my makeup may be flaking

Wow! What a great way to start the new year. I went around the island in 1:24:54 and it felt very smooth and relaxed. I've done this run many, many times over the year. My best was 1:18 in an all out super rested for effort last winter. Other than that my best time was 1:24:30 as an all out effort the summer of 2007. Other than that a fast day is anything under 1:30 (or at least it was in college). This effort wasn't that tough and I ran alot more even than I have in the past. Anyway, the pace was a little under 6 minutes which was not easy, but I was not in any kind of difficulty and was actually kind of zone out listening to music the whole way. I signed up for the SLCTC series and the striders series today (yeah I missed the cheaper price by one day because I'm stupid). I don't know if I'll do all those races but for any of you who want to win, you better I hope I don't show up. Bwahahaha!

Very relaxed.

Went around the island across the bridge and around the slough in about 2:12, a hair under 7 minute pace. I'm trying to pick up the pace on my long runs.

I'm frontloading this week so I decided to do another marathon pace workout. I felt really strong on this run and was able to hit the pace despite a bit of snowfall. The first seven miles are uphill (43:00, 6:08 pace) and then I really pushed hard on the last 5.5 miles (29:30, 5:21 pace)

Total time was 1:12:28 (about 5:48 per mile).

I was understandably tired today. I did two pretty slow runs. 9.2 in the morning and then 5.5 in the afternoon.

Short easy run today in the morning. Mucho plans for the day and somehow I'm still on vacation so I'm still being lazy.

Hah! Ran around the island in 1:15:55. I wanted to save myself for this weekend but the weather (48degrees and raining) made me want to crush some workout so I did this 13.5 mile run in 1:15:55. Yes that's right, it's totally legit that converts to 1:13:40 for a half and I wasn't really that tired after it or really pushing all that hard during it. In fact i ran solid even splits. I was getting slowed down by cars and mud and stuff. It just confirms that I really didn't have my best day at the Seattle half (despite it being my best official performance). Previous best for this time trial was for this time one year ago. (2 and a half minutes slower).

A little slow to get started on my runs today. I did 10.3 in the AM and 5.5 in the afternoon neither where really that fast. I felt some pain in my ankle at the start of the second run nothing much. Tomorrow was a scheduled easy day anyway.

Nice and relaxed in preparation for tomorrow's festivities.

Did two races today. First went to Magnuson Park (on the Western Shore of Lake Washington) to run the Winter Grand Prix series #3. It's a similar idea to the SLCTC series except as the races are 2miles or 3k, you can expect alot of high school and college kids.

I was initially planning to do the road race on the 20th but I scrapped that idea because the roads were too treacherous. This led to me trying to run an XC race (a 3k no less) in flats. The course was mostly fine but there were some tough areas for me where I lost a lot of ground and I couldn't make it up. I split 5:08 at the miles and I think the two big loops that we did were in exactly the same time. Brett Winegar won, a teammate of Sean Sundwall at Club Northwest. He looked very controlled and I think he would have gotten the better of me even if I had had spikes. I also recognized Bruce Jackson, who beat me. I did beat James Conrick though, who won the Conference I ran in my first year of HS xc. He was about 3 minutes ahead of me then (that was 8 years ago, wow!). Anyway definitely a good sign, and I'm confident that I can break 9:30 in my upcoming two mile.

I went home and regrouped, took a shower, had some lunch then headed off to Kirkland's Bridal Trails State Park. This was the sight of the Seattle trail running festival (the name was something like that). There was a 5mile a 10mile and a 50k. The 10mile seemed to attract some good competition year in and year out so I jumped into that. There seemed to be a good knot of 5 or 6 good runners. However, a hilly muddy 10 mile race plays into my hands. I surged away on the first uphill and no one made a move to catch me. Instead they all ran a more tactical race for second (so I was informed by the 3rd placer, Leif Kohler). I'm sure those guys were not happy to be racing the Seattle Half runner up! I blitzed through the first half (5.2 miles I believe) in 29:30 or so. This was only a couple seconds off of the record for the "5miler". It was raining hard and I was basically fighting not to lose my shoes in the muddy trails. I lost some time in the middle of the second lap. I had a ton of energy left at the end to close hard, but there just wasn't enough dry trail and I ended up running 1:00:24 to miss the 10mile course record by 1 second! Or so I was informed. The course record was from 2006 by Andy Edick who had placed 3rd in State that year.

Yeah, missed my flight and spent the day on the phone so no run. But that's alright.

Ran in City Creek today. My left arch felt a little bit sore but it was fine to run slowly.

Did a single loop of Sugarhouse park in the morning. It was very cold, but there was still alot of snow which made the run annoying. My foot still hurt, but it seemed better than yesterday. I iced it for 20 minutes after the run. In the evening I did three loops of Liberty Park.

I started my run this morning but I didn't like how my foot felt so I turned around and went home. I iced it for twenty minutes and then again in the evening.

My foot seemed better so I tested it out for a mile on the indoor track (nice and flat), then got in 45 minutes on the stationary bike. Then I did another mile on the track and it was again fine. Tomorrow I will test it properly and try to make a diagnosis.

Did a short test-run this morning. I was fine for about a mile, then I started to feel some pain that remained the same for the remainder of the run and for a little bit after. There was very little discomfort in my foot before hand, so clearly running made it worse. As I right this in the afternoon my foot feels mostly fine but it's clearly not healed.

As my foot is basically ok, it's difficult to diagnose, but I believe I have an abductor hallicus strain, albeit a mild one. What's the cure for this? Rest and Ice! What a shock. I can also try to tape the foot. 

Tried running in the morning and then again in the afternoon. My foot still didn't feel right but it was ok.

Tried running a little but it seemed worse than yesterday so I decided to rest it again

Taped up my foot and went for a long run. It was fine to begin with but became quite painful, I'm not sure whether the taping helped or not

Went to see a doctor today, he didn't think there was anything that wrong. He took an xray (no fracture) and recommend that I just try to run on it.

Ran on the track at the fieldhouse. I also did a bit on the elliptical. My foot seemed ok, but I wanted to make sure that I could ice after running and get some advil before I started running alot.

Just did an experiment to see how far I could run without pain forcing me to stop. I made it about 3 miles before needing to stop. I walked a few meters then was able to run again, but the pain returned after about 2 minutes.

Ran again until pain forced me to stop to see whether it got better or worse on the second consecutive day. This time the pain never reached the level of the day before but it was still not comfortable so I stopped after 5.5 miles.

Did the same as yesterday, felt pretty good again actually.

I did 4 in the morning then came back and ran 5.5 7 hours later. I think I'm coming around. All is still not right in footsville though. However the pain is getting better not worse.

No problem doing 7 today. I actually ran on streets today instead of the park, so I actually hit some lights. This might have made it easier on my foot despite the longer distance. I noticed that it seems to put more pressure on my toe running on grass. Which seems a little odd, but I think I will avoid that for now. Running up and down hills wasn't a problem though.

Yeah I guess it's looking pretty good. My foot is not better but it is objecting less to me running, even as I increase the mileage. I may just have to keep it a little less than I want for now, though.

No difficulties on this run either. The question is do I push it now of do I just consolidate my position?

Did two runs today, 4 in the morning then 9.4 in the evening.

Went to Claremont and ran a little with my old teammates. I did some 400s with them averaging around 70s, felt pretty good. I did the last one in around 60s.

Kind of a weird meet. I jumped in the 1000loop (not a real 1000) and got 8th I think in 2:24 which was pretty typical for me in college and is probably indicative of 2:05ish 800m speed (yay!). Then I felt really bad afterwards and I had to go throw up.

I didn't really compete well in the 2 mile, the pace felt well within my ability level, but I just wasn't sharp and my legs told me that they could do it just not today. Went through the mile in 4:50, but then just kind of settled in at a slower pace while the race got away from me. I ended up with a 9:50 and didn't feel tired at all. Basically, taking two weeks off and then building back up my mileage right before a race does not produce good times.

Afterwards I ran a 200 and felt pretty fast. The alumni are allowed to cheat and run 8*200 against 4*400 for people actually on the team. I was able to stay with the top 400meter runners for the second half of the lap so maybe I ran 26seconds for 200. Not bad for right after a two mile. My factor X is pretty good.

Felt rather sore so I just did a short run around Claremont.

Yes I know I'm getting a little repetitive here my poor training log. I'm just trying to get some miles into my legs again.

 In the evening I went to the indoor track and did 4miles tempo after a warmup. My speed is there, my endurance is there, but there is a "hole" there. I think that my 3K-10K speed deteriorates pretty fast when I'm out. The pace feels manageable and natural, my legs just start to complain at me, even though I feel like I'm not going that fast. It's weird.

I was planning on running around 22:30, but I did 22:10

My splits were 5:30,5:34,5:24,5:42. So although I went fast, I tailed off at the end, mostly due to the too fast third mile where I raised up my effort to see what would happen. I'm just going to remember this on Saturday and stay in control. Good sign was that one year ago I would have needed 5 minutes rest thrown in there to finish this workout.
 

I've also started being better about strength exercises. Did alot of core work and hib abductors, as well as calf raises, back hypers.

Actually felt quite good today on my run. It's nice to run in the afternoon as I felt good from the get go and I wasn't so cold. I might be able to get back into before the Winter is over! I should put a watch on all my runs though. If only for data collection purposes. My foot didn't bother me except if I landed on the curb funny so that I was putting extra weight on the toe. Man this is taking a long time to heal! 

Just did a relaxed run because I want to run well tomorrow. I suspect it will be snowing during the race tomorrow as it has snowed every morning this week...that will be interesting.

Yep, snowing. I didn't really care as I didn't think a PR was going down today anyway, so I just wanted to race. I noticed I was slipping alot on my warmup when I tried running fast so I switched into my waffles which I wasn't planning on, but it seemed to help alot.

I didn't bother with a watch but I was running with a pack until the very end so it didn't matter. I tucked in behind Jeff McClellan to begin with and the pace didn't feel very fast to me so I went to the front and pushed a little. After the second mile, I just hung out behind Jeff, Seth and Brian Summers. At the turnaround I was at about 17:10 I bet and I lost of bit of time due to my footing. On the way back, the pace slowed noticeably and Brian and Jeff were taking the Brunt of the wind. After 4 miles, Jeff lifted the pace and Brian went out the back. I was feeling very comfortable at this point. Too comfortable and I think my heart rate dropped to about 150. I didn't think this was a problem as I always consider myself to have the best chance against Seth in a kick (yeah I know he's a 4:08 miler, but I'm probably in 4:20 shape). In any case Seth picked it up and dropped me. After a bit they slowed down again and I was coming back to them. My legs felt like to ice blocks however and I was frustrated that I could get no traction. My lest mile was probably barely under 6 and it really didn't feel that tough.

So I'm really not sure what to make of this race. Jeff said he thought I would have gone sub 32:30 today based on my proximity to him. However I think I may have been slowed less than others due to good shoe selection and alot of drafting. Right now it is what it is, a sub 36 10K in the snow and a third pace finish. I'll take it and see how the rest of the winter plays out.

Later on I ran to the SLC running company and had Seth sell me some shoes. I've decided that I kinda like running and being injured sucks so I wanted to get in the right shoes.

