Day 7: Misty Morning River Run

Date: January 29th 2011, 6:30 am
Distance: 5.1 miles
Weather: Hazy Fog

Have a look at that... I even got the temperature to display right there on the map. Cool. In other news, I have posted my training schedule so feel free to check it out.

I was up bright and early to kick off this morning's run. I decided to slow it down a little bit and take it at a marathon's pace. The result: an exceptionally pleasant morning run.

It was foggy in general but one I got on the Provo River Trail, the mist thickened up quite a bit. The water level was high, probably since we have had a lot of melting snow during the last week. There was this waterfall-like region (behind walgreens) where the spray from the water clouded the river quite a bit. It was ethereal. Ha ha, with the bare trees and fog, the scenery reminded me of this old computer game I once had called MYST. Let me see if I can find a screenshot.

That brings back some memories.

There was only one other person on the river trail... an old Indian man (Indian as in Indian... not Native American). So it was a quiet and peaceful run. Of course, I had Jimmy Eat World to keep me company.

The run went by quickly and I when it was over I didn't even feel any pain or exhaustion. Granted, I took it at a marathon pace, but I was pleased overall.

Day 6: Free Park-ing

Date: January 27th 2011, 8pm
Distance: 3 miles
Weather: Clear Skies and a Shooting Star

You may have noticed that my map images are getting better. I decided to go with Google Earth because you can use a lot of angles and even see some 3-D elements (if you look closely, you can see a 3-D Temple in the top middle of this image). Anyways, back to the run.

I decided to run around Rock Canyon Park. The first bit was uphill and I was feeling really crampy (not crappy... crampy. I felt crappy on day 2). Stomach, lungs, muscles... everything. I was also a bit under dressed (it was COLD) and this parked car was shining its brights in my eyes for a while, so I was uncomfortable overall. It got better once I got to the park and some flatter ground.

They fenced off part of the paved trail that went around the park because there were some construction vehicles there. I had to run up this steep grass hill to get to the top level trail. Fun.

As I went around the park, there was this stretch that went behind a water tower. There were no lights back there, a gravel road and what looked like some broken down garages and shacks. In other words, the most likely place for bad guys to jump out and get you. I played it cool, but I picked up the pace.

On my way back around, the trail was covered in snow, so I ran on what I 'thought' was the trail. When the snow receded, I found that I was on grass instead of pavement. I ended up having to run though the trees, dodging picnic tables and swingsets in order to get back on the path. On my way back down the hill I thought I saw two runners that looked like Gary and Emma, but I was sadly disappointed.

All in all, it was a short and interesting run. Maybe one day I will do a bunch of laps up there one day.

Day 5: Dashing through the Snow

Date: January 25th 2011, 9pm
Distance: 3.7 miles
Weather: Polluted



I was excited for the run today because I was taking what I felt to be an interesting route. I started at the letter "A" (on the map to the right). Those buildings just north-west of me is the MTC, and if you are . familiar with Provo then you know that I'm running right by the LDS temple.

Then there was the snow.

This morning it was inconspicuously sunny until the sky started dumping snow out of nowhere.We had a solid 3-4 inches come down in less than 2 hours. But more about that later.

The whole first mile is uphill at a pretty steep incline.With the snow gumming up the sidewalks, I soon found myself running in the bike lane. When the bike lanes disappeared, I went back to the sidewalks. I figured that the powdery snow would give me a good resistance work out. It felt like I was running in the sand on the beach. Needless to say, I was gasping for air by the time I reached the Rock Canyon trail-head. That's also when I looked out over the valley and noticed the particularly thick pollution.  Dumb inversion layer. That's the second reason I was gasping for air.

Running on the sidewalks was unpredictable because I was at the mercy of the homeowners who had chosen to shovel the sidewalks or not. I'd run for fifty feet on a bare sidewalk, then 50 feet in 3 inches of snow, then 50 feet on slippery cement (aka poorly shoveled sidewalk), and so on. Once the sidewalk had disappeared under the snow and I didn't know that I was running on Auntie Mable's petunias until I saw the mailbox in my path. Sorry Mable.

Realizing that the streets were empty, I choose to ran in the middle of the road. I was about at the letter "B" (on the map) when the downhill really started picking up. For one steep downhill stretch near the trail-head to the "Y" my speed got really high and I couldn't stop. It was a way narrow two lane road with no sidewalks (that reminded me of the road we would take to go to the Sullivan's for piano lessons in Texas). Thankfully there wasn't traffic or I would have had to bail into somebody's yard.


By that time, nature began to call, so I tried to focus my mind on other things. Among the distractions, a mud puddle soiled my left shoe (frown), a car started honking like crazy, and I saw a dog pooping on the sidewalk near Kiwana's Park. It's amazing what you see when you just look around. To quote a favorite collection  of Calvin and Hobbes, "There's Treasure Everywhere."

Day 4: Rocking South Provo

Date: January 22nd 2011, 9am
Distance: 7.3 miles
Weather: Sunny, warm and gusty

Since today was a longer run, I decided to try running with the ol' Ipod shuffle. After loading up some good tunes, I hit the road.

It was a glorious start. Here I am, running due south down 9th east, coasting down the hill, with the wind at my back and rocking out to some good old Switchfoot and Jimmy Eat World. I was as happy as a clam. In fact, I was so pleased that in my distracted state I missed my turn onto 300 south and found my self in front of the Provo Cemetery (In my defense, the Ipod had just started playing Rock Lobster, and I was really enjoying rocking it old school... Uncle Jim, you would understand).

