track fan

1:03:07.   Last night I ran up to "Tracy's loop" (named for Greg's wife, Tracy).  Basically, it is a trail about a mile from where we are staying - it winds all through the National Forest, and off of it are endless other hills and Forest Service roads ... SO cool!  It is pretty flat too, though today I ran it for a little longer than last night and there are trails that climb (though I did not take them today).  I did fall, it is good to get it out of the way, luckily, unlike last year my face and ribs (which are probably barely healed from last year) did not take the brunt of the fall ... instead, the fleshy part of my bicep did ;-).

Happy Friday bloggers ...

In case any of you are "space buffs" there is a chance to see the Space Station flyby over the next few days ... to look up times for your city, look here. 

AM: (8 miles, 1:10:02).  Ran on the Arizona trail again ... did not huff and puff quite as badly, I could still blow the straw house down.  It was hot by Flagstaff standards, but felt pretty good to me (90F).  I am very excited because the monsoons are starting ... it rained pretty well in Tucson last week and it is raining in Flagstaff today.  I am keeping my fingers crossed for a couple month of this so the state won't burn down, it has been sooooo bad the past year.  

PM: 4 miles.

Happy Saturday bloggers, and Happy 4th of July weekend. 

2:05:39.  Ran on Campbell Mesa, first 1:20 mins were in a beautiful, sunny, 82F and the last 40 mins were in a thunderstorm ... it was lovely!  There was snow on the top of Humphreys Peak (~13,000 ft) and quite cool the rest of the day!  Greg and the people we are renting the house from had tractor races in the afternoon -- first, there was a ~400 m drag race and then a series of cross-country bumpy time trials in the prairie fields between the two houses.  I guess you had to be there, but it was very fun!  Dean got the Silver!!

Hope you had a wonderful weekend and Happy 4th of July everyone! 

AM: (9.5 miles, 1:25:46).  43:31/40:05.  Should have just gone the extra 1/2 mile for an even 10 miles ... but, I have a lot of work to do today.

PM: easy 4.

So very very happy that the monsoons are here - Arizona is ready to burn up without some good rains.  I hope they last at least 5 weeks.  There was snow on top of Humphreys Peak - which happens to be right outside my window right now (it is the highest peak in Arizona at just under 14 feet).

Happy week bloggers! 

1:10:xx.  Early morning today - we drove down to Phoenix to see John-of-the-ART.  OUCH.  I have had some problems with my left leg, starting in my foot and moving all the way up.  Apparently, I have a serious case of PF (I thought it was bruising from my orthotic).  I got some shock wave treatment that hurt like the dickens ... he says I need to come in at least 4-5 more times over the next couple of weeks ... ouchie.  

I hope you had a wonderful day.

I will post a picture of Humphreys Peak for Dan tomorrow ... in the meantime, check out the 5000ft x 50 mile sand storm that hit Phoenix yesterday here. 

AM: (10 miles, 1:30:22).  Up the Arizona Trail ... pretty sure I was over 8500ft by the time I turned around ... 30 mins in the thunderstorm hit, lots of rain, and then I spent 15 mins running in a hail storm ... it stung a little ;-).

PM: easy 4.

Happy Thursday bloggers! 

1:09:24.  Probably a little longer than 7.5, but not quite 8 so I only get credit for 7.5 ;-).

I went exploring on the trails near our house, found an AWESOME route.  Ended up on FSR A1a -- it is a pretty popular road for the McMillan athletes.  In order to get there I had to run on a mixture of trails and a less travelled FSR (forest service road) that wound through this most awesome meadow of aspen trees and a most amazing campsite.  The views were spectacular and it really doesn't take long to get completely away from civilization (granted we are already in a pretty remote place, but 3 miles into the forest and you are away from everything!).  So cool.  

I have to run, I am going to check out the results from the Paris Diamond League track meet! 

Happy Friday bloggers. 

AM: (8 miles, 1:12:02).  Rambling run through the forest.  

Humphreys Peak photo for Dan  (this is the view from our front porch)

PM: easy 4

I have so much work to do!  I have a couple of looming deadlines and only 2 more weeks to get my two manuscripts finished (my summer projects include two papers that are 1/2 finished - I need to get the submitted before the semester starts) ... I think I will sit outside and write on the porch!

Happy Saturday bloggers! 

2:06:37.  Maybe close to 15, I am not sure. I went out to Campbell Mesa (just like last week) - but I am getting much more acclimated to the altitude, I ran the first loop faster than last week and had a lot more energy for the final loop so I was booking it pretty hard the last 20` (not as fast as on the road because it is rocky and steep in many places on the trail.  I just felt GOOD.

