Maybe I'll Blog, Maybe I Won't

Well, this wasn't my greatest day, but more on that later.   First things first:  Apologies for being MIA for the last month.  School, work, running, my church calling, and other stuff have left little to no time or energy to update my blog daily.  I will attempt to do better in the future, now that things have kind of settled down to a semi-predictable schedule.  

Here is my race report.

Feeling much better about the race than I was on Saturday.  It was probably just a bad day.  The combination of heat, lack of sleep, and the frustrating trip the day before (and associated lack of nutrition) probably didn't help.  But, the fact that my legs were not the limiting factor is promising.  On a better day I'm totally confident that I can run a sub-2:30.  The plan for the next couple of weeks is to rest up.  I know my training has not been as good as I wanted since Vaquero Loco, but I feel that a small rest and a chance to have a fresh start will help me mentally and physically.  I will still run, but only when I feel like it and only as hard as I feel like it.  

First run after SGM.  So of course I did a 15.5 mile trail run with Cody on the LRT from First Dam plus a nice climb up to the Wind Caves and back..  Legs were not happy with me for the last 5 miles, but that was to be expected and I actually felt pretty decent, all things considered.  Will be glad of the rest tomorrow, but I think I should be good to go next week for some relaxed, no pressure running.

2:09:48 (8:25/mi.)

BST and around town.  Took it real easy for the most part.  Still felt tired on the last 2-3 miles, but decent.  Can still tell my muscles are definitely fatigued.  I can feel that they are not quite as responsive so I feel a little unstable going downhill, but I should recover fine I think.

1:01:26 (7:28/mi.)

Didn't run the last two days due to having a lot of homework and stuff. Easy run around town.  Still feeling sore and crappy.

51:00 (7:23/mi.)

Easy run.  Sore from yesterday.  Basically just enough to get the legs moving.  

31:09 (7:28/mi.)

Easy run with Ryn (one of the padawans).  Took it easy and felt pretty good today.  Hopefully this week goes better.

48:19 (9:16/mi.)

A little longer today.  Not too bad.  Took it really easy.

46:05 (7:32/mi.)

Another easy short run.  Not much time. Still feeling better than last week.

 23:56 (7:15/mi.)

Green Canyon trail run!  It was really nice to get out on the trail again.  Fall leaves were gorgeous.  Was worried that this run would be tough but it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected.  Feeling a lot more recovered now.

1:12:08 (7:59/mi.)

Epic trail run with Cody.  We did High Creek to Naomi and Cherry Peaks.  This time we didn't get lost.  :)  Tons of vertical, snow above 8,000, great fall colors, and lots of hunters.  Oh, and we got to sleep in this time.  No 4:00 AM start time today.  

4:27:40 including stoppage time (14:03/mi.)

Short easy run.  Felt no soreness from Saturday, so that is a good sign that hopefully I'm back to normal somewhat.  I hate recovering from marathons.  Anyway, pretty good run today.  

49:15 (7:21/mi.)

Short easy run.  No run yesterday, as I was finishing homework.

37:05 (7:17/mi.)

Longer run on the LRT.  They've removed a lot of the overhanging brush on the doubletrack portion of the trail.  Felt pretty good, other than my left knee was a little sore.  Posted a trail review of Saturday's High Creek Canyon run on my blogspot.  Check it out.

1:19:17 (7:37/mi.)

Decent run until about the 6 mile mark or so.  I was a little tired, but nothing bad, and my knee was slightly sore from yesterday but I didn't think anything of it until it decided to really start hurting around 6 miles.  Luckily I was on the last stretch home but I basically hobbled the last mile.  Not good.  Very sudden.  I'm hoping it's just a minor tweak, but I'll probably take tomorrow off for the most part.  I'll try and ice it and stuff too.  Walking around work seemed to help loosen it up.

59:18 (7:33/mi.)