An Easy 10

"How far are we going tomorrow?"

"Just an easy 10."

"It's funny to think of 10 miles as easy."

"Compared to 20...piece of cake."

And so went a conversation between Dave and I last Friday.  I was so busy with work and school this last week that I didn't have time to run...at all.  I did play in our basketball game on Thursday and played in a soccer game on Friday, but no long slow distances.  I was hoping my body would be fully rested for the run, but the top of my left foot still hasn't healed from the 20 miler.  It never hurts worse while I run, so I'm not too worried about it, but it is really annoying.

Dan and I did more work on my remodel all day on Saturday before our run.  We have the floor pulled out, most of the demolition done, and now we have the two walls framed in.  I need to have an electrician come before I can sheetrock, and then I'll find someone to tile the floor.  Lizzy can do the painting and I found a guy that can refinish the hardwood floors in the family room and dining room.  I've really only been working on this on the weeks I don't have school on Saturday, so it is a little slow going.

It was nice to get out and run again on Saturday.  I did my best to keep up with Dave and Dan the first 5 miles, which we finished in about 47 minutes.  The second half I stayed with Dave for about 2 miles and then he took off.  I didn't see Dan for quite a while, then, with about 1/2 mile left I hear giant footprints behind me, coming on fast.  I turned, expecting it to be a drunk guy with a knife, but instead it was a ninja, dressed all in black and running way too fast.  They say that it takes a ninja to see a ninja, which explains why I could hear him as well.  Apparently, Dan made a pitstop at a church along the way.  I guess he had to see a man about a horse.  I know that feeling all too well.  Just two more weeks until race day.  I'm excited and a little nervous, but I feel like I've put in the necessary training to finish this thing.  Time will tell if I'm right.

Time To Taper

After a long 13 weeks of building up, up, up, it's time to taper off and rest the aching muscles.  I had school on Saturday, so my final long run had to be late.  Dave had other things going on in the evening and Dan was over at Paul's house, so I ran alone.  There are parts of running alone that I like a lot better, but in general I prefer company.  I do like listening to my book.  Born To Run is excellent.  There are parts in there that inspire me to go faster and parts that make me want to never run again.  I'm only about 5 hours into it, but I really like it.  I went 13, and really felt pretty good until mile 11.  I made the rookie mistake of running on the same side of the street the entire time, which means my right leg was constantly hitting higher ground than my left.  It didn't even bother me until some pain developed in my right knee.  I moved to the other side of the road, which immediately helped, and finished the final two miles.  I ran two 4.5 mile laps and another 4.  I kept my water in the back of my truck out on the street, so I wouldn't have to stop very long to hydrate and grab a slice of bread.  I didn't have any Jelly Beans or Gummies, so I used Skittles to push me to the end.

I'm really not sure what to do for food the night before the race, or the morning of the race.  We get to Las Vegas at about 5:30 on Friday and have close to a 3 hour drive to Death Valley.  I'm sure we can load up on Gatorade and gels in Vegas and hopefully we can find an Olive Garden or something to do one final carb load.  Maybe we can buy some good bread and peanut butter and honey at the store and have that before the race.  This week will probably be two 5 mile runs and an 8-10 miler on Saturday...nice and easy.

A Quick Four

I got home from work late last night and I had to go to school, so I only had time to run 4 miles.  I was planning on running 8 and taking my time to try and work out some kinks from the 20 miles last Saturday, but I had to be at my study group in less than an hour.  I decided to push a little and get 4 miles in.  I stayed under a 10 minute pace the entire time.  There was one stoplight that slowed me for a minute or so, but I felt good and my muscles/joints didn't hurt too bad.  My running gear wasn't washed yet, so I wore a pair of sweatpants and my Icebreaker top with a thin pullover and my ski mask.  I was plenty warm.  I didn't look very ninja, but the ski mask probably made me look like a potential threat to anyone who saw me.  My bright green suspenders probably told everyone that I was just out running, but you never know.

Not Another Step

After not completing my 18 miles on New Year's Day I decided to rest my aching body all week and run 20 on Saturday.  It felt good to rest my knees and feet, but I'm not sure it helped all that much after about mile 12.  Dan and Dave ran with me.  We probably looked pretty intimidating (or goofy) running in a pack like we did to start off.  We were all pretty much dressed like ninjas, but it was it was early and everyone could see us...at least they thought they could.  (You never really know with ninjas.)  It was a pretty cold day and very overcast.  Dan and I spent our morning tearing out a wall and some hardwood floor at my house.  I figured it was a good way to loosen up the muscles.  I'm sure it burned some energy, but I don't think it really affected my running.  The next morning my hands hurt from swinging the hammer for 4 hours, but it really was no big deal.  Breathing all the concrete dust may have been a small hinderance, but the air outside was worse anyway, so no big deal again.

