Kerry's Running Blog

Treadmill workout

Treadmill workout

Treadmill workout

Another treadmill workout. The PF in my right foot seemed to be a little better. I've been consistently trying to improve my pace a little. After the workout I used a mechanical foot massager which seemed to help. The biggest thing now is just getting back on a consistent schedule, which is a little difficult since each day is very different from the previous one.

My PF wasn't bothering me hardly at all today, but my hip flexors were a bit sore starting out. I think a lot of the aches will go away once I get back on a daily running schedule.

Felt pretty good today with no real PF soreness during or after the run. Listened to a podcast on the hazards of running (from Phedipidations.com).

My right foot was a little tender this morning, but I was able to gradually increase the pace. My foot felt better towards the end and has been feeling OK since. As I've mentioned before, I think it'll help to just get back on a regular schedule, not pushing too hard until the pain completely goes away.

Treadmill workout.

Only had time for a short run as I had three interviews lined up today.

Treadmill workout

Highland Glen loop in the afternoon (temperature: 50 degrees with a very slight breeze out of the south). Average pace was 8:52. The PF in my right foot was bothering me starting out, but it seemed to numb up a bit after about a mile. I still have some lung congestion, but over all it just felt great to get outside. There were time later on in the day when I hardly noticed the PF at all and other times when my foot was so sore I could hardly walk. I was happy that I could at least get some mileage in the last six days (and even happier to see Tom and Paul's race reports!)

Treadmill workout today. The flat cushioned surface seems to be easier on my foot than running on the trails that are a bit uneven now with the patches of snow and ice. I could feel a little soreness after the workout, but it wasn't bad. I'm really anxious, however, to get back outside.

Another treadmill workout today, but pushed the pace a bit to see how the foot would feel afterwards. It is a little sore, but really not too bad. I've noticed that I run more on the balls of my feet now.

Treadmill

Treadmill

Treadmill

Treadmill workout again this morning. I think I'm taking the right approach with regards to my foot as it really felt pretty good this morning. Almost no pain starting out. There's been a little soreness since then, but the PF certainly seems to be getting better. My lungs, however, weren't feeling so good today. I've had a bit of cold that seems to be settling in my lungs. I was a little wheezy and light-headed half way into the workout. 

I started back to work today after a long layoff. It's nice getting back into the routine. Work is only nine miles from home, so I'm hoping to run/bike to and from work occasionally. I need to figure out if there's a place to shower and store clothes.

Treadmill run this morning. The PF bothered me from time to time yesterday afternoon, but wasn't a problem this morning. I'm still not feeling 100 percent, but I'm not as congested as yesterday. I'm happy to be settling back into a routine.

Cross training day. Upper body workout shoveling snow for 45 minutes. I'm hoping I can get a run in later today.

Treadmill workout. The PF in my right foot didn't bother me much during the run and hasn't bothered me much since. I'm still dealing with some lung and nasal congestion so I didn't push it too hard this morning. I think I'll have a good base to build on when the streets start to clear. If my foot feels OK, I may test it outside (on more irregular surfaces next week).

I started out this morning feeling really sluggish. My legs were heavy and I was struggling at a fairly easy pace. I may have gotten a little less sleep, but I couldn't account for the difference. I was thinking that maybe I was coming down with something and should just give up after a mile when I noticed that I was running on an incline (my wife must have left it up after her treadmill workout yesterday). After I lowered it, I ran comfortably and started to pick up the pace. Felt good over all, but bothered a bit by PF today.  

Lungs still filled with gunk, but definitely improving. I slept better last night even though I was wheezing a bit after laying down. You can't help but feel energized with the warming temperatures and more light.

My lungs felt a lot better this morning and as long as I kept a reasonable pace, I felt good. My legs and joints felt a little rusty after a week off, but they were OK by the end of the workout. I'm having to start off fairly slow, but I can manage a pretty good pace by the end.

Feeling a little better every day and running a little faster. The PF in my right foot didn't bother me during the run yesterday or today, but my foot was pretty sore at time during the day. What I probably need to do is bring my roller massager to work and let it massage the bottom of my foot while I'm just sitting around.

It was certainly convenient to hit the treadmill this morning with yesterday's storm still lingering. I was a little sluggish starting off, but managed to crank it up to a reasonable pace after the first mile. I'm still not all the way there yet as I still have some fluid in my lungs.

I hope everybody survived the storm OK. My wind gauge showed a peak gust of 63 mph. Although I didn't have any trouble getting home last night, it took my daughter three hours to get from Midvale to Cedar Hills. Point of the Mountain was just a parking lot and SR92 was closed due to whiteout conditions. Our local schools were open this morning, but some of the schools in neighboring Alpine were closed. My youngest daughter was hoping that her school would at least have a late start, but no such luck. We'll make it a nice Valentine's Day in any case.

Felt a little sluggish this morning. I thought I was pretty much past the coughing and sore throat, but it seemed to make a bit of comeback this morning. My throat was a bit raw when I got up and I had to cough a few times during the run to clear my lungs. Nothing much to worry about. It's a clear, beautiful morning and it's Friday...and Monday's a holiday. Who could ask for more. I'm hoping to bump my mileage up a bit next week.

I slept in a bit this morning, but was able to get in a quick workout before taking my daughter and her friend to goalball practice in Midvale. I felt pretty good this morning and I was able to push it a little harder without any ill effect. My lungs are just about clear.

I'd hoped to bump my mileage up a bit starting today, but decided to wait until the air was rated healthy again and I'm completely well. For some reason, I have a lingering sore throat and occasional deep cough. I'm really looking forward to spring.

Good run this morning. I'm only experiencing mild PF pain the first half mile or so and after a mile, I don't notice it at all. Every day I'm able to pick up the speed a bit more. No sore throat or coughing this morning even though the air quality is supposed to be unhealthy. The official start of Spring is only a month away.

I missed yesterday's workout due to bout of insomnia. I couldn't get to sleep on Monday night (probably because we got to be just a little later) and then I woke up periodically during the night and before five. I should have just gotten up to run then but I was hoping to fall back asleep. There's nothing worse than sitting at my desk at work and not being able to keep my eyes open. I slept a little better last night, but work up extra early. I'm not really stressed or worried about anything so I'm not sure what the problem is. Maybe it's just been too warm at night. We haven't wanted to open the windows because of the bad air quality.

Still not sleeping very well at night for some reason. I can usually fall asleep within five or ten minutes, but lately it's been an hour or more and then I wake up early and can't get back to sleep. I try to sneak in a nap at lunchtime, but I'm still dragging through much of the day and fall asleep once or twice at my desk. Maybe once I start increasing my miles, I'll fall back into my regular sleep pattern.

A nice run in the fog and mist with Laureen. With sickness and injuries it's been a while since she's been able to run. We had to walk a bit, but for the most part she was able to keep up a good pace. We ran into some slush along the creek path, by the orchard and around the duck pond, but other than that it was pretty decent. There seemed to be a lot of runners out this morning.

Treadmill run this morning even though I could have (should have) gone outside. I laid out my indoor clothes last night after watching the weather forecast that made me expect slushy roads. Oh well, sounds like the rest of the week should be pretty decent.

Beautiful morning. Temperature starting out was 31.6, no wind and a rising barometer. A gibbous moon was hidden behind the clouds as I headed south, but the skies were mostly clear by the time I finished. My legs felt good, but I know that I've lost a lot of endurance over the winter. I need to ease back into things, however, so I don't end up with a new or aggravated injury. The creek trail was still a bit icy and uneven in places and I slipped and twisted my knee a little at one point. I need to remember to wear my reflective vest tomorrow as one car came pretty close as I was running along 48th. They may have been trying to scare me or were just fiddling around with their cell phone or something.

A perfect morning for a run. Temperature at the start was 27.1 with 84 percent humidity. No wind and clear skies. Pushed a little harder today and dropped about seven seconds from yesterday's average pace (8:49 to 8:42) despite the fact that my right ankle was a bit sore throughout the run and my lungs were a little congested. With the high humidity I was exhaling clouds of vapor. A nice run all together.

I saw an email last night from the Ragnar Relay saying they were already at 498 teams and were lifting the 500 team cap. That means there will be approximately 6000 runners participating which would make it probably the largest running event in the state. It'll be quite a different experience from the 22 teams that started the first year. I'm really looking forward to it. 

A little warmer this morning (30 degrees, 80 percent humidity) under clear skies. A gibbous moon almost due south provided just enough light to navigate the streets and paths. I started out a little slow as the PF in my right foot was giving me a bit of trouble, but I was happy to find that my lungs were clear and my legs felt good. Just as I was about to cross the light just south of the high school, I was reminded of the need to stay alert and not take anything for granted by a young driver in an old Cadillac who raced out of the parking lot and through a red light just in front of me. He drove off too fast for me to thank him.

PF still bothering me as I start out, but I just increase my leg turnover and land more on the balls of my feet. It seems to help. Skies were clear with a temperature of 30 degrees and 84 percent humidity. Half moon directly south. Saw five others out this morning including two ladies that I think were a bit freaked out by hearing somebody running towards them on a dark path. By Monday I think I'll probably need my headlamp on the darker stretches.

It was fairly warm this morning for this early in the year, so I was probably a little overdressed for the occasion. Ran a shortened version of the Highland Glen loop. The trail is still icy in places on the east side of the pond. I didn't feel that great this morning which I thought was probably due to having donated blood last night, but as the day has progressed my throat has gotten more sore and I've been coughing a lot. I just barely got over a cold!

I spent a lot of time working on my daughter's bathroom today. I need to have it finished by next weekend so I can go down to the Spectrum 10K with Paul. If I can work on it during the week a bit, I should be able to wrap things up next Saturday. I've got to do whatever it takes.

Still recovering from weekend illness. Saturday's sore throat and cough was largely gone by Sunday morning only to be replaced by a fever, lethargy, nausea and sore joints. Just slept much of the day. Felt quite a bit better this morning, but generally weak as I haven't been able to eat much of anything since Saturday. Saw the doctor this morning for a general checkup. My pulse was way up (67), but my blood pressure looked good (102/70). Did blood work and will decide where to go from there. I should be back to running tomorrow. 

Finally feeling well enough for a run this morning. Left the house just after 6:00 am  under clear skies (temperature 22F, RH 70). My legs felt good and my lungs seemed to handle the cold air OK. Started feeling a big sickly after a mile, but kept going and even picked it up a bit towards the end. Average pace 9:15. Coughing after the run was fairly minimal. Felt some muscle spasms in my lower as I was taking clothes out of the dryer, but able to walk fairly normally. They called with my blood work yesterday and said that everything was normal  (cholesterol was 159) and to just keep doing whatever I was doing.

Highland Glen loop this morning. My back was still a bit tender this morning and my lungs were a bit congested, but was glad to get out. I'm huffing and puffing a bit even at a fairly slow pace, but every day is a little better.

Still huffing and puffing at a painfully slow pace, but it doesn't hurt and I'm only coughing a bit at the end (this cold has seemed to drag on long after I thought I was done with it). With the change to daylight savings time, I'm back to running in the dark. I found I only needed my headlamp when I ran along the east side of the pond and later along the creek path (there are patches of unmelted snow and ice along both sections). Average pace was 9:15. Temperature 29 with 70 RH. No wind under mostly clear skies.

