Each Day Is a Gift

Ran west to meet Karen on a cloudy hazy morning, 25F.   We ran down on 3rd West, up on rail trail and east on canal trail. 

Coach Jay's 12 Build a Better myrtle exercises.

3 circuits of Pfitzinger's 6 core strengthening exercises.

25F snowing.  Had to wipe the snow off my sunglasses the first 4 miles.  Love running on fresh fallen snow...so soft and peaceful!  A closer look at my footprints show that my right foot points outward slightly compare to the left foot which points straight.

Ran east to Smith's then west to Center.  Saw Karen driving by on her way to the temple.  Got on dirt canal trail which was a whiteout so had to be careful with footings.  Got on paved trail connect to rail trail.  There was one set of footprints for about a mile.  Saw one of the hawks.  She took off as I got close.

As soon as I got off the rail trail onto 3rd west, a guy with a small plow came to clear the trail...talk about timing.! :)  Running up 3rd west was awesome!  I haven't run up that for awhile.  I need to do that more often during this training cycle.  Picked up the pace on the last mile, thankfully very little traffic as I had to dodge puddles and slushy snow. 

Air quality was horrible.  Felt a little light headed and some coughing when I got in the house.  Took a nice LONG hot shower...ahhhh!

Myrtle.

Yoga.

Biceps and triceps.

7.25 with Karen on a new route.  Ran down Center > trail south of the Woods > 900N > 1200E > 1100N > Center > back on trail > 2100N > 300W to Karen's.  Foggy, cloudy, light snow, 30F.  A few slippery spots where we'd walk it.  Pleasant easy run, nice chats! :)

6.75 by myself in 56:45 AP: 8:23.  My weight is up.  My fitness is down.  Winter training is tough with two As (asthma, arthritis).  But am grateful I can still run! :)

Myrtle.

Planks.

19F.  icky air.  But very fortunate to have the company of Wendy and Karen.  

Plan for Sat. is 18 miles on the JRP where Karen and Wendy will run 10 with me.  Y'all are welcome to join us!  :)

Went to bed very late last night...a wonderful MoTab OTS Christmas Concert! :)  The air quality was noticeable worse in Salt Lake vs Utah County.  Almost didn't go running.  Karen and I convinced Wendy that it's not that cold (25F) and quite peaceful (misty snowy w/ a skiff of snow on the road).  So glad she gave into peer pressure! :) :) :)  Ran nice and easy, great inspiring conversations! :)

Myrtle.

4 circuits of CSE.

We're running the Lehi JRP at 8am tomorrow.  We'd love your company!  :) :) :)

I was all bummed last night thinking I'd have to run 8 of my 18 miler alone this morning.  Thought about canceling the JRP plan and just run around the hood.  I was reading some scriptures and talks (in preparing for my Sunday's talk) at bed time.  The inspiring words gave me comfort and reassurance that I am NEVER alone! 

At 7:50am I drove myself down to the JRP as planned while Karen (Sky) and Wendy drove in separate car.  To my joy and delight, Maynard and Chad were there!!!  SO SO SO SO HAPPY to see them especially Maynard whom I haven't seen forever.  I was VERY excited to find out Chad's plan was to run 14!  YaHOOO!!!

Temp was 19F,  a whopping 5 degrees warmer than last Sat.  Seriously it felt much warmer to me;  perhaps it was the company of 4 great running friends...never underestimate the power of friends!  :)  I did not look at the watch once until we stopped to say goodbye to Chad's neighbor (who had joined us on his last 3 of a 10 miler).  That's when I realized I hadn't started my watch.  It was so much fun running and chatting that the miles just flew by.  Chad and I turned around at mile 5.3 while the rest of the group turned back at mile 5.  They waited for us and we ran the remaining 5 back to the car together.  Thanks all for making the run so fun!!! :)

After bidding Karen, Wendy and Maynard goodbye, Chad and I headed north for 4 more.  It was hard to get going after stopping plus we had a bit of uphill.  Those 4 miles just flew by like the migrating geese overhead.  There were a lot of hunters out today.  We saw two shot ducks on the side of the trail.  I saw a hunter walking from the river with a fat duck in his hand and a rifle in the other.  And heard many many gunshots.

THANKS Chad for running with me!  Bid him good bye, ate a gu and headed back south for 4 more.  Re-set the Garmin as suggested by Chad so I didn't need to do any math since I forgot to restart the thing earlier.  Didn't look at the watch until it beeped at mile 2 right in front of the pop at Willow Park.  Stopped to use the pop before running back to the car.  I was surprised how good my legs felt on the heel of a 63+ mile week that had one tempo and 3 hilly runs in it.  The only negative part was the air pollution.  My airway is definitely irritated.

Didn't look at the pace until I got home.  I'm surprised to see that the first 14 miles (9.5 of data) was run at 9:36 AP and the last 4 at 9:10 AP.  My last mile was 8:50 which felt easy.  I didn't want to push it because of the icky air. 

Have a question:  If the air outside is bad, wouldn't the air indoor bad too?  Granted that it is recirculated indoor air, but over time it's still outside air that's being recirculated, right? The last time I check, my furnace only filters dust and dirt, not the micro gunk that the EPA people warn us of.  What's an asthmatic runner to do?  Wish we'd get a nice storm to blow away this smog!!!