[Number] [synonym for awesome] [nouns] that [verb]

Monday 5/23 (6.5mi, 51min, 7:57/mi) I ran out to Viewpoint park for 3 loops which has become a regular staple run during the week since finding this small trail. I think that after so much running at the Bridle Trails I was just starved for something new to sink my shoes into. Now if it was only 2 miles closer to work and 20x longer. Moderate pace, felt pretty good to get out and run.

Tuesday 5/24 (6.15mi, 42min, 6:51/mi) I went back to the "Pro Club Loop" after avoiding it for a while. I put in a hard tempo pace and turned myself inside out for this one. Not a PR but for me a pretty good time for roughly a 10K with a decent bit of climbing. It's always confusing when I'm pushing the pace getting up the hard hills that come at the end of the Corridor trail so that I'm red-lining when I turn down the back stretch. I feel like I'm spent and barely slogging through a 9min/mi pace after giving so much on the climbs, but I go back to look at my splits and see that I still managed a 6:43 mile and that my pace over the whole route was never slower than 7:45/mi.

Wednesday 5/25 (2.0, 15min, 7:41/mi) First run of the day was a warmup at the gym before lifting. I gave the Vibram Five-Fingers another try. I like the way they feel for the most part but my pinky toes are a little too short for the toe pockets and slip out occasionally. It's not painful but annoying enough that I'll stop after a minute or two and fix them. The difference between the length of my biggest and smallest toes is considerably more than then difference between the toe pockets in the shoes. They're not that well suited for my feet and I feel like they're kind of a novelty running-wise. There are other minimal shoes out there with a better fit for me like the Merrell Trail Gloves that I rave about frequently. I think the experiment with Five-Fingers will result in an exchange for different shoes. I'd like to try the Brooks Green Silence which aren't really minimalist shoes, or get another pair of Trail Gloves. While I'm talking about shoes, I should mention that I tried on the New Balance Trail Minimus shoes two weeks ago at a New Balance store and I didn't like them. The material seemed nice but in my size they didn't fit well at all. The length of the footbed was adequate but the toebox was both narrow and low. I couldn't splay my feet out at all in them and my toes felt trapped against the footbed. I've read about people cutting the rubber strap that goes over the top of the toes to ease the pressure on the toebox but I didn't want to buy shoes that needed modification from the start. I've also seen a promising review of the successor to the Trail Minimus which should be coming out this summer. I hope that New Balance opens up that toebox in the next revision.

Wednesday 5/25 (10.7mi, 1h 33m, 8:41/mi) I wanted to get a second run in on Wednesday as I was staying late at work anyway so I got out to run at about 6pm in light rain. I ran over to Viewpoint Park for 4 loops before continuing on to the SE corner of the Bridle Trails as the rain picked up. By the time I was in the Bridle Trails heading West the rain increased to crazy torrential downpour levels. Hard enough to drown out my iPod and reduce visibility greatly. I don't think I've ever run in rain this hard. I was quickly soaked and the trails were filling with large puddles and small streams. I tried to hop around the mud and water for a few minutes before giving up and just running through the middle of it without regard for keeping my shoes clean or dry. By the time I got to the main horse ring at the SW corner of the park I was soaked through and the water had shut down my iPod. I stopped to wring a liter or more of water out of my shirt before continuing on.

The short break gave me a second wind and I slopped on through the mud and water and eventually made it around the perimeter of the park and down the Corridor trail on the way back to work. The rain had calmed down to a drizzle by this point but the damage was done. I was soaked through to my skin, my iPod was dead and my feet were sliding around in my muddy wet shoes. I could say that these were some of the worst conditions I've ever experienced on a run or turn it around and say that this was a great benchmark showing that even in terrible conditions I still love to run.

Sunday 5/29 (4.4mi, 32min, 7:17/mi) I missed Thu - Sat for work/family errands and got out for a quick One-Store Loop run on Sunday night. I started out a little easier than I normally do and then kept a steady strong pace once I got to the bottom of the Tunnel Trail. I felt pretty good after 3 days off of running and came within 30 seconds of my PR for the route. It felt great just to get out for a short run.

Almost 30 miles for the week and I'm looking at 125 for May. I'll fall just shy of 600mi YTD. It's quite a bit better than I was doing last year to through May (of course I spent 2.5 weeks in Hawaii last May). I'm feeling the draw of racing now and I really need to get my Piriformis issue under control. I was hoping it would be improving by now but it isn't. Give up and call in the doctor or just research more on the Interwebs?