In the long run

I finally got to run for an hour straight. My blood pressure before was predicatably 142/85, and I went just over 6.8 miles. BP dropped to 125/75 but I had cooled down quite a bit. I'm hoping to keep up that pace for a half-marathon. I got a blister, but I refuse to send a picture.

Would a muscle rub raise a person's blood pressure?

I normally run for half an hour, and I'm going to try to keep up a 7.7mph pace for three more times this week. I wanted to get a 10mph pace for a full hour by the end of this year, but that's far out of reach now. My new aim is Christmas time 2011, when I'm a little younger.

When Lisa paces me on the bike a get winded in a hurry. I must be going a little faster. I'll have to learn how to pace myself outdoors.

Lots of truths

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIrGKB5nRKE

My first 10K

I ran my first 10K yesterday on the treadmill in 61 minutes. I almost quit at mile 3, but decided to just go slower and see if I could get to mile 4....then 5....then 6 and then eeked out another .2

As always, I'm sore today, but the back is feeling even better, and my overall health is as good as ever. It must be all that fish oil and glucosamine I'm taking.

Pressure

K, so no pressure...but I am hoping you can commit to tell me, seeing as how I have fans knocking at my door, ahem, WHO is actually going to be in StG and who is going to want to play when? I will be there, even if I don't run, already have my tickets and room....tentatively planning on having Daryl in my room? (no pressure Daryl if you want to stay somewhere else)
E

A Little Better

I went out and ran 20.00 again this morning. Temperature was 3 or 4 degrees cooler than last week. Stopped right on the dot at 20, didn't run a step further. I just walked it in the rest of the way. Same route as last week, I think I'll just stick with this route until after St. George. It is a little boring but I can get more information out of the run that way.

Last week, the first time I finished a full 20 in this heat without stopping, my speed was 13:40 per mile. My goal was to get it down to 13:00 and try to improve on that before St. George. I came in this morning at a 12:42 average pace, nearly a minute per mile faster than last week, so I am pretty happy about how things went.

My splits are: 13:31, 12:42, 13:08, 13:21, 12:38, 12:34, 12:58, 13:09, 12:49, 13:06, 13:47 (bio break), 12:30, 12:55, 12:27, 12:25, 12:01, 11:54, 12:05, 12:10 and 12:07.

The first mile is like the first waffle. Just throw it out. After that, though, I still had a hard time keeping the pace steady. As the run got harder I ran faster. With five miles to go I just gave up and ran whatever speed I liked. I don't know why I do that, but maybe it bodes well for the marathon. Pretty tired after it was done but I'm doing fine after a few hours. Next week I'll try to improve again. I am thinking I will be able to run 1 minute per mile faster in St. George, cool and downhill, versus running flat in the heat. The joker in the deck is the altitude. I think it got me in Ogden but I'm not sure. St. George is a little lower but it ain't sea level.

Best news of all: Zero knee pain, start to end.

OUCH

My knee has had it. My long one Saturday hurt more and more as I ran, but never got horrible. Monday I didn't run, Tuesday I ran hard on the treadmill and then again on the cardiologist's treadmill...Wednesday I didn't run...Thursday I ran a very hilly 9.3+ miler very, very slowly. The doctor has me on a new drug and it's kicking my (what's the proper word?) BUTT.

So.....anyway. On the downhill I had to go out of denial mode and walk...then limp the rest of the day. It ached so bad all day and was a little swollen this morning. It's done. At least for a few more days.

I'm a little scared. If my knee feels a lot better Monday I will go off the drug and try to run Tuesday.

Elaine in Pain

August rush

I won't bore you about how the car battery affected my 16 miler today when it died at Echo Reservoir.

Anyway, it meant that Dale got a 4 mile headstart so I hurried. The first mile was 8 minutes on my cell phone, forgot stopwatch. Then the second was 8, I felt good. The third was 10? Two more 8's. Another 10, 10, then 9. 11, now I was running with Dale. He went out 9 on his eighteen miler there and back, I went out 8. He had sore quads still from last week and so I made up two miles and it was in 8 miles.

