Running Report for 6/21/2014

Overall this was a solid week of training.  I put in close to 46 miles for the week, not bad considering I am still technically recovering from the Casper Marathon that I did 3 weeks ago.

Here is my daily running report:

Day	Mileage / Workout	Comments
Sunday 6/15	7 miles	Easy workout - just enjoying the morning
Monday 6/16	4 miles	Medium Pace with strides at the end
Tuesday 6/17	9 miles	Very solid effort for most of the run. Felt good to turn it up a notch
Wednesday 6/19	4 miles	Easy with strides and drills at the end
Thursday 6/20	14 miles	Went out like gangbusters for 7.5 miles (I believe in about 65 minutes). Was way too hot and I paid the price for it. The last 7 miles back home was not fun
Friday 6/21	Off	Did some core work, foam rolling and stretching
Saturday 6/22	7.75 miles	7 quarter mile repeats in 1:45 (average). Was going for an eighth but my legs weren't having it.
Total miles for the week: 45.75

I still find myself getting fatigued easily. Again, I don't think I am recovering as fast as I used to.

Also, keep in mind that I generally walk at lunch time -- to the tune of 10 more miles per week.

This week will likely be an easy / down week. I hit it hard last week too.

On a side note, after returning back from Casper a few weeks ago I weighed myself.  I was 177 pounds.  Many people would probably kill to weigh 177 pounds, but that is the heaviest I've ever been -- in my life.  The buffets and the free candy drawer at work has clearly taken a toll on my weight and body composition.  The past few weeks I've made a conscious effort to eat a bit better, work harder and try to at least restrain myself at the buffets.  I am proud to report I am starting to settle back into my normal weight of 172-ish.  I'd love to weigh in at the low 160's, which was where I was at during my racing prime.
 
Finally, here is a photo I took while running the other night. I love the sunsets here. Just think -- Nevada is another 100 miles over the distant mountains...

Race Updates

The mother in law is recovering well so all things point to allow me to get on with life soon.

I am hoping to make it out to Lamoille Canyon / Elko to run their half marathon.  I wish I had known that they had a full marathon ahead of time, I might've considered doing it.  Either way, I have to be there by 7pm on Friday night, which means I have to drop Shari and her mom off at the airport early on Friday and not miss a beat in making the 3 hour trip to Elko (I'd leave Salt Lake at about 3).  If my mother in law's health isn't good enough to warrant a flight (which may be likely) my plans could change.  I suppose I'll know more by Monday night.  If I do go out to Elko, I'll spend the weekend out there and see the sights.

Again, that can all change.  If that fails and I can do it, I'll  jump into another half marathon in Provo on Friday night (I believe a late night run).  I am itching to toe the line at a race and the night runs I thoroughly enjoy.

I remember I used to do 30+ races a year, now I eek out about 10 and I think that is why I've gotten a bit slower over the years: I am just not racing enough.  Also, I've been doing a lot more longer distance stuff where endurance trumps speed.  It is getting harder and harder for me to muster the energy for another 5K...

Either way, run well!

Nevada Weekend Plans Dashed

• Packed luggage - check
• Wendover Hotel Reservation - check
• Elko Hotel Reservation - check
• Buffet / Meal Plans / Free Meal set - check
• Beach Boys Concert Tickets - check
• Car gassed up and ready to go - check
• PTO Requested for Monday - check
• Mother in law in from out of town to hit up the casinos - check

Sunday evening and the luggage remains....

Sadly, the big Nevada weekend that I was so looking forward to didn't happen.

The three of us: Shari, her mom and me, were planning on leaving Saturday morning and heading out to Wendover for some gambling and to see the sold out Beach Boys concert.  Following that, on Sunday we'd continue our way westward and and check out the casinos out there.  I had been to Elko before, but Shari and her mom hadn't so this was going to be all new territory for them.  Also I should point out that my mother in law is almost as big of a casino / buffet nut as I am...

On Saturday morning, however, about 3:30 AM my mother in law became ill.  I thought it was an allergic reaction to the antibiotics she was taking, but it turns out it was more serious and an ambulance was called. I figured at best they would have her settled down and we'd get a late start to Wendover, but at least we'd get there.

