Kerry's Running Blog

Extended Kohler's loop this morning. Temperatures were in the high 60's or low 70's with smoke in the air and partly cloudy skies. Left the house around 5:25 am. I was just a little stiff getting out of the bed this morning, but my legs felt pretty good throughout the run. I pushed it harder the last couple of miles and felt a bit ragged the last half mile or so. Before hopping in the shower I was happy to find that my weight has dropped to 150.8. Even though I still have a little ways to go before the marathon, I'm finally moving in the right direction (those 50+ weeks seem to help).

Just ran the short high school loop this morning as I needed a break from the eight milers. My legs have actually felt fine, but I just needed to sleep in a bit this morning and do something different. I felt like this morning was like a drink of cold water in the middle of a long run, like standing in the shade for a few minutes. I was going to just run easy the whole way, but I ran into another runner just west of the football field and by reflex I started picking up the pace. I kept imagining that he was doing the same and was right behind me, but when I turned onto 48th I could see that he was about a quarter of a mile back. It just felt like a good pace so I kept it up the rest of the way home. I wasn't wearing my watch so I don't know what my pace was.

Extended Kohler's loop, temperatures in the upper 60's, low 70's with heavy cloud cover. An easier day yesterday and the extra rest helped me to feel a lot more energetic this morning. I left the house without any time goals in mind, but after a few miles of warming up and being lost in thought, I started picking up the pace heading up to the Kohler's intersection and pushed it harder after making the turn on 48th and heading down the home stretch towards Harvey Blvd. Luckily there was a cooling breeze blowing from the south. Turned the corner and tried to maintain pace the rest of the way home. Usually I average 8:30 to 8:20/mile for the whole loop. This morning I was 8:03. Increasing the miles and losing a couple of pounds (I'm down to 150.8) have both helped. I may take an easier day tomorrow and push it again on Friday, with a long run on Saturday and back to 50+ next week.

Rest day. Lone Peak, creek trail loop. Clear skies, cooler temperatures after yesterday's rain.

Extended Kohler's loop under clear skies. Temperatures in the mid to upper 60's. The streets were still a little wet in places from last night's thunderstorm. It was a little humid, but everything smelled so good. It's nice to see the stars out as start out. Started out a bit slow as I noticed a little unexpected stiffness. I think it might be from bicycling with my daughters nearly every night. As they're getting in a little better shape, we end up going a little farther and on more challenging trails. Last night we rode to the mouth of American Fork Canyon and back to Deerfield Elementary and then back home. Racing along the creek was a lot of fun.

Anyway, after warming up for a couple of miles, I started picking up the pace, not only because I felt good, but also because I realized that the Provo River Half is only about two weeks away. My average pace dropped a little (to 8:00 even) and I spend a little more time at faster than marathon pace. On the final climb along the path, I felt pretty tired and had to start counting (one-two-three-exhale!) to keep myself going. As I was walking to cool down, my neighbor Doug and a friend (brother?) were just heading out for a run.

Had a nice early morning run with Laureen (at least it started in the early morning). We ran down to the canal and then through Highland Glen Park and looped around by Kohler's and back to the golf course. Then we followed our typical route to the mouth of American Fork Canyon, up Canyon Road and then along the foothill trails until we got back to the canal road. I went a little farther than Laureen as I took a detour by the high school to drop off some water for our return trip. I pushed it harder on that section so that I could catch back up with her.

Some couples like to get cleaned up and go out to a movie or dinner on Friday nights. We get up in the dark on Saturday mornings to jog along a dusty trail for miles, swat gnats and get good and sweaty. I guess there are different ways of keeping true romance alive...either that or I'm just a cheap date.