run, run, run

Boise, ID 6:15am

Ran over to the middle school and did 2 miles around the track in 13:14 and then 1 mile in 6:29 and then ran home.

Meridian, ID 6:30am

Pace: 7:43

Easy 7-miler down Ustick, Pine and through the park.

Boise, ID 6:15am

One mile warmup, 5 miles at 6:43 pace, 3/4 mile cool down.

Boise, ID 6:30am

Pace: 7:24

Easy run getting ready for the race on Saturday.

Boise, ID 8:15am

Pace: 7:26

Another easy run. Half marathon tomorrow.

Haven't run a half marathon in over a year, so this was good. My PR is 1:28 and change, so that was my goal. I think I might have come close to that if this was a flat course. But, this wasn't a flat course. I held my pace pretty good for about half of the race then there was a long gradual uphill stretch followed by a steep hill about a half-mile before the finish line.

I won my age group and was the fastest person over 40 in the race, so that felt good. And I won a pair of shoes in the drawing, so it was a good day.

Boise, ID 6:15am

Ran over to the middle school track and did 5x1k. By the second lap around the track I knew that my legs hadn't recovered from the race yet. But I slogged through under 7 min pace in each repeat. Then ran home.

Boise, ID 6:30am

Not feeling it today. Legs were still a little tired, it was cold and windy. So I just ran a ways and cut it short.

Boise, ID 6:15am

2 mile warmup, 3 miles fast, 1 mile slow. Ran the middle 5k in 20:38, which would be my second fastest 5k had it been a race.

I wore my old shoes one last time to get them up over 1,000 miles. Time to retire those suckers.

Boise, ID 6:30am

Pace: 7:54

Easy five miles before another long run.

Boise, ID 6:15am

Pace: 8:00

Ogden long run #4. 9 miles with Randy felt good. 8 miles on my own felt ok. 3 miles to finish up felt horrible. I think I didn't eat enough last night.

Boise, ID 2pm

Pace: 7:17

Boise, ID 6:15am

6x400 meters all between 1:22 and 1:28

Denver, CO 8:15am

Pace: 8:09

Stuck in Denver. Planned on driving to Glenwood but I-70 was closed because of a snowstorm. So I stayed the night and put in a short run through the snow. About a foot of snow on the ground. It's April. I thought I was done with this mess.

I left my Garmin at home so I downloaded runkeeper on my phone. Don't like carrying the phone, but I'll live for a week.

Glenwood Springs, CO 6pm

Pace: 8:45

Ran up a trail behind the hotel. It went through an old ski area and up a dirt road. Decent elevation gain. Good workout.

Glenwood Springs, CO 6pm

Ran through town and up the trail to Doc Holladay's grave. It was a fun route with a little sightseeing mixed in.

Glenwood Springs, CO 6am

 Ran around the block just to get a run in today. Robie tomorrow.

I went in hoping to better my PR of 1:38 I ran two years ago. I was on a good pace to do that going up the hill. I made it to the summit (8.3 miles) in 1:11:28 and sped up nicely going down. Just before mile 10 I hit a steep stretch that had me worried that my top part wasn't going to go down the hill at the same speed as my bottom part, but I stayed upright and kept going.

Then, just after mile 10 my gut started hurting. I thought it was a side stitch at first but it stretched across my whole abdomen. I think it was my abs. Running downhill caused me to tighten up my abs to the point where I was in a lot of pain. I really slowed down the last three miles just running barely under 8 minutes per mile.

About mile 12 Tim Stapp ran past and asked if I was ok. I yelled "no! but keep running"

And I kept running finishing in 1:46:12. Just over 8 minutes slower than I had hoped. But it was a good time as usual and my second best Robie finish.

Boise, ID 6:15am

Pace: 8:05

Morning run with Randy. He was pretty sore after Robie and only wanted to run 5 miles. I knew I would have a tough time getting the miles in this week in Colorado, so I did 5 more.

Glenwood Springs, CO 5:45am

Pace:  8:04

Morning run on the greenbelt. Just glad I got a run in. Almost went back to sleep but knew I would not have a chance to run in the evening.

Glenwood Springs, CO 6:15pm

Pace: 8:34

Ran on a trail behind the hotel along the side of the mountain. Lots of elevation gain in the first two miles. Eventually ran out of trail and finished up on the road.

As I was running through the scrub oak trees I kept thinking about the guy earlier in the day that said "you know the bears are waking up now. here's a picture of a bear I saw in my backyard last year." Those aren't good thoughts when you are trail running on the side of a mountain.

Glenwood Springs, CO 5:45am

Pace: 8:09

Ran along the river, through town and then up the greenbelt along the freeway almost to the tunnel. On the way back I turned up the mountain and took a trail back to the hotel.

Basalt, CO 5pm

Pace: 8:55

Ogden long run #4. I'd been doing loops from my house and ending them at 20 miles even though I planned on doing more. So this time, I put my water on my back and ran 12 before turning around. That way I couldn't cut it short.

It was a good run but rough. The out was a gradual uphill gaining about 900 ft. The back was, of course, downhill but not enough to really help. And starting at 6,500 feet didn't help either.

Felt like death by mile 21. Slogged through and then drove an hour and a half to Grand Junction.

Boise, ID 5:30pm

Pace: 8:25

24 miles yesterday + just ate too much dinner + hottest day of the year so far = a pretty sluggish run.

Grand Junction, CO 4:45pm

Pace: slow

I flew into Grand Junction and spent about an hour and a half at the paper giving a brief demo and then had the afternoon off. So I got in the car, opened my running bag, closed my running bag, drove to Sports Authority and bought a new pair of running shorts. Of all the things to forget.

Then I drove up to the Colorado National Monument. In all of the weeks I worked here, I never actually went up there. I found a trail and started running. The trail ended up turning into little more than a mostly dried up creek bed. But I had a pretty good adventure. I ran, climbed rocks and cliffs, jumped over the creek more times than I could count.

Then I drove across the Monument and then got on the freeway and drove to Glenwood Springs.

Glenwood Springs, CO 8:30am

Pace: 8:46

Working the evening shift this week, so I had more time for running in the morning. Today I got on the trail behind the hotel and went the same way I went two weeks ago, but this time I kept going. Five miles up to the top of the mountain and then five back down. I wasn't too concerned about the up, but I wanted to work on the down since there will be some of that at Ogden.

Starting Elevation: 5,768 ft
Max Elevation:     7,564 ft