Elite Jogging For Dummies

A trip on the new loop, out to Bonneville GC  and the mouth of Emigration Canyon.

Run through the snow with a few friends.

Exciting new loop, minus a little section of Foothill blvd. 

Workout with the Black Sheep. After a generous 1.75 mile warmup we ran 6  x ~ 800m repeats with about 300m of climbing.  These were tough! The U campus is all chewed up with construction so we were running between many narrow fences along the sidewalks.  Sort of felt like being in a cage. 

I met up with Josh on South Temple at 5:45. I promised to take him on my new exciting loop, which I accurately described as being "like a Beethoven sonata that you play with your feet." He was not disappointed. Ok, maybe mildly disappointed when we ran east up the hill between Bonneville Golf Course and the Zoo, but joy again reigned supreme when I told him we would not be running up Emigration Canyon.  So we returned to our inane conversation that somehow involved Michael Vick pirating a glow in the dark space ship.  

My Asics Speedstar's seem to have exceeded their lifespan, which was not all that long--probably 400 miles. But I liked them and have ordered another pair. So today I ran in my DS Trainers, which are unfortunately a little  too small but still runnable. 

It was 17 degrees out, I ran the U/Federal Heights/Memory Grove loop.  I ran 8 strides on 11th Avenue of varying lengths. I enjoyed that. 

The thermometer said 5 degrees but I don't think it was quite that cold. I ran a nice loop through Research Park and TiTP to Sunnyside, and then back through the U. 

I ran 2.5 miles from Foothill Sbux before joining up with the main group to add another 8.5.  Nice morning, good company with lots of folks I haven't seen since before the holidays.

Today's run puts me over 50 miles for the week for the first time since the week of April 6, 2009.

Yum . .  red air quality day.  Thick tasty air, just how I (don't) like it.  I don't know how bad the air has to get before I will run indoors on our new treadmill, but apparently pretty bad.

I did run a good loop that was a hybrid of my old Golf Course loop, just .50 less. 

Workout with the Black Sheep at Sugarhouse Park.  It was cold and dark. And the air stunk.  But there we were, a merry band of running freaks traversing the park in search of early morning thrills.  John Straley designed this workout so that we would basically run up each of the 4 hills in the outer loop of the park four times (up, then down, then up etc)-- for a total of 16 hill repeats per lap.  We did two laps, so that's 32 reps.  On the second loop around the park we lengthened the distance to be run on the hills.  I was surprised at the end to see how far we had run. It added up quickly. It was a good workout.  

U/Avenues loop with Ensign extension.

Limited time and lack of sleep (due to satisfying parental duties in the middle of the night) combined for a shortened run--Avenues loop.

This morning I ran a nice little loop out on 12th East and then climbed up toward Foothill and ended up running through TiTP to Research Park and then home through the U.  A little more running on busy Foothill Dr. then I would like, but otherwise solid. 

Ok, so now a complete entry:  A group of six of us headed up to Park City yesterday morning at 5:30 and ran the Round Valley trails. We had local guidance, which was great.  The snow on the trail was packed down and we had a great run. We all ran with headlamps on our forehads and snow-gripping YakTraks or MicroSpikes on our feet.  It was a beautiful morning, probably 15-18 degrees, but no wind. So nice to be running above the muck in the valley. I saw stars! Imagine that! Stars! In the sky! 

The trail was about 50/50 singletrack and doubletrack. There was plenty of climbing as well, which made the 8 miles feel more challenging than the distance suggests.

U/Avenues loop

U/Avenues loop. So much for mixing it up.

No running today, I guess that count's as "mixing it up." I had a super early meeting to get ready for. 

Oh man, sick kids. We're not getting any sleep around here! No sleep makes running hard, and slow! 

Strange little run this morning. First, I got out the door very late as we were up again much of the night with sick little ones.  (My beautiful wife took most of the responsibility though, as usual).  When I finally did get out the door, I didn't have much of a plan.  After about a mile and a half, I stumbled across this lost little dog (clearly someone's pet) roaming the mean streets of Federal Heights. It had tags and I learned it's name was Roxy and lived at 1315 Second Ave (about 1/2 mile from where I was).  Cute dog, a curious mix (to my untrained eye) of a Springer Spaniel and Dachshund.  Getting him to follow me was tricky but kind of fun.  I expected some 9 year old girl to burst into tears of joy that I had returned her dog. But it was just a dude, who looked like he was getting ready to go skiing,  He did not burst into tears of joy. The dog seemed glad to be home, though. 

I ran from my house with EBates to 9th and 9th where we met up with a larger group and did a big loop around the Avenues (via Memory Grove) and back to 9th and 9th.

New Golf Course loop.

Overslept and missed the Black Sheep workout. I ran the ol' U/Avenues loop.

Mixed it up with a "southernly loop" that had a long climb from 15th East up to Foothill Drive, probably won't do that again. 

I let Josh talk me into running a Big Workout with him this morning. Since I didn't get a workout on Tuesday I thought it would be a good idea. We ran 3 miles of warm up over to Sunnyside and Guardsman. From there we ran 2 miles in 12:10 (Tinman pace), arriving at Sugarhouse Park.  Then we ran 4 x 4 minutes "hard," for me this was about 5:45-5:53 pace, faster for Josh.  I cut the last one short for a needed stop at Starbucks on 15/15.  Then we ran home, slowly.  

A modified loop of the ol' U/Avenues loop.

I ran from home to 9th and 9th and did a nice loop with a group of six or so.  Enjoyable run. 

Ye 'ol U/Avenues loop.

Black sheep workout and oh the pain! Straley led us on this awful rampage through the hills of the avenues (one block over hard, then one block up hard, then one block over easy).  I can't remember how many intervals we did, but they hurt.  Is it bad when your left arm has shooting pain for 1/2 hour after a VO2 max workout?

Please see Monday's blog entry for run description.

For the second week in a row I made the choice (wise or otherwise) to join Josh for a Big Workout.  Josh had a 6 mile tempo planned.  I thought I would run 4 at tempo pace, out of concern at a sudden increase in both mileage and intensity.  We ran a 4 mile warmup over to Foothill and 21st East and then started the tempo. It was enjoyable, I held ~6 min pace throughout. Josh added a couple of extra while I began my cooldown.  Then we re-grouped and ran towards home on 15th East, through the U.  

I don't feel completely clobbered, which is good. I do realize that this run was longer than my weekend "long runs" have been for quite a while. It's nice to be out there pushing the pace a bit, in between long easy sections.

