Hit the Dusty Trail

Pushed fairly hard. Felt good.

Ran around the block at work. Sunny, low 30's. 1:15 total time including stop lights etc.

Ran same loop today. GPS'd it and it's 8 instead of 9 miles. Bummer, I'm slower than I thought. At least I ran it faster today.

Had to run to the bank at lunch, so I .....ran.....to the bank at lunch. Nice, easy.

Finally got running again after 4 days of setting up, directing, and closing down the first running of the Antelope Island Buffalo Run 25k/50k. Race turned out well. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and the weather even cooperated.

Ugh! I hate speedwork, especially when I haven't done it in awhile. 4 x 1/2, 1mile warmup and 1 mile cooldown. 3:28, 3:31, 3:25, 3:16 (wind aided)

Nice and easy. A little sore after yesterday's speed work.

1 mile warmup, 4 at a little slower than 10k pace, 1 mile cooldown. Felt good.

Easy. Great day for a run. Felt a little sluggish. I need to learn to eat some lunch before I go for a run. I think I need to eat more as well.

Ran from home to work, around a block and back home. Nice day. 4.5 hours total. Bit by one dog. First ultra training run on the year.

Took the day off. Was going to run a few trail miles, after 100 yards, decided that a day off was a better idea.

Ran around the block at home. Most of it at a 1/2 marathon pace, 7:30 or so.

Ran easy and just enjoyed it. One of my regular routes here at work.

Ran the White Rock/Split Rock trails on Antelope Island. Nice day, little breezy. Lots of horses out. Actually saw other runners. Don't see that too often. Did my trail patrol thing while there. Was a little sluggish, but the weather was nice and I enjoyed the run.

Did an easy run around the block during lunch. Little bit sore from yesterday's run. Gorgeous, sunny, near 70. Enjoyed it.

Interval time. 1/2 warmup, 6 x 1/2. 3:48, 3:15, 3:24, 3:16, 3:36, 3:24 1/2 cooldown. Very windy today. Obviously I was wind aided in one direction and wind hampered in the other.

Took it easy. Ran around the block at work.

Ran the Bonneville Shoreline Trail Marathon. Gorgeous day. Got really sunburned. Trail conditions were some of the worst I've seen. Everything from shoe sucking mud to 12" of slush and sno to 6-8" of ice water cascading down the trails with no where else to go. Took me just under 7 hours to complete. this race ran like at least a 50k. Many parts were completely unrunnable.

Ran from Fernwood picnic area up to about 6500' on Great Western Trail. Would've gone farther except for the 2 feet of soft snow in the way for the next 1/4 mile. Nice to be back on a little bit of the Wasatch course.

Did 6 easy around the block at work. Felt good. Rode bike to work for first time (19.5 round trip). Time for a little cross training. That wore me out.

Tempo. 1 mile warmup, 3.4 at around 10k pace, 1 mile cooldown. Rode bike to work again. Now my legs are really dead, but I expect the bike riding to pay off by increasing leg strength for hills.

On the trail. Ran from 22nd st. trailhead in Ogden south towards Beus Canyon. Pushed it hard. Great run. Trails in great shape.

Ran some trails on Antelope Island. Very windy and I don't like wind, but I survived. Legs kinda dead from Saturday's run.

Had to run after work. Too busy to go at lunch. Easy miles near my house.

Ran around the block at work.

Ran to work and back. Gong in wasn't bad. Going homw was a chore. Felt very tired and lethargic.

22nd st. trailhead south towards Beus Canyon. Lots of fun. Great way to end work week. Ran most of the uphills. Something that I've not been able to do in the past. I must be getting into some sort of shape.

Ran Idian Trail and part of BST from 22nd street trailhead in Ogden. Not bad. Tough going uphill. Still some snow patches to cross. Managed to posthole up to me knees. Just adds to the excitement.

Ran home from work. Great run. Felt strong so pushed the pace. Didn't track elapsed time, but think it was a PR for that route.

Ran to work and back. Felt good. Not nearly as tired as last time I did it.

Ran to Striders shoe store in Layton at lunch. Needed to buy a new pair of road shoes.

Was going to run further after work but didn't have time. Oh well.

Trail run. 22nd St. trailhead to Beus Canyon and back. Nice run.

Easy run at lunch. Tapering a little for Ogden.

Ogden marathon. 3:38:23. Not too bad considering I wasn't targeting that race, just using it as a long trianing run.

Calves are pretty beat up. Wanted to cramp on me from about mile 8 on. Perfect day for the race. Gorgeous course.

