EXTREME MAKEOVER 2012

Boston Marathon

ave pace 7:19

ave pace 7:03

ave pace 8:13

ave pace 7:12

ave pace 7:19

ave pace 6:42

Ran with Mike Lyman ave pace 14.02

ave pace 7:29

ave pace 7:01

I am very new to this blog.  I always see Fast Running Blog shirts when I go to races, so I decided to get on and check it out.  Today I ran my fastest 5k to date.  I have only been running a year now and have only ran 4 5k's.  There really isn't much to write about on a 5k because it is so short.  I am very happy with my time and look forward to training hard this summer around the foothills of Salem and preparing for St. George.

Ok, it is now time to get back to work!!  The day after the Nestle 5k, my wife and I left on a 7 day vacation to Cancun!  We tried running there but it was way to hot and way to muggy!!!  I hope that everybody won't mind the questions from me over the next couple of weeks. 

My wife has early morings on Mondays for running so I get the night shoft on Mondays!!!  I left my house at 8:00 pm and headed East on Salem Canal Dr and then went right on Woodland Hills Dr.  From there it is nothing but up hill to the East Elk Ridge Entrance Road.  When I hit mile 1 I realized 2 things???  One I should have packed some water and 2 is that I should have went to the bathroom!!  Luckily at mile 2 I found a water hose on a house that was being built and snuck a drink of water.  This is a really good 3.2 miles of uphill running.  When I hit the top of Elk Ridge on Park Dr, the view was so awesome!  I wanted to stop and take it in but I wanted to keep running.  I ran down Park Dr and then turned right on Goosenest Dr and had anticipated on running through Payson and Back to Canal rd and home which is a 9 mile loop. How ever the bathroom break and my wife not wanting me gone all night directed me to run down Elk Ridge Dr and then home.  It was a great down hill run to Canal Rd and then a nice flat half mile home.  My average pace was 7:46, not real fast but with all of the hills it felt great.  Not to mention a week of no running in Cancun, and eating 5 times a day for a week I felt great for having done all of that last week. 

So my wife took the early morning running shift this morning so I was forced to go out at night again!!!  I have a close friend that is training for the Wasatch 100, and so he runs a lot in the mountains and hills around Provo, Orem, Lindon etc... I try and run with him at least once a week in the mountains, it is always a great work out.  You can't cover the same amount of miles in the same time that you can on asphalt but it is still a great work out!  He called me around 3:00 and said hey it's going to be a full moon tonight let's go out for a midnight run???  I am running the last 25 miles of the Wasatch 100 with him and most of my portion will be at night. 

We started at the Timponagoas park in the mouth of Provo Canyon and headed north up to the ROCK PILE!!  you climb about 1,000 feet in elevation and then we continued up to anout 7,000 feet which is at mile 4.  It was very pretty when we hit the top, we did get rained on and kept having glimpes of animals dashing in front of us.  On the down hill we had to go a little slower so that we didn't fall and kill ourselves.  We finished the run at midnight so overall running was 1hr 25min.  It was a lot of fun and can't wait to do it again.  I had intentions to run 13 this morning however 4 hours of sleep is not a good thing, so I will have to go out again tonight!

I left my house last night around 8:15 pm, hoping to run a 13 mile out and back.  When I left my house I headed East on Salem Canal Rd and just as I was getting ready to crosss woodland hills dr, a friend of mine pulled over and proceeded to talk to me.  I was being kind of short because I was kind of in a hurry.  When he finally finished I had wasted about 25 minutes of running time.  I decided that 13 was not going to happen so I ended up running around the pretty little road and up Harry's Hill!!!  I had decided that I was going to turn a easy 13 mile run, now into a 8 mile fast run with a 1 mile cool down.  After Harry's Hill I hit Woodland Hill's Dr and looked to the left wanting to run to the Mail Boxes, but decided that it was getting late & dark so I decided to run down Woodland Hills Dr and then back home on Salem Canal Dr.  My average pace was 7:22.  My legs and body have felt great the last month, I am very excited about the summer training and races!

No run today!!!!  I did get in about 45 minutes of strength training...  Hopefully I can get some miles in tomorrow.

This morning I ran 4.5 miles out to Power house Road and then back home!  I didn't sleep very good last nigt, so it was kind of hard to get going!!  Once I hit the BYU dairy I was feeling a lot better.  My legs are a little tired today, I think that it is from running a lot of hills this week.  I don;t know what it is with me and Hills!!  I love to run up them just to see if I can make it to the top with out stopping.  I don't care so much for the downhilll, it really beats you up.  But it is good for St. George.  7:27 average pace today.

I could not get my butt out of bed this morning, so I had to run late.  I went out at 8:50 pm and ran up to the mail boxes in wWoodland Hills and had starting runnig down when I met up with Shawn Wright.  I asked him if I could run back up with him and then run home so that Kellie could go with her friend.  I have never ran with Shawn before, I would like to start running with him more.  Average Pace For 6.2. 7:14....

When I returned home my wifed friend had backed out o her so hse called a girl in the ward so that I could go and run with her in the dark.  We ran towards Payson on Canal Rd, and the hung a right made a loop back towards Salem and then back home.  We were only able to go 3.2 miles.  We averaged 8:30 min.  Legs feel great, littles aches every now and again.

Went out late last night, my body was really hurting I couldn't tell if I was getting sick or what.  I hit mile 2 and of 8 and decided that I was indeed getting sick.  My chest was on fire and my throat was sore.  I walked to mile 3 and the slowly jogged back home.  I hope I feel better by Saturday so that I can get a long run in.

No need to give splits or times...

Last night I forve down to Power House Road and parked my truck and ran to The Bishop's Warehouse and back.  On the way back just before the tree road I ran with a racoon for about a block, while I passed another in the river.  I bought some new shoes yesterday and couldn't wait to run in them.  Adidas Boston, they are very comfy and light.  It was hard runnign down Power House Road in the dark, every time a car would come by I would stop and get way off of the shoulder of the road.  The county put an overlay on the East bound lane so there is about a 3" drop of now.  I hope that they shoulder the road again.

Average Pace 7:08

This morning I ran with Shawn, he is a very good runner and has a lot of knowledge about running.  He called Friday morning and asked if I wanted to go.  I quickly said yes, and was very excited to run with him. We met at 5:00 am and headed out arond the spanish fork golf course and back home.  It was a 14 mile loop and it went by very fast.  I wore my watch but never looked at it once.  I knew that we were moving pretty quick, but I was never tired or fatigued at all.  We averaged a 7:20 pace the whole time, we even had a couple of 7:00 and 7:08!!!  I thought that for sure I would be sore today, but no nothing at all.  I can't wait to run again on Monday night.  The new Adidas Boston running shoes are awesome!!!

Today I met Michelle in the Spansh Fork River Bottoms and she gave me my first real experience with speed work!!!!!!!!!  HOLY &*%*$(#)@)@@!(**!!!!  And what ever other word you can think of.  I am not going to post the split's because I am at work and don't have my watch to see. I know that we were under 2:59 each one that we ran.   So you will have to read her blog to see the times.  I know that the first one was WAY to fast, but I  was just following her lead and trying to stay with her.  When we finished the first one she said "that was stupid"!!!  It was dark so I couldn't see how fast we were running.  But I knew that it felt really fast.  I would have to say that I did learn a lot and look forward to learing more from her and the rest of the people on this blog.  I feel like a gained a lot of confidence today...  I don't think that I will do speed work every week, more like every other week. 

Went to bed late last night, so it was painful getting out of bed @ 4:45!!! I had to be to work early this morning so it meant running earlier. I left my house and went down to Woodland Hills Dr and Run up to the mail boxes. I needed to run slow today so I knew the only way that would happen is if I ran hills. From the mail boxes I ran across the top to Elk Ridge Dr, turned around and ran down Loafer Canyon Rd and then home. Legs felt really heavy today. I think that I am still feeling the Tuesday work out!! Left calf has been sore, so I wore my compression sock on that leg this morning and it felt better. No real pain to even speak of. 7:37 Pace today.. I am planning on running 9-10 miles in the mountains today with a buddy! Should be HOT!!!!

Well the 10 miles above Provo was very, very HOT!  We started at Indian Peak Trai Head and ran across the top to Bridal Veil and then down the Asphalt trail and back to the trucks. Dan and I are contractors and so we always have to pack our cell phones on our runs so that we can work and run at the same time.  The first 3 miles took forever because Dan was on the phone quite a bit.  After that we got into a good pace the rest of the way.  I am looking forward to a nice cool run on Saturday.

Today was my turn for the afternoon run, however my wifes running partner bummed out on her @ 5:30.  So she asked if I wanted to go for the morning shift.  I gladly said SURE!!  I only had enough time to run 10k, but it was a hard 10k.  The last 2 miles are flat so I tried to hold a 6:20.  I actually was able to hold a 6:10.  Legs felt a little heavy today, I think that it is from the long weekend.

Ave Pace 7:27...

This morning I couldn't decide if I wanted to run fast or just take it easy.  For the past 5 weeks I have tried to do a tempo run at Marathon Pace, starting with 5 miles.  And then every week try and add a mile to the run until I hit 10 miles.  I decided that today was a perfect morning to do the 10 mile tempo run.  My goal for the Marathon this year is to finish under 3:00hrs.  So to hit a 2:59:00 is a 6:50 pace?? I think??  I started with a 1 mile warm up and then gradually hit 7:00 by mile 1 of the tempo run and then the rest of the run I was able to hold my pace at 6:50 - 6:54 for the remainder of the tempo run.  Between 6 and 9 I felt like I could have sped up and held even a faster pace :) but I held back to the goal time and really wanted to finish the run strong.  I felt like I could have ran more at that pace, but then again maybe I would have bonked at mile 11?  I finsihed with a 1 mile cool down and then headed up to Park City for my weekly meeting with UDOT.  I did see Pat L this morning and we gave each other five as we passed each other.  He is a great guy, I hope that I can still run strong like him when I am his age.  I might continue up to 13 miles on the tempo run?  Or maybe start over at 5 and try and lower my time?  Any suggestions????  Over all it was a great run and a very confident one!

