Glorious trail running on the fire break road after work. Partly cloudy, high 60's temp. 8.5 miles/9:35 avg.

Not a lot going on at work this morning, so I got out around 10 AM to run. Sunny and 68 degrees. Sweaty pig mess season for me. Made my way up to "Emerald Park" at around 5.5 miles and ran a mile barefoot on the grass, then back to work. Pretty tired and slow today. 9.4 miles / 8:53 avg.

No run today. I have a little pain on the very outside edge of my left foot. It was hardly noticeable until last night. This morning it still feels tender so I'm going to rest a day and see how it feels tomorrow. Unless I get home from work tonight and find the urge to go on a trail run irresistible...

Usually I drive the 1.6 miles from my house to the access point for my fire break road run because it's a pretty steep climb, about 500 ft, with the last 300 ft being in the last .6 mile. Today I started from my house around 2:30 PM. Skies were partly cloudy and 77 degrees. The first mile in 9:33 was a good warm up considering the climb. The second mile ( including the steep .6 )was just under 11:00. I 've run this route twice before but not kept track of the pace, so I'll use this as a comparison next time I run up there. I didn't push at all on the second mile but I didn't dog the climb either. The next  miles were out and back on the fire break road with several good climbs and descent in both directions. Splits for this section were 9:49, 9:37, 9:38, 9:34, 10:09, and then starting back down the canyon I went real easy down the steep part and ran the 8th mile in 9:37. The last 1.15 miles were mostly downhill on the road and I tried to salvage some of my overall pace result by running mile 9 in 8:03, and the last .15 mile at a 7:15 pace. The run was 9.15 miles / 9:38 avg. About 1,300 ft up and down over the distance. I hope to do this run several times over the Summer. Great workout.

The foot pain I mentioned yesterday is still present, but it's more comfortable to run on then to walk on.

Easy half. Beautiful morning. The run started around 9:30 AM. Mostly sunny skies, temps in the upper 60's. Ran on the Bluff trail (mostly flat, asphalt), starting at Jensen park in Syracuse, running out North and South back.

13.1 miles / 1:56:55 / 8:55 avg.

Easy 8. From the house, Glovers / Clark Ln. loop. 8:20 AM. Very warm out (70F), and partly cloudy. I made an effort to run mile 5 faster and netted a 6:52. 

8.5 miles / 8:34 avg.

Off today. Run tomorrow.

10 AM. From work to Emerald park and back. Sunny, 70 degrees. 

10.7 miles / 8:31 avg.

PM edit: 4 more with the dogs on the fire break road. about 78 degrees and sun. Felt really good. Happy dogs. 10:03 per mile avg.

AM - Easy 7 from work. Overcast, 67 degrees, muggy.

PM - 4 miles on the fire break road after work. Overcast, some light rain, 76 degrees. No watch. Tired.

7.1 miles. Early lunch run from work. Partly cloudy, 69 degrees. 8:56 avg.

PM edit: Had a dentist appointment this afternoon (my first one in 30 - ish years?). I've got quite a fun journey ahead of me.

64.5 miles for the week ending today!

5 miles. Overcast and 53 degrees. Bluff trail. Progression run.  Avg. 8:10

Splits: 8:53, 8:27, 8:00, 7:55, 7:37

I had big running plans today. I was going to do my commute runs to work and back home. This gives me anywhere from 18 to 20+ miles depending on how I'm feeling. Well, I woke up to huge East winds blowing the yard apart. We get these winds in Farmington every now and then, but today is the worse I've seen by far in the 10 years we've lived here. Trees and branches are strewn around this old town and driving through the streets is like a war zone, weaving around branches and debris while the wind howls all around. So, I hitched a ride to work with my wife with an eye to maybe at least running home later today. The wind advisory is until 4 PM. We'll see. If nothing else I can manage some treadmill miles (in the middle of June, ridiculous). Tomorrow begins the cleanup. So much for easy summertime livin'. Making plans to sell the house and moving to a more stable climate soon.

12.5 miles. Ran from home about 9:00 AM. Overcast, 55 degrees. Clarke/Glovers loop. At 8.2 miles I found myself at the mystery field track. I got a drink of water then gently finished my 9th mile on the track and pushed hard for mile 10 netting a 6:52 for the mile. Same as last Sunday but with 5 more miles under my belt.

Avg for the run 8:23.

Run home from work. Sunny, 73 degrees. 10.5 miles / 8:55 avg. Pretty much tired out today.