As I was getting dressed this morning to head out, I stopped to reconsider as my head and lungs were quite congested. I can't seem to quite get rid of this bug. I decided that I'd probably be better off skipping a day than trying to push through it again.

After a couple of days off due to resurgence of my cough, to sinus headaches and a general lack of sleep, it was nice to get out this morning. I mark my mileage as easy miles due to my slow pace, but they really didn't feel that easy this morning. I've had ongoing bowel issues and this morning my nose was running faster than I was, but I it still felt great to be running. I think my pace will pick up quite a bit when my lungs clear and my red cell count is back up, just because I've been trying to push it. I'm going to try to recruit some of my neighbors to start running with me at least one of two days a week.

At the start: temperature 35.7, RH 57, heavy overcast, no wind.

Paul predicted that this race would help me get moving in the right direction again. I had pretty low expectations going into this race as I've been battling one cold after another for the last six weeks or so. That coupled with very little training over the winter (I averaged well under 20 miles a week from November on and hadn't run more than six miles at a time since then), didn't give me much hope for a good time. 

We met Carrie and Kiya on the bus ride up and had a nice visit with them and met Nathan, Wayne and Larry as we were standing around trying to stay warm at the start. My strategy was to hang back at the start and see how I was feeling and then push it harder at the end if I was feeling OK. I wasn't expecting much as it was a struggle to run a 9:15 pace earlier in the week.

With the nice downhill start I started out at a comfortable pace and then picked it  up a bit as I still felt good after a half mile or so. I was surprised to find that I'd run the first mile in 6:42 and wasn't even breathing hard. At a mile and a half there was about a 100 feet of elevation  gain to the two mile marker and my pace slowed to 7:44. With the rolling net downhill of the next mile I dropped to 7:32 before my lack of training started to really catch up to me. I slogged through the next miles with splits of 8:01, 8:34 and 8:33. I still had enough juice at the end however to drop below seven minute pace for the last quarter mile.

The weather, course and people at the race were just fantastic. We just had a great weekend. For the first race since the marathon I was happy to find that my legs could still move at 6:30 pace at times and that I still had a little strength and endurance left over. I was really happy that I wasn't bothered with the PF in my right foot either during the race or afterwards. I'm now looking forward to starting to build up mileage again.

Congratulations to Paul, Nathan, Kiya and the others on their trophies and to Carrie on a new PR!

Although I didn't feel any tightness or soreness on Saturday, by Sunday my quads were a bit sore going down the stairs and my right calf was also a bit tight. Really eased into things this morning just to get everything loosened up. My right knee and left foot were also bothering me a bit, but all the aches and pains were pretty much gone after about a mile and a half.

Left ankle was sore this morning starting out so I took it kind of easy. It was feeling OK by the end.

My legs were a bit heavy this morning, but the soreness was pretty much gone. I was expecting clouds and a little breeze, but the skies were clear with no wind to speak of (temp 35, RH 60). A gibbous moon was a finger's breadth above the western horizon.

While I was running in the dark behind the high school and as I was thinking of how my legs felt like thick wooden blocks, I was reminded of a show that I recently watched about neutrinos. It said that trillions of them pass through your body every second and most pass right through the earth without hitting anything. Not only because they're so small, but also because there is so much empty space between the atoms and subatomic particles that make up our bodies and the earth we walk (or run) on. Somehow, my legs felt lighter as I thought that. Mostly empty space that appears dense just because the information carrying photons are too big to pass through. Now I just need to figure out why I was so slow this morning :)

Looped around behind the high school this morning. I would have gone a bit longer today, but I overslept a bit. Our dog came up during the night and wanted to climb under the covers to get warm, but felt like he needed to lick everything in close proximity until I finally went down on the couch so I could get back to sleep. I haven't been using an alarm clock lately, I just rely on my daughter to wake me up (she makes a lot of noise getting ready for school).

My legs had a little bit of a spring to them this morning and no soreness to speak of in my calves or ankles. It was a beautiful morning with a full moon in the west with a few scattered clouds (temp 34 RH 69, no wind).

Everything felt pretty good this morning. No lingering soreness from last week and no PF in my right foot. Left the house about 6:00 a.m. It was a little hard waking up this morning as we went to bed a little bit late and just talked for a while. It was probably close to midnight before I got to sleep, but then I had a nice nap during the afternoon. The temperature this morning was 37 degrees, RH 40 and no wind.There was a gibbous moon in the southwest that provided just enough illumination to avoid falling through an open manhole (not enough to avoid small rocks though). My average pace for the run was 9:11 (a little improvement over last week). My weight is currently at 156.7 (ugh).

Overcast this morning and slightly warmer (43 degrees). I woke up a little earlier and just got dressed and headed out (with one less layer).  My hands were a little chilly for a few minutes, but I didn't notice them much after that. Ran the full Highland Glen loop which gave me a little more mileage for the day. I'm hoping that I can get back to doing at least five a day and build up from there. My legs are getting their spring back and I don't have any aches or pains to speak of. Average pace this morning: 9:10.

With the spring weather I'm hoping that I can get the whole family out for some bike rides in the evenings. It won't be this week though as my youngest daughter is in the school play and they have performances every night. They've been rehearsing up to four hours a week for about the last six weeks, so it's going to be a relief for all of us to get back to a more normal schedule.

Woke up a little earlier again this morning and just decided to get up and go. It was a bit warmer than yesterday (48) and mostly cloudy. No wind to speak of. I felt just a little more tired than yesterday and just a slight bit of PF from time to time, but for the most part felt pretty good. The moon poked through the clouds from time to time to let me know that I hadn't wandered off on a forbidden pathway. I sure haven't seen many walkers or joggers out in the morning. Several weeks ago I saw half a dozen before I'd even gone a half mile. I'm going to have to start inviting the neighbors out at least for one day a week.

I slept in this morning because I was awake most of the night. Instead of running in the morning I ran from the American Fork Fitness Center after dropping my daughter off for her Jiujitsu class. There was a pretty stiff breeze coming out of the north which made the wind chill vary from about 28 to 20 degrees. I started off heading uphill into the wind and maybe pushed it a little too hard as I seemed to be a bit winded. After about a mile I started to settle into a good pace. At the Highland City Park I turned around and headed back to fitness center now with the wind at my back. I was flying along at a pretty good pace but was slowed by some bowel discomfort that got progressively worse (that seems to happen quite frequently when I run in the evening). All in all it was a good workout and I enjoyed a nice warm shower when I got home. A side benefit of running at that time of day is that I am less likely to overeat at dinner time.

A good run this morning even with a stiff breeze out of the north. My eyes were watering for the first mile or so, but then I was able to turn to the west and get a little relief. After looping around the pond and coming up by the flag pole that's on the east side of Highland Glen Park, I caught up with four bicyclists just coming up the hill. They were a bit winded which allowed me to run with them for a few minutes. I always like the challenge of keeping up with or passing bicyclists, but they gradually pulled away. It got me running a bit harder anyway and I finished at a little faster pace than usual. I looped around our neighborhood at the end to make sure I got in more than six miles.

Clear, cold morning. Temperature heading out was 23 degrees. My legs had some good spring in them and the cold air was refreshing. I was happy to see that most of yesterday's snow had melted and that it's now getting light enough to see the path the last mile or so (I generally head out around 6:00 am and get back around 6:45). The crescent moon in the southwest was beautiful.

My legs are feeling good and I think my red cell count must be getting back pretty close to normal. I'm debating whether to run tomorrow as I have a colonoscopy scheduled for Thursday and tomorrow I'm supposed to be on a clear liquid diet all day. I'll have to re-read the papers they gave me to see if it's 24 hours prior to the procedure in which case I can run and have breakfast since I don't have to go in until 10:00 am tomorrow morning. It's possible that I can get a run in Thursday afternoon, but I'll have to see how that goes.

Another beautiful, clear morning. Temperature 28.5 degrees with 65 percent humidity. The skies in the southeast were just starting to get light as I left the house and a couple of miles into my run, it was getting light enough to see cracks in the road. My legs and lungs felt good this morning, but I had a bit of cramping and bowel distress -- apparently a lingering effect from the powerful laxative that I took prior to yesterday's colonoscopy.

The colonoscopy itself is completely painless as they put you out for it. They put a syringe in your IV line and within about ten seconds you're out. The next thing I knew is that I was waking up from a deep sleep and looking at the heart rate monitor just beside me. I was a little confused as to why my wife was there and the doctor and nurses weren't because it seemed like I'd just closed my eyes for minute. I asked her why my heart rate was so high (just before falling asleep it was 50, when I woke up it was 87 and my blood pressure was up significantly). I was in a bit of a fog, but no pain at all, that was why I couldn't understand why my heart rate would be up. I laid there for a little while and they said that I could get up and leave as soon as I felt up to it. I sat up and felt OK so I decided to get dressed so we could leave. I noticed the time was about noon, so I figured I must have been out for about an hour. The scary thing is that I thought I could drive home. Laureen wouldn't have let that happen, but I felt like I could have. I guess that's why drunks behind the wheel cause so much damage -- your thoughts are fairly orderly but your reaction times and judgement are off. Anyway, the doctor didn't see anything out of the ordinary so I don't need another screening for ten years. I'd recommend getting one to anyone with any of the risk factors. It's really not bad at all.

For the most part, the whole process is

Laureen and I had a nice run around the Highland Glen loop. There was a pretty stiff breeze out of the north northwest that dropped the wind chill into the mid-30's, but for the most part we were shielded from it by trees and, of course, running in the opposite direction.

I don't think all of today's miles were easy miles, but I left the house a little later than usual and by the time I reached the corner where I usually start my run, the Garmin still wasn't locked into the satellites so I just turned it off and ran. I was really expecting that I'd be running in the rain and snow this morning, but temperatures were fairly mild and there was only a little wind from the south. No aches and pains to speak of. I recently realized that I may have a conflict with the 5K I signed up for this weekend. I believe that my daughter is scheduled to take the ACT that morning and my wife will be working so I'm not sure how that will all work out (we always plan out our week during FHE on Monday evenings so I should know by tomorrow). Anyway, just after I got home the storm hit with hail, rain and wind. Some days everything just works out for you.

When the noise from my daughter getting ready for school woke me up this morning I was in the middle of a running dream. I'd been walking along the street in front of Deerfield Elementary when I noticed some runners coming towards me with race bibs. I didn't know of any race going on then, but decided to join them anyway. I ran and chatted with them all the way to the finish and was just talking to them about the race when I woke up. I thought I recognized a few people from the blog there.

Well, this was another morning when the Garmin failed to lock in before I was ready to run. It must have a lot to do with the position of the satellites at that particular time of day, as when I run later in the morning on Saturday's it's locked in before I even get to the end of my driveway. Anyway, another pleasant day for a run. With yesterday's snow, rain and wind I was expecting conditions to be a little worse than they were. It was cold and humid (29 degrees and 81% RH), but I was dressed warm enough that I didn't really notice. What I did notice was how clear and fresh the air was. Running south after the turn by the high school I especially noticed how much the temple stood out this morning. It was just brilliant. I couldn't help thinking about President Uchtdorf's talk in the priesthood session when I noticed that I wasn't running directly towards the temple, but was a couple of degrees off. It was a good reminder of the need to know where you're going and to make the necessary course corrections often and early in one's journey.

