Seeking a better country...

At 6 a.m. it was 61 degrees.  I grabbed the bills and ran them to the post office, then came back to the soccer field for some wet grass barefoot running.  When I got home, Jack was awake.  He joined the world yesterday afternoon; he's alert, more responsive, and his behaviors seem more purposeful and less instinctive only.  Be assured, I hate being at work instead of home going googley-eyed over that boy.

9:36, 9:32, 8:33, 9:05, 9:11 7:05, 7:51, 7:54.  BST to Freedom Hills and home again.  I caught the tail end of the most fantastic sunset.  Having those two first two miles under 10 is a rare feat, if not the first time.  I've often had one or the other under 10, but rarely both.  

I got a bit excited about the thought of running a marathon with no garmin...perhaps TOU.  I think I let that device dictate pace instead of my body.  Also, absent the proof the watch provides, I might be able to more effectively lie to myself and achieve a better result.  On the other hand, I may be able to more effectively lie to myself and run much more slowly.  These were my thoughts on the trail.  When I got down to the road,  I counted my steps for a mile.  This was boring.  While running a 7:05 mile on rollers, I took 1280, +/- 2 steps.   

I read about this little race in the Clipper, and went with Spencer to check it out.  There were about 40 participants, 10 of which were kids.  My daughter said she'd run, but when I woke her up she said she'd been coughing all night, so she bailed.  I ran a couple miles around home, then drove to FH.  The course was out and back, up a hill then back down.  7:50 (the hill was a pretty good pull), 6:50 and 5:50.  Garmin measured at 3.03.  I got $20 at Crown Burger and some hot cocoa. It was a lot of fun.  If all races were free, I'd race every weekend.  I love finding a race that is so small, even I can win.

The day dawned.  A couple hours later I left with Jack in the running stroller.  We went straight down a quiet Main Street, always looking for the smoothest pavement.  4 miles later, we turned around and came home.  Jack slept for miles 3-7.5.  The last 1/2 was kinda bumpy due to the tar they use to cover cracks.  We found several treasures along the way, including $0.41, a freshly killed raccoon, and a not so freshly squooshed snake.  The morning was cool; my thermostat had it at 59, but that's on the shady side of the house.  We arrived home just in time, as the sun was getting high enough to peek over the sides of the stroller and get in his face.  No run is perfect, but this one came pretty close, with the free money and all.

My daughter needed a lift home from Park City, so I went up there after work to buy some shoes and wait for her.  In the interim, I bought some running shorts, and spent an hour running around the roads and trails in the vicinity of the Canyons resort.  It was much cooler than the valley, so it was nice.  I tried out the crocs, and they are very comfortable to run in.   The left one slipped partway off one time.  For about 5 minutes my left toes felt funny, but by the end, everything was normal.  I feel no after-effects this morning.  The crocs are baby blue and cost $5.  That's quite a savings from the normal shoe purchase price.  

Also, I have completed my registration form for TOU.  I even wrote the check, but I haven't put it in the mail yet.  This weekend the price goes up $25.  I'm in...but still wobbling on the fence a little bit.  I looked at all the close marathons in the time frame, (Pocatello, Salmon, Layton) and TOU seems like the best choice.  My base is pretty good, but the long runs aren't there.  Other than Ragnar and one half marathon last month, I haven't "gone long" since March.  I guess I'll have to get up early Saturday and go for 17 or something.   

Despite waking up around 5, I didn't leave on this run until 7.  Jack was having a rough morning so I tended him for a while while mommy slept.  Once he went to sleep, I took off; this gave the oatmeal plenty of time to digest.  I ended up at the baseball complex doing laps around the "Century Mile", which is only .7.

On my way there, I got into some sodden grass, and my feet got all wet.  I'm not sure if the wet feet or the thin socks gave me some rubbing issues.  The crocs didn't rub in 7 miles on pavement with normal socks on Monday...I must monitor this situation closely.  After the run, I got home and did some chores.  I finally managed to get to work by 10:30.  I guess I'm pretty much an ideal employee.

In the evening, I ran to a customer's house to switch over sprinkler lines.  Jack came with.  The customer lives south, and it reminded me why I always run north.  The roads are so much busier in that direction.  I had to go up on the sidewalk, and trying to keep things smooth for the baby with all the cracks and curb cuts was inconvenient compared to running in the road.

