Chad's Runs

I ran blind this morning and it was fun.  Just ran to run.

I ran a different route into Eagle Mountain.  There are actual hills over there, something there isn't much of in west Lehi.  It was fun.  It was hot.  I went through all 40 ounces of  water and Gatorade.

Where did that come from.  I tried to average 8:30 pace for 7 miles before the end of June.  I didn't get close when I tried.  I couldn't match the pace I was running in May.  It is hotter but still, I didn't understand what was going on.  So this morning, after running 27 miles in the last 4 days, which is a lot for me, I felt strong.  I ran the first one slow but decided to push it and see where it went.  Last week and the week before when I tried that I was done after 3 miles.  Today I just kept going I kept putting in fast miles and bringing my average pace down and finished with 8:28 average pace.  It came a week late but there it is.  Cool.

Another quick 7.

I wish I had had more time. Because I was short I only got in these 8. To much crap going on.

My legs were dead this morning. I started to finally feel a little warmed up after 5 miles and picked the pace up some.

Its getting darker. Crap. Bet there were a lot of people out this morning. I don't know if I've ever seen so many. The run was so so, not a lot of bounce in my step but not completely sluggish either.

8 miles. I had more "pep" than I did on Wednesday. I probably would have had more if I could have found my headphones in the dark and pumped '80s rock as Scott suggested. I usually don't run with music but I like to put some on every once in a while to shake things up.

10 take-it-easy miles.

8 miles I pushed pretty hard, especially on the last 4. Average 8:30. Its coming down.

Took it easy this morning after yesterday's hard run.  I'm starting in the dark again.  That sucks.

8:24 -- More progress, they're coming down.

I'm counting it. My goal before the end of this month was to run 8 miles at an average pace of 8:15. I thought there was no way I was going to make it and had decided to put it off a month and try to get that pace in August.  Today was unexpected and I'm counting it.

My last run was on Friday and then I spent the weekend in Wyoming. I was up late on Sunday so I skipped Monday's run as well. So this morning I figured I was rested and I'd check to see where I was.  It didn't take me long to get warmed up so my first two miles were faster than usual.  I kept a good pace on mile 3 then started to push it on mile 4.  Amazingly I was on pace to get that 8:15.  I was now running in the high 7s and I got the average pace down to 8:17.  I had this one in the bag; until the gnats.  For a solid mile there was a dense swarm of gnats.  They weren't there on the way down so they must have just woken up.  The were getting in my eyes and I was choking on them.  At one point I had to stop because I was choking so bad.  Well, there went my time.  I lost motivation.  By this time my average was down to 8:21 with just 1 1/2 miles to go.  I picked myself up and started to run again.  The swarm ended and I decided I might as well pick it up and see where I could finish.  Mile 7 was 8:24 with the stop and I got discouraged again.  I started out mile 8 slow and thought, "This is stupid. I'm going to kick it up again."  I pushed for the last half mile or so and ended up with an average pace of 8:18.  D@#^ gnats.

7 slow miles. My legs were pretty tired after yesterday's run.