Scott's Running Blog

I probably qualify as one of the lost sheep, but am happy to be returning to the fold.  Not long before the Hurricane Half Marathon last year I was playing unlimate frisbee (Best team sport known to man, by the way) when I hurt my foot.  The doctor did an X-Ray/MRI, but in the end said that the best thing I could do was to stay off of it while it healed.  I took a six week break, but found that even after the six weeks were passed that things didn't feel quite right.  I could run on it, and felt like I could deal with the soreness the day after a run, but must have unconsciously changed my gait to compensate.  (That's the theory anyway, because my left knee and shin started to bother me after a few weeks.)  I decided to take more time off.  When it became clear that I was going to miss running St. George I lost a lot of the urgency I felt to keep on my schedule.  I think that's a lesson for me - I need to focus on the lifestyle of running instead of a particular event so that I can stay more focused through the ups and downs.

Things feel much better now.  The back of my heal to the arch of my foot alternates between being numb and tingly (like the feeling after you hit your funny bone), but that's more an observation than a hindrance.  I started running again in December, though it was intermittent.  I've been more regular this month, but am purposely keeping it easy.  My wife is having a baby on Thursday, so I'm going to wait until she's home from the hospital to bump my schedule to four times per week.  After a few weeks of that I'll begin building my weekly mileage back up to 25 miles per week, where I'll stay for the foreseeable future.

Easy treadmill mileage.

Easy treadmill mileage.  Is anybody else ready for winter to be over?

Continuing my best efforts to run short and slow.  Still, any running feels good. :)

3 miles while watching Fellowship of the Ring.  I'd forgotten how much I liked that movie.  The time flew by today.

We're having our baby tomorrow morning, and are scheduled to arrive at the hospital at 5:30.  I'm getting pretty excited.

Easy run during the afternoon. It was about 75 degrees with a nice breeze to keep me cool. Average pace on an out-and-back down the Kuhni Road was 9:36.

I ran for 55 and a half minutes.  The pace was pretty easy, so I'm going to guess that it was about a 9:30, which calculates to 5.8 miles.  The weather was fantastic, and two of my kids followed me on their bikes so the time went quickly.  I hit a nice rhythm when I sped up over the last half of a mile, which felt fun.

Ran the Spanish Fork River Bottoms road heading east until I went back into the subdivisions on the hill at Oakcrest road.  Easy pace, finishing 4 and a quarter miles in 23 minutes (about a 9:10 pace).

Ran the most boring 4 miles of my life on our treadmill last night at 10 p.m.  I watched "The Two Towers" while I ran, but that didn't seem to help much.

Ran east from Novell and up the hill across the Springville Highway.  I stayed on Slate Canyon Drive instead of heading up towards the eagle gate.  It was a nice run with great weather.

I played with Novell's ultimate frisbee team tonight in the Provo Corporate games.  I'd expected to get a much harder workout than I did.  There were only four teams, and the games were limited to 30 minutes each.  It was pretty clear from the beginning that we had the best team, and we were the only team with subs.  It was a lot of fun to get some sprinting in, and we took first place.

I ran from my home down to the auto shop that is fixing my car in order to give them my keys.  I should have left a little earlier, as it felt pretty warm on my run home.  I passed a snake that must have disagreed with my assessment, because he had crawled out on the path in order to sun himself.  I also saw a lot of yard sales today, including one that was selling golf clubs.  I could see myself really enjoying golf someday.

It was a fun run.  The most encouraging part was knowing that I could have easily run more at the end, which is better than I'd expected after only two weeks.

Easy treadmill miles

Planned to bike and run.  I got 25 miles on my bike (Out to West Mountain and back), but ran out of time to run after doing the weekend chores.

