Every Race is an Adventure!

I ran an easy mile before going to basketball this morning, mostly to loosen up my hip. We actually had 8 show up this morning and were able to play full court. It was a lot of fun and we got in some good exercise. I told the tall, quick high school age kid that was guarding me to slow down. I was pleased when he said he was just trying to keep up with me, and when Dean kept telling him to stay on me and not let me go back door. My performance was only satisfactory, not stellar, but I did manage to keep my energy up and hustle most of the game (four games actually).

After we got home I talked with Andrew for a while and then decided to get in a couple of more miles. Like earlier, I just ran the 1/2 mile loop in front of my house. I decided to go a 1/2 mile easy, push the middle mile, then cool down for a 1/2 mile. I was pretty tired, and had stiffened up a little, but I managed to run the middle mile in 7:09. I felt okay about that.

I'm taking a vacation day today. So far, besides basketball and running, I've mowed the front and back lawn; vacuumed, skimmed, and replaced the filter in our above ground pool; and replaced the GFI outlet in the garage. Next I get to buy paint and order carpet for one daughter's bedroom, and repair and refinish the vanity in the upstairs bathroom. If I have time I can install a new ceiling fan in another daughter's bedroom, and buy paint for a third daughter's bedroom. What a great vacation! Oh, I also need to figure out travel plans to get to my niece's wedding in Delaware in a couple of weeks. Fun, fun, fun! I think I'm going to need to draw on my marathon endurance training.

Wayne and I ran up South Fork from the mouth of the canyon and back this morning. Neither of us was sure how far we wanted to go, but at least 16. We decided to listen to our old bodies and take what they had to offer this morning.

We started just before 5:30am. We saw some other runners gathering in the darkness in the parking lot as we headed out. I thought one of them looked like Josse, and I probably should have walked over, but Wayne was ready to run so we just headed out. I think maybe subconsciously I didn't want to talk to Josse and find out how much of a harder workout she was doing, or worse yet, get talked into trying to join them. It turns out it was Josse and Michelle and some other runners I didn't recognize. We met up at Vivian where we had stopped at the bathroom and fountain. We said "Hi" but not much more as Wayne and I headed up South Fork and I believe the others continued on up the highway towards the dam.

Speaking of the highway, the trail was still closed from Bridal Veil to Vivian so, unlike last week, we ran on the highway up to Vivian instead of crossing the Sheriff's barricades. We soon discovered that there is a pretty big hill (7% grade) going on the highway, and it's about 1/4 mile longer to Vivian than the trail. And of course that hill has to be traversed in both directions.

Wayne and I, and both of our bodies, all agreed to turn around at the 8 mile mark just up from South Fork Park. I think I could have finished 18 or 20, but I've got a lot of honey do's today and if we would have gone much farther I wouldn't have been good for anything.

When we got back to the parking lot we met Tammy who had run 12 miles and was waiting for Josse and Michelle to finish their 22 miles. (I knew they'd be doing some killer workout that I wouldn't want anything to do with.) I was just glad we had beat the heat. My watch glitched during part of the run, but I think we averaged around 8:00/mi for the 16.2 mile run. It had some good hills in it and we still managed to run the last few miles pretty strong. Not a bad day for a couple of old guys.

Now on to the honey do's...

AM. I enjoyed an easy run this morning. It was great to have both Larry and Kevin come out this morning. Yesterday Lyle said he was coming out, but we never saw him. We ran the normal Tri-City route. The weather was excellent. It was a beautiful morning.

PM. I thought I'd be running 5 or 6 miles alone at noon, but I bumped into Cory in the locker room and we decided to run together. He's still battling back from his foot surgery, running only one day a week. He seemed to be running fine today, and finished the 5.1 mile Lake View route in 44:25 (8:43/mi). I sneaked in a 6:43 fartlek mile just after the turnaround then jogged back and finished the run with Cory, averaging 8:16/mi for 5.4 miles.

