On the road to BOSTON!

Ran from Ledges overpass to my home in Bloomington. The first 7 miles were good the last of the run was slow.....but overall I felt good,

I got home from the run and 45 minutes later I was on my way with my family to do some hiking....added another 5 miles. Time for a break.

I was able to get some good sleep last night. My body was very tired after a couple of hard days running. Looking at playing tennis for a couple of hours this morning and maybe an easy run later...

I decided to go for a 3 mile run before tennis. Slow pace, didn't want to burn out before tennis.

The day was too nice! I ran another 4.70 miles before lunch.

Could not sleep last night...my dog would not stop whining, usually there is no problem because she sleeps with my daughter. Last night my daughter decided that she should stay with us...all night long she wanted to go to my daughter.....long, long night!

I couldn't go running til 8:15. I tried running some short one mile segments focusing on bringing my pace down. Not too bad for me I averaged 8:44 over 5.65 miles. This was a mix of up and downs....I will try it again in the morning and see if I can improve on that mark.

I had a hard time getting up this morning. I went out to Ivins and drove the trails course to gunlock to see what it was like. Stopped just past Gunlock and ran 4 1/2 miles, mostly up hill to just outside of Veyo, to the top of the big hill, then ran back to the car. The hills felt better today, I was able to keep a descent pace going up most of the hills. I was able to kick out my fastest mile ever today. I hit a 6:15 average pace coming down the hill from Veyo.....sure it was hill aided but I don't care, it felt good. I just wish I could do that for a longer period of time.

Going to take a break and try out the 1/2 marathon on saturday and see what a race is like...my first!

I ran the Trails Half Marathon this morning in St. George. This is my first race that I have entered. Overall I felt good about the run. I know that I can do better and hope I can at least hold my pace for the St. george marathon next month. I finished with a 9:01 pace for the race. What a great morning to run!

Just 4 weeks until the marathon........can't wait!

Today I took a long slow run. Started at my home in Bloomington and ran over Tonaquint past the Stephen Wade, up past Dixie High. Then turned up past the Temple and zig zaged to Dixie College and out to River Road. I then went up past the Mall and through Washington to the top of the hill. Turned right out to the Fields, turned onto Industrial Drive(3000 South) and ran up to the Summit Athletic Club, crossed over and onto the bike path to the Dixie Center and then continued along the path back to Bloomington. I ran this for fun not for time.

The first leg was 13.1 miles without making any stops or walk breaks. I ran a 10:00 pace and felt very strong and rested. The last 8 1/2 miles I just did what felt good. I walked quite a bit because my foot started to hurt. That worked its way out and once I got close to the Dixie Center I ran most of the way home.

Nothing impressive just putting in some logged miles. Putting them in the bank.......LOL.

Just another mellow run today. Decided to basically put in miles this week and not worry so much about the pace. For the most part I am holding to about a 10:00 pace, every once and ahile I will move up to a 7:00 pace for a quarter mile or so just so I am not too bored. I just feel like I need to get the feet conditioned to the extended miles, I can always put the speed back in as I get closer to the marathon.

Went for another very slow run/walk.....

I decided to do some resting. I ran 43 miles in 3 days and that is a lot for me especially after running a half marathon on saturday. My left foot has some pain in the ball under the big toe and some minor pain in the legs. I feel good enough to run but thought that it would be wise to not overdue it. I am planning for my last 'big' run on saturday morning. I am sure that there will be a lot of runners on the SGM course saturday.

I may sneek out for a small run tonight just to keep the legs going......

I did sneek out for a run this evening. 4 miles at an easy pace around the Bloomington loop and home. Finished with a strong 6:40 pace for the last 1/2 mile. Now its time to get ready for the saturday run!

I did the same run as last night with a similar pace.

A great benifi that I have enjoyed with running the past two months is weight lose. I started out at 178 and weighed in yesterday at 154. 24 pounds! Of course that was right after a run but none the less the weight is coming off and I feel great. I hope to stabilize at 150-155 for the marathon. I just picture myself running with a 25 pound bag of sugar down the road and then dropping it and sprinting to the finish...LOL

Today I ran from the top of veyo hill...whimped out and didn't want to climb the 'hill' this morning. This was a great run for me. I did not look at my pace the whole time, I just ran what felt good. I ended up with a 8:32 average pace for the 18 miles.That would put me at a 3:45 marathon! From last saturday to today I was able to cut off 29 seconds per mile and my body feels great. Hopfully the taper will help my body mend and be able to perform at its peak.  I am hoping that the stars, planets etc. line up for me on October 4th so that I can pull off that kind of a time.

