Kerry's Running Blog

Beautiful morning for a run. The skies were clear and temperatures were in the upper 40's. I was a little concerned on Friday because the arch in my right foot was quite sore during miles 12 and 13. I thought it might be a result of shortening my stride to run with Laureen, but I wasn't sure. This morning I didn't feel anything during the run and didn't even have the usual stiffness after the fifty minute commute into work (in fact, this morning I felt like I was ready to do another eight or so). I'm happy with the way I'm feeling this close to marathon and hope to make the next eleven training days very effective. I'm anxious to see what I can do this year.

Another perfect morning for a run. Tempertures in the low 40's under clear skies (no moon). I was just a little stiffer this morning starting out, but once I got warmed up, I felt really good. After reading Brent's blog from yesterday morning, I couldn't help thinking about large animals lurking in the dark as I ran through the park. It makes it a lot more fun to imagine all the hidden dangers and what I'd do if there was a cougar right in the middle of the path. Less dangerous, but more suspicious were the two boys I saw walking on the other side of the street as I came up on the Alpine Highway. They were in their early teens and didn't seem to be in a hurry to get some place (where would they be going at six in the morning anyway?) Last year I saw a couple of kids out about the same time of day, trying hard to conceal a can of spray paint, but I couldn't see that these kids were carrying anything. When I see kids wandering around the neighborhood late at night on a school night (or early in the morning in this case), I can help but wonder if their parents are fully engaged.

Clear skies, temperatures in the high 40's, no moon. I've been thinking about Paul's post from yesterday where he reported on his marathon pacing. I tried the same thing this morning and concluded that the mitigating factors (e.g. second run of the day, lingering injuries, running during the hotter part of the day) he listed definitely affected his pace, since I know he's faster than I am. My results from this morning looked like this:

Mile	Pace	Grade	Comments
1	7:59	1% up	Felt relaxed
2	7:36	1% up to 1% down	Felt relaxed
3	7:25	1% down	Mostly relaxed
4	7:26	flat to 1% up	Threshold pace

Over all, I felt good about the effort. I noticed that on the downhill section (mile 3) that I gradually sped up as I was feeling good. By the time I reached the end, I was breathing a little harder than I had the first two miles. For the final mile, I spotted a couple of runners about a hundred yards ahead and since I was feeling good, I decided to see if I could catch them before they made their turn south. I didn't feel like I was pushing it that hard, but I kept up the pace for the rest of the mile, which felt hard when heading up the trail towards home. One of the ladies was Jill W. I'm not sure who the other one was as it was still fairly dark.

Today gave me a pretty good feel for where I am fitness-wise and also how to gauge when I'm running at a good effort (even breathing, no sharp exhales, no stress). I'm sure the pace that will feel easy the first part of the marathon, will feel like an all out effort the last six miles but hopefully I can hang in there and get past the usual calf cramping and bowel discomfort.

Clear, moonless sky. Temperature in the low 50's. Outside of a little PF in my right foot, I'm feeling really good. Even the PF goes away after a mile or so. Just eight more days of effective training before St. George. As always, I'm sure to regret not getting in enough downhill runs.

I was puzzling this morning over the fact that when I run through the darkest part of the park I can still see the road clearly enough to avoid broken branches in the road and even see large cracks. There was no moon and the eastern horizon wasn't even starting to get light. There is a glow in the north from the lights in Salt Lake County, but that hardly seems like enough to make things visible in a heavily wooded area. Kind of strange. 

Mostly cloudy and warm this morning. Left the house around 5 am as I had to get back for a meeting (my daughter's annual IEP) at 7:15. I was a bit surprised to find more people out and about than I usually encounter so early in the morning. Legs felt really good, but I didn't want to push things too hard before tomorrow's long run. We're planning to head out for a 20 miler at 4 am. When we get back from that we have to take Brittany to Salt Lake for goal ball practice and then rush back for Amelia's soccer game and then head back to Salt Lake to pick up Brittany and take her to her Jiujitsu class. Then, as I'm the stake clerk, I have to hurry and change for a stake presidency meeting with Elder Pocock, followed by a two hour leadership meeting, dinner with the stake presidency and Elder Pocock, followed by the evening adult session. I think I might have to stuff my pockets with fireballs to keep going (a trick my former stake president taught me for staying alert during a long day of meetings). I'm already looking forward to sleeping in a bit on Sunday morning!

Laureen and I started out at 4 am like last week. The tour of Manila, Pleasant Grove, Highland and Cedar Hills. Legs felt good at the end, but was glad to finish. Long day of family and church activities turned out much better than expected. I'm actually feeling energized at the end of the day.