Blake Bennions running

I ran 47 minutes today, it was nice. I'm exaughsted from all the amusement park stuff this week, tomorrow I will try to do another 6 which would set me up for a 10 mile Saturday to get a 40 mile week. Found out Hollywood studios is different from universal studios :(. It was still fun though, if there's one thing I learned from this trip, Disney World is a billion times more fun at night time! And Epcot is the best park of the 4! Not for rides though, the rides were disappointing, but I had a good time! It was an interesting trip, that's for sure. My Buckeyes are having a rough time, but they're coming back! Good Ohio State won in a thriller!

I feel guilty about the excessive amount of ice cream I've eaten today. But the run was incredible! Exactly what I wanted, nice warm sunny and beautiful day! I felt pretty good and stopped at a twisty treat after the first 5 minutes. Also not very many healthy selections at the airport so I got burger king, but it won't kill me, I will return to a healthier diet back in Utah where I have access to it. Florida was nice!

I'm feeling great, I know I'm strong and I'm fast. I feel energized and powerful after todays run. I know I'm going to at least run 4:18 this season, probably better. I ran 2 miles to the rec center, then I did a 5:00 mile on the tread mill, I slowed down to 7:30 after the mile was over for a minute or two and then dipped just under 7 minute pace until I got to 2 miles on the tread mill, then I ran another 6.2 miles after that. I felt very good, I just wanted to know how a 5:00 minute mile felt before the first meet next week, it felt good, a little hard but fairly easy. I am following Coach Murphy's advice to just have fun at this meet, not worry about the time, but I think I can run under 4:40. We will see, I'm just going to have fun and give it my best. My month of training on my own is over, now I will go back to receiving some of the best coaching in the country! I might be training on my own for a while until teammates get back in shape, but I'm going to make the most out of my last season being coached by Rob Murphy, I know he will train me to be the best I can be this year! I also have the privilege of being one of the last Alta High runners to be trained by Murphy, so I will do my best to make sure that the last season for both of us at Alta is a great one! I'm ready for everything the next 5 months has in store for me, I want to make some new PRs before speed work even gets underway in February or march!

Found out that one of my legs is longer than the other, I'm pretty sure that's common thing. They gave me insoles and stuff that I'm not going to use. I did 8 miles, the first half or so with the team. Then I did 20 lunges, I had originally planned on 4x10 but I wasn't hurting at 10 so I went to 20, then I rested for a minute but when I turned back I cramped up on the first one and stopped, I will try the other 20 later tonight.

Lots of lifting and some core, I did 1 mile to warm up for that and then 4.5 afterwards, some with the team.

Was going to do a 10 mile run but my lower calf was hurting, like a minor cramp thing at 4 miles so I stopped at 8 just to be safe, it hurt worse when I started walking after the run but it will heal stronger. It will probably feel better after a shower, muscle problems usually do. Tomorrow is back to the weight room so I will look for a 6, maybe 6.5 mile day. Then Friday is a 4 mile pre meet and Saturday I am going to do 3 or 4 events at the USU invite, I could easily get 10 in on Saturday if I do the 1600, 400, 800, and 3200m. Plus warm ups and cool downs. If I did that I would probably not do super well in the 3200m at the end but it would be fun and Im going to be there all day so I might as well try doing this.

7 easy miles in the slushy gully with the team, Davis and I picked it up after 4 or so, it was still really easy though, I felt good. My calf kind of hurt but it was a lot better than yesterday and it felt better than it did at school today, I think I will ice it tonight. My back has been hurting for a couple months and has been really bad the past couple days but it felt fine during the run. After an easy 4 tomorrow I should be ready for a some good races on Saturday, there's some really good runners at USU invitational, I'm looking forward to it!

4 miles and a couple striders. My stomach is hurting now, which accompanies my back and lower calf in the category of unexplainable injuries. The first few steps each time I start running hurt my back, hills hurt my leg, and hopefully the stomach thing leaves soon. I still would like to finish top 5 tomorrow for the 1600m, I'm just going to have fun and push through the injury. Should be a fun day!

I warmed up with the East team, two miles with striders on and off, my back was hurting so much before the race I was almost certain I would dnf. So my goal was to finish and not take last, I achieved this, taking 2nd to last in the fastest heat. Under the circumstances I think I did well and pushed through as well as I could have. I was contemplating making a move to mid pack but I was worried I would hurt my back more and then dnf. I still ran hard and gave it my best under highly strenuous conditions and ran an ok time on a slow track so I'm not disappointed at all, it was kind of hard to have fun with the pain and stuff but I'm feeling ok now, I might do the 3200 but the 4 and the 8 are no gos. I cooled down with the east team but my back was really killing me so its been kind of a rough day. I talked to Conner for a while, he's sick but he still ran 4:20 to win the race, Garek made it really close, making a 7 second PR! Hopefully my back feels better by next week! 14th in my heat and in all the meet, could've taken 5th or 6th if my back wasn't hurting. 6th place was 4:39. Coach Cobler looked at my back and said it was my paraphormus, its more of a hip/pelvic injury, but its feeling better now. I will take some anti inflammatory medication and rest/ice a lot and hopefully it will feel better Monday. I had a good time at the meet, I got to spend time with Syracuse and East and Conner helped me find Coach Spence which was really nice!

45 minutes on a stationary bike. I would much rather be running but biking doesn't disturb the back/pelvis area so its a lot better than nothing. I think I might get to go running tomorrow, my back/pelvis is feeling pretty good, I'm hoping after a good nights rest it will feel all better tomorrow. But I will just have to see how it goes, if there's pain at all I will stick to the bike another day. It was great cross training, my legs felt heavy going back upstairs. I will see if the hot tub is working or I could go to the rec center and use the one there, don't get to watch the cfp championship but I hope ohio state wins!

60 minutes on the bike, faster than yesterday. Hopefully I can run tomorrow, I really want to. My hip is definitely getting better, most things dont hurt anymore, but sometimes it hurts when I do random movements.

Another 60 minute bike, a little longer than last time so it was faster. I know I'm getting a workout because I'm drenched in sweat after these and my legs are really heavy, good workout. I think I will run tomorrow, pain was minimal today, it only hurt once very much. I think it will be good to go tomorrow. I guess even though its been frustrating, its given me an opportunity to do tardy school. But its really frustrating to see people training while you aren't.

Ran warm up with team and then did 4.5 with the team on the track. I will do 30 mins on bike and maybe swim. It wasn't too bad, I think I will keep running, I just have to ease into it, or out of it, whatever. It hurts but if I run a certain way, it doesn't. I went swimming and did a small amount on the bike. I'm going to finish top 6 at BYU next week and get a t shirt. I need to beat Andrew Rummens to do this, the guy from woods cross, I'm excited. But you never know who will be there, I will do my best and enjoy the competition. My back is feeling better than when I'd been running, so that's good. Tomorrow I have an endoscopy so I will be drugged up but I think I will be fine to run at practice.

Had the endoscopy today, felt kind of weird since then. I almost put my address from Maryland for my address on a paper when I got back to school. But I ran 8 miles with Read and Zach at 8:00 pace, My back hurts when I go much faster than that. I'm debating whether to do a bike or run tomorrow, I need to be able to run hard by next Saturday but I also dont want to lose fitness. Its hard to say what the right call is because I don't know how my paraphormus thing will heal. I'm considering going to the pool again today, maybe just for the hot tub, I'm still feeling drowsy from the medicine.

No energy today, still recovering from endoscopy. Today was the first real day of my new gluten and onion free life. There's not as much to eat anymore haha. My pelvis or hip was hurting during the run, I wish it would heal. Its been a rough but fast week.

8 miles, its really annoying that my pelvic muscle is still hurting whenever I run. Kind of makes every run suck. I don't know if I will be able to run at BYU on Saturday, or even the oval next week at the slow rate it's recovering at, bur there's no chance I'm taking more time off with cross training, I doubt the huge change in my diet is going to help either. But whatever, im sure it will get better sooner or later.

Ouch, well I shouldn't have done hills today, bad call on my part. My paraphormus wasn't feeling bad until after though so it was hard. The first two repetitions felt good but the last two I couldn't breathe, I had really bad shortness of breathe both during the repetitions and during the recovery. This contributed to my muscles not getting enough oxygen and I nearly cramped up 3 or 4 times about half a mile after the hill workout. Luckily I'm very experienced when it comes to getting muscle cramps so I know how to stop them a lot of the time now. I struggled through the rest of the run in pain and lacking energy because I haven't been eating enough, I probably am very low on carbohydrates too. Food is no longer enjoyable. I might not be able to run at BYU on Saturday, I need to be thinking of Simplot with only a month to go. My goal for indoor is 4:26, if I do this I will have all my goals for the year lined up and ready to hit. But I'm ok with 4:29 too, what's really important to me is running 4:23 at Pineview and then running sub 4:20 at Arcadia. After that, I will set big goals for BYU, region, and state. I know my hip/pelvis will get better, I just need to be patient, work through it, and soon enough I will be ok.

I just came back from the hot tub and I'm feeling way better, almost pain free! I will definitely go again tomorrow, BYU is looking probable right now.

I ran with the rest of the team on and off today, probably 2 with the team, 6.25 on my own. The first few miles were painful and hard to get through but by mile 5 I was feeling good. I'm going to hot tub again, it will probably help out!

Long run today, ran with the team and then after a few miles, Davis and I started running faster, like sub 7:00 pace but it was still feeling good and it was pretty easy. No pain today! There was pain earlier on in the day but none during the run! I am using the hot tub again and will stretch more later tonight. I will register for BYU tonight but I'm only going to race if my back is feeling completely fine tomorrow

Trying to get registered for BYU invite, yesterday I was going to but my house had a black out. If it doesn't work in going to do a 1600m race at Alta with Read. 4 miles easy today.

My body is messed up right now. I think I'm going to start eating wheat and gluten again, this season is too important to risk that kind of thing, I will talk to a sports nutritionist to see what seems like the best option first. Also my throat hurt a lot during the race, bad asthma. Bad cough at the meet too, something deep in my throat.

Warmed up and then did the gully for time, I still haven't started eating wheat again so I still sucked with 43:18. It was a nice day, probably would've been under 40:00 if I was healthy.

Also found out I might have had a sinus infection for at least half my life. When I had a concussion in 5th grade, the MRI showed I had a sinus infection, and it was still there when I had an MRI for another concussion the summer before 9th grade. And apparently its probably still there, I didn't hear about this until today, but apparently when they saw it back then they didn't do anything about it because they were more concerned about my brain. So I guess this means ANOTHER doctors appointment. I'm really sick of going to the doctor. So who knows how long I've had this thing and I'm going to check if I still have it, my dad says if I get it taken care of I might stop having asthmatic problems so I guess its worth checking out. I really really hope February is the last month I have any more doctors appointments for a long time!

Easy day, I ran with Zach and Ashton. Also I had all the JV runners that came do a core workout with us, we did push up's, sit up's, planks, Russian twists, flutter kicks, and stuff. They started not being able to do them for most of the minute intervals after a while so I suggested they go run another lap or two after that. They'd done 25-30 minutes but we were only a mile into our run. After that I did the best buy loop with Zach and Ashton.

