Training in Montana

TM at the Y. My legs are tired this week after upping my mileage and doing lots of nothing. I walked after 2 miles then got a call from the machine shop who were pressing a wheel hub assembly for my son's car. They needed seals for the bearing so I had to leave and go buy some seals and take them to the shop. Did that, came back and did 2 more miles. They were not easy miles. I was going to do 6 total but decided to cut it short and it worked okay. More miles tomorrow, hopefully outside finally. 

 Cold outside and lots of fresh snow so I stayed inside and did the home treadmill around Noon. Watched blue bloods and Jurassic park 3. Kept me entertained and these 10 felt easier than yesterday's 4. Weird.

3 TM miles at the Y this morning. Also this morning I signed up for the 50 mile Bighorn trail run. All the races will quickly fill up this am and the 100M is already full. Amazing.

Noon: Boot camp at the Y. Pretty tired after as I haven't done a double in a long while.

4 TM miles at home this morning while watching The Pink Panther on Netflix.

5 TM miles at home. Could've run outside as it's 32F right now before a storm comes in a few hours and drops temps top single digits by noon. Argh. Could've run outside....

6 on the home TM while it was -6F outside. Didn't even think about venturing outside. Watched more of the Jack Ryan movie. You know it's a fun movie when it's exciting the second time. Good flick. Nearly stopped at 5, but I needed a progressive week so I went 1 more. Haven't done 6 in a while. Lots of sweat, and the headband was a 4 wringer this morning. Good stuff. Will shoot for 12 tomorrow.

Outside run! Woke up and saw the temp was 28F which it hasn't been in weeks. Total outdoor weather and no snow for a few days so roads would be packed. Put on my micro spikes and headed out. Well, I was overdressed so stopped in the driveway and took off a layer. Short sleeve shirt, long sleeve 1/2 zip and my windproof jacket. Mostly good but was super sweaty up the big hill. 

For the first time in 5 years I saw another runner on my route, and a few minutes later his buddy. Crazy. They were serious as they had the right gear. Interesting. 

The 12 felt great. When I went too fast my left hammy acted up so I slowed down. AP = 8:51 but I stopped a lot to change clothes and fix my tunes.

2 miles this morning at the Y; planning to hit Boot Camp at Noon. My legs are sore! Not sure why an extra 2 miles made my calves so sore but they are. This short run was tough. I guess after 2 my legs would have woken up and the rest would be fine, but very interesting.

Noon Boot Camp. Holy sweaty headbands Batman! Great workout covering lots of areas. My butt will be really sore after plie's with 50 lbs of weights. But no tutu.

4 TM miles this morning at home before heading to a morning meeting presenting to the Executive team at work. Nothing like heading into the Shark Tank to motivate some running!

Watched Skyfall while running. This new habit of iPad + Netflix + headphones + TM is a pretty good combination.

4 TM miles at the Y while the outside begins to thaw. Should be a slush fest for the next week. Hopefully will mostly thaw by Saturday, but I doubt it as we've had 16+ inches in the past month and none of it has melted until today. Will make my long run very interesting (and wet and muddy). Highs of 41, 47, 46, 42, 45 forecast. After driving on ice for the past month I'm looking forward to some pavement.

Decent run today but a bit sluggish. Probably the TM blues more than anything. If I were outside I think I would have been able to adjust pace a bit better. Hopefully the worst of our winter is over so I can mostly run outside (but probably not).

Day off from running so I hit the spin class for 25 minutes. I couldn't spare the full hour even though I wanted to, and my legs will thank me later for just a short burst. I need to hit that class more often. Good use of different muscles in the same family.

Thank goodness for treadmills. Did 3 miles outside. I was planning 6 but got started late, then when I hit the main road I took off the spikes because normally the road is clear and the spikes are worthless. Not today. I was slip sliding away so I turned around at 1 1/2 miles and headed back and finished on the treadmill. And you know what? A subway car nearly killed James Bond. Thankfully he got away. What will happen now that he and M are at his family manor in Scotland? Stay tuned.

14 miles outside. Lovely day. Ice melted yesterday from the main road so I just ran. Went up my normal Saturday hill and brought along the spikes but ended up only needing them the first and last 3/4 mile. Felt pretty good throughout. Left hammy a bit tight during and definitely after. Need to roll it more religiously.

1 TM mile at home this morning to loosen up the legs, then Boot Camp at Noon and we did at least 1/2 mile of running.

Legs were pretty sore yesterday from my long run, especially my calves. Rolled them last night and rolled my left hammy last night and this morning. Seems like it's butt issue with that hammy so I should get into a massage therapist. There's a great one near my work that I think I'll use soon to ward off any issues.

Running is a way to constantly amaze oneself. I woke up wanting to do 6 but this morning didn't think there was any way I could do 6 yet I did 6. I just kept running. By the way, in the last Bond movie it ends with M dying. I'd forgotten that somehow and thought the caretaker died and M lived. Interesting how memories are not always factual.

My running today was courtesy of the Hall Family Treadmill. A bit too much frozen slush outdoors to make for ankle safe running.

4 TM miles at home this morning. I forgot to wear a handband and I was dripping profusely. I hate that. Yay for headbands!

6 TM miles at home this morning while watching The Italian Job. Apparently it's a remake, but it's really good with Mark Wahlberg and the funny red headed guy. And Charlize. She's okay.

I got to the TM with time for 6 miles but then I went a bit too slow for too long (poor math during runs is a constant with me) so I had to up the speed, and last 2 1/2 I did 8 mph. That speed for that long produces a massive amount of sweat. I think my ear hairs were sweaty after this one. After hopping in the shower my wife gave me a magical "green" protein-filled smoothie and it was fantastic! Banana, apples, some frozen fruit, spinach, and flax was the protein. It filled me up nicely and I'm sure that flax went straight to my muscle groups to rebuild them to awesomeness.

I haven't been posting it, but the past month or more I've been doing pushups nearly every morning. Started at 25 and that was a challenge but doing 30 regularly combined with Boot Camp strengthened my bod and all this week I've done 40 in a row. Amazing. I'm also amazed at what a full workout pushups are. Obvious spots are the chest, biceps, triceps, but I can feel it clearly in my abs, lower back, and also in my legs especially my quads. Who knew it impacted the quads? Everyone but me, most likely. What a great free workout. I'll work to do 50 every morning and my summer running should benefit greatly.

Too windy outside for my tastes (15 to 25 mph gusts) and where I run there are literally no trees, just open fields, so it's miserable. Headed downstairs to run on the TM, flipped on the lights, and saw my 16 yo son and two of his buddies balled up in lumps sleeping. Hmph. Packed my gym bag and headed to the Y. I was worried what to do for the entire time but thankfully their free wifi ("Yrless" - cute) was working great and I got full Netflix on my iPad. Watched some bonehead Vin Diesel movie, XXX (not a porno, just a provocative title) and it was a perfect mindless running movie. Lasted just over 2 hours, which is what I ran. The TMs turn off after 60 minutes, so I did 2 sessions plus 1/2 mile. 15 miles in world record marathon pace isn't bad, about 2:03 for me. Bring on the Kenyans!

Followed up with 40 pushups, 25 situps, and a nice hot shower. I smelled really bad during my run and I had the fan next to me blowing my stench on the other two lined up next to me. Poor people! Next time I'll bring a shirt to change into halfway through.

Finally hit 100 miles for a month! It had been since March of last year. Wow. I'll blow 100 out of the water here shortly. Hope to stay healthy while ramping up the miles.

Got to bed late so slept in instead of getting up to do a couple miles as it's Boot Camp day. Hit Noon Boot Camp and Chantelle is a true drill sergeant. No swearing or belittling, but she yells a lot and motivates me to try harder. Doesn't always work, but more motivating than myself getting myself to give more effort. I enjoy it even though it kicks my butt.

This one kicked my trash pretty well. Lots of leg work which was tough and I couldn't do as much as I normally can as my legs are still recovering from Saturday's long run. Should be good and sore for a while.

Roads from my house to the main road are still muddy from the snow melt so I hit the home TM this morning. 6 miles with the last 1 1/2 at a 7.8 mph to get done on time. I always think I can do 6 in less than 50 minutes but I forget that I'm running pretty fast when I do that. TM and speed don't mix very well.

Gorgeous record-breaking heat we're having. Hopefully can get outside and run before snow flies again this weekend.

4 miles outside! Woot woot. Slept in this morning so went before lunch. It was tres windy out there, but I knew it would only be 2 miles max. Wasn't horrible actually, and lots of trees and houses to block the wind most of the time. After getting warmed up I had a hard time keeping a slower effort. Gorgeous outside, 54F with wind and the long sleeve shirt was too much. Should've gone sleeveless but alas. It was magnifique.

Rest day so I hit the Noon spin class at the Y. I followed the instructor and went hard a couple times then realized it was my rest day so I backed off. No need to do crazy cardio today. I spun down over 5 minutes and hopped off after 35 total minutes, most of them easy miles. Nice to get the legs moving without the stress of running.

6 miles....outside! Hit the road from home this morning as it's mostly dried out and I was ready for fresh air. Nice headwind on the way out, but not too chilly, 32F. Bought me a couple new long sleeve zip shirts on clearance at TJ Max and the one I wore today was excellent. Other one is for when cold weather comes back as it definitely will.

Heading to the Boy Scout Klondike derby tonight with my 11 and 13 YO sons so I'll get me 10 miles tomorrow. 3rd or 4th time I've run from this same location and it's beautiful.

12 miles outside on a dirt road during the Scout campout. It was really cold last night, probably in the teens, and super humid and cold all morning so I was expecting a really cold run. I warmed up nicely and no wind until the end. Planned to go 10 but tacked on a couple more. Those were a tough couple miles as this route was undulating up and down and some pretty significant elevation changes. It was great training for a trail run. Total time around 1:44.

