As I’ve mentioned numerous times on this blog, I’ve struggled with a hamstring injury for much of the last two years. It really prevented me from enjoying trail running. I could do short trail runs (~5 miles), but any long runs on the trail would leave me on the sidelines for days or weeks. Needless to say, this was incredibly frustrating. I finally said “screw it” and paced fellow IUP runner Adam Lint for the final 6+ hours of Cascade Crest 100. That run through the night up in the Cascades was the only truly enjoyable run that I’ve had in several years.
Finally, my hamstring is healed. I owe this largely to my wife, who really helped guide me through some physical therapy to get it healed and strong again. I’m still cautious, but this morning, I ventured out to the Seattle Running Club sunday morning run at Cougar Mountain for the first time in years. I had a blast.
It was a small group – just 6 of us today following White River yesterday. The weather was rainy & foggy (great for running…crappy for every other summer activity). We did the normal loop, only did it in reverse hitting De Leo’s wall near the beginning instead of the end.
Still being cautious with my hamstring, I cut it short in an effort to keep my total time around 2 hours. All said and done, I logged 12 miles in 2 hours with a total elevation gain of 2,151 feet. One of the things I really appreciate about Cougar is that the elevation gain doesn’t come in one big climb, as it does at Squak or Tiger mountains. Rather, Cougar is a bunch of ups and downs with nary a flat section of trail to be found:
It was great to get back out and run with a group of people…and great to go hit the trails at Cougar. Looking forward to the August & September runs, when we often get up into the high country of the Cascades (e.g., Denny Lake, Kendall Katwalk, and the Enchantments).
I’m looking forward to 2009 being over from a running perspective. It is tough for me to quantitatively judge/compare one year of running versus another (at least since I got older and stopped setting PR’s). But, suffice it to say, I had a pretty lousy year of running. I’m willing to say it was one of my worst…at least worst without any major injuries. I don’t quite know why…there were periods when things started to click. But, it seemed like every time they started going well, something disrupted my running (usually this little thing called 
ood embarrassing race where you get passed by a guy that looks something like this (see picture to the right) and you’ll get your butt out the door for workouts and long runs. It’s that simple. 
ntioned on this blog before, I love 
as the “sweep” – the last runner in line making sure everybody ahead was okay. I stayed content to run at the back of the back for quite a while. I was surprised that, despite running fairly high mileage the last few weeks (including a 10 mile trail race last weekend in 85-degree temps), my legs felt pretty good. 
art rate was still in the low 160’s), I decided to hold back a bit longer, knowing that we had a ways to go. 
miles to the top. 
The run ended at the Katwalk, a narrow path blasted into the side of a rock slab. 
ven many who aren’t that close), know that Western States is the grand-daddy of the ultras. So, it’s not that unusual for somebody such as myself to come along and say “wow, I want to run that race.” Just read about Gordy and the history of the race, and it’s near impossible to resist wanting to toe the starting line. Look at the pictures from the race, and the internal call is too much to resist. 
Seems as though my wife’s 5.2 mile record fell this year to Claire Hoffman who spent the fall running cross country races for 