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend bloggers! 

AM: (10 miles, 1:28:34).  Beautiful morning!!  Ran on some trails to FSR 222 -- otherwise known as the Wing Mountain Loop.  Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.  Uphill to flatish just beautiful, very fast coming back!

PM: 4.5 miles easy -- I got lost ;-)

I hope all is well bloggers. 

1:13:47 ... could have been 8.5, I sort of "got lost" again -- I guess I will call it "rambling" or "investigating" all of the trails ;-)  Luckily they all pretty much come back to the same place +/- 1-5 miles!

 Another beautiful day in Northern Arizona, too bad I have so many darn deadlines this week, I would love to go for a hike!!

I hope you are doing well!!! 

AM: (9  miles, 1:16:57).  Dean is in Tucson this week (where it is still summer and hot all day every day), so in our morning email I told him it was 37F here when I got up!  He wrote back, "it is not polite to brag".  So, as penance, I run up the hard trail today, and ran it hard.  40:34 up and 36:23 down.  My foot hurts, and so does my hip, but "honey badger don't care" -- I am tough (for those of you not familiar with this you will have to pm me ... it is not quite family friendly).

PM: easy 4.

I hope you are all having a great day, and don't forget to go to Burt's blog today and write down your favorite number and/or color. 

1:02:45.  Nice easy run on a bunch of trails ... I am trying to finish a project and have been working very long hours the last couple of days (6AM - 11PM), I don't like feeling like I am back in college.  Anyway, I hope to be finished tomorrow, especially since Dean is back now -- and it is harder to work these hours with him around.  See what my life would be like without him??  It really was like that without him ;-).

Happy Friday bloggers, race well and have fun tomorrow!!

It is not too late to write your favorite songs (sentence by sentence) on Burt's blog. 

AM: (8 miles, 1:09:56).   Beautiful morning -- about 50F and sunny.  I ran a wonderful loop which will now be my "official Bonnie's 8 mile loop" for the remainder of our stay!  It is supposed to rain tomorrow -- which is good, I love doing my long runs in the rain!

PM: 4 miles easy.

Happy Saturday bloggers!

Don't forget to go over to Burt's blog and tell him what color your favorite vegetable is ... and which of Oprah's guests were the ones you taped and watched over and over.

2:04:05.  Exactly the same route as last week, but 2 1/2 minutes faster.  I did not feel "as good" because I pushed it from the get-go.  Normally I would have done more of a progression run, but since it is at altitude I thought I would just run a little harder the whole way.  It is pretty draining up the hills though, so I wasn't really able to run as hard as I like to the final couple miles.  Still a nice run though.  Sprinkled but did not really "rain" except for the first 30 mins, just enough to get my clothes wet for the next hour and 1/2!

I hope you are all having a wonderful Sunday!! 

AM: (9 miles, 1:18:48).  Ran at Buffalo Park, after watching the Team USA Arizona (McMillan Elite) do their workouts ... Two of them are getting ready for the World Championship in the Marathon in Daegu, South Korea in August  (Andrew Lemmoncello and Nick Arcinaga) and others are training for a variety of track and road races.  Man they are fast!  It is amazing to watch them.  After they were done then I did my run - Buffalo Park is a 2 mile looped dirt trail, with hills, at 7500ft.  I wasn't really doing a workout, but I did try to work a little harder after a warm-up.  My times on the loops were 18:03, 17:07 (8:33), 16:47 (8:23), 16:44 (8:22), I then cooled down for another mile or so.  It doesn't look like much, but one of the hills is pretty horrid, and it is the hills where I really feel the altitude ...  It was good to run hard though ... just as a matter of comparison, Brett Gotcher ran his loops in 9 mins or so, and he looked awesome doing it!  I can't wait for Houston to see how he, Nick and Stephanie do, all three of them have a chance at making the Olympic Team!

PM: easy 4

Hoping you are all having a great day!! 

1:09:29, beautiful on the FSR 222 ... light breeze, sunny, and just lovely. There is a fire on the mountain :(

AM: (11 miles, 1:38:45).  Got up early and met Tracy (McMillan) for coffee and then went to Mountain Sports (Patagonia store) for their SALE !!!  Had to get there by 9 so we could make sure they still had our size, S/M are the first to go!  I also bought Dean two shirts, so it was not ALL about me (well, yes it was).   Then I went to the Snowbowl to run up the mountain.  Huff/Puff/Huff/Puff -- hit 8100-8500 ft and then came down ...