Wow, it was a long night keeping the kids settled and I did not sleep well. I woke up very late, 7:30, and only had time for a short run.  I did an abbreviated version of my normal route. It was surprisingly warm out, and then it started snowing just as I finished.

From Foothill village, I ran 3 miles with a group of four, then we circled back and picked up some more.  We ran about another ten, then headed back to Foothill again.

U/Avenues/Memory Grove Loop.  Listened to an interview with Richard Dawkins.

Black Sheep workout at Sugarhouse Park.  I was responsible for designing the workout. After a warmup loop, we used the light poles along the roadside in the park (there are 23 of them) to run intervals of varying lengths, with the longest being just less than a half mile. This was effective to the extent that everyone was breathing heavily with their hands on their knees at the end.

U/Avenues/Memory Grove Loop. I do think about running other routes, but this one is just so good and requires very little fighting against traffic that it's  superb default loop.  I ran it in 1:07 today.

Big Workout with Josh, though it almost didn't happen. Strike 1: It was snowing when I woke up. Strike 2: Josh was a little late meeting me and I had already turned toward home to send him a text and then go run on my own.  But then he arrived out of nowhere and I had no way to politely excuse myself from the workout.

 We warmed up 3 miles to the intersection of Guardsman and Sunnyside, then ran 2 Tinman miles to Sugarhouse Park (6:00/5:56).  After jogging a bit in the park we ran 6 x 1000 m.  We ran 4 of these in the park, two of them on the way back towards home. The paces varied along with the terrain, from the relatively quick (5:34 pace) to the not so quick (6:07 pace on the return on 15th East).  Most were in the 5:45 -5:50 range and those times were fine for me, the effort felt right. It was a bit of a blizzard but not too bad, I can't really blame the weather for anything. 

 I felt pretty good about the workout, I think the long intervals are very valuable and it is actually fun to feel like I am training again.  Legs feel pretty good other than some ongoing aggravation with my heel (PF).  Trying not to increase mileage and intensity too much at the same time.  Mostly succeeding.

U/Avenues Loop minus the Ensign extension. I'm sure that makes total sense to everyone, right?

I ran 3.5 from Foothill Sbux w/Lori and then hooked up with the rest of the gang for a big loop that went north and then south. Ended up running around Sugarhouse Park for the third time in the week, headed back to Foothill via the country club neighborhoods and 2300 E.

Out the door at 6am, I ran over to Foothill and met up with Casey and Derrick. We ran back north and those guys turned around at 11th Ave and Virginia. I completed my usual loop from there.  The run ended up being twelve miles, which isn't so bad for a Monday in February.

Workout with the Black Sheep. We met at Foothill and ran "Stan's Hill Workout"--which basically involves running every hill above Wasatch Blvd between 1300 So. and 1700 So. multiple times at top speed.  

U/Avenues loop.

Met up with Josh and ran a Big Workout.  We warmed up 3 miles to Sunnyside/Guardsman and then began a 2 mile Tinman tempo run, up 9th South and then south on 21st East.  I missed the split on the first mile (prob 6:10 or so with the little climb on 9th So.) and 5:55 for mile 2. Then some rest to 21st South, followed by 4 x 1 mile with ~3 minutes rest between. My watch had my splits as 5:47; 5:44; 5:38; 5:44.  Josh was several seconds faster on a couple of these. By the start of the third mile interval we were at 3300 South. We had to symmetricize some of the recovery portions to optimize terrain gradient.  That's right, we symmetricized.  Then we had a long, long cool down home. 

U/Avenues loop.

Met up with an early group at Foothill for three miles and then ran another 12 with a group that started big (10-12 runners) and slimmed down as everyone tailored their run to different distances.  Our route, an out and back, took us nearly to the Capitol before turning around.  I felt decent, not great.  My heel was giving me some problems. Enough problems that, after the run, I went out and bought a Strassberg sock and a foot roller designed for PF.  I hope these will help a bit.

AM: 8.5 miles over the U/Avenues loop (w/Ensign extension)

PM: Ran home from work 3.5

Black Sheep workout. It was cold! We met at Foothill Sbux and ran a needed warm up, followed by several sets of hills, taking us up to Donner Way, then more hills in Donner Park, then more hills in This is the Place, then finally more hills in and near Bonneville Golf Course.  All this was followed by a generous 2 mile cooldown.

AM: 5 miles at 5:20 am, then into work by 7am.

 PM: I ran home from work via a 4 mile route.

Big Workout with Josh, or as we termed it this morning in honor of the snow and crappy road conditions, "Death by Plow."  

We ran the usual 3 mile warm up over to Guardsman/Sunnyside. Then 2 miles at Tinman pace (6:15/5:49). Then a little rest before running 5 x 1 mile.  We tried to do these to avoid sloppy roads, with mixed success.  The bottom line is we went as far south as 2700 South and 2300 E. and as far west as 700 East, 1300 E.  That is, we ended up at Liberty Park for the final interval. 

Our pace was generally slow, given that we had jump puddles, evade cars, run on sidewalks, etc. I think the miles were: 6:00 (included gully), 5:50, 5:49; 5:59 and 5:50.  The last mile was tough. Tough enough that we decided to bail on a potential interval #6.

The snow and slop on the streets heavily taxed the moisture transferring properties in my socks. They weighed about a pound each by the time I got home!

U/Avenues loop.  A planned evening run didn't pan out.

From Foothill Sbux: 3 miles w/a group of 2, then 8 miles with a group of 12, then 5 miles with a group of 5.

No running, but I did go swimming up at Steiner for the first time in at least six months.  I got there right before closing and probably swam 500 meters or so. I didn't really keep track, just tried to find my form. It was sort of there.

AM: 11 miles via U/Avenues loop plus a couple of extra miles in City Creek Canyon. 

PM: Ran home from work, 2.3 miles. 

AM:  Blacksheep workout. Josh led a workout up on 13th Avenue, that included 7 x 600 m repeats up a gradual hill that assaulted virtually every muscle in my body. 

 PM: Ran home from work, 2.0 mile route. 

AM: 10.3 mile run w/Josh, canvassing various neighborhoods, eyeing the real estate market.

Big Workout with Josh. After 3 mile warm up to Guardsman/Sunnyside, we ran a 2 mile tinman tempo (6:16/5:53) with the first mile mostly uphill. After some jogging we started the main part of the workout, 8 x 1000m.   We ran these in the neighborhoods roughly between 900 So. and about 1500 So, between 1900 E. and Foothill. Hills made some of the routes we chose harder than others and a couple were downright awful. Per mile paces varied over the intervals, between 5:20 on the faster ones and 5:50 on the slower end. Most in the 5:35-40 range. I believe we saw Mr. Adam Wende walking on Foothill on our #6 interval, but I was sucking air and can't be sure. Long cooldown home followed. Glad this is done for the day. I think it helped.

