Every Run is a Great Run!

Short entry today, gotta hurry. Ran in the afternoon today, about 3 miles with Kim then 7 more solo. Legs still dead as a doornail.

Ave pace 8:56.

AM: Not a good run today. I was wanting to do a 2x2 mile HMP workout, resting for .5 miles in between the pair of 2 mile segments. I was going to start around mile 1 of the SF 1/2 marathon course and run to mile 3 (slightly uphill and into the wind), then jog for a 1/2 mile then run the same section in the other direction (downhill w/ tailwind). I was thinking 6:40-6:45 pace on the uphill/wind section then 6:20-6:30 coming back should make me work but not be all that difficult.

The only problem was that my stupid left high-hamstring tendon-butt-itis has decided to act up again, and try as I might to loosen it up before beginning the cruise intervals (long warmup - 3 miles, including strides, stretching), I just couldn't get it going. So after struggling mightily just to run a 6:50 on mile 1, I bagged the workout shortly thereafter and hobbled home with my tail between my legs.

Ave pace: SNAIL

So what to do about the 1/2 marathon race on Saturday? I had already planned to make this a reduced mileage week (50-60 miles). I think I'll stick to that plan but will keep all the run miles very easy and also replace some of the running miles with some medium-intensity cross-training. Thursday I'll try a few strides and see how the hamstring is feeling at that point. I sure hope Kim and I survive the next few weeks and can make it to the start line of SGM without being completely broken down.

Late AM: Crosstrain workout - 22 minutes on bike and 20 minutes on the elliptical. I pushed a little harder than usual and was able to get my heart rate up to around 130-140 on the bike and 160-170 for the elliptical. On the elliptical I tried to simulate a tempo run but it was hard to get feeling like I was working to the same level as when running. But I think getting over 160 on the HR is a good sign I was working pretty hard, toward the end I got above 170 for a couple of minutes. I've never really measured my HR while running so I'm not sure what my max is or where I get to on harder tempo runs but I wouldn't imagine it's much higher than this.

So hopefully this was a useful workout. My legs felt very good afterward compared to most days running, and I did some stretching including Dale's suggested stretch and I felt very good and relaxed afterward. I'll will do more crosstrain than usual this week and perhaps keep this a part of the routine if I see good results and I am able to heal up and not lose any conditioning. Kim and I are also going to start going to our friend & neighboor who is a massage therapist. We'll probably see him every week leading up to the marathon and perhaps beyond then. He's always real good at teaching us what he is doing as well so we can work on each other and save some bucks. Hope with all this stuff we can be close to top-notch form come Oct. 4.

AM: Kim and I ran easy down Payson Canyon with the 5am small group. Only went 8 miles instead of the full 11+ as this is a recovery/reduced-mileage week and since we'll be doing the SF 1/2 marathon on Saturday. I've really been babying my left hamstring the last day, lots of RICE, also alternating heat with the ice, Dale's stretch, etc. So far so good, felt pretty good today but it usually does when I run slow. The test is trying to run under 7-min pace. Tomorrow I'll try some strides and see what the verdict is. Not sure what I'll be doing on Saturday. I was hoping to run it similar to Hobble, treat the first 6-7 miles as marathon pace tempo, then push the last 6 miles if I'm still feeling good. I would like to run in the 1:25-1:30 range but with the injury situation we'll just have to wait and see. Usually with this non-downhill race you can get a pretty good idea what you'll run at SGM by doubling your finish time, so SGM of 2:50-3:00 means running 1:25-1:30 for SF 1/2.

Not sure on ave pace today since the garmins don't seem to like the canyon this year. Probably around 7:40-7:50.

Late AM: 20 minutes on eliptical and core workout while watching that fine, redneck movie classic - "Raising Arizona".

Late AM: We were both needing some extra sleep last night so Kim and I slept in a bit. So I ran at work during a lull in the action and ended up getting in 7 miles. Hamstring was feeling better than the last couple of days so I thought I would attempt some roughly quarter mile surges at the beginning of miles 2-5 an just try and run what felt like 1/2 marathon pace.

I ignored the garmin until near the end of the quarters and just tried to focus on running relaxed, good form, and listen to the body. The first quarter I must have still been a bit cold, only 6:50 pace and it felt harder than it should have, similar to my failed Tuesday workout attempt. But around 2.5 miles I seemed to loosen up and start running better and the next 3 quarters felt better, although not completely pain free and as loose as I would have liked. Ran them at 6:35, 6:15, 6:30 pace.

