run, run, run

Boise, ID 6:15 am

Pace: 7:12

Felt better this morning. Not a lot of talking on the run, just running.

Thinking about doing 15 tomorrow morning.

Eagle, Idaho 7:00 am

Pace: 7:34

Not a bad run for the end of a pretty high mileage week. I went down Eagle Road to the greenbelt, over to Glenwood and back home. Held a comfortable pace the whole way.

I took a gel at 7.5 miles. I nursed it for about a half mile instead of sucking it all down at once. I think that's what I need to do from now on. It went down easier and I didn't have a gut ache. I think I'll take two on the half marathon next Saturday and see how it goes down at race pace. I felt bad because I tied the empty gel packet to the drawstring of my shorts, but when I got to a trash can it was gone. I became the answer to the question "who's the pig who littered the greenbelt?"

Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada 9:15 pm

Pace: 7:23

This run almost didn't happen. I traveled all day and didn't get to the hotel until after 8:30. So, dark was approaching and it was foggy (Happy 4th of July!). So I put on my running gear along with a headlamp and pepper spray. I know pepper spray won't stop a moose, but it made me feel better.

The run was good even though the weather wasn't. It was so wet, I could see the mist in the beam of my headlamp and I ended up soaking wet. Also, the only way I could really tell whether I was running uphill or downhill was by looking at my watch and seeing how fast I was running.

Saint John, NB, Canada 7:30 pm

Pace: 7:50

Not a great run. I mapped out a 10 mile loop, but forgot to check the mileage at the first turn. When I got to the road, it said "Authorized Vehicles Only," so I thought that it must not be it. So I kept running. When I got to 6.4 miles I knew I had missed the turn. But I was at a really cool bridge. It was very high and below was a stream heading out to the ocean. It had boats on the ground next to it waiting for high tide. One boat was far from shore and looked like it has been there for decades. So that was cool. The run back wasn't.

I was having some back pain last week after shoveling those rocks. It had gone away until this afternoon. Now, after this run, it's worse.

Saint John, NB 7pm

Pace: 7:03

I went down to the Irving Nature Park to do a short run. I decided that the cause of my back pain lately has to be the stupid bed at the hotel. I took yesterday off and think I'll sleep on the couch tonight.

I got a late start because of a meeting, but I wanted to get one lap around the park in today. I ran pretty hard and felt good. The back only seems to hurt when I'm not running. I saw a fox, a porcupine looking thing and a huge dog. Good thing the dog was attached to it's owner.

 I felt a little hypocritical because the main reason I ran faster today is because I wanted to finish before the hamburger shop closes.

Been dealing with back pain, time zones and lousy eating lately, so I didn't go into this race feeling very confident. I was pretty sure I could PR, since my previous best was Robie, which goes uphill for 8 miles. I really wanted to get in under 1:30:00, but wasn't sure I could.

I held my pace pretty well over the whole race. My fastest mile was the firt at 6:38 and my slowest was 10 and 12 ate 6:55. The race is an out and back, so I was able to count the people ahead of me. I was in 9th at the turn-around and after about 8 miles I glanced back and didn't see anyone behind me, so I expected to finish in that place. Then at mile 10 the guy directly in front of me (the only one I could still see at that point) took a quick right across the grass towards the bathroom in a park. I felt bad for the guy, but wasn't going to wait for him, so I was in 8th. Then, after passing a bunch of 10kers, with about 1 mile left I passed a guy who looked like he was in the half marathon. So I finished in 7th place with a 10 minute PR and a little medal for second place in my age group.

Boise, ID 6:15 am

Pace: 7:13

Perfect weather this morning. Lots of other runners out. I ran 7 with Randy and then did another 3 on my own, bringing the avg. pace down by a couple of seconds to get me to marathon goal pace.

Boise, ID 6:45 am

Pace: 7:14

Cloverdale to Executive to Maple Grove to McMillian to Cloverdale.

Kennewick, WA 6:15 am

Pace: 7:20ish

Ran from my sister's place in Kennewick Park down Steptoe to the river, up Edison and back through Vista Field. Nice weather this morning, about 60 with a little bit of cloud cover in the Eastern sky. Some good hill work coming up out of the park and by the airport. I paused my watch at a corner and then forgot to turn it back on again until 2 miles later, so I'm not sure what my overall pace was, but probably better than 7:20.

Kennewick, WA 6:30 am

Pace: 7:30

I ran a little farther than I had planned. I went down the hill to the Richland Wye and across the Yakima river to Richland, and came back along Columbia Park Trail, Leslie and Gage. Some good hills in there. At one point I was following an irrigation canal, but it turned into an aquaduct that crossed a gulch with no way to cross, so I had to backtrack. Then I stopped at a gas station to get a Gatorade, but the gas station didn't even have a convenience store, just an Esspresso bar. So it stunk like coffee and after waiting for a long time just to buy a bottle of water I gave up and left. Now I'm sleepy.

