Runners don't shake hands. Runners gotta hug.

Great day out at practice. Had some good guys there who are graduated.. just a fun time! We did 3x Dirt Mile repeats. My goal time was a 6:38, I went 6:15, 6:37 and 6:30. It was hard to keep the pace controlled and try not to speed up but I was feeling good!

12 loops on the grass to get 4 miles then striders on the grass as well. Weird pain in my knee for the last 2 laps but it has since gone away. Good time running and talking, good day to be a runner!

Today we did our 30/30 workout and it was definitely tons harder compared to last weeks. We actually recovered as we were supposed to and it made all the difference. We went from 40 last week to 20 this week. Legs were feeling good I was tired though after about 15. I think I could possibly stuck it in for a few more but that is what next week is for!

Had an unofficial practice with about 8-10 peeps. It felt a little cooler although it was humid. We went into Hell's Hole and the way there my legs felt sluggish but on the way out and the way back to the school I felt like a million bucks I picked up the pace to finish our easy run right!

Went on a run before the run. I went 4 miles by myself around 6 o clock because I had work at 9. Then at practice at 7 I ran out two miles then flipped it to make it a solid 4 miler. It was hot but the run before the run all my miles were under 7:00 and I was feeling good. Then the actual run felt good as well we went a little slower which was nice for the occasion! P.S... WORK SUCKS!!!!

This was such a sweet run! Hunter Kimzey, Byron Warby, Krenny Yazzie and myself went on a night run at 10:00. It was different and man was it a good difference. I liked how it was cooler outside.. well only 95. But I knew of a house that is vacant most of the year so we went swimming there for a little bit which was legit. Just a great run with some yummy sonic shake afterwards!

We had our mile repeats up on the dirt mile. We had 4. My goal time was a 6:38 and my times were 6:17, :35, :34, :31. I felt good and Byron and I had some good convo rolling. I don't mind the slower pace gives me a chance on form. We did 7 miles total in the morning.

We started our afternoon stuff today. We did easy 3 to arctic circle and that was good amid the heat. Then we had lifting and it felt soooo great to get back in the weight room and begin building more strength. All together was a great day to be a Panther! 

Grass run today. 12 loops around the soccer field. It was good, had some older alumni guys there so that was fun. We had our striders today as well. Then afterwards we had our kids club, man those kids are work.. however they are fun somehow. Great day to run despite the warmth!

Did our 30/30 workout today. This week Byron and I did 25 and it was tough. I woke up with my quads feeling sore and tight and so my legs were a little sluggish at the start. I need to get more sleep as well so I am really going to work on that. Other than that I felt good doing it and afterwards was a great feeling. Good day!

AM: We went into hell's hole to do some little hill workout. It was a good workout for the start of the season, I felt fresh even though that hill out of hell's hole is massive. Good morning practice.

PM: Easy 3 miles at the school to Arctic Circle. Weights afterwards, good day for sure. 

9 miles out from Vernon Wirthon park in the middle of town. It was good the only tough part was the long hill up the turtle road by sunset. It was good team time. Ran with Coach Holt, Byron, Matt, and Kyler. Good run and longest run this year!

5.5 miles out in the fields. Did some pool hopping, although it was a bit scarier this time. When we were about to get in we realized there was goggles and shoes and clothes out there which was sketchy but we swam for few minutes then continued on our loop back to the double churches. Good time with some of the boys.. Faster pace back to the churches which was great.

AM: Practice today we had our dirt mile repeats which weren't too bad. We had 5 of them at the goal time of 6:38. Ran with Byron and Coach, hit 6:21, :32, :32, :31, :31. It felt good and we finished up practice with 8 miles. 

PM: Weights today no afternoon run because of the 5K later.

RACE: Got to the church and found the guys and ran a 1 mile warm up and I felt pretty warm. Coach showed up just in time to help pull Byron and I to fast times. We started and we were cruisn' I don't think I have ever started a 5K that fast. I had my doubts at the start.. Didn't know if I could hold this pace or close to it to get that fast time I wanted. After the first loop around St. James I was feeling better. I got some water splashed on me and took the lead for a second, it felt weird to take the lead but a good weird. I settled back into the pace with Coach around the turn and he really got me moving again going up the backside of the neighborhood. I was feeling good but tired, I knew that there wasn't too much left in the race. I followed Coach through the crowds of walkers and then I moved up to the lead for the final road to the finish line. At this point in time I didn't know if anyone was close to me but I really wanted to push cause I saw sub 16:00 in sight. I pushed and pushed till I saw the steeple of the church which was a big boost knowing that I was that close. Then amid the dark sky I could see the finish and I gave it one last push and finished with a 15:48 a new PR and I was very pleased.... and exhausted.

