Psalm 91:1 NKJV He who dwells in the secret place

Leg 21 Time:19:11 Miles: 3.72 Avg: 5:09

My second leg was downhill and in the pitch black dark again at 4:36am. My projected average pace was 5:15 per mile. I started out just feeling the course and letting my quads push towards the downhill. I did the first mile in 5:15, and it felt really comfortable so my plan was to finish the last 2 miles and whatever left faster. I did mile 2 at 5:07 flying by runners as I went. Then came mile 3 at 5:08 again passing more runners. I think I passed a total of 10 runners. The last .72 I did at 3:39 and I felt in control the whole way. I didn't feel bad at all afterwards, but I knew going into the third run it would get hot and it was another downhill so I was glad I didn't feel wiped out or anything. In fact I even helped Steve Ashbaker warm-up for his next leg.

I was happy to beat the projected 5:15 pace and average a 5:09 pace. I also set a new 5k PR of around 16:05, Paul or someone can do the math, but this is off the top of my head looking at the time. This PR was definitely set on an aided course.

I did a total of 1.5 miles of warm-up and cool-down.

I discuss more on the third run (leg 33) later, but leaving you hanging it was interesting and definitely very hot.

Leg 33 Time: 16:28 Miles: 3.03 Avg: 5:26

By the time it was my turn to run my third leg I was tired. I didn’t get any sleep all night like everyone else. You shut your eyes but you can’t really sleep because of the atmosphere around you, and still the adrenaline inside from the last run. I needed caffeine but I didn’t have any, and when I tried drinking Gatorade or eating something It would go straight through me, and I would have to run to the bathroom (at least I didn’t vomit).

Before the third leg Adam RW had to explain to the volunteer’s how the exchanged worked, because they were unsure. They were talking to me about how they needed to quit smoking and get back into shape, and Sasha standing right there said you need to quit smoking as direct as you can get. That was so funny I wanted to laugh.

The location of this leg was at Apache Junction, Pinal, Arizona and the traffic was horrible. It was hot with a headwind, but it was all downhill with some uphill at the end. The volunteer mentioned that one of the city cops wanted the exchange moved somewhere else, but he finally gave in and let it be there. The cop told the volunteer’s that if any runner was caught running through a red light they would get a ticket. This was nice since I had three traffic lights ahead of me.

On the start of the first mile I could feel the heat but I pushed on downward and did the first mile in 5:19. I was hot and really needed some water and should have had more fluid in my body on this leg, which is a very good learning experience for me when I do this again. The second mile I did in 5:22. I was trying to stay in around this pace and I accomplished that. Now the third mile made me mad, because I had to slow down, because the traffic light was red and this big truck with a trailer turned right in front of me, then later down the third mile I had to weave out of traffic which slowed me down again (which I got honked at but I wasn’t going to stop) and it was hard to get started back up and I felt fatigued at this point. This really affected my time in this mile. Then with about .3 left in the final mile to the exchange there was a little uphill over an overpass and I ran as hard as I could up it and down it. James W, said I looked like I was cruising. I bet I was running in the 4 minute mile range, but because of the earlier issues it wasn’t a very good mile 5:37 pace.  But I definitely did have some fatigue in this leg so it's good to learn to know what to change next time. 

One thing I learned about the third leg is I need to fuel up a little more, and that would have helped. But the legs where exciting! I want to thank everyone involved, especially James W. because of the driving he did, and staying up all night.

This morning after being back from Del Sol I was a little sore in the gluteus maximus which I'm sure was from the 14 hour drive back to Pocatello yesterday.  I ran easy today nothing real special mainly on a flat route with a few some hills. The mileage was 8.2 at a easy 7:13 pace in 59:30 minutes.

 I will give a full Del Sol report later after I gather my thoughts, and have more time away from work.
 

I did 9.2 miles on the Treadmill this morning in 65 minutes. The wind was blowing between 25 to 30 mph and I didn't want to be out in it. I ran 6 of the miles at a 2% to 2.5% grade around a 7 minute pace, and running 3 miles at a 6:30ish pace. I'm a little sore in the inner quad area from this weekend, and my achilles is still a little sore but other than that I feel great. Although, I haven't been sleeping very good the last two nights. I think I got so use to Lybi's and James' couch that my body doesn't like a bed anymore.

