Step by step, mile by mile

Happy new year! Starting off the year working the grind! I woke up at 6:20, groggy from staying up for four New Years with Emily, grabbed a mint clif bar(with added caffeine, what a beautiful concept) and a glass of water, and went back to bed for 40 minutes to digest the food, woke up at seven, stretched, and left for my run. 9 miles at 7:15 pace this morning with strides. I ran on the bay and pier and it was deserted and it was great. Last mile before the huge hill was right about at 6:00 pace. First 3 miles were about 23 minutes, then I sped up. Felt good! I'm leaving San Diego now to head to LA.

7 easy that night. We're pretty much staying in McFarland in the sense that everyone is Latiño here and they laugh at running. Also every house smelled great, all I can say is I hope whoever ate there thanked the cooks! I've never been so ravenous during a run before! Good run. It was dark the second half of the run but I wasn't too worried. The people in Cali are super friendly, I get yelled at or honked at at least once a minute. I guess they find a kid in bright and colorful short shorts pretty unusual! Good run. Strides after, feeling good!

Core later that night! Man it feels good to put in some hard work, hopefully it pays off!

12 miles in St George on Virgin River trail on to Mayors walk and back in just about 90 minutes. Quite the run! It started off with a gnarly hill so I knew this run meant business. I hoped to see some fellow bloggers during the run but didn't happen. I think I saw Tanner S. from dez hills and another car honked frantically at me so shoutout if that was anyone. Strides when I got back. I feel surprisingly good! I hit 70 miles without my Sunday long run. About to murder some breadsticks @ Olive Garden 

10 miles from the park to Emily's house and back. I left my one and only hairband on her mailbox as a memoir, so looks like the ponytail is on a brief intermission. I thought 12 degrees would be worse. It wasn't fun, but I thought I would lose a couple digits in the process. Strides after. Iced for about 20 seconds then drained the tub. For 7 hours in a car from St. George to Vernal my legs felt alright. No problems with the altitude adjustment. 

My alarm for my morning shakeout run didn't go off. 4 miles before practice to Terra and back, warmup with the team, then 4x2 mile at an easier pace with Aaron, core in between each set. Austin joined us later. I wore a long thick shirt and the heat was killing me at the indoor. I botched the last 2 miles and ran three alone outside. Came back, cooled down, and did strides. 14 for the day!

I got 87 miles from last Tuesday to today, Monday. I'm really excited to see where I am in the upcoming indoor season at BYU indoor.

10 miles while it snowed pretty heavily. The pace was barely in the 7:40's which surprised me, normally I go a little easier. Cooldown and strides at the rec after. Did my core after that.

Not a good day. Coach Henderson had me do a 6x1000 workout, aiming under 3:00 pace. I had to go right after school instead of with the team so the track would be emptier. 1.5 mile warmup, then mile of speed changes. First 1000m I took the first approx. 250m lap quick, coming in at 38. Ran a 2:52. 2 lap recovery, then the next one. Hit the first lap in 41, so I started picking it up, then as I came in around the bend the Baseball team was walking on it to the turf field. None of them moved! I had to weave through them and the last guy, just a grade A piece of work, refused to move. Rather than move, he made sure to take up the entire track that spans maybe 3m max across. I tried to step around him, but my legs got tangled in the netting surround the track, and I hit the ground, HARD. I rolled a bit. I heard the Baseball team laughing at me and I threw up both birds for a good 15 seconds as I gathered the strength to get up. That didn't feel too good. I decided to do some stretches and a distance run instead. Coach Heaton came in and told the now gathered track team(who witnessed all of that) to warm up. The front of my shin hurt, so I told Heaton about what happened. She seemed irate and told me to walk around, and she stopped me after a few steps and said I had bruised legs and scraped my arms, and my ankles were a bit swollen. She told me to go home and ice l, and rest today. I planned on defying her, but then I thought reasonably about this. So I drove home, defeated and a tad upset that a workout I had been long looking forward to was over for a ludicrous reason. My calves are really sore currently. All I came say is I hope that baseball player has a batting average of zero hits per game this and every other season, and that he stubs his toe often and gets hangnails daily. I'm pissed.

Good day! I woke up at midnight really thirsty and drank a lot of water, then woke up a mere 5 hours later to head to early morning french with mon amie Emily. I was a little tired throughout the day. I got home right after school ended, wasting no time socializing, sunlight is limited and precious. Laced up and did a distance run from my house to the rec, down the road to Red Fleet, Kyrie's house, and back to mine. I really liked this run because I only had to make like 5 turns on the entire run, and go through only 3 intersections. From 3.5 to 8 it was one straight road, it was nice. Gives a guy time to ponder and think over important matters. I had no idea how long the run was, turns out it was just a tad over 14! When I hit the final turn off Kyries road(like 3.5 miles left) I sped the pace up to 6:19, then controlled myself after that to a higher 6. The hill at the end was pretty tough, but I pushed. 7:35 pace! It felt quite easy! 3rd longest run ever, and longest without stopping at all by like 3 miles!(normally theres a bathroom break thrown in there). Headed to the rec after, did my strides, and some core. Good day!

6 miles before practice on my own. Warmup, then we had to do this dumb game where we seperated into teams of like 12 and shoot basketballs with a yoga ball. I made a couple but I couldn't write this entry without giving props to Austin Valentine who made probably 10 shots! We probably dabbed more than Cam Newton. Unfortunately I was completely unstoppable and ended every match the victor! Out of the probs 40 people there I'm the only one to have that bragging right. Sort of fun, but a complete waste of time. Heaton had us do a couple laps cooldown, but Mason, Aaron and I said "forget that, we're getting in mileage." We got Christian and Jordan to come too, but Austin declined our invatation to do a cooldown with a certain unnamed girl #whipnoise. Got a bit over 5 miles in. Very legit and fun run with the boys. I like running alone and thinking, but sometimes ya just gotta lose brain cells and IQ points, and I prefer talking to them than becoming an alcoholic/stoner/Trey Hacking. Cooldown and strides after. 13.5 for the day, give or take a bit. I rounded down yesterday so I'd call this breaking even. In other news the neighbourhood's new songs are really good.

2 mile warmup, mile of speed changes, then 2x2 mile tempo workout. My legs felt heavy. It was really cold but I refuse to not run in short shorts and a shirt so I was pretty rigid as well. I went a little over a mile down Aggie, then turned around. I didn't stop where I started so there was a bit more of an incline. I think I hit the half mile at 2:47. Mile at 5:30. 1.5 at 8:23. I thought "crap, I'm not gonna make it", but then thought "if you break 11 you don't have to do the second one" so I kicked it hard and ran a 10:56. Half mile active rest, then again. I went quicker at the start, hitting the half mile at 2:44. Mile at 5:30 again. I wanted to go quicker, so I started speeding up way earlier than before, with maybe 1000m left. A car pulled in front of me at the intersection, so I lost my speed. I tried to make it up but with maybe 200 left I realized I wouldn't break 11 and didn't really give everything I had. I got 11:03 for that, if it weren't for the car I think it would have been around my first repeat time. There was also a U-turn so I assume that sapped a bit of speed. Oh well. Pretty good workout, my legs felt the mileage. I was able to sustain for longer, but I wish they had been fresher for the workout. I feel pretty content with it, I didn't take it lightly. Long cooldown and strides to add to 10.

Easy 7. Legs felt pretty tired, not gonna lie.

Good run today! I left my running clothes at my house somewhat purposely, so I went home after school to get them. Once I got stretched and changed I notice practice started in 30 minutes so I laced up and headed out! Ran down to the high school on the more rural road which ended up being exactly 4 miles in 28 minute, 7 flat pace. Joined the team for part of the warmup and stretches. Did a distance run with Aaron, Christian, Mason, Zack, Jordan, Austin, and Kedric. Ran past the church down mainstreet. I really had to go to the restroom so I stopped at Subway, and sped up a bit to meet up with them at Vernal Ave. They managed to lose Kedric somehow. Good thing he lives around where we were, otherwise it'd be worrisome. Turned around and ran back down to Main, where I said sayonara and ran a bit extra to get home. It was really cold at this point and super hilly. I pressed on, but at the peak I got hit with a wicked bathroom cramp, paused for a few seconds to recover, and ran the remaining quarter mile home. 12 for the day.

I went to sprint practice today for strengthening purposes. Good workout. At the end we had a competition to see who could go the longest doing burpees and I'm proud to say I hit 86. It sucked. I planned on running a lot more today but it just didn't workout all that well, I don't want to push it with BYU on the corner.

After school got out I did 9 miles on the lonesome, but major bathroom cramps told me to stop at the indoor to go. I went, and after I noticed the team doing some quicker stuff and thought "Oh heck, might as well". 1 hard, 1 rest, 2 hard, 1 rest, 1 hard, 1 rest, 400m, 1 rest, and some straightaway strides. The track is like 260m or something so I don't know what the laps mean. 37, 1:18, and 38. Felt pretty good. The 400 was a 69 which isn't too bad considering 90 degree turns and people who don't know what's good for them when they hear "Track!" behind them. Cooldown with Aaron, some hurdle flexibility stretches, and a bit of core to add to a solid 12 for the day. More core tonight(?)

Way busy today. I was really sore waking up today so I didn't run after school, took a hot bath instead to ease the muscles. I guess burpees have vengeance after all. I went to night school and after that I ran 3 miles at the rec on the treadmill at 7:19 pace. Could have done more but my Achilles felt weird, I don't think I stretched enough prior to the workout. Feels better now that I'm typing this on Friday.

After I got checked out from school, I leave to do a shakeout, get a couple steps in, and BAM! I hit the concrete hard. I get up, knee and elbow bleeding, left leg scratched as freak, and go back inside. Mom got me fixed up and I left for BYU. When we got there Mason and I did 6 miles through Provo, it was fun and a nice temp. Strides after. Leg felt alright.

Mile warmup. I felt pretty good for the mile. I was ranked second in my heat so I thought I could win it if I ran smart. Got out good and fell back(I planned on kicking hard) and hit the first lap in 57. I worried and slowed down. 2 laps in 2:00. Even worse. 3 laps in 2:58-59. I don't remember the next split but I do remember all the people who slowed down were trying to bring everyone down with them. 5:02. Not proud, but I'm glad I have another event. 2.5 mile cooldown. 

1 mile in the 7 hours before the two mile

1 mile warmup with Christian and Rylie. I stopped at a bathroom at a restaurant, thinking I'd avoid the crowd at the stadium, and there was an even bigger line there, and I was freaking out and sure I missed my event. I went way quick back to the field house and found out I had a lot of time left, I thought the 200 open were finals instead, so those took quite a while. I stretched out after and went to the pen after a while. I got put in the fast heat, ranked 4th to last. Got on the line and watched Christian kick like crazy and win his heat in 10:49! What a kid. While we waited freaking Ethan Field kept farting and I felt like I would throw up haha. I wasn't really worrying about the race, but I felt good as the gun went off. Hit the first lap in 2nd to last at 61. "Good, I just don't need to fade" I say to myself. I passed a couple people and drafted off a Wyoming kid. We hit the mile at 5:12, and he took off (there was a huge gap ahead and behind us) I think I had it in me to keep with him, but I let him go. Next lap in 6:20. Running alone sucks. 7:30. 8:41. Halfway through this lap I heard the gun go off and sped up a bit. 9:51. I wanted to break 11. Bad. Luckily someone caught me about here and we duked it out for the last lap. 10:55! I wish I went with the Wyoming guy but I'm still happy with it. 3 mile cooldown after. The others did good. Mason and Aaron both ran 4:51, Austin ran a 5:06, Rylie a 6:28, Mason almost won his heat but then dang Adam Jensen out kicked him. Darn you man. He ran a 2:08, Aaron a 2:11, Austin a 2:12. Christian did 10:49, Rylie a 13:22, and Izen jumped 16'9. Atta freshman. 

Overall I'm happy with the two mile, I think I could have pushed harder, and it probs would have been a sub 10:50 3200. Unfortunately I need to shave a minute off that time in the next 33 days to make finals at Simplot. I think I had difficulties running alone, but strategically I'd call it one of my better races.

The ride home was great with Mason, Christian, and Rylie. Listened to some good tunes and had some good times. I went out later to see one of my favorite people of all time, Joshua Jay Johnson Jr., for the last time before he leaves for his mission in Guatemala. He, Shauntel, Jaden, Jesse, Will, and I played Super Smash Bros and listened to more good vibes and I had a great time.

12.3 in 1:33. I was going to do another four going quick but I stopped briefly at my house and my stomach felt pretty bad, so I ended it there. Felt pretty good, form was good.

AM - 7 easy miles. I got a solid 12 hours of sleep last night so 3 cheers for that.

PM - Got about 400m in and the pounding of running sent acute pains in my left knee/femur telling me to stop.

My house to Rec center to Don Pedros to Kyries house again. At 7 miles I remember thinking "wow that went by really quickly" and I guess I jinxed myself because I got the worst continual stomach cramps of my life over the next 7 miles. It was awful, my entire body was just hurting really bad, but all centered around my stomach. The best part was that there're no bathrooms on this route after mile 5. It was pure hell. I finished though, and that's what counts in my mind.

4 miles from my house to the school. I did a quick set of a 3 2 1 fartlik workout at 5:20 pace or below during it that went pretty well, my quads were pretty spent from yesterday though. I also did a quarter of a mile hard in a bit above 80 seconds which I was fine with because I had to stutter step a lot to avoid giant puddles/slush. 9 miles with Austin, Jordan, Mason, and Kedric, and when I say 9 miles I mean they turned after 1.25, so the rest was alone. The first 4 miles alone were 6:30's so I slowed it down to an easier pace after that.

Our schools advanced choir was asked to come sing recorded and videotaped for BYUTV on campus, so that was neat I guess. It'll be airing in like a month. It was really time consuming, we left at 7 AM and drove to provo, sang, went to the mall for 2 hours, and drove back. On the way back there were only 15 of us on the whole bus so I sat with Emily and the b-day boy Christian and had a nice drive back. The first two hours returning I thought I had left my bag with my wallet and other necessities at the mall which was mad stressful, I was panicking hard core inside. Then Natalie sad she had been sleeping on it, which improved my day greatly. I got back at about 7-ish, and I had to be back soon so my run was short. 1.5 warmup on the TM, then 60 sec at 800m goal pace (4:15-3:58 mile pace depending on how I felt), then quarter mile at recovery pace(7:35), then 45 sec hard, quarter recovery, 30 sec hard, quarter recovery. 2 sets of that. It was by no means easy, but it felt good to get moving quick and go hard! Cooldown to add to 5.

Mile warmup, then coach Hill gave us a monster workout. Basically you pair up and one does core while the other goes ham on a lap with stairs. Do that a few times in a facility with the heat cranked up and try not to throw up. I went to go to the restroom, and they started without me! I heard them take off and thought "oh Aaron will get me a good lead". I go outside, and find out the wagon didn't even run, he was sitting there waiting for me to start! What a bag. I took off, fueled by fire. I started probably 20-ish seconds late but still managed to catch the back stragglers. You can't really pass on the stairs though, and that's where it was really congested. I got Aaron in a pretty good spot though. He took off and when I started running again it was Kyrie, Austin, Jordan, and Christian ahead of me. Christian and his partner kept taking off before their partner tagged them though. I went hard on this one and caught all but Christian. Talon went crazy on the next lap and gapped Aaron a lil' bit so I started with Christian maybe 60m ahead. I went so balls to the walls, man. I caught him right before the stairs and got us the lead, and we kept it for the rest of the set. Hill says we can do another set if our heart so desires, so of course I hear Aaron say "Another one Eugene" as I finish what I thought to be my final repeat. Good thing the heat and sickening sickness of the workout were at the max at that moment because that made me feel way worse haha. Still went hard though and the dynamic duo took home the gold per ush'. Cooled down and 4.5 seems right. 

