Breaking the Wall

A.M. Ran with Jeff and the kids. Total of 12.5. Benjamin ran 3 showed off his speed with a 70.1 quarter. Jenny and Julia ran 2. Joseph did 1, and Jacob ran 0.5.  Jeff and I did a "fat" mile in 5:32. It felt very good.

On the chess front, after last night's tournament my rating is 1403 and Benjamin's is 1280. I estimate that mine is worth about a 17:30 5 K now.  What is interesting is that even though mine is higher, the three times that Benjamin and I faced each other in a tournament he won. When we play "friendly" games, our score is about even - he wins half the time, I win half the time, and we hardly ever draw.

A.M. Got up earlier than normal to get the run done before the General Conference. Jeff was still in town and ran with me. I was feeling fatigued from the hard week and the reduced sleep, but still decided to run the 10 mile tempo for the first time since last fall. It was rather odd. We started out very slow, both us were asleep, in 94 for the first quarter. Then 89, 84, 81 (5:48) and I told Jeff to back off because I was not ready for that pace for the whole 10 yet. He pulled me until 7.5, then took off and ran the last 2.5 in 12:49 - 5:07 pace.

My time was 57:58 with the splits of 5:48 - 5:43 - 5:44 - 5:42 - 5:59 - 5:41 - 5:40 - 5:52 - 5:58 - 5:51. Once Jeff took off I struggled. However, I was still happy to be under 58:00 in my first 10 mile tempo in a long time.

Total distance was 20.5. We ran 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob. Then listened to the first session of the General Conference. Most memorable for me were the talks by Elder Perry on the Sabbath day, and President Eyring on doing good. The idea of "Have I done any good in the world today" is very simple but at the same time very powerful.

P.M. Listened to the afternoon session of the Conference. I always look forward to the statistical report because numbers speak to me. So this year we got 14,131,467 members,  120,528 children of record, and 272,814 convert baptisms. Children of record means the number of children for whom the Church created a record, which usually happens when they are blessed, but can happen at a later time as well, for example, if the parents join the Church or become active when the child is 4 years old. But mostly that number is indicative of the birth rate in the Church, which would be about 8.52 per thousand per year if we do the division. This number is rather low, US birth rate is 13.83. However, we need to account for the inactivity rates in the Church. 14 million is the number of members that are on record. About 50% or possibly more of them are not active, and those who are not will not register the birth of their children with the Church. So the actual birth rate is higher.

 This is, however, a better number than reported in 2001 when we had 81,450 increase in the children of record vs 11,068,861 members, which gives the virtual birth rate of only 7.35 per thousand, but still a far cry from what our parents' generation did - according to the numbers from 1983 report with only 5,165,000 members we managed to have added 124,000 children of record, which gives the virtual birth rate of 24.01 per thousand! The causes of the drop can come from two sources - either those who are active members of the Church are not having as many children, or the activity rate has dropped. I believe we have both factors significantly at play. But I wonder what would happen if we could restore the same level of commitment both in terms of Church activity and having the children to the 1983 levels. That would be 339,264  new children of record. We could almost send all of our missionaries home (although of course we would not do that) and still have the same rate of growth in the Church! Those would be  wonderful results, and we can achieve them. If our parents could do it, so can we.

A non-mathematical person often objects to the above argument that it is just numbers. It is more than numbers. The worth of souls is great the sight of God, and even though He works with infinity He does care how many of His children in our world return to His presence. The more the better.

I also liked the talk by Elder Oaks about desire. I thought how it applied to runners. The desire to achieve can rise above lower level desires, and what a great feeling that is when it does. But it should be kept in balance and not attempt to rise above the higher level desires, but rather to be in harmony with them and provide support.

Elder Oaks also addressed one of the root causes of our underperforming virtual birth rate. Young men not taking initiative to get married and raise a family. 

Benjamin and I went to the Priesthood session in the evening. It was his first one. Our ward gave us the tickets to go to the Conference Center. We heard some talks about athletes. One from Elder Anderson on Super-Sid, an LDS New Zealand rugby player who postponed his career to go on a mission, came back, regained shape, and became a rugby legend for the next 11 seasons. He refused to play or practice on Sunday, which could have been a problem, but with faith it was resolved. He was so good that the schedules were changed to accommodate that.

