Same Time, Same Channel

This was intervals on a treadmill. I'm taking it a little easy this week resting up for a half marathon this Saturday.

I ran this at a faster pace that I've been running. My average pace was 9:16/mi.

Thanks to all those who commented and encouraged me.

I got really tired around mile 11, but I was running with a friend and she kept me going. According to my GPS thing, my average pace was 9:38, but I'm sure my official pace will be a little slower because my GPS thing said 13.2 miles, not 13.1. I don't have official results yet.

Right now I'm questioning my goal to run a marathon, but maybe I'll feel better in a while. It's kind of like you don't want to have another baby right after you've given birth, but then later you do (unless you're too old like me).

I got the official results. They are here.

The time I measured held up. The official results say 02:07:00.1. As I expected, they've got my pace at 9:42, due to the difference in my distance measurement. It's all good though. I figure it's not too bad for a 39 year old woman running her first half marathon, especially since I had minor surgery a little over 5 weeks ago, and that knocked 2 1/2 weeks out of my training not long before the race.

I tried to do a tempo run today, though I'm really just learning about different kinds of runs, such as tempo runs.

I set my Garmin to do auto laps every mile. Here are my split times:

Mile 1 - 9:33/mile

Mile 2 - 9:02/mile

Mile 3 - 8:54/mile

My average pace for the whole run was 9:05. That's the fastest I've ever run 5K, so I feel pretty good about it.

Also, I got new shoes last night. Saucony something. I don't know the specific name.

I almost didnt' run this morning. It was cold and rainy and my left hip was hurting, but I told myself "no excuses" and went out anyway. I did an easy 4 miles, average pace 9:34. I was pretty wet by the time I was done.

My hip didn't hurt while I was running and feels okay now. Maybe that's because of the 800 mg of ibuprofen I took before the run, or maybe running helps. I've had trouble with this hip off and on since my surgery at the beginning of July. It was doing okay recently, but I think that yoga on Wednesday threw it out.

It was running harder today than yesterday and I didn't want to get all wet again, so I ran on a treadmill. I set it on random so that the incline changed frequently. I've never done on that on the treadmill before and so I didn't know what level to set it at. I probably guessed a little high because I was sweating like crazy and my heart rate was really high by the end of 5 miles, so I stopped there instead of doing the 6 miles that I had planned.

I got out a little earlier than I had been thanks to the start of early morning seminary. I got dressed for running, drove my son to seminary, and then came home and ran. I ran my standard 4 mile course. I started slow, then tried to do a little fartlek with 4 relatively short stretches of faster running separated by a significant cooldown of slower running. It's hard for me to do speedwork because almost always start and end my runs at my house and the area where I live is very hilly, not to mention that it's at an altitude of about 5800 ft.

In any case, here are my stats for this morning:

Mile 1 - 10:13

Mile 2 - 9:30

Mile 3 - 9:00

Mile 4 - 9:29

Average pace: 9:33

A slow run this morning. I've been running 4 days/week and the addition of a Tuesday run ups me to 5 days/week, so I took this one easy and focused the whole time on keeping my breathing at a 3/2 rhythmn rather than worrying about my pace. My average pace was 10:11. My splits were 10:22, 10:12, and 9:57.

Yesterday I used the McMillan Running Calculator to figure out what paces I should be training at. I decided to do a tempo run today with 1 mile of warm up and then 3 miles at tempo pace. According to the McMillan Running Calculator, my target pace for an easy run is 10:44 to 11:14, so I tried to do the first mile at that pace. My target pace for a tempo run is 9:18 to 9:42, so I tried to do the 3 tempo miles at that pace. I hit my targets. Here are my split times:

Mile 1 - 11:09

Mile 2 - 9:36

Mile 3 - 9:30

Mile 4 - 9:22

In order to "mix it up" a little, I ran my regular four mile route backwards. That's not to say that I ran backwards, of course. I tried to go slow. I find that I have a hard time keeping my pace steady. I kept having to look at my watch and make adjustments to my pace. Also, it was windy and I often felt like I was running into the wind, especially when I was going up hill.

This doing more distance at a slower speed is going to take a lot more of my time. I'm going to have to figure out how to fit it in my day. I guess I'll have to start running before the kid goes to early morning seminary instead of after I drop him off. I don't think I can run early enough to be done before he needs a ride to seminary. That means I'll have to talk my husband in to getting up and driving him to seminary.

Split times for this run:

Mile 1 - 11:16

Mile 2 - 11:13

Mile 3 - 10:53

Mile 4 - 10:54

Long run at easy pace. Average pace was 10:40. I had to get up early to do this because of other commitments today, but the up side of that was that it was shady for most of the run.

Split times (1 mile each): 10:58, 10:56, 10:40, 10:30, 10:30, 10:35, 11:00, 10:36, 10:23, 10:32

Mile seven was slower because it had a hill that was fairly steep and about a half mile long. I've read that you can substitute a hilly run for a speed workout, but all of my runs are hilly.

Easy run. It was shady but kind of windy this morning. My left hip was sore all day yesterday and was sore before I started running, but then it loosed up and felt fine during the run. Maybe my new shoes are causing the problem. I wore my old shoes on this morning's run. I hope I can get the new shoes broken in sufficiently so that I can wear them without problems. I think I'll try them tomorrow on a short (about 3mile) run.

Average pace today: 11:07

Split times: 11:36, 11:14, 11:15, 10:39, 10:53

I'm going to take it easy this week because I have a 10 mile race next Monday.

We had some relatives stay over last night on their way to Utah from Texas and so my sister-in-law and my niece who is about to start at BYU ran with me this morning. They are both much faster runners than I am. They would get lost if I didn't stay with them so I had to run faster than I had intended to run today. I'm sure it was still much slower than they would have liked to have gone. Average pace was 9:20. I know that's not very fast for most people on these blogs, but it's fast for me.

Mile 1 - 9:56

Mile 2 - 9:23

Mile 3 - 8:45

0.15 - 8:48

I'll have to do a slow recovery run tomorrow.

I wore the new shoes and my hip didn't bother me, but the blisters came back. Maybe I'll try moleskin on the blisters. I could try to take the shoes back, but I think I may have put too many miles on them already.

I went to the runners store last night and took my new shoes back. I tried on a bunch of other shoes and I ended up trading them for a similar shoe (the Omni 6 instead of the Omni 7), but a half size bigger and in a wide width. They want me to try the new shoes on a treadmill instead of outside in case they didn't work and I wanted to bring them back again.

So after I dropped my son of at seminary this morning I came in to work and ran on the treadmill in the fitness center we have here. I did all 5 miles at about a 10:55 pace.

The new shoes seem to be working better than the previous new shoes did. The blisters seem better, not worse, after this morning's run.

I've got yoga class this afternoon.

I only intended to run 5 miles today, but I misremembered the beginning of the route I had planned and ended up going a little farther.

I was really sluggish at the first, but then was able to pick up the pace later.

I was running along in the 4th mile and my cell phone, which was in the pocket of my water belt, rang. I've never had it ring during a run before, at least not that I noticed. So I got it out and answered it and had a brief conversation with my son without stopping running. It was maybe a little dangerous because I was on the shoulder of a fairly busy street, but oh well.

Average pace was 10:37. Here are my splits:

mile 1 - 11:08

mile 2 - 11:02

mile 3 - 11:16 (there was a very long uphill in this mile)

mile 4 - 10:04 (the corresponding downhill was in this mile)

mile 5 - 10:04

0.53 - 9:45

On Thursday I mapped out a 5 mile route on map my run. I intended to run that route on Friday (yesterday) but misremembered the beginning and did a different route that was slightly longer. I thought I remembered it and intended to do it today, but this time I couldn't really remember it either, so I had to improvise. Oh well. I got the distance in.

I was pretty tired and I've got a race on Monday, so I tried to take it easy. However, I ran about the last half mile at the pace I want to run the race so that I could remind myself what that pace feels like.

Average pace: 10:22

Splits: 10:55, 10:31, 10:02, 10:21, 10:09 + 0.14 @ 9.27

Saucony Omni 6: 10.14 miles

This was a tough race. It was fairly flat but there were some gradual uphills and gradual downhills, but according to my Garmin, more uphill than downhill. Also, it seemed unusually humid this morning. I really felt like I struggled the first four miles, and through mile 8. I tried to pick up the pace and maintain a good pace through the last mile.

I don't know what the official results will be like because they did not use timing chips.

According to my Garmin, my overall pace was 9:47.

Splits were: 9:41, 9:34, 9:48, 10:24, 9:18, 9:54, 9:34, 10:15, 10:05, 9:18

I'm really tired now. I'd like to take a nap.

Saucony Omni 6: 20.18

Recovery run. I took it easy this morning to recover from yesterday's race. It was quite cool this morning. I think we got the cold front that Utah had yesterday.

Average pace: 11:09. Splits: 11:19, 11:04, 11:01.

It was even colder this morning than yesterday, at least at the start of my run. But it is warming up faster today than yesterday.

I went onto a paved trail that goes through a green belt very near my house less than a half mile into my run and I saw a group of four animals. I think they were coyotes. It made me nervous, but I kept running and they didn't bother me. I guess they are after the rabbits that are all over the neighborhood, not the people.

My legs felt tired and heavy this morning and it was easy for me to go slow. A couple of weeks ago when I started trying to run slower I had to force myself to do it. Now it's easier for me to go slow and feels more natural. I feel like I'm becoming a slower runner and I'm losing the ability to run as fast as I used to run.

Here are today's stats:

Average pace: 11:10

Splits: 11:56, 11:22, 11:20, 10:57, 10:31

Saucony Omni 6: 25.48

Just an average run. The high temperature today is supposed to be colder than it has been the last couple of days. However, it was actually a little warmer this morning than it has been recently.

For some reason I've been extraordinarily hungry the last few days. I don't know what's up. And then on my run this morning I could really smell the bacon as I ran past IHOP, and then I could smell the donuts from Lamars. But I just ate a banana when I got home from the run.

I saw my next-door neighbor running this morning. I've seen her walking before but I've never seen her run before today. I don't really know her. I should make an effort to get to know her.

Stats for today:

Average pace - 10:36

Splits - 11:19, 10:47, 10:21, 10:08

I normally do a long run on Saturdays, but I didn't today because I had the 10 mile race on Monday, and I was already at 22 miles for this week and I've been doing around 24-25 MPW lately.

I've got a small local 5K next Saturday, and so I ran the course for that race this morning. I had put the course on my Garmin and kept the Garmin on the course map the whole time, so I didn't monitor my pace except just to run at whatever felt like a (relatively) comfortable pace. It turns out the course is very hilly. The first half is mostly uphill and the second half is mostly down hill, though there are a couple of good uphills in the second half. And a good chunk of the second half is on unpaved trail.

I went a little farther than the 5K distance because I started and stopped at a slightly different place than they will next week.

Stats for this run:

Average pace - 10:21

Splits - 10:17, 10:18, 9:55, and 0.36 @ 11:55

Saucony Omni 6: 28.84

My 6-year-old daughter came into my room at 4:00 this morning because she had had a bad dream. She climbed into my bed and I tried to sleep until she got up and went back to her own bed at 5:00, at which time I heard my son get up and get in the shower and I tried to get back to sleep knowing that my alarm would go off at 5:30. So I'm tired today.

Very slow and easy run this morning. I'm going to do slow runs all week and then try to run fast for the 5K race on Saturday.

It was cool and slightly drizzly this morning. Last week I was surprised every morning that it was cool because it was the first week that we've had cool temperatures in the morning. I guess that's the way it's going to be for a while now until it gets even colder.

Average pace: 11:31

Splits: 11:33, 11:40, 11:25, 11:24

I got up at 5:00 this morning and did Jillian Michael's 30-Day Shred, level 1, with 3 lb. weights before I drove my son to early-morning seminary. After I got back home, I went out for my run. I plan to do both the shred, or some other weight lifting, as well as running on Tuesdays, Thursdays (once I start running on Thursdays, making it 6 days/week), and Saturdays. I plan to move up from 5 days a week to 6 days a week next week. There. Now I've said it so I'll have to do it.

In any case, my average pace today was 10:59. Splits were 11:07, 11:10, and 10:40.

And I'm even going to be on time to work (at least as much as I ever am).

Saucony Omni 6: 31.84

I got a little bit earlier start than usual today because I made my husband drive my son to seminary. That bought me about 15 minutes. I wanted that extra time because I was going on a little bit longer run this morning.

It was a little warmer this morning that it has been. It was 52 and it has been in the 40s in the morning.

I started out and the first half mile was downhill and was feeling pretty good and went out a little faster than I had intended, then it started uphill and was uphill for the next 3 miles, then the rest of the run was more downhill. This explains my slower pace on miles 2 and 3.

Once again I had a child call me on my cell phone during my run. And it happened at about the same place as last time - right as I was passing the great and spacious building. But this time it was a different son. This one wanted to know if I knew where his shoes were. Give me a break! How am I supposed to find his shoes when I'm out on a run. He's 16. He should be able to find his own shoes. I checked the time and figured if he was just looking for his shoes that he was going to be late for school unless he got a ride. A few minutes later I was crossing an intersection and I saw my husband driving my son to school. I assume he found some shoes to wear.

Stats for today:

Average pace - 10:42. Splits - 10:57, 11:22, 11:13, 10:35, 10:15, 9:50.

Saucony Omni 6: 37.93

PM - One hour of Iyengar Yoga.

No running today. I'm still at running five days/week this week with Thursday and Sunday my days off. I plan to move up to six days/week next week with just Sunday off.

I did Jillian Michael's 30-day Shred level 1 with 5 lb. weights this morning. I've always done it with 3 lb. weights before because level 1 really focuses on shoulders and I've had trouble with my shoulders in the past, including bursitis. The increase in weight this morning made it a lot harder, but I think my shoulders are strong enough now to handle it.

My hip, in the other hand, is killing me. The yoga instructor tried to stretch out my hip yesterday and the muscle kind of spasmed when she did it. Then last night my family helped a new family unload their moving van and I did a lot of heavy lifting. I'm not sure whether it was the yoga, the heavy lifting last night, or the shred this morning, but my left hip is hurting.

