Craig's Running Blog

The usual 6.5 on the paved trail loop. It had snowed during the night. Obviously, it's too late in the year for ice on the road, but it was still crazy.

AM: Didn't get up in time to do a run, so I organized my thoughts and wrote down notes for a hydration seminar I'm giving SaltLakeFit tomorrow. I'll try to get in a good run this afternoon.

PM: Ran from my house on the trails up towards Suncrest. I took Clark's Trail down. It just had one little patch of snow at the top, but that didn't even cover the whole trail. It's a lot of vertical to get up there, so I was tired by the end.

Went up to Emigration Canyon at 6:00. The group was meeting early. I had to get back down to Reservoir Park at 8:00 to give a hydration seminar to Salt Lake Fit. I did the first up up the the summit with the group, then did the second half at marathon pace down to the bottom.

AM: Trail run from the park at the top of Wasatch Blvd back to my house. 5 miles.

 PM: Another trail run. This time I went out on the Porter Rockwell trail and took a side trail up to corner canyon. I couldn't believe how many people were out. Fair-weather runners all. A 78-degree day finally got them out of the gym or something. I got home and did a hardcore stretching & gua-sha session.
 

Evening run along the Draper Pipeline and Porter Rockwell trails. I took the back route back into my neighborhood on the bluff to get in an extra 1.5 miles. Nice weather. A little warm. Things felt good due to the intense stretching/gua-sha session last night. Played some soccer with the kids after it got dark (9:30), so that gave me a little extra stretching time on my feet.
 

I took the day off so I could go with Teresa up to Logan in order to help out with some wedding photography. I had a little extra time in the morning, so I put the garmin on and plotted out my trail route. I finally got an accurate 7.5 mile reading on it. Things felt ok- not great. Got some inflammation in the ankles- especially the right side.

Hooked up with the group in the morning. We had 2 new faces- Alisa (sp?) and Amber, both of which are going to be on the all-girls WBR team. Amber is a solid, steady, veteran runner. Alisa is a friend of Maggie. She's pretty young, and she was able to do most of the mileage. So it looks like we lucked out. We still haven't seen how Phaedra (sp?) runs, but I would assume she's similar.

We started off with Indian files, where the group runs slow and the person in the back sprints up to the front. Then we did a 6 x .5 mile loop- that was tough. We ended with the 375 yard loop- easier. Did a mile tempo on the way back. My ankles were inflamed pretty bad, so I took some Ibuprofin (which I never do) and iced when I got home. They felt fine the rest of the day, so I was able to do some heavy yard work and take the kids to Boondocks at night.

Warm morning. I couldn't resist getting out on the trail, so I did a nice, eary 7.5 on the single track. Nothing big.

Cold, wet morning. The ankles felt good after the warmup.

I went to my bro-in-law's game store last Friday and ran into a guy that I used to work with back in 20001 - 2003. Turns out he works at the game store for fun a couple nights a month and knows my bro-in-law well. So we talked for an hour. He still works at the place that I left in 2003 (I left that place in April 2003 and started working at SPS, where I met Renan and subsequently met you). Anyway, we talked for an hour or so. It made me nostalgic and I wanted to go back and work at that place again, or at least re-live the couple years I worked there. Funny how that is.

I went and gave a seminar to SaltLakeFit last Saturday. That was very interesting. They had 40 people there, most of them returning from last year. It was a more relaxed crew- maybe 'cause it's smaller? Dunno. I talked to Hollie afterwards about the group. I let her know the reasons I'm not involved this year and I told her not to burn herself out. I explained that I was making plans this year to do some more racing than previous years and more weekend camping with friends/family. I couldn't do that for the last 3 years 'cause I had to get someone to cover for me whenever I wanted a summer weekend for myself. So in a way, it was good to see those guys, but it was also a relief to walk back to my car and drive home (I ran early with friends in Emigration and then gave the seminar at 8:00).

Another 6.5 miler on the paved trails in Draper.

Very very tight this morning. It took about 3 miles to get into it, before the ankles loosened up. I need to get on top of that and stretch more today.

I wanted to get on the trail, so I got up about 5:45 to give myself some time. Did the usual corner canyon route. I didn't see anyone else at all today.

I'm thinking about running the Draper Trails 15k on June 7. It doesn't look competitive at all, so I'll have to think about it.

