Step by step, mile by mile

I was going to take the day off, so I listened to some old recordings from team prep USA. There was one talk where the western coach told us that long easy sunday runs are essential, especially after a race. So I laced up and went for a 75 minute run in the desert in the early afternoon. Pace was slow, and it was super hilly. I think that coach was full of guano, but what's done is done.

Ran from the high school up to Docks Beach, a lengthy journey of a run. I let the rest of the faster guys get a lead on me until we hit the major hills, and then I sped up a ton and caught everyone. I think I sped up to quickly though, because after I passed Aaron, who was in front, I started to hurt. He passed me again and after that I trailed with him. Coaches drove up to us 4 miles in and told us we had gone too high, and that the stopping point was half a mile behind. Looking behind I saw Mason right behind us, but the next guys were like 200m behind. Mason and I lengthened our stride and got back to the stopping point rather speedily, where I rested a bit less than I probably should of because I felt good. I looked down the road and saw Kenny and Jordan had already left a little while ago. I caught and passed them, but Kenny picked the pace up major and I decided to take this part of the run easy since the difficult part had passed. Avg 7:03 pace. Strides after added to 9.5

2 miles of 3/1 pacing. Core after, and watched 4 hours of girls soccer after. in other words I think #12 is my least favorite number

Ran 4 miles throughout the hours before the race, and got on the starting line. Gun went off. I decided to take today easy because of Bob Firman being on saturday. Hit a 5:21 first mile. After that, I tripped and it sort of threw me off. It didn't even feel like a race, it just felt like a tempo run. Which is why I was shocked to find I dropped a PR of 16:39! Crazy. Now I just gotta drop a sub 16:30 on saturday. Mason won the race with a 15:46, And Christian managed to barely beat Aaron with a 16:22 to his 16:23. I need to work on my kick. With a 400m left, the two of them were just maybe three seconds ahead of me.

4 mile run. Paces were 7:20, 7:10, 7:04, and 5:40. Last mile felt easy. Half mile in the parking lot after.

Simple as that.

As soon as we got off the bus Mason and I jogged the course, bought gear, and napped for about an hour. After that we cheered for the Varsity teams, then stretched and warmed up for the Elite division of the race. Mason, Aaron, Christian, and I were the only ones from Uintah racing in it. I decided to race in my mid distance spikes to see how I'd do. It was alright. It was super hot and dirt was thick in the air during the race, so I wore sunglasses. Gun goes off. The four of us were pushed to the very back, but we were taking the first mile a bit easier. We hit the mile mark at 5:22. After that we started passing a lot of people. At about 2000m in I hit a wall, and had to stick with the people around me for about a minute, after that I kept moving up and passing people, including someone who I mistook for Connor Arnell, which made me speed up so I could beat him. Turns out the real Connor took 9th. Anyway I hit the mile mark at 11:10 which was super demoralizing, and after that I just kind of coasted. I was still passing a lot of people and speeding up, just not enough. I passed a couple people in my finish which was sick. Overall an alright race, not exactly what I wanted. I think I'm going to stop jogging like 3 miles before I even warmup, I think it just tires out my legs. 3 miles after with the other 3 guys, who did well. Apparently at dinner that night an athlete who wore a Pioneer jersey, that I assume to be Lehi, and had "Surfer dude hair" came up to some of sophomore and asked about me. Sick. In other news due to having to miss Park City my next race will be Region in 12 days, so 10 days to work my butt off to get a sick time. I'm hoping for top 5, but whatever will get Uintah a region championship.