It was wet and a little rainy, but nothing extreme.  My official time was a 24:41, which is a 7:57 pace.  However, my measured (watch) time was a little slower (24:50) than my "official" time, and the course measured short on my watch (3.07 miles).  If I adjust for those two factors then my actual pace was an 8:05.  The pace throughout the race felt sustainable, and I even considered running faster a couple of times. I was running with a neighbor, however, and so elected to stay the course.  I started my end-of-race kick with about a third of a mile left and started to taste my breakfast.  I backed off the pace slightly, which I rationalized to be okay because I was locked into my finish position at that point.  I think I'm still scarred by the time that I threw up in the last mile of the Logan Marathon. :)

After the 5k I ran the 1 mile race with my kids.  They all had a great experience, and none of them had to walk.

Ran the lake view run.  My watch didn't lock into my position until I was 3 miles into the run.  I don't know why that's relevant to this report, except that it was a little frustrating. :)

Lunch time run in the low 60's.  Was a bit windy, but nothing like Spanish Fork Canyon in the morning.  I averaged an 8:49, with splits of 8:57, 8:54, 8:49, 8:34.  

Ran east from my home and down through the river bottoms with a neighbor.  Very relaxed and conversational pace. 

My favorite thing about the Speedy Spaniard is being surprised at how many people I know and seeing people that I wouldn't expect.  A close second is the canyon wind. ;)

I lined up a little closer to the front than I have in previous years so that it wouldn't take so long to get out of the park, which helped a lot.  My split times were 8:41, 7:53, 7:50, 8:05, 8:12, 8:06, 0:44 (Measured .11 on my watch).  I don't know what happened to my pace during the 5th mile, but can't complain too much because that's the first time I've broken 50 minutes on that course.  I finished 21/30 in my age bracket, and 129/282 overall.

I ran from South Fork down to the parking lot at the mouth of Provo Canyon.  Paul, Tom, Kerry and Kevin were kind enough to let me tag along.  I was a little bit worried at first, as they're much quicker than I am.  They were nice enough to keep their pace down for me.  I had a great time and went home motivated to work harder.

Our average time was 8:14, with splits of 8:27, 8:13, 8:19, 8:13, 8:24, 8:05, 8:14, 8:24, 8:21, 7:41. 

I had a really hard time sleeping last night, but I'm not sure why (other than the kids waking us up a couple of times). It seemed like I was just getting settled in when my alarm went off. I ran north on 1400 east to Canyon Road, and then headed east. I turned back into the subdivisions on Oak Crest road before making my way back home.

I didn't feel like I had much get-up-and-go today, probably due to the 10k on Thursday and the (for me) long 10 mile run on Saturday. I averaged 8:40, with splits of 8:42, 9:02, 8:48, 8:37, 8:09. I plan to slow down for tomorrow's run.

I didn't start running until about 7:15 in the evening, and it was really hot.  I didn't take any water with me because I expected to stop at the Spanish Oaks Golf Course, but by the time I got there the clubhouse was closed.  Fortunately, I live in Utah where there is a church on every block and they are always open on Tuesday nights. 

 I had kind of an odd experience during the last couple miles of my run.  The driver of a white SUV yelled "Ragnar!" and pumped his fist in the air as he passed me on the Riverbottoms Road (I was wearing my Wasatch Back Relay shirt while running.)  I thought that was rather friendly, and noticing the Ragnar sticker on his window didn't think much more about it. 

Once he was about 200 yards in front of me he slowed down significantly.  At first I thought he wanted to talk and was waiting for me to catch up.  Once I got close to the car, however, he drove away around the corner.  When I got to the corner he was waiting again.  After that he started driving down the road, but did so really slowly.  This continued for the next mile and a half.  I didn't see him anymore after I turned back up the hill and climbed into the subdivisions. 

I didn't think there was anything threatening in his behavior, but I couldn't figure out what he was doing.  Maybe I looked worse than I felt, and he was afraid that I was going to pass out from heat exhaustion or something. :)

Lazy Monday run on my typical 6 mile course.  I didn't have a watch with me, so I'm unsure of the time.  I saw Tom and Kim out on their run this morning as they flew past me.  I barely had a chance to say hello before they were gone. :)

I ran from my house out to Canyon Road, and from there down to Main Street.  I headed South on Main until I hit the nursery that's just across the Salem border.  From there I headed up Powerhouse road, making the detour on 400 east to follow the SF half-marathon course.  I hit 12.15 miles by the time I climbed out of the river bottoms and reached my house.  

