The sun is up, the air is fresh, the stone is old

1 mile easy, 6@6 pace, 1 easy.

Nice level pavement run.  Taking it easy today.  Again.  My daughter and I have been prepping for some time for her first debate meet today.  At 11 years old I have been pretty sceptical about this being anything useful.  But the kids did a great job.  It could be the subject matter; if parents should limit screen time and game time to one hour per day.  She was given the opposing presentation, that kids should not be limited.  I was wondering what she would say since we have no defined limits on things (but we have no internet or cable either).  

The other team made their argument first, explaining why TV and games hurt society when watched too much, showed obesity stats in the US, and how TV "rots" children's brains.  Natalie's partner then got up and explained how his hero Jackie Chan learned English by watching TV and ended up more successful than all the adults in the room.  So the other team came back with yeah, but he's one in a billion, and showed more stats on how average game and smart phone time for children in the country is up to 4 hours per day and costing the US 7 billion a year in lost productivity.  But then Nat got up and said she agreed with all of the other team's points and that they propose screen time be even less than the pro argument at three hours a week, but instead of forcing limits on kids their parents should take them out to do things more fun than video games and the whole issue would be resolved.  That kind of ended the debate since the other kids didn't know how to argue a point with someone who seemed to agree with them.  

The debate judge loved it, and I might have found something my daughter likes doing besides taking care of stray animals. 

6 mile Fartlek, low effort.  I need a tempo run tomorrow so I've been looking at any halts around.  Walter got me an entry to the Dino Half in Vernal and I was able to get an entry to the Provo Half.  Dino Half is a faster course but further to drive.  But the kids want to see the Wall of Bones which is finally open again.  I'm thinking we will decide tonight.

Just happy to have survived this one.  I promised my kids and the neighbors that I'd take them camping, and I really wanted to run this Half with a friend.  The kids and I did our bonfire on the beach until midnight and I finally got them asleep in the RV and drove back home so my neighbor could take over.  By that time it was 2:30 am and just enough time to hop in the car and drive down to Provo to meet my friend.  It was her first Half so she was pretty nervous.  

At the start she went for what looked like a 40 minute line for porta pottys and I went for a warm up.  I found James and we ran together for a bit which was cool since I haven't had a chance to talk to him for a long time.  The start was as smashed as I've seen in a while.  I couldn't find a place to stand so I squished in about 3 deep back just ahead of the "fast women".  I asked them kindly to please not run over me at the start.  One told me to get behind them then, where I belong.  :-)  Yes, she was serious.

I felt a 5:45 pace would be a good goal and just focused on running that.  I wasn't paying attention and did two 6:10 miles when the course leveled out.  I had to pick it up for the last two to make some of that up.  Great course, not as fast as Timp.  

Nice trail run up the Logan River Trail with the kids on their bikes.  Three weeks ago, Shelby my 8 year old had a hard time biking over a few blocks, mostly I think because of balance and just being afraid of the trail.  Last week she did the five mile trail with about half of it supported by me running along side her pushing her along.  Today she killed the whole trail up and down. 

At the end she said, "Dad I have been taking my scooter with my friends at mom's whenever we all went on rides because they were so much better than me and I was embarrassed about the bike.  This week I lived life with my friends up front!"  I can't think of a better feeling than changing my daughter's life in that one simple way this Spring.  Trumps everything.

General fitness run and a few hours of spreading steer manure in the yard dirt.

Flat road run 7:04 pace

8 mile morning run @7:30 pace

 Evening 6X800 hill repeats jogging in between. 

Another pretty normal run, 7:20 pace.  I spent all day today from 6am on hauling huge boulders down from the mountain and building rock retaining walls and steps around my house.  I had the unusual assistance of the kid who egged my house and today totally kicked his butt.  Bleeding hands, ripped pants, it was awesome.  But he did start to kind of enjoy it after a few hours.

Day off!

Nice run in Indy.  Still pretty sore from two days of boulder hauling.

Headed out in between flights at Denver.  Knee is pretty shot this week, probably from the rock hauling.  Could mean some time off.  10X200m strides

Just decided to get out and do a long run today, burn out some of the wusyness that I have lately.  This was really different today, kind of the total opposite of a R2R run of the Grand Canyon.  I ran East from the hotel in Orlando through the Everglades along a grass trail by a canal.  On Google Earth in the morning I could see that this canal went all the way to the intercoastal and there was a 7 Eleven about mile 10 just a few blocks off the canal.  It was such a differnt run.  Not a cloud in the sky and about 85 degrees but absolutely flat.  Not a hill over two feet.  And the best part, most amazing was that it was grass the whole way.  23 miles of grass, never had that before.  Sucks up your energy, I never ran faster than an 8:30, but so incredible for a long run.

