Every Race is an Adventure!

Larry and Wayne were kind enough to accompany me on most of a 12 mile run this morning. Our plan was to run from the mouth of Provo Canyon up to Vivian Park...but we failed to realize the Provo River trail is only cleared up to Nunn's Park. We took the old Bridal Veil road at that point and followed it up to Upper Falls Park, which required crossing through one nasty section of frozen snow about 4-6" deep. It was smooth and frozen enough in some spots to run on top of the snow, but mostly it was a minefield of potential ankle turns.

I've decided to run the Utah Valley Marathon in about 6 weeks so I wanted to start getting in some longer runs on Saturday. My goal for today was 12 miles. We hit 9 miles shortly before we got back to the mouth of the canyon. We decided to run on south along the trail. Larry and Wayne said they were going to do about 10 miles, but said they would wait for me to do my 12.

Around this point two young women passed us. They were pretty good runners, but not elite runners, and I have to admit that it was bothering me that they were passing me. Since we had decided I was going to go a little farther than my buddies, I left them and soon passed the two ladies. I ran down to Riverwoods and then headed back. As I started back I saw that they were only about 50 yards behind me.

My goal was to just get in 12 miles today, the pace wasn't important. That's good because we ran pretty slowly. I ended up averaging about 9:25/mi for the 12 miles, with an 8:01 and an 8:15 mile near the end.

It was great running with my buddies up Provo Canyon again. The weather was in the 40's and sunny. It was a great run. (But then, as Tom says, every run is a great run.)

I did another route remix this morning, combining portions of the Tri-City and Serpentine routes for an 8.1 mile solo run. My average pace was 8:55/mi. It was nice having it get lighter during the run, but of course that will end with daylight savings time starting this weekend.

My base building plan seems to be going well so far. I bumped my mileage up to 45 miles for each of the last two weeks with no ill effects. I'm still feeling minor pain occasionally from my Achilles and PF in my left foot, but they are much better. The combination of icing, wearing neoprene ankle supports for therapeutic heat, and sleeping in my Strassburg sock occasionally seems to be helping. Most of this has been preventative, done at the slightest hint of a flare up.

The plan this week is to run around 45 miles again, including a long run of around 14 miles on Saturday as I prepare for the UV Marathon on April 12. With the Spectrum 10K being a week from Saturday, I'd also like to try at least a moderate tempo run sometime this week, but I'm going to play it by ear. If it feels right one day, maybe I'll push the pace for a few miles. I threw in a couple of striders this morning and it felt good.

I ran the Orem route down to 400 South and back this morning. It was nice having it be nearly 20 degrees warmer this morning than yesterday morning.

Shortly into the run I was feeling pretty good and decided to insert a couple of fast miles. I decided I would push the pace on the mile from 800 North down to Center St. on 400 East, rest the mile down to 400 South and back, and then push again from Center St. back up to 800 North.

I ran the first (downgrade, wind-aided) fast mile in 6:54, the second (upgrade, headwind) fast mile in 7:24, and averaged 8:11/mi overall for the 6.5 mile run.

It felt good to run a sub-7:00 mile again, even if it was wind-aided on a downgrade. I mostly just wanted to try moving my legs that fast again. I was actually running around 6:40/mi the first part of that mile but backed off a little. I ran the Spectrum 10K in 41:42.5 last year (6:44/mi) and won my age division. I would love to match or beat that next week, but with my foot injuries over the winter I have not been putting in any speed work or tempo runs so I'm a little concerned about leg turnover. I averaged 7:07/mi in the Painter's half in January, and there's some great downhill in the first three miles of Spectrum 10K, so maybe I have a chance.

Even though 7:24 isn't very fast for the second "fast" mile, it was on a steady slight upgrade into a pretty stiff headwind. It was great practice focusing on keeping my legs moving and pushing when it wasn't very easy. It seems odd even to me, but I kind of enjoy that struggle.

