Wheeler Farm Loops

[Using this page to link all my 2011 race results in one place. Race name links to the race report. Pictures link goes to my personal blog.]

XTerra AZ McDowell Mountain 15 Miles (1:28:19, 1st) - Pictures SLC Winter Series 15K (50:29, 3rd) - Pictures  Antelope Island Buffalo Run 50K (3:38:02, 1st) - Pictures   SLC Running Company 5K (15:45, 1st) - Pictures    Provo City Half Marathon (1:10:52, 2nd) - Pictures   Smile Center Memorial Day 10K (31:55, 3rd) - Pictures   Fight for Air 5K (14:47, 1st)  Utah Valley Marathon (2:21:47, 4th) -  Pictures   Mammoth Lakes Freedom Mile (4:37, 3rd) - Pictures   Draper Days 5K (15:04, 4th) - Pictures   National Guard 5K (15:49, 3rd)  Park City Trail 15K (51:05, 1st) - Pictures   Top of Utah Half Marathon (1:05:40, 2nd) - Pictures   OktoberFAST 5K (15:09, 1st) - Pictures   Long Beach Half Marathon (1:05:45, 3rd) - Pictures - More Pics Turkey Trot Tune-Up 5K (15:26, 1st) - Pictures   Philadelphia Marathon (2:25:57, 13th) - Pictures - More Pics

All races from the following year are here: 2012 Race Recaps

These are all of my 2012 races. Race reports from the previous year are here: 2011 Races

SLC Winter Series 5K (15:20, 1st) SLC Winter Series 15K (48:04, 1st) Mountain to Fountain 15K (45:53, 4th) Boston Marathon (2:30:21, 23rd) Thanksgiving Point Half (1:10:58, 4th) Provo City 5K (15:01, 1st) Memorial Day 10K (31:06, 2nd) Fontana Days 5K (14:10, 2nd) State Street Mile (4:12, 9th) Portland Track Fest 10K (30:03, 9th) US 1/2 Marathon Champs (1:06:02, 27th) Lavender Half Marathon (1:12:36, 4th) Dash for Donation (16:20, 1st) TOU Half Marathon (1:06:03, 1st) Wildcat Half Marathon (1:10:12, 2nd) Layton Classic 5K (15:17, 1st) TOU Marathon (2:22:12, 1st) Great Pumpkin Run (15:09, 2nd) Utah Fittest State Festival (1:15:50, 16:57, 2nd) Newtown Turkey Trot 5K (15:49, 2nd)

All of my 2013 races. Results from previous years are here: 2011 - 2012

RnR AZ Half Marathon - 1:05:55 (2nd)
SLC Winter Series 10K - 32:26 (2nd)
Phoenix Marathon - 2:23:55 (1st)
Utah Spring Classic 5K (15:36, 2nd)
SLC Half Marathon (1:07:39, 3rd)
Utah Valley 1/2 Marathon (1:07:11, 3rd)
USA 1/2 Championship (1:06:36, 60th)
Sugarhouse Relay Carnival (15:59, FUN!)
Murray Days 5K (15:44, 3rd)
Sawtelle Stampede (1:15:03, 2nd)
Tour de Run (1:11:05, 2nd)
Draper Days 5K (15:09, 4th)
Deseret News 10K (29:45, 5th)
Park City Trail 15K (56:15, 1st)
Dart Challenge 5K (15:08, 2nd)
Top of Utah 1/2 (1:05:39, 2nd)
Utah XC Invitational 6K (19:37, 13th)
Layton Classic 5K (15:26, 1st)
Kansas City Plaza 10K (31:06, 2nd)
Top of Utah Marathon (2:23:33, 2nd)
SoJo 5K (15:11, 1st)
Indy Monumental 1/2 (1:05:54, 7th)
Saltair Half Marathon (1:10:01, 1st)
Mesa Turkey Trot 10K (31:00, 1st)
CIM (2:20:41, 13th)

All 2014 race results:

USA 1/2 Champs (1:07:26, 55th)
SLC Winter 5K (15:33, 5th)
SLC Winter 10K (32:38, 3rd)
SLC Winter 15K (48:43, 2nd)
Phoenix 1/2 (1:07:00, 1st)
USA 10 Mile Champs (50:12, 26th)
Indy Mini 1/2 (1:07:00, 16th)
Garry Bjorklund 1/2 (Jun 21)
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Top of Utah 1/2 (1:07:37, 1st)
Layton Classic 10K (32:33, 2nd)
Top of Utah Marathon (2:28:14, 3rd)
Chicago Marathon (2:21:12, 35th)
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Previous years - 2011 - 2012 - 2013

2015 Race Results

USA XC Champs (40:42, 48th)

Phoenix 1/2 (1:09:46, 5th)

London Marathon  (Withdrawal Notice)

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(Can I classify these two as races?)

Ragnar Wasatch Back

Merkel Wedding Mile

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"Retirement" Speech
 

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Training for El Nino / Comeback / Farewell Tour:

SoJo 5K (16:04, 1st)

Saltair 5K (15:23, 1st)

USATF-Utah XC 5K (16:22, 2nd)

Newtown Turkey Trot 5K (16:01, 2nd)

Cow Chip XC (16:19, 1st)

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Previous years - 2011 - 2012 - 2013 - 2014

2016 Race Results

Memorial Day 5K - DNS
Freedom Half Marathon - DNS
Dash for Donation 5K - 16:46
TOU Marathon - DNF
EMR 10K - DNS
SOJO Half Marathon - DNS
Saltair 5K - DNS
Newtown Turkey Trot 5K - 
California International Marathon - DNS (Journal)

Previous years: 2011 - 2012 - 2013 - 2014 - 2015

PR Table

All Marathons
2011 Utah Valley - 2:21:46 (4th)
2011 Philadelphia - 2:25:57 (13th)
2012 Boston - 2:30:21 (23rd)
2012 Top of Utah - 2:22:12 (1st)
2013 Phoenix - 2:23:55 (1st)
2013 Top of Utah - 2:23:33 (2nd)
2013 California International - 2:20:41 (13th)
2014 Top of Utah - 2:28:14 (3rd)
2014 Chicago - 2:21:12 (35th)

Selected Half Marathons
2011 Top of Utah - 1:05:40 (2nd)
2011 Long Beach - 1:05:45 (4th)
2012 USA Championships - 1:06:02 (27th)
2012 Top of Utah - 1:06:03 (1st)
2013 Rock n Roll Arizona - 1:05:55 (2nd)
2013 USA Championships - 1:06:36 (60th)
2013 Top of Utah - 1:05:39 (2nd)
2013 Indianapolis Monumental - 1:05:54 (7th)
2014 Phoenix - 1:07:00 (1st)
2014 Top of Utah - 1:07:37 (1st)