Ended at the right time. The wind picked up the last couple miles of the run and continued the next couple hours until it brought in a snow storm. Huge weather change. Last 10 days was 40-67 degrees including yesterday. Last night and today was a bit of a shock to the system. The drive home in a snow storm was not too fun, but thankfully we weren't one of the cars off the road.

3 TM miles at home this morning. Will hit Boot Camp at noon.

Noon Boot Camp. A great full body workout with copious amounts of sweat released. It was a good session which hit multiple parts of the body. My upper body is so much stronger than it used to be, but still so weak compared to most others in the class. I felt a bit emasculated at times.

6 miles outside. Took a different road for the 3rd mile and it makes this 6 miler much more difficult. I need that for my June mountain run so I'll likely start doing this route more often. The wind was in my face most of the run as it switched directions on my halfway through. Not terribly cold thank goodness, 34F and just before the mid point I pulled off the jacket as I was sweating pretty good.

AP: 8:20, total time 50:02.

4 TM miles while it was 12 degrees outside. I started late so had to go faster than normal to finish in time for family breakfast & scriptures. Watched some Forrest Gump while running. That's all I have to say about that.

Rest day. Loved sleeping in.

Super warm morning so I was overdressed but not too much. 44 at 6 am, 48 at 7 am so it got warmer on me as I ran. Decent run, didn't feel horrible but not great either. I just ran.

AP: 8:00

Daughters' 9th birthday today so I planned to get up at 5:30 and get my run in before breakfast in bed but the wind picked up last night and there were 39 mph gusts at 5 am. Slept in and hit the TM for 2.75 before the girl woke up. Wind died down so I ventured out after gifts were opened.  It wasn't quite to brutal stage but annoying and made the run difficult. Windy day, uphill, and freshly gravelled road was a tough combination.

AP: 8:20

4 miles this morning in 34F temps with no wind. It felt just right. Actually too warm for February but I'll take it. Really nice. Legs were so dead the first mile but I just kept running and they warmed up decently. This coming stretch of training will be brutal and I've realized my Monday legs will quite often be dead.

No watch.

Noon: Boot Camp. Had a 1 pm meeting so I only got in 35 minutes but a day later my butt is sore so I must have done enough. Lots of running, which of course I loved.

6 miles this morning from the Y with a friend from work. We realized just recently that we should run together. He's done a 3:17:xx marathon and I've done a 3:25 so not too far from each other. Neither of us normally runs with others, which you could tell this morning as both of us were gasping for air while talking and we weren't running all that fast. Beautiful morning, 47F outside with little wind. Warm temps are leaving later today but I look forward to seeing them again soon.

AP: 8:33 (seemed like we ran faster than that but the time flew by)

Early morning and late night yesterday meant sleeping in today. Will take today as a rest day and run the rest of the week.

4 miles from home this morning before heading to an all day meeting.

5 miles before a full day at work. 41 degrees. Beautiful! High today in the 60s.

AP 8:15

Ran on the amazing Rim trail. It took 8 miles to warm up then I just plugged along, zoned out, and ran. Hadn't been in that mode for quite a while. I'll need to find that quite often for the next few months. I ran from 11:30 am - 2:20 pm and the temps warmed up amazingly. It hit 66 degrees while out there. I thought it was warm! Felt great. Hoping these record high temps aren't just a tease before the below zero temps hit again.

AP: 9:30 (trails are slow! I'd forgotten how slow. But so great mix it up with trails instead of my gravel road.)

Noon Boot Camp.

4 on the TM this morning before work.

4 on the TM at the Y during lunch. Watched an episode of Criminal Minds while using the Y's wifi. I'm currently on a Netflix Criminal Minds kick. I'm sure I'll get tired of their formula in a few more episodes but it's interesting.

I feel a cold coming on so I'm hoping to get a bit more rest and pretend I'm not getting a sore throat and hopefully it will pass on by.

Perfect week to get sick! It's an easy week on my training plan and works perfectly as I don't expect to miss a day (Thursday is rest day). I started feeling crappy Wednesday afternoon, went home and slept and cancelled my Wed night appointments. Had to lead a Thursday morning group meeting and that went fine then I thought I'd go home but I rallied and started feeling progressively better throughout the day. I feel fine now but just a bit of a productive cough. No big thang.

Ran on the TM at the Y at lunch and kept it nice and easy. 6.0 for 1/2, 6.5 for another .75, then 7.0 for the remainder all at 1% incline. It felt easy as it should.

10 miles this morning from town. Fairly chilly, 23 with 10F wind chill. Way overdressed but at least I wasn't cold! Didn't push too hard, felt good.

AP: 8:15

I spoke way too soon and apparently I ran too soon as well (and that's lots of "o's" together with too soon). The moo room broom is too soon at noon.

Saturday was a rough day and apparently made me sicker. I had a long day (4:45 am - 10:30 pm) and ran outside and I guess I wasn't ready for that. I felt cruddy yesterday but powered through a full day of church activities, now I'm at work and my sinuses are bugging, I've got a headache, yada yada yada. I'll skip running today and probably tomorrow. I don't feel awful but not great. And here I thought I had superhuman running immune system powers. Hmph. :)

4 TM miles at the Y at lunch time. Yay. I feel good, most of my cold symptoms are gone. I'll run the next 2 days inside and probably a mix on Saturday. Supposed to do 20 this weekend but I'll likely shorten that up. I want to get better.

6 TM miles at home before work. Felt pretty good, doesn't seem to be any ill effects. Will go for 8 tomorrow, probably inside again as it's going to be -2. Our string of super warm weather is gone. Just in time for Spring. Yay.

8 miles on the home TM before work.

20 miles today, most on treadmill, the rest outside. It was less than 20F and it makes me nervous being outside too long in those temps so I went to the Y for at least 12, possibly more. I got tired of the TM after a while, and it reset on me when I paused to do something so I bailed and headed home. I love my new Asics jacket! It's a bit warm and really ideal for 10F and below, but it was great to not be cold. I'd rather be sweaty in winter than cold.

Looks like my Boot Camp days are over until July or later. I went, thinking I'd be fine, but the 20 miles from Saturday were a bit much and I bailed 10 minutes in and hit the TM. Went at a 7.4 pace which was a bit fast for my legs so after 2 miles I walked for a few then finished at 7.0. Good run, nice to finish the run when I could've quit after 2 miles.

6 TM miles at home before work. Small snowstorm hit last night, 2" snow and 10F this morning. I stayed inside. Legs felt good, I just ran.

6 TM miles at home before work. 5F outside this morning, so I stayed inside and watched some Law & Order SVU. Warmed up 1/2 mile at 6.0 then a couple at 7.0 and the rest at 7.4. Lots of sweat. I'm definitely ready to run outside the rest of the year. Hopefully the weather will cooperate, although I'm certain it won't.

Was supposed to run 10 miles but I took my boys snowboarding instead. Had a great time.

Planned to run 20 but it didn't work out. My youngest son had Hunter's Safety field course at the local Fish & Game location right on a small lake. I ran 1.34 mile loops around the lake while he did the course, and got in just over 13 miles before we left. Tried to run at night on the treadmill but too much food caused a big sideache so I gave up a few steps into that attempt.

6 outside at Noon. Beautiful weather, shorts & short sleeve shirt. Ahhhhhhh.....

6 miles outside in the beautiful weather, 54-58F with nary a breeze. Ran up to the rims where I got a mile in before having to turn around. Much more fun running on a trail versus the same roads I've run for years. Next time I'll drive to the rims and get more trail mileage.

Downhill the last 2 miles and I pushed it. Felt good to go fast"ish". I'm not fast.

5 on the rimrock trail in 62-67F temps. Ahh....

6 outside before work. I think I felt the lack of outdoor miles as it was harder than it should've been and I walked for a few minutes at the turnaround. I never do that, but that was when my regular 6 mile route was outside. Lately it's been on the TM with no wind and no undulating roads and conditions. Need more of that.

10 outdoor miles this morning from home. Wind at back going down a steep hill = good. Getting up to the top of that hill previously with a 20 mph headwind = horrible.

AP: 9:01

4 Noon Y TM miles. Did the Hills workout which I've never done before and I'm not sure why. It's a great way to simulate outside a bit better and I know it will have a positive impact as I run outside more often.

6 miles in the dark from home with fine snow granules pounding into my eyeballs. It was actually really nice, and the white illuminates the night quite well. Legs felt much better than the past couple weeks, and I ran strong today. It felt great.

AP: 8:15

10 miles up my favorite hilly route this clear dark morning (which turned into a glowing Eastern sky). I felt fantastic for the first time in weeks. My first mile was 30 seconds faster than normal and I quickly got into a nice rhythm. It will be interesting to see how/if this impacts my 22 miler tomorrow.

AP: 8:16

Ugh. Worst long run I've ever had and I'm not really sure why. I've frequently done back to back 10 miles then 20+ the next day. Maybe I'm just not in as good as shape as I've been in the past. I drove 30 minutes to the only trail in town and parked at a different place than normal so I could have more trail time. Maybe that was my problem. Normally I've hit that parking lot 6 miles in, so my trail time has been only 6 more miles. This time I ran farther than ever on these trails. At 12 miles I was ready to be done. I walked a lot on the way back to the car. At 3 hours I took two salt capsules where I'd only been taking one each hour. I think that second one helped me as I felt a bit better the last 30 minutes and ran most of the time.

I was planning on 22 but I started late and I needed to pick up my wife at 2:30 to head out of town for the weekend, so I gladly cut my run a couple miles short. Bonking on a training run is new for me. I'm guessing this will happen a lot in the next 14 weeks as I try and get up to a 28 mile run. Right now that mileage seems like an absurdity.