Anywho, I turned around and got back on course, heading straight for the hills. I was almost to the mountains when I saw a huge sign saying "Road Closed." As I approached, I thought, "Road closed for cars... right?" I decided to stick to the plan and run through the construction. "They are probably just putting in one little pipe."

Well, I was wrong. The had no less than 15 construction vehicles out there, and it looked like a war zone. There were all these warning signs about staying away from the power lines and not getting too close to the thingimabob, and yada yada. Fortunately the sidewalk was pretty clear (except for this place where these huge tarps had blown onto the side of the road and were gumming up my running path). The wind was really strong. I would be running with the wind at my back and watch all these leaves blow quickly past me from behind. I was glad I wasn't running into the wind. Maybe it would change direction when I have to turn around and come back.

It didn't.

The wind slowed me down a bit but my spirits were lifted by Michael Jackson (may he rest in peace). I adapted the words to help encourage me. "If you're thinkin of bein' a runner it don't matter if you're black or white."Haha... that's debatable, but you get the point.

I also saw one of those signs on the side of the road that said, "Your Speed", so I picked up the pace a little bit, hoping it would display something impressive. Sadly, it didn't pick me up at all. I'll have to do another run down there and give it another try.

The rest wasn't bad. There are a lot of opinions about running with music... that it can screw up your pace, and so forth. But that was my first time doing it, and it sure made the run seem a lot shorter.

Day 3: Nightmare on Elm Street

Date: January 20th 2011, 8:15 pm
Distance: 3 miles
Weather: Full moon, bitter cold, and not the slightest wind

I decided to take this run a little easier. It was a combination of me not wanting to repeat the 5k of death and the tuna casserole telling me to slow down. I had barely gone 50 meters before I realized that I was under dressed. It was cold (26 F to be exact) and here I am running in shorts and a mesh long sleeve (shirt from the Ogden marathon). My fingers were before I finished the first mile.

I was running a route 1.5 miles up Timpview and back, but as I was going up something seemed really strange. It was pitch black and I could barely see. There were no streetlights on my sidewalk and though the moon was full, it was just above the mountains, not providing much light. Also, there were hardly any cars on the streets... like one every 2 or 3 minutes. Then I realized I hadn't seen any other runners. In fact, I went the whole run without seeing a single other runner. For those of you who have lived in Provo, you'd understand how strange that is. It's like driving through Arizona without seeing a cactus.

I made it to the half way point without any issues. On the way back I got spooked cause while I ran past a driveway somebody I didn't see slammed the door of the car that was parked there. Soon after, I slipped on some black ice but recovered. Then I heard music in the field next to me and saw somebody out there alone in the black night with a shovel and a head lamp digging a hole in the frozen earth while listening to a radio. Wha? Tell me that's not odd.

The only pedestrian I saw was a man walking slowly with long blonde hair who I passed around mile 2. After breathing in his cigarette smoke for the next minute or two my shirt snagged on the branch of this shrub. It was just like the cartoons where the kids are running through the haunted forest and the spooky trees grab at their shirts while they run away.

So I figure the street was haunted (and thus the lack of runners). I'll save this route for a day run next time. I'd rather not take my chances.

Day 2: Owned by the false 5k of death

Date: January 18th, 2011
Distance: 3.1 miles (maybe)
Weather: Warmer and melty


I did an evening 5k tonight, running the basic route of the Rex Lee Run around BYU campus. I left in a hurry at 8:39 pm, vowing that I would be home by 9. I've done a 5k that fast before so I was pretty confident I could make it, but I would have to boogie.


It was a hard run. The weather was great, but I was really cranking it the whole time, in order to make it back in by my goal. I wasn't sure of the exact Rex Lee route and the traffic lights were causing delaying me.

I hadn't run a 5k for a long time, and while I was in decent shape, my pace was inconsistent. The whole last stretch was one big uphill that was about a mile long. I was dying but I told myself that if I made it in time then the BYU Basketball team would beat TCU tonight (ha ha... as I waited at the last traffic light, a kid told me that we were up by 20, so that was encouraging).


To my dismay I busted through the door and the clock said:

9:04

I was way disappointed. I think the traffic lights killed my chance, but most likely I'm slower than I thought. But I guess that's why I'm training.

I hadn't been that exhausted in a long time. I felt like death on a stick.

Day 1: The Kickoff

Date: January 15th 2011
Distance: 7 miles
Weather: Foggy with some snow

This post marks a kickoff to my 2011 marathon training. It is a day of firsts:

First post in this countdown
First run of 2011
First run in the new Nike's (thanks Mom!)
First solitary long run
First attempt to wake up at 5am on Saturday (actual waking time: 6:22)

So I have some bugs to work out, but I have a feeling its going to be a good year. I hashed out a sweet 16 week training schedule, and I'm ready to put on the miles

Today's run was more of a 7 mile obstacle course. It consisted of navigating the crusty frozen snow, slush, and ice chunks that have accumulated on the sidewalk oven the last 8 weeks of winter. Apparently they closed down segments of the Provo river trail and left runners to fend for themselves. I could mostly follow the trails of footprints but it was still rather treacherous. I was at my best... deftly avoiding the black ice, gracefully hurdling the frozen snowplow vomit that piled up on the curbs... and then at mile 4 I "put my foot in it." I stepped on a frozen puddle in a ditch, breaking through the ice and soaking my foot and sock. My new shoes! Sorry Mom but it had to happen sometime.