Rode my bike to work and back. Took day off from running, still a little sore from Ogden.

Ran to work and back today. Surprised at how sore my calves still are, but I made it.

Rode bike to work. Took day off from running. Still somewhat sore from marathon. figured I needed another rest day.

Easy run around the block at work. Rode bike to work and home.

Went from Fernwood picnic area up the Great Western trail until snow stopped me. Around 3000' vertical feet up.

Did an easy 10 around home. Ran over to Ogden Bay wildlife refuge and back. Flat run, no hills whatsoever.

Tempo run at lunch. First time in a couple weeks I've felt good enough to push it. Rode bike to work and back as well.

Ran to work and home. Warm going home. Need to get heat acclimated. Not a bad run though.

About 1.25 warmup and cooldown. Ran 4 1/2 to 3/4 mile intervals. Roughly 10k pace. Rode bike to work.

Ran to work and home again. Felt better than last time. Nice warm day going home.

Went up Frary Peak trail on Antelope Island. Good hill work. 1700' vertical in 4.5 miles.

Went on trail run along BST in Ogden. Went up to Malan's basin and came back down Waterfall Canyon. Some serious bushwacking involved. Lots of climb and descent. got weird looks from people going up Waterfall Canyon as I was running down the trail. Lots of fun and a long day.

Took Monday off, but rode bike to work. Ran to work and home today. Pushed the pace some on the way in. Was starving on the way home. Stopped at Winegars to grab a bite to eat. I need to get more calories in me now that the miles are ramping up.

Ran to work again. 2nd day in a row. Wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Actually pushed the pace some on the way home until about 2.5 miles from home. Stomach started to go south on me. Managed to run the rest of the way home, just at a slower pace. Going to run in to work again tomorrow.

Ran to work and back for the third day in a row. Never have done that before. Wasn't as hard as I thought it would be and actually set a PR on the way home. Warm day, 85 or so, but that didn't bother me at all. Legs are a little tired but not sore at all.

Treated myself to a nice easy trail run along the Ogden section of the BST. One of my favorite trails to run.

Road miles from home. Went out 12th street towards little mountain. Not a bad run.

Ran to work. First time running since Sunday. Too many relatives in town for my son's HS graduation to get any running in. Oh well. Squaw Peak 50 mile tomorrow. Working the Windy Pass aid station. Should be a good time and a 10 mile workout with a full pack at altitude.

Hiked up to Windy Pas to work aid station for Squaw Peak 50 mile. 45 lbs in a pack going up, 30 lbs. coming down. Very long day.

Did last long run before Mohican. Ran 4 round trips from Kaysville to Fernwood. Nice a hot in the afternoon. Start tapering for Mohican today.

Ran easy at home after work.

Another 4 easy after work.

Ran easy while in Laramie on the way to Illinois and Ohio.

Ran the Mohican Trail 100 mile run in Loudonville, OH. Extremely hot day, mid 90's. Only a 38% finish rate (51 out of 130 starters, I was 42nd) but I was one of them. The winning time was about 4 hours slower than normal. Ran my slowest time ever for this race. 28:43. Part of the slow time was due to lack of long runs prior to race. No real medical issues, bad chafing and a few blisters. Stayed well hydrated thru entire race. Estimate that I drank over 4 gallons of water thru the race. Took electrolytes regularly. No stomach issues, was able to eat although I had to force some food down a couple of times. Heat didn't really seem to bother me, but I like to run in hot weather. I'm sure it was a factor in my slow time as well. I really wanted to quit, expecially at 75 miles, but my wife wouldn't let me. Something about not being injured or close to the time cutoffs, so keep going. When I look back on the race, I'm not sure what got me thru other than sheer stubborness and stupidity. I couldn't come up with a good reason to drop, no injuries, blisters not bad enough, no stomach or hydration issues, nowhere near the time cutoffs. As usual, when I'm in the middle of a race like this, I wonder why I do it, maybe I should give up the 100's, they're too hard, I'm too old, etc., then I cross the finish line and remember why, it's the phenomenal sense of accomplishment that comes with going that kind of distance, that and just being done with the crazy race. Yeah, I'll do it again next year. Hopefully with better training under my belt.

Trails were in excellent shape. Usually some mud on the course. There was none. Going to take the rest of this week off and start training for Wasatch.

First run since my race. Legs are still a little sore. Ran on Antelope Island. Perfect day, started around 6:30. Did better than I thought I would but was kind of tired towards the end. I think Maybe I did a little more than I should have, but it did feel good to get back on the trail. Had to run past one rather large bull buffalo. He was giving us the evil eye until he decided we were no threat to him.