Lunch run with Laureen on the Highland Glen loop. We have been asked to work from home on Wednesdays so this gives me a chance to run with my wife. I might have run earlier as well, but I had to get up early to work on a video project for my daughter. I kept getting errors when I'd try to burn it to the DVD. Kind of a pain, but I got it all figured out. It was a bit nippy at times. The temperature was 43, but the wind out of the north was around 15 mph, which dropped the wind chill to 28 degrees.

The regular Highland Glen loop, just trying to build my base back up. Starting out there was a stiff breeze (about 15 mph) coming out of the west north west that dropped the windchill into the upper teens. It was hard to imagine that they're predicting temperatures near 80 for Monday. With it being so cold and windy I was amazed to see that one of the neighbors had their sprinklers going. Not only was most of the water blowing into the street, it was so unnecessary with the recent moisture. The house isn't currently occupied, but someone's got the idea that the reason the lawn is yellow while many of the neighbor's are deep green is that their lawn isn't getting enough water (when the real reason is that it just needs some fertilizer).

Outside of the initial cold, it was a fairly routine run. It's now so light at 6:00 am that with the scattered clouds only Jupiter was visible in the southwest. I couldn't make out any of the surrounding stars in Sagittarius. I guess I'm going to have to start getting up a little earlier.

I keep hearing rumors that warmer weather is coming, but I haven't seen much evidence of it yet. I missed last night's weather report, but before going to bed I could hear the wind and ice pelting our bedroom window. I wasn't sure what to expect as I stepped outside this morning, but was happy that it was a little warmer with very little wind. It was, however, snowing lightly. Ran the usual Highland Glen loop. Once I've established a base over the next two weeks then I'll start to build on that by upping the mileage and hopefully starting to do some doubles and one or two tempo runs per week. The WBR is not that far away. I also need to put in our registration for St. George.

I  was really hoping to get a long run in today, but we stayed up late last night and I woke up just in time to take my daughter to her ACT exam. Since this was a catch up day on chores, we were still going until well after dark, but I did manage to get a fairly leisurely bike ride in with my daughters. It was just a beautiful day, we got a lot done and finished the day with a wiener roast under the stars with our next-door neighbors.

I talked my home teacher into joining me for part of my run this morning. We started off right at 6:00 under beautiful, clear skies and temperatures in the low 40's. Richard has jogged off and on over the last couple of years, but hasn't done too much lately. We jogged and walked for better than a mile and a half, before he needed to head home to get ready for work. I'm hoping to convince more of our neighbors to join us on Monday mornings. It was nice having someone to talk to. After Richard headed back, I continued my normal route, adding a steep uphill section towards the end. With the nicer weather there were a lot more people out this morning.

Easy run today as I pushed it a little harder yesterday. It was a lot warmer than I expected after listening to the weather report last night (they predicted a cold front would move through after midnight and temperatures would drop 20 degrees or more). There was a lot of dust in the air from the wind blowing from the south. Mix in some automobile exhaust and it would great training for Beijing (there may be some skill I can pick up between now and then that would still allow me to qualify).

Beautiful morning for a run. Clear skies and 27 degrees. Average pace was 8:55. I didn't have the best night of sleep, but I wasn't dragging when I got up.  The highlight of my run was seeing Richard Lamb, my home teacher (and former HPGL), coming the other direction as I was rounding the pond. We ran together on Monday morning and talked about training and what it takes to see any improvement. The cold and dark may have discouraged a lot of people from getting out this morning, but Richard is a veternarian from Wyoming who thinks 10 degrees and a 30 mph wind is kite flying weather. Richard is also an avid Scuba diver and trained for dives in the North Atlantic by breaking through the ice to dive at that same Highland Glen pond. If your handcart company was stranded in Wyoming during a snow storm, he's the kind of guy that you'd want coming to the rescue. We're planning to run again on Monday, rain or shine.

Met up with Richard at 5:45. I thought that Antonio Lopez might join us as well, but we didn't see him. It was a bit cold (33 wind chill, wind 3 mph out of NNE) this morning, but not as cold as expected. Last night the forecast said to expect temperatures in the low 20's. We ran south along the trail and then west and north towards the high school. I left him at the flag pole and ran the normal Highland Glen loop with the Redwood Drive hill thrown in for good measure. Had some good spring in the legs today, but was a litte short on sleep. With a good nap on Sunday afternoon, it took me until close to midnight to fall asleep. Maybe I'll have a chance to catch some winks around lunch time (we've gone to a work from home schedule on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays).

I really didn't want to get up this morning even though I was awake before my alarm went off. With the weather alternating every few hours between hot and cold, we never know whether to pull the quilt on at night or to just go with a lighter comforter. Last night my wife and I both woke up because we were too hot (she's bothered by allergies this time of year so we can't open the window to cool off). As I was trying to get back to sleep, I kept hearing very faint music and decided that I'd better get up to investigate. I looked around downstairs and even checked outside, but couldn't hear anything. I laid down and could hear it again. By that time I was fully awake and realized that it was coming from my cell phone. We have a nightly conference call with developers in India at 10:30 pm (which I took in bed last night). I must not have disconnected when the meeting ended. I'm just hoping that six hour call is covered by my plan.

Anyway, the same Highland Glen loop this morning. Temperature 38 degrees with high clouds. Everything felt good this morning, but I still took it kind of easy. Will push it a bit harder tomorrow.

Lunch run with Laureen on Highland Glen loop. Kind of a cold wind out of the north starting out, but it felt quite pleasant after we turned and headed south. Of course, we had to take Drake,  our Chihuahua,  out for a walk when we got back. He was excited to get outdoors, but decided after about five minutes that it was too cold for his taste. Now he's waiting for me to fix something tasty to eat.

Kind of a weird morning. A storm with strong winds and sleet hit just as I was getting up. Last night after working in the yard, I had some sharp pains in my knee that improved as I walked around, but were still there this morning. I took it fairly easy on the treadmill until the pain in my knee disappeared after about a mile. I gradually increased the pace, but didn't have the time to do more that two and a half miles. Since tomorrow is a work at home day, I may try to get an early morning run in and a noon run with Laureen. It will depend on what time we get to bed tonight. Our oldest daughter needs to catch a bus at 10:30 in Lehi. She's going down with a number of her blind and visually impaired friends to the Blind Olympics in Los Angeles (she comes back Monday at 4:30 a.m.). 

Beautiful morning for a run. The skies were clear and the temperature was 28. Running by the high school there were a couple of trees completely covered in ice from nearby sprinklers. I pushed it a little harder this morning just because I felt good. A doe darted out in front of me on the trail bounced over to a nearby clearing and then starting trotting along in the same direction (mocking me a bit) before racing off into the trees. It's very dangerous along that part of the trail at that time of the morning. They recently opened the road up to one way traffic as well which means that high school students try to use it for avoiding the traffic mess in front of the school and to make up for lost time. Like many of that age, they consider lines in the road as mere suggestions and come around blind curves at high speeds.

Ran the regular route today. I thought maybe I'd go longer as I've been feeling pretty good, but thought it best not to increase my mileage for the week by more than 10 percent. Laureen reminded me of how easy it is to get injured when you start upping the mileage as she's been battling a very sore Achilles tendon the last few days. Heading out there was a stiff breeze from the north north west that dropped the wind chill into the 20's, but the sun came up a few minutes later and I turned so the wind was at my back. Felt great throughout the run and am hoping to boost my mileage by another five miles next week.

Richard was around yesterday so I wasn't too surprised when he didn't show up this morning. I'd invited a couple of others to come, but no one else showed up. I'll just keep bugging them about it. Everybody I talked to said that they want to get started, especially with the nicer weather.  Ran the usual loop this morning except that I ran further up the hill on North Cottonwood Drive (it's a nice Veyo-like experience). I saw a number of other runners out the last half of my run. Started out kind of sluggish, but felt pretty good by the end. Looks like it's going to be a beautiful day.

Ran the same loop as yesterday except a little slower. The temperature when I left the house was 57 degrees with a very slight breeze out of the south southwest under mostly cloudy skies. I was probably a bit overdressed as I'm still expecting windchill to drop into the twenties. I felt a little achy this morning, but it was mostly gone after a mile or two. I'm trying to make sure I don't build up mileage too fast and get injured. On the other hand, I'm anxious to start putting in some decent mileage.

Cold, partly cloudy morning. Temperature 29 degrees with a 10 mph wind out of the north northwest (windchill 15.7 degrees) with snow on the ground. Not exactly what you'd expect for May 1. I didn't feel the chill so much at the start as I was running south, but my eyes were tearing up a bit when I turned to head north with nothing to break the wind. As cold as it was, I felt pretty comfortable after a couple of miles, but I was just a little short of breath for some reason. I didn't see a lot of other runners out this morning.

The other night as we were going over our calendar we pretty much decided that we're going to run in the Salt Lake Race for the Cure on May 10. My youngest daughter has really been wanting to try a 5K and I'd been thinking about it because it's a cause that's close to my sister's heart (literally). She's a breast cancer survivor who completed the last of her last chemotherapy almost two years ago. My grandmother who was a carrier of a genetic mutation known as BRCA1, died of the disease, along with my aunt and cousin. I was a bit surprised a few years back when I went to the Huntsman Cancer Center for some screening and the director of the department not only knew who my grandmother was, but sketched out our whole family tree in considerable detail -- all from memory. Although my sister was found not to have the mutation (as my father was apparently not a carrier) she still got breast cancer anyway.  It's probably just out of self-interest, but I try to contribute to cancer research whenever I can.

Great run this morning. Clear skies, no wind, temperature 30, RH 61. It took me a mile or so to get going but after that I felt great. Pushed it up the hill on Redwood Drive and North Cottonwood (where I saw Antonio Lopez heading down). I loved the feel of the cold air on my face. Lungs were much better today.

Beautiful morning for a run, a bit on the cool side before the sun came up. I listened to a podcast about the Boston marathon of 1983 which was won by Greg Meyer. Running around the pond in Highland Glen I caught up with another runner and asked him how far he was going and then we chatted for a minute about the nice weather. I then headed back along the way that I'd come. I saw three other runners about 150 yards ahead of me heading to the northeast along the trail. Naturally, I tried to catch up to them. I closed the gap to about twenty yards but never caught them. I then headed east and ran up the hill passing Antonio Lopez and someone else on the way up and waving to them again on the way down. It was a beautiful morning for a run.

Later in the day I stopped at Wendy's with my youngest daughter (as she had been over at her cousins and hadn't had anything to eat and my wife and I had theatre tickets and needed to leave for Salt Lake as soon as possible). The line of cars was so long that we decided to go inside to see if that wouldn't be faster. A man and a woman were just in front of us in line and he said that I looked familiar. He asked if I'd been running around the pond in Highland Glen this morning. It turned out to be the guy that I'd chatted with earlier in the day. Kind of a funny coincidence. He is 62 and says he just runs for fitness. He ran St. George once when he was 37 or so. We chatted until it was his turn to order.

Met Richard this morning at 5:45 for our Monday run. He has been out with bronchitis the last two weeks so he was having a little harder time of it today. We stopped and walked a few times, but not for very long. After separating at the flag pole, I pushed a little faster than normal and even felt stronger on the hill at the end (nine percent grade for three tenths of a mile). I always try to run pretty close to all out on the way down just to increase my leg speed.

