I'm retired from racing. Really.

6 miles around Idaho Falls.  Started at 7:15 pace, finished at 6:29 pace. 6:58 average.  Good way to start off the new year.  Aiming for 48-50 miles this week, then ~50 next week.  Cold outside, 4 deg windchill.

Happy New Year to everyone!

Elite- 340

Omni- 483

Windy and icy.  I cannot at all recommend planet walk right now due to extremely icy conditions.

Omni- 491

10 miles at 8 pm in Logan.  First 6 miles at 7:30 pace, then 2 at 6:45 pace, slowed a bit, then did 0.3 mile at 5 min pace just for fun, then a cool down.  Finished up 10 miles total in 1:13.

It's a good thing I don't have the sleep tracker on my blog- I have only had more than 5 hours of sleep once in the past 5 nights.  I am starting to feel a bit better from the bad cold I had for the past week or so, though I am still real stuffed up and a bit sluggish.  I'll be happy when it is gone.

Omni- 501 RETIRED!

7 miles with the snow steadily falling and about 3 inches of new stuff already down.  Planetwalk is now runnable, with the fresh powder providing acceptable traction over the old ice (at least until the snow compacts and turns to ice again).  And, running with my cold in the cold cleared out my sinuses- I blew the biggest farmer blow of my life.  Awesome.

Adrenaline- 32

I finally got home from my day at about 9 pm.  I really really, really, really did not feel like going running in the dark, on very snowy and icy roads, in the single digit temperature (0 deg windchill).  I eventually put on an extra long sleeve shirt so at least I would stay warm (it's easier to go out in the cold if you know you will stay somewhat warm).  Did 6 miles at about 7:30 pace- not too bad supposing it was icy and dark and I really couldn't see where I was going (no moon).  I was glad I went, though, but I sure hope the running gods noticed my dedication tonight.  Especially that I gave up precious time with my wife and two kids.

806- 368

From my house to the canal (7:45 pace), then along the very snowy canal (~9:30 pace), through the island, up cliffside, and home through River Heights.  8.5 miles in the dark, felt better than yesterday.  It would be nice to be able to run on dry, non-slippery roads sometime.  Running faster than 7:30 pace would be a lot easier.

Ascend- 222

Finally had time to run at 11 pm.  I have had runs this week at 8 pm, 7 pm, 9:30 pm, and 11 pm.  Not because I want to, but because that is the first opportunity.  Take what you can get, I guess.  Marci and I are getting ready to sell our house and buy a new one, so we have been meeting with realtors and looking at houses all week.  Stressful and very time consuming.

Anyways, easy 4.5 miles in the lightly falling snow.  Very little traffic- probably cause it is a snowy night in Logan at 11 pm.  Felt relaxed and good.  No watch, but felt around 7:30 pace.   It was a very warm 26 degrees out, probably the warmest run in a while.  Felt good to not be so cold.

Adrenaline- 36

Family in town but it's NFL playoffs week.  Plus Marci and I don't have a TV.  So what is a football fan to do???  For probably the first time in my life, I chose to not run outside on a pretty nice day (stiffing Cody in the process) and ran at the rec center on the treadmills instead.  The start of my run just happened to coincide with kickoff. I was able to watch all the way until 10 minutes left in the Packers-Seahawks game.  I was happy to see the Packers play great.  I would love to see a Packers-Colts Superbowl, with the Pack pulling it out.  I really don't want to see NE win it all.  The run was fine- definitely the longest and quickest treadmill run of my life.  First 8-10 miles at sub-7:30 pace.  Then I figured out that the slower I ran, the more I could watch, so I slowed down to 8:00 pace.  Did a 1/2 mile towards the end at 6:30 pace.  Felt pretty good, though I wanted a nap afterwards.  Considered running another 20 miles or so so I could watch the Jag-Pats game, but decided I better call it a day and not risk injury.

766- 447

No run today- I'm getting real tired of not getting home until 8 pm and then trying to get in 8+ miles in the dark and cold.  After very little sleep last week (4-5 hours/night), I was in bed by 9:30 tonight, asleep by 10.  Probably the earliest I have gone to bed in years.  Felt great.  Still plan to get in my 50 miles this week, though it will be a lot harder (especially since I have to paint a few rooms in the house tonight).  Slow and steady- I'm very carefully increasing my mileage so that I have about a month of 70-80 miles/week before Ogden, which should lead into a good summer.  I'm just looking forward to running in light and warmer weather.

Treadmill again.  Didn't want to run in the breezy cold.  Wanted to get a bit of an increasing tempo.  First mile was ~7:10, then next 4 were 6:47 pace.  After a bathroom break, it was time to get to work.  Next 4 miles were at 6:28 pace, then did 3/4 mile at 6:00 pace, with final 1/4 mile at 5:00 pace.  Felt good, though I was definitely working by the end.  I had an industrial fan blowing right on me the whole time, so I stayed nice and cool.  Did 1 more mile cool down, which means I have done 26 miles on the treadmill between my last 2 runs.  I know that is a record for me.  Still not a fan of the treadmill, but it isn't so bad if there is a good game on and there is a big fan nearby.

Elite- 351

8:45 pm when I got to the rec center, and it closes at 9:30.  Did 4 quick miles on the treadmill (6:30 pace), then had to go to the indoor track.  13.5 laps per mile, with sharp turns.  Did ~6:45 pace after that for about 3 more miles, then did 1 more at home.  8 total.

Adrenaline- 44

7 miles around River Heights and Logan at 7:15 pace.  First run before 7 pm in a long time- it actually was light until almost the end of the run!  It was great! 

766- 454

Met Jeff in Idaho Falls for an early morning run. Temp was cold (~16 deg F) but not too bad, except when running into the wind (well, breeze). My hands are cold enough right now that typing is hard. Ran 1 mile to the park, did about 8 miles with Jeff on the roads, then added on 4 more winding around some parks and neighborhoods. Plus, I was able to check my Jon internal calibration against his Garmin- I felt like we were doing 7:35-7:40 miles, his watch had us at 7:36 average. Dead on. Seemed to get colder once I dropped Jeff off, but I'm sure it was because I didn't have anyone to talk with anymore so my body starting finding other things to pay attention to, er, to which to pay attention.

Thanks for the run, Jeff, and keep up the good work.

I wanted 50 miles this week, but ended up with 40 in 4 days.  Hopefully my life will calm down a bit soon so I can have more time to run.  55 miles for the next 2 weeks.

766- 467

Sometimes I have to question my sanity.  Today was one of those days.  Met Cody at ~6:30 pm for a run.  The temp was -2 deg, windchill was -13 deg F.  Cold.  Did his young ward 10 mile loop.  7:01 average for the whole thing.  Good run, and it was nice to have company.  First run with anyone from Logan in a month.

806- 378

I gave blood at lunch today, so knew I wouldn't be up for much of a workout.  Only had ~30 minutes, so I ran planetwalk plus a bit for 4.5 miles.  4 degrees when I started, and that was when it was still light.  Gonna be cold tonight.  No time, but I did glance at my watch for a 7:15 split for mile 2.  I was lightheaded by the end a bit, so hopefully my blood comes back fast for a long run tomorrow.

766- 471

Ran 3 miles, then met Cody at his house. Did his 5 mile route (7:20 avg), then ran 4 more miles by myself. It was noticeably colder once the sun went down- I had ice/frost on the inside of my jacket sleeves by the time I got home. Still felt rather fatigued from giving blood yesterday.

Adrenaline- 56

9 miles.  Felt kind of... blah.  No energy, but did it ~68-69 minutes.

766- 480

Relavite heat wave- 23 degrees.  And sunny, which I am definitely not used to.  Ran to Cody's house, then ran 12 miles with him mostly on the TOU course.  Saw Paul and Stacy.  Averaged ~7:00 pace on the way out.  I was rather tired by the turnaround.  Felt better on the way coming back.  I was definitely more tired than Cody yet I spent the whole time blabbing and he spent the whole time wishing I would be quiet.  We slowed down a bit on the way back, but then Cody pulled a Sasha and gradually picked up the pace on me until we were sub-6:50 pace.  Dropped him off and ran home plus a bit more to get me to 15 miles.  Tired by the end.  7:04 average for the 12 miles with Cody, slower without.  1:54 for the whole run.