PM:

I was doing some computing on my second leg in Del Sol, and thanks to Paul telling me about the Sport Tracks software I found what my new 5k PR is.  It's 15:52, of course on an aided course so I don't know if it should really count or not.

No running tonight, I had a soccer meeting to go to for my daughter and lunch I still have a broken Treadmill that I'm trying to get a free upgrade for.

This morning I ran outside even though the wind was blowing about 10 mph and it was 19 degrees, but with the wind chill it made it 11 degrees.   I ran my hill loop up Satterfield Dr., 4 miles uphill and 4 miles downhill and the last 3 miles a pancake.  You would of think I would have go enough miles from the downhill and uphill this weekend.  I don't really have any soreness other than my hamstrings are a little tight, and my achilles is still making that crackling sound, but it's not hurting.

This morning it was 15 degrees with a nice wind.  My legs really didn't want to move today.  They felt real heavy and tired like myself.  I think I'm still dragging from the weekend, because I haven't been sleeping well since I've been back from Arizona.  Anyway, I ran 11.3 miles at a 7:04 in 1:20.  I did some good hill climbs today again.  I'm really trying to improve on my uphill running and three days in a row can only help.

No running at lunch too busy and also too busy tonight. 

This morning I did a long run of 17.5 miles at an overall 6:56 pace in 2:01. I'm so sore, I don't even get this sore after a marathon. My inside of my quads are sore in the groin. A little bit on the outside of my quads too. Could be just from the relay last week and the lack of sleep I've been getting. I ran from my house out to Indian Hills and then back home, but not the same way. Some uphill but not much mostly flat. Temperature was 16 degrees and the Sun was shining! I had about a 9mph wind for the first 8 miles which made it even colder, (where's the Arizona weather!). I really didn't try to push the pace just a nice easy run. I can't believe how sore I'm after the run that really bothers me.

Good news my achilles didn't bother me at all on the run. It's still crackling and not a 100% but it didn't hurt so I'll take that.

Snow, Snow, Snow and lots of it this morning!  Just last week I must have been dreaming when I  was running in 80 degree weather in Arizona.  The temperature this morning was 24 degrees but blowing and snowing hard.  I did want to run inside so I dressed warm and headed out.  For about the first mile my inner quad muscle near groin was hurting/sore then it went away.  It was hurting so bad that I almost turned around a came home after the first .2 in the run.  I think  it's just soreness from the relay last week.  With the wind blowing and snowing I wasn't going to do anything fast, I ran 10.1 miles  at an overall 7:02 in 1:11.  My Achilles seems to be doing well hopefully with God's grace that continues.

This morning before Church I decided to get my dog out and do a run.  It's been over three months since I last ran with him.  We did 4.1 miles at a 7:18 in 30:13 minutes.  The last mile we ran at a 6:28  with a .4 5:25 pickup to end the mile.

Ran after church with the family (wife, two daughters, son in the stroller) their going to be running the Ogden 5k so it's time to get them going. We ran 1.28 miles  at a 12:36 pace.  Then I ran with my son in the for .24 to get him ready for the kids K in Ogden that he will be running.

Usually a day-off but it was fun running with the family.

This morning my legs felt like there were rocks attached to them they just didn't want to move for the first few miles. I even got over 8 hours sleep last night. Maybe it's because I ran on Sunday which I very rarely do. I ran 9.2 miles at an 6:47 pace in 1:02. First three miles were going up Olympus Dr. and that's all uphill. Then I turned on Booth Rd., and got about two miles of downhill. After this I thought I would do some pickups and speed up a bit. I really wasn't focusing on maintaining a certain pace, but just try to get a better turn over rate on my legs

Evening:

Decided to run home from work today, since my TM is broke at home so I can't run on it on my lunch hour. My house is less than 2 miles from work so I stretched the run to 4.2 miles at an overall 6:53 pace in 28.59 minutes. Felt like a really easy effort.

Later that evening:

Ran with the wife and son in the scroller for 1.28 mile  at a 12:41 pace.