We kicked it in gear and got several more 8's but with three miles left to go, we slowed for two miles doing a 12 and 13. The last mile I picked up the pace and I think I got at least an 8. I had finally put my cell phone in stopwatch mode but it was accidently turned off. If 2:26 doesn't jive as a final time, I didn't get my times right but that would give me an average of just over 9 minutes a mile on a fairly flat course at close to 5500 ft elevation. I am sure about the start and finish times. Maybe I can do a four hour marathon!

Blood Pressure

I seem to have been allocated a peculiar dip of Thurber blood. I've been trying to do an hour run all week, but it's hard to find a spare hour. Late last night I took the phone with me to the gym and just set it in the cup holder so I could get Tobias' telephone call. He called when I was 30 minutes in, so I took the call for five minutes and did another 30 minutes. That's my longest total running time in months, and when I got done my blood pressure was 128/78. I think that's pretty good, but I had checked it Tuesday before my run and it was 142/85--somewhere around there. I don't remember the lower number for sure. I've seen this before, where my blood pressure is higher before than after, but never quite this slanted.

I was thinking of going on a lard and cream diet to see if that helps. If it worked I could make a lot of people jealous, but if it didn't I might come in last place in the half-marathon race. Of course that might happen anyway. Decisions.

5K, Kind of

I got in late from California last night, then had insomnia, so was very short on time when I headed out the door. Decided to run fast and short. I warmed up for one mile (11:11), then ran two fast miles, for me at least (9:16, 8:46), then jogged it in at about a 12:00 pace. Every speed uses different muscles, but the interesting thing is that my knee never made a peep. Possibly I have turned a corner on that issue, but it will take a few more times out there to confirm. Fingers are crossed here in Texas. I'm thinking that for me a realistic 5K time is about 25:30, but I have no idea if that is good or not in the old geezer class.

I ran 6 miles yesterday!

It took me 60 minutes, but that's ok for me right now. My back is feeling pretty good. I'm sure I went too far too soon, but I guess I'll never learn. I'm pretty sore today.

Hey, who wants to have a run on Saturday in Eagar on September 19th (David's re-burial)? I'm sure you're all gonna have some kind of training to do prior to St. George, maybe I can tag along??

Echo Reservoir

We took off up past Park City on I-80 to Coleville and Echo Reservoir Saturday to run on the Rails to Trails path. This time I planned on 14 miles and Dale planned on 16.
Dale started off a mile down the path from were I parked his car. I started about 20 minutes later right at Echo Reservoir with my 3 liter camel back that had 2 liters of watered down gatorade in it. It was 86 degrees at 3:08pm so we anticipated a warmer run. At 5:19 when I finished, it was still about the same.
The first couple of miles my right hamstring and left calf muscle were tight so I went slowly at about 11 minute pace then sped up to 9 1/2 minute miles after muscles finally warmed up. I sipped fluid purposely at every mile marker from the camelback tube which is pretty nice because you can sip in less than a second and get a quarter cup of water; no spills. Maybe it was a little too nice because at mile nine it was all gone.
Mile seven was my turn around point and I was still getting about 9 1/2 minute miles through mile 9. Mile ten was a litttle slower but at mile 11 my mouth started getting dry and I slowed even more. At mile 12 I knew I was getting dehydrated and my breathing became kind of shallow. I went about 15 minutes until mile 13 thinking that at least I was not cramping up, only 15 minutes to go. By this time I was kicking myself for not filling my camelback to capacity but weakly finished without stopping and no nausea.
Dale had a one liter camelback and as so dehydrated that he walked the last three miles.
I have never been so close to callapsing so lesson learned: 86 degrees means I need about a liter of water/gatorade for every five miles. St George, I will probably try to drink about a cup every mile.

