Every Race is an Adventure!

With no school this week...spring break...no carpool...and with the cold weather...Larry and Wayne not coming out regularly...and Kevin not running this week...I chose to sleep in this morning and run in the daylight instead of the dark. To my pleasant surprise it was not only daylight, but also clear and sunny. It was only about 33°, but it was still nice to run in the sun.

I ran roughly 1.5 loops of the neighborhood 5K route, 5.2 miles, average pace 8:56. I'd better get showered and off to work now. 

I ran solo the long Lindon loop, with some "change is as good as a rest" variations. We run this loop a lot but I don't remember describing it in my blog before. I'll do it now for historical purposes. It starts at about 4800' and is mostly level for about 2.5 miles. It descends 200' over the next mile (nice). It takes the last 2.5 miles to gradually climb back up to 4800' to end where we started. Normally that climb starts with a steep climb out of Lindon Park. The variation I took today heads east up a short steep hill on the street just before the park then turns south and passes through the big dip.

The weather this morning was 10° warmer than yesterday, in the low 40's. It was overcast with no wind. I chose shorts instead of long pants, and ended up taking off my knit gloves halfway through the run. Maybe nice spring weather will finally make it here soon.

I felt like seeing how fast I could run without overdoing it. I feel it went pretty well. I averaged 8:26/mi for 6.2 miles. This is over 30 sec/mi faster than just 2-3 weeks ago. My mile splits were 8:25, 8:29, 7:45, 8:45, 8:49, 8:30, and 8:22/mi for the last 0.2. I give the warmer weather and not wearing long pants a lot of the credit, but I do feel like I'm getting a little faster.

Larry said he might be out this morning. With his health issues I figured he'd want to go shorter so I put in a couple of easy miles (4+ laps around the block) before going to meet him. I saw his dog and a white hat, but it was on his wife Jolene. She told me Larry didn't feel up to running so I headed off alone. I wandered. I followed Main down to 800 N, then over to 400 E, up to 1200 N, over to 800 E (through the campus), then followed the canal path back to the Northridge bridge, then made my way home. Having pushed harder yesterday, I just took it easy this morning. I ended up with a total of 6.7 miles. Average pace: 9:37.

Today was my "first time of the year" run up the water tank hills. The temperature was in the high 30's, with a strong cold wind from the NW. It took me a little over 19 minutes from the bottom of hill 1 to the top of hill 5. That's a lot slower than my PR, but I was just happy to make it all the way without walking. On the "fast half mile" stretch from 400 E to Main on 1600 N I only got down to 8:16/mi. In years past, in my best shape, I think I've done it around 6:00/mi. Nevertheless, my running is on the upswing and I'm optimistic and content with the improvement I'm seeing. 

We went bowling as a family last night to celebrate Karen's birthday. (It's not until next week, but she'll be in Delaware at a family wedding.) On my very first roll I felt pain in my left hip. I went on to bowl two games (we won't mention scores), with the pain not getting worse but not going away. Since there is no school this week, this morning I chose to go with my son Andrew to play basketball instead of running. I figured if my hip bothered me I could just sit out and watch. My first 3 pointer was a bad air ball, and I had way to many turnovers, but I warmed up and ended up playing okay for me. I made a couple of 3 pointers, had some assists, a steal or two, and I even hit a game winner in one game. The hip didn't bother me at all. It was a lot of fun playing ball and seeing some of my old friends again.

I took two trips running up Provo Canyon this morning. I was supposed to meet Larry and Wayne at 6am at the mouth of the canyon but I was running a few minutes late so I called Larry and told them not to wait, I would catch up.

With Larry's mini-stroke about 10 days ago, Larry's taking it real easy. His doctor told him not to run, but that he could walk if we kept his heart rate under 120. He decided he could run at an easy pace and keep his heart rate under 120.

I caught Wayne and Larry pretty quickly as they walked until I caught them. Larry ran most of 5 miles, walking some of the uphills when is heart rate was getting a little high. I think 126 was the highest reading I heard him mention. It was good to be out with both him and Wayne. With Kevin on vacation, I ran solo everyday this week until today. Wayne had to be back to the car by 7am so he took off ahead on the way back.

After running 5.25 miles with Larry, I headed back up the canyon for more. I decided to go up about 4.5 miles; adding 9-ish to my 5.25 would get me around 14 miles.

I averaged about 10:35/mi for the first 5.25 miles, and 9:12/mi for the last 9 miles (9:49/mi for 4.5 up, 8:35/mi for 4.5 down). I felt pretty good still at the end, running the last 1.5 miles at 8:25/mi pace.

I'm encouraged. I'm going a little longer, going a little faster, and feeling a little less pain. The weather is (too) slowly getting more springlike. I enjoyed the improved weather this morning, but it was still chilly and I kept my jacket zipped up and my gloves on until the last few miles when the sun finally broke through the clouds.