Little Buddha

Easy 3.5 miles this morning. Ran from Brentwood Bowling up to Sky Mountain Golf Course (4 miles uphill) and then back to the bowling alley (3 miles) at a decent pace downhill. I still have a little pain in my shins, especially on my right leg.

Went over and finally ran with the Snow Canyon Cross Country team, I'm going to be helping them out this fall as an assistant, but my work schedule, the extra drive over to St. George, and my busy summer have made it difficult for me to make it over to the 6:00 am practice. This morning I ran with the "A" group and went just over 6.5 miles, did .5 warm-up on the track. Ran down Sunset to the Trail then up to Snow Canyon Parkway and back, did one Castle Rock hill loop with a kid named Colby.

4 miles easy this morning. Really good workout tonight, did 6x800 "Yasso 800s" at Hurricane High Track. Started with a 1.5 mile warm-up, Jordan came along and rode his bike, then we got on the track. It was nice to have Jordan along he walked and jogged some while I did my workout, by the end he had went 2 miles which was really good for him. Anyway my splits were a lot better than just a few weeks ago. 1-2:47 felt easy, 2-2:47 happy that the time was the same, 3-2:46 still feeling good, 4-2:45 picked it up a bit, but still feeling pretty relaxed, 5-2:43 still feeling good, 6-2:39 fastest 800 I've ran in a workout in sometime. After the workout I did another 1.5 mile cool-down, real pleased with the workout and looking forward to the half marathon this weekend.

Ran 3 miles this morning with the team, the kids were doing repeat 800s I did a few, but didn't do the entire workout since I had just done a speed workout last night. Plan on getting some more miles tonight with the running club. Ran with Steve and Bill good run down by the river then back past the Dixie Center. Bill pushed the pace pretty good and Steve really picked it up the last mile, I felt pretty good and glad to get in some more miles tonight.

Ran an easy 4 mile loop down to the golf course and back this morning with the cross country team, did .5 warm-up on the track and .5 mile cool-down afterwards. Tonight I did an easy 2 miles with Clyde up in Tropic in preparation for the half marathon tomorrow, the weather up there was really cool and comfortable at 9:00 pm.

Bryce Canyon Half Marathon, started out with a mile warm-up before the race, then barely made it up to the starting area on time, the shuttle bus we took was a little slow and they started the race not too long after we got off. As always I looked over the competition and knew it would be pretty good. Started out at a pretty good pace and feeling much better than the start of my 10K race in Provo last week.

1 mile- 6:02, not too far behind Clyde

2 mile-6:06 (12:08) feeling pretty good and back in about 14th or 15th place (there's a good pack of about six guys about 10 seconds apart)

3 mile-5:18 (17:27) this is where we hit the steep downhill

4 mile-5:30 (22:57) feeling good passed a few guys here

5 mile-5:41 (28:39) running with Mike Schramm, and Ryan Neumann

6 mile-5:42 (34:22) Of course having the downhill makes a huge difference, but at this point pace wise I am way ahead of any of my more recent 10K times, Mike takes off during this mile as I remember

7 mile-5:55 (40:18) not quite the steep hills anymore, Ryan and I are both surging back and forth

8 mile-6:12 (46:30) lose Ryan on this mile

9 mile-6:18 (52:49) passed a younger runner, which was the same kid I passed at about the same mile marker during the Hurricane Half.

10 mile- 6:11 (59:00) Cheston Slater comes flying by me, looking really strong. At this point I'm not feeling quite as good as before, legs are starting to cramp up and I was feeling sore especially in my calves, which surprised me I thought it would be more my thighs that took the beating from the downhill section.

11 mile-6:16 (1:05.17) still moving along Steve Olsen is quite a ways ahead of me, but looks like he is slowing down, but even as I'm trying to pick up the pace, it doesn't seem like I am gaining any on him.

mile 12- 6:25 (1:11:42) struggling a little here Jose Martinez flys by me, he was on the shuttle bus with Clyde and I, but had to change and started the race about a 1:30 or 2:00 minutes behind everybody else. (I felt bad for Jose, but he has done this a time or two)

mile 13 and the .1 6:43 (1:18.25) picked it up pretty good the last mile and almost caught Steve Olsen at the finish. Overall, I was very pleased finished 11th out of the men and 3rd in my age group. I was more happy with my time rather than the place 1:18:25 was a 2:30 min personal best, and I felt pretty strong through most of the race. Right now I am pretty pleased with how my training is going and I am expecting good things this fall at St. George. Glad my performance was better today than up in Provo on the 4th of July.