This morning I got a late start, but I've been putting so many extra hours at work lately that coming in late wouldn't be an issue. The temperature was 26 degrees with no wind so that was real nice. I ran 10.3 miles at an overall 6:48 pace in 1:10 felt easy, but I really wanted to keep my pace in the 7:30 range to really stay more aerobic. This is something I need to work on especially if I'm raising my mileage up this week. I did do some fartlek work the last two miles so naturally the splits were faster (6:14, 6:18) they didn't feel too bad.

I noticed something about my running this week my achilles seems a lot stronger, because I can now feel a better push and faster turn over rate in my right leg. This is something I didn't have in the Del Sol Relay, where I couldn't really push that great off my right leg, and feel strong or fast, but more fatigue. I wish I could go back and run my legs now that the achilles is feeling so much better and stronger. How frustrating, but what's done is done and you can't look at the past.

 Evening:

Ran after working tonight I started at 5:25pm and had to be done be 5:50pm so I could go pick my daughter up from soccer practice.  I couldn't get off work any earlier because of too many projects going on.  I did a tempo run to get done faster 4.1 miles at a 6:16 pace in 25:51.  I really didn't try to push the pace too much.  I originally wanted to just do a slow run but that wasn't in the cards.  Splits (6:13, 6:05, 6:01, and cooling down 6:31) and I was able to run in shorts for once!   Good quality miles tonight!  I don't really feel fast though, hopefully that will come. Tomorrow I'm going to do a slow aerobic run in the morning.
 

I ran 10.1 miles at an overall 7:11 pace in 1:12. I wanted to just run easy with little effort to get an aerobic base workout and not be under a 7 minute average for the run. Although, the last mile I had to hurry or I would have got stuck at the train tracks with a train approaching. I couldn't alter the route and I was .7 miles from the crossing with the train approaching a little further away. I picked it up, and ran the last mile at 6:01. I really wasn't trying too hard just enough to where I knew I could beat the train.

Very nice easy run with little effort and a very nice morning for a run at 34 degrees. My achilles seem to be doing great and hopefully that continues.

I went to bed last night at 10pm and couldn't sleep because of this computer system hardware issue were having at work. I analyzed this problem all night and figured out the solution in the middle of the night while trying to sleep. That was great, but when the alarm hit 6am I wasn't ready to move. I was really surprised I wasn't a dead beat on this run today.

Evening:

I ran from work to home tonight stretching 4.2 miles at a 6:51 pace in 28:54 minutes.  What are the odds of trying to out run a train twice in a day, well I had to try to do it again.  About .3 from my house we live by a train crossing, but this time I couldn't beat it, and it was a long one.  I bet it took about 8 minutes before I could start running again.  I was running at a 5:20 pace to try to beat it at the crossing, but it was too close to where I could have made it.  But breaking the law isn't one of things I like doing, and not something that might influence my kids.

Ran 1.57 miles in a 12;40 pace in 19:48 minutes with my wife.  I enjoy running with my wife it gives us a chance to talk and discuss the day.  She starting to get back into running again.

Decided to do my long run today because the weather was going to be nasty this weekend. I ran 17.3 miles at an overall 6:59 pace in 2:01. Actually, the weather was awful this morning with snow and rain coming down and a fun circling wind that I couldn't figure out what it was doing. I was very, very, very soaked by the end of the run. I would have ran even further, but my feet and socks were socked, and I did want to completely ruin my shoes or risk an injury. The course I ran had about half uphill and some downhill so it was a good workout.

I was also chased by a Golden Lab that nipped me on the leg this morning during my run. I gave the dog a good kick after he nipped me, and it ran back to the house. I know where the dog came from and I'm going to call animal control, because this dog could seriously hurt a kid. He exactly ran out in the street from the house and nipped me. Luckily it didn't break the skin because I had my tights on.

Also, the achilles feels fine no more crackling it feels completely healed.  I don't think though I have the push off the right leg like I should but that won't take long.  It's hard to describe what I mean when I say that, it just does feel like it has the same strength yet as my left leg. 

This morning wasn't one of the better days to run weather wise, but it was certainly better than yesterday's snow/rain. The wind was blowing about 15mph, but it was a circular wind and made it difficult to get any type of a consistent pace. The temperature was 25 degrees, but with the wind it felt colder. My plan was to run at least 10 miles. I ended up running 11.2 miles at 7:01 pace in 1:18. My legs felt okay, but I've been tired this week with the crazy stuff and extra hours of work I've been putting in.

