I guess, if anyone still reads this, that I left everyone hanging, never finishing my epic vacation write up… I figure now, that that would be old news….

The news of late is that I am running….

In June, on the cruise I ran some on the ship. This seemed to go well and I worked myself up to 5 miles –  well that was 5 miles based on counting laps. I suspected the laps were a bit short as sometimes my times were pretty good.

Upon returning from the ship I began to run with my Hillview students at the summer XC practices. I believe it was on my 2nd run, when my left Achilles had a major tightening. I remember I wore the Newton shoes which was certainly a bad idea (in retrospect.)  I only ran 1 lap of 1.5 miles and my left Achilles got quite sore. It has remained sore for weeks. I have been able to get a few runs in, but only for a few miles and I have had to take a few days off in between. I noticed that pavement was particularly aggravating.

I only ran twice in the HDR race series. I ran the mile the first week after the cruise and the 3 mile the week thereafter. I remember stretching out a Jamba run one Friday and needing several days to recover. I made the mistake of doing my Sweet 16 workout with the kids in the Marie Kerr parking lot and this one also set me back….

As school began I got out the Elliptigo and began to get into a regular habit of riding it to and from school.

At the finals I was sitting and visiting and trying to pass out AV Fair wave race flyers Clay asked how I was and I complained about the Achilles. He said I should get out there and perhaps try some Hoka One One shoes…. I had been considering this already, but had not pulled the trigger. That Saturday I showed up for the HDR trail run and headed up the trail northwest of Bouquet Canyon Road. I had not bought the shoes yet so I wore the next best thing – my cushy Nike Pegasus shoes. The achilles ached for a half mile or so and then it let up. I made it 3 miles and was still feeling good. I decided not to push my luck. I stopped, took a selfie and headed back down the trail.

The following couple of days I was pretty sore, in the quads, but the Achilles recovered fine. That was Saturday a week ago. Monday I rode the GO. Tuesday I was sidelined by a doctor appointment and a mole removal. Wednesday I ran with the kids, once again in the Pegasus. Later that evening I purchased the Hoka One One shoes at Runners Lane in Palmdale. Thursday I wore them and survived an interval workout with the team in the heat of the afternoon. 30s, 1 min, 1:30, 2, 2:30, and 3.   Friday I chased the kids on our Mt Rite Aid run. I was feeling rather dead legged but otherwise okay.

Today, in spite of the dead legged run yesterday, I took my One Ones up to Tehachappi. I knew that a lot of HDRs would be there and I told no one I was going. I got there and the only one I saw was Clare. I sat on the curb and waited. Clare and I chatted a bit. Then came Erik Ruble, Krysti Ruble, Joe Kim and Oscar Gutierrez finishing their warm up. Oscar did a double take when I saw me and smiled. It was fun to feel like I was back.

I started the race not expecting much. Seriously, I figured if I could do the 5 miles in 50 minutes that would be an accomplishment. I did not warm up – figuring I would just start slow. Sure enough I eased into the race. My achilles ached a bit, but not too bad for maybe half a mile. The first mile took 9:06. We were working our way steadily uphill though the 2nd mile – 9:04. Shortly into the 3rd mile we peaked and I was able to pick up the pace. I was actually catching people – 8:05. Mile we bottomed out and leveled off. I was still catching people – 8:07. The last mile was a drudgery. I felt done, but kept up my usual tenacious effort. I caught a few more as we ran down the parade route – a slight uphill – Erik Ruble met me a few hundred meters out and ran and encouraged me in – 7:57. My official time was 42:15, and 8:37 pace. I was 31st finisher and 4th in my division (made tougher by the recent additions of Erik and Joe)

The HDR crowd won lots of awards: