Training for a Belt Buckle

I think I did 7 miles tonight - about 2/3 of it running.  I didn't take a watch - but was out for 1 hr 45 minutes.  It felt good to be running and moving.  I listened to a couple of the Trails and Tribulations podcasts while I was out and started thinking about the 50 mile road ultra I am planning for October.

I think after the Park City Marathon - I will try and do another half marathon that afternoon on the Jordan River Parkway and 15 miles the next day. 

Leslie - we should do the Rail Trail for a loooooong time the last weekend in August.... I head to Europe after that, so will only be doing shorter runs while I am gone there.

I walked to the gym tonight and did an hour of chest/shoulders/back lifting.  After that I walked home and then over to Northridge High School's track. I ran a mile on the track barefoot - alternating between the track itself and the grass.  Then I did another lap working on sideways and backwords motion for balance and then ran the bleachers for a while.

I think I am about 90-95% recovered from the surgery and am feeling really good and excited to get back to the trails.  I have my running gear all packed for a trail run tomorrow afternoon with Leslie on the Cottonwood Canyon Trail.  I think the rest I was forced to do after the surgery helped refresh me both physically and mentally.

And now - off to bed to read my latest copy of Trail Runner magazine that came in the mail today.

Picked up Les after work and we did the 6 miles of the Cottonwood Trail together.  We hiked the 3 miles uphill and visited as we ran.  It took a little over an hour to get up.  Then, we ran down and finished the entire run in 1:35. 

It felt so good to be back on trails and running again.  I was really 'hungry' after my forced layoff and today felt absolutely wonderful.  These are the kind of days that make the drudgery training days all worthwhile.  Lots of sun (ok  - it was a little bit hot), good friend, good trail, ice water, a beautiful stream to run by and not a lot of road noise.

Thanks, Leslie! (I did get my snowcone - and didn't have to wait).

Went to the gym tonight and did an hour of lower body weights.  I am within about 10 pounds of my pre surgery weights on each of the different exercises - so strength is quickly returning.

I also stopped by Striders and bought some new trail running shoes.  I then walked around the area and worked on breaking them in.

I wasn't really planning on running today, but finished reading Trail Runner magazine and couldn't help but feel encouraged to get out and do one of my usual runs. 

I picked up Les at 3 p.m. and we headed up to the Cottonwood Canyon trail.  It was pretty hot out, so we hiked up - but tried to run anywhere the trail was reasonably level or only a slight uphill grade.  Leslie always finds someone she knows on runs, so she spent some time at the turnaround visiting.

When we headed down, Les was being conservative and I was bombing the trails at a pretty good clip for me.  After about a mile on the downhill, I started to get what I thought was a sidestitch.  I tried to run through the pain for the next mile and a half - at which point Leslie caught up to me.  Right around then, a lightbulb appeared in a circle above my head and I realized that what I thought was a sidestitch was my body telling me that I had overdone it from the surgery.  I walked the remaining mile or so in, holding my ribcage with as much pressure as I could to relieve the pain and discomfort.

It was a great run - right until the point it got miserable. :)  But, I'm glad I did it.  I will go to bed early to rest before I head up to sweep at Snowbird tomorrow morning.

I went up to Snowbird this morning to help Striders out with their Xterra trail series race.  The race started at 8 a.m. and I started a few seconds later. I was the sweeper on the race - which means I was actually supposed to be the last place person.

Being last was a 'no pressure' situation - which is good since I overdid it yesterday and am still recuperating.

I carried a backpack and walkie talkie and was supposed to pick up signs and tape as I 'swept' the course. This slowed me down a little bit - but gave me a better workout.

The course was beautiful.  Lots of water and mud and snow to run through.  It was a tough uphill course in sections but the singletrack was nice. I talked the last place finisher in when he was struggling on the longest uphill section. It was his first race ever. He felt better when I told him it was one of the harder courses I had ever run.

I helped take down the race gear afterwards and was rewarded with a huge box of Tasty's donuts to feed my bottomless pit of a son.