Runner's World

Woke up to find a torrential rainfall. Thought about not running, but then thought, "After a whole month of 100+ degree temperatures, why would you skip a cool overcast 60 degree day?"

I threw on my pullover and headed out. It was absolutely awesome! Felt like spring had come again. It poured for the first mile or so and then cleared up a bit for the next two. It really let loose with a downfall after that and I arrived back home absolutely soaked, but felt good. My right hamstring was a little tight, but I think it will be fine. I'll keep tabs on it however.

No running, but we did go to Lagoon. Probably put in 4+ miles walking up and down the park, into Pioneer Village, into the Beach, etc.

It's only the second time I've been there since I left the marketing department after graduation. It's certainly nice to be on the guest side of things. Also, after being at Disneyland and ballgames, Lagoon's concession prices seem downright affordable. I guess it's all relative.

No running, softball night and have a long run (16 miles) tomorrow that I'm worried about and want to be sure I get enough rest.

Very good long run. Took a new route to stretch the additional miles. Ran to the new school and then headed back east along Antelope until I reached the north end of the trail. Took that until the end and then down 700 South for another 2 miles. 700 South is great down on that end because there is little to no traffic. On the way back from the north end, as I was nearing the golf course, I saw a skunk dart into the bushes. That certainly caught me by surprise and I was glad I didn't come upon it at the wrong time. That would have put an end to my run (and my weekend) pretty quick.

Felt good through mile 12 and then started to hit a wall. Started to feel some tightening in my legs, but powered through. Mile 15 was tough with its uphill portion, but Mile 16 wasn't too shabby. Felt good enough to cool off by reading the morning paper on the porch. We'll see what tomorrow brings as far as soreness.

Feel OK, but definetly need an extra day of rest. It's Kathy's birthday today so we're getting ready for her dinner at our house tomorrow.

Run flies by as it seems like a sprint compared to last Friday's endeavor.

It seems like all I do now is 5 miles except on weekends. I need to get out of this rut. The biggest problem is balancing sleep with work. It seems like I don't have time for more than 5 miles. This is entirely on me to make sure I'm out of the house on time in the morning to get in the extra mileage.

I break out of the 5 mile rut, but not how I'd like. I once again only get in 5 miles in the morning, but it's due to extenuating circumstances. We have to be in Logan for a wedding by 8 a.m. I resolve to break out of the rut, however, by squeezing in an additional run this evening before our softball game.

I head back out in the evening and do a quick 5K. It feels good and I run some good splits. Not sure if I should have done it before our softball game, however. It doesn't matter much as we get slaughtered.

A pretty uneventful 12 miles. Enjoy the quiet of the morning, but know I have a busy day ahead of helping a ward member move. Moving all their stuff from the basement to the garage certainly gets some additional leg work in. Can't complain though, as Matt tells me he had put in 16 miles that morning.

Enjoy a good nap after the move and a night out as a family.

Easy 5 miles this morning. I have a love/hate relationship with my Monday morning runs. We always eat too much at my parents on Sunday afternoon and then when we mix that with a visit to Brit's folks, I always get garbage gut on Monday. Not good, but the feeling always disappears as the miles burn away the calories (or so I like to think).

I began running to lose weight, now I run to run. When I started back in March, I clocked in at a robust 218, pretty much up 50 lbs from my end-of-mission weight. That will happen, however, throughout college, a Master's program, a marriage, a kid, and too many business lunches. As of today, I check in at 195! Not too bad. I'd like to chop another 20 lbs off of that, but I'm not going to really worry about that until after the TOU marathon in September. I need my carbs!!

A quick 4 miles after mowing the lawn. That gives me a total of 6.2 for the "workout". We have a large lot and my GPS consistently tells me I walk 2.2 miles to mow the lawn. I guess every little bit helps.

I would have liked to have gotten more in, but I know I need my rest for Saturday's race.

I went out earlier than normal (about 6:40 p.m.) as Greg and London came by for dinner and games. Pizza, Sequence, and Quiddler is hard to beat, especially with a group as competitive as ours.