This was a great confidence booster for me at the start of what is going to be a awesome XC season for our team. I was very impressed with of all the guys that ran this, you all did great! Now to just continue working hard and finding positives out of every workout. Definitely a good day.

12 loops around the soccer fields for a nice and easy grass 4 miles then striders to finish up practice. Kids club afterwards and it was actually not too shabby today.

AM: 1 mile warm up. We did 30/30 workout and my goal this time was to get 30 repeats which was 5 better than last week when I only got 25. As we got going my legs felt tired and it took about 5 or 6 repeats to finally get my legs moving. Around 18ish or something Byron had to stop because of discomfort in his foot so I was alone for the rest of the workout. I got to 20 and wanted at least 5 more. Then I got to 25 and thought I can do this, I can push to 30. The last two were huge mental builders because I wanted to stop at 28 but I had to go 30, I wanted that goal. I reached my goal and I was exhausted but that was the point! This workout was a good one for sure, made me happy. 1 mile cool down. Around 6.5 miles so it was good to get the mileage as well. Gonna be a good day!

PM: Easy 3 miler out with Matt (Red Leader) and Krenny. Felt good except this dumb pain on the side of my left foot.. I iced it and I'm ready to get rolling tomorrow on our tempo, hopefully tonight's sleep will also help. 

AM: Nice 9 miler with a two mile tempo. First mile of the tempo was a 6:17 and our second one was 6:09. It was warm but it was so good to run with the few guys that actually show up to practice. Legs a little tired afterwards but nothing a nap and some stretching can't fix. No pain in the foot by the way which is definitely a plus.

PM: Easy 3 miles out to Arctic Circle and it was like 106 or something, it was toasty. Felt good and only for the first minute or two was there any pain on the side of my foot. Ran in my new shoes so that was a fun to get some miles on them. Lifting afterwards was great as well, I felt very motivated and really wanted to get a good lift in and I felt like I did. Great day for a PVXC'er!

AM: Met over at the region course for region 9 today, had our half mile warm up and did agilities and such and then ran the course so that was good to get used to it. My side of my foot only had little pain at the very beginning and only for few minutes.. it's getting better for sure. After the 3 miles on the course we headed up to a monster hill and did 2 repeats of it. The hill was just about a mile long and they were definitely tough but very worth it. It felt good to push up the hill and have the feeling of accomplishment afterwards. Gonna be a good weekend!

5 miler today by myself and it was basically one of the worst decisions of my life to go out at 4:30 and run. I couldn't get out earlier because of work so I was stuck in the heat cause I didn't wanna go on a night run by myself and it was going to be hot no matter when I went out. Moral of the story is I felt like crap and it was blazing out there. There is always Monday to feel better though.

AM: We had dirt mile repeats we had 6 of them and the goal time was 6:38 and the times went like this 6:24, :34, :34, :24, :21, :14. It was good but by the 6th one I was starting to get a little worn down. Frisbee afterwards with some great future missionaries my day was bound to be good. 

PM: Easy three miles out to arctic circle and I am so proud of Skylar (little bro) for sticking with us the whole time, he is such a stud. Wish he would just run XC and forget football but oh well. The run went well even though it was hot as usual. Lifting went well also, keep doing things so I could stay sweaty, I love that feeling of lifting with sweat running down my face.  

AM: I don't know exactly what my mileage was for sure but I am guessing that it was close to 7.5 between the warm up, the workout and the races with kids club. So anyways.. we had our 30/30 workout today and my goal was to beat 30 which I had to really push to get last week. We started and the first 10 don't really phase me. It's the next 20 that are tough. I have to run 152 meters in 30 seconds then I have to recover 76 meters in 30 seconds and it just repeats so it gets tough right around 20. I knew I had it in me to get to 30, I had done it last week I was going to do it again this week. Once we hit 28 I wanted at least 3 more to get 31 and that's what I did. It was a great workout and Matt and Byron owned it as well. Excited for the 5K in Enterprise tomorrow, it should go great. Kids club was fun today with them racing and pushing themselves against the clock, I certainly enjoyed it.