Other notable races
2012 Mountain to Fountain 15K - 45:53 (4th)
2012 Portland Track Festival 10K - 30:03 (9th)
2013 Kansas City Plaza 10K - 31:06 (2nd)
2013 Mesa Turkey Trot 10K - 31:00 (1st)
2014 Cherry Blossom 10M / US Champs - 50:12 (16th)

Race Report on my blog: http://wasatchandbeyond.blogspot.com/2011/02/xterra-mcdowell-mountain-trail-race.html

Race recap on my blog: http://wasatchandbeyond.blogspot.com/2011/02/slc-track-club-15k.html

Race recap on my blog: http://wasatchandbeyond.blogspot.com/2011/03/antelope-island-buffalo-run-race-report.html

Race recap: http://wasatchandbeyond.blogspot.com/2011/04/5k-and-powder-day.html

Photos: http://wasatchandbeyond.blogspot.com/2011/05/slc-5k-pictures.html

Really happy with this one... shows the big mileage over the winter is paying off and my speed is coming around since the 50K. Averaged 5:29s for the first 6 miles, then 5:25s for the next 4, and then ran sub 5:20s for the last 5K. Nice controlled negative split race.

Full report here: http://wasatchandbeyond.blogspot.com/2011/05/provo-city-half-marathon.html

AM - 20.2 miles. Easy long run in the rain, 11 w/ Andrea.

PM - 2.8 miles. Shakeout w/ Andrea.

AM - 11.8 mi. Ran to Sugarhouse w/ Andrea then to work.

PM - 8.3 mi. Ran to Sugarhouse and did a few laps w/ Andrea.

AM - 10.2 mi. Ran to work.

PM - 11.2 mi. Ran to Highland track and met Andrea for a workout... 400-800-1200-1600-1600-1200-800-400 w/ 200m jog b/w reps.  4s and 8s @ 5K pace, 12s @ 10K pace, 16s @ 15K pace. Good workout. 

AM - 13.8 mi. Ran w/ Andrea for a bit and then up to work.

PM - 6.5 mi. Ran to Sugarhouse, met Andrea along the way, did a loop and called it a day. 85 miles in the last 4 days... tomorrow I'm taking an easy day in terms of running, but planning to go big w/ some ski mountaineering objectives. Then a long run on Saturday. 

AM - 10 miles on the trails in Dimple Dell park. 

Not exactly what I had planned for the morning... I had the day off from work and planned on doing a big ski mountaineering day. Long story short, conditions were unstable, and I took a very scary fall... came out of it with some bruises and cuts, but luckily nothing major. Got humbled by the mountains today. I wrote more about what happened on my website: http://wasatchandbeyond.blogspot.com/2011/05/lesson-learned-in-limber-pine.html

So after I decided to pull the plug on my ski day, I went for a nice run in Dimple Dell to clear my head. Great to be on those wood chip trails.... and even better to finally be running shirtless! Its about time!

 PM - Ran from home up to Sugarhouse, met Andrea, and did a few loops around the park. 

AM - Long run w/ Andrea and my friend Bryan from work. Started at Mutual Dell golf course, ran down Emigration Canyon, then along Wasatch Drive/Blvd to the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon.  http://twitpic.com/4xk55e  Andrea ran 17 and then jumped on a bike that we had stashed along the route. I pretty much always do long runs w/ no water, so it was nice to be able to actually take some drinks while Andrea was biking along and could hand me a bottle. Great run... feeling awesome... 4 weeks until UVM!!!

 PM - Did the hardest thing I know... RESTED. No running, no skiing, no biking. My back was pretty sore from my fall yesterday, so I figured it needed some extra rest. I don't want that problem to linger around. 

AM - 10.8 miles. Felt fresh and sharp.

PM -  Andrea (wisely) talked me out of doing anymore running! We skied a few laps up at Alta, then rode our bikes for a while...

http://wasatchandbeyond.blogspot.com/2011/05/recovery-weekend.html 

AM - 6.4 mi. Easy run. Workout later today.

PM - 16 mi. Tempo run on bike path, out & back. Andrea biked along with the GPS. Ran 13.1 miles in 1:12. Felt super smooth and even a lot easier than the race a week ago. Having Andrea keep me on pace really helped. This is a big confidence booster for UVM. Up until last weekend, it would have been a 30 second half marathon PR.

AM - 7.5 mi. Ran to Sugarhouse w/ Andrea then up to work. Felt a little tired, but not as tired as I thought I would be after last night's workout.

PM - 7.5 mi. Ran back down to Sugarhouse, met Andrea, ran a loop and then ran 5x200 w/ her @ her 5K pace.

AM - 7.7 mi. Ran to work.

PM - 9 mi. Ran down to the track and met Andrea. It was raining, but the weather doesn't look like it will be any better tomorrow, so we went ahead w/ the workout we had planned... We did 6 x 800m @ 10K goal pace w/ a 200m jog. Went fine (Avg 2:30) except my hands were frozen at the end!

AM - 9.1 mi. Ran to work. Cold and raining. Ugh. In the winter I call this "character building weather." But I feel like at this point, my character is already built! :-) I want nice weather!

PM - 6.1 Ran down to the park and met Andrea.

AM - 20 mi. Woke up to the sound of thunder and pouring rain. Lovely. Went back to sleep for a few minutes and finally got out the door just after 5am. Figured I might as well just get the long run in. Highland - 6200S - Wasatch - Parleys - up to Campus. Some good net elevation gain on this one. This will probably be the last 20 miler before UVM.

PM - 4.5 mi. Quick lunch run, now heading down the St George / Zion until Monday night. Hopefully we'll bring back some nicer weather!

AM - 7.5 mi. Ran in St George w/ Andrea. Mix of some trails and on the roads. We spent the rest of the day hiking around Snow Canyon w/ Andrea & my parents: https://picasaweb.google.com/Jake.Krong/SnowCanyon#

Great to be in some WARM weather! Snow Canyon was really cool. It was our first time there.

AM - 13 mi.  Andrea and I started in Springdale and ran on SR-9 to Virgin. She was doing this as a progression run and I was just along for the ride! She ran a great workout, and its awesome that last year a 13 miler would have been a long, long run for her, and now she is doing runs like this and averaging 6:0-something pace for the last 5 miles and is totally in control.

Once we hit Virgin, my parents were waiting for us... we drive up the Kolob Res road and hiked from the Wildcat Canyon trailhead to the West Rim Trail, and then all the way to the Angels Landing trailhead. It was about a 21.5 mile hike. So a pretty long day overall! I'll post some photos from that hike shortly.

AM - 7 mi. Easy run in Hurricane.

