faster with age

     Today was the second day in San Diego with my wife. The weather was great [mostly upper 70s]. We went deep sea fishing yesterday and caught a bunch of fish. I went out for a short run on the beach from our hotel this morning. I did a little on the sand but most of my run on the boardwalk [I don't know if you still call it that when it's paved]. There are always a lot of people running there. I'm not used to running around other people [except in races] and I seem to get a little competitive. You know:  pass other runners but don't get passed. What little running I have done lately has been slow so I started at around 8:30 pace then picked it up as I went. By the time I had gone almost a mile, I was running closer to 8:00 pace and out of the corner of my eye I could see a guy coming up on me. He was on the other side of the beach wall running in the dry deep beach sand. It's hard to run 10 min pace in that stuff! I couldn't let him pass me like that so I picked up the pace for a ways but he was still there. I dropped my pace more [into the 7:30s] and I guess he dropped back and I didn't see him any more. After a mile at this pace I see this guy again out of the corner of my eye. This time I maintained my pace and he went running right by me barefoot in that deep sand. Wow! He definitely had the look of an elite runner. Not too long after passing me though he turned out to the middle of the beach and stopped. I guess he was human. He must of been near the end of his run wanting to do a fast finish and used me as his target. I turned  back a little farther out then ran back in 7:35, 7:28 then the last 1/2 mile at 7:07 pace.

     I don't think I've run a mile under 8 minutes in the last 3 or 4 months so it felt good to run a few faster miles. Overall pace was 7:39

     Went out intending to do a 5 mile run but I stopped to chat with a neighbor for a minute and it ended up going much longer than planned. When I took off again I realized that I barely had enough time to get home and in to town to pick up my son from lacrosse practice. I figured I could finish the run after I got home but about the time we got home, 30 mph winds had started up along with wet snow.  I decided to bag the run. 

     We had a basketball game tonight for the church tournament. I got a good workout so I didn't feel as bad about the short run.

     Got out for a 6 mile run. Just kept the pace easy. 8:46 AP

     We won our basketball game again last night in the tournament, so we played tonight for the stake championship.We felt way over matched going into this one. They had 2 ex-college players that are in their early 30s that are about 6'4 and 6'5. and all but one of the rest of their team are very good players in their 30s.  Two of us are in our 50s and 2 in their 40s. We have one 22 yr old but he hasn't played a lot and isn't very good and two 30 year old's that are around 6'1 and 6'2".  One of our 30 yr old's was going to play D-2 college ball but blew out his knee and wasn't able. He was actually the best player on the floor but after him I would have to say every one of the rest of their team were better players than the rest of our team.

     The game started ugly and they scored 12 points before we got our first basket. I think it was 18 to 4 before they started to cool off and we started picking things up. By halftime we were only down 6. We really turned up the defense the second half and managed to put the game into overtime. We came out with the 3 point win in overtime! Waahoo!

     Our other 50 yr-old [today was his 52nd birthday] pulled his hamstring during the game so I wound up playing most of the game. After running the floor hard all night and playing extra hard, I felt like I got in a very good workout.

     7 miles @ 8:36

     This was the warmest day all year so far. Temp was in the upper 50s. First time this year to run in shorts and tee shirt. There was a slight breeze and on my way out it was a tailwind which made it feel like no breeze at all. I was sweating like crazy and felt way hot. Running back into the breeze felt much better. 6 miles at 8:15 AP

     Another warm day today. The snow is melting fast. Ran 7 miles easy pace. 8:48 AP

     Ran 8 miles tonight. It was getting dark when I left and completely dark by about halfway. We have a bunch of swans that have just moved into the area [like they do every spring]. I could hear flocks of them making all kinds of noise flying back and forth in the moonlight sometimes right overhead.

     Was planning to run 8 miles. I turned around at 4 miles and made it to about 5 1/2 then suddenly had a pain in my ankle. I stopped and stretched it for a bit but when I would start to run it would come back. I had to walk most of the 2 1/2 miles home. I tried running a few more times but it would quickly come back.

We made the trip down to Southern Utah for some camping and hiking. We drove down to the Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument. We set up camp along the Hole in the Rock Road then went on a very cool hike down into what is called Peek-A-Boo Slot Canyon.     

     We took another cool hike that started out by dropping 1260 ft of elevation over the first three miles to get down to the Escalante River. Then we hiked down the river bottom for a mile. We had to ford the river 5 times before we came to a side canyon called Neon Canyon. We hiked up this narrow slot canyon for a mile until it ends at a huge cavern called the Golden Cathedral. It has a large emerald colored pool in the bottom and 2 huge round openings in the ceiling that the water pours through when it rains.  The water reflections onto the rock walls inside the cavern were quite a sight.

     My garmin read a total of 11 miles for the hike but we had an extra mile on the way in with some meandering we did to find the best routes. There isn't a trail for a lot of it. There are rock cairns sometimes to help guide you and it helped that I had programed some gps coordinates into my garmin that I had gotten from searching google earth before the trip. We never saw another person on the whole hike until we were almost back to the jeep. My son and I climbed the last three miles out of the canyon at a very brisk pace. It took us an hour and was a great workout.

looking back up to the rim where we're parked. It's a lot steeper than it looks.                                                                                                                                                                                 View of the river bottom.                                                                                                                                                            

                                                        One of the 5 crossings each way. Very cold water                                                                                                           Indian petroglyphs in the canyon bottom                                                                                                                                        Water reflections on the walls of the Golden Cathedral. Reflection below is after skipping a rock                                                                        

                                                         Dinosaur tracks

     6 miles treadmill. I was a little worried about my ankle. It ended my last run short and it hurt a couple of times during the long hike I did last Saturday. It wasn't an issue on this run.

     I ran up to the reservoir for the first time this year. Last week it still had a lot of snow and mud. There were still a few patches of melting snow that made some muddy spots but I was able to mostly get around them without getting too muddy. 8 miles @ 8:39

     Ran up to the reservoir again. This time there was a lot less snow and mud to get around. The reservoir is still covered with ice but it won't be for long in these temps. It was 64 degrees but I felt like I was overheating when the breeze was a tailwind. It's crazy how warm that can feel when you are used to the cold winter. By June and July, 64 deg will feel nice. 8 miles @ 8:36.