Update: I just assumed the temperature was according to the forecast but we found out that it was 90 degrees, setting a record for Coleville on the 22nd. Salt Lake City also had a record high at 102 degrees.

Also, I am trying to keep myself down because I ran 8 miles today, 24th. I felt really good like I was starting to get in shape (imagine that!) but I ran easy and didn't time myself. Hopefully I can be judicious about my training and careful with my pace. No time to get injured at this point.

Once More

Back out onto the dark streets at 4:02 a.m. Saturday. I picked up my Garmin, turned it on, then turned it on, then turned it on. It worked fine yesterday, but this morning no Garmin. Oh well.

I listened to my body and ran at a pace I thought I could maintain the whole distance, and I did. Other than a 3-minute ice water/bio break at mile 15, no stops, I even drank my water on the run. I took a few less S! Caps and that seemed to keep my stomach under control, though it made me weaker at the end. I made 20 miles plus some change in 4 hours and 40 minutes, about 14 minutes per mile. If I had my Garmin I probably would have run it a little faster, but maybe I wouldn't have made it the whole way, who knows?

The heat was off by about 3 degrees at the start, but about that much warmer than average at the end, so this was an OK run I guess. I'm just glad I proved to myself I could run the whole thing.

This heat combined with humidity is really something. By mile 7 or 8 my clothes are soaked as if I had jumped into Elaine's river. That includes socks and shoes. I wonder how this will all translate for St. George. What I should be hoping for is a really hot day, maybe that would even the field a little?

Now I have to figure out what to do about my Garmin, even though I now remember that it is possible to run without one. I wonder if I have to find the receipt to get my money back?

UPDATE: Just checked out the distance on the computer, and it was 20.48 miles, making my average pace 13:40, a little better. Thanks for the encouraging words, Elaine, but so far on my two marathons I have gone out too fast on each one. I am thinking slower is better, especially since you can feel so good so late in the race and have it all fall apart. Someone at church reported today that they saw me at the "end of my run". Guess I must have looked pretty bad, time to change locations. By the way, the Garmin is working now -- don't ask. One other thing, my knee killed me all the way to 16 miles, then it just went away like magic. Wonder what that is all about, not that I'm complaining.

K, I really need to talk about this

The amazing power of intention manifested on my Garmin today, 8:19 average pace for the first 16 miles, 8:56 pace for the next four, 9:58 for the next four, 10:32 for the next two, and a slight speed up for the last .71 to 10:10, totaling 22.71 in 3:23:57. That's exactly what I was intending...just didn't expect it to be so accurate. Lesson learned. Intend a lot!

Frustrated with my pain level now though. Apparently I hung out in the river too long afterwards and elicted my cascading autoimmune response. I now have the lupus rash, the greatly magnified joint pain, the bladder pain, and everything else that goes with this irritating scenario.

BUT. I did get the long run in, probably should have done it last week but opted for the relay instead...not the best training choice but so worth it for the fun. It also pounded me too much when I did the Mt. Spokane free fall as I still felt the effects today as I ran.

Three really great parts:
1) Paul and Mitch and Collin went with me! Paul drove and then deposited drinks at the end, then grabbed Subway, then biked up per plan. (Yes I'm a control freak, especially when it is my run they are supporting). Mitch and Collin rode their bikes (yes, it's all downhill, how else do you think I could run that fast). And, the big deal? They gave me drinks. I was waterlogged most of the run, with numbered drinks for certain mile posts.

2) We ran across the panhandle of Idaho, well, 22 miles of the 72 and it was a blast. Unbelievably gorgeous, as you will see when I post some pics.
3) I got to sit in a cold river at the end and then dry out on river rocks while eating a Subway roast beef sandwich. Heaven, even if my body does seem to be allergic to UVA. Apparently the sunscreen wore off or the waterproof aspect did. Sorry about this pic...maybe you can see around me to the gorgeous area.


