run, run, run

Boise, ID 6:30am

Pace: 8:06

A little slower than usual this morning, but I was still a little sore/tired from Saturday's long run and Randy's wife had a baby this weekend, so he probably hadn't slept much. The weather was great: overcast with a light rain towards the end. We picked up the pace in the last couple of miles and finished pretty strong. Good start to the week.

Boise, ID 6:00 am

Pace: 8:41

Weather was nice this morning. Overcast in the low 60s. I expected to get rained on, but it didn't start until after I got back.

I took a slightly different route. Cloverdale over the freeway to Overland (I forgot how narrow the shoulder of that overpass is) to Maple Grove to Ustick and home. I kind of just plugged along at a comfortable pace most of the morning until the last mile and a half when I saw someone running ahead of my and decided to try to pass him. I was feeling pretty good about myself until I passed the guy and realized that the dude was at least 80 years old. So I flipped him the bird and yelled "get the lead out grampa!" Actually, I smiled, waved and said good morning, but I think he knew what I meant.

iPod song of the day: "Rockin' Down The Highway" -- The Doobie Brothers

Boise, ID 6:30 am

 Pace: 8:01

It's funny how some days when you think you are feeling fine, you just struggle to get through the workout. Then on other days when you start out not feeling it, you get some energy and kick it in. This morning was more of the latter. Started out sluggish but picked up the pace later in the run and pushed it pretty good the last couple of miles.

Boise, ID 6:00 am

Pace: 8:41

I kind of had a case of the I Don't Want To Runs this morning, but with the marathon in just over three weeks, I ran anyway. It only took about a mile to get over it. Usually just getting out the door is the hardest part.

I took Cloverdale to Victory to Five Mile to Overland and back home on Cloverdale. Weather was good, easy run. Not a bad morning at all.

iPod song of the day: "Whatever I Fear" -- Toad the Wet Sprocket

Meridian, ID 6:30 am

Pace: 8:08

8:08 isn't bad for runing alone on a Friday. My running partner backed out. Something about having to take his kids to a fiddle competition. He's kind of an odd dude.

Weather was nice, a little cooler that usual, in the mid 50s. Ready to go long tomorrow.

iPod song of the day: "Tahiti, Tahiti" -- Nā Waiho'olu'u O Ke Ānuenue

Boise, ID 9:00 am

Pace: 8:32

I didn't do a long run today. I decided to sleep in and just do 10. I'll get in a 20-miler next Saturday. That will make four long runs before Seattle. That will have to be enough.

It was wet and rainy all morning. I ran from my house down Cloverdale and took Emerald to town and then ran up 16th and Sherman to 6th then down to the Capitol. I met my wife there and watched the kids do the Capitol Kid's Race. Riley ran well and Alex walked it again. I could tell that she was hurting towards the end. Probably from her leg brace, but she finished it again. I was really proud of her.

I think only doing ten was a good idea this morning. For some reason running in the rain seems to suck the energy out of me.

Boise, ID 6:30am

Pace: 7:59

A little bit chilly this morning. Pretty uneventful otherwise. It was under 8 per mile (barely). Better than any runs last week.

Boise, ID 6:00 am

Pace: 8:36

The weather couldn't have been better for a nice comfortable morning run. I went down Cloverdale to Executive/Emerald to Cole to Ustick. Just putting in miles today. I'll push it more tomorrow.

iPod song of the day: "Volare" -- Gypsy Kings

Boise, ID 6:30 am

Pace: 7:51

Great run this morning. Weather was perfect, 61 degrees, and I wanted to push things more than I had lately. I kept the coversation down and tried to keep the pace up. Once again it helped to have Randy pulling me along.

The bad thing was that I paused my iPod when we crossed Ustick at mile 6 and must not have gotten it unpaused until I was almost home. So I hacked a workout from last week to upload and went with the pace I had at mile 6. I know we didn't slow down any during the last mile or so.

