Philippians 4:13

I got up early while the family was still asleep and drove to Canyon Entrance Park and ran north on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail.  Once I got to the end at King Wildlife Park, ran a bit up a steep trail and gave up and instead ran a ways up the canyon and back (where I met 2 ladies walking their goats!).  I then ran back on the BST to the park and then down past the dam to the Water Lab and back to finish off an 8 miler.  Nice run and nice view of the valley!  

Spent some time swimming at the hotel then took the kids to the zoo before heading home.  A great weekend in Logan for Kami's adventure at the Little Red Riding Hood Century ride!

We left Logan yesterday and it was 80 degrees and sunny to get to IF where it was 60 and rainy...what the ???  6M slow and easy early this morning in 55 degrees, calm and cloudy conditions.  The minute I walked back in the door (pit stop) it started raining again!  So I cut it short and had my coffee and breakfast and watched the highlights of the Celtics beating the Lakers...yeah! (Tornado)

6M at lunch in a light rain.  Temperature was ok and there was no wind so this was actually a good run, I finished it in 41:30 including a slow (8:00) first mile.  Good to get out at least for a while.  (Defyance)

7.5M in 58:30 on a beautiful morning...45 degrees, no wind and clear skies  Body feeling pretty good this morning, I was just tired so I startes slow but got up to an ok easy pace for it being 5am!  (Tornado)

5.5M out on the desert in beautiful weather (sunny, 62 degrees, light breeze) in a time of 34:43 (avg. 6:18 pace).  First mile was closer to 6:30 then I picked it up for the rest of the run and felt great!  Now the weather is supposed to take a turn for the worst for the rest of the week!  (Defyance)

7M early on a warm and calm morning.  I was tired and my body showed it as I had a really hard time getting going, I didn't fee like I was even running until mile 4 so it was a slow morning (49:27 total time).  (Tornado)

5M at lunch in 35:14 in 70 degrees and a wind tunnel!  I ran in a cross wind of 30 mph sustained with 45 mph gusts...I had to run with a lean and when I would get off the ground during a gust, it would push me over 6 inches or more!  I didn't feel like I was running 7 minute pace, but it certainly felt like tempo effort!  (Defyance)

4:30am...beautiful morning (warm and no wind)...very easy start, picked it up to a low 7:00's pace by the end for 8M in 1:02:48...tired and old!  (tornado)

The weather ended up being pretty nice for a lunch run (warm, no rain but some strong wind out of the south) so I went out hoping to do a 5-6M tempo run.  4 pit stops along the way negated that idea but I was still able to finish a 6.4M run in 41:30 (sub 6:30) even with all the intestinal distress, good thing the greenbelt has so many bathrooms.   (Defyance)

I went out after taking some leave to drop my daughter off at her first day of swim team, she is excited and I think it will be really good for her!

4:30am...7M very slow (left achilles twinging and tight!).  Why, why do I do this to myself?  Isn't the bed a much more inviting option at this time of day?  (Tornado)

6M in 42:49 (7:08 pace) on a beautiful day at lunch...so much for all the crappy weather we were supposed to have all week (we cancelled camping plans due to the forecast and now we are planning yardwork, what a good trade off!). Ok easy paced run, still had some distress again (only 1 stop) and I felt a little lightheaded around the 1.75M mark which was weird but it went away after about 0.5M. 

I was thinking about jumping into the Teton Dam half marathon tomorrow if I could get ahold of the RD, but after these last couple of days I am probably not going to do it (plus it is VERY last minute).   Looks like I am in, let's see how I can do on an uphill HM with how I am feeling and the of a good mileage week! (Defyance)

1st overall in 1:17:57 on a windy day...I forgot how hilly this course is!  More to come later after landscaping projects.  Landscaping done for today, now the report...

 Drove up to the start with Lynette and got my bib from the RD and got ready to race by fueling with a PowerBar Gel.  We warm up for about 0.5M The weather was better than projected but still challenging...50 degrees, most cloudy but a strong wind out of the north.  The first 4.5M go almost directly into the wind and a slight uphill, then it turns south, for an uphill portion that lasts until 10M!  Finally a turn back to north to for a 2 mile downhill gaining all the elevation back from the first 11 miles to the finish line. 

Started off ok at about a 5:55 pace but at about mile 2 my hips started getting tight fighting the win.  At mile 3, last years champ (John Taberna) takes the lead until about mile 7.  I was running much better once we hit the uphill with the wind at our backs and was just running easy at about a 6:18 pace on the uphill and trailing John by about 100 feet.  Suddenly, he just stops and says he can't keep up the pace, especially for the remaining 3 miles of uphill.  So I just keep cruising and start picking up the pace to about a 6:05 until mile 11, at which time the downhill starts and I finish off the race at about a 5:30 average pace to the finish. 

After the race, spend a bit of time talking with John (2nd) and the 3rd place finish (a young guy named Tyler from Rexburg...old guys ruled the day as I am 41 and John is 49!).  I ran a cooldown for 0.5M back up the course to see Lynette and run her home.  As I am waiting for her, I see the first place women go buy about 0.05M ahead of her but she is slowing down.  I see Lynette and tell her we can get her.  We run smoothly for a bit and are catching her quickly.  With about 0.25M to go, I tell her to go with authority and blow past her, which she does and goes to capture the win by 15 seconds...her first HM win!  Another champion from IF on the day!

 Overall a good day on a hard course, running at the end of a near 90 mile week (no taper) and still in recovery mode so I am happy with the time and the win!