Today was a very nice and relaxing run!!!  I didn't even wear my watch, I strictly went off what Michelle and Ali were running.  The run went by really fast!! It helps to run and talk with people.

My wife and I went out for a birthday party last night, so I met her ather office in S.F.  I was going to get my truck on the way home and of course got all of the way home in Salem and realized that I had forgot my truck.  It was late and she said let's go back and get it.  I said no I will just run to your office in the morning and get it.  I needed to make it a quick run this morning because of a early meeting that I have every Thursday.  So I decided that I was going to start at a 7:30 pace and then not look at my watch and try to speed up slightly after each mile.  In Boston my watch quit working for about 6 miles, so me being a rookie runner had no idea on what pace I was running.  So I need to get better at listening to my body..  So here is how it went..

Mile 1 - 7:23

Mile 2 - 7:00

Mile 3 - 6:54

Mile 4 - 6:52

Mile 5 - 6:50

Mile 6 - 6:47

Mile 7 - 6:39

Ave Pace 6:55

It was hard not to look at the watch just to check at each mile, but I did refrain and luckily it turned out.  Everything felt great this morning, leg's, breathing etc..  I am excited for the Speedy 10k on the 24th...

Speed work 6 800's

2:43

2:45

2:43

2:46

2:45

2:43

Ran with Shawn W, he had a little muscle cramp at mile 4.  Slowed down for couple of miles, but then picked the pace up.  Average pace 7:37

Even though my last 2 weeks have not showed any miles I have actually been running quite a bit.  I just got a little lazy with entering my miles.  On Wednesday morning I was getting out of bed to go to work and my left calf tighened up on me and was sore all day.  Then around 2:00 my right calf tightened up on me and hurt really bad.  I iced and applied some deep blue and peppermint oils to my calves all day.  We went to the rodea and the only thing i could think about us how sad i was that i wasn't going to run on Thursday morning.  When we got home from the rodeo I made my own Strassburg? sock out of duct tape.  Basically I ran tape from my toes to my knee's.  I had a hard time sleeping but when i woke up and took the tape off my calves did feel a little better.  When I went to turn my watch on it would not even power up.  I felt like something was telling me to STAY HOME!!  I had decided that I was going to run with my wife and just take it easy.  I ran a little before the start and my calves had only a little pain, so I decided that i would try and stay with Pat and Kent, until I had to stop or slow way down.  Every step hurt along the way.  Tom was very nice to keep yelling out split's for me.  It was really weird not running with a watch, but kind of a confidence builder as well.  I felt like I took the race a little easy, only had one stomach cramp from mile 3-5 that I had to breathe through.  I think that it was fromm all of the gatorade I had drank the day before trying to loosen up those calves.  I felt really good from 5-6 so I decided to kick the last .2!  It felt really good, I am very excited about my time.  this is only my second 10k last year my time was 42:14 so a new pr for me.  Tom was great to run with, I hope to run some speed work outs with him.  Thanks again Tom for letting me cheat off of your watch.  Oh and when I got home my watch decided to turn on!!!!  What a wierd DAY!!!

7 miles in the evening, pushing son Jack

ave pace 7:14

2 warm up miles and then did a 2 mile run, first mile 5:59 2nd mile 5:52, 4 minute jog and then another 2 mile 1st mile 6:01 2nd mile 5:53. Stomach really upset during last 1/2 mile, 2 mile cool down and then off to Park City by 6:00 am.  It was an early 4:30 am start.  Right calf is still a little tight.

5:30 am start.  I kind of ran all over Salem this morning, calf is still a bit tender but I can tell it is getting better.

ave pace 7:08

I ran the west entrance loop into Elk Ridge.  from my house to the top you climb abot 650 feet in elevation in just 5 miles. My calf felt great tonight even on the steep down hill of loafer cyn.

ave pace 7:09

This morning Kellie and I went to Spanish and met up with the Spanish Fork Running group.  we started at 5 am and it was already 78 degrees and kind of humid.  We ran as a group until the bottom of Heart Break and the Tom, Hal and Dan and myself went left around the golf course.  The wind was in our faces the for about 3 miles and then finally at our backs.  Tom and I ran into Salem up to Harry's Hill and then back through salem and then down power house rd.  Tom really picked the pace up, we then stopped for a drink and then continues down the river bottoms.  Tom's watch was .5 miles a head of mine so he wanted to push it hard until mile 17 so when he hit 17 I had to leave him while he jogged slow while I finished my last .5 at a 6:14 pace.  He said a good running partner would run the extra .5 with me but his legs were killing him from the payson canyon run.  I don't blame him one bit!!!  I am glad that I ran with him I felt great the whole run, my calf is starting to feel better as well.  I even found out that Tom is 1/8 Icelandic!!!!!  I am 1/4 Icelandic, I speak the language so I am going to make a deal with Tom.  I will teach him Icelandic on our long runs in trade for his coaching skills!!!  I think that I will be getting the benefit of the deal, because Icelandic is a tough language and he will never use it, and i will get to use his coaching skills on a daily basis.  My wife Kellie ran 18 with her friend and even found some new friends that she is excited to run iwth in the future.

ave pace 7:45

This morning I had intended on doing a 3 mile tempo run? How ever when I hit 3 miles I just kept on running! Kind of like Forest Gump :) Except I only ran 1 mile longer not across the United States.

Mile 1 - 6:17

Mile 2 - 6:10

Mile 3 - 6:12

Mile 4 - 6:04

Ave Pace - 6:11

I felt like at mile 4 I could have held a 6:10 for another mile or maybe I would have hit 4.5 and crashed???? Finished with a 2 mile cool down and then passed the baton on to my wife so she could get her run in for the day. It was very hot this morning as well.

This morning I ran into Pat and Kent, they were preparing to do some speed work.  Pat really didn't feel like doing speed right off the bat so we ran 3 miles together and then Kent started with his speed work and Pat and I ran out ot Osborne Corner and then Pat started his speed work out.  I didn't have time for a speed work out so I headed back home.  It was great to run with Pat and get some useful information from him and Kent.

ave pace 7:39

I am sick of running in hot muggy weather!  I am sure that the folks down south would trade us in a second.  The good thing is, is that it only gets colder from here on out???  Well at least I hope so. I left he house at 5:20 am and ran around Salem and eventually ended up back home so that Kellie could go for her run.

Ave pace 7:17

Today I borrowed my neighbors Garmin beacuse it has a heart rate monitor, I have never ran with one and really didn't understand how it worked?  Plus it is hard ot read when you are running.  I probably need to spend some time messing with the settings.  I tried several different paces 7:00 min pace HR 168 to 170, 5:53 down hill 165, flat 6:00 pace 178 for .5 miles and then 5:52 for half mile 180 bpm.  I would like to wear it on a speed day and see what it would read on a good tempo run.  Legs felt great today and have felt great for the week.

ave pace 7:03

Today I started the Garmin watch @ 4:25 am.  I wanted to get on the road early so that I could be home at a decent time.  I have 3 UDOT jobs that bid on tuesday so i have a lot of work to do.  I needed to make up some miles from Saturday since I didn't ge to run.  Kellie ran the Provo half so I woke the boys up and headed over to watch her finish.  She did awesome, she wanted to finish under 1:50, I thought she was capable of 1:45 and she finished under that at 1:44 and some change.  She did awesome, so I was glad that I made it over to watch her.

This morning was one of those mornings where you wish you had a bib on your shirt and a finish line waiting for you  at the end.  I felt so good today, I don;t know if it was because of the short mileage week last week or beacuse I am actually in better shape than I think.  I ran out to Osborne Corner dropped my 20 oz of water and then made two complete loops around the golf course.  I like the feeling when I can finally ditch the water off of my hips and run with out it for 10 miles.  I carried a little flash light with me, moslty to be safe but it was real nice for spot lighting deer.  I ran past 2 on power house rd that were with in 5 feet of me and about 12 others through out the river bottoms.  3 bucks and a lot of does.  One buck had the one side if his horns busted off and it was hanging in his face?  I don't know if he got hit by a car or just banged it on a tree?  It is to early for then to be fighting?  Oh well enough about deer, can you tell that I am starting to get into the hunting mode?

At mile 13.75 I decided to run up Heart Break and back down so I could get an exrta .5 mile in so that I wouldn't have to run past my house to hit the 20.  I saw Kim and Tom right at tree road, tried to stop and say hi, but they were on a TEMPO run and could not stop.  I ran under 7's the rest of the way home the last 6 miles.  I felt no fatigue today, maybe a little ache now and again but nothing serious.  I really didn't pay any attention to my watch today either just moslty ran off feel.  I checked my spit's when I was doing my cool down and I was surprised to see that I averaged my St. George pace from last year 7:15 on a some what of a flat course.  I felt like I could have ran another 6.2 miles with no problems what so ever. 

This week I am going to try and run more miles and try some good speed work.  We are going to the house in St. George this weekend I anticipate running 20 miles on the course on Saturday for a long run.  I am excited for Hobble Creek in less than 2 weeks.

Ave pace 7:15

Kellie ran this morning so I ran the PM shift.  I hate running in the evening, full stomach, tons of cars and always a little hotter than normal.  I ran north from my house down past the Salem sewer plant (lots of bugs hit you in the face) then East around the Krishna Temple and then back home. 

ave pace 7:22

This moring I met up with the Spanish Fork Running Club and finally did the Payson Canyon run.  I have been excited to run this stretch of road so I could use it as a guide on where I think I might be able to for Hobble Creek.  It was very nice of Tyler, Kim and Tom's son to drive us up and then take the car down the mountain for us.  That takes a lot for a 17 year old to get out of bed that early, especially when school starts in one week.

