Craig's Running Blog

The thermometer read "36" at dawn, so I knew it would be a shorts day. I decided to get in a couple extra miles because I had time. Took off on the pipeline trail and ran to the end, then came back on the porter rockwell trail.

Interesting thing- I've been running more miles this winter, and I haven't gained the usual winter weight that I put on by Christmas. In years past, I would be running 20 miles a week this time of year rather than 40+, so I think that makes a difference. If I can drop 5 pounds by March for the Moab 1/2, that will be ideal.

Another snow storm came in this evening, which means fresh snow on the trails in the morning. That's always a bonus.

Well, I wish I had something clever to say since this was Christmas day and all. I kept up the morning routine and got out of the house around 6:00 or so. Nice, fresh snow from the previous day's storm, which made the run slow and soft. Not a huge effort, but it was serene.

Got back to the house in time to be there when the kids woke up. That's always a good time.

It was a slow day, but that's only because the roads were nasty. On top of that, they didn't plow the trail yesterday because of Christmas. So I had to choose between a tracked out trail or main roads that had been plowed. I chose a little of both. Neither one was pleasant. I did the Sasha dance at one point, but caught myself before I fell.

I'm going out to Vernal/Roosevelt tomorrow with the family. I was looking at the weather out there- very cold. The high temp for today was 14 degrees (the low was 0). I can't imagine running in a climate that cold, but I'll just have to dress for it. The upside- after running in that for a few days, it will feel like spring out here.

The trails were plowed, but it was a day late. There was a remnant crust of ice and snow which made it ok to run on, but only in trail shoes. I hope this clears out for the group run on Saturday, which I won't be around for. I told everyone that the city plows these paved trails, and they normally do, but the snowfall on Christmas Eve screwed things up.

After I got back, we started packing our stuff for the trip out to Teresa's parents house near Vernal. I noticed the high temperature today was 14 degrees, with the low about -5. Not a good sign, but maybe I can get a couple runs in after dressing properly. Better yet, I may split the run up into 2 segments (morning and evening), so that I'm not exposed to the cold at one time.

As usual, we didn't get out of the house on time. We eventually left close to 3:00. We made a couple stops on the way, the last one at Teresa's sister's house in Duchesne, which added a couple hours to the trip. Finally got in near 8:00, had dinner, then hooked up the xbox and played Rockband until well after midnight. So much for a consistent sleep schedule.

Freezing. Completely freezing. I waited until 8:00 for the temperature to get up to -4, but I'm not even sure that was accurate because the thermometer was in the sun. I am so glad I don't live out in the basin.

I took a run around the lake. I had to keep moving, because stopping would cool me down to fast. To get out to the lake, I had to wade through a foot of snow. Needless to say, I got snow in my ankles and shoes. I felt like I had dirt in my shoes the whole run. When I got back to the house, I took my shoes off and saw the snow in there. It didn't even melt. Bad.

Another run around the lake. Same temperature- somewhere a little below 0. The low temperature in Roosevelt the night before was -25, so I hate to think what I was running in. My face mask was a completely solid piece of ice. It started rubbing against my neck and left a nasty wound.

There's a good marathoner from Roosevelt that has won St George in the past (I think he was in the top 5 this year). I wonder how he trains in this.