Denouement

So the conditions were the nastiest I have ever experienced for a race.  There was somewhere between 1-3 inches of snow on the ground for a good part of the race, with snow still falling.  As Tom and I were warming up we adjusted our expectations due to the bad weather.  It looked like 92 splits were more than we could hope for.  The amount of participants kept rolling in (there were just over 100 preregistered, which sounded like good odds for me).  I saw a couple of fast girls, at least one of whom was one of the top BYU runners, Rena Chesser (sp?).  Tom said the other fast girl had beat him in his last 5k by about 30 seconds so I knew she was going to be trouble too.  It turned out the race was NOT a net downhill either, started and stopped at the same place, so no luck there either.

My best friend Lupita came to wish me luck and I appreciate her support. 

So, here's the quarter by quarter analysis:

1 - 1:47, uphill, very slushy and snowy, Tom led this quarter

2 - 1:44, still a little uphill, still very slushy and snowy, I led, Tom kept hitting my shoes like I wasn't going fast enough! (I know I wasn't but the conditions were bad).  In this quarter I realize there are no girls ahead of me, but can hear ladies behind).

3 - 1:34, a little downhill, Tom led, ladies appear in this quarter I believe (Rena and MaryAnn).  I am already feeling some fatigue but try to stay relaxed.

4 - 1:34, downhill, I lead and suspect Tom is falling behind since he said "Go Michelle", Rena and MaryAnn are with me).

5 - 1:34, with MaryAnn and Rena, Tom didn't take the quarter so I know he's gone for now.  Trying to stay tough and give these ladies a race.

6 - 1:22 best downhill section, trying to break the ladies on the downhill, took the lead, tried to run aggressively, drafting behind a truck in the main UVSC roundabout

7 - 1:29 flat roads clearer in the next two/three quarters, Rena catches up and passes me, I try to hang close, but not terribly successful.

8 - 1:32, flat Rena gains some distance on me, I try to focus on one quarter at a time, I tell myself it's going to hurt whether I run stinky or well for this quarter

9 - 1:36, slightly uphill, This is where I guess I gave up chasing after Rena, but tried not to fall apart

10 - 1:40, slightly uphill, Roads are slushy and slick again, Rena's probably 10 seconds ahead.  She runs in the snow and I run in the slicker tracks where cars have driven, figuring, hey, it might possibly give me an advantage.

11 - 1:42, worse uphill, still slush and muck, trying to stay somewhat in the game

12 - 1:48 how did this split happen?  I thought I was staying strong to the end but obviously was not.  And part of this split was downhill (still snow/slick).

.04 (I measured whole race 3.04 but could be gps off) 15 sec - 5:51 pace this was the proudest part of my race!  (J/K).  I did see I was close to my Cougar Run 5K time and tried to push it in, but still came out a little slower (I think it was a 19:36). 

total time 19:41, 6:21 ave pace

I think my performance was decent for the conditions.  I think with a little more mental toughness I could have kept with Rena and given her a better race.  I need to work on not conceding races unnecessarily.  I wish we could have had clear roads so I could have gone for the sub 19 goal though.  Will post picture of tu-tu shortly.

Totals so far for shoes:

Asics - 317.25

Mizuno - 320

So it appears I am doing a pretty good job rotating my shoes.

Ran with Jamie. The temp was about 24F but felt much colder at the start because of the infamous SF wind. We thus headed west into Leland, the farm country to the west of SF. We had some fast miles, including one 7:05 I'll call a marathon mile. I think it was just so cold and miserable that we kept a faster pace to get the run over and done with. The wind was to our backs and then not too bad when we turned around, until the last two miles when it got really windy and slowed our pace, especially mine. I am glad she came out because it would have been hard to get in the miles alone.

ave pace 7:45

evening ab workout, moved up to 12# for the crossover exercise (sorry don't know technical names) 

Mizuno

Morning:

Ran with Amber, Jamie and Ali at a later time, so I wasn't able to enjoy the weekly freeze myself at the grocery store experience. I guess I will go later. I wanted to do 8x20sec strides, but as we did them my lower leg hamstring started to twinge so I stopped after 5 strides and just finished the run easy. My hamstring hurt a little after the race on Saturday so I guess its time to break out the ice. I haven't needed to ice since September's high mileage, and it just doesn't sound as fun to ice in December when I already feel like a popsicle.

ave pace 8:20

Asics

Afternoon:

4 miles easy in Woodland Hills. The elevation at my home is 6010 so I ran above and below that, two hilly loops. It is nice to be in the snowy woods, to wear shorts, and to be able to see. It would have been nicer if there was sunshine, but it is overcast.

ave pace 8:30

Mizuno

 Evening: Ab workout

Met with MacKenzie early, then looped back for Jamie who met us at 5am. We almost missed Jamie, she had parked and started running without us, we were on the same road but it was dark enough that she didn't see us, and we didn't even see her drive up and park, though I thought we would. I imagined Jamie taking off toward SF ballpark, how we went last year, at 7 minute pace to try to catch us, so I thought we'd have to do 6:30 to catch her, but MacKenzie thought she saw Jamie and did this piercing whistle, and it did turn out to be Jamie. Boy can MacKenzie whistle!

My hamstring is bugging me! I guess I will ice again today. I hope it doesn't interfere with tomorrow's workout (3 mile faster tempo).

Mizuno

Evening ab workout.

Met Jamie and Amber at the track for Jamie's 3 mile tempo, with a goal of even splits.

We first warmed up for 3.09 and stretched. I was concerned about how my hamstring would feel since yesterday I had my worst pain yet with it (not bad, but tight and some pain). It didn't hurt while warming up, and never hurt during the tempo, nor during cool down. I just felt the "That place might start to hurt feeling". Not even tender.

So the goal were even, even, even splits 1:37 for 12. Jamie has a cold, so she wasn't sure how many she could do.

There was snow in the inside lane on the second straightaway which was annoying (I alternated between trying to run through it and swinging out into lane 2, both irritating), and some slickness on the final curve to get onto that straightaway. Other than that the track was clear.

1 - 1:38

2 - 1:36

3 - 1:37

4 - 1:37 First mile 6:28

5 - 1:38

6 - 1:38

7 - 1:36

8 - 1:37 in the seventh lap Jamie says she has had about enough, but she hangs on for one more lap to make it two miles Second mile 6:29

9 - 1:35 now on my own

10 - 1:37

11 - 1:36

12 - 1:35 the third mile still felt pretty easy so I tack on another mile Third mile 6:23

13 - 1:36

14 - 1:36

15 - 1:35

16 - 1:31 tried to pick it up to do a 90sec but came up short, should have pushed it more!

Fourth mile 6:18

The fourth mile was harder than all of the others. I picked it up a little in the fourth mile, but I think it was hard just because it was the last.

So I think I found my new 10K goal pace. Since I felt so good through miles 1-3 and only started to feel the pace in mile 4, I would think that my goal pace for a 10K should now be 6:20-6:30.

Cooled down for 3.26 (8:21 ave pace)

Asics.

Evening Ab workout.

MacKenzie was nice enough to meet me at my home in the wee hours of the morning.  We ran outside until my husband had to leave for the airport.  5.25 miles outside in the slush.  We did three neighborhood loops in Woodland Hills, from 5700 to 6200 feet altitude, so there were alot of hills and alot of slush (thankfully it was not cold) so our pace was slow, ave 9:30 or so.

Mizuno 

 I then came inside, changed clothes and shoes, and hopped on the treadmill. 4.8 miles @ 8 minute pace.  And yes, I want credit for the .05, because I could have stopped but I didn't, I kept going until a song on the radio finished.  I say, running is better than stopping, and getting credit for making more of an effort is part of what motivates me (sad, but true).  So even though a gps watch is not accurate to the hundredth, I know that my watch ticks the hundredths by, and if I do a circle my culdesac the watch ticks upward.  If I decide not to do a loop around the culdesac, my watch doesn't tick those hundredths.  Running is about incremental gains, including the lengths of our work outs.  That's my gps two cents for the day.

Asics
 

So here I am commenting on my friends blogs, and then realize I haven't posted my run yet.

 Met with the SF group at 6am.  I was actually really blessed that the forecasted snowstorm has been warmer than expected so the snow hasn't stuck like it could have.  Up where I live it was sticking to the roads, but the roads in Salem/SF were just fine, and the snow turned into rain as I drove down.  I have a babysitter because Paul is in Montreal, so I know I can go long without ruffling anyone's feathers, but the weather might keep me from going the 15.06 to get me to 70 miles this week. 