Overall, a very good day...but I am in so much pain I can't rest until the pain pills kick in. Next time, more sunscreen. Oh. And I won't wait 3 weeks between long runs. Oh. And I'm done with the long downhill pounding. I'll do downhill but not 18 miles of it or racing short ones either.

Thanks for listening. :)

Back on track (pun intended)

Yesterday I decided my back was good enough to start running again. I put in 3.5 miles on the treadmill in 35 minutes. My back feels a little stiff this morning, but otherwise in good spirits. Kerry and I went to the gym on two days ago on Tuesday morning for a swim. I think the lifeguard was on the verge of jumping in and saving us both at least a couple of times. I guess what the Thurbers lack in swimming, the good Man upstairs gives us in running! Needless to say, we looked pathetic at best. We decided after our swim that the jacuzzi looked quite inviting, so we relaxed our fatigued muscles in style, then decided to work on our tans outside for 30-45 minutes. After we transformed our pasty white mayonaise skin into a light tan hue we topped off our workout with some green curry from a Thai restaurant. Hey, no judging, it was an intense pack filled morning of extreme body physiquing!

Yesterday, I decided it was time to give my back a legitimate test and put in 3.5 miles in 35 minutes. My back is a little stiff this morning, but otherwise in good spirits. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Maybe Kerry will call this morning for another workout...

redneck whirlpool

Okay, if you must jump in 40 degree churning water after a run, do it this way

park city

Dale took me up to Park City and we ran on a course called rails to trails that goes downstream from Park City to Coleville, 28 miles distance. We started out 6 miles out of downtown Park City running up to 7000 ft from about 6000ft.

It was my objective to get up in elevation again to work cardio and lungs harder since my legs are falling behind. Butterfield Canyon rises 2500 feet in about the same distance so I decreased my slope enough to give a welcome break to the muscles.

We averaged an invigorating 9:24 minute miles uphile and while I fell 4 1/2 minutes behind Dale on the way back to our starting point, I averaged 8:35/mile down.

Pics of my rasta and team shirt



Me and my rasta wig before careeening down Mt. Spokane



This was one of our 6 minute milers, posing for the colorful contest leg



This is what I saw 30 minutes after I finally laid down at 7:00 in the morning. I was on the grass, just outside the finish line with a few other homeless runners. Why did I wake up? LOUDspeakers announcing the teams, with high volume music as they started to cross the finish line.



I had a good weekend!
I was first on the docket for the S2S relay, leaving the starting line, (which looks like the finish line, (that black plastic thingy you see in the last picture) only it says "start") at 0800. However, they made us all stand there, in the COLD for half an hour while they introduced every member of every team in our 0800 start slot. I was so mad and irritated that by the time the gun went off I took off way too fast, first out of the gate. They caught up with me about a half mile later, but I didn't slow down, much. I averaged 7:10 a mile falling down Mt. Spokane for 5.1 miles. It was not only the fastest, but the funnest race I have ever ran since high school. My muscles are sore from that.

That was the first leg. The second, about 4:00 that afternoon, was less dramatic, but still fun as it was along the Spokane river in perfect 55 degree weather. I averaged 8:20 a mile...I was happy with that. The last leg was after the roller coaster at Silverwood at 1:30 in the morning. I was having those scary ischemia pains in my tummy hours before so I had no desire to push it. More than that, I could not see, even with the headlamp from me and my bker pacer. It was of course dark, but the fog was incredibly thick. I could barely run because I couldn't see where I was planting my feet more than a few yards ahead of me. It did thin out after awhile and I assumed a fairly normal pace, but I still couldn't see my watch and no one timed me so I have no idea how fast I ran.

The rest is sleep deprived. I drove when I shouldn't have driven, forcing Myron to stay awake and talk to me. I laid down for a few hours when I got home, which turned out to be more than a few hours as I didn't wake up again until 2:00 this morning. It's a new day, a new week. Starting now.