Tom and I ran together the whole way, legs felt good and breathing felt ok as well.  Tom and I averaged 6:27 pace for the 11 miles.  I don't feel real sore sitting here at work but I imagine it will start to work it way into the muscles as the day goes on.  It has been nice running with someone on these long hard runs, I hope that Tom doesn't get sick of me talking.  Over all it was a great morning and wonderful temperatures at the top 54 degrees.

ave pace 6:27

We got in late last night, so we didn't get to bed until midnight.  I had planned on getting on the road by 5 am and driving out to Dameron Valley and run towards the start of the course and then turn around and run back.  How ever I didn't even leave the house huntil 5:30 am plus I was still feeling a little fatigued from wednesday.  I decided to park at snow canyon and run out 5 miles and turn around and come back.  It took almost 5 miles for my left hip to loosen up, and my quad was a little stiff as well.  I felt a lot better on the way back to the car, so hopefully tomorrow will be a lot better.  It ws 82 degrees when I started running and 84 when I got back to the car. We have it pretty good up north for our early morning runs.  It will be a lot better for our last long run on the course in September.

ave pace 7:45

This morning was such a beautiful morning in St. George that I couldn't resist going for a run.  I left the house at Sun Brook and headed South and ran to the Snow Canyon Ball Park got a drink in the drinking fountain and headed back to the house.  I was tempted to keep on running, how ever it was Sunday and I didn't want to be away from the family for to long, plus the sun was starting to get high in the sky and HOT.  I felt a lot better today than I did on Friday morning, legs felt awesome and breathing was very easy today.  I hope for a good week so  will be ready for Hobble Creek.

We left St George and drove out on the course and picked up our water bottles from friday and saturday, and decided to drive the rest of the course.  There was a lot of the course that I had forgotten about.  I am glad that we went and scoped the first 7 miles out there was a lot that we didn't remeber.

ave pace 7:04

Last night we had our monthly badmitton tournament, with the whole family.  It is a tradition that we started in May and we have been really good about getting together and playing and visiting.  we played over in Spanish Fork so after the tournament I decided that I would run home back to Salem.  I knew that it would be close to 7 miles to get back home so I decided I would break it up into a 2 mile warm up and then a 3 mile tempo run at about a 6:30 pace. 

mile 1 7:11

mile 2 7:09

mile 3 6:34 - dodging cars along powerhouse road... and getting dark

mile 4 6:28 - starting to get a side ache from all of the water melon and water I drank while palying badmitton.

mile 5 decided not to continue with the tempo and backed off to get rid of side ache. 7:23

mile 6 7:24

mile 7 7:41

Legs felt great and breathing was good, I hate running at night on a full stomach.

Tonight Kellie and I decided to go for a run together. We took the kids over to my parents in Spanish Fork and then drove to the Stake Center in Spanish and ran down into the river bottoms down heart break and the east towards the golf course.  Kellie ate dinner and I on the other hand was going to wait until I had finished the run.  Well she got a side ache at mile 1.5 and tried breathing through it and even walked a little.  She then ran another mile and then asked if I would run back to the car and come and get her.  She was not feeling good at all!!! :(  So I decided to do some quick miles back and the sprint to the top of Heart Break.  Kellie had the watch on but I would guess that the last 2.5 miles were around 6:30 - 6:45.    The first 2.5 miles ?!#$**? (no idea on pace, doesn't really matter)  Kellie felt bad about getting sick and not feeling good, but I did get some good foot turn over miles, and it is a taper week for Hobble, so no big deal.

Today I could not drag my butt out this morning so I did not get on the road until 6:25, decided I was going to go down canal road and make a loop around pretty little road and back home.  It was nice to actually go running at 6:30 and have it be cool outside.  Legs felt good today, I really had to concentrate on my pace so that I didn't run to fast today.  On my way home I passed the stake center on canal road and saw Michell, she had locked her self out of her car.  I went home and changed and decided that I would drive by and see if she had made it home, she was still there so I stopped and gave her a ride home.  There was a lot of kids out waiting for busses this morning, kind of makes you want to be a kid again!! (NOT)

ave pace 7:48

Today I was hoping for a time around 1:20:00, I didn't run a lot of miles this week and was starting to feel like I tapered a little to much. My legs felt really shaky all day yesterday, so I wasn't for sure how they would hold up today.

Kellie and I picked up Heidi & Heidi this morning at 5:15 and then made a couple of stops and then we were on our way to the race. we ended up getting on the last bus and so when we got to the start we only had like 10 minutes to get ready for the race to start. I kind of liked that in a way, not a whole lot of time to think about the race and not a lot of sitting around.

I started the race with the second place female and a guy named Andy, we all stayed together until mile 3 and and then I started to get a side ache at mile 3 and fought it off until mile 6. After 6 and a drink of gatorade the side ache left and I pulled away from Andy, and then I was pretty much on my own until mile 10 when Darin C, came into view and I was glad that there was somebody that I could try and chase. I was feeling good at mile 11.5 but was wanting to be done with the race and was ready to get out of the heat. I caught up to Darin at mile 12 and we stayed together until about 12.5, he was getting dizzy and not feeling real good. I left him and finished the race, when I turned and seen the clock it read 1:18:58, I was surprised to see that i was under 1:20, and very excited. Here are my splits, my watch was a little short, I think that it was from running the tangents and some times it would lose signal for a second or two.

1 5:52

2 6:01

3 6:00

4 6:01

5 6:08

6 6:04

7 6:22

8 6:02

9 6:08

10 6:15

11 6:16

12 6:19

13 6:20

I wish I could have held the 6:15 the rest of the way in, but the heat was getting to me and I really didn't look at the watch after 11.5, just concentrating on my breathing and making sure that I didn't slow down to much. Over all I am happy with my time considering the small mileage weeks that I have had over the past month. Now I just need to stay healthy and injury free and I think that I will be happy with my performance at St. George

Today was my day to run the P.M. shift.  I wanted to run slow today, I am still a little sore form the race on Saturday, not as sore as I was when I ran down Payson Canyon 2 weeks ago.  On my way home from work I called my friend Mike L, he is a Foreman for me at work and has started running this year.  He has lost over 100lbs and is still loosing every week.  He is almost out of the Clydesdale class.  He asked if I was going running tonight and I said yes, are you?  He said yeah at about 8:00, I asked if I could go with him, that way it would force me to run slow and not hurt myself.  I met him at jusst after 8 and we headed up 300 W in Salem and then up past Loafer Elem, where we chased a Skunk for about 100yds, it would not get off of the road, finally it ran off into the bushes and we went on our way.  We hit the Highline Canal just above the power station and headed NE and ran clear to the Dream Mine and then down past BYU dairy and then past Orton dairy, and then back to his house which is near New Ways.  He ran so well, i am so impressed with his performance and fitness.  We didn't stop one time, not even for him to eat a GU, or take a drink of water.  I packed 10oz of water and didn't even drink all of it.  He packed 16oz and finished it off in the last mile.  It was a perfect night and a perfect pace for a post race run.  We averaged a 10:28 pace and believe it or not I burned 1700 calories, it was awesome to listen to him talk about running and how he has caught the BUG!!!  He wants to run Snow Canyon Half and Painters Half and he even wants to run St. George next year.  He thanked me several time for heloing him loose his weight, I told him I only gave you a plan and a goal and that he was the one that put the plan to use and made the goal come true.  This is what makes the sport so AWESOME, I am so thankful for my ability to do what I can do on a daily basis.

I would have to say that Kellie and I have the most screwed up running schedule out of anybody on this blog.  But some how, some way we always seem to make it work.  I left the house tonight at 9 pm and headed down to my 800 meter course that I have marked out down in Leland.  I took 2 glow sticks with me and broke each of them and set them in the middle of the road at both ends of the course so that I could see when I was getting close to the end of the 800.  I wanted to do only 4 800's and then a 6 mile easy run, last night helped by going slow, but I needed to get the legs moving again.

Warm up 2.5 miles ave pace 7:56

800's

1 2:38 (felt easy, but knew I had to slow down for the next 3)

2:00 rest

2 2:39 (still trying to get around the 2:45 mark)

2:00 rest

3 2:42 (learning to hit the pace I want and then timing it with my breathing and foot turn over, a lot to think about in a half mile)

2:00 min rest

4 2:45 (this still felt good, legs had no pains and they felt light, breathing pattern is a key part in doing these from what I am learning.  If you don't breathe consistantly from the start to the finish it makes your pace jump all over the board)

Next time I would like the split's to look the other way + - not -+, this is only my 3rd time doing these so I still have a lot to learn.

3 miles into Spanish Fork and back, 6 miles total. ave pace 7:46

I like doing these in the morning, with not a lot of food in the stomach and a little cooler temps.

Today I met my friend Dan, who is running the Wasatch 100 on the 6th of Sept.  He is tapering and needed to do an easy 10-11 miles today, not to mention I needed to get use to running on dirt because I am pacing him from mile 75-100 the finish.  I will meet him at Brighton Ski Resort on Sunday the 7th @ 1:00 am and the run 25 miles to The Homestead.  We drove up to the Soldier Hollow trail head on the North side of Deer Creek Res.  There is a trail that runs along the North side of Deer Creek, starting at the Dam and heading towards Soldier Hollow.  It is about 7 miles from one end to the other.  We did an out and back, 5.5 miles out and the same back.  It is a nice road base trail, there are mile markers and even a bathroom stop in between.  It is not a flat course, nice rollers most of the way.  It would be a great course to do a long tempo run and see if you could hold a 7-7:30 pace.  It owuld be tough becasue it is not a totally flat course.  Great start to a Thursday morning.

Today I was going to run a short 5 miles with Dan, but our schedules would not work together.  I had to met a paving foreman in Mapleton, so after we met I had him run me up to the start of the Habble Creek Half.  I left my truck at mile 10, so that I could run back to it.  I started running at 2:15 pm and wanted to try and average an over all 7:00 pace for the run.  It was kind of hot once I got out of the canyon and atarted running on the trail, and there was a head wind the whole way down the canyon.  I wsa glad that I didn't have to run another 3.1 miles today, now that would have been a hot 3.1 miles.

10 miles ave pace 6:46.

Today we met up with the SF running group, and Tom, Nathan and myself ran with Steve, Carl and Darin.  We ran out to Harry's Hill together adn then from there Carl and Steve dropped the hammer and cruised up that hill like it was a down hill run.  I ran with Darin and Tom and Nathan were right on our heels.  We then went over to Salem stopped and grabbed a drink and then went down around the Krishna Temple and into the ball Park.  Darin and I ran together from woodland hills dr to the ball park and Tom followed, he was still sore from his Wednesday Payson Cyn run.  We grabbed a drink and then headed in to the river bottoms and once again Steve and Carl left us in the dust.  Darin's knee was hurting so he cut his run short.  I follwed behind Steve and Carl trying to keep the in sight.  It was 2.5 miles @ a 6:45 pace up to Osborne corner.  we stopped for a drink again and then made our way around the golf course.  We did a 2 mile tempo run from 20-22 at a 6:10 pace.  Carl was just ahead of me and Steve was off like a rocket I would guess a 5:20 - 5:25 WOW.  We jogged slow the rest of the way back to the stake center.  I ran with tom until my watch hit 23 miles and then back to the church.  Kellie was not back yet, so I jogged back to heart break hill waited for a minute and then jogged back to the church.  I felt good today, no real fatigue or pains.  Ice bath and Endurox and lot's of peppermint and deep blue oil.

ave pace for 23 7:32

ave pace mile 24 SLOW

So last night Kellie and I decided to find a baby sitter and go and run the 10k over to Payson.  I had seconed guessed doing so after running 65 miles last week and ending with 24 on Saturday.  The weather last night was rainy and so when the alarm went off Kellie and I were second guessing if we should even go.  I decided that we would at least show up and see what the weather was going to be like, luckily it turned out to be a great race. 

Mile 1 6:06 Started with Michelle and feeling good on this mile.

Mile 2 5:59 Still with Michelle, how ever calves are hurting and shins are starting to burn.

Mile 3 6:10 Michells is now in front and there are 4 guys in front of me, legs still burning

Mile 4 6:15 This mile was short, I forgot to hit the lap button.

Mile 5 6:27 This mile was a little long compared to the watch, I had to out sprint a train on this mile, I was the last guy to make it through the train stop.  I literally had to run through the arms to make it.  This kind of took a little out of me. There was also a gradual uphill on this mile.

Mile 6 6:24 Wanting to be done, can't out kick XXXXL t shirt kid.  He was 17 and had on his dad's t shirt, but hey what ever works.

.26 1:34.64  So it was a little long, but not by much.

I did get a new PR for a 10k by 11 seconds, I felt like this course was harder than the Speedy Spaniard?  I don't know why?  Maybe the long run on Saturday took it out of me.  Kellie beat her time from Spanish Fork 10k by 2 minutes!!!  CONGRATS KELLIE!!! 

We waited around to see if we might win a prize in the drawings, but no such luck!  We went and had pancakes at Marions house with a bunch of the FRB's.  It is so fun to meet new people and hear about everybody's race details.  So over all, I am glad we went, gald I have a new PR, glad that it's over and really glad that the MARATHON IS ABOUT HERE!!!

Today I wasn't for sure what or how I wanted to run, normally I try and do my hard runs on Wedensday's but with the race on Monday and then being sore yesterday I really didn't want to push it to hard.  I decided that I would not run Payson Canyon and try and run some flat instead.  I planned on doing 12, starting with a 2 mile warm up and then 4 miles at a comfortable pace and then 4 miles at 6:45 pace and then finish with a 2 mile cool down.

Warm Up

1 8:07

2 7:13 (Kind of got carried away)

Steady Pace

3 7:05

4 7:07

5 6:59

6 7:20 (Heart Break hit at this mile, always fun to run that hill)

Tempo

7 6:46

8 6:57 (Hill up to Osborne's, I need to push the hill's harder)

9 6:46

10 6:51 (little hill at the byu dairy, I hit this mile and my watch read 1:11:11, kind of cool)

Cool Down

11 7:24

12 7:34

Total time 1:26:07 - ave pace 7:11

I felt really good today, better than I had anticipated.  I think that I was just feeling sorry for myself yesterday.  I think I needed to just get out and run.  The weather was perfect this morning, long sleeve shirt and shorts with gloves, drank 10oz of water and really felt good through out the whole run.

This morning I decided to try a new route.  I left my house and headed east on salem Canal Dr and the when I hit Woodland Hills Dr I headed North and then went out and around the Krishna Temple and then ran to the SF Ball Park, and then back home through the SF River Bottoms.  It was a little longer than I had anticipated but it was a great route.  Everything seemed to click again this morning.  I ran into Heidi C about mile 13 and ran back to my house with her.  She runs with Kellie every now and again and is also in our ward.  She had a ton of questions about running, I hope that I gave her some good answers.

ave pace 7:11

Today Kellie and I got up and ran 15 miles, we ended up on the Spanish Fork1/2 Marthon course for the last 5 miles of the run.  It was fun to see and cheer on people that we knew and that we didn't know.  Kellie ran great today, it was nice to see her running fast and even happy doing it :) 

I am going to call these miles threshold miles, they were not fast miles but they were HARD MILES.  In the trail running world they would be considered MARATHON MILES.

After my run on Saturday morning I had to get home and get ready to go and help my friend Dan M with his Wasatch 100 Endurance Run.  I was feeling pretty sorry for myself after watching the 1/2 Marathon on Saturday morning and wishing that I could have ran the race, especially after reading everybody's race reports.  How ever Saturday after noon I was not feeling sorry for myself any more.  I realized how important this race was to Dan and I was glad to be a part of it.

I dropped Dan's wife off at Big Mountain Pass and she ran 14 miles with him to Lambs Canyon, for there Bryan B ran with Dan to Mill Creek, I was going to pace Dan from Brighton to the finish, but when Dan hit Mile 60 at Mill Creek he asked if I wanted to run the rest of the way!!!  I hadn't slept since Saturday at 5 am and I know what an additional 15 miles in the mountains can do to the body.  Dan was feeling nautios and needed some extra encouragement so I quickly said sure with out any hesitation when he asked.  It was 38 degrees when we started running from Mill Creek, but the night was calm no wind and the sky was so clear. 

THE JOURNEY BEGINS

From the Mill Creek Aid station we had about 5 miles to Desolation Lake Aid Station, it was so awesome to be hiking on a mountain trail at night with a head lamp on and watching flashlights in front of you and behind you on the trail They also had glow sticks hanging from the trees so that you could stay on course it was such an awesome feeling.  We passed several people and then the same people would pass you.  It is not possible to drive to Desolation Lake, so at this aid station the support crew has to back pack everything in. Baked potatoes, noodles, spaghetti, coke, water, Gatorade, pretzels etc.....  They are the nicest people and so willing to help, tape feet, pop blisters, and wash your feet you name it.  My job as a pacer was to make sure that he didn’t go to fast or to slow, but most important to make sure that he ate and drank.  We make it to Desolation at 12:37 am, we make this a long stop still trying to get rid of Dan's nausea in his stomach, we also wait for a friend that was with us, his knee was in bad shape, he makes it to the stop but looks really bad.  We check out of Desolation at 1:03 am.

Next Stop SCOTT'S PASS 4 miles...

Dan was finally starting to feel better, he at a bunch of pretzels along the way and ate 2 extra GU's along this route along with some accelerade.  When we hit Scott's Pass Dan wanted to make it a short stop so that he could get to Brighton and take a longer stop there.  I am feeling great still and am very glad that I am a part of this whole crazy adventure.

Next STOP BRIGHTON 5 miles

This was a good down hill section, rocky but down hill.  We hit asphalt with 3 miles to go to Brighton I tried talking him into running my marathon pace for 3 miles on the asphalt; he said I could try :)  We were very happy to finally hit Brighton, his wife was there waiting for him, he changed his shoes and got some good calories in him and then it were off to Ant Knolls Aid Station.

Next Stop ANT KNOLL'S 5 miles.

When you leave Brighton you have a 3 mile climb to get to the top of Katheryn's Pass, it is a 2,000' climb in about 3 miles.  This is the second steepest climb on the course; we passed a lot of people along this portion of the trail.  When we finally hit the top my watched read 10,240 in elevation, the sky was so clear and we could see down in to Salt Lake and we could even see in to Heber and Park City, they call that portion of the trail Lovers Ridge?  We then had a 2 mile drop into the next aid station.  We hit Ant Knoll's at 4:23 am, we needed to get some good food into Dan at this Station, from here we hit the 3rd steepest part of the race. THE GRUNT!!! It is a 3 mile climb of switch backs and loose terrain.

Next Stop POLE LINE PASS 3 miles

From Ant Knolls to Pole line is a short distance to aid stations, mainly because of the climb up, at this aid station there are several runners sleeping, not sure if they are just resting or if they had dropped out of the race?  Dan is tired and is ready for the sun to come up.  After a while it becomes quite annoying looking down at the ground with a flashlight, and after 83 miles I am sure even the most little things become very annoying.  I also wanted the sun to come out; Dan was needing something to give him a boost of energy.  I had now been awake for 24+ hours and on mile 23 of this race not counting the 15 that I ran with Kellie Saturday morning.  I was still feeling great and was on such a high that I could be part of such a great race.

Next Stop ROCK SPRINGS 5 miles

We hit Rock Springs at 6:55 am, this is another aid station where they back pack everything in, the water comes from a Spring, so they don't have to pack water but they do have to pack all of the food.  When the sun finally came up we had just come around Point Supreme, you are at about 9,000+ feet in elevation and you are looking right at the back side of Timp, and down into Alpine.  This was a huge energy boost for Dan, it was light, the scenery was absolutely breath taking and he was getting closer to the 90 mile range.  We had to stop and snap a bunch of pictures; Dan made a quick potty break here.  We made a quick stop at the aid station Mile 87, 3 miles from hitting the 90 mile mark. 

Next Stop POT BOTTOM - Last and FINAL AID STATION 6 miles

When we left Rock Springs we had some SERIOUS DOWN HILL, the first of the 2 is called the PLUNGE, it is a 2 mile down hill, loose rocks, it is hard to even stop yourself from running to fast.  I made sure that Dan was staying balanced in his run, making sure he didn't fall and get hurt.  My quads and hips were now starting to ache, 33 miles and had now been awake for 27 hours.  I can't even imagine how Dan's legs were feeling, he was still talking and joking around but was ready to be done.  The next down hill section is called the DIVE, this was a little better than the plunge, not as rocky and not as steep, Dan ran great through this section great, after the plunge you have 7 rollers until you get to Pot Bottom, we would run down the down hill and the walk up the up hills.  We passed 4 runners along this section, I think that we passed 15 runners from Brighton and we never got passed once after we left Brighton.  I made mention of that to Dan so that he would have a good mental boost to run strong in to the last aid station.  My Garmin had been on for almost 11 hours, it ran out right before the aid station.  32.5 miles or 11 hours is about how long the battery is good for, I have never ran the battery dry on one run.  Dan had a fresh watch from Brighton so we still had a watch to help us with the mileage.  When we hit pot bottom we told Dan to eat what ever sounded good to him, he only had 7 miles left so he was going to make, he just needed to eat what ever made him feel good at that time.  He was tired and really wanted to be done.  We left Pot Bottom at 8:43 am, I wanted Dan to finish under 30 hours, there are not a lot of people that can say that they ran 100 miles in less that 30 hours.

Next Stop The HOMESTEAD "THE FINISH LINE" 7 miles

We had a 2 mile walk up a dirt road before we peeled of onto a single track trail for 4 miles and then there would be 1 mile of asphalt to the finish line.  We walked for a mile and the surprisingly Dan asked if he could run up hill for the last mile???  I said sure, if you feel like, I could not believe that after 94 miles a person would want to run up hill.  At this point of the race I felt very honored and blessed to be able to do the things in my life.  I was so glad that Dan had got me into running 18 months ago, Dan use to run marathons, he was very fast and always finished in the top of his age group.  He has completed several tri's and has completed 3 Iron Man's.  He is so mentally, physically and spiritually strong.  There were several time prior to this race that I was worried about getting injured for St. George, Dan also made mention several times that I needed to be careful so that I wouldn't injure myself for my own race.  Dan is not selfish at all, last year I asked him at least 20 questions a week about running, I know that is why I have been able to accomplish the things in my running career that I have to this date.  At one point in this race I said, this will either help me hit a 2:50 at St. George or it won't.  I laughed and said it doesn't really matter; we just needed to get HIM in under 30 hours.

THE FINISH

We hit the asphalt and his wife and boy were there waiting for him, Evan my son was there waiting for me.  Dan ran the 6 of the last 7 miles; I could not believe that he could still do that.  I learned and gained a lot of mental toughness today, the thoughts of Boston kept coming back to me during this last 7 miles.  I remember how bad my leg hurt for the last 5 miles of Boston and how bad it hurt to keep running. I could ne imagine how Dan's legs felt at this point.  It was so cool to watch his family finish with him, it is not like a normal race where you are so worried about the clock, the mileage being right, it was all about finishing the task at hand.  Dan finished the race and came in 44th place over all, out of 264 runners that started the race.  I think that there were less than 50 that finished under 30hrs.  I will never complain about being sore and in pain for 5 miles ever again.

I finally got out and went for a run tonight.  I ran with Mike L, he is good to run with when you need to go slow.  I think that if I would have went out by myslef I would have ran to fast.  Legs felt a little heavy, but I think that I will be ready for Saturday.

ave pace 10:30.... SLOW

Kellie and I got a baby sitter last night @ 9:00 and went out for a quick 5 mile run.  She id getting faster every time I run with her.  After the 2nd mile I kind of stayed in front of her so that she would have some one to chase.  She ran really well, my legs felt great and I think that I will be ready for Saturday.

ave pace 7:59

I got up this morning adn went out before Kellie.  I left at 5:30 and headed east on Salem Canal, I then headed south on Woodland Hills Dr and ran up to the mail boxes, legs were feeling great running up hills today.  I cut across the top and ran past Loafer Mtn Dr so that I could get an extra .5 mile before I headed home.  When I hit Salem Canal I needed another .25 so that I could hit 7.5 miles when I hit my house.  I ran into Michelle and MacK and ran back to my house with them.  Everything seemed to click today, hopefully it clicks tomorrow.

ave pace 7:45

Thanks for typing this for me Michelle.

The plan was 4 miles marathon pace, 1 mile tempo (so gear shift), then break, then 4 miles marathon pace, 1 mile tempo pace.  We did it! 

First set:  not sure on first mile split, probably 6:20, 6:22, 6:05, 5:57, 5:32.  The first set is mainly to just get you tired for the second set.   After our first 5 mile set we turned around and cheered Josse and caught up with Kellie, then ran with her to mile mark 6 (we got water and I had a second gu at the cherry campground at 5.5 down).

Second set:  6:12, 6:08, 6:05, 6:20, 6:00.  All miles were by marker except the first mile, but the net of the first two miles (12:20) is accurate.  Also we never found the mile 11 marker, but I think we went a little long, since my watch tends to mark these miles longer than the road markers from the race.  We shed our long sleeves and gloves one mile into the second 5 mile set. The last mile is mile 11 of the race, a yucky mile with a short steep hill.  Tyler was stronger than me on the uphill, but I was able to kick at the end and finally put some heat on him, after 9.5 miles of him putting heat on me

 Today I had to take Evan to Piano, so while I waited for him I parked my truck at the Lake Shore Church and had enough time to get in a quick 5 miles.  Legs felt great tonight after the hard 22 miler on Saturday.  Right knee was a little sore at first, stretched after 2 miles and the pain went away.  Looking forward to a taper week this week and then a good deer hunt next week.

ave pace 7:04

Today I went out early so that Kellie could go with the neighbor girls.  I left the house at 5:20 and ran out 4.5 miles and back on the same route.  It was a great morning, the weather was perfect and the moon was really bright.  I really had to hold back today my legs felt fresh and ready to run. 

ave pace 7:41

Today I took the early morning shift "again" jk I really don't mind it once I start running it's just getting out of bed that sucks.  I ran up to the mail boxes in woodland hills and made the loop back home.  I needed to be home by 6:30 so that Kellie could go run.  I felt great this morning, it was actually kind of warm today, I had to shed the long sleeve shirt.  I hope that it cools down for the deer hunt next week. :)  I hate hiking in the heat!

ave pace 7:37

This morning Kellie and I slept in until 6am!!!  It felt so great to sleep for so long on a saturday.  We left the house at 6:20 and did our 15 mile loop through Salem, SF, and then back to Salem.  Kellie ran great today, I can't believe how much improvement she has made since last year.  It was a great morning, no wind, the temp was perfect, i ran with a long sleeve shirt and gloves the whole time.  Kellie shed her first shirt at mile 2 and gloves as well.  SHE WAS HOT!!!  It feels good knowing that two weeks from now we will be done with the marathon and hopefully back at the house taking a nap!  

ave pace 8:04 (kellie beat me by 2 seconds today, she is so competitive)

Today was the opening of the muzzle loader deer hunt.  Hiked just a little over miles today, saw a lot of deer no big bucks.  I like that this hunt falls on the week before the marathon, it give time for my body to recover from a long summer of running.  It also gives me a lot of time to think about the race.  I usually have dreams of big bucks the night before the hunt, I found myself awake thinking about the marathon.  I really must be losing it....?

Today I hiked 5 miles, it was alot of uphill and very thick brush.  The deer ran in front of us, because the brush was so thick.  Legs feel good, some little whispers every now and again.  The hike was cut short today, my uncle shot a 4X4 deer today.  I pushed the deer to him, I did not get a good look at it.  after he shot it, i had to help him drag it about 2 miles, that is the bad part when it comes to hunting.

Today Evan joined me on the hunt.  This was his first deer hunt, so I was not so sure on how he would do on long early morning hikes.  He did a great job and did not complain one time.  We went on a morning hike and the we went out again on a after noon hunt.

Short hike this morning, it was way to hot.  Mostly sat around and talked about past hunting stories.

Ran 1 mile with Evan 10:46 ave pace

5 miles alone ave pace 7:10

I will give a more detailed race report later... Everything felt great until mile 24, I still maintained and finished just ove 1 minute of mt goal time.  The weather was brutal, rainy and a head wind the whole time!

More to come....

I am now sitting at work and I feel like a kid when Christmas is over!!!  There is so much build up and hype prior to Christmas and then BAM it's all over!  This is just like training for a marathon, long miles, early mornings, races, new shoes, lot's and lot's of GU's and the list could go on forever.  And then after just 3 long hours it's over!!  I really never wanted the race over until mile 24, I just wanted to be running the race.  My friend Dan always says, it's more about the journey than the finish!  I have met a lot of great people over the past 17 weeks, and I am glad that my wife had a full summer to train this year.

Split's for the race.  I typed a long race report and hit save draft & edit prev and lost the whole thing???  I may or may not retype it?

1 - 6:26

2 - 6:30

3 - 6:12

4- 6:14

5 6:19

6 6:00

7 6:01

8 6:58 Very thankful for Darin C.  We ran together for the next 11 miles, I left him for a mile or two around 19 but by 21 he blew right past me.  I wish that I would have stayed with him, maybe I could have finished with him? 

9 6:52

10 6:54

11 7:10

12 6:43

13 6:29

14 6:35

15 6:11

16 6:04

17 6:22

18 6:25

19 7:07

20 6:35

21 6:12

22 6:38 wheels start to loosen :(

23 6:34 they tighten a little

24 6:34 I have no idea how I am maintaining this pace???

25 6:43 Never mind I lost the wrench the wheels are falling all over the road.

26 6:52 Some how I stayed under 7??? 

.2 1:36

I finally decided that it was time to get out and run.  I was enjoying the time off and really enjoying the eating side of the time off.  I had intended on running 5 miles, but when I hit mile 2, Shawn W was running back to his house so I turned around and ran back with him.  We talked for about 20 minutes and then I headed back home.  Right calf is still a little sore, it started to ache a little bit at mile 3.  I think that I needed to stretch before I went out?  It felt good to get out, and the weather has been great.

Tonight I was going to meet Shawn W, but he never showed up so I was now 15 minutes behind the already busy night schedule.  I was only going to run 5 miles but decided that I would run up past shawn's dad's house and see if he was there.  I decided to run up to the mail boxes in Woodland Hills and then back to Salem Canal Rd and then home.  It is a great 10k course, there is about an even 2 miles of up to start and 2 miles of down and 2.2 miles of flat.  If you run it backwards it is a little tougher on the uphill section.  The fastest that I have ever ran this on a training run was 43:??.  I was in a hurry to get home so I decided to push the run a little and see how the legs would react.

Here are the split's

1 - 7:38

2 - 7:09 this is a good uphill section, I felt very comfortable at this pace.

3 - 6:41

4 - 6:13

5 - 6:32

6 - 6:26

.2 - 1:15

6:46 ave pace total time 41:55

I felt very comfortable on this run, it actually felt really good to push the pace a little.  So I have set a new PR for this training run and hope to use it as a gage for future runs on this course.

I returned home from South Dakota on Monday night so I was not able to run much last week.  I did do a lot walking while I was hunting for pheasants.  How ever I did eat a lot of junk food and a whole lot of sprite and red meat!!! 

I decided last night after dinner that I would go out for a short run and see how the legs would respond to 3.1 mile tempo run.  I didn't eat a lot of dinner so I felt like I would be ok to run and hopefully not get a side ache.

I started out with a .5 mile warm up, 8 min pace.  I ran the Salem Days 5k route, starting at the mile 1 and then coming back towards my house.  I wanted to start some what slow and then try and work my way down on the pace.

mile-1 6:50 this starts out flat and then has a small down hill part.

Mile- 2 6:13 this mile is mostly down hill, with aabout 1/4 of it flat.

Mile- 3 6:13 this mile has some rollers and for 1/2 mile and then the last .6 is straight uphill.  I was holding a 6 min pace until I hit 2.9 and then had to stop or I was going to have an accident :(  I have never had this happen to me before.  I jogged the last .2 so it slowed my pace down.  I had to make a quick stop at the church and then jogged really slow the rest of the way home.  I was glad that the church was open!!!!!

My legs felt really good the whole run, I never felt like I was out of breath or like I was pushing the pace to much.  The pace actually felt really comfortable and I felt like there was more in the tank.  I would really like to run a 5k or 10k some time in the near future.  I hope to get out tonight and go a little longer.

I was not able to get out this morning with the Salem group due to an early work meeting.  I got off work early and came home and went for a run.  The temp was perfect, about 62 degrees with slight breeze.  I ran east on salem canal dr and the north on woodland hills dr and the over behind the krishna temple and then down past the salem sewer plant and then home.  I saw MichellL driving and she gave me a big WAVE!!!  I waved back and kept on running.   I am feeling really good when I run, I have no real aches or pains and I feel real comfortable at a 7 min pace.  I try to slow down to an 8 min pace and it seems to wear me out???  I ran 9 miles and averaged 6:58 pace, I felt no fatigue while running and I feel no real pains after the run?  I am going to run totally off of how I feel and hope that my pace continues to drop, and that I stay injury free.

ave pace 6:58

Kellies brother cam in to town this week so we decided to bring him down to St. George and stay at the house.  I got in late last night, Kellie and the boys came down thursday.  Mike, Kellies brother is training for the Jacksonville Marathon in December so he wanted to go out for a long run.  We left the house at Sunbrook and drove out 15 miles on the marathon course.  It was cold this morning but it felt really good.  He lives in Georgia so it was really cold for him and the elevation was having a little affect on him.  We ran the first 2 miles s liitle slow and then we decided to push the pace a little.  The scenery was beautiful, and the weather was great.  I wish the weather could have been like today for the actual race 3 weeks ago, oh well it's over and done with.  We did see Jose running UP the course, he looked like he was flying up those hills.  Mike loved the course and the scenery, he wants to put in for the 2009 race.  He is running really strong right now and will do well in his marathon come December.

ave pace 6:48

Legs were a little achy towards the end, with all of the down hill running.  We forgot GU's and I could tell that I was in need of something around mile 10.  We are going to make a stop at the St. George running Center today and check out the store. 

Ran with Spanish Fork group and ran a 6 mile tempo run with Michelle.

6:27, 6:21, 6:37, 6:31, 6:29, 6:21  tempo miles.

Legs felt great during run, left calf was pretty tight and really didn't loosen up.  After the run my right foot hurt real bad.  It felt better after a nap and some good rest.

ave pace 7:22

Went out this afternoon, ran up loafer dr and then over to the mail boxes, and then down woodland hills dr and then across to harry's hill and then across pretty little road and then home.  Today I had just a couple of pains here and there but nothing to bad.  I felt really comfortable at a 7:00 min pace on the flat.  Wonderful weather for November, I love the fall smells that come with running.

ave pace 7:15

6.4 miles this morning, I wanted to run more but I could not get out of bed.  Ave Pace 7:31, there was a head wind the whole time.  Ran across Salem Canal Rd and then up woodland hills dr to the mail boxes, and then back home.

Met up with Dan M and ran from Rock Canyon over to the Y and then ran up to the Y.  Legs felt really heavy but the lungs felt great.  I have never been able to run all of the way to the Y with out stopping.  I MADE IT FOR THE FIRST TIME!  Dan was kind of struggling, but he was just coming off of a vacation so he had the right to struggle.  We then ran towards Slate Canyon and then back to Rock Canyon.

Total Running Time 1hr:35 min

Ran the 5 mile loop this morning, ran the loop twice to add on an axtra 2 miles.  It was cold this morning, probably 25.  The puddles on the side of the road were frozen, I warmed up after about a mile and everyhting seemed to click.

ave pace 7:32

Met up with Scott and Kelli and ran on the Jordan Rive Trail in Lehi.  Legs felt great, really didn't push the pace at all.  Average Pace 7:53

Met up with Dan M and ran from Rock Canyon to the base of Y mountain and then up to the top of the Y  and back to Rock Canyon.  I felt better last week when I ran to the Y, I think that it had to do with the chili dogs and fries, oh and the frozen yogurt for lunch.  It was very rainy and when we hit the top of the Y it was very cloudy and rainy.  Great run, Dan is always good to run with.

Ran from the house and over to Kellie's work, never really got into this run?  I don't know if it is because it was in the afternoon or that I was carrying 20oz of water.  I did average a good pace and even tried to slow down but felt very comfortable at a 7:17 pace.  Met Kellie and then went and picked the boys up from school and the sitters.

This was a busy week and I knew that I wouldn't get a lot of running in so I left work early and came home and went running around 2:00.  Left the house and decided that I would get a hard work out in, since I wasn't going to run on Saturday with kellie being gone.  I decided that I would do a 2 mile warm up and then run a 10 mile tempo?  I wanted to start at or around 7:15 pace and then drop with every mile.  It felt really easy to run at the lower pace today, I really had to make sure that I didn't drop to fast and not negative split the tempo run.  Average pace for the 10 mile tempo was 6:45, at mile 8 I decided that I would try and stay below a 6:00 pace, ave pace for that mile 5:49 :)  I hate running on power house road so I decided that I would try and get off of it as fast as I could.  Finished tempo run strong and then coasted in for a quick shower and then off to get the boys from school and the sitters.

I have not been running a lot of miles, but I feel like my work outs have been really good! 

I got home from work and had enough time to go and run before Evan's karate practice.  I ran up to the Woodland Hill's mail boxes and thenback to Salem Canal Rd and home.  I tried to run the up hills slow and the run the down hill at MP and then hit the flat kind of hard.  I found today that I have an easier time hitting the low 6:00 to 6:20 pace on flat ground rather than on the down hill?  Everyhting felt good today, no real pains to speak of, I hope to get some longer miles in tomorrow.

ave pace 7:00

Met up tonight and ran with Mike L, he has not been running for about 2 months now because his knee has been hurting him.  We were running really, really slow before he got hurt he was running like 9:45's and we were struggling hitting 11:30 pace.  That was way to slow for me, it was pretty much a speed walk.  I thought to myself, should I run ahead and then turn around or just hang with him.  When we hit mile 2 he said why don't you run up and around pretty little road and I will run down the BYU dairy road and you try and catch me by the time I hit the Orton dairy.  I quickly said that would be great.  I left him when my watch said 2.2 miles

mile 1 10:52 :)

mile 2 11:14 :( :( :(

mile 3 7:38 this had .2 at a really slow pace

mile 4 6:18 this is an up hill section, about mile 7 of the spanish fork half.

mile 5 5:47 :) trying to catch Mike and as I turn down on the BYU dairy road I can't see him in sight, so I know that I need to kick it to catch him.  I thought that I would catch him by the time he hit the turn, but I think he kicked his pace up a bit too.  I hit mile 5 right before the hill at the dairy, I ran up the hill and caught him just past the dairy when he was getting ready to cross woodland hills dr.  I asked him if he caught a ride, he laughed and said that he had a goal to not let me catch him.  I had a flashing light on and he said that he could see me coming?