4.5 with the team, then a weight room workout, pretty good, then a 1.5 mile extra by myself. I felt good but tired and sore, I'm getting back to myself though, hopefully I will be ready to go on Friday for a sub 4:35 mile. Also am making sure to keep hydrated.

Coach wasn't here today, Hefner told us to do 70 minutes. So interesting pre meet day of 8.25 miles. But its better for my training long term i suppose, I bet it will only affect me a couple seconds for the race tomorrow, there's a lot I want to put out on the track. I'm the only one going...again.

I dont know what to say.

I ran the Salt Lake Track Club 5k with Murphy and Andy. I ran 17:51, good for training. I dont know what place I took, I started out in the top 10, got passed by some people and, the last one who passed me I gathered enough of a kick to get passed him again. It was pretty fun, and they had good food! I just need to do what Murphy said, I can't be in good race shape 12 months out of the year, and I shouldn't force it like I've been doing. I just need to keep running and do good mileage and train well and I will be ok. I'm going to do 4/5 miles bow, I was thinking of doing them tonight but I'm feeling like doing them now, and maybe I will do more tonight, not sure.

I did 5.7, I felt really good. I feel good now, I've given myself some really good exercise this weekend.

At the doctors office, resting heartbeat is below 40!!!!!! It was at 39 and then dipped to 38 for a second. Now lets shoot for 35. I think we've solved the problem, I've been trying a new asthma medication and my lung today were a ton worse than before, so I'm getting back on dulera and will use albuterol on race days. I have been trying to force good races to come and haven't been feeling it at all, hopefully this will help change it. I also need to have more fun, just wanting it a lot isn't enough.

8.3, I ran 1.5 on the treadmill and ran 6:15-6:40 pace for the run, it wasn't hard. My back hurt again today, so I will hot tub tomorrow, I really thought that was over a while ago but its ok, I just need to overkill it with hot tub and stretches all week to make sure it gone for good. I have another appointment, this one to renew my military ID that I get for being my dads son, it gets me free food at air ports and is a form health insurance identification or something for when I go on my mission, but luckily the appointment is in the morning so I won't miss practice, also I have two more appointments on Friday, one for a pass port, and another at 7:30 in the morning to follow up on for the dentist appointment today because I don't have a cavity but a tooth that is notorious for getting cavities hasn't gotten one and they want to make sure it doesn't get one while I'm on my mission so I guess its probably a good idea. So yeah, 5 appointments this week... If I have any more for rest of February I'm going to go insane. I'm just glad I won't miss practice the rest of the week.

6x400m with 200m walk jog recovery between them. It was 3200m pace so pretty easy, I ran 78 for the first and then 70-73 for the others. Felt a little better today.

We did a mile, including the track team warm up. Then everyone wanted to do a weight room thing so we did that until almost 4:00, I got in a good workout. And then we did 5.5 more while playing Smurf, the person who was it had to do a strider while the rest of us decided what Smurf was so it helped us do those too. I wanted to do more like 8-10 today, especially 10 but I stuck with the team instead. I think on Saturday I am going to do a long run somewhere cool that I haven't been for a while, or maybe somewhere new, I haven't decided. And Friday if we don't have practice I will do something like 10 miles on porter Rockwell and get kneaders afterwards with anyone from the team that wants to. Also my creative writing teacher says I'm good at writing, especially at sports stories, and I'm learning a ton in that class. I'm writing a short story about when I broke 5:00 in the mile for the first time. I think I might start a hobby of writing stories about running or something, I like writing, especially about running!

Track team warm up, everyone was gone today except for me and pulpy. We did 70 minutes, pulpy really wanted to run to Waterford and Jordan, I told him he'd regret it but he didn't believe me. We ran to Waterford and looked around there for a little and then we started running to Jordan, we got down to 400th but we were at 37 minutes so we decided to start heading back instead. We went through the neighborhoods and smaller roads because the huge roads were getting really old. It was a good run, except for as I predicted, the route we did really sucked. Its way to much running on bigger roads, not a very nice place to run.

Ouch, getting a filling thing or whatever I got was a lot different than I remember. Its swollen and still hurts, my jaw cramped up when I was was eating something, it only hurt a little at the time because I was still really numb. And my tooth is hurting quite a bit too, i cant even open my mouth all the way because of my jaw. But oh well, it will be better in a few hours, Zach, Read and I came to practice today, we did a track workout. 1x1200 at 3200m pace, 1x800m at 3200m pace, and 1x400m at 1600m pace. It was very windy today so it was pretty tough, I ran 3:50 or so for the 1200, pretty slow. Then I ran 2:29 for the 800m, better, and then 65 for the 400m which was good. My mouth is hurting though, I feel kind of weird/tired too, maybe they did something wrong at the dentist, maybe next time I won't have them play a movie during the procedure haha.

12 miles in the gully, the run took me a less than an hour and a half so the pace was under 7:30, that's good. I ran the lower loop backwards to start off, then I did the longer run with 4 extra loops at the park, then I did the Gully's secret bonus level of pain. Then when I did some more around the parking lots when I finished to get to 12, I also stopped at Smiths and grabbed a powerade when I was done, it was a great way to finish off the run. I was considering doing a time trial, but then I remembered the words of Murphy not to force races, so I did a great long run. It felt perfect for today! I had a really good time and I'm feeling great! I'm going to relax the rest of the weekend, next week is going to be fun! Also congratulations to Conner Mantz on winning the USA Junior Cross Country Championships today, and by 25 seconds!

Really nice run today, perfect weather, I felt great. I ran with Davis, Zach, and Ashton for 80 minutes on the Wasatch dimpledell loop, I did some extra. Practice tomorrow will be fun, I think I'm starting to feel it again.

I woke up at 4:30 because my tooth is hurting a lot, I know they screwed up, I decided to look it up and I'm fairly certain they caused an overhang by doing a crappy job with the filling, some of the filling is actually outside the tooth. That's one reason I'm pretty sure its an overhang, another reason is that my gum is what's hurting, overhang is supposed to cause gum inflammation and make the gum ache, and last, its only gotten worse since Saturday.my jaw that cramped up is ok now, this sucks. So I'm going to try and make them see me first thing this morning so I dont miss school and I don't have to deal with it anymore, because apparently this thing can get pretty serious.

My dentist is away for the week so looks like I will just have to get through it until then. The pain comes and goes, it doesn't hurt as much as it did this morning now but its getting there again, and when I called they said to get some Motrin, so I guess I will do that. We did an easy 4 miles and then did weight room. I did my 3 sets of the 3 workouts I do there, I'm getting better at them, I went up a weight setting in two and increased my reps in the other.

I'm pretty frustrated with lots of stuff. Oh and at practice, Hefner and that new coach decided we only needed lane 8 for our flying forties, which we usually use 3-4 lanes for. Then I did 1.5 to cooldown by myself. I'm kind of tired but I think I'm going to go do some more in the gully to give myself time to think about stuff and relax a little, and get ready for another day. Just 2.5 more in the gully, would've done more but there was construction and the path I wanted to run was blocked off for construction...in the gully... I need to decide whether or not to race by practice tomorrow

9 miles in the gully. It was a pretty good run. I guess I'm not racing tomorrow, maybe I will do a time trial on my own sometime over the weekend.

Ran to the gully and did hill sprints, then ran back to Alta. I did an extra lap on my own to get past 4 for the day. Only 3 months of high school left. Kind of glad I didn't go to the meet today. I want to pull off a big success but not much opportunity for that at the moment. I guess patience is the key thing right now. I will have to figure out what to do tomorrow, probably a big, easy mileage day. Maybe a max effort 400 or 800m just for fun.

Did a 10k, eventually I just started jogging. Wasn't feeling like racing a 10k today and I was pretty sore before the race. It was kind of fun though. Change of plans for this week, I'm going to Simplot! I need to get ready for it, and if I have a good race then hopefully I will make finals!

9.5 in the gully on my own. Then I went to Wasatch and picked up the best thing I could get for racing on Thursday. I also played racquetball later, its good for acceleration haha, my jaw is hurting but I got my teeth fixed today so I should be feeling good soon. No more dentist appointments for 2 years! And the construction in the gully has worked its way to the trail we run on, but they left a gap for us so its ok.

Josh Collins is in my qualifying heat! Scary, and there are 3 other guys with times of 4:21-4:23. After that I should be able to beat everyone. The next fastest is Chris rushing, then me, and Chris and I are pretty even in the mile so its nice to have him in my heat! There are to guys who've run just under 4:30 from Oregon and California but they're from Oregon and California so... Yeah. Then there a few other guys who've run sub 4:35 but and the bottom half of the heat is mostly upper 4:30s or low 4:40s. So good competition, but also a few incredibly fast guys. My plan is to get into about 7th place and wait until the sea level kids die off, and then try to catch Mark Summers. He's run 4:22 and has signed with USU, I beat him at USU but I bet he's in better shape now. I will need to race very well in order to finish in the top 5 of my heat. I'm excited but I need to catch fire.

7 slow miles with the team. I was going to do some more but it gets really old when everyone else does the bare minimum for the workout given...or less. I just need to be strong and do what I know is right for me. Tomorrow is pre-meet, I'm gonna kill it at Simplot!!!

I ran down to Nam and looked around there for a while, I came back to Alta after I had run a bit over 30 minutes and then did 4 striders. I felt pretty good. Tomorrow will be fun, East is an awesome team and Simplot is the biggest meet I've competed at! I really want to qualify for finals!

I had a very rough race. It was the first time I've ever taken last. All you can really do is keep going. I dont know where its all gone, but I need to forge something new in order to make it onto USU. I can't really do any worse than I did today, I can't suck worse or sink lower so I guess the only way is up!

I guess its going to be a low mileage week.

I meant to do 10-12. I ran with Zach and I had a really hard time just doing an easy long run. Zach's stomach was hurting so we had to turn back at 4. We also turned on the road coming back so it was a little shorter than 4 coming back. I was going to go do more on my own but its just not in me. I could do it, but I don't think I should. Maybe I will do another run later tonight to get to 40. The rest of the day I guess I will just try to relax and get my mind off of Thursday. I dont know how long its going to take to get back.

Still shooting for 4:18. But I need to take steps. We don't have a meet until march 21st so I have some time to get ready. A nice break from racing, and now we are beginning to start doing track workouts, I'm going get a huge amount faster in the next 4 weeks. And I'm going to work hard to make sure I get where I want to be. I'd like to do a time trial before the first invitational, I haven't been racing like I used to and I want to run a 1600m where I dont have to worry about positioning to get back on my feet, not for a while though. Right now I'm just excited to start working on my speed again! We did 8x200m at 1600m goal pace. So I ran 32s and 33s to average out at 4:18. I accidentally ran a 30 because people in the way and I was a little annoyed. And I ran a 31 for the last one, so a little fast. But the others were good. I walked until we regrouped after the 200s and then we jogged the rest of the recovery. I think I'm good to go again after Thursday, its not the end of the world, you've got to fail hard to succeed, I'm going to be ok and will achieve my goals as long as I work hard and trust in the workouts Murphy gives me.

