Go Long!

Another cold day (38), but I ran between storms again and even had a little sunshine for part of the run. I ran the south end of the Bluff Trail with the wind at my back to start. At the turnaround (end of the nature park) it got a little brisk with the wind coming from the north. All in all, not that bad. 

I felt pretty good for most of the run but hit the wall at nine miles. I could tell my run yesterday was a little taxing. But I still finished in 1:35 with a couple of stops for construction and to consult with a friendly construction worker about a new fence poorly installed near the Jensen Park.  

I've been pretty good about picking the right time of day to run. That will be coming to an end, however, because next week I'll start running at 6:00AM so I can get time to work on my book and a couple of presentations I've been putting off. Today, however, I ran at 4 in the afternoon and actually had a little sunshine for about half of my run. The wind was fairly calm too. It only rained enough to mess up my sunglasses (several times).

I did ten miles on the north end of the Bluff Trail. I guess after two days of feeling good you'd have to expect a hard day. It was. I got a little food poisoning last night and I think I'm feeling the effects of Tuesday's hard hill run today as well. Running today felt just like it did last week when I was sick. Hopefully things will be better tomorrow. 

Hard miles. Cold. Pain developing in the bottom of my left foot in the same place as my neuroma, runs from fourth met to heel, but more intense in ball of foot. Third toe on right foot feels "smashed." Same shoes, same socks, less miles. Go figure. Family coming for conference. Still have ten scheduled for tomorrow. We'll see if I can pull it off.

Couldn't pull it off. Kids were supportive of my run. Couldn't make it happen. Feet still sore. Do I need new shoes? These (NB 805's) have some mileage on them, or have I just put too many miles too soon on my feet? Feeling another cold coming on. What's with that? I can't seem to get healthy. Missed my weekly goal by 15 miles (Saturday long run). Can't make it up. Will be a week behind on my progression to 100 miles. Oh well. I have a life time. Looking for new shoes and will probably make an appt with the Pod. Need to meet with him about Five Fingers investment anyway.

8 tough miles going south on the Bluff Trail from the 3-way stop. It was a beautiful day and about 60 degrees, so I can't blame the weather. Just had no energy. Stopped to watch the RC airplanes south of the Jensen Nature Park. Those things are amazing. Felt a little better after the rest and ran the last 5 miles a little faster than the first 3. Still, not much of an effort.

I've got a headache and feel "pressure" in my neck. Don't know what's up. Feet feel better today, though.  

DNS for "did not start." Decided to rest the feet for a couple of days. I'm afraid I'm feeling the neuroma returning.

Another day of  rest. I should cross train, but I'm buried with projects and trying to get caught up. I'll run tomorrow.

Ran the north end of the Bluff Trail. Weather was nice although a little windy. No problems with my feet. Nothing exciting to report except I saw a baby snake on the trail. It was dead.

Wait! I do have something exciting to report. I taught Dr. Shaw's capstone class in exercise science on Tuesday. The class is all about diversity and this week's subject was religion. We had an enlightening discussion about a study on exercise in Utah that details participation rates based on religious affiliation. Guess who are healthiest? Guess who are the biggest slackers in regards to exercise?  That's right: active members of the LDS faith in both cases. My conclusion is that, in general, we avoid things that are bad for us (which accounts for the "good health") and we're too busy to exercise (which accounts for our being slackers). A fascinating discussion. I'll see if I can find a web link to the study and post it in the discussion forum. It will be interesting to see what the FRB slackers have to say about it.

A beautiful day today: slightly overcast, temperature in the 60's. I ran in my Five Fingers on the north end of the Bluff Trail measuring start and stop points for my new and improved program, which I'll start next week. My feet seemed to respond to the Five Fingers, so maybe I'll get back to my regular mileage soon. 

Next week I'll run 7 miles in the morning, training shoes, same old, same old. In the afternoon, I'll run 3 miles in my Five Fingers. I'll do a longer run (10-12) on Friday and my regular long run on Saturday with the group. I'll increase my morning miles until I get up to 10 and then increase my afternoon miles until I get up to my 100 mile goal. At 10% a week, it will take 6 weeks and that means I won't make 100 on the week of the Ogden Marathon. It will be the next week. Bummer. 

It looked like rain this morning, but turned out to be a good day for running. I met Dr. Shaw at Parrish Lane in Centerville and we ran north on trails adjacent to the Legacy Parkway. Neither of us had ever run there, so it was fun to see some new country. It turns out this spot is equidistant to our homes, so we'll probably run there again next week. Nothing remarkable to report. We had as always a stimulating conversation about exercise and religion and we saw a skunk and a deer. They were dead. Road kill. 

Trying 2-a-days this week. Was supposed to run 7 this morning, but I miscalculated. Just got in 6.5,  so I'll try to get 3.5 in this afternoon. I want to run harder with the shorter mileage, but held back knowing I have to run this afternoon and the same distances tomorrow.  Feet are okay minus a couple of blisters-- don't know where they came from.