It was cool and slightly drizzly during my run this morning. But the weather cooperated fairly well because it's raining harder now that I'm inside and done with my run. I actually got warm and had to take my jacket off and tie it around my waist.

It was just a short, easy run today to keep me rested for my race tomorrow. The race is in the early afternoon (12:30), which is weird for me. All the races I've run in the past have been in the morning. I guess I'll get to sleep in.

I ran some 5Ks earlier in the year and at the time I felt like I didn't have more than about 3 miles in me and so I didn't do much of a warm up. However, since then I've learned that it takes me a mile or 2 to get warmed up and then I can run faster after that. And since I'm able to run more than 3 miles now, I think I'll jog slowly around the parking lot where the race starts (I'll run around The Tattered Cover) for 15-20 minutes before the race starts and then I'll try to set a PR on the race.

My hip is feeling better today. I've been taking ibuprofen and running never seems to bother my hip. It's the other stuff.

Stats for today:

Average pace - 10:47, Splits - 11:07, 10:32, 10:48, and 0.27 @ 10:33

AM: Did the shred level 1 with 3 lb. weights. I'm making the switch to 5 lb. weights but I didn't want to over do it this morning.

PM: Warmed up with a slow jog for about 1.1 miles. It was sunny and windy and I almost had my hat blow off a couple of times.

They had a 100 yard dash tacked on the end of this race, so the finish line for the 5K was the start line for the 100 yard dash. I blew it with my Garmin and forgot to stop it until after I had had my timing chip removed, gotten some water, and walked over to the shade. Also, during the race I had to pause while crossing the street to let a fire engine go by. They had stopped traffic but of course they had to let the fire engine through.

I went out faster than I had intended because about the first 1/2 mile was downhill. The course made a loop and finished where it had started, so of course that also meant that the last 1/2 mile was uphill.

Here are my official results:

Time: 28:48.2 (A new PR by 15 seconds!)

Pace 9:22

Time for 100 yard dash: 0:29

Overall place: 82 out of 233

Division place: 9 out of 42

Gender place: 21 out of 111

http://www.onlineraceresults.com/race/view_race.php?race_id=9078&submit_action=select_result&re_NO=1080

Splits according to the Garmin: 8:43, 9:17, 9:18 (I don't have an accurate time for the last bit because I forgot to stop the Garmin). These splits don't correspond exactly to my overall time, because the Garmin was showing mile marks before they were marked on the course.

 Saucony Omni 6: 42.4

Day of rest.

I had to get up early this morning despite it being a day of rest because my son had to be driven to work at 6:30. At least that gets me to church on time. I had to conduct choir practice after church and that stresses me out to no end. We have to sing in church next Sunday and I'm not sure we're ready. My husband is a much better conductor than I am, so he's giving me occasional lessons, but I'm not a very talented or willing student. I was kind of keyed up after choir practice, but managed to relax and get a nap later in the afternoon.

I'm excited to switch to running 6 days/week starting tomorrow. I went to REI last night and bought a headlamp and a reflective vest.

I started sneezing and having a runny nose after the race yesterday, but I think it's probably because most of the race was through a green belt that was full of weeds. I've still had symptoms today, but not as bad.

Easy run.

I went to bed fairly early last night but had a hard time getting to sleep on account of the nap I took yesterday afternoon. Then I had a hard time getting out of bed in the morning. I hit the snooze alarm once. It's a good thing I had to drive my son to seminar or I probably would have hit the snooze alarm several more times.

I didn't really feel like I wanted to run today when I first got up, but then I reminded myself that I always feel better and in a better mood if I run in the morning.

I didn't wear my new headlamp because I didn't get out running until after I dropped my son off and by that time it's starting to get light. As the days continue to get shorter I'll start using the headlamp.

It wasn't too cold this morning. I had an average run.

Average pace: 10:34. Splits: 11:09, 10:35, 10:20, 10:13

I was just comparing my new PR from last Saturday's 5K to my previous 5K PR because the new PR is only 13 seconds faster than the previous PR. However, the average time for the previous race (where I finished in 29:01) was 29:16, and the average time for last Saturday's race (where I finished in 28:48) was 34:56. Last Saturday's race was very hilly and it was windy.

My plan was to do get up extra early, do the shred, then drive my son to seminary, then run. However, I was up too late last night dealing with kid's needs, so I talked my husband into driving the boy to seminary so that I could sleep an extra half hour. So I got up and did the shred level 1 with 5 lb. weights and then ran. I'm trying to build up the number of push ups I can do and the shred level 1 has push ups in it. I managed to do 11 on my feet on the floor, then the next time on push ups I did them standing, leaning against a ledge.

I headed north from my house and whenever I do that I start faster than I intend to because it's down hill. Also, I was warmed up from doing the shred.

Average pace: 10:07.

Splits: 10:06, 10:25 (long uphill in this mile), 9:49

Saucony Omni 6: 45.5

I had another really busy night last night and didn't get to bed on time, so I'm running on 6.5 hours of sleep for the second day in a row. Fortunately, the rest of the week looks a little better. I should be able to get to bed earlier tonight.

Good, uneventful run this morning. I saw a handful of other runners, which is always nice.

I've been going to a yoga class at work. Today is the last class of the current 6-week session. I don't think I'll sign up for the next session because some of the yoga poses seem to irritate my hip. I think I'll take a break from yoga and maybe get back into it later. And now they're going to offer a cardio kickboxing class at work. They're having a free trial class of that today and then there's a six-week session of that starting in two weeks. I'm going to give it a try today and I'll probably sign up for the six-week session, though I'll be out of town and miss the first week.

I had a little trouble figuring my stats for today because I wore my Garmin on a walk with my friend yesterday and forgot to reset it, so I had to subtract that walk from my total amounts to get the amounts for today.

Average pace: 10:46. Splits: 11:13, 10:48, 10:27, 9:54, 9:54

Noon: 40 minutes of cardio kickboxing - I'm very uncoordinated and had a little trouble keeping up with the instructor and I'm sure I looked like a fool.

PM: 1 hour of yoga.

I'm really worn out now.

I was a little late getting out for my run this morning. I got up on time, but then I did the 30-day shred level 1 with 5 lb. weights and changed the laundry and spent some time talking to my husband and generaly dawdling. But I did finally make it out.

Today  marks the first time I have run 4 days in a row. Of course tomorrow's run will make it 5 days in a row and Saturday's run will make it 6 days in a row.

As a result of getting out a little later it was a pleasant temperature this morning and I was able to run in shorts and a t-shirt.

Average pace: 10:14. Splits: 10:47, 9:56, 10:05.

I ran roughly the same route that I did on Tuesday, but in reverse. On Tuesday the second mile was the slowest and today it was the fastest because there's a gradual but long hill in the middle of the run and it either speeds me up or slows me down depending which direction I'm going.

Saucony Omni 6: 48.69

It was a nice run this morning. I felt pretty good. I made a conscious effort to slow down several times because I wanted to rest up for a 10 mile run tomorrow. At one point I was approaching the high school and there was a boy up ahead of me walking to school. As I got closer I noticed that he was smoking, so I crossed to the other side of the street to avoid him.

I realized recently that I've had this notion that I always had to run first thing in the morning instead of later in the day. This is fairly true for weekdays, but my race last Saturday, which was at 12:30 pm, caused me to have this epiphany that I can run later in the day on Saturdays.

I've got to take my daughter to her swimming lesson tomorrow morning. If I want to run before that, I've got to get up really early, which I'd rather not do on a Saturday since I do it every other day of the week. It occured to me that I could run after her swimming lesson and then I won't be worried about time.

Another thought I've had is that before I figured out the philosophy on this blog, I used to run 4 days/week and I ran every run pretty much as fast as I could. I would find myself dreading each run because I knew I would go out there and kill myself. Now that I've backed off and am running slower, even though I'm running more total miles and running more days per week, I look forward to each run.

Todays stats:

Average pace: 10:19. Splits: 10:28, 10:41 (up a long hill), 10:07, 10:01

I've decided I much prefer running early in the morning to running in the middle of the day. It was hot and I spent the whole time wishing I had chapstick and my water bottle ran out. Getting up early is totally worth it.

I got up a little later than I had intended this morning, but I guess that's a good thing since I went to bed late. I did the level 1 shred with 5 lb weights and then took my daughter to swimming lessons. Then I hung out at home for a little while until it was time to pick up my son from his orchestra rehearsal and then I went on my run. I didn't get out until about 11:45 am.

I had a few short stops during my run because I had to wait for traffic lights. I always paused my Garmin while I was stopped. There's sure a lot more traffic around this area at noon on a Saturday than at 6 am on a weekday.

The route was very hilly. Of course the only way I'd have a flat run around here would be if I ran laps around the track. So I'm including ascent and descent numbers with my split times today just for fun.

Average pace: 10:20

Splits:

Mile 1 - 10:21 (up 115 ft, down 139 ft)

Mile 2 - 10:13 (up 117 ft, down 107 ft)

Mile 3 - 10:39 (up 122 ft, down 66 ft)

Mile 4 - 10:17 (up 119 ft, down 76 ft)

Mile 5 - 11:01 (up 144 ft, down 46 ft)

Mile 6 - 10:03 (up 76 ft, down 100 ft)

Mile 7 - 10:07 (up 206 ft, down 209 fit)

Mile 8 - 10:17 (up 73 ft, down 112 ft)

Mile 9 - 10:32 (up 108 ft, down 85 ft)

Mile 10 - 9:58 (up 82 ft, down 138 ft)

And of course the whole thing is done at between 5800 and 6000 feet.

I'm looking forward to a day of rest tomorrow. Of course I have to get up early because we have choir practice at 8:00 am and then we're singing in church. It's my fault that the practice is that early because I'm the choir director. We normally meet at 8:15 (church starts at 9:00) on the days we sing, but we're not quite as prepared as I'd like to be and so we're meeting a little earlier for practice. I don't think the choir is too happy about it.

 Saucony Omni 6: 58.88

Day of rest.

The choir performed in church today. It went amazingly well, especially considering that at choir practice a week ago we were considering cancelling the performance because the piece wasn't ready. In fact, the returning missionary who spoke after the choir sang said it was the best ward choir he has ever heard. I can't quite say the same because I've been in some really fantastic ward choirs, but it was pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Now I'm going to try to take a nap, but someone is playing rock band downstairs and is pounding on the plastic drums.

I hit the snooze alarm once this morning and that put me behind schedule the whole morning. Oh well.

I did the shred level 1 with 5 lb. weights before I took my son to seminary, but I didn't have time to get dressed for running before I took him (I do the shred in my pjs). So after I got back home I got my running stuff on and headed back out. My legs felt heavy. I went faster on Saturday than I intended to and faster than I should have, and I'm still feeling it today. The legs got a little better as the run progressed, but it was easier than usual to keep the slow pace on the run this morning.

Stats for today:

Average pace - 10:42, Splits - 10:57, 11:03, 10:40, 10:34, 10:17

I've got a busy day today. My third son (possibly) broke his finger on Friday evening. I took him to the urgent care because it was too late for the dr's office and they took an x-ray but still weren't sure whether it was broken. So I've got to take him in to his regular doctor this afternoon and have them look at the finger and at the x-ray. I've also got to take my daughter to dance this afternoon. I've got to somehow get in a full day of work too. I'll have to do some work at home tonight. And my first son has an orchestra rehearsal tonight that he needs to be driven to and picked up from. And the second son wants to be taken to the store to buy a game that he's been saving up and waiting for. And I've got to get the third son (the one with the hurt finger) packed for a 3-day outdoor trip he's going on tomorrow with the sixth grade. I'm tired just thinking about it.

I actually got up on time this morning and was all dressed for my run by the time I drove my son to seminary. In fact, we got there a little bit early, but then we had to wait for someone to come unlock the door to the school.

I got my run in as soon as I got home from dropping him off and then got ready in record time because I had to take another son to his school early because his grade is going on this outdoor ed trip today. I burned about 40 minutes standing around at that school waiting for them to board the buses, then I finally gave up and left.

My legs didn't feel heavy this morning like they did yesterday, but I didn't feel great. I was still kind of tired. I hardly looked at my watch and ran more by feel and naturally went quite slowly. The first week of running 6 days/week wasn't too hard, but the second week is turning out to be a little harder, probably because I overdid it a bit last Saturday. But I'll keep running. I'm planning to do the same 10-mile run again this Saturday, but I think I'll do it early in the morning and I'll try to go slower than I did last Saturday.

Average pace: 10:49. Splits: 11:13, 10:58, 10:38, 10:27.

Saucony Omni 6: 62.9

I got up one minute before my alarm went off. I did the shred level 1 with 5 lb. weights. I figure I'll stick with level 1 this week and then move up to level 2 next week. I've been through all three levels in the past, but then I took over a month off when I had surgery during the summer, so then I started over with level 1.

I got out on my run pretty quickly after I took my son to seminary, so it was still a little dark when I started, but I knew it would be light within 15-20 minutes, so I wore a reflective vest, but not a headlamp. I didn't look at my watch for pace at all, but just ran by feel. At one point, there was an older man, I would guess about 70, running along the same street as me, but on the other side of the road. We were going roughly the same pace and I made sure to at last stay even with him, but then after a short distance he veered off onto a bike path. I tend to run on the main streets rather than on the bike paths. The bike paths are made of concrete, so they don't offer a better surface than sidewalks and I figure the main roads are safer at dark-thirty in the morning than the bike paths, which run through the green belts, are.

I've been thinking about the best way to increase my weekly mileage. I think right now I should focus on increasing my week-day mileage and keep my Saturday long run at 10 miles for now. Last week, my week-day mileage was 4, 3, 5, 3, 4. So far this week it has been 5, 4, 5. I think I'll do 4 each tomorrow and Friday and then try to do all 5s next week. Then I'll take a couple of weeks to move all of the weekdays up to 6. I don't know whether I should stop at 6 miles/day with maybe a little bit longer run one or two days during the week or if I should try to get up to 8 miles every weekday. I don't think I have time in the morning to do 8 miles every day unless I make my husband drive my son to seminary every day and get out on my run earlier. Any suggestions for what my weekday mileage should be are welcome.