7 miles with 6 striders and core. Feeling sick, but hopefully I will have a good time with the track workout tomorrow.

Well when I heard we were going to do a hard mile today I started feeling even more sick, I really didn't want to do a time trial thing for a while, I felt like throwing up by the time we got done with the 20 minute warm up. I started the 1600m and took it out at a fairly easy 74 second pace, I was just going to do a little under five minutes but my body just wasnt working like its supposed to, it felt like I wasn't getting enough blood places even though the pace felt easy. My calves started cramping up after the first lap and by the 600m mark I knew I would have to quit or else they'd explode. I've been cramping up really easy lately too, I dont know what's wrong with my body but I hope it will pass.

I ran to the library and back a little while after I got home. I didn't run at all to cool down at school because I didn't want my calves to cramp up so I just walked about a mile. But I wanted to make sure my muscles didn't get tight so I did a little more at home. My feet feel really screwed up too, not sure whats going on, I guess it doesn't really matter.

10 miles and 4 striders. I ran faster the last 5 miles, probably mid to low 6 minute pace. So an ok run, didn't really plan on running faster, I just started, it felt good though.

Ran in the gully today, I felt worse than yesterday. I almost threw up a couple of times. Lots of horses and people with dogs. I also came across a battle/gathering of pioneers vs revolutionary war militia (I think?), ninjas, a ninja turtle (with a sword and sheild), hobbits, and what appeared to be a Jedi creeping through down a hill to join them. Lots of construction today as well. I wanted to do 12 and get 50 for the week but I wasn't feeling it, didn't want to make mt health worse than it is. I'm going to do core and some exercises to help my kick.

I ran the best buy loop on my own today after the warm up. Everyone else wanted to do 3-4 miles and they weren't stopping for Garmin so I ran on my own. It gave me a chance to concentrate on my form and strike the ball of my foot. I ran into Zach on about a quarter mile from the school and turned around and did the lower loop with him. He said they ended up doing 5 miles, I was proud that he did an extra 2 miles to get to 7! We watched son pretty awesome flotrack videos before running! I think I need to relax on race days and not worry or think about the race too much, its like this thing in psych we are learning in which if you aren't engaged in something enough you will do bad because you dont car, but I you're too preoccupied with it, you will do bad because you're so anxious.i need to be a little less anxious and relax.

6 miles easy and then 2 hard effort miles. I was gave a pretty good effort but made sure not to race it. Didn't feel super good today but I think I'm getting better. I had an appointment with the allergist today, she said that my asthma medicine might be causing the cramps, so I'm on a new one, unfortunately its also might cause cramps. I've decided to stop taking my heartburn medicine because even though it just cuts down on acid to reduce the pain, I think that if something is giving me heartburn, it might be harming my body in other ways so I want to know if its causing heartburn so I won't eat it. I got a nose scope and my nostrils have lots of spots that have been bleeding and is very dry, I need to use my allergy nose spray better so it goes where its supposed to. I also found out Ive had a chronic sinus infection since before the 5th grade, so I will get that fixed hopefully. I dont think that the sinus infection thing is affecting me because I had a few good races over the past few years.

Ran to the gully and did a good hill workout, something in between .15 and .2 long, we did 7 of them, I felt good about my effort and alright about how my body was holding up. I started cramping up after the workout at the beginning of the 40 minute run just a bit but I don't mind as long as its afterwards, and I was able to do the 40 minutes just fine although pretty tired, but that's the point of the workout so I felt good about it! I think im starting to feel a little better than I have been the past few weeks, hopefully that will continue.

Flying 40s today, I felt ok, probably another gully run tomorrow, maybe 10 miles. This was Fridays run and Fridays run on here was Thursdays run.

10 miles on porter Rockwell, pretty good pace. I feel a little bit better today than yesterday, I'm pretty happy and confident that I'm finally getting out of this very low stretch of running, I think I'm just about ready for some fast running to begin. The first meet is the same day as prom so that will be interesting. But if I just do the 1600m, or 1600m and 4x800m (If enough people come) it wouldn't be a problem. I'm interested to see how I do in tomorrows workout.

I'm going to split today into two 5 mile runs because I have lots of stuff to do and slept in this morning, or maybe a 5 mile run now and the gully long run if I have time to stop by when I go near there. 5.1 around the neighborhood, not the most enjoyable place to run, more later.

We did a new drill in place of striders today, a football drill type thing I used to do in 8th grade. It made my thighs a little sore. Then we did 2 miles and I felt pretty good by the end of it. Then I did 1000m, 800m, 600n, 400m, 400m. It was mostly at 3200m pace, the 400ms were more at 1600m. Everything was supposed to be at 75 second pace besides the 400m. I ran the 1000m in 3:06, the 800m was at 2:27, the 600m was in 1:47 or 1:48, the first 400m was 67, and the 2nd was a max effort, I went a little harder than I wanted to at first and ended running 62, which is ok for the first good hard track workout of the year. I've really missed them. We did a good recovery in between each rep, I'm excited for more track workouts, tomorrow will be a nice relaxing run. I'm continuing to feel better, not all the way back yet, but I'm feeling better than I have in a long time.

Warmed up with the team and then ran 8.5 miles including the best buy loop. It was pretty fun and I felt good, pace felt a little slow but it ended up being around 7:30-7:40. I think I'm just feeling better.

The entrance we usually take to do the gully long run blocked off for construction, I suggested to go around the construction on another trail and finish the route from there, but that solution wasn't very popular. I ran with the team for a little less than two miles but after that I was on my own. I ran the gully longer run backwards and then cut up on the lower gully loop at the last part to avoid the construction. I stopped with about half a mile left because some had stacked a ton of tumble weed to block the path, so I threw all of them, like 30, to the side so I wouldn't have to deal with it next time. Also got new trainers and spikes, well I got the last pair of adrenaline 14 at Wasatch running, I love those shoes, the 15 just isn't as good, and I got a free bread sample from great harvest since I was going down to state street, one of the best parts of my day

Great track workout! The best I've ever had! The idea of 8 400m repeats at 65 seconds seemed scary at first, I was a little scared but I did incredible. We did 8 400m repeats at goal 1600m pace. That is sub 4:20 for me so I was thinking 65s. The first one was supposed to be 5 seconds slower. So I ran 69, I was happy with it, I was scared of what was to come though. I hit 64s for all of them!!! It was one of those special workouts where you're hitting faster than your goal split even though you're only trying to hit them. I was very motivated to finish out the workout at this pace, and I rose to the challenge! The last 400m I ran even faster and got a 61! I didnt intend for the last to be any faster but it was, and I'm really glad it was! This was a great and beautiful day for a spectacular workout. I'm really happy, and I'm excited to run the time trial tomorrow. Especially since whatever time I get will be the day after a great track workout, whatever time i get will be that much more impressive! Also i get to break out my new spikes.

Warmed up with the team and then did another 2 laps before the first race. For the 1600m Coach Murphy had Davis lead the 1st lap, Read lead the 2nd lap, and me lead the 3rd lap, then 4th lap was every man for himself haha. I had a good time, it helped me get over the difficulties I've been having, I'm ok with the time, especially because it was more of a fun/workout kind of race and yesterday was a very good, tough workout. So the mile went well and I think I will be ready for a big race in two weeks. Then Coach Murphy and Doug let start the sprinters for the 100m, which was really fun! It was also way too loud haha, but I'm grateful for the experience! After that I ran around some more before racing the 800m, there were only about 5 100m heats and some 400 heats in between the mile and the 800m, so I wasn't worried about the time, I took it out comfortably and felt decent, I ran 64 for the first lap and held on for a 2:11, I had fun. And after the 200m heats, we did the 4x400m, and i ran a 55 second split! After a day like this, and after a day like yesterday, that's good. I also ran too slow for the first 100ish, I took it out more like an 800, or even a mile. But it felt good, I think I could run 52-53 right now, I'm excited! Its always fun to race on our track, and I think after these two days of really good work, I'm ready to lead out strong at Copper hills in two weeks. I ran 1.3 with the guys and then another 1.2 on my own later because its such a beautiful day. Good time today, lots of fun and positivity, this season is going to rock!

8.25 in the gully, tired, heartburn. Need to get a steady group of guys to run together on Saturdays.

Ran with Read, Cubby, and Ashton. We were going kinda slow the first 3ish miles and after the hill Cubby and Read turned down to do the rest of the regular gully run so I was only with Ashton for the rest of the run, but I was grateful for some company. We ran to the park and then did some extra there, I also ran around the parking lot when we finished. It was an alright run, I would've liked to do a little more but that's ok, I'm ready for tomorrows workout.

2 miles of warm up and then a mile in 5:05, a little faster than I'd planned. A lap recovery, then an 800m in 2:25, too slow, I was distracted. Then we did 4 400ms, the first two were at mile pace from Friday, I ran 70 and 72, then the last two were at goal pace, I ran too fast 63 and 62. I can't let things get in my head no matter what, no matter how big the distraction or mental hurdle, I've just got to stay in control and run the workout that I need to run.

Nice long run with the team, felt really good, 7:27 average. I kind of want to race at the meet Saturday but I think the 5k is smarter and feels better.

Warmed up and did 10x400m at increasing paces, I ran 71, 71, 71, 71, 69, 69, 67, 67, 64, 64, so it was a good workout, I hit a second or two faster than I had to on each repitition! I got my mission call, I will post where I'm going tonight when I open it!

MONTREAL CANADA!!!!! French speaking! The area is huge, it includes Quebec and lots of really exciting places, I'm really excited to meet the people there and share the gospel with them!!!

Very easy practice day. I'm really grateful and happy about my mission call. Not the happiest day of practice, I'm trying to not think about some negative things and just focus on getting faster and preparing for my mission. I can't control anything but what I do, and no matter the difficulties I need to be patient with people and things and only worry about what's important, getting ready for my mission, and making Utah States track and cross country teams. I'm going to do a 4 mile run to clear my head and just because I feel like I should do one. Then tomorrow is a 5k, dont really want to race but probably will.

4 miles on my own, it was peaceful and felt good. Coach Murphy gave me a really awesome quote today, I'm going to write it down and keep it close by so I can draw strength from it on my mission.

About a mile warm up, then I raced, I raced well and was tough. I had fun! I had a good talk with Coach Murphy after the race and then I ran just under a 2 mile cool down with Garek, Chris, Sarah, and Gustavo, then we went to awards, then I ran another 5 grass laps with Sarah and Gustavo to get a little over 4 miles, then I ran back to my van which was about a mile. Had a fun day and I'm feeling good, better than yesterday! Ready for prom :).

The gully long run is officially closed off, kinda sad. We ran in the lower gully, 20 minutes easy, 20 minutes hard, 20 minutes easy. I ran with Davis for the 20 minutes hard and finished at well under 6:00 pace. I am feeling good, I could break 10:00 in the 3200m if I raced it right now. I'm thinking maybe break 10:00 and run the 800m on Wednesday and then PR with sub4:30 on Saturday if conditions are good. But maybe I will race the mile on Wednesday because it would mean more rest. I'm feeling fast!