AP: 10:15

4 and a quarter at Noon at the Y. 48 outside and overcast which was perfect conditions. Sure wish I could ever run a marathon in these temps. I went a bit fast the first couple miles, but I felt good. Nice to recover so quickly from the Friday death walk.

Had a great weekend with my wife down in West Yellowstone. The park is closed for a month but the cross country ski area in West is still open so we enjoyed that Saturday morning then went for a walk down the road in Yellowstone for a mile or so. She forgot her running shoes and the Dansko clogs gave her a blister after a mile. Bummer. Sunday we drove through the Gardiner entrance all the way to the Cooke City entrance and back. Saw elk, mountain sheep, and a wolf along the way. No bears or moose and no baby buffalo yet either. They are cute.

Undelay, undelay! I felt like Speedy Gonzalez this morning doing my 8 miles and finishing just after 7 am in time for family cereal & scripture. Legs felt really good. I probably shouldn't have pushed it like I did, but I got a late start and wanted to be back home with the fam. At times my legs were a bit fatigued but not very bad as it didn't take much effort to keep pushing. Kind of fun actually. I'll take it easy tomorrow, rest day Thursday, then an easy 10 Friday so my 22 this Saturday won't be the death march from Hades like last week.

AP: 7:48

6 miles this morning downtown with my friend Bill. It's amazing how quickly 48 minutes go by when chatting the whole time. I also learned that an 8 minute pace is not a conversational pace for me. But I don't mind talking in gasps.

AP: 7:58

10 miles from home this morning starting at 5:35 am. I haven't done a whole lot of headlamp running the past 6 months because I just plain don't like it. I'd much rather run a treadmill watching shows of my choice than watching a beam of light on the road ahead of me. So glad summer is getting closer.

Ran 10 on my secondary route and it was fine, although they recently regravelled the road and some places it is hard to find traction. I move side to side to find tire tracks and it's tough. But enough complaining. The weather was fantastic, 47 with a slight West wind, few clouds, and just after the halfway point it was light enough to ditch the headlamp. And I think I took it easy enough today that tomorrow's attempt at 22 miles should be successful. I am having doubts about completing the training for this 50 miler. It is brutal and I've already gone to bed early a couple nights this week. Not sure I can handle 11 more weeks of this.

AP: 8:40

"22" miles this morning in my new Cascadia 10s. They are like heaven. Love new shoes! Especially heavily cushioned ones. I knew it would be windy today but the bad doesn't hit till afternoon. Once I got 2 miles from home I ran into the nasty SW headwind again like a couple Fridays ago. Ugh. Nearly turned around at 3 miles but decided to power through another mile to get to a different route. Worked perfectly and had the wind at my back the next 5 miles to the valley floor, then no appreciable wind until the 19th mile. 

AP: 9:28

4.5 at lunch time from the Y. Nice and warm out, 65 with a decent breeze. Beautiful. Legs felt a bit rough but I just plugged along.

4 this morning from home. Beautiful morning. Internet said 55 but I think it was a bit colder in my neck of the woods as my gloveless hands were freezing. Ran mostly naked: no compression socks or calf sleeves, no iPhone, no headphones, no watch, no sunglasses. Just the essentials: shoes, socks, shorts, short sleeve tech shirt and headband. I just ran.

AP: pretty quick. Felt much recovered from yesterday.

6 TM miles at the Y at Noon. Too windy outside, so I grapped the iPad, turned on SVU, and I just ran. Warmed up 1/2 mile at 6.0 then went to 7.6 for the next 4 1/2, all with 1% incline. Last mile I turned it up to 8.6, and last 1/4 mile was 10.1. It all felt really easy and controlled. Amazing how some consistent outdoor running can quickly improve running efficiency.

AP: no idea

8.5 miles on the JRP with Kam! Traveled to Salt Lake with my family yesterday and met Kam at 12:30 today to go for a little run. On the out we took a bit of a goofy turn so the return we guessed and ended up 1/2 mile extra. No worries. Had a good run, lots of great conversation. I'm still amazed how fast runs with others go. 

AP: 8:15

I ran this morning with my brother-in-law and niece as they invited me to join up with Keshia and the Lifetime Fitness run club. Today we did a trail run, starting from the Capital and heading up the valley towards the BST. It was a good run and I had to walk quite a bit on the last mile up. We then walked to the very top to a peak that overlooked Ensign Peak and had a great view of a smogless SLC. What a beautiful city. 

My niece tweaked her knee the night before at the batting cages so I booked it on the way back so my ride wouldn't leave without me. 

Trail runs stink for pace, but AP: 10:14

Drove home from SLC, 9 hours. Average pace: 1:02/mile.

8 miles from home this morning before taking my son to early school. The PE teacher has a Fit Kids class T/Th at 7:15 for 4th-6th graders and the kids flock to it. It really screws up my running schedule though but it's all good so I make the effort to get him there.

My legs felt great this morning after taking a couple days off. I had a good pace on the up and even better on the down, of course. Wind was there but not horrible. Chilly with 29F and 20F wind chill, but I was sweating like crazy on the return.

AP: 7:51

6 miles from the Y at lunchtime. 47 degrees with a bit of an East breeze. I went out too quick which was kind of fun, but legs were a bit tired from yesterday. At one point I think I was in the high 6s cruising along but that didn't last too long. I then backed off quite a bit the rest of the run, mostly in mid 8s.

AP: 8:07

10 miles from home on the 10th. Nearly stayed in bed, nearly quit after 1 mile but didn't do either. Good run, worried about needing to run 24 tomorrow. That's a long way.

Another 20+ miler in some wind. Lots of fun. Surprised how much easier these 20+ ribs are becoming. Should have done 24 but meh. Route wasn't long enough and I wasn't going to run another foot into the wind.

Too tired to wake up.

Too tired to wake up.

8 TM miles this morning as there were 3" of snow, it was still falling, and it was windy.

3.5 miles at lunch. Not much time in between meetings so I changed in my office, headed to the Y, ran fast, and made it back in time.

Stayed up late last night replacing the Macpherson struts on my son's Subaru so I didn't get up this morning to run. And I'm okay with that.

I'm really tired of my current training schedule and considering packing it in and not doing my 50 miler. I will probably do the run but I'm going to significantly decrease my mileage. I'm just tired of it, and I'm tired. All the time. Not sure what happened recently but the past couple weeks I've just been dragging, and I really don't have all that much going on. Busy most evenings but it's not too taxing of stuff. I might continue to just take it easy and run as much as I feel like but not come close to the mileage I really should be putting in to run 50 miles. And maybe I'll drop down to the 50K or 30K. I really don't know at this point.

All that whining aside, I feel blessed that I can run.

I headed out with 40 ounces of Gatorade in my pack and 20 ounces of water and I was planning on 16-24 miles depending on how I felt. I got started and really didn't want to do this run. After 1/2 mile I was struggling to talk myself into continuing on and just before 1 mile I stopped, ala Forrest Gump, "I'm pretty tired... I think I'll go home now." And back home I walked.

I'm not sure what this means for me and running and my 50 miler but I felt pretty down about it on Saturday. I'll play it by ear over the next couple weeks. I expect I'll get back in the saddle and do my race but with much less training intensity than the plan calls for.

Needed a change, so hit Noon Boot Camp. It was great to work some other muscles. I'll be sore now for a week. Wahoo!

Woke up early to run but then went back to bed. Decided I needed a Noon run. Ran from the Y and headed up to the rims above Billings and ran a couple miles on a real trail. Ah. I need more of that. Very refreshing. Quite a climb to get up there, but a nice downhill on the way back.

AP: 8:33

After running, did 4 sets of 5 lunges with 30 lb weights. I'd like to progress to 50 lbs before June 20th. We'll see - I should've started doing these last month or so but I kind of forgot. A buddy got up to 50 lb lunges and he had no soreness from The Rut 50K, which was an insane sky run won by Kilian Jornet at Big Sky, MT with lots and lots of downhill.

Decided to run uphill today, so ran down and up and down and up. 682 feet of elevation in 6 miles. Not bad. 

AP: 8:37

Rest day today so I hit the gym and walked 1 1/4 mile on the treadmill at 3 mph and 15% incline while I watched Law & Order: SVU. It's one of my favorite shows even though the content is icky as it's very real and well written.

After the walk I did 20 lunges with 35 lb weights; 30 pushups; 25 situps; 1 minute of bicycles. Then sat in the steam room for 5 minutes. Ah.

8 miles from home on my standard 8 mile route. Nice morning, 44F with a 10 mph West wind. I could do without the wind. Felt pretty good.

AP: 8:33

Ran into a guy last night who's doing the Bighorn 100 and he invited me to come train this morning with friends of his. The task was to run up this nasty trail and back down 13 times for 5500 feet of vert. I was all in. I showed up at 6 am and thought nobody else would show as it was cold (41F), windy, and raining. After a few minutes they showed up and we hit the trail. It wasn't horrible, but it is a really rough hill. With weeks of training I might be able to run all the way up without stopping, but its brutal. 

I had to leave at 8 am as we drove to Bozeman today for our youngest son to play soccer games. I got in 8 times up and back for nearly 8 miles. I got 2210 feet of up and 2269 feet of down. A great morning, just wish I could've done all 13. The rain let up in the middle but then returned with wind towards the end. My hands were freezing. It was nice to warm up on full blast heat on the drive back. 

On our drive to Bozeman and during the first soccer game we got snowed on...April 25th. Yep, that's the great state of Montana for you. It was 80 degrees a couple weeks ago and will hit 81 this Thursday. 

Noon Boot Camp. Brutal. I pushed it a bit much a few times. I'm old and not in BC shape. I also pulled a tricep muscle doing pull ups. Didn't realize it until working on the car last night and I can't pull anything with my left arm. Weird.