Trying to be like veterans

I have tried to get muscles slowly warm and then slam them with ice water this week trying to take it easy. I made a whirlpool with a 50 gal open plastic barrel (wondering where barrel came from?) and a pump that circulates the water I put ice in. I have done a 2 to 3 1/2 mile run three times this week and may do one more today. This week I am determined to slow down to let my body catch up.
Dale says the long run should be only 30% of your total miles for the week. So if you have done 20 miles during the week you can do a 10 mile long run. Since I have done a 14 for my longest run, I should have done 28 that week but instead did about 8. So I am way off according to heartrate training and percentage long run. The three veterans among us Nate, are the only sane St George runners.

7 minute pace

I put my math skills to work and set the speed to 8.6 mph. During the first mile I had to speed up to 8.8 and then to 9.2 to compensate for the time it took the machine to reach full speed. Only 12.2 miles to go!

A Slug at Night on the Sidewalk

So this week I have returned to my roots, low heart rate training. For me this means keeping my heart rate between 126 and 132. As a practice I keep at or below 130 at least 90% of the time. Everybody says if you train slow you will run slow, which is fine by me (not).

On Monday I ran 4.88 miles with the following splits: 14:27, 14:39, 15:09, 15:29 and 13:44 (15:34 pace)

This morning, same temperature, I started a half-hour earlier and ran 6.63 miles as follows: 13:39, 12:56, 13:11, 13:28, 13:42, 14:03 and 9:04 (14:25 pace).

Thus, my pace on my last lap was the same as the pace on my first lap on Monday, and my average pace dropped from 15:03/mile to 13:35/mile. By contrast, the best one I have run so far was on May 4 of this year, 20 degrees cooler than this morning, 6 miles at an average pace of 12:14. So for context, this morning I was closer to my best time than to Monday's time. Heat adjusted, I don't know what the difference would be, or even whether I was better or worse this morning than on May 4.

I don't quite know what to make of this. Possibly on Monday I was still tired from my 20-mile run on Saturday. Another possibility is that since I have been neglecting my aerobic training this summer, out of necessity dealing with injuries and trying to get ready for a couple of races, I am now starting to get back into "aerobic" shape, which they say is a different type of conditioning with a separate fitness level, or lack thereof. Other than that, it is all part of the wonderful mystery of running. Kind of like golf.

Y'all might not think much of my "fast" splits this morning, but to this old man they were music in the night. Just from the sheer excitement of it all I had a hard time keeping my heart rate down.

Real men run indoors

I'm over 40 years old, and I've got nothing left to prove, so I jumped on the treadmill at lunchtime today. I kept a very steady pace for 30 minutes. 7.6mph. I'm trying to work up to 8. The hills and rocks and birds and sunshine and nighttime all stayed far away, and I watched the miles tick by while my head was busy with how to get my security clearance resolved and how to talk (email) the PM shop into treating the soldiers right in Afghanistan. 3.82 miles and then I did a five minute cool down. My blood pressure was 148/85 after the cool down. A couple of minutes later it was 122/74. I shoved some soldiers aside and did my weights. No, really I was polite. I like soldiers. I did traps, chest and abs. I'm trying to think of a way to make this exciting, but....oh yeah! The biofreeze on my left hip burned for the first 5 minutes. Sigh. That's the best I can do.

Happy running!

daryl writes

Hey, I didn't think I could get on this blog at work but will try again.



I have had this goal of running through butterfield canyon all the way down the adjacent middle canyon ending up in Tooele.



Saturday before last me and Dale got this bright idea to get up at 4 since I had military duty and he had class. We started running at 05:10 at the base of the canyon and it was still dark so I had a small flashlight I carried and Dale had a headband light. We had no idea really what our pace was as Mark and other dark runners would know and we were running uphill to skew the rythm even more. About three miles in it was light enough to turn off the flashlights. The hill at this point gets really steep for about a half mile. Last time I died and walked at almost the base the slope. This time I kept plugging all the way to 4.2 mark. Dale in traditional style had made it up before me but the dcrease in the grade made me excited and I picked up the pace. Our goal was to run 15 minutes past 4.2. I caught Dale about 10 minutes later and we figured it was about 11 miles up and back.