Absolutely perfect morning for a run. Clear skies, temperatures around 50. Just light enough to see clearly. I felt just a little bit achy starting out, but felt fine after getting warmed up. Enjoyed the sounds and smells of Spring, especially running through the park. A buck and a doe popped out of the underbrush about twenty yards ahead of me and then ran back in when they spotted me. Started to have some bowel issues about half way into the run that caused me to slow down a bit, but I was planning on running a little easier today anyway. Saw lots of runners, joggers and walkers out this morning.

The daily run is definitely feeling easier. By the time I reach the hill at mile 5, I feel like I can still push it. I'm going to focus on improving my time on the mile that begins at the bottom of the hill on Redwood Drive and that finishes at the end of the parking lot in Heritage Park. In includes 211 feet of ascent and 228 of descent. Today I ran it in 8:14 and hit 5:18 pace on the way down (it feels good to get the legs moving that fast). 

 It's looking like my race on Saturday will be a little less of a race as Laureen has a very sore Achilles tendon and as she will probably not be able to run with my daughter Amelia (age 11), I'll take over that responsibility. Amelia has a greater enthusiasm for running, but not so much for training at this point. She would really like to do a half marathon this year, but so far she's had a hard time getting in the training that would make that possible. Maybe when school's out it will be a little easier. On Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays I could run with her in the late morning after my usual early morning run. We'll have to see how it works out.
 

Took it fairly easy this morning as my resting heart rate has been a little higher than normal and has not come down during the day. It was a beautiful morning, as it had rained overnight and the streets and paths were still wet in many places. Temperature on the cool side at 40 degrees and RH was 89 (which accounted for the mist rising from the ground in many places). Finished about five minutes slower than usual. Weight appears to be coming down.

I really didn't want to get up this morning as I didn't get a very good night's sleep. It seems that my daughter had turned up the thermostat on the downstairs furnace (after she made a root beer float) and I didn't know about it or even think to check. The problems apparently started when the furnace kicked on during the night, the hot air rose to the upstairs thermostat (which was set to air conditioning on a separate unit) and so it got alternately hot and cold during the night. We'd half wake up to throw off the covers only to wake up a little while later and pull them on again. The dueling thermostats carry on their war so stealthily that it's only when you wake up in the morning, find the dog under the covers and talk to your wife that you realize what happened. 

Well, I must be in the 5:40 habit now, because my body got up and dressed while my brain  was hitting the snooze button. Before I knew it, I was out the door and mile or so into my run. The clouds were low and dark in the north and I thought it might rain before I got back. If anything, the clouds pushed further north. I pushed it a bit on the way back and felt a little soreness in my left inner knee, but it hasn't bothered me since. I think I'll increase my Monday, Wednesday, Friday runs to seven miles next week and run the hill on Tuesday and Thursday with a longer run on Saturday.

Laureen, Amelia and I drove to Salt Lake this morning to run in the Race for the Cure. It was kind of cool when we left the house (35 degrees), but the skies were clear and it warmed up comfortably when the sun came up. I was really hoping that it would be a good experience for Amelia as this was her first 5K. I was a little disappointed to learn from their website that there would be no official timing, but that didn't turn out to be that big of a deal. We stood in line at the Union Pacific train station for our tee shirts and numbers and were a little surprised to find out that everyone had exactly the same number (2008). I ran the tee shirts and extra clothing back to our car while the girls were finding a bathroom. There were LOTS of people milling around prior to the race and I was a little bit concerned that I wouldn't find them again. After a few anxious minutes they arrived at the designated meeting place and we walked down to the start where they were just beginning a group stretch and aerobics warmup. It was a fun atmosphere with six or seven thousand people from a wide variety of backgrounds. 

The announcer started the race with a ready-set-go, but when she tried to pull the trigger on the start gun, it didn't go off, so some took off and others waited to see if she could get the gun to go off. Eventually, she was able to fire it off and we took off (kind of). Many people were there with no intention of running any part of the course and some of them were at the start (and some of them were walking arm-in-arm three or four abreast). It was good in a way because we started off nice and slow. Amelia has had a tendency to take off like a shot only to be exhausted and nauseated less than a mile later. Laureen's Achilles tendon was still sore, but manageable, so we were able to stay together for the first mile  (we took a short walk break after about half a mile). We were all feeling pretty good and following the same run/walk pattern, we made it to the aid station for a quick drink. Laureen was hurting by that point and told us to go on ahead and after getting assurances that she wouldn't be far behind we took off again. At the two mile mark I was surprised how well Amelia was doing with so little training. Our walk breaks were not infrequent, but in most cases they only lasted for 20 seconds or so. Approaching the three mile mark, I could sense that Amelia was ready to make a dash for the finish. She was tired and out of breath, but apparently determined to beat some boys her age that were running just ahead of us. We finished strong in 37:46 and got her a drink and an orange. She was excited to have finished and I think a little pleased to see how many finished after she did. We didn't see Laureen finish, but met her in front of J.Jill's (one of her favorite stores a short time later). All in all a fun experience and one that I think whetted Amelia's appetite for more. We stopped for some bread at Great Harvest in Draper on the way home and I then ran a few more miles while the girls were showering (about half of it at marathon pace).

Met up with Richard this morning for our weekly get-together (so far, I

haven't been able to talk anybody else into joining us). The wind was

really howling during the middle of the night and I thought that we might have to end up bagging it this morning, but the wind died down and the rain stopped and it turned into a fairly decent morning (windchill when I left the house was 29, but it felt pretty comfortable by the time I finished). For some reason, I didn't feel quite so strong going up the big hill, but I wasn't hurting or anything. Except for the fact that we didn't make the St. George lottery. Laureen was reluctant to do the Runner's Series because I was out of work at the time and the thought of committing to two trips to St. George (at an average cost of $200/trip) just wasn't a serious consideration. She's more inclined to look at it in the future, but it looks like we're going to have to sit this one out.

Clear, beautiful, cold morning (37 degrees). One of those mornings that just make you glad to be alive. Started out a bit sluggish, but gradually picked up the pace -- partially just to get warm, but mostly just because the air was so clear and refreshing that you just wanted to drink it in. Pushed it a little harder today on mile six (which includes 292 feet of ascent and 429 feet of descent) and finished it in 7:58. I find myself braking a bit on the steeper sections to avoid falling on my face, so the faster sections are on the flats after the hill. Cooled down the last third of a mile. Overall average was 8:27.

Much warmer this morning that yesterday (47 under overcast skies). I ran an easier pace today as I seemed to have a few lingering aches and pains (inside left knee, right calf, slightly sore Achilles). Didn't really notice anything after a couple of miles. What I did notice was lots of little bunnies in the park -- must be that time of year :)

Warmer this morning under mostly cloudy skies (temperature 53 degrees). I still wore long pants out of habit, but I had to take off my pullover half way through the run. Lots of people out this morning, walking, jogging and one lady even doing hill repeats. Saw Richard coming down the path towards the pond and chatted with him briefly. He said he's starting to see some improvement. Almost ran into a deer standing in the middle of the trail. She saw me coming and just stared for a few seconds before trotting off into the brush. When I got home, our dog Drake had somehow gotten word that it was a warm, pleasant morning and pleaded his case as if his life and family honor were at stake. Even though my Thursday morning schedule is fairly tight, I figured I could be a little late if it could bring him so much pleasure.

Walking, cross-training day. Worked on pulling out a tree stump for good measure.

Had a great run up Provo Canyon this morning with Paul, Nathan, Wayne and Larry. A bit of a headwind heading up, but pleasant conditions over all. It was so nice running with my buddies. The pace up and back was just about perfect for my first long run since St. George -- not too easy and not too hard. I felt a little tightness in my right calf by the time we finished and a little soreness in my left foot, but it quickly went away.  Average pace for the whole run was 8:18. Total ascent 1781, total descent the same.

Met up with Richard at 5:45 for a run on a beautiful, but rather warm morning (temperature 60 degrees under clear skies). Richard is steadily improving and each Monday we're able to run just a little faster and a little further without stopping to walk. My right calf was still a little tight from Saturday's run, but it wasn't anything more than a recurring nuisance. This morning I extended the run up North Cottonwood Drive all the way to the top and even partway down. Pushed it a bit on that section, but will wait until later in the week to push it hard. This week I'd like to get up to the mid to low 40's on mileage. 

Warm morning (57) under clear skies. Slight breeze. I woke up a minute before my alarm went off, but I was hoping that I still had some time to sleep. I felt a bit more sluggish and achy this morning than usual, but started to feel normal about three miles into the run. Pushed it up the hill and back down, but not all out. Saw three deer by the side of the road having breakfast and  about a dozen walkers and joggers close to and along the creek trail. It was definitely a taste of summer this morning.

Windy, rainy day. Took it kind of easy to give sore muscles and joints a chance to recover. Pushed it at the end and felt great.

A little on the cool side this morning. Temperature 39 with 84 percent RH. Low, threatening clouds in the southwest. With just a slight breeze blowing at the beginning, it felt downright cold. I was glad I decided to wear gloves. A little bit achy and tired the first mile, but felt better as the run progressed. Running through Highland Glen Park I caught the scent of something so fresh and sweet that it almost took my breath away. It would have been worth getting up early just for that moment. There was a fine mist coming off the pond and two deer further down the trail just watching me closely to see if I posed any kind of a threat. For some reason this morning (maybe it had something to do with the weather) I thought about how I'd like to re-read some of Dostoevsky's novels. I read nearly everything he wrote in my late teens and early twenties and later re-read most of them in the German translation (maybe now I need to try them in Russian). His books certainly rank among the greatest works of fiction in any age. 

Had a busy day planned and could only manage a quick loop around the pond. 

Perfect morning for a run with clear skies and no wind (temperature at the start was 47 degrees). The air was fresh and clean following yesterday's rain. Felt pretty good starting out, no significant aches or pains. Starting having some GI issues about three miles in and fortunately found an open restroom. Coming around the turn at the south end of Highland Glen Park where the trail from American Fork joins in, I ran in Steve S. I don't really know him that well, I just happened to meet him on a run a couple of years ago (heading the other direction along this same stretch). Steve is someone you'd remember running with. When I mentioned what a beautiful morning it was for a run, he started singing at the top of his lungs as we were running along. Steve just looks (and mostly acts :) like the kind of guy that's been a bishop a couple of times. He is a civil engineer, a grandfather with 15 grandchildren and is a very fit 62. He used to run a lot of marathons, but has given that up to focus on shorter races. He said he's been in California the last couple of months and when I asked if he had a project that he was working on down there, he said yes...me. He said he was diagnosed with prostate cancer about six months ago and has been there for proton therapy (which involves high doses of radiation from a proton accelerator). The treatment has been effective and the side effects minimal. He has been able to continue running for the most part. It's kind of amazing how much you can learn about someone in less than ten minutes. After he turned around at 40th west I continued east to run up North Cottonwood Drive. I still had a bit of a queasy stomach so I didn't push it too hard on the way back.

Got up a few minutes earlier so I could get in a ten miler before having to take my daughter to school. Warm (57) and overcast with a slight breeze from the south southeast. I was a little surprised to see the clouds this morning as the weather reports seem to indicate it would be clear...not that it mattered that much. Conditions were almost perfect. I tried to hold to a fairly steady effort throughout which worked out to an average pace of 8:33. Felt a little tired and achy towards the end, but recovered fairly quickly afterwards. I'll try for another 7 miler tomorrow and then another ten miler on Friday and possibly Saturday.

