The sun is up, the air is fresh, the stone is old

Off day, just too much time with the kids in the park!

I needed another long run today so I started out along the Bonneville Shoreline trail.  After 6 miles my tendon was hurting so bad I knew it wouldn't work today.  It was really swollen up.  I turned around early and just put one foot in front of the other for a while.  At least it was a beautiful day!

Busy day today with the kids and no time to run at all so it had to wait until 10:30pm.  Ran up through River Heights and Cliffside for an easy 10 miler.  7:45 pace

I flew into the Logan airport and picked up the Utah State football team for the OKC game. That's always a ton of fun!

After the game I headed out for a long run. I am trying to decide if I want to try the TOU marathon since I have an entry from the director, but it's been a battle just to get in the miles the past few months. It's going to be a last minute decision if it happens.

OKC is not a runner friendly city so it was a long hard run, but I did it! Right about 8 minute pace, so pretty slow.

5 miles easy through Providence inbetween meetings

Just did my long run this weekend so I was hurting! I've been excited to just get the distance in lately. My pace has been so slow I knew I had to mix in a race or two to keep from getting the "marathon shuffle".

I showed up at the race pretty late since it was so early..It was 38 degrees this morning! Nuts! I made it up to the starting line just moments before the race started and had time to talk to my neighbors and their kids running the race.

I wanted to pace at 5:45 for the 6 miles and started out a bit fast which is usual for me. I saw Scott and said Hi for a minute and then just enjoyed the first downhill bit. It was hard to run a pace when I have been just jogging lately but at least the tendon wasn't bothering me. I fell in behind the first two guys and pretty much finished on the pace I wanted. Great workout!

8 miles easy in New York Central Park

5 miles in the morning in St. Louis.

5 miles afternoon in San Diego and 45 minutes weight training

10 mile trail run in Anchorage, Alaska.  What a morning!

1 mile swim in 32 minutes.

1 hour weight lifting

This is the absolute funnest race of the season, so I knew I couldn't miss it inspite of a tendon issue, anyways how can you get injured running downhill anyways?

There was a lot of fun people at the start so the race was turning into a good time even before it started.  There was a pretty good wind comming up the canyon we would have to run into so I was pretty sure times would be a bit off from last year.  Also the starting line seemed to have been moved up the canyon higher.  I had on my "Fat Man" shoes, 15 ounce Kayanos since this is so steep of a course.  No way my calfs can handle any kind of flats this year in any race, let alone this one.  We started off on a pretty good downhill and I was just looking for someone to use as a windblock for a mile or two but Moody is running so well this year he was just too fast.  Also I knew Rob Murphy was going to be passing me soon since he beat me good at the Deseret News 10K so I had to get going.  Nothing is like this race, you really just have to do all you can to slow down as you run.  I felt like my arms were windmills on the sides of my body and my form was ridiculous.

The first mile was 4:31 and the second was about the same.  I could not close the gap on Teren and Patric but was able to catch up to Moody and used him as a windblock for the third mile and rested a bit, which I'm sure annoyed him since I run like a three legged camel on this course.  Mile 3 was a bit slower at around 4:37 and I thought I had about a mile and a half left.  I tried to figure out the math on what an 8K would be, but only about three brain cells were functioning so I just guessed it would be about 5 miles so I better figure out how to breath.  I just could not get any air about mile 4.  But right then we came up to one of those downhill warning signs with a picture of a truck on it and a 9% grade!  I knew I could survive a mile at that kind of downhill so I relaxed again and that was my fastest mile at about 4:27. 

We had a great evening with the Murphys at the barbeque and I met a few fellow bloggers which is always fun.  The kids and I splashed all the water out of the hot tubs.  We went on a hike Sunday morning since we were all too sore to run one of those trails again and had just a great time. 

3 mile hike with the Murphys at Alta.  This was perfect!

12 miles pushing both girls in the double stroller.  Man, they are getting too big for this!

1.5 mile swim, pretty sore legs today

6 miles with Natalie on the bike and Shelby in the stroller

1 mile hard swim in 32 minutes and 30 minutes of lifting

5 miles along Bonneville shoreline trail with Shelby in the stroller.  My legs muscles hurt pretty much the whole time which is not a good sign for a marathon tomorrow..

It's definetly time to take some time off from running after this run today.  We had great race prep the night before, we were waterskiing until 10pm!  It really did help to loosen up the legs. 

It was a great morning before the start.  I sat with my cousin for a while and talked to a bunch of friends, Keith A, Scott E, Ben V, Burns and my high school coach who got me into the race last minute.  It was a reminder why I love running so much, such a beautiful morning.  Scott E invited me to run with them because they where shooting for a 2:50 today, but I really had no idea if I how or what pace to attempt, just too many injuries this summer.  I set in with a few guys keeping an even 6:10 pace and it felt pretty smooth.  For some reason my feet blistered at mile 4 and I knew 22 more miles would rip them up, but I've dealt with that before. 