I started out with MacKenzie and Ali, and the pace dropped below 8 min after the first mile.  We stretched at Bishops at 3 miles, then MacKenzie and I were off. We went around the golf course and had great conversations, keeping below 8 min/mile generally.  MacKenzie had started before 6am so she stopped at the stake center.  Kevin Kuhni, Steve, Hal, and I ran serpentine-like through the SF neighborhoods, and they pointed out where different runners live, including Kevin's house.  Hal and I ran back to the Stake center, then I ended with about 1.5 miles alone to get to 70.  The weather was quite erratic, it rained, then it would stop.  As soon as I took my jacket off, it would start up again.  It eventually got colder and the rain turned into mushy snow. 

My body felt kind of banged up toward the end, kind of like it did after 20 milers this summer.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised because the last time I ran this long was Nov 19th.

Ave pace 8:09 (pace slowed with Kevin, Steve, and Hal) 

My weight this week has been 121-122, but weighed in at 120, my lowest since 9th grade in high school I think.  So 120 was my goal by Painter's, so just so long I watch the holiday splurging I should be fine.  I still think I look like an out of shape elite runner, as Sasha once put it.  The goal is to be an elite runner by the end of next summer, regardless of what I look like ;) Enough weight psychosis!

Asics

Good morning! So since Paul is gone on a business trip I have babysitters lined up. Today my babysitter lives up a long driveway which had lots of snow on it, with a thin little walking trail stamped down leading to, not the front door, but the garage. So I go to the garage, which is open, knock on the door opening to their home. No answer. So I open the door and call for the babysitter. No answer. I go inside the home, and go up a couple half flights of stairs, wake up a teenage brother on the couch and he hunts down my babysitter. So that adventure got me to my rendevous with Jamie a couple of minutes late, which turned out ok because she was a couple late herself.

We ran the same west SF/Leland route as last Monday. It wasn't so windy and bitter cold. The first mile my left hamstring was twingy again. I was thinking to do some strides in the run but skipped them to be conservative. I guess I will ice today, but it is so hard to ice when it is a cold day. I guess I could just turn up the thermostat in my house, that would help (we keep it at 64-66 and with wet hair after showering I feel quite uninspired to ice my leg).

I tacked on another mile after dropping Jamie off because my babysitter for tomorrow bailed and I am not sure if I can find another. I can't wait until my oldest son can be my babysitter!

ave pace 8:15

Mizuno

evening ab workout 

1:17, parked treadmill at 7:47 pace after warming up for a mile.  Felt slight something in hamstring first mile then it was fine.  It wasn't great to be on the treadmill, but wasn't as horrible as it could have been.  Listened to some great songs, but also listened to some songs I DON'T like, I guess that is what you get when you listen to the radio.

Asics 

I planned to do a long tempo run with Jamie this morning.  It was so cold (about 16F at the start) that I brought and wore my ski gloves, so doing a tempo was the only feasible workout since I couldn't really push the buttons without taking a glove off.  I had on two long sleeve shirts, a jacket, tights, snow gloves, and a head wrap ear muff thing.  I ran 1 mile alone before meeting up with Jamie at a nice slow pace (9:30) which actually helped my hamstring warm up.  I figure I better quit doing an 8 minute first mile while my hamstring is tender because it seems to exacerbate it.  We warmed up another 2.8 together, so 3.8 warm up for me, and then did the 3 mile tempo route Jamie used to run with Sarah, then loop around and do it again.  Jamie's cold was resurfacing so she was just going to to what she could.  It is a very flat SF route.  I didn't think of if at the time, but I was very lucky to not need a bathroom because there were no fields at my disposal.

 I wanted to start the tempo conservatively (6:50-7:00) then drop the pace as I could.  I thought the cold temps would prevent anything amazing from happening.

1 - 6:46

2 - 6:42 (Jamie stopped at the 2 mile mark)

3 - 6:35

4 - 6:33

5 - 6:24 at the four mile mark Jamie jumped in again and did another .5 or so

6 - 6:09 sweet!  

total time 39:12, 6:32 ave pace 

I wanted to go negative splits and was able to quite well.  I also was happy to be able to drop the pace so well in the last two miles.  Mile 5 was much harder than mile 4, probably both because of cumulative fatigue and the faster pace.  Felt dead by mile 6 but also was happy to be able to do a mile long kick. 

I am really pleased with this workout.  I feel like I am in uncharted territory.

Mizuno 

I took advantage of all kids being in school (while my youngest is at preschool) to run later, and to run in the sun! The Salem Far West Bank said 25F toward the start of my run and 30F toward the end. That is way warm compared to my recent runs, and it felt wonderful. I actually took off my gloves for the last 1.5 miles. Because of the late run start (9:15am) I was running on my own. Paul took my mp3 player to Montreal, so I sang myself some songs, had some verbal and internal conversations with myself. It was great. Paul comes home tonight! I am so excited to have him home and to talk to him.

