Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

A whopping 6.4 miles in 75 minutes. The 30 minutes I spent on the flat were pretty mellow, but I also threw in 45 minutes on the 15 percent grade. I wasn't feeling too hot (although I felt much better by the end), so I kept the pace at a mellow 15:00. Still, I think I logged some decent vertical.

More treadmill miles on limited time at the gym tonight. I ran a five mile progression run (of sorts) in 32:58 and rounded the workout off with a very easy mile.

42:20

Catherine and I went in for another ultrasound this morning. It was at the lst one, four weeks ago, that we discovered Catherine's heart problem that led to our stay in the hospital. Which means it's been three weeks since Catherine has been on the calcium channel blocker. At the last visit, Baby's abdominal growth was in about the 40th percentile. Now it's in the 20th. The doctor today told us that there's still no reason to think the medicine is responsible, although it may be, and that we don't need to worry about Baby's size until she drops below the 10th percentile. But we're worried--that's a big drop in a short time. We're going in to see a perinatal specialist on Tuesday, but until then ... who knows?

WTF, BYU?

(The F is for flip.)

1:04:00

A bit of half a mile on, half a mile off at the gym.

34:50

If there's one thing I've been missing from my routine, it's trail running. Because the weather was so nice today, I decided to head up to Grove Creek this evening for a short out and back along the BST. When I got there, I changed my mind and decided to do an out and back up the canyon to the bench. It was a beautiful run--the weather was nice, the sun was setting, and the trail was in great shape, with only a few muddy spots and some packed snow and ice higher up. I made it up (1500 feet and just over 2 miles) in a not-awful 24:32, then spent a few minutes on the bench to catch my breath and enjoy the view before bombing back down in 14:05. You know that feeling when you use muscles you haven't used in a long time? I had a bit of that going on--I haven't run down steep hills in ages, and my quads were trashed. I guess that means I'll need to make a point of running the canyon more frequently, now that Old Man Winter is retreating. I'm looking forward to it. 

38:37 

I would have loved to join Jun and co. for their long run on Fubfalo Island this morning, but unfortunately I didn't have time. Which probably turned out to be a good thing, because if I had gone I don't think it would have been anything short of a disaster, considering how my much shorter run on the BST went this morning. 

When I finally started for real (after two false starts--I returned to the car once to leave my hat and another time to when I realized I had forgotten my handheld), I felt off almost immediately. In fact, about two miles out, as I was climbing away from Battle Creek, I stopped and strongly considered turning around. It's always a bad sign when you start to bonk after fifteen minutes. (Note to self: eat more.) I ate a gel and decided to go at least as far as Dry Creek, because I'd get at least six miles if I went that far before turning around, and I felt better by the time I got there. Not good, but better enough that I decided to keep going.

My plan was to run the BST into Orem, continue up the Little Baldy trail past the Altar, and then follow trail 51 into either Dry Creek or Battle Creek. Unfortunately, the Little Baldy trail was still covered in snow and I lost it somewhere below the Altar and had to turn around and settle for an out and back. It was a slow slog back to the car at Grove Creek, but I was steady, and according to the Garmin, I picked up somewhere from 2200 to 2500 feet of vertical. All in all it was a satisfying run, although I hope next week's long run goes much better.   

Sadly enough, I think this may have been my longest run of the year.  

2:13:36