Every Race is an Adventure!

Standard Monday morning run with Kevin, Kent, and Larry. I forgot to set my alarm, but luckily I woke up about 5:38 (we leave at 5:45). I hustled to get ready but with my running clothes in the dryer, and the delay from a bathroom stop, I got outside just as they passed my house (we start half a block up at the corner). My GPS hadn't sync-ed so I decided to jog to the start corner, wait for the GPS, and see how long it took me to catch them. I started at about a 6:00 pace, slowed considerably as I went uphill, but managed to get back to a 6:00 pace until I caught them about one mile in. Starting so quickly really zapped me. I took the rest of the run fairly easy. Average pace about 8:30.

Standard Tuesday morning run with Kent and Larry. I decided to insert some speedwork in the form of fartlek. I pushed 6 different times: 3 short uphills, 1 longer downhill, and 2 flats. For the fartleks, I averaged just under a 6:00 pace (downhills faster than uphills, of course) for a total of about 1.1 miles. According to the GPS, I went sub-5:00 briefly (376 feet). I ran 2.3 miles at about 8:15 and averaged just under 9:00 overall, including some slow recovery jogging.

Standard Wednesday morning hill run with Kent and Larry. I didn't push real hard, but it's hard to say it was an "easy" pace...some of the hills wouldn't be easy even at a walking pace.

At lunch time I ran the Lake View 5 mile run with Darin, Cory, Nathan, Will, and another Paul. It wasn't easy, but I managed to stay with the lead group. My average pace was about 7:50.

Larry suggested to Kevin, Kent, and me that we run the "Never Ending Hills" course. It's a winding course through the hills of Northeast Orem and Lindon. I pushed a little a couple of times but mostly just ran along at a moderate pace.

Kevin and I ran the neighborhood 5K course, running about a half a mile to the park as warmup. It starts and ends at Northridge Park. It's roughly 1 mile gradual downhill, 1 mile level, 1 mile gradual uphill and then finishes with a lap around the track at Northridge Park.

My time was 21:21, just under a 7:00 minute average pace. I'm pleased...except Kevin beat me by 3 seconds. :-)

Larry and I ran the canal road up into American Fork and back, a little over 12 miles. Our average pace was about 9:00.

Standard Monday morning run with Kevin, Kent, and Larry. Kevin and I inserted a fartlek of around 0.6 miles at about a 6:30 pace, and Larry and I averaged about 7:30 for the last mile or so (Kent and Kevin were faster). The total overall average pace for me was about 8:30.

I found out last night that Kent made it into St. George, but Kevin, Kurt and I did not...bummer! Larry, of course, is in because of the 15 year club. It looks like Kerry and Tom and some of the other Novell runners are in, and some are not. I guess there is still a chance in the later lottery, but I'll have to start considering Top of Utah and maybe other options.

Standard Tuesday morning run with Larry with a slight variation. I overslept and was a few minutes late getting out. In my rush, I started up 180 W. to 2000 N. (Monday's course) instead of up Main St. I realized my error before I got to 2000 N. and then had to run a couple of extra blocks up 2000 N. I caught up with Larry near the top of the hill and found out I had started before him. Oh well, we had a nice easy run together. Average pace was about 9:00 for me.

I ran the normal Wednesday morning hill with a twist. I ran to and up and down the 5 hills alone, but at about hill 3 (I think) on the way down I passed Kevin on his way up. He had overslept and got a late start. When I got to the bottom of the hills I decided to run back up until I met up with Kevin. I was sure glad to see him as I started up hill 2 for the second time. Running hill 1 twice was enough. I was tired but we still managed to run the mile or so of gradual downhill back home from the base of the hills at about a 7:20 pace. I didn't really feel much like running when I started, but it ended up being a good workout that I quite enjoyed. Overall average pace was about 9:10.

At lunch time I ran the Lake View run (flat 5 miles out and back) with Nathan and Will. I managed to hang with Nathan and averaged a pace of about 8:00 out and 7:20 back, 7:40 overall.

Kevin and I started at 5:30am and ran a couple of quick miles (7:30 pace) before meeting up with Larry for the normal Thursday morning run. Larry and Kevin dropped off before the last climb up 2000 N (Larry for work, Kevin for biological reasons), so I ran it alone. As I neared home I passed Kevin, presumably heading back up to take on the hill after his bio break.

I gave my legs a rest yesterday because they told me to. My muscles were sore and tired. I think this was from the extra 1.5 miles of hills on Wed. and the extra 2 miles of tempo run on Thurs.

It was good I rested my legs, because this morning I ran about 12 miles in the hills with Kent, Larry, Wayne...and a group of Sojourners, including Hawk and Cheryl Harper. We started at the mouth of Provo Canyon and worked our way up to the road along the pipeline.

