EXTREME MAKEOVER 2012

Man I really had to fight to get out of bed this morning.  I finally hit the asphalt at 4:50, which is about 5 minutes to late.  I don't think that I have ever sweat as bad as I did today!!!  It was so hot and muggy, normally it cools down when I get close to the river bottoms, but not today.  Legs felt a little sluggish today, but I figured that they would.  Glad to be done for the day and excited for the long weekend!

total run time for 10 1:13:51 

Met Rich this morning at the SF City Park and ran out towards the River Bottoms.  We made a quick pit stop at Canyon View Park and then headed back towards the City Park.  We had to add some extra blocks so that we could hit 13 miles.  It was a great morning, the air was a lot better today.  We did have a slight dog encounter on the way back, but luckily it didn't get a firm hold on Rich.  Legs felt pretty good today, we were going to tempo back to the park.  But we didn't and it was nice to chat instead of running fast!

ave pace 7:25

Today I wanted to run my 10 mile route at a faster pace than usual.  The plan was to try and run the 10 miles under 1:12:00 with out looking at my watch until the last 2 miles.  I need to try and run off of feel and not rely on the garmin so much.  I ran the normal 10 mile route, so I know where all of the mile markers are.  I also took the iPod today, which is very rare for me.  It helped me focus on something else other than my watch.  I hit mile 8 @ 57:56 so I knew that the next 2 would have to be a little quicker than the last 8 so I picked up the pace on 9.  I hit 9 @ 1:04:57, I knew that I needed to hit the next mile a lot faster so that I could finish under 1:12:00.  I was glad that I only had to run at least a 7:00  min mile in order to hit my goal.  I ran the last mile in 6:30, this is really not a real hard workout but it felt good to not look at the watch every mile and just sit back and listen to some tunes.  The only thing that made it hard is that my legs are a bit sore from this weeks running.  I hope to get at least 15 in tomorrow, maybe more if the legs feel like it.  Have a great 4th of July everyone!

total run time for 10 - 1:11:28 (ave pace 7:09)

Met up with Rich this morning over in SF and ran out to Bishops with Pat and Rich and then we headed back to Osbornes with Hal and Chad.  We grabbed a drink and a GU and headed out to Harry's hill.  I really wanted to tempo up Harry's so I took off and Rich followed.  Pat and the other guys decided not to run Harry's so it was just Rich and I.  I wanted to try and average a 7:30 pace and for some reason I was feeling good today and actually averaged 7:19.  I stopped for a quick potty break Rich continued on so i had to try and catch back up to him.   Luckily it was downhill after Harry's.  We then headed back to the Stake Center and ended with 16 miles.  Legs felt good today with the high mileage for the week.  Now it is time to eat some good food and be lazy for the rest of the day!

total run tile for 16 1:59:21 ave pace 7:27

I wish that every race could be as much fun as today's race!  Kellie and I got up early so that we could make it over to the Red Hot Pink Chick's  Half Marathon!  I am technically not a RHPC, but I am married to one!!!  So that got me a Elite entrance into this race!  

I am glad to be home from the WEEK LONG scout camp, and I was glad that I was able to come home after a week of no running and run this race.  The race started at Will's Pit Stop at the mouth of Provo Cyn.  We ran up 5.5 miles and then turned around and came back to the park where we had all met.  Kellie had purchased me a RHPC shirt to wear and it was bright pink.  I might post a pic of iton my blog, but I will give you hint that it is on some other blogs already!

I started out with Scott and Kyle, I ran with them for about 3 miles and then I ran Ronda and so I jogged and talked to her for a bit.  She came with Sue and was clipping a long at a good pace.  I left her and then stopped with kyle at the turn around and had a GU and some water.  Kelli and her sis in law hit the turn around about the same time that Kyle and I were just taking off again so we ran with them until mile 7 and then I wanted to tempo 2 miles and see if I could catch the leaders before mile 9.  I left them and finally caught up to Mac and Jule at mile 9.1 so it took all of the 2 miles to catch them.  I ran those 2 miles in 11:36, I was glad that I finally cought them because my claves were starting to cramp up on me.  For some reason my calves were sore all week at scout camp and it carried over to Saturday.  Hopefully a good hard week of running will cure me!  I dropped back and ran with Josse from about mile 12 on and finished in 4th place!  It was a tough field today!  I got a lot of weird looks on the trail with my pink bandana and bright pink shirt but hey who cares!  My 8 year old told me that only a real man can wear pink!  Marion did a great job on putting this together!  It was good to see Michelle there too, I feel so bad that she can't run right now.  Last year at this same time she was at the top of her game!  I am amazed at how well she is handling what has been thrown at her!  She is one tough cookie!  Kellie looked real RED HOT in her tu-tu!  I might make her wear it at every race!  Thanks again to everybody that helped with this race!  It was a great way to end the week!