3 more that night

AM - 7. Got a solid 11 hours of sleep which is great. It was 10 degrees outside though which wasn't a preferable temp. I didn't have my watch, but I went pretty quick to keep warm, I'd say the pace was at least a 6:40 average. Miles 4-6 were pretty righteous pacewise but towards the end I had to go to the restroom.

PM - My watch's memory was full, so I did an old 9 mile path with the stop watch on. Not sure of the splits, but I did know where the 6 mile mark and 9 mile mark were. Last time I did this run was the first day of summer practice with Aaron, where we ran the beginning easy and kicked it in at the end. Today was similar. Because I was only using the stopwatch I didn't see a point to go fast, but it was overcast and 19 degrees and I tend to run better in colder conditions. Was going leisurely the first few miles, but at about 3.5 I sped up for whatever reason and kept that pace. Hit 6 miles right under 41 minutes. I kicked it in hard the next 3 and came in at 9 miles right at 60 minutes. Dang! It didn't feel too hard either! Def could have maintained for a full half marathon if I desired, but I really didn't. I planned on doing 11 for this run, and that would set me at my highest mileage in a day by a mile. The only bothersome part of the run was some parts of me handled the cold fine, other parts... didn't. I rue the day I bought my first pair of BOA's, because ever since then I hate to run in anything else, I feel like a peasant. Anyway, back to the run. miles 6-9 took right about 19 minutes, so about 6:20 pace. 9 miles at 6:40! I did another 2 miles, but they were probs in the sevens. 11 miles, 18 for the day!

7 easy this evening. I wanted to go longer but I put the run off too late and it was getting dark. It snowed a lot overnight so I wore my wildhorses to get more traction, but man they're clunky and not smooth at all. I had to trek through a lot of deep snow and had to do a few jumps for the side walk to the road, and stepped in way too many misleadingly deep puddles. 7:32 pace.

3 in the morning. It was way cold and really foggy so I went to the walking park as the not get ran over. the walking park is a 1/3 of a mile on the outer loop, so I ran nine of those. First one was like 2:20 because I was getting stretched out, but the I pushed the pace. Nothing crazy, just trying to be the best hobbyjogger I can be(Its official. #hjptakeover) laps after that were 2:04, 2:04, 2:04, 2:00, 2:04, 2:08, 2:04, and 2:01. 18:49 for three miles. 

We were having a practice meet to see who qualifies to go to simplot(I'm going FYI). I thought "what the heck yabba dabba yolo" and ran the 1600 at 3200 pace. There were two heats. Aaron, Kedric, and Talon were the noteable runners in my heat. We decided to make a train of me Aaron and Kedric, each leading an alternating lap in that order(there were a little over 7 laps, 43 splits are right at 5:10-15 pace) First lap and I take the lead quick. I try to conserve as much as possible to stay with the other two but it was hard. First 263m lap in a 40. I yell out the split as I had the only watch and Aaron said something like "Good thing I'm on pace" and I dropped behind Aaron, Kedric, and Talon(what?). Hit 2 laps at 1:28. Aaron drops behind and Kedric leads. Split was a bit slow again. Talon decides he doesn't want to lead the speed train and tries to drop behind with Kedric but ended up stumbling me and Aaron and slowing us down. I hear coach Hill yell "2:40"! at the 800 and I panic and I'm gone. I took off pretty quick. I ran scared, knowing Aaron could get me if I relaxed too much. I remember passing Heaton and hearing her yell at me "3 laps"! "2 laps"! At one lap the other coaches were there and they yelled at me to kick, and immediately I heard the yelling at Aaron to catch me. With one lap left I was at 4:30. I knew Aaron was going hard but I remembered "Hey this is just tempo" so I finished with a lot left in the tank. Won it with a 5:12. Good neg. splitting, 2:40 and 2:32 800's. Didn't feel too hard, I finished and hit a wall with my fist for my loyal fans who cheered me on and felt alright. 27 90 degree curves kill though. I think Christian ran around my time so I might have not truly won it, but I'll say that I made an M today. Felt good! Jacia got 2nd in the girls race, and Rylie got 3rd. Aaron had me do squats with him but after a while baseball came in and Aaron talked to them and I dipped. 2 mile cooldown outside, came back to the indoor then ran another cooldown mile while Jacia and Tommi ran the other direction. After one lap I made the comment "Nice form" where we proceeded to insult each other many times, when she hit me with a low blow that will remain disclosed. I thought she had me beat, but I went savage with the comment "Nice second place finish". A little over 6 for this session. Good day. I was pretty worn out from the morning workout but it went over well.

8.5 on the lonesome. Running alone man, it has its ups and downs. I was really tired all today, I think I might drop AP History next tri so I can get another hour of sleep a day haha. I ate some fruit snacks to wake myself up and ran to the rec center, down Aggie and back home. Drivers were not friendly today! Got called some rude words (probs baseball) by some passerbys, and others just didn't want to waste energy turning a wheel a few degrees to the left.

Another 2 miles on the TM after night school with some strides.

4.5 after school to the turf farm where sprint practice was being held. Coach Hill and Henderson couldn't make it so everyone went to Heaton's practice. I took the long route coming there, and the intense core I did yesterday hurt, a lot. It wasn't the most fun time. After the warmup Mason, Christian, Kedric, and Jordan left to go on a tempo run. I knew I had to run back to the high school so I opted not to. Aaron didn't have warm gear so he stayed as well. Heaton straight killed us RIP in peace my upper body lol we had to do as many pullups/dips/chin-ups as we could at one time. 6 TIMES. It was awful. We also had a lot of plank pushups but it was survivable. Then, as I drink from the fountain, I hear coach yell "Ladders"!! At this point Mason and the others had gotten back, turns out they had gone 5 miles at 7 minute pace. I should have attended. We seperated in age for each ladder, where I discovered a perk of being the youngest guy senior on the team. Mason, Aaron, Jordan, Christian, and Austin were in the 18 group and Mason was won his by a couple seconds. My group was me, Jacia, Brody, Todd, and a couple others. Brody went hard and I stayed with him, but on the last two legs(the longest one) I pulled ahead pretty good. We did them again and a freshman threw up on the drinking fountain which sucked because it was hot af in there. The next set Mason came in quite a bit ahead, so I was inspired. Brody went crazy fast at first but then he hit his wall, and I sustained and on the final one I went as hard as I could and almost collapsed at the finish. Ran back to the high school to add to 10 for the day.

I'm looking at the 4x800 list for the oval and it looks like it'll be wild. Ranked 5th, 10 seconds from the #1 ranking, which is both Lone Peak and Star Valley, but I talked to the anchor of SV's relay at BYU in the mile and he said that they fabricate times. also Springville, Maple mountain, Salem Hills, and Spanish Fork are all in there too!

Premeet easy run, 7:20 pace on the lonesome. 8 strides after.

1600 went okay I guess. I was seeded on the front row on the very right so I ran a lot in the second lane. I got spiked bad the second lap. With 200 left I was at 4:18 I think, and I kicked pretty hard and caught a couple, including josh erickson from LP. I told him to come with me and kicked hard. I think I hit like a 4:53. Austin might have beaten me, he was in the 6th heat, that'd probs get me fired for the 4x800. It probably shouldn't, but oh well. I need to do some speed/ tempo bad.

The 4x800 I screwed up on and did a 2:16. I feel like all the training I've done lately has been pointless when going against talented runners. Mason has done 2 runs this entire week counting today, and he murdered me in both races. I heard a saying "hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard", but I've been working harder than I ever have and I honestly think I'm getting worse. I don't love to whine, but I honestly don't see a point to trying hard at something where you can work all you want and still get beaten by teammates because they're naturals and you're not. I don't know I think I might need a break from this

Either way I needed a cooldown, we immediately drove home after the 4x800 and my legs were killing me. We stopped at The Train in heber and I did a cooldown run. Probably got 4 miles in the low 6's, I was hauling. It was like that scene from "the perfect mile" where the guy just goes ham until he collapses, only I didn't collapse. I stepped in countless puddles but I stopped caring after a while. There was like a 3 ft high snow wall that I cleared twice without stopping. I got back to the train and saw austin's dad drive off to get gas, but my wallet was in the seat so I needed it. I took off after him, luckily he hit all the stop lights, but eventually he sped off and I tried to keep him in eyesight, then I hit a rough patch of ice and hit the ground hard. Not only that, but I slid into a giant pool of a puddle. I layed there, not bothering to get up for a long time. I got up, drenched, and hobble-jogged back to the others who were eating and went home without food(I didn't want to make them stay longer). I'd say that completed the second part of "the perfect mile" scene. Also probs the closest thing to a God-given sign to stop running that I'm going to get.

I decided I'd been training with no break for far too long, so I put an 8 day hiatus. I thought I'd hate it, but I thoroughly enjoyed the idea of free time. I actually did homework. But I'm glad I took this break, my legs needed it. 6 miles from the park down Aggie to Uintah and back. The pace was 7:02, but only because my last mile was a 6:30. It was hard, my hips and chest hurt. Strides at McCoy after. Shoutout to the LP homies that told me to press on. And of course the Cherokee himself.

It was 9 when I started working on my french II online class, then next thing I know I've done like a trimester of work and it's 2:30. I totally skipped lunch which I regret. 9 miles from the park down main to the rec, down Vernal Ave, up to Air Village, down Aggie back to the car. The first couple miles I dropped into the 5's too many times(I shouldn't have at all) I slowed down at maybe 2.5 miles in. My achilles was tight after that, and it kept irritating me to the point where I stopped for a couple minutes to stretch it out as a precaution. It wasn't feeling better during the stretches so I resolved I'd run back to my house and get a ride to my car if it didn't feel better when I started running again. Suprisingly enough it felt fine when I started running again. I stopped again at 7 miles because it bugged me again, I think it's the worn down peg's, and finished at 9 at 7:19 pace. I'll be dabbing tonight.

Ran a warmup lap and wasn't feeling it in my achilles, so I biked 45 minutes at a higher resistance, got probably a little over 10 miles in. I was on the side of the track as the 4x400 time trials were going on. I'm running my trial on wednesday and it looks like I'm going to have to haul. 58's or bust. S/O to Christian for winning it in 56.01, that's sick #Ateamanchor Achilles feels better than yesterday, and that's without ibuprofen. Tomorrow will be tenative. Lunaracers feel great.

More biking. Lap swimming tonight, 400m trial tomorrow.

For today the advanced choir had to do singing valentines to sweeties for most of the day, but luckily we got off for my favorite class: Advanced Choir! So I had to sing all day and then I went to AP bio, then after that; practice for solo's for choir! I was so tired by the time I went to practice. Mile warmup, then my 400 trial. All the distance guys were tired, but not tired enough to not stay and cheer for me, so that was cool. Clayton was nice enough to pace me. We started and I held back so I could give Clayton the lead for the time being. The pace wasn't hard, but I relaxed a little too much and gave Clayton a maybe 5m lead. Second lap I'm slowly gaining on him, but he beat me. It's hard trying to muster the kick to pass when 90 degree turns are a common thing. I ran a 59.2 which I'm cool with. I was going to do a long cooldown, but I got the ever slight irritation in my achilles that made me cut it short and proceed with some good core. Coaches said they didn't want to screw anyone over by kicking them out since I missed the initial trial, but that they're trying for a 4x800 and I'd be in that. Pretty good, tiring day. I found out afterwards that Christian bought singing valentines to two unnamed gals in our school, addressed "To: xxxxx, from Nathan, for Old Times Sake?" lol what a bag. Also I found out I got accepted to Purdue and Georgia Tech, but both under strange conditions I've never heard of #goodproblems?

4... Stepping it up! Achilles was kind of there throughout but it wasn't a bother. After I went to the rockwall where Trey and Steven were working, and since it wasn't busy we played a game of add-on that involved some pretty technical stuff for like 2 hours which was a rad workout. Achilles doesn't feel too bad now, and I haven't even taken the ibuprofen yet.

Blocked out achilles bothering during the run. Wasn't awful but still annoying, if Simplot weren't around the corner I'd take some time off, but it's drawing close, so I'll just take it easy. 

Mile on the treadmill, then it turned off. 20 minutes on the bike, I went really hard at a good incline and it claimed I went 8 miles. Mile on the elliptical after.

"I'm back and I'm better" - Bryson Tiller

Finally got in a real run, and man it felt great. None of this baby treadmill/biking cross training stuff. Headed up to the Colorado SM's track(it's 60 degrees here), and did a workout of 2x800 and 1x1000 with a 2 minute 400m jog in between each. Wasn't sure how I'd fair after all this easy stuff. Felt quick at first, and I was like "dang it you lost your touch" but then the guy yelled out "69" and I was at first happily surprised, but when I remembered the goal pace was 2:30 per 800 I took back that feeling. Figured I might as well finish with what I have left. Hit the 600 mark at 1:45 and that's when the wind really hit me. Forecasts say 20mph+ and id believe it, it was brutal. My legs were sapped on that last stretch and I finished in 2:22, a bit quick but I'll take it. Next one I hit the 400 at a high 73, perfect. Finished that one in 2:29. The 1000m I had my dad take a snapchat video on me finishing for the story, but he took it at the first 200 so I went fast to look cool for the video and hit like a 33-34 200m. I don't remember the 400 split but I know I hit the 800 at 2:32 and was feeling that lactic acid buildup, man. Gave what I had without going ham, which wasn't much because I finished barely at 3:12. Some long strides in the soccer field after and a cooldown to add to 6. I'm really happy with how it went today, I think I could have dropped some better splits later on if my my first repeat hadn't been quick. I was afraid I'd be struggling to do like 5:30 pace but luckily that wasn't the case. I was pretty tired at the end though so I need to start some solid training. But the main highlight- no Achilles problems!! I felt it during the warmup, but afterwards I felt no pain for the first time in a week! We'll have to see if this lasts. Today got me excited for simplot! Tomorrow we find out if our 8:21 added PR time qualifies us for 4x800 finals. Shout out to mason for saving us with his 1:56 PR.

Core that night 

some easy miles in the morning before my Colorado School of Mines tour. I talked for a while with another runner and found out he has a blog, so shoutout to C_crop #possiblefutureteammate happy annoy squidward day my dudes

A little over 4 back in Utah. It suprisingly got much warmer, I wore my state hoodie and spandex and was dying at the end. Managed a 6:47 pace which was a bit out of the comfort one, I can tell basically all my endurance has dissipated but it's for the better. No achilles pains either! Sub 6 pace the last half mile which was nice. Zante's feel nice. UINTAH MADE THE 4X800!!!! I'm so happy.

Mile warmup at sprint practice. Good core and strengthening. We had to do this plank/pull-up thing and coach Heaton made everyone stop and watch me do them and said I was doing them perf.  Later Heaton asked me what I've been doing lately, because I'm way stronger than before, according to her. Cool beans, and a nice mental boost for Simplot. We did some jog down sprint back stuff after, and I got in some good work, I made sure my form was good. After that I left practice for my run. It might have been my watch buggging out but it said my first mile was 5:53. I slowed down after that to not push too hard. Ended up doing 6 miles at 6:43 avg pace. Felt pretty good, I started striding out the last two miles and got the pace down in the lower 6's.

Pre-meet with strides. Everyone left while I was putting stuff in my car so I ran the opposite way as everyone else, and I went a bit quick. 6:57 avg pace. Oh well, what can you do.

mile warmup on the track, then a mile outside later with Christian.