Well, so much for my, "every first mile will now be a nine minute pace" philosophy. Today my easy pace wasn't quite working out. I tried to start with an easy mile, and with me putting on the brakes a couple of times I got a 7:52. Next mile (had biggest downhill) 7:16, then evened out more to 7:30-7:50 pace for the rest of the run. I think this is my first run over 10 miles where every mile has been faster than 8 minute pace.

7:43 ave pace.

Mizuno

After several days without it, evening Ab workout and it hurt!

I didn't hear my alarm and missed my running buddies!!!!! I am so sorry, this hardly ever happens, but it stinks to be stood up when it does.  I woke up when we were supposed to meet, rushed down the mountain as much as I could, though there was a nice new layer of snow on the roads so it was kind of treacherous.  Neither MacK nor Jamie's car was there, so I am not sure if they showed up and then left because noone else showed, or if they didn't make it out either.  I ran on my own to Payson and back, really slowly because of the snow and ice.  I watched one car do a fun little slide in the middle of my run.  I was going as fast as the car, and figured if he got stuck I would catch up and be able to help push him out.  But he made it ok.

I have lots of stuff going on today.  Wish me luck because I'll need it. 

ave pace 8:35

Asics

I slept in since the kids were being watched by a friend.  Ran at 1pm, much too late and it just felt miserable since I am not used to it.  I prefer to wake up and just get it done.  I ran on the provo river train from DI to the mouth of the canyon and back.  The wind got bad for the last 1/2 mile going toward the canyon.  There was occasional ice on the trail that messed with the pace.

My mp3 player was my company. 

Ave pace 7:46

Mizuno 

Yeah, that's right.  10.01, not more, not less.  I could have stopped at my car at 9.88 and rounded up, but I was tougher than that, risking further frost bite and hypothermia, and the nasty .06 into the wind was one of the nastiest .06 I have ever run in my life.  And this is why I don't round.  If I log it, I have earned it ;)

The really sad thing is I got a voicemail from Jamie last night wondering if we could run in Salem (closer to me!) and thus avoid the SF wind.  I didn't get the voicemail until this morning and it was  too late to call everyone else, and the SF wind was worse than usual.  The starting temp was about 26F but the wind chill brought it down at least 10 degrees if not more.  It was soo bad, sooo sooooo soooooo bad.  Toward the end we just stopped our conversation, I think because we were all so miserable and were just trying to tough the rest of the run out.  Ok, enough whining.  

 Ali, Jamie and I started, then out popped Tara Fryer from her minivan and she joined us for our first three miles.  I used to run quite a bit with Tara, and it looks like she might join our little group occasionally.  It's nice to renew old friendships. 

No real hamstring pain, but it feels just kind of tempermental, like it wants to be injured, like a grouchy child.  I don't know, it's hard to explain when you know you have a problem area but there's no real pain.

 Ave pace 8:13.

Asics

 PS Thanks Jamie for letting me use your bathroom at the end. I hope the kidlets didn't wake up!


 

Another miserable SF run. I think I may rethink running at all in SF in the winter. The wind chill is much stronger there than neighboring cities.

I met at the Scenic Dr. meeting place but never found anyone so I ran alone and with no music. I did eight strides which were uneventful except I felt weak in the 6th, and 6th and 7th were into the wind.

ave pace 8:28

Mizuno

Ab workout.  Ouch!  Getting ready for Hawaii!

My watch got screwed up on this run somewhere, so the distance is not exact.

It was a snowstormy morning, slid down my driveway (15% decline) with about 4 inches on it, and got to our meeting place late because I had to drive slow. Even with going 12 mph, AWD, and in lowest gear I still slid coming down Woodland Hills drive on patchy areas. The things I do for running! It was even more dangerous coming back up 1.75 hours later, but I made it up.

As for the run, it's hard to keep your pace up when you are running in slush and it's snowing. It was just Mac and I and we did a loop through Payson. I stepped in a huge pothole at around mile 5 and got the leaden leg feeling. We had several cars spray us, even hitting our faces, with slush. Good times. In the last mile or so Mac hit her own pothole and got soaked to the ankle. Amazingly enough this has been the most enjoyable run of the week. I will take slush over wind. I am going to run a bath and raise my core temperature now.

Mizuno.

Evening ab workout.  Feel the burn!

