Journey from 238.5 lbs to 2:38:30

Ran at lunch, up 1000 feet in 3.5 miles, ran down the hill and did 2 sub 6 min miles, love the hill assist as much as climbing the hill.  checked out the bonneville shoreline trail head heading to orem from dry canyon and it still has snow on it here and there, didn't feel like testing it out, yet, but was tempted.

Ran 9 miles in the AM on the JRT heading south at 7:47 overall pace.

Ran 5 miles at lunch with Wes in Lindon at 8:46 overall pace.

Went north on the JRT, at the turnaround, I decided to check out the dirt/gravel path that heads over to Pilgrams Landing which crosses the new front runner tracks line, the new dirt base for the new tracks was very inviting so I ran up the narrows next to the railroad tracks.  A very wide very nice, smooth dirt road to run on.  It's too bad they will ruin it with rail road tracks one day.  I noticed that my body liked the dirt much better than the pavement, so on the way back I tried to stay on the side of the JRT on the horse trail which felt much better.  But being sick the last few days and running a 2 a day yesterday, I was drained and couldn't keep my pace up very much.  Averaged 8:25 over the 10 miles.  I'm trying for my first 200 mile month, the most I have every run in one month before was in June 2009 with 175, which was before my various injuries started in August-December of 2009.  I went from 0 miles in November, to 25 in December, to 127 in January to Hopefully 200+ this month, just 3 more days, and need 32 miles.  So as long as this cold doesn't get any worse I should be able to make at least 10 miles the next three days.

Went south on the JRT in the AM.  Icy patches along the trail here and there really kept the speed down, but it was very nice out.

Well, I didn't make it out yesterday, which I was hoping to do so I didn't have to run so far today to hit 200, but that didn't work out so well.  So headed north on the JRT, at the turnaround, I headed east next to the golf course, over the railroad tracks and then north on the new track bed and just kept going.  I eventually made it to some neighborhood in bluffdale and didn't see anyway to continue by the river so I headed uphill to redwood road.  I noticed a canal just south of where I came out so went and checked it out.  Looks like one Davy Crockett describes on one of his long runs.  So I got on it and ran until I hit Bangerter.  Didn't feel like spelunking under bangerter so stayed on the road and continued west.  At the next corner I saw under bangerter what looked like a Walmart.  So headed over to relief myself of a little weight.  I still needed another half mile to hit 12 so headed east on 134th I think until the gps said 12, then turned around.  I took my camel pack with about half full of water and a 20 oz bottle of very strong home mixed gatorade, and a couple Gu's.  Didn't want to hit glycogen depletion completely since I  have never ran over 18.5 miles before and was in uncharted territory.  Running on dirt most of the distance was much easier on the body than the pavement sections.  I think I gu'd at around 10, and 18.  I averaged an 8:13 pace over the 24 miles.  I did see what looked like a couple of hoodlums burning something under the railroad bridge at the bottom of the narrows, but didn't feel like getting shot so just kept running.  I was almost tempted to just finish the marathon and add another 2 miles but running for 3:17 seemed good enough for the day, and I hit my 200.  I started off the day one mile more than I had ever ran in a month and hit a nice round milestone to finish the month.  Missed 5 days of running this month, so if I was a little more consistent hitting 200 actually wouldn't be that hard.