Artichoke's Running Blog (Ken Spence)

18 slow ones without Tina this morning.  8:30 a.m.  About 14 minutes slower than with her last week.  Interesting run, just the same.  I planned on being solo, but 1/2 mile in I see these runners coming towards me as I was going up Skyline.  A bunch of guys all in black shorts and gray t-shirts.  About 50 of them.  Turned out to be the U.S. Army Reserves on a run.  I greeted everyone with a thumbs up.  It was actually pretty inspiring.  Then as I was nearing the top of the big Smelter hill, a bunch of runners coming down the hill in the Tooele High Track Club 5K, an annual fund-raiser.  People started telling me, "you're going the wrong way!"  Perhaps 100+ runners and walkers, a few who I knew.  Then as I was coming back down, Pat was coming up, doing a 20 miler for Boston.  I turned around and ran with him for a short bit.  We're planning on getting together to plan our Boston travel in the next couple of weeks.  After I left Pat, Matt 1 was coming up the hill, so he turned around and ran with me to the bottom of the hill until I turned and headed towards Erda and Stansbury.  A decent run.  Back was hurting a lot very early, but felt good by 7 miles and through the end.  Weird!   Two more sessions of PT this week and then Moab next week.  Probably won't be pushing it much down there.  Just enjoy the experience and hiking afterwards to Delicate Arch.  My son, Mark, going with me to mountain bike while I run.  We've made this an annual event since about 2002.  I love it down there.