Philippians 4:13

I went out for 3 miles with Moxie before waking up the kids to go run at Freeman Park.  We all ran a loop together then Justin and I ran a tempo run on the XC course.  He had some calf issues so we cut the workout a bit short.  I went out to find Katelyn on the path and ran for a while before finding her back at the truck.

9 miles total for the morning. (Fastwitch Red)

I got to sleep in today and went out around 6:30.  I ran 3 miles with Moxie then dropped her off so I could meet up with Craig for a nice long loop around the river through Freeman Park and back.  I ran 12 miles with Craig (great company, beautiful morning!) then finished off 13 miles in 1:35.  After refueling, I took Katelyn back out for 3 miles through the neighborhood.  19 miles for the morning...I am hungry are ready for a nap already.  (Mirage Red)

9 mile bike ride with my family around neighborhood...Katelyn was pushing the speed.

6:00am...5 mile run with Moxie along Sunnyside.  Another mile or so with Katelyn before taking her to camp.  (Ride 3)

4:15am...6 easy miles with Moxie along Sunnyside.  Took nearly 2 miles for me to get into this run but got it done.  (Ride 3)

5 easy miles at lunch on a cool and rainy day.  Nice change to stay cool during a midday run.  (Mirage Red)

Weights at the gym with Kami while Justin rode the spinner.

4:20am...same run as yesterday.  (Ride 3)

4 miles at lunch on the desert in cool and humid conditions.  Just easy...29 minutes. (Mirage Red)

6am...my alarm went off at 4am and I just could not get up to go out for a run.  I slept in until 5:30, had a cup of joe then finally decided to jump out for a quick run on the perfect morning for at least a short run.  (Fastwitch Red)

Lunch run with DanS around the river.  Cooler but very humid day (big storms approaching...flash flood warnings for most of SE and central Idaho for the few days and next couple).  4 miles easier with Dan then I picked it up a bit for the rest (6:35, 6:25, 4:48).  Total of 6.75 miles in 48:20.  (Mirage Red)

6am...I met Erik T. for a run this morning.  We ran a river loop from the church and had a great time catching up on things and life.  Fun run before camping.  10.6 miles total at around 7:00 pace.  (Fastwitch Red)

Happy 15th Birthday, Justin!  We are up at Wood River Campground and we slept in and had a good birthday morning with Justin before heading up to Alturas Lake to get Katelyn from Luther Heights Camp.  Spent some time collecting her and visiting the lake before heading back to our camper.  We were going to go out for a run but a HUGE rain and hail storm derailed our plans so we spent the afternoon playing games. 

Got out for a short bike ride in the evening after the storms blew through but I am counting this one as a day off.

Slept in again and missed the best time to run (though it was pretty chilly).  Kami, Steve and I hiked to Titus Lake but a storm was blowing in with lightning, thunder and rain so we cut the hike a bit short.  Rain storm again this afternoon so more games then a run and hike with Justin afterwards along the Harriman Trail behind camp.  

Another fun day at camp with the family.

8am...6 miles along the Harriman Trail from Wood River to North Fork and back to Murphy bridge on a beautiful morning.  Heading home today from camping (a long 4 hour drive).  Had a good time camping despite the rain storms.  (Xodus)

2 miles with Katelyn at dusk.  (Fastwitch)

4:30am...6 easy miles with Moxie along Sunnyside.  (Ride 3)

After the last week or so of cool weather, today's 85 degree run was HOT.  1 mile easy, 5 miles at MP (approx. 6:25 AP).  Back started to hurt/lock up a bit at mile 3 so the last 3 miles were a bit slower.  Total time 39:30 (6:35 AP for whole run).  (Mirage Red)

5:30am...5 miles with Moxie along Sunnyside.  Slept through my alarm so I got out a bit late.  (Fastwitch)

4.5 miles in 30 minutes at lunch out on the desert.  Nice weather (cooler temps, cloudy).  A bit of a ankle tweak.  (Mirage Red)

4:45am...5 easy miles with Moxie. (Fastwitch)

4.5 miles at lunch on a cooler and cloudy day with some light rain...nice.  Needed this one as a stress reliever!  (Mirage Red)

Pouring rain when I got up to run, didn't stop until it was too late to get one in.  Tapering a bit for GTR this weekend so I will just have a go at lunch today.

GTR Ultra 6 person relay starts tomorrow...should be fun to run with a good group of guys.

