The Dude Starts Running Again, AGAIN

Loosened up around the neighborhood.

Ran the Cookie Chaser 5K.  It was fun.  I saw it was raining when I woke up and almost went back to bed.  I just put it into autopilot and went.  I was happy when I got there.  It was light rain the whole way.  The field was small, I would guess the rain chased off the majority of the cookie chasers.  I cooled off a little when I got home.  I think I decided I really need to get more serious.  I could have won that race in another time.  I am strongly motivated about the D-news marathon.  I need to quit making excuses...  there is always one.  I like the longer distances much better, a 5K is fun, marathon is the "why" in running.  

This was a good run.  I suffered on the uphill portions, walked some, then got back with the program.  It was a no goal going out run.  I ran slow, got rained on, basically enjoyed myself.  I felt good the whole way, perhaps it was the slow speed, it was basically a tour of City Creek Canyon.  I ran to the snow level and turned around. 

Wasn't really sore at all from yesterday.  Ran up to the East High Track.  Did 3 miles at 7 minute pace.  Ran and walked back home.  Pretty relaxed, on the warm-up and cool down.  Comfortable on the laps, could have pushed it to 6:50ish, but I knew I had to get home.  I've lost a lot.  I'm a little tight now. I signed up for the D-news marathon. I like that marathon, apparently I am the only one.

Ran the hills up to the 1st microwave tower.  Did not go particularly hard, except the steep sections of the hills.  I went all out the last 3 or 400 yards to the tower.  It's three miles almost exactly to the tower.  Slowed way down after that, probably 9-something minute miles.  It's pretty much flat or downhill after that anyway, enjoyed the scenery. Felt good good.

Active recovery.  This was basically a hike.  I jogged slow about 3/4 of the way, saving my hard running for later this week.

Did some hill sprints, then ran some base miles at about 9:00/mi pace.

I am now painfully aware of the work that needs to take place to redeem my honor.  I ran my usual hill route.  I felt great.  I was king of the hill (no subjects to reign my terror upon) in record (2009) time (37:22).  I felt so good, that I ran down the hill and took the LONG way back up.  That even felt good.  I was basically stranded on the trail about 6 miles from home at that point, that wasn't really a problem either.  I took it slow, but it dark I ran out of water.  By about 16 or 17 I knew I was close, and ended up walking the last 3/4 of a mile and listening to the radio.  All's well that ends well, just tired..... 

Ran some hills and warmed up.  Ran with the track club for about 5 miles, 2 of which were at or above marathon pace.

Ran up the canyon, good pace, concentrated on form, about 1/2 the distance average pace 7:30, the rest was fine tuning, worked on breathing, posture.  Felt good the whole way.

Meant to run a long run yesterday. Never got around to it, started watching that civil war documentary by Ken Burns, got sucked in, interesting history.  I don't know how long the civil war lasted, but the documentary is about 5 hours...    Today?  the dude got coffee, played some cards, talked about the new Ambassador (can't believe they passed over the dude), got a race report from Ogden (apparently their was "something" in the water), and I had to get out there.   Ran some new trails today.  I ran them all before, but not all linked together.  Felt great, nice view, there is just not enough water on that route, I have to detour by somewhere with water, or that route is out.  

Ran the first 8 miles at marathon pace, did some errands, took a nap, went back out and basically climbed the mountain behind my house.  It's seemed hot in the afternoon.  

Warmed up, then ran 7 - 400s @ average 90 seconds, w/ 90 second rest, at the track.  Cooled off after the track another 3.5 miles, averaged probably 10-min miles, stopped at 7-11, talked with some neighbors, listened to the radio.  I need some training in the heat.  The heat was the hardest part.  D-news is always on a warm day.  I should probably start doing some speed work too.  I have the distance down.  

"Cross-trained" yesterday, sort-of.  Ran the hills today.  I wasn't super slow, but sure didn't feel very perky the first 3.5 miles, started thinking about calling the rest of the run off.  I ran downhill for a few miles, then started feeling good about mile 6.  I ran and another 2 miles of hills and felt very strong.  Cruised home at an average slow marathon pace after that.  It was a mental thing I guess, got to be in the right frame of mind.  I'll watch "running on the sun" tonight that always makes me feel good (better than those guys)......