6 miles up the road and back. Legs felt a bit heavy, other parts of body a bit sore. Weather was nice but I'm looking forward to having non-frozen hands when returning from a run. It's the small things.

AP: 8:20

10 miles up my hilly country road. Only one car passed me the entire time. Beautiful clear morning, no wind, no clouds, 46F which meant no gloves on the way back. I felt pretty good. Very sore from Monday's upper body boot camp workout, but legs felt pretty good. I also did a good deed as juvenile cow had somehow jumped through the barbed wire fence but couldn't find his way back in. He stood by momma cow feeling bad about life. I chased him along the barrow pit until he finally remembered how he'd escaped and he nimbly pushed his way through a larger opening in the fence and returned to momma. He was a thirsty boy.

AP: 8:42

For the first time since owning a Garmin my watch freaked out on me this morning so I'm not sure how many miles I actually got. It said 1 mile at my well defined 3/4 mile mark, then the next mile had me going at a 6:46 pace so clearly the mileage was off. My watch can't be turned off/on so I just stopped and reset it and I just ran. Decent run, nothing spectacular. I felt pretty good. I ran from home into town as my 5th grader had a once a year city track meet. Pretty fun stuff. Nice to change up the scenery but running in town definitely feels longer than running on country roads.

Not an actual race, but 4.2 miles further than any training run I've done so I made it marathon distance just because. I knew my route which is my normal long run route the first 7.5 miles then a new turn off I've never needed until now. Haven't uploaded the Garmin yet but lots of up on those extra 5.5 miles. I was pressed for time so originally was only going to do 12 and turn around but I decided I could make it and I'm glad I did. I fueled well with 50 oz Gatorade in my pack and 22 oz water in a hand held. Used Easter jelly beans mostly then one caffeinated peanut butter chocolate Gu at 2 hours. Yum! Seriously delicious and gave me needed booster rockets. Getting back to my normal route at 19 miles helped immensely. I only walked a couple times after that.

Just uploaded my Garmin and just over 2000 feet of gain. I'm pretty happy with the run. Feeling strong this week, hopefully it will continue. 

6 miles this morning. Felt a bit rusty and legs a bit leaden, but not as bad as I thought it would be after a long weekend run. Beautiful out, sun rises now before 6 am. I like it A LOT.

AP: 8:33

Tired. Schedule called for 10 miles but didn't want to wake up at 5. Could've done 6 miles but decided to get another hour of sleep. These long run weekends wipe me out for days and I'm trying to be smarter than the last long run. It wiped out my next long run as I was just spent. Busy today at lunch otherwise I'd run then. I'll run tomorrow morning instead of resting. We'll see how that works.

Too tired for 5 am and 10 miles so slept until 5:45 and did 6. North wind, hands frozen from running into the wind on the way home. With gloves.

AP: 8:23

A chilly morning (43F, wind 9 mph), legs felt a bit leaden. Nearly turned around at 4 miles but I decided to take advice from Kam and picked up the pace a bit and it worked like a magic charm of goodness. Instead of plodding along I ran and went to my 5 mile point and turned around. Never did find my second gear but it was manageable.

Heading tonight to a soccer tournament a couple hours away in Sheridan WY so not sure how I'll get in a run tomorrow. We'll see.

AP: 8:32

Nada, zilch, zero. Drove to Sheridan WY last night for a soccer tournament today and we got in late, woke up early, did the soccer tournament thing in cold weather with snow and drizzling rain all day, then drove back and went straight to dinner with friends. Busy day, no chance to run.

Morning: 4 miles from home in fairly cold temps for May 11th, 30F. A bit of a wind but not bad. Wore my good gloves, tights, hat, and a nice 1/2 zip top with fuzzy insides. Ah. I thought my legs would be fresh but apparently not. I kept thinking the GPS was off again as it showed an 8:56 pace on the 2nd mile. It's a steady climb but with fresh legs I'm normally in the 8:15-8:30 range. The return miles were better but definitely not fresh legs. No biggie.

Lunch: It's my step back week, so time to add some weight training. Did 25 minutes of Boot Camp and that got a good workout, then did 20 lunges with 35 lb dumbbells, curls and triceps with 20 lb dumbbells, and 25 situps with gravity.

8 miles from home this morning. Legs and butt felt worked out from yesterday but I felt like pushing the pace. Had decent paces on the up, then kept pushing all the way from mile 3-8. Felt good to run "fast" but not actually fast. Fast for me.

AP: 7:54

6 miles from home this morning. Got out 5-10 minutes later than planned so the fight in my head during the run was whether I'd run 5 miles or 6 miles as I like to be back by 7 am. I'd decided on 5 but when I got the 2.5 mile turnaround spot I stopped, thought about it, turned around towards home, then circled back and finished the 3 miles. The first mile this morning was a bit creaky with the sore muscles, but the 2nd I pushed a bit as I knew I needed to get back to the house. By the time I hit mile 3 I was in a good stride and pushing myself, and when mile 4 hit I now had downhill and I started moving. The last 3 were uncomfortably hard. I'm so not used to running in that space so I don't know how far I can go like that. I know that's what the best athletes do and while I've improved quite a bit in distance and pace I bet there's so much further I could go with the right coaching. Not sure I'll ever do it, but it was interesting this morning. Mile 4 was a 7:03, mile 5 6:52, and finished mile 6 with a 6:36. It was definitely uncomfortable and my breathing was very labored. Fun to know I still have some speed in me though.

AP: 7:45

Ugh. I hate being sick. Just after my Wednesday morning run I felt a sore throat coming and it walloped me. Finally Saturday night I felt better. I'm 100% for work purposes but probably 60% for running. I didn't realize that until I hopped on the TM at Noon today. After 1/2 mile at 6 mph instead of being warmed up I was ready to quit. So I did. Ugh.

I feel totally screwed for my race. I've missed the last two long runs in a row, and this week and next week were supposed to be my last big mileage weeks and this week will be low miles and I can't just turn around and run 60 miles next week on next to nothing mileage. This really sucks.

Whew, I'm back! Definitely hurt by the layoff and sickness, but I'm back to running. Ran at lunchtime on the roads and sidewalks near the Y and it went fine. I definitely didn't push much but I kept a steady pace. Legs felt pretty good for not having run on them for a week but some rust for sure.

AP: 8:15

I should've run 4 this morning but I didn't want to get out of bed, and I had an end-of-year lunch this afternoon for my 8th grader so no running today. It was nice to stay in bed but I had some guilt since I haven't run much lately. Tomorrow morning will be early as I try for 12 miles and the guilt will wash away.

Was meant to run 12 this morning and I was worried about it with a 7 day layoff. Turns out I was fine. I cut it to 11 because of time and I actually could've gone the full 12 but math in my head while running is a major deficiency. It's why I'm in the field of Human Resources.

AP: 8:33

I went for a little run.

Woke up at 4:45 and did my morning ritual of toilet, contacts, get dressed. Toilet wasn't an emptying experience like normal and I paid for that later. Got out the door at 5:17 am with 2 liters of gatorade in my Nathan pack, lots of starburst jelly beans, a clif bar, and a 5 hour energy. It all combined for perfection. I was very blessed with the weather. A shelf of thick clouds overhead until mile 21, but it let the sunrise peek through around 5:45 then no hint of sun for hours. There was no wind to speak of, but a slight chilling breeze from the North which cooled me on the return. I ran the same route as a few weeks ago, just went another mile further. I quite like this new route as the first 7.5 I'm very familiar with but the next bit is new and gives me elevation, seclusion from people, and expansive space. From mile 2 to mile 14 I passed three houses. Love it. I felt pretty good on the run, although my stomach had a few sharp pains early on. At mile 7 I realized those weren't just gas pains and I stopped for pit stop #1 on the side of the road. Thank goodness I had a wet wipe, but knowing I only had one I tore it in half which was wise. Just before mile 14 I had my second and final pit stop on the side of the road and used the other half. I felt much better after both stops. At the last stop I was almost half way so changed my drenched shirt and headband and it was nice to be dry again. The return was into a slight North breeze and it was so refreshing that when I got back to my house my shirt had hardly any sweat at all. It was only damp to the touch. Amazing. At mile 21 the clouds finally gave way to sun but with that breeze in my face I stayed nice and cool. Took 1/2 of the 5 hour energy around mile 20 and it was a great pick me up. I believe! Taking the whole thing would shock my heart but 100 mg seems about perfect for me. My return pace was pretty decent which surprised me. My right foot gets a blister/callous on the outside of my big toe knuckle but it never got worse thankfully. I was able to plug away. I only walked a few times and that was only on the hills. I just kept running slowly, mostly around a 9-9:15 minute pace.

After not being able to run on Monday because I was overcoming a sickness to being able to do 11 and 28 this weekend makes me very happy. I don't know how I'll run another 24 miles beyond what I did Saturday but I'll figure it out. The good news is that with all the elevation at Bighorn there's lots of engaging different muscle groups while walking up steep mountains.

AP: 9:39

Garmin log

12 miles from home this morning. Woke up 10 minutes before the alarm (how does that happen?) and got ready and left by 5:15. Got me back home just before 7, the bewitching hour at the Hall house (for me). Run was pretty solid. Legs sore but not too sore. On the way out I was pretty slow, but the return had me going pretty strong. The out is 3 miles up, 3 miles flat and down, so the return miles 6-9 should've been slow but my body & mind really like going uphill so I hit a higher gear and while I wasn't booking it was a solid 8:30 and I could definitely feel the soreness in my quads which was pretty awesome.

AP: 8:32

Ran a slightly different route today than normal as I wanted to run up my hilly road and end at my house. Normal route is running down to my house. Legs are tired, looking forward to a break tomorrow.

