Have a little faith

Rabbit!  Let the second half of the year begin. Went out a little later than usual, and put the sun behind the mountain as I climbed up to the top of Gilead. The usual monster run, 52:00. Legs felt heavy from Tuesday's black sheep, and still a little weary from yesterday's dehydration. Looking to go 20 Saturday up Millcreek Canyon.

The monster in the heat, 3:00 afternoon in 48:50. Being July 3, had to do the family thing this morning early.

Top of Millcreek canyon, 2:49:52. Left calf cramped going up so I had to stretch out. Then running down, the pounding hurt my right thigh and knee. So considering those ailments, I'm happy with my time. I hit elbow fork at 1:03.  Top of canyon at 1:36. Back at elbow at 2:02. There were a lot of bikers, probably 100 on this holiday Monday, the 5th of July. Temperatures were cool, but running down I took off my shirt. 

A windy morning, gusting to about 30 mph. Looped along 20th east and through Country Club wtihout going down to 17th East. THis shortened my route 1.25 miles, but then I made up .25 of it by running up Redondo and over to Foothill. It felt about 1 mile shorter, but the wind made it harder. Total time 1:16 ~ 8.2 mpm for 9.25 miles. Later this afternoon went out for three and felt stiff. I'm hoping for another 20 up Millcreek this Saturday. It was so calm and beautiful last Monday, with many bikers and people on picnics.

Left at 5:10 to run up Millcreek canyon. Stars were out for a few minutes, then the sky started to lighten. Had to stop and walk with a sore left ankle, which cleared up after 10 minutes. It seems to do this when I've taken two days off running. But I slowed, and hit Elbow at 1:06, top at 1:38, and was going for a 2:50 again when I saw Kent Landvatter just below Thousand Springs. I turned around and together we ran up to the top, another 1.25, then down together to the gate. He's typically just a little slower than me, and this morning he had some foot pains. But we ran at an 8 mpm pace, which was fine. When I stopped to talk with Steve Ostler at the gate, Kent went ahead. By the time I hit the road again, Kent must have been .25 miles down the road, and it took me 3 miles running at 6.5 mpm pace to catch him. So I got a good dowhhill tempo run .

It's too hot to run at 5:00 in the afternoon like I did today. I had to stop 5 or 6 times in the shade to cool, if I can call it that. Running along the foothills, I was watching for snakes. But instead I startled dozens of quail, grouse, and doves, all hanging out in various shady areas. Then I quenched in the kids summer swimming pool and the little dog joined me.

Black sheep at East High track. Ladders: 3x400; 2x800; 1x1200; 2x800; 3x400, with 200 in between, plus 1.25 warm up and cool down. My time picked up on the last set of 400's, at 1:33 down to 1:26. 800's were in the 3:10 range. 1200 was at 4:40.

Ran around the old Thursday route from home, wtih Burke & Erik. Lots of walkers, runners along Wander Lane. It was okay. We pushed the pace a little, hitting 9.2 (from Erik's) at 71 minutes, ~ 7.5 mpm. Getting ready for Des News next Saturday, and trying to figure how to train this Saturday. Maybe a long downhill run such as from Elbow or from Top of Canyon. That's always nice. There is a two mile uphill on the course, but I've trained all year for hills. Downhill has been okay too, but if my quads aren't strong, I can hurt my knee. Plus it's been hot and a top of canyon run would be chilling.

Along 17th to Highland high, up Parleys, accross the canyon, back home in 1:17:00, ~ 7.5 mpm. I tried to put down a VO2 interval for 11 minutes, as recommended by Amby, but only got 1.6 miles, or 6:47 pace, which is a little slow for VO2 but faster than lactate threshold. So, whatever. It was a good stretch anyway. Didn't want to crash my calf.

Once around Sugarhouse Park ~ 1.25; 2x400 warm ups. 8x800 with 200 rest between. I cut out on two 800's to stretch my left achelies which was very stubborn, causing me some concern for Saturday's marathon. I kept my speed down as the tendon tightened up. Times averaged between 3:30 to 3:12. There were several people today, including a couple new faces.

If any of my fellow blogers who ran this race wonder who is this "Bern", I was the one running with a cast on my right arm. The radius snapped in two Wednesday at a job site, and the orthopedic said running a marathon in 2 days is stupid, stupid, and it may not heal. But he doesn't understand that running is more addicting than those narcotics he gave me for pain, and I had to lace em up and go.  The last 5 miles, my legs hurt more than my arm.

A warm-up walk with the family at McCall, Idaho.

Took an hour and 6 but got in my first run since Des News. Went up to the basalt cliffs up Ponderosa State Park at McCall, Idaho. Fantastic run. Broken right arm is driving me crazy. How much longer or this cast...4 1/2 weeks?  Ugggg