Stupid iPod.

Boise, ID 6:00 am

Pace: 8:35

Slow and easy at first, but finished up pretty strong. I saw a couple of runners ahead when I turned into my subdivision and decided to try to catch them before they got to the corner. I just about made it.

iPod song of the day: "So Long Toots" -- Cherry Poppin' Daddies

Boise, ID 6:30 am

Pace: 7:05

I got rained on this morning. The run felt really good, except that I wished I had't worn a regular cotton t-shirt. The temperature was in the low 60s and I saw quite a few people out running -- until it started pouring down rain.

Ready for one more long run tomorrow then a week of vacation (we'll see how much running I can get in) and then marathon week. Ready, set, go.

Boise, ID 7:00 am

Pace: 8:49

Well, that's it. My last long run before Seattle. I would have liked it end with a better performance, but I woke up feeling lousy but ran anyway because I didn't really feel like I had a choice. Next week I'm on vacation, then it's marathon week. So I slogged my way along, making pit stops along the way. Now that it's over, I don't feel that bad.

I went down Emerald to the greenbelt and then up Mitchell to McMillian and down through the neighborhooods between Cloverdale and Eagle.

iPod song of the day: "Road to Nowhere" -- Talking Heads

Boise, ID 6:30 am

Pace: 7:55

A rough one this morning. Pouring rain, bloody nipples and the need to drop a load. I need a vacation.

Bountiful, UT 6:30 am

Pace: 8:59

Really nice weather this morning for a very hilly run. My car was blocked in, so I had to leave from the in-law's house and run up to Bountiful Blvd. Not that I really minded. Driving to run always seems a little weird to me. I kept it at a comfortable pace over the rolling hills then coming down on 31st street I went through a skunk stink. It must have been really close because it was burning my nose. All kinds of fun there.

iPod song of the day: "Crazy Train" -- Ozzy Osbourne

Bountiful, UT 8:00 a.m.

Pace: 8:48

I ran down Davis Blvd. today. It's a lot like Bountiful Blvd. but withouth the uphill run to get there. It was raining when I got up, but stopped before I got out there and I didn't get wet at all during the run.

I'm feeling good. The body is holding up. My little toe is a little sore on the downhills. I banged it in a bizarre gardening accident (Isn't that Spinal Tap? "You can't dust for vomit")

iPod song of the day: "Whip It" -- Devo

Bountiful, UT 8:00 am

Pace: 8:35

Same route as yesterday but faster and a half-mile shorter.

Another skunk! What is it with this town?

iPod song of the day: "Frank and Jesse James" -- Warren Zevon

Heber, UT 8:00 am

Pace: 8:50

I thought that being up here camping would be a great opportunity to get in some nice runs. I was wrong. The cabin is at the top of the mountain. The only direction is down, which means the only direction back is up. With the race coming up in just over a week, I decided that I would take things a little easier. Thus the shorter run. It was a nice brisk morning. A nice run, but hilly.

iPod song of the day: "No Sugar Tonight: -- The Guess Who

Heber, UT 8:00 am

Pace: 8:57

The hills this past week have taken a bit of a toll, so I just did a short one today. I need to start tapering anyway.

iPod song of the day: "Romeo Had Juliette" -- Lou Reed

Boise, ID 6:30 am

Pace: 8:07

Not a bad run this morning. About 50 degrees and sunny. The pace was a little slower than usual. Randy said he was feeling the creeping crud, so I actually had to slow down a couple of times to let him catch up.

Boise, ID 6:30 am

Pace: 7:53

Just a short taper run this morning. I wanted to push it a little bit, but not over exert myself. Great weather, comfortable run. Feeling good.

iPod song of the day: "I Was Made For Lovin' You" --  Kiss (Nothing like a little Kissco to wrap up the run)

Boise, ID 6:30 am

Pace: 7:43

Short, fast, great weather. A nice morning run.

