Philippians 4:13

Nice MP (6:08) run on a beautiful afternoon on a pancake flat course today...felt very easy like I was running closer to 7:00 pace. Thick of the taper, so shorter run at a faster pace today was great.

Easy early morning 4M on a chilly morning. Felt good...get a good 5-6M in at lunch today and then coast through the rest of the week. St. George here I come!

Good MP 5.85M run at lunch today...felt great and not hard at all for a 6:20 avg. pace (even heading into the strong wind).  Now, all easy miles for the rest of the week (5-6M each the next 2 days, Thurs off, Fri a short 2-3M). 

Pretty easy 5M run at lunch today averaging 6:34 pace. Splits were pretty good: 6:44, 6:40, 6:30, 6:33, 6:23. Pace was very easy...feeling good for this weekend, no aches, pains, injuries (knock on wood right now).

Nice easy 4.8M run at a 6:34 pace that felt pretty effortless.  Ran in my marathon race shoes, unless I wear my Saucony Tangents.  No run tomorrow and we are off to St. George! 

Planned day off.  Drove to St. George on about the windiest day ever!  Had the gas floored a few times and it seemed like we were barely moving.  ALso got stuck in a major traffic jam in Sandy, Utah...45 minutes to clear a wreck.

Got to town, checked into Hilton Garden Inn Hotel, grabbed some dinner, took the kids swimming in the pool (bumped into Brett Zundel from Rexburg!).   

Nice easy 3.5M run on the trails behind the HGI and Dixie Center at 6:30am this morning in 23:29.  Just a quick shakedown run to keep the legs moving.

Looking forward to seeing everyone today and about running the race tomorrow.

Going to the expo early probably, then taking the kids to the dinosaur museum and my wife shopping.  Heading to the bloggers party tonight.

Great race overall!  Nice day for a race...the weather really cooperated after the winds the past few days.  Cool but not bad at the start.  Hooked up with the bloggers in the starting area.  Gun went off early (barely had dropped our bags when it sounded!).

1st half:  1:18:36

2nd half:  1:13:30

Felt great afterwards, but feel I left it out all there for this race.  Great meeting and running with all the Bloggers!  Way to go everyone.

Splits:

1-6:00  Running with James Barnes and Brett Hill.  Cold but not bad, glad I have the gloves but anymore clothes would have been too hot.

2-6:05  Easing into the race here still on the uphill.

3-5:42  First downhill.

4-5:37  Downhill feeling good so opening up a bit

5-5:47

6-5:32  Pass the first place woman

7-5:29  First GU.

8-6:35  Vejo Hill, what a climb

9-6:20  Recovering after the hill.

10-6:16  (I remembering hearing a 59:25 time at this point).

11-6:33 Don't know what happened here, but slowed for some reason

12-6:10  The end of the hills!

13-5:51  Half way mark in 1:18:36ish.

14-5:47  Drop Brett Hill and running with the 1st place woman again. She indicated a goal of 2:34.

15-5:27  Drop first place woman.  Second GU.

16-5:14  Great downhill and feeling good.  Start to feel my left hamstring...a little tight but nothing bad and it feels better when opening up on the downhills.

17-5:30  One guy passes me here (Pepi Peterson).

18-5:31 

19-5:56  Pretty good hill here.  Pass 2 guys.

20-5:42 

21-5:21  Nice downhill, pass 3 more guys, including first place master. 3rd GU.  Look at my GPS and see a 4:23 pace on the screen, at 21 miles!

22-5:51  Can see town and the downhills continue.

23-5:31  Feeling strong.

24-5:27  Nice downhill into town. Pass 2 guys here.

25-5:44  Still feeling pretty good and running strong.

26-5:54  Pass a guy before the turn onto 300 South, feeling great!

0.2-1:17 (5:31 pace).  Push hard at the end but can't quite make sub 2:31, but very happy with the result...right on target!

Great race, ran with James Barnes (through 3) and Brett Hill for the first half and then solo for rest of race. Much more uphill than anticipated or advertised but second half is a fast course (new HM PR of 1:13:30ish!).