Even though I was pushing the pace more than I have for quite a while, I was still reluctant to give it full throttle. The last time I did that, two weeks after the St. George marathon last October, it triggered the injuries I've been fighting all winter. I feel good about how my training is going and don't want to jeopardize it by beeing foolish going for too much too soon.

I had a great run with Tom and Will at lunch time today. We ran towards Seven Peaks then looped back down University Ave and around the East Bay area, the same run Tom and I did a couple of weeks ago. It was sunny and in the mid 30's. I really enjoyed it.

We averaged around 8:16/mi for the 8 miles.

I ran an extended Tri-City loop again this morning, 8.1 miles @ 9:25/mi. The pace was easy, but my effort to hold the easy pace was not all that easy. I think yesterday's run with Tom and Will took a little more out of my legs than I thought. I think the temperature being in the low 20's made me a little slower as well. Nevertheless, every run is a great run. (Do I have to pay Tom a royalty every time I say that?)

My goal this week was to run about 45 miles, including a 14 mile long run. I already had 30 miles, and my planned 14 miler tomorrow will put me at 44, so my thought for today was to take it easy and maybe get in a few easy miles.

There's a group of guys (and one girl) that play basketball at lunch time at work. I know some of them and they have invited me to play various times over the last couple of years. I bumped into two of them in a meeting yesterday. It got me thinking, so I brought in my shoes and ankle supports today and played with them at lunch time. It was pretty fun, and I managed to avoid injury.

After basketball, I changed my shoes and ran a loop around the Novell campus area for about 1.6 miles at around an 8:30 pace.

Larry's still in Hawaii, and he usually coordinates our Saturday runs, so I just headed out solo this morning. My new Saucony Pro Grid Trigon 5 Guides arrived yesterday so I started by taking them out for a 1 mile test run. They felt good, but I didn't trust them enough for my first run in them to be a long run, so after a couple of laps around the neighborhood I swapped them for my tried and true Brooks Axiom 2's and headed toward Provo Canyon.

I ended up running from my house up to Bridal Veil Falls and back. Once I got to the canyon trail I saw quite a few runners out. I had a bit of adversity on the way up the canyon. Let's just say I shouldn't have eaten a piece of my daughter's ice cream birthday cake last night (I don't tolerate ice cream well), I wish they could find a way to provide restrooms up there during the winter, and I'm glad I carried some paper with me this morning. The restrooms I tried were all locked, including the port-a-potty at Nunn's Park that I used just last Saturday.

After interfacing with nature about 7 or 8 miles into the run I felt much better as I continued up the canyon. On the way back down the canyon I took an eGel, stopped at the fountain near Timpanogos Park for a good drink, then pushed on up into Orem and back home.

I was planning on 14 miles, but with the shoe test drive mile, and running a little farther than planned, I ended up with 16 miles. My average pace was 9:08/mi for the 16 miles, with the last two miles being 8:21 and 8:10. It felt good to finish strong. The eGel must have kicked in.

The extra miles put me at just over 50 miles for the week. That makes 45, 45, and 50 for the last three weeks. I'm encouraged. I'm feeling pretty good and the injuries seem to be staying away (knock on wood).

I got stuck in a noon meeting today so I didn't get to run with Tom and Nathan. However, after reading Tom's blog maybe it's a good thing. They ran Eagle's View, and that's not what I wanted to do today.

With the Spectrum 10K this weekend I plan to mini-taper near the end of the week, but I still want this to be a pretty good training week so I plan to get in some good miles early in the week.

I started off with the thought of running the 8 mile loop we've done a couple of times recently, only in the reverse direction. It ended up being quite different. Rather than loop through East Bay I started directly up University Avenue, worked my way east to 500 East, then kept going north to 700 North (just south of BYU campus). I then headed east and went up to Seven Peaks Blvd, down to Seven Peaks, and back to 900 East.

