Each Day Is a Gift

54F partly sunny 8mph SSE wind. Perfect running weather.  I started out wearing a surgical mask but soon found it difficult to breath through and sunglasses keeps getting fogged up.  I only put it on when approaching walkers.  Then totally took it off after having to blow my nose. 

Ran west on MCT turned around at mile 3 (Rail Trail junction), stopped at 1500W restroom (mile 3.6) to drink.  Did the 4:30 run to :30 walk ratio, ran the downhill, did 1 min run 0:30 walk on the uphill.  108' elevation loss, 115' elevation gain over 0.6 mile.

TT: 1:07:59  AP: 11:19  Splits: 12:22, 11:38, 10:42, 11:51, 10:45, 10:40

38F sunny 8mph SW wind.  Smokey smell (burning weed?) in the air...gonna agravate my asthma.  East on MCT to almost 4000W Cedar Hills where a brand new water-park was recently built.  Trail is a bit crowded with dog walkers, joggers, families on bikes and scooters, especially in the Highland and Cedar Hills portion.  Stopped at Mitch Hollow briefly (mile 3 & 11) to drink, at Lone Peak (mile 5.6) ate gu, used the facility and refilled flask and didn't realize I hadn't paused the watch for a 6+min. stop.  Breathing was a bit labored...stupid asthma...especially when heading south with headwind.  Did the 4:30min run to 0:30min walk ratio.  On the uphill 1min run to 0:30 ration. 

Total time: 2:48:17 AP:12:01  Adjusted total run time: 2:42:05 AP:11:37

Splits: 12:27, 10:48, 12:06, 11:28, 11:33, 17:15 (11:15), 11:46, 11:14, 12:04, 11:24, 11:22, 11:37, 12:06, 11:06.

MCT has been so busy lately, so thought I'd go in the early evening before sun-set.  63F partly sunny.  Welp, the trail was just as crowded, if not more, with families going for walks before or after dinner.  West on MCT. Had tummy issues, had to cut the run short, good thing I was not too far from home, lesson learned.

TT: 55:14  AP: 10:59  Splits: 11:44, 10:55, 10:48, 10:33, 10:55

Got a call at 3:10am from Jeff that Jen is in active labor.  So off I went to their house and watch the three grandkids who were asleep till 7:30.  Baby Jonah Jeffrey Lew was born at 6:12am weighing 5 lbs 8 oz and 18.5 in long, a wee little one.  I had fun watching and playing with the kids the rest of the day.  Stayed overnight and the next day (4/9) is Nolan's birthday so I made a birthday cake and decorated the dinning/kitchen room with the help of Skylar.  Welcomed the new baby home in the afternoon, then had birthday party for Nolan.  Went home at 8pm.  Feel so blessed to have 14 wonderful beautiful grandchildren.

52F 9mph SE wind, real feel 45F, partly sunny.  Didn't get out until 9:50am. Breakfast of a yogurt and banana. Carried 2 Gu.  East on MCT to Canyon Rd restroom at Cedar Hills.  The trail was super crowded.  Even saw a family of 14 doing Easter eggs hunt at the Mitch Hollow Park right close to the trail by the restroom.  Stopped to drink at the Mitch Hollow, Lone Peak and Canyon Rd restrooms; Gu'ed at mile 8.15 and 13. Breathing a bit labored, really worked hard to keep 12 min pace.  

TT: 3:16:42  AP: 12:06  Splits: 12:26, 11:01, 12:25, 11:39, 12:02, 12:13, 1152, 11:59, 12:00, 11:36, 12:25, 12:14, 11:48, 12:35, 13:44, 11:57, 11:07.

 40F 9mph SW, partly cloudy, real feel 35F.  Went out at 10:15 when John and Wendy happened to walk by.  Walked with them to just past 600E and realized my watch battery was totally dead and it was so cold that I was underdressed.  So turned back to home to charge the watch to 50% and put on headband and a light jacket. 

Decided to access MCT on 400E trail head. East to 600E, north to 3200N > MCT 400E trailhead > west to ~0.15 mile past Triump Blvd tunnel then turned around back same route to home.  Stopped at 1600W trailhead restroom on the way back to drink and found terrible graffiti inside the women's bathroom walls.  This makes me mad and sad.

TT: 1:09:07  AP: 11:20  Splits: 12:48, 11:19, 10:31, 12:14, 10:36, 10:42
 

Too tired to run.  Didn't sleep well last night.