Warm up and then 15 minutes easy with 6 striders. Tomorrow I will probably race the 1600m, the 400m or 4x400m, and the 3200m. It will be fun! I think I should go for the lower half of 4:30s for the 1600m, just win the 2 mile, and hopefully surprise myself in the 400m! I think I can win the 1600m at Copper Hills invitational.

Ran the mile, just won the mile, I wasn't feeling it at all. Then I ran a 200m in the sprint medley and then Murphy had me run the 3200m in 11:00 minutes, I absolutely hate not giving my all in races. Now everyone on the team thinks I'm slow. Hopefully that's the last time I have to do that.

10.5 today, I ran with Davis at about 7:25 pace or so. It was a good run and i felt good about the pace, its kind of funny to think 10.5 is really easy to do now but if you told me to do 10 miles 3 years ago I would have freaked out haha. Being in shape is fun. I'm down to do the 1600m, the 800m, and the 3200m on Saturday and possibly the 4x400m if we enter one. It will be a full day, i have a lot planned for the meet.

Premeet, 2.5 warm up miles, 4 200s at race pace, and then a mile cool down. There a kid from Syracuse tomorrow who ran 4:35 last week so I will need to work hard to beat him, this race will be fun.

I WON THE MILE!!!!! I'm so glad! I ran a tough race and had to work hard to win. I ran smart and gave it my all. My problem is that if I start loosing a race I give up, I need to stop doing that and just do my best. Luckily I was able to win today, it was really hard but I'm very glad I did it. I'm getting faster again. I was having a lot of asthma problems and I forgot to bring my inhaler so I was still really dead by the 800m, no points haha. Also I'm in the slow heat of the 3200m and still having asthma problems so I think I should call it a day, go home and run 4 miles easy. Good meet! Need to race like I did today every day, giving it my all.

Oof, really tired. But I'm so happy I won!!! I was so tired I didn't do all 4 miles, I ran 2.3 and then walk jogged home because i was going to just lie down and sleep somewhere if i didn't haha. I want to run sub 4:30 before the big invitationals start. Today we went out at 68, slower than I usually do. I think I'm running the 3200m at Alpha before the 1600m so I want to break 10:00, maybe even a little more. Then in the 1600m I will try to get under 4:35, it will be a good hard meet!

Warmed up and then went to a Crescent view park and Ra 4 max effort 400s, there are a few sharp turns and it not very even grass so the 400s weren't that fast, I ran 61-62 for all of them, so it was pretty good. I was feeling kind of tired before the workout but once we started I got into it. Im excited to pass a huge benchmark in distance running, a sub 10:00 3200m, at Alpha on Thursday, it feels like I should've done it a while ago but I'm not going to let it get away, I do best at the 3200m when I relax and ease into it so I will probably start out at 73-75 and then maintain that pace. I'm pretty sure that will be my only event on Thursday, Alpha is kind of a weird meet, but that will give me a nice opportunity to go for a long cool down and then lots of recovery before the 1600m. The nice thing about having the invitational start on Thursday is that only one more day and then its already premeet!

We ran 4 easy and then a 2 mile hard effort, I ran about 11:15, and then another 2easy miles. It was very windy, hopefully it clears up for Thursday. I know I can break 10:00 I just have to run tough and smart and give my best. That is my focus this week, I kind of want to shoot for sub 4:30 on Friday but Alpha for me is all about sub 10:00 3200m.

Warmed up and then did 4 miles and 6 striders on my own. I need to be patient and keep a positive attitude, its hard to keep some negative things from getting to me but I need to concentrate on the positive.

Bad race. Cold and windy and I mentally lost it at the mile. My arms really hurt by the end, that type of crappy race, the worst type. I will come back tomorrow and hopefully win my heat. I cooled down with Lone Peak, awesome guys!

Bad meet, need long run. Some extra mileage, lots of thanks and respect to Coach Murphy for pulling two 15-16 hour work days in a row to come to this crazy long meet, its a lot of time to sacrifice for us runners and I am really grateful that he was there, it means a lot!

Ran at Liberty Park with Murphy, and with Sarah and Maddy at the beginning. I'm tired, Spring break is here!

Wasatch Pepperwood loop with Pulpy and then 1.5 mile loop on my own. I felt good today, plenty of energy.

2 mile warm up, the 12x200m at 1600m race pace with 200m jog in between each, the last few were pretty hard!

Up to late, I had family over, I ran around the city, it was a peaceful run and gave me an opportunity to think, I should be more positive and concentrate on enjoying each day a little more instead of just anxiously waiting to see how things will turn out. I just heard we are meeting on the track at 10, so I will be there!

Warmed up 2 miles, then did 1600m in 5:18,jogged a lap recovery, 4:06-4:08 1200m, slow. Them another lap recovery, then 800m in 2:32, little too slow, then I jogged another lap and ran a 63 second 400m, kind of wanted to run faster. It was a hard workout, probably did too many hills yesterdays run, I'd say I did 2 miles of steep hills yesterday and 2 miles downhill too, so i was a little tight in the hamstrings and calves today. But i definitely needed a workout like this, my arms were hurting a lot today, which i take as a sign that I'm not getting enough oxygen. I think I'm going to start taking albutoral regularly, 2 puffs twice a day, and two puffs 15 minutes before i race, that was working in cross country pretty well. I need to take things one day at a time and do great training, i really want to make USU track and cross. I also need to start pulling together a monster kick at the end of races, something like a 65 or 64, maybe even 63 to cap things off, 68 isn't fast enough, I need to do better. At the meet next week I'm going to run sub 4:30, I'm going to medal, and I'm going to run sub 65 for the last lap.

Awesome run, it felt really good, and today was very beautiful and perfect for running. I ran the Wasatch dimple dell loop, I'm excited about running more in the future. I'm going to get past 50 this week and I think I'm going to start doing some extra running each week just for fun. Tomorrow I will run at least 8 miles not sure where. The gully long run is completely closed off.

I ran about 100 minutes with Tayte, we ran up Bell canyon in little cottonwood from his house, then ran down and over to the gully and through to 9400 and ran back from there. It was a really good run, great views on that route! He's going to kill it at the mountain running nationals this summer! I'm going to be on my mission by then, I will have to save my mountain running days for later! This has been a really good week of training.

10.5, warm up and then 10 miles at porter Rockwell, felt good today. We brought the pace down to 6:55 and then Davis started running faster and it felt easy so I went with him and started going 6:25 or so, after a while I was on my own so I don't know what pace I was going, it felt easy and good, Davis almost caught up in the last mile with 6:05 so it was probably wasn't faster than 6:20 pace. So it was a good run.

Easy 20x200ms, I'm ready to kill it at the meet on Saturday. I've been feeling crap for a long time, but I'm ready to destroy the mile at taylorsville, no more pansy 68 second first laps, I'm going to go out in 65 hold on for laps 2 and 3 and then run the last lap in 65 or better. I need to get in the good heat at the Davis Invite so I need to improve my PR. I'm feeling real energy and fire, I'm going to finally do it.

Warm up and then 6 miles in the snow. Some guy started wearing high heels to school...why couldn't I have been born 10 years earlier?

Warm up, then 3 miles more warm up, then 4x200m at 26-28 seconds. I ran 27 and 26 for them all, maybe 28 on the first. The last one was good, solid effort. They were a little bit hard but not bad, my arm started hurting a significant amount right above the elbow, so thats weird. I'm really grateful that I'm not doing the 3200 at Taylorsville so I can be free for the 1600m. I'm going sub 4:30 this time, I'm going to PR!

Pre meet, easy 20 minutes of running and 6 striders. Need to get 8 hours of sleep tonight.

Long meet, I didn't race until 12:30, more than 4 hours after we got there. I started out ok, didn't run in lane 1 as much as I would've liked, I settled in on the first lap and was surprised to hear I only ran 67, but the next lap I got into 5th or 6th place and started trying to get ahead of this kid from Wyoming cause he was falling back a bit and was in my way but each time he would close the gap and start elbowing me, I elbowed back but he wouldn't move, this happened a 3 or 4 times until I just decided to let it go. He probably cost me 3 or 4 seconds, but I was getting pretty tired by the end of lap 2 which was 69 seconds or so, but I worked through it and stayed with the pack, I kicked past the little jerk but he came back. But if hadn't been messing up my race I would've killed him and maybe gotten 4th. But I gave a good effort and handled the situation well, probably going to be in the fastest heat of the regular meet at Davis Invitational, but I will still run sub 4:30 there! After that I had two hours before the 800m, I was the last seed of the fastest heat so I was in lane 3 or 4 for the first hundred which added a second or two but once I got up there I was fine, I ran a good first lap and got 60, Murphy told me to go for 59 so if you take the first turn into account I probably did get 59, but the 2nd lap was hard, I was tired and worked through it respectably but I only ran a 66 to get 2:06. Then I had a decent break in which I cooled down a little and eventually got to the 4x400m, Andrew gave it to me with the lead and I opened the gap further so we were far ahead and hung on for the win, I think I ran 54 or 53, it was a good effort. After my 400m I ran to iceburg with Andrew and got a shake, I wanted to get small but all their sizes are pretty big! Goodmeet though, I had fun, got a medal, and I'm going to break 4:30 and 2:00 soon, probably 10:00 at some point too haha. I think a sub 2:00 could happen at practice, after my 1600m at BYU, or maybe the 2nd day of racing at region, or maybe after the season. I'm going to improve a lot atthr Davis Invitational, its going to be a good PR!

10.25 mostly on my own. After I was alone, I picked it up pretty fast for a few miles because there was no one else I needed to run slower for, I guess that's a good thing about it. The best thing about porter Rockwell is driving to great harvest on the way home afterwards and getting a free sample of bread, its also great because than I can get calories in sooner after the run, and it usually takes less time taking the freeway than going the usual way. But today was pretty bad, 50 minute drive home, there was a traffic jam and it went all the way to the belt route and I finally passed the crash as I got on, would've been 30 the other way, but I didn't mind too much, running makes things better. I think that even if people do stupid or wrong things that I disagree with, maybe I could still try to be more positive about it and just be happy with what they do right.

We warmed up and then did 4x800m and 2x400m, the 800ms were supposed to be 2:25, I ran them in 2:25, 2:24, 2:24, 2:25, and then the first 400m was for 68, I ran 66, and the 2nd 400m was at 64 and I ran 64 or maybe 63. So it was a good workout! We walk-jogged a lap between 800ms, and a little less than 200m before the 400ms. I'm going to run 4:27 at the Davis Invitational this weekend, I'm racing to win it!

Ran a very easy recovery day with cubby and read, and then did 6 striders. Getting ready for some great times the next couple of meets.

Bad workout, wasn't mentally prepared for it, things went wrong. I need to be patient and concentrate on the race, my race, no one else's opinion matters, I know what I can do and I'm going to do it.

Easy 20 minutes after the warm up and then 4 striders. 4:27 tomorrow.