Also, I bought the Run Faster book by Brad Hudson yesterday and have started reading it.

Stats for today:

Average pace - 10:44. Splits - 10:58, 10:57, 10:49, 10:32, 10:26.

My pace was more consistent not looking at my watch than it usually is when I look at my watch.

I got up and did the shred level 1 with 5 lb. weights this morning. I was just going to do the shred on M, W, and F this week, but I decided to throw it in today as well. I'm still planning to do it tomorrow, but not on Saturday.

I had a nice 4 mile route planned out for today, but then I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and took a wrong turn, which accidentally cut out about a mile of my route. At the point that I realized I was off course I was near a mile loop that I sometimes throw into my runs, so I threw in that mile loop in order to get the distance. That mile that I threw in is more hilly than the one I missed.

I decided to push the pace today. I did not look at my Garmin at all and just went by feel. I guess I was pushing it harder with each successive mile. And I had no idea I had been so slow on the first mile. So I'm putting splits in today since this was a faster workout and not what qualifies as an easy run for me.

Average pace - 9:44. Splits - 10:57, 9:48, 9:25, 8:47

At the end of my run when I was walking up and down my street for a cool down I met another neighbor. This is not the next door neighbor that I talked about before. This is someone who lives across the street and down a couple of houses. She was just heading out and looked like she was going for a run. I stopped her and talked to her for a minute. I think there's a potential for running with her sometimes. I run by myself almost all the time, and I think it would be nice to run with someone else once in a while.

 Saucony Omni 6: 66.9

Easy run. Average pace - 10:50.

I was going to let my self sleep in a little today because the kids don't have school (professional development day for teachers) and so I wouldn't have to drive my son to seminary or spend time getting kids ready for school. So I set my alarm for 5:30 instead of 5:00, but then I let myself sleep in even more by hitting the snooze alarm a couple of times.

I got up and did the shred level 1 with 5 lb. weights and while I was doing it I remembered that I hadn't made my husband a lunch last night. So after I finished the shred, I made his lunch, and then I got dressed and went for my run. I tried to take it slow and easy since I went faster yesterday and I've got a long run tomorrow. I took the route that I intended to take yesterday but messed up yesterday.

I think I'll do the same 10 mile route tomorrow that I did last Saturday, except I'm going to do it early in the morning instead of at noon and I'm going to try to take it slower than I did last Saturday.

Easy long run. Average pace 10:20.

I ran the same route that I ran last Saturday but it was a much better run. The differences were that last week I ran at noon and this week I ran at about 6:30 am. I also had a bowl of oatmeal right before running this morning. Last week I had eaten before the run since the run was later in the day, but didn't eat right before. Also last week I did the shred in the morning a couple of hours before the run and this week I did the run first thing. Finally, I attempted to run slower this week. I did start slower, but finished faster and ended up with exactly the same average pace, which I think is kind of funny. I think the biggest difference and the reason this run felt so much easier was that it was early in the morning and so the temperature was about 20 degrees cooler. Another interesting thing I noticed about the run today is that I got progressively faster through the seventh mile, and then I started getting slower, so that probably says something about my endurance.

I'm have to travel to Foster City, California next week. I fly there on Tuesday afternoon and back home on Thursday evening, so my Wednesday and Thursday morning runs will be there. I mapped out a 5 mile route that starts and ends at my hotel. We'll see if I have the guts to run by myself in the dark in a strange place. I can always do the treadmill at the hotel if I chicken out. In any case, it will be interesting to run a flat course at sea level when I'm used to running hills at high elevation.

 Saucony Omni 6: 77.0

I didn't sleep very well last night. I had some kind of weird apocalyptic dream and I had a hard time getting back into a good sleep after it because it was disturbing.

I got up at 5:00 and did the shred level 2 with 5 lb. weights. The switch from level 1 to level 2 was a little bit challenging. I then drove my son to seminary and ran after that.

According to the t.v. news, the temperature was about the same as it was in the mornings last week, so I dressed the same (shorts and a t-shirt), but once I got out it felt colder to me. There was a cold wind and I felt pretty cold for the whole run.

My average pace was 10:42 and I did a hill sprint at the end of the run. I timed the hill sprint, but didn't do it based on time, if that makes sense. I just ran to the top of the hill and then hit the lap button. The hill sprint lasted 21.78 seconds and my average pace on the hill sprint was 6:31.

I've got to work today and also get laundry done and get packed for my trip to CA tomorrow. Also, my daughter has her first piano lesson this afternoon.

Saucony Omni 6: 82.18

Easy run. Average pace 10:40.

This was a hillier route than usual. I wore my headlamp for the first time and turned it off about halfway through the run because it was light enough by then.

I did the shred level 2 with 5 lb. weights before the run.

I've got to finish packing and get to work for a little while before going to the airport. I'm looking forward to running at sea level tomorrow.

Easy run. Average pace: 10:18.

I accidentally set my alarm for 5:30 pm, but I woke up at 5:30 am anyway.

It was a flat run at sea level. The only hills were two bridges that went over a river.

It was a very pleasant run. I'm looking forward to doing it again tomorrow. I was running along a road that goes along the shore of the San Francisco Bay and I noticed that there was a trail that went along the side of the road, closer to the shore. I couldn't really see the trail, but I could see people walking on it. It was still fairly dark and I felt safer staying on the road since I'm in an unfamiliar place and I didn't know where the trail went, but I finally got the guts to cross the street and go up on the trail and stayed on the trail untill it looked like it would diverage from the road that I had intended to follow. I think I'll try to find an entrance to the trail earlier in the run tomorrow.

It definitely is easier running at sea level than at 5800 feet.

Saucony Omni 6: 87.26

Tempo run, flat at sea level.

I did one mile slow, then pushed the pace for 4 miles, and then one mile slow. I got out a little earlier than yesterday and I ran faster, so I had time to do 6 miles instead of 5. Also, a greater porportion of the run was in the dark, so I was glad for the headlamp and reflective vest. I also went more on the bay trail today. It's back to running hills at high altitude tomorrow. It's amazing how much easier it is to run on flat ground at sea level. I probably could have run even faster if I hadn't eaten the junk they provided to me yesterday.

Split times:

1 - 10:34

2 - 9:10

3 - 8:44

4 - 8:40

5 - 8:27

6 - 10:24

Saucony Omni 6: 93.26

Easy run. Average pace: 10:46.

Back in Colorado with hills and high elevation. I overslept by 10 minutes this morning, which put everything behind. Nevertheless, I did the shred level 2 with 5 lb. weights before the kid drop-off and my run.

I didn't eat well in California. I've got to recommit myself to healthy eating now that I'm home.

Long run. Average pace: 10:25.

I tried to make it an easy run, but it was very hilly, which made it a little difficult at times. The last 1/3 was especially uphill. The total ascent for the run was 1066 ft and the total descent was 1012 ft. It was a different route than I've run the last two Saturdays.

During my run I thought about all the blog members running the St. George Marathon today and Snoqualmie running the Portland Marathon tomorrow. I hope they all had or have a great race. I'm looking forward with some anticipation and some trepidation to my more formal marathon training and the lengthening of the long runs.

Saucony Omni 6: 103.47

Easy run plus 3 short hill sprints.

I did the Jillian Michael's 30-Day Shred level 2 with 5 lb. weights before my run.

It was warmer this morning than I thought it would be. But for some reason as I headed out the door I had this strange thought that I was kidding myself thinking that I could run 5 miles. Of course that's crazy. I have run that distance and more lots of times. It was just this strange "what in the world am I thinking" irrational thought.

Average pace: 10:40.

I goofed on the first hill sprint and hit the start/stop button instead of the lap button, so I don't have stats for the first hill sprint, but it was probably about the same as the second hill sprint. I pushed it a little harder on the third.

Hill Sprints:

1 - ????

2 - 11.25 sec at 7:27/mi

3 - 10.80 sec at 6:43/mi

Saucony Omni 6: 108.85

Progression Run - 3 miles easy, then 3 miles moderate to hard effort

I had to run early this morning because I had to get to work early for a meeting. As a result, I finished my run about the time I normally start and the whole run was in the dark. I'm glad I got the headlamp and reflective vest. I took the route I did because I wanted to see the progress on a new church they're building, but it was too dark to really see it. Oh well.

I was debating whether to do a tempo run today. I decided to just head out and speed up if I ever felt like it. I didn't feel like speeding up until the end of the 3rd mile, which not coincidentally was the point at which I had a long downhill after mostly uphill for the first 3 miles. So I guess it turned into a progression run instead of a tempo run. I would call it a moderate effort for miles 4 and 5 and the first part of mile 6, but then a hard effort for at least the last half of mile 6 because I had some more uphill then and I was really pushing it at that point and breathing very heavily.

Average pace - 9:40

Splits - 10:48, 10:33, 10:30, 9:08, 8:34, 8:31

Saucony Omni 6: 114.96

Easy run. Average pace 10:51.

I was tired this morning, but I got up and did the shred level 2 before my run. Then I made my easy run easier than I usually do. Besides tiredness, I have a sore spot on my foot. It's on the inside edge of my right foot just below my big toe. I've got bad calouses there and that's the spot where I got a big blister after I got the new shoes. The blister is gone and it hasn't bothered me for a while, but now all of the sudden it's red and sore. I had been switching off between the new and old shoes, but I've got over 100 miles on the new shoes now and I figured they were broken in, so I've worn the new shoes exclusively this week. I think I'll switch to the old shoes for the rest of the week, and then continue the alternating for a while longer.

I had a minor car encounter on my run this morning. I was going across a crosswalk where a side street meets a main road. A car on the side street was approaching the crosswalk and a stop sign. I thought she saw me, but apparently not, because she pulled beyond the stop sign and halfway into the crosswalk before stopping. I had to change my course and go around the front of her car in order to not run straight into it. I looked at her as I went past but she didn't seem to be looking at me. I wonder if she ever saw me.

A little while later I saw a guy in a tigger costume and a tae kwon do uniform standing on the sidewalk waving and holding a sign advertising the opening of a new tae kwon do studio. I decided that I would give him a high 5 as I went past. He must have had the same thought, because as I came up to him he held up his hand for a high 5. That erased the unpleasantness of the car incident that had happened minutes earlier. I would maybe look into the new tae kwon do studio, but my boys are already taking tae kwon do and we're very loyal to our current sabumnim.

Saucony Omni 6: 119.96

Fartlek run. Easy pace other than 5 times when I picked up the pace for an uphill stretch. Average pace - 10:10. I don't have stats for the faster uphill portions because I didn't time them separately. Those faster portions make my average pace faster so that it doesn't really depict the pace I ran for the slower parts.

I hadn't planned ahead of time to do a fartlek run. I've been doing tempo runs on Thursdays the last couple of weeks, but I thought I'd just go easy today since I did a progression run on Tuesday (which in the past has been an easy day) and I have a race on Saturday. However, I was feeling pretty good and when I got to the bottom of a hill in the second mile, I decided just to run faster to the top of the hill. After I did it that one time I decided that I'd do it a few more times during the run. On days when I don't do the shred (like today), I feel like I should push the pace a little.

This was mostly the same route that I ran on Tuesday, but it came out .33 longer because I took a loop at the beginning that I didn't take on Tuesday. I have so many different routes and they are all have common elements. I've got standard sections that I piece together to get different distances. So I sometimes get mixed up and forget whether I'm supposed to include a specific portion in a run or not. That's what happened this morning.

I put a bandage over the sore spot on my foot and wore the old shoes, and it felt fine during the run.

Update: I got feeling sick - drippy nose, scratchy throat - after I had been to work for a couple of hours. After lunch, I came home and took a nap and now I've got to work at home for a while.

Easy run. Average pace 10:26.

I was up a little late last night because it's hard for me to go to bed on time if I take a nap during the day and I had a long nap yesterday afternoon. But then I slept late this morning. I didn't get in until 7:00. I'm working at home because my kids don't have school today and I'm also trying to stave off a cold. But I kept with my exercise routine. I did the shred level 2 with 5 lb. weights and then went for a run.

It's pretty cold and overcast today. I was wearing an old long-sleeved Illinois t-shirt that I got when my husband was going to the University of Illinois. I was running along the sidewalk of a fairly busy road this morning and a guy in a car that was stopped at a light opened his window and hollared at me and then showed me that he was wearing an Illinois shirt too. That was kind of cool. It perked me up and I ran a little faster for a little ways until I realized I was running too fast and slowed down.

It's going to be cold and possibly rainy tomorrow for the 10 mile race I'm doing with Laura. It's on a dirt trail. I just hope it's not muddy.

It was a COOOOLD race. I started out with a sweatshirt on and took it off and tied it around my waist after a couple of miles, but I put it back on at about mile 8 because it got much colder all of a sudden. It was very cold at the finish.

It was also a somewhat treacherous trail. Most of the time it was only wide enough for one person. There were also rocky parts that were a little tricky to navigate, a stream to jump over (twice), some very steep (but short) downhills, and some sharp turns. It was also a strange course in that it doubled back on itself two or three times. And it was very hilly. It seemed like there was a lot more uphill than downhill, though I know that's not possible since it started and ended in the same place.

Laura and I ran together until the very end. It was really fun to meet and run with Laura. She did a great job with a sore knee.

Now I need to wash my shoes. It didn't rain (hooray!), but it was a dirt trail and my shoes got quite dirty.

Easy run with 3 hill sprints at the end. Average pace - 11:04

Hill sprints:

1 - 10.73 seconds @ 7:04/mile

2 - 10.86 seconds @ 7:04/mile

3 - 11.10 seconds @ 7:34/mile

I ran slowly today. I don't know if it was because I was tired or if it was because it was cold (34 degrees) or if it was because I was trying to listen to General Conference on my mp3 player.

I did the shred level 2 before my run.

This week is supposed to be a step back week, or whatever you call it. I'm going to do pretty much the same during the week that I did last week, but I'll do a shorter run on Saturday.

Here's a weird thing. My husband's community orchestra and my oldest son's youth orchestra played a side-by-side concert at a local high school last night. About a half hour after the concert ended and we left, someone drove through the front door of the high school and down the hall. The school is now closed until they can repair the damage. We're waiting to find out if it was someone connected to the concert who did it. I hope not.