Elder Snow mentioned the sub-4:00 mile and Roger Banister. This subject comes up once every three years in a General Conference. I believe it does so for a reason. The Lord does not want us to create artificial limits, but rather see with an eye of faith. It was good for Benjamin to hear that talk right in the Conference Center because not so long ago the sub-6:00 mile became a similar barrier for him, and he had to use his faith to overcome it. Shortly after that, I have observed an overall increase in faith in him.

And of course, the single young men of age got another beating, a pretty good one I thought to follow up on the one from Elder Oaks, this time from the Prophet himself. President Monson spoke about getting married again.

Day of rest. Two more sessions of the General Conference. The single young men of age to marry kept hearing about their problem. This time from Elder Scott. There was also a lot of discussion of the Church welfare plan. If only our government adopted it, we would never see poverty. It is based on the principle of self reliance. No man ever gets fish without taking fishing lessons first if he capable of taking them. As I heard those talks I wondered about the poor people that live righteously, keep the commandments, pay their tithing, live within their means, and are still struggling to provide for their needs. There are some of those, relatively not too many, but they do exist. For one reason or another have not been given the talent of financial prosperity. How will the promise of having enough for their needs is fulfilled for them?

I often think of the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 117 about Oliver Granger, of whom the Lord said: "and when he falls he shall rise again for his sacrifice shall be more sacred unto me than his increase". It is a test our faith when we see Oliver Grangers around us - the Lord wants to see if we have enough of it to take care of them. That is how this promise is fulfilled.

A.M. Felt sluggish. Did the usual 12.5 including kids runs. 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob. Did a 3 mile tempo at the end in 17:26 on the last 3 miles of my Bridal Veil 20 miler course.

A.M. Did the kids runs - Benjamin 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5. Then jogged another 2 miles and did the Fast Running Blog 5 miler tempo in 28:50.6 - splits: 5:48, 5:47, 5:44, 5:51, 5:41. Legs felt empty, had a hard time keeping the Android buzzer quiet. Again focused on keeping it quiet vs pushing the pace, and was rewarded by finding some zip in the legs in the last mile. Total of 15.5.

A.M. Early 8 miles before going to the temple. Towards the end of my run my normal wake-up alarm set for 6:30 AM went off. It was a beautiful hymn - The Morning Breaks. I did not want my buzzer to disrupt the hymn so I tried to run with better form.

Jenny and Julia ran 2. Jacob did 0.5. Benjamin and Joseph waited for me to get back from the temple.

P.M. Did 3 with Benjamin, and 1 with Joseph.

A.M. Did the warm-up with the kids. 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob. Then jogged 3, and ran the 3 mile tempo over the last 3 miles of the Bridal Veil 20 miler course (from my house to Bridal Veil and back). Felt strong, did 16:53.7. Last mile, which was the most normal of the 3 was 5;32. The entire course has some form of obstacles to speed along the way, mostly turns, tunnels, and bridges, but that is the best I can do with the constraints of the trail construction, running with the kids, sleeping a decent amount, and starting work at some reasonable time.

A.M. Did the warm-up with the kids. 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob. It was raining today. I recalled a Russian song that says that nature does not have bad weather and every weather is a blessing. Thus all of the joys and troubles of life should be received thankfully. I taught Benjamin the words while we ran under a mix of snow and rain and jumped of the puddles. I did not recognize the Russian word for "bad", so I took my chance to give him a bit of a teasing, and said to him in Russian: "What, you've lived to the ripe old age of 12 and do not know such a simple word?"  It is interesting that he understood this phrase perfectly in spite of not knowing a simpler word.

Then I jogged 3, and ran the 3 mile tempo over the last 3 miles of the Bridal Veil 20 miler course (from my house to Bridal Veil and back). I felt strong, but it was difficult to keep the pace due to the rain and slippage under the tunnels. I ended up with 16:57.9.

A.M. The weather today tested my belief in the Russian song I quoted to my children yesterday about nature not having such thing as a bad weather. A steady stream of snow was falling on me the entire 20.4 miles.Fortunately it was warm enough that it did not stick to the road. Also, fortunately, there was no significant wind either. Of the two adversaries I would chose wet snow over wind any day. I ran a 2 mile warm-up, and then a 10 mile tempo on my favorite course - two times the Fast Running Blog 5 miler. I organized a free race a couple of years ago on that course, thus the name. Unfortunately, the race has not shown a whole lot of interest. With the hard economic times, almost every house that is for sale is a short sale or foreclosure, people out of jobs, gas prices going through the roof, etc, you would think that there will be plenty of people that will come to run a race with no frills  just to race, but go figure - they prefer "added value" for added price - food, fancy shirt, music,  etc even when perhaps they cannot really afford it. So given the lack of interest on the part of the participants, and the lack of time on my part as well - the economy has changed my job situation to where I cannot devote as much time to the blog as I used to, I have not done that race since. But if I am wrong and there is now enough interest, I'll do it again. Send me a message with proposed dates if you would like to run it.