A new PR in the 1600m, which always feels great, I also ran sub 4:30! I am really happy about it, I was going for 4:27 but I'm still really happy about breaking 4:30 and getting a medal. I want to break 4:25 at BYU next week, its one of the best tracks in the country for Distance and its always a great, fast meet so I believe that I can do it. The racestarted out and I got a spot in the middle, I kept that spot for the few lap, a few people passed me and I passed a few people, but going into the final lap I remembered what Coach Murphy said before the race "Don't be a baby on the last lap" and I took off like it was a 400m, all I cared about was that lap, nothing before it mattered time, I had to get out in lane 3 to start my kick, I went from8th or 10th to 2nd place right behind the leader with 200m to go, I was starting to hurt but I stuck on his back until a few guys past me, down to 5th place, I moved out to lane 2 so I could block off any people and gave whatever left I had, I was dying after such a hard lap but I still managed to push past 2 more guys and get 3rd! Good race! I ran the 2 mile as well, pretty fun but I lost mentally with 2 laps to go, not a horrible race though, good workout if nothing else.

Still pretty disappointed that I'm missing BYU. I think I have to run 4:24 on my own this week to do it, I'm kind of annoyed that other guys trying to get on USU get to compete at BYU and I have to go to Herriman. I'm trying to be positive but it feels like trading in a Lamborghini class meet for a pick up truck. I ran 7 miles today at 7:00-7:15 pace. Ready for a hard track workout tomorrow. A few more thoughts, I need to think less highly of 4:20s in the mile, its just like PRing in the 4:30s, its still just putting all I have out there and doing my best, just because its fast now doesn't mean its any different.

Pretty good track workout, we did 3x600m with a full recovery, the goal pace was 1:36. I ran 1:34, 1:33, and then I gave a little harder effort to get 1:30 on the last one. It wasn't easy of course, but I think I can do 1:30 or maybe 1:29 next time we do it, it was pretty fun! Looking back I kind of wonder what 800m I would've run if id ran the last 200m of the last rep, I think I would've made a PR. A sub 2:00 the 2nd day of Region is in my grasp, im going to crush that barrier. I should run under 2:05 after the 1600m at Herriman so that I will be more comfortable with at the race for region. I'm going to do super at the 1600m, I saw a quote from Henry Ford the other day "Whether you think that you can, or you think that you can't, you're right." I believe I can run run a 4:24 on Friday, I'm going to run as fast as I can, and I'm not going to let up. This is going to be a great meet, and I'm going to accomplish great things. Also looks like we get two easy days to get ready for Herriman, I will be in great condition to race.

Warm up and then an easy 30 minute run with 6 striders. I was having trouble sleeping, I think I fell asleep at like 1:30 because I went downstairs and ate a bunch of food after not being able to sleep for a long time and it was 1:00, I fell asleep pretty soon after that. I think I was thinking about the race too much,I need to stay relaxed and run the race. Then in the 800m afterwards I will run under 2:05 for sure.

I I'm running the 1600m, 800m, and 3200m at region. I'm going to do my best and I'm not going to let anything get in my head or screw with me. Warm up and 20 minutes easy, then some striders. Going to get mentally ready for tomorrow.

Started the meet out with a not great 1600m, I ran about 4:35 and took 6th. But I put the slow start behind me and loaded upon food, including hot dog, not a great idea, but I was hungry. Then I ran the 800m, I got into an intense mindset and when we started I ran what I felt was a good pace, I started in last and worked my way up. With 500 left I remembered what Andrew said always thought around the middle of the 800m "this isn't so bad, I can keep this up". The first lap was :59 and I started going, I started passing a lot of people with a big kick, I felt really steady, I kept thinking i would run out of gas, but I didn't! I think if I'd know how much I had I might have gone sub 2:00, but 2:01 was a nice PR! Finally I broke out of my horrible 1 race mindset, I wanted to do the 3200m cause I was feeling on fire, and it was a good workout opportunity, and I thought I might even score a couple points. I ended up running 10:30 or so, not bad for so late and after all that. Then i ran the 4x400m after a small break, slightly extended by the lights going off. I ran a 54, fastest split on the team! Even though the meet started off on the wrong note, it ended up being great!

Ran the Wasatch pepperwood loop with Ashton. Really drained and sore from yesterday, I'm going to come back even stronger! Food is especially good right now, after a quadruple event meet and a good long run, I'm just about ready for lots and lots of food and rest.

Warm up and 4 miles on the track, then striders. Relaxing and resting up for region. I took the AP Psychology test today, 1/3rd of the way done. Looks like it might be raining and storming at region, it might make it possible to make a run for champion though.

Warm up and the lower loop with a couple laps on the track, then 6 striders. Weather could be a factor so mostly tomorrow I'm just concentrating on qualifying for state and scoring 8 points.

Needed to get this race out of my system, I'm really excited for the 800m though. I want to run 29, 58, and then kick with everything I've got. In the mile we went out good wit a 66 but, Christian took the lead but then he died and ran a 70 second lap and I had to work my out of the pack to get going and by that time with the slow pace at like mid 3:20s at the 1200 I kind of just wanted to qualify. But in the 800m I've got a plan and I'm going to execute.

So close to sub 2:00, I ran 58 and then just barely didn't finish where I wanted. At State next week I will make it for sure, 4:25 and sub 2:00! It was a difficult race, I'm excited to run some really fast times at State! I also ran a 53 second split on the 4x400m, I'm happy about that!

Warmed up and then ran an easy 30 minutes plus some laps around the gym. Tomorrow will be a good workout, right now I'm only concentrating on the 1600m, taking it one race at a time, I need to run 4:25.

Woke up at 7:00 this morning and decided to sleep another 30 minutes because I got in a little late from Provo last night, when I woke up again it was 8:33! Practice was at 8:30! So I rushed over there, usually it takes 25 minutes to drive to Alta, today was by far the fastest I've done it. I warmed up 2 miles and then ran 6x400m at 66, recovery was walk the turn and jog across the field, so about a minute a less, not sure. I ran 66, 66, 65, 66, 67, 64. The last one Murphy said to make it fast, no specific time, and I jogged into it so that helped. Tough workout, it was rainy and cold. But I hit my splits and I pushed hard, I gave a great effort and it was an excellent workout.

Warm up and then 45 minutes in the gully. Nice and easy day, it felt good to get a long run in. I can run 4:25 at the state meet.

Warmed up and then did 6x200m in 29-33 seconds getting faster. I did a pretty good job, I went a little to fast with 31.5 for the first but after that it was good, ending with a 29.12. Then a 1.5 mile cool down. Last track workout for Alta, I've had some great workouts these past few years, gonna miss running on this track.

Warm up and the 20 minutes easy with 6 striders.

Warm up and then about 20 minutes of running, probably a little more, then some more stretching. I'm ready for tomorrow. I'm excited to run in the State Championship 1600m! No past races matter, its just this race, I'm going to run faster than ever, its State, the last meet of High School, I need to leave it knowing I gave everything I had and more.

I started out the race well, I didn't want to waste energy fighting around in the big pack so I got on the end of it, the first lap was a little slower than I wanted at 67.5 so I picked up and started passing people, when I was coming around the corner to finish the 2nd lap Coach Murphy yelled that I needed to make a move, so I gave a little boost and caught up to guys that I knew would be running sub 4:30, the 800m was 2:13 so my 2nd lap was great, the 3rd lap I stayed with a few guys and then I surged with 500m left, something just told me to. I passed Jacob Warner, Adam Wood, and then with 200m left I caught up to Adam Jensen, I was starting to get tired and on the last stretch Adam Wood and Jacob passed me again, one of them cut in a little early and I had to slow down to avoid spiking them, but last 100m of a race they were way too tired to notice I was there haha, I finished in 4:27, top 10 in Alta history, 30th at the entire state meet 1A-5A, I might race the 1600m some more on my own, I enjoy it and who knows, maybe there's another PR for me! 800m tomorrow, that's all that's on my mind. Sub 2:00 tomorrow, I know I can do it, I will go out in 57 or 58 and then I will kick with everything I have. I've earned my entry into this meet over the past 4 years and tomorrow I'm going to run an amazing race.

Ran the anchor of the 4x400m, Andrew didn't show so we had Chandler run instead. I got the batton something like 100m behind the next team, some said more, I ran my best, the time was 50-52, I looked at the clock right when I got the batton and it was something that ended with 4 and I finished with it ending at something that ended with 4, I made up a good amount of ground but you know how it is. It was fun but i need to concentrate on the 800m, I need to stick with the pack and then start passing them once the pace calms down, I'm going to push with all my might and hopefully something great will come out of it.

Rough day, I realized yesterday that no matter what happens and no matter what goes wrong, its your attitude that determines how you do in a race. Today I ran hard, not the best race, but I made a brave move with 500m to go from last place to the front. I should have cut the guy off and held my momentum at the front but I stepped back to avoid that and the last 200m I got passed by a couple other guys. Bad feeling when I saw the time on the screen. I'm not done with track though, next week I'm going to run sub 2:00 by a large margin. I will be fresh, it will be sunny, I wont have to run in lane 2 and 3 for half the race, I'm going to run a very fast time. After that I will keep racing the mile, I want to break Kramers MTC record of 4:31, and I want to improve my PR more if at all possible. I'm going to have a lot of fun. Its weird to think I will never race for Alta again. I've been blessed with a great coach the past few years, Coach Murphy really is one the best out there! I'm going to miss running here, I really hope USU will give me a spot on their team, I would do almost anything to keep running track.

A little over an hour of running in the mountains with Tayte, good amount of uphill! And then some striders after that, going to run the 800m time trial on Thursday probably. A lot of rain when I was driving home, one of the heaviest rains in Utah I've seen! But I could also see areas just 10 miles away or so where it wasn't raining so that was really weird, same thing happened at State, weird weather the past few days.

Warmed up 2 miles on the lower loop and then did 2x400m at 62 and 4x200 at 29. I ran 60.4, 62.0, 29.2, 29.0, 28.8, 28.8. So it was a good workout. It felt fast, not easy, but when is sub 4:00 mile pace easy? Warm up was a little fast, I really want to break 2:00 on Thursday. When I was a freshman I kept running the mile for a month after track was over to break 5:00, and it finally happened the last day of school. Hopefully I run sub 2:00 this week and then I can start racing the mile for sub 4:25, that way when I go to California the 2nd week of June I can run sub 4:20 at sea level, and just like that I will have an incredibly fast PR! If it doesn't work out like I hope, that fine, I will have had a lot of fun training for it, and I'm proud of my 4:27 at state! But if it does, that will be incredible! I cooled down on the 1.5 mile loop above the school.

40 minutes of running with Zach, about 5.3. I felt alright, after an easy day tomorrow I think I will be ready to break 2:00. That will be a very good accomplishment, I've been dreaming of sub 2:00 for years but wasn't close to it until a few weeks ago, now it feels like I have plenty of power and speed to get it done, hopefully by a couple of seconds!

Ran easy 2.75 with the 2015 Alta xc team, also Adam Jensen ran 7:21 in the root beer mile, check it out! I started getting a sore throat last night, worse today by not bad. Had a slight headache after school today. But I'm feeling pretty decent, I think I will be ok for the 800m, if I dont get it, I've got plenty of time. But I think I've got it!

