In search of old age PRs

AM: 7.0 miles.  Chilly morning run around Sugar House park.

PM: 3.5 miles.  To the gym with core.  Have I mentioned I hate going to the gym?

AM: 7.0 miles.  Sugar House run.  I felt a little stiff today.  My plan was 10 mile everyday up until Friday before resting for the Strider 1/2.  I may just run up to Thursday.  We'll see how it goes this afternoon and tomorrow morning.

PM: 3.5 miles.  Gym with core.

AM: 10.50 miles.  Tempo work at Sugar House park.  3 x 2 mile with 0.25 jog in between.  It was a little difficult.  I hope it gets me out of my running "funk" before the 1/2 marathon on Saturday.

PM: 3.55 miles.  Gym for core.  Sore legs, but feeling better!  Looks like snow later this week....stink!

Four minute improvement over last year's time, but better conditions today.

Cold morning at the start of the Striders 1/2, but the sun was out which is about the best conditions you can hope for at this race (no snow)!

Plan today was to started a few rows deep behind the leaders and  hopefully warm up after a couple of miles.  I really wanted to focus on keeping a good pace the 2nd half of the race which is a little difficult.

Splits and comments below

Mile 1: 5:58.  Start with the lead girls and just tried to get into a good pace.

Mile 2: 5:58.  I can see Thom pulling away and I know I need to keep him close.  My plan changes to follow him out of the canyon and try to stay with him on the rollers.

Mile 3: 5:57

Mile 4: 5:52

Mile 5: 5:54

Mile 6: 5:58

Mile 7: 5:59.  Out of the canyon now and Thom still out in front.  I successfully made it down at about a 5:57 pace.  I really wanted to try and keep the 6:00 pace as long as I could on the hills.

Mile 8: 6:00

Mile 9: 6:12.  Bigger hills.

Mile 10: 6:01.  Make a push to catch Thom and we set a good pace together on this stretch.

Mile 11: 6:11.  I can see James Moore in front of me.  If it wasn't James I might could try to catch him, but who wants to be out kicked at the end?  LOL.

Mile 12: 6:11.  Running for place now.

Mile 13: 6:10.  Tried hard to get back to 6:00, but could not do it.

Mile 0.11: 5:46 pace.  Felt strong at the finish and enjoyed watching the other runners come in. 

It was nice seeing all the bloggers at the race.  Did a cool down with Tara, Allie, James, Devra.  Nice talking with Albert and Jason too.  Great turn out for the race.  Our local running club took 1st in 3 age groups and a 2nd overall female masters (MONEY WINNER!).  Way to go team!

AM: 7.0 miles.  Easy Sugar House loop on a very nice morning.  No soreness from the Half on Saturday, so should be good for the week.

PM: 3.5 miles.  Standard gym run with core.

Long evening run.  No time for the gym.  My allergies are out of control today!

AM: 7.0 miles.  After the rain last night my allergies where much better so an enjoyable morning run to Sugar House park and back.

PM: 3.55 miles.  Rainy run to the gym for core.  I had long pants over shorts for the run, but when I removed my wet long pants I noticed my shorts had a "pee" water pattern on them...oh well, its the gym...right?

Short run to the gym for core.

Long run day with a 5K "tempo" in-between.  Ran from my house to Christ United Methodist Church for their charity 5K.  Ran the course once to get familiar with it.  Met up with Allie, James and also saw Fritz. 

Rainy during the warm-up, but the rain stayed away for the race.  The course starts off with a good uphill climb toward Tanner Park then back to the Church with a few turns.  Not a PR course, but I really wanted to work on picking up the tempo each mile.

Mile 1: 6:04 pace.  This is where most of the climb is minus the 0.5 mile apex to Tanner Park then 2 smaller hills that climb back to the church.  Fritz, James, Andrew(?) and Levi took off really fast.  My guess is Fritz crossed the first mile in 5:20 range.

Mile 2:  5:51 pace.  Once to Tanner Park there was a nice drop as you work your way West and South.  The lead four had put more distance on me, but I could not hear anyone behind me.

Mile 3: 5:46 pace.  I was able to pick it up on of the rolling elevation section and catch Levi on an uphill section.  I could see James make the turn toward the finish line.

Mile 0.11: 0:37--5:08 pace.  Nice push to the finish.

Cool down with James and Allie.  Not a bad race, only about a minute behind the winner, Fritz.

Won a nice beer glass (from a Church...go figure) and some summer passes to the Canyons.  I also picked up some burritos, car scented vent sticks, mouse pad, stickers and a shirt.  The problem was I had to run home carrying all this stuff.  I'm sure it was a funny site on the road.

AM: 7.0 miles.  Sugar House loop.  Now its time to watch the Boston marathon!

PM: 3.55 miles.  Gym for core.  Great fun watching the brutally hot Boston marathon this morning.  I'm excited to read the race reports.

AM: 6.1 miles.  Shortened Sugar House loop (I overslept).  Started to rain during the rain, but fairly warm.

PM: 4.5 miles.  Longer run to the gym for core.

Quick run to the gym.  Traveling on Thursday to a 210 mile relay race back East (Friday and Saturday).  Should be fun!

Great relay race in North Carolina through the Appalachian mountains.  The course was totally remote with very limited cell phone coverage for almost the entire race.  No towns, no grocery stores and no gas stations.  All run on rural roads, gravel roads, logging roads and single track trails.  Course required some orientation skills!  It was a blast and I highly recommend it! 

Sore, slow run to the gym.

AM: 4.5 miles.  Liberty Park loop.

PM: 3.5 miles.  Gym run.

Run to the gym with core.  Legs are still sore from the relay, so the Striders 30K should be some fun on Saturday!

Nice 30K this morning up at Eden.  This is an out and back course on a rolling hills section of the Ogden marathon.  I believe the altitude is around 5500 feet.  This was the last race of the Striders Winter series and my goal was just to hold third.  I thought a 2 hour effort would do it.

Mile 1: 6:26.  Line up for the race and no Albert!  He was in second on the circuit.  So, he's in Oregon running a marathon on Sunday.  Thanks for the gift!  Ran the first 10K with Ben (circuit winner) discussing many things.  Too bad he decided to do a tempo and drop me after the first 10K-(probably to much talking) LOL.

Mile 2: 6:31.  A younger runner name Alex was in the lead.  I believe Ben had been helping him with his running a prep for Ogden.

Mile 3:  6:20.  We catch up to Alex.  He has a goal of 2 hours identical to mine.

Mile 4: 6:18.  We lost Alex, but he still looked to be running strong.

Mile 5: 6:23.  Still having a nice long run.

Mile 6: 6:29.  At the conclusion of the first 10K Ben drops down to something closer to 5 minute pace.

Mile 7: 6:21.  Lonely now.  I should have brought my MP3!

Mile 8: 6:30.  Up the canyon toward the mountains and the start of the Ogden marathon.

Mile 9: 6:30.

Mile 10: 6:27.  Finally make the turn back around.

Mile 11: 6:15.  Faster pace, but I see Adam behind me has decided he was warmed up!

Mile 12: 6:16.

Mile 13: 6:23.

Mile 14: 6.22.  Adam has caught me and we talk for a minute.  He's running sub 6:00 pace, so I decide just to hold my planned pace.

Mile 15: 6:33.  Uphill.  Adam is still running strong.

Mile 16: 6:30.  More uphill.

Mile 17: 6:37.  More uphill.

Mile 18: 6:39.  Tried to get a kick going, but felt kind of flat.  I can still see Adam, but no one is behind me.

Last 0.7 (course was a little long on everyone's GPS): 4:19. Total was 2:00:08, but would have been good with a legit 18.6 distance!

Overall it was a nice, comfortable run.  Did a cool down with Tara and Kam from the blog.  Also, 2nd place in the series for some cash!  The Striders people do a great job with this circuit.