It was good to meet Steve, Clyde and Logan after their run. Of course they flew by me...but the inspired me to push a little harder coming out of Winchester area. We talked for a bit...thanks guys for the support!

I noticed that I hit 69 mjiles for the week, that is by far my personal best. Now it is time to start cutting back and work on quality miles.

Time to watch some football............

Starting my taper. Today I ran between a 9:00 and 10:00 pace and then mixed in some .10 to .20 mile sprints every once in a while. I was hitting between 4:26 and 5.30 pace on the sprints. If I could only maintain that kind of pace over a longer timeframe. I think that I will try to hit those times on wednesday morning for .25 to .50 mile sprints and start building up the distance I can hold the fast pace.

It was good seeing Clyde and Logan out on the trail this morning.

I went out and ran a couple of .25 mile sprints. 5:12 and 4:25 pace. I am trying to get a feel what it is to run that fast....... It was too hot for me this afternoon to push it longer. Maybe later tonight I will try a few more and longer.

Ran over Tonaquint picked up the bike path at the Dixie Center and ran to just short of the Post Office and returned back on the trail to home. 8.85 miles

Took a one hour break and did a 1 1/2 hour fast paced workout with tennis. I was running through the numbers and figured that I did at least 7 miles of short burst, side to side, up and back miles. May not be distance miles but for me they were miles none the less. (I logged only 5 of them).I did this instead of biking. The feet took a pounding for this workout but I feel great and very rested.

I have been mapping out my Wednesday morning run. I am looking at running the Snow Canyon Park road from the bottom of the park to the highway at the top. The plan is to take the run if if things are feeling GREAT, I will make the full loop (16.15 miles). If they are not do the simple down the hill to the car (9.00). This leaves me an out rather than running from the church and having to make the loop. I know Clyde and Logan did the loop on Saturday and I understand it is a tough run.....we will see how it goes!

Today I started running below the entrance to Snow Canyon Park. I ended up making the full loop. I am glad that is over.......a tough run this morning!

I have a litttl emore time now to explain my run:

Those hills going through Snow Canyon have some bite in them, especially the last couple of miles. I was sure glad when I got on top of Snow Canyon. The next 8 miles were great, not as fast as I had thought they would be but they felt good. I didn't look at my pace until I was completed with the run. The hard miles were the last 4 running along the Snow Canyon Parkway. I was tired and felt beat up on the last couple....had to do some walking.
When I started out the run my body hurt. The inside of my left knee was very sore as well as my left ankle and ball of my left foot. My left hip also hurt. (I think it is a combination of trying to shift my strike more to mid foot and getting adjusted to wearing orthotics). Once I g0t running they all went away and it is 3pm and my body feels GREAT!

Last night I was tired, not my body but me. The nrun in the morning took it out of me. At the same time my legs and feet felt great. I cannot believe how quickly the body can heal itself!

This morning I went for my normal 6.20 run around tonaquint to the Dixie Center and back on the trails through Bloomington and home. I took it easy and didn't push much at all and ended up with  9:14 pace. I even took a few walk breaks. 2 months ago I worked hard to get an 11:12 pace.

I am gettin more excited for the SGM. Hopefully the body and mind feels great that day and I can put up some good times. I feel very good about putting up a 4 hour run. The question is going to be can I have everything come together and cut that down to a 3:30?

I ran the exact run as yesterday morning. My legs were very heavy theis morning for the first couple of miles. Then all felt great! Headed for Ogden this morning and back tonight.....then run in the morning!

For starters I didn't get much sleep. I got home late from a fast trip to Ogden and back. My son had friends staying over for the night and they were making a lot of noise after 1am. My daughter was out late and is never quite when she comes home.....

I ran the final 12.13 miles of the SGM course. My body had a hard time getting going this morning. I almost stopped and went back to my car a couple of times. Then I finally realized that going back up hill was not a good option...

I had originally planned on pushing this run pretty hard to see what I could do. I abandoned that idea and decided to not look at my watch and just run what was very comfortable. Well when I got to the finish I was amazed to see that I had run an 8:07 average. That is 4 seconds slower than my Boston Q time. Of course I did run the easiest part of the course but I am still feeling very good about things.

