Breaking the Wall

Day of rest. Went to church. The lesson in Sunday school was on the Church of Jesus Christ in our day. The lesson in the Elder's quorum was on prayer. Then we had a fast and testimony meeting. Benjamin and Jenny overcame their fear of public speaking and bore their testimonies.

A.M. Stephen refused to sleep, so I took him downstairs and worked with the idea to take a nap in the afternoon. Thus only 4 hours of sleep. Did the usual 12.5 miles, including kids runs. 3 with Benjamin, 2 with Jenny and Julia, 1 with Joseph, and 0.5 with Jacob. Benjamin repeated his 2000 time trial, this time much better. I told him that if he found enough faith to bear his testimony in public, he would be able to use that faith to overcome his self-confidence issues when faced with a challenging running goal, in this case being able to run 2K under 7:30. He does have a testimony. He has read the standard works of the Church (Old Testament, New Testament, Book Of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price) in their entirety twice, has been through the Book of Mormon 9 times, and studies at least one General Conference talk every day. All of that on his own initiative. But he did not inherit from me the natural brazen-facedness that eliminates the fear of getting up in front of a crowd or tucking into a pack of Kenyans and running with them till "the standard bearer fainteth". So that had to be developed through faith, and he took the first step yesterday in church. Today he did the time trial, and it went much better than last time.  His splits were 88 - 88 - 89 - 91 - 86 with the total time of 7:22.5, reaching the goal of sub-7:30 and improving his PR by 18.5 seconds.

During the rest of the run I saw Ed Eyestone and ran with him some. We had a good chat.

A.M. Ran with the kids - Benjamin 3, Jenny and Julia 2, Joseph 1, and Jacob - 0.5. Little did I know that this would be Jacob's last run for a long time. Later in the evening he broke his leg while wrestling with his brothers. So we are now in an emergency mode as he is not able to move and requires constant care. We've never had anybody break a limb yet, I suppose there is always a time for first. Now every morning when I take the kids for their runs Jacob is not there. But at least he is alive, in the house, amazingly in good spirits even thought he cannot move his leg without extreme pain, and should be more or less to normal in a couple of months. It could have been much worse, But I still miss him. 

Total run was 13.4. Did 4x1000 with 200 recovery - 3:14.9 down - 3:25.3 up - 3:18.1 down - 3:22.5 up. Felt OK, but not the best.

A.M. Spent a good portion of last night in the emergency room at the Utah Valley Hospital with Jacob taking care of his broken tibia. Ran 12.5 miles. 6 with the kids. Benjamin did 4, including 1 with Joseph who ran 8:19 and set a new record for the mile without holding my hand. Jenny and Julia did 2.

A.M. Started with the kids run - Benjamin did 3, including 1 with Joseph. Jenny and Julia ran 2. Then did 4x1000 with 200 recovery. Was not expecting much, considering canceling the workout, but decided to give one repeat a shot, to see how I felt. Ended up doing all 4 because I surprisingly felt good after the first one. The splits were 3:15.8 down - 3:21.5 up - 3:17.1 down - 3:21.1 up. Mike joined me for a part.

A.M. Ran 4 with Benjamin including 1 with Joseph, then 2 with Jenny and Julia. Then added 6.5. Mike ran parts of me. I picked it up a bit in the last quarter and ran it in 89. 

A.M. We had a service project in the morning, so I did not start my run until 10 AM. By then it got warm, and I underestimated how warm it was going to get. Benjamin came along with me on a bike and was carrying some water. Unfortunately he took off half way through on the downhill in anticipation that he would be getting tired later and not able to keep up with me on his old bike, but he did better than he thought he would. The run was to Bridal Veil and back, 10 miles up, then 10 down. On the way up it was not too warm and I had tail wind, so I did 1:09:20 for the first half without much difficulty. On the way down things were not so good. It got warmer, the thermometer I ran past said 80F. I was feeling sluggish, but managed 5:50 pace in the first 3 miles. Then I got out of the canyon and there was no cover from the sun. 80F would be no big deal in July, but given that a week ago it was 35F I struggled, especially with no water. Also, direct sunlight makes a difference. 80F at 6:00 AM or 8:00 PM is barely noticeable, while 80F at 12:00 PM is a problem. So the pace slowed to 6:00, then started slipping a bit over it, and the last two miles were 6:28, 6:23. But the way I felt with the lack of energy and bounce in the legs I thought I'd be lucky to break 7:00 on those. I suppose this was a practice for the end of the marathon. The total time for 20 was 2:10:14 with the last 10 in 1:00:54, 6:05 average.

Jenny and Julia ran 2 on their own. 

P.M. Ran with Benjamin and Joseph. Joseph set a record in the mile with the time of 7:53. His splits were 2:00, 1:59, 1:58, 1:56. This does not tell the whole story as his first 200 was 54. Then he slowed down, but we told him if he sped up he'd be able to get sub-8:00. I promised him a remote controlled helicopter if he broke 8:00. Whenever a child asks for something special, we set some form of performance requirements for them to get it. He has tried numerous times before, the fitness was there, but the attention span was not. Finally he was able to focus, and we ordered the helicopter that night. After Joseph's run Benjamin and I ran two more miles giving me 23 for the day, and Benjamin 3 on foot and 20 on a bike. After some rest and a couple of meals I was actually feeling quite strong.