Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

There's not much to say about tonight's run. I hot out late, ran a few easy miles on the treadmill, and that was it. Better than nothing, for sure.

Another day at the treadmill. Tonight I ran an easy mile to warm up, then three at 6:40 (tempo-ish), then another easy mile to wrap things up, although I finished with a quarter mile at 6:00. I ended up with 5 miles in 35 minutes flat.

Have I mentioned that my right knee is starting to act up again? Take a look at my mileage over the last four or five months. Seriously? 

Five late miles at the gym, mostly mellow, with a quick half mile thrown in near the end.

I showed up with two minutes left in the 4th quarter of the Clippers game and stayed till the end of OT. Great game. I love seeing the Clippers not suck. 

Not the best run of the week. I planned to run five miles, alternating between 9:00 for the first 2/3 of each and 6:00 for the last 1/3. But after two of those I was feeling bonky and unmotivated, so I just cruised a very easy mile and change and called it good.

This happens all the time, unfortunately. I'm not sure if it's what I eat, when I eat, or how much I eat, or even some combination of the three. Back when I was cycling I was very on top of my nutrition, and bonking was still a constant issue. I'm not sure why I seem to think now that I can ignore my nutrition and expect to perform well. 

Yet another long day (aren't they all lately?). I was on the road by 6:30 so I could take Elliott to her grandma's house in Bountiful before I went to my internship in Salt Lake, and by the time I finished there, picked Elliott up, visited my grandma and drove home it was pretty late. But I still headed over to the gym for a quick four miles, and in a pleasant break from the pattern of the last few days, it wasn't too bad. 

I'm hoping to run on dirt tomorrow, because word on the street is that winter is coming next week. 

What a difference a week makes. I headed over to Lake Mountain again this afternoon with all my cold weather gear in the car, but I ultimately decided to leave my hat, jacket, and microspikes in the car, going instead with my shorts, some tights, a long-sleeved shirt, and some light gloves. I definitely didn't wish I had more. In fact, I ran all the way to the summit without my shirt (that's right--in the middle of January in Utah).

I felt pretty good on the way up. Not great, but I was able to sustain a pace that I would describe as comfortably pushing, walking a couple of steeper pitches because that's how I roll these days. There were a few icy patches along the way, but nothing even remotely similar to what I encountered last week, and I never once wished for my spikes.

It was windy at the top, but I hung around for a few minutes to enjoy the view of the valley.

On the way down I ran into Jun and his son Tyler, who were on their way up. It was funny that we ran into each other, because we had tentatively planned to run together today, although we gave it up when each figured the other couldn't make it. We chatted for a bit and then I finished my run, throwing in a quick out and back on some dirt road to round out my weekly mileage,

50:46 up, 30:09 down (not counting the time I was chatting with Jun).