I ran the Tuesday 2000 N route with Larry and Wayne this morning. I pushed pretty hard up the 2nd half of the uphill. On the downhill, with an eye towards the Provo River Half this Saturday, I decided to run what felt like 1/2 marathon effort. It ended up being 5:56/mi pace for the 3/4 of a mile. The rest of the run was just at an easy pace, except for a brief sprint when I raced Hal Henderson in his truck as he passed us. I need to be more prudent about those sudden sprints. Shortly after racing Hal I felt a little cramping in my right thigh and my calf felt pretty tight. I certainly don't want an injury from being foolish.

AM. I ran the water tank hills with Larry and Wayne. On hills 2-5 I would charge the hill then jog back to the others and run with them until the next hill then I would charge that hill. It was a pretty good work out. I ran easy with them on the way back until the last mile, my traditional "fast mile". I was pretty tired so I decided to see if I could run 6:20 pace (my goal for downhill miles on Saturday) with tired legs. I managed 6:19 but it took some effort.

I plan on some more easy miles at noon and our normal 10 miler tomorrow morning, also at an easy pace. I'll probably taper by playing basketball on Friday.

PM. Ran 3 easy miles with Tom (avg 8:46/mi). The conversation was far more pleasant than the (he warned me in advance) boring 3 mile route we ran (it wasn't really that bad). It's good the run wasn't much longer. I made a bathroom stop just before the run, but I still had some stomach distress by the end.

I guess I should record a milestone of sorts. The scale in the fitness center is the standard "doctor" scale with sliding weights on a bar. There is a big weight that you set on 50, 100, 150, etc., and a smaller weight that slides within a 50 pound range. My weight has been hovering around the low 150's for a couple of years, down from 170+ in the preceding years. I've been wanting to drop under 150 so I could set the big weight on 100 instead of 150. Today I set the big weight on 100 and the little weight on 49 3/4 and the indicator on the scale achieved separation. It's good to take time to enjoy even small victories. I don't really feel like I want or need to lose too much weight, but our Wii Fit said my "ideal" weight would be around 145. I ran St. George last year at around 150 and my goal has been, and I guess still is, to run this year at around 145. There's still time (and it's not that big of deal anyway).

Every year our neighborhood has a 5K Fun Run, and every year someone says that "Fun Run" is an oxymoron. I don't know about that, but I do believe that "an easy 10" is definitely an oxymoron. Larry, Wayne and I did "an easy 10" this morning (9:15/mi avg), but it wasn't easy. Larry says "Fun Run" is just short for "Fun When It's Done Run", so I guess "an easy 10" might just be short for "10 miles at an easy (slower than marathon) pace", but I don't know how any one can think of getting up at 4:45am to start running at 5:30am and then running 10 miles as being easy...very satisfying...but not easy.

My plan is still to play basketball tomorrow morning as my mini-taper for the Provo River half marathon on Saturday.

I stopped at Bridal Veil Park on my way home last night at about 7:00pm. The trail was still closed. I asked a man standing there by his truck (I think he was with the fire fighters) if he knew the status of the fire. He said the fire was basically out and that the crews were about to leave. I mentioned the race on Saturday and asked if he knew when the trail might be open. He said he heard the old road to the upper falls was going to be open Saturday, but that the trail might be closed until September because of all the loose debris at the top of the cliffs. I'm not sure if he was a reliable source of information, but it will be interesting to see if/how the race comes off on Saturday.

Addendum: If the race goes forward, I decided it would be good to have some goals to keep things interesting. Since I don't know what the course will be (maybe nobody does at this point) and I've never run it before (nobody has), I decided on some non-time-related goals. The time the goal would have required last year is in parentheses.

1. Top 3 in age division (1:35:15)
2. Top 5% overall (1:34:43)
3. Keep chicked count under 10 (1:30:43)

Addendum #2: I just received an email update on the Provo River 1/2. It looks the race will start up South Fork after all (like previous years), run on the highway from Vivian to Nunn's (because the trail is closed due to fire...this means no uphill loop), run on the trail to Shops@Riverwoods (like previous years), and then have a loop at the end (to make up for no loop at Bridal Veil). Seems like a pretty good plan to me. Should be fun!

I went ahead with my plan to play basketball this morning as my taper/cross training for today. We ended up with 5-on-5 and I really had a great time. I'm not sure how effective it was at resting and recovering. We played pretty hard, and longer than usual. I was soaking with sweat and pretty tired when we were done, and even for a while before we were done.