Mile 6 9:42

Mile .4 11:34, we had to wait a while to cross the highway.

ave pace 8:52

This was kind of a fun game, I would like to try it again and see if I could catch him sooner than the time before.

Evening run today, I drove to the Salem Stake Center hoping to meet up with Pat and Kent but they no showed so I was all by myself.  I ran over to pretty little road and ran around the loop and then ran up Harry's Hill and then over to Woodland Hills Dr and up to the mail boxes, then across to Loafer Dr and then back to the Stake Center, I had to run an extra .75 to get to 10 miles.  It felt good to run hills today, I did fight a side ache for about 2 miles.  I think it was from the lunch that I had today.

ave pace 7:22

Met up with MichelleL and MattK this morning for a 10 mile tempo run, it was very cold about 23 when we started.  we ran out to Osborne corner for a 3 mile warm up and then we stretched and then Michelle made sure that we started at the invisibe starting line???  She made some comment about be to much like somebody???  I can't remeber who though?!?!?  When ever I run with Michelle I always wait for her to write our split's and then I copy and paste.  She is far better at reporting than me.  So here are the goods.....

The plan was to do a 10 mile tempo, at marathon pace, with two .8 faster tempo pushes inside (like 6:00ish pace).  So 4.2M @ marathon, .8 @ 10Kish, 3.2 @ marathon, .8 @ 10Kish, 1 mile @ marathon.  This workout is adapted from a workout in Jack Daniel's Running Formula "Elite" marathon training plan, but that workout is 14 miles of tempo, and I haven't tempoed more than 8 miles since the marathon, so I thought 10M would be hard enough and it was.  The goal is to change gears faster without going anaerobic so that you can shift gears back to marathon pace.  We did a 5 mile loop in the SF riverbottoms since MattK knew he might now be able to do the whole workout.  The course is SF Golf Course 5M.  

	Pace	Ideal pace per course tool	Descript
Mile 1	6:27	6:14	Downhill piece within, conversational, easing into it
Mile 2	6:35	6:31	Slight uphill, TylerS conversational, fierce headwind for 1/2 of this mile
Mile 3	6:45	6:37	slight uphill, headwind off and on, MattK drops off, Tyler seems unchallenged and bored, I have some mental weakness but plow through (I was not bored, and it was challenging)
Mile 4	6:38	6:58	Uphill, but have some tailwind (probably why split is faster than course tool projection)
.2	6:02 pace	na	steep downhill (I loved this part)
.8	6:02 pace	na	gradual downhill, gear switch to faster tempo pace (I was kind of lucky at this point I hit a high!  I felt really good and was surprised that I was feeling so good)  Michelle can switch gears faster then me though!  I think that she drives an automatic.
Mile 6	6:49		turn around and do loop backwards, gradual, then steep uphill
Mile 7	6:24		downhill but headwind
Mile 8	6:19		slight downhill, MattK joins, tailwind off and on
.21	6:22 pace		slight downhill, some tailwind
.82	5:57 pace		slight downhill (SF riverbottoms road), MattK stays with us I remember asking Michelle when her watch was going to beep so that we could stop running so fast.
Mile 10	6:38		flat, and "nice" uphill portion to get to Osborn's

So the first loop was 32:45, 6:31 ave pace and the second loop was 32:20, 6:26 ave pace.  Not too shabby.  The 32:45 is predicted as a 6:20 pace if the course were flat per the course tool.  I am glad that I survived the run and glad that I got out of bed and met up with MattK and Michelle.  It is always such a good feeling when you finish a work out like that.  It's like finishing a race with in a training run, at least for me. 

Today I met up with Steve K and MichelleL for some early morning speed work.  The plan was to run 5-1k's and 6-400's.  Michelle had mapped out the course the day before and so she brought some glow sticks so that we could see the 400, 800 and 1k marks.  This was very helpful while running so that you could check your splits with out having to look at your watch all of the time.  Steve is a very good runner and is a lot faster than me and Michelle so it was nice having him there.

1k's

1 - 3:27, This felt easy but I knew that it was going to get a lot harder...

2 - 3:26, This one felt easy to, but I was dreading the next 3.

3 - 3:28, ok, starting to feel hard, stomach flares up at the 800 mark but still able to finish strong

4 - 3:26, I kind of fell behind on this one at the 800 mark but had to push hard to catch Michelle on this one.

5 - 3:30, Michelle fell behind on this one, or maybe I went out to fast?  Steve ran with me until almost the 800 mark and then he dropped back with Michelle and pulled her up even with me.  She really had a good kick to finish strong - Amazing we made it :)

8 min rest between sets

400m

1 - 75

2 - 74

3 - 76

4 - 75 (This is Tyler's last due to time constraints)

I enjoyed the 400's this was the first time for both distances and I would have to say that I enjoyed the 400's a lot better.  I wish that I could have finsihed the last 2 but I had to get home so that Kellie could go and work out.  I hope to do these again some time, Michelle and Steve are great people and I feel very lucky to be able to train with such strong runners.  I need to take Kellie with us, she would do great at this too. 

Kellie was taking to 7:00am shift today with the Heidi's so I needed to take the 5:30 shift.  I met up with Mike L and Brandon G for an easy 6.5 mile run.  I needed to run slow today because of the work out from yesterday so I called and brought these two along.  It was very fun, I like running with Brandon, he has the best river bottoms stories from the high school years.  It was a perfect morning, and the company was awesome.

Today we me tup with a group of bloggers in Lehi and ran on the Jordan river Trail.  We had an 8:00 start time which was nice, Kellie and I were able to sleep in a little, and it made it so our baby sitter didn't have to shop up realy early.  I started running with JonA, Kyle, Scott and MichelleL.  We ran and chatted out to mile 5 and then turned around for some water(thanks Kelli and Scott) and a GU.  We ran to mile 6 and then Michelle went over the plan with us "boys".  The plan was to run 2 miles at a pace of 6:00-6:05 pace :(((  We were all up to the plan so at mile 6 we were off.

1st tempo mile  - 5:59, this had a "slight" down hill in it but it also had several rollers after.

2nd tempo mile - 5:58, this still had some down hill but several ups too.

We were going to rest for 2 minutes and then run another 2 miles at the same pace.  Michelle and I turned back for Scott and Kyle and JonA, they all were still running hard and working great.  The rest was a little longer because of the turn around. 

We started the second set with Scott, Kyle and Michelle, this section was a constant up and down so it was a little harder but over all it felt great.  I hate when we have to stop it always takes me a half mile to get back into it again.

3rd tempo mile 6:04 - This was hard at first and then it was starting to get easier for me, Michelle was having no trouble and was even conversational :)

4th tempo mile 6:03 - This mile was a good one for me, I had some extra energy kick in with just over a half of mile to go.  Michelle and I ran to the gate and then had to turn around and run back just over .2 to get the full 2 miles in.  We ran back and found that Scott was still running hard and Kyle had fallen off just a little.

We stopped at the cars for a quick drink and then we were off again.  This time is was Scott, JonA and Michelle.   We ran south on the trail now and ran about 2 miles and the JonA had to leave us.  I was dreading the next 3 mile tempo run, my legs were feeling shaky and tired, we ran out ot where JonA had placed water but we couldn't find it, somebody must have taken it :)  I hope it was somebody that really needed it! 

Michelle, Scott and I started the 3 mile tempo run back towards the cars, again I struggled for the first half mile and then things just started clicking.  I could feel myslef wating to slow down but I felt better at the pace that I was running.  I did place a small distance between Michelle, but I knew that she would catch up by the end (she always does).  I asked her if she wanted me to slow down and drop back with her she said NO!  I felt like it would help her if she had somebody to chase rather than drop back and try and talk her through the work out.  With less than a half mile to go I was ready to be done with the tempo.  I didn't reset my waych so my split's on my watch are off so I am stealing them from Michelle's blog.

5th Tempo mile 6:11

6th tempo mile 6:15 - My watch was about .16 off so this is what mile 17-18 shows on my watch.

7th tempo mile - 6:06 this is slower than Michelle's last mile, I could tell that she had closed the gap on me... Yeah done with the hard stuff!!!!!!!!

Ran back to Scott, who by the way was still running hard!  We really worked him over today, but I could tell that he enjoyed it.  He did great.  We ran back to the cars and ate and drank until our tummies were full and then headed home for a hot shower.  No ice baths for me today...

Kelli and Scott put on a great run today, she stood outside in the freezing cold for a long time.  She is a great host and a great person.  Kellie got in 14 miles today and I think that she had a great time and she was able to run with some new people.  I owe a lot of thanks to Sasha for starting this blog, I have met some awesome people that I would have never had the chance to meet, so THANKS SASHA and the fast running blog team.

ave pace for 21 7:39

Ran tonight with Brandon G, my knee's were still feeling a bit sore today so I called Brandon and asked if he would go run with me.  I like running with him because he is always full of stories and can always make you laugh.  We ran over to Woodland Hills Dr and then back to 100 East and then down around the pond.  The lights were on and the pond looked cool.  It was a beautiful night for a run, warm and no wind.  Legs and knees started feeling better after mile 1 so I should be ready for the long Marathon Pace Tempo Run tomorrow....:)

ave pace 9:57 - This was a good pace and distance for Brandon.

