I love to run

I went for a run today. I ran yesterday, I also ran Monday. On Monday I did 8 400 meter repeats. That was a lot of fun. I think though that because of that workout, I hurt my back a little bit. It has been sore for the last couple of days. It's my lower back. That muscle that is kind of in your butt, but it is high enough to be a back muscle.
Yesterday, it was pouring down rain all day. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to run in the rain, so when I got home, I went out and ran. When I got back, my kids wanted to play in the rain too, it was too cold though and they only lasted a couple of minutes.
Today's run felt good exept for the part about my back hurting and my shin starting to hurt. I thought my back would be alright, because after my warm up I felt pretty good. I did a tempo run today: three miles at about a seven minute per mile pace. It felt pretty good. Towards the end of my run though, my right shin started to hurt a little bit. I wasn't until I got home and started to stretch that my back really started to hurt. Well, not bad enough to make me stop running, just bad enough to make me take a 15 minute ice bath. Hopefully that will help my legs and back feel better.

This week my brother has been starting to train with me for the Salt Lake City Marathon. We'll see how it goes. His shins are already bothering him. And with my back and shin we'll see how far we can go without killing ourselves. We won't go that far, but I hope we don't get injured any more, especially my brother. I'm looking forward to an easy run tomorrow and a ten miler on Saturday.

Video

Here is a video I put together. The first part is my three year old daughter Ella recording us make dinner. It is a bit shaky but cute. The second half is of us at the beach. It was about 35 degrees that day as you can see by our winter coats. It's just a week later now and it has been in the 70s the last couple of days. Enjoy!

More about running

Well, I really enjoyed the holidays. and here is one of the reasons. My parents came to visit me. The one in the middle is my dad, on the right is his sister (my aunt) and on the left is her son (my cousin). This was at my house on New Years Eve. My house was a madhouse with all the crazy kids running around and being loud. We let our kids stay up way too late, but I guess it was alright, all the other kids were there till past midnight.

I haven't written very much lately because my parents were in town and we were doing a lot of entertaining. My dad road his bike next to me a couple of times while I ran. That was pretty fun. It was really cold though.

I like to run. Have I told you that before? Well, believe it or not, I really like to run. I could just run all day. Today though, I decided to break up the monotony of running with a bike ride. It's been months since I'd ridden my bike. I went for a 20 mile ride up the road and back.
Sorry I didn't mention much about the half marathon I did last week. I really felt pretty good. I was only a little sore over the next couple of days, but not enough to keep me from running. I don't have pictures of the race, but I do have a link that you can go to and view some small images of me. They are not the greatest photos. There are nine photos all of the last 100-200 yard stretch. I look pretty worn out, but what do you expect at the end of a 13 mile race. go here to view them. There is another run I've been thinking about doing. It is a 15 kilometer race, for you who don't know, that is about 9.3 miles. This race is coming up on the first Saturday in February. These are all training runs for a Marathon. I would really like to run the Salt Lake City Marathon on April 19th. But I might not be there in April, so I might have to find a marathon here in the south to run. I was looking around and found the Country Music Marathon in Nashville Tennessee that sounds like it would be fun to run, that would make for a long weekend though, so we'll see what the family thinks. We'll also just have to wait and see if we are moved at that point or not.

I'd like to tell you about one of my Christmas presents. My wife gets worried when I go running along the roads, especially longer runs. So, she bought me a RoadID. I got one that I can tie into my shoelaces. I don't have it yet, but it should be coming in the next couple of days. It is a security thing that lets emergency personnel know who to contact, who I am, and anything else they may need to know to save my life. Just in case I were incapacitated while running for any reason. If anyone ever worries about you, you should get one too.

Well, that is about all I have for now. I am going to go on a long run tomorrow. I was thinking 12 miles, but I might only go 10, we'll see how I am feeling out there on the road.

Pensacola Beach Run

Yesterday I ran a half marathon. It felt great. I came in 2nd in my age group out of 16, 23rd overall out of 264 and my time was 1:36:29. I don't have much else to say.

Video of Ella

here is a video clip of Ella talking about Christmas on our way home from our friends house Christmas Eve. Enjoy!

Merry Chirstmas!!!

Today was Christmas. We all had a lot of fun today. I really love my kids. I was really excited to see how excited they got over all their presents. This was Ella's first reaction. "Look," she exclaims:




This is Alex when he saw what Ella had. He didn't care too much for his huge Tonka Truck. He finally warmed up to it a little when I put him in it and pushed him around the room. He kept wanting to sit back in it. He's cute.
The kids also really liked this little band set we got for them. It got a bit noisy in the house, but they enjoyed it. Alex really liked the harmonica.
Ella's favorite was her LeapPad learning book.


