Every Race is an Adventure!

Week starting May 25, 2008

Previous WeekRecent EntriesHomeJoin Fast Running Blog Community!PredictorHealthy RecipesPaul Thomas's RacesFind BlogsMileage BoardTop Ten Excuses for Missing a RunTop Ten Training MistakesDiscussion ForumRace Reports Send A Private MessageMonth ViewYear View
Graph View
Next Week
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017
15% off for Fast Running Blog members at St. George Running Center!

Location:

Orem,UT,USA

Member Since:

Apr 03, 2006

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Age Division Winner

Running Accomplishments:

HS/COLLEGE:
mile: 4:56, 2 mile: 10:21 (1978)
marathon: 2:52 (St. George 1982)
OLD MAN (20+ years later):
5K: 19:53 (Nestle/Art City Days 5K 2007)
10K: 39:55 (Spectrum 10K 2008)
half marathon: 1:26 (Hobble Creek 2008)
marathon: 3:07 (St. George 2007)

Short-Term Running Goals:

Get back to a BQ marathon time (currently 3:40).

Long-Term Running Goals:

Have fun running, keep fit, and fight middle age spread. Run consistently and injury free. Maintain a healthy balance between running and other life priorities. Encourage my ever-aging running buddies to keep running so we can continue to share runs on the trail instead of rocking chairs.

Personal:

Blessed to be married to Karen for 30 years. We have six children (4 daughters/2 sons) ages 16 to 30, and one wonderful granddaughter.

Favorite Blogs:

Click to donate
to Ukraine's Armed Forces
Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Altra Instinct 1.5 Lifetime Miles: 83.50
Altra Lone Peak 1.5 Lifetime Miles: 21.80
Saucony Guide 7 Blue 2 Lifetime Miles: 376.95
Saucony Fastwitch 6 Lifetime Miles: 200.05
Saucony Guide 7 Black 1 Lifetime Miles: 271.15
Easy MilesThreshold MilesMarathon Pace MilesTrack speed mileageHill mileageTotal
42.150.008.000.004.0054.15
Easy MilesThreshold MilesMarathon Pace MilesTrack speed mileageHill mileageTotal
10.100.000.000.000.0010.10

Often during my runs, especially solo runs, I find myself thinking about how I'm going to describe the run in my blog when I'm done. Sometimes it motivates me to push a little harder or go a little farther. Other times, like today, it helps me to live in the moment and appreciate the experience while I'm still having it.

I came up with a single word to describe this evening's run, "spiritualicious", a combination of "spiritual" and "delicious".

Short version: I ran 10.1 easy miles starting at 6:40pm at an average 8:48/mi pace. The weather was cool and sunny, a little rain in the middle, fresh air, saw a rainbow. I really enjoyed the run.

If you have time, read on for the unabridged version.

The day started with me opting out of the planned 7:00am run with Kevin. It was raining pretty hard and we both chose to enjoy sleeping in with our families on this holiday morning instead. I knew Sasha wouldn't approve, but after worrying about that for about 2-3 seconds I crawled back into bed, cuddled up next to Karen under the warm blankets, and went back to sleep.

Karen's family has never been much into visiting cemeteries on Memorial Day, so it hasn't been much of a tradition for us. Today, however, we took our four daughters (9 to 23), two sons (19, 21) couldn't make it, and joined my brother and his two young sons, and my sister and her husband, and my parents for a visit to the Spanish Fork and Springville Evergreen cemeteries. In Spanish Fork we visited the resting places of my children's great great great grandparents, born in South Wales and Scotland, and many descendants down to my dad's parents and some of his siblings. In Springville we visited great great grandparents on my mom's side down to her parents and siblings. We also visited Karen's parents who are buried there. We also saw for the first time the plots my parents recently purchased for themselves. Even though the day was overcast with a little rain at times, our spirits were cheerful as we remembered and celebrated our wonderful family heritages, knowing that this life is just temporary, and that death is just another beginning.

After that, we took a brief tour of Springville, showing our children the homes we were raised in, some of the schools we attended, some of our friends homes, etc. I showed my daughters the romantic spot where I was watching the bridge wash out during the floods of 1983. I was talking with Karen's father when Karen came up and joined us. She had spoken at seminary graduation that night and was dressed in an attractive light blue dress with white polka dots. We had worked together the summer before but never dated. That night I decided that would change. I asked her out a couple of weeks later and we were married the next spring.

