Breaking the Wall

A.M. Ran with Jeff at Grandview. The grass was cold. I realized that after the first two laps and put on the Clogs. After 10 more laps the sun came up so I decided to test the grass again to see if it was warmer. It seemed so at first, but my feet froze quickly again. I dropped Jeff off with 2 laps to go and picked it up to beat the 3:00 per lap guy (7:46 pace). Ran both laps in 2:17 - 5:55 pace. Felt strong, but the grass was cold and slippery. The coldness of the grass helped me work on reducing the ground contact time to the absolute minimum. Figured the feet got their share of an ice bath already, so did not soak them in the river.

Total time for 6.18 was 47:40.

P.M. Supervised the Benjamin and Jenny on a bike. They ran 2 miles in 17:47. Julia and Joseph ran at Grandview during Benjamin's soccer game. Ran with them on grass. Julia ran 2 miles in around 20 minutes.  I timed her 5 laps (1.93) in 19:33, but she ran more, closer to 2 miles. Joseph ran 2 laps (0.77) in 7:47.

A.M. 2 with Benjamin at Grandview in 16:03. Jenny ran 2 in 19:07. Julia ran 1.54 in 14:15.

P.M. Drove to St. George with everybody. 4:53 from the house to the expo. Good time for a GNG van (three fueling stops + lunch + bathroom trips/diaper changes for all of the kids). Then 5 minute run with Joseph, the pace was decent, will call it 0.5.

St. George Marathon, 2:34:08, 13th place.  First half "officially" 1:16:27, really more like 1:16:17 (13 mile split was 1:15:37), second half really around 1:17:51. The foot fussed from the start, fussed more after Veyo, and really did not like the Snow Canyon decent. I considered a DNF around 9-10, but figured the DNF bus was too slow, and the foot would take a month to heal whether I finished or not. Was able to calm the foot down some by pouring water on it at aid stations and finish more or less OK. Details on Monday.

Jeff finally ran a decent marathon and got second after Iain Hunter in 2:22:01. Second half in 1:08.

Finally, the details. I did not want to go to the race due to the foot problems. But I had a few reasons to go. St. George would give me a travel stipend of $150 if I came. I needed to renew my sub-2:30 status, and it would have been possible if the foot cooperated sufficiently. There was a chance of a top 10 finish which gives you a travel stipend for the next year. Jeff needed somebody to take his bottles to the expo by 5 pm, and his work did not allow him to leave in time. Sarah and the kids wanted to go on a trip. Kory prayed for me to run well, and did so in faith.

We stayed at Mike Warren's office. He owns a propane wholesale company. We liked that office a lot. In fact, Jacob did not want to go back home. Half way through the drive home he was saying he wanted to go back to the office.

Brigham Young used to say that you should pray as if everything depended on the Lord, but then work as if everything depended on you. So I said a prayer the night before and then did some work in the morning soaking the foot in cold water one last time before the race. That would give me some breathing room for the first few miles.

We often pray to ask the Lord to remove the consequences of our foolishness. While the Atonement of Christ pays for our sins on conditions of repentance, we are responsible for paying our credit card bill. If we are late, we are also responsible for the late fees, and interest. The Lord will not pay our credit card bill. He will, however, help us find a job and teach us to live within our means so that we can do it ourselves.

In an attempt to find a breakthrough I borrowed against my body by not only running in Five Fingers on pavement, but also doing one-leg hops and hill sprints. I thought I was just using the savings and I had enough. I was wrong. Without realizing it I used the money I did not have, and now it was the time to pay back with interest plus late fees. The Lord was not going to remove the consequences of my mistakes until I had paid the price. If He did I would not learn what I needed to learn.

Saw a lot of friends at the start. Warmed up with Jeff, Steve Hooper, and his wife Kendra. Then the race started.

From the start Iain Hunter took off with Jose Martinez. Jeff and Seth formed a chase pack. I was not too anxious to join them, but eventually did. Warned Dallen and Walter that the pace was too fast. Then figured I needed to make disclaimer that my sense of pace could be messed up. It was not, not in the first mile. We did it in 5:35 and that felt right. The foot was fussing already, and that worried me. But it was not yet altering the form too bad, and I felt comfortable running in the chase pack. Jose came back to us quickly.