Overall I felt pretty good.  It wasn't as fun to run it by myself as the Provo Canyon run with the WBR team, but it didn't kill me either.  My times per mile were 9:25, 8:49, 8:47, 9:05, 9:00, 8:59, 9:28, 9:38, 8:58, 8:51, 8:57, 9:52, 1:22.  My times fluctuated a lot, but I think the effort level was a pretty consistent 9:00 pace that was affected by the topography.
 

I put some easy miles on the treadmill today.  I took a pretty good shot in the ribs while playing basketball the night before, and it hurt to breathe while I was running.  Hope that doesn't bother me too much during the 10k on Saturday.

My wife has a couple of sisters that live in South Weber, so we made the trek up north to help them celebrate South Weber Days.  We'd been there once before, and I remembered the 5k course to be time-friendly (ie downhill), so I decided to try the 10k and see if I could improve my Fiesta Days 10k time.  I expected a better time regardless of the course because I'd been running more consistently and was better rested for this race than I was for the Speedy Spaniard (no Lagoon Day on the day previous to the race).  Unfortunately, the race didn't turn out like I envisioned.

I woke up about an hour before the race started and had a PowerBar for breakfast.  I'm usually careful about what and when I eat before races, but thought I'd be okay because I'd not had any problems eating a PowerBar before my 12 mile run on Wednesday.  I drank a little water to wash it down and called it good.

The 10k course started at the same place and time as the 5k and the 2 mile walk.  The walkers went one direction, while the 5k and 10k racers ran together for the first half mile.  At 0.5 miles, we diverged and the 10k course had a 150 foot climb over the next half mile.   Mile 2 dropped about 200 feet, with the remaining 4 miles dropping an additional 150 feet before regaining 100 of it in the last mile.  The overall elevation drop was 109 feet.  The weather was great - 70 degrees and sunny, and there was even a slight breeze that felt nice until we turned around and had to run into it for the last mile.  The wind didn't feel like much, however, because I run in Spanish Fork where the wind blows strong every morning.

My goal for the race was a sub 49:00.  The first mile (8:12) was slower than the 7:53 I'd need to average, but it didn't worry me too much because part of the time was spent dodging people at the beginning and climbing the hill.  I knew the second mile would be faster due to the decline, and I hit a 7:22.  I paced the 3rd mile like I wanted, hitting a 7:49.  About half way to mile four my stomache started complaining, and I slowed down to see if I could calm it, but it didn't work.  I threw up at 4.25 miles.  I was surprised that I didn't feel much better after that.  I slowed down a little more and stopped for a few seconds in mile 5 to throw up, but was able to keep my food down this time.  I hit mile 6 and decided that I could gut out a final sprint.  I made it to 6.1 where I threw up, took a step, threw up again, took a few more steps and threw up a third time.  (I wish it had happened before the finish line was in sight - nobody likes an audience for that!) After that I ran through to the finish line, finishing in 51:06 (8:14 average)

It was obviously a disappointing race for me.  My legs and breathing felt relatively good, and I really think I could have hit a 49 minute finish on a different day.  In the finest tradition of Paul Thomas' optimism, however, I'm taking three positives from the experience: 1) I'll know not to eat a PowerBar an hour before the HobbleCreek Half Marathon, 2) My sore ribs didn't give me any problems during the race, and 3) It gave my extended family a topic of conversation for the day.

I'm curious about what race-day routines people have.  How early do you wake up, when do you eat, and what do you do when (if?) you feel nauseous during the run? 

I ran an easy 6 miles this morning and felt great doing it.  I haven't decided if I'll do my long run tomorrow morning or on Wednesday, but am leaning to tomorrow so that I'm not so tired during basketball Wednesday evening.  That will be my last run of over 6 miles before HobbleCreek next week.