7.5 miles in 52 minutes  around the river at lunch on a warmer day.  (Mirage Red)

I ran the Grand Teton Relay as an Ultra 6 person team with some guys from work and other friends, we are Tough As Nails 2 Ultra.  We gathered at 9am to get to Ashton for our noon start (last starting time for the race, first teams took off at 6am).  We each are going to run 6 legs (every 6th leg) in the following order:  me, Matt, Dave, Craig, Rex and Dean.  Fun times in the van (thanks to Ron who could not run due to work) and we missed Delynn (whom we dedicated our race as he had to drop due to medical issues).  Great guys to run with and very thankful that Rex and Dean could join our team at the last minute this week.  We had fun getting to know each other and support each leg as we had the one van only.  Think I enjoy the intensity and always being in the fray aspect of the 6 person team vs. the downtime of the 12 person relay.

Leg 1: 4.11 miles in 25:12

Went out pretty hard to get away from the other 11 teams and then settled into an easy pace on the rollers out of Ashton.  Starting to get hot and wished that the clouds would roll in to give some cover.  Nice start to the race and gave us a bit of a lead.  We would end up racing another Ultra Team from Boise the whole race and do our best to stay with the top 12 person team (returning first team from last year) for the entire 178 miles.  I ran comfortable hard to set a good tone for our race. Handed off to Matt and we were on our way.

Leg 7: 9 miles in 58:40

Longest leg in the heat of the day.  About 2.5 miles on the road, then the rest on the forest service roads.  Started off about 0.75 miles behind the first place 12 person team but ahead of the other ultra team.  I ran steady and consistent just to stay strong for the rest of the legs.  Passed about 5 runners including the first place 12person team runner right before the transition (he was not happy).  Ran with a hand held water bottle and not quite sure I liked it but it was nice to have the water to drink and put over my head to cool off.  Felt consistent and strong not pushing too hard on the cobbly dirt road.

Leg 13: 3.8 miles in 23:20

I just got out of the PoP then headed to the transition area and got the hand off from Dean just before midnight and ran on a dark country road.  Wasn't sure it was him coming in so my GPS was not fully acquired so I ran slow for the first 0.25M to get it to catch. Saw the biggest shooting star I had ever seen!  Kind of a rolling leg and caught 6 runners including a young kid who was yelling out to the van pacing him that "he was not going to be caught!".  As I ran by and encouraged him he started sprinting so I ran with him a spell before pulling away.  Pretty funny!  Ran hard on the downhill finish to pass a couple more runners.  Now I am starting to get a bit tired and really hungry.  Dean had an extra Subway sandwich...great!  The guys gave me a hard time for bringing potato chips...then they devoured the bag to get the salt!

Day 2 of the Grand Teton Ultra relay.  By now we are getting behind the first place 12 person team but we are in race with the other top Ultra team and we keep leapfrogging back and forth with them, nice to have the friendly competition.

Leg 19: 5.1 miles in 35:23

At this transition area we meet up with the other Tough As Nails team (12 person, started at 8am).   I take off from the city of Tetonia for a longer dark leg starting on pavement but then mostly on gravel roads.  Another rolling leg with a net increase in elevation that I knew I was going to run easy to keep the legs there for the next couple of runs.  I catch the other teams runner about 3.5 miles in and say hi and keep moving.  Lots of encouragement from the other support vans out on the leg.  We have passed through the legs were all the teams and getting congested (start around leg 11 and through this transition and then into the next few).  Fun run but now very tired and jump in the back to get some sleep.  I have some good rest through this whole set of legs up to my next run at leg 25.   We stay in the waiting area at the base of the Grand Targhee leg and make it to the top where I will run down just after Dean finishes, he ran awesom up this big hill!

Leg 25: 3.8 miles in 23:20

Faster leg down the hill from the ski resort in the dark.  Barely woke up from a bit of a nap before heading up the hill to the transition.  I didn't have time to take a pit stop so about the 1 mile mark I have to hit the bushes.  I ran this well but fairly easy as that is about all I had in my legs and just cruising...should have run faster but that was about it.  Feeling good but tired and wanting some really food!

Leg 31: 5.75 miles 40:44

Take off from Victor city park for the run to the base of Teton Pass.  Nice morning to run but this is a good uphill run and into a head wind for the first half or more of the leg.  We are still ahead of the other Ultra team and start off at 7:20ish (so we did not have to wait in Victor to start at 7am, the first 12 person team was held up for a while).  Ran the best I could and felt like I did ok but wish I could have had a bit more.  I misread the map and thought this was a 5.1 mile leg not 5.7 so I was getting a bit frustrated coming into the transition but pushed hard to pass a few runners after 5 miles.  Hope to give Matt and Dave a bit of a cushion on the other Ultra team as there strongest runner was running next.