First half of the race went alright, hit a 5:20 first mile but then I started struggling. I think I should have waited longer to race after my break. I got passed by Christian on lap 8 and after that I just went in to easy cruise mode. Big mistake. Last 150 I was about to lap some guys(for the second time) but they ran side by side and it was difficult to pass, there was barely enough room to squeeze through. Some massive green river kid yelled "hurry up"! At me. I passed and he immediately passed as well. I tried to hold the lead but he cut me off hardcore. Wasn't fun. He let out this monstrous war and cut me off and pushed me again. I had probably been jogging the past 6 laps but I kicked harder here than I ever have in a race. He moved to not let me pass, but I swung into lane 3 and beat him by probably half a second. I dabbed on him after we finished and I genuinely thought he'd beat me up haha. Christian did 10:36, but the rest of Uintah didn't do as hoped. Mason was 3 seconds off 1600 finals, Aaron ran what Austin did, 4:57. 2 mile cooldown with Christian, then I got a picture taken with the HJP members, shoutout to Casey Clinger for joining. After that 2 miles with Aaron, Mason, and Izen, and we flew for that. I can tell my trainings been shoddy at best this month.

Mile warmup on the track s/o to me for solving a rubix cube in 52 seconds 3 miles later with Mason through the ghettos of Pocatello. Mason kept running through alleyways that were probably half a mile long and sort of sketch, I carried a big stick, props to teddy Roosevelt 

Finals today. Warmed up for the 4x800 with my boys Aaron, Mason, and Christian. We did a couple strides outside and I felt pretty good. Aaron's been sick all week and I was now getting the epiphany that I was probs sick too. Mason made all of us wear sweats until we started the race to keep our muscles warm, but I really don't like heat so I felt uncomfortable. Todd gave me some needle spikes so I wore those to race. Strides on the actual track weren't great. My pace was alright but it winded me bad. Officials tell us before the race anyone who gets lapped gets DQ'ed from the race in case people lied on their seed times to get here. Race starts, Christian does what he does and is in last, maybe second to last in the first 400. We thought he'd move up, but he didn't. Still, the pack was semi close together, save a couple. The problem with that is Christian assumed I'd be in the first lane to hand off, and I was pushed back to lane 5! He literally was maybe 5 feet from the hand off one when he saw me. Unfortunately he didn't slope his angle for a clean handoff, he beelined for me and sort of tumbled into me. So starting off with a bad start, and starting at the very beginning of the exchange one. I work to file behind two guys. First two laps felt alright, as crappy as the first 400 of an 800 feels, I hit maybe 61. But with the sickness and non-existent endurance, I couldn't do my kick from last season to pass like the guys. I lost probably 2 seconds on them, maybe a little more. Handoff to Aaron, and I've hit my wall. My legs feel like bricks, so after a bit of shuffling he slows down, and my spikes get entangled in his shoes. It was messy. Aaron takes off and I'm hoping he catches guys and runs a PR, but neither happens. The conditions hit him and he couldn't go. Handoff to Mason at probably 8:38-9, and I know I'm not getting my name on the school record. Mason ran cray though and got us from 8th in our heat to 5th, goot thing too, because if he had ran any of our paces he probably would have been lapped. But Mason has a die hard spirit and came in at 8:42. Aaron was seriously pissed at my for fraying his shoe with my spikes and I honestly couldn't care less. Cooldown with Mason, during which the parade started. We couldn't find anyone but Davis and they brought a huge speaker so we chilled with them instead. Aaron, Mason, and I went to the store after, and Mason had our splits. I dreaded to hear mine. 2:09, 2:13, 2:16, 2:02. I was surprised by that, I thought I would have had to worst split. It made me feel a bit better, I didn't feel all that good, with Christians handoff I probably ran maybe 805 or 810 meters. So I'll accept it. 4x800 didn't get medals, but our 4x400 team did, which riled me up. I wish I had just not taken my break until after simplot so I could have been on it.

Another 2 miles during the 4x200 because I was bored. These 2 bozeman girls followed me the entire way, and I saw Travis Feeny and Garrett Barton from Ogden and waved to them.

6 miles out at Red Fleet. My dad started out a couple minutes before me so I worked way too hard to catch him quickly, I think my pace for most of the first mile was in the 5:30's. That was unwise for a recovery run, with the gnarly hills in these paths I was feeling tired after that. Avg pace 7:11. 

Stomach was hurting in school today so I came home instead. Ate dinner then went to the rec center later. Mile on the treadmill and that wasn't fun so I ran on the like 100m track w/ Jacia and I had to stop a mile after that. The curry chicken I had for dinner and the heat of the rec center was killing me. I decided to go run in the crisp night air instead. Went out 1.5 and came back. Way out I felt just like crap. Avg pace for that half was 7:17. I turned around and felt way better, I was flying towards the end of it. That half was 6:30 pace, so maybe not flying but for me feeling how I felt with the spices of India having their dance of fire in my stomach it felt nice. 

S/O to Cason for finally updating his blog

Made up a new route today. The first four miles were in foreign territory, up 1500 S and past Cy's house, then down this road with all these abandoned houses. After I hit 4 I was on main, so I turned left and ran down until I got to cobblerock, then to the rec center. I talked to Steven and Trey while they worked rock wall, and eventually no one was climbing so we played a good game of add-on. I beat Steven but Trey pulled a snake move and beat me. I felt dead tired, I'm trying to go kenogenic for a week(low carbs, high fat) and I felt wiped out after a couple miles of running. Stomach wasn't the best either, but I managed a 6:49 average pace so I'm happy with it. The track is snow free so I might try some tempo tomorrow.

The name of the game was pain today. Because of the "I'm going to 'keto' myself diet" approaching day three all the carbs in my system are hitting a low, and my body hasn't adjusted for fuel yet. 5 miles at 7:26 pace, which was a real struggle considering I was hurting like none other. Cramps and pains for days, man. Run got a little but not much better by the time I got to the high school. 4x400's at that with no particular pace in mind, just whatever felt okay. Hit 68, 74, 72, 70. Long cooldown after. I think I might end this ketogenic nonsense early because my body is not liking this. I was weak during the run but I was completely drained by the end of it. I was getting major chills and major drowsiness.

8.2 before the choir concert today. Didn't feel amazing for the first 5, but once I hit 1500 W I started to pick it up like we always would at practice. 6:58 avg pace.

3.1 after the concert

Got in a run after school. Stoked that the trimester is over, but worried because I have all A's and one A- in AP history and I'm .21% away from the A and idk if it'll make it. Ran up near where Emily lives, down rehab and up the canal. Really, and I emphasize really had to go to the bathroom during this run. I stopped at a convinience store(way to live up to the name) and after my left quad was tight for a bit. Oh well. Didn't turn the watch on after the stop but before that it said 6:56 pace. Drove to 7-11 and got my free cup of water and drove to the church on Aggie and did some good barefoot strides. I might have gone longer, but the inconvinience + Track clinic tomorrow I figure 7's good enough. Plus I may or may not be hitting up the party scene tonight feat. Kyrie so gotta be fresh for that.

On my life, I swear I never wanted or planned to run this. We had a track clinic today and I was going to leave as soon as it was over, but the guys forced me to run it. We start, and I begin to drink my first soda since freshman year. I hate soda. It burned really badly, and Jordan was gone after mere seconds. He had maybe 100m down when Aaron started, then Mason and I started when he was maybe 50m in. Running felt awful. I was burping everywhere and it was a real mess. I passed Mason at 100 and caught Aaron on the home stretch. Next soda I could barely stomach. Jordan takes off, and he has maybe 75m when I started. I was going real quick, I could barely even feel the devil drink inside me. Caught Jordan same place I caught Aaron the lap before. I probably waited 5 seconds before drinking the next soda, I really didn't want it. I finish this one before Jordan and I take off again. I didn't let the lead get to my head, I was going for broke. Around here I wanted to beat Hell Raiser's and the Lone Peak boy's times, so hopefully they see this. I see on the home stretch I have a little over 100m on Jordan, but I think I lapped everyone else so I knew it was just us. The last soda is lukewarm. Ew. Jordan was there for a few seconds when I left. I caught Mason at 200 to go and he yelled at me to go for it, so I did. Cruised in to a 7:32. Nice. Jordan got 2nd with a 8:40 I think, so it was a good race. We were the only 2 to break 10 I think. As soon as I finished and was declared the winner, it all came spewing. Not feeling great now, but I GOT A SCHOOL RECORD! woo. I averaged probably 25 seconds per can so that's like 85 second laps or something. Daggum allergies are going to be the death of me.

I felt awful today, I'm never drinking RB again. I'm also extremely sore due to the clinic yesterday. In church I had to leave immediately after because my family wanted to socialie and go out for lunch. I was on the fence about running today, but after blowing my nose for the 49763 time of the day I decided to go. I drove up to McCoy and ran on this dirt road I had never ran on before. The way up was terrible. I felt like total garbage and it was hilly and muddy towards the end and I turned around just a bit before 2.5, Avg pace was like 8:30. There were a ton of people out shooting today and I feared for my safety. I picked it up after the muddy part when I started coming down and eventually I saw the glimmer of my truck in the distance, looked at my watch and figured I had 1.5 left. I suddenly started just going really fast, I don't know how I managed it. Last 2 miles were under 13 minutes, last third of a mile was 5:18 pace. I felt really crappy afterwards but after some post stretching my sickness started to lift up, I don't feel great now but better. I dropped the average pace down a minute due to the second half so 7:30 pace. Ran a little when I got home to add up to 5.

AM - Alarm didn't go off at 7:30 so I woke up at like 10:30 instead. Did a 3.5 shakeout @ 6:28 pace. Still extremely sore.

PM - First day of track! Mile warmup, then "The Long Road Home" workout. The basc gist of it is you partner up, run one lap, do 50 clap push ups, three laps, 50 V-ups, five laps, 50 squat jumps, seven laps, 10 sled pushes, five laps, another 50 clap pushups, three laps, 50 burpees, one lap. It's pretty awful; Coaches checked registermyathlete.com and anyone not on that got kicked out. Me Aaron and Christian were on that list, but luckily I called my mom and she registered me last second. I partnered up with Mason and we were off. Baseball soon came in on the field inside the track, and they kept hitting baseballs at us. There was a protective netting, but if you were in the inside lane you were going to get hit. We had a ton of people at practice and Amson and I were lapping them pretty soon, but lapping was difficult with our remorseless less-than-human baseball team inside batting at us. I think I was the main target from the seniors after the notorious "bird" incident. Anyway Mason and I went ham and won it by quite a bit, we were pretty unstoppable. I never even did any girl pushups, which is a rare claim. Good work from the team today, excited to get back at it.

AM - All juniors took the ACT today, so no school until noon. Ran three miles in to morning down to the adjacent neighborhood, where I discovered a trail I could climb up to. It was muddy and still pretty snow covered, but I liked it. It ended right after the normal brutal hill so it's nice to know there's a way to skip that. Avg pace 6:58.

PM - Mile warmup, then a "core" workout. I remember the first week of track being grueling as a sophmore and difficult as a junior, but this was really easy. If it had been longer maybe it'd be a challenge but we only had 6 core stations to go to and only had to do the exercises in 1 minute intervals, I'm thankful for all the sprinters being born in april because when we go by groups we always go by birth month and I'm with them. I stayed for hops, sleds, and balance, and then ditched. Three mile easy run shirtless(miniscule detail but whatever), was going to go longer but changed my mind. Avg pace 6:52. Headed to the track and did 4x400's with a 200m jog in between(probably 1 minute active rest). Soccer was having tryouts and they loved my outfit consisting only of BOA's and Zante's. I had constant cheers and whistles for me while I ran. Went 67, 70, 69, and 66. Wasn't too hard, but I want those times to feel really comfortable, they didn't feel too amaing, but I'd account that for completely dead quads from the past few days, and idk how much I like the Zante's for speedwork. It'll be nice to eventually do repeats with someone... one day. Anyway I prefer my LT's for sure. Came back and jumped in the cooldown and I don't think anyone noticed my absence. Another mile cooldown by myself afterwards.

Yoga and 3 miles later. No watch but it was quick.

Mile warmup. Workout was running up bleachers, run a 400, push-ups up the bleachers, run a 600, 50 V-ups, 4x100 strides w/ like ten second rest, 50 burpees, 200, push-ups up bleachers, 200, run up bleachers, 100 one legged squats. 2 sets of that. Coaches have us maybe 45 minutes before they told everyone to stop so I went ham and was the only one to finish the workout. I have to shoutout Aaron for being right with me until the last set of burpees and push-ups where I went ham, he was the only other one to get all the way to the final station besides me. S/O to the breakfield twins bc I went ham to pass them and it was difficult, and shoutout to Brady for being right behind me Aaron and the twins, it's his first year of track and he's already killing some workouts. Led a easy cooldown afterwards and a 2 mile cooldown by myself after my sisters soccer game. I went to Cafe Rio alone after and got the usual salmon and tortillas, and they were almost out so the portions were maybe half the usual, so the girl handed it to me and told me just to go! What a sweetie. Good day.

Easy day today, my legs were tired so I did some by myself but nothing major. Mile warmup, then the entire team had to run the neighborhood, I ran with Mason, Christian, and Kedric and we took it a little briskly. We did an extra mile as well. Turns out Aaron got stuck behind and ran the same way we did, and so did Brady, turns out he's going to be a distance runner. Nice. Mile cooldown by myself after.

Mile warmup, and it was awful. My entire family was sick today, and I went to the doctor as a preparation thing and I had to sit in a room alone with my ill sister for an hour, so if I didn't have the virus before I'm sure I had it after. My lungs burnt worse than I can ever remember in my life. I had to stop the warmup premature. Coaches wanted me to just "tough it out", and I sat down for a couple minutes and told them my body told me I have to rest. They eventually let me go. If ever I've had doubts in my coaches today was the day, I honestly don't think they don't care about me after my recent performances. Looks like I need to impress next friday. I got home and slept for three hours, and felt SO much worse when I awoke. I was having cold sweats and could barely move I was so fatigued. And with preference tomorrow...

I woke up with a temp of 101.5 and felt like shiz. My parents wanted me to just tell kyrie(my date) to go w/ someone else, but that wasn't going to happen. I sort of accidentally took twice the recommended of Tylenol. With ten minutes until she picked me up, the medicine hit and I felt great. Day date was great. Got home and got ready and my tie and pants got lost so I wore jeans instead, and I tried suspenders but they immediately broke. So no tie or anything. I felt good, until me, Kedric, and Kyrie got into some intense "just dance 4". We played the luchador match and I honestly thought I'd die after. I felt like trash for the dinner, and I took more Advil after. We played some wii U after and the tv burned my eyes if I looked at it for more than a minute. Driving to the dance I honestly thought I'd pass out. I was freezing and hot at the same time. But once again the drugs hit at the perfect time, right as I started to dance I was told after I'm a good dancer. I went really ham and with the day date and such id count this as 2 miles. huge shoutout to Kyrie for asking me, had a dandy time.

Only fever I have now is boogie fever! W/o the aid of drugs I feel great! Still taking today off as a precaution though.

  yesterday was a good time.

Man did this run feel awful. It somehow snowed a ton, and I did the trail from last week and it was awful, super muddy and slippery. My watch (Hopefully) bugged out because it told me avg pace was 6:50, then not 2 minutes later said 7:20, and I felt consistent at the time. I sort of just gave up after that, My lungs were burning in a terrible way and I just didn't feel good at all. I didn't walk despite wanting to on the huge hill so that makes it a little better. Not really sure what I did to deserve this.

