Rosswog Running Blog

Early this Sunday morning (the official full day of the NFL), I jogged over to Big Cottonwood Park and met up with one of my buddies from the Salt Lake Running Company group for a run.  We ran up to Olympus High School then headed south to Holladay Boulevard and continued to 6200 South before returning to the park by way of Van Winkle and 1300 South.  I jogged 3 laps around the park’s softball complex before heading home.  In total, I got in 12.1 miles at a relatively easy pace; that is, 8:28 minutes per mile.  Actually this is my fastest and longest sustained run since I hurt my hamstring, thus good progress!  Right now, I aim for a sub-8:00 pace for my half-marathon trail race next Saturday.

While watching my Broncos lose a close fought contest to the Jaguars, I completed my standard of 300 sit-ups and 30 push-ups.

Since I had some community service time off to attend an American Lung Association meeting in regards to their trail race, I slept in this morning before heading out for a run up to the Holladay Library and back by way of Walker Lane.  After two good runs this weekend, my left hamstring was suffering from the Monday blues in that it was a little tight and sore.  With that said, I was still able to keep up a relatively good pace for all 7.3 miles of this run (i.e., 8:50 minutes per mile).

For my non-running workout, I completed my typical 300 sit-ups and 30 push-ups.

After I arrived at work this morning, I hit the elliptical machine for a half-mile in order to warm-up my hamstring before reporting to the office.

Since renowned film maker Spike Lee was in town to give a speech this evening, this was the only workout I was to get in before leaving work. After enjoying Lee’s thought provoking discussion on how he portrays race in his films, I jogged to the bus stop from Kingsbury Hall.

When I finally got home, I went for a late night run up to the Smith-Kiln Chimney before calling it day. The combined distance of these two runs was 5.5 miles at an easy pace. In regards to my injured left hamstring, it was particularly tight and sore while I ran; that is, I need to stretch it out more during the day.

Finally, my non-running workout consisted of 300 sit-ups, 30 push-ups, and 30 (50 lbs) reverse curls.

Following work, I reluctantly hit the elliptical machine and completed 2.2 miles.  I was unwilling to workout on the elliptical not because of my sore left hamstring was preventing me from running on the treadmill, but because the fuse went out on the wall sockets that powered the treadmills.  So instead of pushing the treadmill across the gym to a functioning socket, I worked out on the elliptical before heading home.

After I got home, I went on a late evening run up to the Backyard Shopping Plaza where I ran a few errands before heading back home.  The total distance of this run was 4.5 miles at an easy pace.

In regards to my non-running workout, I was able to complete 300 sit-ups and 30 push-ups.

I’m back in Central Oregon and regardless of my sore left hamstring, I’m ready to run!  The pine scented air hit me right when I walked out of the Redmond Airport, which immediately made me psyched for trail running.  After training so much in the Salt Lake Valley, it’s always exciting to run in a new environment.  Consequently, shortly after getting settled in at my great uncle’s house on Cumberland Avenue, I headed out for an evening run down to the Old Mill District where they already had the finish line set-up.  Then I ran the first third of the Xterra Nationals’ course by jogging along the dirt trail up to Mt Bachelor Village and back to the finish line area.  It was sort of a surreal experience because it became pitch black shortly after 7:00 pm; however, the moonlight guided me along the trail along the with the sound of the Deschutes River.  It was slow going (which my tender hamstring did not mind, but needless to say, an enjoyable run!  On the way back to Cumberland, I ran by Ed’s to pick-up some groceries before calling it a day.

Before I left Salt Lake City, I was able to complete my non-running workout which consisted of 300 sit-ups and 30 push-ups.

After getting a great night of sleep, I went out for an early morning run down to the Old Mill District then along the Xterra Nationals’ course to Mt. Bachelor Village before heading back to Cumberland.  The scenery was breathtaking on this run as I jogged along the dirt trail following the Deschutes River and under the reddish brown cliffs that tower over it.  As I took in the pine air, I saw fishermen casting their lines into the river and even a golden retriever take a flying leap into the relatively calm water.  The total distance of this run was 7.2 miles and even though my left hamstring is still feeling tight and sore at times (i.e., especially when I try to accelerate), I’m ready to give my 13.1-mile Xterra race a go tomorrow.

For my non-running workout, I biked 7.8 miles around town and stopped by Fleet Feet for packet-up which is always exciting.  This year’s t-shirt is pretty neat looking brown trail running tech shirt.  Besides my bike ride, I was able to get in 300 sit-ups and 30 push-ups.

A thunderstorm rolled through Central Oregon the night before, thus when I woke up the sky was overcast and the ground was damp.  Consequently, perfect conditions for trail racing!  After putting on my race gear and doing some final stretches, I jogged 1.3 miles down to the starting line in front of the three smoke stacks in the Old Mill District.  Getting to the starting are approximately 20 minutes before the race, I met up with my support crew (my Uncle George, Aunt Iris, Dad, and family friend Bill), did some final stretches, changed into my Brooks Cascadia 4 trail running shoes, and then headed to stakeout a good position on the starting line.  Recognizing the limitations of caused by my left hamstring and the world-class competition, I did not venture too close the front of the starting line and instead stayed about 5 yards off of the front.

At exactly 9:00 am they fired off a cannon--which was a big bang and a little bit surprising considering last year they just blew a whistle--right near the front of the line to get the race started.  Last year the course was only 12.8 miles because the Forest Service closed off part of the course.  As a result, this year we ran the full course which was almost a mile longer; that is 13.7 miles.  I registered this exact mileage on my Garmin along with other runners, so it was not a matter of running the course efficiently, it’s just a 21k course and some.  The frustrating part was that all mile markers on the course seem to all be a little bit shorter than a mile a part.  So when we past mile marker 13, my watch was showing 12.6 and since the course was longer than 13.1, instead of a tenth of a mile to go, there was 1.1 miles left.  According to Xterra’s markers, this was over a 14 mile run.  However, this did not really throw me off because I had run the last 2.5 miles of the course the previous two days, so I was just wondering how the were going to fit in the extra distance.

In summary, I ran a 1:36:46 (i.e., a pace of 7:04 miles per minute) in perfect weather conditions; that is, cool and very little dust due to the rain.  My splits for the race were: 6:35, 7:00, 7:38, 7:08; 6:52, 7:03, 7:07, 7:19, 7:39, 7:32, 6:41, 6:47, 6:55, and 4:25.  Overall, my time was 10:34 slower than last year and when factoring in the extra distance, this equals 20 seconds per mile slower.  However, considering where I was a few weeks ago, I’m proud of this race and had a fun time, which is what running is all about.  My hamstring flared up a few times during the race, but nothing that I could not run through.  With that said, following the post-race festivities, I essentially hobbled 1.2 miles back to my Great Uncle’s house on Cumberland due to my hamstring have tightened up considerably.  In short, it was tight and sore.

By the way, Max King 3-peated at the Xterra Nationals with a 1:15:57.  His time this year was also slower than last year’s 1:06:46 that he ran on a shorter course, but still really impressive.  Also, one has to believe Max is saving a little bit for next weekend’s 50k National Championship at Mt Bachelor.  Bend is Trail Town USA!  On the women’s side, Eugene’s Lauren Fleshman repeated her Xterra National Championship with victory in a time of 1:24:24.

Update: in Sunday’s edition of the Bend Bulletin, they referred to this race as a 22.5k (i.e., the correct distance).

Finally, for my non-running workout, I rode my bike for 4.1 miles and completed my typical routine of 300 sit-ups and 30 push-ups.