39F feels like 35F 7mph S wind, partly cloudy.  Felt like winter has returned.  Left feet was numb then achy during the first warm up mile.  West on MCT via Center.  Stopped at mile 3 Rail Trail junction where there was a construction crew laying pipes trail side so I had to run around them on the grass.  Quads were feeling tight running down so stopped to stretch and didn't realize I had not pause the watch for the 2.5 min I spent stretching until it was time to resume the return run back up the trail.  Stopped at 1600W restroom to drink.  Glad to see that the graffiti I saw in there on Tue has now been painted over. 

Adjusted TT: 1:08:10  AP: 11:25  Splits: 12:23, 11:12, 10:29, 12:10, 11:10, 10:50

48F cloudy, perfect weather.  Today would've been SLC Marathon if not for Covid-19. Had a yogurt, carried 2 Gu and 1 pack of Chews (that has peanut butter in the center). Head west to access MCT from Center St. then east on MTC to 800 N Orem, turn right (west) to 800E and back to 1100 E and waited for Larry to pick me up.

Took it easy today since I ran yesterday.  Stopped at all the restrooms for drink, the drinking fountains by bathrooms are all turned on so I didn't need to go inside.  Saw a guy running down Mitch Hollow Park with two bikers and a child biker following him.  Then realized he was turning toward his finish line which was held up by family members greeting him with balloons and cheers.  I ran past on the grass and congratulated him on his finish asking "Salt Lake City Marathon?" as he had a SLC race shirt on.  "What was your time?" "3:20" "Wow!!! Way to go! U Da Man!" 

At Lone Peak rest stop, saw two ladies with SLC Running shirts on and I asked if they were doing their virtual race while I ate a Gu.  They said nope they had run 14 miles and could've done the SLC Half virtual.  They wished me luck as I continued on my long run.

At Canyon Rd rest stop, I ate one chews and drank.  Visited with a lady who had Boston 2019 shirt on.  Visited with a lady whom I've been leepfroging.  She had a tiny black poodle type dog running/walking with her.  I commented that her dog with little legs sure could run fast.  She tried to feed the dog some water unsuccessfully and was worried that she might've worn it out.  She said she's 5 miles from home on her 11 miler. 

Ate the second Gu at the Lindon rest stop (with 4 more miles to go).  None of the trailside drinking fountains were turned on...should've brought a flask to fill up.  Anyhow, drank as much as possible.  At around mile 16+  I ran past a fellow whome I've passed couple times, the first time being on Alpine Hwy and he was talking on the phone and heard him say something like sorry... can I push it to 3pm.  Anyhow when I passed him I asked, "how many miles today?"  "26.2"  "Yay, congrats!"  "Thanks, but I'm only at 24."  "You're almost done! Way to finish a marathon!"  "You too, I've seen you a few times.  You just keep running and running!"  I was too tired to reply as I left him realizing I have about 1.5 more to go.  Garmin read 17.22 at the end of MCT on 800N, so I turned right to go west towards the 800E light where I turned right (north) for another 0.1 mile then turned back around and ran up east on 800N.  Got back to trail head exactly 18 miles and didn't see Larry's car.  I took a picture of my watch and texted Lowell with a message of my 18 lonely miles and missed him terribly.  Then called Larry who was only couple minutes away.  The trail was super crowded today with bazillion bikers, runners, dogwalkers.  It was awesome to see two guys running their virtual SLC Marathon.  I could've done the same if I had prepared better with hydration and not run yesterday.  I think I will do a virtual Utah Valley Marathon if it was cancelled and they offered that option.  I feel like I have missed out on two marathons, the Sand Hollow in March and SLC in April.  

TT: 3:38:55  AP: 12:10  Splits: 12:17, 11:45, 11:10, 12:30, 12:08, 12:38, 12:06, 12:20, 11:54, 11:57, 11:45, 11:44, 12:09, 12:24, 12:41, 12:28, 12:37, 12:21

50F sunny 5mph E wind.  Ran east on MCT via Center.  Felt sluggish today especially the first mile.  Turned around at mile 3 (Rail Trail junction).  Took a call from Annie as I headed up to the 1600W restroom.  We talked for quite sometimes, so after taking a drink from the restroom fountain I resumed the run east and it was like starting all over again with warmup.  Decided to run home via 810 E trail access for an extra half mile.  It got warm and I was very thirsty. 

