Every Race is an Adventure!

I forgot to set my alarm last night so I woke up late for running this morning. I went out about 30 minutes late and ran the Monday route in the reverse direction, figuring I'd meet up with whoever ran this morning. I ran two miles out and back alone.

I only averaged about a 10:15/mi pace this morning. My legs felt relatively good on Saturday after the relay, but Sunday my calves were a little tight and sore. I think the 4 mile jog this morning loosened them up again. Considering the marathon two weeks ago followed by the relay this past weekend my legs feel relatively good. With hopefully better weather on the way, I think maybe it's time to kick the training up a notch...as work/family schedules permit.

I ran the 2000 N route with Larry, Wayne, and Kent. Wayne and I pushed up the big hill. Later we double backed up the hill to find Larry's dog Ozzie then pushed a little to catch back up with Larry and Kent. The rest of the run was just at an easy pace.

What a beautiful time of year. The weather has been absolutely perfect the past couple of days. With the wet spring, everything is green and beautiful. I can't think of much that is better than an early morning run with good friends on a day like today.

It's Wednesday so Larry, Wayne, Kent and I ran the water tank hills. I'm trying to step things up a bit so I pushed up the hills, and Wayne wasn't far behind. I ran the hills in about 16:40. I consider anything sub-17 to be a fast ascent for me so I was pleased. We took it easy on the downhill until the last mile down 1600 North. As has become tradition, Wayne and I pushed this last mile pretty hard and ran it in 6:40. I was pleased as my legs felt like lead after pushing the uphill.

I'd like to up my weekly mileage, but there seem to be so many other things that take up my time. At least I can accelerate the pace here and there and maybe get in a little extra mileage. This is a great time of the year. Mostly I'm just going to enjoy it.

I ran the Thursday route with Larry and Kevin. I enjoyed the run even though my legs seemed pretty heavy.

Kent was there when we met but as we were waiting for Larry he decided to start and run the old Thursday route (Tuesday's route in reverse) so he could cut out the hill and run 4 instead of 6.

I ran the Orem library route solo this morning. My legs felt tired again, and it was pretty humid. I had to work a little to even average 9:00/mi mile. I hope it's still lingering effects from running UVM two weeks ago followed by the WBR last week.

It was great to have 5 regulars out on a Saturday run again. Larry, Wayne, Kevin, Kent and I met at 5:30am and drove to the mouth of Provo Canyon to run. The headwind made it a little cold on the way up, but it ended up being a beautiful morning.

Kent's just getting back into running so he and Larry turned back at 4 miles out. The rest of us went to 5.5 miles before starting back down.

My legs have felt pretty sluggish the past couple of days, and this morning started no differently. I was encouraged, however, that they felt okay as we picked up the pace later in the run. I decided to push the two miles from Nunns to Timpanogos again and was pleased to manage splits of 7:11 ans 7:12. Kevin was right with me and Wayne wasn't far behind. After a stop at the fountain I saw a runner up ahead in a yellow shirt that was running well and decided to push the last 1/2 mile and try to catch him before the parking lot. I didn't quite catch him, but ran a good pace and was just behind him. My watch showed the last 0.2 at 6:49/mi.

Well it looks like I'll be running the Redrock Relay in September. Larry's the team captain and has registered the team. It should be fun. Larry, Wayne, Kevin, and I are on the team (the old guys). The younger generation members include Stacia and Jeremy (Larry's daughter and her husband), Colin and Michael (sons of Larry's neighbors), Jessica and Angie (Larry's nieces), and Danette and Ally (Stacia's friends).

We have our final team party for our WBR relay team on Monday. I've been kind of looking forward to having the planning over for another year, but now Larry's asking to draw on my experience to help organize the Redrock relay team. Oh well, I guess that's what friends are for. Here we go again...