There was a bit of a climb up to Seven Peaks Blvd, but it was nothing compared to the climb that started at 300 South and 900 East and gradually got steeper over the next mile or so as I headed east and then south into the neighborhoods east of State Street. Tom had mentioned his distaste for this particular climb, and I now understand why. It just seemed to keep going and going, getting steeper and steeper, and then I met Mr. Headwind as I turned south and went up the steepest part of the hill just before the top. The headwind continued as I headed south and west back to work, but at least there was a lot of downhill, with only a little uphill on the two overpasses.

My average pace was 8:48/mi for the 9 miles, the fastest being 8:13/mi on the first mile, and the slowest being 9:40/mi on that lovely long uphill. All in all it was a very good run, especially the sunshine and mild temperatures.

It was great to finally run with Larry and Wayne again this morning. I put in a couple of miles (about 8:40 pace) before I met up with them and then we ran the six mile Lindon loop. There aren't many street lights in Lindon and it was pretty dark. I tried to stay away from edges of the road as a safety precaution.

We only averaged around 9:40/mi but it sure felt harder than that. I think my legs are feeling the effects of the increased mileage of the past few weeks, and the long hilly run yesterday. I don't mind the tired legs...no pain no gain...I'm just grateful the pain is not of the injury variety. I still feel a little PF pain at times, and minor soreness in my Achilles now and then, but I've run 45, 45, and 50 miles in the past three weeks and the injuries are still feeling better, not getting worse, so I'm
optimistic.

I plan to put in some longer miles again tomorrow but then run some short easy runs on Thursday and Friday to rest my legs for Spectrum on Saturday.

Larry and I (Wayne never showed) worked our way over to THS for a couple of miles as warm up then did a couple of tempo miles on the track. My half mile splits were 3:31, 3:33, 3:33, and 3:27, so 7:04 and 7:00 for the two miles. We then ran back home at an easy pace.

I actually feel pretty good about the run. I was pushing pretty hard for the two miles, but it was more of a fast marathon effort than an all out speed run. I didn't want to go all out and risk an injury. I just wanted to try a bit of a faster pace.

At noon I ran Lake View with Tom, Nathan, and Steve (King). Tom, Nathan, and I had agreed it would be at an "easy" pace. I didn't struggle too badly, but averaging 7:51/mi for the 5.2 miles is a little faster than "easy" for me. I was okay with it, though. I wanted to train hard Mon-Wed this week before backing off a little before the Spectrum 10K on Saturday.

This is my first double (two runs in one day) in quite a while. I actually feel pretty good. I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do on Saturday after resting my legs a little after three weeks of increased mileage.

I may have chosen poorly today. I was only going to go 3-4 miles and I couldn't figure where I wanted to run, and it was a little overcast and chilly as I walked to the fitness center, and an okay movie was on, so I ended up just staying in the fitness center and running on the treadmill. Of course, as soon as I started the sun broke through the clouds. I almost stopped and went outside, but I didn't.

Darin was on a treadmill farther down, so at least I was in good company. A little less than a mile in Nathan started up on the treadmill next to me, which wasn't working well, then moved down to a better one when it opened up.

Nathan said he was going an easy 5 miles. I ended up doing the same, averaging 8:53/mi.

I only put a few miles in this morning in preparation for the 10K race tomorrow. It's a half mile around the block in front of my house so I did 6 laps. I wanted to warm up and then do one short stretch to "feel the speed". I warmed up for a little over 2 miles then halfway into lap 5 I let go for the last 1/4 mile of the lap. I then ran the last 1/2 mile lap very easy.

Shortly into the run I stepped on a rock and rolled my right ankle. It gave me a scare, but fortunately wasn't serious and I was able to "run it off". I'm icing it now as a precaution, but it feels pretty good.

The big surprise for me this morning was after the run when I checked the pace for the fast 1/4 mile stretch. At first I was disappointed. It appeared that my Garmin had glitched. However, I verified that it measured 0.26 miles, and the time was 1:23, so the 5:24/mi pace it showed was accurate. It was only 1/4 mile, but I didn't think I had that kind of speed in me right now. I was just "letting go", not really straining for all out kick or anything. I couldn't have held that speed for too much longer, but it felt pretty good.

