track fan

2:04:45 - it was somewhere between 14 and 15 miles.   It cooled off a lot last night (I think it got down to the high 40s) so I decided to go out to the mountains to run (it is a very hilly dirt road that I run laps on - each lap is somewhere between 5.5-6.2 miles long depending on whether or not I add on some other loops).  I used to run this route all the time on the weekends when I lived near the flat Rillito trail -- it was my way of getting a hilly run in.  Now that I live in the mountains every run is a hilly run, and I like to find at least one "flat" run a week -- but the weather was so nice I decided to run the hills today too.  Once it gets really hot (very soon I fear) I will need to do all my long runs on the Rillito, because there is water there and hills + heat + long miles is way too hard for me ... Anyway -- beautiful day, I felt really good, and I loved being in the mountains.  This is safe, even during snake season, because it is a dirt road and wide enough that snakes are easily avoided - surprisingly, I did not see any today, I know they are out there, but none in the road!

Drake and Penn Relays were FUN to watch!  But relays are much more fun in person than on youtube.  I can't wait for the Peyton Jordan results ... especially the 10K.  Both the men's and women's races are LOADED.  I am pretty sure the top 3 women will run in the 30's (at most 31's) and it is way possible that the men will run in the 28's  -- it is going to be great!

Have a wonderful evening bloggers.  

AM: (9 miles, 1:18:33).  Ran the first 7 miles pretty easy then ran the last 2 miles hard.  Hard meant that my "landmark" took me 18:23 on the way out and 15:27 on the way back -- I would estimate my pace was somewhere between 7:40-7:45 ... very very hilly (average 250 ft elevation gain over the little over 2 miles) and 8 mph headwinds for the last 1/2 mile.  It felt very good to open it up a little!

PM: easy 4

Happy Tuesday bloggers.  What an awesome track meet on Sunday - both the men's and women's 10K was outstanding!!  3 men broke 27:30 (and they weren't even the winner -- who was awesome, running a 27:11 after breaking away from the lead pack with *7* laps to go!!); all told there were 14 men that got the Olympic A standard (27:45)!!!  In the women's race there were 8 women that got the A standard (31:45) with a nail-biting two women show between Sally Kipyego and Shalane Flanagan for the win (Sally won in 30:38, Shalane ran 30:39)!   There just are not enough track 10K's  ... so in a World Champs year the ones that are open (to non-university runners) are just stacked and SOOOO exciting!

So ... last night we were watching a stupid comedy show (basically we had about 1/2 hour before bedtime and were kind of just killing time).  All of a sudden a mouse came "walking" through the living room.  I started laughing and sort of 'lightly' screaming at the same time.  I got up and found Titus-the-cat running around looking under my briefcase ... apparently he brought it in and then unknowingly lost it!!  it took 15 mins but I was able to catch it (using a tupperware bowl) and release it outside where he/she belonged.  We have 3 animals in this house -- you would think that at least one of them would be competent enough to keep out mouses wouldn't you? 

1:04:32 -- this is probably longer than 7, I don't have this run as dialed in as my mountain run (sigh, when will it be October?).  No big deal.

The craziness that is my life is continuing ... it is going to be a very tough two weeks.

Run well bloggers!!  Don't leave me, I will return!

AM: (~8.5 miles, 1:14:25).  26:54wu/27:31cd  10 x :38-:40sec sprints up a very steep hill.  This run was probably somewhere longer than 8.5, but not quite 9.0 ... it was a hard workout, made a little more difficult in that I did run slowly enough in the recovery down the hill for the first few, so the last 2 were super tough.  I am sure it is helping with my power though, in a way I can't wait to try the track again soon to test it out (although it is already a little hot for long track workouts - 96F most of this week, easily 86F by 9AM).

PM:  easy 4.

We have a nest on our patio, it is in a perfect corner, it drives Titus-the-cat crazy because it is "just" out of his reach.  Anyway, today the 4 babies tried to fly for the first time.  One did not do well and Titus got him.  I chased Titus and took the baby bird away from him and set it back outside on the ground.  By the time I got back from my run it was gone ... I am hoping that it was able to recover from the scare and fly off.  Titus is locked inside for the day though, he doesn't like it, but it has to be.  House cats are the number 1 reason that many of the song birds in the US (and probably the world) are at risk for extinction ... we (and Titus) are trying to do our part for the environment!

