Every Race is an Adventure!

With the holiday today, Larry, Kevin and I made it out for 4 easy miles this morning. The most exciting part was the dog fight near the Jr. High. We had spent much of the time up until then trying to get Dash to let Kevin put him on the leash. Ozzie is Dash's father and a seasoned runner who is rarely on a leash.

In front of the Jr. High we met a small woman with two very large and muscular Golder Retrievers (we found out they were brothers). It turns out one of them doesn't like Ozzie very much. They apparently had a violent encounter recently when Larry's wife Jolene was out running with Ozzie.

Ozzie, not being on a leash today, went up to greet the dogs. The one that doesn't like him apparently decided to try to eat him for breakfast. His brother joined in. The poor woman was helpless to stop these big strong dogs. Kevin wisely skirted the situation with Dash on the leash. Larry and I helped break things up, get Ozzie on his leash, and get the dogs back to the lady.

She was shaking, felt terrible and was very apologetic. Ozzie was apparently uninjured, so we chatted a bit and then went on our way.

I empathized with the shaken woman. Our golden retriever Skittles passed on last fall. I still miss her, but I don't miss the times when I took her running and she tried to eat small dogs (attached to their owners) as a mid-run snack. I had to body tackle her and lay on her more than once. Why can't we all just get along?

Only Wayne and I made it out this morning. His Achilles was bothering him a little so we took it easy and only went 4 miles. During the run we decided that rather than trying 6 miles on T/Th this week, we would switch to 4 miles everyday. I was planning to try to run everyday this week anyway, which I haven't done since before St. George last fall, and at this point 6 miles would have probably been too much too soon.

Average pace: 9:42/mi 

With the heavy wet snow this morning, I wasn't sure who would make it out, but I headed over to find out. I didn't see anyone. The Lindon route I was planning to run took me back past my house. An unexpected cold wind prompted me to stop for ear covering. Kevin drove up just as I got to my house. With the slushy, slippery roads, dropping off at the high school took him longer than planned. He headed home to get his dog and I got my muffs then went back to his house to meet him.

We ran the same 4 mile shortened Lindon loop Wayne and I ran yesterday. It was a little messy, but wasn't too bad. Because of the running back and forth I did before the run I ended up will a little more the 4 miles. Average pace was 9:13/mi, not really speedy, but about 0:30/mi faster than yesterday, 1:20/mi faster than Monday, and nearly 2:00/mi faster than some runs I've done this winter.

Three 4 mile runs in a row doesn't sound like much, but I'm encouraged. It's not the speed or distance but the direction of my training I'm encouraged about.

Monday I ran with Wayne, Kevin, and Larry. Tuesday I ran with Wayne. Wednesday I ran with Kevin, so today, of course, I ran with Larry. I ran the same shortened Lindon loop each day, just with a different buddy each day, with the other two not showing up. Each run was equally enjoyable, including today, but the paces were different (9:15/mi, 9:45/mi, 10:15/mi, in no particular order - you'll have match the pace to the partner).

It's interesting to me that I ran the exact same course on consecutive days, and no run felt any easier or harder than another, yet the paces were up to a minute per mile different. This reinforces in my mind what I have experienced many times, that, within certain pace ranges (slow to moderately fast tempo pace), it doesn't seem that much harder to run faster or much easier to run slower. The difference, in my experience, is related to focus, form, and efficiency. If I focus on my form, it helps me to run more efficiently, and I get more productivity from the same effort. I sometimes call it shifting gears. I find myself coasting along, with my mind drifting. When I mentally focus back on my form, and kick my turnover up a half gear, I can speed up 15-30 sec/mi or more with very little additional effort.

Experiencing the relationship between mind and body is an interesting venture.

To my amazement and pleasure, Larry, Wayne and Kevin all joined me for the run this morning. That's almost unheard of on a Friday morning. We varied the route from the one I ran with each of them during the week, but still went about 4 miles. Our group pace on Monday was 10:34/mi, today it was 10:00/mi. We're still slow, but headed back in the right direction...and longer, warmer, and sunnier days lie ahead.

Larry, Wayne and I headed up 2000 N intending to run on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail starting at the Dry Creek Canyon parking lot. After enduring the long climb, we hadn't gone far on the trail when we changed our minds and cut back across to the paved road we had climbed. The trail alternated between uneven frozen snow and mud. Neither surface was very appealing. We ended up winding through the hills of Lindon, climbing another big hill along the way. My watch showed 13 to 14 min/mi pace on the steep uphills.

It's been over 4 months since I've run this far, or run 6 days in a row. I'm encouraged. My feet felt great, as did most of the rest of me except for some pain in the muscles around my right hip. My cardiovascular fitness is down from recent years, but improving. Next week the plan is to wet, lather, rinse, repeat...maybe running just a little farther or a little faster on a day or two, weather and body permitting.