Clyde's Comeback!

9.1 miles here in PHX. I ran my regular trail here by the hotel and then up to the canal. I was up way too early for being on vacation but I had to get it over to get in to the dentist early. Here we go...

Well what a day at Uncle Dent the dentists office. We found out that the tooth in the very back on the top, left side of my mouth was so bad and the roots were so wierd that a root canal might not have worked... so I got the sucker pulled. So that kind of jacked the system up- along with the drugs for the pain. So no running the rest of this day. Plus my wife wouldn't let me go no matter what anyways.

9.1 mile run early again on the same course as yesterday. I felt pretty good for having narcotics in the system- and a pretty good loss of blood due to the pulled tooth. Back to the dentist again this morning for a couple fillings. blah!  7 min pace avg for the run. 

11.1 mile run this afternoon. I left from the hotel and ran the same rote I've been doing however I just went out a little farther. Out 5.55 miles at 7:16 pace- back 5.55 miles at 6:46 pace. I must have been feeling good on the way back because both directions were very flat but on the way back I had a good head wind and still was much faster. However with two miles to go my diaphragm started to feel really sore on the right side. I've come to two solid conclusions while running down here. 

1. The elevation makes a BIG difference on me. Every time I go running down here I'm doing the same effort as I do at home and I run around 20-45 seconds a mile faster on these training runs.

2. Something about being here in Phoenix makes my diaphragm act up. I've been coming down here with my wife on these trips for the past 6 or so years. 3 or so of those years I've been running while on the trips and every time my diaphragm starts to hurt at one point or another. Why? I'm not sure...

15.3 mile run today. I didn't get in until very late (early this morning). So I was trashed and didn't get up until around 10:30. So I just went out for one good run today instead of two. Went up to the overpass and then over to the tunnel under the freeway and then back around to the house. It was pretty windy out and that started to get annoying fast. But other than that the run was pretty good. For some reason I've got a good size blister on the left big toe! Why me?

12.2 mile run this morning around the overpass loop. Nothing really amazing going on, other than it's a little chilly all of the sudden. My hamstring has been feeling better but not good so I'll try and see April this weekend. 

One last dentist note. After pulling my bad tooth the other day and looking things over he said he couldn't believe that I wasn't sick. Because the tooth it's self was full of so much infection he said my body should have been braking down more... and only because I was running and so healthy did I avoid that fate. He also mentioned several times that had I taken care of this issue earlier this year when it first started to really hurt I would have run faster in my workouts and races this summer. He wasn't joking about it either.

So thats my solace for this years not-so-good racing performances. Now if I can fix this hamstring problem maybe I'll put together a very nice 2009?  

10.1 mile run this evening with the club. We did the 7 mile loop from the store and then Dave and I extended a little down to the Pizza Factory roundabout and back. A little chill in the air but overall great running weather. The time change sucks and now we run in the dark for club runs. 

9.6 mile loop up to the overpass. Hamstring is pretty sore today. Nice and crisp out this morning. 

7.3 mile loop up the trail and around GS this evening. I've had a very long and busy day and this run was the last thing I wanted to do. The first 4 miles felt like pooh and then I started to loosen up a little. Now its off to do baptisms for the dead with the young men or man because only one can come tonight.  

Today I reached two milestones. I hit 4,000+ miles for the year and also passed my 2007 total of 4,015. I guess I'll celebrate with one more good piece of sourdough bread and butter.  

18.25 miles run today with Dave. We met up out at Snow Canyon High (and the finish of the half marathon) so we could get our run in and watch the finishers. We headed up to the parkway and out to Kayenta and back. It was a solid little run. We avg. 7:12 for the run so nothing amazing but an even push all the way around. I was way glad I chose to not race today. Race pace right now sounds like death. It was a beautiful sunny morning out and we enjoyed ourselves. 

Congrats to all the stud half marathon runners! Even Logan the Soccer coach?