Easy in the rain, felt pretty good. My heel randomly developed a blood blister on Saturday so I took the weekend off, felt better today. I also decided to invest in a zwift set up so I got a smart trainer and an aluminum bike frame- I think that will help me cross train a lot more often- I'm excited to do some of the mywhoosh races and power output tests. This is also the last run of my 20s, it has been a good decade and it's a little scary that it's over. I mean personally it seems 25 is a lot more similar to being 40 than it is to being 18 for instance- it's not like anything about my life is going to change drastically compared to how it's been the last several years (hopefully)- but 30 has arrived fast. My favorite races from my 20s were: 2016 SUU Color Country 2016 Cottonwood Heights 5k 2025 Crossover Half Marathon 2026 Salt Lake City Marathon- 10k Favorite runs/memories- -SUU xc camp at Brian Head. Beautiful runs and lots of fun and games at the hotel. Got 2 nicknames on the team that week, Tom and Smiles. -Mile repeats workout where I averaged 4:52 at 6000 feet -Week where Jake and I did 5 workouts/hard runs in a row. Also math kart and Pokemon hunting. -Going with Brian Brady Sage and the freshmen girls and doing 100, 400, 800, mile races all back to back in st George before going to Olive garden. Also when Robby took Jake and I down to the lava tube caves there, and then we took a bunch of friends a couple months later. -Doing strides sprints and stretches on the field across from the track and just hanging out over there under the trees. -Getting completely dusted in Mike and Georges spontaneous mid run pickups competition -Keeping with Aidan and Liam for their full tempo run on some random dirt road. -Post running caf feasts. All you can eat custom ordered stir fry and sandwiches, pizza, chocolate milk, orange soda, and the obligatory cucumbers to balance it all out of course. The sandwich dude let me order triple decker pastrami roast beef with pastrami and I've never had as good of sandwiches. -Running in the Dolomites in Italy. Prettiest place I've run and I ran into some horses that were loose in the mountains and I got to pet them. -Running in rome, Venice, and the countryside in Romania. Just a lot of cool places over there. -Food mile competitions with the Jake Henry and Talon. -Bowling Green when I did a 13 mile Saturday morning run on slippery elm trail and bonked out and then went and got wingsover and a chocolate shake and watched game of thrones. I've done a lot of long runs, but this one always felt particularly satisfying. I think I just hadn't done a true long run in way too long and it was the first time I truly felt settled in after moving. -Running while Becca biked in Santa Barbara. Also running from her condo on the beach along the coast line. -Running while my Dad bikes up to mouth of the canyon/golf course -Running the Denver 4th of July 4 miler with Rob and Jake the day after I got married before Becca and I left for Tahiti. -Running in wheeler canyon a couple times the last couple years in the middle of winter while listening to Skyrim music. -Random canal road tempo run back in 2024 with Jake where I had my fitness breakthrough finally 2.5 years into my comeback. -Saturday long runs followed by straw market cinnamon rolls -Short runs with Whitney, although they've gotten up to about a quarter mile at like 8 minute pace at this point. -Neighborhood runs meeting Henry and Kolten right outside of my door, it's been really fun living so close to them and Jake lately. -Stealing peoples strava segment records with Jake I've really enjoyed the past 10 years and we've built an amazing life here in Utah. I'm very grateful for what I have and the memories I've made. |