I had promised my family that we would go out to eat after the cemetery visits. It was lunch time, and after much discussion we finally ended up at The Old Spaghetti Factory. It cost me the equivalent of a pair of running shoes, but it was worth it. It was good food and we had a good time. The "delicious" part of my run comes from the fact that at various times throughout the run I would burp up the delicious tastes of chicken parmigiana, marinara sauce, and ranch dressing. I was worried a little about gastric distress, but that ended up not being a problem, probably partly because I kept the pace pretty easy.

It was sunny and cool (not cold) when I started the run around 6:40pm, with a bit of a headwind to start with. It was beautiful. I headed east towards Provo Canyon but when I got to Cascade golf course I decided to head south on Palisade Drive. I eventually went down to 400 South, west to 400 West, north to 1600 North then east back to home.

As I was headed west about halfway into the run it was sunny but it started raining pretty steadily. I knew what that meant. There had to be a rainbow. I had to give the rain time to get east of me, but sure enough in a few minutes I looked behind me to the east and there was a beautiful rainbow. That's when the "spiritual" part of my run began.

One of my favorite songs, which I've loved since I was a child, is "My Heavenly Father Loves Me". As I looked at the sunny, blue sky in front of me, and the brilliant rainbow behind me, and listened to the birds sing, and looked at the beauty of the world around me I began to sing.

Whenever I hear the song of a bird, or look at the blue, blue sky.
Whenever I feel the rain on my face, or the wind as it rushes by.
Whenever I touch a velvet rose, or walk by our lilac tree.
I'm glad that I live in this beautiful world Heavenly Father created for me.

He gave me my eyes that I might see the color of butterfly wings.
He gave me my ears that I might hear the magical sound of things.
He gave me my life, my mind, my heart. I 'll thank him reverently,
For all his creations of which I'm a part. Yes, I know Heavenly Father loves me.

I then began to sing:

I like to look at rainbows whenever there is rain.
And think about the beauty of an earth made clean again.
I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain.
I want to live the best I can and live with God again.

I'm not sure if the lyrics are right (getting lyrics wrong is one of my specialties) but those are the ones I sang.

Some other thoughts crossed my mind (a little Paulosophizing). I realized the brilliant rainbow required two things: sun and rain. We tend to prefer the sunny days over the rainy days, and easy times over the hard times in our lives. Rain (pain, sorrow, illness, injury, challenge, adversity), however, is required for us to experience the brilliant, inspiring beauty of a rainbow. And the rainbow doesn't usually appear until the storm is nearly over, when the sun and clear skies are returning.

I also thought briefly of one of my other favorite children's songs, "Give Said the Little Stream", that sings about how streams and rain bring life to plants and flowers, and how we should be like them and bring life and joy to others.

I also thought how you can never get to the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow (and there really isn't a pot of gold there anyway) but you can always enjoy the rainbow.

I also thought that if someone were standing where I see the end of the rainbow to be, they wouldn't be looking at a pot of gold, or even seeing the brilliantly beautiful rainbow. They would just be standing in the rain getting wet. Sometimes maybe it would help us to change our perspective and look for rainbows instead of complaining about the rain.

I also thought of how the end of the rainbow was near my house, and thought of how the real treasure in my life is my family.

I've been trying to "live in the moment" a little better recently, and enjoy life as I'm living it. Today's run was truly a blessing, a tender mercy from the Lord. It was "spiritualicious".

Comments(5)
Easy MilesThreshold MilesMarathon Pace MilesTrack speed mileageHill mileageTotal
8.450.001.000.001.0010.45

I ran the Tuesday loop up 2000N with Larry, Wayne, and Kevin this morning. The weather was beautiful. Kevin pushed up the hill and was pulling ahead. I was enjoying the conversation with Larry and Wayne but about halfway up I decided to close the gap then ran with Kevin to near the top. He put on another boost the last block or so and finished ahead of me. It's great to see Kevin running well again. Wayne's boosting his mileage in preparation for the Teton Dam marathon next month and is also running very well. Larry's picking up the pace and mileage as well. It must be that time of year. The sun was bright as we ended the run today. What a great start to the day!

