Seeking a better country...

Jake and Andrea put on a wonderful event today at the Highland High track.  When I toed the line I knew I wasn't going to finish in the top 20% of the racers.  12.5 laps later, I think everyone except one runner had lapped me once, and Jake did twice.  I wonder when I'll see a 15 minute 5k again.  

I forgot my watch, so running by feel was the order of the day.  I talked to Ashley, and she said she was shooting for sub-20, so I tried to stay in her vicinity.  I lost track of the laps, but figured out how many remained after Jake finished.  With two laps to go I was right at 17 minutes.  Needing to finish the last lap in 80 seconds, I tried to go faster.  It took 89 seconds.  I probably could have kicked a bit harder, but I was just on the right side of puking, or so I thought.  After finishing, I lost my oatmeal.  

So I tried as hard as I could today, and that was the result.  It's a good benchmark for beginning some speed training for the next few months.  The trouble is, running faster requires faster training, and today felt awful.  I'm generally pretty content to lope along.

It was great to meet so many people from the blog.  Everyone was very nice and encouraging.  I particularly enjoyed the cooldown jog around the park after the faster running concluded.  I'm looking forward to OktoberFast 2.0 around Halloween.  Also, my son needs a shout-out for helping with the timing.  I should have assigned him to count my laps.

BST to Freedom Hills, back the way I came.  Sunset was nice.  I feel slow, but it was nice to get a run in after flu Sunday and staying home from work yesterday.   There aren't many things better than listening to playoff baseball on a run.  3 innings kept me going for longer than I should have stayed out.  I was a little late for dinner.

9 p.m.  Dark and cold, but it felt great.  I got "paid" on this run cuz I was dropping off bills that I usually mail.  The tally:  4 stamps or $1.72.  I'm on the path to financial freedom, and I owe it all to running.  Oh wait, that was 1% of my recent marathon registration fee.  I guess I'm headed in the wrong direction.

I went to my dad's to watch the Cards/Phillies.  Around the 6th inning, I decided I could get some TM miles while watching the game, thus multi-tasking and accomplishing more.  But I didn't have any clothes.  The house was empty, so I stripped down to my undies and ran in those and my crocs.  I picked a random hard program on the TM, and it kicked my butt, with 7-9% grades.  All the LED's were lit up for most of the time, except when I bailed and walked.  Chris Carpenter outdueled Roy Halladay, and I went home disappointed with the Phillies' loss.  When I got home, the girls were watching the Les Mis concert, and I stayed up till past 1 watching that.  Amazing.  A rainy day of lawn care awaits.

8 hours and 20 lawns.  I'm pretty tired.  I wish my mowers went faster so these could count for running miles.  Game one of the ALCS awaits, along with some power eating.

a.m.  Ash woke me up wanting to go for a run (get a donut).  She was so noisy getting dressed, she woke her sister.  I warned them it would be cold.  The were undeterred.  I spent the next half hour herding cats, and cut the run short to get them home.

work:  50 pushups in between cycle times on the electropolishing apparatus.  I know, I'm pretty huge already, and it isn't fair that I should become an even more imposing physical specimen, but that's how I roll.  Deal with it.

 p.m.  After cutting down my dad's 30 year old river birch (sad to see a tree I grew up with go) I came home and finished up the day's mileage on the treadmill.  I went with one of the canned programs that varies speed and incline, but keeps things pretty challenging.  What are runner's thoughts on running slower speeds but high inclines?  It seems smart to me, as impacts are reduced, but heart-rate stays high. 

This run is confusing.  First I ran to pick up Jack from a babysitter.  Then I came inside to watch baseball and run, thus multi-tasking and having more throughput to actual yield.  But it was so nice outside with a full moon and clear skies compared to sweaty hot inside, I got off the mill and did the last couple miles outside.  

I made my running buddy a little late for school on this run.  We went to Freedom Hills and back, with a donut stop on the way home.  I love the irony of stopping by the grocery store to eat a donut after a 7-8 miler.  It was too hot for the jacket and running tights after about 5 minutes.  By now I should have the wardrobe figured out...

After feeding the girls lunch, they hopped on their bikes and rode with me to the "dinosaur" park.  There were three football games going on; I'd never seen the park so busy.  They played on the equipment and in the sand while I did 6 miles of laps around and around.  It was 75 degrees, so a little warmer than is optimal.  I collected two sandy girls and we rode/ran home.  Anna ran out of "power" and sprawled on the neighbors' lawn until I went back down the street and pushed her up to the house.  