Ran at lunch. Nice and warm. First hard run after race and legs were a little tired, but pushed pace and ran somewhere around 7:00-7:30 pace.

Also biked to work and back for 17.7 miles of biking.

Ran to work and back. Set a new PR for the run home. Nice in the morning, warm in the afternoon but still pushed the pace both ways.

Ran at lunch around the block. Nice and warm. Humid for here as well. Kinda reminded me of running back in the midwest. The run was slow. My legs felt dead, probably from yesterday's run. Just took it easy.

Easy trail run from Kaysville to Fernwood picnic area. Very warm day, but a good run anyway.

Ran from the start of the Wasatch Front 100 to Big Mountain. Snow at Chinscraper, had to scramble around. Had to cross a couple of large snow fields elsewhere before the radar towers. Rest of travels were slow. Legs seemed to do fine, it was the lungs that couldn't keep up. I did fine when running the flats, downhills and slight uphills. When ever the breathing rate increased with steeper uphills, that's when the problems would come up. Finished after 8pm and started at 6:45am. The lungs hurt when taking a deep breath. Could be the altitude? I did spend a good portion of the day exerting myself at above 9000'. This seems to happen whenever I train above 9000'. A shot of inhaler cleared the lungs right up when I got home.

Ran the Clearfield 5k just for some fun and to get some speed work in. I haven't run a 5k since 1993. After the first 200 yards, I remembered why I like to run ultras rather than these short little races. They're just too damn hard. Ran a really bad time of 24:01 but it was good enough for 24th out of 160 and 1st in my age group (45-49). That made me laugh. I've never won my age group before. Shows just how soft the race was. The overall winning time was 19 minutes and change.

Ran to work this morning. Little cool and a couple of sprinkles. Run in was kind of slow.

Ran from Kaysville to Fernwood picnic area on BST after work. Pushed hard. Nice warm day.

Ran Ogden section of the BST after work. Nice and warm. A bit slower than yesterday but still a good run.

Ran trails up by Snowbasin. From Wheeler Creek TH to Green Pond TH and back. Was surprised at how well I did running uphill to Green Pond. Roughly 1300' of gain (4900' - 6200'). Perfect day for it. A little humid and warm in the undergrowth, but cooled off a little bit later. Not too many people since it was later in the afternoon. I need to go running up there more often.

Speed work. I hate it but it works. Anyway, went to Clearfield HIgh at lunch and ran a stairstep, 400, 800, 1200, 800, 400. 200 meter walk in between each. 400 meter warmup and cooldown. Times: 1:25, 3:24, 5:30, 3:35, 1:33. Slow, but then I haven't done any speed work in quite awhile.

Also rode my bike to work and home and to the high school. About 20 miles of bike riding.

Ran to work and home. A little slow, tired and a little sore after yesterday's speedwork session, but it was a nice morning for a run. going home was not quite as bad. I did manage to beat out the rain coming across the lake though. Had to push some on the last 3 miles.

Ran to work and back again today. Much slower. Hot in the afternoon. Legs felt dead but I pushed and kept running anyway.

Did the run to work and back thing again. Very hot going home, but I survived. The run wasn't quite as slow as yesterday's. Maybe I'm getting used to it? Who knows, I'm doing the same thing next week.

the right knee does ache a little. I'm going to have to pay attention to it. Friday will be an easy day and Saturday is a rest day, so that should help. Sending in my entry for the Where's Waldo 100k trail race in Oregon next month.

Did a little hill work by climbing up part of the Great Western Trail for a couple of miles. Hot, hot day.

Went out two separate times. Ran from the North Ogden Divide up to Ben Lomond peak and back. 2.5 hours up, 1.5 hours down. Saw a couple of moose. Still snow on the back side of Ben Lomond. After I got back to the divide, I went up the south Skyline trail towards Lewis Peak. Probably went up this trail about 1.5 miles. Total of 17 in the morning. Ran another 5 miles on the road after I got home and during the heat of the afternoon. I thought I would be miserable having already run 17 in the morning, but it really wasn't bad. I felt so good that I pushed the pace to marathon pace for those 5 miles.

Speed work again. did the same workout as last Monday. Times are a little slower. Probably becasue I ran 22 yesterday. Same nice hot day as last week.

Times: 1:35, 3:36, 5:21, 3:29, 1:35.