Other exciting news ... our first scorpion of the year last night ... luckily on the wall (easy to spot and not get stung).  It is funny, we have to check our bed every night before we get in ... the joys of summer ;-)

Happy day bloggers! 

1:05:08 ... hmmmm, how did that happen?  I ran my usual 7 mile route and then added on, and yet, somehow ran the same time that I usually do.  I thought it felt like I was running fast but I did not think I was that much faster ... must be all that hill work.

Have a great day bloggers!

Day 2: no scorpions in the bed ;-) 

AM: (8 miles, 1:11:14).  Hot hot hot ... so I ran slow slow slow (it was about 90F when I finished) -- I puttered around the house, worked, puttered, worked, etc.  When I finally checked the weather at 9:30 it was 89F,  yikes.   Anyway, it was a nice run, my legs felt good (probably because I am running less mileage this week -- busy busy).

PM: easy 4.

Need.to.get.out.earlier.tomorrow.

SFBD (scorpion free bed days): 3 

2:03:19 (9:06/8:30).  Doesn't look like much, but it was 91F and sunny when I finished, not an easy run really -- but not horrid either.  At least I finished strong (probably running 7:45 or so the last 2 miles).  

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!  

 Yesterday Dean found a snake in our yard (a racer ... not vemonous) he tried to help it over the wall, but was unsuccessful.  He did find his way back where he belongs later in the day; meaning he was not outside looking into my bedroom from the sliding glass door. When I went outside to see if he was actually gone I found a pile of huge feathers -- no carcass just a whole bunch of feathers, they were big.  Apparently a coyote got something -- and I did not even hear or see it ... wow, it is like a National Geographic show right in my backyard!

AM: (11 miles, 1:30:24).  37:04wu/35:23cd  10 x 1` w/1` recovery.   Beautimous day ... I wanted to do a tougher workout, but stuck with what the coach had in mind.  Truly wonderful ... it is going to get even hotter this weekend, but today was lovely lovely lovely (70F and breezy).  

PM: easy 4.

So I bet you all know why I am in such a good mood?  Yes, you got it, this weekend are the PAC-10 track championships ... hosted where?  Thats right, at the U of A!! Yippeee!!  Two days of live track action,  Oregon, Stanford, Washington, UCLA, ASU, U of A ... yippee!!  Good track action!!  When we lived in Nashville we were lucky to see the SEC meet, which had some incredible sprint action, but PAC-10 is a distance powerhouse!!  Should be a blast!

Happy Tuesday bloggers ... back to grading finals ... sigh. 

1:12:02.  Pretty nice day, got out late because I had to get up super early to finish grading my finals so I can post grades today.  Things are very very very busy right now on the grant.  I don't even have time to list (thankfully for you and me, as I don't want to see it all in writing) all the things I have to finish by Monday.  I hope so bad that I can take some time off to go to the meet this weekend!

Happy humpday bloggers!!! 

AM: (10 miles, 1:31:04).  Probably a little longer than 10, but anyway, the schedule said, "80-90` easy on the hills" -- not too hard to do (since I have to drive not to run on hills ;-) ).  Very fun.

PM: 4 miles easy.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I have to make it through the next week.  I have not gotten home earlier than 8:30 any night this week (and I have started work by about 7 every morning) ... I am way way too old for this stuff ;-).

Have a wonderful day bloggers! 

1:01:42.  Nice day for a run.  An even better day for PAC-10 track and field!!

have a great day bloggers!! 

1:27:42.  Only one run today.  I am super busy, and I couldn't get by work done, 2 runs in AND go to the 2nd night of the PAC-10 track meet, so I decided to go to the meet.  It is fine, I ran a couple miles more this morning than usual, and I will run a couple more miles tomorrow so the weekend will average out about the same as every weekend.  And this grant will be turned in on Wednesday, so next week I can actually take a day off!! yippee, my first day off in about 4 months, I can't wait.

