPER WEEK! This is the last week of half marathon training for the Honor Run Half Marathon in Florence, KY on November 11, 2018! I’m using Hal Higdon’s Advanced program for this one. If you’re reading this hot off the digital press, I should be an hour into the race.

Next after the Honor Run is the Cincinnati Hungry Turkey Half on November 24, 2018, use this link to sign up for that race (again, affiliate link).

Monday: Intervals – 6 x 0.25 @ 5k pace. Despite getting back in from Portland at 1:00 AM local time AND having my clock radio set for 4:00 AM instead of 4:45 AM, I made it up and out the door at my normal time. Ran in the park and around the small Bengals Practice Field loop and back, extending the run an extra half mile because I was a ways away from where I needed to end up. It was drizzling for a while, but otherwise mild weather. Splits were 1:47, 1:46, 1:45, 1:45, 1:47, and 1:46; the goal was 1:51 – 1:55. Overall, 5 miles in 41:24 (8:16 min/mile pace).

• 

• 

Tuesday: Recovery. Ran across the Purple People Bridge and back across the Taylor Southgate Bridge. It was warm, sunny, and so windy I took my hat off and carried it for most of the run. Seemed odd to run only two miles, but that’s what I did. 2.03 miles in 16:46 (8:16 min/mile pace… consistent with yesterday).

Wednesday: 30 Minute Tempo Run. Ran out around the Bengal’s Practice Field and then back across the parks and into Friendship Park and back. The tempo distance was an exact-ish 4.00 miles (actually, backsolving the pace, it appears I went 3.995 miles), for a pace of 7:30 or 7:31 minutes per mile (depends on what part of my watch you believe). Overall, 5.5 miles in 43:01 for a 7:50 (or 7:51) minute per mile pace.

Thursday: Recovery. Ran 3 miles across the Purple People Bridge and then back across the Suspension Bridge. It was a cold one (not a beer, the day). While turning from the Newport Floodwall path to the sidewalk across the Veteran’s Bridge, I clipped a pole and knocked the band off one side of my step tracker. It fortunately got stuck in the sleeve of my shirt, but I had to stop to fix it (because it seems there’s a high likelihood that I’d lose it to the Licking River if I didn’t). My pacing was also pretty odd for this one – 9:04, 8:58, 8:12. I kept it easy, though. Total 3.26 miles in 28:22 (8:43 min/mile pace).

Friday: Recovery/Shake off. Ran 2 miles in the park between rains. Some walker tried to scare me (I think), it didn’t work. I guess since I expected him to be stupid (he had been walking in the middle of the path and moved to the right rather slowly), I was ready for anything. It was drizzling during the last half mile or so, and the rain picked up as I was on my last few stretches. A whopping 2.05 miles in 17:09 (8:22 min/mile pace).

Saturday: Rest.

Sunday: RACE!

This is week 10 of half marathon training for the Honor Run Half Marathon in Florence, KY on November 11, 2018 – 2 weeks left! I’m using Hal Higdon’s Advanced program for this one. If you want to register for this race, use this link, and try using code “BIBRAVE15” for $15 off, courtesy of the fine people of and affiliated with BibRave (note that the link IS an affiliate link, the BibRave code is just one I’ve seen on Twitter).

Monday: Intervals 6 x 0.5 mi @ 10k pace. It was 45(ish) in the morning, I was running late, and not feeling 100% (which factored into a pitstop between intervals 3 and 4). Regardless, got it done, loop around the Bengal’s practice field and then through the park. Goal for splits was between 3:43 and 3:50, actual splits were 3:47, 3:40, 3:39, 3:42, 3:33, 3:42… so the first one wasn’t too fast. I felt fine at the end, even like I could have done more (and that’s a good thing!). Overall, 7.25 miles in 59:38 (8:13 min/mi pace).

Tuesday: Recovery Run. Ran an easy 3 miles and 7 strides across the Purple People Bridge and back across the Suspension Bridge. Saw a fellow runner that I talked to a little at a recent race passing me along Mehring Way. Kept it easy to recover from yesterday’s intervals and not screw over tomorrow’s tempo run or Thursday’s HM pace run. Overall, 4.1 miles in 35:02 (8:33 min/mile).

Wednesday: 60 Minute Tempo Run. Ran through Friendship Park and out to the loop around the Bengal’s Practice Field twice and then back into Friendship Park and ending in Sawyer Point where it began. It was warmer than the past few weeks – the weather has mostly been in the high-30s/low-40s for the past few weeks, today it was 61, but with a strong wind from the west that pushed against me for a while (which later pushed rain into the area on Halloween night… fuck off, Mother Nature!). Cooled down in the grass a little. The tempo portion was 7.54 miles (7:57 min/mile pace); overall 9.04 miles in 1:13:19 (8:07 min/mile pace).

• 

• 

Thursday: 3 Mile HM Pace Run. Woke up early because I have to get hours in at work. Heard HARD rain at 2 and 3 AM, and not much better at 5 AM when I got up. Kept the distance in the parks, Friendship-Sawyer Point-Yeatman’s Cove-Smale-turnaround at Paul Brown Stadium and back through finishing at Sawyer Point. Lots of rain, found several deep puddles, and lots of wind that was pushing against me as I headed east. The HM portion was just over 23 minutes for a 7:40 min/mile pace, overall was 4.5 miles in 36:23 (8:05 min/mile pace).

Friday: 2:00 Long Run. I flew into Portland, Oregon for a weekend meeting, so I flew out of Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky International Airport at the crack of dawn and connected in Seattle to get to Portland, where I landed at noon or so local time. After checking into the hotel, I ran out and got lost a little in a crummy industrial area just south of I-84. I turned back and made my way to the Willamette River to use the Eastbank Esplanade and continued down to the Springwater Path where I continued down to the Sellwater Bridge to cross and then proceed north on the paths along the west side of the river. A good half of the paths ended abruptly, so in a fit of anger I crossed back over Tilikum Crossing to get back to the Eastbank Esplanade. 13.9 miles in 2 hours (8:38 min/mile pace).

Saturday: Recovery Run. Ran north for a bit to cross the N Steel Bridge, which is a double-deck raise/lower bridge where the lower deck is pedestrians and cyclists only. Took that to the west side of the Willamette and stayed on the paths until the watch clicked around 1.5 miles and then turned back and went back the way I came. Slower today, my quads were sore (and they still are 24 hours later!). 3.39 miles in 31:11 (9:11 min/mile pace).

That’s it for the week. Ran 42 miles this week and mostly felt great. Also signed up for another race, the Hungry Turkey Half Marathon on November 24 (affiliate link), so 13 days past the Honor Run. I don’t expect to PR the HTHM unless I flub the Honor Run Half – it’s the goal race for this season.

Next week is an easier week to save the legs and taper down for the Honor Run on 11/11.