It ain't Chinese algebra!

5 miles this morning.  My legs feel sluggish, which is to be expected.  I threw a few strides in at the end and my legs seemed to respond well.

3 miles for my final run before Monday.  I'm hoping it's not too hot at the race, but the forecast isn't looking good.

Anyone seen the movie "The Italian Job" that came out in 2003?  One of the most memorable quotes was from the guy who was deaf in one ear.  He was observing a gate and sees guard dogs, then proceeds to tell Mark Wahlberg ....'the dudes got dogs.  I don't do dogs.  I had a real bad experience.'  Wahlberg asks what happened and Left Ear replies very emphatically:

'I had.  A bad.  Experience.'

Pretty much sums up my race this morning.  Rather than setting a new PR, I came away with a PW (personal worst).  Ever.  All-time.  I felt good yesterday.  I felt good when I woke up.  Felt good on my 2 mile warm up.  Gun went off and it went downhill from there.  I was shooting for 5:15-5:20 pace throughout and thought that was doable.  First mile 5:17. Perfect.  Miles 2-4 were each 5:26 exactly.  Slower than I wanted but there was plenty of time to make up the difference.  Mile 5 in 5:21 and I'm through the first 5 miles in 26:59.  Mile 6 in 5:24 and now I'm wondering why I'm continually missing the mark.  What gives?  Could it be the stomach cramps I've got that are making things tough.  I know they're not helping, that's for sure.

The wheels start to come off the next two miles; 5:29, 5:36 and my stomach cramps are getting worse.  Blah.  Mile 8 was slightly better in 5:28 but nowhere near my goal.  All of my miles except the first have been off 10-15 seconds.  Double blah.  Mile 9 slows considerably once again to 5:37.  At the aid station between 9 and 10 I stopped for a quick walk to try and finally get rid of my stomach cramps.  It seemed to help, but as soon as I resumed running both of my calves cramped as well as the arch in my right foot.  Something was off today, that's for sure.  I slowly walked/jogged to mile 10 (8:47) and 11 (9:00!) before throwing in the towel.  Sort of...

My sister was running the half as well.  Her first ever half marathon was last weekend in Seattle.  After finishing slower than she would have liked and yet void of sore/tired muscles, she quickly signed up for this half marathon as a chance to quickly improve.  I turned around at mile 11 and ran back up the course to mile 9 and waited just a couple minutes before she arrived.  I ran the final 4 miles with her which was a lot of fun.  It was great to see her improve by over 9 minutes with only 7 days between her 1st and 2nd half-marathon.  (Awesome Jill!  Very proud of you.)

Now I'm home and my body feels trashed.  Absolutely trashed. Uh....?  I ran less than 10 miles at tempo pace and then the next 7 miles in the 9:00/min range and I feel completely worked over.  No clue why.  By the way--finishing time was 2:02:33.  Triple blah.

5 miles around the hospital.  I felt....exactly as expected after not running all week.  I'll try to get back on the horse starting Monday.

9 miles around the hospital and out to RCC and then home.  Feeling a little sick this morning for some reason.

10 miles to the NW corner of town.  Lots of climbing the first half, lots of downhill the second.  Perfect weather made for a nice run although I'm still feeling a little sick.

9 miles in GP.  My legs are finally starting to come around.

4 miles around Coos Bay and then 5 more at the hotel.

I finally made it back to Cathedral Hills to run some trails.  I've wanted to get back there all week and it just hasn't worked out.  It's very refreshing to get of the roads and mix things up.  After the last race I'm seriously considering making the full transition to exclusive trail running.  We'll see...

Back to the Cathedral Trails again today.  The first 45 minutes were easy and done in a blink of an eye.  The next 5 miles weren't as fun and the last 2 were brutal--thankfully I had Weezer keeping me company so I survived.  I was just beat down tired--guess I just needed some fuel!  1 more mile on the road to put me at 15 for the day.  Not the best week but at least I got out each day.  My motivation is faltering as of late...

AM: Last run on the trails for a few weeks.  As always, it was a lot of fun.  Minus the time I came around a corner to a group of wild turkeys.  We both startled each other pretty good and so I turned around and a couple of them decided to chase me.  What can I say...I'm a wuss.  No hard done though and the rest of the run was uneventful.

PM: 10 miles in Eugene.  2 miles were barefoot at the college.

11 miles in Eugene, mostly on Pre's Trail but the last couple were around the college.

10 miles in Reno, NV.  Got to the motel at 10:30 and asleep just before midnight, then up at 5 for a run.  Blah.  I'm tired.  I ran north into Sparks and found the Costco so we could fuel up once we were ready to hit the road again.