Unfortunately it turned into a serious infection and next thing you know you are dealing with extremely low blood pressure, heart issues, and everything else that happens when you are sick.  It appears my 81-year-old mother in law will be in the hospital for a good 4 - 5 days -- at best.  If we are lucky we might be able to hit up Nevada next weekend, but if I was betting on it, I'd bet it probably won't happen.  There aren't really any state-of-the-art facilities out there and nearest big name hospital is 100 miles away.  (We were thankful this didn't happen when we were in Wendover).

Just to give some props, the fine folks at Wendover Fun granted us a refund despite cancelling within about 4 hours of official check-in time -- including the concert tickets (I think I paid around $130 for the entire package).  I imagine they could easy resell them and the room would probably go for a lot more money than what I paid for it but none the less extremely cool of them.

It was just a let down to everyone involved.  We all were really excited about going (and they had a good high comp weekend) and it was all everyone could talk about.  I jokingly had said I had called the resorts to tell them we were coming and to be sure they had plenty of shrimp and cakes.

My mother in law appears to be pulling through but you are never in the clear until you are able to walk out those hospital doors.

If I am lucky I may be able to hit up Elko at the end of June for their half marathon.  Lamoille Canyon should be erupting in flowers at that time, so it should be a good photo opportunity.  We'll see what the next few weeks brings.

Celebrating two years in Utah

Introduction 

Well it has been two years that I've lived in Utah.  Wow, time flies when you are having fun.

Like many others before me, I left Illinois for a lot of reasons. Mostly because I needed a change.  I remember back in 2012 asking myself what the hell was I doing...  I wasn't happy, and I felt like I wasn't going anywhere.  Call it a midlife crisis if you want, but it was certainly time to take stock of where I was personally and professionally.

I spent a good deal of time listening to a person who's wisdom I respect on the subject of life, Tom Leykis, and one of his many themes is taking life by the "gonads" and running with it.

Realizing I wasn't happy, I decided to make some drastic changes.

I sold my house, found another job in Utah, gave away (or sold) a LOT of my possessions, threw whatever fit in my car (I have a picture of it somewhere filled to the brim) and hit the road.  I went from a 3000 square foot house to an apartment -- and I loved it.  I suddenly had a new lease on life and it felt like I had an oppressive cloud lifted off of me.

Here are some of the aspects of my life that changed:

Running / Fitness

Rockford Literacy Half Marathon (I think) in 2010

Pretty sure this is me in 2010 running the Rockford half marathon

Probably one of the most important things in my life is running and the ability to run.  I will forever miss running in Bull Valley.  I knew every quarter mile marker and the natural beauty of this village still stands out for me in my memory.  The thought of running down snowy streets at the crack of dawn in the dead of winter, running through the humidity on a summer night (to the point where I had to wring out my shorts), to the awesome inspiring fall foliage - it was always a pleasure to run through.  If someone said I had one run left to do in my life and I could pick the spot, this would be it.

I also had a super group of running comrades.  Walking into the health club was like walking into your own living room.  I'd always be recognized and greeted by someone in the running community.  It was just nice to be a part of a group like that.

Utah has its advantages of running. I absolutely love the bike trail that I live by.  I no longer have to dodge cars (there were WAY too many close calls in Bull Valley - including getting hit once) and it is nice to have drinking fountains / bathrooms (no more hitting the woods or having to stash bottles).

The race scene here is awesome too: fun runs, adventure runs, night runs, canyon runs, etc.  I knew when I was moving to the right place when I saw a billboard on the side of the freeway for a half marathon.  I have had no shortage of truly incredible and memorable races in my 2 years here.  Granted I did that also in Illinois, but since being here I feel like I am a little bit more adventurous and have been willing to try new venues.

Running is definitely a LOT tougher here.  In Illinois, I lived at about 750 feet elevation.  Here, I live and train at 4300 to 4500.  Some people struggle with it more than others, but I definitely noticed it upon arriving here.  Perhaps one day when I return to race again in Illinois that will pay dividends, but for now, it is like dragging an anchor.

Work / Job Potentials

Sadly, the job I came out here didn't work out for me.  It wasn't a good match.  I am happy to report, though, that I have found a good match for my skillset.  There are very few days that go by that I don't feel like I earned my keep and get a deep sense of satisfaction of knowing "I did good".  If you are ever lucky to get this feeling more often than not at your place of employment, consider it a blessing.

