It's just that simple

Warm Springs loop - 55:05

Nice run from the cabin at 9 a.m. Moderately hilly, with a few minutes on a nice shady trail. This will be a great 7 miler that I'll probably run all the time. Felt pretty good this morning.

Canal banks + Borah track - 56:19

Ran 27 minutes steady on the canals, then did a 1.5 mile and a 1 mile segment at the track. Times were 9:20 and 6:13 - goal PR marathon pace - with a 2:00 jog between. Short run home.

Running a little quicker didn't hurt the tooth too much, but in the middle of the night I did experience some throbbing. Not sure if it's from the run or not.

Neighborhoods - 36:59

Unmotivated this evening. Tired and still having a bit of pain in the mouth. Looked up some info on "dry socket" but I don't think I have that, thankfully.

Tonight I ran a few laps around the Englefield Greens retirement community. Pretty uneventful.

Harrison Hollow + Hull's Gulch - 2:00

Needed a long run because it had been a while since I'd hit 2 hours. I met Mat and did 46 very hilly minutes with him on a course his running club set on the trails above Harrison Hollow. The pace was pretty slow, but we had a good conversation. Then I ran steady up Hulls Gulch and down the Freeway. Right at dusk, a couple of coyotes starting yipping and howling. They sounded really nearby, which was cool.

One of the easiest 2 hour runs I've ever done in terms of fatigue and pain. That is hopefully a good sign.

Neighborhoods - 26:44

Call this one "a short run is better than nothing." It was 9:30 p.m. and I was really tired, but I convinced myself to get out and run a few neighborhood loops.

Rim to Rim - 46:11 - 3rd place

Hard for me to believe, but this was my first race in almost 2 years. A lot has happened in my life since then. The Rim to Rim is really a good race, though, and it's hard to pass up an old school tradition in my hometown (33rd year of the race - our high school xc team used to volunteer at it.) The race correlated with a trip home to Twin Falls to see family and friends, so that's always great.

I had several factors working against me: big time fatigue from a couple of nights of really poor sleep; very few miles under 6:00/mile pace; lack of motivation race morning. All 3 ended up working against me, and I had one of the worst races I think I've ever had. The biggest factor was probably the lack of motivation and willigness to inflict some pain on myself.

The course climbs from river level out of the canyon, across the Perrine Bridge, down the other side of the canyon, and across the Snake River to the start/finish area. I ran the entire race in 3rd place. I could have run out of my gourd or slowed down another minute-plus and I would have still been 3rd. In this stage in my running career, that makes it tough for me to really push hard. I talked myself out of pushing hard numerous times during the race.

No garmin, so these splits were from the markers on the road. 14:01 at 2 miles (mile 1 was in the midst of the climb out of the canyon and I didn't hit my split button), 6:04 (flat), 5:49 (flat), 5:45 (flat, then downhill), 5:27 (downhill), 6:43(flat, across a foot bridge and then a steep hill) and 2:19. I'm pretty sure the mile 7 marker was a bit long, although that last hill killed me.

Post race food was excellent as always and I enjoyed the hot weather and socializing with lots of folks.

Three years ago I ran about 2 minutes faster and won the race. The course this year was about 1:00 - 1:30 longer than then, so I guess it wasn't too bad comparatively.