Well, that's it. I'm taking tomorrow and Friday off and then it's off to the races on Saturday. Ready or not, here I come.

This was a rough one for me. I'm still trying to figure out exactly why. I think there are a number of reasons. But the race was a lot of fun and I'm glad I did it. The bands were cool and the scenery can't be beat. It was a great experience.
Excuse #1 would have to be the night before. I did a little more walking around in the city than I would have preferred, but the killer was that I didn't get a wink of sleep Friday night. Of course, I never sleep much the night before a marathon, but I can usually nod off for a couple of hours. Not this time.
So I got up at 4:30 and walked to the Weston and caught the bus to Tukwilla. Just relaxed before the race. Ate a Powerbar and a banana, unloaded and waited for it to start.
I was pretty amazed at the mass of humanity at the starting line. They started the full and half together, so all 25,000 people were there. The way they started with corrals and waves worked out well (for me, at least). Even with all those people, it never felt very crowded during the race.
The first half of the race went really well (they always do). I stopped to pee near the end of the first mile. Probably just nerves, but that was the only pit-stop I needed. The first 6 miles go through neighborhoods with a steady hill for about a mile from 4 to 5. Then it takes a sharp downhill and runs along the shore of Lake Washington, pretty flat until the first marathon/half split just after mile 9. We went up a steep hill and, while the half marathon turned left into the I-90 tunnel, the full turned right on to the Lake Washington Bridge. Usually a bridge goes up and over, but this was a floating bridge so it started with a downhill and went up on the other side where we turned around and did it again. A turn around is always nice to be able to look back and realize that you aren't in last place after all.
After the bridge we went into the tunnel and things got really, really weird. We're in a tunnel, it's dark, you can't see the end, and about half way through this really strange sound starts getting louder and louder. They had put a metal band in the tunnel. With the echo, you can hardly recognize the music but it was loud and with the runners yelling and the tunnel being dark it was a really wild experience.
But anyway, after the tunnel, we rejoined the half marathoners and continued a couple more miles on the freeway HOV lanes, which brings me to Excuse #2. A lot of the race was on concrete freeway HOV lanes or on the Alaskan Highway viaduct. Asphalt would have been softer, but I'm not sure it made that much of a difference. I'm still feeling good at this point.
Just before marathon mile 15 we split once again and the half marathoners happily ran down into the stadium to celebrate and the rest of us continued along the viaduct parallel to the waterfront and then through the Battery Street tunnel.
After the tunnel, we started a pretty steady incline from mile 16 to 20 and I think that's what killed me (Excuse #3). By the time I got to the turn-around, the downhill didn't even feel like a relief. I was pretty spent. Back in the tunnel I started feeling really sick. I hung near the side of the road ready to pull over and start hurling Gu and Cytomax all over the sidewalk, but that never happened.
I saw my wife at mile 22. I was back on the viaduct and she was at the little park next to Pikes Place Market watching the race go by below. After that I felt better for a couple of miles, but I couldn't get my speed up. I had slowed down to close to a 10-minute mile pace and it was becoming evident that a sub 4-hour finish wasn't going to happen.
The rest was just a bunch of running -- slowly. It went downhill off the viaduct, then turned around and came back up and then and down into the stadium parking lot and the finish line.
After I crossed the line, I kind of staggered around a bit thinking that I might pass out. But I didn't do that either. I stayed in the finisher area for a while trying to get myself together. I felt worse at the end of this race than I have at any of the others. I found myself talking to another guy who had a rough go of it too. When I saw the big bloody spot on the right side of his chest, I realized that it indeed could be worse.
So there it is. I didn't break 4-hours (again), but I'm ok with that. I could come up with a bunch more excuses, but the bottom line is that 4:09:12 was all I had in met that day. I ran when I wanted to walk. I kept moving when my body kept telling me to stop. And I had a really fun time doing it (except for those parts that really sucked).