First long run in a while. I was trying out my new Adistar Rides. Honestly they made me feel a little bit more "balanced" although there was a little bit of discomfort as I was actually using stabilizer muscles. These muscles have been permanently sore anyway for about three years. I feel like I'm going to be able to run in these shoes.

Did 13.1 miles running a simple extension to my 9.4 mile loops. Down 300E to 2700S then up to 2000E, coming down Sunnyside to Guardsman then running down 500S to 1300E. North to South Temple and down to 700E. At this point I picked it up running the gentle downhill along 700E to Liberty Park then around the Park and home. I wanted to give my nervous system some stimulation in Sasha speak.

AM 9.4 I really need to mix it up a little on these runs, but my mainstay of Grass loops at Sugarhouse park is still snowed in, as are my favorite trails. So I did this loop AGAIN. I tried to time it, but I've gotten out of the habit of stopping my watch so I only noticed that at some point after my run was over I was at 2:45 or something silly.  I just ran as I felt today, which sometimes was quite fast, but sometimes not. I'm still a little uneasy pushing myself really hard because of my foot, but it continues to cooperate. At least I can still run...for now.

PM 5.5 Three loops of Liberty Park, man these new shoes feel really good, or maybe my body is just back into a running groove today. Felt so good and so smooth.

Didn't feel great today. I woke up very dehydrated, but as it was going to be an easy run anyway I didn't bother to hydrate. I ran into good and bad patches during the run, which seems to be a typical reaction to higher mileage for me. With the late night workout routine, I'm not usually feeling to great in the morning. I got real lucky with the weather however, as the snow really started coming down when I was done.

AM 9.4 Didn't hydrate properly again! I also over dressed a little because I didn't let my body warmup before stepping outside. All this could be solved if I could get my butt out of bed faster. I'm so spoilt with my schedule, but I still need to get my going before 8:30! Again I didn't time it, again!

PM Did basically the same as last week. 10 laps of the field house track for warmup, then 4miles at AT pace. On that track at that altitude that appears to be around 5:35 per mile (which just happens to be my half marathon pace at sea level, clearly I can go faster because that track is a nightmare). First mile was 5:37 then I sped it up too much to 5:28, then I went back to 5:36 before closing in 5:29. So once again my final time was 22:10 (5:32.5 per mile), although this was paced more evenly. Then I cooled down with another 10 laps, then did sum strength work. I finished off the workout with two laps of jogging the straights and sprinting the curves, just thinking about form. I feel like I have alot of speed in my legs right now, and frisbee season doesn't start for a little more than a month!

Just felt good today. I didn't push it too hard, but I definitely miled my good feeling. I gotta say, my new shoes feel really good (Adistar Rides sold to me by Seth). Ended up running 57:14 for 9.4 miles (6:05 mile pace).

Just a nice little premeet run. Didn't feel especially good or bad. I just want to give myself a chance to kick tomorrow. I noticed that I was a little conscious of my foot, but it wasn't bad. It seems that the waveriders provide a little less support than the rides, but I have definitely noticed a big improvement in my foot this week nonetheless.

Ridiculous opening note: Striders WRC 10K is HARDER than SLCTC 10K in 4 inches of snow, just saying...

For the second week in the row I met someone new by hitching a ride to the race. This time Walter Brown agreed to drag my ride mooching behind up to Ogden. We met up with Cody and Jon Allen and did a two mile warmup.

The ringer (Trevor Ball) was back. He said he was going to run 5:40 pace or whatever it took to win. We started out kind of slow in a large pack. I knew Trevor was going to beat me and I decided that I wanted to make it an honest effort for myself. I knew that there were alot of strength guys in the race and I didn't want them to be close to me before the hill. I took off on my own half a mile in running 5:29 then 5:05 (big downhill), but I didn't yet have a solid gap. In fact, during the third mile Braden Perry (Kyle's little bro?) took the lead from me briefly. The third mile was 5:27 and I was feeling fine, but I knew the terrain was about to change dramatically. Trevor Ball passed us both in the fourth mile and Jason Schoenfeld followed him. I was willing to let Trevor go but I didn't know who Jason was at this point (see my entry for the Salt Lake Half in August) so I wanted to keep him in sight. I finally dropped Braden at this point (hey at 16 he has great speed, but this 10K requires alot of strength he was a minute closer to me than Garrett Jones was last week, Garrett was 3rd in 5A this year as a Jr, Braden was 20th in 4a as a So...so nice work Braden) and I focused on catching Jason. I got to 4 miles in 21:48, so only a 5:47 4th mile and the real hill hadn't started yet. Jason was strong up the hill and he started to open up the lead. I was sure that I could get to him on the final downhill if I kept it close. I picked it up cresting the hill but so did he. We rounded a corner and I saw the 6 mile mark, I had greatly misjudged the amount of race left! I got on my toes and kicked like mad over the icy parking and probably closed in by a good 7-8 seconds on the last quarter but he eluded me. I was quite annoyed at myself for not working hard enough on the hill, but that's what happens when you don't know the terrain. Next year I'll be ready. No disrespect to Jason, if I had come up, I'm sure he would have responded, but I could have made it a sprint finish at least..pfff.

Anyway now for the good news! I was only 4 seconds behing Jason Schoenfeld, just 6 months ago he beat me by ....wait for it...6 minutes in a half marathon! I DID lose two minutes to the bathroom in that race, but still, he was way out of my league then and now I'm competitive with him. Also let's look at the race from two years ago (Paul Petersen 34:47 Simonaitis 35:47, Sasha 36:07) So my 35:51 looks pretty good to me right now. So back to back 35 minute 10ks, but two very good results.

Next up, my fourth race in four weeks: SLCTC 15K. My bold prediction? 51 flat

We cooled down doing the entire course again. I felt very good, normally I would definitely bonk on these runs. It's a sign that I kind of wussed out on the hill I think, it didn't seem so bad doing it again at 8min pace. I added on a bit after to make it an even 15. I told Walter I didn't need a ride home. Then I found the locker room for the track team and took a shower, it was very nice and I didn't think I was supposed to be there but I acted like I belonged. Seriously though, nice facility.

Didn't feel great at the start of my long run, I was a little sore from yesterday. I had planned in advance to run the last four miles fast and I was feeling pretty good by the time that point arrived. I ran three miles in 6:10 pace and then finished off with a 5:39. The 6:10s felt pretty good, but I felt like my right leg was working alot harder than my left. The 5:39 could have been faster but it was quite hard. I'm really just trying to do this to improve miles 14-22 of the marathon.

Pretty easy progressive shakeout run. Started slow ended very fast.

Went to Sugarhouse park and ran three loops. I'm so glad to be back running there again. Running there in the snow is just zero fun. For the second run in a row I had to shed a layer. It was also very windy, probably signaling another big temperature change. Three signs that spring is coming at some point. We may go back to Winter again before that though.

On my run today I was thinking about how my form might deteriorate a little as I push my mileage back up again. I'll have to see how I go of course, but I know that I really start to feel a strain when I get into the nineties. Given the number of races that I'm doing, I'll probably be able to test this out. 

Felt pretty good on my run this evening. Did three loops of Liberty Park and was able to speed up quite a bit the last 800m.

I had a weird tightness in my leg this morning that went away as I started to run. Some ligament that extends down the front of my leg was complaining when I brought my left foot back as if it was being hyperextended. It went away once I had started running and gone about 100meters though. I ran to Sugarhouse park and did two loops "fast" which turned out to be 11:32,11:27 or about 5:45 mile pace. It felt ok, but my legs were definitely quite fatigued. I then thought some and I realized that I had run 28.5 miles in a 24hour period. So that explains it.

PM I ran along the Shoreline trail a little. I felt a little pain in my heel for a couple minutes during the run. When I was done I found my arch was a little sore. Definitely still need to be icing and taking advil until it's totally better, but I'm not worried. I felt OK after 37 miles in two days, but my legs were certainly a little tired.

I ran up 1300S to the Hogle Zoo and then ran a 5K that approximated the running of the leopards course. Just went straight into it while running and managed 5:26,5:28,5:06 to give me 16 minutes for three miles and then I basically kept running as if nothing had happened, it was that easy. That last mile is FLYING, my effort was really not that hard and I definitely could have kept going for a while.

Just my normal premeet 7 mile loop. I still call it a premeet in my head when really its a prerace, but whatever. I felt very energetic at the start which surprised me, but then as the run went on I started to feel the fatigue in my legs. With an easy run this morning and no run this evening I should be ready for another hard effort tomorrow.

Had nice weather today, figured out early on that it would be shorts weather. Warmed up with Seth and Bryce. Seth was already warm due to his 9 miles already run that morning so we went a little faster than normal, but I'm not sure how much of a difference that made.

When I finished my warmup my legs felt fatigued. I thought that I'd be able to put out a good effort but that I was not about to do anything special. I was right.

We started out pretty slow. I wasn't interested in doing that so I decided that the front pack was at least going to run my pace so I went to the front and ran 5:36 for the first mile. I stole a glance behind me and saw that I had whittled it down...Seth, Jeff, Steve, Sasha, Fritz, and Bryce were hanging on behind me. Steve went to the front and picked up the pace a little. I felt that the surges were too fast for me but I went with them anyway. Finally Jeff made a move and got a gap with Seth. Steve, Fritz and I worked our way back up to them and we passed the 3 mile point together. Then Jeff and Seth surged again and I didn't even try to match them. I was hoping that Steve and Fritz would drop off and I'd be able to catch them. They did indeed fall off the pace but Fritz was still running much faster than me and continuously pulled away. I remain a few seconds behind Steve and just couldn't pull him back the rest of the way and I think he actually pulled away more towards the end.

Mile	Split	Cumulative	Pace
1	5:36	5:36	5:36
2	5:26	11:02	5:31
3	5:30	16:32	5:31
4	5:40	22:12	5:33
5	5:43	27:55	5:35
6	5:39	33:34	5:36
7	5:40	39:15	5:36
8	5:45	45:00	5:37
9	5:42	50:42	5:38
9.32	1:44	52:26	5:38

So from the splits we can see that I slowed down by about 10-15 seconds a mile when I let the leaders go. I was kind of cramping up during the middle part of the race but it went I away in mile 6, after that fatigue took over instead. The cramping usually happens if I go out too fast, but generally it doesn't last.

I cooled down with Allie afterwards for three miles. She was worried I was going to go too fast but she was close to dropping me! I was tired, which pleased me because it made me feel like I gave it all today, unlike last week. This race was also a good sign in terms of the progress I've made recently. I was 1:25 faster than last year and I beat several people that beat me then. There were some 4-5minute swings in fact, which is a pattern I've been seeing starting in October. I also confirmed what I thought about not being 20 second worse than Jeff over 10K, that race was an aberration.

In the afternoon, I ran 5.5 miles in Liberty Park.

I was exhausted at the end of yesterday and when I woke up I thought I was going to have difficulties on my long run. I actually felt pretty good though. This was definitely a slow long run, but that was what I had planned. I did the same 15.5 miles that I did last weekend. About three hours after I was done, I went to the U for my first frisbee game of the year. I was feeling pretty dead but I ran around alot and got some good sprints in.

Just did three loops of Liberty Park. Started out slow and ended quite fast. I feel pretty good now and ready for some more work over the next couple of days.

