Alone, but not at all lonely.

I got out for an easy 9 miles this morning. I was feeling a bit of soreness in my left knee for the first two or three miles but it worked itself. I’ll pay attention to it but I am not too concerned about it. Yesterdays 11 miles on the hard, uneven snowpack could have a lot to do with it.

Things felt good today. I averaged about 7:10’s (7:04, 7:11, 7:12, 7:07, 7:16, 7:09, 7:08, 7:13, 7:02). I love getting out into Bicentennial Park this time of year. Everything is so quiet and peaceful. I saw more moose than people on my run today (5-1), aside from those in the cars. I saw more moose than I saw cars for that matter (5-3). And I started my run at my house. That’s what runs should be like. Unfortunately, because of the bears, I do not enjoy these same trails during the summer. I see absolutely no reason to take a chance with them, especially after what happened in Bicentennial last summer. That’s ok. There are plenty of other trails for the summer. I’m just going to enjoy these right now while nobody is on them.

Feeling Good and Weighing Some Options

What a relief. I am a few weeks into my new “program” and I have to say that each day seems to be getting easier than the previous. Runs are easier, swims are easier, and getting out the door to do any sort of workout is easier.

I got a long run in today. Well, my longest in several months. I hit just over 11 miles. I ran it at about 7:45 pace on average. There are several sections with some pretty good uphill (Birch Rd.) which slowed my pace to around 9:15 but I felt solid throughout, even on the steeper up sections.

I got the trainer out yesterday and rode my bike for the first time since last summer. I popped the first season of House in the DVD player and rode for two episodes…about 80 minutes. It was a nice easy 30 miles (+/-).

Yesterday evening I made my way back up to the Service pool and swam 2500 yards. My first 5 or 6 swims I was just logging yards. No sort of structured sets. Last night I put together a set of 4 x 300 yards (easy) with 3 x 50 yards (hard) between each. It felt good to push myself a bit and do some short yardage speed work.

I’m considering entering the Rondy Track Meet at the Dome at the end of February but am not sure what kind of results to expect at that time. It could be good to go have fun and use the races as speed workouts and not worry too much about times and places. I am entered in a swim meet that last weekend of the month so perhaps some rest might be nice but since I am not far from the “important” races a couple of hard days could be good too. We’ll see.

Taking it easy today...

Just a short entry today.

I managed another 2500 yards in the pool last night. My second swim was not any easier than my first. My arms are tired!

I had a nice short run today of about 4 miles. It was nice to get out in some "warmer" weather.

I feel a little tired today, in addition to the arm issue. It’s nothing serious or really unexpected since I am just getting back into training. I’ll just get some extra rest tonight and try to get another 7 or 8 miles tomorrow.

My breath fogged up the glass, so I drew a new face and I laughed.

It has been a little while since I last wrote. Since January 25 I have been on four runs, all of them around 6-7 miles. It feels good to be active again after taking almost two months completely off. I also hopped in the pool last night and logged 2500 painful yards. Swimming used to come so naturally to me but since I have not been in the pool since the Eagle River Triathlon (last May) I really felt every stroke. Conveniently the Service High pool is only a 5 minute drive from my house so I’ll be up there again tonight.

Porter and I had a very nice 8 ½ mile run today. I’m not going to lie, it is firkin cold outside. I came inside looking like old man winter. Frozen mustache and beard, eye lids nearly frozen shut and all of the other things we all love about running outside in Alaska in January…or February. But it was nice to get out as things are strting to click again with my training. I'm starting to get to the point where it feels "good" to run again.

Over the past two weeks I have had a whirlwind of emotion in my life. Dealing with the death of a close friend is enough to put even the strongest soul out of commission for a while. Reflecting on Laird’s life and anticipating the future without such a great human being has been very difficult. But with the difficulties there have also been laughs and joyful memories.

I had Dylan over for dinner last week and he and I were able to share a lot of our thoughts regarding his brother, more than I had been able to through writing or talking with others. Dylan and I are similar in the fact that we often have a hard time really opening up and letting people know how we feel. As our friendship goes back to when we were 10 years old we have had plenty of time to “vent” to each other over the years. I value Dylan as, among many other things, a great friend who has always been there to listen and I hope that I have always been and always will be the same for him as well as the entire Prosser family. Thanks Dylan.

