Run Run Run

Ran before sons baseball practice - about 3.5 miles around Falcon Park at 11 minute pace. Run was OK - stayed on grass where I could to soften impact. Minor allergy problem

Ran at sons baseball practice primarily on grass at Falcon park at 11 minute pace, feeling better running slowly

Ran waiting for sons football game to start, ran 3 miles at 10:30 pace on grass. Better than nothing

Good run today. Ran with son up Little Cottonwood Trail from mouth of canyon to end of trail. Saw some mountain goat, son saw deer, butterflies coming out, alot of birds singing and the sounds of water. Route has a couple of steep rocky sections and there were still quite a few snowbanks to run over, luckily they were still frozen and you could run their ridgeline. You cross 2 bridges over Little Cottonwood Creek. Good temps for running, on way back we felt good and ran shirtless and had a few father-son snowball battles - kind of a run and throw battle. Son didnt have alot of energy so surprizingly I outran him today.

Nothing special - just short jog around Buttercup Park

Wow. Probably shouldnt have done it, although I seem OK more or less today. Ran a long run for me. Maybe the longest Ive run. 16 miles. Ran my typical speed - slow. I seem to be able to run long distances OK, have good endurance, just dont have speed.

Anyway I ran from work to the end of City Creek road and even up the trail at end of road. My boss was gone so it was time to take a longer "lunch time". The weather for running was great - nice temperature and overcast - I do much better when good temps and not direct sun. I was determined to make it to the end of the road, as I had never made it that far on a run.

The leaves on most the trees were out and spring flowers coming out, birds singing in places and always the nice sound of the water. The last part at the end parking lot had snow. An interesting thing happened - I saw a raccoon. I slowed my running down and was right next to him. He looked at me in surprize, I said "its OK, how ya doing", he then seemed to accept me and continued looking under piles of leaves for some kind of food. I started running again and he picked up his pace scampering alongside me - weird. I asked him if he wanted to be my running partner, he then stood up on his hind legs and made that raccoon chattering noise - I guess my running speed didnt impress him much. At first I thought I better be careful as maybe he was rabid, but I think it was just a case of a critter in nature accepting me. Not sure what his name was - maybe Ricky or Rocky. Anyway that was cool.

At another location on the road, it was strange, there were dozens and dozens of sowbugs (pill bugs) crossing the road. Not sure why - maybe its their annual historic migration to the north side of the road. Hey - why does the sowbug cross the road? (like the chicken question). I definately outpaced those little bugs with my amazing speed.

I ran almost the entire way except for the raccoon, getting some sips of water, a minute at the end of the road and some stoplights near work. Faster downhill but my legs and knees were heavier so not that fast. Some of City Creek has a nice grade so I think a mile there is equivalent to a longer distance. Anyway a good accomplishment for me, felt good and had runners high for at least doing it.

5K at Thanksgiving Point. Starts out on roads and then runs through paths in the garden. It is scenic with flowers and water, but you dont have time to look. The path is often narrow and curvy, so it probably slows you down and is challenging to pass someone (not that I get to pass many). My foot got caught and I almost tripped where there were animal footprint casts made in the sidewalk.

Did OK, not as good as last year as Im still behind in getting in shape, but I improved 2 minutes from my earlier 5K this year. Got 2nd in my age group and 98th in race of 754. My GPS had it as 3.13 or 3.14 and my time as 20 seconds faster than the clock. I would say there were around 500 but dont know for sure and several of course were walkers. First mile was fastest and last mile slowest. Still bothered by hip pain although tolerable. Right plantar was OK. Had a little trouble breathing from allergies

They only gave medals to top 3 men and top 3 women. Age groups didnt get anything this year which was a little disappointing. They said they wanted to make race less competitive which sounds like a oxymoron to me. Arent races supposed to be competitive? They had oranges, rhoades rolls, ice cream and vitamin water for refreshments after the race. The race is not an expensive one to run.

Son finished 11th overall in around 21:30. When I asked, doesnt the fastest kid get something, they gave him a giant bag of gummy bears which he loves. I think the winner was a BYU track woman in a little less than 19 minutes.

Well first the excuses. I havent run all week which is dumb, but just too conflicts. Both Alex (Falcon) and I had upset stomachs (but we kept running) and both had allergy problems (couldnt breathe through my nose). At 3rd mile my hip/upper IT band hurt alot, that I had to reduce my stride to minimize the pain. I could have toughed it out more I suppose, but Im not good with that pain and I didnt want to make it worse. At least my plantar fascitus didnt both me - maybe that problem is over at least. Also my negative attitude controlled me too much with the trouble breathing from allergy and hip pain - even just the tired part, it controls me to much - I need to work on that. Most of all I still need to get on a regular running program/time - I cant expect to do much if I dont train and work at it - need to get off my lazy rearend and get going.

Still I was glad to get out and glad to run, thats better than staying on that rearend. Its interesting watching all the elite runners - thin and lean machines with no extra fat. I really need to loose weight so I can improve. I could run I suppose in clydesdales but I always considered that (FOR ME) not a fair option (like when I was in college intramural basketball and they formed a under 6 foot league of players to not compete with us tall guys.

Anyway on the race, this is a very fast 5K with many of the top runners in Utah participating in it. The first half is downhill along a highway in Magna and then runs through town slight uphill and ends at a city park. Alot of runners got their PR here. They give great awards (my son won one of the best prizes - a new $60 running shirt), and provide watermelons and pancakes for your recovery. Well I had really hoped for a PR (abit ridiculous again with so little running), I finished 25:21, at first I was disappointed but I just realized I was 25:34 last year and am a year older - so that is at least a positive. I did get a big ribbon for my 3rd place in my age group and won a pair of running shorts (I got a size for my sons future use). Now I started very fast for me - first mile was 7:11, second mile not bad 8:02, third mile 8:57 (where fatigued, pain and attitude got to me). One day at a time, one race at a time, one mile at a time ... until next time