I took a knee to the calf and a swat to my nose, but thankfully no ankle sprains or shoulders to the chest. Some may think I'm foolish to risk injury playing basketball. I used to feel that way, too. I gave up basketball for most of a year once, and rolled my my ankle 3 or 4 times while running. I've said this before I think, but I decided that a life lived in fear is a life half lived (from Strictly Ballroom). I stubbed my toe walking up the stairs this morning, but I'm not going to avoid walking up stairs.

The calf is fine now. So is the toe. The nose is still a little sore, but nothing serious. I should be good to go tomorrow for the race. In fact, I'm probably as close to 100% as I've been for a while. I'm ready for adventure.

I feel pretty good about today's efforts and the results. I got to interact with so many running friends that I won't try to list them all, but it was great to see everyone.

I picked up Lyle at 4:45am. He's a new runner from my neighborhood in his early 50's (I think). He was training for St. George last year but got injured, so he's trying again this year. This was not only his first 1/2 marathon, but his first race ever. He was a little nervous I think, but he handled everything like an old pro. His goal was around 2:00 hours and he finished in 2:01.

We met Tom and Kerry as planned, and Terry and Greg joined us for the bus ride to the start. The pre-race porta-potty activities went smoothly, I ran a mile or so with Kerry to warm up, waited for the race to finally start (a little late), and then I was off.

I didn't have any plans to run with anyone. I let gravity have it's way with me and started moving down the hill. I seem to pass people on downhills and get passed on uphills, so I guess I must like downhills. Early in the race I was gradually passing a number of runners, including Kolby and Jonathon, and eventually came up behind Josse who was running along with a couple of other runners. I remember well Josse running easily past me around mile 18 of the Utah Valley Marathon, pacing herself perfectly to go on and win $1000 while I finished in pain running 9:30 miles, so I decided to fall in with them and not push on ahead. I ended up running with Josse until the top of the big hill between Vivian and Nunns.

My splits down South Fork were: 6:07, 6:30, 6:32, 6:28. The next three miles, which included the big hill, were: 6:56, 7:01, 6:21. As we started the steep downhill I felt gravity pulling me again and pulled ahead of Josse, although I spent the rest of the race expecting her to pass me. I did get passed by several women in the last miles. Every time I heard feminine breathing or footfalls overtaking me I expected it to be her, and I have to admit I was a little relieved each time it wasn't.

After the big downhill, when we got onto the trail, I started feeling fatigued for the first time and just tried to keep running smoothly, within myself, and moving forward. My splits for the next four miles were: 6:45, 6:51, 7:04, and 6:58.

The last two miles were loopy - both meanings: 1) having or characterized by loops, and 2) crazy or bizarre. These were definitely "hang on" miles, but I didn't crash. My splits were: 7:28 and 7:21. I threw in a kick near the end and finished the last bit at a 5:59/mi pace.

Since the official race times were off by as much as 20-30 seconds, I'm just using the time from my Garmin, which was 1:29:06 (avg pace 6:47/mi). It registered the distance at 13.13.

My morning running buddies Larry, Wayne, and Kevin didn't run the race, but it meant a lot to me that they planned their long run so they could be at the finish line to cheer me in and hang out after the race. I hung around mingling with friends, and cheering in Lyle (2:01) and Carolyn (2:02). Carolyn is the 20-something daughter of our former morning running buddy Kent. Kent has taken a hiatus from running for the past couple of years, but his wife Melinda (also a runner) said today that while he was watching the finish he kept going back and forth between whether he should start running again. He was recently called as a bishop at BYU, so he's a pretty busy man. Anyway, after I saw the results and that I finished 4th in my AD I decided to head home. I left very satisfied, having enjoyed a wonderful morning that I think only runners can truly appreciate.

AM. I ran the Tri-City loop with Lyle. It was fun rehashing the Provo River 1/2. Lyle seemed pretty pumped and felt good about his first 1/2 marathon. His target is 4:00 for his first marathon in St. George. I think he's got a pretty good shot at it.