During these two weeks I have also looked seriously at my athletic career, both the past and what lies ahead. Goal setting was something that I always thought of as an essential part of success. I realize now that I have been without athletic goals for the past 7 or 8 years. Sure, I’ll decide to enter a race and tell myself “it would be nice to finish in blank minutes,” but as far as serious goals I can hardly remember the last time I sat down and wrote some down.

So I did that. I have a rough draft. It’s not quite at the “tape to my bathroom mirror” point, but it is a start. I’m going to do some more thinking, evaluating and planning and hammer this thing out. More to come in my next post.

He touched so many...

No run Friday, and a relatively short posting.
However, some thoughts:
I had the difficult job over the past few days of passing the news of Lairds passing on to friends of the Prosser family.
I contacted several friends, mutual to Dylan and me, who knew the Prosser family well. Kent Wallace, Kristin Johnson, August Teague and Zach Hill.
I spoke with Kent first as his relationship with Dylan, and the Prosser family went back 16 or 18 years. Before I was able to finish my tearful dissertation Kent said “I’m there,” and asked “when will the memorial be held?” I talked to Kent, who lives in Reno, Nevada, on Tuesday. He arrived in Anchorage on Friday.
I contacted the Anchorage Daily News on Wednesday. I spoke in length with Beth Bragg and Eric Hill. Beth wrote plenty of articles and Eric took plenty of pictures of Laird during his time at Dimond High. Beth had heard the news though Eric had not. What blew me away was that Eric, someone who knew Laird only through a camera lens was so shaken. Not only did Eric remember the name, he was able to recite Lairds results and records as if they were his own. Our conversation was held several times while Eric regained composer.
More and more every day I am shocked by the number of people in our communities (Anchorage, running and otherwise) that have expressed concern and grief.
As I have written before, Laird touched so many people in such a positive way. His grace, style, smile and laugh influenced so many people and will never be forgotten.

A run with good company

I had another good run Thursday. Again, it was about 7 miles. Nice and easy 8 - 8:10 pace. I got off the road a bit and ran on the trails in Bicentennial Park. Porter loved it. She saw four moose. One was pretty close that she gave a “woof” at to show who was boss.

(Porter at 4 months. She's 1 year now and still just as ferocious.)

I picked Dylan up from the airport Thursday night and we had a nice talk with Maylen up at the Prosser house. Tried to keep the conversation light but found that rather difficult with all that is going on. I imagine that will continue for some time.

We had all missed the live news but heard that there was a clip about Laird on the KTUU news Thursday evening. We watched it on the Internet and were generally happy though, as Maylen said, there was a lot more to Laird than just the runner. How true that is.

My run felt good. I am very happy to be active again, though this is only day two on a long road. There were some slight aches and pains that I have become accustomed to and some sore joints from trying to keep my balance on the ice but nothing too uncomfortable. Porter truly enjoys glancing back at me as if to say “come on dad, let’s get moving.” Take it easy pup. We’re just getting going.

Rebuilding, healing and a new start

I got really ambitious today and decided to go for a run. This was my first run since November 16th and, well, I decided not to overdue it. I took my dog, Porter, and we ran a nice easy 7 miles at about 8 minute pace. Of course the battery in my watch died after about 5 minutes and my iPod ran out of juice after about 20 minutes.
I want to thank everyone who has commented on my blog, sent an e-mail with their thoughts or called with their condolences regarding Laird. He clearly left a lasting impression on everyone. During my run today I thought about something that a good friend wrote in an e-mail. “I’ll always remember that goofy, infectious smile and laugh.” That was Laird. It brought a smile to my face throughout my run today and will likely do so on many runs to come.
Last year I decided that I was going to run my first marathon. Because I am often somewhat over confidant I decided that in my first marathon I was going to run fast enough to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Well, that didn’t happen. I needed to run 3:10 and I ran 3:17 at the inaugural San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon. At 21 miles I was on pace to run about 2:55. I kind of fell apart over the last 5 miles.
So I took some time off. Initially my plan was to take about three weeks off to recover. Three weeks somehow turned into two months. Not that I did absolutely nothing (I skied two times) but I did my share of sitting on the couch, taking naps and eating junk.
I learned a lot after completing my first marathon. I know that I am very capable of not only running 7 minutes faster to qualify for Boston but finishing under 3 hours is a realistic goal for this summer. Most importantly I learned a few things, related to my training as well as race day, to help me accomplish my goal.
Wish me luck.
Oh, and don't forget to watch the season premier of Lost tonight!