Week 23: Sep 27-Oct 1

This week was a little more intense than previous weeks. It had its ups and downs. The training is going well, but towards the end of the week some issues started popping up. Hopefully I can deal with them quickly and appropriately, but I'll get to that.

Monday
AM - 35 minutes easy barefoot on the track ~4.5 miles
PM - 60 minutes easy on the Fort-to-Fort Trail ~8 miles

Tuesday
PM - We had a good workout on the wet grass at McLeod Park. We had our usual 20 minute warmup and dynamic stretching and started our usual counter-clockwise loop around the soccer and softball fields. We went for 4x6min with the first two more at temp and the last two more at 10k pace. The rest was 2 mins between each. At the end we tacked on 2x3min of about 8k pace (maybe a tad faster). Towards the end my left hip-flexor was getting really tired from running counter-clockwise the whole time. We got in an easy 15 min cooldown to round it out. It was probably around 10-11 miles.

Wednesday
PM - semi-long run. I went out for 90 minutes at a casual pace. Ended up running with Mark a little along the way out and with Mihai for about 20 mins on the way back in. It turned out to be about 84 minutes to be more precise with about 11.5 miles logged.

Thursday
AM - easy 35 minutes barefoot on the track, ~4 miles
PM - easy 60 minutes Fort-to-Fort trail, ~8 miles

Friday
PM - We did some tempo work. My legs going in were fairly heavy. I had woken up this morning with a tendon on the bottom of my left foot inflamed. It loosened up shortly after getting up, but I could still feel it a little throughout the day, not really even a minor nuisance. But to play it safe I decided not to run in my Vibrams today and threw on an old pair of trainers. We went out to a loop that is about a mile long (1680 meters or so) and put in two sets of 20 minutes at marathon pace the first 10 and tempo pace the second 10. My legs were very heavy, but all in all I felt pretty good. Note, we ran this counter-clockwise, which we seem to do with everything. This particular trail has some fairly quick left turns in certain spots (especially when you're trying to ran at a decently fast pace), which may help explain the issues with my left leg. The rest in between the two was 5 minutes at a little slower than marathon pace (heart rate around 150-155). The total mileage today was probably upwards of 12 miles.

Saturday
I woke up with my foot hurting just a little more than Friday, but again it loosened up pretty quick. I was feeling it while running a little more though (yesterday I didn't feel it at all while running). Add to that my left glute was tight (I tried leg swings as well as lunges to loosen up and activate it) and that together with my foot problem my left IT band started bothering me about 30 minutes into the run. We turned around at about 37 minutes and I started going back. It was slowly, ever so slowly, getting tighter and more bothersome to the point I started slowing down and letting the guys go ahead. At about 60 minutes I decided it would be wise to walk the rest of the way back and not risk injury over an extra 20 minutes on a run. Today I'm feeling like that was a good choice as my IT band isn't an issue. My foot is still feeling inflamed and I'm going in to see the therapist tomorrow morning. I may need to take a few days and cross-train. We'll see. I probably put in about 8 miles of running before I started walking (and about 1.5 miles of walking!).

Total mileage: ~66 miles

Running Toward God,
Jason

Week 22: Sep 19-25

Monday:
AM - 30 minutes easy on the Track about 3.5 miles
PM - 50 minutes easy out and back in Fort Langley about 6.5 miles

Tuesday:
We did a nice workout as a team with 3 mins on and 1 min rest. I got in about 9 intervals. With 20 mins warmup and 15 mins cooldown and some strides on the track afterward I'd say it was about 10 miles, maybe a little more.

Wednesday:
My legs were a bit tired today, but I needed to get in a decent mid-long run. So I did an out and back on the Fort-to-Fort trail putting in about 90 minutes and somewhere close to 12 miles.

Thursday:
We did a hill workout today. Not that I'd really consider them all that much of a hill having run in Auburn with Jake a lot, but doing even smaller hills with my Vibrams (both of which tend to tire out calves) was good. After 20 minutes warmup we did 20 minutes of race-pace up the hill through the top of the hill to the downside and jogged easily down to the bottom of the other side and turn around and repeat. After that we did 5x15sec sprints up the hill. A nice easy 15 minutes afterwards rounded out my run. I probably put in about 8 miles today.

Friday:
Recovery prep for tomorrow's race called for only 20 minutes easy and some strides. Only got in about 3 miles.

Saturday:
Whistler Spirit Run. We went to this one last year. They changed the course a little bit so it would actually be 8k instead of the "8k" that was actually 7.5k or so last year. It was up at Whistler, a ski resort and olympic competition area for the winter olympics a few years ago. Its a bit at altitude, probably around 3500 to 4000 feet and the course is rather rugged. There isn't much of it that is actually flat, either going up or down a little everywhere (not steep mind you, just not really flat). With the rather large rocks for "gravel" along the whole trail it was more of a mountain race than a cross country meet. Mark had us use the race as a workout and basically went a little faster than tempo. I cruised along the first 6k and then picked it up a little. I caught up to Blair soon after that and we cruised along together until 1k to go where my body fritzed out and I had to slow down. With all things considered I'd say my time of 29:13 was pretty good. Unfortunately for Mark and 2 other guys they ran the wrong way on the last loop and did an extra 500-700 meters. It was strange to finish before a couple people that had been ahead of me.

With an easy 20 minute warmup and 15 minute cooldown rounding out the race we probably put in about 9 or 10 miles to round out the week.


Total mileage: ~52 miles

Running Toward God,
Jason

Week 21: Sep 12-17

Monday:
PM - A good team workout at McLeod park. We did some tempo intervals of 6 mins with 2 mins rest x 4. The first two were supposed to be around tempo pace and the last two were a bit faster. I ran with Blair most of the time, but about the third interval in halfway through my left hip-flexor tightened up and I held back just a little bit. It was still a very good workout. 20 min warm-up, 15 min cooldown. Probably about 7 or 8 miles.

Tuesday:
AM - easy 30 minutes about 4 miles
PM - easy 40 minutes about 5 miles

Wednesday:
PM - We did another tempo-type workout. We were all a bit tired and sore from Monday, but a good amount. We went to the island just over the bridge from Fort Langley and did about a 20 minute warm-up (about 4k). We had about a mile loop that we went around and after doing drills and warm-up did a tempo workout. We maintained pace for 20 minutes. So was about halfway around the fourth lap when 20 minutes came around. Blair and I ran together mostly though towards the end I was a little ahead of him since his legs just weren't responding. We went past the first mile at 5:55, second at about 5:48, and the last at about 5:40. Not too fast, but having tired legs and all wasn't too bad either. Then we did 5x30 sec hard with around 45-60 second jog back with a slight incline on the harder portion. Then a 3k cool down to get back to the car. About 8 or 9 miles today.

Thursday:
AM - 30 minutes easy around 3.5 miles
PM - 40 minutes easy around 5 miles

Friday:
We left for Seattle to stay the night for the race on Saturday. We did an easy 15 minutes with dynamic stretching and exercises just before going to bed.