We were both still feeling the effects of the race a bit and just ran easy this morning (avg 9:15/mi). My legs actually felt better after the run than they did before. They actually feel pretty good. I'm planning more miles at noon.

PM. I ran the 5.1 mile Lake View route with Tom and Bill at an easy pace (avg 8:47/mi). Bill had run 20 miles Saturday, and Tom and I had raced the Provo River Half, so we were all content to just an enjoy an easy run together. 

I ran the normal 2000 N route with Larry and Wayne this morning, at least that was the plan. About half way into the run we realized Larry's dog Ozzie wasn't with us anymore. He's usually just dawdling a little behind us so I offered go back a bit and find him and then catch up. I didn't find him. When I rejoined Larry and Wayne we decided to go back on the canal road and look for Ozzie along the way. Larry wasn't too worried as Ozzie usually just shows up back at home. We didn't find him before we finished our run. I got my dog out as normal for our cool down walk around the block. At one point we met up with Grant and his dog heading out for a run. Our two dogs, both on leashes thankfully, got quite animated and started barking at each other. His dog wanted to play. My dog usually wants to play, but on occasion gets a little aggressive. Anyway, in all the excitement Ozzie showed up to join the fun.

Recently I've been pushing up the hill and dashing down the hill on this run, but this morning I was content to just take it easy as my legs continue to recover from Saturday's race. Our average pace was only 9:21/mi. I've done a lot of easy pace miles this year with not so many fast miles. Most of my tempo runs have come in races. I think all the easy miles have helped me avoid injuries as I've boosted my mileage a little over last year. Even without a lot of speed work I've managed to show some improvement over last year. I plan to continue to train "by feel"...push when I feel good...take it easy when my body tells me to. It will be interesting to see what comes of it over the next couple of months leading up to the St. George marathon.

Larry, Wayne and I ran the water tank hills this morning. My legs felt pretty good pain-wise this morning, but that didn't mean they wanted to run. They felt like lead weights. The only explanation I can come up with is that I was on them all day yesterday, squatting up and down and going up and down the stairs. I took the day off work and spent all day on projects, mostly sanding and painting the bathroom vanity I've been rebuilding, including the door and all of the drawers. I enjoy these projects, but they are a little more taxing on my body than my normal sitting at a computer all day.

Now that the paint has dried overnight it's time for the clear coat finish this morning. It would be great if I could get the bathroom painted today, too. The new vanity counter top we ordered should be ready to be installed in the next day or two. School starts next Monday and with three daughters still at home (1 high school, 1 junior high, 1 grade school) I really need to get their bathroom back in commission.

Since I'm taking the day off work again, I won't be running at noon. Maybe I'll count these honey do's as cross training.

Larry, Wayne, and I ran the normal 10 mile run to Provo Canyon this morning. Right from the start Larry was pushing the pace (relatively speaking). When we commented on it he said he wanted to average sub-9:00 for the run.

With the uphill and the headwind we only managed a 9:22/mi average up to the turn around (Wayne was faster). With the downhill and tailwind we managed to drop the overall average down to 8:56/mi and meet Larry's goal. I tried to push the last mile to close some of the gap on Wayne, but I ended up barely staying ahead of Larry. I felt like I was working harder than at the Provo River 1/2 on Saturday where I averaged 6:49/mi, but I barely managed 7:50.

Similar to yesterday, my legs felt very sluggish this morning. I'm blaming another 12 hours of honey do's yesterday, with a lot of trips up and down the stairs, often running them. After the run I soaked in a cold tub to hopefully rejuvenate my legs a bit.

I'm off work again today, but again that doesn't mean a rest. On the docket for today are painting the upstairs bathroom, hauling stuff to the basement, and maybe installing a ceiling fan in a bedroom, before helping my niece from Delaware move out of her apartment at BYU and store her stuff in our basement until she comes back in the fall, go to the open house at the junior high, and attend Karen's nieces wedding reception in Springville. It's good I prefer being busy to being bored. It's kind of like running. It feels so good when you stop, but mostly because of the satisfaction from what you achieved prior to resting. I told my 19-year old son yesterday that someday he'll consider a 12-14 hour day of physical labor a vacation, too. I don't think he believed me.

