Every Race is an Adventure!

AM. I almost left early this morning because nobody has been showing up to run on Monday, but waited a few minutes and headed past the "meet here" corner at the normal time just in case. I found Lyle there and we ran the traditional Tri-City loop though Lindon into Pleasant Grove and back to Orem at an easy pace. He's pretty excited about his first marathon at St. George. He's been training well, he's healthy, and I think he'll do well.

My legs feel good, even after the fast race on Saturday. I have some soreness in both ankles (inside left, outside right) but it's not unusual, I'm taking care of them, and I think I'll be fine.

PM. Ran 5 easy and enjoyable miles with Tom and Nathan towards Eagles View. The weather was beautiful. I'm really fortunate to have so many great running buddies. I'm looking forward to running St. George with these two in a few weeks. I hope to at least stay with them until Veyo and Dammeron Valley. I plan to back off a bit during the hills and expect them to begin to pull away. I believe they could both finish in 2:55 or faster while 3:00 is a big stretch goal for me.

I ran the normal Tuesday morning run up 2000 N with Larry and Wayne. I pushed ahead on the big hill, and Wayne and I pushed ahead on a smaller hill, and looped back both times. Combined with the 1/2 mile I ran before meeting them, I ended up with 7 miles instead of the normal 6.

I was planning on getting in a couple of miles early and getting in 8 miles, and was up and dressed plenty early enough to do it, but I spent the time reading the new Liahona magazine that just arrived instead. The Liahona is the church's Spanish-language magazine. I decided a number of months ago to subscribe and start reading it regularly to brush up on my Spanish skills. I served an LDS mission to Barcelona, Spain in 1979-81, then taught Spanish to new missionaries at the Missionary Training Center for a year, and completed a double major in Computer Science and Spanish at BYU. I used to be pretty fluent in Spanish, 25+ years ago.

AM. I ran the water tank hills with Larry and Wayne. I pushed the 5 hills hard again, finishing them in 15:05, a new PR 10 seconds faster than last week. I must like headwinds and the cool darkness, because I always seem to run these hills faster in those conditions. Maybe it helps me to focus when all I can see is the road just ahead of me lit up by my headlamp. I didn't push the "fast mile" at the end of this run this week, partly because my legs were pretty tired, and partly because running fast is usually when I get injured. That's the last thing I want right now.

I actually got a little scared last night. My daughter had borrowed her friends bike for a group ride. It was in the rain when I got home from work (I was soaking wet and cold from riding my motorcycle home in the rain) so I moved it up onto our big front porch out of the rain. I didn't mistep or anything, but as I walked into the house my left achilles started hurting quite a bit, bad enough that I started limping and didn't want to walk on it. After a while it felt quite a bit better. It didn't bother me at all on this morning's run. I think it's telling me I'm right on the edge of injury and need to be careful, hence no "fast mile" this morning.

PM. At noon I ran the 5.2 mile Lake View route with Bill at an easy pace (8:19/mi avg). The weather was pleasant and we had an enjoyable run.

I ran the 10 mile to Provo Canyon run with Larry and Wayne this morning at an easy pace. With a little over 1.5 miles to go Wayne pointed out it was 6:55am. I try to be home by 7:00am, so I ran the last 1.5 miles in 5 minutes. (Just seeing if you were paying attention.) Actually, I did push the pace down from around 9:00 to 6:57 for the last 1.5 miles, but still got home a little late.

This morning, just before I woke up I had a dream that it was Thursday at noon and I was wondering why I couldn't find anyone to run with. Then I realized it was Thursday and I had missed the 10 mile run in the morning. I was really disappointed. Then my alarm went off and I saw 5:00am on the clock and realized it was Thursday. I hadn't missed the run after all. And I'm glad, because I really enjoyed it this morning. For some people having to run 10 miles would be a nightmare. For me, the nightmare was fearing I'd missed it.

I ran from the mouth of Provo Canyon up to Trefoil and back with Larry and Wayne. Kevin joined us for a good portion of the run, as did Larry's daughter Stacia and her husband Jeremy.

The run up, into a strong cold headwind, was mostly at an easy pace, about 9:40/mi average, although I did push ahead for a mile and half or so at sub-8:00 pace just before Vivian so I could get a feel for running more or less at marathon pace on a gradual uphill stretch.

At the top of South Fork I had to make a portapotty stop. I felt much better after. Larry and Wayne knew I was planning to push the pace on the way down so they had already started down. My mile splits down South Fork were 6:44, 6:49, 6:59 (quick water stop), and 6:39. I passed Larry just after I stopped for water at South Fork Park, and Wayne just before Vivian Park. I made a 5 second stop for water at Vivian and pushed the rest of the 6 miles to the mouth of the canyon at marathon pace effort. My mile splits were 7:24, 7:34, 7:12, 7:07, 7:14, and 7:19. My average pace for the 10 miles down from South Fork to the mouth was 7:06/mi.

When I finished I ran back to meet Wayne and run in with him, then we both ran back to meet Larry. My total mileage was 21.8 miles in 3:04:52, average pace 8:28/mi. All in all I think today was a great workout. I pushed pretty hard, but not to the point of risking injury. The weather was a little cold at first but I was dressed properly and ran comfortably the whole time, including no blisters, chafing, muscle cramps, etc. I did need the one potty stop halfway through, but that was a small price to pay for the chocolate dipped vanilla ice cream cone I had yesterday. It was not unexpected. I definitely won't be eating ice cream the day before the marathon...but I'll definitely be eating some Blue Bunnies after.