Same Time, Same Channel

Woo Hoo! Easy/progression run on the Highline Canal Trail. Average pace: 9:02.

Weather 7:30 - 9:00 am: 56-62° F, 76 - 59% humidity, wind about 4 mph S, or SSE, or SSW. It was really fabulous weather for running, and good portions of the trail were shady.

I set out to do a minimum of 6 miles at an easy pace, but reserved the right to do as many as 10 if I was feeling good. I ended up doing 10 with a bit of a progression. Splits were 9:31, 9:08, 9:15, 9:18, 9:05, 9:15, 9:00 8:52, 8:45, 8:16. My calf didn't bother me at all. I guess the ART is working. I can feel just a tinge of tightness occasionally since today's run, but the calf is nearly 100%.

I wanted to do the 10 today if I could just to make sure I could do a reasonable distance in preparation for next Saturday's half marathon. I've got to go pick up my packet for that race this afternoon.

I don't usually run on the Highline Canal Trail for distances shorter than 12 miles, because I have to drive a few miles to get there. But I decided to go there today, even if it was only for 6 miles, because that trail is flatter and softer than the roads I usually run from home. The trail was beautiful today. Everything is so green with all the rain we've been having. It's so weird to be on that trail and be in the middle of the city, but feel like you're in the woods some of the time. One of these days I've got to take a camera and get some pictures to share with you all. My camera is so big and clunky, though. Maybe I can borrow my son's little tiny camera

I'm thinking about Snoqualmie and Auntieem, who are racing today. Good luck to them both and to anyone else who is racing!

Easy run. Average pace: 9:09.

Weather @ 6:50 am: 68° F, 37% humidity, wind 2-4 SSW.

I had to go to Runner's Roost to pick up my bib and timing chip for the Georgetown Half last Saturday. While I was there, I bought some Brooks ST3s! They were on sale! Yippee!! I have to say, when I put them on, they felt like buttah. OK. Now I'm wondering why are training shoes and racing flats different? Why don't people train in the same shoes they race in? I'm assuming that people who get racing flats for racing train in them some of the time. I'm just wondering what the whole rationale behind there being these different kinds of shoes is.

Incidentally, I had no calf pain today. I felt pretty good, Splits were 9:25, 9:23, 9:29, 8:56, 9:05, 8:42.

Last evening we had one banana left. My 14-year-old son loves bananas and eats them all the time, so I asked him to leave that one banana so that I could have it after my run today. When I finished my run this morning and went to get the banana, I found a note on it that said this:  "Sorry, Mom! I took a bite of the banana, then remembered that you wanted it. I hope it doesn't rot overnight." I just cut the end off of the banana and it was fine.

Easy run. Average pace: 8:53.

Weather at 7:00 am: 61° F, 54% humidity, wind 6 SSW. It wasn't a huge wind, but I definitely felt it.

I was going to run 6 today and then take tomorrow off, but then I decided I should do a 10 mile run before Saturday's race to try out the new shoes, so I'm going to do that tomorrow. That's why I did only 4 today. But I got going a little faster than I had intended, but I liked it. I know they say you shouldn't run your easy runs too fast because it will compromise your ability to do your hard workouts, but I'm only doing easy runs this week (except for the race on Saturday), so I don't really have any hard workouts to ruin at this point. I figure it doesn't really hurt that I went a little faster today. Splits were 9:30, 8:56, 8:32, 8:34. Also, I overslept today, so I needed to hurry home.

Easy run. Average pace: 9:07.

I originally hadn't planned to do a 10 mile run this week before Saturday, but I decided to do it to test out the ST3s on that distance. The shoes did great. I had a little discomfort from the blister that I got on the bottom of my right foot from walking barefoot on the hot pavement yesterday. (Doh!) But I wore my most cushy smart wool socks and the shoes are like buttah, so I was pretty good.

I ran by feel and didn't look at my watch much at all, though I was aware of my splits. I changed up my normal 10-mile route a bit and ended up going a little bit longer as a result. I also ran a good portion of it on the other side of the road than I normally do, mostly to stay on the shadier side of the street. Splits were 9:58, 9:23, 9:28, 9:13, 9:14, 8:51, 8:47, 8:44, 8:47, 8:52, 8:58 (last 0.40).