The tempo went like this: 5:52 - 5:50 - 5:53 - 5:49 - 5:54 (29:18) - 5:49 - 5:48 - 5:53 -5:53 - 5:41 (29:05) total time 58:23, 5:50.3 avg. I felt OK, but could not get myself to go faster. Part of it was the snow, part was not having anybody to run with, part fatigue from the week, and part just plain lack of fitness. I was happy that I was able to turn my legs over some in the last quarter, and hit 81 in spite of all the negatives.

Then I ran home, and finished the remainder of the 20.4 with the kids. Benjamin did 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

Day of rest. Went to church. It was a fast Sunday. The lesson in Sunday school was on covenants. A long forgotten concept. Very simple and very powerful. When you make a promise to the Lord to keep His commandments and serve Him and actually keep it, He has much greater blessings for you that greatly exceed the value of your contributions. The idea can be even applied by the "unbelievers", I put this word in quotes for two reasons. One, they say there is no such thing as an atheist in a fox hole. Two, those of us who do not believe are in this state temporarily, one day we will all believe because we will see. But the time to act is now before we have seen, that is when it really counts. Good chess moves are much more valuable over the board under time pressure than during a quiet computer-aided post-game analysis.

As far as how the "unbelievers" can apply the idea of a covenant - decide to do good, and do it consistently! You will feel the power. 

The lesson in the Elder's Quorum was on honesty which connected well with the Sunday school lesson. What great power is hidden in the teachings of the Church! And it does not have to be hidden if we honestly keep our covenants.

A.M. I decided to try running with a knee brace today. The idea is this - the right foot is out of whack, the right hip is out of whack. So we encourage the knee, which is in the middle, to work straight. That would hopefully give a reason to both the foot and the hip to correct some.  Unfortunately I had a bad start in the experiment with some bad luck. I got lost in thought and tripped while I was running with Jenny and Julia, and the fall bruised my left knee. I finished my run with the kids - Benjamin did 3 miles, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5, and then went for more. With 3 miles to go I felt the knee would let me do my 3 mile tempo, so I went ahead. In spite of the hurt knee, and being low on fuel from the 20 miler on Saturday and the fast Sunday, I managed 17:10.6. What was odd, though, is that in the last mile I felt like I was not able to get full power out of my legs in an odd way that I had never experienced before, and I was losing speed. I do not know if it was related to being low on fuel, hurt left knee, or the knee brace on the right knee making the muscles work in a way that they are not used to. I will have to wait until the left knee heals from the fall to try it again.

A.M. Benjamin had a sore throat today, so I just ran with Jacob (0.5), Joseph (1), and Jenny and Julia (2). Then ran by myself, just easy, total of 12.5, to let the left knee rest. I still wore the brace on the right knee. Similar feeling to the last mile of the tempo run yesterday for a good portion of the run, except for a few parts when I felt like I was actually getting some power of out the right leg. 

A.M. Did 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob. Benjamin was still sick. Then I ran another 2 miles and started my workout. First max HR 1.25 - "coast"a mile in 5:20, then run as hard as possible trying to max out the HR. I could only hit 167 and could not sustain it, legs started caving. I ended up with the last quarter in 78, and 6:38 for the interval. I was wearing the knee brace and the buzzer, still not sure what to think of the knee brace, but my instincts told me I need to run as much sub-6:00 mileage with it as possible. Then I jogged some, and ran 2.5 in 14:41 with the last quarter in 81. Total of 12.5.

P.M. Benjamin started feeling better, so I ran 2 miles with him.

A.M. Kids runs first - 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, 0.5 with Jacob. Then 6 more alone with the last 3 in 16:47.

A.M. Kids runs first - 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with

Joseph, 0.5 with Jacob. Then 6 more alone with the last 3 in 16:37. That is the fastest I've run on that course under this setup this year, and it felt good. I am getting used to the knee brace, although I am still not quite sure if it is doing me any good. But at least it is a step, something to do.