Adrenaline- 71

3 miles in 20:35, then potty break, then 3 miles in 19:40, then 3 miles in 21:20, then 1 mile (well, about .8 mile) in 5:13.  Felt real good.

766- 490 (only 1 more run!)

Ran to Cody's house, then did a 6 mile landfill loop with him.  Then ran home.  Decided that I might as well add a few more minutes to make it 10 miles even since I was so close.  1:15:22.  Heat spell is definitely over- it was about 20 degrees and rather windy, with some snow by the end.  I was very cold by the time I finished.  Jackets are good to block the wind, but enough sweat builds up after about an hour that they become rather cold. 

Adrenaline- 81

Multiple laps on planet walk.  Probably closer to 7.5 miles than 7, but I'll round down.  7:05-7:15 average pace.

766- 497

Girl's night out, so I had the kid.  I went to the rec center in hopes I could find some way to still get a decent workout in.  At first I tried doing laps around the indoor track, but everytime I disappeared around the corner, McKinley started screaming bloody murder.  No go.  So, after a few other tries, I finally went to the racquetball court.  And ran back and forth.  And back and forth.  And back and forth.  After a while, I figured the munchkin had figured out what I was doing, so we went back to the indoor track.  I proceeded to run while Kinley wandered around, though she really didn't get in people's way too much (mainly cause there were very few people).  The track has 13.5 laps per mile, and I ran on it for over an hour.  I don't even want to think about how many laps that was.  Must be a new record.

9 miles I think, but I wasn't counting laps, 1:07:36

Elite- 360

Twice on planet walk.

766- 503 Retired!!! 

Morning run, low teens temp but actually didn't feel to bad.  Ran to planet walk, met Cody there, did Young's Ward loop, plus a bit, then home.  13 miles in all, 1:32:13, which works out to about 7:05 pace.  Some miles in the middle were as fast at 6:45 pace.  Felt good. 

One of the topics Cody and I discussed was the shape we are in this year versus last year.  I am in a lot better shape than this time last year, plus a lot thinner (20-25 lbs).  Last Jan and Feb combined I estimated I did about 115 miles, with almost all of it in February (I wasn't on the blog till end of Feb) and did 184 miles in March.  I did 199.5 miles in Jan this year, and Feb should be 220-230, with 270 or so in March.  Last year I didn't hit 270 till July.  I will continue slowly building up mileage to avoid injury and am looking forward to a great yeat.

Adrenaline- 94

Giants won!  It's a great day!

Planet walk, then to my new house, then planet walk 1.5 times, then home.  Lightly falling snow, kinda slick roads.  10 miles, 1:15:23.

Adrenaline- 104

Ran to Cody's house, did a 5 mile loop route with him, back to his house, then to my house plus a hair more.  8.5 miles, 1:01:20.  Felt good.

Adrenaline- 112

I finally put my real goals for 2008.  I'm treating the winter series as training only (i.e. no speedwork to try and PR at 5k), with an emphasis on Ogden marathon, St. George marathon, and especially my 3 trail races.  Should be a great year. 

6 miles around Providence, Millville, Logan at 7:15 avg pace.  Actually about 6.25 miles, I think, but I'll round down this time.

Elite- 366

Indoor day.  I wanted a good workout, but couldn't decide between hills and tempo, so I did both.  Did 2 miles warm up at 7:30 pace, then did 4 tinman tempo miles (6:30 pace).  Next, I slowed down to 7:30 pace again but started increasing the incline on the treadmill 0.5 degrees every minute.  After 15 minutes I was up to 7.5 deg and working hard.  I then quickly bumped it up to 10, then 15 just for fun.  Could barely do it.  Lowered back to 10 degree incline and slowed the pace to 10 min miles.  Did this for a bit.  Then lowered down to 5 percent and sped up to 7:30 pace.  Then did a bit more at 2 percent.  Once I got back down to 0 incline, I had 1 mile left.  I did the first half at 6:00 pace and the second half at 5:00 pace (I felt like jtshad).  Might have done a bit more but I wanted dinner (it was after 8 pm) and the treadmill got very wobbly above 10 mph.  Felt good overall- and I got in a good workout, too.

Adrenaline- 122

Easy day, twice on planet walk plus McDonalds to get a redbox.

Elite- 372

Time for the long run.  I kept hoping the sun would come out, but it was overcast all day so I didn't wear shorts.  Temp was about 35-38 degrees, meaning that the roads were extremely slushy and my shoes and socks were wet the whole time, with cold toes.

My legs felt sluggish right from the start and never improved, which was worrisome since I had planned a hilly run.  I ran to the end of planet walk (2 miles in 14 min, though it felt more like 8:00 pace- I guess it's a good sign when you are running a lot faster than you think you are).  Then I ran 1700 S to Highway 238 in Providence.  I ran south till it stops in Millville, then I turned left and ran up that road until it stops near Millville canyon.  Turned left again and ran up to the Providence bench.  Turned east and ran all the way up to the top houses, then wound my way to the mouth of Providence canyon.  Ran .85 miles up the canyon (very muddy and slushy/snowy, with 9% avg grade).  Ran down the canyon, then down Springcreek Road to 200 E in Providence.  Turned right up Center street.  Yes, I was glutton for punishment.  Ran up Center Street to the top- it is a steady climb, getting very steep at the top (14% grade for the last .25 mile- ouch!  This was 13 miles into my run and made my treadmill workout Thursday look easy).   Looped my way down from the top then ran home.  Total run was exactly 15 miles, 1:51:25.  I am pretty darn happy with my run supposing my legs never felt good and that I ran up 1100 vertical feet in the last 9 miles, with some of it very steep.

Adrenaline- 137

Ran 3.5 miles winding my way to Cody's house.  We ran the Providence Hills loop, average effort.  On the way back, I had to take an emergency bathroom stop.  Fortunately (very, very fortunately), we were within 1/4 mile of my house, so I stopped while Cody ran home.  3 pounds later, I changed shirts (it is actually very nice to be able to change to a dry shirt halfway through on a chilly evening) and ran the TOU course to just past mile 23 to give me 3.25 miles more.  TOU mile was 7:30 on the way out (slight uphill and icy), 7:07 on the way back.  Mapmyrun.com says the run was 13.57 miles, so I'll go with that.  ~7:10 avg pace.

Elite- 385

Only had time for 10 miles between the blizzard and having to hurry home to watch McKinley while Marci played church basketball.  70 minutes or so.

Elite- 395

Easy 6 miles, naked (no time).

Elite- 401

Striders 5k.  Not sure what to expect at this race, but I was excited.  Race temp was somewhere between 15-20 deg F, with a slight breeze that put the wind chill in single digits or low teens.  Drove with Cody and ran the course for warm up.  Looked like a great course- very hilly, which plays to my strengths.  Met Chad and Andy at the start, as well as Walter.  Only other fast runner I knew was Tim Wight.  Not as many runners as last year.

Started off at a good pace, with the first mile in 5:59.  Probably slower than it should have been.  There was a group of 6 of us at the one mile mark, though we were spread out over about 10-20 meters.  I didn't push it much up the uphill- decent pace, but not borderline anaerobic or anything like that.  Hit the top of the hills at mile 1.5 in 6th place, then came the downhill.  I quicly picked up the pace and found myself running in 1st place, though I still didn't feel like I was working too hard.  There was another good hill up to mile 2.  It was the first time I felt like I was actually in a race and moving at a decent pace, though Chad passed me around here.  Mile 2 was 6:00 even.  Then there was another downhill, flat, gradual down, then gradual up.  At this point, Ben (the eventual winner) went flying by Chad and myself, getting a 10 m lead in just a few seconds.  Chad caught him and I was about 5 -10 meters back.  I almost caught them on the last downhill, then we turned a corner and had a gradual up followed by a steady uphill to the finish.  Mile 3 was 5:24 but felt pretty good.  I started a kick with .1 mile to go and caught Chad, but then he started his kick and left me in his dust.  Ben came in first, then Chad, then me, with Cody a few seconds behind.

Overall, I am very happy with the results of the race.  I felt great and could probably take off 15-30 seconds if I were to race it again tomorrow.  It was my first race under 9 miles in years, so I underestimated the pace I could have held.  I didn't push hard at all on the uphill and only pushed a bit on the downhills.  I plan to have a faster pace at the 10k.  It gets me excited for this whole race season.  Plus, I don't really feel like I am in shape but I am almost exactly 1 minute over my PR on a course that everyone agrees is 1 minute slower than a flat 5k.  I don't have plans to do another 5k this year, but I imagine I could set a PR pretty easily if I wanted.