My calf is feeling fine, but I'm going for one more session of poking and prodding this evening anyway. I'll have him work on my hamstrings, which continue to be tight. I should stretch them more.

Rest day. I've already run as many days and slightly more miles this week than I did all of last week, and I've got a half-marathon yet to go this week, so I decided to rest today. I slept in.

I drained my blister last night. It feels better now. I hope that was the right thing to do.

I have just a little bit of pain behind my left knee.

I would have done weights today since I'm not running, but I'm afraid if I do, I'll injur myself somehow. My body seems to be conspiring against me to avoid this race.

Easy Run. Average pace: 9:45.

Weather at 7 am: 70° F, 48% humidity, wind 5-10 SSW.

Just a short easy run to get the cobwebs out. I was very sluggish the first mile, maybe because I was going into the wind, but I guess that first mile shook the slugs out. I was trying to focus on form. I didn't want to go to fast, so I tried to have a really short stride with a mid-foot strike and a good heel lift on the kick back. I felt much better by the end of the run than I did at the first, even though I was heading back into the wind at the end. Splits were 10:14, 9:39, 9:25, 9:40.

I want to go see Julie & Julia today. I really like Amy Adams and the movie is getting great reviews. Or I might take my husband to see (500) Days of Summer. I saw it already, but he didn't, and I'm willing to see it again. I want to do something fun and relaxing today so that I'll be in a happy place for the race tomorrow. Of course I do not need to go to work at least a little bit.

I've posted my official chip time. Division place was 20 out of 174.

I'm not one of these people who can remember exactly what happened mile by mile, but I'll see what I can come up with.

I actually slept pretty well last night, just not long enough. I didn't manage to go to bed early. We got up and got out the door this morning just a few minutes later than we had planned. We had to drop our oldest son off at work at 5:30. He was a couple of minutes late, but that's no big deal. Then we picked up a couple that we know and their neighbor who were also running the race. My husband was our designated driver and it was nice not to have to deal with busses and drop bags and the like. He drove us up to the start in Georgetown and was able to park there. Several people were parked in Georgetown and I wondered if they all had designated drivers, because they do shuttles from the finish to the start before the race, but there are no shuttles back to the start after the race.

I ran about a mile warm up before the race started, but then a guy stopped me and needed help with his timing chip. They were weird disposable timing chips that were stuck to the bibs. You had to peel it off, thread it through your shoes laces, then peel of a paper backing and stick it to itself in a loop. I hope they worked. After that I went and stood in line for the port-a-potty and then gave up at about 5 minutes before race time. I should have stayed in the line because the race started about 10 minutes late.

Note: All split times in this race report are on Garmin time and thus do not add up exactly to the total time.

Miles 1-2 (9:07, 9:16): Even though the general direction of the race is east, this race starts out going west. You do a two-mile loop within Georgetown and then head west to Idaho Springs. It was quite crowded for during that two-mile loop. I had to do a lot of weaving and dodging people. I had a hard time getting a decent pace going. At least it was shady. The sun wasn't high enough in the sky to shine directly on Georgetown at that point.

Miles 3-10 (8:14, 8:18, 8:19, 7:58, 8:00, 8:15, 8:11, 8:07): I wasn't running with my mp3 player, which I have been done on my training runs lately. So I started reciting poetry in my head. I spent a while on "'Twas brillig, and the slivey toves/ Did gyre and gimble in the wabe./ All mimsy were the borogoves,/ And the mome raths outgrabe." Unfortunately, that was all I could come up with of that poem and I struggled at times to come up with that much because my mind was a bit fuzzy. I continued to recite that verse in my head through out the race, sometimes struggling to remember what was brilling and what gyred and gimbled in the wabe, even though I had had the words shortly before. I also tried to recite other poems to myself, but was only able to come up with a couple of short Emily Dickinson poems and a somewhat inappropriate limerick about Brigham Young. I wished that I knew more poems.

