A clydesdale no more!

After 2 days of hilly runs my legs were a little sore this morning so I took it really easy.  I had to get home to take my son to school early and had to take a few shortcuts to get there in time.  I ended up running down a busy road with no sidewalk which was quite the adventure.

Started off with some push ups then ran to the park and did a couple of pull ups (it was ugly).  Ran a little bit more then came home and did some more push ups.  Maybe I need to add a little more structure to my workout.

Just a repeat of yesterday although the route was a little different.  My pec's are a little sore which I can explain but for some reason my legs are sore also.  Maybe it's residual soreness from the weekend.

Worked into the wee hours so I choose sleep over running this morning.

AM

There is a local 5k tonight so I took it easy this morning other than a few strides to jump start my legs.  I have no expectations of the race tonight and am just going to support the charity that they are raising money for.

PM

This was a very small race but will hopefully grow over the years because it was a lot of fun.  I ran it in part to help reignite the passion for running and partly to contribute to the JDRF.  I have been in a motivational slump for quite a while but have felt a flicker inside over the past week and hoped a decent race would help.  On the other hand, a poor performance could be devastating.  After dropping my kids off at their cousins, I drove to the rec center and then ran to the starting line and added a little more for a total of 1.4 miles.  The thermometer in my car said 40 degrees but it was getting colder because the sun was going down.  I was wearing shorts, long sleeve shirt, gloves and bells on my shoes.  I actually felt very comfortable after my warm up run.  I think that I was the only one there wearing shorts.  I took this as a good sign because somebody super serious about the run would consider this perfect racing temperature and would be wearing shorts.  There were only a couple of guys that I thought could be trouble.  One was a young kid (probably 14 or 15) whose mom was really concerned about him getting lost.  She told him several times to stick with the lead pack so he didn't get lost.  I asked how fast he planned on running and he said around 20.  The race started and he and I took off together.  He took a small lead after a couple of hundred yards and I thought we were in for a real race.  He missed the first turn and I yelled at him to turn.  He overshot the next turn and I had to yell again to get him on the right track.  After 3/4 mile he started to back off and I was able to pass him.  Apparently I hit the first mile in 5:49 (I didn't look at my watch at all during the race).  It really didn't feel that fast.  It was slightly down hill but I am surprised that it was that quick.  Made a turn just past the 1 mile marker and I was able to see how much of a lead I had.  It wasn't huge but I could tell that it was growing.  At this point I decided to not kill myself and run just fast enough to win.  Second mile was 6:14 and I was just in cruise control.  Mile 3 had a slight uphill and I was feeling very unmotivated so it was slow (6:45).  I feared that somebody was coming up on me but it was too dark to see and the bells on my shoes drowned out the potential sound of footsteps.  At mile 2.5 I started to feel a little pukey and realized that the cheese fries that I had for lunch were a bad idea.  I thought about Kimmy's daughter getting nauseous at the same point in the Thanksgiving race and figured if she could tough it out that I should be able to.  I started to pick up the pace a little as I made the last couple of turns.  I saw the finish line and was excited to finally be able to break the tape in a race.  Unfortunately there was no tape to be broken.  Just a couple of people hanging out at the finish line.  Lora from the running club was there so at least somebody I knew was there to witness my first victory in 20 years.  Second place came in at 20:01 so he apparently wasn't too far behind.  While it wasn't an outstanding performance I was glad to finally win a race (even though it was small without a lot of competition).

Drove to the rec center to meet the running club.  Got there early so I ran 2.5 miles before others showed up. I was asked to come up with a couple of routes this month so for today I wanted to throw in some hills.  I came up with 3 different loops each with varying difficulty.  I ran the harder loop which was up 1800 South to Bountiful Blvd. then back to the rec center.  I used to run up this road once a week when I was training seriously and I forgot how beneficial it is.  It is tough but a really good work out.  Of course, doing it the morning after a race wasn't the greatest idea.  I was pretty worn out but was able to finish it.  Coming back down was tough because my legs didn't have the spring in them to generate a quick enough turnover to run downhill efficiently.  Came home and Gracie wanted to run so I ran 1/2 mile with her.

