Philippians 4:13

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.