There's a 10k race in Idaho Falls that I'm thinking about running. I've put around 80 miles this week and I'm wondering how I would do with my legs not exactly fresh. I haven't decided if I'm going to run it or not. I think it would be a good benefit and good for the training though.

Lunch:

Ran 4.2 miles at a 7:07 pace in 30:18 minutes at lunch today. I just took it easy in case I decide to run the 10k Race in Idaho Falls tomorrow. First mile uphill and the rest flat and downhill.

Ran 1.30 miles with the wife, and she did great in the nice wind that we had.  We averaged a 13 minute mile.  She's doing good getting back into running and I keep encouraging her that she'll be where she used to be at.

This morning I drove up to Idaho Falls to run a 10k that was actually only 5.62 miles (pretty short). I was tired because I was up till midnight doing some work on one of our systems. I got to IF around 8:30 and warmed-up for a mile, and I knew then that I just didn't have it today. I was real tired with the extra hours at work, and the 90 plus miles running this week. I wanted to put in some high mileage this week to test and make sure my achilles really is better and can handle the high miles again. The push off is getting better on my right leg, and it doesn't hurt so that's good.

My goal today was just to keep every mile under a 6 minute mile pace, and I did accomplish that. The course was flat with a lot of turns.

First mile I did 5:52 felt okay just really tired in the legs. I was in second place right behind Pat who won the race (Jeff Shadley knows Pat). Next Mile was through a subdivision with a lot of turns (5:51) pace, again I felt tired, my brain,eyes,arms everything. Mile 3 was 5:53 still not really feeling my best and I think I could have really pushed it but the desire wasn't there, maybe because I was all alone. At this point Pat was about 30 seconds ahead of me. Mile 4 we started getting some snowfall and some head wind 5:56, but I felt at this point I was loosing up a bit in the legs (Pat was even further ahead at this point). Mile 5 felt really easy at 5:51 and I really should have pushed harder. I think knowing at this point that I know I wasn't going to compete for first place I sort of eased up or lost interest. Now the course was .58 short so I came in at 32:58. I should have kept running until 6.2 to see what my time I would have had for a 10k. Oh well, I wasn't thinking.

After the race I ran a 2 mile cool-down with Pat. He's a neat gentlemen and very, very talented. I really liked spending time with him, he's a great athlete.

I did wear my Fast Running Blog apparel during the race and my jacket after, and did get comments about it. I was really trying to advertise our site and image. People commented how fast I ran and how awesome I did, but I really knew the real true that this wasn't even close to what I can accomplish.

I drove 50 miles home and did another 3.1 miles right when I got home just to loosen up after the drive.

Overall not really doing a lot of speed lately and coming off the achilles injury, I shouldn't be too disappointed because I know I have better times ahead. I haven't really ran a lot of short races lately so this is good training.

Ran a couple 100m strides later that evening just, because I was outside.

Did want to get out of bed for some reason today. Was very tired after about 7 hours of sleep. I finally got out of bed late, and ran my Olympus Rd., Booth Rd, Hiline Rd hill loop. I ran 10:23 miles in 6:56 pace in 1:11. After mile 6 I thought I would attempt to beat the 7 minute guy, and I needed to get back home anyways because I got up so late. The last two mile splits on the flat section of the loop was (6:22, 6:01).

Those that don't run on Sunday, do you feel completely drained and weak like you don't want to do anything? This is how I feel almost every Sunday when I don't run, I don't know if it's because my body is used to doing something, or I don't eat enough... I'm not sure.

After analyzing my 10k race this Saturday I need to start to add two tempo runs per week. I feel that my base miles are there now it's time to sharpen everything. I know I have faster times in me I just need to try to find the time to work harder and being those skills out.

After work:

I got my running stuff on in my office and headed out the door and ran 4.6 miles around the Idaho State University Campus.  I averaged 6:33 pace per mile, and I really was just not focusing on any pace.  Then when I got home I ran 1.37 miles with my wife who did excellent tonight.  She seemed to excel tonight.  She's getting into a consistent routine which is slowly building the endurance back.