This was a slow, slow run through the snow and slop.  My mini-gaiters helped deflect some of the slush out of my shoes, which was helpful. I ran the U/Avenues loop with the Ensign extension -- more to avoid 11th Avenue and its noisy, snow-slinging traffic than to add mileage.

Met at Foothill at 5:45 and ran with a group of 3, then circled back at 6:00 and picked up a couple more and, after 4.5 miles, circled back at 6:30 and picked up more runners for a total of 12 in the group.  We ran out to the 11th Ave Firehouse where most turned back. Josh, Emily, Burke and I continued on for more miles over to the Capitol and back.  I was only planning for 16-17 but the route added some "bonus" mileage. At least I know I can still run this far! It has been a long time -- since St. George Marathon in '08 to be exact.

U/Avenues loop with an addition up behind the Huntsman Cancer Institute and a short trail connection over to 11th Avenue. 

No black sheep workout for me this morning because of a 7:30 am meeting.  I headed out from home at about 5:40 and ran the U/Avenues loop with a couple of modifications, including three laps on the 11th Avenue Park asphalt path.

No running at all. Our 2.5 year old, Jack, was throwing up all night long -- and thus I was awake all night long. I had planned to run after work but that didn't work out either. Oh well, my body could probably use the day off.

Everyone in our house slept a little better last night and I was able to get out the door to meet Josh at 5:45 for a Big Workout. We ran a four mile warmup over to 900 So. and 2100 E.  From there, we ran a seven mile marathon pace tempo run. The route took us down 2100 E, across 2100 So. through the gully, continuing on 2000 E past 3300 South, then back through mostly neighborhood streets until we reached about 1600 E. and 1600 So.  Mile splits were 6:09, 6:04, 6:04, 6:02, 5:57, 5:49, 5:48.  The first few miles were kind of tough to get the engine moving but I felt genuinely pretty good in the last few miles. Average time was just under 6 minutes for the tempo miles.  Hard to say if that's my actual marathon pace these days, but this was a good way to test whether I can hold 6 min pace over distance right now.  We had a long cooldown on 1500 E and back through the U to head home. 

Ye Ole Loop with Josh at 5:45 am. We were both moving pretty slowly today.

I ran at 5:45 with a group of 5 for 4.75 and then with a big group of about 20 for the remainder. It was shorts weather and I had a nice run.

Ye Old Loop with Ye New Loop Extension up above the U and HCI.

Sort of Black Sheep workout.  It was just me and one other runner. I think word did not circulate well this week or I had bad info. Anyway, we ran from East High a 1.3 mile warm up. On the track, we ran 800m of speed changes and then an easy workout of 2 x 400 (80,80), 2 x 600 (1:59, 1:57) and 2 x 800 (2:40, 2:39).  So, as you can see I pretty much ran a bunch of 40 second 200s throughout these. 

 For the first time in a few years I am planning to head to Moab to run the half this weekend. Although I have had a few weeks of solid training, I'm still totally unsure where I stand as far as fitness across that distance. I just don't want to blow up! The last two miles are ugly enough as it is, I don't need to make them any uglier. I am looking forward to racing, though.

Nice weather this morning, about 38 degrees and clear.  I ran from home up to the gate in Red Butte canyon and then over to Popperton Park via the Shoreline Trail (which was dry and runnable). From there, I zigzagged down through the cemetery to my house.  Nice little run, good to be on dirt again, even for a short while. 

Easy out and back through the U over to South Campus Drive.  So sluggish, so slow. How can I race with legs filled with concrete mix?

Two miles on the treadmill before getting in the car to drive to Moab.

Canyonlands Half Marathon. This is my first time running this race since 2006 (I last ran the 5 mile in 2007 because I was injured).  In 2006, I ran 1:22 and had the best race down there to date.  That said, I have never run very well down there. I have often been a victim of bad weather (too hot) or bad training.  

 Since I basically took off 2009 from any real racing, I was looking forward to this race to see if I still have a little "oomph" in my legs, and if I have any reason to continue real training.  In short, it's been a goal race for the winter. I would like to have had 3 months of 70+ mile weeks as prep, but I have been running 50+ since mid-January and overall have had a pretty strong base. In the last several weeks I have been running some hard workouts on Thursdays with Josh that have really helped show where I am at and helped improve my overall fitness. 

 Not really knowing what I could do over the half, I set a relatively modest goal of 1:20 for this race. It seemed like a target that I should be able to hit and if I didn't then all of my running questions would be answered for now. If I did hit it, anything under that would be gravy.  I had no secret goals.

The weather at the start was very cool, but the skies were clear and there was little wind.  I went out at just the right pace, running 5:45-5:55 in the first four miles. After that, I tried to stay with my little group of 3-4 runners but got dropped. I knew I just had to run my own race. Miles 6-8 seemed like they had way more uphill than I remember (and I know I have thought this same thing every time I have run this race).  The hill at mile 9.5, "The Dragon," was not too bad--it's just a grunt climb and then it's done with a nice downhill reward after.  The final two miles into town were not too bad. The cool weather made the exhaust from the big rigs more bearable on Highway 191 and it seemed like fewer locals were burning trash and debris in their ditches this year.  In the last mile, I did catch one of the guys that I had been running with early in the race and had been chasing for 6 miles.  I saw my wife and boys as I headed toward the finishing chute and that gave me a boost.  I heard Josh (who looked well rested after running 1:11 and finishing 3rd) yell out to me that I was headed for 1:19 and that sounded like good news. I crossed in 1:18:45, shaving nearly four minutes off my course PR, finishing 14th overall.

 All things considered, this was a strong race for me. As always, I would like to have had a little more power to draw from in the middle of the race, but I never let up and never gave up. I did what I was capable of on Saturday March 20, 2010. Congrats to all who finished.

I am taking this week off from running and replacing it with some more "healing" activities. I don't have another goal race in mind right now and my body and head can use a little break from training as I consider what I might tee up next.

Instead of running I went up to Steiner and swam 1000m.  I did not swim well --  I have lost much of the "form" I developed last summer, but I did not drown, so there is that.

No running. I had a massage from Mark Oftedal. I highly recommend his work. Let me know if anyone needs a good referral to a massage therapist who is a runner and understands the unique stresses running places on the body.

No running. I went swimming at Steiner, 1200m. I felt better than on Monday, but my I still have a long way to go to feel like I'm swimming well.