So today was the 6:00 pace until I puke workout at the BYU indoor track.  Jamie and I carpooled there, and warmed up 4.1 outside, then Josse joined us on the track for a couple of laps.  We figured out the splits and started.  Jamie ran the first 3 with me I think.  Our first lap was fast 1:07, instead of 1:12 target (5 laps to a mile), but then we started hitting the right pace generally.  First mile 5:54, second mile 6:00.  I told myself 2 miles would be acceptable but to try to go more.  The last mile was really hard and I stopped after it.  One dry heave and a little crying (both typical after race phenomenon) so I know I worked hard, but I am rather upset I didn't push myself at least once more around the track, I bet I had at least one more lap in me.  I should have given Jamie more of a heads up so that she could have harrassed me into another lap.   Jamie- in the future, no verbal abuse is too severe!

2.2 miles in 13:05, so that predicts me at a 6:40 or so 1/2 marathon pace.  That sounds really painful for 13.1 miles.  

We cooled down around the track for about 1.5 then went outside for more miles. 

Asics 

AM: Speaking of treadmill running, got in 4 this morning.

Asics

I was going to meet MacK in Salem but about 18 inches of snow fell in my snowy town in the past 24 hours so it wasn't advisable to try to drive down. We decided last night to meet this afternoon.

So my body feels banged up from yesterday. I have felt a knee pain and a shin pain last night, kind of random pains that have gone away and I didn't fee them during the morning run. I am feeling some tenderness in perhaps my groin, though I don't know for sure. It is where my leg attaches to my lower abdoment, just above that ligament/tendon thing by the crotch. I iced it last night and it hurt a little in the first 1.5 but then calmed down to an "I know it's there but its not to the point of pain". I feel conflicted because if it was a month ago I would just take a couple of days off and try to nip this in the bud, but I am within 4 weeks of my second most important race (Painter's 1/2 Jan. 19th) so I don't want to slow down too much. Any advice would be great.

PM:  Dug out my car from a ton of snow, getting my tights all snowy and thus wet a third the way up my thighs.  Had an errand to do before meeting up with MacK so turning on the auto heater full blast on the legs.  Got them dry to a couple inches below the knees before the run.  Started at 3:30pm, I felt frozen, especially my feet but they warmed up after about 3 miles.  This was the best afternoon run I have had in a while, not the pace, but just felt like a decent run.  It's hard for me to eat right and feel ok for a late run. 7:08 miles at 8:08 ave pace.

I am still feeling it in my potential groin (not sure what muscle it is).  It is only painful part of the time, the rest it is "niggling" (see Ian's blog today for translation).  I will ice, run fewer miles tomorrow and see how it goes.  Considering taking Monday and Tuesday off to make it a three day rest :(  That is not a Christmas gift but a Christmas nightmare.  Hopefully at least it would mean more sleep.  I guess this injury in infancy also means I shouldn't do ab workouts?
 

No run today.  I am going to play it conservative and take a couple of days off and ice my problem area.  

I was soooo excited to get on my running clothes and hit the roads in the late morning after the gift unwrapping.  Thankfully our young boys were young enough to still sleep in and young enough to enjoy the gifts they got from Santa, even though he didn't bring a Wii, an Xbox, a PlayStation, nor a Gameboy as requested.

When I started to run I was struggling a little bit, and realized it was my breathing.  At first I thought I had lost some fitness, but it seemed more like constriction in my lower throat, it was so annoying and it kept my pace slow for the whole run.  I was having a hard time maintaining a two-two breathing rhythm, it was more like two-one, (breathing four steps out, or two on one side, then two steps quickly in, or one step on one side).  It was like I was running a tempo run but instead my pace was often closer to 10 minute pace than 9!  At times I would get a little panicky because I knew I wasn't getting enough air, I was afraid I would faint or something.  I would force myself to cough which would allow me to breathe clear for about 1/2 a minute until it closed up again.  It was so annoying!  I didn't think I was sick but I must have some type of bug.  So I concentrated on my breathing the whole way.  My groin muscle pain wasn't really painful, just some niggling at times.  I hit a portapotty at mile 4, forgot about the breathing when I got out and started doing 7:40ish pace until I realized I couldn't breathe, got into major oxygen debt and actually had to stop to catch my breath.  Those who know me well know I don't believe in walking in the middle of a run so that was disconcerting.

 I was able to keep an 8 minute pace for the last .46, though it was on a slight downhill and I felt like I was on the edge of getting into oxygen debt. 

 What is with me!?!  Am I becoming a hypochondriac?

9:10 ave pace

Mizuno



 

Back in business baby!