Perfect conditions for a run this morning. Temperature was 51 under mostly clear skies with just a slight breeze from the south. Started out with the typical old-man shuffle, but started feeling pretty good after the first mile. Today's run was remarkable for all the people I saw out walking or running this morning: President Noble, Lisa Barrager, Mark Soelberg and his wife and Mary Powell were the ones I knew. I also saw Ryan Bybee again this morning and thought that I need to talk to him about getting on the blog (last year's SGM was his first marathon -- he was 21st overall with a time of 2:32). His brother, Dustin, is a senior at BYU and was on the cross-country team. I need to ask him if he's related to Blair Bybee. Blair was a friend of mine that was running marathons back in the early 80's. On top of that he was an all-around good guy, a doctor that worked with young leukemia patients up at University Hospital. I'd like to find out where he is and what he's doing now.

Conditions during this time of the year are close to perfect every day. Clear, beautiful skies. Temperatures hovering around 50 degrees. And plenty of light at 5:30 a.m. Backed off a little from yesterday's pace and felt great. I continue to have a bit or soreness in my right calf, but it really doesn't affect much of anything. Kids get out of school today so it'll be a little crazier working from home with all that excitement. 

I missed out this morning's run with Paul, Wayne and Larry because of a scheduling conflict, but I still wanted to get in at least ten. Laureen is still battling a very sore Achilles tendon, so I was on my own this morning. Started out heading south towards the temple, thinking I'd do the American Fork to Highland loop, but about a mile and a half into the run I caught up with a woman that had on the same Hobble Creek Half Marathon shirt. I said hello and said something like "nice shirt" and when she noticed I was wearing the same one, she said that she'd tried to get into Hobble Creek this year, but that it was already closed. That started a conversation and I ran with her for the next mile and a half or so. She lives in the town homes in Cedar Hills and teaches dance at Timberline Junior High. It turns out she's also doing the Wasatch Back Relay for the first time and is running the 6th set (they have a 9:00 a.m. start). We talked about that for a bit and she asked about my watch (Garmin 305) and asked if I knew of one that also monitors body temperature. I said I didn't know of one, but encouraged her to join the blog where she could obtain all kinds of useful information. On the hill heading north, she said she was going to stop and take a Gu so I took off as I needed to get back home by 10:15 or so. It's always nice having someone to run with. I ran to the top of Canyon Road and then down to the mouth of American Fork Canyon and then west to 48th, south past the high school and home. I got home just in time to shower, eat and head off to shop with Laureen and Amelia at 10:40.

Met up with Richard on a clear, beautiful spring morning. It was slightly cool (53) and humid (64%), but just right for a run. Richard was gone all last week on a diving expedition to the caves of Yucatan peninsula. These caves have a unique feature called a halocline which is vertical gradient between the inland fresh water and the ocean. The Maya apparently believed that this gradient or interface was the veil between mortality and the underworld. Richard said that in ten dives that they maybe explored 1 percent of the caves. Some caverns were big enough to fit a 747 while other passages were so small that a diver could barely get through with his tanks. He said the water was so clear that at times it looked like other divers were just floating in the air. It sounded like quite an adventure. We ran and walked together for about three miles and then I took off towards the temple to run a course similar to Saturday's run except I took the turn off to the golf course instead of going all the way to the mouth of American Fork Canyon. Felt a little tired at times, but no aches or pains to speak of.

Kind of a routine run this morning. A little tired and achy starting out, but felt good once I got warmed up. Should increase my mileage this week by about six miles (into the upper forties). I'll probably hold it at 50 or slightly under for the next week and taper slightly for the WBR the following week. 

Rainy morning. Slept in and ended up running on the treadmill during lunch. Learned that laughing and running on a narrow, moving belt are not a good mix.

Worked out at the American Fork Fitness Center with the whole family. Brittany attended her Jiujitsu class, Laureen worked on the elliptical machine and Amelia and I ran on the indoor track and worked on the elliptical machines as well. We then went out for a treat and came home and watched a movie, "Passage to Zarahemla." Just a nice evening with the family.

Ran the American Fork loop this morning. Average pace was 8:31. Dragged a little bit at the end, but felt pretty good on the whole. Conditions were almost perfect (47 degrees, 74% humidity under mostly cloudy skies). 

Warmed up for a couple of miles with Richard and then did the American Fork loop backwards. Felt like I needed to stop for a potty break during mile 7, but when I stopped to look around for facilities I started to feel better. Ended up doing about a mile more than I had planned and ran a bit faster. After warmup miles of 11 and 12 minutes, picked up the pace (the next three 8:02 to 8:59 and the following three 7:36 to 7:53). Overall average 8:45.

Highland Glen loop this morning with the run up the hill on North Cottonwood Drive. I felt great after yesterday's run, but this morning my left heel was a bit sore. It wasn't a problem once I got warmed up, but something to keep an eye on. I think the whole family is planning to get to the rec center tonight so I may get a little extra workout in. Tomorrow I'll have to run at noon as I have a dental hygiene appointment at 8 in Murray. It's a little odd to travel so far to see the dentist since we have so many good ones close by, but I've been going to see Dr. Smith for about thirty years and I'm not about to change now.

 Went to the AF Fitness Center with the family after work. Got in another three miles on the indoor track. Spent 15 minutes on the elliptical as well.
 

Shorter version of my normal Highland Glen loop. As I had an 8:00 a.m. dental hygiene appointment in Murray, I postponed today's run until lunch time. Probably a good thing...when I checked the temperature this morning when I got up, the windchill was 27! I had to check the date to make sure I'd slept through the summer and early fall. Average pace for the run was 8:16.

A bit cool this morning, at least for June. It was 42 when I left the house, but clear and beautiful. Feeling a bit of soreness in my left heel starting out, but it disappears once I get warmed up. Raced the quail this morning along the trail. For some reason they didn't take off flying, they were running along about six feet in front of me. Man, their leg turnover must be 500 steps per minute or more (remind me to count next time). I saw Antonio L. ahead of my on the North Cottonwood hill, so naturally I had to speed up to catch him. He wasn't moving real fast, but he kept up a pretty steady pace. He was wearing his headphones, so I think I startled him a bit as I caught up to him. I said hi and took off and then saw him again after I turned around. I've invited him to join us on Monday mornings, but so far he hasn't made it.

 After work I went to the AF Fitness Center with Laureen and Brittany. I ran 3.16 miles and then stopped to watch a boy's baseball game. It brought back a lot of memories. When we got home we were delighted to find that Amelia had cooked dinner and set the table (as we were all starving). A real nice day all around.
 

Lunch time run of the Kohler's loop. Just a little bit of a breeze out of the south made it very comfortable. Nothing but blue skies and sunshine. Average pace was 8:23.

Met up with Richard for our Monday morning run. I've definitely seen an improvement over the last month or two.  I just ran (and walked occcasionally) with him the whole way as I had to get back and take by youngest daughter to Lindon Elementary. She's going to Clear Creek Camp for the week.

I decided to run in the evening today so that I could start getting better acclimated to the heat. I went to the AF Rec Center with Laureen and Brittany and left from there heading east. Although it was 91, there was a bit of breeze heading out and occasional shade from the trees. I could tell I was gradually heating up and so I stopped at the turnaround, drank some water and rested in the shade for a few minutes. The return trip was hotter as there was no detectable breeze and as I was running facing traffic, I hardly got any shade on the south side of the street. My face was bright red when I got back, but I felt pretty good. Average pace was 8:39.

Lunchtime run in the heat (87 degrees) around the Highland Glen pond and back along the trail. Started feeling some bowel discomfort about three quarters of a mile from home, but was able to make it home safely. The sweat just poured off me after stepping into the house, so I headed down to the basement where it was much cooler. I generally feel OK running in the heat, but I know I can't keep the same speed.

A woman from Ragnar Relay called me just before heading out to ask if I had run the relay every year and if I knew of any others that had. I told her I had the picture of our first relay team on my desk (just to make sure I didn't miss anybody) and gave told her that Paul, Verdon and Will had run it every year and I was pretty sure that Darin had as well. Rod was also on the 2004 team, but it seems like he missed a year. 

Took the handoff from Nathan as the light on the horizon was about gone. The temperature had dropped considerably in the last couple of hours which made it almost perfect for running. I started out a bit slow, trailing a young woman by a couple of steps for the first half mile or so, but once I got into my rhythm, I slowly started to pull away. I felt pretty good and passed a couple of other runners and in turn got passed by two runners that were going considerably faster. Without being able to really appreciate the scenery, I pretty much focused on breathing and keeping my turnover steady. I realized after a while that I must have forgotten to start my Garmin as I hadn't heard it beep after the first mile or (what I hoped had been) the second mile. After almost three miles and 900 feet of ascent, it leveled out and then started a fairly steep drop. I could see the lights for the exchange down below. I was able to transition fairly quickly to a downhill pace and finished feeling pretty strong. I was a little disappointed with my time, but felt like I'd run it as hard as I could have.

I started the 23 leg about the time that I normally go out for a run. It was light enough to see well and cold enough that I wore an extra layer on top. I was a bit stiff after yesterday's run and riding around in the van for hours, but I didn't feel too bad. We were a little short on sleep as we'd tried to find the Alternate Hangout Area in Morgan for about half an hour before giving up and driving on to East Canyon where we found that they were temporally out of spaghetti (I ate four pieces of break with a smidgen of jam instead) and that there was really no place to sleep but in the parking lot. We threw out bags out and I may have dozed off for fifteen minutes or so. I really didn't feel that bad all things considered. I was glad that Verdon, Ryan, Bill and Nathan were all running before me. When my turn came I took off a little faster than I normally would just because I was cold and need to warm up a bit. I passed one runner and was passed in turn by two much faster runners. I kind of enjoyed the rolling hills and especially enjoyed the beautiful morning scenery. I was able to pick up the pace as I ran along and managed to finish a little quicker than expected. I was looking forward to being able to shower, eat and sleep a bit at the hotel in Park City.

 By the time Verdon started our final rotation, it was already fairly hot and seemed to be getting hotter by the minute. Everyone in our van put in a great and impressive effort in completing their legs. I felt OK taking the handoff from Nathan after he finished Ragnar, but started off at a fairly conservative pace as it climbed to the top of the pass. I was a bit more winded than I expected (no doubt due to the elevation), but felt I could make up for any lost time on the downhill. I was right and wrong about that one. The drop after the summit was so steep that you either had to let gravity take over and substantially increase your left turnover or really work to hold yourself back. I opted to let gravity take over and really flew down the second mile. I tried a few times to slow down, but that required more energy than I seemed to have. My legs were really starting to feel the effects of the hard pounding and by the third mile they were starting to feel a bit rubbery. When the road turned and I lost the cooling breeze, I realized that I'd overdone it. My head was burning and I felt weak and a bit nauseated. My pace slowed down considerably and I had to walk for a bit on one of the steeper uphill sections to keep from barfing. After a few minutes I felt better and could resume a fairly good pace, but then I'd start feeling overheated again. The last couple of miles were downhill, but at a more gentle descent. I was pretty much wiped out by the time I finished and badly needed some water. I was able to recover fairly quickly, but knew I was going to be sore for a couple of days.
 