Hats off to Matt and Dave for running up the pass legs...they did great!

Craig killed it on the 5.5 mile (2500 foot drop) leg down the pass and for catching and dropping the other Ultra team...you are an animal!  Sorry about the fiasco at the end but you ran great.

I ended up running a mile in my sandals trying to catch up to Craig and another runner when they missed the marker for a turn...never caught them but they came back around a different route to the transtion area.

Rex and Dean opened up the lead over the ultra team in the last 2 legs into Teton Village and helped us crush our finishing goal as we finished in 23:06 (about a 7:45 average pace for the 6 of us) and a new CR for 6 person teams!  A great time with great guys!  Stayed around a while to catch up with Delynn, say hi to our competition (good folks, the other ultra team was a bit pissed that we beat them though).  We were going to wait for our other team but we were starving and ready to start home.  Stopped and ate at McPhail's in Jackson before the 2.5 hour trip home.

I would do this again...as an Ultra team.  Fun time and glad I ran it.

Day off to recovery from the relay, get some sleep and spend time my family.  Legs feeling really good just really tired.  Heading into a lighter week then taper next week for Pocatello marathon.

4:30am...5 easier miles with Moxie.  Nearly caught up on sleep.  Good run with Moxie.  Last 1 or so a bit faster as I saw a new runner (wow!) out this morning (rabbit to motivate me to move) and she was moving pretty good and our dogs wanted to say hi.   (Ride 3)

Tempo run at lunch.  1 mile wu (7:13), 4 miles MP tempo (6:06, 6:08, 6:14, 6:20), 0.5M recovery (3:32), 1 mile tempo (6:08), 0.5M cd (3:41).  7 miles in 45:27.  Effort felt hard but comfortable, not too bad after this weekend's effort.  (Mirage Red)

It's official...Justin ran his tempo faster than me today...my day's as the fast person in the family are coming to an end!  I am very proud of him and looking forward to watching him in XC this year.

4:30am...7 miles along Sunnyside with Moxie.  Nice morning for a run, ran for a bit with Becky and her friend Rachel catching up.  About a 7:30 AP.  (Ride 3)

No lunch run, too busy at work.

4:30am...I feel like I had done this before...yesterday! (Ride 3)

6 miles at lunch in 43:40 around the greenbelt, nice and easy (7:16 AP).  (Mirage Red)

Went to the parent meeting for XC tonight then hung out at the track until about 9pm with the kids at the relay...going to be a long, cold and wet night for them!  Proud of their commitment.

4am...5 miles with Moxie in a steady rain.  We (ok, me but Moxie was there too!) dedicated this wet run to the kids at the relay running through the night for their fundraiser for the team to travel this year to meets.  (Ride 3)

I got to the high school early to help with breakfast for the team at their relay and to check in on the kids.  Cold, wet, tired, hungry and grumpy kids but committed to their sport!

5 miles on a nice day at lunch in 35 minutes, pretty easy and comfortable run.  (Mirage Red)

I went out for a short 3 mile run with Moxie in a light rain before taking Justin to XC practice and running with the team.  Both coaches were out of town so I helped run with the kids and the volunteer assistant coach. Easy wu from IFHS to Community Park.  Lots of stretching (too much) easy loops around the park (too easy).  Held back and helped some of the slower kids.  After the "official" workout was done, I asked the fast boys "Are you guys done running 9 minute miles?"  They all said YES and we ran at a good clip back to the school with a fast finish.  Overall 6 miles with the team, the last 4 in a light rain.  

Driving home we saw Katelyn's XC team practicing at the park in a heavy rain. Kami ran 3 miles in the rain this morning too...we all hit the pavement today!

6am...I met Craig for a MP tempo run this morning...cooler and cloudy but no rain during the run.  1 mile wu then 10 mile MP (6:25, 6:22, 6:16, 6:18, 6:11, 6:19, 6:21, 6:12, 6:16, 5:52) through SRL and around the greenbelt.  2.1 mile cooldown to finish the run.  13.1 miles in 1:26.  Overall a good workout today.  (Fastwitch Red)

4 more miles around the neighborhood with Justin and Moxie.  I am tired and hungry now! (Ride 3)

Happy anniversary to great friends, Craig and Nikki, for 17 years together! 