PM - 6.5 mi. Ran a loop around Sand Hollow Reservoir. 83 degrees and sunny. A few hours later we drive back up to SLC and hit the 50 degree rain again! Ugh!

AM - 9 mi. Ran to work. Several easy days in a row have my legs feeling really fresh, which is good after putting in some hard work for the previous couple weeks.

PM - 8.5 mi. Down to the park and did a lap w/ Andrea, then to the track... just wanted to do something light to get my legs moving - 8x200m (200m jog) in 33-34 seconds. My left calf had been tight since the long hike on Saturday, but this seemed to loosen it up, so mission accomplished.

AM - 6.4 mi. Easy morning run. Feels like cheating to only run for 45 mins! :-)

PM - 8.1 mi. Track workout at Sugarhouse. The idea was to do some "rhythm"  reps to tune up for the 10K on Saturday. Everything was done w/ a 200m recovery jog:

400 (75), 400 (76), 800 (2:32), 400 (74), 800 (2:31), 400 (74), 800 (2:29), 400 (73), 400 (68) 

 Felt smooth and easy. Looking forward to racing this weekend. 

AM - 7.7 mi. Ran up to work.

PM - 4.7 mi. Down to the park. Then to Costco to get lots of free samples!

AM - 6.3 mi. Easy jog. Race tomorrow.

AM - 10 mi. Ran the 10K in Orem... 31:55 for 3rd... I'm pretty happy with that... I just wanted a hard effort and to get under 32 mins. My PR is 31:39, on the track, at sea level, so this is a solid indicator 2 weeks out from UVM.

Teren took off quick from the start, shadowed by a BYU guy who I don't know... I hung back, but really wish I had just gone out a touch faster and put myself in the mix, because we turned and ran into the wind for the second mile, and it would have been nice to be latched onto somebody for that part. According the the mile markers, I was 5:15 at Mile 1, and then 5:33 for Mile 2, and 4:19 for Mile 3! Haha I don't think so! I don't know why its so difficult to get mile markers in the correct spots! Anyways, at that point Teren and BYU guy were pretty far ahead, and I had no confidence in any of the splits, so I resigned to just run steadily hard the rest of the way. Not by any means an amazing performance, but I did what I set out to do, and felt recovered almost immediately afterwards. I'm definitely in much better shape for longer races than shorter races right now.

Andrea ran great once again... winning the women's race in 37:10 and she knocked over 20 seconds off the course record. She's ready to run another great half at Utah Valley in 2 weeks. 

(Added the recap on our other blog, which has Andrea's report that she posted on here as well) 

PM - Easy 30 minutes... was bored and wanted to shake the legs out a bit. 

AM - 16.5 mi. Started at East High track and ran up Emigration Canyon. Easy (7:05 pace) on the way up, then came back down quicker (5:27 pace). Wanted to get my legs used to a little more downhill pounding. Was actually surprised I was running sub 5:30 pace b/c it felt a lot easier. That's a good thing! I think my downhill running form is getting a lot smoother.

Today marks the end of a streak for me. I count my weekly mileage starting on Monday and ending on Sunday... for the previous 27 weeks (starting November 15th), I haven't run less than 100 miles (GRAPH). The average for those 27 weeks was 124 miles / week. (This week I'm at 95 and I'm not running again today... and I'll cut back quite a bit more in the next 12 days). This is pretty incredible if you knew my injury history from 2003-2008... I don't think I was ever able to run triple digits for more than 3-4 weeks w/out something going wrong. 

So no matter what happens at UVM, I've already accomplished what I set out to do... I got myself back in the game. After falling below expectations in college, and then not even running a single race from summer 2008 until 4 months ago (and running maybe 45 mpw during that time), I've gotten myself back to a competitive level, I'm totally healthy, and I love running more than I ever have (but I'm not obsessed with it like I used to be). I have a much better balance in my life these days (and Andrea gets 99% of the credit for that!). My next 5-10 years will be my best years of running... I truly believe that.

AM - 11 mi. Started at Mt Olympus high school, down to 6200S then back on Wasatch blvd. Planned on doing a set of 200s at the end of the run, but jogged over to the track and realized all the construction equipment I saw when I was pulling in was there b/c they have torn out the track! So no 200s. But at least there will be a track new track close to home once they put the new one in.

I can't believe the Collins plot at Alta is showing 10" of new snow. A huge part of me wants to ski, but I've skied a ton this winter and right now I shouldn't be doing much other than resting. Boooo! :-) 

PM - Couldn't resist going to up Solitude and skiing a quick lap. There's still as much snow up there as there was 5 weeks ago! 

From Memorial Day 10K

 

AM - 4.5 mi easy.

PM - 13 mi. Last big workout before Utah Valley. Plan was to do 2 x 5 miles @ MP. I usually do tempo runs on the Jordan River Bike Path, but figured it was probably flooded, so I drove out west of the airport and started from Exit 111 and ran on the frontage road (where the SLC Track Club does the winter series races). I rode west 2.5 miles on my bike and marked out 1/2 mile splits with chalk on the road. I figured I'd do out & back loops. It was pretty windy, but since I was running east to west and back, and the wind was primarily from the south, it was more of a cross-wind.

(1 mile warmup) 
Rep #1 - 5:21, 5:21, 5:15, 5:21, 5:09 = 26:37
(1 mile recovery)
Rep #2 - 5:13, 5:11, 5:18, 5:18, 5:09 = 26:09
(1 mile cooldown)

The hay is in the barn now, so to speak. This obviously ended up being a bit faster than marathon pace, but I felt totally in control the whole time, and was actually surprised it ended up being so quick. But not too surprised, b/c I feel like I've jumped to a new level, and this is where I'm at now. Between the 10K on Saturday, a big negative split longer run on Sunday, and this workout today, I've done quite a bit of quality running in the past 4 days. Now its time to rest and not doing anything silly in the next 10 days :-)

AM - 4.5 mi. Easy run up on campus. Recovery, recovery, recovery.
PM - 3.6 mi. Two laps around Sugarhouse. 

AM - 7.2 mi. Easy run up to work.
PM - 6 mi. Ran to the track and did 6x200m in ~33 seconds 

AM - 6.3 mi. Easy run w/ Andrea. Third straight easy day... feels pretty good! We're running a 5K tomorrow as a last little shakeout/tuneup workout before UVM. I'm definitely more geared towards a 50 mile race than a 5K right now, but it should be fun!

Last tune-up before UVM... the race started at Tanner Park and finished in Sugarhouse. Got a much better warmup than before the 10K last weekend. The first 1.5 miles of the course had a net drop, then it was pretty much flat the rest of the way. Definitely a nice, fast course (although it was also definitely long... we measured it twice, and both times it was about 90 meters long).