Congrats to bloggers- places 2-4, plus Andy just behind!  Good job to all!

Tangent- 101

Ended up not going to work today.  Slept in, then went running at 11 am.  Temp was low teens, but the sun was shining and it felt SOOOOOO good and SOOOOO warm.  In my opinion, 15 deg with the sun shining is tons warmer than 25 degrees in the evening after sunset.

11 am- ran TOU course till Center and Main (Miles 22 and 23 were both 7:11 miles), took a bathroom break, ran to the Boulevard, ran the canal (slowed to 7:30 pace due to running on snow), then went just past 1st Dam to the Hydro park.  Turn around and ran home, picking up the pace for the last 4 miles (3rd to last mile was a 6:40, last mile was 6:25).  12 miles total, 1:26:00.  Felt good.  No soreness from Saturday.

5 pm- ran to Paul's house via 300 W to meet him, then looped through River Heights to Planet Fitness.  Dropped Paul off and ran home.  Very easy :)  not often I can say that about a run with Paul.  4.9 miles per mapmyrun.com, 38:10.

Running twice today made me wish I didn't have a job and could just run- it would be SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much easier to run good miles, including 100+ mpw, if I could do 2 runs per day like this.  Plus I could sleep a lot more.  Where do I sign up?

806- 390

Elite- 406

Ran to Cody's house, then ran with him to Paul's house and around Logan.  Did the last 2 miles on Cody's treadmill.  7:00-7:30 pace.  It's nice to already have more than 25 miles this week- more than half my total from last week (I don't want to talk about it).

Adrenaline- 146

4 easy miles around Providence and River Heights.  ~7:15 pace.

Elite- 410

Ran to Cody's house, then did 5 mile route with him.  Both of us bit it on the bridge at Planet Walk.  He slipped a bit and gently touched his hand to the ground.  I flew sideways and landed hard on both hands and both knees.  Winner: Cody.  First time I have fallen like that in a long, long time.  I even took some skin off my knees even with my pants on.  Then ran home.  9 miles even in 62 min.

Adrenaline- 155

2x planet walk, easy-medium pace.  6 miles, 42:00.

Elite- 416

Met Cody at planet walk.  Nice and warm, with the sun out for some of the run (~35 deg)!!!  Ran into North Logan, up and down lots of hills, up to Green Canyon, ran the snowpacked Shoreline Trail (lots of fun on the big downhills!), then canal trail and home to Cody's house.  Then I ran home but added 2 more minutes to get up to 17.5 miles.  Good pace (sub-7:00 on flats) but avg pace was 7:30 overall thanks to all the hills and snow (2:11:04 total).  Felt good but legs were definitely tired by the end.  I'm glad next week is the Striders 10k and not the 30k yet.  First run over 15 miles this year, and first run over 2 hours.

I am very excited because 2 weeks from today is daylight savings, which means an extra hour of warmth and light for my runs.  I am really looking forward to that.

I also have discovered a new favorite post-run replenishment drink- Nestle Quik!  Yummy!

Tangent- 118

35 degrees and raining when I started.  Ran to Cody's house, then we did a winding, "moderately flat but moderately hilly" (can this really be possible?) run through Providence and River Heights.  About 3 miles into it, the wind picked up and rain turned to heavy sleet.  Cold, cold, cold.  Then snow.  Then rain again.  Then nothing.  Dropped Cody off, then ran 3.5 more miles.  By this time, it was dark, I was soaking wet, and very, very cold.  I started becoming a bit lethargic- I think I would have been borderline hypothermia if I hadn't quit when I did.  The cold was bearable as long as Cody and I could both complain, but then it was just miserable by myself. 

When I got home, I took my temperature just out of curiousity.  Not sure if the thermometer was right, but it said 93.4 deg F.  Like I said, I was FREEZING!  Cold, rain, wind, and running are not a fun combination.

13 miles, 1:31:59 (7:04 avg)

Adrenaline- 168

TOU to canal to first dam.  Much drier than yesterday. 

I had noticed a dull pain in the top of my left foot yesterday.  It was more noticeable today and grew progressively worse as my run went on.  For the last 3-4 miles, it really hurt, bad enough that I could barely run, almost limping on the last mile.  Not sure what to make of it.  If it hurts tomorrow, it could require a few days off.  We shall see.

Anyone have any ideas what this could be?

806- 401

Took a day off yesterday due to concern for my foot.

Planned 4-8 mile easy run today.  My work had other ideas, though.  I left for work at 6 am.  14.5 hours later, I am still at work.  And I still have an hour commute.  In other words, no run today due to work conflict.  16 hour work days will do that to you.   I can't imagine how Michelle L. does this for all of tax season... at least I will be rested for the 10k on Saturday.  And at least my foot is getting some needed rest.

1 mile warm up at 6 am, then 3 miles with Cody and Andy warm up at the race.  Then time for the race.  The same guys from last time were at the start (Tim, Ben, Cody, Chad), minus Walter who is running RDS.  Weather was absolutely perfect- just under 40 deg, not rain, slight breeze.  Perfect weather. 

Race started off faster than the 5k, 5:31 first mile.  Definitely felt like a race right from the start, unlike the 5k where we went out slower.  Second mile is steep downhill for the first half, then flat, 5:13.  Mile 3 is rolling hills, net down a bit, 5:46, had a bit of a sideache here for a mile or two.  Had a lead pack of 4 at the half way mark (Tim, Ben, Cody, me), all of us trading places, with Chad just a bit behind.  Mile 4 is gradual up till 4.5, then a big uphill for a full mile.  Mile 4 in 5:59, though Chad passed everyone in this mile.  The pack split up here, with Chad a strong first, Tim right behind him, me a bit back, then Cody and Ben behind me.  I figured 3rd would be a good finish, but Tim slowed a bit on the uphill and I managed to catch him with a 6:36 mile at mile 5.  Last mile continues up, then evens off a bit, then up, then down, with a 6:34.  I didn't have any chance of catching Chad- he pulled away on the downhill.  Moderate kick into the finish, 1:07 last .2 miles.  Total time 36:50 (36:46 officially, but I'm going with watch time).  Cody was 3 seconds behind for third, then Tim and Ben.  Next guy was more than a minute behind Ben.

I was very happy with the 2nd place finish, esp. supposing my foot has been hurting and I didn't run 3 days this week.  Another day of rest will do it good tomorrow.  It was a great course, much different strategy than the 5k where the uphill is first, then the downhill.  The 10 miler should be interesting, with a much bigger uphill.  The series should continue to be competitive and fun as Chad, Ben, Tim, Cody, and myself all seem very even.  Good job to all and I'll see you at next race.

FRB did great today- top 3 places, with Andy at 11th.  And in case anyone was wondering, I was wearing the shorty green shorts...

Tangent- 131

Ran around a bit, the met Cody, then ran to Paul's house.  First time in a group of 3 in a long time.  I felt like I was in a herd.  Granted, it was a herd that collectively barely tops 400 lbs, so it's a good thing we didn't run into a herd of something really big, like siamese cats or something like that.  Started off at sub-7:00 pace for 3.5 miles, then ~7:00 with Cody, then slowed some with Paul (may be the only time I can say that in my life) and we never recovered once we dropped him off at Planet Fitness.  Hmm, I wonder if Planet Fitness is somehow related to planet walk...

Eventually dropped Cody off, then ran around a bit more to make it 14 miles or so.  1:41:28, 7:15 avg.

New shoes today!!! 767- 14

Cody was kind enough to wait for a later run so I could buy a fridge after work.  I met him at planet walk, and we ran the Young Ward loop backwards.  We did 3 miles warm up (~7:00 pace), then did a 5 mile tinman tempo.  I wanted to aim for 6:30 pace, but Cody insisted on 6:15-6:20.  We compromised and did 6:10's for most of it.  Actually, first was ~6:20, then 6:14, then 6:09 for the next 2 despite slight uphills.  Last one was a 6:04 and felt better for me than the first- I could have done a few more at that pace.  Good workout.  After a potty break, we did 2 miles back to Cody's house, then I did 3 more winding home at ~7:00 pace.  13 miles, 1:26:31, 6:40 avg pace.