Saucony Omni 6: 125.69

Easy run. Average pace - 10:29. Outside temp - 32°F.

Just an average run today. Nothing special happened. I did get startled by a dog at one point that looked like it might jump the fence, but only its front paws made it over the fence, so it wasn't a big deal.

 I just remembered a thought I had during the run. It would be nice if I could put hot chocolate instead of water in my water bottle. But it wouldn't stay hot over the hour-long run in freezing weather. I'd have to insulate it somehow. Maybe it's not a good idea anyway, but it's like when I was a kid and wished that Sprite would come out of the drinking fountains at school.

Easy run. Average pace - 10:46.

Outside temp - 32°F. Clear skies.

I got up and did the shred level 2 with 5 lb. weights. I think I'll do level 2 one more week after this week and then move up to level 3 and do that for a while and then maybe start a different strength-training program. I've got a balance ball that I haven't used much. I might give it a go.

My legs felt heavy on the run this morning. I've just been tired all week. Maybe I'll sleep in on Saturday and then do my run after swimming lessons since it's not as hot as it was last time I tried a mid-day run. Of course I think it's supposed to be warmer on Saturday than it has been the last few days.

I realized this morning that I'm not going to have to drive my son to seminary at all next week because the kids have the week off from school (fall break). That's going to make it harder for me to get up on time in the morning. But not having to get kids off to school will also save me some time in the morning.

A few days ago someone left or dropped a mattress in a painted island in the middle of a road near my house. I noticed last night and again on my run this morning that someone stuck two political signs into the mattress. They're not for candidates. They're for ballot issues - one for school funding and one for library funding. It just gave me kind of a chuckle on my run this morning.

Saucony omni 6: 130.78

Tempo run - 2 miles easy, 4 miles tempo, 0.60 miles easy

Outside temp - 36°F, clear skies

Just for fun I actually put hot chocolate in my water bottle for my run this morning. It was lukewarm chocolate by midway through the run and cool chocolate by the end of the run. I don't think it really made a difference in my performance, but it was kind of silly and fun. I don't think, however, that I'll do it again. I didn't drink all of it. I dumped out what was left when I got home.

I decided to do a tempo run with a 2 mile warm up, which is hard to do on this particular route because the first 3 miles are up hill, so the first mile of the tempo portion is pretty hard. Once I got going in the tempo portion I gave it a pretty good effort and probably ran as fast as I could maintain over the distance.

Incidentally, the old mattress with the political signs stuck in it was gone. The mattress had been there for a couple of days. I guess the signs finally brought enough attention to it that someone got rid of it.

Since this was a tempo run, I'll include my splits.

1 - 11:00

2 - 11:15

3 - 9:48

4 - 8:53

5 - 8:08

6 - 7:53

0.60 - 10:24

Easy run. Average pace: 10:32.

Outside temp: 40°, clear skies.

I thought I would be tired from yesterday's tempo run, but I felt okay. I overslept by 10 minutes, but I managed to do my Wii Fit body test and the shred level 2 before taking Caleb to seminary. But I didn't have time to get my running clothes on until after I took him, so I got out for the run a little later than I would have liked. No big deal, though.

Since it was a little warmer, I went without the sweatshirt. We're supposed to have a warm weekend, and then more cold weather next week. It's actually supposed to be in the upper 70s tomorrow afternoon, so I think I'll go ahead and do tomorrow's run in the morning. I don't have to go terrifically early since I'm only going to do 6 miles since this is supposed to be an easy week.

Saucony Omni 6: 136

Easy/moderate run. Average pace - 10:03.

Outside temp: 43°

I ran in the morning but not as early as I have to do on weekdays. I was able to run without the head lamp and reflective vest. I tried a new route that I've never done before. I took the bike trail that goes along C-470 from Colorado Blvd. to Quebec St. and then came back along greenbelt trails. I've ridden my bike on the C-470 trail before, but had never run it. It is quite hilly. One of these days I'll do the portion west of Colorado Blvd., which is even hillier than the portion east of Colorado Blvd. that I did today.

I forgot that they are doing major road construction on Quebec St. until I saw a highway sign along C-470 suggesting alternate routes. I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to get through the portion of Quebec St. that I needed to go through to get to thegreen belt. I figured if that happened, I would just turn around and go back on the C-470 trail. However, there was a paved pedestrian path separated from traffic by those cement traffic dividers through the construction zone. That was nice.

The only problem with this route is that there is a lot of traffic on Quebec Street and a lot of people pulling out from parking lots. There was one guy this morning that was looking beyond me down the street and just kept easing forward into the cross walk where I was. I wasn't sure at what point he was going to stop. He had his window open, so I hollered at him so that he would look and see that I was there.

I did a shorter run today because this is supposed to be an easy week. It's back to long runs on Saturday next week.

Easy run w/ 3 hill sprints. Average pace: 10:44.

Outside temp: 46°F. It's supposed to get colder later in the week, down into the 20s.

Hill sprints:

10.3 sec @ 6:30/mi

10.54 sec @ 7:20/mi

10.4 sec @ 6:40/mi

I discovered how to make myself run slowly: run with a slow person. I talked to a friend at church yesterday and she wanted to run with me on a dirt trail this morning. She normally runs on the indoor track at the rec center and she says that running on roads hurts her knees. So I got up and did the shred and then ran to her house this morning (about 1.25 miles) and then got in her car with her and we drove to the trail. I ran the trail with her for about a mile and a half at a very slow pace and stopping to walk sometimes. I told her that when we were finished running on the trail that I would run back home instead of driving back with her. Before we were all the way done with the trail she told me that she needed to walk the rest of the way and that I should go on ahead since I was going to run home, so I did that. I did the hill sprints when I got close to home.

I probably won't run with her much again, if at all, but I'm glad that I went with her. I didn't mind going slowly with her for that mile and a half and I was glad to find a dirt trail that's close to home and that I didn't know about. We didn't follow the whole trail. The trail continues on up a big hill, so I may go out there on a Saturday and try a longer run out there on the trail.

My kids are off school this week for fall break. I'm going to work at home half days and in the office half days so that I can be home at lunch time and make sure that they get something to eat. It does free up my mornings a bit, but I will have to exercise lots of discipline to get myself up on time every morning without the obligation of driving a kid to school.

Saucony Omni 6: 142.47

Easy run. Average pace: 10:29/mile.

Outside temp: 44°F. Clear skies.

I saw my next door neighbor out running again. I had walked a little ways down my street for a brief warm-up and was heading back towards my house when I saw her come out her front door and start running. She went the same way that I was planning on going but she was about 100 yards ahead of me. I ran my normal pace and gained on her very slowly. Just at the point that I was about to catch up with her (which happened to be at a corner), she turned around and headed back the way we came. I said Hi, but continued on around the corner and did the rest of my route. When I got home from my run about an hour later, she was pulling out of her garage to go to work. I waved to her again. So I don't think she ran more than to that corner where she turned around and back, which would be slightly over a mile, because she went on her run and got ready for work in the time that I went on my run. I really don't know her well at all. I need to be friendly and try to get to know her, but I see her outside only rarely. I suppose I could go knock on the door sometime, but I'll have to think of a reason to do that.

Easy run. Average pace 10:25.

Outside temp: 33°F, with a wind chill.

I bundled up pretty good this morning because right before I went out the local news was talking about the wind chill making it feel like 20°. But after I had been going for a while, I was feeling too warm. I unzipped my jacket and took my gloves off and was to the point where I was about to take the jacket off, but then I turned the corner and started going into the wind. I guess I had had the wind behind me up to that point. Right away, I zipped up my jacket, pulled the hood up, and put my gloves back on.

I also had a minor wardrobe malfunction, but it wasn't too big of a deal because I was wearing so many layers. But I'm not going to go into detail about it here on this public blog.

Saucony Omni 6: 147.59

Tempo run - 2 miles warm up, 3 miles pushing the pace, 1 mile cool down.

Average pace: 9:50. Splits: 11:13, 10:51, 9:34, 8:48, 8:32, 9:56.

Outside temp: 25°F, no noticeable wind.

My legs felt kind of heavy this morning, but I tried to do the tempo anyway. It was kind of hard, but I did it.

I dressed pretty warmly and it turned out to be too much since I was trying to run fast. I got too hot.

I've been having a weird thing with my right ankle this week. It hurts a bit, but not to the point that it makes me limp, when I get up in the morning. And then after a couple of minutes of running, it feels completely normal. By evening it's starting to hurt again and hurts when I kept up the next morning, until I start running, and so on. It's strange to me that running makes it feel better. I don't know what to make of it.

Saucony Omni 6: 153.77

Easy run. Average pace: 10:39.

Outside temp: 38°F.

I just feel tired and slow this morning. Nevertheless, I got up and did the shred level 2 with 5 lb. weights before my run. I think I'll move on to level 3 next week.

It was much warmer this morning than it has been the last couple of days. I bought a new mock turtleneck for running last night. It's polyester and spandex. I wore it this morning with my hoody. I've been wearing long sleeved t-shirts with the same hoody on other days with similar temperatures. This new shirt was a lot warmer than the long-sleeved t-shirts have been and I got too warm very quickly even though I wasn't running very fast. I spent most of the run with the hoody tied around my waist.

Tomorrow is the last long-run day in the foreseeable future that I have to get up early to do the long run because it is the last day of my daughter's swimming lessons. After tomorrow I won't have to hurry to be done with my Saturday long run before the swimming lesson. She could really use some more swimming lessons, but she wants to take a break from it and so do I. We'll start them up again in a couple of months.

Long run. Average pace: 9:52.

Outside temp: 42°F

I feel good about today's run. I just tried to maintain a relatively comfortable pace and focused on relaxing. The first four miles were all above 10:00 pace, but with each one faster than the previous one, and then the remaining 6 and a half miles were all 9:30 or faster. And I feel fine, not wasted. I had about half of a hammer gel at mile 5.5. I don't know if that helped, but it didn't make me sick.

With the completion of today's run I have now run 6 days/week for 5 consecutive weeks.

I plan to lengthen out my Saturday run next week to about 12 miles. I'm going to run from home to the beginning of the trail I ran with my friend last Monday, run the length of the trail, which has a little loop at the end, run back to the beginning of the trail, and then run back home.

Now I've got to go pound the pavement on behalf of a political candidate.

Saucony Omni 6: 164.29

Easy run + 5 hill sprints. Average pace: 10:38.

Hill Sprints:

10.90 sec @ 6:38/mi

10.88 sec @ 7:52/mi

10.90 sec @ 6:53/mi

10.79 sec @ 6:39/mi

10.24 sec @ 7:07/mi

Outside temp: 29°F

I had a bit of a hard time dragging myself out of bed this morning even though I got to bed more or less on time last night. I guess I've just got to get myself back into the early routine after having fall break last week. But next week we fall back an hour so it will feel like sleeping in.

I did the level 3 shred this morning. I actually like level 3 better than level 2. It's probably a little bit harder but I like the level 3 exercises better. Level 3 has a lot of jumping (plyometrics) in it. We have a piano in the room that I do the shred in, and there is a metronome on top the piano. It's an electric metronome with an on/off switch on the back, not the old-fashioned weighted pendulum kind that my mom had when I was a kid. But I must have really been rattling the room with my jumping this morning because it turned the metronome on. It was pretty funny. I didn't want to stop to turn it off, but my son came into the room a few minutes later so I had him turn it off.

Easy run. Average pace: 10:13.

Outside temp: 35°F

Right after my husband left to drive my son to seminary I remembered that that same son had asked me several times last night for lunch money and I hadn't gotten around to giving him a check. I tried to call my husband to tell him to give the boy some money, but I heard his cell phone ringing when I called it so I knew he didn't have his phone. But then I remembered that the route I was planning to run would take me past the high school where they have seminary after about 2 miles. So I wrote a check and put it in my little pack and stopped in at the school and gave him the check during my run.

Mostly I was really fuzzy headed this morning. After I had dropped off the check I was running along daydreaming and suddenly got confused about where I was and thought that I had taken a wrong turn that would put me on a shorter route. So I turned around to go back and make the right turn. But after about 200 yards or so I decided that I really hadn't made a wrong turn, so I turned around again and went back the way I was originally going.

Later on I paused my Garmin when I stopped to wait for traffic and it took me several minutes of running before I realized that I had forgotten to turn it back on. So the total distance I've put down for today is partly a manual calculation. The average pace is what the Garmin says, which doesn't include the part I didn't time. I believe I was going faster than 10:13 during the part I didn't record, so my actual average pace was probably slightly faster than 10:13.

At one point in my run I could see a runner quite a ways ahead of me. I wondered whether I was going slower or faster than her and whether I would pass her. After a while I realized that I was getting closer and I did eventually pass her. But I guess she didn't want to be passed because she immediately picked up the pace and passed me. I stayed about 20 yards behind her for a little while after that, and then she turned off at a point where I went straight, so we parted ways.

Easy run. Average pace: 10:18.

Outside temp: 41°F, slight wind

Yesterday my upper back was a little sore (in a good way) from doing the level 3 shred on Monday morning, and my right arm was hurting from the flu shot I got yesterday. But I got up this morning and did the level 3 shred again before running this morning and that made me feel better, especially the sore arm.

I was running along this morning and I could see my shadow in front of me. All of a sudden I saw a shadow just over my shoulder through the corner of my eye and it startled me for a brief second and I thought that there was someone just behind me. But it turned out that it was my shadow. I had multiple shadows because there were multiple light sources at that point.

I had an idea about how to solve a problem with my daughter's halloween costume while I was running this morning. I've got to get some sewing done today. That's going to be tricky since I've got to work all day, I've got to do laundry, and I've got to go visiting teaching this evening. But I've got to get that halloween costume done so that we can go to the trunk-or-treat tomorrow night, not to mention trick-or-treating on Friday.

Tempo run - 2 miles warmup, 4 miles at faster pace, 1 mile cool down

Average pace: 9:29

Splits: 10:57, 10:49, 9:34, 8:38, 8:22, 7:55, 10:12

Outside temp: 45°F

I had a hard time getting going very fast on the third mile because it was almost all uphill. Miles 4-6, by contrast, were more downhill than uphill.