Saturday:
Sundodger invitational.
The results for the Men's Open are still not posted because of some "flaw". It is unspecific as to the nature of that flaw and unclear when the results will actually be posted. I am somewhat aware of my time, but not any of my teammates' times. Pretty much everyone on the team had a good race day. The ladies did well, especially Alison and Fiona. For a full report you can read it here. I was the second man to finish for our team on this 8k course. Blair got off to a good start and we got separated by a wall of people so I couldn't pace off of him. He slowly pulled away. I was content to run my own race however. After the first mile (which I came by in 4:55) I realized I was going a little too fast. Even though the first mile was mostly downhill I didn't feel like that was a pace I could maintain. I felt great but knew I would regret it so I intentionally slowed down before it took its toll. I still felt some of the effects the next couple of miles but it wasn't so bad since I slowed down before my body forced me to slow down. The course is about a mile loop (slightly more than a mile the last 2 loops) that you go around 4 times. It was a big pack that only barely started to thin out around the third mile. I came by mile 2 at 10:08. Then mile 3 was at 15:32 or 33. My fourth mile was my slowest as I came by at 21:00. But since I ran smarter I was feeling good at the four mile mark and although the next mile was almost all uphill I started to pick off people. With about half a mile to go I ran past Mark's chosen location and he simply pointed ahead to the front of a long chain that one might call a pack and said, "Get up to the head of that pack". The head of the pack was probably about 50-100 meters ahead of me, but I felt good enough to go after it. There was another guy that made the same move as me. Coming around the last sharp turn into the 300 meter stretch to the finish I was only about 20 meters behind the front of that pack. Most people started kicking once they got around that tree, but I just maintained until I got about to the grass where I could see the finish line. Mind you even though I wasn't "kicking" I was still maintaining a pace faster than some of their kicks. The last 200 meters I did kick and managed to outkick everyone that was within reach. I got past the last of them about 10 meters to the finish line and achieved my goal of getting to the head of the pack. The guy that had tried to outkick me later puked, but luckily he waited until we got out of the chute. Ultimately I think that last mile I was somewhere close to 5 minutes, but I don't know exactly what it was. My best estimate is that my final time is 26:05. One of the guys I had outkicked I later heard him say his time was 26:08 and since it felt tougher to get past this particular individual than some of the others since he had a decent kick I figure I didn't get more than 3 seconds ahead of him, unless he ran out of juice while he was kicking, who knows. I doubt I got under 26:00 for sure, but its well within reach this season. Since I got so close to that goal in this first race I think I'll set my sights on sub 25:00 by the end of the season. I have absolutely no idea how far ahead of me Blair was. If I had to guess I would say he wasn't any more than 30 seconds ahead, but at least 10 seconds ahead. So I figure his time must have been somewhere between 25:30 and 25:50, not bad. That will be my other goal, catch him. I won't let him get away next time. But overall not a bad day! With warm-up, race, and cool down, I'd say I got in about 9 miles today.

Total weekly mileage: ~45 miles

I probably should be getting in a little more mileage, something to work on.

Running Toward God,
Jason

Week 20: Sep 5-10

Okay, so I missed another week last week. Sorry about that. This week was pretty down of a week in terms of mileage because of travel and racing.

Monday:

AM- Went up to Auburn, CA to race the 49er Canyon Classic. Had a good time with friends Jake and Sara and ran pretty well. For a more in-depth look at the race, see Jake's blog. I ran the 10 miler in 64 minutes and 19 seconds. Considering it has a 1000 ft climb in there I'd consider that pretty good. Maybe if I had some decent hills to climb in my training I could have given Jake a slightly better race and maybe we could have pushed up to try for the course record.

Tuesday:

AM- easy 30 minutes recovery, about 4 miles.

Wednesday:

No run, left home at 4AM to make the drive back up to Canada.

Thursday:

AM - 30 minutes easy on the track, a little over 4 miles. It was tough even at an easy pace. Not recovered from 15 hour drive and seizure night before.

Friday:

Team Tempo Run:

20 minute warmup, dynamic stretching
15 minutes at 175 bpm heart rate, one minute rest, 10 minutes at 175 bpm.
Probably got in about 6 or 7 miles

Saturday:

AM - long run with team 100 minutes or so. Probably about 12 miles.

Total weekly mileage: Between 36 and 40 miles

Week 18: August 22-27

Its been a few weeks since I've logged my training, so hopefully I get back in the habit right now. This week was pretty good and I feel fairly confident going into this Cross Country season.

Monday:
We did a little bit of tempo work at the park. Mark made me wear a heart rate monitor, which is a contraption I don't particularly like. I was trying to keep my heart rate at about 175, and was going pretty slow while doing it. It felt too easy. I later realized it was probably because I took off during the long run on Saturday the last 15 minutes or so. My body probably hadn't recovered. So I kind of ruined that workout. But we did 4x6min with 2 minutes rest after a 20 minute warmup. We then did a cool down and helped Chris finish his workout as he had gotten there a little late. Overall I put in probably about 7 or 8 miles.

Tuesday:
75 minute run at Aldergrove park. It was nice and pleasant and probably put in around 9.5-10 miles.

Wednesday:
AM- Went out to Fort Langley and ran Fort to Fort trail out 17 minutes and back. Came out to just under 5 miles, so I'll estimate 4 1/2. Had some teriyaki chicken and rice at the sushi shop in town right afterwards.

PM- Ran around the track barefoot for 45 minutes. The first three miles on the track and the last 3.5 miles on the infield.

Thursday:
Good workout day with the team. We did 20 minutes warmup and then some drills. We took out our HRMs and went for a 22 minute tempo run. Kept my heart rate between 170 and 175 the whole time. We went out for 10 minutes and came back, the goal being to be at the place we started at when we hit 20 minutes. I hit the line at 20:03. Afterwards was 6 little hill repeats and a cool down. It was probably around 8 miles.

Friday:
Same as Wednesday, except the evening run I took even easier and ran some of it with Cheddy, so only put in 5.5 miles but the first 14 laps was on the track and the last 8 were on the infield.

Saturday:
Early morning run Fort to Fort. 86 minutes total with about 12 miles run.

Total mileage: ~58 miles

Week 13: July 18-23

This week was a little rough for me. I didn't feel all that great for most of it. Mostly lack of energy, likely due to diet, and motivation issues. There were also some other things that got in the way this week overall to make this a bit of a downer week. So my mileage was a little lower than I would like and my performance not so great, but I got through it.

Monday:
AM - 5 miles easy
PM - As I went to the garage to get the bike and ride to the workout with Mark and the others I discovered a flat tire. So I had to run the 3.5 miles from TWU to McLeod park. Chris saw me running and picked me up about a mile from the park, so that was good. We did a fartlek as usual, what kind escapes me at this particular moment. It was something like 2 minutes on, 1 minute off where the on was just faster than tempo and the off was just slower than tempo. I kept up for the first 3 or 4 then started to lag because my legs were heavy, I was tired, and I'd already run a few miles before we even warmed up with our normal 20 minutes warmup. To be honest though, I don't know if I'd have done much better if I felt all that great, so maybe I'm just complaining. All in all I put in about 9 miles for this half of the day.