I am a bit bummed out cause I figured I would do a nice 19-mile run Saturday with some guys, forgetting that everyone will be in Moab.  Oh well. 

Adrenaline- 181

2 times planet walk.  Saw Cody and Bethany, kidless.  Normal weather, 32 deg, but staying light later.  I'm still excited for daylight savings.

It was an easy run today, but I was moving pretty good- about 6:45 pace.  I was going so fast I felt like jtshad, except I didn't throw in any 5:40 miles or 75 second quarters...

We are closing on our house tomorrow and it is our anniversary, but I'm gonna do my best to squeeze a run somewhere in there. 

Airplane- 20

We sold our house today- it is no longer officially ours!  Closed!  Jtshad, thank your mom for the great referral.  Glad that is over with.

Snuck in 5 quick miles before heading off to the anniversary dinner (4 years married today!) with Marci.  5 miles, 34:34.

Adrenaline- 186

I stayed in SLC last night for recruiting at the U of U, so I woke up early and went for a run from my hotel to City Creek Canyon.  Did 9 miles total, including 4 or 5 on trails!  It was great- not too much snow/ice on the trails, unlike in Logan.  First trail run of the year!  Thought I might bump into darkhorse or AdamRW, but no luck.  Run in Provo tomorrow.

F-16 Falcon- 29

Met at Sasha's house for a group run- Sasha, Michelle L, Hyrum, Adam, Tyler.  First time meeting most of them.  We did a short warmup loop, then went to the Provo River (at least that is what I think it was) and ran out by Utah lake.  Pretty easy pace, lots of conversation.  My right foot really started to hurt at mile 8 or so, underneath the arch.  New pain, and it didn't go away.  It was rather acute and noticeable the rest of the run, resulting in a slight limp sometimes.  It will require some attention and stretching the next 2 days, and hopefully will be gone by Monday afternoon.  Dropped off Adam and Tyler at mile 12, then did another loop.  I was planning on 18 but we did 20 (or at least that is what I am assuming, since I'm pretty sure Sasha wouldn't have let us stop short).  Pretty easy pace and felt very good other than my foot, especially considering it was my first 18+ miler of the year.  2:32:05, ~7:30 avg. 

I was very hungry by the end, so I swung by the store afterwards and scarfed down 2 donuts courtesy of the change I could scrounge up in my car.  Yummy.  Then had 6 pancakes with berries on top.  Yup, it's been a good morning so far...

F-4 Phantom- 49

No time to run yesterday until 9:30 pm, and by that point the run would have been so short that I decided resting my foot an extra day would be better.

Today, I ran a few miles, then met Paul, Dave, and Cody at Planet Walk.  First time seeing Dave in a long time- he had an awesome goatee.  Did a few miles together, then dropped them off at Paul's.  Ran Landfill loop with Cody, then dropped him off.  I ran over towards my new house and ventured into a field for fun, only to discover that underneath the snow was a lake.  With feet and shoes now soaking wet, I ran about 4 more miles.  Forgot to start my watch once, but time was ~1:45 for 14 miles.  Foot was tight and had a bit of pain, but tons better than Saturday.  Hopefully, whatever it was won't return.

Adrenaline- 200 (I still think of these as very new shoes, but they obviously are not)

Ran to Paul's house, ran 3 miles with him, then ran a bunch more by myself.  It is so nice that it is light outside.  ~14 miles, 1:45:50.  Don't know my pace for most of it, but mile 13 was 7:00 and mile 14 was 6:30.

F-22 Raptor- 63

1 mile warm up, 3 miles with Paul and Cody, 3 more with Cody, 4.5 more by myself.  Pretty sluggish feeling.  Slower than 7:30 pace I think.  Colder weather is back- kind of a mix of spring and winter weather.

Elite- 427

6 easy miles, 2 potty breaks.  One of those days.

KC-135 Stratotanker- 69

I love hills!

Striders 10 mile today.  I warmed up 1 mile at 5:30 am, then picked up Cody and drove to Ogden.  We were worried during the drive- it was snowing very hard and windy.  We were only going 50 mph on the freeway, and sometimes slower.  Then we hit Ogden and the snow stopped- much better.  Temp was just below freezing (based on a lot of ice on the course), warm enough for my green shorts (though I would regret it).  Warmed up just over 2 more miles with Cody.

At the start, I was surprised to see Adam RW there- didn't know he was coming.  Walter, Chad, Ben, and Tim were also there- the usual suspects.  There was also a rumor of some unknown college guy.  The course if very challenging- 1.5 miles down, 3 miles rolling hills, then a 2.5 mile killer uphill.  Killer up.  Then 3 more miles mainly down, but with a small uphill at mile 9.  At the start, the college guy (wearing pink) took off with Adam and Walter not far behind him, but none of them are in the series.  Chad, Ben, Cody and myself had learned not to go out too fast at the 10k, so we bunched up and ran a lot slower than the 10k for the first 4 miles.  Here is a mile by mile breakdown:

Mile 1- 5:57- Running pretty easy with Chad, Ben, Cody- Pinky, Adam and Walter really pulled away fast.

Mile 2- 5:32- nice downhill

Mile 3- 5:48- rolling downhill.  We pass 3 miles a full 45 seconds slower than the 10k, but are ok with it because we all know the race doesn't start till after mile 4.

Mile 4- 6:00- rolling uphill- Chad and I get a few steps on the other 2.  I timed Adam and Walter and found they were 35 and 30 seconds ahead of us, respectively.  Huge gap.  Pinky was even further, at least a minute ahead.  Never saw him again.

Mile 5- 6:37- Tailed Chad up the hill.  Feeling very relaxed.  Weird to think we only had 1.2 miles to go last race at this point.  Working hard, but not stressed- just concentrating on even breathing.  Avg pace at this point was 5:59/mile.

Mile 6- 6:31- I pass Chad somewhere going up this hill.  I expected him to stick with me, but he falls off a few feet.  I can hear him breathing, though.

Mile 7- 6:56- Last bit of the hill, with some killer steep spots and some very ice spots- I was happy to be sub-7:00.  I had gradually watched Walter and Adam fall back- I passed Walter at the end of this mile and caught up to Adam (they were only a few second apart).  For some reason, Adam got thrown in a loop seeing me, thinking Walter was catching him.  I tailed him for a minute.

Mile 8- 5:02- I had to look at my watch 4 times on this split.  Downhill the whole mile, but not a real steep downhill.  Gradual.  I was absolutely shocked how fast it was.  I had passed Adam but only put about 5-10 seconds on him.  It felt good to be doing 5 min miles at the end of a race rather than dying- this is probably my fastest mile in years.

Mile 9- 5:32- still downhill.  Adam's footsteps gradually faded.  I was heating up, and my head felt heavy for some reason.  I started debating if dropping my beanie and gloves would shave off any time.  53:59 cumulative time- was sub-60 min possible?

Mile 10- 5:53- This mile starts with one last nasty, yet short, uphill.  It hit me hard.  Easily twice as difficult as the whole 2.5 mile uphill.  Mean booger.  I dropped my hat and gloves.  I glanced back a few times to see where Adam was.  Reached the top of the hill, then downhill.  At this point, however, a minivan turned right into me.  Really ticked me off- I actually had to jump on the curb to miss being hit.  She never even saw me.  I touched the stinking thing.  Anyways, I finished with a strong kick (had to slow down for an ice patch) and broke 1 hour.  Very happy.  Great race.

Adam came in ~15 second behind me, then Walter and Chad and Cody and Ben.  2-6 places for FRB.  Nice run by all on a very difficult course.  Good job, guys.

I am very, very happy with my run.  I felt great, I love downhills and don't fear uphills, so this course is as perfect as it gets for me.  Felt good on the uphill and still had some legs for the downhill at the end.  I am glad the pack didn't go out too fast, which ended up working perfectly strategy-wise.  I don't think I could have run a better race- just a good day.  Somedays things just work out well, and today was one.  Probably one of the best 5 races of my career.

4 mile cool down with Chad, Cody, and Adam.  I wanted 65 miles this week but then missed Monday.  Still came close.

