faster with age

     Ran 11 miles at an easy pace this morning. I was able to take my favorite route up past winder reservoir for the first time without snow this year. It's amazing that the last time I ran this 3 weeks ago there was still a couple feet of snow and I was running on snowmobile tracks. There are a few snowbanks still melting that make for a few muddy spots but all in all not to bad. With  the winding road and hills on this route, the distance always seems shorter than the straighter flatter routes that I run. I guess it's just mentally easier to have things always changing.  8:13 ave pace.

     Woke up to 3 inches of new snow this morning. I went for 10 very easy miles. I took the reservoir road and ran on snow all the way up. On the way back some spots had melted and were muddy. 9:11 AP.

     I guess winter doesn't want to let go yet. 3 inches of snow yesterday morning and 18 deg this morning. It is looking nice out now though. I went for a 3 mile run this morning and then 18.5 on my mt bike. I was able to ride my favorite loop for the first time this year with just a few muddy spots left but the snow mostly gone. The ice is off around the edge of the reservoir and there are some ducks and geese hanging out. I guess the geese are getting used to seeing me after running past the past 2 mornings and riding by today. The first day they spooked long before I got to them and flew out to the middle of the lake. The next day they let me get almost too them before they flew out to the middle again. This morning they stayed on the bank until I was right even with them [about 40 yards away] before they flew but they only flew out about another 40 yards. Maybe next time they'll stay put on the bank. They do kick up a lot of noise when I go by.

     This morning I ran a 4 mile warm up at 7:53 pace then did a 4 mile fartlek run with 4x400 with 400 rec. Then 2x800 with 800 rec. I kept the pace under 6 min on the intervals and I guess I was feeling pretty good because my recoveries ended up a little faster than I expected averaging in the 7:30s pace. Average pace for the 4 miles of fartlek was 6:36. Overall average for all 8 miles was 7:14.

     7 easy in blowing snow.

     We traveled down to Southern Utah yesterday and spent the night in Capitol Reef National Park. I got up and went for a morning run. I left the campground and headed south toward the Cassidy Arch trail head. It is a narrow paved road with gorgeous red rock scenery all around. There was almost no traffic. I only had 2 vehicles go by the whole run. The first mile climbed almost 250 feet followed by a nearly 150 drop over the next mile. The next 2 1/2 miles climb another 450 feet. Most of it during the last 1 1/2 miles where the road winds through tight curves as it climbs through the cedar trees and red sand and rock. The turns are so tight that there is a 10 MPH speed limit posted. Fun stuff for running. The road also dips back down several times to go through a number of washes. It tops out at Slickrock Pass at around 6000 ft. I ran another mile down the back side of the pass that dropped over 200 ft before turning and running back. The route was mostly sunny on the way back after mostly being shaded from the huge red cliff walls on the way up. I figured I did over 1000 feet total climbing [and descending] on the run and averaged 7:56 pace for the 11 miles. Very enjoyable and beautiful morning and breakfast was on the table when I got back to camp. What could be better than that? 

     Later that day we went on a 4 mile hike from the camground over into Kohab Canyon.