Much of the course through this section was dirt roads and was fairly rocky. I didn't mind the dirt, but the rocks were a bit annoying. At one point we passed some kind of kennel and there were a bunch of dogs barking. Later we passed the Clear Creek Sportsmans Club where there were a bunch of men gathered and apparently were shooting things. We heard a few gunshots as we passed, which was kind of jarring. At this point, the urge to recite my Jabberwocky lines outload to someone and shared them with some poor woman whom I was running beside for a while.

Somewhere within this section a man ran up to me, and stayed just slightly behind me and I never got a look at him. He said that he had been trying to catch me and couldn't because I kept going ahead. We ran together and visited for a minute and then he dropped back saying  good luck in case he didnt' see me again.

Miles 11-13 (8:07, 7:51, 8:12): I was still feeling pretty good at the start of this section and I remembered how I felt at that point at the race when I ran this race last year. I concluded that I felt a whole lot better today and I was going faster. Nevertheless, I was tired and struggling a bit by the last full mile.

Last bit (7:02 pace): I wasn't going too terrifically fast at this point and was wishing that it was over. Then I heard a voice behind me saying, "I'm going to catch you. You better pick it up." It was the guy I had talked to before. So I started running faster and he said, "That's the way." That's the last I saw of him. (This maybe happened before the end of the 13th mile, but I'm not sure.) So he spurred me on to the end and I tried to run as fast as I could to the finish line. I was really glad when it was over. I never saw the guy after that, but I wouldn't have recognized him even if I had. But I appreciate his getting me going there at the end.

It was a nice race and the weather was great. I'm a little disappointed that I ran basically the same time that I ran in Moab. I would have liked to have gone a little faster. I guess I'll have to keep trying.

In other news, my oldest son has recently replaced the bass player in a semi-established local band. They've got a gig tonight at some venue down town. They're one of four bands playing and apparently they're first. My husband and I are going to go to it, but we'll probably leave after his group plays, lest we go deaf.

 Updated to add:

I forgot to mention that the blister on the bottom of my right foot that I got from walking barefoot on Tuesday and popped on Thursday revived itself and took on new life during the race. It didn't really bother me until after the race.

Easy Run + 3 x 8 sec. hill sprints. Average pace: 9:52.

Weather: 53°, 86% humidity, winds calm.

Today is the first day of school. Accordingly, I got out the door at 5:15 this morning. That's fine when I have a short run like today, but I'll have to be earlier some days. It looks like seminar is going to be at 6:30 (it doesn't start until next week), and so I'll have to be finished with my runs by 6:15 so I can drive Thing 2 to seminary. I had to drive Thing 1 at 6:30 this morning because he's mentoring freshmen today. So now it's back to the routine and the grindstone.

Both hamstrings were quite tight this morning, but they did loosen up a bit in the course of the run. I didn't shoot for any specific pace today. Splits were 10:13, 10:02, 9:50, 9:35, 9:29. Pace on the hill sprints was 7:00, 6:51, 7:44.

Easy run. Average pace: 9:51. Splits: 10:26, 9:51, 10:05, 9:51, 9:38, 9:16.

5:30am, 60° F, 72% humidity, winds calm.

My husband woke me up at about 2:30 this morning because he was stressing out about his job. I had a hard time sleeping after that and I thought about scrapping the run as a result. But I decided that I needed the run to clear my mind. I wore the Garmin, but looked at it only for the 1st split, which I saw was slow. After that I didn't look at it the rest of the run and just ran by feel. My hamstrings are a little tight, but not as bad as yesterday.

***Update***

I'm a dork. I got to work this morning feeling all proud of myself for being on time for a change. And then I got up to my desk and realized that I had left my computer at home. Fortunately, I live fairly close to my office. The round trip to get my computer took about a half hour.

Easy Run. Average pace: 9:29. Splits: 10:18, 9:28, 9:17, 9:25, 9:39, 9:15, 9:14, 9:08.

5:30 am, 64° F, 50% humidity, wind 4 SSE.

I slept better last night than I did the night before, so that's good. But I was a little slow getting out of the house this morning because I changed the laundry and folded the load that I took out of the dryer before I went out for my run.

