Diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis in June of 2008. Started taking Enbrel in March, 2009.
Run as much as I can, and race as well as I can. Make the most of however much time I have left as an able-bodied runner.
Training for the 2018 Colorado Marathon
Long-Term Running Goals:
Run until I'm old, and then run some more. Stand tall.
Personal:
1 wife, 2 kids. 1 cat. Work as a GIS Specialist/Map Geek
Endure and persist; this pain will turn to your good. - Ovid
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. - Romans 5:1-5
Ran up Birch Creek Canyon, to the Forest Service boundary, and back. On the way back, I diverted on a side trail, scampered (walked) up the south ridge, and explored a little. This spat me out a little above the power line, and then I came back down along a 2-track, which merged onto the side trail that goes to Summit Dr. It ended up being a pretty nice morning, and always a good thing to be able to run trails on December 1. Here's hoping I can do the same on Jan 1.
Did a loop to the west edge of Smithfield. Extraordinarily cold this morning, below 10 degrees. Legs and torso for warm enough (thanks to new baselayers), but hands were freezing. Fortunately, I have some new gloves coming. 7:08/mile average pace.
Did the Bonneville Shoreline trail with Jon and Cody, from Smithfield to Logan Canyon. It snowed the whole way, but was quite a bit warmer than yesterday due to the cloud cover, so I'll gladly take the trade off. Good run, but I'm tired now. I stopped at 15 miles and Jon and Cody kept going for 22. I had shoveled the driveway, showered, eaten breakfast, and was doing some computer chores before they finished.
Woke up to the sound of snow plows. Decided it would be a good idea to be sick one more day. Tomorrow I may explore a Rec Center membership. I can do cold, but don't do snow (too hard on the tendons and SI joints).
Bitterly cold this morning, 1 degree above zero according to my car thermometer, and that was a couple hours after my run, so it was likely below zero while I was out there. Fortunately, I dressed warmly, so was pretty comfortable, other than my eyelashes being frozen over. I ran down to the Smithfield Cemetery, and did laps on the perimeter, which is about 1000m each lap. The pathway was plowed, and there is no car traffic, so I thought it would be a good, safe place to run, and I was right. Lots of exposed blacktop, and where there was snow, it was good and grippy, so no slipping today. After I was done with the cemetery, I ran up Summit Dr. to Hillside Dr., and did some strides on the way home. My legs are fresh from my sick leave, and I averaged 6:25/mile for the whole run without much exertion.
Another brisk morning. My car thermometer read negative-5 degrees on my way to work, so was probably -10 during my run earlier. The good news is that this is generally as cold as it gets during winter in Cache Valley, and it doesn't feel too bad, so that means that it can only get better for the next three months. I ran an out-and-back to North Logan. Hit heavy traffic between Smithfield and Hyde Park (Sky View High kids...can't they take the bus?), but other than that it was a good run. Threw in 6 strides in the middle. Averaged 6:37/mile for the run.
I was not into running today. It was snowing fairly hard the whole time, but at least it was much warmer. But footing was bad. I started by trying to go up Smithfield Canyon, but then it got too slippery, so I turned back. It was obvious already to me that I was not going to get 15 miles today, or even close. Neither my legs nor my spirit really wanted to go that far, and 4 miles was sounding good instead. But I decided to trick myself into getting as much mileage as possible by meandering around Smithfield, rather than going straight home. I went up Summit Dr. to Hillside Dr. (which added on some unnecessary distance), and took Hillside to 600 S, rather than going straight home on 300 S (another sly trick). Then I decided to check out the Smithfield Rec Center and get a tour, so I ran all the way down to Skyview, which unscrupulously added on more distance. After the tour, I still had to run back home. And by then I had almost 8 miles, twice as much as I originally thought I'd get. Averaged 7:09/mile.
Quite warm out today, right around freezing in fact! I know, it sounds cold still, but indeed it was about 45 degrees warmer than the last half of last week! We got hammered with snow over the weekend, but it slowed down by Sunday night, so the roads had been mostly plowed by this morning. Running surface was okay. It was slow going in some places, but I've ran in much worse. I even saw blacktop in a few places. I meandered around Smithfield, keeping to the better-maintained roads to get better footing. Hillside to Summit to 200 E to 400 N to Upper Canyon Rd to Canyon Rd to Center to Summit to Hillside to Pebble Creek, back home. Just over 8 miles, averaging 7:19/mile.
Side note, after Saturday's run I topped 2500 miles for the year. Not a huge number, but still a nice milestone (so to speak) for me, especially after last year. Who knows, maybe next year I'll get 3000 miles?
Roads were pretty much clear today, due to melting yesterday. However, it was much colder than I anticipated, and I underdressed as a result, leading to cold hands and arms. I did a similar route as yesterday, with a few variations. Tried to keep the pace upbeat, and averaged 6:10/mile.
Ran from work. Did the Providence Hill Loop, 9.5 miles averaging 6:40/mile. Threw in some strides in the middle. Nice and warm today, and the roads were good.
Ran from work during the noon hour, which allowed for the layer of ice to melt on the roads. It was a beautiful day, sunny and relatively warm. I ran the Planet Walk - Landfill Loop. 8 miles, averaging 6:33/mile.
