I wound up going out to lunch with some former coworkers today. Originally I figured doing so would mean not running, but somewhere in the back of my head I kept saying, “or you could run when you get back.” And that’s what I did. Let me just say eating a burger and fries right before running is not the best choice. I felt it bouncing around inside as I tried to run. I don’t recommend it.

I ran slower right from the start today. I was basically coasting through the first mile or two. Then I walked up the hill at Sycamore, even though I think I could have stayed running. I figured if I did run up that hill that I would have to take a break when I got to the top and that would suck. But I think I’m to the point where I can run the whole loop. Now I just need to prove it.

After walking a little bit, I ran the rest of the way home. The last mile actually felt pretty good. Lunch had stopped bothering me and my legs and breathing were in rhythm, which isn’t always the case at the end of the loop.

32:40

I did finish a full minute slower than Wednesday, but I’m still glad I went out there and got it done.

I don’t know if running is normally a psychological sport the way swimming is, but it seems to be that way for me. If I don’t feel good by the time I’m rounding that first corner, it turns into a tough run for me. Today was one of those days. I’m still fighting a bit of a cold and didn’t sleep well last night. I woke up around 5 and couldn’t get back to sleep. But somehow I kept thinking it would be a good run today. I was sure. I had taken the day off yesterday, so my legs had a chance to rest up for today. I might even finish the loop without walking at all. I kept thinking that all morning… right until I took the first few steps out the front door.

By the time I was rounding that first corner and facing the first hill, I was already wondering if I should walk. I haven’t even considered walking up that hill in weeks. When I got to the hill, I made a choice. I chose to run. I didn’t decide to run up that first hill. I decided to run at least as much as I ran on Monday. That turned out to be a very tough decision, but I’m glad I was strong enough (mentally) to stick to it. Several times during the run I kept thinking about all the “reasons” I had for not feeling bad about walking, but I pushed through them all. The only time I walked was up the hill at Sycamore. The last mile was especially brutal. It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t fast. But it wasn’t walking.

A lot of times as I climb the last little hill and turn onto Mesquite, I know if I’m in contention for a new record. When I climbed that hill today, I had no idea. I didn’t let it stop me. I pushed hard around the last corner and may have even been “running” again by the time I got back.

31:41

When I beat the record by one second, can I doubt the value of that last push? Will I ever let myself walk to the finish line again? Let’s hope not.

Yesterday I wasn’t feeling well. I took some NyQuil and sucked on cough drops all night. This morning I felt like I had been drugged. All morning I kept thinking about what, if anything, I would post when I didn’t run at lunch. Suddenly it was lunchtime. I wasn’t feeling drugged anymore, but I certainly wasn’t feeling better. Still, I decided I would at least walk my route, so I went downstairs and changed into my running clothes.

I figured I would run until the first hill and then walk. I got to the first hill and I saw two other runners ascending the other road to the top… and I knew they saw me, so I had to make it to the top, and I had to be first (I’m not competitive at all). That didn’t solve my problem. There I was at the top, with the other runners closing in. I had to keep running so I could stay ahead. I figured I would need to run at least until the big park in the middle of The Cedars.

When I got to the park and rounded the corner, I could see that both of the other runners had not followed me into The Cedars. I didn’t need to run anymore to appease my ego, but I just kept running anyway. It was really nice outside, what I consider the perfect weather for running – around 50 degrees and mostly cloudy with a slight breeze. I passed the 1 mile marker with no trouble and headed down through mile 2.

I usually run some segments on the street and other segments on the sidewalk. I realized that I have always been running on the sidewalk when I run up hills. I thought I might be doing that to give myself some sort of crutch, in case I switched to walking during the climb. Today I decided I would turn the corner by the church near the mile 2 checkpoint and stay on the road. It’s a big hill, and I almost always walk part of it… always on the sidewalk. Staying on the road was a commitment to run to the top of the hill. I wanted to get out of that commitment about half way up the hill, but I stuck with it until the corner at Sycamore. At that point I walked up the short hill on Sycamore, on the sidewalk, as you probably guessed.

At the top of that short hill I started running again. Soon I was smiling. I wasn’t having any trouble running, despite how I had been feeling earlier. I knew I was going to run the rest of the way home. I knew it would be a good time. I wasn’t sure if it would be another record, because I didn’t know if I had been running slower than my normal pace up to that point, but I was very happy. I pushed a little harder that last mile and really felt good.

31:42

One of the reasons I was able to convince myself to run today is that I probably won’t be running tomorrow. A bunch of the guys I know from FamilyLink and Ryati are going out to the west side of Utah Lake to shoot some guns over lunch. It will be fun. I’ll enjoy it more knowing that I ran so well today.

I thought all morning about how today was going to be “the day”. I was going to run the whole loop without walking. And I was going to run faster on the running portions than I have been running. It was going to be amazing.

It started off mixed. It’s a beautiful day, but much much warmer than any time I’ve previously tried to run. But I came out of the front gate going fast. I went fast all the way to the 1 mile marker. Then I went fast all the way to the 2 mile marker, but I was breaking down on my way there. My legs started to hurt. Right around the 2 mile marker I switched to walking.