In Illinois, I felt like I had run my course at my employer.  I am not going to use this as a forum to besmirch or quibble about.  It was just simply to time to move on.

Sadly, in Illinois, I had very little in terms of job prospects.  Where I lived, I was a good 45 - 60 minutes away from the closest tech areas -- and in horrible traffic.  Illinois is terrible as far as commuting, despite a nice rail system.  Once in a blue moon, a recruiter would call me or get in touch with me wanting to know if I was interested in a job in downtown Chicago.  After thinking about a 90 minute commute (at minimum, each way) for all of about 5 seconds, I'd politely turn them down.  No amount of money was worth losing 3+ hours of my day to mind-numbing traffic.

In Salt Lake, there is rarely a day that goes by where I don't receive a job recruiter shooting me an e-mail via LinkedIn.  It is just incredible and most commutes are extremely reasonable.

Taxes

One of the biggest gripes about Illinois and perhaps the last straw for me leaving, was that income tax increase.  When Governor Pat Quinn's first action in office was to increase income tax from 3% to 5%, I knew it was over.  That, and I saw my house's property tax go up 25% (despite having a so-called Republican County leadership) in 10 years to almost $9000.  And in case you missed it, the state of Illinois is in horrible financial shape and I suspect it is going to get worse before it gets better.

Utah's income tax is the same as Illinois, sadly.  But my property tax is a third of what I'd pay in Illinois.  Also there are NO tollways here.

Traffic

Can I just complain about Illinois traffic?  I don't know how many times I sat around on a weekend too lazy to leave the house because of traffic.  If I left on a Saturday to get to the other side of town it would take me 15 minutes.  Now I can be parked at the airport in the same amount of time -- literally.  People complain about the traffic here, but by Illinois standards it is a speedway.

Life

In general life is a lot better.  I live in an area where I can go hiking on world-class trails in 15 minutes.  If I skied (and I am hoping to), I can be at the top of the mountains in 30 minutes.  

There are no shortage of marathons and new states to explore and my favorite state, Nevada, is just 100 miles away. 

I've seen and done things in the past 2 years that I would never have gotten the opportunity to do had I not taken the chance.

Granted, not everything has been better.  I took some lumps along the way, but you know what?  That's the price I paid to experience life.  And when you look at where I was two years ago: dreading going to work, bored on the weekends, and not living life to the max and where I am at today; the price becomes worth it.  Sadly when you are going through the motions in life, it's time to make a change.  After all you only live once.

Hopefully my experience and me writing this will cause you to reflect a bit:

1. Where are you going? 
2. What do you want to do? 
3. And, if you were to die tomorrow, would you think you had lived life to the fullest or would you have any regrets?
4. Do you try to live each day like you were on vacation or can't you tell the difference between one day and the next?

Big Cottonwood Canyon - Mount Wolverine / Lake Mary

On Saturday I decided to get my marathon weary legs a workout up in the mountains.  I really want to say that the cross training that hiking has provided really helped me last year in Vegas.  It seemed  to really "battle harden" my legs and make them fatigue resistance.

With the canyons finally clearing up in terms of snow I decided to head to the very top.  The ski resorts that were once filled with skiers are now filled with melting snow, rivlets of running water, and some muddy pastures.

I suppose I could've found a less messy hike if I had stayed a little lower, but I have been itching to "get high" for a while.  With a starting elevation of 8500 I managed to make it to 9500 before being snow bound.  Even getting to Lake Mary was a battle over mounds of snow.

It was pleasantly warm though and I managed all this in shorts, a t-shirt and some old shoes.  I definitely wanted to go past Lake Mary, but I saw several intrepid hikers try to go past it, only to be met with thigh deep snow or dangerous angles.

I managed to find a rock and work on my tan and enjoy the sounds of the gentle breeze through the fragrant pines.  Just what I needed -- a challenging hike but not crazy in terms of distance.

Enjoy the photos:

Silver Lake Below

Overlooking Big Cottonwood

Still semi frozen Lake Mary

Still semi frozen Lake Mary

Still semi frozen Lake Mary

Still semi frozen Lake Mary

Still semi frozen Lake Mary

Still semi frozen Lake Mary

Overlooking Big Cottonwood

Weekend Recap for the trip to Casper Wyoming

Saturday

I managed to get out of the house and hit the road by 8AM.  It was smooth sailing and there was hardly any traffic on the road.  Just a perfect day for driving to be honest and east of Park City was absolutely gorgeous.  I always forget how idyllic Echo Reservoir can be (mental note: must get in a run out there).

Thanks to drinking an iced tea for breakfast I had to make a pit stop in Lyman Wyoming.  They have a fairly nice rest stop and you can see the snow capped mountains in the background in the photo below.  They do also have a monument to the Mormon Settlers here, but I didn't see it (I learned about it after I had left).

After the stop I made it to Rawlins where I gassed up at the local Conoco and decided to try my luck at Cabby's Restaurant.  These types of restaurants can be hit or miss.  I want to say this was largely a check swing.  It was passable but Diners, Drive-ins and Dives won't be making an appearance here.  I had a fish sandwich with fries -- probably more grease than I wanted, but it sounded good and it certainly was a filling meal:

My Lunch

Cabby's Restaurant

View of the I-80 from Rawlins

After lunch I hit up the Rawlins State Penitentiary Tour, which you could read about it here.

After the tour I meant to hit up a reservoir.  There are two or three of them on the way up to Casper, but at that point it was windy, cold and I was behind schedule.  Also there is no cell phone connection between Rawlins and Casper and it just made me nervous.

I did capture a few shots of Alcova Reservoir.  It looked absolutely beautiful and it appears they are building high-end houses in the area.  I am not sure who or why anyone would live out there since it would be a good 45 minutes to get groceries but I could certainly appreciate the views the houses were soon to get:

Alcova Reservoir

Alcova Reservoir

Alcova Reservoir  

After arriving in Casper I hit up the expo to collect my t-shirt / bib for the marathon.  My first impression of Casper was that it was spread out.  It isn't a terribly wide town, it is just long (from east to west).  There's also a TON of stop lights, most of them not synchronized.  Seems like everywhere I looked there was a stop light and the speed limits seemed incredibly slow.  They had a warning sign when you roll into town that says "30mph unless otherwise posted".  So it was incredible difficult to know how fast you were supposed to go. 

I stayed at the Motel 6 in Casper. It was clean, comfortable and cheap -- about $90 for the two nights.  Unfortunately, the good stops there.  It was incredibly noisy.   From jerks who wanted to blast heavy metal at midnight to the idiots from Arizona that gunned their diesel truck and left it idling in the parking lot for an hour -- I just found it hard to sleep.  I don't think I'll ever stay in a motel with outdoor facing doors again unless I can't help it.  I think the two nights I was in Casper, I slept a total of 8 hours.

On Saturday night I did take a brief tour around the downtown area.  It was pretty tame -- I figured I'd see a saloon or two, but it was pretty much a ghost town.  They have a pair of nostalgic feeling theaters though and it was clean and safe.  I did snap a few pictures of the downtown area:

Old Fox Theater

Old Rialto Theater in downtown Casper

Old Rialto Theater in downtown Casper

Old building in downtown Casper

Old building in downtown Casper

Sunday

You can read about my marathon experience, which largely consumed the day.  I also visited Fort Casper Museum that afternoon, despite my left hip feeling like someone was digging a knife in it (I get very sore hips after long runs).

For dinner, I had done my research and knew that a Golden Corral was in town.  I also lucked out and nabbed a $2 off coupon.  Bingo!  Unfortunately, I can't chew well after a marathon.  I don't know if it is because of the pounding or the Gatorade that wears down the enamel on my teeth, but I am in pain from it.  I suppose sipping on sports drinks for 4 hours does that to people.  

Monday

It was another frustrating night at the motel and believe it or not, I just wanted to get home.  I was exhausted and as much as I wanted to visit Ayer's Natural Bridge just outside of Douglas, Wyoming, I just couldn't see myself driving nearly 90 minutes more than I had to.  I also had a number of places I wanted to stop at on the way home.

I did spot a deer along the side of the 220E about half way between Rawlins and Casper and slammed on my breaks for a quick picture.  There is just an abundance of wildlife out there.

In short, I would definitely visit Casper and do their marathon again.  I don't think I'd make a special trip out there other than to run their race.  There is still more I'd love to see out there and hopefully one day I'll get the chance to go out there again.  

