Every Race is an Adventure!

Ran the Orem route at an easy pace with Larry this morning. Jolene ran with us for a while then turned back. My left knee was hurting a little after the morning run, so I didn't do the normal two-a-day noon run. I was also feeling a bit of an upset stomach around 11:30am. Besides, with two weeks to Boston I'm beginning to switch over to taper mode so I didn't feel an 11 mile day was needed.

Normal route with Larry this morning. We stopped briefly along the way so Larry could check out the lawn at a church where he was going to be bidding a sprinkler project later in the morning.

My RaceReady shorts arrived yesterday so I tried them out this morning. I even loaded 6 of the 7 pockets similar to how I plan to for Boston: one eGel packet in each of the smaller rear pockets, my cell phone in one of the velcro side pockets, and my cards/ID/cash in the other velcro side pocket. I wasn't disappointed. The shorts are very light and comfortable and the contents fit in the pockets perfectly.

Ran in the morning with Larry again. Shortly into the run I stepped on a rock rolled my right ankle. It scared me a little, being this close to Boston, but it wasn't serious. I was able to go ahead and do the run and my ankle felt okay.

I was planning to run with the Novell guys at lunch time, but when I got to the locker room Tom was just finishing getting dressed. He had run early because of a conflict. I didn't see Cory or Nathan. With the little bit of soreness I've had in my left knee, and tweaking my right ankle this morning, I decided to skip the second run today.

Orem route with Larry again. I wore my neoprene knee brace to give my knee a bit of a break. I'm going to take tomorrow off and see how it feels Saturday morning. I think I could run Boston with it the way it is and not have it bother me too much, but I would prefer to have it not hurting at all.

We met at 7:00am to run up Provo Canyon to Vivian Park and back. I rode to the canyon with Larry, Wayne, and Ozzie (Larry's dog). We ended up with half of the relay team showing up, twice as many as the last team run. Cory, Greg, Ryan, Will, and I were there at the start. Scott was a little late and caught up with Larry, Wayne, and me a few miles up the canyon. Cory, Greg, Ryan, and Will had pushed on ahead.

My watch registered 5.8 miles up, at an average pace of 8:55/mi. Greg started back from Vivian before the rest of us because he had a birthday party to get to. Once the rest of us were ready we headed out. I had joked about catching Greg, so Larry told me I'd better get moving. I had wanted to push the pace a little on the way back so I picked it up. Cory, Ryan, and Will came with me. I ran two miles at 7:23/mi, then three miles at 7:15/mi, and finally the last 1/2 mile at 6:39/mi. I ran most of the latter miles with Ryan. He seemed to be running at that pace with very little effort.

I had a time of 1:32:42 overall for 11.46 miles, an average pace of 8:05/mi. 

I felt like everyone ran pretty strong. We've got a great relay team. More importantly, I've got a great bunch of running buddies. I really enjoyed the run.

I wore my knee support as a safety precaution, and my knee hurt a little, but it didn't affect my running too much. I came home and soaked my legs in ice cold water and I feel pretty good. I plan to take it really easy this final week before Boston.

I also got a bit of a blister on my left foot, same place as on both feet during the 20 miler last week. I may change my mind and wear my older Wave Rider 9 shoes at Boston instead of the new Wave Rider 10 shoes I was planning to wear. The old ones still have some good miles left in them, and I've never had blister problems with them.