We started at about 3:00 and did a quick 6 mile loop to get some miles under our belts.  We moved along a little faster than I am used to for that long of a distance, but Dan and Dave just naturally run lots faster.  I felt really good after 6.  It was still cold enough that breathing was a problem, but my new Icebreaker long underwear kept me toasty.  I actually had to open up my jacket to cool off several times.  At 12 miles my body started shutting down.  Dave and Dan went on faster than I could go.  I kept thinking to myself, "just make it to the truck."  Or, "just make it to Dave's house."  Having something to drink every two miles really helped a lot.  At Mile 16 I had to make a pit stop at Dave's house to talk to a man about a mule.  What a disaster that would be during the race.  Hopefully, there will be pitstops along the way to do your business.  Needless to say, by the time I was back on the road I was about 15 minutes behind them.  I pushed hard to keep going, but the final 4 miles were brutal.  After the run I grabbed my stuff from Dave's house and limped home.

We didn't have any ice and there was no way I could have driven to 711 to get some, so I took a hot bath (with Charlotte's Princess bubbles) and tried not to slip into a coma.  Some people say that if you can get through 20 you can get through the full marathon.  However, I have a friend who has completed a bunch of marathons that tells me I won't believe the stuff I see around mile 20.  People will be puking their guts out, laying down to rest, crying...apparently, it is not a pretty sight.  Most likely, by the time I make it to mile 20, all of those people will be cleared out.

Happy New Year

No better way to kick off the new year than with a nice long run.  Driving home Friday night, the outdoor temperature reading on the dashboard read 1 degree.  It did warm up to 3 degrees by the time we got to Murray, but suffice it to say that it was very cold.  The good news is the sun came out and it was a gorgeous day at 11:00 on Saturday morning when I started my run.  My new CW-X tights had a small tear in them, so I need to take them back, which means I was back to wearing my old tights.  By the time I left for my run it was all the way up to 16 degrees.  My lungs hurt so bad the first mile or so, but they didn't bother me after that.  I ran the first 4 miles in just over 40 minutes, but I think I rested too long while refueling.  Starting mile 5, my left knee was pretty much done.  It hurt a little throughout the week, but this was pretty bad.  I walked for a little bit, then gutted out another 8 miles, but I couldn't finish the 18 I had scheduled.  It feels a little better today, I stayed about 20 minutes in the ice bath last night, which helped a ton.  I will probably only run twice this week and give my knee a few extra days to recover.

I just started listening to Born To Run and the first part of the book talks about all the reasons running is bad for your body.  I was listening to this guy go on about how every step jars your knees and ankles with 4 times your body weight.  I was feeling every ounce of the 800 pounds on my left knee.  I've got to get further into the book though so I can hear why it is still ok to run.  Right now everything he said makes me never want to run again.

The sun being out yesterday was really nice.  Salt Lake is really a beautiful place to run.  The mountains look so cool during the winter time.  If only I could get the temperature to warm up to about 40 degrees with the sun shining, I'd be fine.

Let it Snow

There was talk several weeks ago about a storm front coming in to Salt Lake that was going to be for the record books.  Some called the Katrina of Utah, and others called it the Storm of the Century.  It ended up being a pretty mild storm that left us with 4-6 inches of snow and some big wind gusts.  I ran that night, right as the worst of the storm hit us.  I believe I went 8 miles and the only really tough part was the wind coming north on State Street.  Last night, it started snowing about 3:00 and by the time Dave and I headed out around 6:00, there was already 4 inches on the ground.  I was dying to try out my new CW-X tights, so waiting another day was out of the question.  The tights were awesome.  I'm not sure how much they helped my knees, but they were warm and very comfortable.  Actually, I was way too hot during the run.  There was a pretty stiff breeze, so I wore a long sleeve Under Armor shirt, a polyester mid-layer and a windbreaker, plus my balaclava.  I thought about wearing ski goggles, and wished I would have on the last two miles with the wind pelting snow into my eyes.

We moved along pretty well, especially considering another 2 inches dumped on us during the 40 minutes we were out there.  Dave got these snow traction things for his shoes for Christmas, which can only be used on heavy snow/ice days, but I think they helped him a lot.  I couldn't push off at all without slipping in the areas that were plowed, so I stayed more in the deep powder.  It was like running on sand, but I wasn't sliding all over the place.  As we were running passed a parking lot, I heard a guy tell his buddy, "now that is hard core."  I think a lot of people could have used the weather last night as a reason not to run and that was part of what made it such an intense thing to do.  Running 4 miles at night is not that big of a deal, but doing it in 6+ inches of snow, during a blizzard...pretty sweet.  I need to get some sort of traction device for the next one though to make it a little bit easier.

Shorts

I forgot to wash my cold weather gear from my run last Friday, so I had to improvise last night for a quick 4 mile run.  I wore some soccer socks that came up to my knees and some shorts along with a couple of long sleeve shirts.  I topped it off with my gloves and a balaclava to keep my head and neck warm.  Of course I also wore the reflective suspenders and even discovered that I could carry my phone in the pocket.  It worked out nicely.  I'm almost done with my book.  I'm looking forward to listening to "Born to Run."  My dad and a buddy of mine have both recommended it and I've been looking forward to reading/listening to it for a while.

I tried to really push myself last night, but the cold made it hard to breathe after the first hundred meters or so.  I normally use my first run of the week as more of a recovery run, but I still wanted to stay around 10 minute miles.  I ran the first mile in 9 minutes 25 seconds, then walked for a minute and ran the last 3 miles in about 29 minutes.  It felt good to run, but my legs were on fire when I got back.  It weird how the cold can burn like that.