10miles. 11:32 avg. Fastest mile 10:09, slowest mile 14:35.  Started at the East Kaysville wilderness park, I think the Wasatch 100 starts somewhere around here, and headed North along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. Ran out 5 miles and came back with a 2:17 negative split. Awesome run! Partly cloudy skies, 85 degrees, but a pretty strong South wind kept me feeling cool. I remember running this last Summer and being all excited about it then, though I ran it a bit slower last time. Garmin shows 2500 of elevation change over the course. There were a lot of climbs. I started off just ahead of 3 mountain bikers and we leap frogged most of the way out as they passed me on the flats and downhills, then I would pass them on the uphills. I was about a quarter mile ahead of them when I turned around to head back. They must have gone out about the same distance as me because after I had come back about a half mile they passed me for the last time. I saw them when I finished, they were loaded up and just pulling out of the parking lot. What a beautiful run. The BST is mostly single track and runs along the hillside parallel to the mountains on the East side of the valley, running north and south. It dips into the various canyons, where the vegetation and trees grow thicker, providing shade and technical challenge and then climbs back out providing big views of the valley and across to the Great Salt Lake and Antelope Island. Lots of wildflowers in bloom right now. At one point I was acutely aware of how fortunate I am to be healthy enough to see this place as only a runner gets to see it. The highest elevation was just under 5900 feet. About 3.7 miles into the run there is a big parking lot/bathroom/water fountain. Well placed. I passed it on the way out but stopped to refill my water bottle on the way back with 3.7 miles left to run. I felt good most of the way out. Coming back I started to notice how leaden my legs were whenever I hit a hill or even flat section. At around 8.5 miles I walked for the first time up a steep section of trail. Most of the other climbs were of the "I could probably walk this faster than I'm "running" it" variety. From what I understand, it's common for ultra runners to walk the hills in a race. Still after today's paltry 10 miles, I really wonder at folks ability to run 10 times that in a 100 mile mountain race, and how I'll ever get my body to do it.

11.4 miles / 8:30 avg. Lunch run, from work to Emerald park and back. Sun, low 60's. Ran miles 8 - 10 at HM pace (7:53, 8:05, 7:55). Good run, nice day.

Took the young quadruped out for some hillbilly fun on the fire break road for lunch. Easy 6.2 miles under sunny skies and mid 70 temps. Lots of lizards today. 

AM - Commute run into work. 9.3 miles. Took my time (9:17 pace). Sun, mid 60's.

PM -  Hot, sweaty, slow run home. Started around 2 PM. Just getting miles today. No strength. 10.1 miles / 9:35 avg.

10 AM. Sun, low 70's. Recovery run (except for mile 3 @ 6:50) with the dogs at the mystery field track.

5 miles / 8:23 avg.

Easy 8. Ran from work. Sunny, 70 degrees. Never really felt like I warmed up at all during this run. 8:52 avg.

Computer at home is currently waiting for a new power cord. So I'm pre-blogging my run, which will occur after work today, and is of undetermined distance at this point in time. I will update tomorrow when I'm back to work.

3 miles / A run to forget.

Day of rest.

Ran around the hoods near work. Sun, 76 degrees. After 4 miles I did 10x1 min. @ 5K pace(7:00 - 7:15) w/1 min recovery. Everything else very easy today. 10.3 miles / 8:42 avg.

6:07 AM. 20.1 miles.  Sun, temps ranging from 65 to 73 degrees. Ran from house down Clark Lane, South through "The Ranches", some quality miles in the bird refuge, East on Glovers, South on the Cattle Rd. and back North on the cattle rd, up Glovers to the LPT, North back to Clark Lane then East to home. Everything was cool until about mile 15, then it was all a struggle to get done. 

11:40 AM. Sunny, 79 degrees. Took the dogs to the MFT and ran 6.2 mile recovery run. The last 3.2 miles  were barefoot on the grass,  my longest barefoot run to date.

Splits: 9:18, 8:53, 7:42, 8:37, 8:26, 8:21

Trail run. Early lunch, sun, 84 degrees. Ran out and back on the BST from Kaysville. 

5 miles / 10:12 avg. / 25+ lizards / 1 snake tail slipping into the weeds / 3 angry hikers / countless wildflowers and butterflies.

2:30 PM...98 degrees...stiff South wind...cattle road/bird refuge...10.1 miles...9:48 avg...

The thermometer on the jeep read 100 degrees when I got to where I park on the cattle road to start my run. I'm calling it 98 degrees because it makes all the difference in the world. It was hot. The five miles out were into a pretty good wind. Also, the first 1.5 miles I was lugging along a half gallon jug of water to cache out by the refuge gate. Running with that bottle sucked more than I thought it would. It felt so good to drop it off. I also had my 12 oz. hand held with me. The s-caps I've been experimenting with don't seem to do a thing for me? Anybody have any experience with s-caps? Still, I like running in the heat, and the wind cooled me off a little. I was hoping to go further today, but for a number of reasons I was really dragging so I cut it short.

Most likely taking the day off from running. So I'll blog about my weight loss accomplishments. At the beginning of 2008 I weighed 195 pds. (I'm 6' tall). I stepped on the scale one morning and couldn't believe my eyes. I decided to start back up with some physical activity and diet change. The first 15 - 20 pds. came off relatively easy, probably mostly due to eating better/less. By Summer of that year I was running maybe three times a week, 2 - 4 miles per run (mostly on the TM still. I started running outside more in July/August. By the time I started on this blog (August '08) my weight was 175 pds. I had been lurking on the blog for awhile and decided to try running consistently. So I jumped right into running 6 days a week. It's worked out pretty well. The first year of consistent running was difficult as my body was adapting to the load. I was tired all the time. Anyway, I lost a few more pounds over the next year and by the time I ran TOU marathon in Sept. '09 I was 168 pds. I seemed to be stuck at that weight. I made some more dietary changes and slowly over the last 6 months my weight has come down to 155 pds. this past week or so. I'm thinking that 150 pds is probably as light as I want to get. It would be a good, healthy running weight. It's what I weighed when I graduated from high school. How many 46 year olds can say that? So, hopefully by next Summer I will reach the goal of 150 pounds.