The first 7 miles just eased by.  We slowed down to around 6:20 pace for a bit and I was surprised when the halfway point came by at about 1:20.  It was the slowest halfway point for me in three years and I knew it wasn't going to get any faster today.  I could actually feel the muscle pain in my legs which was a first.  At 14 miles a master runner from Billings passed me and so I dropped to a 5:47 pace for the next 4 miles to see how it felt.  This is usually a pace that I am most comfortable at and I didn't tire out but I could just feel pain in my quads.  At mile 20 I think I could feel every muscle in my leg with each step.  I'm pretty sure it's just burnout this season and that Alta race sure impacted harder than I thought it would.  It just hurt to run. I decided to walk at each aid station, at least the next three and that made it possible to finish.  I lost about 5-6 minutes on those.  Allie blew by me at 25 and a half miles so I had to at least pick it up enough to pass her to the finish.

Slowest marathon in a few years but lots of fun!  My socks and shoes were bloody from torn blisters in the arches but at leats that got me a good recliner for a while in the first aid tent.  Keith A had a great race, right on my tail.  I didn't get to talk to Scott E at the finish, but I think he was pretty close to that 2:50.  Talked with a bit to quit a few bloggers which is always pretty fun.  I got harrassed by my old coach for running such a stupid schedule this summer and spent a few minutes talking to Paul P who looked like he had just strolled down the block after pacing someone to a sub 3 hour finish.  He also said it's been a lot of races this summer for me, so maybe everyone is just a lot smarter than me.  Obviously I am just getting slower this summer. :) I don't think Sammy beat Paul's time from last year so that's sweet.  The nicest thing today was that I had no pain at all from the torn achilles tendon, so I've done the right things there.  It was swollen up a bit.  My girls got in a fight and tears over who got the medal so I had to go beg for a second one!  They just love those moose medals.  I also had a chance to talk with Sasha P for a while although I was pretty dead by then.  He had a great race today and is pretty cool to talk too, lots of running knowledge.  We probably talked more about airplanes though. 

2 mile hike with the kids

Nothing at all!

1 mile swim and lift

1.5 mile swim and raquetball. Still on marathon recovery and enjoying the break!

1 mile swim

30 minutes on an elliptical and lift

The girls wanted to do a race this morning so even though it was one week after the marathon I took them up to Smithfield and we ran a 5K.  It was a pretty small race and dang cold!  I got the kids in the stroller and we ran for 2 miles to warm up.  Natalie, the 8 year old, really wanted to do the race with her bike so I got her out of the double stroller and got her bike ready.  They were so excited this morning!

The race started up the canyon and we were pretty slow going up.  Natalie died on her bike about 1 mile up the canyon and I had her hold on the stroller with one hand so she could get towed up to the turn around.  They were both pretty upset I wasn't catching the two lead guys..Shelby, my 5 year old stood up in the stroller and said, "Dad, come on, I know you can run faster than this.  This is ridiculous!"  Natalie took off downhill at the turnaround and I didn't see her again until the end, but she was just glowing because she got "first".  Shelby and I cruised the downhill with the stroller and almost caught the first guy which redeemed me a bit in their eyes.

7 miles up Logan River trail with the girls in the double stroller

7 miles on flat easy ground in Smithfield

I went down to do a workout at the gym and a friend asked me to run a trail race with her tonight.  I would just have to do a 5 mile leg so I said sure.

The race course ended up being backwards along the Bonneville shoreline trail from Smithfield and ending up old main hill, so it was a ridiculous course!  My relay partner decided not to run it so I signed up for the full 10 miles.  Three other guys showed up that had run TOU so I knew I'd be in similar company with the wobbly legs!  We headed out towards Green Canyon and the pace was pretty slow, probably all of us were hurting.  The fastest guys were on the relay teams since the prizes were Ipads.  I saw Patric Rotich there so the pace had to be around a 5 min mile.  They started them 5 minutes after us so I kept looking over my shoulder to see if he was catching me!  I got into the lead about a mile into it with Jesse Dunn right behind me.  He passed me going up the canyon and I was tired enough to not care.  As we got along the rolling hills of the trail I noticed that I was catching back up and my legs felt all right so I passed him around mile 4.  When we hit the trail along Canyon Road he passed me again and I was dead.  I think I dropped back to around a 7 min pace and just held on.  Another Utah State runner passed me going up Old Main Hill to the finish and it was over.  I was pretty stoked my legs held up after the marathon, but overall got my butt kicked.

1 mile swim in 32 minutes and some lifting

1 mile swim in 35 minutes