I wasn't planning to run at noon today, but Tom invited me to run 4 easy miles and the day was so nice I couldn't say no. We ended up also getting Nathan, Bill, and Will to run with us. They were going a little farther than four miles and when Tom hit the two mile mark and turned back I was torn about who to go with. I continued with the group, but less than 1/10th of a mile later the combination of a gurgle in my stomach and the talk of maybe going six miles finally convinced me I should have turned back with Tom...so I did. Of course now I was about 0.15 miles behind Tom. We had run the first two miles at an easy pace of 8:44 and 8:33, but I ran the third mile in 7:13 and finally caught Tom. We ran the fourth mile in 7:55 and I averaged 8:05/mi for the 4.25 miles.

The run at noon felt a lot like the 3rd leg of the Wasatch Back Relay. The legs were a little tired and sluggish. Maybe three runs in 18 hours for a total of 20+ miles had something to do with that. I didn't really plan to do that, but hopefully the training will make the real thing just a little easier.

Add Comment
Easy MilesThreshold MilesMarathon Pace MilesTrack speed mileageHill mileageTotal
5.600.003.000.003.0011.60

Larry, Wayne, and I ran the water tank hills this morning. It was another beautiful morning. My legs are feeling the effects of the increased mileage, but feeling stronger at the same time. The knee pain has continued to fade. I plan to run at noon as usual for a Wednesday, but I'm not sure I'm going to be able to keep up. My legs aren't used to these 10 mile days.

I survived the noon run, barely. After all these months of waiting for warmer weather, today was the first day it felt too warm during a run and I found myself wishing for slightly cooler weather. The warmer weather was only one of the challenges today, the pace was the other. Once again, Tom only wanted to go four easy miles, so the first two miles were okay at 8:44 and 8:15. Nathan wanted to go longer and a little faster, and I agreed to try to hang with him. Tom turned back part way into mile three, which Nathan and I finished in 7:54, still pretty reasonable. We then went to 7:40 for mile four, then 7:23 for mile five. I had had enough by mile six and finally convinced Nathan to cut me loose. He quickly pulled away then came back near the end to run in with me. I finished mile six in 7:47, and then we finished the last 0.2 together. Nathan then hit the treadmill for a couple of more miles.

I was pleased to be able to run a 7:23 mile in the heat with my legs feeling as tired as they do. Also, this was not an all out run, more of a marathon pace effort. I got plenty hot and tired, but it feels good to feel like a runner again.

Comments(5)
Easy MilesThreshold MilesMarathon Pace MilesTrack speed mileageHill mileageTotal
6.000.000.000.000.006.00

I ran with Wayne and Larry this morning. Lyle ran with us for a while then cut off early. I'm logging this morning's miles as easy because we only averaged about a 9:30/mi pace, but it felt more like marathon pace effort. My legs are good and tired from the extra miles this week, but generally feeling pretty good.

We're planning on 15-16 miles on Saturday, running the new trail from Deer Creek dam up to Midway and back. With 38 miles now, that would put me at around 54 miles for the week, a big week for me. I may go a few easy miles tomorrow morning, or maybe some basketball.

Add Comment
Easy MilesThreshold MilesMarathon Pace MilesTrack speed mileageHill mileageTotal
12.000.004.000.000.0016.00

Somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good. Today's run was another blessing.

Wayne picked up Kevin and me and we drove up to meet Larry at the parking lot at Deer Creek Dam. We ran along the gravel trail on the north side of the reservoir from the dam up to the train station in Midway. Wayne and I actually went an extra 1/4 mile to the barn to get the full 8 miles up so we could get 16 miles overall.

The weather was perfect, with partly sunny skies, moderate temperatures, and just enough of a breeze to keep us cool. I carried a bottle of water and dropped it about 4.25 miles out. It was nice to share it on the return trip. The bathrooms at the train platform where we turned around were also welcome. It would be nice if there was water there, too.

There is a nice variety of uphill and downhill along the route, climbing ridges and dropping into small valleys in between. The combination of running on gravel and all the uphill and downhill made the run feel more like an 18 or 20 mile run than 16. The pace wasn't fast, about 9:30/mi overall, but it was a great workout.

I made the comment during the run how lucky we are. How many people can get together with a few good friends and go for a 16 mile run at about the same pace? And enjoy such natural beauty so close to home?

To top it off, I get home and my 16 year old daughter is making homemade pancakes from scratch. They were awesome. Yes, somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good.

Add Comment
Easy MilesThreshold MilesMarathon Pace MilesTrack speed mileageHill mileageTotal
42.150.008.000.004.0054.15
Debt Reduction Calculator
Featured Announcements
Recent Comments: