Little Buddha

Did 2 easy miles while timing the high school kids on their mile repeats, then did 2 more easy miles at home before dinner. My upper groin area has been bothering me the last few days. I'm wondering if it was from doing some faster speed workouts last week?

Ran Oil Can Henry Loop 5.5 miles right around 7 minute pace felt good, groin still hurting a little, but the legs are starting to feel rested and ready to go this Saturday.

Easy 3 miles at the cross country meet.

Good shake out run with the club. Ran the course from the finish up to Bluff Street and Diagonal then turned around and came back. We did one mile at a tempo pace of 5:20 felt good and everyone is ready to go, now it is just time to rest.

Easy two miles with Steve this afternoon, before heading up to Pine Valley for the night.

Great Day! Ran the 30th annual St. George Marathon, much different than my first St. George Marathon in 2004 (3:07:30). Today I ran a 2:46:11 (6:20 pace) and finished 47th overall and finished 11th in the 30-34 age group (prizes to the top 10 and I finished 11th, story of my life) Anyway I was really pleased with my race and my effort a 20:34 PR from my previous best which was 3:06:45 in Boston (06). Throughout the summer I felt my training put me right close to being able to break 2:50, so I started out with that as my original goal. However, earlier this week, I decided I would shoot for 2:45 and push to maintain that pace.

Start of the race.

So much energy at the start, the national anthem, seeing friends and the excited of getting the show on the road, plus it was pretty chilly this morning.

1 mile-6:25 felt pretty relaxed and running with Bill, Steve, Dave, and Logan. Immediately my groin starts hurting, something that has been bothering me the last two weeks. Even though it is kind of painful, not much I can do at this point, I'm here and I'm running this baby regardless.

2 mile-6:32 (12:47) Holt and Logan take off, might have been better if I had gone with them, or it might have been a mistake, might have crashed and burned later.

3 mile-5:59 (18:47)

4 mile and 5 mile (11:58) in all the excitement I missed the mile marker at mile 4. At this point not running with anybody I know, I can see Logan and his lime green shorts ahead.

6 mile-5:48 (36:33) Running with Ryan Bullock, did not know his name while on the course, but did the formal introductions later at the finish. He ran at BYU a year after I did.

7 mile-6:10 (42:44) Still running with Ryan and feeling good as we go through Veyo. My feet were bothering me quite a bit and I was still pretty cold

8 mile-6:55 (49:39) Head up Veyo Hill, pass Steve Wallenfels, someone who beat me by quite a bit in the Hurricane Dam to Dam 5 mile race back in Feb. Going up the hill running along side Steven King (Runner's Corner) and another guy he was running with. I don't know Steven, but I do know he is a good runner, he later passed me and finished strong in 2:44:39

9 mile-6:32 (56:12)

10 mile-6:23 (1:02:35)

11 mile-7:02 (1:09:38) this mile actually wasn't this slow, I just had watch troubles again, forgot to get my split until after I had got my drink and realized I was down the road a bit

12 mile-6:19 (1:15:58) Once again kind of running alone, don't really have anybody by me or at least not anybody I know.

13 mile-6:07 (1:22:05) Just enjoying the time and thinking how nice it was to have ran this first half last Saturday in training.

Half Marathon- I came through the half in 1:23:10 and was confident I would be able to meet my first goal of breaking 2:50, now I just need to push for 2:45. Many people are able to run the second half of St. George quite a bit faster, so I thinking I should be to also. However, as it turned out I only ran the second half 6 seconds faster, nothing to write home about, I guess we'll have to work on that next year.

14 mile-6:11 (1:28:16) Ryan Bullock comes by me and takes off, ends up running a great race 2:41:13

15 mile-5:56 (1:34:13) I really enjoy this part of the course coming down through Snow Canyon

16 mile-5:51 (1:40:04)

17 mile-5:59 (1:46:03) Steven King passes me

18 mile-6:09 (1:52:13) I'm starting to hurt a little, but I remember Sasha telling me yesterday if you can make it to 18 and the wheels haven't totally fallen off, then continue to push hard to the finish.

19 mile-6:32 (1:58:45)

20 mile-6:24 (2:05:10) Twenty miles done!, last time I did 20 miles a few weeks ago it took everything I had to make it home, with my massive blister problem.

21 mile-6:02 (2:11:13)

22 mile-6:34 (2:17:47) Starting to hurt and having too many negative thoughts.

