Every Run is a Great Run!

Third time is the charm! Had a great time today pacing Kim to her first sub-4 marathon in 3 attempts, overcoming some nasty hurdles like record heat and 4 "extreme" potty stops as Kim was fighthing extreme GI stress through much of the race. We're thinking there is a good chance she got Giardia last week from all the mud we ate at the Dirty Dash 10K. So Kim has been calling today Giardia PR-dia.

Not sure on official time but somewhere around 3:58. With the heat factor and spending 5 minutes at least in porta-potties and bushes I think this is probably worth a 3:50 effort for Kim.

My buddy Terry (old)Bean did just what he said and ran a sub-3:20 around 3:18 on very little training. We've had a great time at the condo this weekend with Terry and his family. Not sure I'm quite ready to head home tomorrow.

Nice thing about the pacing is that I'm feeling great and maybe only slightly more tired/sore than on our 20-miler training runs. Even so I think I'll take a reduced mileage week next week as I've had a long string of 45-50 mile weeks without a break and I could use the rest.

Good to see lots of friends today, not a lot of PR's with the heat but some very solid efforts. Good job everybody!

Feeling about the best I've ever felt after a marathon. This spouse-pacing gig has some real nice fringe benefits.  Went to the gym at work and did 30-min easy various XT, then went outside and ran about a mile barefoot on the grass.

I timed it pretty good as shortly after I got done there was a downpour. Just talked to Kim and she wasn't so lucky, got stuck in the rain about a mile from home out on the walk. But the good news is she also said her legs felt fabulous. This is a all good stuff. Still basking in the afterglow of the race for now, hopefully those post-marathon blues stay away (or as Terry called it - Post Marathon Partum Depression, i.e. PMPD). We don't want no stinkin PMPD!

We had planned on signing up for the Runner's Series but we both phased it off and forget. Oh well I guess we'll put in for the lottery and roll the dice. If we don't get in we were thinking of being volunteers. At the moment I am signed up for UVM in June (full marathon) and Kim is signed up for the half.

Ran 3 easy recovery miles in the morning. Legs still feeling pretty good, very little soreness, but felt a bit sluggish on the run. A bit muggy today but temps were pleasant.

8:56

Later at work ran 4 more miles. Felt much better than this morning, I guess I was just warmed alot better or something. Pace alot quicker but felt easier. Didn't pay much attention to the Garmin just ran what felt good. Glad to see the HR down below 150 now for paces in the low 8's.

8:13/148

Ran 8 miles in the morning. Legs feeling great and back to normal with no traces of the marathon that I can detect.  When I started it was cloudy and dark but peaceful, no wind or rain. Of course as soon as I was at the furthest point from my house the rains came down and the winds kicked up and I got soaked. But by the time I got home it was peaceful and calm again. That Mother Nature can be a big meany sometimes. As further evidence I notice as I type this at 8am it's 55 degrees and partly cloudy in St. George with forecast high of 72. 

8:52/152

Ran 3 nice and easy in the morning.

8:27/148

Later I had planned on running 3 more on the roads then 1 barefoot on grass but I goofed and accidentally ran 4 on the road. Working out a tough problem at work and my brain phased off and I didn't turn around where I originally planned.

8:25/148

Ran 5 mile bottoms loop in the early morning. Temps a little cooler than the rest of the week but still quite pleasant with very little canyon breeze. Dark, quiet, peaceful morning and run UNTIL THE SPEEDY BIKER WITH NO LIGHTS CAME OUT OF NOWHERE AND NEARLY MOWED ME OVER!  I had on a reflective vest but that doesn't help much if the other guy has no lights!

Luckily we saw each other soon enough for the biker to break, and me to move just enough and brace myself so that I only ended up getting my left hand smacked by the steering wheel and left leg with a little tire mark/burn. The biker went down but at that point he wasn't moving fast so he was fine. It certainly could have been a lot worse. Guess I better start taking a light to go along with my reflective vest.

8:25/152

Later did 30 min various XT (E/B/S). Don't seem to be any worse for the wear after the bike incident.

Went out around 7am to run 6 then 4 with Kim. Noticed that the city has finished a new section of the river trail so I had to check it out. Only had time to see a little bit the first go around so when I went back home for Kim I suggested we drive out and explore some more. Not quite 2 miles of new trail at this location at the moment but very nice to see that part of the valley along the river that has previously been inaccesible. Plus it bypasses all the hills you normally have to deal with up Powerhouse rd to the golf course. It will be real nice when they get the entire trail system in place.