I went to the rec center after school to run instead of the team run and I don't even slightly regret it. 10 minute warm-up, went to the restroom, 5 minutes of speed changes, then (originally) 3x1000's fast. I wanted to do all three but I had a feeling that with the still lingering sickness my body might not handle it, and I've seen way too many treadmill failure videos to not be wary today. First 1000 was 2:53. Man that one was hard to push through, I was nervous because I stumbled and my quads were feeling it. Next one was on pace for a 2:58 but I couldn't push through and stopped at about 2 minutes in. I did a 600 after that in 1:39 and it was a real struggle. Made it through though. 20 minute cooldown, I was going to do 4x200m strides but I did one in 29 and my quads were saying I was done so I listened. Had a good conversation with Steven at the rock wall after, he got called in because no one showed up for what he was told to be a 30 minute shift, they didn't come in for two hours. I stayed and talked to him the whole shift, it was a good time. 11 for the day. Good stuff from everyone today

EZ PZ mile warmup then core, man I need to up my core I've slacked hard since footlocker haha. It hurt like heck so that was good. Coaches sent everyone on a mile run but instead I had to run a mile, do core, mile, core, mile. First mile was 7:14 then planks, then 7:06 then bridges, then I focused on staying straight and running smoothly, that one was a 6:32. They all felt easy which was nice. Cooldown for 5. My Achilles kinda lowkey bugs so yoga tonight!

Some good speed today. 10 minute warmup then 800, then 4x400. 800 I got out and got a good lead, if I had been alone I probably would have slowed down a ton but Mason was right behind me so I kept it smooth and did 2:24. 400 jog in between each. First 400 Mason went fast to get a lead but I wanted to stay with him so I matched his pace, he filed behind me after the first 50m but I didn't slow down. I went 64 on that, too quick, it felt awful haha. Next two were 68 and 67, I just filed behind Mason on those to keep a good pace. I went to the restroom after the third one and missed the 4th one, luckily Brady, Aaron, Mason, and Austin were doing a 5th so I jumped in on that. The first 100 I try to file behind Mason, but Austin wasn't having any of that and I was worried he'd edge me off the track. At 150 I filed behind Mason, and thought that I might as well push this one, so I swung out in to lane three and pushed into a 65. Cooldown to add to 7. Felt good! Still a little sick and the air killed my lungs, but the times were good so I can't complain. Truth be told the paces might have been a but quick for early March, but oh well what can ya do

6 easy. I would have ran with Mason and Christian, but Aaron wanted to put his shirt in his truck and made me come with him. Went to Basin after and finally used my gift card from winning the turkey trot, bought 2 rollers and some GU gummies. Red and white meet tomorrow, I'm gonna try to relax with some yoga tonight.

What a trash day. Warmed up and felt fine. They moved the 100 to be the first event instead of the 1600 so Mason could make it. I was pumped when I thought the 1600 would start, but after I just didn't feel too great. Nothing could prepare me for how awful the race was. 200m in and I started falling off. Hit the 400 at 72. Austin passed me, then Kedric. Jordan caught me in the last lap. Don't even want to know the time. Sophomore year I got 5th, Junior year I got 3rd, today I got 7th. My lungs were on fire and I don't think i've been eating enough, I weighed myself before the race and it was like 2 pounds less than usual, but when it comes down to it I was weak and gave up. I felt miserable and coach made everyone run the 400 20 minutes later. I was in a heat with all the distance guys. I caught Kedric at 250 but I was sucking it up again. I started walking before I even hit the finish. Turns out I ran 60, which suprised me. I love it when I train hard and it means nothing, you really appreciate it after a senior year where it's a normal thing.

In other words I've basically coughed up my lungs since the meet ended

I was going to do a long easy run, but Trevor asked me to come with the track with him so I did. Huge S/O to him, yesterday he ran his first race since freshman year, and ran an 11.69 in the 100m and took second on the team, he was winning until he died at the end. I did what I felt I could do, still sick. Ended up being 2x300, 2x200, 2x300, around 800 pace. Went 44, 47, 29, 28, 43, 46. The 300's sucked, the last 100 on the second one both times my legs were really tired. Went to subway with trevor after and ate some apple slices, then another 3 or so, Avg 7:02. This run felt nice. We went and saw the little mermaid musical after, Emily's singing was comparable to her looks. interpret that how you want, too bad she never gets on her blog.

Quite a wild long run today. At church today we talked about how the Sabbath was made for rest, so I felt guilty but I've been slacking on mileage from sickness so I needed distance. Drove out to McCoy at the corral that normally signals the turnaround for the run, but instead I just kept going. After two miles it switched from gravel to dirt, it was intense. Eventually I hit this ledge overlooking this giant divide with a huge river flowing way below me. I stood there in wonder, listening to nothing but wind. It was serene, then I heard the yap of a coyote or wolf or something, then many responding barks, sounding somewhat hostile. It then dawned on me that I was not even close to civilization and hadn't seen another person since the corral, so I turned and bolted. Despite the run being mainly pretty difficult uphill, I pressed hard, I figured "if I get eaten by wolves I'll regret going too slowly" so I kept a good quick pace. Finished 10 miles at 7:08 pace. Good run, quite scary.

S/O to my literal hero for winning nationals. @garek u r quick

Mile warm-up, legs were tight so I stopped for a lap to stretch them out. 2 miles easy for pre meet, but at 1.5 My right hamstring suddenly tightened up and I had to stop to stretch it out. We were supposed to run some 400's after but I didn't

Really bad conditions today, not a fun time overall, but I'd rate it okay. My tendon was hurting really badly on the bus ride up and the warmup, but it sort of disappeared before I toed the line. Not really, I just blocked the pain. Still felt a bit sick too, it started snowing around here so that got worse, anyway. I decided to not go too hard in the 1600 and save for the 800, so I decided to pace with Mason for 5 flat. First lap was 72, feeling good, I talked to Mason and Chesnut for the first 200 and jokes were cracked, good times. At 600 I just suddenly got this back pain like I pulled something, and it hurt to breathe really badly. That was hard to deal with, I got passed by quite a few people, Jordan passed me in the last 100 and I knew I should've kicked and caught Kedric, but I just didn't. I wasn't in a racing mindset after the back pain, just trying to survive. I got put in the medley so I dropped the open 800 since they were back to back. It was me, Chesnut, and two Salem teams for the 800 legs. So all Salem, but me. Chesnut had maybe a 50m lead on me and he went ham, I tried to just keep the gap constant as best I could which I thought I did okay. Turns out he did a 57, I dont quite think I did that haha. Second 400 I really felt dead, no energy in the legs. I wanted a trifecta in one day, so Mason and I ran the 3200. We did it jog a lap, run one quick, repeat 4 times. First one Mason led in 66, I wasn't with him, I stuck on him the first 200 then the back pains reappeared, three cheers for that. After that I led them in 73, 77, and 69. Mason and I finished in a dead tie which was cool, in like a 13, so less cool. Looking back I felt crappy today but I blocked that out way better than last week so that's progress. This back thing I need to get rid of pronto though. Also my legs felt dead and I still feel sick. Get outta here. I'm most proud of my 800(not at all) so I'll put it for my race report. I'm irate I'm not as good as last year yet though. You better bet I'll work for this.

Choir region. We got literally the best possible score we could get that wouldn't get us to state. Dang. Good thing there's two region competitions I guess.

Good work today. Warmup, then 5 minutes hard, 5 minutes easy for 5 miles. First hard I got out and I worked pretty hard for that one. I got close to .9 for the 5 minutes, and that was heading into the strong wind, and uphill. No one was really with me for that one. Got out good for the second one. That one was downhill, with the wind on my back, and man my quads were shot for that. I never really went as hard as the first, which is what I should have done for all of them. For the last two hards I decided to start out easier with Aaron, which I regret. If I'm not leading it, I feel like I don't push as hard, evident today. I was right on Aaron for the first three minutes then I lost him when we hit the uphill wind again. Last one was in to the wind and uphill again, Stuck with Aaron then just wasn't pushing as hard mentally. I did another 2 minutes hard to hit 6 miles, ran behind the school through the baseball and soccer fields. The baseball players (2 specifically) threw rocks and pebbles at me, love those guys. I really don't get the whole beef thing, it's wayy childish, grow up. Anyway got back did core with Aaron and Brady, did stretches and went home. Didn't really get a cooldown in, dangit. Ice bath tonight. 

Mile warmup and the team worked on running form briefly. I did a loop with Brady and Aaron, the pace was really slow, I think the avg. pace was in the 8:20's, I hated it, but Aaron was sore from yesterday so I obliged. When we got back to the stop light in front of the high school I went for some more rather than ending it there. Did the same loop, went quicker and it felt good, I really had to go to the restroom though, maybe I should start eating lunch later or something. I dropped the pace down to higher 7:30's for the average of the 6 miles, so that's like 6:40 or such on the second loop. Did some core on the track after, I was the only one there. #loneranger

AM - 10.5 slow up at red fleet with Aaron and Brady. Last time I did this was with Aaron back in August, we should really do it more, it's a great time. Pace was slow and easy, about 7:50, but I pushed on the uphills. S/O to Brady for doing it with us, he only started track like a month ago! We hiked up a mountain face after and it was a solid time.

PM - 4.5 @ 6:55 pace. Just felt great for this, which surprised me, I thought I'd be dead. I ran from the walking park to the bathrooms, which were locked, to the trail on Kid's canal, down to the hospital and back. I ran around the walking park to get the run to 4.5 and the last quarter mile was 5:30's which didn't feel like I was pushing it hard. Strides after bc stretches always feel better with strides. Well you have good days and bad days for running, and today was definitely the former. Just a really dandy day with solid mileage. Glad I finally had a good day, because lately running's been feeling on the other end of the spectre.

S/O to my parents for getting married 23 years ago. They would then work to create the perfect specimen and after 4 years succeed with the creation of Eugene Nathaniel Grindle III #tb

Played about three hours of tennis with my dad. I made myself run literally every time I had to move, so it was intense. Was dead tired for the run, just did the loop around Aggie. Avg pace 7:06 which is good considering how fatigued I was.

Over the break I want to work on my left calf because its circumference is almost a full inch smaller than my right and I think I may favor putting my weight on it due to that. I also want to work on my lower four and because my upper and look nice but it'd be nice to be shredded with swimsuit season approaching

No running today. I was gonna wake up at 5:00 to run but I overslept. On the way to Denver airport now.

Excited to anounce that I'll be running the "5 to Thrive" 5k in Atlanta this Saturday. I'll see how the elevation drop feels and such, but I'm really hoping for a nice PR. If the course is not long/aided and someone good is there, who knows, maybe I can't finally get that sub 16.

Hour of conditioning in the morning, got in two miles and a lot of good core.

Meeting with the university of Alabama XC/ distance coach later today! Hopefully it goes well.

Manohmanohmanohman I hate humidity. And warm weather. I decided to start my run at 4:00 PM, in the middle of the blazing day. It was awful. The sidewalk I ran on for the first two miles was nonexistent, so I ran on loose gravel/overgrowth instead. Once I got past that I ran past the U of A track to the soccer fields and ran around there a bit. Ran around the parking lot after. I felt dead today, my legs were way tired, then I looked at the pace and knew why. 6:38 avg pace. I was sure it would be 7:30, I stopped at like 5 red lights. Oh well. There's a pool next to our condo/dorm, and the water is FREEZING. PERFECT. Sat it that for a few minutes, after stretching.

Meeting went pretty well. I really like Coach Walters. Since I have my 33 ACT and current 4.0 GPA, the school already gave me full ride, so he wouldn't have to pay a nickel to have me run for him. He laid out somewhat reasonable times. 1:55 800m, 4:23 1600m, and 9:38 3200m. He told me to email him every week about how I've been performing and hopefully I'll drop some times soon to make him proud. I think with my 4:46 from last year the 1600's my best bet. If I make any of those times, I'm automatically on the Track/XC team for Alabama. Any advice on how to get those times, however, would be greatly appreciated because I think Mason, Christian, and Aaron are the only three runners coaches care about right now on the team haha. Or advice on how to handle humidity/70+ weather. Thanks.

Long campus tour today. Walked probably three miles around campus during it but I won't count it. Three mile warmup from the condo to the soccer fields. I was joined by a fellow runner about a mile in, and I talked to him for the remainder of the warmup. I thought him to be a U of A track runner, turned out he was the distance coach for the Ohio track team. We talked about our schools and how crazy fast Garek and Casey are back in Utah. He seemed like a really cool guy. Anyway workout was 2 sets of 3x800 with 2 minute rest, active rest, 7 minutes between sets, on the fields. Path I layed out was about .15 straight into the wind, with one really brief downhill, maybe 5ft drop in like 2 seconds. 90 degree turn, like 100m, 90 degree turn, then run straight for about .2, going back up the hill, then a 45 degree turn and run in for an 800. 400m jog back to the start. I measured to make sure all were accurate, and my watch had them usually at .49, so about good. Splits were 2:31, 2:32, and 2:34 for set uno. Felt pretty crappy towards the end. I went up probably 12 flights of stairs, walked a ton, and ate a hefty college lunch. The ground was soft and my trainers stuck in a bit when landing. Humidity sucked. It was tough. But then I started thinking about how much I wanted to run for college, and how I'd have to push to get there. Times after that were 2:26, 2:29, 2:28. I dig deep on those ones, I imagined myself running in a collegiate uniform and when I felt tired I just kept pushing. I know the times weren't crazy fast, but I pushed hard by myself and I'm happy with it. Cooldown back to the condo. 

In other news, Alabama was voted to be the 27th best college in the nation in respect to attractive ladies attending. If Utah was a college ID have voted it #1, but the girl population here is like 60%. And it's like 30% at mines...

4 miles in Savannah, GA. We were meeting with my aunt and uncle, and they have a 2 year old with a early bed time, so I was rushed. Ran from our hotel down into this neighborhood that had a huge sign that said "Covenant protected" only in Georgia lol. I realized after running in it for a while that my shorts and no shirt might offend them. Then I remembered, this isn't Utah, standards aren't higher than the top floor of the Empire State Building. Went really quick. About 6:15 pace. Didn't feel too hard, but I don't think I've sweat that much in years. Sure my readers were dying to know that. I took a fl*pping cold shower after in approx 47 seconds, so a post run shower PR. Gonna try to run after dinner, we're going to an Indian place so pray for ya boy.

3 at the gym after. Man I felt awful. Spicy chicken had revenge like montazuma, I swear it was like 100 degrees and I was sweating more than the run before dinner ugh. Biked and did my core after. I was in the gym from like 9:30 to 11 #pastbedtime

Weird day. Probably seven hours drive to Atlanta. After I went to the nearby park to do a five mile tempo. The only place to run was a like .8 mile loop around the park. 2 mile warmup. Did the first mile in 5:49, and I felt trashed an I had to stop. The past three days workouts have been really solid, but they took their role today. Plus the Panda Express we had at Macon was trash. Anyway I decided to do 5.5 around after. At about 7 I started picking up the cadence a little on accident, next thing I know I look at the pace and its 5:30 and I slowed down pretty quick after that haha. I think for the day, with the first mile, 7:08 pace is about right

8 in the morning. Felt like any other morning run. I woke up, immediately ate a clif bar and layed there for a few minutes, went to the bathroom and left. I ended up going to bed at midnight, the room I'm sleeping in hast this creepy small door in the corner and there's a lock on it but the way the door is it looks like something was trying to get out from inside whatever's in there. Spooky stuff, anyway I kept hearing weird sounds in the night and it lowkey freaked me out so I had trouble getting to sleep. Hard to get the legs moving, just like any other morning run. Pushed the hills just a bit on the second half. Good run, there were next to no cars and it was really quiet so it was nice to have some time to think. I mainly thought about UVU next week haha. I think I'm gonna race the 800 and 3200. I don't want to go ham in the 800, just barely qualify for BYU, so a low 2:10, high 2:09 would be ideal. I'm also going to run the 3200, and if all goes well I hope to do great. 

Also since I keep seeing S/O's to him, shoutout to Zack from LP for qualifying in the 3200!

Another 4, 6:50 pace.

