track fan

1:59:02. Ran on the Rail Trail in Park City. Did 1.25 round trip from the trailhead to the park bathrooms then back to the trailhead and ran 6 miles out and then back. The last 6 miles are definately uphill, but quite as bad as Jeremy Ranch Road because there are no rolling hills in the mix. I ended up running about 1.25 miles longer than I meant to, because I saw this portapotty off in the distance and I had to use it (instead of turning around just past the mile 5 marker)... I really had no choice, and it was worth every step!

Favorite things about this run/course:

1) nice surface, hard gravel is great.

2) scenery was pretty cool, lots of wildflowers, I saw two huge Sandhill Cranes

3) mile markers

4) bathroom at mile marker 6

Least favorite things about this run/course

1) deer flies - ouch, they hurt when they bite

2) headwind on the uphill stretch from mile marker 6 back to mile marker 3

3) combo of headwind + deer flies -- I have a bruise on my forehead from being struck by the flies that got blown into me ;-).

4) getting started too late - it was pretty hot at noon, even in Park City, especially in the sun.

Happy Sunday bloggers.

57:12 -- probably about 6 1/4 miles with extra run to bathroom (today is my lucky day because I actually made it to the bathroom at Liberty Park instead of finding a spot on the way!) .  I feel pretty good today - although my stride looked/felt particulary choppy (not the long, graceful, flowing stride I am going for ;-) ).  My goal for Thursday is to at least feel as good as I did in February (at the SLTC 10K).  Although it is a training run and I know I won't be close to my PR, I would at least like to think I got some benefit from my winter training and the past month or so.  With our upcoming move I will probably actually be focusing on the PF Chang's 1/2 marathon as my next "key" race, but I will be running the Top of Utah 1/2 and some cross-country races in Tucson this fall as workouts.  I am looking forward to participating in Des News - and looking forward to seeing some of you bloggers there and having spectacular races!

63:51 - ran down to Liberty Park, did two laps on the grass and then added on a 1/2 mile near my house.  Ran at about 65-75% effort today, not hard but not easy either.  My stride was much better than yesterday, but I certainly did not feel fast!

I have to work tomorrow after the race - but I hope to at least get a holiday nap in, I am feeling super tired this week (I am sure getting up tomorrow at 4:00AM is not going to help matters!).

Happy Wednesday bloggers. 

4 miles wu/cd + 10K race

It was so nice to meet all the bloggers today!  Michelle stayed with us last night, it was so nice to visit with her.  She had to wake us up this morning because I must have set the alarm for 4PM ... whoops, just was I had a nightmare about.  Thankfully we still got to the start with plenty of time to warm up.  

My back has been hurting this week (weird it is kind like a cramp - but I think it is muscloskeletal).  So I was little apprehensive about this race. It felt pretty good though, and I am happy with it.

Mile 1: 7:14 - I am trying to stay on the slow side here, this is the steepest downhill

Mile 2: 7:00 - hmmm maybe this was the steepest downhill

Mile 3: 7:24 - a little uphill and I slowed down after my last split, I did not want to be breathing really hard yet

Mile 4: 7:12 - really good pace, feeling good and only 2.2 miles to go

Mile 5: 7:09 - more flat, but I wanted to pick up the pace here

Mile 6 + .2: 8:54 - missed the mile marker (7:25 average pace) - the uphill to the finish was tough but Dean and Michelle were yelling at me and I could see the finish line so I finished probably the best I have ever finished a 10K (10K's are tough, I think). 

nice cool-down with my friend Anna, talked with Jody and Paula (it was so nice to meet  you ladies, and great races) - saw Sasha finish and then came home.   Oh, one thing I forgot, last Saturday I wrote about meeting this nice man at the track who was training for the Senior Games -- well, today I found out that it was Chad's father!!  Isn't that the coolest thing?

Happy Pioneer Day everyone.

 

47:16.  I am so happy - I feel pretty good today.  Took a nice easy run (since that is what Greg told me to do ...), I could have run longer.  It is good to know that I ran exactly the right amount of effort yesterday - enough to get training benefit, but not hard enough to affect my training for the rest of the week.  And - the downhills did not trash my legs as much as I feared - yippee.

Happy Friday bloggers

AM: 44:33 (5 miles). Ok, so I was naive yesterday to be all glib about how good my legs felt. Ouch, by about 2PM yesterday they hurt like crazy. I can only imagine how much MarcieJ and Josse's legs hurt after Bryce! I used the foam roller (double ouch) and stretched like crazy and although I was worried, my run this morning wasn't too bad. Now I have to stay loosened up for my run this afternoon. I can tell that Jeremy Ranch Road will be a little hard tomorrow ;-).

PM: 31:35 (3.5 miles).  I waited as long as I could to do my PM run, but it just did not seem to be cooling off ... so at 7:00I finally just went.  I just ran slow in 98F weather. I ran in Liberty Park, it is flat and there are trees, so at least the sun was not too bad.

Whew.  Pretty tired today, I am not planning on working at all tomorrow.