Had a fantastic evening run. We went to Brit's summer work party at Roy Aquatic Center for a little over an hour. The water and chasing Kyle really seemed to loosen my joints because I felt good from the get-go.

I decided to run the south end of the trail. It's easily my favorite part, especially now with all the nature park almost being complete. There are few views in nature that beat the run down Gentile after 1000 West. Nothing but fields as far as the eye can see while the sun slips below the horizon with Antelope Island as the backdrop. Just awesome!

It's also the point where my mind has really cleared and things just seem to click. Maybe I'm selfish or what-not, but it's one of those times I'm glad there are no other runners or bikers around me. It's just me, the road, and my view. They always show those "Rave Runs" in Runner's World. I'd share this one with them, but it would ruin it for me.

No running, it's softball night! In the tournament, we've already lost one game and now face elimination. If we win the first, we have to play again at 10. It looks like we're going to lose as we're down 11-3 in the fourth. We somehow break out the big lumber and put up 10 in the bottom of the inning. I help out with a double and a homerun (inside-the-park variety). We go back and forth until the 7th. We hold them to one run and need to answer. The first three get on base and tie the game. First and third, one out, and I'm up. I just want to get one as deep as possible so that Nate can score from third. I do just that. Sac fly to left and we win 15-14.

The 10 o'clock game is similar. We're down 8-1 after the first to a team that smoked us easily the first time we met. We answer again, however, with 10 runs in the second. It goes back and forth, but this time they have last ups. We make some good defensive plays and hold them to a single run in the bottom of the last inning to win 17-16. This advances us to the next week where we could possibly play 3 games.

Race day!! Great Salt Lake Half-Marathon. I feel I have a somewhat home-field advantage because the race runs right down Antelope, past our street, and out to the island.

As I'm using the run as a training run for the TOU Marathon in September, I'm hoping to run the race in about 2:05 (a 9:30 pace or so). As I start out, I'm exactly on the pace, although my GPS is hitting the mile markers about .07 miles before the race's markers. I later learn I wasn't alone.

As we open up out west, I find that I'm feeling strong and my miles are getting better. I'm down to 8:55, 9:00, and 8:56 for miles 3,4, and 5.

At this point I do some quick math and realize that breaking two hours is a possibility because I'm feeling great. I continue on the same pace between 8:55 and 9:10 until mile 11.

As I hit about mile 11.5, a man approaches from the opposite direction running some cool downs. He steps in front of me and offers to pace me the rest of the way. I was somewhat hesitant to say yes because I didn't want to slow him down as I know a 9:00 pace would probably bore him.

I do say yes, however, and offer just one suggestion, "Just get me in under 2 hours". He says no problem and off we go. He pushes me up and down the last hills that I was not ready for and gives me great challenges and words of encouragement. I almost lose my stomach on one particular grueling uphill stretch, but I recover quickly. He leads me to the end and lets me "sprint" to the finish. I end up running mile 12 in 8:48 and mile 13 in 8:39!! This puts me in at 1:57:50, a time I thought impossible for me even at the beginning of the race.

After I finish, the mystery man approaches and introduces himself. It is none other than Sasah Pachev, the great Utah runner. I'm honored as I have found Sasha's web page a few months back and have become a fan and follower of his blog.

Todd finishes the race in 2:10:57. Very good time for him. I end up finishing 3rd in my age category, which nets me a nice ribbon for Brit to scrapbook. I guess there weren't many people in my age category.

Brit, Kyle, and Kathy J meet us at the finish. We mill about, Kyle enjoys the birds and some of my fruit, and we head back for home.

I felt great all day, like I had won the race. It's amazing how you can finish in the bottom half of all the racers, yet still feel an overwhelming sense of achievement and accomplishment. I guess that's why I've become so addicted to running over the past few months.

Brit and I celebrate that night by sending Kyle off to Salt Lake with Oh My and seeing a movie with dinner at Rooster's. I'm a little sore, but my pride more than soothes the aches.