My Garmin 201 is more than 4 years old and the battery's life is getting shorter and shorter and it is having a more difficult time grabbing satellites so it was time for an upgrade.  Costco had the 305 on sale for $159 yesterday so I picked one up.  The route I ran today was very industrial and I don't think that I will do it again.  I was checking out some of the other trail heads for the LPT and it was very ugly.  The run itself was fine.  My legs started to get a little heavy towards the end.  My heart rate was consistently in the mid 150's for most of the run which I guess is the upper end of my aerobic range.  I haven't tracked my HR at all this year and can't remember if this is consistent with my HR in the past.

Yesterday's storm left the roads very icy.  I ran the first 3 miles at a pretty relaxed pace then picked it up a little.  After a few miles at the quicker pace I hit a section that was either too slippery or covered in snow to maintain a decent pace.  This lasted about a mile until I was able to pick it up again.

I got a late start so had to cut the run short (this is happening way too often).  I bought the Irongym last night and discovered that I must have been cheating somehow at the park (BTW - it wasn't on sale).  It seems so much harder at home.

The battery on my Garmin died during the first mile.  Are you kidding me?  I'm not sure if I just left it on and ran the battery down or if it really only lasts 2 runs.  Felt pretty good during the run. My left hamstring is starting to act up again.  I'm hoping that it is just the cold weather that is making it flare up.

My legs felt a little stiff and sore this morning so I kept the pace really easy.  I think that my legs are sore because of the storm that is coming in tomorrow.  They always seem to act up when there is a change in the weather.

Drove to the rec center and got in 4 miles before hooking up with the running club.  It was windy but the it hadn't started snowing yet.  Once the club run started, so did the snow.  I ran the first couple of miles alone but then Jim caught up to me.  It is good to run with him because he pushes the pace.  We were running between 6:50 and 7:00/mile until the last mile when I kind of pooped out.  He pulled ahead and I didn't want to hold the pace. My heart rate was getting into the upper 170's and I knew this was more work than I wanted to do today.  It was a good run and am glad that I was able to put in a good effort.

Monday's are always hard for me to get going.  Add to that the cold temperature and other stuff, it was a real test of my self motivation skills to get out the door.  But get out the door I did.  I kept the pace real easy. 

The snow was very pretty while it was falling.  Unfortunately the fluffy layer it left on top of the ice on the road was very slippery.  My achilles tendons are starting to get sore so it may be time to start rotating in a new pair of shoes.  They don't seem to be last as long as they used. to.

Wednesdays have become my "get out the door late and cut the run short" days.  A couple of miles into the run I remembered that I had to take my son to school early so I couldn't get in my usual 8.  I think that my body is slowly adjusting to the colder temps.  I never really warmed up during the run but nothing really froze. 

I'm trying to think of something exciting or interesting to report from today's run but I can't.  I got up, went running (every mile was within a couple of seconds of each other) and now I'm here blogging about it.  I finished my 7.10 mile run at 7:10 which is a little interesting.

I hate when I wake up and the windows are rattling because it is so windy.  It makes it a lot more difficult to get ready for a run especially when it is cold.  The temperature wasn't as bad as I feared but the wind was worse.  Every once in a while a snow flurry would kick up and hit me in the face. It is surprising how bad that can hurt.  The first half of the run was uphill into the wind which was fine because that meant that I could finish downhill with the wind.  My pace was still pretty slow.  I kept reminding myself that December is my recovery month and I don't have to worry about pace.

Drove to the rec center to meet the running club.  Was happy to see Kathie there.  I only ran 6.4 with the club.  I don't think that any of us were in the mood to run a ton today since all the sidewalks were covered in snow and the roads weren't much better.  I ran the entire way with Jeremy and the last 2 miles with Jim and Lora.  I felt good the entire run and it is so much easier to hold a decent pace when you are running with somebody.  After the run I drove home and checked on the kids.  I debated whether I should go back out and decided that I felt too good not to run.  Put in another 3.8 easy miles so that I could have at least 1 double digit day this week.  I had some really strange cravings during the run this morning.  First I was craving coconut then I had a strange desire for fish sticks.  I hate all seafood so I have no idea where this craving came from.  Towards the end of the run I started craving ranch dressing.  