I ran from my home to Novell today for my week's long run.  According to my Garmin it was just a hair past 12 miles.  I got out the door a little later than I'd planned, but the morning was cool enough that I didn't have to worry about the heat.  The 12 miles took me 1:45:33, which breaks out to an 8:48 average.  My split times were 9:04, 8:46, 8:34, 8:46, 8:39, 8:41, 8:32, 8:41, 8:55, 9:00, 9:03, 8:56.  I started to drag the last four miles (about the time I crossed the road by Walmart), and my last mile would have been my slowest except that I increased my speed for the last quarter of a mile.  I expect that the distance will get easier as I stay consistent.

My plan today was five easy treadmill miles, hoping that the softer surface would leave me with a little more spring during basketball tonight.  I made it two miles before I decided to take a break. (Bathroom proximity is the treadmill's biggest advantage.)  I couldn't make myself get back on the treadmill after that, so I continued my run outside.  I ran west from Novell, returning after 4 miles (total of 6 miles for the run).

I passed Cory Erekson during my run back to Novell.  It was great to see him out running after all of the foot problems that he's had.  I feel very fortunate that I haven't had to deal with many running injuries.

Changing topics, I noticed that Tom added me to his "Favorite blogs" section.  That's a lot of pressure Tom - now I'm going to have to continue running and blogging! 

 

I played much better basketball last night than the week before.  I was able to move my feet and stay in front of people defensively, which I assume happened because I didn't do my long run on the same day I played.  I'll have to remember that in the future.

I ran 2 easy miles today, mainly to warm my muscles up before I stretched.  I felt a little stiff from the night before and stretching seems to help.

I ran east along River Bottom Road, before heading back up to Canyon Crest Drive at 3400 east.  I'm skipping work today to celebrate my anniversary, so I slept in and started a little later than normal (7:15).  I was surprised, however, at the coolness of the air.  I know that we're not in autumn yet, but the mornings are starting to get that feeling.

I had my first skunk-smell in a few weeks this morning.  I'd forgotten that there was a stretch at the beginnnig of the summer where I smelled a skunk every morning.  Like Tom and Kim say, that's part of the route's charm.

I ran my typical 6 mile loop, but started later than normal because I didn't have to be out of the house until my 8:30 dental appointment.  The run felt fine, but I didn't feel as energetic as I expected that I would after a two day hiatus. I hope that I feel more amped for the Hobble Creek Half on Saturday.

I don't know if anybody else if having problems getting to sleep with the Olympics on, but it's sure making it hard to wake up in the morning.  After dragging myself out of bed I ran a loop along the river bottoms, where I once again saw the two fawns grazing by the golf course.  I keep expecting to see other deer with the sometime.

The wind was really out today, and as I climbed (west) out of the River Bottoms the hill seemed much easier because I was being pushed along.  I kept an easy pace (about 9:15) through the run.

I had a good run today.  There wasn't much wind, and the run felt like it was over before it really started.  I also took a little extra time to stretch after I finished running because it felt so nice to be outside.  I'm sure going to miss this great weather once it starts snowing.

I'm getting excited for Hobble Creek on Saturday.  I wish I knew better what to expect in terms of finish time and how hard I can push myself.  I think I've been consistent enough over the past month that I won't feel terrible at the end, but I'm worried about pushing too hard in the beginning.  I'm really hoping to feel motivated, and not disappointed when I cross the finish line.  I've plugged numbers into the various race pace estimators on the web and have gotten estimates for a 1:50 finish time, with this site being the exception.  According to FastRunningBlog, I should be able to hit a 1:45, though an 8:00 average pace doesn't feel believable to me, even if the race is downhill.  I think I'll stick to the 1:50 goal, and keep in mind that I haven't been running enough miles to really "race" this course.

I played 18 holes of golf on Thursday and felt it more on Friday that I would have expected.  I ran two easy miles and then spent a long time stretching. 

Today's race was a lot of fun.  I felt like I ran almost as well as I could have, and it was fun to see so many people that I know.  My nephew came down from South Weber to run the race, so I got to hang out with him until the race started.  He had a good time too.  His goal was to finish in 1:25, and came really close (1:25:47, finishing 1st in his age group and 31st overall).  I wouldn't be surprised to see him back again next year.