I played basketball this morning. There were no shots to the nose this morning (although mine is still sore from last Friday), but I nearly rolled my ankle on a quick direction-changing foot plant. It's fine. It was worth the risk. I had a lot of fun.

I've been meaning to mention, a couple of mornings ago when I met Larry to run he said he didn't have any gumption. It made him seem really old. It sounds like something my grandfather, or his father, might have said. So Larry, Wayne, and I have been using gumption a lot since then. I hope I have enough gumption to finish our planned 20 miler in the morning. I've had a bad case of "honey do dead legs" this week.

Trefoil to the lake 20-miler with Larry, Wayne, and Kevin. Average pace around 8:40/mi. I was just glad to finish.

AM. I ran the Tri-City loop with Larry and Lyle. I averaged 9:03/mi overall, but at about the midpoint of the six mile run I threw in a 3/4 mile fartlek at 6:38/mi then ran back to rejoin the others.

I thought about throwing in another fartlek about 3/4 mile from the end, but then I remembered that last Monday as we rounded the corner about 1/4 mile from the finish Lyle unexpectedly said, "What ya got?" and took off sprinting to the end. I was surprised at his energy and quickness, my reaction time was slow, and my legs were tired, and he got off to such a big lead so quickly that I never recovered and never caught him. So this morning I decided against the fartlek and for the next 1/2 mile or so plotted my revenge.

Just as we started to approach the corner I said, "I've been waiting for this. What ya got?", and took off. I caught Larry off guard, but I think Lyle must have already been planning to do the same thing, because he was instantly right on my tail. Instinctively I shifted a gear or two in an attempt to break him...because I knew I couldn't hold that pace to the end. I felt him fall back and then I backed off the pace a little the rest of the way. The last time I tried an all out sprint at the end of a training run was a few years ago when I tried to out sprint a high schooler and pulled a muscle. Luckily that fate didn't befall me this morning despite my pride and stupidity. I resolve to not press my luck. The next time Lyle takes off he will beat me, but he'll know that I could beat him if I wanted to. ;)

PM. I ran the Lake View route with Bill (5.1 miles, avg 8:32/mi). He ran the Pike's Peak Ascent on Saturday and it was fun hearing about it. For those of you who know Bill, I'll share a little of what he told me, since he doesn't blog. He said the first 10 miles climbing 6000' to 12000' were hard but not too bad, even though it was raining and had been for days. But once they got above the tree line things got nasty. I think he said the last 3 miles took 1.5 hours as he climbed another 2000' to 14000' soaking wet in below freezing temperatures, 1-2" of snow, with freezing rain and high winds. Amazing! He said there was thunder some time after he passed the 3-miles-to-go checkpoint, and with no trees above 12000' lightning is really dangerous. They started turning back runners (not letting them climb the last 3 miles) and his wife had the unfortunate honor of being the first runner turned back. I believe every race is an adventure, but its obvious some adventures are a little bigger than others. (Bill finished in 3:53:09)

I ran the 2000 N hill route with Larry and Wayne. I considered not going out this morning because of some aches and pains and wanting to be 100% for the Hobble Creek half on Saturday, but I went out anyway and just took it easy. I feel pretty good.

I ran the water tank hills with Larry, Wayne, and Kevin this morning. Larry went to some "get a free meal" sales pitch on smoke alarms and was telling us what he had learned. I felt a little like I was getting the sales pitch without the free meal, but Larry wasn't trying to sell us anything, he was just passing on what he had learned.

Kevin pushed up the hills. We joked that it was to get away from the sales pitch. He said he wished one of us would have went with him, but Wayne has been ill this week, and I'm trying to back off and taper a little for the Hobble Creek half on Saturday.

On the way down we were talking about how running faster often means running more efficiently which makes it easier than slogging along at a slower pace. I decided to just "let go" on the last 1/2 mile down 1600 N (400 E to Main). I didn't push hard. I just let the hill take me while I ran relaxed. I wasn't looking at my watch and was hoping I was running a 6:15-6:20 pace, similar to the pace I'd like to run for the first 5 or 6 downhill miles this Saturday. About 2/3 of the way into the 1/2 mile, where the road begins to level out more, I glanced at my watch and was shocked to see that my pace was 5:50/mi. I averaged 5:52/mi for the 1/2 mile and never really felt like I exerted myself all that much. It was only a 1/2 mile of downhill, but it still boosted my confidence a little for the race Saturday.

