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I expected less today after a 13 hour drive home yesterday and a long run on Saturday.  As it turns out, I felt much better after my run today and much worse after my drive yesterday.  Average speed was 8:39/mile, much better than what I called a recovery run last Monday.

8.61 miles took 1:13:54 or 8:35/mi.  After the first couple of miles, I started counting paces in groups of four.  380 groups of four or 1520 paces takes me a mile.  The result of this strategy was a pretty consistent speed and a steadily increasing heart rate, which maxed out around 160bpm at the end.

I tacked a little on to my normal route to better stay with my training plan, but I'm only supposed to run 13 miles this Saturday.  After that it's the big 20.

August should be my heaviest training for a Sep 18 first marathon.

Took 1:16:13 for an average pace of 8:50/mile for 8.61 miles.  I took the last two days off to nurse a foot injury (hot and cold packs) and to avoid getting struck by lightening that has been very active the last couple of mornings.  I'm just hoping that my daughter at camp is OK through all this.

I replaced my long run with a long drive today.  Went down to southern Utah and back.  Upon my return, I ran in the afternoon.  I never do that.  I felt sloggish and the weather was hotter.  Took 1:04:01.

Started running in the rain, but it tapered off and turned out to be a very pleasant run.  Time was 1:15:48 or 8:48 average pace per mile.  Perhaps it was easier because I missed my long run on Saturday.

1:14:29 for 8:38/mile.  I had forgotten the time, but I remembered the time per minute.  38 minutes happens to be .63 hours.  Therefore, I squared 8.63 to get 74.48 minutes, which is 1:14:29.  That's how I take claim to being a scholar and and athlete.

A little short run today for 5.48 miles at 9:09 per mile.  Heart rate stayed below 150.  I could have done much more, but I'm saving that for my first 20 miler tomorrow.

The stars were more visible than usual in the city and the weather felt great at 56 degrees.

 My son, two of his cousins, and a cousin-in-law graduated from BYU yesterday and today.  It was like a little, unplanned, family reunion.

Well, I did it.  20 miles and a fraction.  The fraction was to see what would happen when I hit the wall.  Truth is, I didn't find a wall and I think I could have kept going.  I believe that I have it in me to complete a marathon, something that never even crossed my mind 18 months ago.  I've really had about a year of training because I took about 5 months off to recover from a hip injury.

 Pace was pretty slow, averaging 9:23/mile, but I wasn't going to push it too hard without knowing what would happen.  I always get a little nervous when I set a new distance record.  But, this is it.  A couple more 20 mile runs, but no further until the marathon on Sept 18.

 I saw my first sign of the sun, just before entering the mouth of the canyon at mile 4.  But, before then, I saw a shooting star flash across the sky.  The sky was clear and the stars were gorgeous.

Didn't feel much like running this morning.  My first mile was very slow, especially at the start.  It took 10 minutes.  But the rest of the run was much faster and it felt good.  Overall time was 1:13:49 for an average pace of 8:32/mile.

This is peak training time, but I still need to be careful not to overdo it.  46 miles this week should probably be my limit.

Woke up with a sore left ankle, soaked it in epsom salt, and then had a great run.  1:13:04 for 8.64 miles, which averages 8:27/mile.  I think that might be a PR.  If I drop the first 10:01 mile, the other miles averaged about 8:15, with the fastest mile at 7:57.

It was 78 degrees, a little warmer than usual, but nothing like others have to put up with.  If anyone wants to move to Utah, it's fast running here in the summer time.  If you dress up properly, running in the snow is also quite pleasant.

How about 8.62 miles in 1:12:04?  I would call that a one minute improvement over yesterday's PR!  8:22 per mile average.  Slowest (first) mile was much faster at 9:25)  Fastest (downhill) mile was a little faster at 7:54.  Temperature was 10 degrees cooler.  Sky was overcast.  Felt a few raindrops, but didn't see any stars.

Top of Utah marathon is only a month away and it is time to work hard.  If I'm not done training in about two weeks, it will be too late.

GPS wouldn't even power on this morning. Changed plans a little to run a known distance - 12 miles in 102 minutes (cell phone time). I love to run up and down Provo Canyon because of the water stops and the scenery available after daylight.

Took the day off work to take my son to Snow college. Got him all set up in a nice apartment and took him out to a nice restaurant.

Woke up in Epraim this morning.  So that's where my run started.  I had planned to run 8 miles, but it was too dark to see the mile posts until I was almost done.  I decided that the Manti temple would be my turnaround point and that I could figure the distance later.

Without a GPS or a heart rate monitor, it helped me to keep it slow.  I think my heart rate was much slower than normal.

Today's run was slower than usual, and I was trying to go fast.  My GPS decided to start working again and showed an average pace of 8:49/mile and an overall time of 48:25.

I did not feel like getting up this morning when my alarm went off at 4:11.  After I got up, running was the last thing I felt like doing.  But it was a running day and I was able to do OK after I got started.  1:13:25 for an average pace of 8:30.  But, I was still sleepy, so I took a nap before work and went in late.

Today is our 28th anniversary.  I celebrated by running easy for a longer time.  Average overall pace was 9:00/mile, or 1:17:43.  I've been training over a year for my first marathon, coming up in 3 weeks.  My main goal is to finish, but I'd like to also be a little bit competitive.  Looking back, I don't think I've done enough speed work (too hard) and I haven't done enough slow work (too humiliating).  As a result, I'm not where I'd like to be.  I read about "strides" at the end of a long run that seems worth trying, at least to improve my form.

I was very worried about the forcast for thunderstorms this morning, both because I'm scared to run in them and because my son was painting details on the blacktop at the school for an Eagle scout project. It turned out there was rain here and there and thunder once. Otherwise, it was a great day.

I'm still not very confident going this distance. I started out slow and mostly stayed slow for a total time of 3:15:43. However, most of the last seven miles were near nine minutes and I tried doing fast and slow during the last mile to improve my form.

The fastest spurt was at about mile 14 when my GPS showed a pace of 4:20/mile. I think that was when I was flying. I forgot to look back when I crossed the trail for a drink and the oncoming bike forget to watch where she was going. We both went down pretty hard, but my injuries were limited to scrapes and some tenderness in my knee. I helped her get up and she seemed to be OK too. Her bike was still usable, but it was obviously out of alignment.

I helped at the Eagle scout project after the run and I'm pretty wiped out.

Saturday's fall has caused me to limp ever since, but I think the damage was limited to bruising.  I had no problems running this morning.  In fact, I felt stronger than usual.  I ran 7.32 miles in 1:02:13, which is 8:30 per mile.  If I take off the 10:33 warm-up mile, my average pace was more like 8:10/mile.  I think the sprints at the end of my long run on Saturday helped and I'll have to start doing that regularly, at least for this week.