Pictures from Saturday's Torchlight 8k - before I sweated off about ten pounds or so.

Torchlight 8k is in the books - no PRs were set though. :( It was just too hot to be running as fast I had wanted.

Only took me about a minute longer than my 2006 running of this race, and this year I had to walk three times to cool off.

Stupid heat.

Did run into Lisa from work at the start though - that was funny she found me.

Time for bed - very sleepy.

Jason is on the bus heading home. Have to change clothes, let the dog out, and then head up to Torchlight. Sure hope I can make it.

I now own a better strap for my camera which should actually help me to not sweat on it. Plus I really should be wearing a hat, which will cut down on the sweat dripping off of me.

I also own a nifty sling backpack to keep my camera and lenses in.

And there's also the nifty book I bought to help me with my camera. Since I won't be working out tomorrow or Friday, I'm going to be bringing everything to work with me to play around with it all on my lunch breaks.

No working out the rest of the week due to the race I have on Saturday. Speaking of which, it's going to in the upper 90s this weekend - 97 at times - so Saturday's race is going to be awful and my goal of a sub-45 minute 8k is probably not going to happen.

But before I sweat my ass off on Saturday, I will also be watching the Sounders take on the Chicago Fire. Super sweet close seats + a fun new toy = lots pictures (hopefully.)

Just finished my 35th book of the year - time for bed.

Taking the day off tomorrow from work. It's going to be another hiking day for Olive and I. The plan is to hike up to Mount Si and see what we see. The hike has a fairly high difficulty rating (4/5) and when you factor in the high temperatures predicted for tomorrow, I have a feeling that the both of us are going to be beat.

Since I don't have an easy way to transport more than one camera lens with me, I'm going to leave my 55-200mm lens at home and just stick with the 18-105mm. Figure that I'll have the ability to shoot some closer items, and still have the benefit of a telephoto lens. I picked up some UV filters today per Jerome's recommendation - another layer of protection for my lenses (along with the hood.) Can't be too safe I guess. I really want to get a better neck strap, but Robi's closes at 6:30 during the week, so there wasn't enough time to get there tonight (especially since I needed to get to the dry cleaners before 6:30 too.)

No diving tonight - we were planning on it, but Jerome called and said he couldn't make it. It actually worked out well since it was 90 degrees this evening, and more than likely wouldn't be any parking down at Les Davis. Shoot! That reminds me, I was planning on taking all of my gear out of the car tonight, so that'll be a project for tomorrow morning - along with going to the grocery store to grab some fruit. Jason cannot live alone on water and trail mix.

Tomorrow's hike will be the maiden use of my new backpack. It's way overkill for a hike like this (or at least until I pack it better - right now it's just stuff thrown in that I think I might use or need.) I ordered my sleeping bag today (25% off coupon for a specific REI bag) so all that will be left is the tent and sleeping pad. The bag will be overkill for Hawaii, but I will have my liner, and I know I'll use the bag here (I didn't want to buy two separate sleeping bags since the differences in temperatures are so extreme.) Keep hoping that REI will have another 20% off member coupon before my trip so I can pick up my tent. Crossing my fingers . . .

No other big plans for the rest of my week - just work. Saturday though will be quite busy. I'll be heading up to Seattle for a Sounders game (ole ole ole) and then later that evening will be my second running of the Torchlight 8k. I ran this race way back in 2006. It was actually my second career race. The 8k distance was the perfect step from the 5k I ran a month before, and the perfect step to the 10k that I ran a month or so afterwards.

Based on how well I have been running this year, I am hoping to finish this year's race in less than 45 minutes (about a 9:03 pace.) It should be doable. If I can manage that time for Torchlight, it will have been my third personal record for the year - not too shabby! 2009 is proving to be a damn good year for my running.

The following weekend will be my third - and final - half marathon of the year. No time goals in mind since I'll be running with Sean and Denise from work. Sean is going to rock this race - as long as he doesn't hit a wall after ten miles. His longest training run was the ten miles we ran on Sunday, and comparing that to what I did when I trained for my first half marathon, I know that not doing anything farther really hurt me. I am a bit more concerned with Denise - but as long as she maintains a steady pace, she should be just fine.

Wow - never had to play the role of a coach before. :)

As stated in a previous entry, my goal was to finish today's race somewhere between 27 and 28 minutes. And if that time doesn't happen, I would love to still post my best 5k time yet.

Like the last three years I've run this race, there are a TON of dogs. If I remember correctly, the organizers said there were about 1800 dogs at last year's running. That number might seem large on its own, but when you see that many dogs all together, it's even more enormous. Dogs of all shapes, sizes, ages, breeds and colors. Everywhere you look, there are dogs.

Today's running will be my fourth, and only second with a dog. Last year, Olive and I ran it together - and that was her second run ever. After today's race, she and I will have logged just a bit over 275 miles together.

The beginning of this run is always crowded. There's always those who either think that they are faster than they are, or those walkers who don't understand that they are lined up with runners. I can't complain too much since it is for a good cause.

I tried not to pay attention to the time, just listened to my body. While running, I was able to tell that I hadn't pushed myself hard in a while - I actually think that last month's half marathon was a bit easier on me than on today's run - but of course, that would be hard to honestly compare.

Looking at my GPS watch, I posted the following lap times:

Mile 1: 9:12.74
Mile 2: 9:04.32
Mile 3: 8:22.32
Mile 0.1: 0:46.05

Total time for the 2009 Furry 5k: 27:25.54 (average pace of 8:50 per mile.)

While I didn't hit my time goal, I did knock of 39 seconds from my best time, and a new PR is always a good thing. Plus, this was Olive and I's best time together (my previous PR I was running solo.)

Looking at the times - I finished in 100th place (out of 224) for the male runners. That's kind of cool. For all timed runners, I finished in 188th place out of 549.

Upcoming races:

June 13 - Sound to Narrows 12k
June 27 - Seattle Rock N Roll Half Marathon
July 25 - Torchlight 8k
August 1 - Tacoma Narrows Half Marathon

Busy summer!