I got a little stitch in my side just before the end of the 6th mile. Does that mean I exceeded my lactate threshold or something like that? The stitch was gone by the end of the 7th mile.

I managed to get my daughter's costume finished last night. Now I've just got to carve pumpkins tonight.

Easy run. Average pace: 10:16

Outside temp: 43°F

I overslept by a half hour. I guess my body needed it. I had arranged for my husband to drive the boy to seminary, so I got up and did the shred anyway (I would have had time for that if I were driving to seminary) and then went on my run.

Yesterday I had a talk with a woman at work who has been doing triathlons and is now training for P.F. Chang's marathon in January. I told her that I'm running 6 days/week and am up to about 40 miles/week now and she was horrified. She said that that was too much and that I would get injured. She's working with a local coach and apparently that's the information she's getting from her coach. And she talked about a bunch of different online training plans and how they don't have that much mileage. I told her I was fine and that I could handle the mileage. I'm afraid I didn't defend the high mileage approach very well. But it will be interesting to see how she does on her marathon versus how I do on mine. It's not very fair to compare though, because she's probably 10 years older and at least 10 lbs. heavier than me, plus I have a lot more time to train since my marathon is in May.

Long run. Average pace: 10:01.

Outside temp: 45°F at the start, probably in the 50s or maybe up to 60 by the end

This was an awesome run. I should do this route again if we have another nice Saturday.

I ran the trail that my friend showed me a couple of weeks ago. Only with her I ran just a small portion of the trail and today I ran the whole thing. It ended up being a little longer than I had anticipated because I had to make a couple of detours. First, just before I started on the trail (I had to run a ways to get to the trail) I went out of my way a little bit to go to a gas station and use the rest room. Later, the trail crossed a busy street and I went out of my way to cross at a light (there were signs telling trail users to do that). I also had to do that on the way back since I did an out-and-back on the trail, but with a loop at the end of the trail.

My friend told me the other day that the trail continued from where we were on it and went up a hill. That was an understatement. Here in Colorado you would call it a hill, but in some parts of the country it might be called a mountain. The elevation at the highest point I went to (according to my Garmin) was 6300 ft. The lowest elevation anywhere on my run was 5779 ft. There were switchbacks going up the hill. From the highest point on the run I could see pretty much all of the Denver metro area. It was cool.

Before I got to the hill I saw tons of prairie dogs. They looked pretty fat. I guess they're getting ready for winter. As I started up the hill I saw a sign that said, "Caution: Rattlesnake Area." That made me a little nervous. A little later on I saw another sign that said the same thing. At one point I thought I heard a rattle that didn't belong in "I Feel the Earth Move" by Carole King. I didn't look to see where it was coming from. I just kept going and got out of that area.

I saw a lot of people on the hill. Most of them were walking, but a few were running. I figured if I got bit by a rattlesnake at least someone would find me and call for help.

I was thinking of doing 14 miles next Saturday, but if the weather's nice, I might do that same route again. I could lengthen it out by doing the loop twice, but the loop is pretty much going up and down the hill, so that would be really hard.

Easy run with 5 hill sprints at the end. Average pace 10:14.

Shred level 3 with 5 lb. weights.

Hill sprints:

10.33 sec @ 6:54/mile

10.58 sec @ 7:29/mile

9.67 sec @ 7:31/mile

10.55 sec @ 8.02/mile

10.55 sec @ 7.32/mile

Outside temp: 50°F

It was warm enough to run in shorts. That may have been the last time I do that for a while. It's supposed to get colder this week.

My legs were still a little heavy from last Saturday's long run.

There were some kids coming down the hill I do hill sprints on on their way to the middle school while I was doing my 4th and 5th hill sprints. I knew one of the boys because he is in Tae Kwon Do with my boys. I spoke to them during my 4th hill sprint and I think that slowed me down.

My friend that I ran the Georgetown Half Marathon with and her husband are training for the Honolulu marathon. They are planning to run 18 miles this coming Saturday on the Highline Canal Trail. I'm very curious about the trail because I've never run it before and don't know exaclty how to get to it. They are going to start at mile marker 4 (the trail is marked) and run to mile marker 10 and back to 4, which will give them 12 miles, and then continue on to mile marker 1, and back to 4 again, which will give them 6 more miles for a total of 18 (his parents leave near mile marker 4). I'm thinking of running with them at least the first 12, and then I'll see how I feel and may go a little bit further. I wouldn't have to stick with them for the whole additional 6. I could just go to mile marker 3 and then back to 4 to make it 14 miles if I wanted, for example. They're planning to do it early in the morning so I'm seriously considering joining them.

Easy run. Average pace: 9:59/mile.

Outside temp: 43° F

This was probably the last warm day for a while. It's supposed to be significantly colder tomorrow.

This was just a kind of ordinary run. I was thinking of doing 7, but did 6 instead with the intent of trying to go longer than 12 on Saturday.

My high school kids are off of school today because the school is a polling place, so I didn't have to drive to seminary this morning. I still have to get the elementary school kids off to school. The situation is reversed on Friday.

Easy run. Average pace: 9:52.

Outside temp at beginning: 38° F.  Outside temp at end: 36° F.

It felt colder than those temperatures would indicate this morning. I kept putting my gloves on and taking them off. I wished that my ears were covered better.

Despite the cold temperatures I saw several runners this morning and I actually knew three of them. Other than that, it was a pretty uneventful run.

I've got to run about an hour earlier tomorrow than I usually do because I'm going with my son on an orchestra field trip and we leave earlier tomorrow morning than I am usually ready. And it's going to be really cold tomorrow. The forcast says morning lows from 20 to 25 degrees.

Tempo run - 2 miles warm up, 4 miles tempo, 1 mile cool down

Average pace: 9:19

Splits: 10:35, 10:36, 8:59, 8:37, 8:50, 8:01, 9:33

The route I've been doing my tempo runs on recently is mostly uphill the first half and mostly downhill the second half. I changed it around today so that it had more uphill in the second half in addition to the uphill in the first half.

I'm off to a field trip with the orchestra students today.

Recovery run. Average pace: 10:27.

Outside temp at start: 29°F

Outside temp at end: 33°F

As I started out my left quad felt unusually stiff. It bothered me to one extent or another throughout the run. I really tried to take it slow and easy today because of the sore quad, the fact that I did a tempo run yesterday, and my plans for a long run tomorrow. Only one mile was below 10:00 and it was 9:56.

I got dressed for running before I drove my son to seminary. I put on some old running tights that I have with some shorts over them. When I left the house to drive to seminary I realized that the tights were too thin, so when I got back home I swapped the shorts for long exercise pants. That worked out pretty well.

My face was really cold during the first couple of miles of the run. At one point I pulled up the hood on my sweatshirt and tightening the drawstring so that it just left a little circle around my face. That helped. Then the sun came up a little more and my face felt better. I'm going to have to get some kind of ski mask, I think.

My oldest son is in Greeley for Western States Honor Orchestra. He plays the string bass. They had auditions for chairs yesterday and he felt like he blew the audition. However, he got 3rd chair out of 10 basses. We're driving up to Greeley tomorrow to hear his concert and bring him home. I'll have to get my long run in early tomorrow so that we can make it up to Greeley on time.

Long run. Average pace: 9:46.

I'm not sure what the outside temp was, but it was warmer than I expected it to be.

I got up at 5:00 and ate a bowl of oatmeal and a banana, then got dressed and drove to the house where I was meeting my friend and her husband. We got started on the run at about 6:00. They are training for the Honolulu marathon. Afterward, they joked that I should go to Hawaii and do that marathon because I ran a little better today than my friend did, but I don't want to run 21 miles two weeks for now, like they are planning to do.

Their dog went on the run with us. She is a very well behaved dog. They let her off leash but she was pretty good about sticking with us or coming back when she was called. For the first 10 miles or so, she kept sprinting on ahead of us and would then have to come back, but by the end of the run she was just keeping up with us.

We went out a little faster at the beginning than I typically do, so the run was a bit of a struggle for me, but I could do it. We really kept a pretty steady pace throughout. It was a basically flat course. It was a dirt trail and I got some tiny pebbles and dirt in my shoes, which was kind of annoying.

Next week is supposed to be an easy week for me and I'm looking forward to it. I don't know what crazy demon possessed me to run 18 miles today. I was originally planning on doing 12 or 14 today, but when I found out that my friend and her husband were running this trail today, I decided to go with them because I had never run this trail before and wanted to find out about it.

I rented "Spirit of the Marathon" from Amazon.com Unbox last night and watched it on the computer. My 6-year-old daughter watched some of it with me and she saw kids holding up signs for their parent who was running the Chicago Marathon. I told her that my next race is a 5K on Thanksgiving Day, so she's making a sign to hold up for me. I also told her that there's a free kids race that day and so she's also making a sign for me to hold up to cheer her on. I guess I'll have to be sure and register for that Turkey Day 5K now.

In the movie it seemed like the first-time marathoners only did one 20-mile run before the marathon. The old guy commented that they tell you that you can do that and then you'll be able to run the marathon, but that's it's not true because you hit the wall, but then you push through it. I don't want to be like that. I want to run 20 or more several times before my first marathon. I don't think that you necessarily have to hit the wall if you train properly and then race at a speed that your training supports. Maybe I'm wrong because I've never run a marathon and I don't know, but that's my guess at this point.

Hey! I'm only 4 spots behind Snoqualmie on the weekly mileage board. But she's doing a long run today and she did her last one last Sunday, so she'll be way ahead of me after she records today's run. Oh well. I can enjoy it for now.

Recovery run. Average pace: 10:46.

Outside temp at start: 37°F

Outside temp at end: 34°F

I got up and did the level 3 shred, then got dressed and drove my son to seminary. On the drive back home after dropping him off I was very sleepy and the thought occurred to me that maybe I should go back to bed for an hour instead of going for my run. But being the crazy person that I am (and realizing that I wouldn't be able to sleep because of other people in the family making noise), I went for the run.

The very top of my left leg, in both the front and the back, was hurting me and I started out very slowly. I thought about cutting my route down to 4 miles instead of the 6 I had planned, but when I got to about 1 mile and I had to either turn left for the 6 mile route or go straight for the 4 mile right, my leg was feeling better, so I turned left. However, I did dispense with the hill sprints that I've been doing on Mondays recently. I did get a little faster over the course of the run, but never too fast. My leg feels okay now. I'll have to see how it is tomorrow.

Easy/recovery run. Average pace 10:34.

Outside temp: 31°F

I guess I'm still recovering from last Saturday's 18 mile run. I may go slow all week. I'm still feeling a little tightness in my left quad, but it's not too bad. Also, my throat is a little scratchy and I think I might be coming down with something. I'm glad it's an easy week this week. I hope taking it easy for one week will be enough to get me going again.

Easy run. Average pace: 10:21.

Outside temp: 39°F

I normally do the shred before my run on Wednesday mornings, but I traded the shred for an extra half hour of sleep this morning. I figure that's the best thing to do given that I still have a little soreness in my left quad and I feel a cold coming on. But I still got out and did the run, because I think an easy run actually helps with the sore quad and the deep breathing of the cool air keeps my lungs clear (or so I like to think).

I'm going slower this week than I have the last couple of weeks, but I was probably pushing too hard the last couple of weeks. The aftermath of that Saturday run slowed me down, which is probably a good thing. However, I do seem to be recovering a little bit. I've been getting just a little bit faster each day this week. On Monday, my average pace was 10:46, on Tuesday it was 10:34, and today it was 10:21. Also, I ran negative splits for the whole run today. Each mile was 10-20 seconds faster than the one before.

At the end of my run I ran into a neighbor who lives across the street and up a few houses who runs. She was just heading out. We walked down the street and talked for a little bit. She is nursing a sore knee. She says she's okay for 6 miles and then it starts hurting her. She is much more friendly than my next-door-neighbor who also runs.

Progression run - 3 miles slow, 3.59 miles a little faster. Average pace: 9:59.

Outside temp: 49°F

I don't know where the warm temperatures came from today. It was unexpected.

I was going to do an easy run today, but I was on a course that is mostly and significantly uphill until just past 3 miles, and then is mostly and significantly downhill after that. So I took it easy the first 3 miles (10:42, 10:32, and 10:29), but then sped up a little but not tons for the rest of the run (9:43, 9:25, 9:27, 9:22).

I think I actually prefer hills over flat terrain, assuming that the course is either out and back or a loop (not point to point because point to point could potentially be all uphill). While I struggle (less than I used to) up the hills, I like the reward of the downhills and the chance to "rest" a little. With flat terrain, like I had for 18 miles last Saturday, it's a constant effort and you never get the chance to take it easy.

Easy run, if you can call it that. Average pace: 10:25.

Outside temp: 28°F, wind from the north, light but steady snow

I did the level 3 shred before heading out.

When I started out the snow was sticking to grassy areas, parked cars, and me, but not to the roads. The roads were just wet. After about 4 miles, either the temperature dropped or the elevation went up or something, because then I had snow sticking to the sidewalks. I ran almost all of the rest of the way on about a quarter inch of snow. But then when I got back to my house, it wasn't sticking to the sidewalks.

I ran a little farther than I had intended. I was going to head north through this park/open space that runs roughly north/south, but I had to run eastward along the south end of the open space to get to the trail, and the wind was whipping down through that open space like nobody's business. It was very uncomfortable to run across the open space. I wasn't about to turn north and run straight into that wind. So I went farther in order to go around it. I did have to turn north eventually in order to get back home. It was on a busy street, so it was still fairly open and windy, but not as bad because there were houses on either side of the busy street. But that's the part where the snow was really sticking to the ground.

There was one point after I turned off the busy street onto a smaller street and I was still running on a snow, that it was very quiet and peaceful for just a second. There was no sound, except my breath and my feet padding along on the snow and somebody's wind chime. But then I care came by and broke the moment.

I think this morning as my first real inauguration into winter running. I was glad I had too pairs of socks on. And I was pretty wet by the time I was done.

Easy run. Average pace: 10:10/mile.