A.M. Long run. Started with a 2 mile warm-up, and then a 10 mile tempo on my standard course. Did it in 58:10 with the following splits: 5:52 - 5:52 - 5:46 - 5:47 - 5:51- 5:51 - 5:51 - 5:49 - 5:50 - 5:41. Felt fatigued after the first 2 miles and thought I would not be able to go any faster, considered stopping, but then the horror of plodding out the rest of the run for eternity hit me, and I decided to finish out the tempo. I gave it a little push and it woke me up. Had a small kick in the last mile as well. Overall not too unhappy with the tempo, viewing it as a stepping stone. Ran with the kids - 0.5 with Jacob, 1 with Joseph, 2 with Jenny and Julia, and 3 with Benjamin. Challenged Benjamin to run the last 0.5 under 3:00, he made me work, we ended up running 2:50. It felt easier than I expected. Possibly part of my problem is that lately I've been doing my workouts alone for the most part. When Jeff joined me a couple of weeks ago, all of a sudden I started hitting much faster times.

Day of rest. We had  a Stake Conference. Elder Costa from the Presidency of the Seventy came and spoke. Among many other things he told us about the sacrifices that the members of the Church in Brazil make to go to the temple. They have to work and save for a year or more, and then will sell some of their property as well to pay for the trip. The Provo mission president and his wife spoke as well. They are from Rochester, NY and are serving here for three years. They are converts and joined the Church shortly after they had gotten married. When the sister missionaries came to the door, he asked them to explain to him in one sentence why he should listen to them. One of the sisters was able to condense it to one word - authority.

Interestingly enough, later that evening I was participating in the ward missionary visits, and we met a couple that moved to our neighborhood from California not too long ago. While I was explaining the concept of authority I ran into an interesting obstacle. The man believed that Joseph Smith indeed saw God the Father and Jesus Christ, was ministered to by angels, and in truth translated the Book of Mormon by divine means, but even after a thorough  (or at least I thought so) explanation still could not see how it would follow from that that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saint would in that case become the only one with the authority to baptize. I suppose I can understand the emotions behind it. When somebody says he has seen an angel, you do not want to question his experience at first, hey, why not? When you realize this means you have to make significant changes in your life that involve work and sacrifice, there are three different paths you could take. a) Verify for yourself if his experience was authentic, and if it turns out to be so make those changes, otherwise do not worry about it b) Enter the perpetual question mode - what about this, what about that? - so you do not have to accept the authenticity of the experience while at the same time excusing yourself from the work to find out if it was true, and c) Enter the logical disconnect mode accepting the authenticity of the experience while denying that you have to do something about it.  Back 50 years ago the missionaries mostly saw either a) or b), but lately with the arrival of political correctness and other garbage related to it, c) is becoming a more common response.

What I am wondering about is how much of what 50 years ago would have been a big positive a) has now become a lame c) due to the general reduction in the willingness to make commitments and sacrifices.

A.M. 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, 0.5 with Jacob, then 6 alone with the last 3 at tempo pace. It was very wet, the trail was slippery, so the first two miles were slow, barely managed 11:43 because I had to slow down on wet parts. Then the last mile was better, and I gave it a push managing 5:36. The time for 3 miles was 17:19.

P.M. We did a 100 meter time trial for family home evening. Jacob did 26.5, Joseph 22.5, Julia's time got messed up, but was around 20, Jenny got 17.6, Benjamin's time got messed up but was around 15.0. He beat me - with street clothes and at the end of the day all I had was 15.6, which is not bad for me in those circumstances, but it was not good enough to beat him. On the second try we tied running 15.6 - I was coming from behind and had to lean at the end to avoid being beat again.  I was very excited that Benjamin could run 15.0 at the age of 12 at the end of a rather cold day.. So I am estimating that he will end up with about 12.0 as an adult, and Jenny will probably be around 14.5. If those estimations hold, both will be world-class distance runners if they train right for long enough.

A.M. Did 6.5 with the kids - Benjamin 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, Jacob 0.5. Then another 8.9 with a a workout in the middle. 1.25 with the first mile in 5:23 and the closing quarter in 77 - 6:40. Max HR was 163. I will attribute that to cayenne pepper, but will not complain as I am happy to run 5:08 pace at with the HR being only 163. I am just not happy that 5:08 was as fast as I could go. I think the cayenne pepper, which is known for its ability to increase stroke volume, highlighted the problem of (relatively) weak muscles. Then I jogged a bit and ran a 2.5 tempo in 14:34. Last 0.5 was 2:46.