More on the meet later - the men's 10K last night (did not finish until 11PM) was AWESOME (UofA athlete just decimated a super stacked field: Chris Derrick, Jake Riley, Luke Peskedra ... it looked like an incredible duel meet between Oregon and Stanford's cross-country teams)! I will tell all the details tomorrow.  The women's 10K was slowslowslow (I think the winner was high 35 something -- last year Nicole Blood won in 33:low and there were several women with seed times in the 33's but no one wanted to lead).  As of yesterday Arizona was leading the women and the men were second to Oregon - results here.  Tonight will be much tougher.  

Happy Saturday bloggers!

2:20:14. (1:12:06/1:08:08; 9:00/ 8:31) They said it was "cooler" today than  yesterday ... I supposed it was, but I have to say that the difference between 89F (today) and 91 (yesterday) did not make a huge impact on how I felt ;-).

I know I promised a better summary of the track meet, but, unfortunately, I am super busy with this grant so it will have to be more of a "highlights" than a beautiful summary.

First, let me say it was one of the best track meets I have ever watched (outside of the Olympic and World Championships).  It was exciting and there were a lot of runners that showed guts, determination and heart!  It was also a "whos who" of NCAA distance running: Jordan Hasay (Oregon, won both the 1500 and the 5K), Megan Goethals (Washington ran a stunning race in the 5K for 2nd place after opening up a 50m lead in the first 1600), Kathy Kroeger (Stanford, was a high school standout from Nashville when we lived there, former footlocker champ), Elliot Heath (Stanford - we sat behind his parents last night), Chris Derrick (Stanford -sat behind his parents last night too), AJ Acosta (had two bad nights), Matt Centrowitz (Oregon - won the 1500), Elijah Greer (Oregon - 2nd in the 800, we sat behind his parents on Friday night), Cory Primm (UCLA, 800m winner), Jake Riley (Stanford, tenacious as all get out, he and most of his Stanford teammates ran both the 5K and 10K), Luke Peskedra (Oregon - he lived near us in Salt Lake, which of course means "we were BFFs when he was there" ;-))

wow. 

Big news:  Oregon won both the men and women's titles -- with Arizona second in both (YEA!  Arizona women lost by 4.5 points and it came down to the last event, the 4 x 400!!).  Michael Berry ran a 44.91 400 meter run -- broke a 50 year school record!  And Jeshua Anderson (Washington State) ran a 48.13 400m hurdles race that put him #4 so far this year!

The men's 5K was won by Lawi Lalang (Arizona, brother of Boaz Lalang), with Stephan Sambu (Arizona, won the 10K the night before) taking second.  They (Lalang and Sambu) threw down 4 61-64 sec quarters in the first 3K, and were leading by 25-50m the whole race.13:47.29 (Lalang), 13:47.39 (Sambu), 13:57 (Derrick), 14:02 (Peskedra).

It was stunning.  It was so fun.  My personal meet favorites: Jordan Hasay - she is one gifted runner, her win in the 5K was just amazing - it looked so easy.  Megan Goethals - she had some amazing heart -- she took off and led by about 50 meters for at least 1600 meters until the "chase pack" of 3 (Jordan, and two Arizona women, Hannah Moen and Jennifer Bergman) caught up with her; still she hung in there and still managed to have a huge kick at the end for second place 16:24 (Hasay), 16:25 (Goethals), 16:26 (Moen), 16:31 (Bergman).

Full results are here.

I have to get back to work ... happy Sunday bloggers!

AM: (9 miles, 1:19:40).  Hills and trails, over hills and yon.

PM: 4 easy.

One more day to finish the grant ... people are very very stressed.  Hopefully, by this time tomorrow someone at the copy center will be printing and collating 10 copies of this 1000+ page monstrosity.

Happy Tuesday bloggers! 

1:13:07.  A little longer than 8 ... I sort of "forgot" to turn around.  I really have no idea how far this run is, but it doesn't really matter, just an easy run.

Happy HumpDay bloggers!! 