No 800m race today, too sick. Ran the warm up and then 30 minutes with the guys, I was gonna do another few miles tonight but my lungs and throat were feeling pretty crappy so I decided to rest today, and get in a good run tomorrow, 9-11 probably.

Feeling sick, not sure if or how much I will run today. If I'm feeling better tonight, I will try 4-5 miles, hopefully tomorrow I can get in a good run.

I was more sick today than yesterday, but I ended up going on a run to see if it would make anything better. The first mile or two were pretty awful, my lungs were dead. But by the last mile I was feeling really good, and now my lungs are feeling stronger than they have since the sickness began. I think I just needed to get my body working. I'm still coughing quite a bit, but tomorrow I think I will go for a gully run, maybe Wasatch pepperwood. I love the gully, I wish it was bigger!

My throat is still sore, but my lungs are feeling stronger. I ran the gully longer run, I didn't feel great but I feel a lot better afterwards. Hopefully I will be able to run sub 2:00 this week.

Woke up with a sore throat and a bad bloody nose, but it went away after a while, my throat still is having problems, so with the workout today my throat started getting in the way of my breathing and so mt lungs weren't getting enough oxygen, but when I tried coughing the mucous out of my throat, I lost even more oxygen and had to keep breathing through the mucous, so as a result, the more I tried to clear it up, the worse it got. I ran 6 400s of the 8-10 I was supposed to do and then didn't finish the 7th. I nailed my splits up to the 6th one, 70, 68, 66, 65, 65, they were starting to get unusually hard, I'd been feeling quite a bit worse than usual since the start but at that point it was feeling really bad, on the 6th I really started having some problems, I ran the lap perfect until I slowed before the line so it ended up being 67 or 68 even though I'd been on 66 or 65 pace the whole lap. I had started having a lot of trouble on the last couple and I just wasn't getting oxygen during the reps or recovery, I felt like I was going to suffocate after every rep, but I pushed through up until the 7th rep, I started it out but after only 150 meters I was out, no oxygen, so I went off the the side and hacked up for a while before walking back to the start. After resting 5 minutes or so I joined Zach and chase for the last 5 minutes of their 20 minute run, it wasn't super easy but wasn't that hard either, I was still having trouble breathing, and my calves were starting to cramp up because there wasn't enough oxygen, but I got through it and then ran a few hundred meters to my car. I'm proud of my effort though, I didn't finish, but for being sick I pushed through well and gave the limit that my body could give today. I think I overestimated my health, but I am feeling a lot better than I was earlier, hopefully by Friday I will be back to full health for an 800m.

Also Coach Murphy told me about the Leadville Marathon yesterday, I am so excited!!! Its such an awesome race, and its such an extreme marathon, the elevation and elevation gain make it a highly difficult trail race, its like Jupiter Peak Steeplechase but bigger! So I'm really excited about getting to run that, looking at past results I know its an ambitious goal but I want to break 4 hours, and hopefully be up near the leaders! I'm in better shape than I was last August, and although I've never run that long, I'm going to try and get as close to winning it as I can! I'm grateful that Murphy introduced me to mountain running, its a lot of fun and its one of the things I'm better at in running!

4 miles with Pulpy, and chase mikey and austin for the first 20 minutes. It rained quite a bit during the first half mile so I felt wet and uncomfortable the rest of the run. Pretty congested today, maybe I will do 20 more minutes was tonight if my nose starts clearing up.

Easy 30 minute run and 4 striders, also some core. Hopefully I'm all better tomorrow, I really want that sub 2:00 800m. I need to be a able to breathe though haha. Played in the Alta ping pong tournament, won the first round and then I lost to the guy who won the whole thing in the 2nd round, same as last time!

Made an attempt at sub 2:00 today, but was too sick. I decided to run it anyway because I've been doing premeet for a while and haven't raced in 2 weeks and I wanted to stay sharp. Pulpy, Austin, cubby, and Mikey paced me, each paced me for a 200m. I started feeling really bad at the 2nd lap, I ran a great 58 for the first lap, but the second lap I started having trouble with my lungs, each breathe kind of rattled my lungs, kind of like wheezing, breathing through mucous. I kept going hard, I didn't think I was on pace but I kept pushing, on the home stretch I thought I heard someone yell 1:55 with about over 50 meters left and I kind of thought I was done, I still strided in strong, but when I realized how close I was it was just a little too late and I didn't get it. After I finished, breathing started hurting, normal breaths hurt just a little, but when I breathed in deep it hurt quite a bit. So for being this far off of 100% and running my PR, I am going to rip that sub 2:00 barrier apart next week once im healthy, I know I can get 1:58, maybe 1:57. So im excited about that. I was planning on running once I got up to the cabin... But from the way it looks, not tonight. I will run tomorrow, and try to go home tomorrow night instead of Sunday morning. I think the only thing here that I dont feel horrible about eating are bananas, I think pizza is the next healthiest thing haha. I guess I will find a trail to run tomorrow, im going to try for 10-14 miles tomorrow. Then Sunday will either be full rest or a few easy miles, and then I want to race the 800m on Tuesday again, but I need to talk to Coach Murphy and see when I should race, how much rest I should give myself.

80 minute run in the mountains. I need to do more mileage for Leadville, I should be able to do a 2 hour run of 16 miles comfortably. Haven't run that long in a while, mile and marathon training are quite different! Good run today, this will be a tough race!

8.25 or so, lots of hills. I'm starting to think I'm going to go to SUU, it sounds like I could have a great career there, and my Dad was saying he's heard some good things about the school. Haven't heard from USU in a while, and SUU sounds awesome, I'm excited to run in college!!! I think my sickness is coming to an end, I'm still coughing but I think I'm getting better. Sub 2:00 this week, a sea level mile next week, and the Leadville Marathon the week after that. I'm going up to Leadville that Thursday to get a little more used to the elevation. Also might work in a sub 10:00 3200m sometime, maybe in California. Going to be an awesome summer! I'm think of doing the 800m either Wednesday or Friday.

86 minute run up bell canyon with Tayte, it gets very rocky up there, good amount of pain and plenty of hill, very steep! Good training run for Leadville, lots of elevation gain, and a good length. I'm going to do a lot of things to prepare for the elevation, but going to California next week isn't going to help, maybe mentally. Maybe I can get one of those altitude simulator masks haha, that would be pretty cool, but I bet they cost a bunch. We also ran 4 hill sprints after we got back, my turnover was so fast I felt like Captain America at the beginning of the 2nd movie. Still kind of sick, maybe the 800m will be Friday. No matter what happens, Leadville is going to be a great experience, I think I'm gonna be a different guy after doing something like that, at least have more character and I will be more tough. Going to be the hardest thing I've ever done probably, but i know the experience and the intrinsic reward will be worth it.

4 miles and then 4x200m. I ran the 200ms at 29-32 pace. I only actually got the time on the 2nd and 3rd, it was 31 on the 2nd, and 29 on the 3rd. After that I did another half mile cool down. Premeet tomorrow which is nice for graduation day, and then Friday, I'm thinking 10:00 for the 800m, I seem to race better in the morning.

Pre-meet workout, easy and good feeling. I'm going to break 2:00 tomorrow. I graduated from Alta High School today. High school has held a lot of trials for me, but running has helped me though it, even when my running was the trial, and I've done some good things too! I'm going to miss some things about high school, even some things I didn't really like, but one thing I can take with me everywhere I go is my passion for running, and all the lessons I have learned from my experiences with it and with my team and coach the past 4 years. Going to miss it here!

I FINALLY DID IT!!! This morning I went to the Alta track, and Coach Murphy timed me for an 800m time trial. With California next week, and a marathon after that, this was my last chance to break 2:00 in high school (officially today was a day of school haha). I felt good while warming up, pretty loose and light, ready for hard 800m. My lungs have still been having a little trouble, but I was able to push through the 800m despite that. Turns out I may currently have whooping cough or something, not sure. But anyways I ran my first 200m in 28, I came through the 400m in 58, I didn't hear my split for the 600m, but at that point you always want to quit, so I concentrated on pushing through the last section. Coach Murphy yelled 1:40 in the second half of the last turn, I wasn't sure if I could make it, but I really turned on the engine and started putting everything I had left into one final effort, I didn't know I would be able to make it, or if I was already safely under 2:00, but I knew that whatever the case, I needed to finish as hard as I could. It turned out to be 1:59.93!!! I made it by 7 hundredths of a second! This has been one of the most amazing things I have done, maybe the most amazing! Huge thanks to Coach Murphy for training me and teaching me so much over the past years, and for helping me overcome the 2 minute barrier today! This was the perfect way to finish out high school, and my time as an Alta Hawk!

Ran the regular gully long run nice and easy. I was a little tired from the 800m but didn't feel it at all because I was thinking of how awesome it is that I am a sub 2:00 800m runner. Jeremy Ranch tomorrow!

Good 13 mile run, about a half marathon, or half the race in doing 2 weeks. I ran a lot of it pretty fast, I might have averaged under 7:00, it was the Wasatch dimpledell loop plus the upper loop, so it was all hills, there's a good amount of elevation gain. I'm pretty confident about the distance of 26 miles and the 6000 feet of elevation gain, its going to destroy my body and it will be hard, but I know I can do it. I only have two big concerns about this race, the elevation, how much will it affect me, and what if I need to take a dump really bad and there's no where to go, also I dont want to lose a couple minutes on crap (literally crap). Well I guess the best thing to do is get up 2 hours before the race and eat what I want to then. This is going to be such a great race at Leadville in 2 weeks!

Workout plan for the week:

Sunday: 4-5 miles

Monday: 3 miles

Tuesday: 1600m, distance run to get up to 10 miles

Wednesday:10-15 mile long run

Thursday: 6 miles

Friday: 3200m race with a long run to get a 10 miles

Saturday: 10-16 mile run

About to go on a run, tomorrow will be in a car for 12+ hours, so its a good idea to do premeet. Should be a 60 mile week.

Didn't feel super good today, a lot of heartburn and kind of sick. But I got out for a run. Tired.

A little running when we stopped during the drive. 27 minutes of fast good running on the road along the beach at night. feels so good! I dont know if I will have access to a track tomorrow :/.

Surfing this morning. I will have to alter my week plan slightly, I need to figure out a way to get to a track. So in the mean time I will go on a 10-12 mile run tonight, 70-85 minutes, and then tomorrow will be the same, then Thursday will be like 6, and Friday will probably be a 3200m. Probably no mile race this week :/. But its ok, I'm trying to get a lot done in a just a few weeks before my mission.

New plan!!! I'm going to race tomorrow, I finally found a track to race on but its too late now, I will go there and race tomorrow morning. So a premeet today. After surfing we went to the Griffeth J. Griffeth observatory science place, it was pretty cool!

I ran a little over 25 minutes by the beach. Tomorrow I will race a 1600m in the morning, I will run up to a track about a mile from my house for a warm up, stretch and do striders, and then I will run in the mountains about 7 miles later in the day. Maybe up to 10 miles in the mountains because I did less today, I might cut out the race on Friday and concentrate on mileage, not sure.

Bad race, then I did a 54 second 400m after it which was ok for a post race. Then I ran over 57 minutes along the beach trail at a fast pace, I kept picking it up to put bikers in their place. I ran past a group of French girls on bikes and was like Je parle Francais aussi! But I don't actually speak French that well yet and am horrible at understanding it so I didn't really understand anything they said and they were biking at like 9 minute mile pace so I kept going haha. But there were also a lot of bikers who were just talking to themselves... Los Angeles is a very weird place. Also a lot less people wave back at you when you wave at them, I did see a few serious runners though, and they were pretty cool. Also I think the number of handicapped people here is very high because A LOT of people act very...unusual around here. It was very beautiful to run along side the ocean with all the mist coming off of it from the hurricane (I think), it was a very good run, lots of fun! Too cold and then tide is too strong to surf today I think, probably just gonna hang out on the beach and play volleyball.

Long run of over 115 minutes in the Santa Monica mountains. Very beautiful run, lots of hills. I ran fast and it felt good. Going to go surfing after lunch. The mountains here are different from Utah, it was very misty in the canyon I was running along, it looked really cool. I ran through a few different mountains and peaked a couple of different places. I'm going to be fine at the Leadville Marathon as long as I handle the elevation well.

Later did a lot of stuff at the ocean, also I walked a few miles to and from bubbagump shrimp for dinner, I've always wanted to go there because of the movie! Its one of my favorite movies! Tomorrow will be a 10 mile run.

Another run up the same trail, a little over 72 minutes today. It was so misty and foggy that I could only see out about 5 to 10 meters in a lot of places, 20 in clear areas, there's only one marker for distance, there's this weird place at 4 miles that they call a park, yesterday I was a total beast and ran to it in 27 minutes, the first 3 miles are pretty steep uphill and the last mile is half up and half down. So sub 7 pace was really good, I think I might have actually done up to 17 miles yesterday. Today I still ran pretty well, I reached the mark in 30 minutes, I was pretty tired but still running decently fast. I ran 8 minutes past the 4 mile mark to make sure it was a mile, it was half downhill and half uphill. Then I ran back, the run back took me 34 minutes so that was sub 7 minute mile pace. Tomorrow will probably be a day off, we leave pretty early, stop to race these really fast cars, and the drive home. We might not be home until 1am. So I might just run to stretch my legs when we stop. The Sunday I will do Wasatch pepperwood or something, maybe something higher elevation. I need to talk to Coach Murphy about what I need to do the week of the marathon. Last day of beach and surfing!

I'M GOING TO SUU!!! They said they will definitely have a spot for me after my mission, I will have to work hard to keep it though, and I will! I'm so happy and grateful for this opportunity, it is such a huge blessing!

Just a little running when we stopped in Nevada, didnt get home until midnight so I decided to go to bed.

Ran up at Alta, I did a mile at the parking lot, ran up the road to the campground and did a lap there and then ran back. I think its 8.4 miles. Elevation was a pretty rough change at 8000-10000 feet from sea level, but it was alright, I did the whole run in less than 65 minutes, so it was a decent speed. I was busy from 7:00am to 6:00pm today so couldn't run until the evening, but it was a good run, felt really nice to run at Alta again. I'm going to spend a lot of time at elevation this week in preparation for Leadville, hopefully it will be enough! This is going to be a very hard but fun race! Tomorrow I think I will go run with the team in the morning and then maybe go up to the mountains for a shorter run and just time at elevation.

Good long run, about 11 miles, feeling the altitude haha, also I think I was tired from the Alta run last night. For some reason I thought practice was at 9, but it was 8 so I got there late and ran a mile into the gully, then I ran a mile with Coach Murphy back to the start, then I started running with read and went down in the lower gully for a few miles and then did the longer run. Tomorrow will be about 12 miles up at Alta again, that will be another hard run, after that its just some easy days in preparation for Leadville. Coach Murphy said I should do the heavy half instead of the marathon, I think I beat last years heavy half winner at Jupiter Peak so I will try to win it!

About 110 minutes up at Alta doing my first double Alta run, it was pretty hard! I ran into Coach Murphy about 3 miles through the run and ran on some pretty steep trails around the campground for a few miles and then headed back down. Murphy is right, I need to enter this race humbly and not do anything I'm going to regret the first few miles. Its ok if people put a little distance on me in the beginning. Once I get a feel for things I can start doing faster miles if they are still comfortable enough, and then the downhill I need to crush. But I definitely want to be conservative the first few miles considering this race is going to be even harder than Jupiter Peak. Also I haven't been doing the mileage I was doing last summer up until the past few weeks, the good news is that I'm a year stronger, faster, and more developed than last year, especially aerobically. It will be a very good experience for me. After I got back down from the run the first time, Murphy said to run up the road to the top again, so I ran it, the way up I felt alright for a while, but once things started evening out my knees started hurting and I felt tired. But I continued to the campground, ran up it until the snow and then came back down the mountain. My legs were pretty beat, a double Alta run plus some steep trails at the top of the first will make your legs work pretty hard! And your lungs, but actually I think my lungs are getting better, I didn't feel the elevation that bad today. I'm glad I ran into Coach Murphy, I was thinking of the easiest way I could get in 12 miles up here but he got me to do a hard 14 miler which was way better! The race this weekend probably won't be too much harder than this run, just a little longer, and a couple thousand feet higher. But I will be fully rested and they will have aid stations with food and Gatorade, so its going to be a lot of fun!

Watched Mcfarland USA tonight, I thought it was a great movie, and I really liked how they showed the way cross country packs spread out throughout the race. I didn't like how all the meets only had like 2-6 teams and no JV runners or spectators. But it was the first year of California cross country so maybe it was like that, and maybe it was 1A. Also I don't think the obese kid would still be obese if he was able to finish 5th on a state champion team, or beat people that weren't obese, that was my only big problem with the movie, the obese kid at the state meet.

I got new shoes from Wasatch running, I wanted to try out something new because I don't like the new Adrenalines, I was able to pick up some old 14s last time but those were there last ones. I know the change they made from the 14 to the 15 was small but for some reason I dont like the 15s. So I tried the Saucony Omni, they felt great! And I also tried the Saucony Guide, the guide wasn't as comfortable as the Omni but the shape was great, I was striking just like I want to, I decided to go with the Guide because I always want to improve my form and just for fun because I'm not training towards any huge race after Leadville so it will be fun to try out a different shoe. I also got Sauconys top trail shoe for Leadville, the pinegreen or something, I cant remember, but I wore it on the gully today. Definitely a different feel, kind of weird, kind of good, its light so that's good. I will need to get used to it the next couple of days. Felt a little tired from yesterdays run. Tomorrow I think Murphy said to take off, so besides some running to stretch out my legs on the drive to Leadville, I will just walk in the trail shoes and rest.

If you take last Wednesday to this Tuesday and count it as a week of running, I ran my first 70 mile week!

Nice easy day off, I'm in Leadville now, well right outside of it. Pretty high elevation, I feel a little light headed, glad I'm spending an extra day here to acclimate!

I ran 3 miles and then did 4 striders. David Roche, who represented USA mountain running at the world championship last year, is running the heavy half so yeah, its going to be fast! I'm really excited, I'm going to start out easy and calm, and then accelerate as I feel comfortable. The only thing I need to make sure of is that I get in front of the giant pack, at Jupiter Peak it was a huge pain to work my way around all those people on such narrow paths, and I ended up falling on my hip on a giant rock pretty hard, but I wont do anything that isn't very comfortable in the beginning. The way back I need to open up my stride and push down the hill, but I know if I'm too tired when i get to the top, it will be that much harder to get going downhill. Its kind of estimation game, how much can I give on the uphill and still be able to destroy the downhill, and its best to make a conservative estimate!

Such a hard race mentally and phsyically. Had a horrible nights sleep last night, only 5 hours, I couldn't fall asleep and for some reason I woke up before 6:00. I was tired of trying to get rest so I just showered and ate. I go to the race and worked my WA up to the 3rd line of people before waiting for the gun. I got out well, maybe a little faster than really easy. I was in 3rd place and I let David Roche and the other guy (need to find out his name) pull away. There was a group of marathoners right behind me, timmy part (last years winner) Mike Aish (two time Olympian in the marathon) and someone else. I stuck with them until they turned off for the marathon detour. I stayed in third for a couple more miles and then I turned and waited at a for because I didn't want to choose the wrong path. The next guy had a USA jersey and was 10-15 seconds behind me and he pointed me in the right direction. I started racing with him, I asked him where he got the USA jersey and he said Junior mountain running world championships in Italy last year, so this guy went to nationals last year and qualified for worlds! I knew I had to beat him. We raced hard, I would lead some, he would lead, then we got to the part where it gets so steep you start walk running it. I remembered reading Timmy Parrs blog about how you might as well walk and conserve energy, so I walked and ran when it was less steep enough that it was worth it. I could see the top two guys out in the distance, and the USA guy was getting away but I knew he was wasting energy on the climb, I was conserving to destroy the way back. It worked. He beat me to the top by a minute or so, even the first mile or two down he put a couple minutes on me because it was so rocky and narrow I had to be careful not to break an ankle, and there were hundreds of runners all over the trail so I had to run in more perilous areas. Finally I got to a nice dirt part and I let it rip! Like FAST!! Almost sprinting down that road, people were still in the way but it was better, finally I got th USA guy in my vision, first he was a few hundred meters away, next he was just a couple hundred, then only 100, less and less until he was finally right there, I was storming down the hill, and then it switched back to uphill for a mile, that's where I really got him, I kept going pretty hard and passed him finally, I thought he might go with me but he didn't, I looked back after a little while on a steep part and saw him walking, so I knew I had defeated him, I think he expended too much energy trying to get away from me at the top. The last half hour of the race I ran fast, hoping to break 2:15, I was running very hard at some points, well down low in the 5 minute pace I'd say. But once I finally got into the last mile or two I was getting tired, I thought it was closer than it was haha, but I stayed at a fast pace and there wasn't anyone around me for a good mile so it was really nust the time. I finished in just above 2:13. It hurt. After me there was a 6-7 minute gap before the next person, USA jersey guy fell or something and finished quite a ways back, felt bad for him to race so hard and die like that. I played a dangerous game today. But I would have won last years heavy half by 3 minutes! I should get an invitation to Mountain Running Nationals after this performance, I can't go, but that would be really cool to get a letter haha. Maybe in 7 years, after my time at SUU, I will be as great as David Roche in this sport. But until then, I need to get really good at the 10k!!!

My pace from the top back to the start was about 6:30, so if you take into account the first mile or two coming back that was plagued by hundreds of runners, tight trails, tons of shifty rocks, and ice, my pace for going back after that section was probably sub 6:00!