A.M. 6.5 with the kids (Benjamin 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5), then 6 more with the last 3 being a tempo on the usual course - last three of the Bridal Veil 20 miler course from a magic spot between the Country Club and the Wyview to the house. The left knee was fussing from the fall last week, so I was holding back some in the first two miles (11:30), then it stopped fussing and I ran the last mile in 5:35, total time was 17:05.

A.M. Mike came today. It was a nice birthday present to have him back. We ran with the kids - 6.5 total, 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob. Then he ran with me to the start of the usual tempo, and I did the tempo alone as Mike was running out of fuel. Ended up with 16:58 with the last mile in 5:34. It has now been over 3 weeks since I've been doing those daily tempos and I am still alive. That is a new development. I wonder where it will take me.

A.M. Started with the kids runs. Benjamin did 3 in 21:03 with the last mile in 5:43. That is his new PR. His splits were 89, 87, 87, 80. Half way through Benjamin's run we met Mike and he joined us. Then we ran 2 with Jenny and Julia - Jenny and Mike ran ahead and finished in 15:15 while I stayed with Julia, and our time was 17:30. Then 1 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob. Then 3 more easy, and the last 3 in 16:47 with the last mile in 5:31 and the last quarter in 79. I had to beat Benjamin's last quarter, so I sandbagged a bit earlier to have some juice. With the "sandbagging" I still averaged 5:38 for the first two "steeplechasy" miles. Felt the legs were stronger, the stride was wider and more relaxed. Mike ran the tempo at 6;12 pace.

A.M. Did my usual long run. Mike joined me for a part of it. Did a 10 mile tempo in the middle. The splits were: 5:45, 5:48, 5:52, 5:53, 5:58, 5:57, 5:49, 5:54,5:54,5:54 - total time 58:44. Felt like I would be able to hold the pace easily at the start, but then all of a sudden slowed down to 5:54 or so and just could not get out of the rut. There is a reason for feeling this - I have been doing 3 mile tempo runs almost daily at around 5:40 pace average. What confuses me is that I have felt quite snappy in most of the 3 mile tempos, but have felt quite stale in all of the 10 mile tempos. If it was just the fatigue, I would have felt stale in the 3 mile tempos as well. I have noticed in the 1.25 pickups that once my HR goes above 160 I start feeling uncomfortable. Possibly in the 10 mile tempo HR has to get into the trouble range eventually, and I do not know how to handle it, while 3 miles is short enough that I can bluff my way through it.

Finished the run with the kids - 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph and 0.5 with Jacob. Total of 21. During the run with Benjamin we did a few pickups that totaled a mile at around 6:00 pace.

Day of rest. Went to church. It was an Easter Sunday. Sarah played the hymns on the organ, and the flute for the musical number in addition. I always enjoy hearing her play musical instruments. The talks in the Sacrament meeting were naturally on the resurrection. The lesson in Sunday school was on the Church of Jesus Christ in former times. As far as I know, there are only two churches that claim to have a connection to the Church that Christ established when he lived among the Jews - the Catholic and the LDS. The difference is that the Catholics believe the authority of the priesthood was never lost, while we believe that it was lost and restored through Joseph Smith.

The lesson in the Elders Quorum was on Elder Uchtdorf's talk from the October general conference about strategically slowing down when flying through turbulence, or in other words, adjusting properly and taking time to ponder the things of eternity rather than increasing the mad rush when we encounter adversity.

A.M. Usual 12.5 including kids runs. Mike joined me for part of it. Did 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob. I often do not realize how many children I have until it is time to fill out the forms. You only have to buckle them until they are maybe 4, then they can buckle themselves. But you still have to put their social security number on the forms until they are 18! 

Finished the run with a 3 mile tempo in 16:59. Felt good.