So for the Saturday race I think I'll just make sure and get a good 3-4 mile warmup with some strides and then run whatever it feels like my body is willing to give me.

Ave pace: 8:30

Late AM: Ran just enough to loosen up the legs this morning with Kim. Since it's a reduced mileage week and race tomorrow 2.3 miles was just dandy.  Last night Kim and I got our first taste of deep-tissue sports massage (OUCH!) as our neighbor and pain-inflicting-loving massage therapist Nate came and beat us up. Man I thought I was going to die when he was wailing on my calves and shins.  I was pretty sore going to bed so I wasn't sure how I would feel today but I actually feel pretty great so maybe there is some magic in Nate's massage madness. He'll be working us over every week for at least until SGM to help keep our bodies loose and (hopefully) injury free.

Had a delightful run today. Perfect weather and the SF canyon wind was being well behaved. Certainly not what I would call a race effort as I felt pretty good (too good?) the whole way. I would have been more aggresive but I've been nursing a sore hamstring that seems to give me much grief if I go much faster than marathon pace. So I pretty much got into MP tempo run mode and ran the whole race at that effort hoping to at least break 1:30.

Toward the end (last 3 miles) I was feeling better than I should in a race and I thought perhaps I should work harder. However whenever I sped up my hamstring would start to yell at me so I just enjoyed the more relaxed pace and did just enough to keep Paul T from catching me :)) Paul actually ran a great race and seems to be improving with every race. He is definitely now in the sub-3 SGM camp.

Kim also had a great race but I'll refrain from providing any details and let her describe her run in her race report.

Warmed up a mile with Paul T then about another mile or so with Sasha. I was surprised to see him there I didn't think Sasha was running this race. He ended up winning it, so big congrats to him. There were a few other bloggers there as well and I think most everyone had pretty good races, I won't try to name everyone as I'm sure I'll miss somebody.

At the starting line I see that AG placing is out the door as I see the regulars... Darin C and Carl H there, but also new-master and super-speedster Ron Greenwood. These 3 are among the best in the state in 40-44 so there was no chance for top 3. Oh well we just do our best. Kind of sad when I can get 12th overall but still only 4th in AG. But since my long-term goal is to be top 5 AG at most races, I'm still good in that regard. I could have had the race in my life today and still been 4th as there were over 7 minutes between me and the slowest of these guys.

Splits:

1 - 6:48

2 - 6:59 (not sure what happened here, got lazy I guess)

3 - 6:49

4 - 6:52 (small hill)

5 - 6:44

6 - 7:09 (hill at the end)

7 - 7:06 (more uphill)

8 - 6:27 (downhill, experimented with running 6:00 pace for a bit but the hamstring wasn't happy about that)

9 - 6:49

10 - 6:41

11 - 6:47

12 - 6:48

13 - 6:43

.1 - :38 (6:30 pace)

Of course I would have liked to run closer to 1:25 today but I did get under 1:30 and it felt pretty easy. I think barring injury troubles or just a really horrible day, I believe I am on track for sub-3 at SGM. Maybe even closer to 2:50 if everything really comes together. 4 weeks to go I can't wait.

AM: 5 easy with Kim around river bottoms. Left hamstring still tight and buggy, but everything else feels pretty good.

Ave pace around 9:30.

PM: 5 with Paul and Nate on a beautiful fall-ish sunny day. Just took it easy, had some good chit-chat about running, but also some deeper topics including discussing the eastern concept of "Zen" vs. the Christian concept of "listening to the Spirit" and whether they aren't really just the same thing.

Left ham felt better but I still couldn't seem to get out of the running mode where my left foot slaps against the ground.

Ave pace 8:23.

Got to bed a bit late last night and had trouble sleeping for some reason, so decided to sleep in just a bit (is 6am wake up sleeping in?), go into work early to deal with some India issues, then run with Kim at work around 9:30 for the planned 11 miler including 8 miles of tempo for Kim around 1/2 marathon to marathon pace.  Weather wasn't too bad for a tempo run at that time, a bit cloudy but also a bit muggy. Toward the end of the run it started getting uncomfortable. Warmed up for 2 miles then paced Kim on the 8 mile tempo running West toward Utah Lake and back. She did great especially considering having raced on Saturday and with the temps a little warmer than usual. We averaged 8:25 pace over the 8 miles then did 1 more cooldown mile.