Outside temp at start: 33°F

Outside temp at end: 46°F

I slept in this morning. When I got up I did the shred because I had only done it twice this week (I skipped Wednesday) and I normally do it three times. Then I had some breakfast and then called all the choir members to remind them of tomorrow's practices and performance. Then I finally got around to running at about 10:00 am. I'm not used to running that late in the day. I had an idea that it would warm up, but I didn't expect it to warm up that much during my run and so I ended up being way over dressed.

I've definitely got a cold and I felt pretty sluggish, especially at the beginning. This was a very hilly route. I was finally able to speed up a little at the end. I ran the last full mile in 9:38, and was doing a 9:05 pace for the last 0.24, which was as fast as I could manage.

I hope that I'm able to get rid of this cold quickly. I wonder whether running makes my cold worse. I like to think not. After all, people who are bedridden are at risk for pnuemonia. Hopefully being up and moving around keeps my lungs clear. However, I do think that that 18 mile run last Saturday, which was significantly more than I was used to, weakened my defenses and that's why I got the cold in the first place.

I felt more exposed running today in full daylight than I do in the dark and half light of morning.

Day off.

This doesn't have anything to do with running, but my choir did an AWESOME job today.
We sang "Pilgrim's Hymn" by Stephen Paulus. This song is on the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's CD Consider the Lilies. The Tabernacle Choir does it in 8 parts and a capella. We did it in 4 parts and with the piano because we went way flat when we tried to do it a capella. Still they did a really great job today. Now we've just got to learn 5 songs for Christmas.

Easy run with negative splits and just a little extra effort the last 2 miles. Average pace: 10:03.

Outside temp: 47°F

The t.v. news said it was 36°, but that's the temperature at their studio. That's the temperature I've been going by up until today. But last Saturday evening I bought a window thermometer and it said 47 this morning. It felt more like 47, so I'm going with that, even though I'm not sure how accurate the window thermometer is since it's on the outside of one of my windows, so close to the house. I think it's probably a little colder if you get farther from buildings.

I felt pretty congested when I got up this morning and I overslept just a little bit, but I got up and did the shred anyway, though I moved a little slower and didn't get as many reps of some things as I usually do. And then I went for a run. I started slowly, but got feeling a little better as time went on and finished my last mile in 9:19.

I had been doing hill sprints on Mondays, but I think I'm going to drop the hill sprints for the time being, at least until I get over this cold.

Easy/Progression Run. Average pace: 9:52.

Outside temp 53°F

This was supposed to be an easy run, but it was actually kind of hard for the first half because there was a moderate wind from the south and the first half was mostly uphill and going south into the wind. I kept going looking forward to turning the corner at the half way point and heading north, downhill, with the wind behind me.

My split times were 10:25, 10:41, 10:25, 9:44, 9:16, 8:57, 9:40.

The last mile was slower because it had more uphill and came south again.

I ate some cookies yesterday that I shouldn't have. I've got to do better today. I'd like to lose 5 lbs. in the near term, and then maybe another 10 after that in the longer term.

Easy run. Average pace: 10:29.

Outside temp: 50°F, light wind that seemed more significant when I was running into it.

I was really tired this morning (still am). I was quite congested when I got up. This cold doesn't seem to be getting really bad, but it's not getting better yet either.

I did the level 3 shred, drove the boy, then ran. I just could not get going with any speed today. In looking at my stats in Training Center, I see that only one of the six miles had more descent than ascent. No wonder it felt like it was all up hill this morning.

My average pace was actually probably just slightly faster than 10:29. The first mile got off because the driver of a call-and-ride bus stopped me in a neighborhood and asked me where a street was. I wasn't much help to him. He was looking for Lark Sparrow Trail. We were on Lark Sparrow Drive. There's also Lark Sparrow Street, and Lark Sparrow Way, and Lark Sparrow Court, etc. That's the way neighborhood streets are named around here. It's insane. I know which one is Lark Sparrow Drive because it's the big one that winds all the way through the neighborhood. But I couldn't tell him where to find Lark Sparrow Trail. I did find it a little later on my run, but I couldn't communicate that to the driver at that point.

I'm reading a book called What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami. It's a memoir and is kind of a fun read. While I was eating breakfast this morning, I read his description of an ultramarathon (62 miles) that the author ran one time. I kept thinking about Deborah, The Little Engine That Could. It gave me a whole new appreciation for what she does.

Easy run. Average pace: 10:03/mile.

Outside temp: 33°F, very fine mist

I knew I was in for it when I went to drive my son to seminary and had to scrape 1/4" of solid ice off of the windows of my car. However, the Smartwool socks that I ordered last week came in the mail yesterday and it wasn't a minute too soon. Those socks are magic, I'm tellin' ya. While various parts of me were alternating between two hot and too cold throughout the run, my feet were just right the whole time. I bought two pairs of the socks because I wanted to try them out and make sure I got the right size before getting more, but I may just have to order a couple more pairs today.

I ran without my glasses again on account of not wanting them to get fogged up with my breath coming up out of the neck gator. I tend to imagine things when I don't wear my glasses because things look fuzzy and I'm not sure what they are. For example, this morning, I thought there was some kind of animal scooting through the gutter, but it turned out to be a shadow.

I need to head in to work in a few minutes and I'm afraid I'm going to have to scrape my car again. We've just had this steady, misty drizzle the whole morning. Fortunately the streets and sidewalks weren't icy when I ran because the ground is warmer than the surface of my car.

My gifted but hard-headed and sometimes foolish 6th grader insisted on wearing shorts and a sweatshirt but no coat to school today. I offered him new gloves and he refused them. I told him I felt like a negligent parent letting him go out the door like that, but he insisted that he is fine. I hope he's cold all day so that he learns his lesson. He doesn't seem to think that it's necessary to dress warmly unless it's snowing.

Easy run. Average pace: 10:07

Outside temp at start: 50°F

Outside temp at end: 58°F

I'm taking the day off work today, so rather than run at 6:15 this morning when it was 30°F outside, I got all the kids off to school and then went for my run when it was considerably warm. I also managed to do the shred in between getting the first and second kids to school.

My legs felt very heavy when I started out today. I did feel a little better by the end, but never felt great. I felt much better yesterday. I guess you can't have two good running days in a row. At least I never seem to.

I had negative splits today up until the last mile, which was the same pace as the 4th mile.

I've got to clean house today because my in-laws are coming on Sunday (that's why I'm taking the day off from work). They're just coming for a couple of days so that they can go to Grandparents Day with my daughter. They're not staying for Thanksgiving.

**update**

I took a nap this afternoon instead of cleaning out my refrigerator.

Long run. Average pace: 9:51.

Outside temp: 37°F

I ran on the same trail that I ran 2 weeks ago with some friends who are training for the Honolulu Marathon. But this time I ran from the park/rec center instead of from his parents' house. I suspected that I might see them on the trail because I knew that they were planning to run 21 miles today on the same trail. It's a very popular trail because it is very long and miraculously rural in the middle of the Denver metro area. There are even horses boarded at some points along the trail. It's not a loop, so you have to run it out and back. I started out going north and headed towards my friend's parents' house. My friends started at his parents' house and went south and then we both turned around and changed directions at some point, and so I passed them twice. The first time they didn't recognize me. I recognized them because I was kind of expecting them and because the two of them with their dog are harder to miss. The second time I talked with them briefly as we passed.

There were a lot of runners on the trail today. And I saw a lot of runners in the rec center parking lot where I parked. It's a popular place to start from. I had a nice talk with a guy when I was stretching at the end of my run. He was impressed that 6 months before my first marathon I'm able to run 14 miles.

I kept a fairly steady pace throughout the run, but then decided to try to push it to the fastest pace that I could maintain over the last mile. I ran the last mile in 9:01. I can run faster than that on shorter runs, but I thought that was pretty good after being tired from having just run 13 miles.

I'll probably continue to use that trail for long runs because it is very well suited to them. I went north from the rec center today. I'll probably go south from the rec center next Saturday and explore that part of the trail.

Recovery run. Average pace: 10:48.

I just could not get going very fast this morning. It's probably because of my long run last Saturday, the fact that I ate too much junk over the weekend, and the fact that I stayed up too late last night. I've got to do better on the eating and the sleeping. Thanksgiving week is a hard time to crack down on over eating, but I've got to do it. I think I'll restart my food journal. I've got to try to get to bed earlier too. Last night was hard because my inlaws got here from Utah last evening and we were up late finishing a game of Monopoly. My 6-year-old daughter won thanks to a lot of luck, and advice from her dad.

I had a short talk yesterday with a woman at church who has her own triathlon training business. She recommended that I run a trail near hill called Waterton Canyon. I might have a go of it next Saturday if I have the time to drive out there.This morning on my run I passed this same woman who was running the opposite direction. That was fun.

I had a little tricky section on my run just behind the high school. Some people drop their kids off for school there instead of driving around to the front of the school. So there were cars stopped on both sides of the street with kids opening passenger-side doors to get out. The open doors made running on the sidewalk tricky, so I decided to run on the other side of the pulled-over cars, but that didn't work out so well either because those cars would suddenly pull out after dropping off the kid. I had to dance around a car that was doing that. I also stuck to one side of the street because there were some kids smoking on the other side of the street.

Tomorrow I'm going to run to work and run back home at the end of the day so that my inlaws can use my car. It's about 4.5 miles each way, but it's mostly downhill going there and mostly uphill coming home. I've never done two-a-days before and I've never run in the evening, so it should be interesting. Also, I've got to take a change of clothes and stuff to work today for tomorrow because I don't want to carry it on my back while I'm running to work. I can take a shower when I get to work.

AM: Easy run - 4.73 miles. Average pace: 10:02.

Outside temp: 44°F according to my window thermometer, but it felt colder than that to me.

I did the first half of my two-a-day. Unfortunately, that was the easy half since it was morning and was mostly downhill. I took it pretty easy and I hope I have enough in my tank for the mostly uphill return trip this evening. I'm going to take a different route on the way home so the mileage will probably be a little bit different. I'm not sure which way is shorter, but I suspect that the way I'm going to go home is a little shorter.

It's a logistical challenge to run to work since I don't want to run with a big pack of stuff on my back. I brought a duffle bag to work yesterday with a change of clothes, a towel, and toiletries. I'll change back into running clothes (I also brought some clean running clothes) this evening for the run home and leave today's work clothes and all that other stuff here in the duffle bag, and then take the duffle bag back home tomorrow. With this method, I can only run to work on alternating days, never on consecutive days unless I bright two days worth of stuff in the duffle bag. Running to work isn't really practical for me right now anyway because of my need to get kids off to school and then get them places in the late afternoon/early evening. It just works today because my inlaws are here. Maybe I'll do it someday when my kids are older if I still live a reasonable distance from my office like I do now.

I'll post details about my return trip this evening.

PM: Easy run - 4.75 miles. Average pace: 10:27.

So I was a little slower coming home than going, but that was too be expected. It wasn't too bad. The route I took home was definitely a more gradual uphill than I would have had if I had gone the same way I went to work. I should have taken my headlamp in the morning, but I didn't because it was light when I ran to work. It was dark running home. I did have my reflective vest, though. I'll see how I feel on tomorrow morning's run. I hope I didn't wear myself out too much because I'm doing a Turkey Day 5K. It's not a big deal if I blow it, but it would be nice to get a good time.

Easy run. Average pace: 10:19.

I slept in until 6:00 this morning since my kids don't have school. However, that probably wasn't the smartest thing to do since I do have to go to work and I'm going to be late. In any case, I got up and did Week 1 Day 2 of the push ups program, then did level 3 of the shred, and then ran. I felt okay on the run, not great, but not horrible. I actually was tempted to push the pace a little at one point, but then didn't because I'm running a 5K tomorrow and I thought I'd save my energy a little bit.

I felt pretty good about yesterday's two-a-day. I might try to do it again some time if the opportunity presents itself.

My Garmin was out of batteries, so I don't have good stats. I left it plugged in to the computer over night, and the computer got turned off. The Garmin must have been on and run down the battery.

I did some easy running before the race, but not a whole lot and not as much as I had planned, because the friend I was running with didn't want to run that much for a warm up.

I think that running it without the Garmin was a blessing and a curse. A blessing because I didn't really know my pace, so I just ran as fast as I felt like I could. A curse because I love data and I don't have good data.

They had chip timing for this race, but I never saw a chip reader at the start. For that matter, I never saw the start line. I was a ways back in the pack and I was expecting to go over a start line, but I never did. However, there was a chip reader at the end. Maybe they're only reading end times and basing the start on the gun. It was really crowded at the start and so we started out pretty slow. I stayed with my friend for about half of the race, but she was struggling a bit and I was feeling pretty good, so with her permission I left her and took off. Official results aren't posted yet, but the clock said 26:46 as I crossed the finish line. I think that's about 2 minutes faster than my previous PR.

PM: Easy run of 2.11 miles. Average pace: 9:45.

My 16-year-old son wanted to go for a run (which he has never done before) so I went out with him. He is inclined to go faster than I am, which accounts for my pace, but I have more endurance. He turned around and headed home after a mile and I continued on, but I stayed at the pace that I was already going with him.

Time for pie.

**Update**

I got the official race results. I was right in that they didn't track the start with the chip. So my gun time is 26:46. I don't have a separate chip time. This gives me an average pace of 8:38.

Overall place: 295 out of 975

Gender place: 78 out of 460

Division place: 24 out of 128

Easy run on the slow side. Average pace 10:48.

Outside temp: 36° according to my window thermometer, 27° according to the local news. Motionbased, which is getting data from a weather station closer to my house than the tv station is, says 26°. In any case, it was cold.

I think my window thermometer isn't very accurate when the temperature inside the house is much different from the temperature outside the house, that is, when it's very cold or very hot.

I got up and did week 1, day 3, level 2 of the pushup program and did level 3 of the shred before my run. I have had the luxury of doing all three of these things in the morning last Wednesday and today because the kids don't have school and I haven't been in a rush to get in to work (although I have had to come to work). However, next week when the kids are back at school I won't be able to fit in all three. I'm thinking I could do the pushup program on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and the shred on Tuesdays and Thursdays (and maybe Saturdays). But then I'm not getting a full two-days of rest between pushup days because the shred has pushups in it. But it only has two sets of 8 or 9 pushups. Maybe I'll give it a try next week.