I tried a new route today that I sort of made up as I went along. It incorporated parts of other routes I do, but added a stretch on County Line Road. I've been avoiding County Line Road because it is really hilly. But the stretch I did today was the easy part. Maybe I'll do one of the other sections in the coming days. My run today was supposed to be 7 miles, but I under-estimated some of the distances and so it took me an extra half mile to get home.

Getting up early this week is taking its toll on me. I went to Sam's Club last night, and as I was leaving, the lady who checks your receipt at the door told me that I looked really tired.

I've had a very busy morning between laundry, messing with the sprinklers, and driving to the high school because Thing 1 had to take his string bass. I've to get crackin' now and get to work.

Progression Run - 8 miles w/ last 10 min. moderate. Average pace: 9:15. Splits: 10:04, 9:30, 9:37, 9:26, 9:29, 9:25, 9:08, 7:49 (last 10 min.)

5:30 am, 67° , 40% humidity, wind 4 SSE.

I continue to make it out the door at about 5:30 am. That's okay for this week, but that's not going to cut it next week. I'm going to have to be out the door by 5:00 or even earlier sometimes starting next Monday. I've got to find a way to get to bed earlier. I was busy until after 10:00 last night and I've got stuff to go to tonight as well.

I got a little braver than yesterday and ran County Line Road from Colorado Blvd. to Quebec St. It was hilly, but not too bad. It was worse when I turned on Quebec St. and started going South into the wind. One of these days I might have the guts to do County Line Road from Broadway to University. When we first moved to Colorado 11 years ago, we used to drive County Line Road with the kids just for fun. It was like a roller coaster. It was narrow and very hilly. Since then they've widened it and flattened it out a bit, but it is still quite hilly.

**Update**

I forgot that I was going to mention the random things I saw on the road while I was running this morning: a pair of broken sunglasses (not too strange), a pair of little girls panties, clean looking (kind of strange), an electric hand mixer minus the blades (very strange). I normally don't see stuff like this on the road. I don't know why there were so many things this morning.

In other news, I remembered to bring my computer to work this morning (I had to take it home last night in order to do some extra work).

Easy run. Average pace: 9:39.

5:30 am, 69° , 41% humidity, wind 2 SSW, overcast.

I must have hit my snooze alarm twice this morning before I was conscious of it. When I became conscious, my husband was in the bathroom, so I stayed in bed until he came out. At that point, I used one of Snoqualmie's phrases, "just sit up," and it worked. Now if I can just reach consciousness when my alarm first goes off.

6 miles is my typical distance for an easy run and it's been taking me just under an hour. I decided to add a little extra distance today and run for the full hour.

I went to back-to-school night at the elementary last night and it's a good thing. Before that, the fact that there is no school at the elementary today or on Monday had not permeated my brain. They're doing assessments, so each kid has one half-hour appointment sometime on one of those two days. If I hadn't gone to back-to-school night last night I would have showed up at the bus stop with my daughter this morning and wondered where everyone was. As it is, it's fortunate that I brought my computer home last night because now I have to work from home today and Monday because there's no one else in the family who can stay home with my daughter. I guess I need to pay more attention to what is going on at the schools.

Progression Run - 10 miles w/ last 10 minutes moderate. Average pace: 8:57.

7:30 am, 67° , 44% humidity, wind 4-8 SSW.

I've written about my friend Michelle and her friend Michelle before. I've run with the a couple of times before and we all did the Georgetown Half together last Saturday. Well, my friend Michelle was put in charge of coming up with a recurring small group activity as part of the Relief Society Enrichment program at church. She decided to do a running group. So the plan is to meet at the Highline Canal Trail every Saturday morning at 7:30. Today was the first day. Attendance today was me, Michelle, and Michelle. We've got to try to get some more people involved. There are some other people at church who run a little bit and can maybe be talked into coming. Walkers are invited too.