Tangent- 148

Post-shower note- I'm too worked up to sleep, so I started wondering how this compared to last year's race with a deeper field.  My time would have put me in 8th (5th in the series), which is great.  Paul was untouchable, of course, but I would have been only 50 seconds behind Sasha.  But their course was short- if you trust the GPS's and convert the time, I would have been 0.7 seconds behind!  I never thought I would be that close.  Interestingly, the group last year appears to have gone out very fast and suffered a bit- my miles 6-8 were 45 seconds faster than Sasha's!  To be fair, he was sick last year and not 100%, but this still gets me excited for the upcoming races this year!  We have a good group and it will be very competitive for the rest of this series.

Ran to Paul's, ran 5.5 miles with him through River Heights and Providence (~7:30 pace), then  dropped him off and ran to Cody's, ran 6.5 miles with him through River Heights and Providence (almost the same route, just in reverse, ~7:10 pace).  14.5 miles, 7:19 avg.

F-14 Tomcat- 83

Tinman tempo today.  Ran to Paul's house, ran with him to Cody's house, then ran up to the landfill loop, dropping Paul off in the process.  After potty break #1, it was time for our tempo.  Goal pace was 6:15-6:20.  Cody informed me we were doing 7.  Started off ~6:12 pace, then 6:14, then 6:13, then 6:21 (uphill a bit and into a brisk breeze).  At this point, I decided we should actually do two tempo runs with a full recovery in between.  As Cody was resting and stretching, I did my best to be invisible in a ditch behind a tree in the middle of a bunch of houses during potty break #2.  Then we were off again- 6:11.  I thought we had only done 4, but Cody kept track and told me we only had 2 more.  The last 2 were 6:09 and ~6:04.  Then we ran home via planetwalk, with me making potty break #3 on the way (couldn't make it the last 1/2 mile home).  Very tired and sore afterwards.  I thought it was ~14.5 miles, but mapmyrun put it at 14.8, which rounds up to 15.  1:36:16, 6:30 pace avg.  Good run, but sore after in my right foot and left calf.

Finished off with all you could eat pizza courtesy of the Drapers.  Yummy.

Adrenaline- 215

5 easy miles, 6:50-7:00 pace.  Felt tired and sluggish.  2 potty breaks.  I gotta change my diet.

Elite- 432

Had a cold sneaking up on me since Tuesday and it smacked me real hard today.  I normally run with colds, but I also felt real hot, like I had a fever, then started getting the chills.  No fun at all.  I have been getting 7+ hours of sleep for 2 nights, now (3 if I go to bed tonight by 10 pm), which is good for me.  Should be back in action tomorrow.

Got home early from work which gave me a bit more time before I had to leave.  Snuck in 7 (and change) miles in 48 min.  6:45 avg.

Adrenaline- 222

Ran 3 miles, winding my way to Paul's house.  I had planned on running 20 miles, but Marci reminded me I had to be home at 9 to watch the kid.  Met James and Logan at Paul's house, too- first time I had seen James in a month or so, and first time to see Logan since SGM, I think.  Good to see them.  Did a very easy Providence Hills loop.  9.5 miles total.  Plan to do an evening run to get my whole 20 miles today.  Long runs aren't as good if you break them up, but that isn't half bad right now supposing I am sick and this will be easier on my body.  Lots of talking.  Maybe I should move to St. George to join a bigger running group.  Nah, never mind. 

B-29 Superfortress- 93

Wow, I am really, really tired.  Between my cold and eating lots of candy yesterday (and not much else), I just felt sluggish all run.  Ran 2.25 miles to Paul's house, then ran around RH/Prov with Logan, Cody, and Paul (plus Cody's mini-clones).  Slow pace.  Dropped off Paul at planet fitness, then ran Cody to Paul's.  Logan and I then ran up to his in-laws by the cemetary at a bit faster pace.  By this point I was really tired.  I know that you get the most gain when you are tired but still push it at the end of a long run.  So, I picked up the pace even more on the way home.  Ran to the cemetary to stop by the grave of my aunt (who died last week) to give my respects.  4 of my great grandparents and an uncle are also buried there.  Then ran ~5 miles home at increasing pace (and increasing tiredness).  Clocked 1/2 mile through the island at 3:32- felt like 7:30 pace, so I was happy to see I was still moving along.  Last mile was a 6:29, after which I was spent.  Bed by 9 pm tonight, which will be a record for probably 10 years.  I thought I did 16.5 to 17 miles, but I plotted it very carefully on mapmyrun.com (difficult, since we went everywhere) and it came in at 17.51.  Glad to hear it was longer than I thought.

Bedtime right now.  I do have to say, I am jealous of all the 2-a-day guys.  Cody got 17 miles in 2 runs, and I guarantee it was a lot easier than my run.  Oh well.  Glad I slogged through this run.

Adrenaline- 239

Ran with the daughter/jogging stroller today for the first time this year.  A few miles warm up, then a few miles with Paul and Cody, then a few more with Cody.  8 miles, 64 minutes.  Then 2 more miles without anyone (including the kid) at 7:20 and 7:06.  Still feeling tired.

F-18 Hornet- 103

Ran with Cody today.  I wanted trails, he wanted road.  He won.  We did Providence Hills loop with fartleks- 5 repeats of 3 min fast, 2 min easy.  I got killed- I think I stayed with Cody for 1 of the repeats, but fell behind on the rest, sometimes as much as 10-15 seconds.  Just felt tired and still feeling my cold.  Cody and I switched today- he whupped me, and I turned into the big whiner.  Rather cold out, too- my hands were painfully cold by the end.  10 miles, 1:10:35, 7:03 avg.  I'll be very glad when this week is over, my cold is gone, and I have moved into my new house (supposed to close last Tuesday, now hoping to close Fri or Monday, since I won't have a place to live as of Monday).

806- 411

9.5 miles, 1:06:23.  Very tight/sore neck and back.  I think it is the stress from knowing I will be homeless on Sunday.

Adrenaline- 248

9 miles.  I felt good- it was the first day since last Wednesday that I didn't feel tired or too sick.  Nice.  I did the canal for the last time from my house.  4.5 miles out at 7:00 pace exactly.  Ran back at ~6:45 pace, except the last mile with was a 6:13.  Felt good.  9 miles, 6:50 avg.  I move my house tomorrow but plan to do a 10 miler in the morning and a short evening run to get me up to 70 miles this week.

A-10 Warthog- 112

10 miles in the snow, 5 with Cody.  1:10:39.  Now I get to load all my possessions in a truck and put them in a garage.  I hate buying a house.

Adrenaline- 258

9 pm- 4 more miles.  70 for the week- I had hoped to hit 70 a month ago, but lots has gotten in the way.  Plan to keep going up, though.  Last year I didn't hit 70 until the last week of June, so I am a lot better off than I was that year.  Hopefully good things happen.

All my possessions are now sitting in a garage, waiting for my new house to close.  Moving is tiring, but I had several friends willing to help out (including Cody, who says he single-handedly moved 5000 lbs of stuff- wow!).  I hope my stress levels and tension in my neck will go down a bit now.

F-22 Raptor- 116

8 miles with Cody. Felt like crap. But at least Cody is nice enough to let me sleep at his house for a few days.

F-35- 120

12 miles with Cody up the canal and to the river trail.  Felt better than yesterday.  1:23:40

Adrenaline- 270

Went to the doctor today. Just hoping to get well enough to run Saturday.  Looks like I am unfortunately having another low mileage week.  Story of my life this year.

I had no idea what to expect at this race- I was real sick this week, sick enough that I took a day off work (first sick day in 2+ years) and went to the doctor (first sick visit in 3+ years). Fever off and on all week, plus painful sinus infection. No fun. I just wanted to finish the race. It was tempting to run with some of the other bloggers (Walter, Chad, and Cody are all competitive), but I let them go right from the start. Temp was ok, but there was a strong head wind the whole way.

Mile 1 was was 5:43, then miles 2-6 were all 5:56-6:05. Then I did 7 miles between 6:13-6:29, with a finishing kick of 34 sec. I got caught in no-man's land at mile 1 and thought of catching the FRB group for wind aid, but then I started having trouble breathing at mile 1.5. It was a sort of runner's asthma that normally I get after marathons, and made it difficult to take any deep breaths. I had to really concentrate on breathing the whole way. Was in 15th place at 2 miles, including behind Emily Jameson. Caught Nate Pollard at mile 3 and we traded breaking wind for 1/2 mile each for 9 miles. I'm not sure I would have finished if he hadn't been there and we didn't work together, honestly. We caught Emily at mile 10 or 11, then caught one other guy at mile 12. Nate was hurting at this point and didn't take his lead, so I tried to burn him. He caught me with ~1/4 mile to go, but then I think he ran out of gas and I started a decent kick and beat him. But I'm so glad we helped each other- very helpful.