For those of you who are also doing the push up program, I'm able to do level 2 because I've been doing the shred for 6 months and so I had a head start.

Long run. Average pace: 10:07.

Outside temp: 34°F

Yesterday I said that we didn't have any snow in Denver. That was true then. It's not true now. It snowed over night, but not too much, maybe an inch or two.

I ran on the Highline Canal Trail, which is a dirt trail. This time I went south from the rec center instead of north. I had never gone on this part of the trail before. I think I like the northern part of the trial better because it has tunnels that go under the busy streets that the trail crosses. On the southern section, I had to cross the same busy street (Broadway) three times each direction, so six times total. And two of the crossings (so four times), I had to go out of my way to go up to a crosswalk to cross instead of crossing where the trail left off and picked up again.

There are several different sets of mile markers on the trail. I used a different set today than I used last week. The one I used today has mile marker 8 at the rec center. I ran from there to mile marker 0 and back. That should have been 16 miles, but between going out of my way to cross the street four times and missing the 0 mile marker and overshooting it, I went more than 16. I could have stopped and walked when my Garmin said 16 miles, but I decided to keep going until I got back to the mile marker that I started at.

The trail was clear in some parts and had varying amounts of snow in other parts. There were some sections where it was packed with about an inch of snow. Also, there are big trees that line the trail in some places and their branches overhang the trail. Snow was falling a little bit at a time off of the trees and it was almost like it was snowing. A couple of times a big bunch of snow fell on me. It was like the trees were throwing snowballs at me.

It was actually quite picturesque, but I was too cold and tired to enjoy it much.

This was a difficult run for me today. If I keep doing this distance and farther, will this distance ever get easy for me? Maybe it would be easier if I went slower. But it was cold and I wanted to get home. I sped up just slightly the last three miles. But thank heavens for smartwool socks. At least my feet weren't freezing.

Easy run on a treadmill. Average pace: 10:00.

It snowed overnight Saturday night and through Sunday afternoon. It was not a heavy snow and there wasn't a ton of accumulation, but it was very cold (20°) and icy when it was time for me to go on my run. The curbs and some sidewalks were still snow covered and icy. Even those sidewalks that had been shoveled were bad because the shoveling had left a thin film of snow behind, which had subsequently frozen. I hate to run on the treadmill and it takes extra time to drive to my office (where the treadmill) is and back, but it was probably the right decision this morning.

This treadmill displays mph instead of pace. I did 10 minutes at 5.5 mph, 10 minutes at 5.8 mph, 20 minutes at 6.0 mph, 10 minutes at 6.2 mph, and 10 minutes at 6.5 mph. I figure it averaged out to a 10:00/mile because it hit 6 miles at the same time it hit 60 minutes.

I hope I'm able to get outside tomorrow, but I'm not sure. The snow is melting off of the lawns, which is making the sidewalks wet. Then it will freeze tonight and might be icy again in the morning. I'll have to see what it's like.

Oh, I did week 2 day 1 of the pushups program. I really struggled to complete all of the pushups on the last couple of sets. I probably would have done better if I hadn't had an arm wrestling competition with my teenage sons last night. For what it's worth, I beat the 14-year-old (with both the right arm and the left arm), but I couldn't beat the 16-year-old. Last time I tried I could beat the 14-year-old with my right arm, but not with my left arm, so I think I'm improving.

Easy run. Average pace: 10:18.

Outside temp: 46°F

We are having an uncharacteristically warm morning, especially considering that it was well below freezing yesterday morning and is supposed to be really cold and snowy tomorrow. So I took advantage of the break in the cold and ran outside without having to bundle up.

I did the shred level 1 before my run.

I was up late last night because I had to make up some work time (and some work). I was working until 11:00 pm and then I had a hard time going to sleep because I couldn't stop coughing. The cold I had a few weeks ago went away, but now I've got another one and this one involves a dry, hacking cough that is driving me nuts.

They are predicting snow for tomorrow morning, so it might be another treadmill day. I'll just have to see what conditions are like in the morning.

Easy run. Average pace: 10:39/mile.

Outside temp: 23°F

I've got this hacking cough that gives me occasional coughing fits during the day and keeps me up at night. I took some cough syrup with codeine last night in a failed attempt to get a decent night's sleep. This morning when I drove my son to seminary, I was nearly falling asleep at the wheel. Fortunately it's a very short drive. I jokingly wondered if it was possible to fall asleep while running because I went out on my run immediately after the seminary drive. Of course, I didn't fall asleep while running, but I was very sluggish. I suppose it's good when my sluggishness forces me to go as slow and easy as I really should be going on my easy runs.

I was actually a little too warm on my run today. I think I'll wash the clothes I was wearing and wear them again tomorrow because it's supposed to be even colder (the low from 10-15 degrees) tomorrow.

I attempted week 2 day 2 of the pushups program before the drive to seminary this morning. I was supposed to do at least 13 in the last set, and I only managed 9. I guess I'll try day 2 again on Friday and stay with it beyond then if I need to and only move up to day 3 after I can successfully do day 2.

My plan is to do 18 miles this Saturday, but I'm not sure I'll be up to it. I guess I'll just see how it goes.

Easy run. Average pace: 10:24.

Outside temp: 17°F. A thin layer of snow on the ground with light but continuous snow falling. Winds 10 mph from the NW. (I'm getting the temperature and wind information from motionbased.com.)

I slept in the recliner last night, which helped me not cough as much, so I got a little bit better night's sleep than I have been. I also took the cough syrup with codeine last night.

I got up this morning and did the level 1 shred. I did "girl" pushups on the first set of pushups, and rested during the second set of pushups in the hopes that I'll be able to complete week 2 day 2 of the pushups program tomorrow.

I wasn't sure whether I should run outside or go run on the treadmill, so I got dressed for running outside, but put clothes for running inside in my bag and took the bag with me to drive my son to seminary. But I decided to save time and run outside.

I dressed the same as I did yesterday with the exception that I wore two thin pairs of gloves today (just one of them yesterday) and I added a scarf today. I was sometimes too warm and sometimes too cold, depending which way I was going with respect to the wind. The only part of me that felt just right was my feet, thanks to the smartwool socks. However, yesterday I noticed that one of my smartwool socks had developed a small hole in the toe. I don't know the first thing about darning socks, but I just stitched up the whole with some regular thread last night.

It wasn't too slick, except in a couple of places. There's one small stretch of sidewalk that's at the bottom of a hill and is north-facing where the snow from the last storm didn't get shoveled and hasn't melted. The old snow was frozen into bumpy ice and there was a layer of new snow on top of that. I got to that patch of sidewalk and started slipping and realized what the situation was, so I just stepped off onto the shoulder of the road and was fine there. Also, it was a bit slippery when I would cross streets that were intersecting the road I was running on, because the cars driving on the roads made them slippery.

I was interested to notice that in most of the places I ran there was a set of footprints that had preceded me. I was out between 6:00 and 7:00, so other people were out even earlier. I also noticed a bicycle track. I think you'd be crazy to ride a bicycle in this weather.

Easy run. Average pace: 10:40/mile.

Outside temp: 15°F, about 1 1/2 inches of snow on the ground.

It actually felt warmer this morning than it did yesterday because the wind was more of a factor yesterday.

The snow was powdery yesterday and crunchy today. My shoes hitting the snow made kind of a squeaky sound with each step. I ran on the sidewalks along a couple of major streets and the snowplows had been down those streets yesterday and dumped bumpy, crusty snow on the sidewalks, so running on that snow was almost like running on a bumpy dirt trail.

I think I overdressed a bit. I could do without the scarf, I think.

My self-created and self-imposed training plan says that I should run 18 miles tomorrow. I think it will be a little warmer tomorrow than it has been today, though I'm sure the snow will still be on the ground. I'll probably give it a go, but I think I'll try to run slower than I have been running on my long runs and then even though it will take me longer, maybe I won't be as wasted.

I'm thinking good thoughts for Snoqualmie, her marathon, and her FIL.

Long run. Average pace: 10:32/mile.

Outside temp: 46.4°F (average), 53.6°F (high)

Whose crazy idea was it for me to run 18 miles today? Oh, yeah. It was mine. I might have to rethink this plan I head to run 18 miles once/month. In any case, I'm thinking of starting a training plan in three weeks and it doesn't go up to 18 miles for a while, even though it's a fairly high mileage training plan.

I ran the Highline Canal Trail again. Most of the snow melted yesterday, but there were still some snowy/icy spots, especially in the first 1/3 of the run. By the end of the run, the trail was quite muddy.

I tried to go faster the at the end because I wanted to be done. I did the last full mile in 8:59, but then I slowed down for the .1.

It was a really hard workout. I'm beat.

I took an ice bath but I was a wimp about it. I probably didn't have the water as cold as I should have. The ice melted really quickly after I put it in. And I only stayed in the bath for two or three minutes. But now that I've tried it and lived, maybe I'll be more hard core about it next time.

Recovery run. Average pace: 10:52.

Outside temp: 48°F

I've been pushing myself really hard the last couple of months and I'm pretty worn out. I've had this cold/cough and the long run last Saturday was really hard for me. This week is supposed to be a cut back week and so I decided to cut back more than I have been doing. I decided to cut back nearly 50%. So I planned to run between 3 and 4 miles this morning. It was a good thing, because I overslept. I set my alarm, but neglected to turn it on. So my son showed up in my room at 5:57 saying that he needed a ride to seminary. He's supposed to be at seminary at 6:00, so I got up and slipped on some flip-flops, my glasses, and my coat, and drove him to seminary. I probably needed the extra sleep, so it was good in that respect.

After I got back home, I finally managed to complete week 2 day 2 of the pushups program. I suspect that week 2 day 3 will take several attempts as well.

It was relatively warm for my run today, but it is supposed to get colder as the days go one, with snow starting in the afternoon and continuing through the night, with 3-5" of accumulation by morning. I'm seriously considering running on the treadmill tomorrow.

I didn't take my mp3 player with my on my run this morning and I had "Infant Lowly, Infant Holy," which we worked on at choir practice yesterday, going through my head the whole time. I'm fairly stressed out about the choir program. We've only got two more practices before the performance, and we're not really solid on four of the five pieces we're singing. We're okay on one of the five because it's very simple.

Easy run on the treadmill for 45 minutes.

We've got probably about 4 inches of snow and it's still coming down, but slowly now. I don't mind running on about an inch of snow, but if it's deep enough to come up to my ankles when I step in it, I don't want to run in it.

I watched the local news while I ran on the treadmill, but the sound was muted so the closed captions were on. The closed captions were mostly good, but sometimes confusing and sometimes amusing. In the traffic report, there was something about I-70 and Iraqi. I really can't figure out what they were saying that caused the closed captioner to type Iraqi. And then later they must have been talking about the ski town Telluride. The closed captioner typed tell your ride. I got a chuckle out of that. Other than that, the run was pretty boring. Watching all the school delays and closings scroll across the bottom of the screen, and the same weather report and traffic report over and over was not too exciting.

My kids have a one hour delay this morning. That means that the elementary school doesn't start until 10:00, so I've still got them home for another hour.

Easy/moderate. Average pace: 9:41.

Outside temp: 19°F

For some reason the cold temperatures in the morning don't seem as cold to me as the cold temperatures in the evening. I was out last night to go to my son's HS orchestra concert and I was freezing walking between the car and the building with my winter coat on. Then this morning, with just a long-sleeved tech shirt and a fleece hoody, with the temperature lower than it was last night, I was fine, even before I started running.

It was supposed to be an easy run today, but I felt good for some reason. Maybe because I've taken it really easy with short mileage the last two days. And I was doing short mileage again today, so after I got warmed up a bit, I decided to push it just a little bit. My splits were: 10:33, 9:41, and 9:17, with the last 1/2 mile at 8:50 pace. I felt really good and would have kept going if I had had the time, but I had to get home and get the kids off to school and get ready for work.

The roads and sidewalks were mostly clear, with a strip of snow/ice of varying widths between the sidewalk and the road. Sometimes I went on the sidewalk and sometimes on the road, but I had to go fairly far out in the road to get beyond the ice in some spots. There were patches of ice here and there, especially where parking lots exited to the road I was running on. I had to jump over lots of small ice patches, and at one point I hit a big ice patch and started to slip, arms flailing and all, but I managed to get my other foot down and regain my balance and I didn't fall. We're supposed to get some more melting today, so the roads should be fine tomorrow and for the rest of the week. The next storm is expected on Sunday.

Before my run this morning I completed week 2 day 3 of the pushups program on my first try! I did 61 pushups! I think skipping the shred really helps. I'm too fatigued if I do the shred. You're supposed to take a test before starting week 3 to see what column you're supposed to follow in week 3, so I think I'll do the test on Friday morning and start week 3 next Monday. I might continue to lay off the shred until I get through this pushups program.

Easy run. Average pace: 10:14.

Outside temp: 26°F

This was just a short run early in the morning. I was done before the sun came up. I had to run early this morning because my husband got in a car accident last night. It was his fault. He's a little sore, but okay. I can't say as much for the car he was driving. So we had to go to the rental car place early this morning and get a car. I wanted to get my run done before we did that. We're waiting to find out how much his ticket is going to cost us and whether our car is totaled. The front part of the front end is pretty smashed and the car is 6.5 years old and has over 100,000 miles on it.

I ate cookies and ice cream last night because I was upset. I knew it was emotional eating, but I did it anyway.

Easy run. Average pace: 10:28.

Outside temp: 26°F

I did a pushups test this morning to see what column I should follow for week 3 of the pushups program. I followed the second column for the first two weeks. If I managed 16-20 I was supposed to follow column 1 going forward, and I needed 21-25 in order to follow column 2. I barely managed 20. I could go forward with column 1 and week 3, but I'd like to try to stick with column 2, so I think I'll repeat week 2 this next week and then test again and see if I can manage 21 or more pushups in one set.

My run was uneventful. The whole thing was in the dark. I think I need to replace the batteries in my headlamp. It wasn't giving me much light, but it's not a big deal because there are plenty of street lights. There's still snow on the ground, but the roads and sidewalks are clear for the most part. There are still a few icy spots here and there, but less with each day. However, it's supposed to snow again on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, so I may spend some time on the treadmill the first part of next week.