Finally found out why I'm having such a hard time sleeping the past few weeks. I have restless leg syndrome. I thought it sounded kind of silly, but basically my left calf feels very uncomfortable unless I'm moving it, specifically stretching it. Its been bothering me for a long time but I thought it happened to everyone. Especially recently, it has been taking me hours to fall asleep and then I wake up often during the night and usually give up sleeping earlier than I should. I looked on some websites about it and it turns out I probably am not experiencing deep sleep because of it, or stages 3 and 4 of sleep. I learned in AP psych that that's where most physical recovery takes place, so that sucks.

I also learned that it might be caused by and iron deficiency, which makes sense because I've increased my mileage a lot lately, so my body might be low on some stuff, iron in particular. So I should take care of this soon, because sleep is starting to really suck! Which kind of makes things suck in general a little! Right now I'm just eating some chocolate because it has iron in it.

Gully long run with the guys, I ran with cubby, read, mikey, 2 new freshmen and a new sophomore. We stopped at the water thing, and then circled around at the top of the hill while waiting for them. So it took a little longer, but Alta has some good incoming runners! The future is bright for the team! I wish I had another cross country season here, running with these guys is getting me excited about the season they're going into! And the future of Alta xc, there are quite a few freshman that have a lot of potential and it seems like they'll stick with running! I think when I get back from my mission, Alta could have a state champion team, fighting for a NXN spot! I think the last race I will do will be the sandy classic, unless there's a faster course for 4th of July 5k. Im going to enjoy the last two weeks of running before I go on my mission. Im going to miss it here!

I got to practice and finished Reads flying 40s with him, I got a mile with that, and then I did the workout with the team. We did 8 flying 40s, 1 every 2 laps plus some extra laps at the beginning and end to get 5 miles. It felt good, I'm still a little sore in the hamstrings and arms, but my back, gluts, hip flexors, and calves are feeling good now. Tomorrow will be a nice 8 miles in at porter Rockwell with a good fast 2 mile tempo, I haven't done any tempo in a while so I'm excited. And then thursday I will try to wake up at 6:00 and go up to Alta to gets 12-14 mile run in with Coach Murphy. After that I'm off yo Chicago for the weekend to visit my brother, lots of trips the past few weeks! I'm going on my mission in only 15 days! That will be exciting though, I will be able to run a lot in the MTC I think, after that I will have to convince my companions to spend our morning exercise time running.

We ran half a mile to warm up, then did drills. After that we ran 8 miles out and back on the porter Rockwell trail, we ran 2 tempo miles on the way back. The 2 miles didn't feel fast, my hamstrings were still kind of destroyed. My arms aren't sore anymore, now its just my hamstrings that are hurting, and mostly only when its faster running. I ran 11:45 which wasn't great, but it wasn't all out, just a hard effort so it was ok. Then I finished the run with 2 easier miles with Cubby. Our overall pace was about 7:15 which was alright, it was a fun practice! Only 2 weeks until I leave on my mission!

Long day, good run. I ran up at Alta with Murphy, we ran to the top and did 8 campground loops and 2 out and backs on the street. On the way back I started getting that feeling you get after a long long run, but I still had a couple miles to go, so I had to make a couple bathroom stops. It was a good run though. After that I had a doctors appointment where I lear ed that apparently I'm highly allergic to like 20 things that I'm regularly exposed to and feel fine around, so not sure if I trust that skin test anymore haha. Then at the airport I was selected for being pet down by a fat guy which was pretty weird. I will probably take the next two days in Chicago easy, probably 8 miles at most, they're packed days.

Well today's looking unlikely for a real run, been super busy and will be until 10 tonight. Also its raining really hard. Chicago is way cool! My hotel has an open lobby that goes up super high and when I walk out of my room, I can look down over 100 feet to the lobby, it reminds me of pacific rim except its looks really cool. I ran about a half mile fallowing a segway herd, I wanted to see how fast they were and I was taking pictures too, they weren't going that fast, less than 10 miles per hour. Segways are kind of like wheelchairs for people that aren't handicapped I've also walked a lot today around Chicago and the field museum, which has a t-rex amongst many other things, so that was cool.

At the art institute, I think I will be able to run tonight, but its the heart of Chicago so probably not a super long run, so im hoping like 5-8 miles. The art museum is kind of cool and kind of not ok at all. I'm fairly certain I walked into a pedophile exhibition which was really weird like why would anyone want to see completely naked children, and it wasn't old, it was from this century... So I got out of there fast and ended up in the modern art exhibit, which wasn't that much better, there was a VERY weird painting, I mean I think paintings usually have way too much nudity, but this was like over the top not ok to be in a room that doesn't have a giant warning saying "Hey, this room contains paintings inappropriate for literally anyone to view" k maybe that's a little exaggerated, but it was really weird. There was also a sculpture of a male triceratops-bat who may or may not have seen a female triceratops-bat. So yeah, that's art for ya. I think that some art is really cool and impressive, but some of art is just weird crap.

Well at least I've done a lot of walking the past 2 days. I ran 1.5 miles or so back from my brothers apartment to the hotel. I got back even later than last night, I got home after 10, Chicago isn't the greatest place to run either, I kept having to stop to cross the road. Oh well, this will count as my summer break from running, my ankle is hurting on the upper right side, hopefully tendonitis.

Easy run in the morning with Cubby and the team, it was an alright pace. I might do some more tonight depending on what's happening.

Warmed up and then a 400m at get out pace, I ran 69 seconds. Then ran a 12 minute tempo, I was thinking of just doing like mid 5 minute range but Cubby said we should go for sub 10:00 for the 2 mile since we'd never done it before, I said I didn't think this we were in good enough shape for it but we went for it anyways haha, at least for the first two laps, I ran 76 and then 2:35 and then let the pace slow, the next lap came in at 3:55 and then 5:20 I think. I never do well when I dont do even splits for a workout so I kind of let it go and just ran a little under 6 minute pace, Cubby started getting away but then with 2 minutes left I thought that I might as well push it because the biggest thing I can do for the team before I go is give Cubby some competition to train with. So I surged the last 500 or 600m and caught him again, I finished about 8 laps and 250 meters, which is about 5:30 pace. So it was a pretty good tempo run, especially the surge at the end. This wasn't max effort or anything but it was fairly difficult, I think if I had run even splits I could have finished 9 laps and it wouldn't have been any harder. But still a fun tempo! I like tempos, which I've heard you do a lot of in college, so so that's good! I want to run sub 17:00 at the sandy classic on Saturday, that would be pretty fun, mostly I just want to be up racing with the lead pack. Also found out I have a dentist appointment tomorrow morning at 10:00, so if I can't move that I will have to miss my last Alta run, but I will just run with Matt, Tayte, or Davis if I can't make practice.

Ran with Matt Walch, the gully longer run and then a few miles in the part of of the lower gully east of the tunnel, or Narnia as it used to be called, on a day like this you can see why, its full of giant 5-6 foot high plants and it looks like a jungle, its almost enough to make you think you left Utah. It was a nice run! Last week before my mission, feeling very excited, but also pretty nervous. 2 years, its going to be a lot different around here when I get back. But I'm really excited to go and I know its the best way I could spend the next 2 years, and its the most important work I could be doing. I'm going to give all I can to being a great missionary. This last week before it starts I going to do make a little more noise and go out with even a little more bang, I'm going to try and break 17:00 at the sandy classic, which is good for that course. I'm also going to try and get a 20 mile day next Monday, a gully practice with the team and then a long run with Davis, it will be fun! I'm really going to miss it here, and I'm going to miss my team!

The 20 mile day is a maybe haha

Ran at porter Rockwell today. We ran with the freshman for the first 6 miles and then ran did another 4. When I grow up I'm going to make a Gatorade fountain. I dont know exactly how its going to work, but its going to.

Some easy jogging

Really fun race! Also congratulations to Holt for winning it again! I started out easy, about 10th or so, and I took it easy up the hill. But once I got to the top of it I made my move, I passed a couple people and got 15 meters behind cubby and some bigger dude, I worked my way past them the next quarter mile. The big guy fell off the pace and after I passed cubby I was in 2nd place, Holt had a good lead, like 80 meter probably. Maybe I should've gone out faster, but I think that going out conservatively was smarter and gave me a lot more energy to run a good race. The rest of the race I tried to catch up to Holt a little, I made up ground in some places and then lost it in others, he made a surge on the final uphill with about 1/2 to 3/4ths of a mile left and finished strong. I was holding my pace and then once we got into the final 400m straightaway I started looking for a place to get off the course, at the end I slowed down and stepped off the course about 5 meters from the finish and a second later a kid ran past me, but I think I would've been able to outkick him no problem if id been kicking instead of trying to get off the course haha, I also might have been able to run 17:15 or so if id been kicking harder and I would have gotten a medal if I was registered too, so I think I should remember to register next time. It was a really fun race though! After I finished I went on a cool down with Holt, he's awesome, he's a SUU track and xc alumni and a really fast runner so I was happy that I was able to finish decently close to him haha. After that I found Murphy and cubby and we went on a cool down as well, so I got a good amount of cool down in! Good final race for me before my mission.

This is the first time a 15 mile day felt easy.

Am- I ran the gully long run with Cubby, we ran a good pace, last gully run I will do I two years, also possibly the last practice with my team. I go into the MTC in about a day and a half, running has been helping a lot with the anxious excitement I'm feeling haha.

Pm-I ran the wasatch-pepperwood loop with Davis, it was rainy so it was nice and cool and it was pretty easy. It was a good run and it was great to get one more run in with him before my mission. I spent all the time in between these two runs doing stuff to get ready for my mission, so I was surprised at how good they felt. I could easily go for another 5 miles tonight to make 20, maybe I will after dinner? Tomorrow I will run with my Coach and if I have time maybe Tayte, I was going to run with him on Sunday but he got hurt. Also hopefully I can show up during practice one of the next two days for a little to see everyone again.

I ran city creek canyon with Coach Murphy, it was a lot of fun and I was really grateful to get on last run with him before my mission, he's an amazing coach and I've learned so much from him! City creek was a really beautiful trail, it was cool and there was a lot of shade. Murphy also showed me memorials to Utahs veterans and war heroes, including my great uncle Mervyn Sharpe Bennion who received the medal of honor, that was really cool! On the way back, about a minute after Murphy warned me about hurting my ankle, I sprained my ankle. Its a pretty bad sprain, I had to walk another mile back to the road while Murphy ran back to get his car, that was a pretty long mile, I kept wanting to stop because it was pretty painful to walk on, but I figured the faster I got back the sooner it would be over. After that I went to Coach Murphys house and he got me some ice and food, then he took me to the hospital my dad works at, my dad checked out my foot and said it was really loose, I think it will be ok though. I have an appointment at 4:15 so I will get an xray and see if its ok. We will have to do this run again when I get back and do it without a sprained ankle haha. Hopefully by Thursday or Friday I can try to run a few miles, my hopes for the MTC mile record have taken a hit, but I'm still hoping. I will make one last post after my appointment.

Its just a sprain, they gave me a boot though. They said two weeks, but its already feeling a lot better today, I think I will be out of it by Sunday. They have bikes there so I will preserve my fitness that way until I can run again. If I break the record I will have someone post it for me on here! This is my last post for two years! Good luck to everyone!