I am going to officially start my taper now. I just couldn't do it this past week and I am glad that I didn't. The running I did this week has made me stronger and my body has mended very well this week from the minor pains that I have been having.

Ran my 6.20 route taking it easy....it's taper!

Left knee is a bit sore, the left hip was sore this weekend. I am going to go in today and make sure that everything is lined up properly with my chiropractor.

Had a hard time getting out this morning. I forgot to set the alarm because I was too tired last night. My body feels like it has been beat up.

My run was un eventful slow pace. I just ran to get the body woke up. Each mile I thought I put in the same effort. When I got home my pace was getting faster and ended up with a 9:20 pace. I was only going to run a 10:00.

Later I ran a quick 3/4 mile @ 7.30 pace just for fun.

This morning I  ran the double loop. From home over Tonaquint to Dixie Center and back to Bloomington then around Bloomington Drive to home. I ran into Logan, Clyde and Dave at the Dixie Center. They were done with their workout and ready to run their cooldown. They took off for Bllomington and I just tried to keep up with their cooldown pace. That happens to be about where my marathon pace is. It was great having them pace me, I stayed with them for 2 1/4 miles then I continued on to my last 3 miles. Thanks for pacing me! (8:50 average pace for 8.85 miles) When I was running behind the gang I felt like I could have run closer to 7:00 to 7:30 the legs felt good on that stretch but I wanted to make sure that that I didn't push too hard. Today felt good...body starting to heal.

Tried on some Saucony Fastwitch 3's today. I ran for a bit on the treadmill (.65m) to get a feel for them. I decided that I will wait until after the marathon to wear them. Don't want to screw things up this close.

Nice easy 9:15 run around Bloomington.

I only ran 2.50 this morning on the treadmill. I wanted to try out the Fastwitch 3 shoes. I am not going to go to them this close to the marathon but will the next time I run a race. They felt good. I will have to get them out on the road next time to see how they feel.

I have been trying to decide what and where to run in the morning. I think that 10 miles is my distance I am going to run. My options right now are:

a) run 10 on the course to the finish line

b) start at the finish line run up 5 miles then back track.

c) start 10 miles from my home and run to the finish line then continue to my home in Bloomington.

I suppose I will make that decision in the morning.........

If anyone is running 10 on the course let me know.

Change of plans; The day was feeling so good that I decided to take my last long run today. There was some cloud cover so I went for it. I ran up to Tonaquint then on to the Green Valley loop through the desert to the Green Vally Spa then made my way back along dixie drive, Tonaquint drive. BAD IDEA. As soo as I got going the clouds went away, it got hot and the path was way too rocky! This was not a good run.....period. I am beat, now it is time to go chill.

It felt good to get this morning and run. I needed to get the BAD run on friday out of my memory. I ran an easy 6 miles out to the dixie center and back. I just let my legs run a comfortable pace on this run. I feel that I could easily have moved my pace down :30 or so and still felt good. That is right where I want it to be. I need to get an 8:03 for my BQ of 3:30:59. The body continues to feel stronger.

I noticed that on my run on friday that I had some Nikken mag step insoles in my shoes. They are heavy! This is what really complicated things plus the heat of the day (95). I also checked my shoes to make sure that everything is good with them before the race. I have been having problems with the balls of me feet hurting the past week or so. I have been using a very light weight insloe and it was totally crushed from the summer worth of training. Ran with new ones this morning....much, much better.

Will be resting until Wednesday.....

Took today off to heal. I so wanted to go out running to get ride of some energy. I am getting amped for Saturday. My left leg still hurts a bit from a slight roll on Fridays run...stupid, stupid trail run! In the morning I plan to run 5 miles+- with 2 of them at marathon or under pace. I want to see how the legs feel after minimal miles this week.

I have been studying the course to plan out my Rocktane intake.

I am going to go drive the course Friday morning again to scope it out and finalize my game plan. I have trained hard for this first marathon and I expect to run strong. I am trying to decide if I should run with a pace group. I don't know much about pace groups and hope to learn more s the week goes along. I have trained as a loner and have a hard time talking to people when I run......but I can see the benifits from running with a group to keep the mind sharp and try to take some stress out of the run.........time will tell.