June 18-24, 2012

June 18:  No school!  First day of summer running!  I met the team for their practice at the school, then ran part of their route backwards.  3 mi.

June 19:  It was a captain's choice run today, and I'm letting the captains run these.  I fully intended to run on my own, but instead I worked in the garden all day long.  The weeds are really taking over, plus I haven't even finished planting everything yet.  In the afternoon I took my nephew to his first all-comers track meet at SCC.  He's not even two yet, but he was incredibly focused as I explained what the bigger kids were doing in the long jump pit (then he got to try it).  He also had a ton of fun playing around the edges of the track & being entertained by the high school girls before his big race: he "competed" in the under three division of the 50m dash.  He didn't quite understand the concept--he twice tried to sit down on the starting line before the race.  However, once he saw the three-year-olds running down the track he grabbed onto my hand and ran!

June 20:  Today was an Iller Creek run, and we had over twenty girls show up for practice!  It's awesome to introduce so many girls to this great conservation area that's so close to so many of their houses.  Some ran the loop up the creek-side trail and down the ridge; others just did an out-and-back on the creek side trail.  I ran up to the creek crossing between the two front packs, and then turned back to run sweep for the girls who turned back before the top.  6 miles.

June 21: Yesterday nearly did me in.  I spent my entire day in the garden and rested my old knees--except for all the time spent kneeling and weeding, that is!

June 22: Dishman Hill run!  Today we kept it easy--just the loop from Camp Caro to Goldback Springs and then around the outer loop and back to Camp Caro.  Some of the returners went farther.  I doubled back via the Enchanted Ravine after I finished the first loop to make sure that none of the new girls got lost (although getting lost in the Dishman Hills is inevitable at some point for everyone!), so I got in about 4.5 miles.

June 23:  I ran from my parents' house up to the top of the first hill on Antoine Peak and decided that was enough for today.  Blaze was along for the run and was a little disappointed to be turning back so soon, but he later got in a much longer run since I had him with me in the garden for the rest of the afternoon.  4.5 miles.

June 24:  I got an early start for today's workout--Jeff invited me to attend a Sierra Club hike on Mount Spokane, and I wanted to run, too.  I decided to leave early to get in a short run (trail 130 from Bald Knob to the CCC cabin and back--about 4 miles).  I had a little extra time after that, so I backtrack on 130 to cut two trees that were on the trail, and then I went down to check on the chalet.  It was raining fairly hard by then, and when Jeff showed up for the hike he had bad news: the Sierra Club people didn't like the rain and canceled the hike.  That didn't stop us, however, and it stopped raining by the time we started hiking besides!  I estimate the hike was 4 miles.

Weekly mileage:  running = 22; hiking = 4