Seeking a better country...

2.2 episodes of "24" later, I complete the run.  Then I pull speaker wires in the basement, and I have 6 new holes in the drywall to show for it.  Followed by a blizzard drive to Clayton to watch my neph portray Captain Von Trapp.  I wouldn't call this my best run, or day.

8 miles downhill. 

5 downhill miles at 7:30, the rest were uphill while I chatted with my mom on the phone.  (10 mm) 

My 2nd left toe is jacked up.  Blisters, now infected, and swollen so it's .25" longer than my big toe.  If your second toe is longer than your first toe, do you still call your first toe the big toe?  I think so.  It's sore enough it woke me up in the night with the throbbing.  I'm considering amputation.  What's a toe among friends?

10 miles, 87 minutes.  Poor Jack Bauer.  I did no downhill running today.  My toe is doing better.  Morton's toe and continuous downhill running don't get along.  

Today we went to the ultrasound.  It's a boy, due July 30th.  Everything looks to be in order, which makes me relieved.  I'm so excited and grateful about the good news all around.

Tomorrow is the 10 miler in the Ogden winter series.  I want to keep it under 7:30 pace.  It'll be my tempo run for the week.

The race, followed by 10 additional miles on the trails between the Events Center and Ogden Canyon.  I stopped by my sister's to identify her fruit trees on my way back.  What a great Saturday!  Too bad the 20 miles made me so thrashed all I could do was lie about all day.  I'm still waiting for race results online so I can include placing and exact time.

So with .2 miles to go, I had reeled in the green shirt guy in front of me.   He had earbuds in, so he didn't hear me.  I wanted to see if he had any in the tank, hoping I could maybe outkick him.  As soon as I came alongside him, he took off like a frightened deer.  I should have waited, and maybe could have got past him.  It turns out I should have chased a little bit, because our chip times were 2 sec. different.  I could have "beat" him, without really beating him.  Rookie mistake, I guess.  Overall pace was 7:25, with which I am satisfied.  I could have come in quicker, but knew I had 10 more to do, so I was a little on the lazy side.  I'm in striking distance for 2nd place in my age group for the cumulative time, but only cuz the leader leaped into the overall standings.  I'll run the half, but will probably forgo the final 30k the Saturday after Boston.  We'll see how I feel.