Kennewick, WA 5:45am

Pace: 7:34

Got up early and ran down 4th street, up Union to 10th, down hwy 396 and back on 4th. It was a nice run, but I was feeling kind of fatigued from the week. Didn't worry too much about my pace and even cut it short a mile. I'm taking tomorrow off because we're going home and if I were to get up early and run before the drive I would probably fall asleep and kill all of us. So I will sleep in and live to run another day.

Boise, ID 6:15 am

Pace: 7:06

Met Randy for the usual MWF run. Kept up a good pace, started at 7:33 for the first mile then dropped to around 7:10 for two miles then near 7 and below. At 7 miles Randy went home and I went 3 more at a pace in the low 7s. Felt pretty strong. Trying to do better with my nutrition and exercise this week.

Boise, ID 6:30 am

Pace: 7:29

Didn't feel like running this morning but once I got out there I felt ok. A pretty uneventful run. I went down Cloverdale to Executive to Maple Grove to McMillian. I ran with my wife for the last quarter mile or so.

Boise, ID 6:15 am

Pace: 7:32

Feeling kind of sore this morning. I shoveled a load of rocks for the yard last night and I started back lifting and doing ab exercises.

We passed a couple of guys from the neighborhood, chatted with them as we went by. Then, when we turned the corner I looked at my watch and said "so we're just letting them think we're running the whole way at a 6:30 pace."

I was going to take a lap around the block at the end to get in 7 miles, but my wife was just starting her run, so I gave her my Garmin and called it a day.

Boise, ID 5 am in the morning

Pace: 7:49

First long run for Pocatello. I decided to increase the mileage of my long runs to 25 miles. I figured that might improve my stamina in the last miles of the marathon.

I did four loops starting and ending at my house. That way I could stop off for water, gels and the restroom. That part worked out pretty well. I took six Cliff blocks and a gel packet. I put them down slowly and didn't have any gut issues.

I wasn't feeling it this morning. Started out slow and didn't get much faster. I started seeing spots in mile 8 and thought I would have to cut it short, but that went away pretty quickly. I held on to a 7 thirty-something pace most of the way, then started to fade in mile 21. In my last mile I was spent. Just hanging on to finish. And I did, so hopefully the next one will be a little easier.

Boise, ID 6:15 am

Pace: 7:49

Wasn't sure how I'd feel after yesterday's long run. I was tired and had a few aches and pains, but not bad for the most part. I was going to go the whole 7 miles, but when we got to the turn off, Randy said "how far do you want to go?" That's all it took, I said 5 and we cut it short.

Boise, ID 7:30 am

Pace: 7:10

My wife and I got up and drove down to the greenbelt this morning. Since we run at different paces (but she is getting faster) we decided that we would run for a half hour and then turn around. I started out with a 7:33 pace in the first mile then sped up each mile until the last mile was at 6:47.

The weather was perfect. Chillier than I expected for a morning in July.

Boise, ID 6:15 am

Pace: 7:16

Pretty good morning run. I started having a strange pain yesterday. Just above my knee would hurt if I straightened my leg too much, like going down stairs. I felt it a bit at first this morning, but I must have just needed to work it out because it went away after a couple of miles.

After 7 miles with Randy, I took off for three more. Ran pretty solid the last mile was under 7 minutes.

Boise, ID 6:30 am

Pace: 7:09

Good solid morning run keeping it below marathon goal pace.

Boise, ID 6:15 am

Pace: 7:22

Another morning 10-miler. Legs felt kind of tired today. Probably because I was on my feet a lot last night packing for the trip. Now it's time to hit the road (Jack).

Bountiful, UT 7:20 am

Pace: 7:33

Lots of hills. Started up on Bountiful Blvd. Ran past the temple and then down the hill, very steep. Took a couple of wrong turns and then got on Orchard. Stopped at Dicks for a Gatorade and back to the house. Pretty warm out too.

West Jordan, UT 7:30 am

Pace: 7:35

I thought I would run along the Jordan River pathway. A good idea, except that I seem to have found one of the few places along that river that where the pathway doesn't connect. I thought I was on it until I started seeing homeless camps and a dead-end. So, I backtracked and then ran along 1300 West past the temple and back. Not a bad road to run on actually.

Bountiful, UT 6:45 am

Pace: 8:24

Some serious climbing this time. I ran from the in-laws' place up Eaglewood Dr. and around the golf course. I didn't mean to, but I was looking for the Bonneville Shoreline trail and there was a sign with an arrow pointing in that direction. The sign was wrong. But, I eventually found it and took it a couple of miles up to the Air Traffic Control station with a nice view of Salt Lake City. Then back down as steep as the climb up.