Second mile was 5:55 (uphill). Third in 5:29 (downhill started). Seth made a move to go after Iain. At this point I realized that the pace would get faster soon, and I was right. The pack strung out. I found a sweet spot at the tail end right behind Satoru Shimomura from Japan and sat on him until Veyo. Noticed he was conservative on the downhill and aggressive on flat/up. We hit 5 miles in 27:58, 6 in 33:23 and 7 in 38:48. HR was 152-153 on the down, but Saturo would bring it up to 157 on uphill and flat seconds. Jeff Huxhold from Reno caught up to us and joined us shortly before Veyo. The foot did not do too bad on this section. I felt I could maintain good form in spite of the pain.

Then we started the Veyo climb. I fell back. First taking it easy on purpose, but then I realized I was not taking it easy at all. HR hit 160. The quads felt strained. The foot started fussing and when the climb was over I felt I was limping a bit. The form was not good anymore. The Veyo mile was 6:22, the one after that 6:10. During the Dameron Valley climb the foot kept getting worse and the form was deteriorating. I was not able to break 6:00 in any of the miles until 11.

At this point I knew that 2:30 was not happening, and even 2:40 was in serious question. When things start going bad around 10 they only get worse as the race progresses. I considered a DNF. I thought of my family and friends praying for me to run well, and thought it would be a shame to not even try. I thought of the $150 stipend waiting at the end. I also thought that the foot would need a month to heal regardless of whether I finished or not. I thought about the doctrine of enduring to the end and the spiritual benefits of enduring adversity. But what gave me the final push to keep going was the realization that if I waited for the DNF bus I would not make it to the finish before 12:00 pm. That would make Sarah worry excessively and I would miss the first session of the General Conference. In trouble with the Lord and your wife at the same time. That is much worse than foot pain for 16 miles!

In spite of running slowly I got passed only once before the half mark. A collegiate-looking runner with good form passed me very quickly. I think his name was Jason Griffiths. Had a decent mile from 12 to 13 in 5:45.  Reached 13 miles in 1:15:37. The half split was 1:16:28 where the clock was, but it was in the wrong spot, about 10 seconds ahead. Maybe even more than that.

Greg Harris passed me shortly after the half mark. At this time I also passed Dave Holt who was jogging waiting for his brother James to catch up after he had decided he did not want to suffer the all pain to run only 2:35. I find it rather interesting that even though James ran 2:47 Dave had to stop at mile 19 and wait for him after all of the jogging. I guess he could not quite jog as in "jog" with all of the adrenaline from the race.

The next two miles were bad. I could not use the downhill very well. Mile 15 which I normally run in 5:10 was 5:45. I became very concerned. Still 11 miles to go. Will my foot make it with all of the downhill? Then I thought of a trick. Pour water on the foot at aid stations. Sometimes it was Gatorade. Who cares, just get as much moisture on the sock as I can. I wished for the last year's weather. 1:27:22 at 15 miles.

Around 15 Walter caught up to me. Walter was too fast to latch on, but he brought me a gift - Ryan Ripley from Oklahoma. With the downhill grade reduced to about 2% and some cooling on the foot I was able to latch on to Ryan.  The grade stayed reasonable for a while and after about a mile I realized that Ryan was going too slow. I passed him, and thought for a moment that I could catch Walter. But then Winchester hill started followed by a steep decent. My foot could not do it, either up or down. I could run decent on between flat and 2% down but fell apart on anything out of that range.

1:57:13 at 20 miles. The good news is that I am not having any fuel issues and still plodding along at around 6:00 pace. So I will probably break 2:40, and maybe even 2:35. That is better than nothing even if I do get passed by a troop in the last miles.

With some water on the foot I was able to speed up to about 5:30 in the next downhill mile. That was exciting. At 22 I passed the smooth runner who I thought to be Jason Griffiths. He asked me what pace we were on - I told him we were headed for about 2:33. I did not have the time to explain that somebody who got there who was not dying was headed for 2:33. But he was still disappointed.

2:08:38 at 22. 2:14:31 at 23. Still sub-6:00. In the 24th mile got passed by Jose Martinez. The downhill was too steep - could not latch on. I think 2:26:38 at 25. Made a mental note that I just passed myself at the Top of Utah two weeks ago. 2:32:49 at 26. Not a whole lot left for the kick.

Done! 2:21:03 for Iain, 2:22:01 for Jeff, then Seth 2:25:52, Pepi 2:25:58 (new PR), Satoru 2:26:10, Chan Ye Woo 2:26:28, Fritz 2:26:46 (new PR), Jeff Huxhold 2:28:19, Greg 2:30:39, Justin Park 2:31:01 (new PR, I think),  Walter 2:31:43, and Jose 2:33:20.