8:50/146

AM: Ran 6 miles mostly solo but last part with Kim who I 'ran' into surprisedly just past mile 4. I thought she was going to sleep in and run later in the morning and didn't realize she wanted to get er done early today.

8:30/151

Just before noon: Ran just over 4 miles including 1.3 barefoot on the grass. Also did 6 strides just to try and keep the legs from forgetting completely about sub-7 pace. These sunny fall days are sure nice.

7:59/161

AM: Ran 6 with Kim on a pitch black but peaceful morning. Starting to get chilly in the AM hours but still quite pleasant for October. Hope it's still a little while before the first freeze comes.

9:35

Late AM: 20 min various XT at the gym and 2 more run miles outside as I couldn't resist the near perfect weather.

7:55/154

My weight dropped below 140 today for the first time since May. All my PRs have been when I've weighed in the 135-140 range.

Slept in a bit this morning after getting home late from a play at the HCT. One of the benefits of having gobs of vacation time at work I need to use-or-lose by the end of the month. Pretty much I am just working 4 hours a day this entire month. I think I could get used to a 20-hour work week.

Anyway this made it so Kim and I could go out for the run around 11am. Beautiful fall day, sunny and bit nippy to start but warming up pretty good by the end. Did a warmup mile or so with Kim then I started doing an up/down/up/down/up/down...etc.. hill workout while Kim did her run. I'm going to try and do a hill workout most weeks to build strength and to serve as my poor-mans-speedwork and get the HR up without pounding the legs.

Not sure what the deal was today, I felt fine for a while but then I just really ran out of gas the last few miles and dogged it home at SP ("Snail Pace" :)). Guess I need to ease into the hills a bit more gently.

8:36/155

Been enjoying watching the Chilean miner rescue.

AM: 6 8:15/163

Late AM: XT 20 min + 1.75 mile BFOG

6 miles with Kimi Sue Loo in the morning just as the sun was coming up. Another beautiful day we ran down to the bottoms and got a couple miles on the new river trail. Have the full day off today looking forward to a nice day with the family. Camron and Rurika are visiting as well so always good to have them around when they can get a break from the hectic college study/work schedule.

9:20

Slept in a bit today again then we went out about sunrise time. Beautiful October day. Ran just over 4 with Kim then 7 more solo. Felt a little more peppy than usual today so I went with the flow and ran a lot of sub-8 min miles with a couple miles down into the MP range between 7-7:30. 

8:16/153

AM: Ran with Kim around the streets of SF. Very dark with the clouds and no moon, but pleasant temps (50's) and a little humid. We had a run in with a big dog that got the old HR spiked. Did a 1/2 dozen strides along the way and finished the last 1/2 mile faster just under 7 min pace.

8:56/146

Late AM: 2 miles on the roads (7:47/157) and 2 miles BF on the grass (8:26/163)

AM: 6 miles with Kim. Very very dark down in the river bottoms with no moon! But our reward was seeing a bunch of shooting stars. Temps are still quite pleasant for this time of year.

9:22

Late AM: 20 minutes various XT and 2 miles running outside.

8:10/148

Since I'm working just a 1/2 day at home today I decided to sleep in a bit and do the hill workout in the late morning hours. Quite the beautiful day today, about as perfect as could be for running up and down some hills.  It was a tiring workout but I was pleased I felt a lot better than last week. I'm never sure how to log these hill miles, they certainly aren't easy even though the ave pace is in the easy range.  I think today I'll just count a couple miles as MP.

8:07/165 max HR 185

RHR 49

Early AM: Ran 6 miles solo as today is a rest day for Kim. I've been surprised both last week and this week how good I've felt the day following the hard hill workout. Not sure what's up with that but I won't complain.

8:20/155

Late AM: Legs still feeling real good later in the morning so I decided to bag the planned XT workout and add 2 more run miles outside. Just seemed like a waste to stay in the gym with such a nice day out the window. After the 2 miles on the roads (7:56) ran 2 more BF on the grass (8:22).  Sure feels good to feel good.