Recovery run around the Highland Glen pond with Richard. I was sore, especially at the start, but could run almost without pain after a couple of miles.

Felt much better this morning, but still sore in my calves and quads. Felt better the farther I ran. Was able to even push the pace a bit at the end.

Hiked up to Julie Andews Meadow from the Timpanookee Campground with some of the YW from our stake. The hike was longer, but I thought I'd only count the portion where my HR was above 85 or so (estimated). It was such a beautiful hike that I was really wondering why I don't get up there more often. It was a bit sad to see how out of shape some of the girls are. A couple of them were seriously exhausted after a little more than a mile of moderate ascent. The encouraging part is that they vowed to start working out so that they could do better next year.

Headed out for a longer run this morning, but cut it short after experiencing sharp and persistent groin pain running down a short hill. It felt better as I walked, but was still there when I tried to start up again. I don't think I did any real damage, but it was still sore getting in and out of the car an hour later. If I have a chance tonight, I'll have to try the elliptical machine to get everything stretched out properly. Still have a bit of knot in my left calf.

Highland Glen Loop at noon. It was about 80 degrees, with a slight breeze. Didn't really feel that hot until I stopped.

Highland Glen loop. Tightness in calves almost gone.

Ran the Highland Glen loop and then instead of coming back down North Cottonwood, I ran to the mouth of American Fork Canyon and then along the golf course trail. Legs felt good with no real aches or pains to speak of. Lots of people out this morning, but Richard couldn't make it because of a banged up knee.

Highland Glen loop with a run up the hill on North Cottonwood. Warm and a bit muggy this morning. I was a bit surprised this morning to hear footsteps coming up behind me as I running behind the high school (I don't think that's happened to me all year). Another runner was coming towards me at the same time from the other direction. The runner passing me was Ryan B. who didn't seem to be moving that much faster, but even as I picked up the pace, he was still putting distance on me. He then seemed to kick it into another gear because he put a couple hundred yards on me before we turned to go different directions. I still need to talk to him about joining the blog. Saw a lot of people along the path this morning. Will try to get in a few more miles this evening with the family.

Lunchtime run around the Highland Glen loop. It was hot, but really didn't feel too bad until I was done. I have to admire the people I saw along the way that  likely have to spend the bulk of every working day in the heat. It really makes me appreciate my job (and my basement office).

After getting back from a short family vacation (during which -- despite my best intentions -- I was unable to get out even once :), it's time to get serious again. I had planned on running the first couple of miles with Richard, but he has been having trouble with his knee and didn't show up (he got his foot caught during a cave dive and wrenched his knee trying to get it loose). I wasn't sure how far I'd go this morning, but was happy to find that my legs had some spring in them and that there was no lingering aches or pains. I ran the Highland Loop and then headed up North Cottonwood to Canyon Road and from there, a little ways up American Fork Canyon (against a fairly stiff headwind). Then it was back down along the golf course and back along the creek trail. There were quite a few people out this morning, most notably a group of about a dozen women that were coming the other way on the golf course trail. It was a great morning for a run. Average pace was 8:36 with just over a thousand feet of elevation gain and loss.

Felt pretty good this morning (after yesterday's unplanned day off). I wanted to get some mileage in, but not push the pace too much. I wasn't entirely sure where I was going to go this morning, but seeing that the north part of the creek trail was closed because of resurfacing, made me decide on the American Fork loop. I mostly ran a steady pace unless I saw somebody up ahead that I had any chance of catching. Overall, it was a nice relaxing run (except for the climb up the temple hill). Average pace was 8:45.

Was in a dead sleep when the alarm went off this morning and was really dragging for about fifteen minutes or so. I don't think I was fully awake until about two miles into the run, which was about the time I realized that I needed to find a bathroom. Decided that I would pass on the very disgusting bathrooms in Highland Glen park and stop at the Chevron station instead (almost five miles into the run). Although I was in a fair amount of distress by then, I arrived safely and felt much, much, better. The last three miles felt great (and not just because they were mostly downhill). My legs are feeling pretty good with no major aches or pains to speak of.

Somewhat leisurely noon-time run, if running in the heat can ever be considered so. I took the mp3 player today for a little company, to distract me a bit, if possible. It worked, more of less, the Bach violin concertoes helped me worked out some programming issues and when La Traviata started just after the third mile, I was ready to let me mind wander a bit. I thought about the French leisure class of the 19th Century and about my father-in-law who enjoys that opera above all others. It was nice to listen to as I ran the last half mile in the shade along the creek.

Ran the Temple Loop this morning. After the long climb to the top of Canyon Road, ran down to the mouth of American Fork Canyon and then most of the way up to Timpanogos Cave. Felt really good most of the run, but suddenly felt sick and depleted just before turning around to run down the canyon. Even running downhill with the wind at my back didn't seem to help that much. It was a struggle to get back home. Felt a lot better after I showered and had something to eat, but may be coming down with a bug. 

An interesting run this morning. Lloyd N. called me last night and asked me if we were still running on Monday mornings. I told him we were and invited him to join us. I missed Richard last week, but apparently he came down (I waited until 5:50 and then figured that his knee must still be giving him trouble). The three of us took off heading south along the trail. Richard was actually running quite strong, but needed to walk for a bit after about a mile. We continued on to Highland Glen Park and then Lloyd and I headed northeast along the road behind Lone Peak HS. He said he'd signed up for TOU and needed to start getting serious about training. After reaching 48th West we ran north and caught the golf course trail and followed it to the mouth of American Fork Canyon. It was then that I realized that I hadn't restarted my watch after parting from Richard. We ran up the canyon a little ways to add on a mile and then ran up the big hill on Canyon Road and down to the grain silos. I felt OK for the most part, I wasn't breathing very hard and my legs were all right, but my throat was really sore. When I got home I told Laureen about it and she said that her throat was sore as well and she felt sickly. I'm not sure what we've picked up, but I'm hoping it's fairly minor. I've felt a little more tired that usual this afternoon, but the sore throat is pretty much gone. I'm hoping I can get a good seven mile workout in tomorrow.

Ran a little different route this morning because I wanted to cover the stretch that Lloyd and I ran yesterday to see how far it was. It was almost exactly what I estimated. Had a nice, challenging uphill run along the golf course (with a stiff headwind) and then amazingly had a headwind when I turned south to run up the big hill on Canyon Road. Near the top, the wind changed direction and gave me a little push. I ran hard on the downhill section all the way back to my house. Next time I may extend the downhill section by turning south on 40th instead of going straight. I was happy to find that I didn't have any sore throat this morning or any sickness to speak of. Laureen and my youngest daughter were both feeling sickly all day yesterday. 

 We're still trying to decide what to do about the Cedar Hills 5K on Saturday. Amelia really wants to do it, but as she's not been feeling well (and hasn't really trained), we'll have to make that decision later in the week. If none of the family can run it, I'll probably just go for a longer run that morning.
 

My left knee was very sore this morning when I got up so I decided to wait until lunchtime to run. I'm not sure what the problem was, but it didn't bother me during the run or after. The temperature was around eighty with mostly cloudy skies, but the humidity was higher than normal and I felt fairly sluggish the whole run. As I finished up I saw Patrick Felsted coming up the road just having returned from a run. I really didn't recognize him at first as he was wearing a hat and sunglasses, had grown his hair out long and had lost a lot of upper body weight. He said he'd seen me just as I was starting off and I asked him how far he's been running. I kept thinking, how come I haven't seen this guy before...a fairly serious runner (he was wearing a Salt Lake Marathon shirt) that lives in my neighborhood...it didn't make sense. I was about to ask his name, but he seemed to know me, so I kind of hesitated. It wasn't until I got back to the house that I could confirm with my wife that that's who it was (she'd recently seen him with his wife and knew that he had lost a lot of weight and had grown his hair long).

I had a related experience on Saturday when I was in Subway buying some last-minute sandwiches for a Activity Day's picnic. A guy next to me in line said "Hi Kerry!" which kind of startled me because I didn't remember ever having seen the guy before. I said hi back and he smiled and said "You don't remember me do you?" I lied and said he looked somewhat familiar, but then he laughed and said his brother-in-law put him up to it and pointed to an SUV parked just outside. It was Jason Taylor that I'd worked with at Novell for a number of years. I laughed and said that was definitely something Jason would do.

There are probably many occasions where I pass somebody in a store or on the street that I just don't recognize. People often dramatically change their appearance over just a short period of time. I have almost no chance of recognizing most people that I went to high school with. Karl Rove (President Bush's former advisor) is a good example. He was thin, looked much younger than he actually was and wore big glasses. It didn't occur to me for several years that he was the same guy until he mentioned in an interview that he graduated from Olympus High School. I'd imagine people would have the same trouble recognizing me. 

I was feeling a bit tired and aching starting off this morning, so I decided not to do the hills today and run the Kohler's Loop instead (the uphills and downhills are mostly very gradual). After a couple of miles my legs felt pretty good so I starting picking up the pace, especially after I spotted another runner ahead of me running on the opposite side of the road. I caught and passed him without too much trouble and just kept up the same pace after turning east and heading towards the mouth of American Fork Canyon. After turning at the light I spotted a couple of runners about a half mile away. At first I couldn't tell which direction they were running, but when I determined they were going in the same direction I took off to see if I could catch them. By the time I reached the high school I had closed about half the distance, but would have to hurry to catch them before I made the turn to head home. As I was closing in they turned in the funeral home and stopped. It must have been the Warenski's that live there. I kept running hard until I reached the seven mile mark and then slowed a bit for the final mile. Felt pretty good afterwards.

Temple Loop this morning. My left knee was really sore again when I got up, so I went downstairs to work for a little bit. After moving around and sitting for a half hour it felt fine so I headed out. Didn't feel particularly energetic, but held a decent pace through the long uphill section. Average pace was 8:45.

Ran Lloyd's Loop this morning. I was a bit tired, but the legs felt pretty good. I left a little late to get back in time to watch the Cedar Hills 5K. 

Met up with Richard at 5:45. Heavy overcast with a light rain falling. Richard's knee is getting better, but he's only been able to run on it once a week. The rain starting coming down a bit harder coming out of Highland Glen Park and I thought I'd cut it short and try to get out again at noon.

Ran Lloyd's Loop this morning. Felt good after taking the day off yesterday (due to getting very little sleep Monday night) and pushed the pace, especially on the hills. Decided that I need to eat just a little something before heading out on ten milers as my blood sugar seemed to be very low by the time I finished.  

Day off from work so I slept in a little and then hit the creek and golf course trail with Laureen. She still has a sore Achilles tendon, but it seems to be slowly getting better. It was nice to talk and be outside. Saw lots of friends and neighbors. Got back home and tore up our kitchen floor.

Highland Glen loop.

Ran down Provo Canyon with Paul, Tom, Scott and Kevin. It was a great morning (especially since we didn't get ticketed or arrested). Average pace 8:15. 

Ran with Lloyd this morning.We kind of took it easy as he'd run 16 on Saturday. He kept apologizing for being slow, but I was just glad for the company. 

Ran the Highland Glen loop and the North Cottonwood hill. Average pace 8:33. I felt really good this morning despite the fact that we got to bed a little later than usual (had to take my niece home after the Cedar Hills fireworks show). Saw a lot of other runners -- most looked like they were doing some serious training.