No running. I swam a mile at Steiner.

No running. I swam a mile at Steiner.

I thought, after a week layoff, that I would return to running with fresh spring-like legs.  Didn't happen. I was sluggish, slow, and apparently still working lactic acid out of my quads. I should have been running all week, even just a little bit. I think I would have felt better. Still, it was nice to get in the pool a few times and remind myself how not to drown.

I ran .25 barefoot on the treadmill. 

I ran a southern loop including U / Guardsman /900 So. / Foothill/ Wasatch Blvd / Bonneville GC / Zoo /TiTP / Research Park / U to home (henceforth "Foothill Loop" since waiting to cross Foothill is right in the middle). I was so slow and my left glute and hamstring were tight.   But I did run.

Black Sheep workout on the Highland track. We ran 1.4 warm up loop around Sugarhouse, followed by 800 m of speed changes on the track. The workout was a ladder, 3 x 400, 2 x 800, 1 x 1200, 2 x 800, 3 x 400.  All went well through the 400s, 800s and 1200. On the first 800 on the "other side" of the ladder, I had problems. I felt a bit lightheaded and my arms had the sensation of not being attached to my body. I bailed after the first lap, emptied some of the contents of my stomach (fluids), then jogged a bit. I started to feel better and joined again to finish the 400s (82, 78, 76).  Then we cooled down around Sugarhouse.  

I don't know what happened in the middle of the workout but I'm glad I stopped rather than push through it.  

Foothill loop with Josh and Megan.  I was lacking energy and the weather was not great.  Pretty much my entire left leg above the knee has some kind of tightness.  Things loosened up when I massaged it after the run, however. 

Big Workout with Josh. Or, should I say, Complete Sufferfest.  Josh had one more big workout on the calendar before Boston and I agreed to provide moral support, if not actual training support.  Luke, our 9mo, was up literally all night and I spent most of the hours between 1 and 4 am fighting that loss of rationality that sometimes accompanies late-night parenting, when even seemingly benign questions like "where is his binky?" come out sounding like the words of a madman.

 But I did sleep well between 5:00am and 5:20, when the alarm went off.  I met up with Josh at 5:45, barely conscious.  It was windy and snowing and looked like it was only going to start snowing more. We ran a 3 mile warm up over to 900 South and then began the tempo run.  For the meat of the workout, Josh had a 10 mile progression run planned, with a total of 16 miles overall. I had a strong suspicion it wasn't my day for a hard 10 mile run, and given the awful weather this morning, it was hard to think it was a good day for anyone to do it.  My goal was 7, see how it felt, and then cool down.  Well, I'll tell you it felt like crap. I struggled to maintain 6:30 pace. Most miles (I don't have my splits) were in the 6:40+ range. By mile 7, I was struggling with 7 minute pace, and also struggling with a fierce headwind and snow.  I think I ended up with about 7.5 miles of tempo before it was time to jog.  The thing was there wasn't much of a difference in my pace at that point, the transition from "fast" to slow was non-existent.  Josh, however, ran more and faster. 

 The upside was just getting it done on a tough morning.

This morning I ran most of Ye Olde Loop, just trying to shake out the cobwebs from Thursday's punishment.

We're up at the Bear Lake Cabin for the weekend. It was way too cold, snowy and windy to run early so I didn't get out until about 1pm.  I ran out and back on the highway that circles the lake.  The run out was colder and a little snowy but on the way back I actually warmed up enough to take off the jacket.  With the snow overnight there was a lot of fresh snow all around and the view of the deep blue lake was memorable.

I ran (slowly) out and back into the upper St. Mary's neighborhood.

In the snow, I ran Ye Olde Loop with some spicy fartlek action thrown in for fun. 

I ran out and back to my old 'hood trying to work out a new loop with less climbing.  Unsuccessful. Still uphill both ways.

Hoping to avoid a repeat of last weeks Tempo Meltdown, I decided to scale back from the 15 mile run and do a shorter run overall with fewer tempo miles. I ran 4 miles of tempo and actually that felt like just the right amount, times were in the ~6:15 range with the last mile 5:56.  Still not moving the legs very well, I need to work on turnover because I just feel sloppy -- more drills perhaps?  Probably what I need is core work to hold my body upright. 

Another pretty long night had me pushing snooze for 45 minutes past my goal wake-up time.  For that reason, I didn't quite hit the 10 mile goal, but was close. I ran Ye Olde Loop with a couple of extensions, including a trip around the Capitol. 

Semi-long run, didn't feel that great.

Ye Olde Loope Deluxxe.

Easy treadmill miles  . . . the best I could get in before an early flight to Las Vegas.

All the running today was done with the head, none with the legs.  

Decompression run, a little bit on Shoreline trail. Lovely.

Decompression run, a little bit on Shoreline trail. Still Lovely.

I ran the Cucina Deluxe route with Sam. Weather was great, trail was great. Scones at Cucina after the run were completely awesome. 

Ye Olde Loope Semi-Deluxxe.

Black Sheep Workout; "Up and Overs" through the Avenues. Pain!

Black Sheep Workout at East High Track.  Basically ran 16 x 400m.  Most at 80 seconds, one at 75. 

Ye Olde Loop

We ran "Cucina Deluxe" on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail with a little extension over to Red Butte and down through the U at the end.

AM--it was raining so I ran 3 miserable miles on the treadmill. I should have just gone outside!

PM--I ran home from work, 2.40 miles. 

Black Sheep workout at Highland High track. We ran 8 x 800m.  Times ranged from 2:40 to 2:47, with most clustered around 2:43-44.

Wandering neighborhood tour with Josh.

Trail run on Shoreline and up Red Butte Canyon

Trail run on Shoreline and up Red Butte Canyon

Law Day 5K. This race has taken on a life of its own in the last few years.  There is a "Speed Team" competition that my law firm has one basically every year since 1999.  In recent years, in an effort to maintain that title, I have expanded our recruiting efforts to encompass some folks that are much faster than me to join the team.  This is a race I won in 2006.  This year I took 10th, ~3 minutes behind the winner.  Clearly, it has evolved (though I have rendered myself obsolete in the process).  Each team has 5 people, with at least two women.  This year our "A" Team consisted of Lindsey Dunkley, Paul Petersen, Josh Steffen, Jeff McClellan, and Emily Bates.  Not bad at all, you say?  Our B Team was me, Sasha, Megan Call, Burke Hills and Rachel Cieslewicz.  Not too shabby either.

