Seattle...

I'm back from a 10 day trip to the Seattle area and trying to burn up some of the jet lag which has me wide awake and bouncing of the walls at 10:00 pm instead of yawing with a book in front of me in bed.

Seattle was great. Heather and I went canoeing, kayaking (twice), travelled to the San Juan Islands and saw some Orca, went for a hike in the Olympic National Park that started at 2,500 feet and ended with spectacular views at 6,000 feet, slept 2 nights on a sailboat, went house hunting, saw the Mariners get crushed by the Orioles, cooked Dungeness crabs, raced, biked, and ran. A full vacation that has left me totally relaxed but still not looking forward to work tomorrow morning.

We ran a race on Saturday July 27th. A 5 & 8K event that I think kicks off Sea Fest, a week long celebration that consists of tons of events in and around Seattle. Heather's mother signed us up for the 8K and as I expected it was fairly big. Well over 1000 runners in the 8K (A hair under 5 miles) and from the looks of the competition I knew I wasn't going to be anywhere near the front.

The course went all around the downtown. Due to my limited knowledge of Seattle I was unsure of what the course was going to be like but I was sure there were gonna be some hills. They are hard to avoid when running around Seattle. I held back slightly in the first couple miles and they went by somewhere around 6:00-6:05. From here I decided to pick up the pace and passed a couple guys, this mile went sub 6:00 but there was a bit of uphill so I was working hard. The fourth mile continued generally uphill and I was officially in hang-on mode, not passing but not getting passed. With a mile to go the the loop course which had been generally uphill finally turned the other way and we were quickly headed down. I jumped at the chance to pass the guy and front of me and nearly got another but the course flattened out and I couldn't catch him. Final time 30:16. I was hoping to get under 30 but I was happy with the time.

It was well run race, with a great course and I am sure it is a favorite out there. The heavily downhill at the end really made for a great finish. I ended up in 53rd place but Heather won her age group. I would have been excited for such a win at a big event but Heather just kind of blew it off. Oh well.

Other than that I only ran one other time out there. An easy 6-7 mile trip around some trails that a guy at the local running store told us about. I definitely got plenty of exercise through other outlets, but not running.

In fact over the past couple weeks I really haven't run that much. The new mountain bike, vacation, and just not a huge urge to lace up my shoes has put a damper on the mileage as of late. My marathon training was going along very well but suddenly I didn't feel like doing it anymore. These thoughts come and go through the course of training but this time it was persistent. I figured I'd take it easy, ride the bike, go on vacation and mull things over before I really decide to drop training. I've mulled and still feel the same way. No fall marathon.

In fact on the flight home I was looking forward to jumping on my mountain bike and not running on the trails. Odd. I'm not going to fight it but just go with it. The training was something I was starting to dread rather than look forward to. In the past I have made prognostications that my my training was going to take a backseat to other things such as school, family or other sports but I have been wrong in the past so I will make no such predictions this time. The only fact is that I am no longer in marathon training but I am still going to get out the door and do something nearly everyday.