Hills, hills,hills........  knocked a minute off my current record to the microwave towers (36:22).  Felt good the whole way, was tempted to go further, but called it a workout.  

You know those war movies were everybody starts in boot camp, and among other things they always hit the obstacle course?  On the obstacle course there is always that “climb the wall” scene were the black sheep recruit can’t climb the wall, but some how by the end of boot camp, he drops thirty pounds, and climbs the wall no problem.  Well the first about 4 miles of Sapper Joe are like that, really steep, front and back, about three or so hills in a row, super steep, loose cobbles, etc. front side you can barely walk up it; backside scary steep and loose rocks, slip and you will have some new cool scars to show your friends. 

Sapper Joe was a great run. It mellowed out after the first 4 miles, hilly but nice, not that technical.  It was executed with military precision, unbelievably well organized.  Nice course through the foothills, sage brush, scrub oak, etc.  I was shooting for 4 hours on the 30K and got that almost exactly.  I stopped or walked/hiked alot, ran the last 6 miles at a good pace.  I didn’t bring my watch.  Sprinted to the finish, and felt great.  I didn’t get enough sleep the night before for what ended up being about 20 miles according to the Garmin GPS watches several of the guys were wearing.  0600 came way too early….

Ran rather slow, shook some soreness in the legs off, probably from the long downhill stretches yesterday.  Felt good, it started raining about the time I finished.

I ran the Striders Memorial Day ½ M in Syracuse, UT.    I have some stiffness from the volume of running I have done the past few days, but overall not feeling too bad.  More sleep would help.  I also had a near deal breaking potty emergency between mile about 3 and wherever the turn around was located.   I have never been so glad to see the honey bucket.  I was seriously considering one of those one of those clean-up after your dog baggie dispensers I passed, my shirt, stopping in a gas station, there weren’t a lot of alternatives.  It was a race against Mother Nature.  I was concerned….    The problem was remedied and the run took on a whole new aura.  I was running about 7:30s until about mile 3 or so, slowed down to about 8:30s, 8:45s, until the turn around, took a break at the turn around, picked it to about 8:10s on the way back, and finished with a 1:49:50ish, feeling oh so much better.  I was shooting for a 1:45, next time. 

I was disappointed we didn’t get to run the “wading” section….. 

Slow recovery run.

That was a long way, further than I wanted to go, 4000-feet of climbing.  It was mostly on trails, except 11th Ave, and the road section of City Creek.  I intended to check out the lower section of the Wahsatch Steeplechase course.   I added about 7 miles on the beginning and about that much on the end.  I was sort-of stuck after about 14 or so miles.  I humped the last 5 miles home, the shortest route I could find.  The Wahsatch Steeplechase course has some steep sections.  The hill beat me today.  I'll make another atempt later.  Very nice view out there.  

The race was fun and for a noble endeavor.   I think the field was a lot larger than the organizers anticipated.  The field was at least 500, the announcer said 1000 at some point (including lord knows how many dogs, strollers, roller skates, etc.).  It was not particularly well organized.  The race started.... eventually.  A pet peeve of mine is starting a race late.  They not only started late but they announced that they were starting late, and were late on the revised start time.  If you are running a race late don't announce that the race is running late, that just makes it worse.  It started about 9:35 or 9:40.  The start time was supposed to be 9:00 AM.  They apparently had trouble getting everybody signed up.   I've been late to the start of a races multiple times, and they, guess what, give the field a head start, started without me.  I started a marathon 25 minutes late once, it took 3 miles to catch the tail of the field.

 Anyway the course was nice.  It was longer than 3.1 miles, more like 3.5 or 3.4 miles.  There was not GPS that had less than 3.4 miles registered.  I ran almost exactly 24:00 minutes.  They had a nice roller at about 2.5 miles, that slowed me down.  I recovered from that and it finished on the track, which was nice.  I warmed up with a few miles then cooled off after for just about 6 miles.  I need to remember my watch at future races. 

Ran hills, usual route up to the microwave tower.  I felt really good I should have gone faster.  I descended into City Creek Canyon, started up, got to the water treatment plant and the weather sort turned to thunderstorm-ish.  I used that as an excuse to turn around.  I should have kept going.  I'm reading a book the third in a trilogy, and I have about 150 or so pages to go, I have to find out what happens.  I stayed up too late reading it last night, started again today, I put it down to go running, and it has distracted be the whole time.