Tuesday:
AM - 5 miles easy
I was tired and didn't go for another run today.

Wednesday:
PM - A good 10 miles at a decent pace around the Houston Trail.

Thursday:
AM - 5 miles easy
PM - 5 miles easy

Friday:
AM - 5 miles with some of it at tempo pace
PM - again I didn't feel too good to I skipped this run.

Saturday:
PM - I went for a nice good 15 mile run and felt much better today than the rest of the week.

So I put in about 54 miles this week, so I guess it was more of a down week after more mileage last week. Hopefully this next week will be a little better and the week after that I can really put in some good miles.

Running Toward God,
Jason

Week 12: July 10-16

This week I had a really hard time holding back my mileage. I feel like I can be doing a whole lot more, but coach wants me to not push it it too high yet. But its coming down to I'm getting tired of 5 mile runs which are the easy runs I do. I want to add more mileage as 5 miles seems more like a warmup now than anything else. I also have been having a hard time not increasing my long runs. He doesn't want me going too much over 90 minutes at this point, so that kind of limits my mileage too. Even with all this, I'm going over 60 miles this week, and I couldn't really help it. Here is what I did.

Monday:
I was still a bit tired from all the hiking and camping, especially the leg-pounding I did running down the mountains Saturday and Sunday as well as the run I did on Friday evening. So I just turned today into a recovery run and chose not to run the fartlek with the rest of the guys and shift that to tuesday.

AM - 5 miles easy
PM - 5 miles easy

Tuesday:
AM - 5 miles easy
PM - I went out to the Fort-to-Fort trail and to the Houston Trail at Derby reach. At Derby reach I started the fartlek that the others did yesterday which was a Mona fartlek. For the uninitiated, a Mona fartlek is intervals of 2x90sec, 4x60sec, 4x30sec, 4x15sec, with equal rest in between. The rest isn't really rest, but just a different tempo. I went at about 10k-15k tempo pace during the on portion and around 30k-marathon tempo pace for the off portion. The total mileage came out to about 7.5 miles

Wednesday:
PM - I went out to the same trail at Derby reach as yesterday and went around it twice adding 2.5 miles so my mileage for the day was 10 miles.

Thursday:
AM - 5 miles easy
PM - 5 miles easy

Friday:
AM - It was going to be 5 miles easy, but turned into more of a tempo run. After putting my Vibrams back on after the first mile I was feeling really good and just started picking up the pace. I don't know at what pace I was holding the other 3 miles, but the last mile was in around 5:30-5:40. It felt great and I hopped on my bike and finished riding to CanIL.
PM - 5 miles easy

Saturday:
I'll probably get in trouble for this, but today I did a bike ride and a run. At CanIL over the summers we do a "Tour de CanIL" and get together for a bike ride. Today's ride was a bit wet, but we had like 10 or 12 people show up so it was nice. The ride was about 37k total, which was a relaxed pace for me until I took off with 12k to go. Add that to my normal 24k commute from home to school, school to Fort langley for a run, and back, and I'll have put in about 62k of biking today. I then took a nap after eating some oatmeal at the brunch. I got up a little after 3, got something to drink and chatted with a friend for a few minutes and headed out to Fort Langley for my run. It was a nice easy pace and I put in around 13 miles, 13.5 max in 98 minutes. So all in all I adding biking and running I put in about 83k of distance covered today which is almost 52 miles. Not a bad day.


Overall this week felt great and I'm ready to up the mileage some more. We'll see though. Total running mileage was about 65 miles this week and I'll be getting a bit of riding in commuting each day, which I started on Thursday. I've also been adding some habits to my routine like dousing my groin area with water before and during runs to help prevent abrasions and I even taped my nipples down with duct tape today to prevent nipple burn from riding so long and running with a wet shirt on. It worked great. So I'm learning a few new tricks. Now its time to finish my ride home as I am at school and filthy and smelly and take a shower, get cleaned up, and eat some dinner.

Running Toward God,
Jason

Week 11: July 4 - 9

Monday:
AM - 5 miles easy
PM - I ran with Mark and the other guys starting at Fort Langley out to Derby Reach to a service road with a slight gradual incline for a few strides up the hill for 10x20 second bursts for form. We came back and I'd guess that makes it about a 6 mile run.

Tuesday:
AM - 5 miles easy
PM - 5 miles easy

Wednesday:
AM - Wake up super early for an EEG appointment in Vancouver after 4 hours of sleep. Ick. Glad I took a nap when I got home.
PM - 8 miles on the Fort-to-Fort trail at faster than recovery pace, but still relaxed.

Thursday:
AM - 5 miles easy
PM - 5 miles easy and tossed the frisbee around a bit but no game because everyone was probably trying to finish all their homework that was due on Friday before the campout.

Friday:
AM - 5 miles easy
PM - We arrived in Squamish and so my run was a little later than usual, around 6 PM, but it was nice. I started at camp with Tim as we jogged out looking for the correct trail up to Brohm Lake. After a few misses, we finally hit the right trail just as Kevin came bounding down the trail exclaiming "I found you guys!". So he joined us 10 minutes into the run as we started climbing up towards the lake which was a really steep climb. It was rather like K2 in grade and distance, but more awkward because of running up rocks and stairs which make it impossible to take shorter steps which are much more efficient at such grades. Anyhow, it took me about 10 minutes, maybe a little longer to get to the top. I ran up towards Highway 99 a little through some brush that was encroaching the trail. I wanted to run all the way around the lake, but after reaching 99 the rest of the trail was not cleared overgrown with all kinds of fallen brush and trees on it for farther than I could see. So after climbing through that for 10 meters I turned around and headed back the other way around the lake. After running for a while I realized it had been about 50 minutes and started heading back down. My total time of running was about 65 minutes until I got to the steeper and more awkward portions of the trail on the way down as I had to slow down to not bite the rocks(dust wasn't appropriate here). So if I had to estimate I'd say the run was probably a little over 6 miles with the crazy grade at first and the general slower pace I had to go through brush and running with Tim and Kevin the first few minutes.

Saturday:
All day - Hiking up to Lake Garibaldi for some polar bear swimming and some fun. I decided not to couple my day with hiking and running, but in the end ran most of the way back down the mountain for probably about 5k worth of downhill running some of which was on tightly packed snow. It was a great hike and a lot of fun.

Sunday:
Normally I take Sundays off, but I had the chance to climb the Chief today with Jordan and Daniel after we all left Paradise Valley campground in Squamish. So we hiked up Stawamus Chief and did everything the wrong way, or at least in an unusual way. We hiked up the trail towards the third peak first which most people come down rather than go up. Almost up to the third peak we cut across the bush straight up to the second peak instead. We hung out and then headed up to the third peak for some Bible reading and deep conversation. Afterwards we headed back to the second peak and down the up trail. On the way down we saw to our right a lady with her dog and asked if the way up to the first peak was where she was. She said, "sort of". I headed up and saw a rebar ladder heading up the cliff and started climbing to Jordan's dismay. We finally got up to the first peak the shortcut way and eventually headed down towards the car. On the way down we were walking and another group of 3 guys starting running past us which Daniel apparently couldn't accept so we ran after them and ran most of the rest of the way down, which was probably a few kilometers. We went over to the bottom of Shannon falls for a great view and headed home. My legs got enough of a beating this weekend that we stopped for some meat afterwards and then headed back to Langley which I managed to stay awake all the way home. It was an amazing weekend and I thank God for the wonder of His creation.