It's a hot one for the end of August, probably the last hurrah for the summer. It also, however, makes it difficult to fit in evening runs because it doesn't cool down until almost 8 o'clock and then the suns disappears twenty minutes later.

I start out at about 7:20 and find that it's not all that bad. Everything feels great, no real effects remaining from the half-marathon on Saturday. I decide to run from the middle of the trail to the south end, down my favorite stretch of Gentile, and back.

Brit and Kyle follow from home on the bike. They catch up to me at about mile 2.5. Kyle is always so happy to catch me on my runs.

I get home with just enough light to mow the front yard. With Brit working the next three days, I'll be able to mow the back while Kyle plays outside. It's hard to get the front done because there's no fence to contain him.

When I get inside, Kyle demonstrates how I run and insists on racing me up and down the hall. We do it about 10 times and he learns to throw his hands up at the finish line like a champion.

Yesterday was just one of "those days". Spent some late hours at work last night only to put in some more time once Kyle went to bed. Had a restless night and probably only got 3 hours of good sleep.

Got out the door and hoped that today is the last muggy day of the year. It took about 1.5 miles to really wake up and warm up, but I certainly felt good through the last 2 miles.

I knew I had to get out this morning because I probably won't get out again until Saturday. Brit's gone tonight leaving me with Kyle until the morning. I then have to run him into Ogden. Tomorrow night's out because we have the possibility of playing 3 softball games, back-to-back-to-back. Friday morning is a golf tournament up at the Homestead and we have to be there by 7:30 a.m., so I'll have to be out the door at 6:00. Saturday is a long 18-miler. I think the other events during the next two days, softball and golf, will keep me sharp while providing a bit of cross-training.

Longest I have ever run in my life. Felt really good through mile 12. From there was somewhat up and down. Stuggled through mile 12-14, but then felt good through mile 16. This may have to do with the fact that I have a little trick of stopping by the golf course on my long runs to "borrow" some water from their tee box at hole #12. It's always cold, they have little paper cups, and is right on the route. Mile 17 was another struggle, but I felt like I ran strong through the final mile. All in all it was an above average long run. I think last week's half marathon gave me some confidence and good vibes.

It was great weather with a crisp morning after last night's rain. I'm not sure if the hot weather is going to be back soon, but at least you can see fall on the horizon.

I'm looking forward to next week. I plan on it being a productive one. Plus we have a three-day weekend on the horizon and the start of college football. Who doesn't like that?

Nice easy run after putting in 18 on Saturday. Felt very good. Had some gastrointestinal issues in the final mile.

I'm hoping some of the other veterans might help me out with my tapering plans for my first marathon (TOU). I was planning on doing one final long run of 20 miles this weekend. Is this a good idea or should I begin tapering right now? In my mind, there is something important about getting to at least 20 miles in one run. Also, I worry about not doing any real long runs (12 + miles) for 4 weeks. I feel like I may lose some endurance and will have a harder time in the second half of the marathon.

Any and all feedback will be very appreciated.

Great run! I always seem to have great runs when I'm on my favorite trail (middle to south end) at my favorite time of day (late evening just before the sun goes down).

You can't beat running undisturbed with no traffic and nothing but fields and fowls on every side of you. It was warm, but towards the end of the run I could almost sense that fall is right around the corner. Finished strong with a pair of sub 9:00 miles.

Great run!! Had some strong wind blowing against me during the final mile. Felt great during second half of the run.

Nice crisp fall weather. It's hard to believe that September hits us tomorrow. I took Sasha's advice and tried to run with a jogging stroller. We have a bike trailer that I remember also had the capability to turn into a jogger. Sure enough, I found the front wheel and figured out how to make the switch. It took a little while to get used to pushing it while running, but I got the handle very quickly. I noticed about a 20 second per mile drop-off in time, but it's better to get the run in rather than missing it. It's definetly something I will continue to do on nights Brit works. Kyle enjoyed the trail, pointing out the cows, horses, and ducks. The ride must have been fairly smooth as he fell asleep during the second half.