7am...5 solo miles along Sunnyside on a cool morning with SUNSHINE!  Nice and easy and happy to not be in clouds or rain.  (Boost)

4:45am...4 easy miles with Moxie along Sunnyside.  Taper week.  (Ride 3)

5 miles in 31:35 at lunch on a nice day (cool, cloudy) for a run.  0.5M warmup then 4.5 miles at MP (3:10, 6:00, 6:09, 6:09, 6:17) feeling controlled and easy.  (Mirage Red)

5am...5 easy miles with Moxie along Sunnyside on a cool morning.  Saw 6 runners including Curt, Alana, Shannon, Becky and Rachel...nice to see friendly faces out in the dark. (Boost)

Taper week so I got to sleep into as I am only doing a single.  7.5 miles in about 51 minutes at lunch on a beautiful day!  I didn't want to stop and go back to work!  Nice easy run and feeling good for Pocatello this weekend.  (Mirage Red)

5am...4 easy taper miles with Moxie along Sunnyside. (Ride 3)

Excited to watch the kids in the first XC meet today.

6am...5k run on a nice morning with Moxie along Sunnyside.  Last taper run before Pocatello marathon tomorrow. 3 more miles in 27 minutes with Kami around Community Park.  (Boost)

I am very proud of my kids for their good runs at the first XC meet of the year.  They ran hard on a hot day!  

We stayed the night in Pocatello which made the early morning much nicer.  I got on the bus at just after 5am and sat next to Justin Park on the way up and had fun getting to know him better.   When we arrived at the start, is was a pretty nice morning with a good temperature and light wind.    Looking forward to a solid race but I knew it was going to have some fast guys running including Justin, Mike Anderson and Jason Howe.   Justin and I did a short warmup.  Got to see lots of friends at the start including Marlin, Lynette, Richard, Bill, McKay, Mike, Takara, and a few more.  I had an Access bar before the start and was ready to go!

Started off pretty conservative and let Justin take off.  At about the 1 mile mark, Mike Anderson came up on me and said he was gunning for a 2:30 so I told him to go stay with Justin and off he went.  They ended up in quite a duel with both men running strong!  I was cruising down the hill staying easy at about 5:45ish pace through mile 6 when Jason caught up to me and started to push harder.  I just tried to stay consistent and run easy to attempt to keep something in my legs for the rollers in the second half.  I took a PowerBar Gel at mile 8 and felt good.   I hit the 10 mile mark in just over 57 minutes and the half at 1:16 and change.  I knew the tough part was to come.

Through the second half I tried to just stay easy and consistent effort wise and hold strong.  The rollers in the second half are tough especially the hills in mile 17 and 21.  I didn't push too hard and watched the gap between me and Jason grow just a bit as he continued to run strong.  I was trying to be patient but my body would not respond and get back to my desired pace. Hips started to tighten slightly on the bigger hill at 17 miles but I was able to run through it with no lingering effects (besiding slowing down!).  I took PowerBar Gels at mile 15 and mile 20 which helped but I was still fading and could not get back up to goal pace so I settled in around 6:20-6:30 and just ran to get a sub-2:40 (wish I would have pushed for a 2:37 looking back now).

The last 4 miles are just a grind and a mentally hard stretch that seems to last forever (not very scenic either).  These miles are "downhill" but I really don't feel it plus there was a slight headwind this year through the city.  I was hoping to see my son out on the course to run in with me but he didn't get there early enough as my daughter was sick back at the hotel room.  I pushed with what I had left and was happy to get another sub 2:40 marathon this year (Age graded at 84.7% or equivalent to 2:27:34).

First time having two marathons under 2:40 since 2010...and neither one is SGM!  Now to get some solid work in for St. George and go for a marathon PR!

After the race we stuck around a bit to say congrats to our friends and say hi to friends but had to leave before the awards to check on Katelyn.  Now for a lazy day to catch up on sleep and let my legs recover.

Splits: 5:26, 5:36, 5:39, 5:45, 5:41, 5:42, 5:53, 5:56, 5:55, 5:42, 5:51, 5:37, 6:08, 5:51, 6:06, 6:17, 6:34 (hill), 6:16, 5:59, 6:18, 6:22 (hill), 6:41 (lingering hill), 6:28, 6:25, 6:29, 6:34, 1:51 (0.3M).

4 easy miles with Justin in a rain on a cooler morning.  (Ride 3)

2.3 miles with Katelyn on a nice evening in about 22 minutes.  (Boost)

Feeling pretty good after the marathon yesterday, so these were nice to get out and run easy with the kids.