It's strange how some part of my livelihood is contingent on somebody's inability to rotate a knob to the right and left a quarter of a turn.

The crocs made blisters on the pivot for the strap.  Dumb, dumb, dumb.  I don't think they'll matter in shoes, which I'll be wearing for a long run tomorrow. 

Long run #1.  This is the longest I've run since April.  Why do I want to add 9 more miles to this total?  I ran partway up and down City Creek, met up with Fiddy and Allie, then ran some cool down miles with them.  It was cool and nice with a breeze the first time up, but by the time I was running down the second time, all coolness disappeared, except for the residual glow of running with two of Utah's premier runners.

I hit my target for the day (16) and still had over a mile to get to the car.  I asked a cop if he'd give me a lift on the back of his motorcycle, but he declined courteously.  I walked for a while, then felt like a moron walking down a hill and ran the rest of the way.  Once I got out of memory grove, I found the stinkiest garbage can possible, and sat down next to it in the creek.  That felt great, but smelled bad.  A chocolate shake from Crown Burger was the final touch on this run.  Now I'm home, and I hope I'm too tired to do anything except take a nap or go waste money at stores.  I also have an 1800 calorie deficit to rectify.  Also, bathing might not be a bad idea.

My left tibia hurts 1/3 of the way up.  This is not a new thing, but after 16 miles it hurts more than normal.

Nice easy run with Ash on her bike.  It was a blue shirt day.  The last two times we've gone running, we ended up with the same color shirts, and then the other runners we've seen also had on the same color...so I've got her convinced that runners plan out what color shirts to wear, and everyone knows which color it is each day.  We stopped at her school to see her teacher; school starts next week, and she is very excited.

No pain in the tibia today, but I know it's lingering there right under the surface.  I need to get some of the miles in on the grass or trails just to soften things up.  Does anyone have recommendations on compression sleeves?  My legs are tiny... 

Jack was fussing around 5:30.  I thought milady could use a break so I got up, changed his pants, ate some oatmeal, swaddled him, pumped up the tire in the stroller, and headed out.  We ran on quiet, dark streets to Lund Ln and frontage, slowly, then returned home.  Best of all, we traveled in safety.  

He always stays awake for the first 2 miles, looking around.  By 2.5, he's asleep.  He's so small, I'm surprised how much I slow down, but I guess being careful to find the less bumpy way cuts the pace.  Ugh.  Someone just turned on the creepy music in his swing.  I better go fix that...  

I started around 8 p.m. on the soccer field.  I want to baby my legs a little bit during this ramp up.  For some reason I got it into my head I needed to run faster.  I blame Trap, for posting all his super-fast splits.  So the idea was 2 miles "fast" then 2 recovery then 2 "fast and 1 cooldown.  Running .53 mile loops around a soccer field is kinda boring, but not at this time of the evening.  Enough clouds had rolled in that the sky was an ever-changing tapestry of color while the sun sunk low and finally set.  I brought an iPod and some water, which also helped, as did occasional sprays by the huge sprinklers.  There was also a nice pile of crushed ice someone dumped from their cooler that I used to my advantage.  I had a massage earlier in the day, so my whole body felt weird and relaxed.  7:10, 7:00, 8:04, 7:26, 6:49, 6:41, 8:06.  7:20 overall pace.

Tonight I did a mile with my 5 year old so she could practice riding her bike to school.  After I got her home, NEGAJ all came on bikes and in the stroller.  The road to legacy was closed, so we ended up in the bike lane to the baseball complex.  It was dark and slow, which was just what I needed.  I beat myself up a little bit yesterday between the hard workout and massage.  Nothing feels right today.  An off day tomorrow should help, if I don't get carried away with 2nd job yard work.

I've been looking ahead to this run for months.  It's been rattling in my head for quite a while, and today I finally undertook the challenge.  I started at the B, and ran up Skyline Drive for 9.3 miles, turned around and came back to my car.  

If I had to pick a single word to describe this route, it's RELENTLESS.  Most runs present varied terrain with ups and downs of varying grades for recovery.  Until mile 9 there wasn't a discernible break in the climb.  For most of it, I only held out for a couple songs before walking and drinking.  The road is dirt, and despite it being quite early, rednecks were in a hurry to get to some convention up at the top of the mountain.  The run was very reminicent of Avon Pass, with billowing clouds of dust.  

I hoped it would be 10 degrees cooler, but for the first time this week, temps didn't drop much overnight.  I needed all 2.5 liters of water I carried, plus one Gu and some caffeine gum.  By the time I reached my turnaround mile, I had climbed to 8400'.  Between the heat, grade, altitude and views, I was feeling pretty heady.   Coming back down was a pleasure for the first 5 miles.  Then the run began to catch up to me.  I hit 18 in a switchback with the "headwaters" of Stone Creek passing under the road.  I went right in and soaked for 10-15 minutes.  Ice baths aren't that bad when they don't involve ice.  

This run was beyond anything I could write about it.  There's something about the high places.   I can't wait to run this in the fall after a bit of rain has knocked down the dirt.  Also, I want to drive up, and enjoy the traverse miles over to Francis peak and Farmington Canyon without all the climbing.  I could really break myself against this mountain. :)  3000+' of climb  http://connect.garmin.com/activity/108114357

Starting at 6 with a very awake baby in the stroller and a talkative 7 year old on her bike, we made our way to Freedom Hills Park.  She played on the stuff while I added enough laps around the path to hit 8 miles.  We got home just in time to get her turned around and out the door for the first day of school.  She only needed to turn her shirt inside out, eat more food and get her hair properly configured.  My hips feel okay/funny from Saturday, which is lots better than bad/funny.

Sunset run to pitch black.  8 miles in 61 minutes, so not overly slow.  The first 4 were in crocs, the last 4 barefoot, all on the grass.  I liked the laps around the soccer field, and took advantage of the spray from sprinklers each circuit.  I had zero encounters with cars, and only one rabid stray dog.  I would have kicked it, but by the time he showed up, I was barefoot.  Instead, we warily eyed each other.  Shasta barked at me; I refrained from barking back.  I spent the day rueing that I hadn't run in the cool morning, but after this run my regrets evaporated, like the sprinkler water out of my shorts.  Holy crap, this is turning into an english assignment.

Jack was eating around 5 a.m.  Upon finishing, he was wide awake, so we went for a run so Tami could sleep.  It was 75 degrees.  We ran 8 miles.  That's about it.  I have a double today since I wimped out last night after helping Max finish his Eagle project.  He's only 17.3 years old, so not quite at the last minute.

P.M.  5 on the treadmill with "24" 3-3.  It was hot outside, and probably barely less hot inside.  I'm going to have a late night writing a story for my daughter's homework.

I met Tara and ran from the start of Firebreak Road to Farmington Canyon, then home.  The company was great, the temperature was too warm.  I'm thinking about cadence now.  My son has a schoolmate named Cadence, and I always wonder about those parents.  

This week I'm supposed to do four 8's and a 20+.  I didn't get out this morning, (should have) so is anybody interested in an evening run?  I'd also like to go to Great Basin National Park.  It's been a while since I climbed Wheeler Peak and felt reverent by the Bristlecones.    That would put my 20 in Baker, NV.  Ah, the possibilities.

1.25 episodes of 24.  It was so hot outside, I figured I may as well multitask while sweating.  3@7:30 and 2@7:00.  I won't revisit my confusion about the relative speeds of my treadmill and real running, but tonight gave me pause once again.  Time for ice cream...

AFTER last night on the treadmill, an outside run was in order.  It was pretty warm.  Then the wind started blowing mega-dust off construction sites and I went blind.  Then a gust almost blew me from the freeway overpass onto I-15.  Despite these travails, I made it home.  61 minutes, but I cheated for one drink pit stop.  On the other hand, I got held up picking my way through road construction in the dark, so things even out.

While running the following plan occurred to me for TOU.  Between mile 5-6 this really seemed like the TRUTH.  Any feedback would be helpful.  It's a pretty simple plan.  Miles 1-20 in 138-140 minutes.  Then run the final 10k in 45-48 minutes.  This is a long way off negative splits, which seem reasonable on this course.  

Soccer field laps.  I vowed to ignore the garmin until 10 songs elapsed.  By then I was at 5.7 miles, loafing along.  I never picked things up.  This is the part of training where I break down mentally.  I can't convince myself it isn't too many miles.  My left calf was cramping/sore from mile 2 to the end.  65 minutes

I'm headed to Great Basin tomorrow.  I gotta do 6 miles, take the truck to the dump and finish packing before 9.  Wheeler Peak on Friday, 20 mile run on Saturday, church and Lehman cave on Sunday.  I better get to bed.