Scott's Running Blog

I talked my seven year old into riding his bike with me on my 6 mile run.  We ran down to Volunteer Park and along the trail.  When we reached the turnaround point Ethan said that he wanted to continue exploring, so we ran to the trail's end.  I added a loop around the library to increase the mileage so that I could count today as my long run.  The pace was a little slower (9:12, I think), but we had a great time. 

Today's run just didn't feel right.  I've been a little under the weather, and my ankles both really bothered me. (Something in the water?  I think Paul was having this problem too.)  Still, the weather was great and it's always nice to be outside.

I skipped my Wednesday run because I still wasn't feeling well and my ankles were really bothering me.  I felt a little better today and had a nice, relaxing run.

 I listened to "A Short History of Nearly Everything" during my run today.  This is a fascinating book, and one that I would highly recommend.  Here are some assertions that the book makes that I found interesting:

* Atoms, as you know, are extremely small, durable and recyclable.  It's estimated that the average person shares up to 1 billion atoms with Shakespeare or <insert your favorite historical figure here.>  (NB: The book's errata cites a subsequent study that puts this number as high as 200 billion.)  This doesn't extend to more recently deceased persons, such as Elvis Presley, however.

* Clair Patterson is credited with the first accurate estimate of the earth's age (1953).  The calculations actually took much longer than anticipated, because all of the samples that he initially used were contaminated by lead.  Patterson eventually tracked the contamination to industrial and auto exhaust, with leaded gasoline being a leading culprit.  He spent the rest of his life trying to warn people of the dangers of lead poisoning, and was blackballed from corporate and government funding because of it.  A person living today has 600 times more lead concentration in their body than somebody who lived a century ago.

* Thomas Midgley is credited with both: 1) Adding lead to gasoline, and 2) Developing the freon that was used to for refrigeration.  While both inventions were obviously useful (Prior to freon, for instance, refrigeration was done with toxic and explosive chemicals), it can be said that Midgley affected the environment more than any other person who's ever lived.

If you're looking for a good bedtime book, this is one that I'd suggest.


 

Ran the 5k event in the Spanish Fork Half Marathon with my 9 year old son and had a great time.  The race is much bigger than I remember it being last time I ran it (4 or 5 years ago).  My son took first in his age group (35:46, I think), which isn't bad considering that he doesn't run.  He did decide, however, to go running with me a couple of times a week.

It was hard to run again after having a two week break - kind of like shooting a basketball after you haven't played in a long time.  I felt like I was loping around, it was harder to breathe than it should have been.

I ran east along the River Bottoms Road, and then back up to Canyon when I reached Oak Crest drive.  My first two miles were faster than what I'd intended, because I had somebody running behind me and didn't want to get passed.  (Didn't help much - they passed me about 3 miles into my run anyway).  I slowed down quite a bit after getting passed, finishing with an 8:30 average.

I'm a little bit worried about how to run in the winter if I don't want to run in the early morning right now. 

 

Three very easy miles.  Weather was perfect and I had a great time.

Starting at Novell I ran west towards the lake and turned around, finishing at five miles.  I found a drivers license and a credit card along the side of the road about 2.25 miles into my run.  I was surprised to see that I knew the owner, as he also works here at Novell.  Assuming that his wallet had been stolen and dumped, I slowed down and watched the bushes more closely, but didn't find anything else.  It turns out that this person's car had been broken into the night before, and somebody had already made charges to another credit card from his wallet. 

A funny side note - The thief tried to use the card at a local bike shop after it had been frozen.  The cashier told him that the card was rejected, so the thief pulled out a second card with a completely different name.  That card was also rejected, so he tried a third card with a (you guessed it) third name.  That card was also rejected, so the person gave up and left the store.  The cashier was smart enough to remember a description of the car and potential buyer, but didn't get a license plate number.