Ran to and from work. Nice in the morning, very hot in the afternoon. About a mile from home the wind started really blowing and I had to fight a dust storm. Times were roughly the same each direction.

Ran to and from work again. Legs fell a little better, not quite as dead. Actually ran home faster than to work, even with the heat. Heat isn't bothering me at all. Must be getting acclimated to it.

Was going to run Kaysville to Fernwood on the trail but got about 200 yards down the trail and decided I needed a day off. So I turned around and went back to my car and drove home. I was just tired and the run didn't sound like any sort of fun at all.

Ran to work and home today. Felt much better after a day off. Actually ran a PR for the trip in to work. 85 minutes

Ran from Brighton Ski Area to Forest Lake Junction and back. Got several miles of good hard running in at above 9000'. Warm day, Saw several others out training for Wasatch as well. The deer flies were horrible. If you stopped, you were swarmed by 30 or so. Still snow in some places.

Same speed work as last week. times were 1:42, 3:32, 5:26, 3:25, 1:32. Don't seem to be getting any faster yet. Could be because I'm doing speed work the day after a long run. I know today my legs were a little tired from yesterday's little jaunt thru the mountains.

Didn't run. Worked for 18 hours instead. Ugh!

Ran to and from work. Came in late because of the late day yesterday, so the run in was warm. Very slow as well. The run home was slower yet. Seemed like I couldn't run much more than a mile at a time before I'd have to stop, take a drink and walk at least a couple hundred yards. Not even very hot, mostly cloudy.

Tempo run around the block at work. Nice and warm but didn't bother me too much.

Ran the Mill Creek 50K but cut it a little short. Started at 9pm and I finished around 4:15am. Very tough course but lots of fun running thru the wilderness at night. Ran the first 10 miles with a couple of other runners then had the remainder of my race to myself. I love the solitude of runs like that since I'm not one to talk much during a race. I'd rather enjoy the trails on my own terms, listen to the night sounds, look at the city lights far off in the distance. Very nice, but I was a tired little boy the next day.

Ran after work today. Pushed a little, but mostly took it easy.

Ran to work and back. The few days off from long runs helped and today was not too bad. Actually felt pretty good going home. Daytime temps being a little lower probably helped too.

Ran at lunchtime. Not too bad a run. Got caught by a thunderstorm about a mile from work.

Went from Fernwood up the Great Western Trail to about the 8000' level. Felt fairly strong. Probably the fastest I've made it up that high before. This is defintely a light week. Felt the need to scale back a little bit but I plan on picking it up again next week.

Ran the Mountainview Trail on Antelope Island and part of the Frary Peak Trail. Not too bad a day. Didn't start early enough but the heat wasn't too bad. Had a nice headwind going back north. That helped keep the bugs and heat at bay. Ran past a herd of around 100 bison. Lots of moms and calves, a few bulls mixed in as well. Very cool.

Took the day off.

Took the day off from work. Did some trail running along the Ogden section of the BST. Good run. Ran negative split since the return was primarily downhill and going out was uphill. Tried to push both ways.

Ran to work and back. sub 85 minutes each way.

Kaysville to Fernwood on the BST. Very sluggish. Wanted to quit about half way but kept going. Met up with another runner from out of town and that kept me motivated to get to Fernwood. Then all I had to do was run back.

Nice and easy at lunchtime. Time to taper a little for the Where's Waldo 100K Sat. the 19th.

Just did some easy miles at work during lunch. Trying to take it a little easy beore race day.

Another easy day running at lunch. Feel pretty good, looking forward to the race on Saturday.

Race day! Ran the Where's Waldo 100k trail race in Oregon. This was trail running Nirvana. My main focus with this race was to get in a last really long training run prior to running Wasatch 100 in three weeks. So I didn't taper at all. In fact, I ran 65 miles last week.