The following week or last week I was really sore. We planned to run on Friday after I worked the night but not in the dark. That, we decided (all due respect Mark), was for the birds. My muscles felt pretty good. I started on the Salt Lake side of the canyon while Dale started on the Tooele side. He left the car unmercifully 14 miles and a mountain away.



So this time I was alone and I started off only to feel that my muscles were still not quite ready for the run. I started off slow and a little gingerly. I had a camelback full of gatorade and it was a cool morning. We were running west and north about 20 miles of Elaines long run. My camelback didn't work for some reason so I had to unstrap it from my back at three miles out and open the lid for a welcome drink. Then the same steep slope that had conquered me the first time was at hand. My muslces were warm and I plowed up the slope with ease. The 4.2 mark brought exhileration I passed the point we had gone to the week before and I knew I could make it another 6 or 700 feet up and a mile long to the top.



An hour and a half to rise 25oo feet and go 6.5 miles....... I had no trouble going 13 minute miles.. Not tempted at all to speed up. 5500 ft to about 7000 ft.



Now the down. It was really steep and even Dale walked a mile and a half because his heartrate was still way up even walking when he was running up. Again, my muscles cried and I went gingerly down. It was also dirt road for a mile and a half and then I got on pavement. Dale had started probably about a half hour after I did because he had to drive the distance but he still met me at my 8 mile mark. He had done 6 and really cruised on the gradually slope up to that point. So I took the keys and ran and ran.. 2 hours 48 minutes for 14 miles. Dale did his in 2 hours 21 minutes and ran two more miles before I caught up to him in the car.



I reached my goal but I think I am done with hill work for awhile. I have a new need for flat and long.

Stinky!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(offensive pic replaced by smelly vapor)
So, I was all slugged out at the Marriott at Thanksgiving Point when I decided to do a long one, a day early. 12 miles is all...I got out there and realized I had forgotten both my Garmin and my iPod so I just decided to run two hours, in the heat and with my Fuel Belt.
I decided to run for 30 minutes and then start figuring out when to drink and where to refill, as my Fuel Belt only holds about 24 ounces and that isn't enough for me in the heat (okay only 75 degrees or so but hot enough for me to whine).
Soon I begin to feel the sausage from the complementary hotel breakfast, ugh. I kept plodding, on dead legs which should have been awake by now...a couple of construction detours later and I was on an alternate route, heading down a very long and uncerrtain route. I had an hour plus left to run so I thought even if there wasn't a road cutting back up to the motel I still had time to backtrack. Well. 40 minutes later I didn't want to backtrack.
I smelled rotting flesh somewhere in the brush so I ran past, eyeing the curve in the road...as I approached the curve, crossed the tracks, I saw before me a very long road...I thought I could see a stop sign in the distance, maybe an intersecting road headed back the right direction!
Soon I smelled another stinky smell, a familiar one it took me a mile to identify. It was the smell I smelled when, as a 19 year old, I had danced with a guy from Alpine...who worked on a pig farm. It was the worst! 30 yards after I had figured it out I saw a sign, the only house out there. It said "ALLRED PIG FARM:. K. One mystery solved. But I was still eyeing the tiny red dot in the distance, was it a stop sign?
It was a mirage, a turn in the road with a mail box sticking out. There was a dirt road going off to the right, in the right direction, but it was gated and covered with "no trespassing, violaters will be shot and then drowned and then hung by their toenails". Of course I took that road, ducking under the gate and running faster through the field. Hey Nate. No one shot me. It's okay. You can put your gun away. There was a rise, didn't know what was on the other side of the rise so I went up it and saw....
The Biggest Golf Course ever. On the other side of this amazing gulf of green I could make out my motel. It seemed hours away but I started off on the golf cart trail, meeting many golfers on the way who looked at me questioningly. I also saw more no trespassing signs and many strange looks. I walked and walked, noting a river I would need to cross....which I eventually did, now another half mile the wrong direction from the motel. I should have ran but I was out of water, you know?
I finally made it, over the pig farm and through the golf course and onto the frontage road.....when I saw a dead skunk.

