Hurt so good.

Good group from The Pond for a Monday Funday run. Jon, Ken, Matt, Denver, Riley, Bret and I did the Monday route through Ogden, Harrisville, Business Depot, then added an extra mile around the pond. Excited to race this weekend, hopefully I can race well. If not then at least I know what I need to work on.

PM

3.40 miles on the TM after dinner. Burping up dinner never hurt so good, so good.

Bitter cold this morning. Met with Riley and headed out into the terrace. My face was numb for the entire run. 

avg pace 7:26 min/mile

Easy run through the ghetto of O-town with Riley, Matt, and Denver in 16 degree weather. So excited to get a small break from the cold and enjoy some Southern comfort.

Excited to run the STG Half this weekend. Though I have been really consistant since November with mileage and workouts I dont have a lot of confidence going into the race for some reason. Maybe its been the long lay off of no racing? I dont know but I am hoping that racing Saturday will be a big boost in the right direction.

Wow what a big difference 24 hours can make. 15 degree weather in Ogden to 50 degrees in Mesquite. Ran a new loop around mesquite. Ended up being a great run and my legs felt so good. Best I have felt in at least 2 weeks. Also felt good to actually sweat and allow the muscles to warm up.

Easy shakeout run today in Mesquite. Legs had some pop in them today, feeling ready to roll and finally have some good confidence going into tomorrow. Hoping to have a good race.

Avg pace 6:43 min/miles

Great way to start out with the win for my first race of 2016. I will write more later. Though one thing I did find out about myself is that I am in great marathon shape and horrible half marathon shape! Love racing in St. George, the city knows how to put on a race.

Race started out with a group of 4 guys today. I quickly took the lead around the first corner and I was content to start out pretty conservative through the first couple of miles and just see how I felt. After the first mile I already had a pretty good gap on the chase field and after mile 2 the lead bike said that I had almost a quarter mile lead on the second place guy. So honestly this run quickly turned into a great Marathon paced run. Most of the race just focused on stride. Pushed hard on the down and up and stayed pretty conservative on the flat as splits below will show. Also I have to be honest with myself. I did keep a great steady pace but I also didn't feel like I could turn it on and go quicker at anytime during the race. Last couple of weeks I felt like I have been dragging and energy has been super low. I've had funks like this in the past and I have came out if it and nailed some pretty good workouts and races and I hope this is the case. Also if I am going to focus on some early spring halfs I need to start focusing on interval sessions more often and getting in some shorter faster tempo runs.

But as I said earlier I feel like I am in great marathon shape as I should be because the workouts that Riley had set up for me was for the Phoenix Marathon that I was planning on running but not anymore. So positive on that end is that the workouts were working for what I needed them to do.

Overall it was a great day. Glad I was able to come down to STG and race.

5:22; 5:23; 5:23; 5:20; 5:19; 5:39; 5:37; 5:20; 5:23; 5:31; 5:45; 5:34; 5:36 and :53 for last .16

PM

Shakeout run. 4.31 miles easy out and around the condo.