P.M. Drove back. Listened to General Conference. The foot was bad. Could barely walk when fueling up. The kids ran with Sarah. Benjamin ran 2.1 in 14:33 around the block. Jenny did 2.1 untimed. Julia ran 1.75 untimed. Joseph ran 0.5.

...

Day of rest. Could not sleep last night. Possibly too much stress from dealing with the foot pain. Got up at 4:30, drove to the river, soaked the feet in the cold water while reading the scriptures. That helped. Came home, got back to sleep. 

Listened to General Conference. First session at home. Sat on the backup for the Russian translation at the Conference Center for the second. Felt something special during Elder Holland's talk on the Book of Mormon. The foot started feeling a lot better after the end of the morning session. Almost no pain. Do not understand how it happened so quickly. I was not expecting it to feel that good for another week.

A.M. 10.1 on a bike in 40:01. The trail was a little rough, and it was also windy. HR was around 130. Figured the effort was worth about 5 running miles.

P.M. 2 miles with Jenny at Grandview in 18:21. Benjamin ran it in 15:23. Julia ran 1.53 with us in 13:52. Joseph ran 0.5 with Sarah.

A.M. 8 laps at Grandview (3.09). Timed 7 of them (2.7) in 23:07. The foot felt runnable but definitely not 100%, about the way it felt at mile 5 of St. George. One difference from last week is that when I get out of bed it does not hurt anymore when I start walking on it.

P.M. 2 at Grandiew with Jenny in 20:04. Julia's foot was hurting (playing injury, one of the peculiarities of training little kids), so she ran only two laps (0.77) in 7:37. Benjamin ran 2 in 16:49.  Also added 0.5 with Joseph on pavement in 4:50.

A.M. Today is the anniversary of the Soviet Constitution of 1977. Back when I was growing up it was important enough to be holiday and we got a day off from school. I suppose in celebration of that I had a dream about Stalin. I've been having those dreams about once every 3-4 months. The theme is always the same. I am back in the time of his rule, am facing him, and trying to find the courage to defy him in his face. I am scared at first, but then remember that God is behind me and I have no reason to fear.  Once he sees I am not afraid of him, he vanishes in some form. In tonight's version I told him I knew it was 1953 and his days were numbered. I was going to be executed by a firing squad, but the prison nurse said I was very sick and even showed some made-up evidence, and they had a law that you could be executed until you got better. That gave me the three days I needed for Stalin to die.

I wonder why I keep having those dreams, or rather what they mean if they mean anything. My family was affected by Stalin's rule greatly. My mother's father died after about 8 years in the camps. My father's father miraculously survived 18 years. My father's mother was afraid to speak her mind even to her children regarding the subject, and did not do so until after Stalin's death. But not quite right away. Even though she was not too fond of dead bodies, she went to the mausoleum (originally Stalin was put there with Lenin, but then was taken out - Lenin is still there) twice to make sure Stalin was really dead.

Ran 3.08 at Grandview with Jeff in a glorious time of 26:40. That is 8:38 average.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin at Grandview in 15:53. He chased a female soccer player around the field for a while at close to 6:00 pace. But she was taking short cuts, and eventually stopped, so he never got the pleasure of passing her. That was the fastest I've run since the marathon. Then 2 more with Jenny in 18:16. Julia ran 1.53 with us in 14:37. 0.5 with Joseph and Benjamin on the road in 4:54.

A.M. Bummed my way through 5.02 miles at Grandview, 3 of it with Jeff, in 42:00. The foot pain is still there, although slowing going away. Definitely runnable. However, I am trying hard to run as little as possible to speed up the recovery. I do not like it, though. I like to run 10 miles at once. 

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 16:38 at Grandview.  0.5 with Joseph and Julia in 4:46.

A.M. 6 at Grandview with Jeff.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 17:37. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:13. Joseph's new record. Splits of 2:15 and 1:58. Julia took a break - sore foot.

A.M. 10 with Jeff at Grandview in 1:17:50. I got tired of running 6 miles a day. The foot does not seem to care if it is 6, 10, or 0. Slowly getting better regardless, and rest, mileage reduction, or anything else for that matter does not make it any faster. I suppose if I moved to the pavement it would slow the healing down, but on grass it seems to be all the same. Plus I need my medication from running. In the last week I started to get an idea of why I never missed more than three days of running since I started in 1984. Not that I like to run that much, but if I do not I have a hard time focusing, and overall stop feeling like myself.

