Philippians 4:13

Nice early morning run before church. 7M on a beautiful morning, kinda a progression run, starting at 8:11 pace then last mile at ~ 7:00 pace.   Felt nice and easy the whole time and no stomach issues...yeah!

total time: 52:40  (Stratos 2 - 131 miles)

7M on a cooler (41 degrees) and windy (out of the north, brr!) morning.  Saw more traffic on Sunnyside at 4:30am than I have ever seen.  Nice run though, avg. 7:30ish and felt really fresh.  Looking forward to a good week of running topped off by a 20M with Pat B at a faster pace on Friday.

Total time: 52:50  (Stratos 2 - 138 miles)

6.5M MP miles (6:07 avg) around the greenbelt on an absolute gorgeous day at lunchtime.  Wanted to get a bit of a tempo run in, as this started out good but the nature call came up again and slowed up my last couple of miles.  Decent splits (6:13, 5:50, 6:02, 6:05, 6:14, 6:14, 3:06) to start off the workweek.

Stratos 1 - 115 miles

Nice and easy 8M on a nice morning...46 degrees and no wind.  Started off thinking 6M was all I was going to get due to some soreness and not being awake, but by 3M in I was feeling pretty good and the pace was picking up so I pushed the route out and finished 8 miles.  Last 4M were about 20 secs per mile faster than the first.

Stratos 2 - 146 miles

Wow, what a beautiful day for a run.  Had planned 6M, but due to the weather got in 7M.  Kinda a fartlek run with part of evey mile fast, part easy and then mostly alternated MP and easy pace miles.  Splits:  6:49; 6:20; 6:38; 6:23; 6:24; 6:30; 6:47.  Overall a great run (no nature stops!!  Had a bagel, cream cheese and homemade plum jam for breakfast today instead of my usual big bowl of cereal and milk).  Maybe I am developing an issue with dairy?

Also, I got 7.5 hours of workouts on my Forerunner this past time, that even off of less than a full charge.  Maybe the unit was just getting angry for a couple of weeks and now is maybe closer to normal!

Stratos 1 - 122 miles

A very hard 5M run this morning...not physically but emontionally and mentally.  I learned last night of the death of a very dear friend of mine and I am still having a hard time really believing and understanding it.  Steve lived life to the fullest and was the one person I knew who truly lived life with the motto "Carpe Diem".  He was the person who took me on many a grand adventure (many memorable mountain biking trips to Moab, UT) and who I could always call up to hear about his lastest excursion around the country or world.   From Moab to Maui, from Sturgis to the Costa Rica, from the Gallopogas Islands to Russia, Steve lived life to the fullest!  He was a person you could count of for having the biggest smile around and a ready willingness to be there for a fun time, a beer, or just to share his friendship.  I miss him terribly and have a very heavy heart today.

I will miss you, Steve! 

4M at lunch as hard as my legs and heart would take me, which wasn't much as my heart was heavy and thus so were my legs.  1M ok (6:11) as I was working off anger, 1M slower as I fought to keep it together and then repeated this cycle again.  The last 0.5M was very slow as I struggled to keep it together and even not get light headed...could not have run any further.

Stratos 2 - 151 miles; Stratos 1 - 126 miles 

7.5M easy this morning on a cooler day (37 degrees), I even slept in a little and didn't get started until 4:30am!   Nice easy paced run (avg. 7:50) but a slight progression from 8:30 to 7:25 for the last 0.5M.  Will try to get another run in at lunchtime between meetings, another easy run in preparation for tomorrow's 20M with Pat B. Planning this as the last really good long run, a progression run up to race pace!

Stratos 2 - 159 miles

7.75M at lunch on a gorgeous day!  First 4M with Dan S. then the last 3.75M a bit faster.  Just a nice run overall.  Overall avg. 7:12.

Found out more about my friend Steve's memorial services and looks like I am heading to Phoenix next Thursday for the funeral and good ol' knock down party in Steve's honor...the way he would want to be celebrated!

Stratos 1 - 134 miles

20M progression run with Pat B this morning on a beautiful day...perfect for a long run.  Started off with 1M easy (7:15) then started progression up to a 6:30 by mile 10.  Second 10M we pushed the average up to 6:15 and hit the last few miles at 6:10-6:18.  We were hoping to get the last 4-5M at closer to 6:00 pace, but this still felt pretty good and hard for a training run.  Nice conversation and glad to have someone there on a harder long run like this.  Tried to do the run on minimal fuel, only 2 Gu's and a little water and Powerade.  Overall I was really happy with the run...good solid effort after a solid but emotionally draining week.

Stratos 1 - 154 miles  Total time: 2:11:07

Took the family to the Tiger-Grizz XC Invitational at Freeman Park, the largest XC meet in SE Idaho outside of State Championships.  Over 40 teams, 800 runners and 4 major races on a gorgeous day!  Lots of fun.  Ran about 1M around the park to observe the races and check out the course which I hope to run next week at lunch to try my time against the varsity boys results (top time was about 16:30...fast on this course!).

Nice and easy 13.25M run on a beautiful morning (this is awesome weather for runners!) with McKay and Lynette.  Nothing special, just nice and consistent with good conversation.  I actually felt really good this morning after yesterday's long hard run so it was great to get this run in and having it feel so easy.

I may try to get back out this afternoon when the kids have a playdate and Kami is visiting with a friend for another 6M+ to get my first 100 mile week. 

Total time: 1:45:02  Stratos 2 - 172 miles

6.25M in the early afternoon with Lynette who wanted to go back out and finish off a long day (19M for her!).  100M+ for the first time ever, a new mileage high for me!

Total time: 45:26  (Stratos 1 - 160 miles)