I also had a bloody nose from mile 1-3. In nearly 5000 miles of running I've never once had a bloody nose. So glad I wore my black gloves today with snot rags on the fingers. They soaked up the blood well. When I got home I laughed as my lime green singlet was spattered with blood. For 1/2 mile I thought I was blowing snot rockets but apparently they were animated rockets instead.

AP: 9:01

12 miles from home. Rained quite a bit last night so the first 3/4 of a mile were very sloggy and muddy. I decided to run up my normal long route which I normally only do on Saturdays and I'm glad I did. A nice challenge for a Friday morning. I plodded up my Veyo hill and continued on. About mile 10 1/2 while going up a hill I felt a twing in my right outer quad. Nothing bad, didn't need to stop or slow down, but I felt it a few times. Very odd as I've never felt that before. I have felt lots of niggles this week though as the 28 mile effort brought out some odd feelings in my legs. With a mile to go the urge to relieve myself got very strong and I had to drop a deuce on the side of the road. It was my last safe place to do that before getting home. It's a nasty job but glad I had my wipes with me.

AP: 8:50

20 miles starting at 12:15 pm. It was good to run in some heat, but it was tough. I am not used to it. From 66 with 58% humidity to 74 with 48% humidity. A decent East wind helped cool me off most of the time. I recently bought a good running visor and I like it a lot. It definitely keeps the sun off my face. 

I ran a different route and gained 1370 feet elevation at different times. It was a good run, my last long run before the race. 3 Saturdays from today. 

AP: 9:45

Garmin info

4 1/2 slow miles at lunch time. Didn't realize how heavy my legs were from Saturday as I've missed my last few Monday runs and having 2 days rest after a long run is pretty nice. I wanted to run in temps and we're finally above 70 at Noon. I ran from 74-77 degrees, 48% humidity. It wasn't bad but I could use lots more heat training. I know I'll need it on the 20th. I know a slog fest is coming but that's what ultras are.

AP: 8:52

1/2 mile this morning from home. The legs weren't there so I stopped and walked home. I was going at a snail's pace (10:30) and it felt awful. I guess my Monday rest days in the past few weeks have been more beneficial than I knew. Should've rested yesterday. Oh well, no worries. Will rest today and run tomorrow.

Slept in today thank goodness then went for a run at lunchtime. My legs are toast! This is so weird. I did 28 miles a couple Saturdays ago, the following Tuesday I did 12 miles no problem. I only did 20 on Saturday and Tuesday I could barely run and today isn't much better after a 30 hour rest. So bizarre. I guess my body is trying to tell me something and I'll let it. I'm kind of tired of running at the moment. I'm ready to coast into my race.

AP: 9:35

My body is really tired or something as I once again had very little this morning. Was meant to do 8 but with how slow I was going I cut it way short. I walked a couple times for 3-4 minutes each time. This is so weird. During the day and night I don't feel exhausted, but when running this week my quads have felt like lead bricks with no explosiveness or turnover. It's almost to the point of giving me a complex but I'll wait another few days. I expect tomorrow will suck just as bad but hopefully next week the legs will return. Bah.

I'm not sure I'm back but I had a good run and it was even in the heat. Started at 1:30 pm with 75F and 39% humidity and ended at 78F and 40%. Love the west. Went up my normal 10 mile route, 5 out and back. At 4.3 miles I had to turn around as I hit a cow jam. No joke. Rancher Joe was moving pastures with a herd of 100 cows or so. I promptly turned around and headed back. I got my miles by heading 0.7 miles up another road a few miles later. I felt pretty good on this run. My first mile started out slow as the other runs this week, 10+ pace but I didn't let it get me down. Just kept going and eventually I warmed up a bit. I worried about going up my Veyo hill but it wasn't a big challenge, and I made it up in under 10 pace. I brought 44 ounces of drink and I used all of it so I'm glad I had it. Used Twizzlers as my power. Yum. Although actually it was a bit ick as cherry flavored licorice has a long aftertaste. 

AP: 8:52

8 warm morning miles, a rarity in this rarefied air of Montana. Temps were 71F 47% at 7 am and 77F 39% at 8 am, which is about the time I finished. Had to drop off son #2 at the high school at 6:30 am for his lifting/crossfit class so I parked at the Y and hit the pavement and concrete. Although the harder surfaces are a bit tough for me it's a change of scenery which was pretty nice. It was also nice seeing people on a morning run. I normally see not a single two-legged soul except for a few who drive to work around 7 am, so it was nice to run by people and nod and grunt good morning.

Legs felt just fine today. Not fresh as can be, but not sluggish. A good solid challenging run.

The Garmin died about 7.25 miles so I'm not sure of pace, but somewhere around 8 minute mile. It was challenging but not difficult. Lots of sweat.

4 miles from home this morning. Beautiful weather, 61F 81% slight breeze. I didn't read my schedule very well as it has me seriously tapering and planned for 4 miles Monday, 0 Tuesday, 6 Wednesday. I'm glad I ran yesterday though. Legs today didn't feel totally fresh but good enough. They'll be great on the 20th.

AP: 8:50

Massive taper week had me skip Thursday & Friday runs and just do 10 today. I needed to drop off son #3 at the church for a Boy Scout 5 mile hike, so I did my 10 on the West end bike path. I've heard that asphalt/concrete running is actually a good change of pace for trail runners and I think that's true. Even with almost no elevation change my legs felt it.

AP: 8:28

4 miles on the rimrock trail above town at Noon. Nice easy effort as that's about all my legs are tuned into. Next time I do an ultra I'll make sure to continue doing some speed work as I think that would help mentally.

I ran in new shoes, so a shout out to Brooks. My current Cascadias have worn a hole in the right upper where the foot flexes. I submitted a warranty claim with a picture and they sent me a "one-time replacement pair" of the exact same shoe. Bonus! I have 2 drop bags on my race, so I really wanted three total pairs of trail shoes and I've got them. The start will be the muddiest section of the race so I'll start with my Cascadia 9s as they still have a little bit of life left in them and the first 18 miles is mostly downhill. They should be fine. The next section is the most incline and a potential for mud with rain forecast most of this week. I'll wear the new shoes with the most tread. At mile 34 I'll switch into my older Cascadia 10s and wear them to the end.

The day of currently is forecasting 77 degrees with 20-40% chance of rain. Not horrible, not great. I'll take rain over heat anyday although on a dirt trail I may be wishing for a hot day to get rid of mud. This may be an interesting race.

3 miles this morning from home. Last night was the first time I had the "holy crap what am I doing?" thought while I was sleeping. I think it came about 3 am while rolling over for a better side sleep position. I'm expecting a few more of those this week. After 22 weeks of training specifically for this race I'm ready for the cycle to be over and also amazed that race day is coming soon.

Running only 2 miles feels very weird. But at the end of a long training cycle, it feels AWESOME! I'm as ready as can be. I've got my drop bags packed and repacked (and will probably repack one more time just to be sure I didn't forget something crucial). I've got all my summer and winter running clothes ready to go, just in case the weather is wacky at 8000 feet. I think I'm as ready as I can be. I would feel more confident if I had hit all of my prescribed long runs, but I had some good ones in there which make me feel good. I'm nervous about this race, probably more nervous than my first marathon. I think I can do it, I think the last 5 1/2 years of running have prepared me for this but we'll see in a few days how it goes. I'm sure of one thing: it's going to suck really bad the last 6 miles on a hot dusty dirt road. And I'm pretty sure I'll have long stretches of "this sucks" in between. I can't wait!

I finished. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't fun. Never doing a 50 miler again. It's way too far for me.

We stayed at a hotel about 30 minutes from the start line and the race started at 6 am so I planned to leave at 5:15 to be there 15 minutes early. I didn't want to stand around at 8800 feet and freeze. It worked out okay, but I should've gotten up earlier to give me more time to eat and use the hotel bathroom as my limited time was wholly unproductive. I didn't end up emptying my bowels until 34 miles and 8 hours into the race. Thankfully it was at a POP and it didn't impact the race. I also didn't eat or drink much before the race, just nibbled on a Cliff bar and sipped some Gatorade but not at all what I planned to do. Again, it didn't impact me thankfully. My wife and I left the hotel about 5:20 and I hauled butt down the road, slowing a few time for deer on the side of the road and blessed to see a couple bull elk with velvet antlers. It was a gorgeous drive. The race was 2.4 miles off the highway and thankfully good roads to get there, uneventful. I got my hydration pack filled with water as they had no Gu Brew at that station.

We started the race with 201 of us running the turnaround circle around the warmup tents and that thinned the herd a bit before going to single track. We were one long line of runners for the next who-knows-how-many-miles. Some super swampy areas up there and some small water crossings but nothing too bad. One lady right in front of me lost her shoe stepping across a small stream so I stopped and plucked it up for her. She later twisted her ankle really badly at 5.6 miles in and I strongly doubt she finished. The first 18 miles is all downhill, going from 8800 to 4500 feet with the last few miles high above a river. Gorgeous. I got to the Foot Bridge aid station and my first of two drop bags at about 3 hours 36 minutes. I could feel some hot spots, so I duct taped my feet and it was a fantastic decision. After washing my feet (bless you angels carrying water trays and towels to us) I wrapped one loop around the toe joint as I was working on a blister on the outside of my big toe joint (whatever that's called) then wrapped a loop around my heel and connected to the other tape and repeated on both sides. Then changed into my compression socks and my new Brooks Cascadias. I ended up wearing them the rest of the way. I changed into a sleeveless tech shirt, got sunscreened, ate some food, filled hydration pack with Gu Brew and I was off. Not sure how long the break was, but it was worth it.

