This week in running March 29 - April 4

Day	Mileage / Workout	Comments
Sunday	7	Hilly run in West Wendover on the bike trail
Monday	7	Easy with pick-up at the end
Tuesday	5	Easy -- core work + drills at the end
Wednesday	6	8 reps of 1/4 mile repeats - no watch / no Garmin. Felt good. Ran at 5K pace.
Thursday	5	Easy with lots of core work + stretching
Friday	off	About 7 miles of walking
Saturday	13.25	Lagoon Half Marathon in Farmington
Total miles for the week: 43.25- YTD: 670.75

Week's Summary

From the looks of it, I hit my goal of maintaining about 50% of my max mileage for this second week of taper.  I really wanted to log some miles, especially a few more in the double digits, but with a full marathon about a week away, I am right on schedule in terms of volume.

Next week should be minimal running, probably 10 - 15 miles prior to the race.  Sort of shame that I can't run more since the weather has been stunning.

I felt pretty good on Wednesday and managed to get an informal speedwork session in.  I was too lazy to get my Garmin out, but I kind of know what a quarter mile feels like and ran about 8 of them.  Each of them was followed by a brief walk to facilitate recovery.

I also rededicated myself to stretching and doing core work after my runs.  The weather has been so pleasant that I just find a spot to workout in the park and do planks and various other stretching exercises.  The planks get easier every day (amazing how fast the core muscles respond to training) and I can enjoy the view:

Update on my Cat Friend

Faithful readers may recall the cat I befriended on my run. Well he went missing about a month ago and the fliers suddenly appeared indicating he was missing. I haven't seen him in a while and I assumed he had been either taken in by someone or found.

Well, I am running along about a mile from where I usually saw him and there he was.  He greeted me with his typical hello and was hoping I had brought it food.  I think he remembered me.

Either way, I tried to gather him up and take him back to his owner (I knew where they lived -- more than a mile away) but he wasn't having any part of that despite our weak friendship.

So I made a mental note of where he was and ran back to the owner's house.  Luckily they were home and were ecstatic that I found Snowball.  They knew exactly where I had last seen him by my description and I am happy to report I haven't seen him for 48 hours now.  I can only hope the owners found him.

Upcoming Races

I will likely be registering for the Sand Hollow Marathon this week.  Yeah, I know I am waiting to the last minute to do it, but I am willing to pay a few extra bucks and not be out all my cash should I get sick / injured and have to miss it altogether, which has happened to me before.  

I wasn't going to register for a race this weekend, but I felt like I had to (sign of race addiction?).  There were no less than 3 half marathons this weekend -- all within driving distance.  One was at the Salt Aire Pavillion and I find that course to be entirely monotonous.  I did sign up for a super expensive ($85) half marathon that lets you run through an amusement park (I think I get a pass to it, so score there).  I was late in signing up, so I don't get a finisher's medal either.  The other half was a massive downhill course and I didn't want to injure myself doing that one.

Here's my schedule though:

4/4: Lagoon Half Marathon in Farmington, Utah
4/11: Sand Hollow Marathon - Hurricane Utah (very Probable) -- Booked the Hotel!!
4/18: May go for broke and do the SLC marathon or West Mountain Marathon
4/25: Winter Striders 30K - Huntsville Utah (18.6 miles) (probable)
5/16: Ogden Marathon - Ogden Utah (registered).
6/13: Helena Governor's Cup Marathon (in planning stages)
7/11: Dam 15 Miler in Jordanelle / Park City Utah (definite)
9/5: Jackson Hole Wyoming Marathon (very very probable - I booked the hotel already)
11/15: Las Vegas Marathon (definite)