A Balance, Redefined

Good AM run. First half I was still asleep (~8:30), second half picked it up (~7:30). Avg. 8:08 total. Two stories. When I was on the backend of the park the sprinklers kicked on and I was at the perfect angle and distance from them that it hit me right in the face. Then on the westside of the park a hummingbird flew alongside me for a few feet.

Crazy day. I did not run loops of SH! I just headed south and back. Easy run. Still feeling tired. Mostly external stressors (work). Avg. 7:56

PM run because I had to be in work at 5:30 this morning. Went  to SH like usual and ran into Bill C and his picnic it looked like it was a lot of fun but I couldn't stop for long because Sandra was wainting at home with a movie. Avg. 7:14

Early AM BST run south. Same out and back as usual but I added until the road up to Brighton. Previously I had told people that I had run to Big Cottonwood for this course but that was a mistake. I just haven't been to any of the ski resorts since we moved here and I misread the sign previously. For my 20 (plus)-milers I prefer to take it as slow as possible out and negative split each mile back. I hit the turnaround at 1:20, then negative split down to 6:34, 6:25 for the last two miles. Total 2:32 Avg. 7:38. Felt good the entire run, just tried to keep it easy. After the run packed and now I'm in Snowmass for a conferance. We'll see how the elevation change affects my run tomorrow...

A wonderful run on mountain trails. Started at ~8600 ft ran up to ~9100. Most of the run was along a stream and listening to the water was so relaxing. The climb in the altitude was rough but the decent felt normal. I saw two elk and some grouse. I’m going to try and adventure out a little further tomorrow. Avg. 9:00

Today was another great mountain run. I went out the same as yesterday but continued down the other side of the mountain. Total run I went from 8600 to 9100 to 8200 and back again.

This was one of the greatest runs of my life. It was very exciting. I went to a new trail that was a steep climb. I went from 8600 to the top of the ski lift to 9500. Then when I got to the top there was an eagle flying. On the start of my decent I saw a deer. But the exciting part was about 5 min later. I suddenly stopped in my tracks as just off the trail about 10-15 ft in front of me was a brown bear. It looked over at me and huffed a few times and then continued on. I waited for it to get about 20 ft of the trail and then ran by it. I was definitely intimidated but that was the closest to a wild bear I had ever been.

In the afternoon I went hiking on the same trail with people from the meeting. We didn’t see the bear again but when we got to the top of the ski lift we decided to go along the ridge to the next lift and climb another 1000 feet. We hit 10,660 before we turned back. Total hike was 7.5 miles in 3hrs.

The last two days it has been very cloudy with some rain. Today was very clear. I went for an afternoon run with one of my former classmates who also happened to be on the meeting. We did a run along the rim of one of the ranges. It was fairly warm and very sunny. The run was good.

Needed a day off. The meeting was good but exhausting. Late nights and early mornings wear on you.

Nice easy run in the PM to stretch my legs out after the week of mountain miles. I ran into Carol and Bill during my loops of the park. I backed out of doing a Fartlek run with Carol for the race tomorrow morning.

Early AM start. Up at 3:30am. Luckily Chad was gracious enough to agree to carpool to the start of the Provo River 1/2. He picked me up at 4am. Once we got to the race and up to the start, we went for an easy 2-mile warm-up. We were told the race would start somewhere between 7 and 7:30. We got back to our gear about 3 minutes to 7am to hear the countdown. We didn't believe our ears with the number of people milling around. Also, because we had chips we weren't immediately worried. However, working our way through the crowd to find no mat at the start had me a little concerned. We started our watches and headed out anyway. I wasn't exactly sure what my plan for this race was to begin with. I had initially thought I was only going to do it as a marathon pace run but decided to let my legs decide. The first two miles were the only splits I got as the mile markers were way off. However, with dodging all the people they still were 5:50 and 5:55. I felt fine there but then Chad and I started pacing together. He completely pulled me with him. Soon we were picking off some quicker miles. Especially after leaving the rest of the crowd behind. Within the next mile or so we could see Bill and Carol. After catching up to them we found out that we were exactly two minutes off from the start. The turnaround also gave me some added confidence that though the leaders were untouchable there was still a race to be had. At about mile 5 Chad pulled away and I did not have much to go with him at that point. I watched him catch up to a guy about 20m ahead and they started running side-by-side. After a little longer Chad pulled away from him and I had a second wind. I went to try and catch back up with Chad but he had put too much distance on me. I ended up picking off two other guys in mile 8 and 10 and coming back to finish 8th overall in a 1:15.31 by my watch. I felt great about the race especially considering the situation. The weather was perfect and the course was scenic (except those last two miles). A good experience and a great confidence builder. I finally am convinced that I'm back in shape after the injury. The good news is I never had serious pain even now two days later… I have to give Chad a lot of credit he really pulled me along and gave me someone to work off of in the later miles of the race. We also had a great chance to talk some, which made the day a great experience overall.

Sandra hasn't run much with the heat lately so I went running with her for motivation. Sandra Kaitlyn and I did 3 miles to the park and back. My legs felt surprisingly good.

Legs still feel really good. A little tenderness in my butt, however much less than after the Des 10K. I'm finally starting to look forward to the marathon next month. Avg. 7:14

Early AM with the Black Sheep at Liberty Park. There were a good number of people out today. We did a lap warm-up and then 8x800 with a 100-200m walk/jog between each. My legs still felt a little flat from the race on Saturday but I actually ended up hitting them a little fast. Though they were really all over the place. It was hard to pace in the park vs. on the track. I went by my Garmin and hit them between 2:32 and 2:37, we were supposed to do them like Yasso 800s. After the workout I did another two laps on my own to round off the mileage.

 Great run at sea-level. It was a PM run while Sandra and her sister went to the mall. There is a wonderful mostly crushed gravel trail along the Des Plaines River (total 31 miles; http://www.lcfpd.org/docs/map_22079.pdf) with a trail head very near where we were staying. The trail is mostly flat and mostly shaded. Avg. ~7:30

On the DPR again today. There were so many people out. Mostly Chicago Area Runners Association (CARA) members training for the Chicago Marathon. I easily saw 100 people throughout the run, mostly in their respective pace groups of about 10-15 people each. The excitement of so many other runners had me hit a few miles to fast, but overall I kept it under control and did an out and back. Avg. 6:59

No run, travel and rest day.

PM run with Bill. It was a great run. It was my first time up to the Pipeline Trail, it is so beautiful up there I can’t believe I’ve lived here for a year and never been up there before. It got really dark by the end of the run so the pace was conservative as to not break an ankle so close to our marathons. After we got off the trial we added a few miles on the road up the canyon. A good climb. Between the dark trail running and the climb Avg .8:15.

AM run with Black Sheep. Great run. I was concerned with the late run last night that my legs would be flat. However, I felt on for the whole workout. Typical warm-up but I started from home. The workout was 3 x 5-400 with 200 recovery during the 5 and about a 3 min recovery between the sets. First set Avg. 78, 2^nd set 75, 3^rd set 72 with a negative split on each of the last 5 quarters.

PM loops of SugarHouse. My legs felt tired. Mostly just a long hard day at work. Avg. 7:27

PM loop of SH. Felt sluggish today. Overall, just a little distracted. I think I'm getting eager for the marathon. Avg. 7:50

My wife has been sick with a slight fever the last couple of days and with how much I've been dragging I thought I'd play it safe and take a day of rest.

The rest yesterday paid off. I felt much better today. I did my usual out and back on the BST. I had a slightly later start than usual so it was warming up by the end. My plan was to take it easy with the last couple days of not feeling so hot. I went out in 81 and back in 76. Avg. 7:50.

I feel a lot better than Fri. Went for a 2 hr walk with the family up in Park City. My legs still feel a little heavy but I should have that worked out by the race next weekend. PM loops of SH no watch.

AM run south and back. Legs still feel like lead but the rest of me felt fine.

PM SH loops Avg. 7:24

BST North. Nice morning but it warmed up quickly. It was nice to actually be able to look out ove the valley and see the details of the mountains on the other side. I'm still only about 75%, maybe I did have something this weekend. Avg. slow...

I guess that I didn't escape my wife's cold. I woke up this morning with a stuffed nose and a slight cough. I did a PM loop of SH and felt only about 60%.

Only slightly better than yesterday, ~75%. Nose is still a little drippy but the cough isn't as bad. I did a late am run of BST behind Red Butte and This is the place.