I don't hold any illusions about running sub-6:00 miles for the 10K tomorrow, but it boosts my confidence that I may be able to match or better my PR of 6:44/mi from last year. Once again, I look forward to the journey of discovery that each race offers.

I'm taking the day off work to go watch my daughter dance at BYU. Her BYU Pre-Teen ballroom dance team is in the Pre-Teen Latin Formation competition today. They are also in the Standard Formation competition tomorrow. Also tomorrow, her elementary school's ballroom dance team has a competition. This is all part of the US National Amateur Dancesport Championships that are being held at BYU this weekend..

Kerry is coming to pick me up at 5:30pm to head to St. George. I can hardly wait.

What a great road trip to the Spectrum 10K! When we found out Karen couldn't go I almost decided to not go, but she encouraged me to. I was still worried about going alone. I was thrilled when Kerry decided to go down with me. He even said he'd like to drive. I just went along for the ride, and probably talked too much. At least it made the drives down and back seem shorter...at least to me. :)

The race was great, too. The weather was ideal. The course is awesome. The race was well organized. A lot of my good running buddies were there. I really enjoyed everything about it.

Nathan and I started the race together. We finished the first mile in about 5:30. (I'll have to go by memory on my splits as my Garmin, I discovered after the race, now displays garbage when I go into history mode. Bummer. They gave away a Garmin in the raffle, but I didn't win it. Maybe I'll have more luck with my birthday in 9 days.) Anyway, 5:30 was just a little bit faster than the 6:20-6:30 we had planned. At the first mile marker another runner near us said something like, "5:30?! What am I doing running 5:30?!" I think Nathan and I were both thinking the same thing, but we were feeling pretty good so we just kept speeding along.

Mile 2 was more rolling hills than downhill, and I think we ran it in just over 6:00 minutes. Nathan pulled about 30 yards ahead of me during this mile. I've noticed he always seems to run uphills better than I do. He was reluctant to run ahead of me and kept looking back. I kept telling him to stop looking back and just run. As mile 3 was back to mostly downhill, I managed to stay behind him. Around the mile 3 marker I had gained slightly on him. He noticed and slowed to let me catch up. I think we averaged about 6:16/mi for the first three miles, well ahead of our 6:20-6:30 goal.

Now the downhill was over, and it wasn't long before Nathan pulled ahead again, this time for good. He went on to beat me by over a minute and finish in 38:49, 19th overall. He is running so well! He's going to have a great first Boston marathon.

As Nathan pulled away I just tried to keep moving forward. At the mile 4 marker I was still averaging around 6:16/mi. By the mile 5 marker the average was down to 6:27. I knew I needed to average around 6:30 (actually 6:27) to break 40 minutes. Fortunately, the gradual uphill we had been running turned to gradual downhill for a while and the overall average pace displayed on my watch started dropping again. I just locked in and tried to push as hard as I could the rest of the way. When I could see the clock at the finish line it was just under 39:00. I didn't seem to be able to get to the finish line fast enough. As I got closer to the finish line the clock got closer to 40:00. I pumped my fist exultantly as I crossed the finish line in 39:55! It is still hard to believe that I averaged 6:25/mi. I'm shocked, and extremely happy.

I haven't run a sub-40:00 10K since the early 80's, more than 25 years ago. Sure, this was a net downhill course, but I'll take it anyway. I finished in 41:42 last year.

Nathan and I both finished 2nd in our age divisions. However, the guy that beat me in my division was the overall masters winner, so I was awarded 1st place in my division.

I thought everyone I knew ran well. At the awards ceremony the FRB members were very well represented. I'll let someone else report on that as there were so many of them and I don't know everyone.

What a great time!

I ran Lake View with Nathan at noon. My legs are still a little sore from the race on Saturday so I was planning to take it easy, around an 8:30-9:00 pace. Nathan was obviously feeling a little better than me. I managed to have some conversation with him during the run, but it was affected somewhat by my heavy breathing. We ended up averaging 7:48/mi for the 5.2 miles, and then Nathan headed to the treadmill for more. He's so ready for Boston, and he's still got another month to go.