Kids ran their usual distances with with Sarah.

Day of rest. Went to church.

A.M. 10 with Jeff at Grandview in 1:17:25. Benjamin ran 2 with us in about 16:35.

P.M. Supervised Jenny and Julia on a bike. Jenny ran 17:41 2 miles. Julia did 1.5 in 13:27. Then 0.5 with Joseph in 4:59.

A.M. Ran with Jeff at Grandview again. The grass was warmer, so I ran barefoot. Total time 1:17:21.

Rode the bike to Grandview and back. On the way back had a bit of fun trying to keep up with a car from a standing start in a 25 mph zone. It gapped me, but not by a lot, and I felt the effort was sustainable. 

P.M. 1.5 with Julia in 14:34 at Grandview barefoot. Jenny ran 2 in 18:51. Benjamin did 17:10 for 2 miles. Later 0.5 with Joseph in 4:52.

A.M. Ran with Jeff. 10  at Grandiview in 1:19:56 barefoot. Rode the bike again to and back. 

P.M. Supervised Julia on a bike. She ran 1.5 in 12:56. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny at Grandview. Benjamin ran 16:43. Jenny 16:59. I finished with Jenny, but I had a stop in the middle to go to the bathroom that took about a minute, and then caught up.  0.5 with Joseph at home in 4:14.

A.M. Was feeling fatigued, possibly because of a minor cold. So decided to take it easy. Dragged my way through 6.17 miles in 50:58 at Grandview.

P.M.  Felt a bit better. Morning nap helped. Ran with the kids at Grandview. Julia ran 1.53 in 13:24. Jenny 2 in 17:11. Benjamin and I ran 2 in 13:48.  Sarah ran 0.5 with Joseph at home.

A.M. Felt better this morning. Ran at Grandview. Felt not that great in the first 3 miles, but then warmed up and felt normal. Wore new Airwalk Clogs to try them out. They are one size too small, so there is a bit of blistering, but otherwise they are very good for the foot - I could not feel anything and ran normally as far as I could tell. 8.1 in 1:01:55. Benjamin ran the first 2 with me in 17:22.

 P.M. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:51. 2 with Jenny at Grandview in 18:31. Julia ran 1.5 with Sarah on a bike.

A.M. 10 with Jeff around Grandview in 1:17:44.

P.M. Supervised the kids on a bike. Jenny and Julia ran 1.5 in 14:50. Benjamin did 2 in 16:46. Joseph ran 0.5 with Sarah.

Day of rest. Went to church.

A.M. Ran with Jeff at Grandview. We started out very slow, and at one point were more than 4 minutes behind the 3 minute per lap guy (7:40 pace). The reason, I believe was that we were too busy discussing my dream. I dreamt that I knew how to fly and remembered I had that skill around mile 21 in a marathon. I reviewed the list of USATF rules and recalled nothing that said you could not fly. When running at race pace you spend about two thirds of the time in the air anyway. They cannot possibly restrict the amount of air time. So I figured it was legal as long as I was not using an implement, mechanism or device to propel myself. I happened to have picked a bad spot to take off as the course went through a forest. Just as I finally managed to get above the trees I woke up and realized that I did not know how to fly. Nevertheless this provided a great subject for the morning run discussion.

Then Jeff went home (he runs to Grandview and back, while I drive to avoid having to run on pavement), and I decided to get that silly 3:00 per lap guy. So gradually picked up to about 6:30 pace and beat him by over a minute with 1:16:43 for the whole run. It was not easy, though. I felt like I was seriously out of shape. Not surprising given the lack of normal training recently. Also, the perception might have been exaggerated since I was on grass and wearing too much clothes for the weather.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 17:18. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:16. He closed with a 1:58 quarter. Julia ran 1.5 with Sarah.

A.M. Ran with Jeff at Grandview. Got serious and wore an HRM to see how I am doing on cardio. It was too cold for it to work - took me a while to work up enough sweat to receive correct data. At 7:40 pace HR was around 125-127 - normal for the grass. At 7:00 it was around 145, a little high. At 6:10 pace it was 157, not terrible. But I could get it up any higher and the culprit seemed to be the foot. It did not hurt terribly but at faster speeds I could tell I did not want to quite hammer it. Which is perhaps is a good thing. So my conclusion was that I did not get too bad out of shape cardiovascularly at least.

