Every Race is an Adventure!

Kent and I ran the Lindon route. Average pace 9:18/mi.

Wayne, Kent and I ran the 2000 N route. Kevin was late getting out and ran the course in the reverse direction until he met up with us. Average pace 9:30/mi (includes 2000 N uphill).

Kent and I ran the first water tank hill up to the beginning of hill two...twice...then looped down through the former WordPerfect buildings and up the hill to 1600 North. We only ended up with 5 miles instead of the normal 6 (left late, also finished a little early), but it was a good run.

Wayne, Kevin, Kent and I ran the Cascade route.

I ran the Orem library route solo. I came very close to not running. First, I kept pushing the snooze alarm from 5:00am to 5:30am. I got up and went to the bathroom then check my thermometer. It said 13°. I told myself that was too code to run alone and I was tired, so I crawled back into bed under my warm covers. As I laid there I thought of my goal to get in 40 miles again this week. If I stayed in bed I wouldn't make it. About 5:35am I got out of bed, put on my layers, and hit the road about 5:50am.

As I started south on Main I felt like I'd dressed pretty well. I was glad I was up and running. When I got to 400 N and turned east...into a frigid headwind from Provo Canyon...I wasn't so sure any more. By the time I turned south again on 400 E my face was frozen. I would occasionally move my facial muscles just to make sure I still could. On the return trip I learned that the frigid wind from the east also had a "from the north" component. It froze my face for all but the one 1/2 mile I was going west from 400 E to Main.

I was glad to get home and let my face thaw out. We read scriptures as a family right after my morning runs and I had a bit of a hard time reading with my frozen face.

I think I've mentioned before that I have an imaginary chalk board that appears in front of me whenever I'm tempted to back off the pace, cut a run short, skip a run, etc., just because it's feeling hard or uncomfortable (not because I'm sick or injured). I put a tally mark on the left side...the winner side...every time I don't give in. The right side is the quitter side. Thankfully I've put very few marks there over the years. Even though my average pace was only 9:12/mi, today I chalked a thick tally mark on the win side for just getting out and running steady even with the arctic wind biting at my face.

I ran the Wil's Pit Stop route with Larry, Wayne and Grant this morning. Grant usually runs trails in the hills at lunch time so I haven't run much with him over the years. It was nice having him run with us today. He was originally only planning on 6 miles but went the full 10.5. Wayne and I pushed ahead going up University Avenue and went past the mouth of the canyon a bit and ended up with 11.5 miles.

After we turned north on University Avenue onto the trail, I was talking with Larry and Grant and didn't notice that Wayne was pulling away until he had a pretty good lead on us. I decided to catch up with him but that took some sustained effort. From then on I was just hanging on trying to keep up with him. After going the extra distance we had to catch back up to Larry and Grant. Wayne pulled ahead and I just couldn't catch him until he caught them and slowed down again. It wasn't long after that we hit 800 E and Wayne suggested we push the pace to 400 E as we often do. I told him I was beat, but after crossing 800 E I picked up my pace and managed to stay with Wayne at just under an 8:00/mi pace. We then waited for Larry and Grant. I ran the last mile in with Larry as Wayne pulled a little ahead again. He's running well, as he should. He's been training well. He and I have both been trying to get in 40 mile weeks, which is tough for us during the dark, cold, icy winter. We're both curious to see what we can do at the Painter's half marathon in St. George in a couple of weeks.