Daniel and I hopped on the same bus that Paul and Nathan were on.  I got worried as soon as I saw how warmly they were dressed, but fortunately the wait at the start line didn't turn out to be very cold.  I wasn't sure where to line up once the crowd started to form at the start line.  I didn't want to be an obstacle for faster runners, and didn't want to waste too much time dodging people at the beginning.  So, I decided to line up at the back and count my watch result as my finish time.  That was obviously a mistake.  It took me about 75 seconds from the time the race started to cross the start line.  And, as soon as I passed the first line of people in the back I was right in the middle of the crowd that I'd thought to avoid by waiting.  In retrospect, my experience was predictable.  I just didn't think through that very well.  My first mile was spent (like many others, I'm sure) weaving through the groups of people and running on the dirt next to the road. 

My watch didn't jive with the mile markers for the last half of the race (My watch measured the course at 12.95 miles), but here are the split times that my watch gave me:  8:30, 7:50, 7:48, 7:47, 7:33, 7:49, 8:07, 8:08, 8:12, 8:10, 8:33, 8:29, 7:47 (0.95 miles).  The time between crossing the start line and crossing the finish line was 1:44:40, and my official time was 1:45:54. 

I hadn't run the Hobble Creek Half Marathon since they switched the end from the high school to the park.  I liked the finish for the current course much better.

It was really hard to get out of bed this morning, especially when I heard the strong winds blowing.  I almost talked myself into sleeping in and running at lunch, but then I heard the radio say that it would reach nearly 100 degrees today and decided that running in the wind is better than running in that heat.  I ran 4 easy miles (9:24 avg).  I saw Tom, Darin and Steve King out running this morning - St. George is just around the corner.  It would be fun to have another big race to look forward to, but at the same time I'm glad that it's not me running that distance.  Maybe another year.
 

I generally avoid the River Bottoms when it's dark because of a few blind corners and the speed of traffiic, but decided to brave it today. I felt like I was in an animal park. I passed four unleashed dogs, three deer, and got startled by a family of raccoons that ran across the road in front of me. One of the deer that I hadn't noticed bolted out from behind a tree as I passed, giving my heart an extra workout.

The run itself was enjoyable. I felt much more rested today than yesterday. My average pace (9:06) was 18 seconds/mile faster than yesterday without an increase in perceived effort. The only part of the run where I cared about my pace was climbing out of the river bottoms. I was headed west, and reached the climb not long before another girl who was running east. The road on the hill climbs east, so after I made my turn she was at my back. I decided not to let her beat me, so I ran harder. There's a switchback about half way up the hill, and when I reached it I noticed that the girl hadn't climbed the hill after all. I had to chuckle at the wasted competitiveness.

I'm a pretty deep sleeper, so I didn't hear my alarm go off this morning.  My wife, on the other hand, is a light sleeper and was awakened immediately.  She was kind enough to give me a strong push out of bed so that I would let her sleep in peace.

I ran from my house down Scenic Drive until it intersected with Canyon Road, and from there up to 2300 East before turning back home.  The entire lap was 5.25 miles.  No problems with the run, and enjoyed the cooler temperature this morning.

I had thought to go 10, but had a good enough time that I extended it to 12.  I ran a new course today - down to the library park, then to Macy's.  From there I ran over to the city's rec complex and west on the river trail.  I turned around at the end and came back on the river bottoms road.  The nice thing about this route was that I found places to get drinks on the way. 

I felt a little unfocused on this run.  I didn't have any plans for where I would go before I started.  I was also listening to a book on tape - "A Short History of Everything."  I've enjoyed the book thus far, and enjoyed the things that I've learned.  Average pace was an 8:58.

I slept in and didn't make it out until 8.  It was warmer than what I'm used to, but didn't feel too bad.  I ran east on the River Bottoms road and then west on Canyon.  Not much to say about the run other than that I did it.  Average pace was an 8:56.

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.