My hamstring felt the best it's felt for a while and I was pleased that my left foot wasn't doing its annoying thing where it slaps the road and I can tell my form is messed up. I have a strange little pain behind my big toe on the bottom of my left foot, right on the ball of the foot. It just showed up one morning a few days ago. Feels sort of like a bruise. Doesn't really bother me when running but sometimes gets annoying when walking barefoot. Wonder if its from all the slap-slap running. Hope it doesn't get worse and cause me to start running goofy (any goofier than usual anyway :)).

Tomorrow about this same time of day. I think I'll experiment with trying to run some miles in the 6-7 min pace range and gauge how the hammie is doing. I think from here on out I'll try and do any tempo/faster runs later in the morning and only run easy in the early AM. I just seem to do so much better after being awake a couple of hours or more, much looser and much less prone to injury I think.

Slept in a little bit again this morning and did the run just after 9am. Plan today was to experiment with some faster miles and if everything felt OK then do a run similar to Kim's tempo run yesterday but at my half marathon to marathon pace (6:20-7:00 min pace). 

Cloudy day today, cool but very muggy. After a 2.5 mile warmup I started out trying to just run smooth and ignore the garmin and just run a pace that felt good.  Mile 1 went pretty well around 6:40 pace and feeling good, but then toward the end of mile 2 I just got slammed with a huge dose of  I think what Sasha would refer to as "severe neural fatigue". Not breathing particularly hard but almost starts to feel like hitting the wall at the end of a marathon. Finished mile 2 in 6:50, attempted to hold that for mile 3 but it just wasn't to be and I terminated the workout at about 2 1/2 miles.

Jogged back to the gym at progressively slower and slower pace, feeling just hammered for no good reason. Legs actually felt not too bad, left hamstring aches were detectable but my form seemed ok, no flapping on the ground. Pain behind the big toe went away once the run started, not as dead-legged as some times. But the nervous system was just not wanting any part of it. Perhaps trying to tell me I'm on the verge of injury so I guess it's good that I listened and obeyed. Not sure how much a factor the humidity was. Frustrating to say the least.

I did this run on Kuhni Road, same stretch of road where I was doing all my tempo runs early in the year. Looking back on the tempo runs I was doing in Jan-March I'm jealous of myself. OH MARCH LEGS WHERE ART THOU?

Interesting thing is that after I got back to gym I decided to take some of my frustration out on the eliptical and do a hard 10 minutes. Was able to get my heart rate above 170 without much trouble and the nervous system didn't seem to mind cranking along at that level for a good long while and working up a nice sweat, breathing hard, feeling like I was really working but that I could continue indefinetely. Guess it just means my running muscles are hammered or something?

If anyone has any advice what they think I should do between now and SGM to try and stay in decent shape, but not crash-and-burn beforehand and go down in flames of injury, burnout and fatigue, please do tell! I may even be sufficiently humbled that I might actually even take the advice.

Ave pace: 8:25.

AM: Kim and I ran one of our regular river bottoms loops. Kind of a brain-dead run for me I think I was still asleep for some of it. Legs feel fair, just going to run easy every day for the time being and throw in some cross-training to give the legs a bit of a break while still working hard enough to get the heart up and out of the comfort zone. Trying to heed everyone's advice from yesterday.

Ave pace 9:36.

Late AM: Spent some time at the gym with my newfound rehabilition buddy Mr. Eliptical. Went a good 40 minutes this time, eased into it the first 5-10 minutes then played my little game where I see how high I can get my heart rate. Set a HR record as I was able to spend some time over 180 toward the end, but mostly in the 165-175 zone. I seem to vaguely remember back a few years when I had a HR monitor that I used to get into the 180s or even 190 on hard runs, but that was when I wasn't in that good of shape and 10 years younger, they always say MAX HR goes down with age. Guess I'll learn more when my garmin finally dies (it's already starting to flake out) and I break down and get that 305.

I feel so much better lately (mentally and physically) after working hard on the eliptical compared to running. I think that's my brain telling me I need to take a break from running and find some substitutes for a while. Looking forward to a nice taper after this week and some time off after SGM.