So I ran probably somewhere around 55 miles this week without really doing any long run, which is a bummer, but Its okay, one week without a long run so far before the season won't kill me.

Running Toward God,
Jason

Week 10: June 27 - July 2

This week was fun and fairly relaxed. At this point I'm just maintaining mileage per my coach's wishes.

Monday:
I got together with Mark and some teammates out at McLeod park. We went for a warmup to check out possible loops for future practices and I figure it was around 15-20 warmup. We then got in a few drills and got into the meat of the workout, 20 minutes of fartlek. We did 1-2-3-2-1-1-2-1 minute spurts of tempo pace with a 1 minute hard recovery in between each interval. We were tired afterwards, but not excessively so. Then 10 minutes of jogging, more drills, and 5 minutes more cooldown to finish up our workout. I would figure it was somewhere around 8 miles.

Tuesday:
I was a little sore from Monday, but not much.
AM: 5 miles easy
PM: 5 miles easy

Wednesday:
AM: 5 miles at harder than easy, but still relaxed
PM: I went running with Kevin who is trying to start running a little more regularly (he bought himself a pair of Vibrams last year after meeting me at CanIL for the summer, he's trying to use those, but I'm trying to get him to ease into them). We got started later than I had wanted and when we got back the gates on the parking lot we parked in were closed! We searched around for some other way out, found an opening chained off and tried to get the chain off, but to no avail. In the meantime we were being eaten alive by mosquitoes and I currently have no less than 10-15 mosquito bites on my legs and other places. Eventually as a last resort we drove down to the lower gate that looked like it was raised higher than the others and my corolla managed to slip under the gate unscathed. Interesting little adventure. No more parking there in the evenings! So the run was very easy the first 1.5 miles with Kevin then I kicked it up several notches when he turned back to the car and was holding a fairly good tempo pace the rest of the way until I met back up with Kevin. 5 miles in total.

Thursday:
AM: I changed my routine a little and didn't run at 7AM. I slept in a little and went to work as a TA and went for my run afterwards instead. It was a simple 4 miles out and 4 miles back for a nice casual 8 mile run on the Fort-to-Fort trail.

PM: I've been organizing Ultimate Frisbee for everyone at CanIL on Thursdays and this week was a blast. Three guys from an Engineering conference that was on our campus joined us for some play and they were exceptional players. One in particular, Dominic, is a Master's steeplechaser and a good one. I was too busy covering him to do any kind of zone defense, he was too good. We played for about an hour and a half and as per usual I always play barefoot. We then met up with 2 of the guys and a few other CanILers for some volleyball on the sand a couple hours later and they even gave me one of their discs which was an UltraStar 175 gram disc with the ORU logo and a Bible verse on it. ORU is a school in Oklahoma that the team I met in Tanzania was from, so that was an interesting connection. I need to look into maybe getting some TWU or CanIL quality discs like these printed. Anyhow, my feet are always too tired after Ultimate to go for another run on Thursday evenings.

Friday:
Canada Day! This was a fun day.
AM: 5 miles easy
PM: 5 miles easy
This day was interspersed with running, moose massacreing (a moose pinata that met a gruesome yet noble end), some video games, more running, pinochle, Oh Heck!(card game), Fireworks, Hot Cocoa, and Worship time until the wee hours of the morning. This day honesty couldn't have been much better, for which I praise God Almighty.

Saturday:
I didn't think it was possible, but this day was even better than Friday. I got to sleep in again and go out for a run at 10AM. It was another out and back starting in Fort Langley, but today I decided I would go further along the trail than I'd ever gone (since I found out last week it kept going and didn't stop). As I started out I saw another runner on the trail a little ways ahead and although I was only just warming up a bit he was keeping a decent pace that I was only gradual gaining on him. He stopped and talked with a couple ladies he knew a few minutes later and I passed him assuming that'd be the last time I'd see him. A few miles down the trail I took one of the side trails and as I came out along the road at Edge Bar he was running along the road where I exited the trail. So being the competetive sort I took off assuming he'd probably be turning around anytime soon and I wouldn't see him again. I gradually grew into a more casual pace after I couldn't see him behind me anymore and explored the trail a bit. As the trail came out onto the roads at the end of that section I stopped to look at the sign and see the map. I was standing there about a minute as this guy comes running through again! I have to guess he took another trail than I did which was slightly shorter since I was most definitely going faster than he was at this point. So this man intrigued me so I sidled up alongside him and we started talking. His name was Andy and he was training for a marathon. He lives in Walnut Grove so he was towards the end of his run and heading back there which is why he wasn't going to be turning around like I had assumed because he already had turned around! Anyhow, I was getting close to my turnaround point of 50 minutes so we only had about 8 minutes to chat, but he was a very pleasant guy and I enjoyed his company. So we parted ways and I turned around at 50 minutes and probably only a couple of miles away from the Golden Ears Bridge (after I joined up with Andy we went up the road instead of following the trail further which heads to the Golden Ears Bridge). It was at least 7 miles out from Fort Langley, possibly up to about 7.5 miles out. I took to a few minutes of harder running interspersed with a more casual pace as I headed back, though the closer I got the longer my harder spurts would last. I got back about 2 minutes faster than I went out and was pleased with my 14-15 mile run. Now it was time to go to TWU and get ready for the hike later that afternoon.

PM: There was a huge group of us heading to Golden Ears to do the Lower Falls Trail. It is a casual hike with a possible more intense hike after the lower falls to another fall a little ways up the canyon. The trail is probably about 1.5-2 miles long and parts of it were a little muddy, which was to be expected and was rather pleasant to feel in between my toes in my Vibrams. After climbing stumps and scaring a few friends who weren't paying attention we got to the falls and a group of us took off for the other fall. We headed up the trail and as we went it was not what I recognized from the year before so I wanted to head back and find that trail, but some of the people with me urged us on wanting to see if this one might take us there too. It met up with a horse trail that we followed for a while until I knew we had gone too far. So we headed back and saw some trail markers down the mountainside in the brush toward where we could hear the falls. On the way down we saw Christina, Jesse, Liz, and maybe a couple others who had started a little later but had the same destination as us. A little confused I decided to bushwhack straight down and see what I could find. After 2 minutes of doing that I came to a cliff. So I climbed back up and followed another set of trail markers and intercepted the group coming down into the falls from a slightly different angle. Enjoying the magnificence of God's creation we sat around for a while. There is a cliff overhanging the fall on the other side of the river that I had wanted to find a way to last year but could not. This year I was more determined. I hiked up river a few minutes and finding no way to do it dry, walked as far as I could across until I had to swim. It was a little unnerving since the current was rather strong, but I made it to the eddy I was aiming for and climbed my way back to the fall. It was amazing fun and I had conquered the river this year. I spent maybe a minute there knowing we had to be heading back. So I took my time being careful not to slip on the slippery rocks back up to my crossing and swam back across which was much easier than the other direction. I picked up my pants that I had discarded (I was still wearing my running shorts underneath) and headed back as quickly as I could. I needed to get going because the car I had ridden in noone but me had headed up here so I knew they'd be waiting. Then there was also the fact that while I was crossing the river again everyone else had headed back, and we were the tail end of our large group because we were the more adventurous sort. So I picked up my bag and started jogging when I could and climbing down the mountain. I passed the first 5 of that group at the lower falls and started to run along the trail and ran all the way back eventually passing the other 4 a few minutes later. I made it back to the cars not too long after and even made it back at about the same time as Brian and his family. My car had been waiting for me about 20 minutes, so it could have been far worse. But I still feel bad for making them have to wait for me. Either way I had a lot of fun. I'd taxed my body so much this day that I had a hard time even making it to 9 o-clock which is when I went to bed. A total of about 16 miles was run today at least.