Yup, I saw it and the wind was blowing the right direction. It didn't stink till I passed it and then my eyes watered from the stink the rest of the way home.
Don't ask me how far I ran. No idea.
E

Sushi

Due to my recent back injury, I decided to take the whole week completely off. It wasn't really a decision, but more of the fact that my back was killing me. Last night on my way to get some take out sushi, I got a text from Wallace telling me he ran for 6 miles. He got me all pumped up, so after I walked in and placed my sushi order and was told it would be a 20 minute wait, I decided to go running in my jeans, belt, t-shirt (two of them) and some horrible socks. I ran for twenty minutes really slow in 94 degree heat. I felt really good and finished by getting a gallon of water at Fry's for .60 cents. The sushi chefs asked me if I was alright when I came back into the restaurant. I told them I was just really hungry. I didn't wait much longer and I think I got bumped in front of a couple of other patrons who were patiently waiting. Hey, runners do get some benefits in this world. Kind of like blondes...

Speaking of blondes, where's Cheryl?? Is she pulling an ultimate Stephen?

At any rate, my back hurts pretty bad today...probably ran too far too soon in too much heat with too much risk of re-injury and too weak of a core due to not enough of something depending on who you ask...

Once More, no Cigar

Went out on a hot Saturday night, August 1 at 9:00 p.m., to try again at 20 miles. Skipped a Mexican restaurant to do it. My splits were:

13:06, 13:07, 12:51, 12:53, 12:11, 13:31, 12:28, 14:04 (water stop), 12:33, 12:38, 12:35, 12:23, 12:00.

Temperature at the end was 91 F, relatively high humidity as usual.

A quick calculation will show 13 miles, not 20. I intended to run these at 13:00 and ended up closer to 12:00, not exactly burning up NASCAR here in Houston. It's hard to keep running slow, but if you don't you will fail in this heat. I think it's the heat, I sure hope so.

Ran shorter distances a couple of times this week, which felt good. One run included 800M "sprints" for about five miles, with jogging in between. (Elaine, don't they call these some name that relates to unfortunate bodily functions?) I ran those at about 9:00, including the jogging in between. No knee problems for either run.

Going to try again in the morning. Wish me luck.

UPDATE: I made 20 miles Saturday morning. Started out at 4:08 a.m. and ran for a long time, most of it under a nearly full moon, 80 degrees until the sun came up late in the run. The first 16.33 were solid running, averaging about 13 (Stephen, those are times, not distances), but I had sped up for some reason during the last two miles, by about a minute a mile, and I ran out of gas as the sun started to beat down. So I walked/ran the last 2-2/3, including running in the last mile. I'm pretty happy with it. My knee barked a little bit at the beginning, then settled down and was not heard from again. Only a slight twinge in it this morning, which is also very good. I took S! Caps (electrolyte replacement) the whole time and they seem to help, though they are not magic pills. I got badly chafed, the first time that has happened to me. Even with technical fibers, you can't avoid profusely sweating in this heat. In fact, if you aren't sweating profusely you are probably in trouble. Jennifer and Scott are here this month and they thought it was funny that I went out and stashed water bottles along the route the night before. I told them all runners did that but I don't think they bought it.

Stephen runs

He doesn't jog.
First off, he gets me up before my Benadryl wears off. Then he has the oxygen shipped to Cheryl's house. Speaking of Cheryl, I think he thought I was her, or fast like her, or something. His "9 minute pace" started out at 7:15 pace. And I was most definitely still asleep. Maybe that's what it's like in the army Daryl? Your first sign you're awake is chest pain? Finally, after signs of distress from his big little sister, he asked me, "now, do you want to go 4 miles or 6?" (We had planned to go 6). So we slowed down. Or I slowed down. I think he would have left me in the dust but he was worried I wouldn't find my way home. He started telling me where the house was.