Michelle and Michelle don't have quite the endurance right now that I have, but they are fairly fast runners. They tend to go out a little faster than I usually start out on a long run. They were running just 4 miles today, and so I ran 2 miles with them and then they turned around and I continued on. Those 2 miles were a little faster than they would have been if I had been by myself. But once I got that fast start with them, I kind of kept going fast and ran the easy part a little faster than I probably should have. A particular problem was mile 7, when this song came on and I could match my cadence to its beat, but that resulted in a somewhat aggressive pace. So when it came time for the moderate part, I had to work a little harder than a moderate effort in order to pick up the pace from what I had been doing. With that said, here are my splits: 9:19, 9:14, 9:11, 9:05, 9:03, 9:03, 8:48, 8:58, 9:05 (pace for .8 miles), 7:56 (pace for 1.26 miles).

I actually don't have a very busy day today for a change. Maybe I can take it easy, or maybe I can get some housework done, or maybe I'll take the kids swimming or something.

Normal rest day.

I think I might have broken the pinky toe on my left foot yesterday. I stubbed it hard against the corner of a wall. It doesn't hurt too terrifically bad, so maybe it's not broken. I figure it doesn't make a lot of difference one way or the other. I've got it buddy taped to the toe next to it. That helps. I wonder if I'll be able to run on it tomorrow. Stupid little toe.

Easy run + 4 x 8 sec. hill sprints. Average pace: 9:28.

4:57 am, 52°F, 67% humidity, winds calm, under a waning crescent moon and Orion's belt.

I started wearing the head lamp last week. Today I broke out the reflective vest as well. It was plenty dark when I started this run. By the time I finished, it was light, but the sun wasn't really up yet. Last year I would often encounter kids walking to school down the hill where I run my hill sprints. That won't happen this year because I have to be finished with my run well before they go to school.

My toe hurt a little bit during the run, but not bad enough to keep me from running. The worst is if I go side-to-side, like on a sharp turn, but mostly I don't do that during a run.

Splits were 9:45, 9:23, 9:33, 9:12, 9:18, 9:08. Paces for the hill sprints were 6:36, 7:01, 6:21, 6:29.

Thus begins 10 months of running in the wee hours of the morning.

Easy/Moderate Run. Average pace: 8:51.

4:57 am, 57°F, 76% humidity, wind 10 SSE.

It was quite cool in my bedroom this morning with the windows open, and so I put on a long sleeved shirt. But when I got outside it was warmer than I thought it would be and I wished I had worn a short-sleeved shirt. I guess it was the wind that messed up my perception of the temperature. The wind was also a bit of a challenge while I was running.

I meant to do an easy run today, but I got going a little on the fast side. I kept up the pace because I wanted to be sure to be home in time to drive my son to seminary, and then I really poured it on at the end because I needed to get to the bathroom. Splits were 9:13, 9:06, 9:10, 9:01, 9:08, 8:36, 8:41, 8:02. I figured it wasn't a big deal to push the pace a bit today because I had an easy day yesterday and I have an easy day tomorrow.

Eight miles is about the furthest I can run in the morning before seminary unless I get up earlier, which I don't want to do. Maybe on the occasions when I have a longer run, which will be about once a week in the coming weeks, I'll tell the kid he has to walk to seminary. It won't kill him. It's less than a mile. And he's a big boy. He'll be 15 on Friday and he's nearly 6 feet tall.

I haven't slept well the last couple of nights, which is unusual for me. I think it's apprehension about waking up on time to run before seminary.

Today is my 19th wedding anniversary, and so chances are very good that I'll overeat tonight. I wish I could find a way to eat out without overeating.

**Update**

My toe felt fine during my run and I thought it was getting better. But then I put on the cheap shoes I wear to work just before I went out the door to work. Yeow! I grabbed my flip flops and stuck them in my bag. I drove to work and only made it half-way through the walk from my car to the building before I stopped and took off the shoes and put on the flip flops. So I guess the toe is still out of shape, but is happy in running shoes. It is still swollen and kind of discolored.

Easy run. Average pace: 9:32.

5:05 am, 58°F, 41% humidity, wind 4 SSE.

The 6-mile easy run makes a frequent appearance in my training these days. I've decided to turn it into 1-hour easy instead, which takes me just a little past 6 miles. I have two standard 6-mile routes. I ran the slightly hillier one this morning. I don't run this route as often as my other 6-mile route. Splits were 9:49, 9:56, 9:39, 9:25, 9:16, 9:13.