Awesome sight at the finish- there we 6 FRB singlets standing around, and only maybe 2 other guys. Logan, Clyde, Walter, Chad, Steve, and Cody all ran great races, and there were a bunch of other bloggers not too far behind.

I was exhausted when I finished and could not have gone any faster. Can't ask more than that. Bad time compared to normal, but it is a heck of a lot better than a DNS or DNF.

It is unfortunate that I got sick, but not much to do about that. Chad beat me by 5 minutes, Cody by 3.5, so my lead in the series is gone. There is no way I can make up 4+ minutes on Chad in the 30k. I'll do my best to get better before then, and then hopefully secure 3rd place and maybe give Cody a run for second. Should be fun.  I'm also looking forward to finally closing on my house this week (knock on wood) and getting rid of that major stress from the last month of my life.

Tangent- 165

7.5 miles with jtshad in Idaho Falls on a cool, blustery day.  Enjoyable run.  Added on a few more by myself afterwards.  Not sore at all from Saturday, but that was expected since my limiting factor was my overall health/fitness Saturday rather than muscular limitations.  ~6:45 avg pace.

Boeing 747- 131

No run. Finally closed on our house (2 weeks late, more than 1 week homeless) and spent the whole day moving in and starting to unpack, finally going to bed at midnite. Fever came back again, just like it did yesterday afternoon (nix-ing my evening run). This is getting old.

In some good news, between my recent stress and being sick, I have dropped 4-5 pounds. Almost at racing weight even though I am not running that much.

Sick and tired of being sick and tired.  Today was the worst I have felt since last Wed/Thur.  Fever all day, very weak.  Watching my hard work slip away day-by-day as I am unable to run.  Hopefully I'll be up for a small run tomorrow.  I think the half-marathon on Saturday set me back and made me sicker than I thought it would. 

Ran 8 miles with Cody.  Only my third run in 11 days.  I hope I am finally on the upside of my sickness- I didn't feel good all week.  It was definitely my first run in a while, as my legs were tired and sluggish.  1:01:23, 7:40 avg.

F-15 Eagle- 139

11 very, very slow but surprisingly difficult miles with Cody, 3 kids, and 2 jogging strollers.  Windy.  I am very, very, very tired.  Hoped to get 14 but didn't have more than 11 in me today.  This may be a very gradual comeback after almost 4 sick weeks and essentially 2 weeks off.  But I am trying to just get mileage more than I am worried about speed.

Adrenaline- 281

No run today. Last night's run exhausted me (I went to bed at 8:30), and I am still feeling it.  I am starting to suspect I might have something worse than just a cold/sinus infection.  I feel like I did when I had mono in college- I feel ok for a day or two, but then go for a run and it totally wipes me out for a few days.  If I don't feel much, much better by this weekend, I may go get a blood test.  Something is definitely not right and I don't like it.

5 easy miles with Cody and Paul.  Felt a lot better than Monday- hopefully I won't feel like crap tonight and will be able to run tomorrow.  8 min pace till the last mile when I had to pick it up to get home in time to watch the kid.

Elite- 437

Cody and Logan were running Hollow Rd/Blacksmith Fork canyon.  I met them at about mile 12 of TOU, 5 miles into their run.  We ran to mile 7, then turned around and ran back.  Almost perfect temperature, and I started just far enough up the canyon to miss the strong headwind.  1:12 for 10 miles- I thought it was short of 10, but mapmyrun put it at 10.15.  Felt much, much better than Monday, though I could tell by the end that I was fatigued.  It was probably good I didn't try to do much more than 10 today.  I think I should be ready to ease back into 6 runs next week with moderate mileage.

767- 149

First 4:30 am run of the year.  Winter is still here- 20 deg.

pm- ran 5 miles with Cody, then just over 5 more by myself.  I'm guessing 7:27 pace with Cody, then a hair slower by myself.  I just looked at his blog and it said 7:23 pace, so we were moving a bit faster than I thought.

It sure is a lot easier to get 15 miles in 2 runs rather than 1, even with the 4 am wake up call.

Elite- 442

Adrenaline- 291

Mini-workout with Cody on Young Ward loop.  3 mile warmup, then did a short tempo run.  I was hoping for 3 miles around 6:30 pace.  First mile was with Cody in 6:30.  Second mile he picked up the pace and I kind of lost concentration- 6:45.  Picked it back up for the 3rd mile- 6:30.  Ran home from Cody's house after the run.  11 miles, 1:18:45, 7:10 avg.

767- 160

6 miles at 4:20 am.  Started off real slow (.5 mile in 4:20) and tried to pick it up from there.  Pushed the pace pretty hard- well, as hard as you can make sluggish legs run in the morning.  I only had 45 minutes so was afraid that I only ran ~5.5 miles, but mapmyrun actually put me at 6.05, so I was a hair under 7:30 avg.  45:01 total.

2 good running-related notes:  I have been doing a good job of getting to bed hours earlier than I ever have in the past most nights.  I was asleep at 9:30 last night and 10 pm Mon night.  I even have a few 9 pm bedtimes, which is far better than the 11-11:30 I have lived for the past 5+ years.  I also found that being sick resulted in some weight loss- down to 139 lbs this morning, the lowest since right after my mission.  My normal weight since then has been 155 or so, with a low of 145 and a high of 170.

Adrenaline- 297

9 easy miles. It snowed off and on all day, and it was hailing with thunder and lightning when I got home from work.  Huh.

Elite- 451 

6 easy miles.  I'm excited for the 30k tomorrow- strange distance.  Should be a good race.

767- 166

Day of the last Striders series race.  I went in not really knowing what to expect- I am 95% recovered from my sickness, but I first got sick Mar 18 and essentially missed 3 weeks of good training.  I was in 3rd place in the series, 29 seconds ahead of Ben.  My only goal was to hold onto 3rd place.  I planned to take it out slow at 6:30 pace and then see what happened after mile 9.  3 miles warmup.

Pretty good weather- probably 30 deg, slight breeze the whole way.  Sunny- shorts, singlet, gloves and hat.  Found out at the start that Tim Wight would not run because he has a stress fracture in his pelvis- ouch!  Get well soon, buddy.

Mile 1 was with Ben, Nate Pollard, Cody, and Chad- 6:54 (mile was a bit long), then Cody and Chad pulled away and I ran with the other 2.  Mile 2 was 6:16, then 4 miles between 6:29-6:34.  Then we did 3 miles of 6:50-6:56 pace up a gradual incline with a slight headwind.  First 9 miles were very easy for me (I could have done ~30 seconds faster per mile), but I was just fine with that.  After the top, we picked it up a bit- 6:26 for mile 10, then 6:10 and 6:06.  When we hit mile 12, Ben (who did SLC marathon last week) and Nate decided to slow down to 7:00 pace while I kept going with a 6:08 and a 6:03.  At mile 15 I was starting to feel my 6:10 pace and hit some gradual uphills which continue through the end of the course- Cody says they at 20 seconds slower than the previous miles.  I did a 6:18, 6:23, 6:24, then 6:26.  Felt pretty tired but actually maintaining a decent pace.  I got passed by Jeff M at mile 18- tried to hold him off but he had a good head of steam.  Last 0.6 in 4:02.  4th place overall, 3rd in the series.  I met my goal.  Sub-2:00 would have been nice, but the first 9 miles were too slow for that.  Very slow 1.5 miles cool down.

Chad easily won, 1:53, and Cody took second, 1:55.  They had decided whoever won would take the other and myself to breakfast, so Chad took us to a good little restaurant.  Thanks, Chad.  Top 3 FRB sweep in the men's overall for the series- Chad, Cody, and myself.  Sasha and Steve should be happy.  We even got some comments on how nice our matching shirts looked.  Big congrats to Chad and Cody and all the other series runners.