I'm trying to decide where to go for my long run tomorrow. I'm planning to do 12 miles. I could do Waterton Canyon, which I've never done before, but I don't know whether it's still snowy there. I could do the Highline Canal Trail, which I've done the past few Saturdays, or I could stick to the roads in Highlands Ranch. I have a coworker who lives kind of near Waterton Canyon, I think. So I'll ask her how much snow she has at her house.

Long run. Average pace: 9:52.

Outside temp: Motionbased says it was 46°, but that's at Centennial Airport, and I was quite a ways from Centennial Airport and in a canyon. I think it was colder than that.

I ran up and back down Waterton Canyon. It was a dirt road, that vehicles can drive on, but only authorized vehicles. I saw one truck. It connects to a fairly difficult mountain biking trail after the 6th mile, so runners typically turn around at that point, like I did today. I saw a lot of runners, and interstingly, most of them were women. It was shady most of the time and icy in some spots, but sunny in some spots. It was a little muddy on the way back down the cabin. The road goes along a river and at one point, there was a layer of ice on the river.

A woman that I know who is a triathlon coach recommended that I run Waterton Canyon as a way to practice downhill running in preparation for the Ogden marathon. But of course, in order to run down Waterton Canyon, I first had to run up Waterton Canyon. It never seemed very steep, but according to my Garmin, there was an elevation change of 3,000 ft. from the bottom of the canyon to where I turned around. The uphill never felt really hard and the downhill never felt really easy. However, I guess there was more of a distance than I perceived because my splits for the first six miles were all between 10:05 and 10:22, and the splits for miles 7 through 11 were between 9:36 and 9:48. I made a conscious attempt to run faster on mile 12 and ran it in 8:47.

My shoes are a little muddy.

I love Colorado.

On the treadmill, mostly at 10:00 pace, but some of it a little slower and some of it a little faster.

Oh the weather outside is frightful. It was -9°F this morning, so I opted for the treadmill. I thought it would be foolhardy to run outside for an hour.

I spent some time yesterday downloading a couple of audio books from the local library's website and putting them on my mp3 player. I started listening to The Good Earth this morning. I remember hearing my mom mention the book when I was a kid and I've never read it, so I thought I'd give it a try. Listening to the book helped to pass the time on the treadmill, but I was still watching the clock and waiting for it to be over. Once it got light outside it was kind of fun to see the houses across the street all covered in snow with smoke coming out of all of the chimney pipe things. I'm sure there weren't real fires in the houses, just exhaust from the furnaces, but it looked kind of cool.

I didn't want my elementary school kids to stand at the bus stop too long, so I was going to keep them in the house a little longer than normal and send them to the bus stop just in time. But we cut it too close and they missed the bus so I had to drive them to school. I guess I better send them out a couple of minutes earlier tomorrow.

On the treadmill again today and I went a little faster than yesterday, with more of it at 9:14 pace and about 5 minutes at 8:56 pace.

It turns out that our car is totaled, and so we have to buy a new car. We don't know yet how much we're going to get from the insurance company for the old car. I really didn't want to buy a new car right now, but oh well.

Also, it turns out I dropped my cell phone in the driveway last night when I was getting stuff out of the trunk of the car. It sat in the driveway over night and I might or might not have run over it this morning when I drove to work to run on the treadmill. It doesn't appear to be crushed, but it's not working.

I've just got all kinds of hassles and expenses that I didn't want right now.

Easy run. Average pace: 10:16/mile.

Outside temp: 17°F.

I finally got back outside. But I have been enjoying listening to The Good Earth while running on the treadmill the last couple of days and I wanted to listen to it on my run today, so I brought along my Sansa and wore my headphones even though the headphones are kind of uncomfortable with all of the cold weather gear. I put the Sansa on my arm before I put my outer jacket on, and so then I couldn't access it to change the volume during the run, which was unfortunate, because I needed it a little louder once I got out into the traffic. Still, I could hear it, but I had to focus on listening and as a result didn't pay a whole lot of attention to my running. I did try to watch out for patches of ice and for cars. What I'm trying to say is that the run passed quickly and relatively painlessly because I was engrossed in the book.

I think we're going to have to go car shopping tonight. I'm not excited about it at all.

Also, I went to the Spring store yesterday and swapped out my old phone for a new one, but the new one doesn't work. I've got to go back there again today. What a hassle.

Easy run that kind of turned into a tempo run. Average pace: 9:55/mile.

Outside temp: 16°F

I ran outside while listening to The Good Earth once again, which took my mind off of both the cold and my pace. However, after about three miles, I realized that I was running quite slowly due to lack of attention to my pace, so I picked it up a bit and ran the rest a little faster. My splits were 10:18, 10:24, 10:44 (notice how I was getting slower), 9:44, 9:17, 9:09.

I've got a working cell phone now and we've got the paper work from the insurance company to settle this car thing. We did a very little car shopping last night. We're interested in the Toyota Matrix. My husband plays the string bass and we need a car that can carry a bass. I think this car can do it, but is still a small, economical car. I don't want to buy a bigger car than I have to. My husband drives a long way to and from work and we need a car that gets good gas mileage.

Easy run. Average pace: 10:07/mile.

Outside temp: 32°F, with a thin layer of snow nearly everywhere, and some slick spots, particularly when crossing streets where cars have been driving.

To look at my split times (10:41, 11:00, 10:39, 9:57, 9:19, 9:13), you would think that I started pushing the pace after the third mile. But it was actually a fairly consistent effort. The elevation profile for the route I ran looks like an upside down V. It's mostly uphill for the first half, and then mostly downhill for the second half.

As I've mentioned before, I've been listening to The Good Earth during my runs recently. This book takes place in China before communism and there is some discussion now and then of binding the girls' and womens' feet. I was thinking about how Chinese society put such high value on small feet for woman and the lengths they went to achieve that, but then I realized that we also value small feet for woman to a lesser extent in Western society. Last time I bought running shoes, the guy brought out a pair for me to try on. After I tried them on and liked them he revealed that he hadn't wanted to tell me before because it might prejudice me, but they were a wide width. I thought that was kind of silly. I just wanted shoes that fit right and felt good, especially since they were running shoes. I didn't care that they were a wide width.

I'll probably finish the book tomorrow. I've got to decide where I'm going to run tomorrow. I'm going to have to start early and I'll be pressed for time because I've got to run a final choir practice for our choir Christmas program tomorrow morning. (The practice is tomorrow morning, the Christmas program is Sunday morning.) I suppose I could run in the afternoon, but I know I'll have errands to run and things to do then. It'll be better if I can get the run done before the choir practice.

Long run. Average pace: 10:18 mile.

Outside temp: 14°F

This was kind of a miserable run. I felt kind of crummy the whole time. I thought about cutting it short, but didn't. There was a thin dusting of snow almost everywhere, but the wind had blown it away in some places. I could see ice forming on the edge of my hat, and my gatorade froze. I've got a fuel belt with four little bottles, and I couldn't get the one with gatorade open, nor one of the water ones. Ice had formed around the opening, keeping them from opening. I did manage to get another one of the water ones opened. I unscrewed the lid on the gatorade and tried to drink it, but most of it was frozen. I had one sport bean, but it was frozen too. I've run in temperatures this cold before, but not on a long run.

This was not a great week for me in terms of running. I feel like I'm in a bit of a rut. Maybe starting official marathon training after another week will get me out of the rut. Or maybe it will wear me out completely.

But I'll be glad tomorrow after my choir program is over. And we're struggling with the decision of which car to buy. That situation will probably be resolved in a couple of days as well.

Easy run on the treadmill.

2 minute warm up, 32 min. @ 6.0, 20 min. @ 6.5, 5 minute cool down.

The weather was such that I could have bundled up and run outside this morning, but since I didn't have to get anyone besides myself off to school or work, I decided to just come into work early, run on the treadmill and shower here, and then come upstairs to my desk. We're down to one car right now because we took the rental car back and haven't bought a new car yet, so I had to have my husband drive me here early this morning.

My choir Christmas program went well at church yesterday. We had kind of a rough start on the first song (Carol of the Bells), but it got better after that and we finished strong. I got lots of nice comments from people. I'm looking forward to taking the next couple of weeks off from choir. I need a break.

I took the post-week-2 pushups test this morning and failed on the 21st pushup. If I had been able to complete that 21st pushup, I could have started week 3 in the middle column. So at this point, I can repeat week 2 a third time, or go ahead with week 2 in the first column. I think maybe I'll do the latter. I really don't want to do week 2 again.

Easy run. Average pace 10:11/mile.

Outside temp: 20°F, a few icy spots but otherwise clear ground - it's supposed to snow later today.

This was an uneventful run that I spent listening to Tess of the d'Urbervilles. I've got to finish it this week because it is from the library and is due soon. Poor Tess. It's a very tragic story. I've read it before more than once, so I know what's going to happen, though I don't remember all the detail.

I'm struggling to be excited about running lately. Maybe it's because there is so much else going on with Christmas and buying a new car and everything. I start my official marathon training next week, so I'm hoping that that will get me psyched about running again. Maybe I'm just tired of running in the cold all the time. But I have to admit that the cold doesn't really bother me any more most of the time. It's just a hassle getting all the layers of clothes on to go out and run in it. But while I'm out there it doesn't bother me much.

Maybe my problem is that I run more or less the same distance on more or less the same routes all the time. I'm going to start varying my weekday distances more when I start the marathon training, but I don't have time on weekday mornings to go someplace else to run. I pretty much have to leave from and return to my house and there are only so many directions I can run from my house.

Easy run. Average pace: 10:01/mile.

Outside temp: 20°F

The 4-6 inches of snow we were supposed to get turned into nothing. They claim that the clouds dried up over the mountains, and so we got no snow here in Denver. I would have liked to have a white Christmas, but still it's nice to run on dry ground.

I listened to Tess again because now that I've started it I've got to finish it. I've got about an hour and a half left. And then I checked out an audio book called Cold Sassy Tree because I had put a hold on it and it became available yesterday. So I'll listen to that after Tess, but then maybe I'll take Snoqualmie's advice and turn to running books. However, I'm limited on what I can get in terms of audio books by what is available on the library's website.

I decided to give week 2 of the pushups program a third attempt, and so I did day 1 again this morning. I'm okay with day 1. It's day 2 that I struggle with. My previous two times through week 2 I've had to do day 2 at least twice each time. But then I'm able to do day 3 with one try despite that it is harder than day 2. Go figure.

I have to work a half day today. I was going to take a vacation day, but I would have had to use a whole vacation day even though the work day is only a half day today. It's the same situation on New Year's Eve. I'm terribly late on account of my sleeping in and then doing a longish run this morning, but I'll just go for 4 hours and then come home. And I've got Christmas presents hidden at work that I need to wrap and bring home.

And we bought a new car yesterday. I get to drive it to work today. It's a gray Toyota Matrix.

Update: I finished Tess.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Easy late morning run after opening presents and eating more than I should have. Average pace: 10:13.

Outside temp: 40°F.

Wind speed: ESE 10.4 mph (avg.), ESE 20.7 mph (max).

It was quite windy and I was sometimes too warm and sometimes too cold, depending what direction I was going with relation to the wind, despite that I wore my new smartwool socks, pants, and top that I got for Christmas. The socks aren't as heavy as my older smartwool socks and I would have done better with the heavier ones, but the new ones will be good when the weather isn't quite as cold.

The game console that we got for one of my sons, which is supposed to play old NES and SNES games, doesn't work. I'm going to have to deal with customer support and maybe send it back (I bought it online) tomorrow. I feel bad for the kid, but he's having fun playing Animal Crossing for Wii, which we also got him. (We already had a Wii.)

I got Daniels' Running Formula, so I'll be reading that.

Easy run. Average pace: 10:00/mile.

Outside temp: 36°F. It felt slightly warmer than yesterday even though the temperature was slightly lower because wind was not a factor today.

I wore long pants, a long-sleeved t-shirt that was way too big for me, but was the only clean long-sleeved shirt I had today, gloves, and a headband to cover my ears. The gloves went off and on a few times.

I ran without headphones today, which I haven't done for a while, so that I could concentrate more on the running. Also, the headphones don't work well with the headband. It was a pretty nice run.

The ground was damp. I guess it rained earlier this morning. But it wasn't raining when I ran and there weren't puddles. We might get a little snow this evening, but I'll be surprised if we do, because none of the snow they have predicted for Denver lately has actually happened. I'm trying to decide where to run tomorrow. I'm planning to do 14. If the ground is very wet I'll stick to the roads rather than a trail because I don't want to run on a muddy trail. If the ground is dry, I'll probably go do the Highline Canal Trail again.

Long run. Average pace: 10:12/mile.

Outside temp: 19°F. Wind: 9.2 mph WSW.

I ran on the roads in Highlands Ranch and Lone Tree instead of running on the Highline Canal Trail. I just didn't feel like running on the trail today. The trail is actually kind of boring because the scenery doesn't change much. Running on the roads I can at least measure my progress by what intersections I've crossed. But the roads around here are very hilly so I had a lot of hill running today on my long run.

I was going to listen to Cold Sassy Tree while I ran, but I had lost my place in the audio files and gave up trying to find it before my run. So I ran without headphones.

I thought for the first 3 miles that I had overdressed, but that's because I was heading east, away from the wind. As soon as I turned south I started getting cold again. I had taken off my hoody and tied it around my waist after about 1/2 mile, and left it there for the whole run, but my hat and gloves went on and off several times during the run, as did my neck gaitor, but I had a problem with the neck gator. When I had it on it would get damp from my breath and then when I pulled it down it would freeze and so next time I pulled it up it would be all stiff, but my breath would thaw it out and soften it up.

Next week is 20 weeks out from the Ogden Marathon and I start my official marathon training schedule, which I got from Run Faster by Brad Hudson. This schedule has longer runs on Wednesdays and Thursdays than I've been doing. I'm going to have to get up really early to get in 10-12 miles on those days before going to work. It will be okay next week because of the holiday, but after that, kids are back at school and I'll have to be out running in the cold at 5 am. I wonder if I'll still have the will to run after I finish this marathon.