On a side note, I finally finished the bathroom yesterday. They installed the counter top and sink in the morning. I took my three daughters to Home Depot (because Karen's out of town) and had them help me pick out a new faucet, which I installed without too much trouble (very unusual for me). I textured where I had patched the walls and touched up the paint, and installed the rods and mirror, and even some drawer liners. It's been a long project, with some setbacks and adversity along the way, but I must say I think it turned out pretty well. There's a marathon analogy in there somewhere.

I was up late last night working with India (and will be again tonight) so I didn't get up early to run. I was considering just resting today and tomorrow in preparation for the Hobble Creek half, but at 5:00pm I had some time so I decided to go for a short run.

I decided to warm up over to the start of the neighborhood 5K route at the park, run the 5K course at "cruising speed", and then cool down back home. By "cruising speed" I mean running efficiently with good form and foot turnover, but not pushing the pace into the discomfort zone.

The mile splits were 6:53 (down), 7:28 (flat), 7:37 (up). The overall average pace for the 4.1 miles, including warm up and cool down, was 7:42/mi. Afterward I did a little stretching and ran the cold water on my legs in the shower for a bit.

Last year and the year before I focused on trying to increase my cruising stride rate to around 180 steps/min. Out of curiosity I counted my stride rate during the downhill mile (6:53) and the uphill mile (7:37) and it was the same, around 192 steps/min. I like to lock into an effort and rhythm and keep moving steadily to the beat in my head. Today the beat was one of my old favorites - "One, two, three. One, two, three. One, two, three. Hey! I'm dancing!" (from Hello Dolly).

I feel pretty good about the run, especially since I had forgotten that 5:00pm was the hottest part of the day and it was 95 degrees. Despite the heat, I felt comfortable waltzing along and my legs actually felt better after the run than they did before.

I feel good about today.

I managed to stay with Tom and Nathan for the first half of the race as planned. Then as expected they both pulled away and it wasn't long before I could no longer see them ahead. I saw Rich Lamoreaux ahead of us for most of the first half of the race, but he pulled away with Nathan and Tom.

I did manage to hang on to Hal Amos who I saw in front of me for the rest of the race, but I couldn't close the gap. I had barely beaten him in the last few races we've run together and I think he was sick of it. I talked to him after the race and he was worried about me getting him.

I was worried about Josse getting me. She finished just behind me again, but said she was closing and would have had me in another mile. I don't doubt that. She said in the marathon she's going to get me. I don't doubt that either...but I do hope to make her earn it.

My plan was to run the start of the race this year about the same as last year but hopefully hang on better the second half. As it turns out, I did finish about a minute faster than last year, but I didn't run the second half faster. (It's hard to tell since the mile markers didn't match my Garmin very well.)

Here are the splits for this year and last year. I was using the Garmin miles until mile 7, when I switched to manually pressing the lap reset at the mile markers because they weren't matching the Garmin very well.

I think the best part of the day was seeing so many running friends and having all of them do well. The best part of running for me is the lifestyle and social interactions, and today was a great day.

I felt surprisingly good this morning, except for some stomach trouble. Two of my daughters had upset stomachs last night, too. It must have been Dad's cooking. My 16-year old daughter has been doing the cooking (and a great job) since Karen left last Tuesday, but they asked me to make Tortilla Espanola (Spanish potato omelet) yesterday. I learned to make it while serving my LDS mission in Spain. It's one of the few meals that everyone in the family loves. My two adult children not living at home came for dinner yesterday, even without Mom there. The omelets tasted great, and the others didn't get sick, so maybe it was something else.

