Seeking a better country...

I ran the first 4 with my son...his longest run ever.  I dropped him off at home, and went for 5 more.  I'm feeling pretty beat up from all the gravel, dirt and digging lately.  

I fear the heat is going to come with a vengeance when it arrives.

3 with Jens, plus 3 more.  Sluggish.

I mowed lawns for 4 hours.  I wanted to run...

Same as yesterday;  yard work from 9-7.  Who wants to run after that?  

Got a run in before another yard work marathon.  It never cooled off much, or I guess it was already warming up when I started.  It was humid and sweaty.

I ran to JP Stewart, then ran barefoot loops on the wet grass for several miles.  It felt great.  All my blisters got really well hydrated.  Then I put the shoes back on to run home.  It was a wonderful morning.  It won't be long before it's too hot to run enjoyably, but that time isn't here yet.  I may have to get up a bit earlier.

Last night  in commemoration of my daughter's 11th birthday, we had a great walk/scooter/run/rollerblade/coaster car/longboard/bike ride on the Legacy trail.  My six year old finally figured out how to not chicken out on the two wheeler.  My 11 year old loves her new, stealth roller blades.  The sky was cloudy, we saw lots of lightning, a rainbow, and enjoyed the birds and russian olive trees. 

This is one of my favorite times of year to run.  It's easy to get out of bed in the morning.  The temperature is still pleasant.  The air is heavily perfumed with Russian Olive blooms. 

One of the best things about the run today is I didn't see any dogs.  I hate when the little or big yippers come and knock me off stride.

My left knee feels bruised.  It was less unpleasant as the run went on.  I felt pretty good after 5 miles, but had to finish up to get off to the landfill and work.

Man, I needed this run.  Going from tuesday morning to thursday night turns me into a grump.  I spent all day yesterday mowing lawns, but I guess the intense, hard work of running is no match for the stops and starts of getting in and out of the truck.  Running is a great mood enhancer.

 So Jens and I ran 3 miles, 10:00 AP.  He's doing all right.  I dropped him home and looped down Parrish to Legacy, and came home on Pages for 6 more.  7:27, 7:08, 6:59, 7:13, 7:27, 7:26.   

I need to sign up for some races.  I'm still undecided about what to do on the 23rd...if I keep vacillating, it will end up nothing.  My sis is registered for TOU.  I'm a bit more serious about that, and considering the initial Layton City marathon, across antelope island. But why?  

Wasatch Back is in one week.  We are short one in the girl van and one in the boy van; stress fracture and flake-out respectively.  Anybody interested?

My gps died.  This was a very unfamiliar course.  It was a pretty dark and windy run, with some good climbs and lonely, spooky trails.  I hate running down the hills.  It makes my knees hurt.

I ran with my son, sister and nephew up City Creek Canyon.  The young'ns stayed with us for 3+ miles, then turned around.  Shannon and I ran to the end of the road.  The canyon was beautiful, although we could have done without the pouring rain for the first 3 miles.  After it quit, we climbed and climbed and climbed...almost 2000 feet.  I'd rather run up than down.  None of us had a GPS, but we finished in 2 hours, for a pretty slow pace, but respectable considering the uphill miles.

7:53, 7:25, 7:48, 7:39, 8:06, 8:03, 6:49, 6:13 (.06)

Good morning, nice and cool.   

Jens and I loafed our way over to Viewmont track.  We hopped the fence.  (why is it locked?)  I ran 1 mile at 6:11.  Walked a lap.  The next one was 5:40.  I was gassed.  Walked a lap.  Ran one more at 6:12.  That one felt much better.  We clambered over the fence again and ran home.  This time, he ran harder.  Often I have to prod him along to keep under 10 minute pace, but I had a bit of a hard time keeping up.  I think I talked myself into being more tired.  

That middle mile was the fastest mile I've run in two years.  Previous best was 5:35.  I'm sure I could beat that.  My all time record was 22 years ago at sophomore region...a middle of the pack time of 5:05.  I've wanted to challenge that and at least get a time in the fours ONE TIME.  

Why the speedwork?  I don't know.  I'm running a municipal 5k on the 3rd.  I guess I have delusions about running it in the 18's.   

Now it's no more running till Friday p.m.--leg 10 of Ragnar.  We've got what could be loosely called a family team.  With my wife and son and self running, I'm already in it for almost $400, so we better have a helluva good time. 

Ragnar, leg 9.  A bit over a 5k on a pretty flat course.  6:51 pace.  2 guys passed me.  It was a bit hotter than I'm used to.  I ran most of the leg with a purple guy from a dodge-ball team.  A nice, easy start.  