Did three loops of Sugarhouse park on the grass. Ran pretty slow for the grass loops. I had alot of aches and pains in my legs from playing frisbee for the first time in a while, but not as many as usual. I'm really tired right now, but I'll probably drag myself out again tonight.

PM Did three loops of Liberty park. I felt a little tight still, but i loosened up as the run went on.

AM Did two loops of Sugarhouse. It was incredibly windy, but fortunately it wasn't cold wind. I still have a definite tightness in my groin. I felt this in Fall '07 and I remember it went away with stretching. The tightness goes away when I warmup, but I still may lay off of
any intense speed work this week.

PM I ran the Shoreline trail to the zoo. The trail is now completely dry. It was really windy, which probably wasn't good for my leg. It felt fine to begin with but I became aware of it a little after about 30minutes.

AM 5.6 A short loop around the "block" i.e to 2100S and up to 1300E.

PM 10.5 Did two loops of Sugarhouse Park, felt better and better as the run went on and would have tried to pick it up alot if not for my groin. It definitely felt better today, but I'm still not totally comfortable pushing it. I'm content to just get some nice mileage in. Recruitment weekend is coming up and I'm hosting someone, so I will cut the mileage a little the next two days and hopefully it will be better when I come back.

PM Ran the shoreline trail in the evening. The mud was just that right consistency to stick to your shoes and make it almost impossible to run. It took quite a while to clean them off afterwards.

Didn't have much time due to recuiting weekend activities, but that's what I planned on so I still got my mileage for the week.

Did the full Jordan River trail (To Murray and back) for the first time in a while. It was extremely windy on the way out which was awesome because I was blown home the last 4 miles. I had to stop and stretch out my IT band a couple of times. The slow pace didn't seem to bother my groin at all, but now I have a few aches and pains after my first 20-miler since the 2nd week of January.

Just an easy run in the evening.

AM Did my secondary long run today. Felt pretty good, but my leg still is not right somehow, there is still some tightness in my groin and it is getting better very slowly. I tried to pick up the pace at the end and it felt good to begin with until I tightened up. Not particularly painful, but definitely noticeable.

PM Just tried to go run fast in Liberty Park. There was some localized tightness at the base of my groin but it was not very painful. It went away as the run went on very gradually and I began to feel more comfortable running fast. It's a little encouraging and indicates no major injury. I'm concerned that time off would make it worse (because it would be tight, this is what happens in my experience) so i'm just trying to do what I can without it getting worse. I did compromise by doing one lap fewer.

Two loops of Liberty Park on the grass. A similar pattern as normal. Some minor aches and pains that come and go. This time my left IT band felt tight, but there was no rubbing at the knee so I didn't care. It seemed to get better rather suddenly during the run. I'm wondering if maybe running in neutral shoes is the problem...maybe I should do 30miles a week in neutral shoes or something. The problems I'm having seemed to start with frisbee, but I've played under those exact circumstances before (high mileage week, long run right before playing) so maybe neutral shoes made me more susceptable. Also, everything seems to be in my pelvis and I know that I have slight alignment issues. So maybe even though I don't pronate, shoes with more support take care of the crooked left leg.
 

I tried to do a hard run today to simulate my race on Saturday. If it goes anything like today, I will at least have lots of people to run with because I'll be back in the pack! I started off at a decent pace. I wasn't wearing a watch because it broke, but I know that I have certain "gears" that I can slip into and I was in 5:35 mile pace gear, which felt ok to begin with, but I wasn't properly warmed up and my legs cramped up. I slowed down running uphill and then my quads cramped up badly when I got to the top and tried to increase the pace. I stopped and strectched them out,which helped out the tightness but then they felt strangely weak. I finished out the run feeling a little better as I went on. I may have to really cut back on the mileage however, much as I did in August and September when things were so bad I thought I was anemic.

Did 3 loops of Libery Park. I really want to run well tomorrow so I limited the intensity, but I was not feeling very good anyway. I didn't feel good before the 15K either and that went well, so we'll see. I'm going to start out slow.

Well I'm very, very suprised by this result. This was, I believe, my fourth best race ever and it comes in unexpected circumstances. The only better races: 1. Boston Marathon 2:40,2 Seattle Half 1:13, 3 32:30 10K. Anyway...

Did a two mile warmup with the bloggers: Jon, Walter and Twinkie. I was feeling Ok at the slow pace but I was feeling unsure. My legs felt good enough that I believed I would finish, I just thought it might get ugly.

On the starting line I see that my toughest competitor will probably be Walter unless Jon is feeling a whole heckuva alot better than he was at the 10K (he told me in the warmup that he ran miles 8-9 in like 10:10 last year, uh-oh). Then with 5 minutes to go, Trevor Ball runs up to the start line and I curse under my breath. We all ease into it at the start. I follow the same strategy as the 10K, slow up the first hill then taking a big lead by using the downhill very agressively. I regret doing this almost immediately as I feel myself cramping up as the road flattened and I relax. I'm unconcerned if the field catches me, as long as they are working hard to do it. Right at 2 miles I'm joined by Paul Pilkington and he runs behind me for about a mile before he starts to drop back again.

Miles 4,5,6,7 have uphills of varying difficulty. My plan was to relax on the steepest of the uphills and use them as a break. I was certain that Trevor Ball would pass me before long and I decided that I should try to make it hard for him to catch me. I was very pleased that I was breathing very hard on the hills as that meant that I was getting the max effort from my body. At 10K, I passed an aid station and people were making comments that implied I had built a huge lead. I looked back and saw someone around 20seconds behind me in a white singlet. I assumed it was Trevor Ball. I felt that if I could maintain my lead during the 7th mile then he would have alot of trouble catching me on the downhill. I really slowed down alot on the steepest part of the 7th mile and I kept thinking I heard footsteps behind me, but I refused to look back again. When the road flattened out from really steep to just uphill I took off. My legs felt very tired but cooperative. When I passed the 7 mile mark my confidence sawed and I sped up to probably around 5:00-5:10 pace. I risked a look back on one long stretch and could see that I had extended my lead. At that point the sun came out and I took off my mittens. When I passed the 8th mile mark I began to think that I might actually win. I just kept thinking that I didn't want to let anyone get to see the lights from the lead cop car. I was pushing myself very hard and m breathing was so hard I was getting a little dizzy. When I got to 9 miles I still thought I was going to lose, I hadn't looked back for about 1.5 miles. I climbed the final hill in the 10th mile as hard as I could thinking "I should at least give myself a chance". I headed downhill and passed by the main pack as they were hitting 10K, one of the organizers took a picture of me and i remember thinking "ha! I'm not going to win! Take a picture of the next guy". As I turned into the parking lot I got a view of the empty road behind me. At that point I knew that someone would have to run about 50second quarter to beat me (at most) and so I knew I had it won. Only at that point did I start to think about what my time was going to be and I was shocked to see the clock read 58mins. I crossed the line and looked back and saw no one.

A full minute later Walter came in. That's who was chasing me, not Trevor! The mere threat of Trevor was enough to propel me! Great race for Walter as he also broke 1 hour. Trevor came in 2 minutes later followed by Tim, Jon and Jeff Mcarthur all bunched up. Tim had been in contention for third but had taken two wrong turns!

Cooled down with the same guys for four miles. Then I headed to the Subway to get a 5 dollar foot loooooong! Then I went to the track team locked room and took a shower again. Good times.

Well I was thinking I might take today off, but my race yesterday boosted my confidence. I felt great on the run today. My left IT band was tight, but my groin seems to be much better as do my butt muscles. I probably ran a little bit too fast today but it was nothing crazy. I took an ice cold shower afterwards aimed at the base of my spine...we'll see whether or not that helps.

Did three loops of Liberty Park. I was feeling a little sore but mostly OK. I gradually sped up as the run went on as usual.

Ran on the Shoreline trail above the University. I was very tight to start this run but I loosened up considerably as it went on and I was able to inject quite a bit of speed. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to do a harder run.

AM Did loops of Sugarhouse park on the grass. I did the entire 10.5 mile run hard. I wasn't wearing a watch so I don't know exactly how fast but it was a very good effort judging by my breathing. I could not have even thought of doing this effort 2 weeks ago, so clearly the slightly lower mileage last week has let me recover, somewhat. The pain in my butt and groin are almost gone and my IT band and calves felt much looser. I'm still not perfect , but I don't need to be perfect right now so it's all good.

PM Did three loops of Liberty Park to show off my new "built for speed" hairdo. The weather kind of demanded it. I helped my stylist with her ecology homework. Anyway my legs were tired on the second run. It's hard to go fast on the woodchips anyway, but it was especially hard after the morning run. While running I started counting how many people I saw going the same direction as me and how many were going the opposite direction. I found that it was about an 11:1 ratio in favor of coming at me. So assuming I'm going 7min pace, that means that the masses are going 8:24 pace or a disproportionate number of people run counter-clockwise. I was counting cyclists and roller bladers so it is possible, but it would appear that most people choose to just run counterclockwise, because that is the direction the cars have to go.

AM Secondary long run to 2700S,up to 2000E back by the football stadium, down South Temple and then back to Liberty Park. I didn't run all that fast felt pretty tired, but I felt even less "injured" than yesterday. PM Did three loops of Liberty Park. It's always nice when people comment how fast you are when you're just jogging. I picked it up for the final 800 just to get some speed in.

Two loops of Liberty Park this morning. I felt pretty good today, much better than yesterday. It's been so nice running this week and I've been feeling so much better that I totally went back on my "it's ok to just run 70miles this week" plan. I'm going to try to do an actual workout tomorrow for the first time in a while and then we'll see what's up.

AM 10.1 I was going to do a workout involving multiple loops of Liberty Park, but I ended up changing my plans. I did two loops hard. I didn't have a watch but I'm pretty sure the pace was where I would have wanted (low 17 for 3 miles on woodchips), but it wa really hard on my quads. I decided to finish up my run on concrete so my quads would be working less hard relatively. I ran easy up 1300S to 1300E then ran hard all the way to 2100S then turned West ad kept running hard all the way to 500E (2 miles hard in probably around 10:30, downhill, this is an effort-based estimate). Then I ran easy to 1700S and 300E, before one final burst going from 1700S to 1300S in probably around 2:40 (4:40 mile pace) which was very hard.

In summary 2 miles easy, 3miles at 5:40, 1.6 miles easy, 2miles at 5:15, 1 mile easy, 967 meters at 4:40 pace=10.1 (trust me it does)

PM Three loops of Liberty park at a steady pace. I saw Bill Cobbler out setting up the Salt Lake Marathon course and he told me what my competition will be next Saturday. Teren, A. Tomas, Seth, Trevor Ball, Joe Wilson to name a few. Well then, I may have to cut my miles this week to be ready, it's not every week you get to face that kind of field, but then again, maybe I'll be out of my league no matter what I do.

Did the Jordan River 20 miler. It was very windy but not too cold. I was kind of paranoid that a storm was going to start while I was running and then I would have been very angry. I was only wearing short-short running shorts. Of course the good thing was that the wind was at my pack the last 4-5 miles and I ended with two miles of base pace followed by 3 miles at marathon pace followed by a very fast last mile. I still don't have a watch so I don't know the times but it felt fast. I was pleased that I seemed to be able to hold the pace despite being tired. I also felt much, much better than on my 20 miler two weeks ago. I didn't have to stop and stretch this time.