I survived the run pretty well. I went faster than I planned, but that's probably okay since I also reduced my mileage for today.

Based on my performance Saturday I guess I'm in better shape than I thought I was, but that was only a 10K. I know my base mileage still needs some work for a marathon. My plan is to try to get in 50+ miles per week for the next two weeks, including long runs of 18 and 20+ miles, then begin a gradual two week taper to the Utah Valley Marathon on April 12. I won't be in "peak" marathon shape, more like "weak" marathon shape, but I think I'll be able to finish and not be too embarrassed by my time. I've exceeded my own expectations in both races I've run so far this year. I hope the trend continues.

I was planning to get in a couple of miles before meeting up with Larry and Wayne but I got out a little later than planned. I still thought  I might be able to get 1.5 miles in, but I ran so slowly that I only got in 1 mile.

We met up and wandered the local streets on a variation of my Serpentine route another 5.75 miles. During these meanderings there was a lot of great conversation. I was so engrossed at one point that I didn't notice the bad patchwork on the road and stepped on the edge of some asphalt that was sticking up. Last Friday I realized I'd turned my ankle on a rock in the road when I suddenly started feeling pain in my ankle. This time I realized something had occurred when my body slammed onto the road.

I followed my normal strategy of immediately getting up and trying to run it off. Once again it worked out, although I wasn't sure at first. I've rolled my ankle so many times that now one of the first things I do is rate it on a 1-10 scale. Last Friday's was a high 3. At first I rated today's a high 4 (same ankle by the way), but after a block or so it felt much better so I downgraded it to a 3. Based on the small amount of pain I felt at the end of the run and now, I might even rate it a high 2. I'll feel a little pain for a few days but I don't think it will affect my running. I guess one of the advantages of so many sprains is that they don't do quite so much damage anymore. I guess the tendons are already stretched out.

I don't normally fall when I roll an ankle. The neat thing about falling is being able to show your bloody wounds to your wife and kids when you get home. It's kind of macho I think, even though this morning it wasn't all that glorious (or gore-ious). I tore some skin off my left palm and scraped my left knee. I think it would have been worse but I was wearing knit gloves and my long running pants. The pants are damaged a little, but it did not tear a hole in them. The gloves didn't seem damaged at all.

All in all I think I was pretty lucky. In recent years I've been reluctant to play basketball because I've been afraid of turning an ankle. After Friday and today, I'm thinking maybe basketball is the safer sport. I'll sure be glad when it gets a little lighter for my morning runs. It obviously wasn't runners that decided to expand daylight savings time.

I went 6.2 miles at an easy pace (avg. 9:04) this morning. I plan to run at noon again so I wanted to save a little energy. I've learned that there is no such thing as an easy run with the Novell boys anymore. Tom, Nathan, and Will are all running so well that their easy pace often isn't all that easy for me.

NOTE TO SELF: Don't run near the high school around 6:00am. With kids headed to driver's ed and early morning practices or clubs, and everybody apparently running late, it feels a little like trying to run through the middle of a demolition derby.

At noon I ran Lake View with Tom and Will. Actually, we did Will's "Power Park" loop variation which runs under some high voltage power lines and then on the trail through a small park. I kind of enjoyed it. It's a little less boring than just out and back. We went 6.1 miles. According to my watch in took us 50:33, making the average pace 8:17/mi.

I haven't done a two-a-day for a long time. I was a little tired near the end of the noon run, as the pace picked up a little, but all in all I feel pretty good.

Man, do I feel foolish. I headed out a little earlier than normal so I could get in 8 easy miles. I decided to run towards the canyon and then maybe down Palisades. About 2.5 miles into my run it suddenly dawns on me (even though it is still very dark) that it's Thursday! I was supposed to meet Larry and Wayne at 5:45am! And I'm 2.5 miles away!