Left the house at 5:00 am this morning and ran out towards tree line road and back.  It is hard no running with the Garmin.   I dropped mine Saturday morning before the race and it broke into 4 pieces.  I might send it back to get fixed or I might just buy a new one.  It was hard to remember to hit the lap button at the mile marks.  This is a route that I have every mile marked either by a telephone pole or something that I have stuck on a fence post.  My calves felt great today, I think that it was from the hiking that we did last Monday with poor hydration.  So over all it was a good morning, I did see a baby fawn that was maybe only 2 weeks old.  It was trying to jump through the fence, I was glad that it didn't get stuck!  See you tomorrow!

total time for 10 miles 1:11:23

I rgot up this morning and headed out to Osborne's Corner to meet up with the SF boys.  I decided that I wanted to do some tempo miles today, instead of 3min repeats.  I stopped and stretched at the corner and then started my first 5k tempo.  I wanted to do the first one at 10k pace and then the second 5k at MP.

10k pace tempo splits

mile 1 - 6:02

mile 2 - 6:00

mile 3 - 5:48

mile .1 - 35.13 (5:38 pace)

total time for 3.1 18:24 (5:56 ave pace)

I jogged a mile and ran down into Canyon View Park for a drink and then started the second 5k at the start line of the speedy spaniard.  I wanted this to be between 6:30 adn 6:45.  This has a good mile of uphill to start with and then some down and then flat for a good mile.

MP 5k splits

mile 1 - 7:01

mile 2 - 6:27

mile 3 - 6:16

mile .1 - 38.56 (6:19 pace)

total time for 3.1 20:22 (6:34 ave pace)

For some reason the second one seemed harder than the first.  I think that maybe I took to long of a break in between the first and the second one.  I should have only jogged for 3-4 minutes?  I finished the last 5k on dairy road and so I had about 3.5 miles to get home.  I really need to remember to put some water and GU out on monday nights before a hard work out.  Claves are still pain free, so I hope that they continue to stay healthy so that I can race well on the 24th!

Man alive I could not get my lazy butt out of bed this morning.  I guess that I stayed up to late playing with the new garmin.  I finally put enough guilt on myself that I drug my butt out of bed.  So in all it cost me 2 miles!  No big deal, I guess that I can "maybe" make that up tonight.  

I love the new watch, it is very comfy and it is very easy to use!  Since I was short on time I ran out 4 miles to power house rd and back.  I hate that they chipped Salem Canal and Power house Roads!  It is so annoying running on those loose rocks, and it is very loud.  Normally after you chip a road you come back and sweep the road and then spray them with another coat of oil so that you don't have loose rocks all over the place.  Oh well I guess that being a road guy I would be the only one to notice that kind of stuff!

total run time for 8 59:18 

Today I ran a different route than normal.  I ran north out behind the ALA School and then back home.  It was a nice cool morning out in the fields.  I decided at the last minute to take the iPod with me, it made the run go by a little faster than normal.  I hope to get a longer run tomorrow.  I am really liking the new garmin 405, I need to experiment with the heart rate monitor.

total run time for 9.5 1:10:08 

Today I met Rich at the Jack Rabbit Gas Station and we then drove up to the Hobble Creek Golf Course and ran 7 miles up the right fork.  We ran the first 7 miles uphill at a 7:42 pace and then ran the last 5 miles at 6:50 or less.  It was a great run, the temps were perfect and the course is beautiful right now.  We ran into a couple of guys on the way down and ran with them for about 2 miles.  Great run, right calf is a little sore.  I hope it feels better by next friday!

total run time for 14.33 1:35:13

Today I hiked up to the top of Mt Loafer with the scouts.  The scouts do a program every July called "On Target".  You sign your scout troop up for a mtn top in Utah and then between 11:00-1:00 you signal the other troops with mirrors.  WE picked Mt Loafer because it is right above Salem and close to home.  We started the hike at 8:00 am and at 7,600' in elevation.  It is 6 miles up and 6 miles back and you climb up to 10,800' in elevation.  There is a good 2 mile stretch that is really steep and the rest is pretty doable.  We pushed the pace on the way up because we kind of got a late start.  We reached the top and started calling the other troops that were on other mtn's.  We were able to signal Mt.Nebo, Lake Mtn, Timp, American Fork and Springville.  WE called several frinds in other cites and they were able to see us too.  It was a fun hike up but I was not looking forward to the steep hike down.  After about 2 miles I decided that I would run the rest of the way.  It seemed to be a lot easier to run than walk.  I had two scouts that were able to keep up the whole time.  I had several close calls of falling but only ended up only crashing once.  Luckily a great big bush caught me, and it really didn't hurt that bad.  One of the scouts fell pretty good, but he just got up laughing.  We stopped at the creek back at the trucks and washed our feet and legs, and soaked our heads in the cold water.  It was a fun day and I feel like I ran a marathon today.  I hope to take it easy this week so that I can have a good race on Friday.  I will try and post some pics from the hike tomorrow.

No running this morning, my quads and hips feel like I got ran over by a truck!  I guess that I should have walked down the mtn and not run down!  Oh well it was fun and I hope to get out tonight for some slow miles!  Should be good and ready for Friday's race!