Week: 62 miles

Running Toward God,
Jason

Week 9: June 20-25

Monday: I decided to take the day off to let my knee rest to prevent injury.

Tuesday:
AM - 5 miles easy
PM - 7 miles with 5.5 miles tempo

Wednesday: I gave a roommate a ride to the airport in Seattle then went to a neurology appointment in Vancouver so only one run today of 5 miles easy with 2.25 of it completely barefoot on the track and the rest in my vibrams

Thursday:
AM - 5 miles easy
PM - I ended up not running because lots of people showed up for ultimate frisbee and I ran around like a madman in my barefeet, so my feet were too tired to put more miles in after that.

Friday:
AM - 5 miles easy. This one felt weird, I ran out of energy about 2 miles in and was getting a little dizzy. I suppose it was from not eating my traditional oatmeal breakfast and only had some cereal and a hard-boiled egg.
PM - I played some volleyball, so my feet were tired, but not like yesterday. I went for 5 miles easy on the track and felt much much better than this morning.

Saturday:
I finally got to meet Mark face to face. He, Andrew, and I went out along the Fort-to-fort trail out past the Edge trail until we hit 35 minutes and Andrew needed to head back. After getting back to the cars I went back out for another 5 miles making it a total of around 14-15 miles today. I felt really good on this run and it was nice to be running with someone else again.

That makes this week around 46-47 miles plus some cross-training experiences. I've also started biking around instead of driving because of some personal issues. So we'll see how this all affects my training overall, but I think it will be positive.

Running Toward God,
Jason

Week 8: June 13-18

Monday:
AM - 5 miles easy with my friend Kevin
PM - 1 mile warm-up, 5x1200m w/ 400m recovery at faster than tempo but below threshold, 1 mile cool-down. 7 miles total

Tuesday:
AM - 5 miles easy
PM - 5 miles easy

Wednesday:
AM - 5 miles easy
PM - 8 miles at a good pace with 4 of it at a fast tempo pace

Thursday:
AM - 5 miles easy
PM - Played some ultimate frisbee then went to the track for 5 miles easy, but only got 1.5 miles in before a tendon on my right knee started spazzing out and called it a day.

Friday:
AM - 5 miles easy. That same tendon started complaining a little during the run for a few moments then went away but made me decide to not run in the afternoon.

Saturday:
Today I was planning on putting in about 15-16 miles but only got to about mile 11 or 12 before that tendon made it impossible to continue and I had to walk back to my car. I decided at that point not to run on Monday and give it an extra day to rest and come back on Tuesday and see how it feels.

Total miles for the week: 57-59 miles

Running Toward God,
Jason

Week 7: June 6 - June 11

This week was much lower in mileage because of travel, but that was to be expected.

Monday:
AM - 5 miles easy on the Track
PM - 1 mile warm up with 20x200m with a full recovery (200m) and a mile cooldown for a total of 7 miles

Tuesday:
AM - 5 miles easy

Wednesday:
I went running with Jake for my last run with him for a while. We went up K2 3 times. My mom even got to see some of K2. Anyhow, we took off the first time up K2 as Jake wanted to hit a PR up the monster and achieved it hitting 11:06. I don't know where I was at because I don't wear a watch anymore. I took my GPS with us today to measure everything to find out K2 is .85 miles and rises approximately 850-900 feet. Then there was a .75 mile section of easy until we hit the downhill portion of our run out and around down another way which was a 1.7 mile section. The whole loop was almost exactly 3 1/3 miles. We did it three times and with the distance from the car to K2 and back comes to about 10.5 miles for the day.

Thursday: No run, traveling

Friday: No run, traveling and meetings

Saturday:
I went out to Fort Langley to the Fort to Fort trail and ran out and back on it twice for a total of 13.5 miles.

So the runs were a bit irregular this week, but I managed to put in a total of 41 miles this week, which is alright since I planned it to be a bit of a down week.

While running on Saturday, I saw several other people running and thought about whenever I come across another runner while running. Almost without exception there is a kind nod, wave, or hello as we pass each other. I think it is because of the shared experience. We have a mutual understanding and respect for what one another is doing and going through. We understand the pains and joys of running and respect each other for it because of that understanding. I think in most cases I feel the same way towards other followers of Christ for the same reasons. But then I look at the rest of the world, and even sometimes within the Church and I don't see that happening. Even though most of the human experience is shared. We all have pain, sorrow, joy, and dreams. But people often can't see past themselves to the shared experiences that we all have and respect one another because of them. I just pray that I can keep this perspective in mind and respect other men and women because of these things.

Running Toward God,
Jason

Week 6: May 30 - June 4

Monday:
AM - 3 miles easy on track and 5x80m strides
PM - 1 mile warmup, 4x1200m repeats with 1 lap rest, 1 mile cooldown

Tuesday:
I went out with Jake again today. He took me out to Michigan Bluff along the Western States Trail and made a good day out of it. We started at Michigan Bluff, went down into Eldorado Canyon (2.5 miles to the bridge), up to Deadwood Cemetery (3.5 miles up to the cemetery) and back. So that was 6 miles of climbing and 6 miles of downhill. We had some good conversations and I didn't have any trouble keeping up, although he was set on his all-day pace since he kept going after we finished the first 12 miles. He was going to be running 10+ hours. I'm still not sure if they've found the body yet.

Wednesday:
AM - 3 miles easy on the Track and 4x80m strides
PM - I decided to take this run off since my achilles tendon was complaining. Oddly enough my calves were fine even after all the climbing yesterday, but the tendon was sore so I iced it and gave it a little time off.

Thursday:
AM - 3 miles easy on the Track then iced the achilles tendon
PM - 7.2 miles out from home and around the lagoon twice. It started off as an easy run that was going to be 5 miles but turned into a 7 miler and a tempo run about 2.5 miles into it. I was feeling good and there was nothing wrong with my achilles. I also was running the opposite direction around the lake as another guy so I picked it up to tempo pace to get around faster than him and ended up holding it for the last 4 miles of the run. It felt good.