Last night I got about 200 pages from my work phone that one of our switches went down so this morning I was really tired from the lack of sleep, and it really showed in my run. I finally put my phone on vibrate, because this sort of network problem is not my responsibility (well sort of) only the machine connected to the switch. Then the dog later that night kept whining trying to get a hold of our cat and torment it. All around it wasn't a night to get any rest.

I ran 10.3 miles at a 7:11 pace in 1:14 the last mile I picked it up a bit to get home (6:27). This was just an easy aerobic run, but it didn't feel easy because I was dead tired, but at least I made it out the door.

Evening

I brought my running apparel to work today and took off for a run around 5:30pm after work.  I left later than I wanted too, because I had to pick-up my daughter at 6pm so I really had to get quick 4 miles in at least.   I ran 4.2 miles at a 6:24 pace in 27:03 minutes.

Mile 1:  7:00 good warm-up  ( I didn't have time to stretch)

Mile 2:  6:34  in a stiff wind

Mile 3:  6:19 felt good and not difficult

Mile 4:  5:51 looked at my watch and pushed harder to get back to my work parking lot.

(Avia Lites 529)

Last night I got over 8 hours of sleep. This felt really good, and I didn't even wake up once. I need to try to do this as much as possible.

I schedule just an easy run this morning, but I felt like I had to vomit the whole run and my stomach felt strange and it still does. I ran 11.1 miles at an 7:22 pace in 1:22. Must have been something maybe I ate last night or I'm coming down with something. I hope its not the latter.

Evening

Ran home from work tonight 3.2 miles at an easy 7:21 pace in 23:34 minutes. Took detours to extend the route. Then my wife was waiting outside to run together so I ran 1.4 miles with her back to my work to get my truck She ran in a 25mph wind, and did good even though it was a hard 12 minute mile pace.

Then I ran .21 with my 3 year old son. He's going to run the Ogden Kids K so I'm trying to get him ready.

I did get 8 hours of sleep last night but it was interrupted sleep by my 3 year old son and my daughter complaining that she was sick. My son just wanted the dog out of his bedroom, he's funny he doesn't like anyone or anything to sleep with him. I didn't feel too tired when I woke up just kind of weak.

This morning I did my long run on a very hilly course. The run was somewhat difficult, because the winds kicked up to 30mph, but the temperature was 35 degrees so that helped..

The reason that I've kind of been weak and dead on my runs this week is I'm starting to come down with something. Last night I felt just dead tired, weak, and my stomach was doing jumping jacks inside. I thought today if I had enough strength that I would do my long run, because I thought maybe I might feel worse on Saturday and won't be able to do it (when your systems analyst you have to analyze your future schedule). The performance this morning wasn't bad, and I did take it easy and not really push anything, other than I did some strides in the run to active the fast twitch muscle a bit. I ran 17.10 miles at an 7:18 pace in 2:04. I could have kept going, but I needed to be back for work. I'll probably run this evening to make it an even 20 miles for the day.

Evening:

We had parent teacher conference meetings tonight so I decided to do another run from our kids school to home after the teacher meetings. It started snowing on the way home so that made the run interesting, but the run was really uneventful. I had to avoid a lot of traffic on the way. I ran 4.22 miles at a 7:10 pace in 30:17 minutes.

I'm still not feeling the best. I feel weak so my immune system must be getting knocked out a bit. I'm hoping to feel better for the weekend, but I really don't have anything planned except Sunday so I should be able to get rest. Tomorrow I have to go into work early to be part of three interviews for a position that our Staff is looking to hire. That will take up most of the day.

Last night again I was able to get 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep, and it felt good waking up.
This morning was colder than its been for about a week, 25 degrees. There was a very thick fog also, and you could probably only see about 20 feet away. This morning I had to be at work early, because my supervisor and I were giving interviews to three candidates to fill a position in our department.

I started out later than I wanted too which wasn't good. I was planning on only doing 7 miles for the first run, because of needing to be at work earlier. I felt no fatigue factor today as far as mentally or physically. I started out slow with the first mile at 7:51. Then I increase my speed to 7:04, 6:56,6:47,6:46. The last two miles I needed to push a little more to get back home (6:36, 6:11). I ran 7 miles at an overall 6:53 pace in 48:27 minutes. Hopefully, I can get about another 4 miles in today.