Even though there was little hope of finding them, I immediately turned around and headed towards home. I figured if they perchance chose to run the same route, I might meet up with them. As I headed home a phrase from Rex in Toy Story (I think) popped into my mind, "Great! Now I have guilt!"

I didn't see them so when I reached the neighborhood, now 5 miles into my run, I decided to run part of the Lindon Loop backwards. If they went that way I'd probably find them. I thought maybe they had taken the Never Ending Hills route, too, but if they did I didn't want to find them. My legs were not wanting hills today.

I went 1.5 miles then gave up and returned home for a total of 8 miles (at about 9:14/mi). I thought I would at least see them walking around the block to cool down, so I could apologize, but no luck.

Oh well, I thought I might finally attain perfection today and make no mistakes, but it looks like I'll have to wait until tomorrow. Dang! I can't believe I did that!

I decided to get in 20 miles this morning in preparation for the Utah Valley Marathon in three weeks. I decided to start at the lake and run the Provo River Trail up to the mouth of Provo Canyon and back. Larry and Wayne met me at the mouth of the canyon and ran the last 10 miles with me. Kevin was with us for a while but had to run shorter so he could get back for soccer games.

It was still quite dark when I started a little after 6:30am. I almost bumped into another runner just as I started. I was surprised to pass a number of runners in the dark near the beginning of my run. There was even one large group of young men runners, probably some school team. It was too dark to see if they were high school or college age.

It was fun listening to the frogs, ducks, and birds in the pre-dawn light as I ran along the river and a swamp. The weather wasn't too cold, at least until about mile 6 when I came up on University Avenue. I could suddenly see my breath, and my ears got cold. When I met up with Larry he said it was 24' when they left. It was 30' when I started 1.5 hours earlier. The sun didn't come up until two hours into the run, and it never did get warm enough for me to unzip my vest or take off my gloves. I had expected it to be a little warmer.

I felt good most of the run, but the end of the run felt like...well...like the end of a 20 mile run. It was really good to have Larry and Wayne along.

20.2 miles in 2:57:32 (8:47/mi)
Up: 9:11, 8:50, 9:04, 8:54, 9:46, 9:08, 8:46, 8:45, 9:05, 9:48
Back: 7:56, 8:11, 8:46, 8:08, 8:26, 8:53, 9:04, 9:09, 8:49, 7:02
0.2 @ 7:44/mi

Well, I've got people wishing me a happy birthday on my March 22 entry, so I guess I'd better get my official March 24 birthday entry done. Kim suggested maybe I was sleeping in and being pampered. Are you kidding? My birthday wish would never be to not have to run, quite the opposite.

I got up this morning and did a 6 mile solo run at a very easy pace (avg 9:52/mi). The main purpose of this run was to stretch out my legs. Actually, I feel much better than I expected to after Saturday's 20 miler, but I do still have a little stiffness/soreness in the tops of both calves, just below the knee. Fortunately, this is the "muscles are getting stronger" kind of pain as in "no pain, no gain", not the "dang! I over did it" injury kind of pain.

That 20 mile run was the beginning of a great weekend. We went to the Easter Event at Lavendar Farms in Mona later in the morning. My daughter Tiffany helped plan it as part of one of her classes at BYU and was the handler for Easter Bunny. My favorite part was the baby animals at the petting zoo. I got to hold a cute little baby goat that looked right up at me and said, "I think I've had enough of this now. I know you are much bigger than me, but may I please return to mother now? I'm a little overwhelmed by all of this, and a little bit hungry."

We then went on to a Thomas family gathering at my parents' home in Nephi. We had a great meal, played some games, and had a good time hanging out together. All of my siblings were there (1 brother, 3 sisters) and many of the grandchildren. Playing Easter Bingo for candy bars was fun, and racing boiled eggs down the driveway, but playing The Great Dalmuti (two tables of 7 each) was probably the most fun. I've sure been blessed to have good people in my life.