I was happy with today- I got 3rd in the series and got a good training run for the marathon.  Based on today, I'm not really going to taper for Ogden marathon and will aim for a 2:50 time- not going to push it, just use it as training for the rest of the year- start slow, see what I have left at mile 18.  Feel good, with a slight pain in my right knee that I will monitor.

Adrenaline- 299

Tangent- 187

My knee was rather painful all day yesterday, so I iced it during the day yesterday and today.  It was much better today, I could only feel anything when I went up or down stairs.  I did feel it my whole run- not really a pain, but more a sensation and soreness below and behind my kneecap.  Anyways, my run was a rather slow 12 miles or so at 8:00 pace with the jogging stroller.  Slight wind the whole way home, which left me pretty tired by the end.  Long run pushing the kid.  Planet walk, then 400 W up to 1400 N, then worked my way home.  Planning on 77 miles this week, most since Aug last year.

767- 178

AM- 6 miles around town.  I saw a very big, slow, bright, and very green shooting star this morning.  I have seen lots of shooting stars, but never a bright green one.  Kind of pretty.  44:05, 6 miles.

PM- About 4 miles with Cody and his kids, then 5 miles with Paul on the LHS grass, then just under 2 miles home.  Unknown pace, but knee still hurt a bit and legs were still sluggish.

Adrenaline- 310

Elite- 457

AM- 6 miles on the grass at the golf course.  Hoping running on grass helps my knee stop hurting.  Nice morning run temp- ~43 deg.  Easy day today, so no PM run.

Elite- 463

AM- 6 miles, mostly on the Willow Park baseball fields.  Not bad weather, actually- ~30-35 deg, slight wind, no precipitation.  When I left for work 30 minutes later, there was a dang good snowstorm raging.  Welcome to May, everyone.

PM- Planned to run 10 miles in the mountains, but decided last minute to run around town with the kid.  Big mistake.  We bundled her up cause it was only 45 deg but she got real ornery.  Ran about 4 miles, then she got out to look at some ducks and really didn't want to get back in the stroller.  Did 3 more miles, then she got out to go down some slides for 10 minutes.  Again, she really didn't want to get back in the stroller.  I ended up cutting my run about 1 mile short due to excessive whining from the kid.  I don't think I'm going to take her again for a while.

Adrenaline- 316, 767- 187

7 miles in 48:46.

Elite- 470

Long run today. Ran 2 miles at ~7 min pace to Paul's house, where I met Logan (not Paul). We ran most of the first leg of WBR, then ran back to Paul's house- just over 7 miles at around 7:10 pace or so. Ran around the block with Logan, Paul, and his dog, then ran to Logan High and did Paul's endless grass loop- about 7.5 miles or so at ~7:25 pace. Then ran 3.5 miles home at 7:00 pace or so. Total- ~20 miles, 2:23:29. Felt pretty good, tired and hungry by the end.

This is my highest mileage week since Aug last year, and only my 3rd week of 70+ miles this year. I'm planning on 65-70 miles next week, then a one week mini taper for Ogden, the get back up above 70 mpw as soon as I can afterwards. In related news, I weighed myself after my run (I usually weigh before) and after breakfast, and was down below 140.  Lowest in a long time- I guess this is my racing weight now, though I don't want to go much lower.  Which means I get to eat more!  Yeah!

767- 207

Time to try out the trails!  Drove to Green Canyon, sunny and 70 deg.  Perfect.  The first mile of singletrack was great, and the first half mile of dirt road.  Then I started hitting patches of snow that became larger and more frequent until most of the last two miles or more was entirely on snow.  It was compact enough that I didn't sink in too deep, but it was slow going.  Water was often running under the snow and I would occasionally break through and soak my shoes.  Reached the top and discovered a yurt- never saw that before.  I went north into the watershed area for another mile.  5 miles up, 45 minutes (very hard work but slow pace).  Coming down was a lot faster (34 minutes), though still difficult- any momentum I had would disappear as soon as I hit a snow patch and started sinking in.  But it was a very, very enjoyable run that got me excited for when I can go running on trails more.  Knee felt improved, but the uneven terrain and downhill made it painful by the end.  10 miles or so, 1:19:07.

Ascend- 232 (first time wearing these trail shoes since January)

AM- 6 early morning miles on the landfill loop.

PM- I really didn't feel great after work.  I had planned on 10, but finally pushed myself out the door hoping to just manage 6 or 8.  I felt light-headed and dizzy the whole way, and had to stop 3 times to go number 2.  But I managed all 10 miles (canal route) in 1:13:32.  Glad to have that run over.

Elite- 476

767- 217

AM- 5.5 easy miles.  Tired and sluggish.  I am getting a cavity filled after work, so this is my only run today.

Adrenaline- 321

AM- 6 easy miles at 7:45 pace. Couldn't get moving faster at that time of the morning, today. Rained much of the night so I stayed on the pavement.

PM- 9 miles in 62 minutes around Logan, RH, and Prov.  Felt much better, though my knee irritation/pain is continuous.  I even ran 1 mile on the LHS track (first track run in a long time)- didn't try to run fast, just a hair faster than the rest of the run.  It was a 6:40.

Elite- 482

767- 226 

AM- I have been going to sleep 30-60 min later than I probably should most of this week, and it finally caught up to me. I was very, very close to bagging my 4:15 am run this morning. In the end, I forced myself out of bed and slogged through 5.5 miles on the golf course, running holes 5 thru 14. Maybe I'll get all 18 holes one morning, though I will need more than 45 minutes.

PM- Man, it is a TON easier to run 7:00 pace at 5 pm then it is to run 8:00 pace at 4:15 am.  Anyways, did the Willow Park/Planet Walk 6+ mile loop.  6.3 miles, 6:49 pace.  Round down to 6, since I'm sure some of my morning runs have been short.

Elite- 487

767- 232

12 easy miles with Cody to the canal and up Logan canyon a bit, mainly talking about how great Cody will do at Ogden.  Ran into Drew- he is doing great.  My knee really tightened up after that- I'm going to take Monday and maybe Tuesday off to hopefully let it get all better before the marathon.  I do have to say, this 2-a-day thing is great, even with early morning runs.  This is the easiest 70 mile week of my life.

12 miles, 1:27:32 (and no bathroom breaks!)

Adrenaline- 333

6 easy miles on a nice morning- 50 deg, no wind.  Great day.  Ended up winding my way to LHS and decided to do 2 miles on the track, just for kicks.  Did a 7:15 and a 7:05 (the first one felt a lot harder than the second for some reason).  I am pretty sure I just set my pre-5 AM 1 mile (7:05) and 2 mile (14:20) PR :)

My knee felt a bit better, but not as much as I was hoping.  For Ogden this week, I missed too much training in March/April due to sickness to be competitive, plus don't want to aggravate my knee.  I am running it at an easy pace as a training run to build on for the rest of the summer.  My first marathon ever, 2003 TOU, was a 2:49:59.  I will aim to crush that time by 1 second this week.  I will go out at 6:30 pace or so through the first 18 miles, then see if I can pick it up a bit.  If not, no worries.  I'm just going to have fun and enjoy seeing all the FRB-ers compete!  I did give myself my pre-race haircut last night, though, so watch out.  It is not as short as Clyde's or Logan's, but it is still pretty short to cut down on any wind resistance from the head wind we had on the 1/2 marathon.

676- 238

5 easy miles with the jogging stroller.  Knee really bugged me.  IB should make it fine for Saturday, though.  1 more easy run tomorrow.

Adrenaline- 338

2 easy miles with the stroller as a final shakeout.  Leaving for Ogden in 1 minute.  Here we go!

Elite- 489

Going into this race, I just wanted to treat it as a good training run, run a first 1:25 half (6:30 pace), then even or maybe slight negative split, and I didn't want to make my knee worse.  Goal time of 2:49:58 (1 second faster than my 2003 TOU).

It was lots of fun to see the bloggers at Logan's party last night (thanks Logan and Katey) and to see TONS of bloggers at the start.  I didn't want to go out fast so I stood a few rows back and went out with Andy Browning for the first 5 miles.  Mile markers were uneven but we were at 39:10 at mile 6 (6:31 pace).  Andy dropped back and I ran with Carre Joyce for a few miles.  After mile 7, I was in ~28th spot and was never passed again.  I met Jake Saunders at mile 8, and we ran the next 10 miles together.  He is a nice guy from North Logan- I was excited to meet another Loganite to train with Cody, Paul, and I.  He had a few cheering sections along the way, too, which was nice.  Next 6 miles were all 6:22-6:38 over the rollers, with a 1/2 marathon split of 1:25:15 (6:31 pace)- I felt pretty good and was excited how close I was able to stay to my goal pace.  My internal speedometer (no GPS for me!) was right on.  I knew a negative split was doable, and started to think 2:47 was in my capability if I worked hard after mile 18.