My primary competition was Andrea, so I didn't have anyone with me right from the start. I came through the first mile in 4:29... whew!... haven't run that fast since some track races in DC 3 year ago... kept cruising on the second mile, which I hit in 4:38 (9:08 at 2 miles). At this point my focus shifted to making sure I didn't do anything to hurt myself (I've had a slight groin pull that I'm hoping doesn't act up in the marathon next weekend), so I took the pedal off the gas a bit in the third mile (5:10). I had a ton of half-marathon runners to catch in the last stretch, and came through in 14:47. Somehow the posted results had me ~5-6 seconds slower, but there is no way that is correct... I stopped my watch after going past both of the timing mats because I was trying to be very conservative with my time.

Pretty happy with how good I felt today. So far I think I am getting the taper right :-)

Andrea finished 2nd overall in 16:52. Flying!!! 

Easy 11 miler w/ Andrea this morning. 

Headed up to Alta to ski some corn in the sunshine... some photos on our blog of how its looking up there.... then came home and went swimming! I think winter might finally be over! Ski day #50 of the season for me... not as much as last year (108 days)... but pretty good for working a Mon-Fri job and running about four times as much mileage this winter!

From June 5 Skiing

 

AM - 7.2 mi. Ran up to work. Feeling excellent this morning.
PM - 4.3 mi. Down to Sugarhouse... then 8 x 50-60m strides on the track while Andrea was doing her shakeout run.

AM - 4.5 miles easy on campus.
PM - 5.3 miles. Last little workout before the weekend. Met Andrea and measured out a mile w/ our bikes on Wasatch Blvd that had an average -1% gradient. Down for 2/3 of the way and then back up a bit over the last 1/3. Ran 2 x 1 mile w/ jogging the mile back as recovery - 4:57, 4:55. Felt like about half-marathon effort. Ready to roll!

AM - 6.2 miles. Easy run through a few of the parks w/ Andrea.
PM - 1 mile... just an easy jog to loosen up after work.

AM - 4.5 miles easy.
PM - 1.5 miles at the track. Quick warmup, then 4 x 200m in 41 seconds... feeling out race pace. Goal #1 for Saturday is to try and NOT run faster than 5:20 for the first mile!

AM - 4.5 miles easy w/ Andrea. Legs felt bouncy and sharp this morning...the calm before the storm...

The short story: Marathon debut, 2:21:46, negative split (71:10 / 70:36), and actually ran a half-marathon PR for the second half of the race.

The long version: Today was a most excellent day. It was fun and rewarding and just felt damn good to run fast. I've put in a lot of miles this winter in an effort to get myself back to a competitive level of running. Four to five months ago my goal for this race was to get to the starting line healthy and run under 2:37 (~6 min pace). As the spring (or endless winter) progressed, consistency was the name of the game, and my fitness steadily improved. A week after running a half-marathon PR at the Provo City Half, I did a 13 mile tempo that told me I had jumped to a new level. For the last 3 weeks leading up to UVM, my workouts were fantastic, and I felt great pretty much every single day as I tapered down the mileage. I knew I was ready for a special run today. My goal was to run ~1:13 for the first half and then negative split... but even with that objective in mind and realizing that the marathon is a long race that deserves a lot of respect, my real "plan" was to run without any external or internal limits... to just go out there, lay my cards down, and let it happen... I woke up almost every hour last night hoping it was finally 3:30am and time to get going.

Now to the race... perfect temps at the start, cool and dry. Bryant Jensen and the 2 Kenyans separated right from the gun, I hung back in the second pack w/ Paul, Dave, Clyde, and Sasha. The first mile felt super easy (5:47). We picked it up a bit on the second mile (5:29) but it was still conversational. The gap to the lead pack was getting big, so Paul and I took off a bit after 2 miles. Mile 3-5 were 4:59, 5:17, 5:23. Paul kept increasing the pace so I let him go, realizing I was going at a nice tempo at that point. Mile 6 was 5:15, then we hit the rolling hills for miles 7-9 (5:32, 5:31, 5:44). The next mile was back to 5:15 for a ten mile split of 54:16. A little faster than planned, but I was feeling great, despite running alone since the ~5.5 miles.

Miles 11-13 were 5:25, 5:36, 5:23. I passed one of the Kenyans at the 12 mile marker and moved into 4th place. Came through the half-marathon in 1:11:10. Faster than I thought I would, but I was feeling great, and the plan was to run with no limits, right? I knew that unless one of the guys ahead of me really blew up, they weren't coming back, and nobody from behind was going to catch me, so I focused on running my own race.

Miles 14-20 were 5:28, 5:23, 5:37 (uphill the whole way, I was actually really happy about this split), 5:22, 5:16, 5:24, 5:15. Twenty miles in 1:48:31, and that means my ten mile splits were 54:16 / 54:15. Very consistent. Miles 21-22 were 5:22, 5:17. Now I'm starting to feel it a bit. Not really in my legs, but in my TOES! I could feel a couple blisters coming at about 16 miles. Now they were hurting pretty bad, but nothing I couldn't fight through. Miles 23-24 were 5:26, 5:37 (hill). Hurting a bit but keeping it together... For the last few miles I started thinking "keep every mile under 5:30, and break 2:23"... Mile 25 was 5:21. Back on track. Andrea was at this point and cheered me on. Put the pedal down a bit and ran 5:13 for the 26th mile. I'm trying to do the math in my head... can I possibly get under 2:22?... when I hit the final chute I saw 2:21-something on the clock, then put my head down, and just absolutely went for it. The crowd was great, and anyone that saw the finish can attest that I was probably the most excited 4th place finisher of all-time! Ran 57 seconds for the final 0.2, almost tripping over my own feet as I was pumping my fists, and came in at 2:21:46. The second half of the race was 1:10:36, which is the fastest half-marathon I've ever run.

I had to take my shoes off as soon as I finished, so I just sat down on the ground and waited for Andrea to come find me. Needless to say, my excitement doubled when she told me that she won the half-marathon! As happy as I've been about my improvement curve over the past 6 months, I'm even more stoked for her... and I honestly mean it when I say that there's no way that I would been able to run so well today without her day-to-day support. 

This race feels good in a lot of ways. I'm sure I'll have a better perspective on it in the next few days. For now I'm just going to enjoy it and not try to over-analyze it. I put in the miles, did smart workouts, had fun doing it, and executed a great race today.

It was great to finally meet a bunch of you guys today. Hopefully Andrea and I will see you at a lot more races in the future. I also want to thank Hyrum and the UVM staff for putting on an excellent event... every detail was covered and very professionally done.

Now we're going to take a few easy weeks, ski, bike, hike, and let the bodies re-charge.