I've been thinking about whether I should make my son walk to seminary in the morning. I've thought of a couple of other benefits to my running early enough to take him to seminary. The biggest one is that I am home when my other two boys are getting ready and leaving for school (they go about a half hour after I get back from the seminary drop-off). I'm not home when they get home from school, so it's nice for me to be here in the morning for them. The other benefit is that I'm getting to work on time, which I wasn't doing when I was running later. So I think I'll stick with running at about 5:00 am and driving him to seminary. That works as long as my run is no longer than 8 miles. On the occasions when I have a longer run, which will happen sometimes, he'll have to walk. I told him that this morning and he wasn't too happy.

Progression Run. 8 miles w/ last 15 min. moderate. Average pace: 8:51.

4:55 am, 58°F, 60% humidity, wind 2 ENE, clear skies, no moon.

I've been surprised lately how many runners and walkers I've been seeing out at dark-thirty in the morning. But it's also interesting that some of them, even runners, are wearing long pants and long sleeves. I'm still in shorts and short sleeves or no sleeves. I wonder if these people will last outside into the winter. This morning I also saw a man riding a bicycle wearing a suit and a tie. I hope he didn't have too far to go, or he might get to work all sweaty and stinky.

One problem I've encountered with getting up this early is that my intestinal system doesn't really wake up until about an hour into my run. I made a pit stop at a gas station this morning during the 6th mile to avoid the uncomfortable run I had on Tuesday, even though I ran fast on Tuesday as a result.

Here are my splits: 9:42, 9:27, 9;13, 9:28, 9:05, 8:47, 15 min. (1.99) miles @ 7:36 pace, 0.47 miles at 8:29 pace. The 15 minutes moderate was supposed to be at the end, but when I got to the end of the 15 minutes I wasn't quite home. I thought I'd just run easy as a cooldown the rest of the way, but I looked at my watch and realized I needed to hurry home. I was a little late finishing my run on account of a little farther than 8 miles and the time I spent on my pit stop.

I feel like my core strength has not been what it ought to be and I've had a little fatigue in my lower back when I've been running, so I decided that I need to get back to doing some weight training. Accordingly, I did the shred this morning after the seminary drop off. I figure I'll start doing that 2-3 days/week. I don't have time for the longer workouts that I like to do, but I can fit in the shred because it's only 20 minutes.

Easy run. Average pace 9:28.

4:53 am, 57°F, 55% humidity, wind 2 SSE.

My little toe is still hurting a little bit when I first put on shoes, but then it's okay when I run. And walking around in either bare feet or flip-flops doesn't hurt. Doing the shred yesterday hurt it a little bit and so I tried to tape it yesterday morning, but that hurt worse.

I usually see a handful of runners or walkers in the morning, but this morning I didn't see anyone until I was almost home and then I saw one guy. I guess everyone slept in this morning.

It was an uneventful run this morning, except I had to make a pit stop at the rec center. This pit stop business is getting annoying.

I didn't get splits on my run this morning because auto lap was off. And I didn't do much Garmin Gazing. I haven't been looking at the Garmin much lately because it's dark out there and it's just too much effort to either tilt my head so my headlamp shines on it, or push the power button to turn on the back light.

Today is Thing 2's 15th birthday. We'll be going out to dinner at a place of his choosing tonight. And Thing 3 is going to miss it because he's leaving on a one-night scout campout this afternoon. Not only did I drive Thing 2 to seminary this morning, I stopped on the way and bought him a donut. I suppose that's not teaching him very healthy habits. But he did note that I did not get myself a donut.

Progression Run - 11 miles w/ last 15 min. moderate. Average pace: 9:12.

7:35 am: 63° at start, 71° at end, 50% humidity, winds calm.