It was a good thing the A Team was as talented as it was because Olsen Shaner (Mark Olsen's firm) was clearly out for the win.  They brought out Teren Jameson, Nate Hornok, Albert Wint, Sue Nielsen and Devra Vierkant.  Pretty amazing group.

I ran 17:30 on a new course due to construction in the middle of the U of U campus.  I was in no man's land after a kilometer, passed a couple of people about 2k in, and then tried to hang on as the course flattened out and had some downhill.  I knew there was a clash of the titans going on a couple of minutes in front of me, but I was nowhere near that race.  And with all the twists and turns in the course, there was no way I could see it either. 

With about a mile to go, I knew Sue Nielsen was hunting me down.  She is a terrific runner and I have a lot of respect for her.  I knew I would have to run very quickly if I was going to hold my lead.  In the last turn, I could see the finish banner and told myself just to hang on for dear life, it would all be over soon, but that for now it had to hurt.  Such is the 5k.  I could hear Sue's footeps creeping up behind me . . . and they were going very fast.  I managed to finish about a half second in front of her.  She literally flew past me after I entered the finishing chute.  Nice to be done.

We've had rain in this race the last couple of years but the weather was spectacular this time.  Great day for post-run breakfast and a trip to the zoo.

AM: Ye Olde Loop (8 mile version).  Felt great, though the hamstring is giving me a little bit of trouble this morning as I sit at my desk.

PM: Ran home from work 2.4 miles.

I ran 4 miles in the morning but had to rush into the office by 7:30.  An evening run home was foiled by rain.  

AM: Out and back to Governor's Grove, 8 miles..

PM: I ran from work to pick up my little red car from the mechanic that has been working on it for a few weeks, 2.25 miles.

Well, I knew I would have to try some kind of workout again at some point, even if it was going to be fairly modest.  I ran 2.8 miles over to 900 South and started a 4 mile tempo run from there.  Splits were 6:30 (mostly uphill), 5:58, 5:52, 5:58.  The last mile had some climbing in it on 1500 E. and I had to work to keep the pace under 6 minutes.  Mostly, this felt great. I think I could have hammered out another mile, but I would have had a hard time holding pace running north on 15th East.  I cooled down the remaining few miles back to the house.

Out and back on the Shoreline Trail to the gate at the top of Red Butte.  Nice little run, I need to figure out how to add a mile to it. 

  My wife, Heather, is training for a half marathon next month and her training scheduled called for a 15k this week as prep.  Not many races of that distance, so she had to settle for a 10K.  Fortunately, there was one going on at Liberty Park, the Stop Traffic 5k/10k, which benefited efforts to stop human trafficking worldwide.  The 10K race was 4 and a half loops around the Park.

 This was Heather's race, but I figured I should run too so I decided  to push our boys (almost 1 and almost 3) in the double running stroller.  Initially, the plan was to run with Heather the whole race.  In the first mile (7:42), I got a little bit ahead of her.  Other runners and stroller pushers were surging ahead and I didn't mind -- because we weren't racing. Then Jack, our almost 3 y.o., told me that he wanted mom and that we should stop and wait for her. So we did. We stopped and waited for her a little bit.  After running with her for maybe a quarter mile, she told me we should go on ahead and Jack seemed fine with that.  Second mile was 7:50.  So we kind of picked up the pace a little bit, and then a little bit more, etc.  As the pace increased, however, Jack's resistance to being in the stroller increased more and more until there was a non-stop shriek of "I want to go home!", "I want to stop," and similar refrains.  I didn't really want to stop (and figured he really didn't either despite his protests) so I figured the way to get the race behind us was simply to try to run a little faster.  By the way, not a peep out of Luke, our almost 1 y.o., other than a few "weeeeee"  sounds early on. 

 It was a struggle to try to calm Jack down will at the same time picking up the pace.  Indeed, Jack's very vocal protests started to echo my own internal dialogue--"I want to go home!", "I want my mama," "I want to take a nap!" etc.  But we hung in there.  The splits for miles 3,4 and 5 were in the mid-low 6:30s.  On the final lap, someone yelled out to me that we were about 20 seconds behind the leader.  So we tried to pick it up again, just to see.  Last mile was 6:17, which isn't too bad pushing that big double stroller!  I didn't catch the leader, in fact I didn't even catch the guy up ahead who was also pushing a stroller (albeit a single) and took third.  I finished fourth and was happy to be done and get Jack out of the stroller. 

 Heather had a great race, running just over 50 minutes, finishing 6th woman.

I suppose I "could have won" this race if I had not dogged the first couple of miles, but that was never the point.  I'm glad I was able to give Heather a break so she could race.

 On the other hand, subtracting 30 seconds per mile per kid from the pace, and subtracting another 20 seconds per mile for negotiating Jack's outburst, and subtracting another 10 seconds because it was sort of raining, and subtracting another 15 seconds per mile because of the monotony of the course, and subtracting another 10 seconds per mile because I wore tights and overheated, and subtracting another 10 seconds per mile simply for good measure, I ran more like a sub 33 minute race, a solid PR. :)

Woke up to rain, went running, finished in the snow. Man, oh man, I was soaked and I had such a bad attitude! I was simply done with running in those conditions.  There is no good reason I should be pulling on tights and a heavy jacket on May 24th.  I feel I have no complained enough and can move on with my day.

AM:  Black Sheep workout at East High track.  After the warmup, we ran 2 x 400 with speed changes, then 2 x 400 (87, 85), 3 x 800 (2:50,2:47, 2:44), 2 x 1200 (4:12,4:10) and 1 x 1 mile. On the mile, I lost my final lap split but I was at 4:05 at 1200m.  I picked it up in the last lap and it felt about 80-82, so probably 5:25-5:27 or so.

 PM:  I ran home from work, 2.25 miles.

This morning I ran up onto the Shoreline Trail, and to the gate at Red Butte. Rather than turn around and go back the same way, I continued south from the entrance to Red Butte Canyon and ran to the end of Research Park and back through the U.  This added a mile to the normal route, but nothing I haven't done 10 million times. 

I ran the Cucina route on the Bonneivlle Shoreline Trail, but cut off 1.4 miles of it by running straight up to the trail on 18th Ave from my house, rather than run over to City Creek. Beautiful morning. I ran a bit with Brian Kamm on the way.

I ran a permutation of my Red Butte run, but added a couple of miles up and down Dry Creek Canyon at the end for a little bit extra. It was tough, lots of climbing for an "easy"  run.