Mile 14 was a bit fast with the crowd and downhill, 6:01, then mile 15 was slower up the hill, 7:31 (marker may have been off, too).  Jake and I ran 3 miles at 6:00-6:10 pace, then one relaxed 6:25 right before the downhill.  At this point, I wanted to see if I could get a good negative split and even run some sub-6:00 miles, so I wished Jake luck and started picking off runners.  Ran 3 miles of 5:51-5:57 down the canyon, which I was happy with.  Mile 23 was out of the canyon on the bike path, flatter, and I thought I slowed down, but it was 5:50.  I passed lots of runners in the canyon, finally getting the last guy (Bill Cobler) at mile 24.  I had never run sub-6 this late in a race and it felt great.  Then my speed burst and the heat (plus 23 miles) started to hit me a bit, so my last 3 miles were 6:10-6:23 pace, with a final .2 of 1:18 for a final time of 2:46:55.  I felt fatigued at the end, but it was definitely my strongest finish ever and I never hit the wall- 6:03 avg for the last 7 miles!  All in all, I ran a 3:50 negative split, passed 15+ guys in the last 19 miles while never being passed, felt great (minimal knee pain, partly due to a super-dose of IBprofin before the race), and am hardly sore now.  It was a great workout.  11th place overall, 3rd in age group.  And even if I raced right from the start, it's doubtful I could have caught Walter who was 2 minutes ahead of me. 

This is my 3rd fastest marathon ever, though my 2005 St. George of 2:46 is probably slower when you account for difference in difficulty.  So, it was a somewhat easy race/workout that resulted in my 2nd best marathon performance ever.  Hopefully my knee will get better and I can have a great race season.  Back to work on Monday!

Bloggers did great.  10 of the top 12 guys were bloggers, and Michelle took 2nd.  Plus lots of other good races on a hot day.  Congrats to everyone! 

Tangent- 215

Planetwalk- 4 easy miles with the stroller at ~8:45-9:00 pace.  I could feel every muscle fiber in both quads with every step and felt the normal sensation in my knee, but felt fine other than that.  No post-marathon runner's asthma, either. 

Tomorrow I am scheduled to get my first-ever real massage, and even signed up for 2 hours!  It should be painfully wonderful.

Elite- 493

6 easy miles on a beautiful morning with a brilliant full moon lighting the way.  Ran 13 holes on the golf course.

In some sad news, my beloved port-o-potty is gone.  It was about a mile from my house and very convenient to use on many of my routes, which I did many, many times over the past 7 months.  Now the construction is complete and it is gone.  Farewell, old friend, you will be missed.

Adrenaline- 344

8 miles with Cody on the river trail.  I hadn't been on it for a long time- it was wonderful.  Overcast and drizzling, 50 deg, only a few other people on the whole trail.  The leaves are really coming out and the Logan river is full.  Good run, almost no soreness now.  The massage yesterday helped my quads a lot.  65 min.

Ascend- 240

AM- 6 easy miles in 45 deg weather with the jogging stroller.  47:00.

Elite- 499

Didn't sleep well again because of a sick, screaming kid.  Decided to skip my 4 am run to get some extra sleep.  I should have just gotten up and gone running, cause she kept me up that whole hour anyways.  Oh well, at least it is Friday.  And it is a 3 day weekend.

Cody picked me up this morning and had a surprise guest- Walter!  He is in town for the holiday and joined us.  We drove to Millville Canyon and ran the very hilly deer fence trail to Dry Canyon, then back almost to Blacksmith Fork.  About 900 ft elevation gain and 900 loss.  Very nice to run on a dirt road/trail the whole time and it wasn't even too muddy from all the rain.  Lots of cows and cow pies, though.  Nice cool temperature.  Pretty easy pace, plus the hills made for slow going.  13.25 miles, 1:53:05, 8:30 avg.

806- 424

Ran with Walter and Cody early this morning.  Met at First dam and ran Bonneville Shoreline trail to Green Canyon, then up all the way to the end of the main road.  Perfect running weather- 50 deg, breezy at times, overcast, with one rainstorm for about 30 minutes of the run.  Unlike the very snowy May 5 run up this trail, the snow was all gone.  It was a very peaceful, quiet morning- there were relatively few campers due to the bad weather.  Cody's foot hurt him real bad the whole run so he was very quiet, too.  6.5 miles and ~1500-2000 ft up in 58:30 min (9:00 avg), down in 46:20 (7:07 avg).  Finished off the run with 2 donuts!  What a great way to start the day.

Ascend- 253

I wanted to start doing some speed work again.  I decided to do a 4 mile tempo run- weather was 70 deg and sunny.  Since I am currently the only operational member of the Logan FRB, I did my workout solo.  Did Young Ward loop.  Ran 2.8 miles warm up at 7 min pace, then started my tempo.  I wanted to be at or below 6:00 pace.  First mile was 6:00 dead on, mile 2 and 3 were both 5:59, last mile was 6:03.  By the end I could definitely feel that I had done a marathon 10 days earlier, but was overall happy with the workout.  4.2 miles home at 6:55 pace, giving a total workout of 11 miles in 1:12:49 (6:37 avg).  Easy day tomorrow. 

Marci was having pretty severe labor pains last night.  Bubba Gump is due in 2 weeks, which means she could appear any day.  I'm looking forward to that, partly since I will take a whole week off work and can spend it with my family and running!

Tangent- 226

6 easy miles with the jogging stroller.  49 min.

Elite- 505 (retired!)- these were by far my oldest shoes.  I bought them as a pair of semi-lightweight racing shoes and used them at St. George 2005.  Meaning I bought them 33 months ago- wow!  They were ok, but not my favorite.  They lasted so long because they were first racing shoes and then were relegated to easy day shoes (6 miles at a time).

PM run- Logan Peak Run practice.  Ran up Dry Canyon- I had forgotten how steep it is.  And rather snowy- my last 10 minutes were on pure snowpack and I didn't really know where the trail was- I just ran uphill.  2 feet or deeper of snow, and it was rather cold and windy up there.  I ran up 4 miles with about 2900 ft vertical rise.  It took me 63 minutes.  That means I was going just under 16 min/mile pace up a 13.7% avg grade.  Truth be told, I probably speed walked 70+% of it, especially once I hit the mud and snow.  Time down was under 30 minutes.  It is real fun to run down deep snow- you just lean back and take real long strides.  Much easier than running down rocky trails.  After, I added a couple of miles on deer fence trail.  Total time was 1:43:32.  Kind of sad- I could usually do 14+ miles in the time that I did 9-10 on trails.  It is worth it because is is so enjoyable.

I noticed that my entry from exactly a year ago gave my weekly totals for the YTD.  I quickly compared to this year.  Here is what I found:

	2007	2008
Miles YTD	656.8	1052
Weeks 50+	4	11
Weeks 60+	2	7
Weeks 70+	0	4

It seems pretty obvious that I have done a lot more work already this year.  In addition, if I didn't get sick in Mar/Apr, I would have 3 more weeks in the 60-70 mile range already for this year. 

This time 2007, I also had my same pair of 806 shoes, the same Elite shoes, and 2 road shoes.  Now I still have my 806's (with only 129 more miles added), the Elite's died yesterday, and I have 5 other pairs of shoes.  With 2 more arriving soon.  Wow.

Kind of mid-year goals- run 70+ miles every week through SGM, spend most of June-Sept at 80-95 mpw, win a trail race or two, and break 2:30 at St. George.

Shoe count (so I won't have to keep looking back)- Tangent 226, Ascend 262, 806 424, Adrenaline 344, 767 238, 768 new.

6 easy morning miles.  Temperature was a bit cool, but not too bad.  Knee hurt somewhat from yesterday's run, but was bearable.

PM- 6 easy miles.  Knee hurt fairly bad, and I definitely had DOMS in my quads from yesterday's run.  Took it easy to be ready for the long run tomorrow.

768- 6 miles (first run!)