7.5, 4x2 minutes in the middle. Went .38, .40, .39, .40. Hilly and humid. There were markers saying the distance, and I started at the beginning, and hit the ".4" mark when I was at .37. So either my watch or the markers were off, my watch has been getting weird lately, so I'm trusting the markers more, so add like .02 to the markers in the favor of optimism. "Happy Easter y'all" - Steve Harvey 

I woke up at 2:45 MST (AM)😑 The Atlanta airport was way backed up so we barely made our flight, so no breakfast. I ate one complimentary wafer given by the nice fly attendant. I didn't end up eating anything else until 12, so 200 calories over the span of 9+ hours. Also yesterday we had a large Easter dinner at around 2 PM, so I didn't eat anything really after that, save a few tortilla chips. So yeah. 8 hours in the car after that due to traffic in Colorado. Legs felt crappy. We stopped about three hours from Utah bc my dad had to take an important 30 minute business call. I stretched for a while and jogged around for maybe a minute and the ol' ponies felt better. When I finally got home I went to the rec, talked to Steven for a while, did a warmup, then a 600 @2 mile pace and a 300 @ 800 pace. Tomorrows paces, not UVU's. 400m jog in between. 600 in 1:56, 300 in 47. Both felt easy! Form was good, breathing was deep and steady, and felt a little quick the first 20 seconds of each, but then I eased in and it went well. Hopefully this good feeling stays for tomorrow. Cooldown and strides for 3. I wish I could have gotten more in, but I expected this. That's why I did speed on Sunday. Cooldown and strides for 3, maybe a bit more. Good day. S/O to me and Connor baller for getting our hearts broke at Virginias defeat yesterday. But he's getting his mission call to Florida so it's good.

Our meet at Wasatch got cancelled due to major snow. So we decided to have a home meet in the blizzard! It was snowing so hard. I had been feeling awful all day, but I still toed the line. We bunched the 800 and 3200 runners together, so I started with Mason on the waterfall. The entire track was full of snow and by the 100 mark my spikes were soaked. Kedric was going quick to get the lead but I got it. Hit the 200 at 35. Too quick haha. I intentionally slowed the pace a bit to hit a 77 first lap. I hit the 800 at 2:40. I was aiming for 10:45 btw. At this point I started burping which in turn made me want to puke, so it triggered my gag reflex pretty bad. From this point on Mason was right on my tail. I kept thinking "He can pass me at the end of this lap" but I didn't let him. Mile at 5:31. My gag reflex is getting triggered every thirty seconds now, and I'm praying I don't blow chunks mid race. I hit the 2000 and I started picking it up. At 600 left Mason's footsteps were more quiet but I remembered that Mason tends to run a 63 second last lap and has a 1:56 PR so I sped up even more. Entire last lap I'm about to hurl and gagging a ton. Last 200 I gave it all I had without pushing to puke, so still just a bit left in the tank. I finish and I'm immediately on the ground. Coaches are congratulating me, but they stop as I puke everywhere. It was bad. but I felt way good after. Cooldown to hit 7. Conditions plain sucked today, but I'm satisfied. A win is always nice, albeit basically a red and white meet.

I woke up three times last night with awful charlie horses in my calves. I rolled a lot today to get rid of that. 

Crappy conditions again today. Major wind this time. Since everyone else ran the 800 while I ran the 3200 I had to run it with the 1600 people. Went out fast, too fast. 28 second 200. Died after that and did 2:14ish. It wasn't even really a race, I ran it alone and the wind was awful, but I got first so I'll put a race report. I wish I had just toughed out another 800 because the winning 1600 time was Mason with 4:50 so I could have ran a 2:36 after. But who knows. Couldn't get a lot of mileage today, only five. I'll try to get some more in tomorrow, but I had spicy chicken... again. #prayfornathan

Yeah chicken was awful, felt like trash, but better towards the end. 4 @ 7:05 pace. Core and strengthening after.

Well my coaches aren't taking me to UVU. They're taking people who have barely made the JV mark, Aaron, who's injured and not even running, but not me. Sorry to my LP amigos I was looking forward to meeting. There are four boy runners on the team who qualified for BYU last year. They took all of them but me. When I say my coaches don't care about me this is what I mean. Sorry for the rant to anyone reading but im pissed.

Solid 9 easy, 7:06 pace. I went to team practice and they had a long talk with us after in the indoor(it snowed again) about UVU and they made everyone going stand up and it got my goat. Coach said 20 minute tempo to the distance squad, but since I raced the past two days I decided recovery run instead. I ran from the school down to the rec center, where I shed quite a few layers because I was overheated, and ran back.

I had the worst stomach cramps of my life when I woke up. I could barely move, it was awful. I was late to my second hour, and after 20 minutes I called my mom to check me out. The pain was nearly unbearable, it really hurt. We went to the doctor and got some medicine which made me feel a tad better. I volunteered to be a supervisor of a lock-in for the youth at my church. Probably got a solid mile in during night games. Really tiring.

I went to bed at like 2 AM last night, woke up at 7:30, ate some cereal, drove home, made a smoothie, took a nap at 9, set an alarm at 9:30, woke up at 4:30 PM. I was somehow still tired when I woke up haha. Got dressed and headed to the track with Trevor AKA Tbird Shurtdog AKA T_81RD. 1.5 warmup. Workout was 2 sets of 5x800, first @ current 3200 pace, second set @ goal 2 mile pace. 2 minute rest between repeats on first set, 5 minute rest, 3:30 rest on second set. My stomach still felt like trash. I ran 10:55 for 2 miles back in indoor, so I determined 2:40 was good for the first set. Went 2:31, 2:34, 2:37, 2:40. A bit too quick, with the stomach thing + no running yesterday + just waking up, I decided to do 4 per set instead. S/O to Trevor for leaving after 2 200's at like 31 haha. Second set I was pretty tired for, I just wanted sub 2:30's. Those went 2:24, 2:29, 2:27, 2:25. The last one should have been quicker but I hit like a 32 first 200m lol. Every 400 except the second one of the 2:29 was sub 75 on this set so that was good. For running alone I found these times pretty excellent. Did 4x200's, going 3200 pace and sprinting with 125, 100, 75, and 50m to go. I ran the 800's in my spikes and my calves were shot so I wore my trainers instead. Those went 32, 33, 33, 34. Long barefoot cooldown on the turf. By the end of the workout it was dark outside which was neat. 

Team did really well at UVU. Mason ran 4:35, Christian ran 4:39. Mason won his heat in the 1600 and steeple. Not gonna lie, I'm a little jealous of the two of them. I would very much like to run for Alabama, but how is that supposed to happen if coaches don't take me to fast meets? Ugh. S/O to fellow bloggers Zack, Ryan, Josh, Connor, Asa, and Tyler at UVU, and Sage, Nick, and Garek @ PV.

Boy oh boy did my stomach feel awful today. Especially during the run. Played a little tennis before to loosen up the calves because they were pretty sore, but that got better as I ran. The stomach got way worse though. I still feel like trash. Did some hurdle flexibility stuff after. 

Mile warmup I had this weird tightness on my right leg, it might have been a tendon, but I was able to ignore it later on. We did the long road home again today, I thought it would be pointless and just sprinting half laps but it was difficult. And you better bet I went ham, Eugene 2.0 was born last Saturday during those 800's. Workout went run a lap, run up and down all the bleachers, two laps, 50 V-ups, three laps, 50 squat jumps, four laps, push ups up the bleachers, three laps, 50 burpees, two laps, 50 crunches, one lap. I lapped everyone at least twice in it which probably isn't too big of an accomplishment but I'll take what I can get. Legs were hammered by the end, but I was able to bust out a 73 last lap which I was proud of. S/O to Mason for running a 28 second last 200. Small cooldown with Mason, Christian, Austin, and Jordan. Man we're awful people. Good thing we're hilarious though. Longer barefoot cooldown and strides on the turf alone. In other news I got the highest scores on my tests today in my lowkey AP physics and AP Bio class.

Premeet, EZPZ. Neighborhood with Christian, Mason, and Austin. I ran two 400's after. The first one I hit the first 200 in 38, sped up a bit and finished controlled in 71. Next one these girls started 100m ahead of me, and I went in to chase mode. Caught them and ran either a 64 or 65, I can't remember. Both felt good. I'm running the 3200 and anchoring relays tomorrow. My goal in the 3200 is run a slow first mile, like 5:40, and then kick in a sub five second mile.

Today was real great. Bus was super Jammed and I got squished. I got off and it was way hot, plus the track here is black so that wasn't fun. Also the track doesn't have a lot of rubber and your spikes didn't stick in. But oh well. Two laps when we got there then warm up later. When I wasn't running I made sure to stay in the shade. We line up and gun goes off. We bunched up guys and gals, it was a small meet. I didn't want to go out fast but I knew after a couple seconds I was gonna lead it. After a lap these two Union kids breathing rather raggedly cam up on me, and I sped up just a tiny bit. At about 650m in I couldn't hear their breathing anymore. I think I hit the 1200 around 4:1x. I started lapping people around here, so I swung into the second lane and picked up my pace. People wouldn't get into the other lane to let me pass which was annoying. 1600 at around 5:35. When I hit lap 5 I sped up quite a bit, I think I hit a 73. I kept an alright pace the next lap, then died a bit. With a lap to go coach yells "give me a 70!" But I didn't really have any motivation. Running on unions track isn't a party haha. Good closing speed for no competition. Anyway I won by almost two minutes. Cooldown, then chilled until the medley. I got the baton with the B team right behind, Union on their tail. My legs felt crappy but I tried to tough it out. Not sure what the time was but I got a 100m lead on the B team anchor, so that was good. Anchored the 4x400 and man it was pretty great. I went out quick and kept it. We won by about 200m haha. I ran a 57, it wasn't amazing but coach said it was the fastest split of anyone by three seconds! Today was good. More of a workout than anything. Gonna be a limit approaching 10 as x approaches infinity on Saturday in the 3200. Yeah I took AB last year.

Cooldown down Aggie once we got home

Good day today. Was a bit sore waking up but all good. Rolled out a bit throughout the day. I've brought my roller to school everyday this week and it's been nice. Also I've ate basically the same thing for breakfast/lunch everyday. Half a cin/raisin bagel w/ jam, small fruit smoothie, some cereal. I don't have a 1st hour so I eat this over an hour or two. For lunch I eat ham on pita, an apple or grapes, and some wheat thins. I've been feeling good lately so I'll keep this diet up. Anyway warmup, then some speed which surprised me. Did an 800, ran right beside Christian the entire time, hit 73's for 2:27. Wasn't really winded. Lap recovery while the girls ran. 3x400(walking lap in between). I wanted to hit 72's but Mason was going sub 60 on all his basically so I got a little excited. Still tried to hold back though. 65, 67, 64. I ran the 67 alone, I started early bc Coach was busy. Last one I hit the 200 at maybe 33, then kicked it in just a bit to catch Christian. Excited for Saturday! 3200's first, so it won't be too hot, and Piercen Maez from Stansbury is in it with a seed time of 10:05. We're the only three under 11, the next fastest seed time is a high 11, so it's probs gonna be a three man pack. Goal is to hang with for 5 laps despite hurting, then just go for it with three laps left, take the lead, and hopefully hold it until the end. Neighborhood cooldown. Iced after

Today was sort of stressful. I had a big application to turn in to get a paid internship over the summer in the neurobiology clinic @ USU, and I couldn't get my transcripts, but I got them and my hopeful future boss seemed to like me a lot. Warmup, Neighborhood run, very easy. Christian and I did solo 400's after, I hit 72-73 and he hit 74-75 so tomorrow should be good stuff. I'm fairly excited. My top of my foot hurt, coach said ice it so I did. I think I tied my shoes too tightly. Wish me luck tomorrow mon amies(et mon freres).

Tough day. I got to the line and it was pretty windy. I was ranked fourth in the race with my 10:55. Rankings were Piercen, Christian, Hawk, Me, Stansbury kid, Paul. Piercen wanted to go sub 10 today so Christian and I though to hang on with him. I got out pretty well, hit the first lap at 74. I'm third at this point behind Piercen and Paul B. 800 at 2:31. At 1000m I passed Paul on the curve and Hawk came with me and passed me at the same time. I hung with him for a while and we hit the 1600 at about 5:07. Hawk had a crazy kick here and I got dropped. Christian passed me in the back stretch of that lap and took off, I spent the rest of the second mile in "no mans land". I glanced back with maybe a lap and a half to go and knew that the top four were pretty much determined. With a lap to go Henderson and Hill are screaming at me, I remember hearing "9:17" so I kicked alright, The other three were pretty far ahead so I had no motivation. S/O to Christian for catching Piercen. Hawk won it in 10:06 and Christian ran 10:16, barely beating Piercen's  10:18, so it was one of the deepest 3200's ran on our track since Ben Saarel and Luke Puskedra were in our region. And since the track was rebuilt in 2012 this might have very well been the most legendary 3200 ran on the Uintah track, which still wasn't too crazy. Prom's today so I went on my day date after a cooldown with Paul, he did well and got 7th place with a 10:55. We went and ate at Quiznos(I didn't eat, but everyone else did) and I left to go to run the 1600. I was sure I missed it but I had quite a while. I was in the fast heat again. I got pushed back to like 9th first lap but then moved up a little throughout, I wasn't going too hard, I only wanted a medal, which I got. My legs=spaghetti on the home stretch, I was stumbling pretty bad. My dad had me at 4:55. I later anchored the B medley, aka Underclassmen feat. me. I got the baton in 5th, moved up well and got second, but Christian had probs 100m on me when I started. 3rd place was like 5 seconds behind me so I feel good about it. Cooldown. Good PR today, but I still got a whole lotta room to improve. Still, I dropped a 20 second PR in the 3200 on Wednesday, ran some solid repeats on Thursday, then dropped another 20 second PR in the 3200 today. Coolio. Prom was lit AF

5 out on the trails. I had no time to cool down yesterday after my races and my legs were shot from prom. We partyed(partied? party'd?) for a while then Trevor, Korbin, and I and our dates and went to KG's house to watch a scary movie. We ended up watching "Hush" bc it was rated 5 stars on netflix(one review), and to anyone reading this; don't watch it. It was one of the dumbest movies I've ever seen, def. worst in the horror genre. On the drive to drop our dates off Trevor and I just made fun of the movie. I rated it one star right before I left on the run. I felt okay during it, it was super windy and the trails were tough. Top of my foot hurt again and when I got out of my car after driving home my knee hurt a bit but then it faded. UPDATE: researched foot pain, likely from lacing my shoes(I started lacing my peg's really tightly around a week ago) and webmd said it to be nothing serious.

Warm-up and strengthening. About 20 billion strides up the bleachers, then we partnered up. I paired with Mason, then we did 6 hill sprints carrying each other on our backs, then 3 sets of 10 squats with him on my back. Then 50 partner clap push-ups, S/O to Mason for doing girl pushups for all of them haha. 2 lap cooldown. For everyone not racing at dez hills invite over the weekend we're having a region tri meet @ Uintah, and I'm announcing it. After Zack and Connor's legacy's that they've left announcing I know I gotta bring my best. Also my dad got my 3200 splits and he said I hit the 2800 at 9:20, which means my last lap was 75, which I'm happy with.

Ran down the rec road about an hour later to add to 5. My quads were dead at first but I felt really good towards the end, that's how the rec road run always goes.