That was followed by finished up Easter dress shopping at the mall on the way home. Even that wasn't so bad. It's much less frustrating now that I've learned that my role is to "pack and pay", and that trying to hurry things up is not usually helpful. It's a great opportunity to practice the virtue of patience.

Sunday my two young single adult children who are not living at home came by and we had a great Sunday together with Easter candy, a great Easter meal, watching some old family videos, and playing a few games together (Such & Such, Curses, and Bang! with the Dodge City expansion deck). We had a great time!

I'm hoping to run again at noon today if any of the guys are going out, but I'll have to see how work is going. I normally take my birthday off, but I've got a lot of work to get done so I thought I'd better come in. I'll take a day some other time when I can enjoy it more.

I did make it out at noon and enjoyed a nice run with Tom and Bill in near perfect weather on the Lake View route. We averaged 8:19/mi for the 5.2 miles. I wish Bill could make it out with us more often, but he's normally doing a fitness class at that time. I don't know where Nathan and Will were today. Maybe Wednesday.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I rode my motorcycle to work today for the first time this year. I really quite enjoyed it. I certainly prefer the 70-75 mpg the motorcycle gets to the 10-12 mpg my Suburban gets. I'm not really a "biker dude". It's not a Harley or a bullet bike, it's just a little Yamaha XT 225 dual purpose (dirt/road) bike that's seen far more asphalt than dirt, mostly commuting the 10 miles to work and back.

I remembered I was supposed to run with Larry and Wayne this morning, but I guess I missed them again. I went out early to get in a couple of miles before meeting them. I just ran 1/2 mile loops around the block, one corner of which is where we meet. I wasn't sure if I had time to get in the 4th half mile loop, but I looked towards Larry's cul-de-sac and didn't see them coming so I went for it. There's only a 1/4 mile where I couldn't see the meeting corner, but I guess they must have met and left during those couple of minutes because I never saw them.

I ran up to 1600 North to see if I could see them, but no luck. As I looped past the elementary school I ran into Tim Hakala who was just starting a run. He's a beginner runner who used to live in our neighborhood, moved away for a while, then moved back but a couple of streets over in a different neighborhood. We've talked a couple of times recently about him joining us for runs. He only wanted to go a couple of miles so I backed off a little and ran a couple of miles with him. It was good catching up on what he's been up to.

After I left him I was going to get another couple of miles in, but for some reason I was feeling some chafing this morning so I decided to just head for home. It's supposed to be another nice day. Maybe I'll get in a few miles at noon if work permits.

I averaged 9:42/mi for 4.5 miles. I wore my new Garmin 205 for the first time this morning. I know there's a 305, and the 405 is coming out soon, but the 205 meets my needs just fine, and is a step up from my old trusty 201, which is so trusty anymore.

At noon, I got another 6.5 miles in (avg. 8:52/mi). My hip was hurting a little this morning so I wasn't sure how far I wanted to go. When I saw Darin and Will on the treadmills in the fitness center, I decided that if I ran on the treadmill I could stop immediately if anything didn't feel right. I was only thinking of going 3 or 4 miles anyway. Will was a little disappointed. He was going to go outside with me if I went. I knew I didn't want to run sub-8:00 today, so I stuck to the treadmill decision.

I talked to Will a bit until he finished. I also got to talk to Nathan and Tom for a bit as each of them came in from their runs at different times. The rest of the time was filled with watching "Flightplan", which I'd already seen. Still, I ended up running until it was over and went 6.5 miles instead of the planned 3 or 4. Of course, thankfully, my hip didn't bother me at all and I would have enjoyed running outside in the mild weather. Ah well.

I ran Lake View with Tom and Will at noon. We actually managed to keep the pace from getting too fast. I think we averaged around 8:18/mi.

I was trying to save some energy for the annual men vs. young men basketball game. A lot of good that did. They toasted us. We played them close the second half, but the damage was already done. Speaking of damage, I've decided to turn an ankle at least once a week. I took care of this week's ankle roll during the game. I think that's three weeks in a row now, once on a rock, once on the edge of some bad asphalt, and once getting bumped around playing basketball. I was wearing high tops and an ankle support so it wasn't too serious. I sat out the rest of the game, but I think I'll be able to run on it okay.