Finally, we started downhill. Now. I am good at downhill. Here's what you do. Squat down, tuck your head under, and roll. We brushed by a yard waste container, which drew blood. I was not quite to the tears yet, but I had now done the blood and sweat. FunZies! AND I could now see as the sun was starting to rise. I finally found my legs and we ended about 50 minutes later, a quarter mile short of 6 miles. After I ate a plum from his back yard I was ready to go. As in, back to bed.
E

Injured!

Fishing @ Lees Ferry went great on Thursday. I got home about 11pm that night and woke up around 6am to get the family ready to go camping in the White Mountains. More specifically just south of Wahl knoll (the 409 road). We got to the camp site around 2:30 pm and just relaxed in 65 degree weather for the rest of the day. Saturday morning I went fishing @ Big Lake with Wallace and his boys along with my Thomas and Stanley. I knew I wouldn't be fishing with all those boys, but would be re-baiting hooks and untangling lines. We didn't catch any fish as the large crawdads figured they would get to the worms before the fish did.

Enough of the fishing...that evening around 5pm I tried to talk Wallace into taking a 5.5 mile run with me @ 9158 feet. He respectfully declined. I still called him a pansy and took of all by myself. I knew I would be fighting elevation, or atleast that's what all the books say, so I took a nice slow pace and settled in for the longest run of my career. It's actually quite intimidating knowing that your going to just keep going further and further. 26.2 miles still seems unreachable. At any rate, on to the injury. At 2.12 miles, I was just finishing a 250 yard downhill trot with a sharp right turn headed up the other side of the draw. It just so happens that Caleb (Jack and Karen's boy) shot his first elk with me in that same draw the previous year. I decided to look back over my left shoulder to see if any elk had decided to come back. As soon as I took a little gander of my left shoulder, I felt my lower back slip down and to the left. It wasn't a sharp pain or even a blow type of pain. In fact I wouldn't call it even painful at the time. It felt more like my back just re-adjusted. I knew within 20 more yards, however, that something was wrong. I decided I'd better call it quits so and began walking up the hill. It slowly started to tighten up. I layed down in the pine needles and decided to stretch. It definitely felt better to lay down, but I knew I still had to get home. I started walking back, then realized it didn't hurt any worse running that it already did walking. I figured what the hey and started my watch again @ 2.25 miles. I figured if this was going to be my longest run ever, I was not going to let it stop me. I ran for 6 miles total, knowing my back was messed up. I'm pretty upset about the whole thing as I felt like I was really taking care of myself and my body. I'm pretty sure that along with a generally weak core and looking over my shoulder was all I needed. Today I can only stand on my feet for about an hour or two before I just start to really tighten up and get tired. I'll go see my chiropractor tomorrow.

Maybe running just isn't for me...I've never been hurt fishing...

email to my trainer

Went 20.3, did 20 in 3 Hours 1 minute, which included water bathroom stop at 18.7, ugh. Could have gone a couple minutes faster if not for the stop.

And yes I messed up, doing the first 11 miles in 90 minutes, too fast. In my defense it was cool and a steeper downhill...there ain't no way I could have done 8 minute miles at the end in the heat...so you still have some work to do to fix my head.

My amaZing friend kept up with me, parking, biking, swapping out fuel belt bottles, all with taking care of her Dad too.. No easy task considering my erratic pace.

Now I'm at IHop where I am graciously taking her and her Dad out to breakfast. However she is paying since I also "graciously" forgot my wallet.

Here is a picture of me, sitting with my legs out in front of me at iHop. Oh, and I got new shoes. I like them a lot. No blister problems or numb left foot....at least very little numb left foot....it didn't hurt nor do the numb thing until I stopped and then tried to start again. Not cool. Must keep running. No bathroom breaks for me!