Friday:
AM - 4.5 miles easy on the Track
PM - 5.3 miles easy out and around the lagoon

Saturday:
AM - 5 miles easy on the Track and 4x80m Strides
PM - 10 miles from home out to Radio Tower Hill, up it twice, and then back home. Ran past a biker riding up the hill and had a humorous encounter with him joking around. My legs were a little tired because I didn't take care of them very well Friday night after my run. I sat down to play cards not letting them circulate and didn't eat very much.

All in all it was a good week. Its the highest mileage I've put in so far for the week. I'm starting to do 5 miles in the mornings to get at least 30 minutes of time in for aerobic benefit, which is going to increase my mileage to over 60. Next week will be a little erratic since I'll be heading back up North, but thats okay, I've increased my mileage for two weeks, I can do with more of a rest week and then lay on the miles again the week after. One thing that Saturday morning has reminded me is that I really dislike running more than 3 miles on the Track for many reasons, but mainly for the monotony and trying to keep track of laps. Its not as bad when I'm timing it, but without a watch the laps blur into each other. I much prefer running out on trails among trees and brush in God's creation than on the man-made surfaces or roads or tracks.

Running Toward God,
Jason

Week 5: May 23-28

Well this week has been full of changes and pretty interesting from my perspective though I basically did the same workout for the whole week because of Tuesday. First I decided to start doing doubles and simply added an easy 3 mile run around the a track each morning with 5 100m strides afterwards. Its amazing how many miles doing doubles can add to your weekly mileage. Just 3 miles in the morning for 6 days equates to 18 miles for the week extra. The second thing I changed was time, I stopped caring about it. I no longer wear my watch while I'm running and plan not to for a couple of months.

Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday:

I did pretty much exactly the same thing each of these days. I did 3 miles easy in the morning with strides and a 5 mile out and around the lake run in the afternoon or evening. You'll understand why when I describe Tuesday for you. I also decided to take Saturday off because I was already at 52 miles this week and I don't want to increase my mileage too much.

Tuesday:

Today was planned to be a run with Jake. Originally we planned to go to Michigan bluff and I would run a 12 mile out and back while he went much further so he could put in mega miles this day. Monday I got a call from Jake as he had heard of a group of guys that were getting together in Foresthill to run from there down to Ruck-a-chucky and back up to the highway from there. I was told it would be 15 miles. I figured it wouldn't be too bad adding an extra 3 miles, so I agreed. Plus I wanted to meet some other ultra runners, maybe talk with them a bit, get their reaction when they found out I wasn't an ultra runner :). I find it humorous how everyone assumes I'm an ultra runner every time I run with Jake, though its understandable. There were a few things I wasn't aware of going into this run though. The first is a little obvious, the course, I'd never run this part of the Western States trail and it would be new for me. It had been explained to me that most of it was downhill, so I was mentally prepared for the beating my quads would be taking. When we got there I met the guys and one lady who turned out to be top end ultra runners. I probably couldn't have kept up at this point if they had been average ultra runners. To boot, they were doing a time trial on that section of the course today. Oh well, little chance of chatting very long on the course with them ditching me. They staggered the start so I went with the first group and hung with that guy until he started to pull away from me. Every once in a while a person or group of guys would pass me. I carried a water bottle of cytomax mix in it that Jake had lent me. The second to last person to pass me was a man named Graham (though I'm not sure if thats how it is spelled) who turned out to be someone who has won Western States before. I tagged along at his pace for about 10 minutes or so and we had a nice conversation until I let him take off. A few moments later the last person Meghan flew past me after tripping over a log behind me a ways. I was on my own, but I was probably 2/3 of the way there by then. So I settled into a comfortable pace and cruised to Ruck-a-chucky. The third thing I didn't know was that the 15 miles Jake had quoted me was from foresthill to Ruck-a-chucky, not to where we dropped off my car, that was an extra 2 miles uphill. So I ended up getting at least 17 miles in with the last 2 of it being a 2 mile climb up to the car. Its the longest run I've been on in about 3 years, and nothing was hurting other than a small spot under my leg which I found out a few minutes later was a tick. My legs were so very tired, but they weren't aching or hurting in any way. We hung out around the vehicles for a little while and talked and then parted ways. All in all I put in 20 miles today with the 3 miles easy in the morning and the 17 mile run with the ultra runners.

Week:
So my total mileage was 52 miles and would have been 60 if I ran on Saturday. I didn't want to jump over 20 miles in one week though, so I figured my legs, which are still tired from Tuesday, could use an extra day of rest. All in all, I felt it was a good week and that God has blessed me through my time with other runners.

Running toward God,
Jason

Week 4: May 16-21

This week I decided to back off a little bit because of last week and recover a bit.

Monday: I decided to take today off because my ankle was bothering me a little bit. It wasn't much, but since I decided it would be a down week I'd rather invest in an extra day of rest for my ankle instead of pushing through it so far ahead of the season.

Tuesday: Today was a good day. I've been running in the evenings mostly because I help a gentleman from my Church out at his home with projects and stuff. So I usually get home around 5 PM and run somewhere around 7. Well today when I went for a run it was raining the whole way, but it wasn't miserable. It was really nice. I found it funny that just before going on my run I was listening to the song Bring the Rain by MercyMe and it was stuck in my head the whole run. I went out from home into Lagoon Valley, around the Lake twice and back home in my Vibrams. I took it fairly easy most of the way, somewhere around 7-7:30 mile pace. The last mile I picked it up and ran it in 6:20 for a total running time of 52.5 minutes. I'm not entirely certain the distance since I'm getting different distances around the lake from various sources. Best I can guess is around the lake is approximately 2 miles and from home to lagoon valley is a little over 1.5 miles (maybe 1.6 or so) which gives me a distance of around 7-7.5 miles.

Wednesday: Recovery run of just 5 miles out and around the lake once. The arches were really tired today because of running in my Vibrams yesterday as well as working throughout the day, especially a few minute span where I was awkwardly keeping my balance on my toes on top of a metal shed where I had to keep my weight distributed on the supports and left my right arch overextended for a few minutes as I was trying to keep my balance.

Thursday: Went up to Auburn and ran with Jake. Today was a fairly intense run. We went up K2 a few times, me 3 and him 5. Jake is a crazy strong runner. He's done 10 repeats before in one day on k2 where the average ultra runner maybe puts in 3 in a day. The hill is approximately 1 mile long and raises over a 1000 feet in elevation (not entirely certain on these, but will know for sure once we measure it with a GPS). The first two reps were in 14:30 and 13:30 respectively. My third one was in 14:51 as Jake ran that one in 12:51. So I called it a day as he finished off his workout and went down and iced my legs in the American River's icy waters. Total running time for me was 100 minutes today and the total distance was somewhere between 9 and 10 miles.