The next marathon is going to be Philadelphia in November. Goal time... TBD :-)  ...but if I've learned anything about myself in the last few months as I've built up towards this race, its that I'm not putting any limits on what I'm capable of.

AM - 2.2 miles. Easy "shake out the kinks" run. Surprisingly, I'm not really even sore. The balls of my feet and a few toes are blistered... but my legs feel fine. Of course that makes me think I could have run harder! :-) The toe pain I had in the last few miles was perhaps as much of a limiting factor as muscular fatigue. Whatever... I'm not second guessing yesterday's race at all!

Cruised around on bikes for a few hours in the afternoon (primarily looking to see which store had the best sale on M&Ms), and catching up on some chores that have been neglected in the past week. Nice to just enjoy an easy day.

AM - Rode my bike up to work. Took almost as long as it take me to run!
PM - 3 miles. Biked down to Sugarhouse, ran w/ Andrea, then biked home. I feel great... but I'm still taking it super easy this week.

I did a little breakdown of splits of UVM at work today that I think is interesting (which I also posted on my other blog, and that version includes a gross picture of my foot that I didn't want to subject everyone on here to look at!)... I took my mile splits and compared them to Paul's. We ran together for the first 6 miles, before he pulled away and chased down the leaders. He ended up finishing 2 minutes and 17 seconds ahead of me, and I wanted to see at what point during the race I lost that time to him.

After Paul put a small gap on me during the 7th mile, I actually made up some time on mile 8-9, which were primarily uphill and pretty difficult. At mile 10 Paul caught the leaders and obviously that spiced things up a bit up front, and they started flying. From 10-19 is where they really pulled away, except for miles 12 and 16, which had big hills. Over the last 10K, I actually ran fairly close to what Paul ran.

So, the positives I take from this are that I ran the uphills very well and closed strong for the last 10K. I'm much stronger on uphills than downhills... so that is something I need to work on... but I'm glad that its not the other way around. The middle part of the race will come with more training and experience. It would not have been wise to try and match Paul's acceleration after the 6th mile... I may have been able to hang for a while, but it absolutely would have come back to bite me later on. I'm happy that I was smart enough to let him go and focus on running my own race, and running negative splits.

If you saw allie's video of my finish, its clear that I had something left in the tank at the end. That is another good sign.

AM - 4.5 mi
PM - Skied a lap at Alta... nothing like skiing in plaid shorts at 7pm! On a good note, my toe blisters are healed enough to wear ski boots, which means they are 99% better.

From Random June

AM - 6.7 mi. Now I'm sitting in the airport... flying to Philadelphia (work conference) for the remainder of the week. The upside of this trip is that I get to run a bit of the marathon course.

AM - 9 miles from downtown Philly to the art museum, and then on the path along the Schuylkill River. Out and back. Nice run. 

AM - 9 miles along the river again in Philly... the final miles of the marathon course. There is a short, gradual uphill over the last quarter mile of the course. Definitely will be remembering that one in November!

Flew back from Philly early this morning. Ran 11.4 miles easy w/ Andrea when I got back.

AM - 7.7 miles, rain run! We were planning of skiing Superior or Timp today, but obviously the weather gods are not cooperating. So now we are prepping gear for vacation (leaving next Friday). We're going to Tahoe and then either Mt Shasta or the Sierra Eastside for skiing, trail running, and biking. Luckily the planning isn't as extensive as last summer's "vacation", a 225 mile thru-hike on the John Muir Trail.

AM - 10.1 miles easy

AM - 10.8 miles. Ran 40 minutes solo, then looped back home and did 5 mi w/ Andrea.

AM - 10.7 miles. Let myself run a little quicker this morning and it felt good. Getting excited about our upcoming vacation. We are leaving for California on Friday afternoon... heading to Tahoe/Mammoth Lakes for 10 days of skiing, running, and biking.
PM - 3.2 miles easy run w/ Andrea.

AM - 7.2 miles, easy run up to work.
PM - 5.8 miles. Ran down to the track and did 6 x 200m, averaging 31 seconds. We're going to be in Mammoth Lakes on July 4th, and they have a road mile race that day as part of the town's festivities... and according to twitter, it seems like Josh Cox will probably be running, along with who knows how many other Olympians that live there... so I just wanted to see if I had any turnover in my legs after the marathon (I do). If I end up doing the run, it will be at the end of our trip, so I won't be taking it too seriously.

AM - 7.2 miles up to work.
PM - 4.4 miles, from work to downtown... Andrea picked me up and we drove all the way to Carson City, NV.

AM - 8 miles on a foothill jeep trail in Carson City, with a few nice climbs. 
PM - 4.5 miles around some South Tahoe neighborhoods.

In between we did a great bike ride at Heavenly up one of the service roads... about a 2500 foot climb over the first half of an 11 mile ride. Stopped once we hit too much snow.

From Summer Vacation - South Tahoe

From Summer Vacation - South Tahoe

 

Another great multi-sport day. Did a quick 5.5 mile run on the lake in the morning, then went to ski Mt. Tallac, the most prominent peak seen from South Tahoe. Even though its almost July and Tahoe is only @ 6K feet, the couloirs are still pretty filled in. We skied an awesome line called the Cathedral Couloir, which had a nice, steep entry off the top. Lots of fun. Finished up the day with some mountain biking. Put up a bunch of pics on my picasa page. 

From Summer Vacation - South Tahoe

AM - 8 miles on the Rubicon Trail around Emerald Bay w/ Andrea. Amazing trail, right on the water. One of the most beautiful trails I have ever run.
PM - 5 miles in Kings Beach w/ Andrea biking along.

In between we skied 2 runs at Alpine Meadows in awesome summer conditions. We were able to ski right to the car.

From Summer Vacation - Emerald Bay and Alpine Meadows

We ran around this bay, which was superb.

From Summer Vacation - Emerald Bay and Alpine Meadows

From Summer Vacation - Emerald Bay and Alpine Meadows

AM - 9 miles w/ a handful of lung-busting hills in North Tahoe.
Then skied 2 laps (skinned 3000 feet) at Alpine Meadows (went to Squaw Valley first, but Alpine actually had more snow)... in the afternoon we did an awesome mountain bike ride w/ another 1000 feet of climbing on some XC ski trails that Andrea found. I'm exhausted!

Ran into this guy during lunch...

The running trails here are pretty sweet...

AM - 15 miles. It was raining all night, so we slept in. Ran 8 mi w/ Andrea in Incline Village on the bike path, then ran back to Kings Beach along the lake and added on a few large hills. Gotta take advantage of the perfect altitude (in my opinion, training at ~6500 feet is ideal).
PM - 4 miles

In between, the weather cleared so we went up to Mt Rose, skinned up to the summit, and skied a lap... battling some pretty large suncups on the descent. The next 4 days look perfect - weather going back to sunny, low 80s, and 0% chance of rain. Tomorrow we are headed south to Tioga Pass... should be some awesome skiing... can't wait.