Today was an early morning start.  I met up with Steve K and MichelleL for some early morning speed work.  The plan was to do a 10 mile tempo run at or below marathon pace?  We decided that marathon pace would be 6:25-6:30, that is for Michelle and I.  I felt really sluggish for the first 2 miles and then I kind of got into a groove.  Miles 4-7 felt really easy, 7-8 were hard and 8-10 were getting really hard?  I fought a stomach cramp for a while and it was really starting to bother me around mile 8.  Legs felt fine but the stomach was just not cooperating?  Michelle and I would jockey back and forth on the lead runner while Steve was always in front.  At mile 9.6 I really wanted to be done and could feel that my stomach was in knots?  Michelle pulled away and then with .2 left I decided that I wouldn't finish a 10 mile tempo run weak with only .2 left.  It always feels good to be done with a long hard run like that, and I know that I always say that when I finish one.  It has been nice to have Steve come out with us, he is very smart and knows a lot about the sport. 

Splits 

Mile 1 6:38

Mile 2 6:31

Mile 3 6:36

Mile 4 6:11

Mile 5 6:10

Mile 6 6:19

Mile 7 6:20

Mile 8 6:21

Mile 9 6:17

Mile 10 6:18

1:03:46 for the whole run

ave pace 6:22.6

Ran back to the corner and stretched for a bit and then headed home and drank some endurox.  When I got to work I found out that I had to drive to Vernal to look at a job that is bidding, it was kind of a surpise bid, so I spent the whole day driving and looking at a future road in the awesome town of Vernal....:)

Today I met up with Pat L and ran with him from the Salem Stake Center to the end of tree road and then back.  Kent W was going to meet us to, but he never showed up so it was just Pat and I.  It is always good to run with Pat, he is very smart and he knows a lot about running.  We talked mostly about training and running strategies, what works best for yourself and what works best for other people.  He said that you really need to listen to your body and make sure that you don't water ski in august!!!  Pat injured himself in august while water skiing and was not able to run St George to the best of is ability.  He is back on track and feeling a lot better.

Legs were very heavy today, not a lot of pain but this pace felt very hard.  Hopefully things are better by Saturday for another 20 miler.  can't wait!!! "right" 

ave pace 7:31 

Met up with Michelle and Ali for an hour of warm up before the scheduled tempo run.  We had planned on running 2x5 mile tempo runs at or below marathon pace. I found out late that night that I needed to change my schedule so that Kellie could run with her friends.  So I had to be home early so that she could go.  So our 2x5 mile tempo turned in to a 4 mile tempo at a faster pace than marathon.  We met up back at the church to meet the other runners, we picked up a new kid Travis, he ran with us and turned out to be a very nice kid.  I had actually met him after the St. George Marathon and was glad that he came out.  We ran out to Osborne's and started our tempo from there.

splits -  6:47, 6:13, 6:05, 5:52 ave pace 6:13

The first mile is up hill, there is some down hill in the second and the rest is fairly flat.  Typically there is a lot of wind on this stretch but it was not to bad today.  Travis held strong with us through mile 3, Michelle stayed close and was running great considering she was feeling sick before we even started, plus she had over 70 miles on her legs for the week.  I wanted to make sure that we finished the last mile under 6:00, I didin't bring my watch so I was going off of feel, Michelle was doing a great job yelling out the split's and distance to me.  We finished the tempo and I had to leave in a hurry and get home so that Kellie could hit the pavement.  I wanted to run more and really wanted to run another tempo but it will have to wait for another day.

Met up with Steve and Michelle today for some early morning speed work.  The plan was to run for 2 min at a 5:30ish pace and then jog for 1:30 and then start the 2 min pace again, and do this 6 times.  This was a first for me doing this kind of work out.  It was a good work out, I felt that it helps your body react to different speeds?  Then after those were complete we were going to run 1 mile @ or below 5:55 and then rest for 3 min and then do it again.  The splits are below for each set that we ran.  I forgot my watch again so I am copying what Michelle had typed on her blog.  She keeps better records and she can make it look so much better.  It has been great having Steve come with us, he can really make us stay on pace and can even make us duck below where we want to be.

#	Time	Distance	Pace	Rest after
1	2:02	.37	5:30	1:30 (8:17 pace)
2	2:01	.36	5:37	1:28 (8:39 pace)
3	2:03	.36	5:38	1:23 (9:02 pace)
4	2:03	.36	5:40	1:28 (8:36 pace)
5	2:01	.37	5:28	1:26 (9:04 pace)
6	2:02	.39	5:16	7:40 (10:58, obviously some standing around included in there)
1	5:47	1 mile	5:47	3:00 (11:43 pace, sweet)
2	5:52	1 mile	5:52	na - done

NO RUNNING TODAY, THROAT IS STILL SORE!!!!! 

I did try to go down stairs and run on the treadmill but I couldn't find the key.  We hide it from our kids and now we can't find it.  I was hoping that the warmer temp in the house would not hurt my throat as bad.  So I am going to take an.......

E

For EFFORT!  I hope to get out tomorrow, either in the mountains or after work with Pat and Kent!

I met up with Pat L this afternoon and we had a great run from Salem down into the River Bottoms.  I really enjoy running with Pat, he is fun to chat with and he really knows a lot about running.  I needed to run a half mile longer than him, so he turned back on tree line and I ran .5 out and then tried to catch him on the way back.  I ran that mile in 5:57, I was on track for a 5:47 and then I had to run up the hill at Osbornes.  I never did catch him, he has to wait for me at Osbornes for about a minute.  We ran back to the Stake Center and talked for a bit, and then I went home and headed to the Jazz game.

ave pace 7:23

I met up with the S.F. Running Group this morning, it was really windy today, but it was very warm 46 degrees.  I ran with Pat L, Dan M and Ali L for the most part, it was a nice enjoyable run.  It is always fun to chat with people and find out more about them.  It started snowing at 11:30ish today so it appears that winter is here for now and I am afraid that it will take a toll on any speed work with the roads being iced over. 

ave pace 8:21

No running today and NO SPEED WORK tomorrow.  I went to the doctor and I have a sinus infection, lots of aches and pains.  I hope to hang low so that I can "maybe" get out on Saturday?

Kellie and I met up with Kellie B and ran through the river bottoms, around the golf course and then back to the car.  We met up with Michelle and Travis on tree line road and they ran the rest of the way with us.  The roads were a little slippery, foot was a little sore but pain seemed to go away after about 7 miles. 

ave pace 8:10

Today I met up with Jason and Kellie B, we met at the golf course at 7 am.  When I was driving to the course my truck said that the temp was 2 degrees.  It was going to be a cold morning, luckily the wind wasn't blowing so it was actually quite peaceful.  We ran east from the golf course and ran down to bishop's corner and then turned around and ran back to tree road and then back to the course.  We met up with Kellie's sister Michelle at about a mile and she ran with Kellie most of the time and Jason and I ran together.  It was fun running with him, we talked a lot about trail running and ultra marathon's.  I have a feeling that he will be running a 100 mile ultra some time in the near future.  I wished that he lived here in Utah so that I could train more with him.  We had a fun run, Michelle got her car stuck on tree road so we had to push her out.  I tried some new running spikes that fit over your running shoes so that you won't slip and fall.  They are called Yak Trax, I really liked running in them and they never hurt my feet.  Legs felt great today even with the cooler temps.  On the way home I stopped and looked through the spotting scope, trying to find some Deer or Elk.  I found 10 bulls and about 75 cows.  One of the bulls was BIG, they were still high on the mtn, the snow looked very deep I bet that after this week they will have to come down into the dairy.  I found some deer but no bucks!

ave pace 7:46 great pace for road conditions and temps.  

Today I wanted to take advantage of the some what dry roads and try some quicker miles.  I decided that I would try and run a half marathon distance and try and average a 7 min pace for the entire run including warm up and cool down miles.  I kind of figured that a 7 min pace would be about 45 seconds slower than my half marathon pace?  Several of my miles were under 7, I am going to list it as an easy run because my watch is charging and so I will post split's later.  I really watched my pace the first half by looking at my watch, and the second half I really wanted to try and run off of feel.  When I hit mile 12.9 I was at a 6:59 pace average, so I jogged up past my house for the last .2  I finished right at a 7:00 pace.  I really could have used a GU and water at mile 8-9, but for most of the run I felt great.  I hope to run everyday this week, and maybe even hit a 5k or 10k race this week?

split's

7:30,7:07,7:17,6:49,6:55,6:54,6:48,6:40,6:48,6:53,7:06,6:53,7:13 .1 .50 seconds 

So after my work out today I feel like climbing in a hole and crying!!!!  I am so ashamed and humiliated with my performance today.  I met up with Michelle, Sasha, MaryAnn and Daniel for a speed work out.  The plan was to run 3 5k's in 19:00 min or less.  We ran out to the course from Sasha's which was about 2.6 miles.  We started the first 5k and everything was feeling really good until 2.6 and then my stomach really acted up on me.  I tried running through it, but there was no way that I could hold the pace.  I finished the first 5k in 19:08 :( I started the second 5k but by mile 1 I knew that I was in trouble again so I turned around and ran back to the start, ave pace 6:35 for 2 miles, I turned around and ran back to cheer Michelle on and then ran with her and Sasha until they started their 3rd 5k and then I ran out to mile 1 and then turned around again and ran back to the start, ave pace 7:35 for 2 miles.  Michelle finished the last 5k in 18:43 and the second was 18:48? I think.  She did a great job today, I am very envious of her performance today.  I really slacked off the last 2 weeks, so I really need to get back on the running wagon or I will crash come January 17th at Painters.  I would like to try this work out again and try and redeem myself.  

Left the house at 5:30 this morning, it was a lot colder than I had expected it to be.  I ran North towards arrowhead trail and then East into the River Bottoms.  When I hit the River Bottoms it was very foggy, I wore a head light today and I was glad that I did.  It had to be 5-10 degrees today.  Today felt ok, nothing special just logged some miles and now we are getting ready to go snowboarding.

ave pace 7:45