Seeking a better country...

I got home from work and quickly took the little-A girls down to Legacy.  We rode 3 miles north and came back.  In between we stopped approximately 10 times to rest, throw rocks, pee in the bushes, rest, cry about tired arms and legs, etc.  As far as runs go, this wasn't a delight.  I finally told littlest-A girl I would give her 20 jelly beans if there was no more whining.   She closed her mouth with determination, and didn't say a word for the remaining 2.5 miles.   She said it kept the bugs out and the whining in.

There were a lot of bugs.  I saw some huge bird, but couldn't get close enough to be sure what it was.  It was flying low, with a 5' wingspan.   

3 hours of cross training, core and upper body...AKA lawn mowing.

My treadmill had been feeling lonely.  I got started around nine, planning to do a 666.  Between my still funny legs and a lingering sinus infection, I couldn't hold on at all, and walked a bit after 2 miles, so my overall time was 63 minutes.  It was good to see Jack Bauer again.  I wish I arrived home a bit earlier so I could run outside in the daylight.  

I need an event to get on a training plan.  Getting ready for Ragnar isn't specific enough.  After daily consulting a piece of paper for 4 months, this feels a bit too loose. 

2 hrs cross training, with trimmer, broom and lawn mower.  I feel like I should get miles, cuz doing the lawns makes me "too tired" to run.

After 4.5 hours of mower cross training, I ran home from my Dad's.  I took Davis Blvd, then made my way to 1300 E, to wind back down Northern Hills and catch dirt Davis Blvd.  Then I found a single track to follow all the way to my usual haunts on the BST.  I crossed a stream I'd never seen before; I wonder if it's around during runoff every year, or maybe just this year.  There was a small, 5' waterfall, and I nearly decided to hop down and take  a bit of a shower, but I didn't want wet shoes for the rest of the run.  I ran to about Chase Lane, then came down to 400 E. to get home.  

The best part of the run was the trail, and the fact that my legs feel none the worse for wear.  I'm joining Spence tomorrow for 10 of his 15er; I hope that's not overdoing it.  Also, I found a former worker to take over most of my mower cross training.  I'm VERY happy about that. 

I ran with Spence on BST between Bountiful and Farmington.  I am encouraged that my legs feel fine afterward.  Maybe I can increase speed & mileage in the next couple weeks.

My daughter wakes up pretty early.  I guess not early for some people, but earlier than everyone else in the house.  She likes to have some unsupervised time watching PBS Kids, snuggling with her blanket and a heat vent.  Even though she's 7, she still will take a 2-3 hour nap on the weekends, but the early starts take a toll on her behavior and agreeability during the week.  

Now that the days are longer, we decided to go on run/bike rides in the morning.  She woke me up at 6:30, and we thought we caught a break in the rain.  The first mile was misty, but it rained hard on us for the rest of the run.  She pedaled along on her crappy pink bike, splashing through every gutter, puddle and curb cut.  We were both soaked from head to toe when we got home for breakfast and hot chocolate.  I'm glad she wanted to come. 

Maybe the rides will tire her out and she'll sleep better.  It's win/win for me, cuz I get to spend more time with her, and her little sister who very slow on the bike, sleeps until 8, so we don't have to drag her along. 

This run/ride was about the same as yesterday, minus the rain, and we went to the baseball complex rather than Freedom Hills.  

The run was worse because I didn't eat any breakfast first, so it felt more difficult than usual.  I haven't run on empty for months and months.   

When the sand pit/playground was full of water and puddles around all the equipment and swings I got a stern lecture about why bark and wood chips are a superior playground substrate.

She woke me up again.  After my oatmeal and her cheerios, we got out early enough to make all the way to Freedom Hills.  I can't believe I have a 7 year old running buddy.  I did a couple circuits around the park while she played on the rocks, and we made it home by 8:00.

While the girls dined on pizza and played at the playground, I ran up the "wiggly" zig-zag trail over to the 2nd Farmington Creek along BST.  I found a gnarly hill to walk up, and got over 5000'.  

9 hours trimmer cross training.  I'm very tired and thirsty.  4 mtn dews today, and I'm considering a fifth.  Bad habit, but it tastes so good.  I also had 20 oz milk, 32 oz powerade, 32 oz water.  

3 hours cross training followed by 6 hours of sand and brick paver rearranging.  I ppd my 14 miler till tomorrow.  Dinner at 5 guys.  My daughter (15)  pounded her burger in the time it took me to take the littlest one to the bathroom.  I was very impressed.

7 miles inside with Jack Bauer, 7 miles outside in the stiff wind and heat.  When I got home it was 79.  I had 32 oz powerade and stops at the parks for more water.  My legs felt like the bones had been removed and replaced with something more rubbery.  This week wore me out.

Misty morning run on BST.  Little-A wouldn't come with me, despite promising donuts at the end.  She thought it was going to rain.  Turns out she was right.  I was soaked by the time I got home, esp. my feet from brushing against the tall weeds on singletrack.  I have a lot of trouble when my shirt gets extra wet.

I got out for this run when the rain slowed down around 7:45.  I promised I'd put the girls to bed, so I needed to keep it under an hour.  I guess I was feeling punchy, because I knocked out 6 in 43 minutes.  I haven't run fast for any duration in a month, so this felt GREAT.  It's nice to get a reminder that I still know how to run.  

I can't settle on my next marathon.  I don't want to run them just to run them; I want to race marathons to improve and PR.  Is desnews to soon to accomplish that purpose?  I don't think there is a physical limitation, but there may be temporal and mental limitations that would make that somewhat akin to Layton last fall, which was basically a throwaway marathon.  With how busy I am right now, and even feeling a little burnout, my current thinking is to register for TOU, rather than desnews.  On the other hand, the nice thing about desnews is you can register for the low price until 1 week before...so if things are feeling groovy, I can jump on in.  It might be an interesting experiment to do it without a succession of 20 milers, or a complete waste of a holiday and $65. 

