Every Race is an Adventure!

AM. I ran the Tri-City loop with Lyle. It was fun rehashing the Provo River 1/2. Lyle seemed pretty pumped and felt good about his first 1/2 marathon. His target is 4:00 for his first marathon in St. George. I think he's got a pretty good shot at it.

We were both still feeling the effects of the race a bit and just ran easy this morning (avg 9:15/mi). My legs actually felt better after the run than they did before. They actually feel pretty good. I'm planning more miles at noon.

PM. I ran the 5.1 mile Lake View route with Tom and Bill at an easy pace (avg 8:47/mi). Bill had run 20 miles Saturday, and Tom and I had raced the Provo River Half, so we were all content to just an enjoy an easy run together. 

I ran the normal 2000 N route with Larry and Wayne this morning, at least that was the plan. About half way into the run we realized Larry's dog Ozzie wasn't with us anymore. He's usually just dawdling a little behind us so I offered go back a bit and find him and then catch up. I didn't find him. When I rejoined Larry and Wayne we decided to go back on the canal road and look for Ozzie along the way. Larry wasn't too worried as Ozzie usually just shows up back at home. We didn't find him before we finished our run. I got my dog out as normal for our cool down walk around the block. At one point we met up with Grant and his dog heading out for a run. Our two dogs, both on leashes thankfully, got quite animated and started barking at each other. His dog wanted to play. My dog usually wants to play, but on occasion gets a little aggressive. Anyway, in all the excitement Ozzie showed up to join the fun.

Recently I've been pushing up the hill and dashing down the hill on this run, but this morning I was content to just take it easy as my legs continue to recover from Saturday's race. Our average pace was only 9:21/mi. I've done a lot of easy pace miles this year with not so many fast miles. Most of my tempo runs have come in races. I think all the easy miles have helped me avoid injuries as I've boosted my mileage a little over last year. Even without a lot of speed work I've managed to show some improvement over last year. I plan to continue to train "by feel"...push when I feel good...take it easy when my body tells me to. It will be interesting to see what comes of it over the next couple of months leading up to the St. George marathon.

Larry, Wayne and I ran the water tank hills this morning. My legs felt pretty good pain-wise this morning, but that didn't mean they wanted to run. They felt like lead weights. The only explanation I can come up with is that I was on them all day yesterday, squatting up and down and going up and down the stairs. I took the day off work and spent all day on projects, mostly sanding and painting the bathroom vanity I've been rebuilding, including the door and all of the drawers. I enjoy these projects, but they are a little more taxing on my body than my normal sitting at a computer all day.

Now that the paint has dried overnight it's time for the clear coat finish this morning. It would be great if I could get the bathroom painted today, too. The new vanity counter top we ordered should be ready to be installed in the next day or two. School starts next Monday and with three daughters still at home (1 high school, 1 junior high, 1 grade school) I really need to get their bathroom back in commission.

Since I'm taking the day off work again, I won't be running at noon. Maybe I'll count these honey do's as cross training.

Larry, Wayne, and I ran the normal 10 mile run to Provo Canyon this morning. Right from the start Larry was pushing the pace (relatively speaking). When we commented on it he said he wanted to average sub-9:00 for the run.

With the uphill and the headwind we only managed a 9:22/mi average up to the turn around (Wayne was faster). With the downhill and tailwind we managed to drop the overall average down to 8:56/mi and meet Larry's goal. I tried to push the last mile to close some of the gap on Wayne, but I ended up barely staying ahead of Larry. I felt like I was working harder than at the Provo River 1/2 on Saturday where I averaged 6:49/mi, but I barely managed 7:50.

Similar to yesterday, my legs felt very sluggish this morning. I'm blaming another 12 hours of honey do's yesterday, with a lot of trips up and down the stairs, often running them. After the run I soaked in a cold tub to hopefully rejuvenate my legs a bit.

I'm off work again today, but again that doesn't mean a rest. On the docket for today are painting the upstairs bathroom, hauling stuff to the basement, and maybe installing a ceiling fan in a bedroom, before helping my niece from Delaware move out of her apartment at BYU and store her stuff in our basement until she comes back in the fall, go to the open house at the junior high, and attend Karen's nieces wedding reception in Springville. It's good I prefer being busy to being bored. It's kind of like running. It feels so good when you stop, but mostly because of the satisfaction from what you achieved prior to resting. I told my 19-year old son yesterday that someday he'll consider a 12-14 hour day of physical labor a vacation, too. I don't think he believed me.

I played basketball this morning. There were no shots to the nose this morning (although mine is still sore from last Friday), but I nearly rolled my ankle on a quick direction-changing foot plant. It's fine. It was worth the risk. I had a lot of fun.

I've been meaning to mention, a couple of mornings ago when I met Larry to run he said he didn't have any gumption. It made him seem really old. It sounds like something my grandfather, or his father, might have said. So Larry, Wayne, and I have been using gumption a lot since then. I hope I have enough gumption to finish our planned 20 miler in the morning. I've had a bad case of "honey do dead legs" this week.

Trefoil to the lake 20-miler with Larry, Wayne, and Kevin. Average pace around 8:40/mi. I was just glad to finish.