Lately, I have nothing.  The running is sluggish, slow, torpid.  Perhaps my mojo will return in time.  The only reason I went today was so I could at least have somewhat respectable mileage for the week.  It's a good thing for this blog, or I'd be slacking even worse.

My mom & dad wanted to bike up City Creek canyon to appreciate the fall leaves, so I went along on foot. My dad quickly fell behind. I stayed with my mom for about a mile, and then she got off to walk her bike. I ran up past the water treatment plant, and headed back down. My timing was about right, cuz I saw her shortly after the turnaround and my dad a couple minutes later. The up was great. I love running City Creek. Today the leaves were vivid and GORGEOUS. bonus: It's early enough that the smell of rot wasn't completely pervasive.

Coming down, I saw single-track off to the north side of the road. I veered onto that and had an awesome time flying down. I was running through tunnels of beautiful, colorful leaves on a perfect fall day...unbeatable. It was so nice to "feel it" on a run.

After arriving home at 7:00, I quickly ate a bowl of Oh's cereal and changed. 8 brisk miles later, I'm back and feeling that wonderful euphoria that accompanies an enjoyable run. I hear a 12 week old baby grunting, so rather than regale you, my loyal listeners with a more detailed description of this run, I'm going to go hold him.

Treadmill/baseball miles. 4 were steep and slow, and two were somewhat faster.

10k to Farmington.  There is a little dirt road that loops behind Reading up to Main.  I often run on it for a nice steep hill mid-run.  But tonight it was way too dark and creepy.  It was an awesome, black night.  The mountains were all lit up from the city's light pollution, but the stars were pretty visible for around these parts.  I should have worn my glasses so I could see better, but they squeak when I run.

I'm pretty sure that mileage is close.  I met up with Tara and allie just before sunrise to loop Mueller and North Canyon in Bountiful.  The leaves peaked a week ago, but we still had gorgeous conditions for running.  The temps were cool, the trail was great, (with the exception of the muddy North Canyon side), the views were beautiful, and the company was thoroughly enjoyable.  Peak elevation was 7200'.  At one point I heard something large in the trees, but it never showed itself.  There were quite a few runners we crossed paths with, which surprised me.  The other times I have run this trail, it's been quite solitary.  This was a great run; the longest since TOU for all three of us.

I had so much to do tonight, I multi-tasked game 5 and the run.  What a game!  I can't hardly stand it that there are only one or two left before a 5 month hiatus till April.  At least runs aren't like that.  

I wore a HRM.  Easy running (6-7 mph 2% incline) was around 120.  The fast miles crept up to 7:13 pace and high 130's.  I need to gather some of this data for informational purposes.  My breathing seems more labored and difficult than my HR would indicate 

With a 14 hours at work yesterday, and more of the same today, I hopped on for 4.5 this a.m. before I came in.  Annie came down and we watched He Man and Jeopardy.  She liked He Man more.  I wonder why He-Man's alter ego, Adam, wears pink and purple.  Also, why does Adam and Man-at-Arms wear their underwear outside their clothes?

After finishing up a 70 hour work week, I finally took Jack on another run.  The last time I took him, things ended kind of badly, so I've been hesitant to take him along. (see 9-12-11 entry)  His mom was pretty excited about unloading him, though, so off we went, after getting him all bundled up.   We ran a circuitous route to the pond, and came home on Parrish.  I wish the construction on Pages were completed, as many favored routes are no longer possible.  But thank goodness we'll soon have another pipeline to feed our insatiable fossil fuel thirst.

After church, we ran up Mueller for some family pictures.  Just as we got everyone posed, Jack pooped and started leaking through his pants, of course.  We got through all the shots, and everyone headed home.  I changed and started up to elephant rock at the same time as three guys on bikes.  I passed them right away, and didn't see them until I was 1.2 miles on my way down.  I got back to the road and started thinking about a bathroom.  The church was locked, so I headed to my parents.  After a stop, including Mtn. Dew and a kind offer for a ride home, I left again.  I was getting pretty tired and losing focus when I tripped over an uneven section of gutter and went down hard.  The only thing that broke the skin was my knee.  Unfortunately there were witnesses.  I heard a little kid yell,  "Whoa, that guy just fell down."  I picked myself up and passed them, embarrassed at my clumsiness.  On the bright side, I ran with renewed focus the remaining 2 miles home.

The trail was busy, and beautiful.  The vivid color is working it's way down the mountain.  There is really no reason to head for the hills to find color; all the neighborhoods are bright with yellow falling leaves.