AM: (10.5, 1:30:00 -- cool, not planned!).  I think this might have been closer to 11 miles, but I am not sure.  27:20wu/29:18cd,  6`5`4`3`2`1` w/2` recovery (started at 1/2 marathon pace and got down to about 3K pace).  I was thinking about going to the track for this -- since it is the only flat place around, but then I thought "hills are good, just run by feel, it is good for  you!!" - so I convinced myself to just run on the roads.  My last 2` recovery was a little longer than 2` because I had to stop and let a herd of about 12 deer pass in front of me!!  Felt awesome!  I got home at 11 or so last night - I ended up going to the off-campus lab site (~ 25 miles from the main campus) yesterday to help collate and create pdf files for the grant (it was mailed off this morning) -- it was a late late night for me. Plus I got a speeding ticket (and I did not have my insurance card on me, so I got a ticket for that too) drat.  Anyway, I slept in until 7:30 this morning and did not get out the door until nearly 9:30.  But it was a wonderful temperature today for a hard run (65F).

PM: easy 4.

Happy Thursday bloggers! 

1:01:35 ... busy busy morning.  Beautiful though, and feeling good (slept for a whole 7 hours last night!!).

Hope you are all doing well bloggers, more this weekend! 

AM: (8 miles, 1:10:16).  Beautiful ... 85F today, felt like 50F!  I really did try to enjoy today knowing that very soon (next week? at most 3 weeks) this will be our low temp.  I really am noticing how much getting sleep affects my running.  Felt great today.  

PM: easy 4.

I can't wait to see the results from Ogden today!!  I hope you are all having wonderful races!!! 

2:21:11.  25:12 + 1:00:32/55:25 (8:58/8:12).  Last 2 miles @ 7:20 pace.  Very hot today.  89F and sunny when I finished (at 12:30 PM, not the smartest thing really but I could not get motivated to get out earlier).  I ran a slightly different route on the Rillito trail today (the flat route with water!).  First I ran ~ 2.5 miles (25:12) going towards where I used to live, they have been "working" on the trail and wanted to see how it looked.  Mainly what they did was put asphalt down - which I didn't like.  There was a "sort of" soft dirt trail off to the side, but it was really soft, and not great for running.  In the "old days" it was just plain ole dirt, and I liked it a lot.  Anyway, I saw it and it was nice to see a familiar route that I hadn't seen for a while.  Then I ran back to my "usual" starting place (that has mile markers) and ran the 1/4 mile to the first marker (2 1/2 mile marker) and ran down to the park that has the nice cold drinking fountains (9 mile marker) and back.   All and all a good run, I felt strong at the end, and got faster and faster every mile from the turn around.  

I saw the funniest thing.  A 70+ year old guy, very tan, no shirt, riding a bike in a SPEEDO!!!  yikes.  Ok, I was in shorts and a sports bra, but still, A SPEEDO! so funny.  I also saw a "city coyote" - he was not as healthy looking as our "country coyotes" he was scrawny and was missing a tail (ouch).  Our coyotes look fat and furry.  

Congratulations to all the awesome racers from yesterday -- man, there were some rockn times!!

Happy Sunday bloggers! 

AM: (10 miles, 1:25:41).  29:33wu/30:37cd.   10 x :45 w/2` recovery.  

PM: easy 4.

Had a slight altercation with a cactus (VPB -- virtually private bathroom -- is a dangerous thing out here in the desert), I will need to use the ole 'use # 29034009340399 x 10^6 for duct tape' (you can use it like wax hair removal, it gets all of the "tiny little spines" out).

I hope you are all having a great day bloggers!!  Every day that I don't seen an old man riding a bike in a Speedo is a good day to me... 

1:13:01.  Easy run, well, it wasn't really "that" easy, my legs were tired today.  But, it was nice, not too hot (but not quite comfortable) 81.5F.  Nothing of interest to note, no snakes, no cacti (well, not up close and personal), no almost naked old men (except Dean), so ... same ole same ole.

Happy Hump Day bloggers!!  We got a house for flagstaff - we will be going up for the month of July!! yippeee! 