Today was rough. Mile warmup, then 30 minute tempo. After about two thirds of a mile I got tired of 6:30 pace and sped up quite a bit. by 10 minutes my quads felt hammered from the steady uphill, but I had about a minute lead on the other 5 guys. A little later I turned right as planned, and after a minute turned back just to see how close mon freres were, and I saw them going str8 instead! I turned around but as I turned around I got hit with mad stomach cramps. I couldn't get my legs moving too well after that. I caught Jordan and got closer to the other four but they were quite far ahead after I turned around and I couldn't get them, I just felt like trash after turning around. Barefoot cooldown on the turf. Coaches want everyone to race at the meet tomorrow so Varsity can get a good workout in. I find that pretty dumb, yesterday was pretty dang hard and today was difficult as well. I wonder why all the distance records have been set in stone since the 80's. S/) to Collin for finally putting me on his fav's after meeting and finishing with him at footlocker lol

During my TA hour Coaches and I headed to the track and started to set up the meet. Coaches asked if I wanted to help a bit more. I said sure, I was having a good time, and so Henderson called the school and had me excused for the rest of the day. I set up the meet with them for the next 4 hours. It was sick, I felt like a kid who was staying home on a sick day but wasn't ill. Announcing was super lit, plus I didn't have to race because of it. I was inches away from being kicked out, I had to be talked to twice. My friend who's last name is McDonald raced the hurdles and tripped, and I said "old mcdonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-Ow" I felt bad lol. It was a lot of fun, I also had an phone interview with USU for the internship and it went quite swimmingly. I didn't end up starting my run until 9 PM. 7 with strides from the rec past rehab down mainstreet. Passed enough pedestrians vaping it was like I was in a middle school or something lol

Finally an adult, it means nothing lol. Like 50 people signed up for D hills 3200 overnight. I'm ranked 24th out of 63, and I really really really hope I get in the fast heat because like 2/3 of the people faster than me have unverified times and I really want to make that fast heat and get another solid PR. 

Easy 2 miles on the track during lunch with strides. Hurdle flexibility after. Aaron and I got my tennis rackets and hit some balls around on the field which was fun. Add belieber4lief on SC for some shenanigan stories.

Ran around a bit once I arrived at the meet. I was in heat 5, ranked 4th. I knew I could win that by a margin. Once the girls heats end I go to the restroom, come out, and coach literally grabs me and freaks out and says "you're running now!" I assure him I'm not, but still I run over to the tent, grab my spikes, and run to the track. Turns out I got moved into heat three! I literally didn't stretch or stride at all. I run to the official and profusely apologize and he lets me put on my spikes. No lucky socks or shorts. I jump on the line and start maybe 5 seconds later. I ran sockless and it didn't feel good. I beelined in to a good position, maybe 5th. 3 guys immediately separated, and by 300 they died and I took the lead lol. I gave an "I'm so screwed lol" wink to sage the bell ringer, and sped up a bit. 400 at 68. 600 at 1:42. I got passed right about at 700 but that guy won by like 8 seconds so it's Cool. As soon as he passed me though my legs shut off. The non existent warmup struck with anger. Last lap two more guys pass me, Aaron being one of them. Really didn't finish too well. Season PR but I really think I shoulda qualified for BYU, I was 3 seconds off. Alli P came and talked to me after and so I met her and Vis(no holt:( ) I also saw the warbeast but idk if he recognized me. Really excited for the 3200 tomorrow, I WAS ranked 4th in heat 2 but with the mashing hopefully I'm in the quick one now. Sub 10 or bust, my dudes! If I get a warmup, of course. 3 cooldown. Fun meet so far.

Fun time. 2 WU. I had a basically perfect, conserved first mile, then it went kinda crazy. It went 78, 78, 78, 78, 79, 81, 83, 78. I ran with Mikey from PV and he ran smart but the lead pack we passed a few time had crazy surges. With 1000m left they made a surge and I told myself I'd catch them but didn't. Lame, but a PR. Love St geezy but didn't like this track, spikes didn't stick a bit. 2 CD with Riley and Kedric. He ran 10:43, atta kid. All four of the uintah boys ran sub 11 so that was sweet.

2 miles later. I had a pretty good talk with Hell Raiser and a couple others. I found Holt who has hair, I didn't imagine that haha. I didn't freaking meet Sage though which is ridiculous because I actually talked to him before hand about meeting up

"I am the one don't weigh a ton don't need a gun to get respect up on the streets" It was astoundingly windy today and I wasn't willing to risk hurting my lungs because it's now serious grind season.

4 with the pack. I was going to do longer with Christian and Mason since they aren't racing tomorrow(behind in Calculus), but then I realized that puts me in the A team for the medley so I finished early. Did some strides, I had a sharp pain in my right foot, on the top. I'm racing the 3200, 1600, and anchoring the medley most likely. Originally Mason and I were going to try and hit a 2:10 and survive, but I might run smarter since he isn't racing.

Quad meet today. 1600 I got out well, in second right behind Chesnut. Stayed on his back until the 800, then I passed for the lead, then immediately Heston came flying by. I let chesnut get ahead again and at 1000m Heston walks off the track. It threw me off and I let chesnut slip. I got passed by a few people in the last 200, just couldn't get moving, I was being dumb. Got 4:5x, Should have ran smarter. In the medley our sprinters did awful, it was peculiar, I got the baton with Salem about 75m ahead. I closed that gap crazy quickly, by the 400 I was on his heels. His team was cheering for him like crazy and he kicked pretty good, couldn't quite get him. My dad had me at 2:11, with a 60 first lap. Did the 3200 about 20 minutes later. Chesnut went ham and came in at a 68 first lap, his teammate hit 72. I hit 76 and started to reel them in. Kedric was right on my back but I shook him off at 800m. I passed the Salem kid around here and caught chesnut at about 1200. He sped up once I got on him. We hit the 1600 at 5:18, it didnt feel too hard but I was tired from everything else. At about 2000 I took the lead and chesnut surged not too long after and I didn't go with him when he passed me. Both of my open races I wasted energy passing chesnut at a trivial point and fell off because of it. I should have stuck on him and battled the last 200 out instead. Anyway wind really picked up here and some guys weren't adamant about being lapped so second mile was embarrassingly slower. 10:59 for second, 9 seconds behind chesnut, 15 seconds from third. Did a long cooldown with Riley after, she's pretty cool. And should make a blog. More of a workout today but still I'm stressed about it, I probs shouldn't be.

Good workout today. 2x1000m, let Aaron lead us in the first half then he slowed down a tad, so Christian and I swung out and pushed the pace a bit. We had to run in lanes 3 and 4 a lot due to sprinters boondoggling. Hit 3:03 and 3:02. 75 second first 400 on both of those. 2x400 next. Aaron said he'd pace 73 because I couldn't, and then the punk runs 68 or something lol. Christian and I hit 73. Went to the bathroom and did the next one with Austin and Mason, 70. About 20 seconds after I finished Christian and some others toed the line, so I jumped in with them. Christian and I paced the first 300 a bit easy and then went ham the last 100. 67. 300 200 100 after. Active rest for a 400 between every repeat. Barefoot cooldown and strides on the trf. Coach had a talk with me where he said I'm really good at practice, and I push everyone, but I could be great if I raced like that. Hmm. I didn't run yesterday. Christian and Mason never run the day before races, and their PR's are 4:35 and 4:28. Should I run tomorrow? idk if you homies have any advice i'd appreciate it

Today was irritating. It was raining and storming and quite cold and I didn't pack sweats or a jacket. Or spandex. 3200 Christian and I got pushed back and started moving up, but aaron got between us during the passing and my legs wouldn't move enough to pass. Christian started to move up and I still couldn't pass. Mile at 5:10 and I was a tad disappointed. Christian pulled away and I should have gone with him but I couldn't get past aaron. With 200 left I passed him, and with 20m left my legs locked and Aaron passed. Bad times. Really lame week this week, had three off days, I had this coming. I wasn't too far off Christian though, like 7 seconds. I should have went for it. Next time I guess.

Drove about 45 minutes up to Flume trail for a good time. 8 miles easy at 8000 ft. Tons of hills, high elevation, and Cafe Rio after church work to make the trifecta of a hard "easy" run. First three miles drudged along but then time started to fly by which was nice. My sock had a tear in it so my foot was rubbed the wrong way afterwards.

Man today was hard. 8 miles with Aaron, Austin, and Christian. There was a huge storm about to roll in, so the others decided we should run into the storm. I said "hey maybe we should run away from it and come back", but they said "nah we have to run into the storm either way, might as well do it now" which made literally no sense lol. After two miles at a nice 8 minute pace, the hail came in, furious and painful, and we started picking it up more and more. Constantly whoever was in front would say "alright let's slow it down", but then someone else would lead and pick the pace up even more. It was mainly me picking it up, that weather was awful. Once we finished the math geeks on the team(Mason) had brung donuts as an apology, the others took them but I didn't. I did core last night and I've felt sore today.

S/O to Cason for running a 9:25 at Kansas relays! He's speedy. Check his blog out @c_cropp

I skipped helping at the dual meet to catch up on school bc I'm missing tomorrow for region choir. It goes from 7Am to 11PM, so I have to wake up at probs 5 for speedwork at the track ;( I hope Christian can wake up as well because the workout will be way easier with someone else. 4 at the rec, strengthening after, man I can tell I've slacked, but it feels good to get those gainz back. Core tonight. Got answered to senior ball which is lit bc I plan on getting mad chex.

Woke up at 4:45 AM to get in the workout with Christian. He had mission prep at 6:20 so we had to cut the workout short. 1x800, 2x400, 4x200 @goal mile pace. I went pretty dang hard in the 800(survivable) and ran what Christian hypothesized to be a 2:13. Rest of it was good, we went all out on the last 200 and i think I might have ran a high 26. Was supposed to be two sets but Christian had mission prep and my stomach wasn't feeling well because I tried to eat breakfast. Cooldown and strides for 7.

In AP Bio I destroyed everyone in a POGIL race, so my reward was an expired organic fruit rollup. I didn't know the former adjective. It REALLY didn't sit well in my stomach. Didn't feel all that great altogether today, I took a nap when I got home and was late for practice. Did 1.5 warmup, 400 @mile pace, 200 finish, cooldown for 3. It was raining a lot and my shoes weren't getting great traction. Hit a 69-70 and 28-29. My stomach felt destroyed and my legs felt tired from the bus ride(the advanced choir im in is going to state btw), but the 400 didn't feel too hard. Ready for tomorrow.

I raced the mile, 800, and 3200, and they progressively got worse. I couldn't go quickly, when I needed it most. Could write a huge report, but don't wanna. These very attractive girls came up to me after my trash 800 and flirted with me which was cool. They asked for my number and I told them I'd win the 3200 for them. I was ranked 1rst and got wrecked. No BYU. Bites like a mother, I watched Whiplash on the way back and it inspired me.

Good quote from Whiplash-

" 'Exactly. Parker's a young kid, pretty good on the sax. Gets up to play at a cutting session, and he fxxxs it up. And Jones nearly decapitates him for it. And he's laughed off-stage. Cries himself to sleep that night, but the next morning, what does he do? He practices. And he practices and he practices with one goal in mind, never to be laughed at again. And a year later, he goes back to the Reno and he steps up on that stage, and plays the best mxxxxxxxng solo the world has ever heard. So imagine if Jones had just said: "Well, that's okay, Charlie. That was all right. Good job. "And then Charlie thinks to himself, "Well, sxxt, I did do a pretty good job." End of story. No Bird. That, to me, is an absolute tragedy. But that's just what the world wants now. People wonder why jazz is dying.'

'But is there a line? You know, maybe you go too far, and you discourage the next Charlie Parker from ever becoming Charlie Parker?'

 'No, man, no. Because the next Charlie Parker would never be discouraged.' "

My AP bio class was taking a practice AP test today, and our teacher strongly encouraged us to run in the color run before it. I figured I might as well. Jogged probs a mile and a half warmup. A couple kids from the team were there, including Aaron. I took it out fast, and kept lengthening the gap. There was a love of loose gravel and potholes so it wasn't ideal. I ran quite a bit passed the turnaround point so it might have been more than 5k. I turned around and started going downhill and opening my stride. It was fun, everyone cheered my name, I waved to some kids and got pretty colorful. Finished at 17:50, next best was Aaron with a 20-something, but I don't think he was going hard after yesterday.

Strengthening later that day. 800, 1600, 3200, 5000 in 16 hours wrecks a body.

4 miles at the high school. It was really windy, but I just went there to measure out to course from yesterday. Turns out it's a little over 1.66 at the turnaround, so 3.33. I was talking to the officials after the race since it was just me and them for a couple minutes, and they said there was like a 17 foot elevation gain. My race report has me at 5:21 pace, and with the uphill I think I deserve a 15:59 3 mile split(before the gain at the end). That was in trainers and mere hours after a very tough day so I'm happy with it. Anyway after those 4 I drove around and found an extremely tough dirt road out in the desert, it was still very windy. First two miles were about 8 pace, then the wind and downhill favored me and I got the pace down to 7:06. I went 5:40 pace on this gradual downhill for about a half mile.

We did some strengthening at practice, including stair push-ups where I slipped and hurt my shin pretty bad. "Distance" run after. Some of the Varsity sprinters ditched the workout and ran with us as well. We drove 40 minutes up to flume trail, which included a death race between Aaron Mason and I which I can claim victorious. We did the run from the bottom of the trail to the top, where I parked. We ran not too quick but the trail was killer. At the halfway point we found a map and it said we were like 1/5 of the way there. We kept going and at some point the sprinters turned around. Aaron and I ran about a mile after looking for them bc we thought they were behind us. We drove back and found them running, they might have ran more than us haha.

3 miles and strengthening when I got back.

I left during third hour to go to the rec, where I ran 2 miles in 11:57, whoops. I lifted after and still made it back to AP bio. My Pegasi have managed to get me through 700+ miles.

Warmup, then everyone went on a 20 minute run, but instead I went on a 35 with 5x1 minute @3200 thrown in there. Hit .20, .20, .22, .22, .20. Not gonna lie, I felt tired. My stomach was really wrecked, which is strange because I had fruit and oatmeal for breakfast, and an apple, a ham sandwich and cheerios for lunch so nothing weird. Maybe all the fiber from fruit. Anyway. The pace felt a little out of the comfort zone for the first 2 then I eased up, last one was uphill. Strides after, then chilled on the turf with Baylee and the long D crew after. Pretty good work for being tired from solid runs and for running alone.

Toughest day I've had in a long time. Warmup, during which everyone but Mason and I stopped a lap early, insisting they'd gone four already. They hadn't. Last 200 Mason and I raced because we're idiots, got probably 29. Workout was 90-60-30 and 4x400. Mason Christian and I decided to go as hard as possible on the 90 seconds, but the 4x400 had a seperate practice so they had to leave. Coach said go and I was off. There was bad wind on the backstretch, which sucked because I had to run against it twice and with it once. Coach got really excited when I hit my 400 in 60. Backstretch again, and my legs were hurting. I was running alone in the wind so I wasn't as motivated, which sucks because I was 15-20m off hitting 600m in 90 seconds! Ugh. The 600 killed me for the rest of the workout, I was about 30m off 400m in 60 seconds and probably 20m off 200m in 30 seconds. I was alone for those too. 400's I ran the first one with the team, it was pace for half, kick the rest. I went quick and hit 33 then finished at 64. Next one I ran alone because everyone else walked a 400 and I wanted less rest for a better workout, so all the other ones were alone. 68, 72, 68. I couldn't kick during that 72, hit two 36's which is goal 3200 pace so pretty good. I did an extra one, 69. Three mile cooldown, I know I went hard today because 8 minute pace was killing my quads. Good day. Ice bath and core tonight. Got a small cherry slurpee and some snap peas because I earned it.

2 in the morning.

Mile warmup because my quads were shot to loosen up, then another half mile w Baylee. Did enough after that to add up to 8 for the day. Half mile barefoot cooldown after.

2.5 with strides, tomorrow's workout might be hellacious so I'm trying to simulate raceday conditions to get a prerace routine down. I was the only high schooler there, but there was a police boot camp sort of thing going on. They had a mile race thing which I stayed to watch. Winning time was a 7 something. Went home and my family was having ice cream to celebrate some things, including me getting the Strata scholarship, but I cant eat it so my mom made me pumpkin bread. 