I'm off work today so Kim and I slept in and went out after getting the kids off to school. Ran just over 5 1/2 with Kim and another mile and a half solo. Just trying to keep things nice and easy and try and get my legs back and have enough steam for the long run tomorrow. 

Ave pace: 8:52

Kim and I joined with the SF Running Club to do the annual Payson Canyon 20-24 miler. Some of us decided that rather than start all the way up top and run so much downhill miles that we would start at the usual weekday start point below Payson Lakes and then run home. This ends up being 20-24 miles depending on which roads you take once you get in the valley.

I resisted the urge to push the pace on the steepest of the downhill and saved it for the lower less-steep section and along the mostly flat Salem Canal road. Tried to get some good miles in at around the slow end of my marathon pace range. Felt good but not great today, I can tell I need to make full use of the next 3 weeks of taper.

I'm just glad to get this last long-long run in the books. Luckily I don't seemed to have injured myself or make any of the lingering aches and pains any worse. Unfortunately Kim got bit today by the IT-band gremlin. It seems like any time she gets into the 18+ mile range for a long run she has troubles. She was pretty bummed out about that but I'm hopeful that with a good taper, some massage work, and just generally being smart and babying the trouble area that she can have a great 1st marathon.

Ave pace for middle 20 miles: 7:15 (includes 11 miles of downhill).

Went to gym at work a bit early to spend some time on the elliptical (around 5 miles worth), before meeting up with Paul, Nate and Bill for a 5+ run out Lakeview direction. Wasn't sure how the legs would feel running after spending a bunch of time on the elliptical. I can tell running uses different muscles, when I first started the run I felt like my feet weighed about 25 lbs. And I had a hard time getting into rhythm for the run and the stupid pain behind my big toe bothered me some. But at least my left foot wasn't flapping on the ground like it does sometimes. Legs feel OK after the Saturday but some soreness in the shins/ankles from the downhill running. It was great to have some good company and conversation on this run. Paul, Nate and Bill are all running great and should have great races at STG.

Ave pace 8:33.

Plan for this week is to taper about 25% on mileage, 50% next week, then around 75% leading up to the race. So looking at 50-60 for the week but that will include some cross-training if the legs keep feeling dead. I hope to get some marathon pace miles in somewhere but I'll have to play that by feel and  plan on pushing the pace ONLY if I my body really, truly feels like it wants to. I've just got to get feeling closer to normal come race day.

Also need to mention the really annoying song that has been in my head since the long run Saturday and also while on the elliptical today - "Blister in the Sun". Hope is that by blogging about it perhaps it might be purged from my head and possibly transferred to some innocent, unsuspecting fellow blogger who happens to read this :-))

Looking forward to a great anniversary weekend this week with Kim down in STG (22 years, WOW!!!).

AM: Ran 8 miles solo around river bottoms. Huge full moon this morning to light the way. Kim has been fighting a sore throat and decided to try and get a good night's sleep and then try going for a run in the sun later. I'm feeling a little better today than yesterday but I'm very wary of pushing anything until I've felt really good for a 2 or 3 days straight. I still have the annoying Blister in the Sun lame song in my head :(

Ave pace 8:43.

Late AM: 11 minutes on bike then core workout.

Happy Birthday today to my 4th child and oldest daughter Tani - 11 yrs old!

Kim and I slept in a bit again and went out later in the day. Lately we are just enjoying that little bit extra sleep a whole lot and fortunately our schedules allow us to be flexible. And it makes my work buddies from India happy when I get to work at 7am. But the downside is we aren't getting to run together as much. But it's been a great year running with Kim, I'm pretty sure we dominate the mileage board this year as far as "Hubbie-Wife Miles" go. :)

Ran at work around 9am. Was hoping to get some MP or HMP miles in and tested the waters at around 2.5 miles by doing some striders to see what the body had to say about the running faster idea. It pretty much said something along the lines of..."Nay, Thomas, the time is not yet that ye should runneth fast, but you should first go back to the gym and taketh out thy frustrations on the elliptical machine for the equivalent of around 4 miles....if thou doest this and listeneth diligently to thy body, ye may receive a small reward come race day....".