Ran an additional 3.7 this evening for 10.2 for the day. Ran in my 5 Fingers and tried to not go too fast, knowing that I have to do all of this again tomorrow, but it really is easier to run shorter distances... Just knowing it's not going to last more than a half hour takes the "work" out of it, I think. 

A beautiful day. When I finished my evening run I mowed the lawn in the backyard. I'll probably feel that more tomorrow than today's runs. 

It was raining. Then it stopped. Then it started up again. I sat in my car at the north end of the Bluff Trail waiting for a break and finally decided I'd wasted enough time so I just took off. It wasn't as cold as I thought it would be. I actually had a few "this is great moments" splashing through puddles, dodging earthworms and scaring cows (why are they so edgy when it rains?). Glad I got out. No real lingering pains from yesterday, so I'll try to do another 3.5 miles this afternoon. 

 Nope. Done for the day. Too much rain, too many commitments. Maybe tomorrow.

Well, this is turning into a bit of a pattern. I ran earlier today, but not in the morning and then couldn't get my afternoon run worked in. It's probably okay because I ran in the rain, which actually turned to snow and picked up the pace against my good judgement on the second half, averaging 9 minutes for the last 3 and half miles. My legs felt heavy at the 3-4 mile mark but maybe that's because I was listening to a couple of heavy passages from Carmina Burana on my ipod, running into wind and getting plastered by snow in my face. After awhile I got tired of watching for earth worms and just ran. Hopefully I missed most of them. Same route yesterday measured 7.5 on my Garmin. Today it was 7.25? I'm going to have to stop running through tunnels.

If you do it three days in a row it must be a pattern. I got my morning run in (7.0), but didn't get back from appointments in Salt Lake in time for an afternoon run. Maybe I'm just destined to be average. I don't know how I'm going to do a run tomorrow since I volunteered to work at Deseret Industries all day. If I go to bed in the next hour or so, I can be like Carolyn in Colorado and run in the morning before they turn on the lights or the air. 

I ran west towards Hooper and with a few jogs stopped when my Garmin showed 3.5 miles. As I turned to run back, I noticed the house next to where I stood was for sale. It had a nice southwesterly view of Antelope Island and was surrounded by about twenty acres of pasture. It's further from, not closer to Salt Lake, but I keep thinking my next house will have an unobstructed view of Antelope Island. This one does... but you can't trust your judgement when you run. Lack of oxygen makes you think crazy thoughts.  

All I can say is, "That was ugly." Nice weather, a bit of wind, but I couldn't get my legs to move. It might be that I ate out three times in the last two days, or that I'm tired, or that it was just one of those days, or that I'm run down... but that was one slow, ugly run. North end of Bluff Trail past the roundabout and back. It took a long time. 10 in the morning with Dr. Shaw. I hope I recover.

It's a lot more fun to run with somebody who can carry on a conversation than it is to run in the snow all by yourself-- even when you can play classical music on your ipod. Ran 12 with Dr J and Mark this morning on the Legacy. I thought everybody would be at the SL Marathon, but there were still quite a few runners on the trail. More slackers out there than I thought, I guess. A nice day.

This two-a-day thing isn't working very well so far. Jeff (my just-admitted-to-the-Utah-Bar son) stopped in on his way home from visiting his brother and family in Pocatello. He'll be here for a day, so what did we do? Went out to eat like fat and happy people all over the world do when they get together. I suggested we go for a run instead, but that didn't fly. Luckily, I got 8 miles in the best weather of the year this morning. Shorts and a tech shirt. It was great! I actually felt like I ran well, also. I would have liked to have run an additional 3 miles this afternoon, but it's also great (and fattening) to be with family.

I got to watch the finish of the Boston Marathon this morning. It was sad to see Kara Goucher fade to third at the end, and also watch Alan Webb finish third. I have mixed emotions regarding professional racing, but I wanted the Americans to do well (two thirds isn't bad, but they were close enough to win). On any day in most sports anyone can beat anybody else. That seemed to manifest itself today. The problem with marathoning is that you only have a limited number of days to try to get those wins. You can't race a marathon every week. 

One of the benefits of running is you sometimes get these great moments of lucidity. Yesterday I remembered playing basketball with a guy who had a small auto dealership. Jeff is looking for a car, since he wrecked his Galant two weeks ago, and on an unemployed attorney's salary needs a good deal. Today I got Jeremy and Jeff together. If I hadn't run yesterday, I might not have remembered Jeremy's name or how to get a hold of him. How do you measure that running benefit? Jeff will save 1-2 grand on his next car because I made that connection during a run. That's enough to pay for a year's worth of shoes. Unexpected and not bad.