I'm thinking about taking tomorrow off to give myself a little rest. I'm going to be up late 'cause the form to register volunteers for WBR opens up at midnight. I want to give our team's volunteers the times and locations they've requested.

Regarding St George-

This is stupid. So this ½ marathon has a couple SGM slots to give away. Instead of giving them to the winner, they’ve decided to give it to the person who volunteers the most hours. Like I’m going to work my --- off for 20 hours in order to *hopefully* be the one volunteering the most hours to this race. I wanted to see if I could go run it and win it, then get the St George slot.

FYI- You can still register for the Grand Slam, and then run Des News, Park City, ToU, and St George. I would do that, but Park City falls on Aug 23^rd, when I’m on vacation.

My St George opportunities are starting to run dry. I don’t know what to do beyond begging… L

From: Scott Summers [mailto:runsum@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, May 14, 2008 10:59 AM
To: Craig Green
Cc: 'Dr. Jerry Simons'
Subject: RE: Homestead Memorial Half info-

Hi Craig,

We have decided how to allocate our STG slots. The following will be posted on the Homestead site today.

The Homestead Memorial Runs have been given guaranteed slots for entrance into the St George Marathon on October 4, 2008 for both the 5k and Half Marathon. These slots will be given to the runner who provides the most volunteer hours (their own hours or the hours of friends and family) to help with the each race. To compete for the slots you must register for the race and then provide volunteer information to the race committee at runsum@gmail.com.

Ideas of where volunteers might help include:  packet preparation, race morning packet pickup, course pointers, traffic control, water stations, finish line and finish line food.

The guaranteed slots to the St George Marathon are just slots. The winner must still register for the marathon and pay the entrance fee. The winner must also agree to a photo and provide a bio to be reported to the local media and to the St. George marathon.

We hope that you will join us in Midway.

Scott

Yes, I took yesterady off. I had to get a stump out of my yard in the morning. I got back out today, the day before the Ogden 1/2 (I'm running the second half of the marathon in a 2-person relay). Things felt pretty good. I'll try to stretch and stay loose today.

Once again, I am unable to break 1:16 at the half marathon. I ran this one about 30 seconds faster than Provo River last August, so I guess that's good. Especially considering I ran it as part of the relay so I didn't have the competition or motivation that running the real 1/2 marathon would have given me. The other thing to consider is that my total distance was 13.29 instead of 13.1, which might have been because I took the baton before the relay handoff instead of after. I'm not sure, though. If the distance was off and I really ran 13.29 instead of 13.1, then I did finally break 1:16.

Mile splits:

1) 5:46 - I was fully warmed up and ready for it

2) 6:06 - The hill. Didn't slow me down too much.

3) 5:40 - Slight downhill after the hill

4) 5:55 - Rolling

5) 5:35 - The biggest downhill of the course

6) 5:52 - Leveling off through the canyon

7) 5:54

8) 5:38

9) 5:27

10) 5:43

11) 5:12

12) 6:03

13) 5:50

.1) 1:40 (The Garmin gave me a total of .29 distance for the last bit, giving me a total of 13.29 miles run instead of 13.1)

Unfortunately, my right achilles was nagging me through the run. It didn't slow me down, but I'm paying for it now. It looks like I might be out a few days with inflamation issues while it heals. Time for ice and a bit of scraping.

I'm hurt. It's the ongoing achilles problem. I went to the gym and did some elliptical work and then did some running in the pool. No problems doing any of that.

I told my running friends that I wouldn't meet up with them to do hills tonight. I went to the gym instead. I was planning on more elliptical and pool work, which I did, but I also decided to try the treadmill. The first 1/2 mile was rough, but then I stretched and the next 2 miles were ok.

I've been scraping and icing every night before bed, and it's been helping. I got up this morning and actually felt good enough to walk around without pain, so I decided to try a run. The first mile was pretty rough, but again- stretching and slowly warming up helped. After the stretch at mile 1, I was good to go the usual 6.5 miles. I felt pretty good and finished strong with no pain. Good sign.

Things started off murderously painful again the first mile, then progressed to something I could manage after that. I went up on some trails and made it an even 7 miles. I feel better today after the run than I did yesterday, so I think I'm still improving. No more pain during the day, and I can lift my heels with no discomfort.