The next 16 miles sucked. I knew it would, and it did. 16 miles of climbing from 4500 to 7500 feet. The first two miles I regained 2000 feet of elevation and it is just awful. I had to stop and lower my heart rate a number of times as I was just getting woozy. 3.5 miles in there's a backpacked-in aid station (there are some amazing volunteers on this race! 3 backpacked-in stations, 2 aid stations by horse and mule) and it was nice to rest for a bit, grab some jerky and gu, refill the water bottle, and go. I should've topped off the hydration pack as I ended up going dry before the next aid station but I was fine. I'd prefer a little extra weight and lots of water though. The next while there is quite a bit of sideways or minor up so I was able to run quite a bit of it and it's through trees and just beautiful. Little packs would form but I mostly ran on my own from here on but made a few friends along the way. At mile 28 we finally hit Cow Camp aid station which has bacon. I was really hungry so I ate 1/2 a PB&J, a couple strips of fat-packed bacon (too much fat) and some Fritos. Great salt. I burped up all this food the next 6 miles so maybe I ate too much, but I was glad to get rid of the pit. The next 6 to the last drop bag really suck. It's only 1000 foot gain, but it goes forever and ever and ever. You're climbing a canyon and can see the aid station 5 miles away and it's a horribly cruel mental game. During this stretch I realized I hate the 50 mile distance (actually, I think it was a few miles before, when I hit 26 miles and realized I was only 1/2 way there). I felt pretty good but I was just done with it. I considered dropping at the next aid station mainly because I just didn't want to run anymore and I figured getting a DNF for boredom was probably a bad idea. I also started doing the math and knew the race didn't end until 9 pm, and if I literally walked 20 minute miles the rest of the race I would finish. My kids needed me to finish. Knowing I could walk and finish removed any stress from me and I took my walking really serious from that point on. I ran when I wanted to but mostly I walked, and walked, and walked. I felt like a pioneer child (LDS primary song). When I came to streams (of which there are many) I walked right through them and it felt sooo good. I got to the aid station at 8 hours in and I changed into a tank top for the final stretch (and reapplied nipple bandaids as my first bandaids had fallen off) and switched from Gu Brew to water. I also used the POP and that helped mentally, knowing I didn't need to squat in the woods somewhere.

The weather had changed and it got cloudy and windy and it was cold but it was only 2 pm. I had kept my arm warmers that I started with and I put them on and wore them for the next 30 minutes which helped. I guy I'd met just earlier was freezing and I loaned him my windbreaker as he'd left his at the first aid station not thinking he'd need it. The sun came out about 30 minutes later and warmed quickly. I then kept walking and walking. I ran a little bit but mainly walked. A mile past that we hit a gravel road for the next few miles and I actually ran quite a bit of it. I was trailing a 100 miler who would run/walk so I knew I could do the same. After a few miles we finally hit the best trail of the run and I ran most of it. It's a fun single track that's mostly flat and it's just fun to run. I walked when I wanted to but ran when I could. I didn't want to sweat anymore so I only ran when it wasn't strenuous. I was tired of exerting myself. At the next aid station I didn't eat much and kept going. The nastiest walking section of the race was coming up and it is so hard. About 3/4 of a mile of nearly vertical. It's not actually a trail, but we all need to get to the final canyon and this is the only way they've figured out to get us there. I stopped 5-6 times just to catch my breath. Eventually I slowed my pace and just kept walking but breathing really hard. It is tough. At the top of the canyon I knew I'd get cell coverage so I texted my wife and told her I was about 90 minutes from the bottom of the canyon where I'd hit the last 5 miles of gravel road where the family would meet me on bikes. I then entered the canyon, thinking I'd run part of it but walk a lot. I ran it and I ran it fast (relatively). My legs felt great and I destroyed my quads. There are many stretches where you can't stop, just keep your feet moving in short little steps so you don't fall over. When I was coming up on walkers I'd yell "Runner! And I can't stop!" and they'd move out of my way. I was really cruising, and staring down at the trail so I didn't twist an ankle or worse. It's about 3.5 miles from the top of the canyon to the next aid station, and 3000 feet of drop. It always seems like that aid station will never come and the same was true this year. It was a blessed site. I refilled water, ate some grapes, and was off. 2.2 miles to the last aid station and the trail now had lots of up and downs. It felt great to up and I was surprised how much I like running the down parts. The trail levels off for a bit and the sun was out in full force. It was pretty warm at this point so as I'd done the whole race I doused my head, back, and chest with water from my hand held.

After the last aid station is the single worst part of the race: 5 miles of mostly flat gravel road. It sounds easy and it is horrible. Like seriously horrible. I don't know how anyone can run those entire 5 miles. I ran the first mile or so, then I walked nearly the rest of the way. Again, I did the math and I could walk 15 minute miles which would only take me 75 minutes. I was spot on. My cute wife walked out and met me with about 3 miles to go and that was fun. She'd left her bike a ways up the road. My 3 kids who were there then met me at intervals on their bikes and they walked and rode with me the rest of the way, which was the highlight of my day (my oldest was working in Billings so couldn't make the trip). A few 50 milers and even 100 milers passed me running, and good for them. I was content to walk it in. About 3/4 mile out we hit town and the road is paved and I ran it in from there. My family all ditched their bikes at the park and we ran across the finish line holding hands. I felt good.

Feelings immediately after the race: chocolate milk is awesome and 52 miles is a long freaking way to run. I will never run that far again, and I will definitely never run 100 miles. It is not a bucket list item. I was a bit under trained but I finished strong. I was really glad for my family support and happy they could be there with me.

GPS first 34 miles: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/814056161 (thanks Pat for lending me your watch!)

GPS last 18 miles: https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/820956619

After a rough Saturday night when sleep was a challenge with sore legs, and a rough Sunday trying to walk and even rougher Monday walking, finally today my legs are feeling not horrible. I'm sore from my feet to the top of my quads, and I'm even sore on my shoulders from the hydration pack straps. My feet have cuts on the top of them from the duct tape, but they're just flesh wounds and will heal nicely. The duct tape was absolutely worth it. 

Hoping I feel like running in a week or so. 

I'll count 1 mile although I didn't run that entire way. I dropped my son off at conditioning class then went to the Y and headed outdoors. I did a 1 1/2-2 mile loop with no watch because I was just walking then I'd run a bit.

One thing I keep failing to mention is my left knee bugged me on the race and it still is a bit. I don't think it's my actual knee, just something on the outside of it. I'm guessing IT band or something like that. I haven't done any cross training recently so once I add that into the mix after recovering I expect to feel better. I felt it after a couple long runs and it went away. On the race I noticed it but it seemed to happen more when I was sloppy with my footwork. When I focused I didn't feel it. We'll see.

By the end of next week I should be running a few miles or more.

Did Noon Boot Camp today. It felt great to be somewhat normal. I gave it my full effort on some things but definitely on the running parts. I'm gonna be sore.

I ran. Slowly. From home. It was good.

Noon Boot Camp. Sweaty.

Shins, forearms, cheeks, nose, and chin,

Glistening from pain.

Been travelling since Friday with no chance for runs and I can't remember why I didn't run Thursday morning... It made sense at the time though.

We've driven 1350 miles from Billings to Salt Lake then to Reno where we are currently, staying at my wife's brother's house. It's on the mountain towards Lake Tahoe and it's beautiful. I ran this morning near his house, at Galena Park trailhead. I don't recall the trail name but it was a tough one. I'd run it all the time if I lived here, to get in shape for trail runs. It was also at about 6000 feet elevation so it was good training. It was up to the top of a ridge and back with lots of switchbacks. I ran when I could and walked the rest. Really fun run, and quick coming down although the sun was in my eyes halfway on the switchbacks returning to the car and I'm glad I didn't trip.

Not sure what's up with my left knee. It's bugged me since my 26.2 training run on May 2nd. I didn't do anything in particular to hurt it, no tripping or anything I can remember. It bugged me a bit on long runs and on the Bighorn run. It bugged me today on the downhills then we went to Lake Tahoe for the day and it really bugged me walking on the sand. I was almost limping. I sure hope it's nothing serious but I'm concerned.

Tomorrow we're heading to Six Flags north of San Francisco, then Sonoma State Park beach on Wednesday, San Francisco Thursday, not sure Friday then long drive to Salt Lake on Saturday. Hang there for a couple days and home Tuesday. Loooong trip. Hope we don't kill each other before it's over.

6 miles from the condo in Windsor, CA. Found a 1.5M bike path near the condo and ran that until I hit a main road then followed it into Windsor. A cute little town. On the way there I passed Windsor HS which is apparently a staging area or finish for the Vineman 70.3 this coming Sunday. I ran a bit through the corral just to experience the thrill of the roaring crowd. I heard and felt them. I was "nearly there".

Legs felt pretty good but most of that was just because it's 0 elevation. Love it.

AP: 8:30 or so.

In the morning we hung out at the pool and the afternoon we went to the ocean at Sonoma Beach. Not a swimming beach but we had a blast getting chased by the waves. We lost quite often and got drenched. It was fun and freezing. The ocean is amazing.

4 miles this morning before heading into San Francisco. My legs did not feel great. Must be the 50 mile residual tiredness. Wanted to walk a few times but I didn't..

After we went to San Francisco and had a blast. Went on a boat ride under the Golden Gate bridge and around Alcatraz. We got soaked with a wet misting fog. It was beautiful. Did Chinatown, Lombard Street, Pier 39, Fisherman's Wharf (complete with clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl - yum). First time there for the kids and they enjoyed it.

5 TM miles this morning at the condo small gym so I could see the fam swimming. And so I could watch an episode of Longmire. I was only going to run 3 miles but there were 14 more minutes of the show so I ramped up the TM again and ran a couple more. Finished just as the show ended. Sweet. And sweat. All over the place.