Quite cold this morning, thanks to the foggy soup of an inversion. Met Jon and Cody at the Planet Walk, and we headed for higher ground. Ran through Providence to Millville, up to the Millville bench. It was actually quite warmer up there, and we were out of the fog and got some sun. But unfortunately we had to eventually go back down, and it got chilly quite fast. Averaged 7:05/mile for the run.
Heavy inversion today, but still not too bad of a morning. Happy first day of winter!! Started off the week with a good, enjoyable run. Did an out-and-back to North Logan, and threw in some strides in the middle of the run. Averaged 6:12/mile for the run.
Good news: I finally found my sports watch. All this time I had been blaming it on Seth, but in actuality (of course) I had thrown it in some random crate during our move, and never unpacked it. I heard the watch alarm go off this morning, and realized that it wasn't my regular watch, and Stacy didn't have a watch in there, so it must be the missing watch. Then I dug around in the closet until I found it. The funny thing is that I hear that watch alarm go off almost every morning, but never thought anything of it until today, other than being temporarily annoyed that some random alarm is going off. Stupid. But now I can take splits again during my next race.
Special guest appearance by Logan Fielding today. I met Logan near my office downtown, and we ran the Providence Hill Loop. I forgot my garmin at home, and grossly miscalculated the length of the run. Thought it was near 8 miles, but was actually 9.75, according to gmap-pedometer. Oh well. I have no idea of pace, but the first half was at a decent clip. Always nice to see Logan and catch up on things.
I registered yesterday for the Indianapolis Mini Marathon again for 2010. I like the race a lot last year, and hope for a big PR there this year. It's a very fast course, and good competition.
Hyde Park Loop. Did 6x100m strides in the middle of the run. Felt like I was loafing, but still averaged 6:33/mile for the run, according to the garmin when I finally checked it at the end. I guess that's a good thing.
Merry Christmas! I got up around 7AM this morning (since that's when Seth woke up), and started the Christmas festivities. For breakfast, I made a new recipe: gluten-free cinnamon muffins, made with a blend of almond flour and coconut flour. I had never used almond flour and coconut flour in the same recipe, but it turned out quite excellent, and the taste was lovely. Also, I busted out my home-made vanilla extract for the first time, as it is almost matured. Basically you just cut open 15 whole vanilla beans (about $15), and drop them into a bottle of vodka ($10). Let sit for 6-8 weeks, shake occasionally. And then after a couple months...walaa! 750mL of pure vanilla extra, for $25 of investment. When you think about what vanilla usually costs, it's an incredible deal.
After breakfast, we opened presents, just the three of us. Seth still has no idea what's going on, but he liked playing with the tree and trying to break stuff.
After presents, Seth was in a bit of a stupor, from staying up way past his bedtime last night at a Christmas party, plus all the excitement and unusual food from the morning. So we put him down for a rare morning nap (he went out like a light for a couple hours).
I had been planning on running in the afternoon, but decided to do it around 10AM instead, to take advantage of Seth's nap time. Since it's a holiday, I ran a little bit longer and a little bit faster than usual (probably fueled by Christmas cheer). I ran the Bear River Loop, out west in the valley near Almaga and Benson. I hadn't done that route in a while. My first mile is down the hill from my house, and that was about a 6:15 (typical since it's a big hill). The second mile was flat and through Smithfield town, and it was 6:08. And then I headed out of town toward the Bear River, and the miles really started clicking. 5:45, 5:51, 5:44 (now running south along the Bear River), 5:42, 5:45 (now running back toward Smithfield, ever-so-slight uphill), 5:50 , 5:59, 6:24 (back up to the hill to home). So it turned out to be an accidental tempo (3rd degree tempo, aka RanSlaughter). I felt very joyful the entire run, full of gratitude of being able to run at all, and full of gratitude for the birth, life, death on the cross, and resurrection of Christ (what this day is all about).
Ran with Logan today. We ran from my house to the end of Smithfield Canyon Rd., then came back and jumped up on Upper Canyon Rd to add a little more distance, and went back the long way to my house on Summit Dr and Hillside Dr. It was quite cold and the air was bad, so I was content to go 13 miles instead of 15 and call it good, especially since yesterday's run was a bit longer than normal. Averaged 7:01/mile for the run.
According to weather.com, it's -5 degrees right now. I believe it, based on ice accumulation on my eyelashes, and numbness of fingers despite wearing ski gloves. Other than the cold, and the really bad air quality (still hacking stuff up), it was a nice run. I need a big loop around Smithfield, and it ended up being 8 miles exactly. Averaged 6:31/mile for the run.
North Logan out-and-back, 8 miles. Did 8x100m strides in the middle. Averaged 6:29/mile for the run. It was a little bit warmer today, definitely above 0 but probably not above 10.
Ran from work. Fortunately, it had stopped snowing, and the roads were in decent shape. There were definitely some snowy patches, but much of it was clear. I stuck to the not-too-busy main roads out to Providence and back. Averaged 6:58/mile for the run.
Ran from work. Did the North Logan Loop, and averaged 6:41/mile for 10 miles. Pretty nice day, for once. And another year of running bites the dust. So it goes.