I met with the group at the Highline Canal Trail again. This was week 2 of the group. We had 2 new people today, for a total of 5, including myself. The Michelles wanted to go 6 and the other two were thinking of 4, but were maybe up to 6. At mile 2, which would have been the turnaround for those going 4, they decided they could do 6. So we turned around after 3 miles. The first 6 miles went by pretty fast and pleasantly with people to talk to. When we got back to the start, I continued on the other direction for my remaining 5 (2.5 out and back). Splits for the first 9 miles were 9:34, 9:16, 9:19, 9:32, 9:32, 9:44, 9:19, 9:26, 9:20. Average pace for the 15 minutes moderate was 7:59.

I had my not-Pod but just had the headphones hung around my neck during the first 6 miles since I was with other people. After I left them, I put the headphones on, but it was tough because my ears were already sweaty and I had a hard time getting the headphones to stay in. They are the wrap-around-the-ear kind, but I still struggle with them, probably because the ear piece from my glasses gets in the way.

My oldest son's band is playing in a Battle of the Bands tonight, so we'll be going to that.

I hope that everyone who's racing today is having a great day.

I'm just writing to say that Golden Ticket played really well at Battle of the Bands but they did not win.

Also, I shaved Shaggy today. Can you see the hairs on his chinny-chin-chin? (He really hates when I call him Shaggy, but isn't he cute?) BTW, this picture was taken on the trek. He's wearing his pioneer clothing.

Easy run + 5 x 8 sec. hill sprints. Average pace: 9:30.

4:58 am, 65°F, 50% humidity, winds calm, party cloudy, as if that made any difference in the dark.

I stayed up too late last night watching track. I saw the finish of the women's marathon, the women's 1500, and the men's and women's 4 x 400 relays, which the Americans dominated.

In the 2nd mile this morning, I was running along a street approaching a point where a trail that goes through a green belt meets the street. I don't run on those trails in the dark because they're too dark and lonely. And they're paved like sidewalks anyway, so they don't offer any better surface than the roads. Anyway, I saw two headlights of what looked like a car approaching me on the trail. I thought that was odd because cars don't normally drive on the trail, though it is not inconceivable that a park service truck might drive on the trail, but even that seemed unlikely at just past 5:00 in the morning. Then one of the headlights moved in front of the other as they got closer to me, and I realized that it was two bicyclists. It was just kind of weird how your brain can tell you you're seeing one thing when you're actually seeing another.

This was just a typical run. I made a pit stop at a gas station in mile 5. That seems to be my new routine. In any case, splits on the easy part were 10:12, 9:28, 9:29, 9:02, 9:10, 8:34. Paces on the hill sprints, for what they're worth, were 7:10, 6:23, 6:08, 6:36, 5:52. I was really pushing it on that last one.

Fartlek Run. 1 hour w/ 8 x 20 sec. @ 5K-3K pace. Average pace: 9:14.

5:01 am, 59°F, 74% humidity, winds calm, partly cloudy again.

I gave myself 3 miles to warm up and then I started the intervals. The training plan doesn't say how much rest to take between intervals. I thought about 1 minute, but thought that maybe that was too short, and I thought that 2 minutes was maybe too long for such short intervals, so I decided to put 1 1/2 minutes of active recovery between the fast intervals. My pace on the intervals was 6:39, 6:47, 6:08, 6:34, 6:47, 6:37, 6:22, 6:59.

I was running along and I saw two guys running  up ahead of me. They weren't going very fast and I was gaining on them even while I was running my easy pace. But then it came time for one of my fast intervals right before I passed them, so I picked up the pace and really blew past them. It was kind of fun. Now thinking about where I was when this happened, it was probably that third interval, which was my fastest, probably not coincidentally.

A little while later, I saw a fox. It crossed in front of me, and then I think it was scared by my headlamp, because it turned around and crossed back in front of me and went up a hill and stood at the top of the hill and watched me as I went past.

I did the level 1 shred after the seminary drop-off this morning. And then I had to drive my oldest son to school because we bought him a string bass and it came yesterday and he was taking it to school today. It's huge. My husband has a 3/4 size bass, which is considered full size. This bass my son got is a 7/8 size. It's a good 8 inches longer than my husband's bass and is bigger in other dimensions as well.

Easy run. Average pace: 9:24.

4:52 am, 56°F, 77% humidity, wind 5 SSW.