PM: easy 4.

 So sad that these are our last days in Flagstaff.  sniff, sniff. 

1:04:19.   Nice run, I found my second favorite potential campsite in the National Forest -- this one was so remote you could camp there for a couple months (technically, you are only supposed to camp in the same site for 14 days).  Nice views, no one around for  miles, and very beautiful.

I hope you are all having a wonderful Friday! 

AM: (8 miles, 1:08:53).  My last run on FR222 for a while, sad.  July 21st opens grazing rights in Coconino National Forest, so there was a lot of cow activity today on my run.  They were really cool cows too, the ones with horns - I am not sure they were Texas Longhorns, but a similar species for sure.  

PM: easy 4.

Happy weekend bloggers! 

2:03:46.  Ran with my friend Merry, from Tucson -- she was up here in Flagstaff for the weekend.  I was going to take her to my "usual" spot, but she had to bring her dog.  Copper (the dog) can only run about 5 miles, so we were going to need to run and then leave him in the car - unfortunately, where I usually run doesn't really have any shade and it would have been too hot.  So, instead, I showed her my Snowbowl trail which has a whole forest of shade.  

Because Merry had just gotten up her, she had a tough time breathing on my trail, it is really hilly, but she hung in there for 90 mins!  Copper got a little tired too, but he hung with us for almost 5 miles.  Merry is faster than me -- unless she is just coming off an illness or when she isn't acclimated to altitude ;-), I guess this is what you would call handicapping the run. 

I hope you are all having a great weekend! 

AM: (10.5 miles, 1:29:00 -- seriously! how did that happen?).  First run back in Tucson -- it was hot, and because of the monsoons it was actually humid (for here) too.  91F/30%

40:02wu/29:46cd  10 x 1` w/1` recovery.   Even though I miss Flagstaff, it was beautiful here last night -- I missed my mountains.

PM: easy 4.

Happy Tuesday bloggers!

1:14:23.  Yes, it was slow, mainly because it was hot, it felt very hot.  

I am working like mad to get some things done before I leave town very early tomorrow morning.  One thing about living on the West Coast (and in a city that has NO direct flights to anywhere on the East Coast) is that I have to spend an entire day getting anywhere ... So, I have to leave very very early tomorrow to get to Miami Beach too late to do a PM run, and then I have two days of full board meeting stuff, then 3 days of conference (and more meetings), and then I leave Florida to head to Colorado to see my Mom (and meet her hospice nurse) ... it is going to be a long 10 days.   I will run as much as I can ... but, probably not as much as usual.  

Take care bloggers, run well, run safe!! 

1:15:xx.  Very early morning run before I jumped on a plane and traveled for 8 hours.  Got into Miami at 9PM.  Very humid, but man what a party town, it was hopping all night!  The hotels are a rip-off, especially for a business trip.  They charge a $150 "room deposit" to your credit card and $220/day (a day!) if you choose to be able to sign for things (like food)!!  Wow, since I will be here for nearly 7 days, this is amazing!  

Early morning run (6AM Eastern, 3AM Arizona time).  I ran mostly on the beach.  It is pretty nice, for the most part it was hard packed and pretty easy to run on ... about 25 mins of it was softer and more of a workout - I found it harder than running uphill -- especially since it was 89F and very very humid.

Have a great day bloggers! 

AM: 8 early, muggy miles ... I ran on the beach and then along the marina (on brick and concrete -- ouch) for a while.  

PM: 4 miles easy.

I HAVE to figure out how to get my long(er) run in tomorrow.  I might rent a scooter and go out to a park that I have heard about ... kind of depends how far away it is, otherwise it will be pretty darn tough to find where to run ...

Got to go, the meeting is starting again!!

Happy weekend bloggers! 

2:03:23.  Whew.  90.5 (54% humidity, wunderground said it felt like 97F, in the sun it felt much warmer to me).  It was funny, on my way into the hotel I ran into some friends of mine (the statistics community is pretty small -- I think they awarded something like 75 PhDs last year, and fewer the year I received mine -- all of us on the "job circuit" the year we graduated knew each other).  Anyway, I ran into some friends and I was standing there talking to them and sweated a HUGE puddle in the middle of the marble lobby floor!  I had to get some towels so no one would slip and break their neck ;-).  A couple of the guys were from BYU stat (super nice people - they were on their way to church) -- and they were giving me a really hard time!

I hope all is well with you!