Hurricane Pioneer Day 5K. 16:06 AM - 6.5 Middleton. Got up and got a few in before heading over to the race. Wore my Adios to decide if I need to start hunting down a new marathon shoe or not. They felt great and have at least one more race in them even if I use them for a workout or two before St. George. (Adios 187) morning - 6 race. Got the kiddos ready and the family headed over to Hurricane. Had planned earlier on running the Enterprise 10K, but he girls wanted to run too, and is just too much money to pay for every race. So this one was just a 5K, but it was only a couple of cans of food - I can afford 8 cans entry fee. Warmed up just a little with the girls and then started off. No competition which was a real bummer. Last year Hurricane's top runner, Nephi, ran, so I hoped he could push me for at least a bit, and I hoped a few of my guys who weren't at Enterprise would show up - but none did. So anyway, another solo effort. Course was an honest loop with a very gentle upgrade on the way out and the opposite on the way back; marked well, so I didn't get lost at all for the first time running it; had a dirt/gravel section for 1/4, but not bad; measured correctly; had a lot of turns though. Used the race markings for splits, and they seemed pretty honest. 1-4:59, kind of fun, I didn't think I was running that fast. Was actually kind of blah and felt like a 5:20's effort. 2-5:11, 3-5:15. Kind of relaxed a little too much on these two. And when I saw I wasn't going to break 16:00 on the homestretch I kind of eased it in. Feel better about this effort than either of the two earlier summer 5K's, but I still can't seem to get into that next gear - although what do I expect, I am not doing any speed training at all so... But I really think I could have held today's average for a full 10K pretty solidly and even stretched it toward a 10 miler. Some progress. Went back and cheered on the girls. Rylee ran with Pyper. Which was nice, but kind of a pain. Rylee is really good and coaching your own high-level kid seems to have its ups and downs. So I tried not to push her too much today when she said she only wanted to run with Pyper. Pyper is not too shabby herself and has a huge upside with her determination once she really gets training. I found Laney further back than she should have been. She seemed to just kind of be poking along and walking quite a bit until I got to her. But I was proud that she went almost two all by herself until I got to her. Then we jogged it on in, trying to encourage her and make it fun for her along the way. (Rocket 2 99.75) afternoon - 6 ND. Just the usual afternoon in the heat. These midweek races are tough on me mentally - my body thinks a race means the end of the week and wants to shut it down for a bit. (F50 698.5) | 