Lunch:

Ran 5.22 miles on my lunch hour at an overall 6:46 pace in 35:27.  The wind was terrible with gusts of  35-40mph, and must of the run I was running in a headwind.  But I was in a hurry so I tried to keep a decent pace.  Splits 6:46, 6:58, 7:09, 6:47 6:18. 

It's funny 30 minutes before I was going to run it was snowing hard here and the wind was the same speed.  But when I walked outside it was sunny still with the heavy wind, but I was all set to run on the Treadmill at the gym.

Today I ran 13.2 miles at an overall 6:38 pace. The first six miles I ran with Barry (on the blog) and Kathy my sister-in-law who we lost at the three mile mark. I'm trying to get her to sign-up with the blog for others to help her. We did an easy 7:20 or so pace, and then I took off for my Tempo run. I did a 5 mile tempo at the end of the run (6:02, 6:05, 6;06,5:58,5:41) last two quarters of the last mile in the tempo I ran at a 5:23 pace which didn't feel to difficult. I didn't experience any fatigue factor in the run like some of the runs this week.

I ran these in my new Asics Bandito's which will probably be my Marathon shoe now. 

The rest of the day I took out our dishwasher that died. Went grocery shopping for easter and the house. Then went to Home Depot to order a dishwasher for our house.

Busy morning at work finally have time to type in my running for this morning.

I ran 10.5 miles at a 6:52 pace in 1:12. I only got 6 hours of sleep last night because of family health issues with my grandparents, but that's alright because they deserve my immediate attention.
I ran from my house, up Hiline rd, then down Chubbuck Rd, and out to Phlibin rd and back to my house. Very eventful run... I did pick-up the last two miles at 6:37 and 6:35.

Evening:

Ran from my work to the Idaho State University campus and by the time I made it back to my work I ran 5 miles at a 6:43 pace in 33:42 minutes.  Ran the last three miles at (6:24, 6:28,6:34) I had to hurry somewhat , because it started raining and it looked like it was only going to come down harder if I didn't hurry.  I was also very hungry and was ready to eat dinner.  I really didn't eat too much during the day because I was in meetings at work and didn't have the time to snack without the day.

I need some help I can't decide if it's a good idea to run both the the Salt Lake Marathon and Ogden Marathon, or just run the Salt Lake Half and the Ogden Marathon.

Last night I was able to get about 7 1/2 hours of sleep which I really needed. I spend most of last night trying to put together a portable or permanent Basketball hoop for our girls that we got them. It's very nice with the fiberglass shatter proof backboard that has several levels of height adjustment. It has the nice spring action rim. I still haven't finished it yet I'm having a hard time getting the height assemble adjustment just right. I used to play basketball all the time several years ago, but now I hardly ever play, and I miss that. My 11 and 8 year old daughters love basketball.

Anyway my run today wasn't bad, it rained all night last night making poodles everywhere in the street. I did most of the run on an uphill course and then about a 3 mile downhill back to my house. 11.1 miles at an overall 6:58 pace in 1:17. I ran at a 4:50 pace in one quarter of the last mile to beat a train over the railroad crossing close to my house. I didn't want to get stuck by a train so I kicked it in gear, probably not smart since the train was about 30 yards away when I crossed.

Temperature is starting to get warmer at around 39 degrees this morning. I still haven't decided if I want to run both the full marathons in Salt Lake and Ogden. Part of me thinks I should run just the half in SLC and the full in Ogden. I don't know, any thoughts on this or help would be appreciated?

 Evening

Ran after work around 5:30 from work, 4.3 at an overall easy 6:54 pace in 30:06.  I just wanted to run easy even though the rain was coming down hard and I was soaked.  I wore shirts and a shirt sleeve shirt with arm warmers and gloves.  It's nice just to run easy after a long day at work.
 

8 hours of sleep last night was great and I felt good this morning.

I ran 11.1 miles at a 6:48 pace in 1:15. I did about two MP miles in the run, but it was mostly a relaxing run not pushing too hard. The last mile I ran a 6:07 to get back home and get ready for work. I'll see if I can get out on my lunch hour today vs running after work. The weather was nice at 36 degrees, and I was overdressed.