Golf course loop with Laureen at noon.

Kohler's Loop on a perfect summer morning. It was dark, quiet and not too hot. My legs, knees, ankles, feet, all felt great. No aches or pains or soreness. I may be a little slower than I was this time last year, but I think my pace will improve as get in some races and bump my mileage up a little bit more (I'm shooting for around 55 this week). 

Slept in a bit this morning as I was really tired last night for some reason. Started off at a fairly easy base until I was in my second mile and saw a woman on the other side of the road that started running just about when I was ready to pass her. For a couple of hundred yards I stayed about the same distance behind her, but she then started to pull away a bit which made me speed up. I was a little surprised that she was able to keep up that pace until she suddenly stopped and started walking again. I guess she was doing repeats, but I was in a little faster running mode. I wanted to take it a little easier today before tomorrow's long run. I saw an unusual number of people out running and walking this morning, I guess because I got out a little later.

Long run with Lloyd this morning. We left right at 5:00 a.m. I was more than a little tired as our youngest daughter came into our room just after I'd fallen asleep to alert us to a dangerous situation that had developed involving a large moth. I pretended like I was still asleep for a few minutes, but that didn't buy me anything so I got up to investigate. I couldn't find anything, but our daughter insisted that she wasn't going to sleep in there knowing that this insect could attack at any time. So, I somewhat reluctantly agreed to sleep in her bed, but I was awake by that time and just tossed and turned for about an hour until I went downstairs to sleep on the couch. The dog, of course, wasn't too happy about being roused from his peaceful slumber, but there wasn't any reason that he shouldn't be suffering as well. In all, I probably managed three and a half or four hours of sleep.

I was hoping for a nice easy start to the run, but Lloyd was feeling like we needed to run much faster than on Monday and so we took at a pretty good clip. After about a mile and half he began to slow a bit and for the next few miles we ran at a comfortable pace. After looping around the Highland Glen pond we headed to the golf course trail and to the mouth of American Fork canyon. We then ran four miles up the canyon and back and then continued on our normal ten mile loop. I pushed a pretty hard pace coming down the canyon, but the rest of the run was at a very comfortable pace. It was nice to finish this long run without being sore or overly tired.

Ran Lloyd's Loop this morning. We got away a few minutes late as we stopped to help Michael Clarke get his car started (the battery was dead). Richard's knee is healing up and he said that he should be able to start running during the week again. A nice recovery day today after Saturday's long run. No aches or pains to speak of, although my Achilles was a bit sore on Saturday and Sunday after pushing the pace down the canyon for a few miles. I'm hoping I won't hurt it too bad during the race on Saturday. It'll be interesting to see what kind of shape I'm in. RHR yesterday was 38 (about where I like to be this time of year). Lloyd said that Bruce M. got in an accident on Saturday coming down AF canyon (he passed us on the way up). He apparently separated his shoulder, cracked his helmet and got a nasty case of road rash (Lloyd was going to take him some Rocky Road ice cream to cheer him up). I'll have to drop by and see him if I can.

Pressed for time today so I was just able to get in a short run. Probably a good thing as my left Achilles and left knee were a bit sore. Felt better after a mile and half or so. Hopefully it will go better tomorrow. 

Lone Peak Loop

As I haven't been running any races this summer, this race was a good indication of where I am in my training. I'd hoped that I'd do better (as I was about three minutes faster last year), but I wasn't overly surprised. I gave it my best effort for where I am in my training. I must have lost the signal on my Garmin as my mileage was off by more than a mile. I was quite a bit slower coming down the steep part than I expected. Only one of the miles was under 7:00 minute pace. I kept things in the seven minute range until the last couple of miles, when I started to get tired and didn't know how much further I had to go. K. Steadman (who ended up taking third in my age group passed me with about two miles to go) who caused me to refocus a bit. I passed him back and held him off for about a half mile, but he very slowly put some distance on me. I thought to myself that when I could see the finish, I could push myself hard the last quarter mile or so and pass him back. With the numerous turns I lost sight of him in the last half mile. I didn't know how much further it was to the finish as I never saw the 12 mile mark. He ended up beating me by about 25 seconds. I'm hoping I can do a bit better at Hobble Creek.

Had to cut it short this morning as my ankle got pretty sore. My calves were still fairly tight from Saturday's race and that must have caused me to alter my stride a bit. I'll try to rest it today and go longer tomorrow.

I was pleasantly surprised this morning to find that there was almost no soreness in my calves, ankle or knee. I was still a little stiff, but nothing was really hurting. I thought I'd try and do five, but I felt good enough that I ran the North Cottonwood stretch. I could feel my calves tightening up towards the end of the 9 percent grade, but I was still able to maintain a reasonable pace.

Temperatures were very pleasant this morning (57 and 50 RH). I think I'll try to do a ten miler tomorrow. 

Ran Lloyd's Loop this morning. Slept in a little because we stayed up so late watching the Olympics. Felt a little tightness in the calves this morning and slightly more achy, but I felt fine after a couple of miles. Average pace was 8:52.

It's nice to be in that routine where I just wake up, get dressed and head out the door -- because if I'd had time to think about this morning, I probably would have gone back to bed. Up late again last night watching the Olympics (or dozing off as Laureen and Amelia were watching the men's all-around gymnastics) and woke up with sinus congestion and a sore knee. Somehow none of that seemed to matter as I just got dressed anyway and headed out the door. It's just beautiful that time of day. I was happy to find that my aches and pains had disappeared by the time I started running (although my sinus congestion stuck around). All in all a good run even though it was all that far or all that fast.

Lunchtime run with Laureen along the creek trail and around the Highland Glen pond. Her Achilles tendon is getting better, but isn't quite healed. A nice day, not too hot.

Early morning run with Lloyd. Left Sunset Drive at 4:45 with a nearly full moon in the west. My throat felt a bit sore, but wasn't much of an issue during the run. As we were running along the golf course section of the trail north of the houses, we came across what appeared to be a big tarp stretched across the trail. As we stopped and examined it a little closer we were surprised to find that it was a couple of kids in sleeping bags. We told them that they  ought to move off the trail as as bikes and other runners would be sure to follow.

From the mouth of American Fork canyon we continued up the canyon a little past where the road splits. It was fairly cool at that altitude, but only really noticeable on the hands. Talked to a couple of other runners on the top that were also doing a 20 miler. Although my throat felt OK, I did feel a bit sickly on the way down. It passed and we finished up the run in good shape. A little bit of soreness in my left Achilles later in the day and on Sunday.

Felt really crummy this morning when the alarm went off. If I hadn't told Richard and Lloyd that I'd be there, I would have just continued to sleep. My throat was as sore as I can ever remember yesterday afternoon and evening. Nothing to seemed to help much. When I finally did get to sleep, I slept quite soundly.

Lloyd had recovered well from Saturday's run and Richard's knee is about healed, so they were both doing quite well. Richard was able to run the entire way to the flag pole! Lloyd continued on with a ten mile run and I accompanied Richard around the pond and back home.

Felt a lot better yesterday (after a miserable night). The sore throat was almost entirely gone and I only had an occasional cough. My daughter's YW activity was a Daddy/Daughter softball game and even though we arrived late (because of a soccer game that didn't get over until 7), we still had a chance to chase down a few fly balls. It felt good to run around. My legs and lungs were both in good shape. I only got once chance to bat and hit a line drive right to the shortstop.

 I'd planned to run at least five this morning and even got to bed early, but as soon as I laid down I started to cough. I'd sit up for a while longer and feel better, but as soon as I laid down again I'd start to cough. After repeating that cycle a few times, I knew I'd have to bag this morning's run. I know I won't be 100 percent for Saturday's race, but I should be able to finish.
 

Just a little run to see if the legs were still working. I'm still getting over a cold and the coughing and sore throat still bother me at times, but my legs felt good today and even had some extra bounce. The temperature at noon was fairly pleasant.

I slept fairly well before the race, but I woke up coughing again and went and slept on the couch so as not to disturb Laureen. I ended up having to take some medicine as I'd get too congested when I tried to lay down in a semi-reclining position. I was dragging a bit to eat and get out of the house, but started to feel a lot better on the ride down. I picked up my number and got on the bus sometime around 5:45. On the way up I sat next to a guy from Wyoming that was running his first half marathon. His dad (Gary Killpack, who is in my AG) has been running for a long time so he pretty much knew what to expect.

After walking up from the bus dropoff I was happy to run into Paul, Tom and Nathan. That's the fun part about any race -- seeing your buddies. I warmed up with Paul by running further up the road and then we saw Darin Cable just before the start. The race started close to 7:30 and I felt a little better than expected once we got underway. I had a few sharp pains in my left ankle that didn't really develop into anything. I averaged close to 7:00 minute pace on the downhill sections and more around 7:45 on the uphill sections. I never felt that tired during the race, but couldn't have run it much faster than I did. Kerry Steadman passed me around mile 9, but I just couldn't go after him today. He beat me by a couple of minutes. Even though I was slower this year, I somehow managed to finish in the top 100 men and got a medal for it. I was third place in my age group, but was unable to stay for the awards as I needed to get home and coach my daughter's soccer team. Paul, Tom, Nathan and Darin all did really well.

Richard had company in this weekend for his son's missionary homecoming, so he didn't make it out this morning. Lloyd had to fly out to Baltimore this morning so we had to cut it a bit short. He ran over 50 miles last week and is really starting to improve. We ran around the Highland Glen pond, along the golf course to the mouth of the canyon and then down to Cedar Hills Drive. We pushed the pace a bit up the big hill to pass a guy that'd passed us earlier and was walking. We pushed it even harder running downhill to our old stake center. We averaged 7:50 pace for the last mile and even ran some shorter stretches at 6:15 pace. I told Lloyd that we need to start training together earlier next year.

Kohler's Loop this morning. Dark and warm. A little sliver of a moon and Sirius just poking up over the mountain in the south east. A little slow getting going, but felt pretty good over all. Gradually picked up the pace until I was running half marathon pace the last couple of miles. I love this time of year. 

Early morning loop around Highland Glen pond and then a lunchtime run with Laureen (which included a bit of hiking and exploring).

Ran up to Cedar Ridge Junior High and back from the AF Rec Center.

Ran the HS loop in the AM. Golf course loop (plus two miles) with Laureen at noon.

Great run down Provo Canyon and out to the lake with my buddies. The weather was beautiful and the temperature was about perfect. A few minor aches and pains that would come and go, but nothing of any consequence. Twenty milers don't get any better than this. Especially appreciated the ice cold drink waiting for us at the end. Thanks, Paul!

Beautiful, dark, clear, cool, morning. Temperature was 43 when I left the house, no moon, brilliant stars. After two days off, my legs felt really good. I started out at a pretty relaxed pace, but gradually picked it up. As I made the turn north into Highland Glen park a dark shape was trotting down the road about thirty feet ahead of me. It must have been a fox, judging from the size and gait. Didn't see another person until I started up the hill on North Cottonwood. Was feeling great so I chased a biker up the hill (caught and passed him about two thirds of the way up). Turned around at Canyon Road and pushed it fairly hard the rest of the way home. Outside of a few twinges in my left Achilles tendon, everything felt great. 