PM: Went out with the bro to run 3 miles and he wasn't feeling it so we took it slow which was fine by me. I finished the last .5 of the run faster so the run was decent. Been a good day now to just get some sleep and be to coaches house by 5am ready to race! 

AM: Had to wake up early to hit a 5K at 6:30 up in Enterprise. Met at Coaches house around 5 to get going and we got up there around 6 and we all saw some buses and thought those aren't for us so we headed to a nearby church house to go to the bathroom. Turns out that the buses we saw were for us to head up the canyon three miles to the starting line. We had to hitch-hike a ride to the place to start so we only got like .25 of a mile in for warm up in all of the worry of actually being able to compete in the race. A nice older gentleman gave us a fast ride to where we needed to be so that was good. The air was cool which was definitely a change from what we are used to at morning practice. We started and we wanted Matt and Kyler to go with us (us being Byron and myself). Mile one.. 5:12. Exactly what we wanted for our first mile and we realized that the other two guys had already fallen back so no need to worry about them anymore. Our next mile I stuck with coach as he ran the 10K and Byron was right there as well. As we hit 1.5 I was really putting it in my head that we were half way done. After mile two.. 5:16 coach had said that we needed our last mile the fastest so we needed to catch up to Logan. Byron was a beast and made up that ground really quick and I still sat just a little ahead of coach. It wasn't til about half a mile left that I decided to make my move and I moved up by Byron and Logan and decided I would take the lead and I pushed it to the 3 mile marker.. 5:15. I finished pretty strong I thought, the last mile wasn't the fastest but we had a consistent 5K which was awesome. Very pleased with my time and race. Loving these races we are doing, great confidence boosters. Oh yeah we had a 1-5 sweep from our team so that was sweet. 3 mile cool down with the guys, great 24th.

PM: Easy 3 from Coaches house. It was pretty hot but the run felt good, legs felt alright considering the race this morning. After the run we had a pool party and did some stuff for camp, been a great day. Looking forward to next week for camp! 

AM: Ran 6.5 down in hell's hole. Since all the rain poured down hell's hole was in need of repair so we had to do the hill workout up the huge hill. We had 4X100 and 6X30, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Really just had to push a little harder than we would've. A very good workout, feeling great.

PM: 3 miler before I headed out for Brian Head for the weekend.

AM: Up in Brian Head with my family so it took some motivation to get out of the very relaxing cabin to go run. I had a 10 miler today and it was definitely a confidence builder. I had to run up a really long and steep hill right around mile 2 and 3 and it was basically was a slow uphill from there. I thought I would never reach the 5 mile mark to turn around and head down hill. It finally came and for mile 5, 6, 7 and 8 I had sub 7 minute pace, I found some energy and flew down the hills. One of my miles was even sub 6 pace going down the huge hill. By the end I was pretty tired from the altitude and just the long run but it was very rewarding.

AM: 5 miles today and it seemed like a piece of cake comparing to yesterday but there was still a lot of uphill but I actually felt chilly on the run which was so nice so I didn't mind the 5 miles. Great day up in the mountains.

AM: 9.5. Had our dirt mile workout. 6Xmile at 6:20ish pace, 3 minute rest in between. I was feeling good but afterwards I had like zero energy. Off to camp, gonna be a blast!!

PM: Got to camp and set up, then headed out on a 5 miler and I had a side ache most of the time which sucked but I made it through the easy mileage so that was a plus.

AM: had my longest training run today with a 12 miler. My foot hurt a little bit just walking around camp before the run but usually any soreness will just go away with a few miles but this soreness in my foot never subsided but I just pushed through the pain with the rest of my body feeling good. It was a great run with a great scenery.

PM: Easy three and my foot still had some pain but nothing too serious. So far camp was a success! 

AM: 6 miler up a long hill, by the top it was quite the push but downhill was breeze although my foot hurt as we went down the hill. It was a good run though.

PM: 3 miles easy up by the lake and hopped in, felt so good.. foot still in pain but a little better than yesterday.