At any rate, I decided to stay close to home (and the toilet) just in case, so I just ran the 1/2 mile loop around the block in front of my house. I was just taking it easy at about a 9:00 pace and pondering. After a few miles I kept thinking about how I don't get to walk my dog after the morning runs now because of school schedules, and I started feeling bad about that. I also kept feeling bad about not selling Brittany Oriental Ave when we were all playing Monopoly last night. She had earlier sold me some properties I needed (that eventually won the game for me), but I kept demanding $1000 for Oriental Ave because I knew how badly she needed it. I was wrong. When I realized that all this guilt had slowed me to about a 9:30 pace, I cut the run short and stopped to get my dog. She and I ran one 1/2 mile loop together then I walked another with her so she could get her sniffing in. I then went in and apologized to Brittany. She was a little surprised and said it was no big deal. Maybe it wasn't to her, but it was to me. I had let my desire to win trump my love for my daughter. I could have let her into the game and made it more fun for everyone. Instead I let her basically sit and watch from the sidelines. Bad Dad.

Sorry for the rambling, but it is my blog...it's good therapy for me...it did affect my run this morning...and nobody's forcing you to read it. :)

I guess I should mention some pain I'm feeling in my left foot. Even though I felt fine all weekend after the race, and during the run and dog walking this morning, at some point after that my left foot started hurting near my ankle. It kind of comes and goes, but when it comes it's pretty painful. I decided to skip the noon run today. I'll have to keep on eye on it.

I tested the ankle this morning when I got up. It felt a little better but after some pondering I decided to skip today's run and rest it one more day. Since Larry is out of town, I called Wayne so he wouldn't drive all the way to our neighborhood to run alone. I told him to plan on me tomorrow unless I call him.

I tried to sleep a little more but ended up doing some inspirational reading (Ensign magazine) instead. I was a little surprised to get a text message just after 6:00am. It was from Karen in Delaware, apologizing for missing my call last night. It turns out she was in her sister's hot tub and didn't have her phone nearby. Since I knew she was awake and near her phone I gave her a call. She was surprised I wasn't out running. We had a good long talk. I sure miss her. So do the kids.

Karen called back twice later. She and her sister are flying standby on buddy passes. They were planning to come home today (hurray!) but now it's looking more like Thursday morning (nooo!), or maybe Wednesday night (better). Oh well, we'll survive. Karen (like most mothers) works a lot of 24x7 when she's on the clock, and deserves whatever break she can get.

Ran the water tank hills this morning. Since I was tapering last week and didn't push the hills, I promised Kevin I'd push the hills with him this week and give him a challenge. I thought I might be last up the hill. I decided I'd be first. I couldn't see anyone behind he. It was like I was running alone.

OK, I confess, I was running alone. Larry's out of town. Wayne called last night and is having foot trouble. I'm not sure why Kevin didn't make it out...afraid of me beating him up the hills maybe? Nah, he probably just slept in.

I climbed the 5 hills in 16:15. I think this is pretty close to a PR, but I haven't kept very good track over the years. I was a little surprised it was that fast. I wasn't pushing at top effort, and it was pretty dark, so I had to watch my footing, and there was a headwind.

My foot felt pretty good yesterday after skipping my run. I was scared this morning when shortly after I got up I felt the pain again. I almost skipped today's run, too, but decided to try running on it. I'm glad I did. It didn't bother me at all while running, and has felt pretty good since.

With working late last night with India again, and having the car in the shop, I didn't get into work until just before noon (got a ride from my son Adam). I stopped by the fitness center to see if anyone was going out for a run, but I didn't see anyone. I decided I'd better get some work done, so I skipped the noon run, grabbed a small taco salad to go from the cafeteria, and headed to my office to work and eat (and blog my run).

I ran alone again this morning. I ran the 10 mile route from home to two miles up Provo Canyon and back. There was a pretty strong headwind and it was cooler than normal. The coolness actually felt pretty good. When I got to the canyon it was pretty dark and I felt very alone most of the time. It reminded me of some of the runs Kerry has blogged, but without any animal encounters. I got spooked by some rustling leaves at one point, but I think it was just the wind.

I pushed along at about medium marathon pace effort, but I only averaged 8:15/mi., with a couple of 7:40 miles at the end. I say "only" because I averaged 7:07/mi last year at St. George, and would need to average 6:52/mi to break 3:00 hours this year. As I ran it seemed hard to believe that I'd be able to run more than a full minute per mile faster in the marathon. But I averaged 6:35/mi at the Hobble Creek half last Saturday, so with the downhills, lower altitude, taper, and race day magic there's hope I can at least break 3:10 again. I'm afraid sub-3:00 might have to wait for another year.

The best thing today was that Karen got home. My original plan was to go to work as normal. She was planning to ride home from the airport with her sister and her husband who are staying with us. They are here for the open house for their daughter who just got married out in Delaware, which is where Karen has been. I decided to work from home because I wanted to be here when she got home. About an hour before her flight got in I decided that wasn't good enough and decided to go to the airport. I was just past the point of the mountain when she called and said her plane had got in 30 minutes early. I got a little nervous because I wanted to surprise her and didn't want to have to tell her to wait for me to get there, but then she told me they were waiting for a plane that was in their gate. I also knew she had checked luggage so I figured I could still make it in time. When I got to the luggage carousels there was nobody there so I feared I'd missed them. I called her and they were still on the plane. I kept up the pretense of still being at work, but I think she was beginning to think, or at least hope, otherwise. As they finally came off the escalator her backpack was falling off her shoulder. I walked up from behind and asked if I could carry it for her. Her reaction was all I hoped it would be. She hugged me and kissed me (very unusual for Karen in public) and seemed almost as glad to see me as I was to see her. Then her sister said how much Karen had been hoping that I would be there. I was very glad I decided to go to the airport. I think the kids were even happier to have Karen home than I was, if that's possible. I'm very blessed with a wonderful wife and family.

Remind me to never try to organize a long run again. As of midday Friday we were planning on 8 of us for the 20 miler from the top of South Fork to the lake. Six started. Four made it to the lake. I had already run this 20 miler twice with different groups, and maybe would have preferred the run up to the girl scout camp and back, but it seemed like the best run for a couple of the newer/slower runners...the ones that ended up not coming. Oh well, all we can do is the best we can do.

Actually, the run turned just fine, just not as expected. The weather was cool and pleasant. So was the company. And I was plenty tired and beat by the end of the run.

Larry, Wayne, Kevin, Kerry, Nick and I started together at the top of South Fork. On the way up we had to stop for a very large moose that was crossing the road. On the way down, Larry and Wayne ran a little ahead while Nick entertained the rest of us with stories about BYU football (his son Christian is a freshman quarterback on the team this year) and with quizzes on LDS Church trivia (he's got a steel trap memory for statistics and was recently memorizing things from the Church almanac).

After stopping at Vivian Park, Wayne, Kerry and I pulled ahead while Kevin, Larry, and Nick hung back. We knew that Kevin was cutting out at the mouth of the canyon to run home to get to a family activity, and we could tell that Nick (who hasn't got much mileage in) might be joining him. When we hit the mouth of the canyon, Kerry took his headlamp to his car and Wayne and I ran back to meet the others. It wasn't long before we saw Larry. He had left Nick at one restroom, who was going to call his wife for a ride, and Kevin at another. He went on ahead to catch up to us so he wouldn't have to run alone to the lake.

Shortly after the four of us started the last 10 miles to the lake, Wayne started pulling ahead. He built up quite a gap. At 15 miles Larry told us to leave him and go after Wayne. Kerry had put in high mileage this week and decided to stay with Larry. I wasn't as wise, and picked up the pace. I had been averaging about 8:45/mi to this point. The splits for the next 5 miles were 8:34 (included bathroom/gel/water stop), 7:22, 8:03, 8:19, 8:44. I started my pursuit well, but didn't have the juice to hold it to the end. Shortly before I got to the end Wayne passed me going the other direction. He was headed back to meet Larry and Kerry. I was planning to do that as well. However, my left foot had started to feel a litte sore at about mile 5. By mile 20 my achilles had joined the fun. I decided to not risk injury and be content with 20.1 miles (avg pace 8:37).

I thought about soaking my feet in the water near the trail, but it's a stagnant swamp. I was afraid I'd catch some deadly flesh eating disease, or have the flesh on my feet picked clean by pirannah. Instead I sat down and drank a cold Powerade while I waited for the others.

This run was nothing to write home about, but it's worth blogging about.