Total time for 10 miles was 1:14:42.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny. Benjamin took off at the end and finished in 16:58. I stayed with Jenny - our time was 17:13. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:51. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:52.Now our family has only one person that cannot run a quarter in under 3:00 - William.

Julia ran 1.5 with Sarah. 

A.M. Ran with Jeff at Grandview. 10 in 1:17:57.

P.M. 2.25 with Benjamin and Jenny from Computune. Benjamin took off with 0.3 left, ran a quarter in 1:29 and finished with 17:39. I stayed with Jenny and we finished in 18:23. It was quite a sight to see Benjamin leave us in the dust while we were going 8:00, which is not slow at all for a little kid. Later 0.5 with Joseph and Julia in 4:26. Julia then ran another mile with Sarah on a bike.

A.M. Ran with Jeff at Grandview. 10 in 1:16:43.

P.M. 2.25 with Benjamin, Jenny, and Julia to Computune in 19:07. Julia's record for the run. Took a spill on the the way, got a few scrapes. I have a peculiarity in the form, not necessarily a bad thing. I do not get off the ground very high, and I also bring the foot forward really fast to have enough time to pull it back before landing. All of this business happens maybe an inch off the ground if that. So if there is a bump only an inch high, you can guess what happens. The knee hurt from the fall, but I was able to keep running. In fact, it made me stop noticing the foot.

A.M. Ran with Jeff at Grandview. 10 in 1:17:33. The knee still hurt from the fall, but it was runnable.

P.M. The children ran their usual distances with Sarah on a bike.

A.M. Did a 5 mile tempo on the Fast Running Blog 5 miler course to access the damage from the lack of training and the foot-caused biomechanical problems. Set a modest goal of breaking 30:00, but still was not quite sure if it was going to happen. Wore an HRM to get a better picture of the problems.

Jeff and I warmed up 2 miles with Benjamin in 15:41, then ran another 1.37 to the start of the tempo. Noticed that HR was 125-127 at 7:30 pace - 5 beats too high.

The tempo went like this (quarter splits, off memory, my own not the watch's): 86 - 89 - 86 - 86 (5:48) - 85 - 87 - 87 - 87 (5:48, 11:36) - 86 - 89 (14:31 at the turnaround) - 84 - 82 (5:41, 17:17) - 88 - 89 - 83 - 83 (5:43, 23:00) - 87 - 85 - 84 - 80 (5:36, 28:36.0). 5:43.1 average, negative split by half - 14:31 - 14:05.

HR was 159 - 160 at 5:48 pace, again about 5 beats too high. I was not lucid enough to check it during pickups to 5:30, but I would guess 166-167, again 5 beats too high for the pace. Those were not intentional. Jeff was having trouble with his sense of pace due to the lack of anything fast in the last 3 weeks, and also due to the fact that the pace was dog slow for him. Nevertheless I was able to check the max HR after the fact and it was 173 probably reached in the last quarter. Not surprising. I nearly threw up when I finished from the effort in the last 200, which was done in 38

Jeff kicked in the last 100 on top of the already fast (for me) pace and managed to gap me by 4 seconds.

Afterwards we cooled down to make the total 10. Jeff then ran 2 more miles.

The foot did OK. I felt it, but it was at about the start of St. George level at the start of the tempo, which was OK but not that great, but what was encouraging is that when I was done it was not any worse!

Overall I was pleased with the results. I finished in the top range of my optimistic exceptations, and was able to do it with a negative split in a fartlek-style run with the pace varying from 5:56 to 5:28 excluding the last quarter. Some cardio power was lost during the layoff. Although most people would not call a training period of 8 weeks that involved 2 marathons quite exactly a layoff. What this tells me is that daily mileage is more important for aerobic power than a long run, even if that long run is long and hard. I did my long runs (TOU and St. George) , both done at almost race pace with at least 2:35 on my feet but my daily mileage was lacking. Thus some aerobic power was lost.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 18:31. Julia ran the first 1.5 with us in 13:53. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:53.

Day of rest. Went to church. Downloaded and watch General Conference on my hack of a video playing system. Got a better understanding of the talks, some of which came while debugging the system. Hearing the same talk more than once eventually broke through a barrier, my eyes were opened and I began to see by the Spirit.

You can see some amazing things when you see by the Spirit! I strongly encourage that.