From Summer Vacation - North Tahoe

 

AM - 8 miles in Tahoe
PM - 4 miles on a nice trail in June Lake w/ Andrea. We could definitely feel the lack of O2 now that we are up to 7650 feet! Tomorrow we'll be at 9K in Mammoth.
In between runs, we drove from Tahoe down 395 to Tioga Pass and skied Ellery Bowl. It was INCREDIBLE. The upper section of the bowl was pushing 50 degrees, no exaggeration. Climbing it was a bit scary... dropping in and actually skiing the top took some confidence. Major kudos to Andrea for absolutely rocking this! I would say that this line makes skiing Mt Superior feel like the bunny slope! :-) The scenery in the Yosemite high country is stunning... even if you aren't a skier, you'll appreciate these pics: Tioga Pass / Ellery Bowl

From Summer Vacation - Tioga Pass

AM - 8 miles. Ran a hilly loop around June Lake w/ Andrea, then added on a few more miles.
PM - 3 miles. Wanted to see how 9000 feet felt. Afterwards, I signed up for the road mile in Mammoth on July 4th, so I guess it didn't feel too bad! I'm planning on getting my butt kicked in this race, but it will be a fun way to cap off the trip.

We got to Mammoth Lakes in the afternoon... took a leisurely bike ride around the upper lakes, then skied a lap on the mountain after the lifts closed down for the day. There is a TON of snow here! 

June Lake:
 

Mammoth Crest:

AM - 7 miles. Ran UP the hill from our hotel (which is at 8900 feet). First few minutes were lung-burning!

The rest of the morning was dedicated to skiing. We skinned up to the east side of Mammoth Mountain and skied a few laps on some steeper terrain, then came back over to the main side and took a groomer back to the bottom. A little over 3K feet total. 

After a solid pool/hottub/lunch session, we did an incredibly scenic mountain bike ride on the Inyo Craters loops. 13+ miles and about 1100 feet of uphill. It was all sand, so even the flat sections were a lot of work! This area has an unreal system of forest roads and trails. 

Another shot of Mammoth Crest:

From Summer Vacation - Mammoth Lakes

Andrea riding against an incredible backdrop ...
 

AM - 3.5 miles, up the hill.
PM - 4.5 miles w/ Andrea, then 6 x 50m strides.

Today was basically a scaled-back version of yesterday. We ran, skied a fun couloir that I've been eyeing for a few days, and took an easy bike ride around town. Andrea and I have done a TON of cool stuff on this trip... in addition to running ~80 miles this week, we've skied for 8 straight days, done some great mountain bike rides, and spent a lot of time hot-tubbing! Between running/skiing/biking, I've cranked out ~30-35,000 feet of vertical in the past 9 days... but it doesn't even feel like that much because its been so much fun.

Tomorrow I'll race the mile in the morning, then we have the 9+ hr drive back to SLC.

We took out the camera for a little running photo-shoot today... easy to see why so many elites love Mammoth Lakes...

From Summer Vacation - Mammoth Lakes

From Summer Vacation - Mammoth Lakes

The skiing isn't too shabby for early July, either :-)

Lots more pics of Mammoth Lakes 

Capped off our summer vacation by jumping in the Mammoth Lakes Freedom Mile this morning before we drove back to SLC. Our vacation turned out to be quite a training camp, so I was by no means rested for this one. In fact, my legs were actually a bit dead when I was warming up... so I just wanted to have some fun and see what I could do at 8000 feet. Josh Cox and Tim Tollefson got out in front of me off the start, and I couldn't really mix it up with them. I hung behind Josh & Tim, but he put the gas pedal down at the halfway point, and I resolved to run what felt like 5K effort the rest of the way :-) I wish I had gone harder after Tim, but I had too much fun running/skiing/biking for the past 9 days to have enough in my legs to make that possible. I hope I never have to race anything longer than a mile at that altitude, that's for sure! Cooled down 5 miles w/ Andrea to take advantage of one last chance to run in Mammoth, then made the drive back in 8.5 hours.

This was a good first post-marathon race, and a great end to end the vacation. I feel super strong right now, fully recovered, and I'm totally ready to get back into summer training mode and start building the miles back up... I think the focus for this summer will be to pop a good half at Top of Utah, and then hopefully take a shot at the OTQ this fall if things continue to go well.

From Summer Vacation - Mammoth Lakes

From Summer Vacation - Mammoth Lakes

AM - 9.3 miles. Wasatch Dr from HCI, out & back. Felt good. Now back to real life and work!
PM - 7.4 miles. Up the hill to 215 & back.

AM - 9 miles. Ran up to work. Perfect temps this morning. I was expecting it to be 100 degrees in SLC when we got back from California. This weather is feeling pretty good. Updated my personal blog yesterday w/ all the highlights from our vacation: Summer Vacation Roundup
PM - 8.4 miles. Down to Sugarhouse and ran 2 laps around the park w/ Andrea.

AM - 12 miles. Did a little tempo workout today. Ran from the HCI up Emigration Canyon to the firehouse (6 miles), then did 4 miles quicker coming back down in 20:42, then easy for the last 2 miles back to work. I only knew my start point and the four mile point of the tempo portion, so I has no idea what my pace was until the end. Felt more like ~5:30 effort, so the fact that it was actually under 5:10 pace is a good sign. 

PM - Took the mountain bikes for a spin on the Millcreek pipeline trail. No rattlesnakes!

AM - 7.7 miles. Up to work, nice and easy.
PM - 8.2 miles. Ran home, Andrea met me on her bike and rode back w/ me.

AM - 20 miles in Park City on the rail trail dirt roads. Really nice run... absolutely perfect weather, and did over 90% of the run on soft surfaces. Andrea and I crewed a water station at the 10K trail race in the morning, so biking the course was our warmup. Then after the race was over we started our run. She ran the first ~9 miles w/ me, then escorted me on the bike for the last 11 miles. Averaged 7-flat pace for the first half, then low 6:20s for the second half. Just cruise control pace on a great day. I'm hoping to do a lot of my long runs in PC this summer & fall... I don't know if the little extra altitude boost will help, but it certainly won't hurt!

AM - 11.3 miles. Its hard to beat running early on Sunday mornings... no cars, nice and peaceful. Probably my favorite time to run.
PM - 2.8 miles. A little shakeout run w/ Andrea after we went skiing.

Closed out the ski season by skiing the main chute on Mt Baldy today. Nice way to cap it off.