Early AM: Nice and easy 6 miler with Kim on an overcast but fairly warm morning. Probably our last early morning 50+ degree run of the year, at least in SF. Don't know if I'm quite ready for the weather forecasted for the next week.

9:17/137

Late AM: 30 min various boring XT.

Ran down in St. George as I ended up coming down solo for a quick trip to go to the condo homeowners association mtg. and also replenish some supplies. Rains thru the night kept me up a bit and I decided to run after the meeting around noon.

I was hoping it would be cloudy and cool at that time but it ended up being a bit warm & muggy & sunny. I was pretty pooped by the time I got done. But felt good at times and with the lower elevation I can tell it's easier to hit the 7-ish paces with less effort. At least that was true until the heat caught up to me and cancelled out the altitude bonus.

I was surprised with a couple miles to go to hear somebody calling my name. Turned out to be Steve Hooper who was at the park with his family. Had a nice talk which came at a good time as I was pretty tuckered out at that point and not looking forward to the last uphill mile to the condo.

Happy to now be home after going thru some pretty nasty thunderstorms on the way home.

7:47/164

Early AM: Had a bad nights sleep with the nasty north winds blowing sheets of rain against our bedroom window thru much of the night. By 5:45 things had calmed down so I decided to give the early 6 mile run a try. Kim opted to try her luck later in the day. I haven't talked to her yet or seen a blog entry so I hope it worked out for her. Turns out the timing was pretty good for me as the rain mostly stopped and the winds weren't too bad either.

8:20/163

Late AM: Weather cleared up and the sun even poked through a little bit so I resisted Nate's invitation to join him for a treadmill run and went outside for 4 including 2 miles on the roads (7:58) and 2 miles BFOCWG (Barefoot On Cold Wet Grass :) 8:08). The north wind was still  plenty nasty though and I didn't enjoy those times I was running straight into it.

While I was doing the barefoot thing I'm sure the flag football dudes I kept running past thought I was a nut job. Actually at times I was thinking I was a nut job. The cold wet grass had my feet about completely numb by the time I was done. Nothing like icing your feet while your running. So far my feet are feeling pretty good (now that I can actually feel them) so hopefully I didn't do a dumb thing by running with frozen bare feet.

RHR 46

AM: Ran 6.1 with Kim out toward Leland direction and finishing up at the high school were Jansen had parked the van. Nice morning for a run, no rain, not too windy and not too cold if you were dressed right.

9:10

PM: Ran 4 more, feeling really good lately with both this run and the one this morning feeling effortless, had to keep reminding myself to slow down a bit and save it for the big hill workout tomorrow.

7:47/153

RHR 47

Working at home today and just like the last 2 Wednesdays I ran up and down the hills just before lunch. Gotta say the sunny 40 degree temps were about ideal for this workout. Felt great today, much better than the last 2 times I did this workout even with adding a couple more hills this time around. I'm sure the cooler temps had a lot to do with it plus I suppose my fitness is slowly but surely improving.

Dang if I haven't felt great every day so far this week, I wonder if that can hold true the rest of the week. Gotta love these kinda days. And in the spirit of "you gotta love it baby!" I'm looking forward to the Jazz opening game with the Nuggets tonight!

8:02/162 max HR 182

RHR 48

Early AM:  Ran regular 6 mile loop. Weather forecast said into the 20's with canyon winds so I dusted off the longs for the first time since early in the year. Turns out I was overdressed as although it was breezy I think temps must have been a few degrees above freezing.

8:17/156

Late AM: Did 10 min XT then 1 mile on the roads and 2 BFOG. Not so chilly on the grass today as compared to Monday but I swear the Novell grounds people are still watering the lawns and some sections I avoided are like a swamp.

8:17

Ran 6 miles on the bunny trail with Kim as the sun came up here in St. George. Kids had no school today so we decided to make a quick mini-vacation trip to the condo and enjoy the sun and mid-70's temps today in Dixie. I love being out and about here when the first rays of morning sun hit the red rocks and the green trees.

9:13/131

Another absolutely glorious morning in St. George. Mid 50's and clear skies it was great to be able to run in short sleeves. Feeling good mojo so ran miles 5-10 at MP (7-7:30 pace). Fast mile splits: 7:15, 7:19, 7:10, 7:09, 7:19, 7:24.

7:45/164 max HR 183 RHR 51 BC 9 (Bunny Count :))