Philippians 4:13

5.25M early this morning in the warmer weather (32 degrees) but a good snow coming down in big flakes.  Luckily not much wind.  I am surprising tight after yesterday's crappy run, so this is just an easy run before getting ready for church.  The rest of the day is booked with church, swimming with the kids, working on taxes, cleaning the house, and having my folks over for dinner. 

Getting very excited to get out of here and heading to warmer AZ for the Del Sol relay and the fun with the Blog guys at the race.

total time: 38:23  (Fireblades 108 miles)

Standard 8M on the TM at the gym this morning.  Overall felt great, even running about 3M at a 5:45ish pace.  Getting ready for the relay this weekend. 

total time:  48:05  (Trigon - 447 miles)

5.65M around the river greenbelt on a fairly miserable morning with a freezing rain/mist.  My sunglasses would be completely covered with ice and would make it hard to see the somewhat slick path.  But I got 'er done.

total time: 39:00  (Saucony T2 - 350 miles)

7M on the TM at the gym again this morning (icy and slick outside this morning).  2M warmup at 6:30ish pace, then the remaining 5M at MP (~6:05).  Feeling good, no issues to speak of...excited to head out tomorrow for the relay!

total time:  43:40  (Trigon - 454 miles)    

 5.35M at lunchtime around the river pathway on a warmer but still overcast day.  First 3M with Dan S, then I picked it up to about a 6:35 for remainder of the run.  Feeling good, just nice and easy for this run.

total time: 37:30  (Saucony T3 - 444 miles)

8M outside this morning along Sunnyside Road.  Started off with easy warmup (7:30ish pace) for the first 2M, then bumped it up to a slow MP (6:30ish) for the next 5M, then 1M cooldown at about 6:45ish.  Lower back was stiff this morning and when I pushed the pace up, my left hamstring got really tight so I didn't push too hard and will instead save it for the relay this weekend.  Lots of stretching today, then I leave for Provo this afternoon.

total time:  54:14  (Trigon - 462 miles)

6.1M in Orem with Ted, Steve, Kory and Josse.  Nice hilly workout at an easy pace.  Heading out for Phoenix in a little while and will likely drop by the St. George Running Center on the way.  Look out Del Sol, here we come.

total time:  48 and change  (Tangents - 132 miles)

In downtown Phoenix, we wake up about 8am after staying up late to adjust our bodies to the test ahead.  Steve, Walter, Kory and I went out for a shake out run of about 4M (with 3 striders thrown in).  We then head to James and Lybi's to grab food and Sasha and make the 2 hour drive to Wickenburg to meet up with the rest of the team at the start. 

total time:  26:30  (Tangents - 136 miles)

Man this is getting exciting now with the whole team together.  We chat, decorate the vans and get ready for the start.  Once Dave heads out, we fly out to exchange 6 to await our turn.  As James hands off to Adam, we have about a 4 minute lead on second place and hear that they are confident that they will catch us as their 2 fastest runners are in the second van.  The pressure is on as everyone in the first van blew away their estimated times and we had no intention of letting the team down.

After the first four legs of our van, I take the hand off from Sasha around 11:15pm in complete dark.  This is the strangest and best running conditions that I have ever run in as you had no reference point, so you just ran hard and kept it up and only really knew what you were doing we the splits rang out on the GPS.  This 7.6M leg was amazing..rolling hills in the darkness.  I hit great splits and came in at 41:55, for a 5:30 avg. pace.  This run alone gave me a race PR in the 5K (16:50) and the 10K (34:10).  Splits were 5:15, 5:36, 5:28, 5:15, 5:30, 5:54, 5:44 and the last 0.62 in 5:11 pace.  On this leg I pass 7 runners.  During Steve's run, I talk to a gal who just finish my leg at 7:00 and she asks if I was the guy who flew past her, when I respond yes, she jokingly says "I hate you!".

This is the most intense athletic experience I have every had...pure adrenaline and rush to support the team in extreme conditions (sleep wise at least).  What a fantastic experience.

At the end of our vans second leg, we have open the lead to 7:30.  Way to go van 2!

Warm up and cool down for an additional mile or so.  Off the next major exchange point for some sleep, if possible.

total time:  41:55   (Tangents - 148 miles)

After catching a little bit of sleep on the ground in a couple of sleeping bags with Ted and Adam, we wake up about 3am and start getting ready for our next leg.  James comes flying in and Adam is off and we are on our way.   This whole rotation is mostly short legs (4 or less) except Steve so it should go fast.

At about 5am, we are getting ready for the handoff.   A women's team from North Dakota is there waiting as well and they ask when we started.  We told them 6pm and the laugh that we started 9 hours behind them and are already passing them! 

So, I get the hand off for my uphill 2.75M leg.  Man it is hard to get going, but again the adrenaline just takes hold and you go as fast as you can.  As this is short, I just put my head down and go, but the hill is worse than I thought.  Splits were: 5:45, 5:44, 5:19 pace for last 0.75 for an avg. 5:35 pace.

total time: 15:24

We head to the Saguaro Lake campground for some more rest after Steve's leg.  Ted, Adam and I again lay out the sleeping bags, this time on hard concrete.  Ted gives up before even starting and Adam and I lay down.  I manage to somehow fall asleep and get about 2 hours of hard sleep (Adam is amazed that I could even drift off).  We awake to sunshine and start getting ready for our last leg, expecting to be way ahead but still wanting to pour it on.  Adam gets the hand off from James and we are away.

I get the hand off from Sasha for the second to last leg and head out for a flat 4.12M leg.  The team heads out to scout the course and get Steve to the start of his leg.  As I am running along, a guy pulls up with a video phone and asks me "So this is what first place looks like, how do you feel?"  I yell and scream for the team, then he asks "So, how fast are you running right now?"  I look at my GPS and yell out "5:14 pace!".  He hollers and takes off (I still don't know who he was).  As I past 1M, I see a dog wandering in the road ahead, I stop to pick up a hefty rock and keep on running towards the dog, cross the road and am ready to let the rock fly if the dog moves.  Luckily he is more wary of me and leaves me alone.  So, I keep powering on.  As I approach mile 3, it is a major intersection and Ted heads out into traffic to clear me a path and the all the cars stop for us!  I turn the corner at 4M and hammer it with my loud dog-bark breathing to kick to the finish.  Splits are: 5:27,5:41, 5:43, 5: 40 and last .12M in 5:18 pace.  Steve is off.  About .5M warmup and 0.5M cool down scouting the course for Steve and running into the finish with the team.

total time: 23:07  (Tangents - 154 miles)

Running with this team was awesome and inspiring.  They all pushed me beyond what I thought I could do as I beat all of my estimated finish times.  They are all great guys who I am glad I got a chance to know better.  Thanks to James and Lybi for their hospitality and support (James you are da man! for driving).  Thanks to Steve H and Sasha for putting this racing team together and to Ted for captaining the team.  An experience I will never forget!

Only real downside...The awards ceremony at the end was a total joke.  We got to the finish before anyone was their (they weren't even done setting up for the event) and they totally messed up all the awards for every category, so we received our dinky little first place batons with nearly no one in attendance.  Google, the third place team, got a new treadmill from Nordictrack for winning the "corporate" event...what a joke.