Craig's Running Blog

A nice early morning run before the sun came up on the porter rockwell trail. Nobody else was up, of course. Everything felt really good. Hands got cold by the end, but I'm not complaining.

Again- I had the opportunity to run with friends at 6:30 around Murray Park... or hit the treadmill. I hate the treadmill, but the thought of dodging ice on busy roads in the dark didn't appeal to me either. So I got a new pair of shoes at lunch and hit the gym. 6 miles, mostly at a 6:00 pace. I'll call it marathon pace because it's easier on the treadmill without the wind resistance and rolling terrain.

Yesterday on the treadmill wasn't horrible, so I tried it again today. Mentally, it was tough. Physically- no big deal. For some reason, they couldn't find me in the system and I didn't have my bar code tag with me. I'll have to make sure I take that with me from now on, so we don't spend 15 minutes trying to find me in a retarded system that only lets them search by name.

My racquetball buddy Adam is out sick- likely for the rest of the week. So I was watching these guys play while I ran on the treadmill. I watched this one guy play with a different style than I've seen before, and he had some decent success against an arguably much better player. He aced the guy several times on his serves. I think I'll try out a couple of his serves next time I play.

Wet morning. Rain- not snow. I slipped on the way down the hill and on the way back up. That's not something that happens very often. Reminded me of living in California, where I was dealing with wet shoes and mud all winter.

Anyway, I went out for a quick 6.5 miles, most of which was fast. I had to get back for an early dentist appointment at 8:00.

I spent this morning on the mountain. The snow was great- about a foot of fresh powder. Went up there with Rory and Hilt. We didn't want to come back to work, but decided we should.

Unusually warm day in the valley. But the storm came in suddenly about 4:00. I left work about 5:00 and it took me an hour to get 5 miles. As I passed the gym, I figured it would be a good idea to stop and get some miles in. So I did 5 on the treadmill.

The problem with treadmill running is that I get bored and I end up running faster than I probably should. Today was no exception. Even in my fatigued state from this morning, I ran at a 6:00 - 6:15 pace. If I was on the roads, I could have slowed it down to a 7:00-7:30 pace and done a couple extra miles. I'll have to work on that.

Man- I love fresh snow on the trail. Perfect. I got bundled up and wore my ski goggles for this morning's run. The snow slowed me down to a 8:00 - 8:30 pace, because they hadn't plowed the trail yet. That's fine. I was the first and only one on it, so there was no surprise footing. I did have a hard time finding the trail in a few areas because the snow was deep. I'm guessing 12 inches.

I didn't make it back home unti 7:30, then I took my time and didn't leave for work until 9:15. There has been some buzz on the Internet about the republican candidate Ron Paul, who shares my Libetarian views. So I did some research and got some good info on that front. Something to talk about at work, anyway.

Tough morning workout in Kearns. Bill planned it out with a 2 mile warmup, 10x200 sprints, 10x400 hill repeats, and a 1 mile tempo.

I promoted fastrunningblog last night, but I was still surprised to hear that about 6 of my running friends had joined up. Good deal.

Spent the afternoon on the mountain again snowboarding. Got Kristian up on the mountain for his first time. Zoe has been up a few times, so she didn't want a lesson. She should have still taken one. Man, I was beat when I got home.