.25 warmup, then 5 miles at 6.3 mph at 5.5 incline.  There were lots of leds lit up on the effort gauge;  the sweat running off my head and back confirm this.  Cooldown was 7.3 mph at 1.5 incline;  felt very relaxing after the steeper miles.  I'd like to get better at ignoring the "I need a break" voice.  Better yet, I'd like to figure out how to turn it off.  

Huge props to all the Ogden Marathon participants.  FRB had a very good showing, up and down the field.  While I spent all day yesterday finishing a bathroom and mowing lawns, my mind wandered often to the road down Monte Cristo, around Pineview, and down Ogden Canyon. 

Today's run began at 6:30.  I headed south for a change, warming up for a mile on the road before heading straight up the hill to BST.  I ran BST to Farmington canyon, noting extremely high water in all the creeks, as well as 2 never before encountered streams.  The runoff situation is dire, and only going to get worse.  I ran down Farmington Canyon to the pond, with water gushing over the spillway.  I'm already sad for the people who will be drowning this spring...fingers crossed people will use common sense and be careful.  

I felt pretty good through this run.  I don't have pace info, cuz I'm too lazy to upload the data from the Garmin, but I ran some pretty fast, hard miles on the singletrack, and on the road home.  I got home with the luxury of 10 minutes to get cleaned up and dressed for a 9:30 meeting.  I was right on time. 

I think it's time to put these shoes into the lawnmowing pile, but they are still pretty good for shorter runs.  I hopped out for a quick 5, and surprisingly did a quick 5.  I enjoyed the frog chorus down on Legacy, and many foul and fair aromas as I passed horse pastures and wisteria.  Temp was perfect, and I wore my HRM.  130's feel rock steady and indefinitely sustainable.  Anything in the 140s seems considerably harder.  At the tail end, I opened up to (my) fast speed, and got up to 160.  More useless numbers.  Overall pace: 7:30.  I need to quit calling those fast miles, since my goal marathon pace is more like 7:00.

I wish the default setting wasn't times new roman.  I'm so sick of that font. 

My diminutive running partner awakened me at 5:45.  Actually, the noisy bird beat her to the punch by 45 minutes, and I was just laying there, half awake.  She gently nudged me and asked, "Dad, are we going on a run?"  I grunted yes.  She said, "I'll come back at 6:10, you better be ready."  I had my oatmeal, she had her cheerios.  To make things difficult, her little sister who is far less competent at riding a bike was awake and wanted to come too.  I settled her in with the Nintendo DS, and we left.  It was a resplendent morning.  On the way back, we stopped at Fresh Market for a donut.  She picked a white frosted with red, white and blue sprinkles, "Because Memorial Day is coming up, Dad."  I should have bribed her with a donut last week.  It was nice to have her company again after a couple weeks off.

Tonight my running partner was 11.  Her bike has gears, so she did a much better job of keeping up.  We went down Parrish to Legacy, around the pond (as far as possible, before deep water forced us off the path).  The pelicans were right off shore, and we got a good look at them taking flight.  Quite a wingspan on those birds.  The pond loop was kind of spontaneous, and by the end I was quite thirsty.  We stopped by WB park to get a drink, but the *#$%#'s haven't even turned on the fountain yet.  Yes, I checked the calendar and it is May 27th.  I guess the parks budget must be cut and they can't afford the water.

This was part two of the relay practice.  Sort of.  I ran in the evening last night and then again early this morning.  Following all day of lawn mowing I'm going to go for 8 to see how tired I can get.  My running partner played at three parks while I ran around sort of close by.  We stopped again for a donut, thus explaining the presence of my running partner.  She was very slow today, which suited me fine.

a.m.-p.m.  10 hours of upper/lower body and core cross training with lawnmower and trimmer.  I thought I had solved this problem...

I had a big job lined up, but the rain led me to cancel.  After taking care of that important business, I went back to bed till 10 or 10:30.  It was still cloudy and cool, so I headed out for a half.  The loop was flat and scenic, viewing the mountains dusted with snow, and green with spring growth.  

I tried a new beverage today:  Mountain Dew.  It was too sweet.  I ran the first 5 miles pretty hard, (7:15 pace) then walked for a drink.  I wish I had water to follow that up.  Then I got past the turnaround where my son and his friend finally caught up with me.  I headed east on State, and we visited for a while.  I told them my pace wouldn't be very exciting, so they should ditch me home.  They dropped me like a bad habit.  I had one 10 minute mile while we were chatting.  So the last four miles were unremarkable until the last one.  I wanted to hit it hard, just to practice going faster while fatigued.  I got a 6:58.   

After the run, Tyler came over and we fixed the masonry on the front porch by wrecking the masonry below my window and fixing that too.  Also he finished the garbage can pad brick pavers, and window trim pieces that needed to be routered and cut.  The list of jobs around the house is endless, but we keep chunking away at them.  Someday all the tile will be grouted, walls painted, cracks caulked, weeds pulled, etc...That went from 1-9.  Ash came in this morning wanting to go for a run.  We played Zelda instead, spending some quality time in Dodongo's cavern.

A little after 10 p.m. I got out the door.  At the turnaround I stretched for a bit.  I stopped at Fresh Market to get bananas, and just barely made it before they were closed.  Temp was pleasant, if a bit warm, and man, it was dark.  I almost fell into Ricks Creek.