AM - 9.5 miles up to work, easy.
PM - 8.2 miles home.

AM - 10 miles. Did a workout at Highland/Sugarhouse this morning while it was still nice and cool outside. Ran a few miles to warmup, then did 4x200m in 33-34 secs to get the legs moving. Then did a 2-mile tempo effort on the park inner loop road in 10:11. Jogged back over to the track, ran a mile in 4:52, then 4x200m in 32-33 secs. Cooled down by jogging the perimeter loop. Felt good during the whole thing. 

PM - 7.4 miles easy on the grass at Sugarhouse w/ Andrea. 

AM - 9.5 miles easy up to work.
PM - 7.7 miles home. Today was, I believe, the 4th time in the past 10 days my department at work has had cake in the afternoon. I'm not even sure what or who the parties are for at this point! I just home they keep up this trend as I keep pushing up my mileage!

AM - 8.1 miles up to work. 

PM - 7 miles. Ran from work down to the Sugarhouse track (~5 mi), then did a quick set of reps to feel out 5K pace. Ran 6 x 300m in 53-54 seconds (100m jog in between), and then 2 x 200m in ~32 seconds. Looking forward to running Draper Days on Saturday and seeing if I can be in the mix.

AM - 8 miles. Sunnyside/Wasatch, nice and easy. 
PM - 1 mile shakeout after work.

AM - Draper Days 5K... ran 15:04 for 4th place. We had a pack of 5 (Teren, Jamal, Brandon, James, and myself) that stayed together for about a mile. Came through the 1st mile in 4:50. At that point Teren made a little surge and gapped me a bit. Jamal and Brandon stayed with him. Second mile was 4:41 (had some downhill). I didn't think I'd be able to catch any of the 3 guys in front of me, so I just tried to not slow down too much on the 3rd mile (slightly uphill). Hit the 3rd mile in 5:08. Brandon wasn;t too far ahead at that point, so I tried to throw down a kick (25), but came up just short. In hindsight, if I had changed gears about 100m earlier, I probably could have got him. Coulda-shoulda-woulda!

Overall, I'm happy with this. I need to get that killer instinct in these shorter races. I finished with way too much left in the tank. In races like these, I think you always have an extra gear or two, but its hard to let yourself hurt enough to go there. Marathon training and racing is so much more methodical.  I'm going to run a handful of other shorter races this summer while I continue to build my mileage back up... they are great VO2 max workouts.

Warmup was 3 miles on the course w/ Andrea... Cooldown was 6 miles w/ Andrea, Emily, and Bill.

Next weekend we are going to Tennessee, so I'll take a shot at breaking 15 minutes at a race down there if the humidity and southern cooking doesn't kill me! 

PM -  4.4 miles easy. Nice and hot out. Heard we missed some fireworks after the race at the awards ceremony... sheesh... kinda glad I didn't win any money today and didn't stick around for that.

From Random July 2011

AM - 19 miles. Long run on the Jeremy Ranch road. What a great place to run! I feel like I already hit the jackpot in my search for dirt roads that are over 6000 feet. Nice gradual rolling hills on hardpack dirt. This is going to be a staple long run location. I also finally broke down and got a Garmin watch (specifically for these longer runs and trail runs). Ran the first 10 miles w/ Andrea at 7:00 pace, then picked it up a bit for the next 7 miles (6:18) while she biked with me. Threw in a fast mile for #18 (4:51) and then an easy mile to cap it off. Total run was 2:06:19. Perfect morning... started at 8am and it stayed relatively cool.

PM - 3 miles shakeout.  

AM - 11.5 miles up to work via Parleys Trail / Wasatch Drive. Kept the pace intentionally very slow this morning.

PM - 9 miles. Ran home... clouds cooled it off a bit and it felt pretty good outside. 

AM - 14 miles. Emigration Canyon. Ran up steady, then 5 miles down faster in 25:33 (5:16, 5:13, 5:10, 5:07, 4:48). The goal today was simply to work on form... running "soft" on my toes and turning my legs over quick w/out expending too much energy. The first 4 miles were easy at that pace, so I picked it up a bit to finish off the workout. This week I'm just trying to get in some solid mileage, but also trying to have some pop in my legs for the 5K in Tennessee this weekend.

PM - 4.5 miles super easy on the wood chips at Liberty Park. 

AM - 10.5 miles up to work, very easy.

PM - 8 miles. Down to Sugarhouse, met Andrea, and did a couple laps on the grass. 

AM - 7.5 miles up to work. Another perfect, cool morning. I hope I don't jinx it, but the weather has been amazing ever since winter ended in early June.

If you haven't seen the Letsrun series on RoJo's trip to Kenya, post #4 is worth a read.

PM - 6.5 miles. Ran down to the Highland track and did my typical "Thursday before a race" tune up... 4 x 300m in 52 seconds, then 4 x 200m in 32-33 seconds. 

AM - 7.5 miles up to work.

PM - 4.4 miles. Running downtown from work, where Andrea picks me up on the way to the airport.  Traveling the rest of the day to Knoxville. The heat index there is supposed to be over 100 tomorrow. Good luck to everyone racing Des News (and other races) this weekend!

AM - 15 miles. We were supposed to run a 5K in Knoxville this morning... but we were also supposed to get here at 9pm last night. Due to who knows what issues the airlines were having, we sat in Denver's airport for an extra 6+ hours, and didn't get to Andrea's house and to sleep until almost 4am. Yesterday was a long, slightly annoying day. So, even though I was still feeling pretty good, I didn't see the point in racing on 90 minutes of sleep. No point in wearing myself out. Instead I decided to just make today an easy run... ran the first 5 miles w/ Andrea, then 10 more solo. It is so HUMID here! I was dripping sweat about 2 minutes into the run and didn't stop sweating until about a half hour after I finished running. Despite the humidity, it felt good to run all the nonstop rolling hills through the countryside... I love this type of terrain.

Slightly disappointed that we didn't get to race, because I really felt that a sub 15 was in the cards, despite logging a lot of mileage this week. 

PM - 5 miles easy. Spent the day on a boat (First time trying to water ski, I couldn't even get up!... Andrea is awesome at it so it was fun watching her). Did a little shakeout run (on some major hills) before dinner.

AM - 2.8 miles. Weird morning. Felt awesome when I woke up (my resting heart rate has been 36 BPM the last 2 mornings, where its usually around 39). Andrea and I were just about 20 minutes into our run, going really easy, when I took a step, felt something shoot up from my butt up through my back, and instantly I felt like I had no strength in my back/core. Knowing discretion is the better part of valor, I just stopped and walked back while Andrea ran back home and came to pick me up w/ a car. I have no idea what brought this on... its definitely not an overuse injury. I think I just took a weird step and hit it just wrong. My theory is that I probably jerked some muscles in my back around while trying to waterski yesterday. I learned my lesson... its hard to do those kinds of things (especially some new type of movement pattern) when you are pushing the mileage. Gotta be careful. The rest of today will probably be a rest day, which I haven't had in a very long time, so maybe its a good thing?