This trip was certainly one I will remember for a long time and am glad to share it with you.

Rawlins State Penitentiary Museum Tour

Perhaps the part of my Wyoming Trip I am most excited about is my visit to the Rawlins State Penitentiary.  A friend of mine at work told me I should check it out.  I figured it would probably be extremely hokey: after all there were billboards for it on the freeway and Rawlins is a pretty small map dot with about 9000 people located roughly half way through the state on I-80.

Once I drove up to the mammoth building I was in for an awesome experience.

Rawlins State Penitentiary Museum Front Entrance

Some of the crude weapons used in the prison

I arrived at about 12:45, about 15 minutes past the 12:30 tour.  I decided to kill 15 minutes in the free museum looking at police stuff and reading about some of the vicious criminals that called Rawlins home. I learned that the jail was built around 1901 and was closed sometime during the 80's, being cited as unfit to house humanity.

After a tour I was about ready to agree with that sentiment.

Either way, I still had about 30 minutes to kill and you can't go onto the prison grounds without paying the $8 for the tour.  So I decided to walk around the neighborhood and managed to get some nice aerial shots of the grounds.  By the time I made it back, it was just me and another guy who took the tour.

Our tour guide was Trevor, an exuberant young man who gave us the royal treatment.  I was totally expecting a 20 - 30 minute tour.  Instead, I got to see just about every nook and cranny of the place and learned about the lore and what conditions were like.

The pole above was not only a support beam, but also a place to restrain prisoners and beat them with rubber clubs.  The next picture shows a window that the guards could open that would allow the prisoners to hear the wails of the tortured prisoner.

 The pictures above cell block A where the prisoners were held.  Two men to a cell and the cells weren't big.  Also cell block A didn't have heat, so you can imagine what it must've been like during those cold Wyoming winters.

The Indian artwork above was done by a prisoner and is the original.  It is one of the better pieces of artwork.  Other pictures / language on the upper floors were unsuitable for viewing.

The prison library

The shower area -- no hot water

Prisoner's liked their rooms dark

Solitary Confinement Area

Newer Section of the Pen

Trevor took us through the other areas including the library, the shower room where many a fight broke out.  I kept trying to imagine what it would've been like to have a shower without hot water and without any heat in the building during the cold winters.  Apparently many a fight broke out in the prison area and there were plenty of samples of weapons used in the museum.

Original food trays

The next area was the jail's kitchen.  Those trays above were the original ones used.  Also, one of the prisoners was very good at doing artwork.  One of the paintings was very cool in the fact that the big horn sheep's eyes followed you where ever you were in the room.  Also of note the movie Prison (1988) was filmed here and there was fake blood still on the kitchen's ceiling.

If you look closely at the above lock, you will see the repair welding done.  This was done after a prisoner used a string from his cot and coated it with crusty toothpaste.  The hardened cast made a crude saw that he eventually used to saw himself free.  Unbelievable!  He used his freedom to steal from the commissary until he was discovered.

 We took a tour of the outside grounds.  Apparently there was a baseball field here and that the Rawlins inmates were a good team -- until the catcher was executed.  In later years they also had a basketball team and had local community plays.  The hole in the wall on the last picture was made by the Prison movie and was never repaired.

How the gallows were sprung

Death row room

Hook on ceiling shows where prisoners were hung from

Dossiers of killed prisoners

Gas Chamber

Cold hard slab for death row inmates

Perhaps one of the more sobering parts of the trip was learning about how inmates were put to death.  At first hanging was used and we got a demonstration on how it worked and a story about a very light weight prisoner who took a very long time to kill (he only weighed approximately 110 pounds).  You can see the ring where the prisoner was tied to.

In addition, in later years, the prisoners eventually were put to death using lethal gas.  There are pictures of all the inmates who were killed as well.

Finally, here are some pictures I took while I was waiting for the tour to begin.  I wound up climbing a hill and managed to get a bird's eye view of the jail.

This was the highlight of my trip in terms of sight seeing.  If they had charged me double, I still would've happily received my money's worth.  If you are passing through Rawlins this trip is DEFINITELY worth it.  There are so many incredible stories of what went on there that it could probably fill a book.  Thanks again to Trevor for an awesome tour.