Over the river, through the woods, over the hill and another hill and another hill...

So, as I recently discovered, there is a reason why they call our area "Hillandale." Compared to the swampland that was the L.J., our new home is full of small hills and some steady, gradual inclines. I won't even pretend that it can compete with Sixpack's Twin Peaks run, because it simply can't. Some days I really miss the flat, mindless run through the old neighborhood; other days I enjoy the new challenge and the fact that this kind of running forces different muscles to work. The other big challenge created by our recent move is finding a long enough route (that doesn't loop 10 times) that navigates between questionable and less questionable streets and neighborhoods. I joked with Ginifer when she gave me my Garmin that I wish it had a feature with police updates or could tell you "Crack head in .10 miles. To avoid, turn left now." (Clearly I shouldn't have watched so many episodes of The Wire before moving here.) But seriously, we found a really great area that has tons of regional parks with paved and unpaved trails. In many regards it feels a lot like the Bay Area and runs along Wildcat Canyon or Nimitz Trail.

I have been running 3 to 4 mi. runs every few days. My times are good - given the fact that I am becoming reacquainted with hills - I love the fact that uphills almost always mean speedy downhills! Nothing really noteworthy to share. I need to find some local races to get me back into the competitive mode. I'll find a few things that will help me focus and give me a goal.

That is the update from here. Let's hear from the rest of you DrunkRunners! Runs only When Chased - post about your 5k and how your training has progressed. Sixpack, any runs across Portland? Wisconsin? Forest, how are you surviving with Sixpack constantly giving you a hard time? Deetschei, keep us posted on the joys of running without a watch - I am intrigued.