Is it really going to be snowing this week? Alright fine, that's fine. Hmm, I'm in a crabby mood because my housemate shows his appreciation of me making dinner for him by having yelled conversations on speakerphone so I can't get any work done! Grrr. Anyway....I did 7 miles easy today.

Did three loops of Sugarhouse Park on the grass. It's such a lovely park to run around, I love it. I was feeling tired heading up to the park on 2100S. I felt much better once I got on the grass however and the run seemed to go by quite fast. I usually don't have a sense of smell but today I did for some reason and I noticed how good Sizzler (it's next to Sugarhouse park) smells for the first time.

AM Three loops of Liberty Park

PM Ran to the zoo from school and did 3 by mile along the running of the leopards 5k course.

0-1.04 (5:28, 5:15 pace)

1.04-1.95 (4:42, 5:09 pace)

1.95-2.98 (5:07, 4:58 pace)

Total 2.98 in 15:17 (5:07 pace)

Felt pretty good. Took 2 minutes between the first two and then one minute between the second and third. I could have done the whole run continuously I felt. Followed it up with 3 200s on the East High Track.

Did 9.4 miles at a pretty good pace (6:20-30?). It was cold and kind of windy but I felt strong the whole way. I've decided that the bicycle police on the U of U campus are some of the most wonderful people on the planet, mainly because they amuse me. When I got to the math department today one of them was talking urgently into a radio. He was going very slowly so he was wobbling alot and going around in circles. Juxtapositions are funny.

Three loops of Liberty Park plus some strides. The park was really empty this morning! I guess I normally run there in the afternoon and on weekends but still, would have been a good time for a speed workout. Of course being a lazy grad student I started my run at 9am, the real runners (Allie!) were out at 6-7am. I got home and put on my flats and did some strides ranging from race pace to all out. I can definitely still sprint fast despite having to go a couple of weeks without strides. I always seem to maintain that top gear. The one to work on is the "quick, light and loose" pace that you can actually use at the end of a race. I can only hit my top speed comfortably for 70meters or so, which is pretty normal I guess.

First off, let me say that this was a very well run race, especially for the first time and having the start and finish in different spots. Next, I'll add that this was probably the most underrated race on the calendar this year. I jogged over to the high school then took one of the shuttles to the start line and did two more miles of warmup. I was feeling really good by the time the race started. Teren takes it out really fast (shocker!) and I quickly lose contact. However there's a pretty steep downhill about 200meters in and I use it to catch back up to the leaders. I feel pretty comfortable and manage to stay with them as we climb the one hill in the whole course. I should point out that the leaders at this point were Teren, Seth W., Seth Pilkington and Hobie Call. Just before the mile I back off and let them go. Alexander Tomas passes me but I can't go with him either. I turn onto Wakara and Nick McCombs passes me, I manage to hang on to him for about a quarter mile. It gets tough when we turn onto Foothill, because the road is now flat. I'm feeling pretty good but I also feel like I'm running in a flat out sprint. Finally we turn onto Sunnyside and two more guys come up beside me. One is Dennis Simonaitis Nathan Hornok I think (geez this race is stacked), the other I don't know (find out later it is the blog's own Thatcher Olson). I stay with them all the way down Sunnyside but at this point my calves are beginning to hurt alot and when they surge with 600meters left I can't go. I come onto the track and feel that with my big kick and can catch them but my calves tell me this might result in injury so I just gradually pick it up. Vance Twitchell passes me with about 150meters left, then I see the finish clock reading 14:48!. I immediately accelerate to full speed and blow by him, finishing just over 15minutes. I didn't really feel tired when I was done, my calves were just in alot of pain. I should probably invest in some new flats. I'm glad I started out fast, I knew from running the course that a fast start wouldn't really hurt me. By my calculations, taking into account altidude and downhill this is worth about a 15:12 5k on a track at sea level. So a 16 second PR off of only marathon training...pretty good. The IAAF score is 774 which makes it my 3rd best race ever, behind only my marathon and half marathon PRs.

Results

1. Seth Pilkington 13:56
2. Hobie Call 14:05
3. Teren Jameson 14:10
4. Seth Wolde 14:29
5.Aleksandar Tomas 14:39
6 Nick McCombs 14:49
7 Nathan Hornok 14:50
8 Thatcher Olsen 14:53
9 James Moore (Me) 15:03
10 Vance Twitchell 15:05

Point of Reference 2008 Heart of Holladay

Did my usual somewhat abbreviated long run along the Jordan River. I was very sore to begin with but then felt better as I warmed up. The last couple of miles I felt very tired and hungry. I was up for about 24straight hours on Saturday...a race, a full day of work, a date. The snow storm gave me an excuse to sleep in until noon so I still got the necessary sleep. Main focus for this week will be recovery. I'll probably keep the mileage in the 80s and maybe do one workout.

Pushed for time today and also still very sore. I decided to onl do two loops of Liberty Park.

Definite improvement today. I really need new flats. The pair I raced in have practically no heal, which works out fine for me on a flat course, but not going downhill. I did 10.5 in the morning, just two loops of Sugarhouse. Then I got in another 7 in the afternoon.

Felt like I had a ton of energy this morning. I woke up at 5am and decided to do my Jordan 20 mile loop. I threw in several random surges in the middle and ended up running the whole thing in 2:10 (6:30 pace) and still felt good. I grabbed some snacks and water bottles and put them in my bag and then did the whole thing again, stopping occasionally to eat. Completed the second loop in 2:35 not including stops. Now I feel exhausted. I hope I can recover in time for Saturday!

Hmm ok or was it 10.5 miles very slowly...yes I think it was that instead. Sorry, I get confused sometimes.

Two loops of Liberty Park in the morning.

I did two loops of Sugarhouse in the evening. It suddenly became really nice for about 15 minutes during my run, but then it started to get cold rapidly. I felt much better running today and my legs were pretty fresh, but I'll need to be feeling much better to run a half on Saturday. I'll probably be fine.

Three loops of Liberty Park. I still don't feel good and I'm not sure about tomorrow.

Everything just kind of went wrong today. I got essentially no sleep for starters. I also wasn't feeling good as I'm still not recovered from last week. I thought I would just see how it went and start relaxed.

I felt that I DID start relaxed. I was easily keeping up with the front pack to begin with and thought that I had 3rd place locked up as my breathing was much less labored than either Albert Wint's or Steve Ashbaker's (the duo that fought it out for third). However, my calves were tight after 400m, loosened up briefly but then went into lockdown at mile 6. I felt like I was running in sand the rest of the way. The pain in my calves was not strong, but the tightness upset my form enough to make running very unpleasant. I really hate to give up on a race and until I got to mile 8 I held out hope that I could rally and get third (I had already dropped back to 7th at this point). When the wind hit, these thoughts evaporated.

With 1 mile to go Jeff Macarthur passed me and I decided that I was going to swallow my pride and put up a good effort to beat him. I don't think it's fair to your competitors to shut it down when things are going poorly, so I went back and forth with him a little. He got ahead of me with about 600 left and I couldn't shut it down with the kick. He was very excited about his race so that was good at least. Allie also had a great result. I'm not really too bummed because I felt fresh and strong, I just wasn't ready for a half marathon today. I'm certainly going to run the SLC half now!

Really wanted to do a long run today but I thought it would be wiser to take it easy. I feel better than I did last Sunday, but even though it was slow yesterday took alot out of me. Running around Liberty Park I kind of laughed at the thought that I ran a half marathon yesterday with legs as tight as they are. I know I've said they have felt better each successive day, but they were INCREDIBLY bad to begin with. I could barely walk after I was done. I can definitely still get mileage in but that's about it. We'll have to see how this goes.

Did 4 in the morning around Liberty Park

10.5 in the evening around Sugarhouse. My calves are still tight, it's getting rather boring. I'm still working hard on my runs though and I'm sticking to the soft stuff.

Did 4! loops of Sugarhouse park on the grass. I wanted to keep my long run on a softer surface.

AM Did two loops of Sugarhouse. Threw in some good surges as the run went on and found my legs complained much less than on Saturday. I think I'll do a more organized fartlek type run this evening. Plus there's going to be some good pontificating!

PM Did seven miles with about 3 of them at a faster pace. My calves felt fine but I felt pretty tired overall which is completely understandable given my mileage the last couple of days. I can run reasonable fast (like sub 7) everyday if I'm under 90mpw pace I think, but I have to start measuring my effort when I log 46.5 miles in three days (which I just did!).

Now for the pontification, I'm not sure what my point is...

Anyway I was reading the responses to Jeff's Provo half-winning race report and specifically what Sasha said about the American collegiate system.  I am one of the few on here (I think) who actually ran for four years in college (plus 4 years in high school) and took no break after graduating aside from the break I would normally take after the end of a season. I have continued to improve at pretty much the same rate so far. In fact, the longer I run the more 'talent' I seem to discover.

When I look at how I did in high school cross, it's kind of laughable. I ran 18:04 at the WA state meet my senior year for 110th in 3A. My college coaches for a while thought I was a headcase because I seemed to fold in big races, they cited that state meet as an example. I told them that at the time it was a good race for me and they were floored. They couldn't believe that I could have been that slow in high school. Was it for lack of effort? NO! Because I had no talent? Apparently not, as I am now faster than probably 100 of those 110 guys. Because the coaching was bad? I don't think so, we were a very succesful team.

Maybe the point is that you can't tell who is going to be good and who is not based upon how well we do in High School. I watched footlocker this year, I decided I could have been competitive in that race and finished in the middle of the pack judging be the difficulty of the course and the times. So what? High schoolers aren't that good in the 5K in general and so it's difficult to see what someone's potential is because everyone is so far from being maxed out. However the people who show promise as freshman in HS get more attention and thus run more so they'll most likely be the best sophomores and so on. People who are the best in high school go to the best colleges and put in more miles and make a bigger commitment. Those who have made it by the time college ends go on to become professionals.

So essentially you will have no reason to push yourself to uncover your talent or be able to justify the time it takes unless you've already come pretty far. This doesn't just apply to running but alot of things. The difference with running is that it necessarily takes alot of time. You're not going to peak at age 20, but if you've only run, say, 14:30 at that point then you might not think you'll ever amount to much if you run D1. There's this kind of false assumption that the running is limited to within the scope of the 4 years.

I'm not sure any of this makes sense. Maybe I'll write more tomorrow and it will be coherent.

AM tried to run this morning but my toe was hurting just a bit. I knew that i wouldnt be able to ice so i just walked home. It was good because I was really tired all day.

PM I felt very tired but my foot felt fine. I tried to run hard and was mostly sucessful, but again I was very tired. Did i mention im tired.

Two loops of Sugarhouse in the morning.

I wanted to do two runs today but I woke up extremely hungover, which was surprising to me as I'd just had one glass of wine with my dinner. The headache got worse as the morning went on and was accompanied by some nausea. I don't often drink, but clearly I have to be careful when my mileage is getting high. My roommate also kept me up talking on his speakerphone at 3am and was very angry at me when I dared ask him to turn off the speaker. This combined with last weekend has me certain that I'm moving out at the end of the semester.