AM: (9.5, 1:21:33).  28:47wu/25:51cd   8 repeats up medium grade hill.   It was supposed to be 60" - 90" up a 4-6% grade hill.  According to mapmyrun my hill is about 8-9% grade and somewhere between .2-.24 of a mile.  My fastest was 1:30 and my slowest was 1:33.  Greg says to run these at 1 mile - 3K effort, which because of the hill will be closer to 5K pace (which works about right here -- my pace was somewhere between 6:35-6:45).  It was hard, but I focused on "relaxing my shoulders", short, quick turn-over, slightly leaning forward, and thinking "strong, strong, power to the end"  ... ;-).

PM: 4 miles very easy I am sure.

I did not sleep much last night, for some reason there were about 4-6 coyotes that decided to serenade us most of the night -- there were right outside our back door, so it was pretty darn loud.  I was just glad Titus-the-cat was inside!

1:01:45.  I was supposed to run with a friend here in town ... I love running with her, except that she is way too fast for me to run with usually (3:17 marathoner -- and she is 55!!!).  She just had knee surgery (from a fall, not running) so I figured we might be more equally matched now ;-).  Anyway, she had to cancel, so I ran by myself and then met her for breakfast instead.   So cool to be able to do these kind of things -- I can get into the office whenever I feel like (or before my next meeting anyway ;-) ).  Next week I have to hunker down again though, I have to finish two papers in June ... but, this week is all about "work recovery" - the last 6 months were truly the toughest months I have ever had (work-wise).  

Anyway -- all is good.  I hope all is good for you too bloggers!! 

What the heck is going on with the visitor counter and my blog?  I am losing 4 people/day!  What the hey guys, why are you deserting me??? I am feeling pretty lost and lonely, could  you at least check my blog 2x/day for a couple days from different computers??  ;-)

AM: (8 miles, 1:12:48).  Very hot, 94.3F ... 27% humidity (go ahead and laugh, it is humid for here ;-) ).  Just as I thought, the heat costs me 15-20 secs/mile.  I knew I should have gotten out earlier, the air conditioner was on at 6AM, which means ... well, that it is summer ;-).

PM: easy 4

Have a wonderful weekend bloggers!!! 

2:04:56.  Not the best of days. Big whine: my SI joint is out of wack and it every step hurt.  It is hot as all get out (86F at the end, with sun), and the last 7 miles were into a 18 mph headwind. Wawawa.  Big baby. 

I am at work now.  Having a hard time concentrating as I figure out how/when to make an unscheduled trip to Fort Collins next week.  It looks like my Mom has been very sick (she has lost over 50 lbs in a month and now weighs less than 100 lbs), they found a spot on her lung.  She is/has been a heavy smoker for most of her life.  So, the CT scan is next week and I am going to try to get out there to see her, regardless of the results. I have been expecting this for years, but it is still sort of a shock.  I am reminded of the lung cancer researchers at Vanderbilt University that wore appropriate buttons on their lab coats, "no one deserves lung cancer", no matter how one may feel about smoking, it is very hard to quit and a most horrible way to die, so no one "deserves" it - very true.  So that is my final saga for the day...

AM: (11 miles, 1:31:27) 28:17wu/26:39cd.   5 mile Steady State run (target pace: 7:16-7:29) actual:  7:29, 7:18, 7:18, 7:15, 7:09.   Yesterday was SO nice, high of  **77F** never never never is it this nice at the end of May.  So, since it was cooler yesterday I knew this morning would be cooler than it has been too.  So, I decided to get down to the track and get one more decent workout in before it is too hot.  I vacillated between 4 and 6 miles, but on my way to the track I realized that it was not actually as cool as I had hoped, so I told myself to shoot for 5.  By the time I finished it was 90.6F (no wonder it felt hot ;-)).  Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised with how well it went, if it weren't hot (and if I had slowed down on the last two) I easily could have done 8, which surprised me.  I was going to do 8 anyway, but then I remembered that I had a 3 mile uphill run home ... so I quit while I was ahead.

PM: 4 miles easy.

I am going to get my SI joint fixed today ... I hope.

I hope you are all doing well.  For those of you not on facebook ... here is a picture of the beautiful Diamondback rattlesnake that was in our back yard yesterday.