With the exception of the three peaks that are climbed, the entire course is very runnable. Not a lot of rocks or roots, just miles and miles of meandering, soft, pleasant, beautiful single track trail. This race was a new experience for me. There are two starting times, 3am and 5am. The 3am start is primarily for those who think they'll have trouble meeting the 9pm cutoff time to finish. I took the 3am start since I had a high school (30 year) reunion function this evening. When the starting gun went off at 3am, I found myself in the lead. Now this wouldn't be unusual except that no one bothered to pass me within the first couple hundred yards. In fact, no one passed me for the first 48 miles. I was the first person into each aid station thru that distance. This was a totally new experience for me, being in front. What a rush it was too! It's a trip to come running into an aid station and realize that you are the first runner there. Too much fun! Anyway, the first peak you have to climb is Fuji Mtn. It's a fairly short climb, about 1 mile up then back down. Since I was in the lead, I made the top first, just as the sun was coming up. What a view, a blood red sun coming up over the thick forests of Oregon. I just had to let out a yell, then head back down the trail. This view alone was worth the entry fee, 1 hour of sleep Friday night, and a 3am start. The trail off the peak was very conducive to letting speed build up yet still maintain some control. It was fun to just run as fast as I could and watch the runners coming up the trail scatter out of my way and cheer me on. I felt pretty good most of the day. I knew that I wouldn't remian in fornt for the entire distance, and sure enough, People started to pass me starting at around 48 miles. Mostly they were relay runners, so wouldn't affect my race standing, but the first 5am starter passed me at about 49 miles. Overall, five solo runners passed me, none from the 3am starters. I was the 6th solo runner to cross the finish line. My final time was 14:29:52. Since there was the probability of 5am runners posting faster times, I had to wait to see what my final place was. I ended up placing 17th out of 71 starters and 47 finishers. I also placed 6th Masters. I was hoping to have this be the first race where I didn't get "chicked" but alas, that was not to be as 4 or 5 women finshed with better times than mine. In fact, a woman was the overall winner and missed setting a men's course record by just 9 minutes. I figure I didn't do too bad for a 47 year old grandfather to be. I will be going back next year and plan on making it a key race to train for.

First run since last week's race. No soreness left from the race. Pushed the pace. Felt good to get back running again.

Ran easy at work during lunch. Yesterday's 8 miles left me a little sore, primarily the effeccts of last Saturday's race. The easy run felt good though. No issues with doing it. Was kind of humid though. I still feel on track for Wasatch in two weeks.

Ran White Rock and Split Rock trails on Antelope Island. Nice quiet day out there. A little tired from the run, but not sore at all. Left hip was bothering me some with sciatic pain. Haven't had that in awhile. Hoepfully it'll go away in the next few days. Not going to do too much running this week since I'm tapering for Wasatch.

Decided to go running today. Nice and easy during lunch. In taper mode for Wasatch. Run felt good after a couple days off.

Perfect day for a run. Ran a nice easy 4 at lunch. Thought about going farther, but figured I probably shouldn't. I think tapering is one of the hardest parts of training. How do you go from training hard, getting used to be kinda sore, tired, and have the mentality that you always have to run to taking it easy, rest, run short little distances, take more than one day off in a row, etc. Not to mention the wait for race day. I've done a fair amount of racing this year, more than usual (2 marathons, 1 50k, 1 100k, 1 100 mile, 1 5k), but all races and training have led up to this one key race, Wasatch. This is the race I started training for last year after I dnf'd there at 61 miles. After I finish Wasatch (notice I didn't say IF), I don't think I'll run it again unless I decide to go for the ultrarunning grand slam. Too many other races that I want to try.

Just a hike with my wife up the north Skyline trail. She was on the horse, I was on foot.

Easy run at lunch. Felt pretty good. Last run before Wasatch. last mile in 8 minutes.

Well, I finished the Wasatch Front 100 Mile Endurance Run. This race has got to be one of the toughest things I have ever done physically. Here’s a synopsis of my race.

The race started at 5am Saturday morning. 223 runners took ff in the dark down the trail. I felt really good. I actually slept the night before, a whole 5 hours. I figured the runners would thin out after a couple miles, but I got caught up in a conga line and couldn’t get around anyone for a while. Probably a good thing since I have a tendency to go out too fast anyway. I had a pace chart made up with my splits from last year (up to 61 miles, where I dropped) and times for 24 thru 32 hours. At each aid station, I could check the chart and see how I was doing.

The day started cool and never warmed up a lot. Probably into the upper 70’s at the highest. Very pleasant for running.

My goal was to stay close to my times from last year and then see what happened after mile 61. As the day wore on I found that I was gradually falling farther behind last year’s times. Then between Lamb’s Canyon (53.1 miles) and Upper Big Water (61.7 miles) I made up 50 minutes. Now I was on pace with last year’s time. Last year I dropped at this point due to the cold. This year, I was prepared for it.

