Kris and I had a great 2 1/2 hr run today up at the Capitol Forest. We parked at where Greenline crosses C-line up to Capitol Peak. But started our run up the C-line road until we caught #50 and droped down to Mima Porter to Wedekind. It was wet but not raining and the temp was just right. From Wedekind we headed up Greenline along the ridge to the Capitol Peak junction. The trail was terribly overgrown and not runnable! It will only get worse when the sun comes out again. We got all scratched up and it was slow going. Reminds me of a 50miler I once did... The Greenline trail from the peak back down to the road is still in good shape, the mountain biker's been working on it, probably the only trail that is runnable in Capitol forest! However, prepare yourself for a shock, the section between the Fall Creek bridge and the C-line crossing was just clear cut! The trail is still intack, but they haven't yarded out the trees yet. We had a very enjoyable run and I think we're both ready for our 50 milers next weekend.

The second White River training run this Sunday was much better than the first. Dan and I drove up to Skookum Flats for a 25 mile run up to Sun Top Mountain and back. The weather was great as we started out with a 6 mile jaunt along the river with lots of undulations and roots. This was the last section of the 50 miler, doesn't look like alot of fun to stumble through this at the end of the race. As before, I couldn't quite keep up with the main group, and after 4 miles, Dan and I were on our own. I gave Dan the car keys, I figured he'd easily beat me on the climb. He stopped to get a drink, and I continued on, meeting up with a group of 4 that I hung with till we got to the confusing part by the airport. We lost the trail and meandered around until we found ourselves in shouting distance from Scott and his van. There Scott told me he heard that Dan took a wrong turn and he would go back and look for him. The climb up Sun Top was easier than last week's, but more exposed to the sun. I drank alot and sweated alot and hiked most of the climb. I was slow, but I felt much better than last week. Just before the summit, there was Glen with his camera, so we staged a good shot, looks like I'm charging up the hill, but it was just for show. I mostly just slogged up the steep trail. Unfortunatley, low clouds obscured what should have been a fantastic view of Rainier, but it also cooled the temp down. The last 6 miles was a gradual decline down a gravel road. I just cruised down at a good pace and felt great that I could keep an even pace the whole way without stopping. At the bottom, Dan was at the car, he had turned around and had a good 13 mile run with a side trip to some falls. What a great day, finished under 5 hours,no pains, slow but consistant. Would like to have some more time to train for White River, but I know now that I can run it, I will be slow, but after all, it's just another training run for Waldo!

After spending a week in Idaho at Tamarack Resort, doing some hiking up ski runs, with no pain in my heel, it's time to get back running again. So today I joined the Seattle Running company training group for a 23 mile run on the White River 50 mile course. I showed up with two water bottles and a full bladder in my pack. Come to find out, Scott was going to have a water aid station at mile 14 at Corral Pass, but I wasn't thinking and left my heavy bladder in my pack. We started out with a good slow pace, I stayed in the back, cause most of these people were fast. After a nice 3 mile warm up, I soon got left behind when we started the hike uphill. I'm a normaly slow hiker, but with my weak ankle, I was even slower!. I ended up hiking by myself, taking it easy so I wouldn't injure myself again. I found as I went along, that I was favoring my ankle and couldn't get any sort of gait going on the uphill runable sections. I started getting frustrated and tired and decided to shorten the run at the turn off to the trail down the mountain. I had gone a little over 10 miles with about 2,500 ft of elevation gain, but it took over 2 hrs. So I hung a right on the 4 mile downhill, should be fun! But I couldn't run downhill very well either. So I ended up jogging/stumbling/walking the downhill to the parking lot. I did accomplish my two main goals, preview the course and don't re-injure myself. But I felt way out of shape. So I got a lot of catching up to do, but at least I'm officially started.