Anyone ever experienced something like this before? A shooting pain just coming out of nowhere?

PM - 1 mile jog... it didn't feel right so I bagged it, then bagged up a ton of ice and froze down my back. 

No running today. My last day completely off was in September 2010. I rode the bike w/ Andrea while she ran, and then we went white water rafting (which surprisingly didn't really bother my back too much). 

AM - 13 miles. Woke up and felt quite a bit better, so decided to at least try and jog around the block... and just kept going. Ran 10 w/ Andrea then added on 3 more. We kept the pace super easy (~8 min / mile), but I felt fine, so that was really encouraging. I'm not doing any faster running this week, just easy jogging until I feel 100% again. Running today was FUN!... I was on the verge of a mental breakdown last night so it felt great to be back out on the roads!

PM - 6 miles easy. Picked up the pace a little at the end and felt ok. My back is feeling a lot better than yesterday, and even better this afternoon than this morning. I think Sunday's incident was just a muscle spasm. Heading back to SLC first thing tomorrow morning... goodbye humidity! :-)

AM - 8 miles. Had to get this one in early (at 4am) before flying from Knoxville back to SLC. Back is feeling even better than yesterday, although being on airplanes for the past 7 hours didn't really aid the recovery process. 

PM - 8.9 miles easy. Ran down to Sugarhouse, met Andrea, ran some loops on the grass... the usual routine. 

AM - 9.2 miles up to work. Another noticeable improvement in how my back feel this morning. Almost back to normal.

PM - 7 miles easy breezy. 

AM - 11.4 miles up to work via Parleys Trail / Wasatch. My back felt great. Couple more days of easy paced runs and I think it will be 100%.

PM - 7 miles. Ran from work to the parking area for Parley's trail above Tanner Park. Now we're in Park City for the weekend... got 2 nights at the Westgate condos at the Canyons in exchange for going to a 1 hr seminar / tour tomorrow afternoon. Pretty good deal! 

AM - 20 miles on the Jeremy Ranch road. Ran 14 w/ Andrea, then 6 more. Averaged just under 7 min pace for the entire thing. It was cloudy and cool this morning... really nice running weather. Other than the cows that try to create a blockade on the road, this is my favorite place to do long runs. The total elevation gain/loss for the 20 miles is ~800 feet, pretty much rolling the whole way.

PM - 4 miles. Up a dirt road at the Canyons... serious climb for an afternoon shakeout! 

From Random July 2011

Being stalked by cows... 

AM - 15 miles on the bike paths that run between the Canyons and Park City. Ran a little over an hour, then picked up Andrea and went back out. Nice run... cool morning.

PM - Did some mountain biking... rode a big loop in Park City... 22+ miles w/ 2600 ft of climbing. Its funny how I can run a trail like that a lot faster than I can bike it!

Put up a bunch of pics on my blog: Park City Weekend 

AM - 14 miles. Did a workout at Sugarhouse Park on the inner road loop: 4 x 2 miles - 10:38, 10:23, 10:22, 10:20. Was shooting for marathon pace, but ended up averaging a few ticks faster. Did about a half-mile jog b/w reps. 

I found out this morning that I received a complimentary entry to the Philadelphia Marathon this November, so that's good. Their "elite" program get me access to a nice little warmup area, private bathrooms, etc.

PM - 8 miles on the BST, from HCI heading north. Took it super easy (~8:20 pace) and just enjoyed it. Nice change of pace for my legs. 

AM - 10.3 miles. Paced Andrea for her workout, then ran up to work from Sugarhouse.
PM - 6.2 miles easy. Met Andrea along the way and did a Sugarhouse loop.  

AM - 12 miles. Pyramid workout on the track: 2-4-8-12-16-12-8-4-2. Splits were 35, 71, 2:25, 3:44, 5:00, 3:45, 2:26, 70, 33. My legs didn't quite have that "snap" this morning... I felt like I could run 75s all day, but didn't have the turnover to go much quicker. Rather than force the pace, I just kept the effort level consistent. No point in pushing workouts too hard... they are all just building blocks. 

I should note that the cheerleaders were out in full force again this morning. They start practice at 6am! Today they ran a mile and did jump rope... which as you can imagine made running on the track like running through a war zone!

PM - 8 miles on Wasatch Blvd, from the Dan's Supermarket to the 6200S Park & Ride and back. Nice run. Haven't done that one in a while. 

AM - 9.2 miles up to work.
PM - 6 miles. Ran down to the Highland track and did 6 x 150m in 23-24 seconds.

*We're going to do a long run on Sunday morning at Jeremy Ranch, if anyone wants to join. 

AM - 7 miles easy.
PM - 3 miles shakeout. Been feeling a little "blah" today, but hopefully a good night of sleep will do the trick and I'll feel good in the morning. Racing the Minuteman/Charitable Trust 5K.

Also got my new racing uniform from Saucony in the mail (Andrea and I are now both running for their Hurricane team... jtshad is also on the squad), so I'll be decked out in some sweet bright orange clothing from now on! 

AM - 5K race in Sandy. Not an easy course - the last 1/2 mile is a tough hill, and since the start/finish are in different spots, its actually a net uphill route by ~40 feet. I've been putting in some bigger mileage lately, and hit a couple good workouts this week, so I wasn't really feeling fresh going into this. The cannon start came out of nowhere, Teren jumped out to the lead as usual, and I just filed in behind w/ a few other guys. Brandon Hebbert quickly moved up to Teren on the first hill and I hung back just a little. I hit the mile in 4:55, probably 5 seconds behind. They increased the lead on me in the second mile (4:59). I didn't quite have the spark in my legs to run a great last mile and sort of just cruised it, since I was gapped and in no man's land. Ugly 3rd mile (~5:20) but that last hill is a killer. Came through in 15:49 for 3rd place... then jogged back and watched Andrea bring it in for the win, which was very exciting. Great first race since Utah Valley for her!

At first I was a little disappointed in this performance, but Andrea helped me put it in the perspective of the overall volume of training I have been doing recently.  I can't expect to be sharp all the time right now, but I got in another solid workout today, and won $50, so overall I call that a success :-)

Warmup was 3 miles, Cooldown was 6, most of it w/ the girls (Andrea, Emily, Susannah, and Stefanie). By the time I wrapped up my cooldown, all the Chick-Fil-A sandwiches were gone! Bummer!