TT: 1:16:25  AP: 11:45  Splits: 12:58, 11:45, 10:37, 12:37, 11:48, 11:17, 10:48

Walked with Larry for 1.5 mile in 25 min.

Today is our 42nd wedding anniversary.  We would've been celebrating on a Panama Cruise.  52F partly sunny 5mph NNW wind.  Ran east on MCT to Mitch Hollow.  Stopped to drink from the restroom fountain and the sun was beating down so I wet my hair.  Welp, with 1.5 mile to go it started to rain, a dark cloud overhead and breezy. 

TT: 1:06:55  AP: 11:03  Splits: 12:10, 10:31, 11:35, 10:30, 11:31, 10:08  Pleased with this run.  I tried to run 0.5 mile without stopping to walk in my last mile.  So the last mile had 30 second of walking.  I tried to keep the uphill walking in less than 100 sec. so the uphill going east mile split was 11:35 and the returning uphill going west mile split was 11:31.

Walk with hubby cut short due to GI emergency (his).

50F partly sunny 5mph E wind.  MCT east via Center to Rail Trail junction. 

TT: 1:05:30  AP: 10:54  Splits: 12:03 (only 1 walk break at 9:40), 10:56, 10:19, 11:19, 10:22, 10:28).  First run to break under 11mph.  Did take a stretch break at turnaround and drink break at 3.6 so elapsed time was 1:10:52.

Plan was to leave around 8:30 but ended up cleaning hubby's razor and BR stuff so didn't leave until almost 9:57, subsequently it got warmer.  Starting temp 55F, finishing temp 65F.  Sunny blue sky with 5mph SW wind.  East on MCT to 4500 W Highland.  Took it nice and easy today still trying to keep sub 12mph.  Bazillion cyclists, walkers, dogs, kids on the trail.  As the previous two weekends, saw Terry Grimley running the opposite direction, today saw him twice.  He is also training for Utah Valley Marathon. 

TT: 2:31:50  AP: 11:35  Splits: 12:45, 11:32, 12:12, 11:26, 11:34, 11:33, 11:15, 11:30, 11:31, 11:10, 11:04, 12:15, 11:08, last 0.1 mile @ 9:07
 

57F Sunny 7mph SW.  Decided to do a 10K today since I did a Half on Sat.  West on MCT to Rail Trail junction stopped briefly at 2.65 to drink and douse water on head, at turnaround mile 3 to stretch and again on the way up to 1600W (@3.45) to drink and douse water on head.  I think the total pause time for the three stops is 6min. 

TT: 1:10:09  AP: 11:19  Splits: 12:22, 11:28, 10:46, 11:52, 10:57, 10:37 10:32

Ran past the house (hubby mowing lawn) for 0.1 mile and saw Cindy Sloan walking with Laura Newburt so when finished we visited at 6' distancing to catch up on each other's lives.  So good to have that face to face talk.

61F cloudy 9mph Nwind.  Ran/walk with Wendy.  Saw Karen on 3200N 810E running towards us.  So happy to have her join us.  We ran west on MCT back to Karen's house.  We did the 4:1 ratio.  When we got to her house, we jogged to the intersection of Center and 2600 N and stood there to talk for a long time, standing at 6' distance.  The last time three of us ran/walked together was March 6 and Karen ran with me part of my 19 miler the next day March 7.  So it's been over 7 weeks.  This COVID-19 stay at home and social distancing has been going on for two months now. 

Walked with hubby around the new neighborhood development in the south then back up around our inner block including the Ozancin development.  These new homes sure have beautiful landscape.  Beautiful warm sunny blue sky with lots of blossoming trees.  It's warmest day of the year, I think high is going to be 85, a record high for April. 

Already 66F at 8:30, 5mph SE wind.  West on MCT via Center to Rail Trail Junction and back.  Stopped briefly at restrooms both ways and at the turnaround.  Passed twice the lady walking a big dog whose snout was in somekind of basket/harness. Wonder if it acts as a face mask to prevent the dog from sniffing up germs/virus. 

TT: 1:06:10  AP: 10:51  Splits: 11:58, 10:55, 10:05, 11:01 (that's the fastest I've run on that 0.6 mile of uphill), 10:31, 10:41, 9:53