I think I've decided to run the Salt Lake City full marathon rather than the half and see if I can keep up with Adam. I'm not sure how I'm going to approach training after this week other than I want to get one 20 miler in before the marathon. I feel a little overtrained so I think the next few weeks leading up to the marathon I will cut the miles back and get the fresh leg feeling back. I'm still going to run the Ogden marathon though (who knows these plans could change).

I'm coming up with my friend/cousin Barry (who's on the blog) and he's running the half marathon. Those that have run the half marathon in SLC if you could give him advice it would be appreciated. He's blog name is "Barry".

Lunch:

Very cold outside with the wind blowing 30mph in a circular direction, but I decided shorts and a long sleeve shirt and gloves would work.  This time I was wrong it was down right cold!  I didn't know what type of run to do so I just started running and the wind was making it cold and then a soft rain came.  I decided to keep everything under 7 minutes because I needed to be back for a meeting in a little over an hour. 

 I ran around campus and then I hit the Idaho State University Davis field track and ran twice around it, and then back out the gate and on the street again.  You can sure tell the speed difference between running on a track and the road.  The cold started to get to me where I was feeling disoriented.  The last four miles I decided to do a tempo run, but start the first mile at a warm-up pace.

6:28 felt easy, but I felt my mind or nervous system was somewhere else                          

6:12: felt easy, but same as above ( on a flat stretch little uphill)

5:53: wind was really picking up and I was getting really cold, even my hands felt frozen. What a weird experience.

5:47: didn't felt too bad, but harder than it should have, (but I'm not real fast either, something I need to prove to myself).

Totals 7.2 miles at an overall 6:25 pace in 46:17 minutes.  I was staggering when I was done, and very cold.  It took me about a minute to start to walk straight without wanting to fall.  I think the cold got to my nervous system and just chilled everything. 

Did my long run today, because Friday I have to work late and there's now way I would be able to get up early and run long Saturday. I wouldn't be able to sleep in and do the run after that, because I have too many things to do. Install a new dishwasher, and finish the drywall in our downstairs bathroom.

The weather was awful 20 degrees with the wind between 35 to 43mph constant from the Southwest (I mean constant I can remember a time where it hasn't at least let up a bit). This made the temperature be like 13 degrees. In the run I tried running down alley's to block the wind, but that really didn't help much. I ran most of the run in the wind and at times it was hard, but I did pretty good. I just ran a nice easy 6:50 to 7 minute mile pace. I ran 20.5 miles at an overall 7:03 pace in 2:24. The wind picked up at some points where I ran in a farm area where the wind wasn't being block from any directions and it would knock you back.

I didn't drink anything or eat anything during the ran. Good experiment to try and use the inter fat muscles when Carbs are depleted. I was definitely thirsty after the run, (no brainer on that one).

I would have to say with the wind and the cold this is probably the hardest long run I've done in a while. My hands, face were frozen by the time I got home. I picked up the last mile a bit and ran a 6:50 to finish. The course was pretty much flat to and a lot of turns to prepare for Salt Lake.

Easy run this morning I didn't have a lot of time because we were getting family pictures taken at 8:30am. It was cold at 15 degrees but no wind!!!!!!!!! I ran 9.3 miles at a overall 6:51 pace in 1:01. I ran a route that had a lot of turns to prepare for SLC. I really noticed how a course with a lot of turns can really wear you done, versus a straight course. I think that's the biggest difference between the SLC and Ogden Marathon's, and the downhill in Ogden. I felt fine during the run, like Adam RW has said getting sleep has helped. I got close to 8 hours last night, and my legs felt great after the long windy run yesterday.

I don't really know how I feel going into SLC, I know I haven't trained a lot of MP miles and that concerns me, and I hope it doesn't wear me down for the Ogden Marathon. I really stuck this marathon right in the middle of preparing for Ogden. My wife keeps telling me you can do this, and in the past she's been right. She's my big confidence booster. But will see what happens.

Speaking of Ogden I really want my wife to do well, and I want to prepare her well and give her confidence to know she can nail the 5k run.