We then came to Grizzly, 3/4 mile up a very steep road. I think Hawk said the record is 4:15. Larry says if you can run up Grizzly without stopping you'll be able to run a 3:20 marathon or faster. I ran it in 6:57 without stopping. We'll have to see if Larry's prediction holds true.

We then ran back along the road to the top of Wednesday's big hill course (which they call the Steps). Some headed back down to the mouth of the canyon from there. Kent, Larry, Wayne and I decided to run down the Steps and on home. I then drove Kent and Wayne back to the mouth to pick up our cars.

I stepped on a rock and rolled my ankle about halfway into the run, but I ran through it and it's only a little sore now. The weather was good, the scenery was beautiful, it was fun running with some new people, and we kept up a pretty good pace. About 6 or 7 miles into the run I pushed hard for 3/4 mile or so to catch up with Wayne and it felt pretty good. Overall it was a very enjoyable and satisfying workout.

Normal Monday morning run with Kevin, Kent, and Larry. Kevin and I inserted a couple of fartlek runs, the first for about 3/4 mile and the second for about 1/2 mile. I ran about a 6:45 pace on each (Kevin was significantly faster). My overall average for the 6 miles was about an 8:45 pace.

I went out early to add a couple of miles before the normal Tuesday morning run. I ran just under an 8:00 minute pace for those two miles. My legs felt pretty heavy this morning. The rest of the run with Kevin and Larry was at an easier pace.

I started the day by running the normal Wednesday morning hill run with Kent and Larry. I didn't push real hard, trying to save my legs for 10K tempo run at noon.

At lunch time Tom Lee and I ran the Lake View 10K course I had mapped out. We both had run in the morning. With the temperature near 80 degrees, we knew we had a tough run ahead of us. We ran the first half in 23:06 (7:25/mi). The heat took its toll and we ran the second half in 24:49 (7:50/mi). My overall time was 47:56 (7:38/mi). Tom was about 7 seconds faster.

I feel good about the run. It was a good measure of where I am in my training, and I think pushing hard in the heat will pay dividends in the future, both mentally and physically.

I ran the neighborhood 5K course with Larry, Kent, and Kurt to prep for the race (fun run) this Saturday. My legs were still tired from yesterday's run so I took it a little easy (8:00+/mi.).

The (17th?) annual neighborhood 5K fun run was today. Kurt won it with a time of 18:56, or something like that. Kurt, Justin, and Christian (all high schoolers) started out very quickly (5:30-ish for the first mile). I had decided to push the race hard so I foolishly allowed myself to run a 6:00 minute first mile (gradual downhill). I slowed to about 6:40 for the flat second mile. The last mile is a gradual uphill and I slowed a little more. Nevertheless, I was very pleased with my finishing time of 20:35 (6:38 average pace), a new PR for me for this course. I was just hoping to break 21:00.

My mileage was down this week, but the hard 10K in the heat on Wed., and the hard 5K today, give me confidence that the training I have been doing has been effective.

Normal Monday morning run with Kent and Larry. Most of the run was at an easy pace (averaged around 9:00/mi), but I did insert a 1/2 mile fartlek in the middle at a pace of about 6:38/mi.

I ran the extended Tuesday morning run with some variation. I ran the first two miles alone at a 7:59/mi pace. I then met up with Kevin, Kent and Larry for the normal run. I pushed down the hill on 2000 N to work on foot speed (0.7 miles @ 5:59/mi). Finally, I pushed the last mile or so at 6:45/mi. Overall, I ran 8 miles at an average pace of 8:19/mi.

I ran the extended Thursday morning run. I started early and ran 1.5 miles before joining up with Kevin, Kent, and Larry. I didn't run Wednesday because I had a bad cold. I still had it this morning but I couldn't miss another day running. I ran the first 1.5 miles at about 8:30/mi and the last 1.3 miles at about 8:00/mi. I ran the rest at a very easy pace and averaged about 9:05/mi overall.

Kevin, Kent, Larry and I ran 15 miles from the top of South Fork in Provo Canyon down into Provo. My overall pace was about 8:20/mi. About half way into the run Kevin and I doubled back for about a tenth of a mile and then pushed hard to catch back up with Kent and Larry. We averaged 6:58/mi for the mile (slight downhill) it took us to catch them.

I ran the extended Tuesday morning run. First 2.25 miles alone at 7:26/mi. Joined Kevin and Larry for normal run at a moderate pace. Overall average pace 8:33/mi. Last mile at 7:30/mi.

This morning I ran the normal Wednesday hills with Kevin and Larry. It was a beautiful morning and I enjoyed the conversation. Kevin and I did charge hill 3 pretty hard, but overall it was just a moderate effort.

At lunch time, I ran the 5 mile Lake View course with Tom, Cory, and Nathan. We averaged about 8:00/mi going out and 7:20/mi coming back, for an average of 7:40/mi.