Today, Thursday, I did a run I've only done I think two or three other times, and have considered the hardest I've done aside from any races.  This is starting at Spencer Butte parking lot, running over to Fox Hollow, doing a loop in there, and then back.  The section of trail from Fox Hollow back to where it tops out when rejoining the main Spencer Butte trail to me is the hardest section on the Ridgeline trails.  Many steep sections along 1.5 miles of trail.  I usually have to walk a lot of it.  Today was no different.  But, overall, I set a new PR by a ways today, doing this in 61 minutes (previous times were 67+).  Weather was funky.  When I left my house, computer said it was 61.  But it had hailed only an hour before.  Arriving at the trailhead, thermometer said 49 degrees.  I started out, sort of idiotically, in hat, gloves, and jacket (short sleeve shirt under).  This actually felt good (my hands get very cold easily, and my head does a bit too (it's nearly shaved, which doesn't help :)  hat came off in the first mile, then at Fox Hollow the jacket (which was very wet inside, so much for breathability!) and gloves.  

What I liked about today's, was that I felt I started out at quite a nice, almost leisurely pace.  I did not want to go real hard today, and I felt dehydrated, had headache, etc.  I'm glad I carried a water bottle (something I almost never do, but with that dehydration feeling, figured I should).  Was a nice run.  Achilles and calves got a bit of strain in the first half, but I think I determined that I really need to take the bigger strides on the descents, as I can actually be a bit more light/graceful that way, vs. the short, choppier, seemingly harder hitting steps.  Not always possible if the descent is real steep, but this sure seemed to make a difference.  I prefer it anyway, but the terrain sometimes doesn't allow for it as much.  Just have to work on doing it more.

So, I'm headed in to the Steep Hill Chase 5k on Saturday feeling good.  I am confident I can do sub-30 minutes, and really, should be able to do closer to 25 mins if the course is mostly flat (sounds like the "steep hill" is just one hill at the end, but rest is flat-ish?).  We shall see.

I also have a new watch, a Tech4o Traileader One.  I'm hoping it does a good job of measuring distance, since GPS based items suck here in the dense woods of Oregon.  This sucks, becuase I really like using Runkeeper Pro on my iPhone, but there are many times it's just so far off (iPhone's/GPS' fault, not Runkeeper).  Anyway, the watch uses technology that measures your stride/rhythm as you run.  No foot pod or anything else, which is great.  It also does altitude, temperature, and so on.  I've only used it on Thursday's run so far, but it is looking like right out of the box it's pretty darn accurate.  I tallied the trail distance using the maps, and it's within 0.2 miles for the total run.  This is even better than say the trail running book I've used, which says this run is 7 miles, but the maps show more like 6 (the watch said 6.24).  I plan to head over to the track at some point and do an official calibration for my running, but even now it seems at least close enough to use until I get a chance to calibrate.  It's also super light and plenty comfy.  It's a bit big for my taste, but I didn't even notice it on my wrist, so that's about all that matters.