Anyway, I ended up doing a slightly longer run in the afternoon. I did three loops of Sugarhouse at a pretty brisk pace. Probably around 5:50s to start, I think i slowed a little on the uphills when I got to Sugarhouse. I ran slower on the way back but really picked it up the last half mile.
 

I meant to do this long run quite fast, but my legs were dead to begin with. I started to do much better about 7 miles in. I had a headwind the last 4 miles so I couldn't close as well as I normally do, but I tried my best. I should really get a watch so I know how fast I'm going these runs.

I developed a splitting headache this afternoon and by the time I got home it was so bad I could barely think. I went running anyway and it magically went away. In fact, I felt better running than I have in weeks. I felt nice and loose and fresh. I plan to do a proper threshold run tomorrow so I kept it relaxed, but it was nice to feel good again. I did some strides at the end of my run. Then my headache returned after dinner.

AM I did a preview of the Salt Lake Half Marathon course at about half marathon pace (I still don't have a watch so I don't know how far that is). I only did from the 2 mile mark to the 10 mile mark. I noticed three things: I felt pretty good, miles 3-10 have alot of downhill,the course as marked goes on a street that doesn't exist.

PM I did three loops of Liberty park. Did it pretty fast,but I am fast now so it's probably cool, but I should chill out the rest of the week.

AM Did two loops of Sugarhouse park nice and slooooow.

PM It started snowing during the day and I was planning to go at school. I didn't have snow worthy gear so i went to the track. I had planned on doing about 8 miles but I am NOT going to count to 60 laps so I just decided that I was going to run for 52 minutes and presumably run 6:30mile pace. I usually run much faster than that on flat ground so it might be an underestimate, boo hoo. I ran a lot of miles today so the next two days will have to be light mileage days.

Went to pick up my packet at the expo for the SLC marathon. My goodness it was hard to find! No signs or anything. Compared to the seattle marathon this was pretty surprising. Anyway I got some GU finally and a new running watch! I got home and did 7 miles at 6:35 pace.

Day before the SLC marathon. I'm doing the half tomorrow so I just did three loops of Liberty Park. I saw a Kenyan doing his run going the opposite direction. We were dressed the same and going almost the same speed (he was going a little faster) it was kind of cool. I wanted to go talk to him but I'm kind of shy about going up and talking to random people in the park.

I've been getting kind of anxious about this race and I've had a number of dreams where I was running the course and had to stop and tie my shoe or got lost or ended up getting passed by people but one really took the cake. I had it a few days after reading the news about Devine racing on Letsrun.com.

It was a long dream, I was running the full marathon in this version. It was rather mundane to begin with. I was running along in third in for awhile but I know that I had started out too fast. With only about 2 or 3 miles left I started to gain on the second place guy who was catching up to Sasha who was leading. Second place guy was wearing a hat with earflaps like Bill Cobbler might wear. Anyway he looks back and sees me and takes off but I catch both him and Sasha. After passing Sasha I realize that the course is unmarked and I have no idea where to go next. I have a copy of the course map in my back pocket so I pull it out and read the instructions for the last two miles. They are truly bizarre. I realize that the course is supposed to go on this one trail that you can't see until your on it and the only way to get on it is to run a loop of this park. Ear flap guy is confused by the instructions and I'm running the loop and trying to explain at the same time. Meanwhile Sasha is using the bathroom (not a vpb but an a(ctual)pb, I know it's unrealistic). I finish the loop and the trail appears while earflap guy is still trying to read the map. Sasha emerges from the bathroom to help but at this point the 4th place guy (white t-shirt and blue running shorts, I know him from somewhere but I don't know where exactly) finally catches us and sees me on the trail and just jumps in behind me. I say "hey you've got to run the loop, no fair" and he says "just try and stop me" basically. So he sits on me as we go into downtown and now we are suddenly on the top floor of an office building and we have to run down all the stairs. The whole way down he's grabbing onto me slowing me down because he can't keep up (basically he's a cheater). All of his antics allow a 5th guy to catch up (Bruce McDowell, great masters runner from Washington and head coach at Cedarcrest High School). Tshirtguy decides to run behind Bruce instead. Bruce had been kindly pushing the door open, but Tshirtguy tries to close it in my face. I push ahead of him then slam the next door we come to in his face as hard as I can. I feel a little bad about my poor sportsmanship, but he was getting ridiculous. Both Bruce and I walk through the lobby of the office building (as instructed by the course map). The next set of instruction was something like "cross the street, turn left and look for the stairs, they should be easy to find") The road is very busy, so Bruce and I cross it carefully one lane at a time. I figure I should be able to outkick him so I'm not too concerned about the slow pace. On the other side of the street there is a staircase that's marked by a bunch ribbons (Thanks Devine Racing!). Bruce heads down the stairs but the ribbons get tangled with the ribbon that I'm already wearing. (The race organizers gave me a ribbon instead of a bib because they were out. However  this wasn't a ribbon like in a Miss America pageant but rather a giant tangled mess encircling my whole torso. Tshirtguy had been using it to hold onto me.) I finally get myself free but now Sean Sundwall has caught up to me and is also down the stairs. At the bottom I can see the finish line banner about 400metes away. But between me and it is a huge crowd of spectators cheering us on. Unfortunately they are all in the way. I start my kick but there are too many people in the way and I have to keep swerving. Somehow this isn't bothering Bruce or Sean. Then I look over to my right and see Sasha, earflap guy and tshirtguy cutting effortlessly through the crowd. Distraught I finish 6th, money and prizes go to the top 5.

Oh boy what a turnaround! I knew all week that I was going to be 100% for Saturday, I just had a good feeling in my legs and I was right. It was a great day for me physically but I know I could have run faster if things had gone differently. The circumstances were what they were and I made the most of it...so I'm happy and I got a very nice looking PR!

 The night before I had a terrible stomach ache and I had to go puke in the middle of the night, but then I felt fine. I left my house at around 5:45 am and jogged over to the TRAX. It took forever to get up there and get ready so I couldn't properly go to the bathroom. I did get one GU down though.

I barely made the start and pushed my way to the front. I knew I needed more time but I was just antsy to get going. Teren, Alex and Nate H. all took off at the beginning. I was just going to run with the lead marathoners but there was no headwind and I felt that I could go faster so I did. I started to pull away from the lead marathoners and pretty much flew through the first 4 miles. Then I turned around at Sugarhouse and headed uphill. I saw a pretty good group of half marathoners chasing me so I knew they would catch me as I needed to relax due to my shins cramping (this happens every race but it goes away). Anyway Sasha,BJ and Jason Schoenfeld all passed me in mile 7 and started to pull away. I'm not sure where it happened, but at some point between mile 8 and mile 10, I started to feel really good but I had to go to the bathroom really bad. I had Sasha in my sights going all the way up State Street but couldn't pull him in. I was dissapointed, because this was similar to what happened in Seattle, where I felt I couldn't really push myself hard. I knew that if I kept up the current pace that I would PR so that kept me motivated. I ended up with a 1:11:36 (it should have been faster but I stopped at the banner then walked over the timing mat, whoops!).

Mile	Time	Cumulative	Pace
1	5:12	5:12	5:12
2	5:16	10:28	5:14
3	5:19	15:47	5:16
4	5:16	21:03	5:16
5	5:39	26:42	5:20
6	5:26	32:08	5:21
7	5:17	37:25	5:21
8	5:26	42:52	5:21
9	5:29	48:21	5:23
10	5:43	54:04	5:24
11	5:33	59:37	5:25
12	5:59	1:05:36	5:28
13.1	6:00	1:11:36	5:28

Estimated Splits

8k 26:32 Hahaha 9 seconds off my PR!

10k 33:17

12k 40:21 PR!

15k 50:14 PR!

After I was done I ran back to Liberty Park with Sashs and we waited for Jeff, who was running the marathon. He was clearly crashing when he got to us (we were standing at about mile 23), but was solidly in 5th. The three of us then ran to the finish together, we tried to give him Gatorade and help him cut through the half marathoners and he ended up holding on to fifth. Then I drank some milk (probably not a good choice) and started walking along the course looking for Allie. I didn't have to go very far as I saw her about 800m from the finish. I ran with her a little, she seemed to have a good finish. She claimed she felt terrible. After running through the finish for a third time I realized I was now exhausted. I then spent the afternoon looking at apartments and I could barely stand by the end. All of my housemates had a dinner party but they made me cook for myself and then clean up after them...even though I was exhausted from my day. Yeah...this is why I'm moving out.

Did my normal 20miler today. It was essentially perfect conditions for a long run. Sunny, nice cool breeze...lovely. I started off really slow (close to 8 min pace). I took a Gu at about mile 10 to see how it would affect me (Vanilla Flavor). I was able to eat it while still running and without drinking any water (all of the water fountains were off). By mile 11 I felt it kick in and I ran fast from mile 11 to mile 17. I started to feel pretty tired so I ran slow from mile 17 to the end. My total pace was probably a little under 7:30 (I forgot to start my watch until 5k).

I swear it always seems like I round my runs to the nearest half mile but that's just what happens naturally. This one was 4.52! Anyway I did an easy run in the sun around campus in the afternoon. Pretty sweet. A bunch of latina women pulled up next to me in research park and yelled at me to eat something. Yeah...this is my life.

I did three loops of Sugarhouse park. I started off really slowly. Probably 7:30 pace at the beginning, but I ended up averaging just over 7 for the entire run. I felt pretty good until I came down the steep hill near 13th S and 13th E then my quads let me know they were still a little sore. I haven't really decided what kind of workout I want to do tomorrow with a 30K this weekend. I'll probably try to inject some faster stuff if my body can handle it. I finished up this run with a sprint then jogged the last 100 meters or so.

AM Ran to Liberty park and did 4 woodchip loops (Easy,Hard,Easy,Hard). The two hard ones were both 8:02 (5:20 pace) which is very fast for a windy woodchip trail let me tell you. I was pleased with the workout after waking up with a splitting headache

PM Ran in the mountains above the U. I kept it pretty easy except for a few 30 second stretches as my legs felt pretty tired.

Really quite tired today. Ran to Sugarhouse and did two loops easy on the grass. Some guy asked if I was Seth Wold! I thanked him for the compliment. Average pace for the run was just about 7 minutes/mile. I just want to feel close enough to my best Saturday that it will actually be useful test for me.

I felt some tendonitis on the lower partof my shin last night and it presented itself while I ran this morning. I know from experience not to mess with this injury so I walked home. I walked to and from school instead to get some exercise.(3 miles walking total)

So I decided to give the 30K a go anyway. I knew there was a chance that the tendonitis might be gone. When I got up it felt fine and I had planned on running a few steps to see if it was 100% better but I overslept so I went straight from bed to Walter's car. I did a warmup 20minutes before and it was unclear whether or not I would be able to run. I decided to start anyway (which was really dumb,in hindsight) and made it two miles when it started to get a little painful and I could tell that it was only going to get worse. So I stepped off the road and jogged slowly back to the start. Basically, I realized that I had just run the easiest flat 5:39 mile of my life, that I'm in incredible shape and that I should live to fight another day.

Took an extra day off to get properly healed.

Ran an easy 7 in the evening. Tendonitis pain seems to have been nipped in the bud. Taking a day off kind of throws me out of whack and I ended up having only eaten a single banana prior to my run. Tomorrow I plan to do a hard 20miler to make up for missing the 30K. I will get to see how well a 15hour carbo load works!