Nice lunchtime run with Laureen along the creek and golf course trails to the mouth of American Fork Canyon and then up Canyon Road where we picked up a new extension of the trail along the upper bench of Cedar Hills. We then came down by the new church and ran down to the start of the trail by the elementary school. Just a nice day to be out. 

Highland Glen Loop with Laureen.

Ran Lloyd's Loop with a three mile addition (down to Kohler's corner and south to the Country Club entrance). Felt good with only some minor, fleeting, aches and pains. Finished feeling pretty strong. Beautiful morning for a run. Thought about everybody running the Spanish Fork half this morning.

Waited for Lloyd and Richard to show up this morning, but nobody came. Decided that I'd put in six to eight depending on how I felt. As I was running by the tennis courts to the southwest of the high school, I could see someone up the road towards me. It turned out to be Lloyd. He said that he'd overslept a bit and thought he could find me somewhere along our Monday loop. It was nice to have somebody to run with. He's been putting in some good mileage and it sounds like he'll be ready for TOU. We talked a bit about hotels and such, but probably won't be able to resolve much until this weekend. We're planning to do a ten miler on Saturday.

High school loop in the late afternoon. Tried to push the pace a little harder than usual. Just as I was getting out of the shower after my run, I got a phone call from one of the girls on the soccer team I coach. She was wondering if the game wasn't at 5:45 instead of  7:00 pm as I'd mentioned in practice the day before. I ran downstairs to look at the schedule and make absolutely sure. I about died when I saw that it was at 5:45 since it was about 5:42 at the time. I yelled at my daughter to grab my stuff and we ran for the car, getting dressed on the way. Fortunately all the girls were on time and one of the dads had organized them to some extent so the game was able to start on time. The girls seemed to be a little off in their performance though and we ended up losing 3-0.

Early morning HS loop and later a lunchtime run with Laureen.

Early morning run with Lloyd. The moon was already down when we started at 5:45 so it was pretty dark for a while. Felt good, with no major aches or pains. Stayed fairly distracted from the actual run by listening to Lloyd tell me about the craziness that he sometimes encounters in his job.

Beautiful run this morning with a full moon in the west. Temperatures were almost perfect (in the low 50's to start). Richard joined us this morning after missing the last couple of weeks. Just a pleasant run all around. 

 Two more miles with Laureen at lunch (we had to cut it short because Mondays are early out and we didn't get started until about 12:30).

Slept in until 6 and then got up and ran the high school loop. I love this time of year, especially being in taper mode already. I'm always a little worried when I start out and it's not completely effortless with the marathon so close, but I really don't have any lingering aches or pains and there was definitely some spring in my step this morning. With the full moon in the west and cool, still, clear air, it was certainly, as Paul would say, idyllic.

Just to quick run to loosen up and make sure that I'm firing on all cylinders. Even though I tend to be hypersensitive to the smallest sign of trouble this close to the marathon, there were really no significant aches or pains that lasted more than a minute or so. It's not a guarantee, as all kinds of weird things seem to happen during the race itself, but at this point it's all I can hope for.

Lloyd and I got up to the start a littler earlier than planned, but it meant that there were no lines for the portapotties. It had recently rained, but the clouds were broken up overhead. We found our way down to the tent by the starting line and sat there for a while before deciding that we'd better make one more visit to the portapotties before the race started. As I was standing in line, I turned my Garmin on and was a bit shocked to get a low battery warning as I had recharged it just the day before. I always kind of run by feel, but I would have liked to know my splits afterwards and check my average pace from time to time. It's hard running a race without having any idea of where you're at. About fifteen minutes before the start I took an eGel with some water.

As we lined up at the start it was still a bit dark and a little chilly, but we really couldn't have asked for better conditions. I had decided to just go with a short sleeve shirt and no gloves and was hoping I wouldn't regret it. Lloyd and I started out together at what seemed to be a very comfortable pace. I had a few little aches and pains that concerned me a little, but they started to go away as I got warmed up. We covered the first mile in eight minutes by Lloyd's watch, which is about where I wanted to be. I knew I'd have to speed up a bit, to between 7:30 and 7:45 pace to take advantage of the downhill, but hopefully not pound my legs too much. Lloyd was still with me at the two mile mark and announced that we also covered that in eight minutes. He was breathing fairly hard at that point, but I knew I needed to speed up a bit. He'd told me prior to the race that he was only going to try to hang with me for the first mile or so, so I wasn't too concerned when I looked back over my shoulder and he had just disappeared.

Over the next few miles I just felt great. My legs felt good, temperatures were just right and I thought that maybe it would be a PR day. The mile markers were coming up faster than expected and I was hitting on all cylinders. I passed the 10K mark in 48 minutes which mean that I was at about a 7:45 pace. I was in good shape at that point. I'd planned to take another gel at mile 9, but I was got distracted and didn't realize we were at the aid station until it was too late to get one down. I was talking to a guy from Michigan that was trying to run a marathon in every state before he turned 50. He said he was about half way there and described some of the marathons that he'd run recently. I took the gel at mile 11 and felt pretty good for having finished more than a third of the race.

About mile 12 I felt that I was running out of gas a bit and was concerned when I hit the half way point and saw that my time was 1:44. It was noticeably warmer when we hit the bottom of the canyon, but there was a light rain falling that made it very comfortable. I felt the gel starting to kick in and started to pick up the pace again.  The next few miles passed quickly. I'd decided to take another gel at mile 15 and gave myself plenty of time to get it down. Things were still going well through 17 and 18. I felt like I was holding a good steady pace and although I might not PR, I'd at least finish in a respectable time. I was planning to take another get around mile 19, so I'd have some energy the last three of four miles, but I was feeling a bit nauseated at that point and decided I'd better hold off. After about a half mile I knew I was going to have to make a longer portapotty stop at mile 20 and was kind of hurting by the time I got there. It was also on uneven ground which made it seem like you were on a ship at sea. I don't know how much time I lost there as I hadn't noticed the clock just a short distance away, but I got going again just after crossing the wires at almost 2:48. I was feeling very good at that point, but my legs were still working. As I hit the next few mile markers, I really started to feel the exhaustion setting in, but there was no way that I was going to get another gel down. By mile 24 I was out of gas. I walked through the water stop and just leaned against the portapotty to stretch my legs out a bit, but it was all I could do to get moving again. I didn't stop until the next mile marker, but I had to walk a minute or two after having a much needed drink. I pushed on to the finish by chanting to myself and about fell over after crossing the finish line. I just found a place to lay down and hardly moved for about ten minutes. After downing a couple of chocolate milks, I started to get my energy back, but I just sat under a tree waiting for Lloyd to come in. He ended up finishing around 4:14.

For the most part, I really enjoyed the marathon: the course was beautiful, the crowd support was great, the weather almost perfect. I wasn't thinking about a PR going in to the race as I haven't trained as hard this year and I was almost five pounds heavier than last year at this time. My goal was to finish under 3:45 or within the top five in my age group, but that didn't happen. It was my slowest time in the last four years (not counting Boston which I ran with an injury), but all in all I wasn't overly disappointed. When I didn't get into St. George this year, I know I lost some of my motivation. I really need to figure out the refueling thing though. I've experienced the nausea several times around mile 20, which leaves me feeling really empty for the last few miles. It doesn't really come up during the training runs as I haven't been going over 20, but I need to experiment with some other combinations of fuel on the run. I also need to build a better base early in the summer.

Well, I'm just happy at this point to be able to relax a bit and then enjoy some of the nice fall running weather.

I haven't been feeling the usual aches and pains after a marathon, but I still wanted to give them some time to recover. I went out for a short run late this afternoon when temperatures were about 80 degrees. In many ways my legs felt better than I expected. At least some of the time I felt a little spring in my step, but it was still a bit of a struggle to get through the workout. I pushed it a little harder than I normally would after a marathon, just to see where I'm at. I'll probably take Thursday off and then go a little longer on Friday. This is such a pleasant time of the year to run.

Quick run around the Highland Glen loop during lunch. Temperature at 1 was around 80 degrees. The legs felt much better than Wednesday, almost normal for that matter. Average pace was 8:35.

Beautiful, warm, starry night. At 5:45 it was very dark along the path, but we could see OK after that. Easy run with Richard down around the Highland Glen pond. He's really running well. 

Easy lunchtime run with Laureen on the golf course loop. Kind of warm for the first of October, but a beautiful day nonetheless. Legs are feeling rested and have some bounce in them, but my lungs were a little tight for some reason (it may be allergies or a bit of a cold).

Easy run with Richard in the dark. It turned out to be warmer than last night's weather report predicted, so I was slightly overdressed. I'm not feeling any aches or pains, so I could probably start stepping up things a bit.

Highland Glen loop at lunchtime. The temperature was 70 degrees with a light breeze blowing. It felt great and I felt great, outside of a little stiffness. I pushed it at what has been MP for the first couple of miles and then eased off a bit on the uphill stretch as I started feeling a bit fatigued (possibly due to the cold I've been fighting). Felt better a half mile later and pushed the pace again, especially through the trees along the creek. During the run I thought about the Runner's Series and how it wasn't that long until January and the Painter's Half. I need to gradually ease back into a solid workout routine, but make sure that I stay injury-free.

Since the kids were off for UEA, went for a lunchtime run with Laureen and Amelia (couldn't persuade Brittany) to join us. The weather was perfect. We had a fun time and it felt good to push it up the hills.

Met up with Richard at 5:45 for a run around the pond. I was dragging a bit from lack of sleep (got to bed after midnight and then had some tightness and wheezing in my chest that kept me up for a a while after that). 

Went out with Laureen at noon. A beautiful, fall day.

Met up with Richard for our Monday loop around the Highland Glen pond. The temperature was in the mid-40's but felt a little colder because of the high humidity. The stars were beautiful!

After staying up late last night, we were awakened about 6:00 a.m. by the sounds of our Chihuahua trying to clear his throat of some foreign object (probably just a hair or something). For such a little dog, he sometimes makes a lot of noise. Neither one of us could get back to sleep so we just got up to go for a run. It was dark out, but not too cold. We had a great time and Laureen's ankle is doing better all the time.

Ran on the treadmill during lunchtime. Felt pretty good as I pushed it at the end. 

High school loop with Laureen this morning. Had to hurry back to take Brittany to her jiujitsu competition. 

Wanted to get some kind of workout in this morning, but didn't have a lot of time. I'm usually up late with the nightly call with India, so it's hard to get up early enough to run, shower and get ready to take my daughter to school by 7:30. I know I need to get back into a regular running schedule though.

As we're celebrating my daughter's birthday today, I had to hurry to get in a few miles before we had to leave. Felt the aches and pains that seem to arise when I'm not very consistent with my running. 

High school loop at lunchtime. Great weather for November. Felt pretty good over all.

Tight schedule this morning so I just hopped on the treadmill for a couple of miles (while watching a History Channel program about the hurricane that hit New England in 1938). My left ankle was a little sore this morning. 

Quick workout

Ran with Laureen. Planned our getaway.

HS loop

In a hurry this morning so I just ran on the treadmill (five steps from my bed, no bundling up). I was starting to get back into a routine the week before Thanksgiving, but I didn't run at all last week as we decided to be move up a trip to Disneyland that we'd been planning. We had a great time and all the walking how to count for some exercise. Next week is looking better :)