So I listened and obeyed the voice and had a delightful tempo-ish workout on the elliptical. Heart was mostly in the 175-185 range but touched 190 during the last mile or so. According the machine I was doing about 6:00-6:10 pace equivalent and finished what it said was 4 miles in 24:25. But I wasn't sure how elliptical miles really compare to running miles so I went for 30 minutes and will count it as 4 miles. But I think based on heart rate that the pace is probably not far off. So although my legs can't handle doing this type of workout on the roads at present, hopefully this will help me stay mentally/physically sharp, help me heal up quicker, and give me some confidence going into SGM. The funny thing is that even when my HR was hitting 190, I was starting to huff-and-puff pretty good but it still didn't feel anything like the exhaustion I feel at the end of race. I'm really not quite sure what to make of it, but I'm quite happy with the workout and the way I am feeling afterward. Almost a bit of a runner's high (or would that be an "ellipticaler's high"?).

Ave pace of running miles: 8:22.

AM: Nice, easy relaxing run around the river bottoms with Kim. Legs are feeling a little better each day so it's nice to know I can do a hard crosstrain/eliptical workout and still be in healing mode for running. Earlier in the week I was thinking on Saturday when we run down the SGM course I would do some marathon paced miles but I think I'll hold off on that and just do eliptical if I get feeling like I just have to do something a bit more strenuous.

Ave pace around 9:35.

PM: Some bike and core workout.

Recovery cross-train workout on the elliptical at work. Kim is being very cautious with her IT band and decided take a rest day. Smart on her part I think and we'll be super cautious tomorrow as well when we attempt a run down the last part of the SGM course. Nate the Great massage dude worked us over again last night and I feel absolutely super today, best I've felt for ages but I'll still refrain from any fast running until next week some time and then only a few miles at marathon pace.

Well I finally broke down and bought a new toy - Garmin 305. It wasn't much use today on the elliptical but I did try out the HR monitor. Since I was feeling so good I decided to do a simulated marathon pace 10-mile tempo "run" on the elliptical. I just kind of went by feel what felt like marathon pace should feel like. I may have been closer to 1/2 marathon effort for some of the workout, I think I averaged what would probably equate to a 6:40-7:00 min running pace.

Interesting to look at the HR graph that I get when I upload the garmin data to the PC. My HR jumped up above 150 within the first minute then gradually worked up to 170 within the first 10 minutes. I stayed pretty much between 170-180 after than, right around 175 most of the time. Just for fun the last mile I tried really cranking away to simulate more of a sprint or "kick" and my HR gradually climbed from 180 reaching a max of 190 at the end. It will be interesting to get some running HR data to get some idea what my heart does during various types of workouts.

It's clear to me that the basic formulas for estimating max HR are pretty bogus at least in my case. Most formula put my max HR around 175-180 for a 43 yr old guy but obviously mine is higher than that.

So Kim and I are now off to SG for some R&R and to celebrate 22 yrs together. It's been a wild, fun, crazy ride and I'm looking forward to our next 22 years and beyond!

Down in SG to celebrate our 22nd wedding anniversary. We had a great time which happened to include a nice relaxed run down the last 14+ miles of the SGM course in the morning. Kim and I were able to work so we could hitch a ride up with some of the great Dixie runners including Marcie, Mike, Bull, Dustin, James and a couple other runners not on the blog. What a great bunch of runners and overall great people. They were all doing a smokin' fast run down the mountain so we didn't try to stay with them since we're both nursing injuries and I had done a hard workout (on the elliptical) Friday.

Good news that we survived the run without apparently aggravating any of the injuries. We didn't push much and slowed down toward the end as Kim was starting to get some signals from her knee/IT-band. Later we stopped by the running store and got a taste of the exceptional service being provided by Steve Hooper and his sidekick on this day - Logan. We picked up some new shoes for Kim that should hopefully work better for her and the type of runner she is and if we're lucky perhaps even get rid of the IT band troubles. After seeing what a great job Steve and Logan did taking care of their customers compared to any other running store I've been to, I can see that we'll be sending our running gear $ down south from now on. Also the  blogger discount is pretty sweet as well.

Have to give a big humongous thanks to Tyler and Kellie S for letting us stay at their 2nd home down in SG. It was perfect for us and we look forward to hopefully getting a chance to visit again!

