Philippians 4:13

A very easy 6M early on this beautiful Father's day morning.  Ran around Tauphaus Park and through my neighborhood just running easy and thinking about my 2 kids and the blessings they have brought into my life.  The last 2M my right achilles started getting pretty twingy again starting off with a dull pain then progressing to some sharp stabs.  Will have to baby it this week to be ready for WBR.

total time: 46:30  (T2 - 547 miles)

An uneventful 6M along my normal Sunnyside Road route.  Achilles a bit sore after the run...I could start feeling it about 4M into the run again.  Stretching and some ice today to help it recover.

total time: 44:45  (T2 - 553 miles)

7M MP run at lunch on a beautfiul warm and windless day.  1M warmup (6:18) and last mile cooldown (6:18), the middle 5M were between 5:53 -6:08.  Achilles didn't bother me during this run at all.  Thanks to Jon for reminding me that my T2's are long on the tooth and need replacing and that should do the trick.

total time: 42:45 (Trigon - 325 miles)

7 easy miles early on a glorious morning once again, 50 degrees and no wind.  It is supposed to get to 88 degrees today!  Broke out a new pair of Saucony Trigon Rides for my run this morning to address my sore achilles...worked like a charm as there was no pain whatsoever (old shoes can hurt you!).  I will try to get another run in at lunch today after meetings and going to a chiropractor visit with my wife.

total time: 52:02  (Trigon 2 - 7 miles)

6.5M at lunch on a warm and wonderful day.   Just an easier run, 6:39 avg. pace, to keep my legs fresh for this weekend.

total time: 43:11  (Trigon 1 - 332 miles)

Wow, the nicest morning yet...55 degrees and no wind, just beautiful.  5M easy early (4am) as I head to the site today (every Wednesday) so I had to cut it short.  Will get a 5M in at lunch on the desert trails.

total time: 37:30  (Trigon 2 - 12 miles)

6.5M after work today on a windy but warm afternoon.  Couldn't get a lunch run in today due to meetings and driving schedule, so I went right after I got home as the family were all gone to friends houses.  Nice run, did not push just ran easy at about a 6:40ish pace.

total time:  43:30  (Trigon 2 - 19 miles)

Standard early morning 6M run down Sunnyside.  Getting pretty jacked for WBR, looking forward to seeing the teams!

total time: 46:00  (Trigon 2 - 25 miles)

6.1M fairly easy (6:38 pace) around the greenbelt at lunch on a beautiful day...hope for this kind of weather the next 2 days, not too hot, not too cold, not too windy...Just right!

total time: 40:35  (Trigon 1 - 338 miles)

3M this morning to get the legs going at around a 6:15 pace (ran without the GPS).  3 1M loops around the neighborhood to check on sleeping kids since I ran after Kami left for the gym.  Heading out for SLC this morning to hook up with Walter and Kimball to drive to the start of WBR!  Let's go FRB (well, white team anyways).

(Trigon 2 - 28 miles)

Wasatch Back Relay - Day 1

Picked up Deborah (on team The Bunions) and drove to Pocatello where we switched trucks to ride with Kory Wheatley and headed out for Odgen.  In Ogden we dropped off Deborah to hook up with her team and headed for South Jordan to catch a ride back to Logan with Walter and the team drive for van 1 (white), Kimball.  We arrived at Paul's, got coordinated and introduced to all the team members then headed to the start.  In white team van 1 was Jeff M, Hayden, Tyler, Walter, Sasha and myself.  Van 2 was Taylor, Dave, Adam, Seth, Logan and Clyde.  At 5pm the gun sounded and we were off.  We could tell from the start that BYU had brought the best team.   The team ran well through the first legs in the heat.

My first leg was Leg 6 - 6.93M  at 8:01pm

Splits were as follows:  1-6:22 (uphill), 2-6:04 (uphill then start of smoking down), 3-4:46 (steep downhill on gravel), 4-4:46 (still steep SOB), 5-5:31 (leveling off), 6-6:01 (flat now feels like a hill!), 0.93M-5:33  2M in 9:32 and 5K in 15:40!  Way new PR and so fast that I passed and beat 3 vans down to the pavement!  This was an awesome downhill but it was so steep that it trashed my quads for the rest of my legs.  After the blue team arrived, I talked with Jon and found out he beat me by somewhere between 1- 4 seconds, mostly with more left in the last 3M. 

total time: 39:04  (Fireblades - 121 miles)

2M of warmup and cooldown for this leg.  After our handoff we were already 12 minutes behind BYU and knew at this point it was likely a battle for second and third with FRB Blue.  Everyone ran well, but the heat really took its toll.  After handing off to Van 2, head to find something to eat at the Subway in Huntsville, but the line was huge so we hit the gas station (I had a Lunchable...yum!) and drove to exchange 12 (what a mess and way crowded!).  No sleep (except for Jeff and Tyler who took every opportunity to get some shuteye!).   

Wasatch Back Relay Day 2

After taking back the baton at leg 12 from Van 1, BYU was still widening the gap.  Everyone was getting pretty tired due to lack of sleep but we were running on some pretty good adrenaline.  Jeff M ran an amazing leg, and the other guys ran well in the dark (but we had a full moon so that added a bit of light to these legs).

Leg 18 - 5.11M  at 1:10am  

Got to the exchange 17 and parked the van.  I got out to use the restroom before my leg.  After leg 1, my insides were a bit topsy turvy from the fast running and high quality diet in the van!  Went to the gate to wait for Sasha and really noticed that a good headwind had developed which was not going to be fun.  Saw Sasha heading in and noticed I was the only team member at the exchange.  Took of my long sleeve shirt and gave it to the volunteer to get to Sasha after the handoff.  Took off in the dark to tackle the hill ahead.  Splits started off ok, in the 6:17 to 6:35 pace through 3 miles, but then fatigue, wind and the hill took its toll and the next 2.11M were slower at 7:09 to a 7:31 pace.  Came into the exchange with the volunteers yelling our number...but no Taylor.  Waited some period of time (not sure) and then Taylor came bolting out of the crowd to grab the baton.  Found out van 1 fell asleep and did not make it to the exchange before me, so van 2 had no idea when I was coming in.  When I hit the exchange, I pressed the wrong button on the GPS (lap rather than stop) so my clock kept running and I told Sasha the wrong split time.  My pace was still back about 1 minute from prediction and I was disappointed again in my performance.  The only real thing that kept me going was the runners I was passing...lost count at 35 (because I probably couldn't count anymore due to fatigue and lack of ability to count in my head at this point).

Back into the van and off to the high school for some sleep.  Once there, most folks grabbed their bags and hit the grass for some sleep.  I ended up just laying down in the van and caught about 1.5 hours of sleep.  At 4am, the alarm went off the head to the next major exchange.

total time:  34:40 (Tangents - 222 miles)

Leg 30 - 3.55M at 7:25am

My legs are totally thrashed and I am working on fumes from lack of sleep.  The team is still performing well, but we are now about 40 minutes back of BYU and about 40 minutes ahead of the blue team in a solid second place.  Took the handoff from Sasha (after running a great leg) and headed down the dirt road.  First mile in 5:38 and feeling ok, then the wheels fell of and the next 2 were in 5:59 and  6:14.  My quads were dead and heavy with lactic acid and just wouldn't go. Again focused on passing runners to get through the finish with a 6:02 pace for the 0.55M left.  DONE!  Now just time to relax and watch van 2 perform and come in strong to the finish.  Talked to Jon after his leg for the blue team and found out he beat me in all 3 legs by about 2 minutes!  Great work Jon.

total time: 21:09  (Tangents - 230 miles including wu and cd)

Drove to the finish line to rest and await the teams to come in.  The team ran in with Clyde as the fourth team to finish, second place overall behind BYU by 35 minutes.  Finally got to have a beer with Adam (only took 2 relays to get it done!).  Overall a good performance by the team.  I am disappointed that I didn't hit any of my projections and contributed so much to our missing  mark.  I think the lack of any real speed work since Ogden contributed to this.  It was great to see all the guys and meet a few of the folks on the blog face to face.

After the race, got everyone situated, drove back with Walter, Kimball, Cody, Steve Hooper and Deborah and made the trek home after a couple of drop offs.   Thanks to Sasha, Steve and Paul for contributing so much to the teams.  Thanks to Kory for driving his truck down and back (and staying awake for the drive!).