Not a good day for me. Went to AP Bio and took a practice test, where I was one question off a 5. Ugh. I have no idea why but I drank coffe today when I woke up, and right before my workout. I thought it'd perk me up(I never drink coffee), it didn't. It actually made me really tired. Workout was 4-5x1200. First one was solid. Hit 71, 73, 74 for 3:38. That one was quite good. I started feeling dizzy after that and very lightheaded. I hit 73, 78, and 83 on the next one for 3:54. I was feeling like I was gonna black out so I decided to take a bit longer rest and switch it to 2x1000, 2x800. Hit a 70, 2:24, and faded again and hit a 3:03. Next one just sucked, 3:07. I decided to just do an 800 hard and call the workout good. 400in 66, felt really good and smooth, then suddenly just stopped. Annoying workout, but usually I hit a really good workout and have a mediocre race so I'm gonna say the same goes vice versa. Never drinking coffee again. All of my repeats added up were 3 miles in 14:48 btw. Cooldown barefoot for 7. I kept looking at my watch to see my time, like every 100m, and after I looked I would spend a second trying to calculate my splits which was detrimental.

It was raining pretty horrendously all day today. My plan was to go do 4 mile tempo, hitting the lap starting at 90, and shaving a second off per lap. but the rain was bad, I decided to push anyway, and as I was leaving my mother said "Do you really want to risk getting sick for region?" and I didn't. I stood outside for probably 5 minutes contimplating it, feeling the weather out. So when the question "Would you rather go to state or get a SICK tempo in?" arises, I guess I know my response.

Off day.

In the AP bio test the fire alarm went off three times and we had to leave the testing room. I think I got a 4 which irritates me. I wanted to be the first to score a 5 on that test from my schoo.

I'm running the 1600 and 3200 at region. Workout was some pushups and such while jogging around. after that hamoroni 400. We started in groups and I just drafted off Kyle for a while. Then with 200 to go I came in clutch with a 61-62. Jogged a lap then did 400 finish, first 200 pace. I stuck behind Jordan for the first 100, and did my favorite thing to do and pass Jordan(so I could cut in for the finish) and blew past him on the last 200 and started reeling Aaron in a bit. I hit the 200 at like 36 and finished about 67. Everyone walked a lap but me for the next one. I gave myself 90 sec rest and took off. I came in quick at 34 and couldn't kick, 67. 2 mile cooldown.

Mile warmup, senior speeches. They had me, Mason, Aaron, Natalie, and Beni talk. Mason and Aaron talked about how slow they used to be, and in my speech I called them out on it and said while they were running 18's in XC I was running 23's. My speech was a lot less deep than XC's, people laughed even though I wasn't really trying. Neighborhood and 6x66m strides. Tomorrow's gonna be fun! I've trained hard, just gotta prove it!

I got put in the slow 1600 heat, ranked 1rst, so I just sorta tempo'd it. Start I got pushed back way badly. Some fool ran a 61 first lap lol. I ran a 4:58, splits weren't great, I lost focus. 71, 72, 77, 78. It's all about tomorrow though, just gotta do today twice. If any of my loyal bloggers see this and have advice give it please, ily

Today was quite upsetting. I warmed up well, I knew I could get it if I just pushed like I needed. And that first mile was perfect. It was me, Joey, Christian, Brandon Garcania, Ellis, and Chesnut. I was in fourth for most of the mile. 400 in 73, wasn't awful. 800 in 2:28. Mile in 5:03. I got hit with a terrible heat flash then. I just felt awful. Lost the pack, got passed, 10:53. So this is the end of my high school running career. It really wasn't where I wanted it to be, but I came so far from freshman year. To come from 6 minute miles and 25 minute 5k's to running 16's and 4's is incomprehensible. I choke up still and it's been hours thinking about everything and how it's over. I've met so many friends over these four years and I love them so much. Christian, Mason, Rylie, Kyrie, Austin, and Kedric have made my life 100 times better than before I met them. I've been in this blog for a year and through it I've met some of the greatest people I've ever met. Just know, if you're in my favorites list you mean so much to me and I'm so grateful to have met all of you. If I could give any advice to you guys if give it. But I tried all I could and I never could do well when it mattered so I don't know. There's a chance this is my last post on the blog, so to quote Truman show, 

Sincerely,

Eugene Nathaniel Grindle III (Nathan)

I think I did 5. I ate quite a bit after my choir trip and ran right after so I almost threw up a few times.

Track work 800, 2x400, 4x200. 2:30 rest for the 800, 2:00 for the 400's, jogged back for the 200's. I hit 79 for the first lap of the 8 and sped up and ran a 69. 66, 66, 30, 29, 28, 26. Cooldown for 6

5 miles, trails. It rained a ton and I slipped a lot.

Well I'm going to state. Distance with Mason, Christian, and Austin. Rainy. Last mile was 5-something. I was awarded a 23,500 $ scholarship at the awards banquet tonight.

Mile warmup, then we had the 12(!) of us going to state do a practice medley. My team was two girls on the 200's, me on the 400, Mason on the 800. I got the baton behind the girls A team and caught them pretty quick. I was gaining a lot of ground on the boys A team 400 runner(like, a crazy amount. I probably got 30m closer to him in the first 250), but I didn't have the drive to go ham and catch him. I feel kinda burnt out. I would take my 7-10 days off starting now, but I have a RB mile to win @ Lone Peak next week. After that though, I'm taking some time off. I need it. Stretches and long cooldown by myself.

2 during Special Olympics. I'm glad I got to help. Real workout we did 45 seconds hard. I got pushed back and passed about half of them on the 200. Got probably 333m. I should have gone with Mason. Felt weak mentally. Did another after with Jacia. I tried to pace for 300m. I was maybe half a second quick, which was cool because I was consistent. Didn't feel hard. We had speeches after. Did a RB mile prep workout. Drank a bottle of water, ran a 400m, drank another bottle, ran a 400. Did that in 2:51. Cooldown for 6.5

Did Jackalope full for the first time ever today. I'm pretty sure that the peak of the trail is the highest point in vernal. Good work. My stomach was bothersome and the hills were brutal, but as soon as a hill began to flatten the pace went in the 6's so that was sick. I passed a biker. Heading out to state after my choir concert tonight with Christian and Natalie.

A little jogging around during the mile races. S/O to Zack, Collin, and Connor for slaying.  & Hell Raiser and sage. Ran the cooldown with LP and Timp, and Collin. It was a fun time. More later to get up to 7.5

Did a shakeout with Mason, then walked some with the Ericksens. Later on I did 4 with Asa lol cool guy. We ran up a trail and randomly found Sage running up there too which was neat. Did around 2 with Ike from Dixie lol cool guy. 

Even though I didn't get to run like I wanted to, state was an excellent time. Talked to Hellraiser a few times, he did well today. I talked to chesnut and Wasatch for about an hour, and they asked me to run on their Vegas Ragnar which was sick. Ended the day hanging with Zack and watching 4x400's. He killed it! Big S/O to him. I've been on this blog for 1 year + 5 days and after today I'm grateful for the friends I've made from it. Oh I also talked to Connor Baller for a bit.

Fun run today. Extremely nostalgic. My original warm up was around the softball fields into the track, but the gate was locked. So then I ran around the baseball fields, softball fields, soccer fields, down to Ashley, the courts, everywhere in the vicinity. I was having really vivid flashbacks of high school throughout the years, those of lost friends, hardships, good memories... but mainly I remembered morning practice. There's just something about waking up at 5:30 every morning to go on a run with the team that just fills me with an indescribable feeling. All of the seniors on the blog are talking about how weird it feels and how sad they are about graduating, I haven't felt anything like that which worries me. It'll probs hit in one huge wave and I'll have a mental breakdown. Lol. Anyway probs did at least a three mile warmup, then did a 400 repeat on the grass field we did for XC. Ran a 60, which is a PR there for me, and I had the CR anyway. Then did 2x(300,200,100). First time I ran normally, then drank a bottle before the repeats on the next set. Ran 46, 28, 13, and 46, 27, 12. Cooldown for 8. I ran to the tennis fields, through the auto shops and fields, past the UTC, everywhere. Last run at Uintah as a high schooler.

I'm currently ranked 4th in the mileage board this year out of HS boys, behind Connor, Cason, and Hell Raiser. Once my break ends I'm going for #1

5 with the Apache himself! Good run with my boy Kenny. Had a good talk with him. Did strides after. I played some hardcore ultimate frisbee today so I'm calling it 5 for the day. Ready to race.

Woke up pretty early to drive to LP to run the RB mile at LP today. We got on milesplit's snapchat so that was cool. I didn't warmup because of the drive which was an awful mistake bc my legs felt really tired during the race. Anyway. Race starts, and I'm first to start running. Justin starts right behind me, and Galen and Josh, I think. The wind on the backstretch was killer, and Justin caught me at the 200m mark. Next RB I finish before Justin and I'm off again. Justin catches me at the same place, and Craik's right behind me. Justin and Craik start before me on the next lap, and I stick with Craik. Last soda I feel awful, but I start right with Craik, Justin about 75m ahead. Craik takes off and I start to die. Then I saw Galen catching me and remembered top 3 get medals so I kicked into third. Fun time. I didn't throw up and I felt awful for it. Played a lot of basketball after with LP, Lehi, PG, and Joe. S/O to everyone there, noteably LP for inviting me! And Connor for running a 60 and dropping out lol 

Ball so hard.

I balled a ton today. Trevor and I biked at a crazy high resistance for thirty minutes and lifted after. I was asked to give a graduating speech thing on TV today, that'll be dropping soon. 

I plan on racing three races at the moment this summer. I'm signed up for Ragnar, and will see if I can get my internship off for Freedom and Deseret 10k. The three races are spaced 3 weeks apart, so ample recovery/training time. Man I can't wait to be back to training and racing(it's been two days lol) I'm gonna train hard, but smart. Do some good tempo's.

Well I graduated high school. I'm extremely thankful for everyone that's gotten me here. I was out until 6 AM the following night, and woke up at 3PM on saturday.

This was a strange run. Got in about 6. In the past 36 hours I've been asleep for around 24 of them, yet I was extremely tired on todays run. Like, I was yawning and closing my eyes and almost drowsing off while I was running. Strides when I got back. I've written out a mileage calendar for June and it looks pretty promising. I also ordered a new watch today. It's the Garmin Forerunner 235 and I'm super excited to get it.

AM - Ran a mile to get loose. Did some good core after.

PM - Mile at the park, then met up with Kenny. We were supposed to run at 7:15-ish pace, but Kenny had the only watch. My legs felt tired, but I stuck with Kenny who was doing good today. He had us at 6:21 pace when I split off. Cooled down barefoot and did strides at the park. Good talk with Kenny afterwards.

AM - 6 miles with Kedric. Not sure on average pace but I know it was below 7:20. half mile barefoot cooldown once we got back.

PM - Jogged a bit to warm up, lifted a bit. Mainly hamstrings/calves.

10 miles @ 6:55 pace. Legs were really tired from yesterday, particularly my hamstrings and calves. I tried something new where I went slow the first two miles and then kept picking it up. 7:30's for the first two miles, but I started speeding up a lot around miles 3-5 which was way too early haha. Jumped in the pool at the rec after which was sublime. Drills and stretching after. S/O to my teammate Rylie for making a blog. And unshoutout to Kedric for his not working still.

Good work today. My legs are still quite shot. My stomach was acting up today pretty bad, and my job as a USU neurobiologist intern(which I love) requires 80% standing/walking on a 9-5 job. If this is adulthood I'm not ready. Anyway my legs felt tired during and from that. First run with my forerunner 235, and I think I went a bit quick to impress it. First three miles were around 7:20, then picked it up, next three miles were about 6:40, then I just opened up the stride a bit and finished with a 6:19. Avg 6:51 pace. Little quick, but my heart rate was said to be good. It says my VO2 max is 65. I'll have to look that up later. Cooled down and did strides. I HAVE TO TAKE THE REST OF THE WEEK NICE AND SLOW. Just a reminder to myself. Easy mileage for now! Still didn't feel quite hard.

7 up 1400. At work today I had to attend a meeting on octopus tetrodotoxin, so I missed lunch. Also didn't have time to hydrate, and it was in the 80's. Anyway lifted with T_81RD then ran. Was neg splitting the first 5 pretty good, but I didn't like where my heart rate was at, so I didn't put forth too much effort. Around 5.5 I got some minor pain above my knee and stopped to massage it out which ruined the pace. 7:09. Bamboozler beat me by 1 second pace wise today, dangit!!!!

What a day. Stayed up until 1 on the DM with Connor, Tyler, Bill, and a few others. I usually go to bed at 10. Woke up at 6-ish to go on my run at red fleet with Kedric(Bamboozler) and Aaron. I forgot my hat and glasses. We warmed up for a mile, ran 9, and then cooled down to the lake, then cooled down by jumping into the lake. We all forgot water and were SO dehydrated. When I got back I don't think Gatorade has ever tasted so supreme. I drank a full thing of Gatorade AND ate a package of gummy worms, and my weight was at 151, which means before that it was at 149. I haven't been this light since freshman year, and I was like 6 inches shorter. #Approachingkenyanweightstatus

I did a good 20 minutes of core before my run. It was in the 90's in the evening so another night run. 8 miles real easy, 7:38 pace.

AM - 4 easy. I tried using my heart moniter to decide my pace. The first mile it told me I was going wayy too easy, where I was at the point where I got down to 6:05 pace and it still said I was going 100 bpm. Then a bit later I slowed down on purpose, and the watch started reading my pulse right. It kept saying my heart rate was barely over easy pace and beeping at me to slow down. So yeah, I flipped off a watch today. No more of that. I'm gonna go move some tree branches I cut since I'm living on my own now lol.

PM - Lifted with Tbird for a bit, then went on an easier run. Watch kept beeping at me that my heart rate was too low (117bpm for 7:20 pace) but I ignored it. Threw in 1 set of 90-60-30, hit .28, .21, and .11. Felt good to get a bit of speed in, but I'm only a week back from my break so not too quick yet haha. Avg pace 6:54. I gained 135 feet to my 132 feet lost so it was a good run. 

I am sad to announce I must DNS for the Connor Baller Classic this weekend. I was super pumped to sleep over with Connor and Asa, but my parents are gonna be in town so I gotta stay.

AM - 3 easy on Aggie. Legs felt pretty tired for the first two.

PM - Played ping pong with Trevor, then did 7 easy. Started to get in a nice groove on the downhill, but then I remembered tomorrow's tempo so I took it easy. 7:05 pace.

5 @ 7:24 pace. Lots of 180 turns.

Bump in the road today in the form of knee pain in my left leg. Original plan was 12 for the day with seven miles tempo. I iced and compressed and wasn't even sure if I'd be able to run period. But, my leg felt better. Didn't risk anything with tempo though. Half mile of strides after and they felt great. Stretched after.

Mile just to see how the knees felt. Felt pretty good.

PM - 8 in the extremely brutal heat(91F) of 2 PM. warmed up 2.5, managed to get about 3 miles in at 6:20 pace before the heat killed me. I was dead by the start of the quick stuff. Not a fun time, barely survived it. 7:12 pace avg. Extremely dehydrated. My heart rate stayed in easy/aerobic 99% of the run so that's good I suppose. Maybe 4 more tonight after work. I put 2 coconut waters, ice, and blue gatorade mix in a blender and make a fizzy drink. It was gross but I'm dehydrated. hit another low in my weight, havent been this light since 9th grade.

4 more tonight after work. Easy pace, but stomach felt wrecked. Since I ran 13 today I sped with maybe 300m to go and pretended I was finishing a half marathon.

Extremely good run today. After two failed attempts at the tempo run, I succeeded at  it today, and man it felt great.

2.5 WU with speed changes, 

7 miles tempo @ 5:58 pace

2 cooldown

I can't believe I ran how I did on the tempo. After a track season of barely breaking 5 and 11, today was crazy. Just a reminder, I've been back from my break for less than 2 weeks. The hard part about this run was every mile I had to do a 180 degree turn which slowed the pace down SO bad. So pretty dang cool, stoked for Ragnar. And if anyone actually reads this with all the CBC hype going on, ily

Splits from yesterdays tempo: 

5:47, 6:05, 6:16, 6:11, 5:50, 6:09, 5:42

AM - slept in.

PM - 2 miles to U-hill base, mile with Kedric, mile with Rylie. so 4 miles warm up. Then raced up the hill. Kedric and I stuck together for about 1/3-1/2 of a mile, then Kedric slowed, poor kid hasn't ran in 7+ days because he got so sunburnt last saturday. I made some good moves up the hills, and was in extreme pain for most of it. Hiked to the U, then jogged back down easy. Dropped Rylie off and did 4 mile cooldown for 12 for the day.

5 7:09 pace @ 10000ft elevation. Besides that all I've done today is talk to one person and watch Psych, so yeah it's been a pretty great day.

AM - 7.5 easy. I didn't sleep well last night so I was pretty groggy at 6AM. First 5 mile splits were 7:40, 7:30, 7:20, 7:10, and 7:00. Then my watch died and I pushed it a bit. Didn't feel hard, excited for Ragnar! 

PM - core and 3 miles around. I would have done more, but I lifted so much I was fatigued

AM - My phone stopped working(again) last night so I slept through my alarm and left at 7 instead of 6, so it was a bit hotter than I hoped. 2 WU w/ speed changes, 3 mile tempo on TT course, barefoot cooldown and strides for 8. Saw McKenna and Rylie so S/O to them for putting in work. Tempo splits; 5:32, 5:33, 5:24 for 16:29. I was wanting to break 16, but my legs were tired and I wasn't all that motivated racing myself. I need to sleep more

7 more on McCoy while Trevor biked alongside. Not sure on the pace but I believe it was somewhere between 6:50-7:10, so quick for trail running. Also that whole sleep thing didn't work out, I'm updating my blog at midnight. Two easy days, then Ragnar

AM - 5 very very easy neighborhood. I'm quite tired so today's easy run was more of a trudge. There's an 8ft high dirt wall I have to climb to get up to the trail ending the run, and I may or may not have fell off it a couple times. Also S/O to Brianna from PV, because last night she happened to happen upon Will's number, and Dubras and I some fun with that

PM - 4 with strides. stretched after

AM - 3 ez. I got some more sleep than usual, but not a lot. I think I'm gonna ice bath because my legs didn't feel too fresh.

Well one of our girls quit for Ragnar, so I guess I'm running 6 legs tomorrow. Racing 30+ miles.

Leg 1 was eh. Got out to the starting line with 30ish minutes left, watched a video for ten minutes on safety, and sorta warmed up. Starting line with the 20 best guys(and one girl) of Ragnar teams. Started out pretty quick and got myself in 10th, behind a pack of four college runners, Connor, Springville, Riverton, Aiden troutner, and star valley. Passed springville pretty early on. The hills murdered me way bad. Adam Wood caught me around mile 2. I was so dead from the heat, I had awful side stitches. Luckily I was able to come in semi-clutch and catch Aiden and Star Valley. I was reeling in Adam and Riverton the last mile but they had too much ground on me. Got 8th out of the fast team starters. Mason got us in front of Herriman, and Christian got us in front of Riverton, but then he died out and got passed back by Riverton herriman and star valley. #triogameatrocious

My third run went amazing! Pretty bad start. I didn't even get to stretch, Jordan was immediately on the line, so I took off my sleeves and pajamas and took off. First mile was an 8:13 because it was at midnight and I fell off the trail and got lost and had to stop. Chest pain was still pretty bad. Next few miles were low 6's. I was irate because I really wanted to go sub 6 pace. Then I remembered I told someone I'd try and win for them, and suddenly all my chest pain was erased. Mind you I still had to control my breathing and make sure I was breathing in an awkward pattern to make the pain subside. But I went crazy. Split a few 5's, including a 5:32 and a good portion at 5:12 pace for 5:57 avg pace! What a great run. Killed my quads though lol. Was totally serene and calming to run completely alone down a highway overpass at night. I thought about a lot of stuff when I wasn't picking up the pace 

Nothing noteworthy about my last leg. Chest was pretty bad, got a 24:50 for four miles. Our team got us behind a bit but I closed some of the gap on Alta 

Well this was it. Every factor was against us on the team. One of our girls dropped, forcing Mason and I to add extra legs to our three original. Rylie got lost and ran an extra 5 miles on her night run. Someone collapsed and Kyrie had to stay with them and call for help for 20 minutes on her last leg. Kedric had knee problems, I had chest problems, and Kenny had some stomach issues. But still, we were at 23 hours and only had one runner left. We knew it was gonna come between us and Alta. We waited on the finish line, knowing Jordan should finish any second now. As the time passing by got ludicrously long, we watched Alta and another team pass by. Then we fell timewise behind another team. It turns out Jordan's tendons had locked up and he barely survived his run(not literally). There was really no one to blame. I gave my all, that's all I could've done. But the website has us ranked second, so I call it that for now. We lost by 7 minutes, which is pretty insane for all that went down. Good times.

AM - rested and did core

PM - 2 mile WU, 8x200m grass hills, w/ 200 rest back down. Drills and 3 mile CD

Snapchat I sent right before had 96 on the degree filter. I think it was being modest. 200's ragned between 31-37, which wasn't great but I felt quite bad. Only felt good on the final repeat and last mile of the cooldown.

AM - 5. Tried to go easy but I didn't have my watch and went quick and just never really slowed. Probs a high 6:30/low 6:40 pace. Gonna try draining my legs after typing this.

PM - 3 on the treadmill, 4 outside in the blistering heat. Apparantly I don't handle warmth well??? Who knew. Achilles hurt a bit at the end. Gonna roll and ice that one out.

Holy moly I was tired today. Original plan was 3x2 miles but marching band was on the track. Then went to the park and changed it to 4xgrass mile instead. Warmed up three and felt pretty trashed. I went out on the first repeat and managed to get .20 in the first minute, but my legs told me to stop. No point in wasting a workout on dead legs. Went 6 miles after. Ran sockless and that was a huge mistake. The last mile my left heel hurt so bad, my limp game was awful. Took off my shoes and ran the last mile on the turf. I might do a short run later and try the workout again tomorrow.

Also I got quantified(finally) which is sick. On the other website it says I have 238 monthly views.

PM - went and lifted, did 3 easy on the treadmill after, ran the last quarter mile at 5:20 pace which felt pretty good. Also did 100 pushups and 100 sit ups.

I woke up at 5:30 and marching band still beat me to the track. WU, speed changes, drills. 4 mile tempo. I went quick the first mile but sustained, but those last two miles I just lost focus. I think it's because, in my head, I was planning to only go hard for two miles. Splits were 5:21(uphill), 5:29(downhill), 5:47(uphill), and 5:47(downhill). So four miles at 5:36 pace. Only a bit faster than when I did it in December, but that was coming off better training, I'm still running on tired legs, and in December I went hard enough that the run injured me. Cooled down for 8.

PM - did 100 push-ups while I was waiting in the Enclave room. Got caught at the end. Was extremely awkward. Did 5 miles up at McCoy. Ran the dirt road loop I never run on. Wow that thing is steep. Averaged about an 8:30 pace the first 3.5ish miles, then picked it up on the downhills for 7:30 pace for 5 miles. Total elevation gain was right below 600 ft. My left shin hurt a bit during it. S/O to Alli bc she blogs so much, truly an inspiration to us all💝(The joke here is she'll never see it because she doesn't even blog)

Ran 2 up main, 2 up the gov. trail, and 3 down back to the rec center. Splits were 7:50, 7:40, 7:30, 7:20, 7:10, 7:00, and 6:50 so that was neat.

4 in the afternoon. For the first time since Ragnar I felt pretty good, and it was in the heat too! Started at 7:20 pace and dropped down to a 6:20 pace by the end. Finished up with some strides, lifted, and did core. If I hadn't done Ragnar I bet I could have been #1 on the mileage board this week. Oh well. Tomorrow's progression run is gonna be prime time blues.

Wow quite the run today. Woke up at 5:20 and drove up to Kenny the Apache's house, where his dad drove us up to brush creek. I say "up" but there sure was a lot of uphill coming back. Ran the first 10 with Kenny and picked it up and finished at the Dino tri. I ran with the leader at the end at about a 5:40 pace which was pretty quick after all I did haha. Jogged just a bit while waiting for Kenny to come pick me up. Avg pace was under 7 so that was rad. Would have finished quicker, but Kenny was going quick at the beginning and I stayed with him. Good work today

I also found out that the winner I ran with at the end was Jason Holt!

After church met up with Adam and Kelly. We drove up to Ice Cave and did some serious hiking and spelunking. It was quite difficult so I'll count it as a workout. While climbing down an extremely steep section my footing slipped and I fell down a few feet, luckily I managed to grab a tree trunk, but I got caught in some thorns and scraped up pretty badly. I hung on for dear life with one hand and with the other got a rope tied to the tree and climbed down. It was quite heroic. After about three hours of hiking they dropped me off back at the Basin, so I ran up to my house, which gains about 400 feet altogether. Managed 7:30 avg. pace which was sweet.

Went to Uintah XC practice in the morning. Started off the run really slow with maybe 10 of us, then worked the pace down so by 4 miles it was just Clayton, Kedric and I. By the end it was just Kedric and I at 5:15 pace. Cooled down barefoot.

Real workout at 5:30, right after work. It was blazing and that makes for bad times, but I kept my head up. WU and strides. Workout was 3x2000m, going 600 fast, 100 jog, 400 fast, 100 jog, 300 fast, 200 jog, 200 fast. 500m jog in between sets. I dont recall the exact 2000m times but they were mid-high 6's. First one the fast parts went 1:47, 70, 53, 35. Next one's times were 1:48, 71, 50, and 30. Last one the heat hit me pretty hard that last 150, and my legs locked up. Hit 1:45 but I was on a faster pace. 400 I came in the 300 at 50, but my legs really got tired and I hit a 71. Decided to stop there. I was able to run those three laps under 4 minutes with the jogging though so that was neat. Good workout, the heat was awful and my legs haven't got any real speed in them lately so today was good. Cooled down to the temple park, where Claire taught Christian and I how to slackline. I'm pretty good. Claire made me some homemade lemonade which would have been good, but it was really acidic and my throat burned from the run already so it hurt to drink. Later on that night Claire told me some wild stories of how she partied back in France.

AM - 10 down back canal, past Quailbrook, down Gov, and back. I felt tired, but besides that good. I had to cross 16 cattleguards which wasn't quite ideal for keeping a solid pace, still managed 7:30's avg. ezpzlemonsqueezy

PM - Rec loop with strides. Gonna do some core before I go to bed.

Parked a little farther away from the park for extra mileage. Warmed up and drills at XC practice. The workout today was 2x(4 min hard, 4 minutes easy), 2x(3 min hard, 3 easy), and finished 2 minutes hard. I ran on the grass with quite a few turns, but still managed about a 5:05-10 avg pace for the hard ones. On the fourth hard I slowed a bit. Lately I've been able to switch from fast to recovery pace pretty easily, so I never walked which was good. Cooled down on Canal with Kenny after, S/O to him for staying close to me, even though I told him I'd go 5:30 pace lol. 6:48 avg pace for the run in entirety.

6.5 on the dirt road, pretty easy paced. My fourth mile was a 5:58 because why not, i felt good. Avg pace 7:20 which is p. good for 500 ft elevation gain.

I've only gotten around 6-7 hours of sleep per night this week, and I decided to hang out with a friend last night, so at 5:20 I was too tired. Opted to sleep until 7 and just do a distance run later today. A lot of stress at work and in other things, once I get off work today I should be able to breathe easy though. This weekend is gonna be spectacular.

PM - was going to do a long run, but work made my diet shoddy today, and my legs just didn't feel great, so I cut my 14 miler down to 9. Def. felt better at the end, but I do race in three days so why risk it. Gonna get my confirmation about my trip to St.G tonight, so wish me luck guys, I got a date with destiny. And someone else lol

AM - park loop. When I hit the long uphill on 1400 I was at 2.5 and I thought "hey, lets see if I can get down to 10k race pace" so I gradually moved up to 5:25 pace. It didn't feel hard or anything, so I figured lets see how much more I can speed up before this mile ends". Ended up getting the pace under 5 by the end of it. After that my miles got pretty quick, around 6:20, but not hard. 6:37 avg pace. 

Oh and s/o to Kedric, McKenna, rylie, Jacia, Reagan, Aspen for stealing my car

did 100 pushups/200 sit ups whilst watching psych

PM - 5 on the dreadmill(see what I did there? comedy gold) because of torrential downpour, then ventured outside for the last 5 because anything is better than a treadmill. 7:08 avg pace. My stomach was wrecked, I ate way too heavily way too closely to my normal run time. It was a cool 65 degrees and overcast/drizzling which was perfect running weather. so 10 easy to add to 17 for the day, and 102 for the past 7 days!

Tempo work today, nothing too hard because freedom's monday. 4x1200 @10k pace with 400 recovery. Was going about 7 flat pace on recovery which was sick because it felt easy. Hit 3:55, 3:59, 4:07, and 3:49. Felt pretty sustainable, I was just trying to keep a reasonable pace, save the last one where I went a little quicker. After 14 laps I was still able to come in clutch with a 73 last lap which was cool. 5:29 avg pace for 3.8 miles. Good times bc my stomach was wrecked. 3 mile cooldown and strides. Now I just taper for Freedom 10k. My goals going in are break 34, top 3 in my age group, and obliterate Connor. S/O to him for picking up my race packet from Provo, btw. Even though the rivalry game is strong right now he's a good guy. He'll die a good guy on monday #beattheballer Went to Starbucks after and got a acai/coconut milk/blueberry drink which was quite sublime.

PM - 3.8 while the rest of my family went to the lake. gained about 600 feet going up which sucked but I flew coming down. It'd be an understatement to say I'm looking forward to moving out of here.

Got maybe .1 out, and I decided I'd rather just do some easy barefoot running instead. 3 WU, .5 strides, .5 CD. Ready for tomorrow.

Warmed up 2 miles and strides. Got out and by half a mile it was me, Connor, the Riding twins, Collin, Thom, Jamison, and some college dude. Collin and Jamison dropped off at the mile and the college guy sped up. My watch isn't loading so I'll go by what the mile markers said for now, which were a bit off. 5:12, 10:31. Lost the pack around here. I started to get weird back pains and shivering like crazy, need more salt, gotta be like salt boy lol. 16:22 for three miles. I lost focus after that, got passed by a couple dudes. At about mile five we had a long hill with a 180 turn at the top. Joey caught me here. We turned around and I saw there was Asa and Jared maybe 30-45 seconds behind, and this long haired dude a little closer. I caught up to Joey again but he started kicking hard. We turned and the last mile is on a hecka long and strenuous uphill. Hair dude caught me and we talked for a second. Then I realized the twins were not too far ahead and I sped up quite a bit. Caught both of them and had to weave through a ton of dumb 5k people. Finished and cooled down with Adam, Connor, Asa, Tyler, and Jared. Good learning experience today, I learned that it's WAY worse to go out quick the first 2 miles in a 10k bc there's over 4 miles left lol. Also need more salt. Fun time overall, the course was way more hilly than I thought but I didn't do terrible. Gonna train hard and drop a large PR at deseret. S/O to bloggers Connor, Adam, and Thom who got top three in our age division. And good luck to Kenny!

4.8 once I got back. About 7 flat pace.