I left the Upper Big Water aid station (61 miles) and started power walking the climb to Desolation Lake (9000’). By now it was dark but no big deal, running trails at night is fun and challenging. Got past the Desolation Lake aid station and Scott’s Pass Aid (10,000’) and started the descent into the Brighton Ski area aid station. This is the point at which the wheels started to come off. While at Brighton I noticed that it felt like an asthma attack was coming on. I took a couple hits off my inhaler, but that made absolutely no difference at all. It still felt like I was breathing thru a couple of drinking straws. I spent an hour at Brighton trying to see if this would go away, but it didn’t. So my pacer and I left and started making the climb to Point Supreme (10,450’), the highest point on the course. It was tough. I had to stop every couple of minutes just to catch my breath because of my asthma. For the remainder of the race, it was like this, if there was a climb involved, I would have to stop every so often to catch my breath. I could still run downhill’s and flat portions. I was so glad when the course started to really drop in elevation after about 87 miles. I could really tell that the air was thicker and that made running much easier. My pacer and I managed to run the last 5 miles almost continuously until I finally crossed the finish line 34 hours, 23 minutes and 11 seconds after starting.

This is my third 100 mile race this year and I think this one took the most out of me. Physically, my legs and the rest of me are actually not as sore as I have been after other races. This I attribute to some strong training and other races leading up to this one. My lungs are still not right so I’m making an appointment to see a Dr. My asthma has never reared its ugly head in a race and came completely out of the blue. It could have been the altitude or the extremely dusty trails. I don’t know what it was, but it wasn’t any fun.

At any rate, I did finish the race, but it wasn’t pretty.

Here’s some trivia about my race:

Distance – 100 miles

Total elevation gained – 26, 882’

Total elevation lost – 26, 131’

My time – 34:23:11

Winning time – 20:18

Average altitude – Something above 8000’

Highest point – 10,450’

Did my first run since completing the Wasatch 100. Legs felt great. Ran part of the Mountainview Trail on antelope Island. This is a fairly level trail that follows the east side of the island from the north to the south. Went with my wife and a friend of hers. They rode horses, I ran. The run south felt great, I was turning 9-10 minute miles with no problem. I beat the horses by about 20 minutes, took a short nap at the lower Frary Peak parking lot (our turnaround) then started back with them. The run back was a little slower at first. I felt really sluggish ad a little lightheaded. I grabbed a granola bar from my wife, ate it and felt much better and was able to take off again. Managed to beat the horses again, this time by about 10 minutes. My wife's horse always thinks he has to keep up with me ad will place his nose right in my back and trot along. As long as I don't do any sudden stops, he won't run me over, but I have to keep aware of where he is.

After we got home, I felt really tired, like I wasn't fully recovered from Wasatch yet. The legs weren't sore, just tired.

The weather was perfect for the run, nice breeze, sunshine, cool air.

With all the snow in the mountains, I'm sure glad Wasatch wasn't this weekend. That would have been miserable.

Went around the block at lunch. Pushed the pace for a nice tempo run. Felt really good. Temp. was perfect, light breeze.

Ran on one of my favorite trails today. Started at 22nd St. in Ogden and ran south.

finally went to the Dr. last week for my breathing issues with running Wasatch. he diagnosed me with a constant, low grade asthma but coudln't rule out HAPE. Hard to diagnose HAPE after the fact. He said that the cells lining my trachea were inflamed all the time and that contrbutes to the breathing problems. Anyway, he put me on Claritin and a twice a day mist decongestant. Guess, what? I can breath so much better all the time.

I felt so good yesterday that I really pushed the pace, especially going uphill. I ran hills yesterday that I never run. I'm paying for it today though. I'm kinda sore but that's ok with me. Time to get back into a little training for the Goblin Valley 50k on Oct. 22nd. After that, rest for a month then start training for the Ogden Marathon next year. It's a great day!

Ran at lunch. Nice day. Little sore from yesterday's run.

Ran BST from Fernwood south to Kaysville and back. Now that I can breathe decently, I find that I'm running uphills that I would have walked in the past. This feels pretty good. perhaps I can gain some speed back this winter. I thought I was losing speed due to old age and altitude. I may be, but we'll see what happens when I start serious training for next year's Ogden marathon later this winter.

Ran Fernwood to Hornytoad junction. 49:12.69 up, 36:01.39 down. I think my previous best time was around an hour. Roughly 2000' of climb in 3.5 miles.Fall colors are gorgeous.

Ran around the block at lunch. Pushed hard. Gorgeous day. Started to slow down a little during the last 1.5 miles. Figure it was sub 8 pace up to that point, not counting stoplights and crosswalks.

Ran from the White Rock trailhead along the west side of Antelope Island to the Fielding Garr ranch. Researching possible routes for the 50 mile race next March. Very tough run. At one point went from 4200 feet right at the shoreline to 5200 feet up on the spine of the island in just over 1 mile. the route I took ended up being too long to make a two-lap 50 mile course. Need to find a little shorter route.