We spent the weekend up at the cabin at Bear Lake.  I ran 10 miles on the dirt roads that traverse the mountain where the cabin is located.  Lots of up and down.  Even though it was the end of May, it was snowing/raining for much of the run. I was soaked at four miles and strongly considered turning back. The weather improved a bit and I was able to keep going.  I'm glad I got in a few miles, but the conditions were certainly not ideal.

I went running along the East Shore of Bear Lake. Unlike Saturday, with snow & rain, the conditions were great; plenty of afternoon sun, and warm.  I even ran shirtless on the way back to the car. Sorry for the blinding paleness, passing motorists!

I snuck in a few miles this morning before everyone was up and around.  I ran out and back to Garden City from Kimball Lane. 

AM: Black Sheep Workout at East High.  After the 1.2 mile warmup, we ran 5 x 300 m at increasing pace with 100 m jog between.  Then we did John Straley's famous "Penny Run," the goal of which is to stagger runners so that everyone finishes more or less together, regardless of pace.  For me, this meant running a little less than 700 m while most ran 600m or so.  We did this about 8 times.  I was running in the 2:12-2:14 range. Then some cooldown. 

 PM: Ran home from work, 2.25 miles. 

I ran "Ye Olde Loope," slowly. 

AM:  I ran with Emily Bates from my house. We did a 3 mile warmup and then 4 "spicy" tempo miles.  Just spicy, not very hard.  Times were in the 6:30s, except for the last one at 6:14.  It was good to move my legs a little more quickly, but honestly 6:30 should feel much easier than it did.

 PM:  I ran home from work, 2.2 miles.

I ran "Ye Olde Loope" this morning, without the Ensign Elementary extension part.  I don't know how to express that fully in Olde English, maybe something like: 

 "I have runneth over Ye Olde Loope in the Morning, but over the Ensign Elementary route, have I runneth naught."

This morning I ran out and back up Emigration Canyon, just past Ruth's Diner. I saw Jed flying down the canyon at a rapid clip just before I hit my turnaround point. 

This morning I ran basically out and back to 1300 South with a little bit of neighborhood wandering in the middle.  Nice little route, actually, total time 1:03. 

Workout with the Black Sheep at Miller Park (approx 1500 E., 1100 So.). I arrived late and had an abbreviated warm up.  The meat of the workout consisted of 3 x 600 m on the entire single track trail that climbs west to east, paralleling the creek. Beautiful place to run.  Then we ran 3 x 400 m along the same trail, just cutting out the first section. These are hard, but rewarding.  Because the recovery back to the start is so long, it's hard to get in as much running as we would normally get on the track or the road but it is worth it.

No running.  I came down with the cold that everyone else in the house had already been enjoying.  

Still with the cold.  I didn't run, but I did go get a massage from Mark Oftedal. He spent an hour and a half working almost entirely on my left hamstring. What a huge difference it has made. I was having a hard time sitting for a long time without getting hamstring pain and Mark's work solved that, at least for now.  I really need to get on the table more regularly. It's probably the best thing I can do to maintain my training while minimizing injury as I get a little older. 

Still with the cold, though a little better. I ran 4 miles out and back through the U campus.  My head was stuffy and I didn't feel great, but my left leg was moving better after yesterday's massage.  

 I am planning to run the Bear Lake Half Marathon tomorrow.  The weather forecast is cool and wet. Cool is fine, wet is not so great.  With my cold and all, I'm not expecting a whole lot but I am looking forward to running for its own sake. 

 I ran the Bear Lake Half Marathon this morning. I chose this race since we have a cabin up here and it made sense to mix a race with a little getaway.   The plan was to run as well as I could given the limitations of my training and fitness.  The fact that I topped out at about 63 miles last week and then came down with a cold this week suggested that I may not have a whole lot to draw from if the going got tough.  The 6000' elevation wouldn't help.

The weather forecast was worse than the actual weather. It was in the 40s and cloudy, no rain during the race though it has continued to rain off and on throughout the day since. 

The race is pretty low key and although attendance is pretty good (about 400 I'm told), it's not a terribly competitive crowd.  At the start there was maybe one or two runners that were doing a pre-race warmup that I could see.  A few guys looked fit but I didn't recognize them.

It turned out not to be the guys that I had to think about.  After the race started, I was out in the lead right away and a woman named Jaclyn LaBell (spelling is likely off), a former Idaho State runner now living in Seattle, joined me almost immediately. Pace was easy--in the 6:15-6:20 range and I wasn't worried about running much faster than that if I didn't have to since I knew my fitness wouldn't let me push much hard later in the race.  We ran together for about the first 4.5 miles. This part of the course covered from the east shore of the lake, through to the main highway that leads into town.  We had a one mile stretch of dirt/gravel road which would normally be great but the road was totally soaked and very muddy.  I got very muddy myself.

Once we hit the main road, Jaclyn dropped back and I just sort of shifted into autopilot and tried to keep running pretty hard without having my legs blow off.  My cold was not doing  all that great and I was coughing pretty regularly. Thecourse is mainly flat, but there is some moderate climbing between miles 6-9.  Around mile 7-8 I started to catch up to the 10K runners and  spent the remainder of the race sort of meandering in and out of those groups of runners.  Said hi to my friends Keli & Helen who were running the 10k with about a mile and a half to go.  In the last couple of miles I had some calf cramping, which is the sign that my fitness won't permit me to go all that much longer.

I finished in 1:23:02 for the win, which is great, but a long way off of a great half marathon time for me.  Ultimately though, I think I ran exactly the race I could and should have run taking everything into consideration.

Most importantly, it was a pretty fun race.  I wanted to race for running's sake, rather than race for racing's sake, if that makes any sense. I'm in a pretty transitional period as far as my running goals are concerned and doing it for the right reasons is important to me.

Got a  great big sandstone plaque for the win, which should be right at home here at the cabin.

Drove home from the cabin today.  I ran 1.5 on the treadmill just to move some lactic acid to different parts of my legs.  I'm not very sore, but a little sore. 

No running, I decided to treat myself to a swim. Since it's been three months since I've been in the pool, a half mile was all I could log today.  Felt nice to be in the water, if completely inefficient and bordering on near-drowning. 

Easy little run with Casey in lieu of the Black Sheep workout.

I swam 3/4 of a mile at Steiner. Somewhat of an improvement over Monday's swim.

Out and back to 1300 South, nice morning. 

I swam a mile at Steiner.  It was a bump up from Monday and Wednesday, but it felt pretty good. 

Cucina loop with a group of six. Great run, amazing how green the hills are after all the late spring precipitation. 

Out and back on the 1300 So. route. It's a nice little run and it only takes an hour since there is less climbing than Ye Olde Loope.

