Step by step, mile by mile

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!