Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

Jun had mentioned an early morning run up Timp, but I didn't hear anything else about it after that. I woke up this morning to one of the most important thunder storms I've ever been in. My first thought was that I was glad not to be up on Timp. My second thought was to hope that Jun et al weren't up there. They were, and the reports only reinforce my gladness not to be there with them.

Once things dried out I went for a boring out and back on the River Trail. It was nice, warm, and dry.  

I thought about using the holiday to get out for a short trail run in the morning. But instead I decided to use the time I would have used to drive to the trail to sleep for another 30 minutes or so and then run another River Trail route. Other than a minor number-two emergency, it was pretty uneventful. 

The weather has been great for running lately. Fall has always been my favorite time of the year for running and riding. (I know it's still summer, but it's starting to feel like fall, so whatever.) 

I seem to have a hard time getting up exactly on time these days. I'm tired, but not any more tired than usual. I think the problem is that I've been sing my phone as an alarm since we moved, and I don't know how to use the snooze feature. Instead, I set up a second alarm 15 minutes after the first. But my routine used to involve hitting snooze 3 or 4 times before I got up, so I don't know if the two-step alarm is enough.

Provo Temple loop. Still a nice route, but nicer at 5:00 AM.  

I was able to get up when I planned to this morning. Unfortunately, Elliott had a rough night last night and I was far more tired than expected. So I ran 4 instead of my planned 5.

I'm still not quite caught up on sleep from last night, but I've been doing so well with my morning runs that I didn't want to break the cycle today. I ran one of my usual River Trail loops this morning. The creepy homeless-fisher guys were back today, or at least on of them was. Also, some fat kid laughed at me from his car in the Beto's parking lot. But I'd rather wear short shorts than be a fat kid, so whatever.

Catherine was running with a group this morning so I decided to skip my early run and go with Elliott after she woke up. We just ran an out and back to the park on Liberty Avenue. It was a nice time to be outside. 

I realized that it's been a long time since I ran on trails (not counting Pinecrest). I ran My Y Mountain loop with Jun and the Gang sometime back in July, and I ran Timp with my friend Aaron sometime just before or after that. But other than that, I really can't think of any local trail runs that I've done lately. 

So, I decided I should do something about that. My main goal has been to just run consistently. Now I need to get back my climbing legs. I think that if I can run on the trails every Saturday, I should make some progress. At least I should get stronger than I am now.

So this morning I ran my Y Mountain loop. I really love that route. I think it took me about 1:45 to run the loop from the Y parking lot. That's kind of depressing, considering that I used to run the 12-mile loop from our old house in 2 hours even. But it was nice to be running in the mountains again, and the weather couldn't have been better.

I'll probably try to run Squaw Peak next weekend. If anyone is interested in joining me, just shoot me a message.  

What happens to your quads if you run a 3.5-mile, 3,000-foot mountain descent after 3 months of running exclusively on the road? I'm not sure, but it isn't pretty. 

This morning my quads were so trashed from my run on Saturday that I could barely move when I got out of bed. Things got better as I ran, but not much. It was a very stiff and sore four miles today. 

Still super sore. That's okay--it just means I run slower. 

My legs are still super sore. I don't like to think about it--it just reminds me that I'm super out of shape. But I did average about 7:40 today, which isn't fast, but it is the first time I've dropped under 8:00 this week. 

The sign at a bank near our house said it was 52 degrees this morning. That's great running weather. Too bad we'll probably only get a few weeks before it starts getting too cold to be comfortable.  

I've done a pretty good job of sticking to my schedule this week. All I need to do is run 4 miles tomorrow (probably with Elliott) and then 8-10 on Saturday on the trails and the week will have gone exactly as planned. 

There's a park on the River Trail that I run through both ways on my runs. The sprinklers have been on every day this week, and they spray directly at the trail. I don't think I'd mind in the middle of the day in August, but at 5:00 on a fall morning I'm not so sure.  

Four miles, as scheduled.

I finally ran to the lake this morning. Or at least, I ran to the end of the River Trail, which spit out in a parking lot that I assume is down by the lake. I needed to get home before 7:30, so I didn't bother going down to see the lake. 

Even with an unscheduled bathroom break (clock running), I averaged just under 7:20. The endurance is lacking, but I do feel like the consistency over the past few weeks is paying off.  

This was one of the first times this semester that I actually got up and ran as early as I had planned. My lungs felt a bit shallow, for lack of a better word, but my legs and everything else were fine. Maybe I was just dehydrated.

I felt better today than I did yesterday, even though I got less sleep last night. It's getting cold outside, though. At least in the morning it is.

There's something to be said for having a plan for your running before the week starts. I usually don't feel like running when I drag myself out of bed, but it helps get me out the door if I know that I only have to run x miles before I'm done. That way, I get started, and I stick with it long enough to hit that point where I'm awake and glad to be running. Without a plan, it's easy to postpone the run or to go out for a symbolic loop around the block. 

I felt better this morning than yesterday. It's funny--this week I've felt best on the two days that I ran the farthest. Maybe I should start running more. 

I almost didn't run today. I had a runny nose and a sneeze all day yesterday, and when I woke up this morning it was apparent that I wasn't dealing with just allergies. But even though my head as cloudy and stuffy, I decided to go for a run with  Elliott anyway. Four miles and change on the bike path, nice and slow. 

It's starting to get cool enough in the morning that I may not be able to run with Elliott for too much longer.  

I ran with Elliott again this morning. We thought about running down to the lake, but she started to get hungry about a mile before the turnaround, and I'm still feeling congested, so we decided to turn around early. It was still a nice Saturday morning run on a beautiful day. 

I was up until 2:00 last night/this morning, so I decided to skip my morning run. Instead, I went out for an evening run with Elliott. That means she's been with me on my last three runs--she's been logging some pretty big miles for a toddler. 

Anyway, the evening isn't the best time for me to run. But it was good to be out anyway.  

I overslept this morning. But Catherine was willing to push her run back so she could sleep in (such a sacrifice :)), so I was able to maintain my consistency. I'm still feeling the effects of my cold, and I was running faster so Catherine would still have time to run, so it wasn't my best effort ever. But it was good to get out. 

Another morning, another run. I was feeling a bit worse today than I have all week. I'm not sure if that's still the cold or if it's just the fact that I was running st 4:30.

Same old story--my alarm went off this morning and I didn't want to wake up and run. I decided to slow down a bit, and it felt great. Instead of running 6:45-7:00, today it was 7:30-7:45.

I wonder how many weeks I need to stay on top of things before it becomes automatic again.  

Normally I stay home with Elliott all morning on Fridays and then go into school in the afternoon after Catherine finishes teaching her classes. But today I had to be on campus at 9:30 for a seminar, so Elliott and I didn't have time for our Friday Four. Instead it was more of  Friday 2.8. But I guess something is almost always better than nothing. 

Elliott and I finally made it to the lake this morning. It's the second time for me, but a first for her so I thought it was worth mentioning. I think that run might be a little long for her, though. She was pretty grumpy for the last few miles.