A.M. Did an experimental workout. Mike joined me for a part. Wanted to better understand the cause of the slowdown I have been experiencing at faster paces lately. The suspicion was that it had to do with the suppression of the stretch reflex, thus resulting in longer ground contact times, and disproportionately increasing effort required to run at faster speeds. The question was, whatever it is, can I snap out of it with a few jumps that would hopefully reboot the stretch reflex in the quads. So I decided to do this - run 5:20 pace until a relaxed effort was not good enough to maintain the pace. Then stop, jog a bit, do a few jumps, and keep going. I ended up doing 4 miles in 21:38 with a stop after a mile, then in 0.75, 0.5, 0.25 (it was a good spot to stop due to a 180), and then every 0.5 miles. My conclusion was that while I might have been losing the bounce in my legs , the jumps did not do much to fix it. Half a mile later, just about how long it would take to push HR above 160, I felt that the legs had lost their snap again. I suppose the only way to fix this problem is to attack it directly - get HR above 160, then try to maintain 5:20 for some time, rest, and repeat. So something like 1000 meter repeats with short rest.

Ran with the kids: Benjamin - 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

A.M. The combination of the Saturday tempo run difficulties and the struggle to maintain 5:20 relaxed for even a mile yesterday convinced me that my body was finally tired of the daily 3 mile tempos and needed a break.That fatigue is so subtle - I do not feel any soreness in the legs, or a decrease in the energy levels, the only way I know it is there is that I get tired more quickly at fast speeds.

So I ran easy today. Total of 12.5, most of it with Mike, 6.5 of it with the kids as usual - Benjamin - 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

A.M. Did 4x1000 with 200 recovery. Mike joined me for a part of it. The workout went well - I was able to hit my target times. The times were 3:15.1 (down) - 3:23.8 (up) -  3:17.1 (down)- 3:22.3 (up). I felt that this short and simple workout stirred the cobwebs and got them moving a bit. Ran with the kids. First 3 with Benjamin with a 2000 time trial in the middle. His target was 7:30, but he again psyched himself out and could not get going until he had a quarter left. So he made it to the mile in 6:18 (94-95-95-94), and then kicked in 83 finishing in 7:41. Still a PR by 16 seconds, but we will try again on Monday. Jenny and Julia ran 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5.

A.M. Another easy day. Did a total of 12.5 including 6.5 with the kids (Benjamin 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob 0.5). At the end of the run I noticed there was a guy that would end up about a minute or so ahead of me after I had turned around that was going a good pace. So on a whim I decided to chase him. It took about 1.1 miles, with the mile split of 5:23, and it included a quarter in 84 through the tunnels where I had to take the foot of the gas for fear of slipping and falling. It felt very good, I felt like I could run like this forever. So how is that that when I try this in a workout it is not nearly so easy? Perhaps not enough excitement, which could possibly be directing the finger of blame at the underperformaing adrenal gland. Come to think of it, I've had a hard time getting excited about anything lately. Not that I am unhappy, more like being too mellow.

I caught up to my chase target, made a police siren noise, and said: "Do you know how fast you were going? I had to run a 5:23 mile to catch you!" His name turned out to be Logan. And in good tradition of my Provo River chase targets, he of course spoke a foreign language - he just got back from a Vietnamese speaking mission in San Jose. Watching his form, and having an idea of his pace from how quickly he was coming to me during the chase, I decided to make a guess about his running background - 4;35 mile in high school. I was only 2 seconds off - it was 4;37. We talked some more. I hope to convert him to the true religion of being my training partner. A plug for the "true religion" - it got Jeff to 2:22 marathon, 1:07 half, and 29:33 10 K.

A.M. 20.5 miles with a 10 mile tempo. The weather was not the best, so I wore pants today. However, there was no headwind. There was a fallen tree from last night's storm that I had to jump over 4 times, which broke the rhythm. The splits were:

5:46, 5:52 (tree),5:48 (180 turn), 5:53 (tree), 5:56(180 turn at the end), 5:51,5:50,5:53 (180 turn), 5:52 (tree), 5:46 - total time 58:27.7. After the first 5 in 29:15 I wanted to stop, but the thought of having to run more miles at 7:30 pace was even more unpleasant than the thought of doing the same at 5:50 pace. So I kept going.  Overall I think the run went better than last week, and perhaps comparable to 58:10 two weeks ago when I was wearing shorts and there was no tree to jump over. I was pleased to see that unlike last week I had more control over the pace and could surge to 5:40 more or less on demand mid run for short periods. There was more bounce in the legs. So I suppose some rest and the 4x1000 on Thursday did some good.

Ran with the kids to finish the 20.5. 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob.