Blake Bennions running

I ran with my team in the gully today, we did time trial of the gully long run today. Before that we did a mile warm up. I ran the 6.25 or so miles in 47:48, which is a decent time for that challenging of a course and even though that's a 7:45ish pace that's not bad for the gully at all. I finished 2nd for the team, about 6 minutes behind Kramer, I need to work on closing that gap by a few minutes before the season starts and during the season. There was no one close to me for most of the run after Kramer took off, but in the last 1.5 miles Ashton showed up 100 meters behind me and by the time about a mile was left he had passed me, I went all out the last mile and got back ahead of him but I was really impressed with his closing speed today. He has been working really hard all summer, pulling out high 40s to 50s miles per week, and the results of his great efforts are really showing! I'm really excited to see how our team does this year, I think we have a lot of potential! I think I might go swimming at work if any of the lanes are clear today.

We ran at the cottonwood complex with some guys from the Alta cross country 2008 state champion team, it was really cool. We warmed up 3 miles or so and then we did mile repeats, we did two miles repeats around the course, both of mine were in the 5:40s or 50s which isn't good. Then we did an 800, I didn't work hard the first 600 or so and then I kicked the last 200 and caught gained a lot of ground on people but I kicked about 100 meters too late, although I was very tired after the 800 I could have been more so. After that we did a mile cool down after that. I'm disappointed in my performance today but I just need to be patient and work hard consistently. Looking forward to Alta run tomorrow, I know that run will push me.

I went to Alta with my team and we ran up there, we did some easy laps around the parking lot before starting the long run. I ran the 3 miles up to the campground and tried to stay with my coaches, Kramer, and Braydon but I wasn't able to. I stayed within 100 meters, maybe 50 of them up to the campground but the last time I saw them was at the beginning of the 2nd lap of the campground. Then I ran back down and waited for people, when Kramer and Jake got down I did a lap around the parking lot with them a pretty good pace. I had a solid run today and I pushed myself, I am a lot stronger of a runner than the first time I did it this summer. If I had known I had time I would have done another lap or two but I wasn't sure. I just need to keep running hard, maybe drop some pounds and I will start feeling really good and run fast.