They had a Parents Day at seminary this morning. Parents were supposed to go to seminary instead of kids. So instead of my just needing to be done with my run in time to take the boy to seminary, I had to be done with my run and had to have a shower in time for seminary. I went to seminary with wet hair. I probably looked like I had rolled out of bed just in time to take a shower but not dry my hair, when in fact I had been up for 2 hours by the time seminary started. Oh well.

I was obliged to run through some sprinklers this morning. Later in the day, I would welcome that opportunity, but at 5:15 in the morning, I'm not too keen on it. But it wasn't a problem. Splits today were 10:00, 9:50, 9:33, 9:17, 9:21, 9:11, 8:40. That last mile was a dash home to the bathroom. I should have stopped at the gas station in mile 6, but I chose not too. Lesson learned.

Progression Run. 8 miles w/ last 20 min. moderate. Average pace: 9:03.

5:05 am, 58°F, 57% humidity, wind 3 SSE.

Busy morning as usual. I got a slightly later start than I should have.

I ran the County Line Road to Quebec route that I first did a couple of weeks ago. Splits were 9:41, 9:29, 9:32, 9:20, 9:41, 8:54 (for 1/2 mile), 20 minutes (2.48 miles) @ 8:04, and then a little bit more (0.12 miles) @ 8:57 to get home.

Shaggy was supposed to walk to seminary today, but he hadn't left yet when I got home, so I drove him. Next time I tell him to walk, I'm going to make him walk, even if I'm home before he leaves. I was a little cross with him this morning, which is probably not a very nice thing to do to my son as he starts the school day. I was a little cross with everyone last night.

I did the shred level 1 after the seminary drop off.

Easy run. Average pace 9:30.

5:11 am, 58°F, 41% humidity, wind 3 SSW.

Just another easy six on my standard six-mile route. I neglected to turn auto lap back on after my progression run yesterday, so I don't have any splits recorded today.

My husband woke up several times during the night with coughing fits, so I woke up too. But I'm sure it was worse for him than it was for me. I hope I don't get whatever he's got.

My little toe is still giving me grief. In fact, it seems to be getting worse. And last night I walked to and from the middle school for back-to-school night. On the way home, it was dark and I was walking on the dirt path the kids have created across the green belt. I had to jump over a little tiny stream. I couldn't really see exactly where it was and where to jump to, and I kind of landed bad on my toe when I jumped. Tomorrow it will be 2 weeks since I hurt the toe.

Progression Run. 10 miles  w/ last 20 min. moderate. Average pace: 8:57.

7:32 am, 55-63°, 57% humidity, winds calm.

Another Saturday morning spent pounding the dirt on the Highline Canal Trail, but all by myself this time. The other regulars from the group called me last night and said that they couldn't make it today. But in other news, I've talked them into running the Canyonlands Half Marathon next March, if we can get in.

I slept on a recliner in my living room last night to avoid the noise and the germs that are in my bed. I slept better than I thought I would, so that was nice. I'll probably slept there again tonight. My poor husband is not feeling well at all.

My splits today were 9:47, 9:18, 9:17, 9:16, 9:13, 9:17, 9:03, 9:07 (0.55 miles), and then 20 minutes (2.53 miles) at 7:54 pace.

I'm thinking about those of you who are racing today. I'll check in later for race reports.

Easy run + 6 x 8 sec. hill sprints. Average pace: 9:42.

5:02 am, 52°, 91% humidity, winds calm.

Splits: 9:59, 9:37, 9:45, 9:27, 9:22, 9:13.

Pace on hill sprints: 7:23, 7:29, 6:58, 6:28, 7:18, 7:07.

I certainly haven't been shopping for any new shoes
And I certainly haven't been spreading myself around
I still only travel by foot and by foot it's a slow climb
But I'm good at being uncomfortable so I can't stop changing all the time

I noticed that my opponent is always on the go
And won't go slow so as not to focus and I notice
He'll hitch a ride with any guide as long as they go fast from whence he came
But he's no good at being uncomfortable so he can't stop staying exactly the same

If there was a better way to go then it would find me
I can't help it the road just rolls out behind me
Be kind to me or treat me mean
I'll make the most of it I'm an extraordinary machine