No running, but I did go up to East Canyon Reservoir at 6pm for an open water swim clinic.  There were about six of us in the clinic, with two instructors.  I got some helpful tips, but most of all got to spend a lot of time (more than an hour) in the water doing various drills and basically doing about as much swimming as I am comfortable with right now. 

Jed was kind enough to loan me his bike for a little while.  I had it tuned up and this morning was my first chance to take it out. I rode up to the top of City Creek canyon.  Most of the canyon ride was pretty easy, but I did have to get out of the saddle a couple of times towards the top of Rotary Park.  It didn't seem very steep at those points, I was just out of granny gears and couldn't keep pushing without standing up.

The ride down was thrilling, top speed was over 30 mph, which feels pretty fast on the bike.  I know a lot of guys that ride 40-45 mph quite regularly, so I know I'm not breaking any records, but it felt fast to me. The twisty canyon road adds a little fun.  The ride was 17 miles. Took just over 1:10.

 Happy Birthday to my littlest guy, Luke, who is 1 year old today.

Yes, actual running today.  I ran Ye Olde Loope, with a little bit of tempo for some added spice. First pickup was on Wasatch Blvd, about 1/2 mile at 6:15 pace.  Then I ran a 2 mile tempo on 11th Ave down to Memory Grove, splits were 6:12 and 6:00.  My legs feel heavy and slow overall, so I tried to concentrate on keeping my turnover rapid, rather than trying to use legspeed.  Overall time was 58:45.

No running. I swam a mile at Steiner.  It was slightly easier than the mile swim I did last Friday.

Cucina loop with the gang. Beautiful morning. 

Adventure run with Josh. Started at Popperton Park, ran up Dry Creek, past the hairpin turn and  further up the canyon.  Ran through about 1/2 mile of stream trickling through the trail -- felt great once we resigned to getting soaked. Then a scramble up the mountain to our destination.

No running. I swam 1700m at Steiner.  That additional 100m has been hard-won.

Workout with the Black Sheep.  We met at Popperton and did the world famous "up and over" workout.  That was preceded by minute on/minute off for a couple of miles. Trying to keep up with at 5 min pace with Josh = Painful. It's his 15k pace, my 1 minute pace.

I rode 20 miles on the bike this morning: from my house over to the guard shack at the entrance to Millcreek Canyon and back. Total time: 1:17. 

This morning a group of four of us drove up to Park City to run on the trail with Dr. Bruce.  It was a long way to go for five miles of running, but it was a gorgeous morning with some awesome single track that took us into Thaynes Canyon. 

I swam a mile at Steiner. 

We headed up to Bear Lake for a weekend at the Cabin.  I finally accessed a trail system that I had my eye on for a long time.  The area is called Richardson Canyon, the trails are primarily snowmobile/ATV trails, but early in the morning it's amazing, unoccupied, rolling double track that seems to go on forever. I was only out for an hour and a half just kind of scoping things out, but I can't wait to go back. 

Planned morning run foiled by early departure plans. Happy Birthday to my little guy Jack, who is 3 years old.

Eight miles on the newschool route, out to 1300 So. and back.  Just trying to burn off some of the overconsumption of a long weekend away. 

I rode 22 miles on the bike, from home up to the Pinecrest turnaround in Emigration Canyon.  It was very windy at the start but the winds calmed as I got further up the canyon. Next time I'm going to shoot to get up to the top of Little Mountain, but it may mean transporting my bike by car over to the canyon to save time. 

Out of bed at 4:30 am, met up with the insane water bozos at 5am, drove up to East Canyon and began the open water swim at about 5:50.  After about a mile of swimming, we enjoyed the sunrise and some snacks in the little dirt parking area. 

No running. Rode the bike from the bottom of Emigration Canyon up to the top of the aptly named Big Mountain and back. 30 miles.

Three miles on the treadmill, trying to preserve the hamstring. 

Mark came over and to work some massage magic into the hamstring.  Felt better, but I'm a long way from healed. No running.

Three miles on the treadmill, early.  Heading to Los Angeles with the boys to meet up with Heather.  Staying the remainder of the week. 

Three hum drum drumming miles on the Biltmore hotel treadmill. 

Downtown Los Angeles.  From the Biltmore hotel, I ran north to the Museum of Contemporary art for a few loops around its scenic plaza.  Then on to the Frank Ghery designed Disney Concert Hall for a thorough inspection of its architectural details as I ran around its perimiter and up and down its stairs several times.  Then down to the Mark Taper Forum for a taste of classic modernism.  Hamstring felt ok on the run, but not great later in the car. 

I parked at Steiner Aquatic Center.  I ran 4.25 miles and then swam a half mile in the pool.  Later rode the bike to work to complete the morning tri. The hamstring is still in bad shape--even after just four miles it was aching all day long. 

Rode the bike from the house, out and back to the gate at the bottom of Millcreek Canyon, 20 miles.

No running, again.  I got a massage on the hamstring, knee and lower back from Mark at 6am.  Hurt as bad as most interval workouts. After the massage I headed up to Steiner and swam 600m in the pool, all I had time for today.

Up at 4:40, met up with the utterly mad pre-dawn swimming crew at 5am. We drove up to East Canyon Reservoir, arrived about 5:45, and swam about a mile in the warm open water. Beautiful morning, water temp was about 70 degrees, which was ideal with the wet suit. 

 Hamstring still giving too many problems to run, but the swimming is becoming more enjoyable.  The early start is hard, but once you're in the water it feels almost decadent.

Rode the bike from the mouth of Emigration up and over Little Mountain to Little Dell Reservoir and back, 19 miles. 

Three miles on the treadmill while Heather ran the Des News 10k (44:56, big PR -- awesome!). I have determined that my hamstring issue isn't a problem with the muscle but a symptom of some issues with my lower back. I'm now doing a regimen of manipulations to try to realign that part of my body. It's helping, but slowly.

Starting at about 7:30 am, I rode the bike from my house over to the mouth of Millcreek Canyon and then up to the Upper Big Water parking lot.  Wow. There are some serious grunt climbs going up that canyon. I was pretty taxed at a few points, but that is exactly what I wanted. It felt great to actually exert myself.  The ride down the canyon was actually pretty chilly.  No leg soreness the rest of the day. 

I decided to give running a try again this morning and see if the back has loosened up enough to keep my hamstring from flaring up.  The answer is "sort of." A few miles into the run I started to get some discomfort in the leg, so I kept it to 5 miles.  After the run I swam at Steiner for 3/4 of a mile. 

