Breaking the Wall

Day of rest. Went to church.

The talks in the sacrament meeting focused on the meaning of Christmas. One talk addressed what we could give Christ as a gift. Really only one thing - obedience to his commandments. Otherwise we have nothing that we can give Him. Everything we have, except our agency, is His already.

The lesson in the Elder's Quorum was on Elder Holland's talk in the last General Conference in which he testified of the divinity of the Book of Mormon. He related his great-grandfather's reaction after reading the Book of Mormon: "No wicked man could write such a book as this; and no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were commanded of God to do so". 

When I heard that part I recalled that I had very similar feelings when I read the Book of Mormon for the first time. A wicked man cannot write it. A good man will not write it and claim it was divine revelation unless it really was. How interesting. Two people from very different backgrounds living an ocean and a century apart have essentially exact same reaction. I take it as an additional witness that the Book of Mormon is what it claims to be. 

A.M. 10.2 in 1:09:28. Did a quarter in 72, felt good. At the end of the run picked it up and ran 0.75 in 4:22. Jenny ran with Sarah.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 16:54.  Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:38. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:40. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:59.

A.M. 10.2 in 1:12:47. Ran 0.5 in 2:31. Splits by 200: 38 - 37 - 37 - 39. The first 200 had a little bit of snow, the second and third almost 100% clear, the last had the most snow. So I figure without snow it would have been around 2:27. Felt a small bear jump on me after 600, but otherwise good.

P.M. We got some snow, but it was more or less runnable. 2 with Benjamin in 18:36. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 14:40. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:47. 0.25 with Jacob in 3:24. Not counting Jacob's run towards mileage due to slow pace. 

A.M. Glorious 10.2 in 1:26:46. The time speaks for itself. There was a lot of snow. After the first mile I thought it would take me 1:38 to finish the run as I was barely breaking 10:00 pace. But then the snow quality improved and I was able to hit 8:00 pace and even 7:30 with a bit of effort on some segments, which allowed me to average  8:30 for the run.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 18:51. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 14:38. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:57. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:59. 

A.M. 10.2 in 1:14:57. I thought maybe a little under 1:20 after the first couple of miles as the road was very slippery, and 7:20 was I could do on good parts. However, I got used to it after a while and was able to go sub-7:00 on good parts, and still hold it sub-8:00 on bad parts. What is funny is that while most of the route is on the Provo River Trail the worst part of it is our street. They plow the trail more often than they plow our street. But I have nothing to complain about. I much rather have them plow the trail than our street. Not so sure about my neighbors, though.

Jenny ran with Sarah.

P.M.  2 with Benjamin in 17:36. Julia ran the first 1.5 with us in 13:44. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:45. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:57.

A.M. 10.2 in 1:11:59. If you told me I'd be able to run this fast after feeling the trail with my feet but without looking at my splits I would have laughed. But somehow low 7:00 and later even 6:40, occasionally sub-6:40 started happening in spite of the slippage. Did a pickup to test if my recent attempts to massage out the scar tissue and other garbage in the right pectineus muscle did any good. The form felt smoother, the right glut was engaging better, but no miracle smoothness yet. Not surprising, easy come, easy go, it will take a lot of learning and then a lot of work to apply that learning to undo the damage that was done 23 years ago.

I spent the last ten years trying to find the culprit that makes me run funny. I think I've finally found it. At least I feel like the pieces of the puzzle are securely together, and I have an explanation I am content with for everything that happened and everything I've felt over the course of my running career. The culprit is the damaged right pectineus. Everything else is a consequence. 

Jenny ran with Sarah. 

Drove to SLC later in the morning to visit with Sarah's family. On the way there around 106th South on I-15 all of a sudden Sarah starts telling me that somebody she does not recognize is trying to say hi to us. She rolled down the window and had a brief conversation with the driver of a mini-van. I looked briefly, but then turned my eyes towards the road. I have only one working eye, so I really cannot look aside too much or I'll crash the car. The van had Colorado license plates. From that and Sarah's description of the people in the van I figured it was Nan and Aaron. This turned out to be correct. Aaron posted a comment in my blog confirming the encounter. Small world.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin in 17:13. Julia ran the first 1.5 in 13:38.  0.5 with Joseph in 4:40. 0.25 with Jacob in 2:56.

A.M. Ran 13.2 in 1:27:29 on the Uneventful Half course. The trail had good parts, and not so good. Still slippery almost everywhere to some extent. Did some pickups, some of them timed and measured. Of the ones timed and measured -  1.5 in 8:41, considered going 2.5, but the quads were tensing up, and I was approaching an area with more snow and ice, so I figured 1.5 was good. Then did about 0.7 hitting 1 K in 3:39 up a small grade and with some ice. Ran the last 1.5 in 8:59. Had some obstacles on that stretch. Two bridges where I had to slow down, on one I hit a 100 in 28 (7:32 pace), some snow drifts, and the last 0.14 on our street where I had to slow down to 6:40. Was pleasantly surprised when I saw with a quarter to go that I miscalculated my finish time projection, and that it was going to be a minute faster.

P.M. 2 with Benjamin and Jenny in 17:42. Julia ran 1.5 with us in 13:30. 0.5 with Joseph in 4:38. 0.25 with Jacob in 3:00.