My last race was two months ago at Utah Valley, so you could say that I was a little rusty in terms of the racing scene. Expectations weren't too high, but I definitely wanted to have a relatively comparable time to my spring times. I was very happy with 17:57. This was a tougher 5K course, with about 40 ft of net uphill and a significant hill for the last 1/2 mile. First mile was 5:30. Good pace, mostly gradual downhill. It was good to have Emily there so I didn't go out too slow or too fast. Mile 2 was 5:43 - overall pretty flat. At this point, I figured that if I could run a 6 min mile for mile 3, sub-18 was possible. That hill at the end was pretty brutal! I hit the third mile at 6:05. In the final stretch I saw 17:50 on the clock, sprinted to hit 17:57 at the finish line. It's good to know that I haven't lost too much fitness in the last two months. I took it pretty easy with running for about a month to heal my back, but did lots of cross training to maintain the workload. My core was the first thing to tire this morning. I'm going to focus on strengthening that and get some more long runs in. Then it's TOU half marathon time! Warmup 2 miles and cooldown 4 miles with Stefanie Talley, Emily, Susannah, and Jake. Fun group - the best part of the morning. Worst part - there was no more Chick-fil-a when we got back!!! PM - Mountain biking out-and-back to Dog Lake ~1000ft and 6 miles. The trail was very smooth and gradual, which made for a nice ride. The best part, though, was seeing the cutest Vizsla puppy (I love dogs but can't get one right now, so keep me in mind if you need a dog-sitter)! On the way down the canyon, stopped at Pipeline trail and ran about a mile out, then saw a rattlesnake!! Turned around immediately after that. 2 miles for the shakeout. 
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