At first I questioned whether I should have played, but then a quote from the movie "Strictly Ballroom" came to my mind: "Vivir con miedo es como vivir a medias" or "To live with fear is to live a life half-lived". (If you haven't seen the move, I recommend you see it.)

I ran a half mile to test out my ankle then joined Larry and Wayne for a run around the Lindon Loop. The ankle held up fine, but I think I'll talk it easy tomorrow and then only run 10 or 12 on Saturday instead of the longer run I originally had planned.

I ran the 10K Lake View route with Darin today. We ran about as fast as I can and still stay conversational. We averaged 7:47/mi for the 6.2 miles. We ran into Tom in the fitness center afterwards. He had averaged about a minute per mile faster than that for his 8 mile tempo run, but I bet our conversation was better. Actually, it might be interesting to hear the conversations Tom has with himself during his long tempo runs.

Wow! My tag line is "Every race is an adventure!" I truly believe that. I thought about "Every RUN is an adventure!"...but if I'm honest, many runs are not all that adventurous. Today, however, was an exception.

Larry, Wayne, and I met at 8:00 for leisurely 12 mile run. I put in a warm up mile before that. They suggested the canal road towards Pleasant Grove and that sounded good to me. As we approached Pleasant Grove, Wayne suggested we head up Battle Creek canyon and take the Bonneville Shoreline Trail back. I had never run that way before, but they had and I trusted them, so I agreed.

I soon began to wonder what I'd gotten myself into. We proceeded to run up and up and up for the next 2.5 miles, from about 4900 feet to 5700 feet. The splits for two of those miles were 13:08 and 14:37. There was a lot of downhill after that, but with enough uphill mixed in to keep my legs pretty tired.

Despite the hard work, it was worth it. The views of the valley were beautiful. I told Karen afterwards that I wish there was some way I could share those experiences with her and the children. The combination of a beautiful morning, good people, exercise, the wonders of nature...well most of you reading this will know what I'm talking about. I feel so blessed. I wish everyone could experience it.

We were all pretty much beat when we came out of the foothills, but we were only at about 10 miles and had planned on 12. Larry took a more direct route home and Wayne and I decided to loop down 2000 N to 400 W and back home. Larry actually ended up doing an extra half mile loop around the block and probably ran farther than we did. Wayne and I pushed pretty hard the last 1.5 miles and averaged 7:47/mi. Wayne's running pretty well after his battle with pneumonia over the winter.

Today's run felt more like an 18 mile run than 12.5, but I'll only count the 12.5.

I got up early to run this morning but I had the impression that I should just run at noon. The impression was inspired by the new snowfall, icy roads, and gusty wind.

It turned out to be a good impression. Tom was on the treadmill as I entered the fitness center and asked if I was headed out. He seem relieved when I said I was. He finished four miles on the treadmill then did another four with me. Because of the wind I decided to wear my jacket, but I ended up taking it off after I got warmed up. There was a cold wind from the southwest, but it was tolerable running into it even without the jacket.

I wanted to get a few more miles in so after dropping Tom off I looped around the streets in East Bay. I ended up running another 4.25 miles. I guess the 0.25 miles is significant because I just checked Tom's blog and he only ran 8.0 miles today. Since today is Monday, my 8.25 miles will put me ahead of him for this week on the mileage board. Never mind that he is tapering, and that he is still 50 miles ahead of me for March.

Seriously, I feel pretty good about my mileage. I've averaged about 48.5 miles per week for the past six weeks, with three of the last four weeks being 50+, while managing to not aggravate any of the injuries I nursed during the winter.

Splits for today:
With Tom: 7:59, 8:15, 7:30, 7:44
Alone: 7:50, 8:09, 8:25, 8:23, 8:12/mi for 0.25

Overall: 8.25 miles in 1:06:20 (8:03/mi)