Made my family get up early with me and we hiked Mt. Timpanagos above Provo, Utah. It's a really popular long hike that I've never done even though I lived 25 of my first 27 years in Utah. We took the entire crew with us (9 yr old daughter, 11, 14, 16 year old sons, and my wife) and met up with Kam and his wife and 17 yr old son and 16 yr old daughter. Kam and family planned to do the entire 18 mile round trip to the top but the Hall clan was only up to hiking to Emerald Lake. Started about 7:15 am and the wining started pretty soon from my daughter. I stayed with her a lot. We made it to the meadow about 12:15 and got back to the car at 2:30 for about an 11 mile hike. I was proud of my family for toughing it out, and afterwards every one of them said they had fun. Amazing! It was fun to be with Kam and some of his crew as they are a cool (and smart) bunch.

Boot Camp. Sweaty shins. Good workout.

I'm living the mileage dream right now. Two whole miles for the week. Woot woot! It was nice and rainy this morning, and cold. 54 degrees with cold rain sprinkling on me. Hands were chilled. Amazing.

Hold your horses, I'm livin' large! 6 whole miles to kick off the week. Wow. I nearly didn't make it as my legs are not used to running (I've already lost it) and I needed to walk at 1.5 miles. I kept on going though and once I hit the turn around spot there was no other option but to go home. I hit decent paces for trail running but not road running. Ugh. Time to work on speed.

AP: 8:16

It seems impossible to me, but I think my body is still recovering from the 52 miles on June 20th. That's the only explanation that makes sense as my legs feel fatigued on every run and I just don't have "it" (whatever "it" is).

Today's run was okay, but after 1 mile I walked for a minute or more. And this is on the route I have run hundreds of times. I've walked during the first two miles maybe a handful of times. It should not be that hard.

4 miles from the Y before work. 63F, 58%; nice weather. Legs sure take a while to warm up - my first mile is always a 9:30 or so. Got feeling better after a mile, then plodded along. The last mile I saw three bouncing ponytails up ahead so I sped up to catch them. It was 3 high school girls who were just out for a morning jog otherwise they surely would have smoked me.

AP: 8:17

4 miles at lunch time from the Y. It was a cooler day so only 71F. Too bad I didn't wait until the thunderstorm blew through town as the temps dipped to 54F at 4:30 pm! Craziness. Sometimes I like the Canadian weather influence, and today was one of those days.

5 weeks after my 52 miler and I still haven't logged 52 miles since then. Not sure I'll make it to the 50 mile mark this month but I'll try. I'm lacking motivation and fresh legs. Need a race in my future.

Windy outside today (33 mph gusts) so I decided to hit the TM at the Y during lunch. Decent run, I'm accepting the fact that my legs are in recovery mode and may be for a while so I walked a couple times and didn't feel bad about it. Ran at 6 mph for most of the first mile, then varied between 7.0 and 7.6. Did it all while watching Longmire. Definitely worth watching on Netflix. Thankfully the wifi mostly worked and it only timed out twice. Now that's a good day.

4 TM miles at the Y during lunch. I needed to finish the last episode of season 2 for Longmire. Very interesting ending. Too bad there's only one more season to go. The run wasn't fantastic but wasn't horrible. Warmed up at 6.0, then tried to go straight to 7.0 but had to back off as that was too quick. Walked for a stretch at mile 3 then decided to pack it in after 4 miles. I'd planned 6 but I figured I'd save something for tomorrow.

Yesterday we went to Yellowstone for my youngest son's 12 birthday and it was a banner day. Saw Old Faithful, a mud pot or two, swam in the Firehole River (way fun), and were then treated to seeing a mama Grizzly and her two cubs. Granted, they were a looong ways off, but thankfully I brought my spotting scope and that gave us good views.

6 TM miles during lunch while it was hot outside. And besides, I wanted to watch another episode of Longmire. 

Drove 2 hours to the mountains to perform a wedding, then changed in the Suburban and ran 6 miles on one of my favorite mountain trails which I've never run before. I've hiked it, backpacked it, snowshoed it, cross-country skiied it, but never run it until today. I didn't have time to do more, but I don't have the legs for more right now and it's very very frustrating. Hard to enjoy the sport I love when I don't enjoy it right now. Argh.

Beautiful trail, though, and even though the weather was pretty warm it was a great run. I wanted to jump in the river next to the trail but I didn't. Got done, cranked up the AC and drove back to Billings. Busy day afterwards, just getting to bed at 1 am. I kind of like these full days.

I didn't get out for a run or head to the Y, but I did take my family boating and I waterskiied for the first time in a long while. What a workout! I have a double-boot Connelly slalom ski and after about 10 turns my quads were burning. When slalom used to be a big deal I'd see tournaments with guys touching their elbows as they went through a bouy course. They must have been brutes. Perfect night at the lake, warm temps, no wind, few boats = great water. It was a rare treat and I loved it.

4 TM miles. I'm kind of addicted to Longmire, but only a few episodes remaining then I'll probably venture outside.

Weighed myself last night and I'm the heaviest I've been in quite a few years. I've not been eating well for the last 12 months or so and it's starting to show. I used to eat healthy because that's what sounded good. Now other foods and lots of it sound good. I'm fairly confident the middle age bulge isn't caused by getting older, it's more caused by our wallets getting fatter and being able to afford more food. We buy crap because we can, then we eat crap. When we were young we couldn't afford much so we didn't eat much. I should write a book about it but I'd be lambasted for not giving people a crutch. But I digress.

Ran outside at lunchtime. It was only 79 degrees so wasn't bad. I felt pretty good and it was nice to be outside as TM running is harder when the legs aren't feeling great. I planned to run 5 but the route was a bit short so I got back to work sooner. Drat.

Spin class at Noon. The muscles used for biking are NOT the same as the ones used for running. This was much harder than I remember it being so I took it easy and left a few minutes early. A good sweat but not much dripping because I couldn't work that hard. I've got a ways to go to fully recover but I think my key will be cross training. Too much sports specific stuff is hurting me.

6 in the morning from my house.

2 unplanned miles in the afternoon. Went on a camping trip with church youth from the stake and I was supposed to give them the rope for the 3 legged walk but I took a wrong trail. I ran down the trail to be in the right spot and enjoyed the run.

No miles being on the campout with tight timelines, but I did get to help build a forest service trail for a few hours and that was fun. Using a pulaski is hard work though. My hands still aren't recovered two days later. I can barely grip anything. Having a desk job is hard work.

6 miles outside at lunch. Sluggish. Hot. Sweaty. Sluggish. Wimpy.

Everybody sing with me, "I've lost that running feeling, whoa oh that running feeling. I've lost that running feeling, now it's gone, gone, gone, oh oh whoa oh oh." I tried to run on the TM today at the Y but it was a huge struggle so I mainly walked while watching an episode of Longmire. 15% at 3 mph is a decent walk in the park. Not sure what my long term plans are to get back my running feeling, but it ain't gonna be through running. Thinking about figuring out the swim thing. I can swim just fine to recreate, but I can't swim laps to save my life. Like, I honestly couldn't do 10 laps in a lap pool. I would drown (even in a 4 foot pool). Boot Camp is good and maybe a good option but it frequently incorporates running. Not enough to be fatigued and enough other muscle groups to probably help the legs. Spin class is all legs and although different muscles, same muscle groups and they are tired. Who wants to teach me how to swim laps?

Jacob's Ladder is hard. I decided to switch things up and not run, so tried Jacob's Ladder at the Y and made it 5 minutes before dying. I then did the stair stepper for 15 minutes, followed by another 15 minutes or so on the elliptical. A pretty decent workout.

Noon Boot Camp. It was brutal but awesome. We partnered up and had to run the gym for 30 seconds each while our partner pulled on a resistance band behind us. We then switched, then did some sort of exercise - pushups, etc. Did that for 40 minutes. I was able to run pretty hard for most of it, so it has me wondering about my legs - are they ready for more? Maybe.

Noon Boot Camp. Different stations, and we had to do 20 of the station exercises, then do 20 burpees. I hate burpees. Since the year is 2015 I did exercises and 15 burpees. Worked for me. In between we ran around the building (1/3 mile or so) and I did fine the first time, worse the second, and jogged the third. I really want my legs back.

Noon Water Boot Camp. I suck at swimming and nearly drowned which is pretty impressive in 3 feet of water.... I've literally never tried to swim laps before, and I tried today and it was not pretty. I sure liked swimming with my head down as I wore goggles (which I never do) but I had a hard time figuring out how to breath without inhaling copious amounts of water. I was plenty hydrated afterwards. Anyhow, the gig was that regular Boot Camp-like exercises were on each end of the pool, and we'd swim a certain number of laps per lane, get out, do the exercise, then pick the next lane and swim laps, do exercises, etc. I struggled with my laps. The hardest part of all it though was an in between calf raise exercise. Two days later my calves are still sore to the touch and they hurt whenever I stand up to walk. It's awesome.

Not sure when I'll be back, but at least I started the foray into swimming laps. I'll figure this puppy out then start doing Ironmans... in about 10 years when I can figure out how to swim 2.4 miles.

I actually woke up before work and ran. Amazing how quickly I got out of that habit.

The plan appears to be working. I did 4 today with no problem. I got up early to run outside, and as soon as I started on my run I stopped. It is so smoky right now from the Washington & Idaho fires that it would be stupid to run out there. I headed inside to run on the treadmill but to my chagrin my oldest son and his cousin were asleep on the couch (with the TV still on). Sonuva... I had to take my 2nd oldest to football practice by 8 so I couldn't hit the gym early, so I decided to come to work late. It's Friday.

Warmed up at 6.0, 1% for 1/2 mile then ran at 7.0 for a couple miles, then 7.5 until the end. Although I felt like quitting and walking a few times the urge wasn't strong like it has been the past month+, it was pretty normal.