Ran from Kaysville to Fernwood and back again. The run back was my fastest time ever for that section of trail. Sub 34 minutes. Would have been faster except that I lost focus for a little bit and slowed down. There's one hill I ran up that I have never run completely to the top of. I ran it last night and felt good once I got up. Very cool.

Took my time and ran easy around the block at work.

Did it again. Just ran easy at lunchtime.

Ran up the north Skyline Trail. Was going to go up to the top of Ben Lomond. Turned back about 1.4 from the summit. The top was socked in by clouds and the trail had about 4 inches of slush and ice water on it with no where else to go. Didn't feel like having wet, cold feet. On the way back I kicked a rock really hard. Brought tears to the eyes. ended up limping for about a 1/4 mile before the pain subsided enough to run. Thank goodness I was only a mile from the end. I'm going to lose that toenail.

Ran after work. Did a 2.5 mile out and back. Ran the back portion about 30 seconds slower than the out. Felt reasonably good. Stubbed toe sore but it didn't seem to hamper my running.

Ran part of the BST starting at Kaysville. I've been taking it easy the last couple of weeks. Not going to start any real training until around the first of Nov. I want to enjoy just going out to run for fun for awhile. Since I've gotten the asthma issue taken care of my running has gotten a lot more fun. I feel like I did several years ago in terms of running ability and speed. It'll be interesting to see what happens once I start some serious speed work later this year.

Ran from Fernwood picnic area to Kaysville and back. Took my wife along on her horse. It was fun to run and have the hosre think it needs to keep up. I think he really enjoys going out for a run with me. He really worked up a sweat but he's starting to get his winter coat and it was warm yesterday. We did get some interesting looks and comments when we'd pass other horses or hikers.

Ran at lunch. A little on the cool side, but not too bad. Started to sprinkle on me on the way back to work. Easy run, nothing difficult

Short run at lunch looking for a place to do speed work that's kind of out of the way so I won't get run over by traffic. I think I found it. I'm going to mark it off next week.

Helped out at the inagural Ogden Valley 50 mile. 12 runners. Winning time was 8:31:57. Hopefully with a year's worth of lead time, next year will have many more runners. The day was kind of cold, 23 at the start, and only warmed up to the mid 50's. It did get windy in the afternoon. All the runners had a good time. Six of the runners finished within an hour of each other. Pete Perterson was the overall winner, with Alison Brumley the first female and second overall with a time of 9:04. Her first 50 mile run. For those of you who ran St. George, this is a good race to follow with. You're already trained for the distnce with St. George a great last long training run ;-)

Ran easy at lunch. Perfect day.

Ran a new route at lunchtime. Not sure how far, but based on time, I think it's around 6.5 miles.

Easy run again at lunch. Just taking things easy until around Nov. 1st. Then I'll start hitting the miles again for next year.

Easy again at lunch. Not a bad day. Sun was out and I actually got some tan on my legs. Did the run at around an 8:30 pace.

Easy trail run. Went south of Kaysville looking for a way on the BST to Bountiful Not enough time to explore, but think I found it anyway. It'll have to wait for another day.

Another mapping run for the Antelope Island Buffalo Run 50 mile course. Went from the White Rock trail head over to Mtn. View trail, then south to the Ranch. Perfect day for it. Sun was warm, air was pleasantly cool. Amazingly, the bugs are still out. I stopped at one point to make some notes and was eaten alive by Mosquitos. Guess we need a good hard freeze to get rid of them for the winter.

Ran around the block during lunch. Not too bad. Didn't really push things, just tried to keep an even pace the entire distance.

Ran Hidden Valley Trail above Ogden. Never had been on it. Trail isn't finished yet so it just dead ends. Probably 1000' climb in 2 miles.

Ran the Sentry Trail on Antelope Island. This was the first training run for the 2007 Antelope Island Buffalo Run. Had 9 people show up. Rainy early on and we got wet, but the trail was in pretty good shape. One of the deer at the Ranch is very tame and followed us for about 3 miles. Probably looking for a handout. I now have 51 entries for the 2007 run so if anyone on this bog wants to run it, get your entry in now before the 175 runner limit is reached.

Short trail run after work. Pushed hard though. Ran everything, including teh hills I normally would walk up. Felt good to be able to do that at last.

Short run to mark a road for speed work. Managed to mark off 1 mile in 1/4 mile increments. Ugh, I hate speed work.