So the plan today was to try to do a hard 20miler to see where I am. I made it about 6 miles in before calling it quits. There was a 20mph head wind battering me straight on and it was proving too much. It was also making me lose water rapidly. I was also feeling the affects of my accidental fast from yesterday. I just finished the run out as a regular long run. Oh well.

AM Did two loops of Liberty Park. I had some random tight feelings that came and went. I ended up running this faster than I should have because I started too late. Averaged 6:45 pace for 10.5 miles.

 PM Did my first hard 10miler (that wasn't a race) for quite some time. I did my usual 9.7 mile loop. The loop is divided into four segments somewhat arbitrarily. The first 3 miles is quite downhill and I did it in 16:30(5:30 pace) which is my best time ever for that segment. The next 1.85 miles has a steady climb and I did that in 11:13(6:03 pace). The next segment is the "death segment". Start out flat but turns into a never ending ascent. It has one descent which is way too steep to be helpful I did this in 17:44(6:03 pace). Each of the first three times was the fastest I'd ever done. Normally I slow down on one segment so stringing together three fast ones back to back (as the back end of a double to boot) was really good. I kind of staggered through the last segment in 11:11(5:44 pace) which is not particularly good. I was tired for sure, but there was also a tough headwind to contend with. Final time was 56:39 (5:50 pace), which beats my previous best by 30seconds. It felt pretty tough though.
 

Oh man oh man oh man. Tough day physically. Whenever I have a day with an unusual schedule, I tend to end up not eating nearly enough and it comes back to bite me...no pun intended. Did just 4 miles in the morning. Then I walked all over SLC looking at places to live. Then I walked home had a bit of lunch, then walked to the train station...went to Sandy and walked to the Wasatch running center. I finally got some good flats (adizero!) and I really like them. Then I came home, realized I had just walked at least 5miles and promptly crashed out on my bed. I shook myself awake, pulled on my shoes and ran to Sugarhouse and did three loops. When I finally left the park, I felt wiped out, like I was finishing out a particularly brutal 20miler (but it was only 12.5miles!). phew

Did two loops of Sugarhouse in the morning. Felt really tight but not too tired. I wanted to run again in the afternoon, but I had to go see a guy about an apartment I want to get. He ended up flaking out so that kind of sucked. It was probably for the best that I didn't run anyway.

So again it wasn't really a race. (I did this last year too.) It's pretty cool to see how far I've come in the last year. I really wasn't feeling that fresh today whereas last year I took 4 easy days leading up to the 20miler. Due to my lack of freshness I didn't really start off all that fast. I actually had a tough time finding my rhythm. This was partially due to an upset stomach and maybe also due to the wind which was a slight factor at the beginning (the stretch from 5k-10k is very exposed). Even at the slowish pace I started to fade past 10miles. At about 11.5 miles I took a GU which seemed to help. I took a second at mile 17 and I ended up finding the strength to close in 5:32 (for real!). I actually felt pretty decent when I was all finished. I learnt today that I need to take a GU a little bit earlier although hopefully on race day I'll feel a little bit fresher. Overall I was 7 seconds a mile faster than last year, which is almost exactly what I need to break 2:30. Last year at Boston, I was on 2:35 pace before I started to fade past mile 20. If I'm 10seconds a mile faster and I can maintain then I at least have a shot at cracking 2:30 although I estimate I'm in 2:32-2:35 shape right now.

Distance	Split	Pace	Cum. Time	Cum Pace
3.1	18:31	5:58	18:31	5:58
6.2	18:35	6:00	37:06	5:59
7.35	6:52	5:58	43:58	5:59
8.65	7:50	6:02	51:48	5:59
9.25	3:33	5:55	55:21	5:59
12.55	20:22	6:10	1:15:43	6:02
14.4	11:00	5:58	1:26:43	6:01
16.05	9:53	5:59	1:36:36	6:01
19	17:30	5:56	1:54:06	6:00
20	5:32	5:32	1:59:38	5:59

 

Ran 7 miles kind of easy. There was a pretty sweet storm that passed over the valley while I was running. I love being from Seattle. I was running through the neighbourhood shirtless verily humming to myself while all the other runners I saw looked miserable huddled in rain jackets.

AM Did two loops of Sugarhouse. Typical of the last couple of days, I felt a little sluggish to start and much better. I've been having some shin/calf tightness that bugs me a little to begin with.

PM Did a 4.5 mile loop on campus probably faster than necessary. I also signed up for St George although I'm not sure I want to do it this year. If I get in that would probably mean either no Boston for next year or I'll have to not take St George as seriously as I've taken other marathons.

Ran through South Salt Lake, Sugarhouse, by the zoo, research park, Liberty Park. Nice scenic run. Ran the last 7 miles or so at about 6:30 mile pace (pretty downhill).

AM Finished my last school assignment today! Sheesh, I'm 23, I shouldn't have "homework" anymore. That's going to be a requirement for next semester, no "homework" just "work". Anyway didn't really get enough sleep but got myself going with 5.5 in the morning with a few hard strides at the end.

PM Didn't drink enough water during the day because I forgot my water bottle. I should have gone home but I wanted to do a trail run from school. It was me vs the mountain bikers and I'm happy to say that I destroyed that them, but its not really a fair fight up a trail that steep. I ran on the shoreline trail going north from the med school, turning around where it meets up with City Creek trail and black mountain trail. Felt pretty fatigued afterwards, muscles are OK, just generally wanted to rest. Just got to try to squeeze out a couple more tough weeks here and avoid falling off the razor edge.

So I just realized I've been skimping. I've been leaving off .1 miles from a bunch of my runs. I could be out 4, 5 maybe even 6 miles for the year! I always knew something was up. I would think "that sure felt like a long 10.5 miles" now I know it was really 10.6! Anyway. I did 10.6 today thinking "marathon pace" to myself. I ran 62:11 which is 5:52 per mile. This includes quite a bit of climbing and grass, so that makes it better obviously. Again, fastest I've ever done this run by about 20seconds and I felt pretty good.

Did three loops of Sugarhouse Park pretty easy. I felt pretty good for the whole run, averaged 7:10 pace.

Well Goodness! I did it again. I set out to try to conquer this run in under 2hours and managed 1:58:54! I ran from my house all the way to the turnaround at the top of the City Creek road. That's an elevation gain of 2000ft! I pretty much hammered my way up there. I had a tough time getting myself to really get going fast on the really steep section. I was maxing out on the hills at 6000ft without really putting out a lot of "effort". Reached the top in 66:49, first time doing it under 74mins. Ran from the trailhead to the top in 42:38.

Coming down, I really had to concentrate to keep the effort high as it was all downhill. I took a gu at the turnaround and again to top up as I was going through memory Grove. I found that on the nicer parts of the downhill I could come close to 5 min mile pace without too much effort (good downhill runner strikes again!) but it took alot of mental energy. I kept it going on the last little bit through downtown averaging a pretty steady 5:27 pace on the way down. I was very pleased that I could maintain 5:35 pace on the flat at the end. In my upcoming marathon I'll have a nice downhill from mile19 to mile 21. I have to be prepared to use it and then hang on the last 6 miles. I'm beginning to think I can break 2:30, which would be nuts!

I did four loops of Liberty Park in the morning. I only planned on doing two but I was going slow and I felt pretty good so I kept going.

Did two loops of Sugarhouse park very relaxed. Pace was 7:30.

PM Feel the burn!!! I did two three loops of Liberty Park, with the last two hard. I think they just added fresh bark so my run could be approximated by a Stokes Flow...by that I mean the bark sucked away all my momentum. I had to drive hard each step and so my quads were burning. You know its tough going when you go out onto the grass to pass someone and you suddenly start going 20seconds a mile faster...in deep grass. I managed to do 8:32, 8:40 for a total of 17:12 (5:44 pace). This is actually pretty close to where I've done this workout in the past, so I'm pleased with it. After I was done I did some hard strides.

Did a 16 mile long run in 2:04 (7:45 pace). Ran up 2700S to 2000E then ran along foothill to 1300S. Ran by the zoo, into the mountains for a bit, coming out by the medical center, down Sunnyside home.

AM 10.6

PM Played frisbee (90 minutes of strides)

Did three loops of Sugarhouse. Tried to keep it fast, feeling wrecked from frisbee yesterday. I need some recovery which is hopefully what I'll get tomorrow.

The day speaks for itself:

7:30get up

8:00-8:50 go running

8:50-9:20 breakfast, shower, got dressed

9:20 walk to ballpark Trax

9:47 get on Trax, meet Chris and Masaki

10:00 Arrive at U haul dealer

10:30-12:30 Shopping at Walmart

12:45 Get home discover I've somehow lost my house key.

12:45-1:15 Drop off Chris and Masaki at our new house, unload stuff from Walmart, call Uhaul place to see if my key is there. Leave them there to take pictures and measure house. Drive back to Walmart, look for my key, fail to find it, drive back to new house. Pick up phone book off of front porch and call locksmith.

1:26 Locksmith call me to say he'll be 15 minutes.

1:38 Drive back to my house with Chris

1:44 Locksmith arrives starts working on the lock. Estimates it will be 10 minutes.

1:54 No the door is still not open

2:00 Call Rocky mountain power set up account

2:30 Door still not open, send Chris to go move his and Masaki's stuff from their apartments.

2:45 Call Questar Gas to setup account

3:00-3:45 Walk around my house looking for a way to get in, try to say encouraging things to the locksmith who is getting very embarrassed.

3:45 Door is open!

4:00 Masaki calls me and tells me they'll be there in 30 mins

4:45 Masaki asks me to come meet them at the new house so I run from my house to my new house.

5:00 Masaki and Chris arrive, they are late because they stopped by to pick up some stuff from a friend and he basically made them move all of his stuff out of his basement (none of it we could actually use)

5:05-5:45 We unpack their stuff

5:45-6:15 Drive South to Ikea

6:15-9:30 Buy dining set, coffee table, two beds, a desk, three dressers, two bookshelves...alot of stuff basically

9:30-10:00 Drive back

10:00-10:20 Unload all of the Ikea stuff

10:30-10:40 Drive to my house and pack up my things

10:40-10:55 Unload my stuff at new house

11:15 drop of Chris and Masaki at Walmart

11:15-11:45 Drive to the Uhaul place, realize you can't legally turn into it from the mainroad. Attempt to drive around the block, find myself in the middle of a bunch of warehouses on unlit streets. Finally manage to get to the Uhaul place by driving through  business park and through a construction site (this is not smart planning). Realized I needed to go fill up with gas so went and did everything again.

11:45 walked to Carls Junior and got a burger

12:15 Catch last train to the Ball park

12:35 Got home, fell asleep on couch

Spent a pleasant day building Ikea furniture. Didn't get home until 7pm, however. Time to run 20miles! I had left all my GU at my new house, so I just made do with some nuts. I started out at about 6:40 pace which felt fine, but I felt myself running out of fuel almost immediately. I found that I was able to maintain my pace however. As the run went on I began to feel more and more comfortable at the pace and even began to speed up a little. With about 7miles left I really started to pick up my pace, I felt unstoppable...except when I had to stop at red lights. Then my legs let me know how fatigued they were (really bad at the long light at 2700S). I thought about jogging in the last two miles, but when I got going again I felt good. I knew I wasn't going particularly fast so I really tried to pick it up the last mile and go just under 6. I think I might have been burning fat for most of this run. I was able to run about 6:30 pace which is about what I was able to do at the end of Boston, but it felt much easier so I'm probably getting more efficient at burning fat. Total time was 2:08:40 with a slight negative split despite the second half being hillier.

