Joe's Running Blog

Nice recovery 5 on the tm. Again, the treadmill room is absolutely sweltering, so I've enlisted the help of the spray bottle for/from the ironing board to keep me somewhere short of melting. Saturday's run indicated that I'm woefully out of shape, as I was wiped out for the rest of the day. Took yesterday off, and with a somewhat rough day at work, I only wanted to get in 5-6 miles. On a somewhat unrelated note, it looks like our home in North Ogden will either rent or sell shortly. We're excited about those prospects--mostly because then we won't have two house payments! I hope it works out.

Another 5 on the treadmill, in the cooker of a room with the fireplace blazing. Watched part of "Where the Red Fern Grows". Not your typical training movie, but it does have special meaning to where I currently live. The main character in the movie "Billy Coleman" is played by Stewart Petersen, who lives here in Cokeville. He was in a handful of other movies, and for those LDS bloggers on here, you will recognize him from a couple church videos. Anyhow, he's a great guy and I teach two of his daughters at school. Check out the movie, if it doesn't motivate you to have a pet, it will make you cry because the two dogs in the movie die.

To answer wheakory's question, I'm not sure if I'm going to shoot for my same fitness level I previously held. I hope things work out where I can--there are loads of guys in their early to mid 30s who are competing just fine, I don't see why I can't be one of them. Or at least try.

Finally! A chance to run outside today. I realize neither of those previous two fragments were complete sentences, please forgive me. The temperatures in Cokeville soared into the 20s today, allowing me an opportunity to venture outside for my run. My goal was to make it to the top of "Big Hill", which is directly east of Cokeville. If any of you out there have travelled through Cokeville en route to either Jackson or Yellowstone, Big Hill is the well...big hill due east of the Flying J. Can't miss it. There's a radio tower up there, a shooting range on the south side of the hill, and a county dump on the east side. Anyhow, I didn't feel like running in foot-deep snow, so I turned around at the dump and then went out on the Smith's Fork road for a ways until it was time to turn around. 45 minutes total, and a further reminder of how woefully out of shape I currently am. I feel...fat. I know I've gained a couple pounds, but I just feel like a meatball out there, rolling along. Anyhow, that's the run, in a nutshell.

Decent run on the 'mill today. My motivation to run wasn't all that great to begin with, but I forced myself into a run and, as always, was glad I did. However, some bad news to report on the treadmill; yet further evidence I need to lose weight. I believe the deck of the treadmill has a fatal crack in it; therefore, when I land on the tm, it "gives" or "sags" significantly, stretching the belt and causing untold further damage. I don't know if nordictrack will replace the deck, I won this tm at St. George 2005 Marathon. If they won't, I don't think I'll go for a replacement deck; I'm not sure what I'll do. Brave the elements and go outside, I suppose. Anyhow, glad to get the run in the books.