Another very windy day.  Running into the wind was very difficult but it sure was nice when the wind was at my back.  At times it almost seemed like too much of a push.  The upper hamstrings in both legs really started to tighten up the last couple of miles so I took it very easy.

I may have taken this pull up competition a little too serious.  I think that I pulled a pectoral muscle.  Hopefully it's just sore but it's pretty painful right now.  I may have to resort to one armed pull ups.  How many points do we get for those?

I'm logging half of my miles for today as ice skating miles. I don't think that I've ever run in conditions that were more icy than they were today. My pace was very slow because I was focusing on not falling. There were a few times that I almost went down but was able to catch myself. I made it to 8.98 miles of my 9 mile run before I finally fell. I sure hope that nobody saw me. I'm sure it wasn't a thing of style or grace. Got back up and ran the last 0.02 to finish off the run.

I'm not working today so I actually got to sleep in until 7 and run in the daylight.  It felt good.  It was cold but with very little wind it didn't bother me.  My knees and hamstrings are a little tender but that is normal for me during the winter.  I ended the run 0.2 miles short of 3,000 for the year intentionally.  I decided that the 3,000th mile will be my Christmas present to myself.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

I know that I don't post on as many blogs as I should but wanted everybody to know that I really appreciate all of the support that I get from the blog.  Even though I have only met some of you a time or two, the relationships that I have developed on the blog have meant a lot to me.  I hope that everyone has a great Christmas!

I've never run on Christmas before but I had a couple of hours to kill this year so I decided to go for a run.  Since it was Christmas and I would be hitting 3,000 miles during this run I wanted it to be an adventure.  I drove up to the BST trailhead by Eaglewood golf course and figured that running on a snowy trail would be fun.  Running uphill, into the wind (gusting up to 40 or 50 mph), in a foot of snow made it much more of an adventure than I planned.  The pace was very slow and at times I had to walk because the snow was too deep.  I got excited a couple of times when I saw the trail was clear for a stretch until I realized that the reason the trail was cleared was because the wind was blowing so hard.  Got to the antennas hoping to see a glorious view of the valley but it was too cloudy and wasn't much of a view (see picture below).  Hung out at the top for a while then headed back to the car.  It was a fun run and was nice to get out.

Here is a picture of me at mile 3,000.

Good run with the the running club this morning.  First few miles were at a pretty easy pace as Jeremy and I ran with a couple of new members then we picked it up for the last 4 miles.  I am actually starting to feel a little bit of the snap back in my legs.

I had a lot to think about during the run today which provided a nice distraction.  I didn't resolve anything but the run definitely helped clear my mind.  Physically I'm starting to feel good and am looking forward to the new year to step the training up again.

Really couldn't decide what I wanted to run today.  I started out running 3 miles really easy then thought about running some quicker miles.  Ran 2 miles at around 7:00/mile pace and I found myself at my 8 mile turn off point.  Decided that I wanted to turn this into a little longer run so I backed off the pace.  I thought about the cougar challenge and realized that my longest run this month has been 12 miles.  Thought that I had to stretch the run out to get to 13.1.  The pace was slow and I didn't feel great but I got the miles in.

My hamstrings were very tight this morning and I was just feeling off so I took it really easy.  And so ends the year with:

Miles	3,039.7
# Days	323
Miles/Day	9.41
Time	394:06:31
Avg Pace	7:46/mile

• 5 marathons (2 top 10 finishes and 3rd overall in the Utah Grand Slam)
• 5 5Ks (5 top 10 finishes with 1 win)
• 1 10K
• 1 1/2 marathon
• 2 Ragnar relays (including 2nd place overall at NWP)