Friday: My arches were super tired today as I could feel them ache as I worked today. So I decided to try and find an alternative recovery workout to let them recover. I decided on a nice bike ride on one of my parents' old bikes. It was a simple out and back through lagoon valley out to Fairfield and back turning around after 25 minutes. I made it back 3 minutes faster than I went out, so I figure there must have been a net altitude gain on the way out since I didn't go back any harder than I went out. It was nice to be able to get in a recovery workout while sitting down! I also wonder sometimes when I ride a bike how good of a triathlete or biker I would make. I do notice that biking takes a lot more strength in the legs in comparison to aerobics than running does, especially going up hills. So since my ride was 47 minutes I figure that is the equivalent of about 6 miles for me normally on a recovery run.

Saturday: Boy were my legs tired today. From the workout Thursday and then the biking yesterday I decided to take it really easy today. I went at about an 8 minute mile pace out around the lake 3 times and back home. I added a small little extension just in case the lake is slightly less than 2 miles to make the run at least 9 miles. So I ran somewhere around 9-9.5 miles today in 74 minutes. It was almost like a recovery long run.

So overall this week I put in somewhere around 36-38 miles, and that seems alright with me at this stage. I think I might start throwing in short recovery runs in the mornings next week and up the mileage maybe up to 48-50 miles.

Running Toward God,
Jason

How does one Run for God?

I've been giving this question some thought recently, especially today. I went for a great run with my good friend Jake for a few repeats up K2. As always, we talked about many things even as we ran up this monster. Just a side note, this man is an incredibly strong runner and is putting in over 30 summits of this monster hill k2 this week. Thats insane, but then again both runners of his calibre and Christians alike (which he is both) are often considered insane by the teeming masses. Anyhow, I was going to leave this subject for tomorrow or maybe Saturday to write about, but two things happened that influenced me to write now. First as I sat at the table with my father and sister playing cards I talked a little about Jake and the running we get to do together whenever I'm in the area. In short he asked me this very question on how Jake integrates his faith with what he is doing, namely running as he is a sponsored runner by New Balance of Roseville. The second was Jake's recent blog which inclined me to write my own thoughts! To be honest I couldn't decide where to put this, on my other blog or on this one since it is a synthesis of the two areas of my thoughts, which is actually part of the topic! Let us move on to what I actually want to talk about, faith and running.

North Americans have a nasty habit of compartmentalizing life. Work is separate from home life which is separate from going out with friends to the bar which is separate from sports which is different from Church, and the list goes on. We often don't like parts of our lives to bleed over into other parts as things tend to get messy when they do. Its because we are living inconsistent lives. But if we try to live a unified life that is consistent throughout then we inevitably, for believers and ultimately anyone of any faith, must deal with the issue of living for God in all areas of our lives. I just want to focus on one, running. At first glance there doesn't seem to really be any way to integrate the two, after all what does running have to do with God? More than initially meets the eye.

A life of faith is not lived in a bubble. True faith requires interaction on a horizontal line between the believer and other human beings as well as in a vertical way between the believer and God. As such faith is based on relationships. After all, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." Matthew 22:37-40. This is the basis for authentic faith. So then you might ask, "What running have to do with relationships?" Everything. Ask anyone who is a runner why they started running, and if you dig deep enough the reason is always because of another person. It may be a crush they had on someone in high school or a hero they had growing up. Like me it may have been because of their parents, or even if they're doing it to stay in shape or become more healthy it is because of what others have said about their health or some other influence outside themselves. Noone starts running from a purely inward motivation. More than that, running is a social sport more than people realize. There is a camaraderie between runners to the point where I can meet someone completely new and have an instant connection to that person and hold a great conversation because we share this trait. This camaraderie moves to the point that in most cases I am willing to listen, at length, to whatever a runner has to say even when I strongly disagree. I assume it is likewise with most runners. I also run the best when running with others rather than by myself. I run by myself to keep me ready for the times when I run with others. My point is that running is social and relational far more than people generally realize, and relationships are the foundation for faith and for expressing the character and glory of God to those who do not yet know him.

There is another aspect to this which is that running is a gift. Our bodies are gifts from God and each person's body is different with different innate abilities and different levels of those abilities. Each is a gift. When we receive a gift we have two basic choices, use the gift or don't use it. I think we can all agree that not using a gift that has been given is a waste and dishonorable to the giver of that gift (think about it, you don't tell your relatives you don't particularly care for greeting cards because of the disrespect it shows towards them). When we use the gift we can either use it for ourselves or use it for someone else. For others is more noble I think most would agree, though most people use their gifts and abilities for themselves more often. However, I think the noblest is to use the gift for and in the name of the one who gave the gift and giving credit to the giver. In short it means glorifying God and acknowledging His sovereignty in the giving of your gifts. If you want to see how this can practically play out in a person's life I recommend watching the movie, "Chariots of Fire."

There is one final area I would like to address while I'm at it, namely the subject of character. A follower seeks to be more like the one they follow. Inevitably that means a follower of Jesus will grow ever more like in character to Jesus. This is done is so many different ways as God guides us through life. However, running can be a very effective tool for building many character qualities in us from Jesus our Lord. Running builds endurance, long-suffering, perseverance, discipline, delayed gratification, determination, reverence, humility, confidence, and a great many more as well. No wonder Paul compared life to running a race. "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize." 1 Corinthians 9:24 "I went in response to a revelation and, meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain." Galatians 2:2 "You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth?" Galatians 5:7 "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." 2 Timothy 4:7. Then there is in Hebrews 12:1-3 which some believe that Paul also wrote though we cannot be certain, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." This metaphor would seem to be some evidence towards that assertion, but that is an entirely different subject! The metaphor is well enough established in the Bible because there is in fact a strong connection between running and faith. There are also strong connections between all the areas of our lives and faith, if you have the eyes to see it.

Running Toward God,
Jason

Week 3: May 9 - May 14

I couldn't really follow my plan for this week because of Wednesday and Saturday.  Wednesday I went up to Auburn to run with Jake and Saturday I was gone all day picking up my parents and then going to a Bocce Ball tournament that my sister was participating in.  So I had to shift things around a bit, cut out starting my tempo runs until next week and just focus on getting two good long runs in this week.

Monday -  Since my two long runs were going to be Tuesday and Friday, I decided today needed to be fairly easy, but not too short so I went for an out and back run from one side of Vacaville to the other along Marshall Road which comes to about 7 miles in about 52 or 53 minutes.  It was a comfortable pace and I didn't feel inclined to push it too much.

Tuesday - Today I selected a 10 mile route that I do from time to time.  Unfortunately its pavement all the way, but at least I know exactly how far it is.  Its basically the same run as the 8.1 mile run I've done the past two weeks with a slight alteration up Alamo to Leisuretown, over to Marshall, and back home.  The run took me 75 minutes.

Wednesday - I had a great time going up to Auburn after doing bunch of yard work for a fellow church member today.  Jake and I went for an easy 7.5 mile run up and down the canyon starting with K2.  I wore my Vibram FiveFingers for this one and didn't feel drained or anything from yesterday's run.  We ran for 70 minutes total.

Thursday - After putting in almost 25 miles the past three days my legs were a bit worn out so today was a simple easy recovery run without timing it.  I went out to Lagoon Valley, around the lake, and back for what I estimate to be about 5.5 miles, no more than 6.

