Every Race is an Adventure!

I ran 6.1 easy solo miles in the early morning, and ran 5.4 miles (Eagle View) with Tom and Nathan in the late morning at work. We went early (10:30am) to beat the heat.

I had a more complete blog entry mostly done but lost it when I accidentally clicked the back button on my mouse. Oh well. I don't feel inclined to type it in again right now. 

Ran the 2000 N hill route with Larry, Wayne, and Kevin (yes, Kevin) this morning. Going back to regular routes proved useful this morning as Kevin missed us at the start but caught us at the top of the hill. It was a beautiful morning and it was great having four good buddies out for a run. We talked about river trips and American Idol among other topics.

I got in 1.5 miles before meeting them for a total of 7.1 miles. 

Ran the water tank hills with Larry and Wayne in the morning. Three mountain bikers started up the first steep hill just after we did. We see them quite often and always share friendly greetings. Today Larry challenged me to beat them up the hill, so I went for it. I'm not sure they were really racing, but I did beat them up that first hill pretty handily. The first bike to reach me after I stopped and started back down to rejoin Wayne and Larry jokingly challenged me to a race back down.

In the afternoon the rain had let up and Nathan and I ran 6 miles over Eagles View way, but heading north instead of up the Eagles View hill. I don't have my watch with me now, and don't remember the average pace, but we moved along pretty well.

I got in a mile this morning before meeting up with Larry and Wayne. Kevin joined us just after we started. We ran a 6 mile loop up through Lindon. It was a little chilly this morning and I regretted not wearing my gloves, but it was still a really enjoyable run. I'm finally beginning to feel strong again. The back of the knee pain isn't completely gone, but it's still fading even though I've stepped up my mileage again.

Running 14 miles up beautiful Provo Canyon and South Fork with good friends on a beautiful spring morning...mornings like this are one of the main reasons I love running.

One of my adult sons bought Wii Fitness and we were "playing" it last night. It measures fitness, teaches yoga, has strength and balance exercises and games. It's really pretty cool. One of the activities is a simulated run through a park. You stick the Wii remote in your pocket and run in place. My wife asked if it wouldn't be nice to have a beautiful place to run like the simulated trail through a beautiful park with a waterfall. I said, "We do. We have Provo Canyon. It even has the waterfall."

Wayne, Kevin, and I met at the mouth of Provo Canyon, left my car there and drove in Wayne's Jeep up to Vivian Park. We ran up 4.25 miles to Trefoil then back to Vivian for 8.5 miles, then continued on down the 5.8 miles to the mouth of the canyon for a total of 14.3 miles. Kevin didn't want to go that far so he turned back 1/2 mile from the top. We met up again at Vivian and he went down to about Bridal Veil Falls, then went back up and drove Wayne's Jeep down so we wouldn't have to go back up for it.

The mile splits up to Trefoil were 10:29, 9:20, 9:38, 9:53. The mile splits back down were a little faster: 8:14, 7:55, 7:49, 7:29. After a potty break and drink of water, the splits from Vivian to the mouth were 8:23, 8:04, 7:46, 7:51, 7:43, 7:33. The overall average for 14.3 miles was 8:28/mi.

I saw Bill McKnight, Doug Eddy, Bryan Johnson and a few other familiar faces along the trail this morning. Wayne commented that there seemed to be quite a few more women than men out this morning, and there seemed to be a lot of bikers, too. There were some ultra-marathoners training up South Fork for the Squaw Peak 50. I saw a deer and a squirrel and smelt a skunk. What a great morning!