Hopefully this will continue and I can get back to mileage. My gut is growing and I cannot lie.

Double digits! Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap! (I can hear the cheer in my head). My plan is working - whew! Son had football practice this morning at 7 am so I dropped him off then drove to the Y. It was cold this morning, 43 degrees (crazy cold front came through last night) and I was in no hurry to get out there. Finally left around 8 wearing a long sleeve shirt and gloves and headed into a 20 mph NNW wind. I ran through neighborhoods which helped with the wind and I ran slowly and felt great the entire time. Not once did I feel like stopping, which was a huge win.

The net net is I started back to running too soon after the 50 miler, and I didn't cross train. Once I took a break and cross trained I got back to normal.

After finishing the run I cleaned up and switched to a swimming suit to try and figure out this swimming thing. I used one of those foam deals that fit between the thighs and that helped a lot but I still didn't figure out the breathing thing. One, two, three, breathe, inhale water, one, two, three, inhale water, try to breathe, one, two, three, spit out water, try to breathe, lose rhythm, stop swimming. Try again, repeat. I'll get it eventually.

Noon Boot Camp. Teacher turned 30, so she (Attila the Hun) had us do successive groupings of 30 pushups, 30 burpees, 30 deep squats, 30 frog jumps, then 3 laps around the indoor track (3/17 of a mile). I hate burpees. On the 2nd time around I was "cheating" on my burpees and not going all the way down into a pushup and I hurt myself - I went down into position and my lower back kept travelling while the rest of my body stayed put. It hurt.

I quit while I was behind and went and stretched out my back. A couple days later it's still sore but recovering. I seem to do this every now and then. I really should take better care of that lower back area. It's always been good to me, I should be good to it.

3 TM miles at lunch. My lower back was still hurting so I ran slowly and didn't run the whole 3 miles. The back isn't awful but it's impacting the running so I'll take it easy then hopefully run this weekend. Getting old is fun.

Ran a 10K at the gym because it was too smoky outside. I probably could've handled it but why try? 

Ran 3 miles this morning from home because it wasn't smoky outside and I'm a wuss and didn't go sooner. Simple little run, not too slow, not too fast. Felt like walking at 1/4 mile out but kept going and warmed up and felt better. I'm getting fatter and my motivation is waning. As in mostly gone. Need... Race... Now....

I started Boot Camp at Noon but after running a warm up and going to the first station I decided I wasn't in the mood for burning various muscles. So I left and ran outside. I thought it was 84 outside so I ran slowly for 4 1/2 miles knowing I'm not used to running in the heat. Turns out it was 92 the entire time I ran. The 20 mph winds helped move the air around and the houses blocked the nasty wind. It was actually a pretty good run, nice and slow.

AP: 9:10

This occasional running thing needs to stop... oh well, at least I finally got out. My wife left town Friday night and I had to take one of my boys a couple hours away to Bozeman for a Saturday soccer tournament so I knew I wouldn't get a run in. Monday I meant to get up early and run but I just couldn't do it. I'm really struggling with early mornings lately.

I ran at lunchtime from the Y and it was great weather. 64 with low humidity, a gentle 10 mph breeze and sunny. Ah. I just ran. But I remember now why I normally wear bright colored shirts. I nearly got hit 3 times by cars pulling onto the busy street I was running down. The worst time was going through an intersection. I had the green and a lady pulls up to turn right on a red and came a few feet away. If I were a few feet further back she would've plowed me down. Dork. I yelled a few choice words at her but I don't think they ever escaped my lips. It still felt better.

AP: 8:17

​4 TM miles at the Y in the morning.

6 miles outside at lunch. Running is hard. 

AP: 8:13

I headed outside to run 10 but it was later in the morning and I had a lot to do so I never started. #epicfail. Next time I need to wake up earlier.

6 is the new 10. I ran my new route at lunchtime and it was quite nice. No watch, so no idea of pace but I was sweating heavily afterwards, so it musta been good. And no cars tried to hit me. Flourescent colors are fantastic.

I can't believe I once tried to run a marathon just over my 10K pace time. Silly boy. Today I ran an AP of 7:35 and it was really hard. Last year I tried to run a marathon in 7:15 pace. What the what?

Perfect weather this morning, 55-60, and flat roads. I ran in town while waiting for my 2nd oldest to get done with his seminary class. It was really nice running on no hills. It would be even nicer to run at sea level.

AP: 7:35

4 miles at lunchtime from the Y. Felt pretty good, nice weather, 65F.

AP: 8:02

1 TM mile at night. Not sure what's wrong with me and my motivation lately. I knew we were leaving at 8 am to drive South for some soccer games, so I set my alarm for 5:45 to get up and run. At 4:30 I rolled over and switched off my alarm, knowing I didn't want to run. I totally should have, so after a long day of watching 3 soccer games and going to a historical site nearby, I put on the running clothes and headed to the TM in the basement while the fam was watching football. I would've liked to run outside but didn't feel that was fair to the crew. I hopped on for a mile and then I was done. No motivation to run further. Must. Find. Race.

I shore do like this new 6 mile route. It takes me longer than 1 hour at the gym, more like 1 1/2 hours total, but I've been having to stay late to pick up my son from football practice so it all works out. It's been nice to get some sun on the shoulders also to prepare for the whiteness of winter. Best to stock up now.

I decided to run fast-ish on the 2nd to last mile, and I got it down to a 6:58 pace. It was much harder than it should be. Guess I need some speed work. My goal pace on Turkey day is 6:30 but I really doubt I can hang onto that, especially at 1000 feet higher altitude than here. And prolly some smog.

AP: 8:30 or so. The GPS didn't get a signal until I'd run 0.35 miles so the paces were a bit off.

10-15 degrees warmer today than normal, and with my black singlet at lunchtime I figured hey, why not run on the Rims where there's no shade? It was very warm out, 81F with not much breeze, but there won't be much more of this until next year so I soaked it up. Getting to the Rims is a nice 600 elevation gain so not a quick run, but some nice ups. On the way back I ran through a park with rain birds spraying and doused my back really well. That helped the last mile to the Y.

AP: 8:53

5 miles this morning from home. I actually woke up early and went running. Amazing. By the time I got out the door I didn't need a headlamp, so that was nice. Only had time for 5 so that was my mileage. It was a nice solid run. I don't remember my AP. 58F which is really warm for 6 am this time of year. The high today is supposed to be 94 which is a record. Glad I'm not trying to run at Noon.

11 miles while my son was at a soccer clinic. Ran from the soccer fields to the rims and back. 

AP: 9:18

Noon Boot Camp. I'm getting flabby so I need something other than running to tone my non-chiseled body.

6 miles from home this morning. Beautiful bright moon illuminated the gravel road so I left the lights at home. A nice breeze, cool 43F so I wore gloves. I'm back to running and it makes me happy.

Was in Sheridan, WY for the night and ran on the hotel TM this morning. It was wacked! 6 mph felt more like 7 mph as I was completely winded and Sheridan is the same elevation as Billings. I walked a couple times as I was gassed. It said I only ran 4 but I know my TM speeds and it was more like 4 1/2 or 5. Oh well, pretty good run.

Near-perfect weather this morning, 52F overcast skies with only a slight breeze. Took the boys to seminary at the church then ran from there and back as I had to drive them to school. Kept the pace decent but nothing spectacular, nothing in the 6s.

AP: 8:18

7 TM miles at home between rainy soccer games.

Morning: 4 miles this morning from the church while my Freshman was at seminary. First chilly morning, but not yet frosty. 37F was a bit chilly, but okay once I warmed up. Had long sleeve tech shirt, compression socks, shorts, gloves, and a thin hat to cover the ears. Perfect set up, didn't sweat much even with a good effort. Watch freaked out afterwards when resetting today's workout (went totally blank, can't turn it back on), so no idea of pace. Hope it comes back to life when I plug it into the charger.

Noon: Boot Camp. I haven't done a double in a while and I'm guessing this week I'll remember why as my legs are gonna be sore. It was a legs and running day and while I'll be happy with the long-term results I'll be limping around tomorrow and beyond I think. Lunges, squats, hamstring exercises, etc. Good stuff, lots of sweat.

4 miles from home this mostly-dark morning. Wore the headlamp on the out but didn't need it on the back. Gorgeous weather, 51F with 10 mph wind. Put the gloves on during the return trip as the hands were chilly from the wind, but it was a good chilly.

I was nervous about the Garmin as it still had a blank screen last night. Read the manual and was able to reset it thankfully, then synced to the online app and cleared out the old data. Worked great today (phew).

AP: 8:11

Not really feeling it this morning. Ran 1 slow mile then turned around and headed home. Boot Camp from Monday really impacted me, as I knew it would. And I haven't gotten amazing sleep this week either.

I started at Boot Camp but there were too many people and not enough stations for me to comfortably find the weights I wanted to use, so I left. I did the Jacob's Ladder for 5 minutes or so (longest 5 minutes of my life) then did the stair stepper for 20 minutes or so. I need to do more stair stepper this week as hunting is next week. And lots of stairs in them high mountains. And lots of cold as well. And fun and memories and not working or being asked to help people. Peace for a few days.

4 miles this morning from the church and back while waiting to take my son from seminary to school. I stayed up late Friday night and had to be up early Saturday for a football game, so no run, but sadly I didn't even miss it. Normally I'm antsy if I don't run on Saturday. Not sure what's happening to me. I do know I'm more excited this year to go elk hunting than I have been in a while and that's trumped my desire to run. I hope this is the year to fill the freezer! Excited to take 2 of my boys as well, my 12 and 14 yr olds. The 16 yr old isn't interested so will stay home.

AP: 7:47 (I was flying...get it?)

6 miles in St George visiting my parents.

6 miles this morning on the Las Vegas strip before a training class.