Leg 21.  I ran at 2:30 a.m. Overall pace was 7:32.  2 guys passed me.  I passed over 40.  It was fun to watch the taillights get closer and closer, and then move past them to the next one.  I couldn't see much, but I think this leg was along echo reservoir for most of the time.  It also crossed under I-80 or I-84.  It was cold; in the low 40's and high 30's.  Great run.  It's just so fun to run the relay with so many people on the road.  It's lonely, but not like usual.

 Leg 33.  The first half of Guardsman pass.  The non-glorious leg that is just as tough, but .4 miles shorter than Ragnar.  I kept a  10:00 pace over the 1500 foot climb in 3.6 miles.  I've never run a section of road this gnarly that was this long.  My training definitely has some shortcomings, at least for this type of insanity.  I ran the first 1.8 miles with no stops.  I walked from 1.8 to 2.0, and passed 2 people.  It is that steep.  Then I ran, walked, ran, walked, and ran to the exchange.  It was hot & dusty.  At the exchange I bummed some grapes off a nice lady.  I've never had more tasty grapes.  One guy passed me.  I passed around 20 people.

Wasatch Back was a blast.  It was a lot better for me this year.  In 2009, I was still so hammered from Ogden, I ended up run/walking the second and third legs.  It wasn't a performance I was proud of.  But this year, I felt great.  Our van was fun, and it was great to include my son.  He finished the race for us, and did a great job, despite doing little specific running training.  It must be nice to be young.  

Next year I want to do a mixed ultra team.  This year the winning team took 30 hours.  Our family team did the thing in 29.5.  I'm sure with the right people, we could have won this year, handily.  I've got 3 definite guys and 2 strong maybe girls lined up, so...we'll see. 

BST to my sister's house so I could pick up my car from the Relay over the weekend.  I saw a dozen lizards darting across the path, and half as many squirrels.  The lizards made me wary of other reptiles, and sure enough, around mile 7.5, there was a 3' snake in the middle of the road.  It made me jump.  It was too cold for it to be moving much, but the size and girth was enough to give me a start.  I didn't notice a spike on the HRM, but I was definitely amped up after almost stepping on it.  This time, it wasn't a rattlesnake, but I was definitely watching the trail very closely for the rest of the run.  Overall pace was 8:50.  Poor.  But there is 2100' of climb over the course of this run, plus two trips across streams, which slowed me down some.   I was carefully trying to cross Farmington creek, but all the stones were mossy, and I should have just waded the dumb thing, because I ended up soaked anyway.  The descents are awful too; they are so steep, you have to carefully pick your way down, (well, I do, so my knees don't explode,) so there's no making up for slow time on the climbs. 

When I got to Dit's, she fed me turkey and apple juice, and we blabbed about the Relay.  It was fun to see her at home with her kids, relaxing on a beautiful summer morning.

BST to Freedom Hills.  4.55 miles.  I kept the first mile right at 9:00, for my fastest climb ever.  After a brief pause to drink at the park, I came home on Main, then up to 400 E. 3.45 miles, 7:12 pace on the road.  The sunset was beautiful, but I left 15 minutes to late.  It was pretty dark on the trail before I got down.  Nobody would come with me, but that's okay.  I got a much better workout alone.

Home to parrish, legacy to state street farmington, home on main and 400 E.

Somebody forgot to turn off my GPS, so I don't know how fast.  I should have brought a utility belt along, cuz I got pretty thirsty.  I ran from about 6:15 till 7:50ish?  

It's hard to stay on top of it mentally.  A few nights ago, my wife was tied up with So you think you can dance.  I got busy going through papers on my desk.  I found one from the Ogden Marathon packet that was $5 off registration for the Layton marathon.  The next thing I know, I'm signed up for the dam thing.  I should have watched lame tv.   

My niece had a b-day party at Farmington pool, so I had my son drive home and I ran.  I took the Lagoon Trails north, then came home the usual way on main.  It was kinda hot.  I saw Jason Nance headed north, and I figured I'd see him again.  Sure enough, he ran up my tail on Chase Lane.  He graciously slowed down to visit for about a minute, then took off like a deer.  He gapped me out of sight pretty quickly, the turdlett.  

I rolled out of bed around six, noting with disappointment that the temperature outside was 77.  So much for postponing till morning when it's cooler.  BST to Freedom Hills, then home the relatively hard way.  I didn't eat anything, and was very glad I carried a water bottle.  There's nothing better than showing up to work totally wiped out from a trail run, except sleeping in and skipping work entirely.