Ave pace: 8:43

Ave HR: 132

A melancholy monday morning run at work in the wind and a bit of rain. Kinda bummed out that Kim's IT band isn't behaving very well. Also got a touch of sore throat and cold the last couple of days. But I guess better now than next week. Still hoping for the best for both of us and that we can run to full potential at SGM but it looks like that might not quite happen exactly how we were hoping. Hopefully we can be smart and do all the right things between now and then and hope for a little race day magic.

I actually felt pretty good today but not until I was 4 miles into the run. I had the stupid left foot flapping thing going on pretty much upto the 4 mile point. Left hamstring also still sorta buggy but getting better. But the good news is that pain behind my big toe is almost gone. Been putting some callus-remover pads over the pain area and that seems to do the trick. Felt really good the last 2.2 miles and the sub-8 pace started feeling as easy as it is supposed to feel.

Ave pace: 8:10

Ave HR: 153

Tomorrow I'll try the marathon pace run test again to see how the legs feel about running a couple miles or so in the 6:45-7:15 pace range. If they still whine I suppose I'll hit the elliptical again.

AM: Well today was a test day to see how the legs would respond to some miles in the HMP to MP pace range (6:30-7:15). Ended up being a good-news/bad-news type of run but overall I'm happy that my legs seem to be responding pretty well to the taper and cross-training regiment. Kim joined me on the bike as she is diligently nursing her IT band.

So the good news is that my legs felt pretty good for the faster miles. I didn't get the signals I've been getting the last couple of weeks that tell me I need to quit the workout early. I warmed up for 2 miles, did some light stretching then eased into a pace that felt like an HMP to MP pace. Plan was for 2x2 miles with .5 mile jog/rest in the middle. First 2 miles were slight uphill and into the wind. Last 2 miles were just the opposite.

Mile splits were 6:57, 6:56, (rest .5 miles), 6:37, 6:48.

Now the bad news...running at this pace felt much harder than it should have! Felt too much like 10K pace rather than marathon or half marathon pace after the first mile, so I'm counting them as threshold miles. Makes me feel kind of out of shape and it wasn't just a matter of my brain being asleep, I wore the HR monitor and it pretty much agreed that I was working in what would be more in line with a 10K pace effort. But I can't imagine that I've really lost much fitness in the last week or 2 so I'm willing to chalk it up to the cold I've had the last couple of days and also not getting the best sleep last night.

Average/Max HR for each mile is as follows:

173/182, 183/186, (HR down to 140s during .5 mile jog) 181/185, 185/189.

Doesn't HR in the 180s seem pretty high for 6:40-7:00 pace? I would think around 170-180 to be more reasonable, assuming my Max HR to be in the 190-195 range. It will be interesting in the coming weeks/months to monitor HR and see what happens during both good and bad training runs and races. Trying to decide if I want to wear the HR monitor during SGM or not.....

PM: 12 minutes on the bike + core workout. The more and more I look at my run today the more I'm getting bummed about my prospects at SGM, even for sub-3.

Noon: Solo run at work 5.1 miles.

Ave pace 8:14. Ave/Max HR: 153/174

PM: 2 miles easy with SF running club annual Moonlight Run.

AM: Ran the river bottoms 5+ mile loop solo as Kim is resting her IT band. Nice fall morning this morning, warmer than the last couple of days and I was fine with just a short sleeve shirt. Legs/body feeling a little better each day and the cold is almost gone now. My HR still seems awfully high for the paces I've been running lately, but I suppose I'll refrain from arriving at any conclusions until I have a few weeks/months worth of data to chew on. My resting HR seems to always stay consistently in the 45-50 range.

Ave pace: 8:57. Ave/Max HR: 151/174 (up heartbreak hill)

Late AM: 10 minutes on elliptical plus core workout. 

So with my running being off through the summer and not running so great lately I've changed my SGM goals. Originally my gold/silver/bronze goals were Gold:sub-2:50, Silver:sub-2:55, and Bronze:sub-3:00.  My revised goals are now Gold:sub-2:55, Silver:sub-3:00, and Bronze:PR (anything sub 3:17).

My plan is to run something along the lines of the table below (from the course tool, with smoothing checked and crazy grade cutoff set to 7%). But I'll use these splits simply as a guideline to keep me in check the first 13 miles. Foremost I plan on running by feel and hopefully these splits will feel about right. If I'm still feeling good after the 1st half I'll start pressing on the downhills and if I'm lucky enough to still feel good at mile 20 I'll push for the sub 2:55. Should the wheels fall off and I don't get the sub-3 I'll TRY really HARD to be happy with a PR.