Three loops of Sugarhouse on the grass. I was going to make today an easy/off day, but I realized that the rest of my week might be tough, so I thought I shouldn't waste an opportunity to get a good run in. It was kind of a waste anyway though as I really needed an off day.

Ugh, another tough day

10.6 in the morning

5.5 in the evening (late in the evening). Plus strides

10.6 in the morning

4 in the evening

I'm just really exhausted all the time now because of moving. And now I have a conference the second half of this week!

AM long run 7:40 pace

Hard 10-miler from school. Wasn't feeling great still so I just aimed for under 1 hour (for 9.7 miles). Splits were 17:36 for downhill 3 miles (5:52 pace) 11:43 for uphill (6:27 pace) 18:36 for the death segment (6:24 pace) and 11:51 for the last 1.95 through campus (6:04 pace). Apparently I died a little at the end because the last segment should be the same pace as the first.

Shoreline trail

Locked myself out again! Not a fun week.

I did the THINK ABOUT IT run down California Avenue for the first time in a while. I didn't feel brilliant exactly but I managed. I had a headwind on the way out that almost made me give up but it was a tailwind on th way back. Out in 1:09:28 (6:10 pace) and then back in 1:08:23 (6:04 pace). I think I dropped a Gu in the portapotty at the dump. So if you're there and see a Lemon sublime and you're reeeaaaally hungry know that its been there since Sunday the 24th of May.

A couple hours later I walked to the store. Some guy tried to steal some beer right as I was walking in. I chased the sucker down no problem!

Ran to Liberty park and did two loops very slowly.

Four loops of Sugarhouse park on the grass.

9.5 in the morning.

Flew to Seattle

5.3 Around the South tip of Mercer Island. I'm now back in Seattle for a few weeks which means great running for one thing. I did this run in 31:15 (5:53) which is pretty good as it contains a nasty hill.

Pretty unimpressive runs today, I'm not really feeling all that great. I did 12.3 in the morning at 7:03 pace and seven in the evening at 7:20 pace. The last two weeks have kind of thrown me through a loop.

9 days to go until starting to taper

15 days until Fremont 5k

30 days until marathon.

Miles	Split	Pace	Cum Split	Cum Pace
2.4	14:31	6:02	14:31	6:02
4.1	10:13	6:01	24:44	6:02
6.5	14:58	6:14	39:42	6:06
8.2	11:08	6:33	50:50	6:12
10.6	15:11	6:20	1:06:02	6:14

Not really what I was hoping for on this run. I was looking to run a couple of minutes faster, but I just didn't have it today, not really that surprising. I was pushing too hard at the beginning trying to run an impossible pace so I ended up dying a little at the end. Considering that I normally finish training runs faster than I start them, this was not good. It has been a tough month though, I only hope that I haven't bitten off more than I can chew.

I just ran really slow today. I wasn't plodding but it wasn't that fast, I didn't time it for some reason. I ran around the Island then crossed the bridge and ran around the Slough (the short way). It was at least wonderful weather. I tried out the GU chomps, quite tasty although the whole pack is apparently only 180 calories, that doesn't seem very useful.

I really listened to my body and I felt alot of aches and pain, which is OK. My muscles were basically feeling pretty good though. Tomorrow I'm going to not run, but maybe walk to the waterfront and go for a swim. Ahh that sounds good...even with a goose egg tomorrow this will be my highest mileage month ever.

I'm kind of limping towards the finish line here. I think that slapping up this kind of mileage (105) is a reach for me but fortunately I have time to recover. I've kind of drifted close to the edge a couple of times this season. Anytime I've tried to sustain 95mpw+ I've ended up with some kind of injury albeit it usually minor. Today I did a 10mile loop going over the top of the Island. I felt gimpy to begin with, but I ran the first 5.1 in 35 mins (6:52 pace). Then right at the midpoint I decided to pick it up. I managed 29:05 for the last 4.9 (5:56 pace).

In the PM I ran to a nearby park and ran around barefoot a little.

Ran around the Island today in 1:27:06. I still felt pretty bad today however Tuesday-Monday was still a 95 mile week so I shouldn't expect to feel that good. 1:27:06 is actually a pretty decent time going around the Island and I felt much better at the end than at the beginning. Overall I didn't feel like I was running that fast. I just don't feel totally comfortable running at the moment.

After running I took a cold bath to soothe my legs and it felt pretty good, but I need to make it colder.

Finally felt good today! I ran in the afternoon to get some extra rest and also got some new shoes (Adistar Rides). I ran over to the Slough and it felt much better than when I did the same workout on Friday. I also felt like I could have gone faster. The time for running really, really ridiculously fast is coming! The run was basically at 6 flat pace but the first mile was probably in about 6:35.

Ran 10 miles at approximately 7:30 pace in the morning. In the afternoon I ran to the middle school and ran barefoot on the grass fields. I threw in 6 hard strides.

Ran 12.2 in 1:21:03 (6:38 pace). I wasn't trying hard but at the end I felt wiped out. I decided to take another ice bath when I got back. When I got out, I practically passed out, but my legs feel fine now.

 Ran up to Cougar mountain. This was my last loooong run as I'll start my taper tomorrow! It was nice and cool to start plus I wasn't wearing worn down shoes so I knew that if I didn't feel good today I was in trouble. Fortunately I felt great. I started out nice and relaxed at 6 minute pace. At about 30mins in I began to feel it a little so I slowed down but then I found myself recovering quickly. Note that at 6.8miles I entered the coal creek trail so my pace slowed considerably. It's very windy and has a couple short but steep climbs. I ran it agressively but I stayed well within myself as I had no intention of doing Marathon Pace the whole way. When I got to the top I took a GU at about an hour in then did a little bit on the trails at Cougar mountain. I came back down quite a bit faster but I was still running a little off of marathon pace (same mental effort, but the trail slows you down). I picked up the intensity again living the trail running solid marathon pace for the section on Coal creek parkway, I sucked down another GU at about mile 15.5. I continued to run well until I got across the bridge at which point I got a side stitch. I checked my pace a little and thought about jogging the last three miles but after about 800meters I recovered and came home really strong. I ran about 5:35 for the hilly! final mile. Towards the very end (with about 600-800 to go) I began to feel hungry and that I might be hitting the wall. I went the final 40minutes today with just the single GU and I only had one before starting.I finished up about three hours ago and feel pretty good now.

Just for kicks and giggles today I though I would wear my flats to try them out. Well it was completely pointless as although I felt loose, I was also quite dead from my run yesterday. Just kept it short and slow and on the trails.

Ok, I'm getting rather confused about the lengths of runs, but this is probably right. I did the southtip/ravine run in 38:43 (easy). Then in the afternoon I did southtip/highschool in 1:06:48 (that's approximately a 10miler). Did the second half just a smidge over 6minute pace and felt fine.

Ran 5 in the morning.

In the afternoon I did Yasso 800s. I did a lap jog in between each one, followed by about 30seconds rest (to give equal rest). It was enough to get my heartrate back down but I still became more fatigued throughout. The workout was not particularly hard, it was more about expending mental energy than anything else. My goal was to average 2:30 and I did just that.

2:26.3, 2:29.4,2:30.5,2:28.8,2:33.2,2:29.4,2:33.2,2:31.8

avg: 2:30.3

A very slooow run around the island. My hamstrings are tired from yesterday I guess, which is funny because it didn't feel like a very hard workout. I guess running 90mpw just makes me tired or I'm getting old...or I'm just so tough that I can completely destroy myself in a workout physically and it barely makes a dent mentally. Hopefully one of the first two, the last one is kind of scary.

Played the piano today for the first time in a while, I only play when I'm at home (hey Piano's are big and loud!). I was inspired by my dad who has taught himself to play the electric guitar very competently. Anyway, I did some scales. Then I played so jazz piano (when you improvise you don't need to read music), then I tried to play Canon in D with limited success. Then I tried playing the hobbit music from Lord of the Rings by ear (it's also in D I think). Then I realized I hadn't done any work all day, so I went for a walk in the woods. Yeah, life's pretty sweet right now.

I still didn't feel great today, although I ran 7minute pace today which is a good sign. Considering the workload, I am not concerned, however I would like to feel good for tomorrow. My legs just feel generally tight and I don't know if a 5K will agree with them. I may have to run in trainers, but so be it.

Here are last years results

1.	Uli Steidl	14:48
2.	Leif Kohler	15:10
3.	Greg Crowther	15:23
4.	Brett Winegar	15:24
5.	Lance Thompson	15:29
6.	Jesse Williams	15:32
7.	Blake Cowan	15:36
8.	Joshua Ricardi	15:37
9.	Ben Sauvage	15:38
10.	Chris Charles	15:55

Plus last years Beat the bridge race, which is held in May 

	1 / 1 / 1	JORDAN WELLING	M	20	736	24:00	04:49
	2 / 2 / 2	Mike Sayenko	M	23	497	24:04	04:50
	1 / 3 / 3	Eric Garner	M	27	641	24:18	04:53
	3 / 4 / 4	MATT SHEEKS	M	24	771	24:19	04:53
	4 / 5 / 5	PATRICK MCAULIFFE	M	24	393	24:47	04:59
	2 / 6 / 6	Steve DeKoker	M	27	758	24:48	04:59
	1 / 7 / 7	Gabriel Rodriguez	M	30	488	25:04	05:02
	5 / 8 / 8	TRAVIS BOYD	M	24	141	25:08	05:03
	3 / 9 / 9	Brett Winegar	M	28	598	25:32	05:08
	4 / 10 / 10	Andrew McGovern	M	26	1194	25:54	05:12
	2 / 11 / 11	LANCE THOMPSON	M	31	724	26:10	05:15

1	443	ERIC	GARNER	8k	28	M	M2529	00:24:14	00:24:14
2	2899	Mark	Mandi	8k	26	M	M2529	00:24:42	00:24:42
3	381	BRETT	WINEGAR	8k	29	M	M2529	00:24:45	00:24:45
4	588	GREGORY	CROWTHER	8k	36	M	M3539	00:24:53	00:24:53
5	520	JOE	DARDA	8k	21	M	M2024	00:24:56	00:24:56
6	414	RYAN	FREIMUTH	8k	25	M	M2529	00:25:15	00:25:15
7	658	SCOTT	HALLIDAY	8k	21	M	M2024	00:25:21	00:25:21
8	689	BANANA	NUUN	8k	25	M	M2529	00:25:26	00:25:26
9	532	DANNY	MACKEY	8k	28	M	M2529	00:25:30	00:25:30
10	595	BRUCE	JACKSON	8k	25	M	M2529	00:25:43	00:25:43

 We see that Brett Winegar(who destroyed me in the Winter) and Greg Crowther ran much faster than last year and could well break 15 at Fremont this year. On the other hand, I beat Leif Kohler twice this winter. On my third hand, Julina Cowan is a fast dude. In my semi-dilapidated state, I will aim to crack 16mins (dressed as a pirate), but I think otherwise I would run 15:20.