Friday -  I got to run Stagecoach 3 times today.  Its not the max number of times I've done Stagecoach, but it was good.  Stagecoach is 1.9 miles from gate to gate (in spite of some hikers who vehemently argued with me one time that it was 2.4 miles long) and rises I think 1000 feet in elevation (I'm not entirely certain on this one and would have to ask Jake to verify).  I skipped the first 1/4 mile except for coming up the first time and down the last time.  Overall I figure I ran about 10.5 miles in 102 minutes.

Saturday - I just returned from this run around town with a bit of a drizzle starting as I ran through the streets of Vacaville.  I just wanted to shake the legs out and encourage recovering from running this week.  I put in 4.5 miles or so and enjoyed a good night run with a little bit of rain.

So overall I put in about 45 miles this week with a decent amount of hills, though I kind of wish I could run hills every day, I love them.  Where is God leading me this upcoming season?  Well, I hope to some more hills! ;)

Running toward God,
Jason

May 2 - May 7

I am thankful to God for giving me a very adaptable body.  This week was much better than last in terms of difficulty of training and ability to push.  Just thinking back to the week before that and my first day back to training I remember struggling to finish a 35 minute run.  But yesterday is proof that I'm getting back in shape quickly, I just need to make sure I don't get back into it too fast and risk injury.

Monday
I put on my Vibrams for a nice evening run around town from home down Marshall to California Drive until Peabody.  I followed Peabody to Foxboro up to Nut Tree back to Marshall and back Home.  It was just over 8 miles and my calves were very tired from running it in my Vibram FiveFingers.  I put in some core work afterwards, drank some chocolate milk, and called it a night.

Tuesday
Today I just needed to recover from running 8 miles in Vibrams on Concrete and Asphalt so I went out from home around the Lagoon and back for about 5 miles of easy running.

Wednesday
I was still a bit tired from Monday and recovering so I went for an easy run down Marshall Road until it dead ends onto Leisuretown road and back for a total of about 7 miles.

Thursday
I've decided to do some hill repeats each week and Thursday was the day that drew that luck.  So I threw on my Vibrams again and headed out to the Lagoon and Big Mama.  Its funny, I used to fear this hill in high school (well fear is too strong, maybe dread or strongly dislike) and the day once a season where we would do 8 hill repeats.  Today I did 10 and I'm just getting back into it.  Over this past winter I did one workout where I did 35 Big Mama repeats.  I probably won't get to that many before I leave again trying to stay healthy, uninjured, but strong.  I shouldn't have done it so close to dusk though, the bugs were annoying, but luckily it was very windy on the hilltops so the bugs were only at the bottom.  I did some more core work getting home and finished off with a glass of chocolate milk.

Friday
I wasn't all that tired from the hills, at least not compared to how I would get in high school.  But today was another recovery day and since I'm just getting started my recoveries shouldn't be too long until I really start amping up the mileage.  Another out and around the lagoon and back today.

Saturday
This was truly the most interesting run I've been on in a while.  I went out to Radio Tower Hill in Lagoon Valley.  It is 1.5 miles from bottom to top with fairly steep uphill most of the way with two brief reliefs along the way.  The last part is particularly annoying because its the steepest and you're already tired.  There was some spiritual battle going on there too and if you want to hear about that check out my other blog <a href="http://forhisgloriousname.blogspot.com/2011/05/when-god-isnt-speaking.html">here</a>.  There was a bike race going on up the side trails(the end of the race anyhow) along this road up to the radio tower and I must say I did not envy them.  It is much more difficult to ride a bike up a steep hill than run up one.  Granted their way down was much easier than mine I still wouldn't like doing that.  I also ran into Cheynne Inman who was volunteering at the race near the top of the hill.  We talked for a few moments and we should be able to get together in the near future to run together, though I'm sure he puts in a great many more miles than I do and will be further past where I'm at right now.  Anyhow, it was a great day as I ran up the hill three times for a run that turned out to be just under 90 minutes and somewhere between 9 and 10 miles with 50 minutes of that being uphill running, so not bad.  I again returned home did pushups and static core work and drank chocolate milk.

So I'm up to almost 40 miles this week which isn't too bad for my second full week back in training.  I'll gradually build it up to around 80-90 miles a week hopefully in about 2 months to really build a good base before we start with Cross Country this fall in Canada.

Running Toward God,
Jason

First week back

Its been a strange year for running.  I had been starting to put in more miles per week in the spring of 2010 getting interested in Ultras because of a good friend of mine and a book he lent me to read called 'Born to Run'.  Its a good read, though I disagree on certain points, that is to be expected.  It nicely fit into my own plan for life as I wanted to be a missionary and specifically a Bible Translator.  The people group in the book were as well as I could tell unreached people and had a thing for running very long distances.  So I started to train for longer distances though I was still far behind my friend Jake.  As I left for Canada to start my studying to become a Bible Translator I was running more in terms of mileage per week than I ever had in my life.  Thats not saying too much because I've always been a low mileage high quality kind of guy, but nevertheless was putting in 15-20 mile runs in my Vibram FiveFingers.  At the end of the summer my running plans changed as the sign at the entrance of Trinity Western University (hereafter referred to as TWU) declared a new cross country and track team at TWU.  So I e-mailed the athletic director seeing if I could help out, assuming I had no eligibility since I'd run out of eligibility for both the NCAA and the NAIA in the U.S.  However I had two years left in the CIS.  So I joined the team which dropped my mileage as I was no longer training for the same reasons.  Throughout the course of this year I've had medical issues, though not terrible ones, due to paranoid doctors and a worried coach I missed the last half of the cross country season.  Getting back into training in the winter after I got cleared with no apparent problems I trained hard enough to fairly easily get up K2 with Jake in under 13 minutes the day after I did 35 hill repeats on a hill called Big Mama in my hometown of Vacaville.  But I may have trained too hard because shortly after that I ran my first indoor meet and pulled a tendon in my foot which put me out until the very last meet of the season at Regionals where I was so horribly out of shape because I couldn't train properly.  So the last month and a half of the spring semester I studied hard, sort of, and forgot about running for a bit only running 3 days out of every 2 weeks or so.  So now I'm pretty out of shape, but since the semester ended I came home to my parents' house in Vacaville and have very little to do other than think a lot, watch Burn Notice a lot, and run every day.  This past week was the first full week of running I've put in for months and everytime I start back up I'm angry with myself for not staying in shape.  I put in about 36 miles this week and am getting stronger fast, but since I have all summer to get in shape and ready for cross country I'll take it slow not wanting to make the same mistake I made this past winter.  I'll increase the mileage slowly and keep wary track of all my aches and pains to ensure maximum growth while preventing injury.  I just want to have a great base for later this summer and fall when I will build some speed for cross country and later track.  Only God fully knows the plans he has for my running and for what purpose he gave me this gift.  I know I will only get to see little by little that plan, but its exciting each step I take towards the fulfillment of His plan.

Running Toward God,
Jason