Every Race is an Adventure!

I ran the Orem route with Larry this morning. Coming off 90F weather yesterday, the weather this morning was very comfortable. If I'm not mistaken, this is the first time this year I've worn only a short sleeved shirt for an early morning run.

At lunch time, when I ran Eagle View with Nathan and Tom, it was considerably warmer, maybe even hot, but it wasn't too bad. Tom and I tried to hang with Nathan, but he was definitely the one pulling us along today, and I'm pretty sure he was just idling through parts of the run. I think Nathan is well prepared for the Hurricane Half he's running this weekend.

I thought today about how lucky I am to have running buddies (Tom and Nathan are two of many) that are not only such good men and so easy to talk to and be with, but with whom we are able to push each other to better performance. We learn from each other, admire each other, inspire each other. This applies to my neighborhood buddies, my relay teammates, and other runners at Novell. I believe it also applies generally to the overall running community. I'm not sure if it's that good people run, or that running makes people good, but it's my experience that a very high percentage of runners are good people. I feel grateful to be among you.

Back to today's run, I feel good about my 40:25 time for Eagle View. I was still feeling a little discomfort in my right foot from healing blisters, but my legs are feeling pretty strong. I pushed pretty hard today, but it wasn't an all out run. Some comparative times for this same run earlier this year are:

1/25: 39:48 (7:58/mi)

1/29: 37:58 (7:36/mi)

2/5: 39:48 (7:58/mi)

2/12: 37:53 (7:35/mi)

3/5: 39:22 (7:52/mi)

3/12: 41:57 (8:23/mi)

3/19: 37:48 (7:34/mi)

4/30: 40:25 (8:05/mi) 

Larry had to start his workday early today so we just ran the neighborhood 5K course. We didn't push real hard, but went faster than our normal easy runs. My watch showed us finishing in 25:51 (8:20 pace). I thought about doing a second lap a little faster, but resisted the urge. I ran twice yesterday and plan to run twice tomorrow, and my blisters are still not fully healed, so I opted to rest my feet a little.

This morning I convinced Larry to run the big hill course, a.k.a water tank road. This has been our traditional Wednesday morning run for years, but during the cold, dark, and snowy months of winter we switched to a well lit flat course through north Orem. Larry was afraid he might have to walk part of the steeper hills this first time. We didn't push real hard, but we didn't walk any of the hill either. It felt good getting up there again. We both enjoyed it. I think our traditional Wednesday morning run is back, at least until it gets too dark (at 5:45am) and snowy up there again.

At lunch time it was great to run the Lake View course with Cory, Tom, and Nathan again. After warming up getting over the freeway and into the neighborhood, we ran 1.35 miles @ 7:52/mi to the turnaround. We then ran 0.52 miles @ 7:44/mi. At the intersection where we turned south, I decided to push the pace to the stop sign after the next left hand turn. I figured it was about 1 mile. Nathan came with me. We ran 0.89 miles @ 6:30/mi. Tom (preparing for 5K race Saturday) and Cory (injured) hung back but were'nt too far behind us. We ran the 1.1 miles back @ 8:01/mi.

It felt good to run the hills this morning and then get in a little speed at lunch time. The recovering blisters bothered me a little, but not too much. I'm hoping that by continuing to run on them while they are healing, it will toughen them up (and me).

I ran the Lindon loop with Wayne. Very enjoyable. I don't have my watch with me, but I believe we averaged about 8:10/mi for about 6.2 miles. We had to keep the run short because I had a full day. I was in charge of a neighborhood cleanup project, one daughter had ballroom dance tryouts, another daughter had to be at an opera rehearsal, a third daughter had a church activity, a son had AP testing, and we had a baptism to attend. Sometimes everything just seems to happen on the same day.