8 miles this morning on the same route I took yesterday. I didn't take a watch, just tried to enjoy the run. I'm a little more tired than I was yesterday, but all in all, a good run. Beautiful weather. Wore thin socks and felt my toes hitting the ends of my shoes. Are my feet still growing? That didn't happen when these shoes were new. 

I ran an additional 3.5 miles this evening in my Five Fingers on the Bluff Trail. My feet feel weak and my legs a little tired, but it was good to get out. The weather has been beautiful for the last several days. Shorts and a t-shirt. 

Ran the same route this morning I have run the last two days. Didn't take my watch again, just tried to enjoy the run which seemed a bit more difficult today than the last couple. Maybe as the week goes on I start to wear down. No real problems, a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Lots of flowers.

DNS. Business meetings.

DNS. Business and... well, business. I won't be able to make this up this week. Dr. Shaw also can't run tomorrow,  so I'm on my own. Maybe I can find a race...

I was afraid I wouldn't get a run in today, but it turned out to be a good run I'm sure I'll feel tomorrow and Monday. I ran up the Ogden City Park trail, past the USU Horticulture Gardens and the Dinosaur Museum to Rainbow Gardens and the mouth of the canyon. Then I decided "what the heck, I might as well explore," so I ran up the canyon for a mile on a side trail until it ended, then ran back and around the face of the mountain across from Rainbow Gardens and north along the Bonneville Shoreline trail. I ran through the neighborhoods on some steep downhills to get back to Rainbow Gardens. I was a little disappointed that I didn't reach sprint pace on the downhills. My legs seemed to be okay, but my feet were sore. I think I need new shoes, or different ones for that kind of running. I had to run back up the canyon to get to the top of the trail and when I got there a guy in sweats was just turning around to go back down the OCP trail. He was about twenty yards behind me and as I started down the trail I thought he might pass me, but the thought of some young weekend warrior punk in sweats passing a seasoned runner like me (in tights) bugged me, so I decided I'd step it up even though I had 3 miles to go and my legs were already hammered. He kind of stuck with me for awhile, maybe the grey hair on the back of my head gave him some encouragement, but I was able to pick up speed gradually until I was running about a 7:40 pace which I was able to maintain all the way to the car. Granted it was downhill, but it's the same kind I'll have when I run TOU to qualify for Boston in the fall. I was encouraged by being able to maintain that pace for nearly three miles. I just need to string 9 of those 3 milers together to make up a good marathon in 4 months. Hmmm. I think I can. I think I can. I think I can.

More adventures today. I ran the north end of the Bluff Trail to the round-about and back. At mile 8 I cross a busy east/west road right where it comes off the bluff. Visibility is not good here and cars always go too fast off this blind hill. I've nearly been hit several times myself. What do you think I run into? A cow. There's a pasture to the west and she has come through the fence and is standing almost in the intersection of the trail and this busy, blind portion of the road. She's an Angus, probably three years old and quite skitish. She's big and I'm wearing a bright red shirt. Hmmm. Cows are supposed to be colorblind, but I'm not sure. I can't leave her there, she or someone in a car could be the victim of a nasty accident, so I coax her down the trail a little, away from the road. I look for a gate and see one about fifty yards ahead of us. I slip by the cow, open the gate and then slip back around her so I can push her towards the gate. She doesn't want to go. At this point, I'm remembering all the cow punching I did growing up on a ranch in Wyoming. It was different then. I had a horse and a rope in case the cow went past the gate and didn't want to come back. And I usually had help. Right now I'm alone. I'm on foot. And I don't know this irritated cow. "Man was born to run," I think, and I actually wonder if I can out run her. In a 5K, no problem, but if she chases me or I have to chase her, it will be a sprint. I didn't get a chance to find out. Although she didn't want to go towards the gate, I coaxed her in that direction. When she turned left so did I, when she turned right... the same. I remembered how I kept everything in front of me when I played safety in football. Then I remembered how moving cows and playing defense are so similar. I got her through the gate just as some kids with bikes and dogs came towards us and a bunch of cars whizzed past on the road. The farmer will never know. The teenage driver coming down the hill a little faster than she should will never know, but I wonder if my reason to run today had a little more purpose than to just get in ten more miles. Had I not been there at that exact moment, who knows what could have happened.

I ran the south end of the Bluff Trail today thinking I'd just do 7 miles. I was trying to beat a storm I could see blowing in from the northwest, but at 7 miles I felt good and decided to go farther. I actually felt "light" and was running an 8:30 pace. Fortunately. The wind really began to pick up and I could see the storm approaching rapidly so I kicked it to my car just in time. Within a minute everything was drenched and there was lightning everywhere. A fun fast run. 

Big presentation to Sysco. How'd it go? A bit convoluted. It's not me show and the things I can't control didn't go well. But I can say, "I told you so." Picked up Jeff. Prepared for trip to Idaho. No running in sight for the rest of the week.

Nope. Babysitting grandchildren with no hope of getting out.