Nothing else better to do than run.

I swam early this morning, about a mile I am guessing. It is easy to loose count when doing laps in a pool. My abs and pectorals are pretty sore so at least something was getting a work-out.

 Later in the afternoon once the Sunday stuff was taken care of I went out for a leisure stroll around the neighborhood. 3.11 miles in 27 minutes. Nothing spectacular but it felt good and I am 3.11 miles closer to my weekly goal. 

I met my friend Rob this morning at 5:00 am and we put in about 7 miles and then I put in an additional mile getting back to my home. It was a nice morning for a change, in the upper 30's which is a switch for the last couple of weeks. I have noticed that the inversion is starting to settle in so I am getting anxious for a snow storm to settle in.

After the run I did the ab work-out that is posted in the latest issue of Runner's World magazine. I really enjoyed the metronome exercise it reminded me of my childhood rolling around on the floor goofing off.

The article mentions that core strength will build speed so I am committing myself, here on this blog in front of all you rabid runners that I will build my core strength come hell or high water. If I fail you can tease me mercilessly, but if I succeed I might be able to keep up with Peggy and the front of the pack.

 Time for dinner! 

Great run this morning. It was not too cold and I even took off my jacket for this morning's workout. It was great to see so many friends out and running. It was great to see Debbie back at the running group and get caught up on the holidays. Looking forward to getting back into core training and it seems that several others are interested in doing the same. It will be great to have people checking up on how the workouts are going.

Some are going to Painter's this weekend, Alan and I are opting for Butterfield Canyon to run on some ice and snow. Crazy yes, fun… of course!

Quick run at lunch time. Nice temperature and clear. Was mearly mauled by a dog before the owner got to me. One bite and a couple of licks. It mostly just jumped up on me and put it's paws on my chest and licked me. You never know what the dogs temper will be like. . Man, I hate other people's dogs when they are not on leashed except for the ones that run with our group. Those dogs are cool.

Did not make it to running group this morning, Dangit! I got up and immediately my head felt like it was going to blow-off my shoulders. After taking some decongestant medicine and letting it work for a couple of hours I felt well enough to do an afternoon run. It was a very pleasant six miles. People are starting to come out again and enjoy the trails which is nice to see. The air is very nice and clean in the canyon.

 I am absolutely looking forward to running Butterfield Canyon this weekend. Hopefully it is not too slushy or icy, it will be a surprise whatever it is like. I am bringing my new trail running shoes with me and hopefully it will make it a bit easier to navigate.

Hopefully the rest of the group will have a fantastic showing at Painter's this weekend. It will be fun to get all caught up after the weekend. 

Woke up early this morning and man it was cold! My next door neighbor had just finished his run and boy was I jealous that I couldn't just walk into a warm house, my work had not been completed. One positive note, with it being so dark I couldn't see the inversion or the air that I was breathing. This time of year wreaks havoc on my lungs.

 This afternoon I did make it up City Creek Canyon for a quick run. I really pushed as hard as I could. I averaged a nine minute mile up the canyon which I feel pretty good about. It seems to be building strength and the downhill is helping to improve my feet turnover. Oh, another plus was that the air is clear up the canyon. These afternoon runs have been great! 

I am going to sound like a broken record but man was it cold this morning! I asked if anyone wanted to run Butterfield Canyon this morning and I had two other takers. So, this morning about 7:00am, Rachel and Alan braved the snow packed road with me. It was challenging running on the snow, it was very uneven all kinds of different textures.

It was a challenging run but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. We made it 4 miles up the canyon before it was so darn steep that it was faster to walk than to try to keep up anything that resembled running or jogging for that matter. We caught our breath and congratulated each other and then headed down the canyon.

I expect that it was in the low 20's inside the canyon. At the bottom of the trail it was 25 degrees. Hopefully there will be more takers for the run when everyone gets back in town. 

 Third week in a row that I have met my mileage goal of 50 miles. I need to take next week easy and get a few recovery days so I might not hit 50 next week but I should be pretty close to meeting 200 miles for the month if I keep things up.