Those things, however, are not easy or should I say not possible to describe in writing. They must be seen by the Spirit, so I cannot post an image or a video, except refer the reader to The General Conference web site and encourage him to watch, read, and/or listen to the talks with a prayerful attitude.

A.M. Ran at Grandview with Jeff. Benjamin joined us for the first 2 miles in 16:48. We found a soccer ball and passed it along to each other as we ran. So a little bit of cross training. Total time for 10 was 1:17:28.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 17:40. Julia ran the first 1.5 with us in 13:43. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:57.

A.M. Ran with Jeff at Grandview. 10 in 1:15:56.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 17:43. Julia ran the first 1.5 in 13:48. Benjamin ran 2 in 15:53. 0.5 with Joseph in 3:59! That is his new record. I believe it is also the family record for 0.5 in the 4 and under division.

A.M. Ran with Jeff at Grandview. 8.1 in 1:04:54. Then came home and ran with Benjamin. We decided to go in the direction of Sarah's run until we would meet her if we did not meet her before 1 mile mark. So we ended up going to the 2 mile mark, then ran back. 4 miles in 31:10. Benjamin felt it was like a jog in the first 2.5 miles, then he said it got signficantly harder, but he maintained the pace nevertheless. No surprise here. His usual run distance is 2 miles.

P.M. 2 with Jenny in 18:21. Julia ran the first 1.5 in 13:57. Joseph ran 0.5 with Sarah.

A.M. 2.25 with Benjamin from Computune in 17:42.

P.M. Ran with Jeff. Joined him for a part of his control tempo run. His target was to run at 173 HR for 4 miles, then run the last mile hard. The purpose was to get an idea if he was fit enough to have a shot at prize money in Richmond half.

I ran the first and the fourth mile. 5:15 and 5:25 respectively. Also coasted through one more mile in 6:13 immediately following the 5:25. The foot did not like the 76 quarter at the opening of the first mile. I thought about stopping at 0.5, but decided to tough it out a bit more. Not sure if it was a good idea, but well, I did it. In the second mile it was not as drastic since the pace never was faster than 5:20, but the foot was already irritated from the previous mile.  So my conclusion from this and my Saturday's run is that I should not run faster than 5:40 for some time. Not that I would be particularly anxious anyway - I do not look forward to anything faster than 7:30 in this kind of condition.

Jeff ran 21:27 for the first 4 miles, and then once the HR speed limit was removed, closed with a 4:54 mile. I think 173 HR is way below his half race effort, which is a good sign. So I am doing the following math - half race pace on the trail 5:20, take off 5 seconds for the weirdness of the trail (that's the difference I see between running on the trail and running on a street/highway), take off 10 second for going to see level. That gives us 5:05 pace, or in other words 1:06:38 for the half. With that he should be in the money in Richmond. Also, it would be nice to covert this math from theory to practice, and if we succeed, that's only 1:38 from OTQ through the half - close enough to see a flickering beam of hope.

Now it is the matter of logistics - time off work, finding a place to stay (they do not give hotel to anybody in the half, only the marathon), and getting a good airplane ticket.

0.5 with Joseph in 4:27. Jenny and Julia ran with Sarah on a bike.

A.M. Ran at Grandview with Jeff. 8.1 in 1:07:43. Then 2 with Benjamin in 15:49.

P.M. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:39. 2 with Jenny in 17:20. Julia ran the first 1.5 in 13:14.

A.M.  Slept in on purpose. Spent the morning assembling the 12 chairs we got from IKEA for $20 each to match the table we got from a KSL ad for $235. 12 chairs has a special significance to a Russian due to a popular novel and movie with the same name.Now we just need to get some padding for them so we can hide the diamonds.

I discovered that a drill makes up for a good portion of my clumsiness, and having the kids do small tasks helps me stay focused. So it did not take as long as I was afraid it would.

Jeff ran in a little cross-country 5 K race put on by a group of Orem stakes, so we were not planning on running together. Nevertheless, when I went for a run I met him after 1.25 unexpectedly. Ran with him to 3.25, then he was done, and I went on to finish 10. Asked him how the race went. First sentence out of his mouth: "It was a weird race - the second place was 3 minutes back". Upon further questioning the suspect revealed that the race was really not that weird. There was a reason the second place finished almost 3 minutes back. Jeff ran 15:47. Second place was 18:36. It could have been more weird for sure.

Finished 10 in 1:11:57. Ran two more with Benjamin in 15:32. Jenny and Julia ran 2.5 with Sarah. Joseph ran 0.5.