I was not left out either. I have no photos of me though. The best things I got were running things. Amanda got me a subscription to Runners World Magazine. She also got me an MP3 player that is small and clips nicely to my shorts. I also got earphones that attach to my ears. They are very comfortable. I was also given some time when the kids were napping to go for a run and test everything out. I also got a Metallica CD. That was some good music to listen to. It motivated me or something because I ran really fast for seven miles. You should click on the workout on the side of the page here to see more about my run. My last mile was about six minutes. That felt really good. I need to go out and run an all out mile just to see how fast I could do it. That was the fastest mile I have ran in probably several years. Even in the couple of speed workouts working up for the marathon I tried for a six minute mile, but I only got about 6:20 or so. I was really feeling great today. I've been feeling great for a while now. Last Saturday I went for a 14 mile run and even pushed Alex in the stroller. Well, I need to get off to bed. I'm getting up early tomorrow to go pick up my parents from the airport. They will be here for 10 days and we will really enjoy getting to spend time with them.

It's Christmas Time

Merry Christmas to all. I really don't have much to write about except that I took my wife out to a movie and dinner tonight, but you would probably be pretty bored with (as my dad would say) "mushy" stuff like that.
Lets see what kind of photos I can find from my computer.
This first one is from the photo shoot three years ago when Ella was a baby. I guess she wasn't too happy.

It is fun to browse old photos.
This next one will probably get me in trouble. We were just having some fun with the camera and goofing around. I got a great shot of Amanda puckering up for a big smooch (I know I promised no mushy stuff, but this is cute). I love my wife.
Well, I hope you enjoy your holidays. We are going to decorate ginger bread houses tomorrow with some friends. If I'm feeling up to it I also plan on going for a long run tomorrow. I think 12 or 15 miles.

Running News and More

I just went for a five mile run. I ran two miles to a great hill. Then I did ten 10 second sprints up the hill. I feel great. I plan on taking a day off from running tomorrow and going on a bike ride. I think I'll do 25 miles, but we'll see how much time I have. So, there is a half marathon not too far from here that I think I might do. It is on January 5th. I might not be able to though, we'll have to wait and see.

I thought you might like to see a photo. I was finished telling you about my running for today, so I went looking for a photo. This is what i came up with. I took this photo in Monterey California back in 2003. I really liked running out there. There is a nice path that goes all the way around the peninsula there. There were a lot of great hill runs too. We would often go running on the beaches. It was always great running on the beaches out there. Maybe I could go running on the beaches here. Only, I don't feel like driving that far just to go running. I like to step outside and start running straight from my doorstep. This next picture was taken in May of 2003. I love my beautiful Amanda.
We were at my friend's wedding in Utah.

Well, enough reminiscing. Maybe I'll make it a habit to find old photos to show you. I only have photos back to April of 2003 though. Well, I have some older ones, but they are not digital. I would have to scan them in and that would be too much work. I hope you enjoy the photos.

Fun at the Beach

So, Yesterday we decided to play at the beach. Most of my life I've lived in places that has seasons. I love the snow. But is sure is fun to brag about how I can go play at the beach while at the same time the rest of my family is living in freezing rain and snow. We decided to take pictures for our Christmas cards while we were out there to show everyone what they are missing.



Here is a video clip of the photo shoot.
Well, enjoy the snow and ice for me. I wish I could be there where it is nice and refreshing. I think it is annoying to have to turn on the air conditioner in December.

Recovery

Well folks, it has been four days since the marathon and I feel great. So great in fact that I went for a short easy run today. I was going to do two or three depending on how I felt, I felt great, so I did three. I feel a little tired now. I think it is a good thing I didn't do more than three miles. I tried my new socks. At the marathon, I got Baton Rouge Beach Marathon socks. They are really bright. I tried them today and I really like them. They are comfortable. I'll run two or three again tomorrow, or maybe I'll go for a bike ride. I haven't ridden my bike for a while. I need to get my legs moving, and a bike ride would give me a chance to do that while giving my legs a bit more of a rest from the pounding that running gives them. Well I'm still motivated to do some ultra marathons. It is 19 weeks away from the SLC Marathon. Maybe after that I can do a fifty miler. Or maybe I'll be working too hard or studying too hard at that point. I don't know where my future will take me. I keep thinking that I should go to school, but I can't decided on what I would want to study. Well, I guess that is enough rambling.