Trail run. Did a little exploring trying to find a link between Kaysville and Bountiful alongside the mountain. Didn't find it but am told it's there. Guess I'll have to try again when I have more time.

Ran from 22nd st. to Beus Canyon and back. Good run. Trail in great shape. Great views due to the lack of haze and smog.

Ran part of the Mtn. View trail on Antelope Island. Good day for it. Even though temp. was in the low 40's, I ran in shorts and a couple of long sleeve t's and was fine. The sun was nice and warm. Usually I'm pretty cold blooded and don't care much for cold weather. Did a little bit of trail maintenance afterwards, chopping weeds along a 1/2 mile section. It was getting a little overgrown and people were going around it and creating a new trail. This work should take care of that.

Ran at home after work. 5 easy down the road and back.

Ran at lunch. Pushed the pace during the last half. Didn't time the run, but some of the mileage I felt was sub 8 minute pace.

Ran the Split Rock Trail and part of White Rock Trail on Antelope Island. Nice day.

Ran after work. Down the street and back. I signed up for the Twin Peaks 50 mile in Orange County, CA next Feb. guess I'd better start training a little more.

Just 5 after work. I've really slacked off. I need to get in gear this weekend.

Just did a few miles from Fernwood. Snowy and kind of slick due to the ice.

Did the second training run for the Antelope Island Buffalo Run. 8 people total showed up for the double loop. Saw a herd of around 100 buffalo, a coyote, and a jackrabbit. Kind of cool, mid teens to start, mid 20's by the time we got done. A good time was had by all.

Ran from the Ranch to the south end of Antelope Island. I was GPS'ing the last few miles for the 50 mile race route. Come to find out, the course I have outlined is 49 miles long. I need to find another mile somewhere otherwise people will feel cheated. Better long than short. The run was good. Went with another Trail Patrol runner. Nice quiet day, did hear some coyotes howling though.

Ran an out and back at lunch. Took it easy. Since I picked up the distance a little bit, I was somewhat tired. I know, what a weenie.

Did a long block during lunch today. Not a bad day other than the smog. Actually ran in shorts, unusual for me. Run felt good.

Just ran at lunch today. Nothing special.

Ran from the lower Frary Peak parking lot to the south end of Antelope Island. Was on my way back when a fellow trail patrol member picked me up. Good thing, it was starting to rain harder and harder and cooling down as well. Great run though. Felt really good the entire way. Nice and quiet as well.

Ran at lunch. Pushed some. Starting to feel like I'm getting back into shape. Good thing with a 50 miler less than 8 weeks away.

BTW, does anyone have treadmill preferences? I'm looking for one at home, programmable, heart rate monitor, fairly quiet, one that will take a pounding in the winter. Thanks

Ran around the block at lunch. A little sluggish going uphill, but that passed as soon as I started back down. Only had to smack one car hood today. One of these days I'm going to get hit.

Ran miles 18-32 of the Twin Peaks 50/50 course in the OC. Was donw ther visiting in-laws over the weekend and figured that I should run part of the course with others on a training run. The weather was cloudy and threatening rain. The trail took us up into the clouds on Saddleback mountain. Windy, damp, kind of drizzly along the dirt road up there, but once we started back down into the canyons, the wind and cold went away. All in all, a good run. This is the most mileage that I've run in a week since Wasatch. Left my legs sore the next day though. Need to do some more hills before race day in Feb.

Ran around the block at lunch. Very sluggish to start. Still feeling the after effects of Saturday's run in the mountains.

Ran around the block at lunch. Also made a stop at the bank. Nothing like getting a chore done while running.

Did a long run from our hotel and down the Perryville path in Rockford, IL. BAck in IL to visit our daughter and new grandson. Now I know why I like Utah. The day was around 35 degrees, but very dreary and overcast. The higher humidity made it seem colder as well. Not to mention the constant breeze blowing, but I ran it. It was kind of nice to run a route that I've not run in quite awhile. Managed to get on a little bit of trail thru Rock Cut State Park as well, so it wasn't all bad.

Just did a short run on the Perryville path again. Took it easy.

Ran some trails in Rock Cut State Park with a good friend of mine. Felt good to run those trails again.

Did a very short run at home this afternoon. Just enough to get loosened up some.

Ran the Mountain View trail on Antelope Island from the start to mile post 10. Very foggy the entire time. Nice and quiet though. Total time was 3:50, but that included having to remind people to stay on the trail and keep their dogs leashed. Spent a fair amount of time with some visitors from Texas, explaining some of the history of the island and some of the unique features.