It takes a lot longer to catch your will than it does to catch your breath. For some reason, I had lost my will to keep going and I couldn’t seem to get it back. I walked up the hill past the VH logo. I kept walking around the corner and up onto Sandalwood. I tried to run again, but it didn’t last more than a house or two, and then I was back to walking again. I did finally run down the hill into the circle and up the next hill onto Mesquite, but then I was back to walking. I must have walked 4 or 5 minutes total. I did finish out the loop running, but I knew I had failed to do what I set out to do.

33:42

It’s actually a pretty good time considering how much I walked. I guess that means I just pushed too hard in the beginning. I need to stop worrying about the records and start worrying about finishing the loop without walking.

Normally we ride our bike trainers on Monday nights, but we didn’t ride last night. I wondered if that would have much impact on my run today. I think it did.

32:21

That’s a new personal best for the second day in a row. Every Tuesday prior to this has been a couple minutes slower than my Monday run, so I’m chalking this up to not spinning last night. That doesn’t mean I’m glad that we didn’t spin. I think we need to spin more often than we are, so I’ll make sure we hit the bikes tonight, and tomorrow will be a nice day off.

Although I ran the exact same loop today and although I only walked the exact places I walked yesterday, it was a very different run. Yesterday was light and easy. Today was heavy and hard. Yesterday the roads were dry. Today they were covered in snow. Nothing hurt during or after the run yesterday. Today I was pretty tight and sore when I got home.

But I still had a big smile on my face as I crested the final hill and knew I would make it the rest of the way home. I guess it wasn’t all that different after all.

It’s cold outside. It’s supposed to be snowing all day, but so far it’s just a cold rain. I debated heavily if I should run today or not, but in the end I realized I had to run.

As I rounded the corner by the church at about the 2 mile marker, I realized that I hadn’t walked at all. I’m not sure, but I think that’s a record for me. I ran a little ways up the hill, to about the Van Halen logo etched in the sidewalk, then walked up and around the corner. I had caught my breath by then, and it was easy to run the rest the way home.

32:33

I really felt great today. Sure, I let myself walk a little when my breathing wasn’t keeping up, but my legs never felt tired or sore. Even after coming home and stretching a bit I still don’t feel any ill effects. I’m really starting to enjoy this.

It was nice outside this morning, but it looked like a storm was coming. I had a meeting scheduled for 11:15, but I figured it would be over by lunch, which is when I usually head out. But then I got a phone call from the piano tuner. He was scheduled to be here at 12:15. Of course, he didn’t actually get here until almost 12:30. And the storm clouds were dark and menacing. But I decided to run anyway, because that’s what you do.

Most of the first mile was pretty rough. I switched from my 3/4 to my 2/3 pattern for breathing sooner than normal. That made me wonder if I was sick, or didn’t sleep well last night. As I headed up the hill to the round-about, my feet felt really heavy. It seemed this run would be even worse than Tuesday’s run, which was fairly upsetting, since I took a full day off from everything yesterday. I really wanted to switch to walking at the top of that hill, but I didn’t. As I ran towards the park in the center of The Cedars, I kept thinking that if I pushed too hard at first that the rest of the run would be even worse… shuffling. I kept pushing those thoughts out, but I did finally start walking about half way around the park. And then something amazing happened. I caught my breath pretty quickly. I started running again before I reached the road out to Canyon. I ran all the way and felt really good. I was focusing on leading with my knees and letting my feet kick up behind me. It worked.

The next thing I knew, I was back to the park, back to the round-about, and heading down to the church. I rounded that corner and headed up the next hill. It was a struggle to keep my breathing on rhythm, and I switched to walking again where someone carved the Van Halen logo into the sidewalk. It’s not far from there to the corner and I started running again half way up that hill. I didn’t stop again until I was home. That last mile really felt good. A few times I even thought I may need to start adding more distance to my run, but I wasn’t that crazy today.

The storm never came. I stayed ahead of it and set my new personal record for the loop. 33:25.

Clearly I haven’t progressed to the point where I fully recover by the next day. Yesterday was my best run so far this year, but today I was back to walking more than I would like. On the other hand, I did walk a mile or two last night and then I rode my bike trainer for an hour. Maybe that is playing into it. Bottom line, I stopped running and started walking before I even got to the 1 mile mark today. I ended up walking at least 5 minutes of the loop. Charmaine met up with me at about the 2 mile mark and we ran the last mile together. When we got home, the timer said 35:55, so it was still a decent outing.

I’ll take tomorrow off from running, so hopefully the run on Thursday will be another good one.

I didn’t run last Wednesday, per my usual schedule, but then it turned cold again and snowed both Thursday and Friday. On Thursday I did walk the 3 miles, wearing a coat, and then we rode our bike trainers for 90 minutes that night. I didn’t do anything all weekend, so I had plenty of rest before starting my run today.

I felt pretty good today. I ran the whole first mile, then walked for about 30 seconds, then ran the next mile and walked for about 2 minutes, then ran the rest of the way home. I knew I had walked more distance today than I did last Monday, but I figured my running, especially the last mile, was probably a little faster. So I figured I would come in around the 35 minute mark. When I got home, let myself inside, and saw the stopwatch at 34:01, I was really happy. That’s a new personal record for this loop.

Eventually I’m going to have to start swimming and biking outside again. Right now we ride our trainers at night sometimes, but biking outside at night won’t work, so I may need to figure out a new schedule for running once it starts to warm up.