Kerry's Running Blog

Cool morning under clear skies. Temperatures in the high 30's. I was surprised to find some tightness and a little soreness in my left ankle this morning. I shouldn't have taken yesterday off. I needed to get my daughter to school early, but I could have found a way (I felt some extra regret after seeing how nice it was following overnight showers). I felt pretty good by the time I finished, but I need to make sure that I get out every day this week.

For those living in Utah and who run in the morning, you may want to pause for a couple of minutes and watch the skies towards the northwest. The International Space Station will be passing from the northwest to the southeast starting about 6:12 a.m. It won't be quite as bright as Venus, but should be clearly visible.

Pass Details

Date:	Wednesday, 26 September, 2007
Satellite:	ISS
Observer's Location:	Home ( 40.4117°N, 111.7625°W)
Local Time:	Mountain Daylight Time (GMT - 6:00)
Orbit:	332 x 346 km, 51.6° (Epoch 24 Sep)
Sun altitude at time of maximum pass altitude:	-13.3°

Event	Time	Altitude	Azimuth	Distance (km)
Leaves shadow	06:10:25	18°	314° (NW )	926
Maximum altitude	06:12:23	68°	35° (NE )	367
Drops below 10° altitude	06:15:12	10°	120° (ESE)	1,276
Sets	06:17:12	-0°	123° (ESE)	2,110

Clear skies, slightly warmer than yesterday morning with a full moon in the west. Temperatures in the high 30's or low 40's. It was fun to go out this morning with the moon out and the cooler temperatures. Legs felt great except for a little tightness in my right calf. It was beautiful running around the pond in Highland Glen park with the moon reflecting off the mirror surface. I really felt invigorated. As I came up out of the park and ran behind the high school, I paused just before turning onto to 48th West to watch for the International Space Station. It started out pretty faint in the northwest as it was over western Oregon and got progressively brighter as it climbed overhead. Within a couple of minutes it passed between Sirius and Venus and disappeared behind the mountain. It was cool to realize that the astronauts up there had traveled from Oregon to Colorado in just a matter of a few minutes, more than 200 miles overhead. After that I pushed the pace back home as I had to leave early this morning to drop my daughter off at the airport (and just because I felt good). Luckily I could see well enough through the trees along the creekside path to avoid stumbling over something.

Beautiful clear morning with a full moon high in the west. Temperatures in the low 40's or high 30's. I wasn't sure I was going to run this morning as I was not feeling well yesterday afternoon and evening. My joints ached, my head hurt, I was chilled and had no appetite. I went to bed early and felt fine this morning.

I left the house around 5:30 and stopped for a few minutes after turning on to 48th west to watch the ISS pass over. It was fairly faint and it's movement could hardly be detected until it got closer overhead (overhead being a relative term as it was hundreds of miles to the south). As it headed southwest it grew dimmer and then disappeared in Provo's light pollution. Starting out my right instep was sore and there was a little tightness in my calves, but after I stopped and started running again I didn't notice it all. I felt great and started to push the pace a bit as I headed down into the park. After looping around the pond and passing by restrooms and trailer I was surprised to see a couple of SUV's coming down the road into the park. Fisherman sometimes arrive pretty early, but something told me these weren't fishermen. I stopped for a minute to see what was going on. The vehicles stopped in the road and four or five people got out and went west on a little trail that leads to the back of some homes. I watched for a couple more minutes and saw them come back, get back in and then slowly turn around. They didn't seem too nervous or concerned so I figured that they were probably OK. As I took the longer loop to the south, I saw them drive out of the park going very slow and turn into the parking lot at Lone Peak. Kind of odd behavior, but then teenagers often do things that are hard to explain. I pushed the pace the rest of the way home as I had a little time to make up. 

The most extraordinary thing about today's run is how ordinary it was in almost every respect. It wasn't too hot or too cold. It wasn't too dark or too light. It wasn't too hard or too easy. I didn't run too fast or too slow. I wasn't overly rested when I got up, but I wasn't dragging either. I didn't see any creatures moving around in the dark. I didn't see any suspicious activity of any kind. I saw two ladies out walking, but it would have been more extraordinary if I hadn't seen anybody. My instep was a little sore starting out, but even that pretty much disappeared during the run.