When I got home I put the ice pack on the hamstring. At work, it's still giving me problems sitting in my chair.  More work to do on this, particularly in the patience department.  Running just doesn't help.

You know, some people just never learn.  Against my better judgment, I went out and ran part of the workout with the Black Sheep this morning. I know I have been complaining about hamstring pain and "speed work" cannot really help that, but I convinced myself that I would benefit from some "quality" running--even just a little. And I did do a pretty good job of keeping the total amount of running in check.  I did a 3/4 mile warmup and then 10 x 400m ranging between 77 and 87 seconds each with 100m jog recoveries.  While the rest of the group was doing another 4 x 800, I decided that was enough quality for the day for me and I ran another three laps to cool down. My leg was actually feeling just fine until a few twinges in the last couple of 400s. 

 I went up to the pool at Steiner after the workout and swam a mile. I'm no thing of beauty in the water, but I felt stronger today than I usually do. 

Rest day. I had Mark work on the hamstring and low back--opened it up a little bit but it's still painful after running. 

Open water swim at East Canyon reservoir. Beautiful morning. Swam about a mile, probably more. 

Met up with Jwood and ran 6 easy miles around our hood.

Met up with a few folks at the mouth of Emigration Canyon at 6am. We biked up the canyon to the top of Little Mountain and turned around.  We then switched out of the bike shoes and into the running shoes, and ran five miles on Wasatch Blvd.  It really is a strange sensation to go from bike to run like that. 

Swam a half mile at Steiner, followed by a 20 mile ride on the bike, up Emigration Canyon to the top of Little Mountain and back down to Steiner.  

Five miles on the road from Steiner. 

Missed the East Canyon swim this morning. I ran a few easy miles on the treadmill.

Easy 12 mile spin on the bike. 

Since I've not been able to run as I would like, and have been supplementing my running with biking and swimming, it seemed natural to bite off a little triathlon at some point.  The BAM triathlon is up in Midway.  The swim (.5 mile)  is in Deer Creek Reservoir.  The bike (22 miles) goes through Midway and Heber.  The run (3.5 miles) traverses the cross country ski trails at Soldier Hollow.  

 The swim wasn't too bad, except on the return I was blinded by the sun and my goggles were fogged so I was sort of swimming blind.  Swim was a little over 13 minutes.  The bike was a lot of fun.  The course zigzagged trhough some beautiful country.  No huge hills, but enough to give me some challenge and keep it interesting. And hey, you know what? Bike racing is fun! Zipping along the road, trying to catch people and make up time at a quick clip is pretty invigorating. My average pace over the 22 miles was 21.5 mph.  Total bike time was 1:01. 

The run was tough.  I got off the bike, put on my shoes, started to run and was disappointed to learn that I was running on someone else's legs.  They were even bigger, heavier and more lumbering than my own. And filled with cement. And wrapped in spandex.

The course was as hard as any local 5k, and brought to mind the Striders 5k with its non-stop climbing.  I ran 21 something, which is very slow by road racing standards but was actually the fastest time in the race.

My overall result was pretty good for my second tri.  I am still way slow on the swim, but I could be competitive on the bike. I can see the appeal of this event; it is fun to mix it up.

I swam a mile at East Canyon Reservoir with some speedy swim types; including two 13 year old girls that were like little water gazelles! Not that I need to be humbled in the swim, but I was humbled.

Five miles on the treadmill while Heather ran outside. 

Hey, look at that, seven miles. Almost like a normal run.  The hamstring pain flared up after about five miles and I stopped and massaged the attachment point at my knee and that helped a lot. I am now thinking that the root of the problem may be tightness around the calf and knee that is somehow tugging on the hamstring or putting pressure on the nerve. 

The plan was to ride the bike this morning. But the rear tire was flat, which was a bummer because I changed the tire last night and I must have punctured the tube when I put it back on.  So I went to Steiner and swam a mile. 

The plan was to swim in the morning at East Canyon. The reality was that a 4:30 am wake up was impossible with the boys being up all night!  I ran 5 miles on the treadmill.

I took the bike out for a spin, headed to Millcreek canyon.  Shortly before I got to the canyon, I noticed I was losing air in the rear tire. I got it pumped back up and made it home, but it was a drag to cut the ride short.  Covered 17.7 miles.

I pushed Luke in the baby jogger on Ye Olde Loope. He did great. 

In a rare event, both Heather and I made it to East Canyon for an open water swim, Heather's first. She did really well with pretty much the normal amount of anxiety.  Beautiful morning with my wife and friends. 

I ran Ye Olde Loope this morning; less pain than usual in the back of my leg. We'll see how it holds up the rest of the day. 1:03 total.

I rode the bike to the top of City Creek with Jwood.  18 miles.

1.5 in the morning on the treadmill. 4.5 in the evening pushing the double stroller. Ran into Josh and Megan and ran with them for a few miles. Nice to catch up.

Open water swim at East Canyon: 1 mile plus.

Five miles on the treadmill.

Fifteen miles on the bike. 

ye olde loope 

Jwood's birthday run from Casey's house in Holladay. Nice and easy with a big huge group.

East Canyon swim.  We got in the water just before 6am and it was very dark, and a little chilly.  We swam out and back to "the Point--which was definitely my longest stretch of open water swimming. It was over a mile, I don't know how much more. 

Five miles on the treadmill.

I met at 9th and 9th at 5:45 with a group of six or so. We ran the downtown/memory grove loop. My longest run in several weeks.

Met up with Derick at the mouth of Emigration at 6:30 and rode the bike half-way up Big Mountain.  We had to turn around because the road was closed at that point because of an accident.

No running. I need sleep and rest. I picked up Luke's cold and I'm feeling worn down.

Easy run home from work, primarily through the Marmalade neighborhood, so lots of hills, but very easy pace. Just trying to stay rested, keep the cold from getting much worse.

Cucina loop

ye Olde loope

Five on the treadmill.

stomach flu of the worst variety. no running. or anything else for that matter.

9th and 9th loop

Yoga with Heather at centered city. 

Ye olde loope

I swam a mile at Steiner.

Neighborhood route.

Golf! in a cart! not exercise!

Five miles easy on the treadmill.

Mountain biking in Moab. We rode the "Whole Enchilada" -- 26 miles of trail plus a 5 mile ride back into town.

Ye olde loope.

Four miles on the treadmill before going to the PT at 8am.

Evening run pushing Jack in the single stroller.

Evening run with Heather, pushing the double stroller.

The best laid plans . . . were to go swimming. Parenting became the priority when both boys woke up at 6:15.

Cucina loop