back on my feet.... slowly

I'm still feeling the last throes of this flu that snuck by my immune system over the last two weeks. I miss running but haven't been very motivated to get out there and push the miles. My stomach is sour presumably from the antibiotics that knocked out the flu. Unfortunately, this affects my appetite and my ability to run fast. I think that I've lost a little bit of fitness after missing so many runs while I was sick. I'll get it back, but not in time to perform well at the Turkey Trot 10K next week. I'll have to look at adding a 10K in Jan/Feb to see about breaking the 40 minute barrier.  The positive aspect of all this is that being sick makes for a great diet and I'm down to 187lbs. I think I can go lighter though.

Friday 11/12: (6.3mi, 51min, 8:03/mi avg) I got outside for a run at lunch and the weather cooperated nicely. I wanted to try the MT101s out again and see if I noticed any difference between them and my other trail shoes in their weight or traction. I ran out to the Bridle Trails and the conditions were a little sloppy. The shoes feel great and their lightness is definitely noticeable after running in my Cascadias. The traction however doesn't seem quite as good as the Brooks shoes. So far I like the 101s with a few small complaints, chief of which are the laces and the narrow toe box. It was a good run but I was being careful not to push the pace very hard and overtax my lungs.

Sunday 11/14: (8.4mi, 1:07, 8:00/mi avg) After a long day out with the family in Seattle I didn't get home until 4:30pm. I was laced up and out the door by 4:45 on my run but without a light as I didn't realize how early it gets dark now. I made it up the tunnel trail in the last of the twilight. I headed out toward the Island View store with the plan of turning around after 30 min. With small shoulders on the local roads, I was  in the habit of stepping completely off of the road when a car would approach. Luckily there weren't many cars on the road and I was wearing a bright blinking Firefly light and a white shirt so there were no close calls. Yielding for traffic did slow me down a bit, mainly after the turn-around. It was pretty dark on the way back so I had to go around on Ray Nash dr. instead of going back down the Tunnel trail. I used the first and last miles as a warmup and cooldown, though probably not as easy as I should have. My lungs and stomach still didn't want to run fast so this didn't end up as a focused workout (ie: LT / Speedwork / Tempo)

Rain is forecast all week, so I'll see what kind of mettle I have when it comes to running in foul weather.