Next three weeks I'll run 70, 70, 50 leading up to the marathon.

Lunch:

While I was getting my oil changed at Grease Monkey I ran 1.5 miles at a 7:12 pace. I was surprised I was actually running that fast. I thought I might as well do something besides sit in the waiting room watching TV. Okay, I pulled a Sasha ( don't read this Sasha I'm teasing you. I think your rubbing off on me).

Evening:

I ran 1.2 miles with my wife to help on her training run at a 12:ish pace.  She's a trooper because we did it in a 25 to 30 mph headwind.  I'm tired of the wind her, it's been a constant thing all fall, winter and now spring.

I worked till after midnight last night installing security patches and updates on our Unix and Linux servers so I was tired when I woke up at 7am to run.

This morning the wind was blowing 30mph + again, and the temperature was 13 degrees. Barry came to my house this morning, and we decided to run the Pocatello Marathon course for about 8 to 10 miles (I already did my long run on Thursday). This is good altitude running at 6000 feet. We took two cars so we could park one at the top of the course and one 8 miles away.

We started at 8:30am, and the road was covered with snow and very slick! We had to take it easy for the first few miles (7:06, 7:36, 7:31, 7:52, 7:05). Then I decided to leave Barry and do some tempo miles. Barry was going to do about two miles around a 6:30 pace to get some speed in. I would run back to Barry once I reached the car. I started out the first tempo mile at 6:12, and at this point the road was slick for only the first part of the mile.

Next mile 5:43 felt easy and half downhill and flat.

5:26: half downhill and flat felt really good.

5:55: I ran half the mile to the truck then I had to stop because my shoelace came undone. Then I ran back for Barry and he finished at the truck. I kept running and I told him I wanted to run one more mile to make it 10. I did this mile at 5:22 with the first quarter downhill then the next half flat and the last quarter uphill in the wind! That was very encouraging.

Came home and installed our dishwasher finally and have a tee ball game with my son at 3pm.

No running but 9 hours of sleep before waking up for church.  Worked on my brothers computer today which has problems where we will have to order a new motherboard.  I mostly relaxed today, and stuffed my stomach at Golden Corral.

I keep telling everyone that I just ran in the worst weather, well this morning was one of those snowing and blowing days. Temperature was 20 degrees but the wind was between 32 to 37mph with a hard snowfall and very hard to see. The Wind Chill made the temperature 5 degrees and it definitely felt like it. Originally when I woke up I was going to the gym, because I didn't even want to attempt this today. The roads would be slick, and the snow would be blowing in my face for at least 4 miles by calculating the course I would run and the wind direction. But the below following things happened that caused me to run out of time so I had to run outside rather than drive to the gym.

First off my youngest daughter fell off my oldest daughters bed last night trying to tease her by hiding under the covers so I checked her ankle this morning, and It wasn't really swollen, but she's walking with a little bit of a limp. But she could move everything so I'm sure it's a good sprain. Then I couldn't find my Ipod, and once I did it was dead. Then I was looking for something to wrap my daughters leg with and it took me forever to find what we wanted to put on it. Then my garmin took forever to get a signal. I'm not sure if it was the hard snowfall with the continuous 30mph+ wind or what. By this time it was 7:30am so I ran outside because I didn't want to drive to the gym and wasted more time. The was a very tough run with the snow and wind blowing in my face against my body, but I kept thinking the Salt Lake City Marathon will not be this hard so I just pushed through the run. I was cold and covered in snow by the time I was done, but I only ran 6.3 miles at an 7:05 pace in 44:45. I pushed the last mile a little harder through the snow and wind to get done, and get to work (split 6:38). I wanted to run at least 8 miles but I didn't have the time. Hopefully, later.today.

I fell after the 6 mile turning the corner on snow that had black ice under it on the street right on my knee. It's a little sore and has a nice big bruise, but I think I'll be okay.

Evening;

6:03 miles at a 6:46 pace tonight in 40:50 minutes from my work and back to my work.  Very eventful run.  My knee where I fell this morning was a little sore in this run.  I felt like I was just running at an easy pace.

 It's amazing how the weather can change from the morning to the evening.  It was still windy, but the sun was out the snow melted and the roads were not slick.  This was a very nice evening run.