P.M.

I ran with Mike L tonight.  We left the house at 8:30 and ran out and around pretty little road nad then back to the house.  Mike is trying to get back in shape for the Hobble Creek Half.  He lost over 100 lbs last year and had put a little bit back on but he is getting back down again.  I think that he will run the speedy spaniard under an hour again this year. I needed to run slow tonight, my quads started to loosen up after about 2 miles so I think that I will be good for Friday.

I went over to Provo to help eric o, with his movie that he is making for a story that was published in the ensign last year.  It was about a lady that ran the Boston Marathon and then gave  talk about it.  It was fun to help, but I only got 5 miles in while waiting for them to get the set ready.  It was fun to run around B.Y.U campus, but it is scary with all of those cars speeding around those streets.  My legs feel a lot better today, so I will run longer tomorrow and maybe Thursday and then race on Friday!  

ave pace for 5 7:12

Man I am really racking up the miles this week...YEAH RIGHT!  

I ran up to the mailboxes this morning via Woodland Hills Dr.  I pushed the pace up the hill and I felt pretty good the whole time.   When I hit the top I ran into some ladies in my ward so I chatted with them for a while.  My quads feel like they are almost 100%, so hopefully after today and a good nights rest tonight I will be ready for the race on Friday.

ave pace for 6.5 - 7:42 

Ran the Speedy Spaniard course with Rich.  WE met at the park and drove to the start line.  The plan was to run the first half around 7:20 and then drop the pace on the last 5k.  We finished in 41:47?  Legs felt good and it made me excited for the race on Friday.

ave pace 6:50

More details later, we have been running crazy since the race.  It was a huge PR from last year by 2:38 min!  Makes me excited for the rest of the races this year.

So this was my 3rd time running this race.  I ran it 2 years ago in 42:?? and then 38:48 last year.  My goal was to break 38:00 min and try and finish in the top 10, and 1st in my age group.  Well it looks like I did all of the above, and I am very excited that I had such a great race.  I am a little mad that I had the opportunity to break 36:00 and that I didn't take advantage of it.  I really need to pay more attention to my watch after the half way point of a race.

I started out the race with Rich and I was glad that he was there the whole time.  We started out in 4th and 5th place and we were able to hold those positions for the entire race.  Carl H and his son were close to us for the first mile and then his son and another high school kid took off after that.  Carl was in site for most of the race, but I really couldn't build up the courage to take off and try and catch him.  Rich and I hung together the whole race until the last .2 and then I realized that I was close to breaking 36:00 so I took off and tried my hardest to get under but it was to late.

6:04 - This is a good uphill mile.  You have to run out of the park on a narrow road so there is usually a lot of congestion.  Some how we managed to get out in front so that helped a little with the uphill.  There is a really steep hill right when you leave the park, that really bites.  Rich and I are side by side and I told him that we needed to try and keep Carl with in site and that we would break 38:00.

5:44 - This mile has a slight drop for about .25 and then it flattens out with a slight uphill right before the mark.  Spencer and #2 guy left us all in the dust after this mile.  I was feeling good at this part and I was ready for the half way mark.

5:53 - I was happy to still be under 6:00 pace for this mile.  There is another .1 drop on this mile, and then it flattens out for the rest of the race.  

5:55 - I was glad that Rich was still with me during this mile.  This is a long straight flat mile.  I always struggle on this mile because it is so straight and flat, but having Rich there made it go by a little faster.  I was amazed that this mile came in under 6:00, but I knew that there was still a lot race left.

6:02 - I was really wanting to get out of the  River Bottom, this stretch is tough too.  I don't know why, but it is a hard part of the race.  There are some small rollers, but I think that it is more mental because you know that you are so close to the end.  I remember seeing this mile come in over 6:00 and it kind of made me mad.  I knew that I needed to run the last mile quicker so I was trying to prepare myself for the last mile.

6:02 - We finally came out of the River Bottoms, and I was so mad because the wind is usually at your back, but today it was blowing right back in our faces.  This is a hot mile, the sun is hitting you and you are now running through houses and you actually run past the finish line and loop back around the park to finish.  So that is not fun running past the finish, but there are usually a lot of people to cheer you on.

4:53 - This was my attempt at trying to get under 36:00, but I was about 1 mile to late.  I had a really good kick, maybe to good.  I was totally excited with my time, and I am so glad that I was able to watch Kellie PR and also Mike L PR.  It was a great race, and I am already looking forward to next year.

I met up with Rich, Carl & Travis this morning for a nice 20 mile run.  We ran our normal 20 mile route, it was kind of muggy this morning but over all I felt pretty good.  I was glad that we had water stops along the way, because I was sweating real bad today.  My legs felt great today, considering the race from yesterday.  We ran at a pretty good pace the whole time, with some quicker miles thrown in along the way.

total run time for 20 - 2:25:46 (ave pace 7:22)