Kerry's Running Blog

I sure enjoy having a chance to rest on Sunday (even though I get up even earlier than other days). I felt refreshed and ready to go this morning and pushed it a little harder as I thought about Paul and Nathan's breakthrough performance on Saturday and Tom's dedication to putting in a hard training effort in less than ideal circumstances. It really helps to have running buddies that are not content to rest on their laurels.

This morning's run had a little bit of everything. Just before I left the house I went out back to look at the lunar eclipse. Just a thin rim was visible at that time (about 5:20). As I started on my run, the clouds were partially obscuring the moon, but I had a great view of Sirius just coming over the mountain in the southeast. I seriously considered skipping this morning's run and hauling out my reflecting telescope, but I didn't want that excuse to show up on one of Sasha's top ten lists :)

I noticed that there were a lot more people out today. Maybe they got up to watch the eclipse as well. Just before I made the turn to head north on 48th west, I saw a spectacular shooting star that came from the northeast and shot towards the moon in the southwest. I couldn't help but think that was some sort of omen. Especially when it was followed a few moments later by flashes of lightning in the northwest.

For some reason, I didn't feel that great this morning. My left hip was a bit stiff and sore and I had some bowel discomfort going on. As I came up out of the Highland Glen Park I had an increasingly urgent need to find a restroom. Fortunately, I made it to the Chevron station at the corner in time. Outside of that distraction, my thoughts were occupied with my brother who suffered a series of mini-strokes yesterday. In each instance he had a sharp pain behind his left eye and was unable to speak, raise his right leg or touch his nose with his right hand. I was at the hospital during one of the incidents. They transferred him from Pioneer Valley Hospital to University so that a neurologist could see him. The doctor we talked to was a little concerned that he'd had several incidents in a short time and that we have a family history of atherosclerosis (my brother died at 44 from a heart attack, my father had bypass surgery in his early 50's and my grandfather died of a heart attack at 62). My brother text messaged me just before midnight to say that everything seems to be OK.

I was a little later getting home from my run, so I really had to hustle to get ready so I could take my oldest daughter to school. I was rewarded with an incredibly beautiful double rainbow in the west. The sun was up and shining through the clouds and a light rain was falling. It was quite an eventful morning.

Beautiful, warm morning for a run. Temperatures in the upper 60's. Full moon to make it easy to see where you're going. Left knee felt a little sore going down the stairs this morning and was a bit stiff starting out, but didn't have any noticeable aches or pains after the first mile or so. Felt fairly energetic this morning and started picking up the pace after passing the high school (about the two mile mark). Just as I was coming to the four mile mark, a couple of runners turned on to the Alpine Highway heading the same direction as me (only on the other side of the road). Without any conscious effor on my part, my pace picked up significantly. It never fails...if I see someone ahead of me that I have any chance of passing (even if they're on a bike), I start running faster. And after I pass them, I always figure that they're trying to pass me back so I run faster still. I know it's kind of a Pavlovian response, but it's kind of fun and it gets me to work harder. And just when I was starting to think about backing off a bit, another couple turns on to the road right ahead of me and off I go again. No sign of the bowel discomfort that bothered me most of the day yesterday.

Interesting run this morning. I was short on sleep last night and my right arch was sore starting out, so I figured that if it didn't start feeling better that I would just turn around at one mile. The soreness subsided and I thought that it wouldn't really do me much good to go back home and try to get back to sleep anyway. It wasn't as bright out as yesterday morning because the full moon was behind a big cloud. I was a bit surprised by a flash of lightning to the south, but it was far enough away that I wasn't much concerned. A few minutes later there was a very bright flash followed a few seconds later by a loud clap of thunder. It was kind of weird because there was lots of clear sky and only a few bigger clouds. Just as was approaching the seminary building a few drops of rain started to fall, which turned into a good downpour about thirty seconds later. I thought about heading back home, but there was enough clear sky to the north and south that I didn't think it could last very long. I stopped under a clump of trees to get out of the worst of the rain and waited there for maybe five minutes. There were only a few drops coming down by then so I decided to just keep going. I was pretty soaked, but it was a warm morning and I thought it wouldn't take too long to dry out. The roads were wet, but the air was fresh and invigorating.

As I was coming out of Highland Glen park there were a few more flashes of lightning behind me and to the west, but it appeared to be sheet lightning so I wasn't overly concerned. Even though there were a couple of big dark clouds around  there was a lot of clear sky to the north. By the time I was nearing the corner by Wells Fargo Bank it started to rain again. I ducked under the drive thru for a few minutes but decided it wasn't that hard so I took off again. It didn't seem that bad until a car would pass and its headlights showed how much rain was actually coming down. It felt great to be out running and I picked up the pace as I turned onto 48th and headed south. The rain continued until I reached the high school and by the time I reached Harvey Blvd, the skies were mostly clear overhead. All in all, it was a wonderful morning and I'm glad I decided not to cut it short.

Overcast skies. Temperatures in the upper 60's. I tried to take it fairly easy this morning as I'm planning on a 20 miler tomorrow. I may have taken it easy in any case as I wasn't feeling very energetic. I had lots of running around yesterday afternoon and evening and getting something good to eat was almost an afterthought. I was in bed by 10:30, but was tired enough to turn in by 9:00.

Had a great run up Provo Canyon with Paul, Tom, Will, Wayne and Larry. A young woman named Sheena missed her group at the bottom of the canyon and so we invited her to run with us. At Vivian, Tom turned around to go back and Larry, Wayne and Sheena turned to go on to Pine View. Paul, Will and I continued up to Trefoil.

The leaves were starting to turn at the top of the canyon and temperatures were just perfect. When we got down to South Fork, Paul and I stopped for water and Will ran on ahead as he had to get back. We ran at a pretty comfortable pace and met up with Will with a little less than a mile to go (he was having some problems with his knee). It was terrific seeing everybody again. Long runs with your buddies sure make the miles go by quicker.

My Garmin was having problems so I just left it in the car. Paul's watch said we made it to the top in 1:34 and back to the start in around three hours.