23 mile-6:26 (2:24:13) Struggling!

24 mile-6:45 (2:30:58) Not feeling the joy I thought I would be at this point, however, I did see Bruce Rea (fellow teacher, runner )and his daughter Lauren which

brought some happiness

25 mile-6:41 (2:37:40) getting chicked at this point female runners all around me, Diagonal Street is not treating me good at all,

25.2-1:00 (2:38:40) Little confused here, not sure were the official marker was exactly indicating 1 mile to the finish. So this time might have been a little fast for this distance and my mile 26 split, may have been a little slow. At about this point Cheston Slater passes me which turns out to be the differences between 10th and 11th in the age division standings.

26 mile- 7:20 (2:46:11) I can see the finish line, but as usual seems like it takes forever to get there.

Finally cross the finish, to the cheers of thousands and immediately point out some of my runners from Snow Canyon High School, nice to talk to them for a moment. Also Clyde and Dave were there which was great to see those guys. Lastly, it was great finally seeing my family, my parents made the trip down from Colorado and of course my wife was there with the boys, just a great experience.

The St. George Running Club did good. Clyde of course had an outstanding race and won the Silver Shoe award (something he really wanted, now he can sleep at night). Dave Holt also had a great performance, especially considering some of the health issues he has had to overcome in just the last year. Bill pushed through overcoming calf issues, plus the stress fracture that interrupted six weeks of his training to finish with a time quite a bit faster than Boston. Steve also had to overcome cramping throughout the race and some nagging injuries, and even though he didn't finish as well as he would have liked to he has really helped the rest of us in the club with his advice and we are now looking forward to the opening of the St. George Running Center!

Other notables

Logan Fielding ran strong and had a PR, which was nice to see. I was also very happy for Steve Olsen who ran a great race, he comes and trains with us some, and Jose Martinez also had a very good race, beating his time from last year.

Ok, I done writing this "marathon" entry. Hey you train this many weeks, you have to let people know about your experience right?

Just 1 mile of light jogging and stretching at practice, still feeling pretty sore, but should be able to do a little more tomorrow.

Another easy day of little to no running. Did some light jogging at the church field, then played some football with Jordan and Jansen.

Went and played basketball this morning for over an hour, felt good to get the body moving and get some more of the stiffness out. This afternoon is the high school regional cross country meet over at Hurricane Middle School, so I will probably just do my standard run from my house over and back for a nice 4 mile run, then after the race we're off to California for a few days. Ran 2 miles over to the cross country meet, then 1 more miles at the meet, then 2 more miles back home.

First day of Disneyland in the books, kids having a lot of fun, quite a bit of walking, but everybody is holding up pretty good. I about lost my lunch (which was a rip off to begin with) on the motion ride StarTours. I might try to get in a short run tomorrow in the morning or I might not, they have a pool here at the hotel, so I just might swim a little with the kids.

3.5 mile easy run this morning around the Disneyland area, felt nice to get out this morning and run down the streets lined with palm trees. Now I'm ready for a full day of walking and standing in line. Had to run from the park back to the hotel to get a different pair of shoes for my sister-in-laws, which added another 2 miles of running to my day.

Didn't get out today, still recovering a little from my trip to California. I'm excited to get back to training, just need to find another race to consider running. I find it really helps me, if I have a big race or goal to be working towards. I was pretty excited to find out that over the weekend one of my best friends from high school and former teammate Clint Wells won the Denver Marathon in 2:28. Clint has been living in the Boulder area, pretty much since high school (went to college at CU) and has quite a resume when it comes to running. I was really happy to see him win a large marathon like Denver, hopefully I will be able to run into him sometime over the Holidays back in Craig. At least now I feel like I'm in good enough shape I could hang with him on an easy run.

Did a run tonight up the La Verkin twist to mile marker 15 and back down to my house. It was pretty windy and a bit chilly, plus going up the steep hill didn't help much. Overall, my body is still feeling a little sore, hips, knees and groin especially.

First part from house to mile marker 12-4:50 might be a bit longer than half a mile.

marker 12 to 13- 7:20

marker 13 to 14- 8:33, this is the steepest part

marker 14 to 15- 7:35

turn around and stretch a bit

marker 15 to 14-7:13

marker 14 to 13-6:51

marker 13 to 12-6:54

Easy jog home from mile marker 12-4:52.

Will continue to get out each day this week and see how the body responses, things should start getting a little easier. Fortunately I haven't gained much weight since the marathon and since my little vacation last week.

Anybody from the club, what time are we running on Thursdays and Saturdays now?

Played basketball this morning for about an hour= 3 easy miles. Had a pretty good workout tonight, easy .5 mile warm-up, then did 3 miles at a faster pace on state road 18 through Hurricane

mile marker 11-10-6:48 slight hill coming out of La Verkin

mile marker 10-9-6:31 on and off the sidewalk

mile marker 9-8- 6:19 feeling in a good rhythm, slight uphill the last 400.

Easy .5 mile cooldown

Did a loop from my house over past the softball fields in Hurricane, over 600 North trail, then turned left and headed down to Cottonwood Lane, this was a new route and was nice, came back through Hurricane on the road behind Lins. Distance was 7.6 when I did Google Earth, time was 58:00 so right around 7:38 pace. I really struggled the few 3 miles, hip was bothering me, the next two miles felt a little better and I really picked up the pace the last 2.5 miles. Sorry I had to miss the run with the club, I had a meeting I had to be at tonight. I'm planning on Saturday morning at Chuckawalla at 7:00 am.

Ran down past Pah Tempe, then back up past Howards, up along 100 East, down to the park, then back on 300 west. Easy pace 4.5 miles, I seem to have a nagging pain through my hip area, and just to the right of my tail bone, odd location and I haven't really ever experienced pain in that location, don't really know what it is?

Ran from Chuckwalla with the club (Steve, Clyde, Dave, no Bill injured, and newcomer Toby Salazar over to the T-Bone trail and out along the powerline came back down by Clyde's house then back up over Skyline Drive, decided to turn down Main Street hill and come back on Diagonal. We went 13.5 miles which was quite a bit further than I was planning on going, put I felt ok with the pace, hip flexors are still sore and continue to feel some pain on my back side. It will be nice to have the rest of the weekend off.

Really didn't want to run today, but forced myself out of the house at 7:00 pm, after a long day of teaching and shopping for groceries, and running other errands after school. I figured I would just do an easy 3 or 4 miles and be fine with that. However, after about .75 miles running I came to the mile 12 marker on State Road 9 that runs through La Verkin. I just naturally picked up the pace and figured I would push it a little to marker 11 which is located on the bridge between Hurricane and La Verkin situated over a deep gorge where the Virgin River runs.

1 mile-6:22 This mile is slightly uphill, and I was not pushing too hard, but rather felt relaxed and it felt good, when I got to the mile marker I decided I would rest for a few minutes then run another mile back to where I had just come from. At this point I decided I would up the intensity and push this mile a little harder, I also had the thought to take off my shirt and leave it behind, that would force me to then run a third repeat back to this location to pick up my nice Boston shirt.

2 mile- 5:42 felt good with the slight downhill hard though to get in a real fast rhythm since it was getting dark and some traffic I was going back and forth from the road to the sidewalk.

3 mile- 5:50 started this one with the goal just to run faster than 6:22 which was my time on the first one going this direction back toward the gorge, uphill. I was really surprised I ran this one as fast as I did.

4 mile- 5:39 I really figured this last repeat would be slower, because I didn't feel that good from the start, but it turned out to be my fastest.

.75 cooldown

In the end I was pleased I had a good workout and was able to get out and run even though I really didn't feel like doing it earlier in the evening.

Really pressed for time today, only got in 4 miles.

Did a run similar to what I did last Tuesday, ironically I had similar weather conditions today as I did last week windy and a bit chilly. Anyway jogged from my house to mile marker 12-5:00

Then ran from 12 to marker 13- 7:39 (slower than last week-7:20)

Then took off on a trail for a few miles which put me above the green La Verkin water tank then continued the trail up to the top of the La Verkin Overlook, ran some more up on top.

Then came back down starting at mile marker 15

15 to marker 14- 6:55, last week 7:17

14 to marker 13- 6:14, last week 6:51

13 to marker 12- 6:11, last week 6:54

Easy jog home, interesting to see the times were a bit faster, beginning to feel like I am getting back to normal or pre-marathon form.

Ran with the club tonight, headed down to River Road then along the river trail up to Web Hill. I really pushed the hill and felt good going up, until the very end, then similar to Steve's post felt like I was over heating. I had a long sleeve shirt on and was burning up by the time we stopped at the top to catch our breath. I took it really slow going down the single track trail, I still really struggle with running and even walking/climbing over rocks. I think some of it might even be mental, but having had all the ankle injuries and problems I've had, I just am real cautious when running on many trails. However, once I hit the pavement again I was able to pick up the pace. I knew once we hit the Dixie Center, it would then be a dash back to the park. I hung around the back of the pack for awhile, then slowed down a bit, groin and hip hurting just a little, but mainly wasn't feeling that strong tonight at the end of the run so I just eased the body into the park and was happy to be finished for the night.

Longer run tonight. I headed out toward Hurricane Middle School, then went up over the 600 North trail to Sky Mountain Golf Course, 4 miles in I stopped for a drink on hole number 13, then decided instead of turning and heading back toward Hurricane, to continue on down 600 North to the fire station which is down by Canyon Ridge Subdivision. There are a few homes down there I have been looking at and getting some ideas if I was to ever build a new house. Anyway, by the time I got to the subdivision I had gone 6.5 miles, stopped for a bit and walked through one home, then headed back to La Verkin following the same route I had come on. I pushed the pace a little more on the way back, which was good considering the were a few good hill climbs. My time coming back was about 3 minutes faster, than going out. Overall, pretty good workout and nice afternoon/evening to be out along running and enjoying my ipod.

Tough run this afternoon. Went out around 2:00 pm, and it was surprisingly warm. Left from the house and ran to mile marker 4 just outside of Toquerville.

Here are the mile splits tried to push myself but my legs were a little tried from the longer run on Friday.

1-7:29 little slow warming up

.25 jog to state road 9 and next mile marker.

2-6:54 some down hill to the bottom of La Verkin Creek

3-7:43 major uphill heading toward Toquerville,body starting to warm up, when I finished this mile, had to stop and remove the shirt.

4-6:51 nice and easy into Toquerville

5-6:49 another good mile, with a little uphill at the end. Stopped and stretched and then turned around.

6-6:28 easy, back into Toquerville

7-6:37 hurting a little bit

8-6:11 pushing it down the major hill

9-8:52 Ouch! the wheels fell off the bus, gradual uphill climbing back into La Verkin, some reason I'm really struggling at this point and stop and walk for a bit, which I usually never do.

.25 jog to next mile marker

10-6:02 The horse sees the barn, feeling much better I push it home.

Overall, I was happy with the run and the last few days, pretty good week I meet my goal of 50 miles for the week, which was good considering I started the week out with some easier days and less milage.

3 easy miles this morning. Good hard workout tonight. I decided to do my Pah Tempe Hill workout. It has been awhile since I have done hill repeats on this hill. This summer and fall I did hills over in St. George up Castle Rock hill and Little League Hill with the cross country team. Personally I enjoy my Pah Tempe workout much more, I just like the hill and the quiet environment it is in much better than over in St. George. The hill measures .3 miles and has a pretty good incline, with a short section 3/4 of the way in that is flat just long enough to catch my breath and get ready to push the last part of the hill.

1 mile warmup, plus some stretching and drills

1st repeat- 2:07* new all time PR, previous best was 2:09

2nd repeat- 2:08 another good repeat

3rd repeat- 2:13 this one actually felt pretty good, it was like my body was more warmed up even though the time was a bit slower than the first two

4th repeat- 2:14 was going to stop after this one, but decided to try to do one more. Didn't want to do too many since this is the first time doing them in awhile, but figured I could handle at least one more.

5th repeat- 2:10 this one felt good and strong.

Finished with a 2 mile cool down back down Pah Tempe, then up past Howards. Took the cool down at a relaxed pace,I had to run up another .5 hill, things we going good, then I got chased for a bit by a pitbull/boxer don't really know what the breed was or the mix, didn't want to hang around long enough to find out. After some yelling at the dog, it did decide to turn around and go home. Later on the cool down caught up with Jordan riding his bike home from football practice, so he rode along side me for the last mile.

One thing that really keeps me going and excited is being able to look back at previous workouts and seeing improvement, which has been the neat thing with doing this workout, I have been able to see improvement since I started doing these back in January, the times have come down!

Only got in 4 miles before Trick or Treating. Not feeling too good, everyone is getting sick at my house. Sunny has been feeling quite sick and I'm not much better. Took the kids out for awhile, but Jansen wasn't really into the trick or treating much, he was having more fun giving out candy than receiving, which I guess when looking at the big picture of life that is just the way it should be. Jordan dressed up like an old lady and really looked funny.