Off work today and kids out of school so Kim and I enjoyed sleeping in until about 7. Ran about 5K easy while Kim rode the bike. Actually she is still out riding, I think she has some pent up energy with not having run all week other than a couple of miles on Monday.

Ave pace 8:34. Ave/Max HR: 150/163.

Kim and I ask for your prayers today as my brother and sister-in-law and family deal with a very tough set of circumstances. My neice's wedding is this afternoon in Mapleton. My brother and his wife (the bride's father and mother) left California Wednesday with plans on stopping in St. George and then arriving at our house yesterday where they planned on staying during all the wedding and reception doings. My sister-in-law had been battling cancer and just finished up chemotherapy and had been doing well. However yesterday morning some complications arose that have resulted in her spending much of yesterday in the ER in Cedar City and last night in the ER in Provo.

We are really hoping and praying she will be able to at least attend the wedding but it's not clear at the moment what will happen. Life just seems pretty unfair at times, she had been doing so well. Just 2 weeks ago her father passed away so they came up and stayed with us for the funeral. At that time she was doing pretty well healthwise and had improved steadily since then until the sudden turn of events yesterday. Her son is also getting married in just a few weeks. We so much just want her to be able to have enough health and strength to be able to enjoy and celebrate these special occasions in her children's lives.

Happy Birthday to son #2 Tyler - 18 yrs old!

Met up with the SF runners at the usual meeting spot. Kim is on docs orders to take it easy today so she "had" to sleep in (poor girl!). Glad the SF crew wised up and moved the start time from summer to winter hours at 6am instead of 5am. Just ran nice and easy for the most part but threw in a couple of flat marathon-ish paced miles (around 7 min/mi) near the end. I was glad that the MP miles felt better than on Tuesday but it still seems like running 7s feels about like what running 6:30 used to feel like earlier in the year. Oh well we just do our best. I can tell the taper is doing it's thing as the lingering aches/pains are lessening but not all the way gone. Hopefully with another week of heavy duty taper and the race day magic will be there in full force come Oct 4!

It was good to see Pat L out this morning and hear that he is going to be able to run SGM. He got injured a month or so ago while water skiing and was going to bag the marathon, but it sounds like with some good rest and working with the sports doc that he's going to be able to give the race a shot, albeit a little slower than usual for him. Hope things go well for him. It was nice getting some last minute advice from a guy who has run numerous marathons in the 2:50-3:00 range and who seems to get better with age. His marathon PRs have been run in his 50's.

Ave pace:  8:30. Ave/Max HR: 146/183

MP miles were 6:57 (HR 162) and 7:02 (HR 179)

Ran Lakeview route at noon with Bill. Just nice and easy taper miles. Felt pretty good although there were the usual taper phantom pains and bit of sluggishness. Hamstrings are getting gradually better although still tighter than I'd like them to be.

It's sure been a tough weekend for my sister-in-law and brother. However she is seeing some improvements today and there is hope that she might be able to avoid surgery and return home in the next couple of days. I really hope this is the case. The other good news is that Kim was able to run 4 miles today with no ITB pain. Super!

Plan for the rest of the week is to do another 5 tomorrow with 2 miles at MP, then easy the rest of the week with 4 on Wednesday and 3 on either Thursday or Friday with maybe a few striders thrown in.

Ave pace 9:03. Ave/Max HR: 142/167.

Late AM run at work. A little warm for running (mid 60s and sunny) but this is probably what the last 5-10 miles might be like Saturday so I figured this was a good time to try a couple of MP pace miles on good 'ol scenic Kuhni Road. Warmed up for 2.5 miles then 2 miles at MP then 1/2 mile cooldown. I'm still not feeling quite right and the pace should have felt easier. I think I'll take an extra rest day tomorrow, then run 3 miles on Thursday and rest on Friday.

MP mile paces were 6:58 (HR 174/181) and 7:03 (HR 183/187).

Almost identical to the MP 2 miles I did Saturday morning but HR is higher, I'm assuming because of the heat. Sure wish that cool weather they say is coming could arrive a little early and help us out on Saturday. Oh how I like to worry and fret.....