9 miles in Hurricane, UT.  Yowzers!  It was hot.  I'll have to get out earlier than 8:45 in the morning to beat the heat.  Despite three stops for water I was still overheating--my body is used to 45-50 degree weather year round, not 87 degrees first thing in the morning.

10 miles; the first 5 with my dad into LaVerkin and then 5 more by myself to the other side of Hurricane.  I went at 6 which was much better than yesterdays run around 9 am.  I was feeling the effects from the 90 minutes of pickleball that was played last night but my body responded after the first 15 minutes or so.

Although I've never ran the Enterprise 10K before, I knew that it was an extremely fast course due to the course layout (I had ran a high school xc race there that was nearly all downhill back in the day).  Not being a fan of fast downhill races, I dismissed the idea of running this race.  Friday evening I realized that the course had changed from previous years, making it a much more honest course, and with the cheap entry fee (16 bucks!) my dad and I decided to get up at 4:30 and head for the hills.

I jogged about 4 miles from the finish line to just past the starting line and my legs felt D.E.A.D.  Just like the last 3 days, it was much hotter than I'm used to and my mouth was terribly dry.  So it goes in Southern Utah in July!  You guys that run here are warriors for putting up with the heat each day.  Give me Oregon's 45-55 degree mornings year round anyday!

As for the start--I've met/talked with Dave Holt once or twice is all, but I'm not sure Clyde and I have ever officially met outside of this blog.  At first I thought about trying to lay low to throw these guys off but I also didn't want to look like a complete wanker.  My cover was blown when Clyde saw me and we talked for a bit before the gun went. ;-)

The 'gun' went off and it was Clyde, Dave and I running as a group through the first half mile or so before it was just Dave and I.  The course was great--even better than I expected.  The first 2 miles were very slight downhill with a few rollers mixed in for good measure.  Dave and I chit-chatted down the course making pretty good time in the process.  First 1.2 in 6:20 (5:16 pace) and second mile in 5:17.  We had to dodge a few 5k'ers but it wasn't too bad at all, really.  The next 2 miles were flat as can be with only 2 turns involved.  For some reason Dave and I got a little sloppy on mile 3 (5:28) and then after making a couple easy turns hit mile 4 in 5:16.  It was somewhere in here that Dave and I seperated a bit but I was sure it wasn't by much.

With Dave close behind I wanted to continue to run strong/even paced miles to the finish and if needed, have some fight left before the finish.  Mile 5 was a very slight uphill (5:17) and then an equally slight downhill to the finish.  Again, I figured Dave was right on my tail so I picked it up just a bit for a final mile in 5:07.  Total time: 32:48, just 21 seconds off my P.R.

The course was very fair, very honest.--an anomaly for this state/region.  Although there is a slight downhill, the rollers and elevation balance it out for a solid course.  Anyway, I quickly grabbed some water and then headed back up the course to find my dad and finish the race with him.  Ran a bit with him and then cooled down a bit with Dave and Clyde as well before heading back for the awards.  Had a lot of fun today and it made me want to possibly return for an October marathon.  We'll see...

14 miles from my parents home along 600 N past Wal Mart and nearly to Sand Hollow, then back.  There were 3-4 pretty decent hills that made for a challenge on the way back.  I beat the heat by running at 6 though so I won that battle at least.

It rained last night as well as this morning so it was nice and humid--my kind of running.  It was still a bit hot but it felt good.  I ran south through town and came out behind the church orchard, then north to Linns, the HS and north into LaVerkin before finally making it home.  Despite the heat, it's been good to run in Southern Utah again.  Vacations go way too fast...

4 miles tonight.  I just couldn't pass up the cool, rainy weather.  Plus, with a 4:30 (am!!) departure tomorrow morning, I needed to bank a few miles tonight.

8 miles in San Francisco. I'll be here for the next few days so hopefully I'll be able to see some cool stuff while I'm out running.  Tonight it was AT&T Park from the hotel, out and back four miles along the pier.

Today I ran to the pier again but took a left towards Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge.  The fog was too thick and it was still pretty dark at 5 so I couldn't see much at all.  I ran through Chinatown on my way back though which was pretty cool.  I also ran up some of the steepest hills of my life.  Sheesh--I'm glad I don't live in downtown S.F.

I hit the jackpot today.  Similar run as yesterday morning, minus the fog.  First I ran to Lombard St and ran up the famous zig-zag street, then it was towards the bay for a much better view than 24 hours previous.  The Golden Gate Bridge was in clear view, as well as Alcatraz.  The wind was minimal so all in all, it was a very enjoyable run.  Home tonight--it feels like I've been gone forever!

Nothing.  What a terrible way to end a solid week.  I've been dizzy all day and as soon as I stand up I feel like I'm going to faint.  I thought as the day went on I'd eventually get well enough to run but no dice.  I didn't want to chance fainting on my run with my family out of town... :-0