I talked with Paul about my wheezing yesterday and after a little bit of thought we figured out a likely culprit-noonish on Christmas Eve I was up in the attack and rubbed up on some fiberglass and breathed plenty of it in.  Today my breathing was much better!

I ran with MacK and Amber from Loafer, up to Goosenest.  I was happy that I felt spry enough to not dog the hills too badly.  It was nice to run outside, to run with my friends, to not have pain in my groin, and to run more than 10 miles.

Paul, the kids and I are going sledding with Paul's family for the second year in a row for the day after Christmas; hopefully we are starting a new tradition.  I hope I don't hurt anything :)

Weight psychosis:  I did feel heavier during the run, a combination of three days without running and many, many Christmas misdeeds have added up to a couple of extra pounds which my scale verified - 125lbs.  Hopefully I'll stabilize down one or two by the end of the week because I have to make my 120 goal by Painters, and I am leaving for Hawaii on Jan 5. and don't want to worry too much about what I eat while I am there.  I guess if I keep my eating to grilled fish, crab without butter, and fruit I should be ok, right?  Today I go back to normal eating and my stomach will just have to deal with it and shrink to its normal size.

Ave pace 8:20

Asics


 

Ran 6 miles with MacK and then 4 more on my own.  My groin muscle is not in pain but is tender (niggling), and I only iced once today, so I am icing right now.  It was cold, about 17F with some wing chill, making it miserable.  I wore tights that were too thin, and  my double pair of $1 gloves weren't cutting it, so I switched to ski gloves after MacK had to go.

Plenty of snow and ice out there to slow me down too.

 Ave pace 8:45

Asics
 

Ran with Amber and MacK. It was 6F outside!!! I wore two pairs of socks, one pair of tights, two long sleeved shirts, a windbreaker and my snow gloves. My fingers were still cold! The roads were clearer, though there were still icy parts.

My groin hurt a little for the first 1/4 mile, then just niggled after that. So, I need to ice it . . .Ok, I just left the computer and got ice and am icing it now.  It's not the most appealing place to ice, though I guess icing at all after a cold winter morning run is unappealing no matter how you slice it. 

I forgot my garmin so I don't have my pace and don't have my mileage to the hundredth (I know that will make some of you so sad!).

Mizuno

I woke up an hour late, so I stood up Amber for the 6am start, but met her, Ally, Jamie, and the Sojourners for the first time at 7am. It was about 26F, 20 degrees warmer than yesterday. We did a ridge run above Provo they call LA Freeway. It was a snowy trail, and our pace the trail was very slow, from 10-12 min/mile pace. It was beautiful and fun, though, full of uphills and downhills and great views of the snow covered valley. Even the roads were frequently icy and difficult to get a good pace in. After the LA Freeway loop (about 9.5) I ran back up 900 E and then up toward the temple (only made it part way up that temple hill) then back down 900 E and looped around the park to make sure I had the mileage for a modest 50 miles for the week.

ave pace 9:16!!! 2:10 and change of running, so a long time on my feet.

My groin would feel pinched every once in a while for the first mile or so, but after warming up it was only in the niggling state. Amber showed me some stretches for it before we ran, and I did those after the run. We'll see if the stretching helps or just aggravates it. I think I will call the sports therapist Josse recommended and see if I can get a diagnosis and some advice on it.

Asics

Ran on the treadmill because about 6 inches of snow fell Sunday and the roads are probably pretty icy going down Woodland Hills drive.

It was a very dull run. I started the first mile slow to ease my groin/hip into the run and that worked really well. It is still semi-injured but not getting worse. Tried out a wristband to see if I liked wearing it for the brow-sweat removal function. It was good for that, but it made my wrist feel claustrophobic. Hmm.

Paul, the boys and I will be going to Provo's First Night for the first time this evening. It should be fun. I was 121 this morning for weight, so weight has been steadily going down to normal after Christmas. I am close to goal weight for Painters!

ave pace 7:52

Mizuno

Year in review: I started the blog in July, so I have 1/2 a year's data. The first half of 2007 was less than stellar, with low mileage during tax season, weight gain, and then spending mid April-July getting back to where I was the prior summer. I estimate that my mileage for the first half of 2007 at 765 miles, and the last half was 1,522, almost double the miles in the second half!  I will always be lopsided, but hopefully not so much in 2008.  Total estimated miles for 2007:  2,287.  I sure appreciate the blog and the bloggers who have inspired me, been my friends and my support.  Happy New Year to All!