dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

Total time of 53:55 for approximately 7 miles.

I felt tired and slow for the first half mile or so, but then sped up substantially while running downhill after turning onto Willow Creek Rd, and felt pretty good for the rest of the run.

7 miles in 57:22.

Not a fun run today.  I was feeling tired to begin with, so I started off a little slower than usual.  I started to speed up some after I got past the massive hill that finishes shortly before the 2 mile mark of the run, but then I began to feel a very urgent need to void.  Not.  Good.  At.  All.  I slowed down just past the three mile mark to try and avoid soiling myself and I started looking for a bathroom, but I could not find anything.

The need to void became more urgent.  I slowed even more, and started to hobble.  I almost felt like I was limping at times.  I considered walking until I found a bathroom, but I did not want to prolong the misery.  I set a goal to make it to the high school where I hoped to find a porta potty by the baseball fields.

Just before the 4 mile mark (still .25-.5 mile from the baseball fields) I decided that I could not wait any longer and I climbed up some rocks to try and hide behind some trees.  I was still visible from the street, but I was at least out of direct view from drivers, unless they were looking directly towards me.  I rushed to empty my bowels before I was spotted, but in my rush neglected to get situated correctly, and I urinated all over my shorts.  Oh well, at least it wasn't poop.

I climb back down the rocks with random plant parts stuck all over my leg hair and shoes and began running again.  I found out that there were no visible bathrooms at the baseball fields.  I stopped to extract the plant parts from my leg hair (not painful, but annoying).

I continued running very slowly as by now any motivation on my part to run faster than 8:00 pace was completely gone.  I stopped again just past 5 miles when I discovered the worlds stinkiest porta potty by the hospital (I could smell it from the street 20 ft away) and I stopped to void once more.

After sitting in the porta potty for what seemed like an eternity (it smelled, but at least it had tp) I started running once more.  I get past the 6 mile mark, and I begin having stomach cramping once more as my body was adjusting to the lack of material inside it.

I slowly trudge home, and walk my stinky soiled self into the house.  I extracate myself from my urine soaked clothes and I take a shower.  I decide to write in excessive detail about my annoying bowels on the blog because... why not?  Life is more tolerable when one is willing to poke fun at oneself, so I might as well embarass myself publicly (plus I bet that most people on the blog have had/will have a similar experience at some point).

7 miles in 56:00.

Thankfully there was no repeat of the issues I had yesterday.  I felt sluggish again, and I kept expecting to naturally speed up without increasing the effort as normally happens after a half mile or mile of running, but for some reason it didn't happen until I had already been out running for 5 miles.  I did feel good those last two miles, so it was nice to finish the run on a good note.

7 miles in 54:17.

Last run in Prescott before we leave early tomorrow morning to drive to Utah.

No run today.  We got up before 5:00 AM to drive to Utah.  We arrived in the late afternoon, and then picked up my three kids from daycare.  By the time we got back to where we were staying and had gotten situated with our things unpacked, kids fed, scriptures read, etc, it was already past 9:00 PM, and time to get the kids in bed.  I didn't have time to run until it was closer to 10:00 PM, so I decided to skip the run for today.  I had thought that this might end up happening, so I was kind of planning on not running today anyhow.

Total time of 56:17 for approximately 7 miles.

In Alpine.  I ran towards the mountain, and ended up running up the mountain as I entered the national forest and hit a hiking trail about 0.6 miles before it was time for me to turn around.  Going up the mountain it was all I could do to just keep running, with estimates from my watch indicating that I was running anywhere from 11:00-15:00 mile pace while going up the mountain.  I ended up gaining between 1200-1300 ft elevation during the run, with almost all of that coming during the first half of the run.

Running down the mountain was tricky due to the steep grades and rocks, but I ended up staying on my feet.  I picked up the pace a little bit after I got back on the roads and had run another half mile or so down the mountain, as a loose dog was wandering around and I did not want it to get too close to me.  My legs felt kind of thrashed from the steepness of the grade I was running downhill, so I will probably be a little sore tomorrow.