So I got a reply email Friday afternoon about the Homestead Memorial 5k: ------------ Hi Craig, Give me a call at 801 822 2083 about the St. George slot. We thought they were being advertised on our Homestead website, but they are not. As a relatively unknown potential prize, we may not have much competition for a slot. Scott ------------ I gave Scott a call, and he let me know that I would get the St George entry slot if I ran in the race and got a volunteer. Since I wasn't fully recovered for another 1/2 marathon, I opted for the 5k. It was a small race- maybe 200 runners. I scoped out the competition, and immediately saw the ringer- Darren B who just graduated from BYU and ran on their cross country team. I didn't know what would draw someone of that caliber, but I found out later that the winner gets a free night stay at the Homestead. The gun went off and there were the usual 2-3 young kids that went out too fast. Beyond that, it was myself, Darren, and a couple other guys my age that looked somewhat fit. After the first half mile, Darren and I pulled away, and then Darren put some distance on me. There were a couple tough hills on the course. One on particular was at mile 1, and it was so steep I thought about walking for a split second. Darren finished it at about 17:35 and I came in at 18:29. The third place runner was about 20:30. So the deal was that Teresa and the kids were supposed to be pointers at mile 2, where the course does a short 180 degree turn. Unfortunatey, Teresa couldn't find that spot on the course. I finished the race and ran back along the course to find them. They were at the side of the road just cheering the remaining runners on. Teresa wasn't familiar with the area, so she never found the place on the course that she was supposed to be at. After the race, I stayed for the awards and approached Scott. He gave me the St George entry slot certificate and got my picture. Now I just have to write up a bio of myself and send it on to him. I'm really relieved that I'm able to get into St George.

I was a little sore from the 5k, but not bad. I got out and did some trail work. It felt a little forced, but I did it without too much of a problem. The icing and scraping finally seems to be kicking in.

I got home and started feeling tremendous sinus pressure in my head. It got so painful that I had to bow out of church and lay down for a bit. The pain was mostly in my left ear, and it kept getting worse. I was just laying there, and finally got some relief when the ear drum perforated and the ear started draining. Great- another ear infection. I'll have to go talk to my doctor friends down the street and see if they can call in a prescription.

Not exactly an easy Memorial Day run, but it was enjoyable. I met up with the group at the Capitol. I thought we were doing about 6-8 miles, but I learned that we were going up to the top of City Creek, which is about 7 miles each way and an elevation difference of about 1500 feet. I was testing the ankle out to see how it was, and it felt ok. In fact, other than some general fatigue at the end of the run, I didn't have any problems. Very good sign. Maybe I've finally started to get on top of this thing.

I ran with Bill and Alicia mostly. Andrea and Tracy had their dogs, so they could only go halfway up. They did that twice. Jason and Renae were there too, and we waited for them at the top, then ran down together. The rain was dumping, but it felt nice. I got a little chilled at the end, but not too bad.

I felt better at this morning's run than I have for at least 2 weeks. I started out slow, but it wasn't painful. I stretched at mile 1, then ran solidly the rest of the way with no issues. Just a little stiff in the ankle after the run, but some stretching, scraping, and icing should take care of it. I'll meet up with the group tomorrow night and see how the speedwork goes.

I met up with some friends at Cottonwood H S and did 5 x 800 repeats. I was going to do 6, but the ear infection was making me dizzy and the ankle was bothering me.

Felt really good this morning after a day off. I took it slow at first and hit the dirt trail. No need to stop and stretch. I went along the trail and did the usual 7 miles. I didn't get a lot of sleep the night before, but I somehow got up and out the door before 6:00. I saw a group of 5 women trail runners coming the other way on the Bonneville Shoreline trail. I wonder what that was about. I'll talk to them next time and see if they do a trail route on Fridays.

Met up with the group at the capitol. We went around City Creek, through the U, and up to the zoo. Noticed Chad and possibly some other fastrunningblog runners coming the other direction when we started. I ran with Walter, Natalie, and Esther mostly. Walter has a lot of good insight and stories about the fastrunningblog racers. We took off the last 2 miles and did a tempo. We averaged a 6:00 pace over 2 miles- not bad. I actually felt better doing that than running slow because it gave me a chance to stretch my legs out.

Andrea printed some forms off fastrunningblog for the Heart of Holladay 5k, so we got about 10 of us registering for that. I expect the competition to be tough, but it should be a good time.