Long run on the grass again along the canal in Orlando.  The heat really hit me today.

Last run on the grass today.  Heading home after three days shuttling kids back and forth to Disneyland.  Great bunch of flight attendants and a fun trip.  The grass seems to use the legs differently, it's been good for my running.  I also went one hole down in the belt loop today which means I'm tossing some fat baby.  I've decided my goal for the summer is to PR at TOU marathon, my slowest.  I've just got a base established so I could start some decent training in June.

5X1 mile at Maugn track with a good warm up and cool down.  Now I'm shoving dirt in the yard all day because I'm too cheap to rent a backhoe.

Easy along the Logan River Trail.  

Raining cats and dogs all morning.  I looked at the weather radar on the drive down and there was a big cell right over Ogden.  It didn't disappoint at the start, headwind and pouring.  I decided on a 6:20 pace considering my fitness and ran almost right on except for some fade on the last two miles.  No Garmin today and enjoyed the absence. Good race for me, on the pace I want and pretty relaxed.

 The slower pace today meant I was way back in the pack today, but with the continuous rain and wind it ate up the field.  This run was passing people the entire 26 miles since I was so slow at the start.  At 16 miles I came up to Walter who was weaving about the road.  I walked with him for a few minutes and it was a close call for me to not call it off and find some help.  But he answered some questions good and I got back to work.  Total downer to see him walking.  I felt today was a 2:35 for him.

Hats off to the lead pack.  Some great times considering what the run was like. 

Off day.

Off day.  Heading up to Anchorage for a few days.  Probably get in a few easy, small trail runs but mostly hiking.  The knee seemed to handle the last two weeks of running OK so that means it's time to stop worrying about it and get training.

Nice trail run outside of Anchorage.  Barely even Spring here.  This morning I stopped by Gwennies Old Alaska Restaraunt again for breakfast.  It's been almost a year since going to this breakfast spot that is filled with locals.  The plates are huge.  I had the sourdough pancakes with reindeer sausage which is one of the best breakfasts in the world that you can get!

Off day. Hiked Tabletop mountain in Anchorage, about 7 miles.

Off day.  But I did dig 375 feet of trenches in my yard with a pickax for a sprinkler system.  That took 5.5 hours and FELT like a marathon.

Last day for slacking, running starts tomorrow again.  I finished the entire sprinker sysem today on my yard by working through most the night and having help from neighbors.  Huge job done.  Now I'm getting folks on the plane for a flight up to Fairbanks tonight.  This is one of my favorite overnights since we stay at little log cabins on the side of the river  (Pike's Waterfront Lodge) for two days.  I hope to get in some late night running in the sun again.

Some days are so beautiful that you just want to soak them in.  You never want them to end.  Today was one of those.  Since I had a few days in Fairbanks, Alaska I headed up to Nenena to race the Annihilator for fun.

http://www.newsminer.com/article_802d6c6f-fc4b-5187-bee4-fefffdb55ac6.html

Supposed to be one of the hardest 10ks there is so I figured it would be a good offset for all the Utah style downhill races.  Unfortunately there was still 18 inches of snow on the trails in the high country so they cancelled it last minute.  So I went back down to Fairbanks and was lucky enough to find a really sweet trail that headed off the oil pipeline north.  It was covered in bark, moss, or grass the whole way and was so soft that I took off my shoes and ran a few miles in barefeet.  Maybe halfway in I came across a trail junction which had a sign on it for the Equinox Marathon course.  So I joined that for the rest of the run which took me down to the University of Alaska campus.

Legs are doing great today on my return to running.  No soreness at all which must be the days off and running a smart marathon last week.

Easy trail morning.

Recovery day. 

6 miles in the morning in Indy, 4 miles on the treadmill at the Denver airport gym in between flights.  Pretty sore today.

Shake out the dead legs a little tonight, 3X1 mile @ 5:27pace on the treadmill, 800 in between.

Not pulling back yet as fast from this last marathon 

Easy day.  Arrived in Carsbad, Ca to stay at a little beach house with the kids for four days.  Maybe run, maybe not.  Big day in Court next Thursday for the kids and they needed to have some get away time.

This morning I taught the kids how to body board and they spent the entire day doing it.  Surf was high all day and I got some good surfing morning and evening in.