Time and place subject to change when I see the official results.

So anyway, I ran this race dressed as a pirate. It's a big deal race with alot of good guys showing up and I didn't want to take it to seriously. In general when I get in a race, however, I compete. I told myself that I would let the leaders go going up the first hill and that's just what I did.

I was in 8th place at the mile I think (in 5:00, downhill) and I felt really comfortable. I passed into 7th then 6th and I was gaining on the group of 3rd-4th-5th at the turnaround. At the turnaround I began to feel stifled by my costume and I got a stitch and I couldn't pick it up like I thought I should be able to. At 2miles (10:13) a big pack of guys caught me, passed me then slowed way down. I was getting VERY hot at this point but I kept surging whenever they passed me up. I tried to kick on the uphill finish with about 400m to go, but one of the guys managed to beat me (which usually never happens!) Anyway, a pretty easy 16flat 5k dressed as a pirate. Now there's just two weeks to go!

Nice "short long" run. I did it at long run pace (7:25 per mile) and it WAS almost 2hours. I swear that marathon training has scrambled my brain. I go running for two hours and I think I'm just getting going. I've probably got Ultramarathons in my future. Anyway, I ran around the Slough then down Island Crest Way to the south tip...then back to my house. I felt much better today than after Tuesdays track workout, strange.

I didn't do this run that easy, maybe 7:10 pace.

Well shoot. I thought I had planned everything so perfectly. I ran around the Island in my flats today. It was only my third time wearing the shoes. The first time I ran 3.5 and the second time was Friday's 5k. I ran around the Island just fine, I wasn't concerned about injuries but I honestly didn't feel that great. I hit 1:18:00 (5:47 pace) which is obviously quite fast and it should have felt hard, but I have run as fast or faster than that in trainers a couple of times.

Moreover, I did not like the way I passed myself. I ran fairly easy to begin with, then when I tried to pick it up I did not feel good and my pace started to go all over the place. (Including one 800m section in 3:30!). I ran 14:32 for the last section (5:55 pace). This is definitely pretty good as it is a little bit hilly but I ran faster than that closing out my 20miler and I consistently finish of 10mile runs faster than that. I basically felt that my form became quite inefficient running in flat after I got to about 10miles and that I was not receiving any benefit from them. Not only that, I ran to fast at the beginning using a running form that I was not accustomed to, leaving me tired at the end. It may have simply been a bad day, but I know what it feels like when I get tired and this felt weird, completely unlike running a comparable effort in trainers. How my body will react going past 16,17 miles is unknown to me, and I have no time left to find out before the marathon.

In conclusion, flats will have to wait for another time and I will have to integrate them fully into my marathon training (something that seemed like it would be dangerous this year, but now I've run 13miles in them, I don't think I need to worry about it). I weighed my shoes on an old fashioned scale this afternoon. My trainers weigh 5 ounces more than my flats. Using the rule of thumb: 1 second per ounce per mile, wearing trainers will slow me by 2:10 in a marathon. So be it! I know how easy it is to lose two minutes in the last couple of miles of a marathon, I need to make sure I feel good!

Late afternoon 3.5 miles.

Ran 8.5 miles in the morning at around 7minute pace.

I jogged up to the middle school to play some frisbee and ran hard for about 90minutes. I felt a little sore by the end.

I was only planning on running 7 today but I saw my high school coach and we ran together for a bit. She says she still uses me as the ultimate example of work paying off, sweet! I didn't feel sore from frisbee which was good, but I was quite tired.

 I felt tight from the start today and never really got into a rhythm. I felt like I was just kind of muscling my way through this run. So, it's a pretty good sign that I ran this fast not really feeling smooth. On the other hand, I should be feeling pretty good 9 days out from my marathon. Underscores how deceptive running in flats can be. The Monday run felt very easy to begin with before I became a little unglued at the end, but I have been exhausted since. Factor in my race and playing frisbee and this week was probably a little too much. I did a much more agressive taper for Boston and Seattle last year. However I practically trained through SLC this year and I felt great leading me to believe I should taper less. We'll see.

The last split was a little bit slower as I backed way off at the end. I felt that I had deep reserves of strength, but that I was content to know they were there rather than actually use them.

Just did an easy run before some intense frisbee. I felt pretty drained at the end of frisbee.

Not a good run this morning but I attribute that mostly to playing frisbee last night. I also didn't eat before running which made me extra tired. I didn't worry about pace at all though.

No running, no frisbee today. Just went to Safeco to watch the Mariners game.

Miles	Split	Pace	Total Time	Cum. Pace
2.45	15:42	6:24	15:42	6:24
4.95	16:41	6:40	32:23	6:34
6.9	11:48	6:03	44:11	6:24
10.05	19:04	6:03	1:03:15	6:18

Interesting run. Started out very tight, but really got into a nice groove at the end. I have a few kinks to work out still, but I'll be fine.

I did 2.5 miles warmup, then a 5 mile tempo, then 3.5 mile cool down. The tempo was actually 5.15 miles in 31:00 (6:02 pace). However, it goes over some pretty nuts terrain: steep climbs, trails, stairs, etc. The course tool said that I was running the equivalent of sub 5:30 pace for large stretches of it.  south tip

Ran to frisbee in the afternoon and played for a while.

I was planning on running 10, but I felt tired and hungry. I decided to cut it off at just 7 (but 50 minutes of running)

I went to the Expo and walked a little bit around downtown.

I biked a few miles to get a haircut and some pre/post race snacks. I then did a little run to loosen up.

ONE DAY MORE!

A five minute PR, not spectacular, but solid nonetheless.

Strangely I can't find my watch so I can't give mile splits. The milemarkers were grossly inaccurate anyway (5:04 mile 14!, hahaha). But that's part of the story.

With 25000 people converging on one spot, I had to get out of my car while I was still on I-405 (my mum had driven me) and jog to the start line (about 2miles). I reached the start line with about 20minutes to spare and couldn't go to the bathroom. (A recurring theme in every big marathon I've done except for Boston). I wasn't desperate to go, so I just went to my corral and sucked down a Gu. I looked around for people with low numbers and introduced myself and asked what pace they wanted to do. I found a guy who had run 2:38 and was hoping to run 2:32 to 2:35 perfect.

At the start the weather is wonderful, I'm feeling fresh but a little tight. I tick off a couple of 5:45 miles (which are hilly, I thought this was supposed to be the flat bit!). I slow down a little and start to run with the 2:38 guy and two other guys who I hadn't talked to. I push the downhills and relax and let them lead on the uphills. It's getting steeper and we go just under 6 for miles 3 and 4 (just what I was looking for). Mile 5 has significant uphill and I only do 6:18 losing more time than I wanted. At this point I drop the group I'm with and accelerate on the downhill. I hit 5:19 for mile 6 which is a little surprising. I'm starting to reel in some half marathoners. We are now running along the Lakeshore and so the course is flat. I know that on these miles I need to get into a rhythm. I feel fatigue begin to settle into my legs but my pace feels manageable. Then things start to go pear-shaped.

I get to mile 7 in 5:33 which felt natural to me, but is clearly way too fast. I relax a little but I'm not feeling good. I take my first Gu during the next mile and begin to feel a little queazy. Up ahead I can see two guys I know are running the full leading some half marathoners. I'm keeping a consistent distance. Mile 8 is 6:00 on the nose for a completely flat mile. How did I just go from 5:33 to 6:00?!!! I begin to get very concerned that I've gone out too fast. Mile 9 and make up alot of ground on a half marathoner and its still only 5:52, but it includes a steep climb. I'm beginning to get a little confused.

Now we start the hardest part of the race (this was my prediction and I was right). The marathon and half split, with the full marathoners running the entire length of the floating bridge and back. I count the guys ahead of my as they come back the other way (11). Mile 10 is low 5:50s again but mile 11 is well over 6. I see alot of people close behind me and I worry that people are about to start picking me off. I don't think I can pick it up reasonably and the last mile was well over 6 minutes. Negative thoughts fill my head but I keep running.

Coming of the bridge we enter the Mt baker tunnel and rejoin the half marathoners again. This is really nice as I have some company and there's less wind. Also, I'm catching up to some guy which is always nice. Mile 12 is in the 5:30s again. This split I know is wrong! Mile 12 was uphill and mile 11 was down and at the same effort, no way mile 12 was 1 minute faster! There's a band playing inside the tunnel, they're punk rock and I have to say it sounds pretty good. Emerging from the tunnel I start to come out of the bad patch that started around mile 8 and feel good, despite the climb. I get to half way in 1:17:04, which is about a minute slower than ideal and decide that I can still run 2:35 if I grit my teeth. A few strides later I move into 11th for the first time.

Now I'm heading downhill into downtown and I'm starting to need to go to the bathroom. Mile 14 is 5:04. At this point I decide that I'm going to ignore all mile marks from now on. I feel quite uncomfortable heading through downtown which is unfortunate as its downhill and I couldn't really use it. Then there's a steep drop that really took it out of me before I climb on the Alaska Way Viaduct. Somehow that mile is 5:52. Now that I'm on the Viaduct I can't see anyone ahead of me, it's just a big lonely road. Then I hear my mum cheering from an overlooking park. I'm really not feeling comfortable at this point and mile 16 is another terrible split.

I'm now at the base of the biggest climb on the course, the next few miles are either going to make or break my day. At the next aid station, I dive into a port-a-potty. I'm back on course 45 seconds later but I'm in 12th place again. I feel like a million buck now though (relatively) and I start my charge. Mile 17 with the break is 6:51. I realize that I'm 17miles into what has so far been a very tough run and I'm still finding energy reserves. Suddenly, I start to think positive thoughts and I begin to push it hard. Mile 18 is 6:09 on a major up which is very good. I hit 30k with a new PR of 1:50:26. At this point I'm only about 1 minute ahead of my boston pace, which is pretty nuts. We turnaround during mile 19 and I see a Kenyan guy struggling.

There's still a punch of people behind me at this turnaround, but I'm not as intimidated because I feel good. On the downhill I really start to roll (it would have been nice to get some accurate splits). Mile 21 is 5:47 and I've caught up to the Kenyan right before we had back onto the Viaduct. He sticks right on me when I pass. This makes me think that he was not done. I try to push the pace to drop him but I'm getting tired, somehow mile 22 has a ton of uphill.

Now I'm running along the waterfront and I know that I'm going to PR and forget about the Kenyan guy and just push. Somewhere in the 23rd mile I drop him. The next guy to catch has been running very strong (Joe Darda) and its clear I won't get him when he passes by on the final turnaround. Mile 25 is 5:40 but now I'm going uphill again into the wind. I'm cramping up pretty badly and run mile 26 in 6:26 before finishing strong in 2:35:19.

I was very emotional after the race, I almost burst into tears but I didn't want to make a scene. I was just so proud of all the work I had done. I had so many opportunities to quit in this race, but I didn't and it makes me feel very good.

Unlike the Boston Marathon, this one was tough for me from mile 7 onwards but I actually ran very even. If you take out the 45 second bathroom break my splits were (1:17:04,1:17:30) which is awesome.

Ran with the high school team then played frisbee in the evening.

Climbed Mt. Pilchuck

Umm...I felt really bad and it was a very, very hard course. Not really much to say.

Travelling to England