Every Race is an Adventure!

I was alone again this morning. My legs whispered to me that they would prefer to not run hills this morning, so I decided on the "south into Orem" run. My legs gradually felt better as I went along. The paces for my half mile splits were:

0.5	8:59/mi
1.0	8:35/mi
1.5	8:08/mi
2.0	8:39/mi
2.5	7:56/mi
3.0	7:38/mi
3.5	8:38/mi
4.0	8:14/mi
4.5	8:05/mi
5.0	7:37/mi
5.5	7:36/mi
6.0	7:31/mi

It was a beautiful morning, about 60 degrees. I had no aches or pains to speak of. Even my toe that gave me trouble Saturday evening was not an issue. After a 50 mile week last week, and feeling as good as I did this morning, I think I'm in pretty good shape for the Wasatch Back relay a week from Friday. I just need to stay healthy (knock on wood).


 

It sounds like Larry will be back running tomorrow, but I was alone again this morning. It was a beautiful morning for a run. I ran west, then north into Lindon, then east and southeast through Lindon and eventually up the big hill on 2000 N (Orem), then back down the hill to 400 W, south to 1600 N and up 1600 N to home. I finished the 8 miles in 1:06:44 (8:20/mi). I got in some good hill work and still managed marathon pace on the flatter sections. Again, no real aches or pains to speak of.

I ran the water tank road with Larry this morning. It was sure great running with him again. I hope he can get his sore toes figured out so he can get back to regular running. They bothered him again this morning so he'll be biking again tomorrow.

At lunch time I ran Lake View with Cory, Nathan, and Bill. It was good to have Bill along. We started off at a fairly easy pace but it steadily increased. I ran the 5.23 miles in 40:23 (7:43/mi). My mile splits were: 8:34, 8:07, 7:59, 7:23, 6:55. My watched showed the average pace for the last 0.23 miles as 6:03/mi. I was going fast, and I hope it was that fast, but I'm a little skeptical. At any rate, it was a great run with great guys. I missed Tom being there, but after reading his blog I see he did a 4.25 mile tempo run at 6:57/mi this morning. Maybe I'm glad he wasn't here. Of course, Nathan blew me away today (as usual), so maybe Tom would have just given Nathan a little company up there in front.

I tried out my new Asics Gel Landreth shoes at lunch today. I ran a 10K (6.2 mile) loop that starts like the Eagle View run but then goes north a ways then loops west to University Ave. then south back to work. I finished the 10K in 50:18 (8:07/mi). My mile splits were 8:07, 8:13, 8:46, 7:34, 7:59, and 8:09, with a pace of 7:23/mi for the last 0.2 miles. It was a steady effort, with uphill/downhill accounting for the pace variance.

The shoes felt pretty comfortable and performed well. It was only one run, but I think they'll work out okay. I did feel some discomfort in my feet during the run, but I think it was from the hot asphalt. It was around 90 degrees and my feet felt like they do sometimes on the hot pavement at the water park. I have kind of sensitive feet. I tried running on the grass along University Ave. near the end of the run and the discomfort almost instantly disappeared, comfirming in my mind at least that it was caused by the hot pavement. I haven't done too many runs in the heat. It looks like I need to toughen up a bit.

I ran Provo Canyon up to Vivian Park and back with 7 of 12 of the relay team (Verdon, Kerry, Greg, Tom, Terry, Will and me) plus Larry and Wayne. As usual with the relay team members, we seem to push each other. I started with the group then held back a little and ran with Larry and Wayne for a bit. Kerry and Verdon were just behind us and the rest started pulling away. This was the first time I had met Terry so I decided to push to the lead group and run with them for a while. Terry was obviously idling to stay with us, but it was a pretty quick pace for the rest of us. I ran with Tom and Terry for a while with Will and Greg a little up ahead. We caught up with Greg then Tom and Terry pulled a little ahead, with Will still in the lead, and I ran with Greg for a while until he pulled ahead me as we approached the park.

On the return trip I ran with Kerry. We didn't push real hard as we conversed but it was still a pretty steady pace. I noticed a young man running a couple of steps behind us for quite a while so I finally introduced myself and invited him to run with us. His name was Martin. It's his first year running, he's training for his first marathon at St. George this fall, and this was his first 10 mile run. We were running about an 8:00 pace and he was running with us pretty easily. He asked a few training questions and we gave him a little advice, then Kerry told him about this web site. Maybe he'll join up. It's certainly benefited Kerry and me. The three of us ran together until the last mile, when I decided to pick up the pace to the end.

I averaged 8:11/mi up and 7:47/mi down, running the last mile in 6:36. It was a very enjoyable run. I wore my new shoes for the 2nd time and they performed very well. I think I'm ready for the relay next week. At least I hope I am, because it's too late to do anything about it now.