A Balance, Redefined

Family and work day...

AM: Happy Monday all... Decided for the A&W commute run with a few Farleks mixed in. 

Mi 6 Avg. 8:52 HR 148

PM: Back home in reverse.

Mi 6 Avg. 7:45 HR 142

AM: Had to be in early so just the direct commute run.

Mi 2.5 Avg. 9:45 HR 137

PM: I have noticed that the last couple weeks I have had a lot of different demands on my time that have made balance a bit more difficult. I'm still squeezing everything in just been rough the last 7 d or so... That being said the weather has been so perfect for running and so relaxing to be out there. Tonight I did a loop south of SugarHouse with the mile down 21st hard, 5:18.

Mi 8 Avg. 7:28 HR 159

AM X2: I had the chance to speak to my daughter's first grade class about being a scientist and marathon runner this morning. It was a lot of fun. However, I had to set some stuff up in lab first so I did the commute run it, set it up, and did the commute run back. On the way in I was working to catch a guy, which I did. However, just as I passed Fort Douglas I went to spit and almost spit on a different guy that had been working to catch me! I then picked up the pace and ran the rest of the way into lab with him. 3rd year medical student using running to commute, didn't catch his name though.

There 2.5 mi Avg. 8:41
Back 2.5 mi Avg. 8:44

Today was flipped. The initial plan was to run tonight but after leaving lab at 10:30 pm last night I ended up swapping with Sandra our running times. I did a Memory Grove commute run in. Tired but got in. The weather was again beautiful. A busy day but more work tonight. Did stop by the expo to pick up my race number for Saturday on the way home. Looking at the half and full tables was so tempting while just picking up the 5K number...

Avg. 9:32 HR 140

Well I typically go into a 5K wanting to break 17 min. Obviously this can vary by the course but here is the course tool prediction for that. Course found here Crazy Legs 5K.

Burning the candle at both ends again. Managed to leave lab a little earlier last night. The good news is unlike some others that were in lab last night I had at least been home to have dinner and see my girls to bed before coming back. It amazes me the culture around research. Even being a part of it myself... 

This morning I was up early to run with Thomas. This was my first run with him (other than when he beat me at the 5K two weeks ago :)...) and it was good to have the company early in the AM.  He lives less than a mile from my house on the A&W commute loop so that is convenient. We did the middle 4 miles of the run together.

Avg. 8:45 HR 140

I was not sure what I was expecting with this race but I am happy I did it. It was great catching up with so many people while waiting around for the awards to be announced. For an inaugural race they did ok but there is some room for improvement.

I did like the late start to the 5K. I got to sleep in a little and Sandra got to get her run in first so I didn’t have to rush home after. I did the run down to the start, ~5 mi Avg. 8:08 HR 143, with about 20 min to spare. I did not see anyone from the blog until with about 3 min to go the crew that ran both the Half and 5K showed up with some surprise additions, glad to see you running again Andrea.

The gun went off and after hurdling a few kids lined up in the front in looked like there were about 6 guys ahead of me. I slowly picked them off up the first mile until I was in third a bit behind Jake but could see him and Ken R the eventual winner. I just went with it and enjoyed the encouragement of the half marathoners finishing as the fresh 5K guys went blowing by. Here are the splits:

Mi 1: 6:00.7 HR 182 A-276 ft D-136 ft

Mi 2: 5:29.5 HR 189 A-123 ft D-182 ft

Mi 3: 5:25.4 HR 190 A-178 ft D-189 ft

0.16: 0:44.1 HR 192 A-19 ft D-57 ft

TOTAL: 17:39.6 HR 187

Then hung out and spoke to a number of bloggers and other runners I’m getting to know. Also ran into my first neighbor when we moved here that I hadn’t seen in over a year and caught up with him for a bit.

Did the painful cool down back up to my house 4.5 mi Avg. 8:51 HR 147 and then straight to work for a few hours before enjoying an hour at the zoo with my daughter and then a wonderful dinner with my wife as we celebrated 16 years together. This is our dating anniversary but since I waited so long to propose I like celebrating it more.