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Another beautiful morning to run.  53 degrees and clear skies.  5.52 miles took me 49:25 for 8:58/mile.  Felt good, but I've definitely got some issues with my fitness after the long taper and the long recovery.  Marathon was two weeks ago and it seems like I should be doing better than this.

I'm back up to a normal weekly run for my "long" run.  7.31 miles took me 1:04:10 or 8:47 per mile.  That's not too bad for me.  What's better is my splits:

10:49, 9:04, 8:43, 8:37, 8:30, 7:59, 8:06, 7:40 rate for partial mile.

I had somebody to catch and pass at the end, which helped.

I felt a little weak at the start, but things got better.

I didn't see it during my run, but when I came in to work this morning, there was a sweet surprise:  Snow on top of Timpanogos!  But the temperature in Orem was a very mild 55 degrees.  The perfect weather helped me to make an improvement from Friday's run:  5.5 miles in 48:32, or 8:49/mile.

Got another 10 second improvement today. 5.51 miles in 47:40, or 8:39/mile.  First mile was at a 10:00 pace and last half was at an 8:15 pace, with gradual improvements in between.  I think I'm ready for a 10 miler on Saturday.  Ramping down and then ramping back up for marathon's turns out to be a setback in progress over the long term.

It was a nice day for running (49 degrees), especially knowing that my brother would be running a marathon at the same time.  I was keeping pace for him, near the end at least.  As usual, I started out slow and sped up as I went along.  10.17 miles took me 1:30:21, for an average pace of 8:53/mile.  First mile was 10:18.  Last partial was at a 7:58 pace, with general improvements in between.

I ran to work and back to retrieve my lunch that I left there so that I could use it for a camping trip tonight.  Not a normal run and not an impressive time:  43 minuutes for 4.46 miles, or 9:39/mile.  At least I did some running as I won't be able to run tomorrow.

Today, I ran.  It was very slow to start and speeding up towards the end, which is pretty normal.  But, overall, considerably slower.  9:01 average pace per mile.  That was also the speed of the second mile, with all subsequent miles quite a bit faster.  That tells how long it takes to get warmed up in 41 degree weather.

I decided it was time for long sleeves and gloves after Wednesday's cold run.  Having nothing else to blame, this slowed me down to a 9:07 pace (51:23 for 5.64 miles). 

Trying to decide about the Virginia marathon.  I don't feel like I'm in the best shape either physically or financially to make such a trip, but I would love to do it to be with my family.  It's been about a year since I've seen my parents.

It was a good morning for running:  46 degrees, slight breeze, and clear.  I wore my long sleeves and gloves, but probably could have gotten along without them.  10.12 miles took me 1:30:32 with an average pace of 8:57, which is 5 seconds per mile slower than last Saturday, but still pretty close.  The problem is the direction I'm going.  But I did finish strong:  Mile 10 was 7:58 and the last fraction was at a 7:47 pace.

We finally got some rain last night and I didn't know what to expect when I left the house this morning and so I overdressed.  With long sleeves and gloves, I was already hot within the first mile.  It turned out to be 54 degrees without a drop of rain.

I switched routes this morning with a very steep, half mile ascent in mile two and then down, down, down, ending with a normal uphill return back home.  With that kind of a route, I guess I have to expect losses:  5.06 miles in 48:07, or 9:31 per mile average.  The splits were: 10:44, 11:00, 8:00, 8:50, 9:04, and 7:54 for the last fraction.

 I'm thinking I need to do more hills to improve my fitness.

Today's run was cooler, clearer and faster than Monday's run.  5.08 miles of hills in 46:41, or 9:11 per mile.  Other than the last fraction, every mile was faster than Monday.   Other than a little soreness and a bruised heel, I'm pretty free of injuries right now.

Finally, got a good one.  Maybe it was the hill training, or the short sleeves (49 degrees this morning), or maybe just being motivated to try harder.  7.34 miles in 1:02:34 for an average pace of 8:32/mile.  Splits along with best pace and heart rate are charted below:

10:05     6:44      142

 8:33      6:11      150

 8:35      7:25      153

 8:21      7:08      156

 8:16       7:14     159

8:13        6:09      161

7:57        6:43      162

7:43        6:54      164   (partial)

The trend is faster speed corresponds with faster heart rate and greater effort.

My GPS watch was not working when I got up to run this morning.  10.8 is the best estimate of the distance and 1:42 is the best estimate of the time.  Not really a great run, but at least I got out and completed the run before other obligations.  It was dark the whole time and also raining lightly, so I didn't see the stars either.

It's starting to get cold.  I should have worn long sleeves and gloves today, but didn't in the 39 degrees temperature.  I felt very weak this morning and it took me a while to get going, but at least my GPS watch worked today.  Overall, it was 5.5 mile in 48:58 or 8:54 per mile.

I think I need to just keep getting out, no matter the weather or how I feel.

It's 37 degrees right now, which is probably close to what it was when I was running.  We got our first snow yesterday, and there was still a blanket of snow on the lawns at the higher elevations.  I ran the steep run again today and did a little better than last week: 5.07 miles in 46:24 for an average pace of 9:09 per mile.  The pedometer reports an elevation gain of 325 feet in the first mile and a half  (mostly in mile 2) and then a loss of that same elevation in the next mile and a half.  Then, the route slopes down gently a little more and then up gently again to my starting point.  See the details at this URL:  http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=4125102

The skys cleared up and cooled down.  It's a good thing I brought in the rest of our green tomatoes last night.  It was 32 degrees this morning as I ran my regular route:  5.51 mile in 48:48, for an average pace of 8:51.

My wife was up canning apple sauce until about 2:00am and I rolled out of bed at 4:35.  Not too much together time.

Today, I did my longest run since the marathon and returned home before the sun came up.  I'm still feeling it and I'm definitely not ready for another marathon.  It was 44 degrees when I was out and it has warmed up quite a bit since.

13.47 miles took me 2:08:27 for 9:22/mile.  I was pretty well spent for the hill work at the end.  Even downhill was slow because it was dangerously steep.

Time for a nap.