This message goes at the top of the blog

Did two runs this morning.  First run was 10.15 miles and energy level was pretty low, ending at about a 10 minute pace.  Came home for a drink and then took Ben out for a 2.27 mile run.  I told him to go slow because my run had deteriorated to a 10 minute pace.  But, he took off and we averaged an 8:41 pace.  He got stomach cramps that slowed him down in mile 2.  I slowed down too, but then we picked up speed at the end and he beat me by a couple of seconds.

He is now in the Teacher's quorum and they are planning to run the Provo City Marathon on May 4.  That means he has a reason to run with me occasionally.  I haven't decided whether or not to run with them because the Provo City Marathon is sooner and harder than the Utah Valley Marathon.

After 2 days off, I finally had a good run.  Felt strong and fast most of the time.  Ran 5.73 miles in 48:16 for an average pace of 8:25/mile.

Three days off and an even better run.  What can I say.  I'm getting

lazy or I'm getting busy.  Either way, my running has tapered off and

I've got to bounce back.  My average pace today was 8:16 per mile,

ending with 8:10, 8:10, and 8:06.  (38:26 total time)  Colder weather is on the way, but it

was still reasonable at 37 degrees this morning.

Ran 10.21 by myself and then 1.43 with Ben.  Ben and I were planning to go further, but his asthma gave him problems.

The first 10.21 went pretty well.  It took 1:27:16 for an average pace of 8:33.  As usual I slowed down a little at the end, but the average speed was under 8:30 for the first 7 miles.  Considering that I don't often go much further than 7 miles at a time, it is understandable that my pace slows down when I go further.

Alma is moving closer to considering the Provo City marathon in April and so am I.  Alma is the hard sell, but he did the 300 mile bike ride with me last June and that might give him the confidence to try.

For me, I've got a long ways to go, especially if I hope to break the 4 hour mark.  The Provo City marathon is early, meaning lots of winter training and difficult because it starts out down hill and averages flat for the last half.

I braved 28 degrees this morning as I ran 5.51 miles in 47:57 for an average pace of 8:42/mile.  The snow was just starting to fall at the end of the run and more is expected today.

Today was a nice day for running at about 40 degrees.  Most of the snow melted yesterday, but there are still some treacherous spots.  I had to slow down a couple of times due to the slick conditions and the traffic.  Overall, a pretty good run:  4.65 miles in 39:40 for an average pace of 8:32/mi.  All miles were similar, between 8:50 and 8:24.

10.57 miles at an 8:30 pace.  I intended to run my normal weekend route, but I got wet socks after a few steps on the street.  I then decided that avoiding water puddles was too stressful.  I turned around and headed for the track.  At least I would be running on a known location.  I made the initial tracks in the snow and it wasn't wet at all, for a while.  After a few times around, I had pounded out a pretty good track and thing started getting slushy.  By the end, my socks were sopping wet and I thought I had frost bite on one of my toes.  Later, I found out it was just a big blister.

My progress is ranging from lazy to lazier as I finally got out for my first run since Saturday.  The boys are out of school for Christmas break.  That meant I could run a little later.  I knew it would be cold and so I put everything on, including long sleeves, long pants, gloves, and ski mask.  That was more than adequate to stay warm with a temperature of 14F.  I ended up running 4.64 miles in 38:33 for an average pace of 8:18 per mile with a 7:50 for mile 3, which was mostly downhill.

Today's run went pretty well.  I had to go back to Sept 24 to find a better pace at this distance.  The temperature was 27 degrees  and no precipitation.  I had to go through a few ice patches, but otherwise the roads were dry.  10.19 miles took 1:26:17 for an average pace of 8:28/mile.

Well, it's official!  All the teachers and most of the Priests are signed up to run the Provo City Marathon on May 4th.  The Bishop had sworn off marathons 11 years ago, but now he's going to do it too, as well as the other young men leaders in the ward.

The dead of winter training cycle adds a challenge to a challenge, but I hope they can all pull through and be successful.  Among those signed up are my sons Alma and Benjamin.

Today's run began and ended in the snow, but overall it went pretty well:  5.49 miles in 46:10 for an average pace of 8:24/mile.

Went to the Orem recreation center to run around their indoor track.  It was my way to get others to go with me.  Ben, Charles, and Brian came.  Alma opted for 2 miles on the treadmill at home instead.  Nobody wanted to run in the snow storm for some reason.

I ran 52 times around the track in about 70 minutes for an average pace of 8:45/mile.  I had a surprisingly strong sprint at the end and then I walked out an extra lap to cool down.

We've had at least 12 inches of snow dumped in the last week.  It snowed overnight again and it was snowing as I ran.  I hesitated to run because of my cold that I suddenly picked up yesterday.  So, I went to the track and created a decent path around it after a while.  But I never got up much speed.  I'm just pleased that I did something.  4.57 miles in 44:17 for an average pace of 9:42 per mile.

Went to the Orem Rec Center to run 10 miles with Charles and Ben.  Charles almost lapped me.  More surprising is that he finished the whole distance after not running for a long time.  Ben was able to complete 3 miles.  After finishing, we noticed our calculations were wrong.  Since we ran 65 laps in the outside lane, we actually completed 10.48 miles.  The time is unknown.

Ran the Rec center track with Charles and Ben again.  This time, it was 39 laps for 6.29 miles in about 51:3, which comes out to about 8:11/mile.  Charles pushed me hard and ended up lapping me 3 times.  Ben ended up needing to stop after 2 miles.