I'm retired from racing. Really.

1 mile warm up at 6 am, then 3 miles with Cody and Andy warm up at the race.  Then time for the race.  The same guys from last time were at the start (Tim, Ben, Cody, Chad), minus Walter who is running RDS.  Weather was absolutely perfect- just under 40 deg, not rain, slight breeze.  Perfect weather. 

Race started off faster than the 5k, 5:31 first mile.  Definitely felt like a race right from the start, unlike the 5k where we went out slower.  Second mile is steep downhill for the first half, then flat, 5:13.  Mile 3 is rolling hills, net down a bit, 5:46, had a bit of a sideache here for a mile or two.  Had a lead pack of 4 at the half way mark (Tim, Ben, Cody, me), all of us trading places, with Chad just a bit behind.  Mile 4 is gradual up till 4.5, then a big uphill for a full mile.  Mile 4 in 5:59, though Chad passed everyone in this mile.  The pack split up here, with Chad a strong first, Tim right behind him, me a bit back, then Cody and Ben behind me.  I figured 3rd would be a good finish, but Tim slowed a bit on the uphill and I managed to catch him with a 6:36 mile at mile 5.  Last mile continues up, then evens off a bit, then up, then down, with a 6:34.  I didn't have any chance of catching Chad- he pulled away on the downhill.  Moderate kick into the finish, 1:07 last .2 miles.  Total time 36:50 (36:46 officially, but I'm going with watch time).  Cody was 3 seconds behind for third, then Tim and Ben.  Next guy was more than a minute behind Ben.

I was very happy with the 2nd place finish, esp. supposing my foot has been hurting and I didn't run 3 days this week.  Another day of rest will do it good tomorrow.  It was a great course, much different strategy than the 5k where the uphill is first, then the downhill.  The 10 miler should be interesting, with a much bigger uphill.  The series should continue to be competitive and fun as Chad, Ben, Tim, Cody, and myself all seem very even.  Good job to all and I'll see you at next race.

FRB did great today- top 3 places, with Andy at 11th.  And in case anyone was wondering, I was wearing the shorty green shorts...

Tangent- 131

Ran around a bit, the met Cody, then ran to Paul's house.  First time in a group of 3 in a long time.  I felt like I was in a herd.  Granted, it was a herd that collectively barely tops 400 lbs, so it's a good thing we didn't run into a herd of something really big, like siamese cats or something like that.  Started off at sub-7:00 pace for 3.5 miles, then ~7:00 with Cody, then slowed some with Paul (may be the only time I can say that in my life) and we never recovered once we dropped him off at Planet Fitness.  Hmm, I wonder if Planet Fitness is somehow related to planet walk...

Eventually dropped Cody off, then ran around a bit more to make it 14 miles or so.  1:41:28, 7:15 avg.

New shoes today!!! 767- 14

Cody was kind enough to wait for a later run so I could buy a fridge after work.  I met him at planet walk, and we ran the Young Ward loop backwards.  We did 3 miles warm up (~7:00 pace), then did a 5 mile tinman tempo.  I wanted to aim for 6:30 pace, but Cody insisted on 6:15-6:20.  We compromised and did 6:10's for most of it.  Actually, first was ~6:20, then 6:14, then 6:09 for the next 2 despite slight uphills.  Last one was a 6:04 and felt better for me than the first- I could have done a few more at that pace.  Good workout.  After a potty break, we did 2 miles back to Cody's house, then I did 3 more winding home at ~7:00 pace.  13 miles, 1:26:31, 6:40 avg pace.

I am a bit bummed out cause I figured I would do a nice 19-mile run Saturday with some guys, forgetting that everyone will be in Moab.  Oh well. 

Adrenaline- 181

2 times planet walk.  Saw Cody and Bethany, kidless.  Normal weather, 32 deg, but staying light later.  I'm still excited for daylight savings.

It was an easy run today, but I was moving pretty good- about 6:45 pace.  I was going so fast I felt like jtshad, except I didn't throw in any 5:40 miles or 75 second quarters...

We are closing on our house tomorrow and it is our anniversary, but I'm gonna do my best to squeeze a run somewhere in there. 

Airplane- 20

We sold our house today- it is no longer officially ours!  Closed!  Jtshad, thank your mom for the great referral.  Glad that is over with.

Snuck in 5 quick miles before heading off to the anniversary dinner (4 years married today!) with Marci.  5 miles, 34:34.

Adrenaline- 186

I stayed in SLC last night for recruiting at the U of U, so I woke up early and went for a run from my hotel to City Creek Canyon.  Did 9 miles total, including 4 or 5 on trails!  It was great- not too much snow/ice on the trails, unlike in Logan.  First trail run of the year!  Thought I might bump into darkhorse or AdamRW, but no luck.  Run in Provo tomorrow.

F-16 Falcon- 29

Met at Sasha's house for a group run- Sasha, Michelle L, Hyrum, Adam, Tyler.  First time meeting most of them.  We did a short warmup loop, then went to the Provo River (at least that is what I think it was) and ran out by Utah lake.  Pretty easy pace, lots of conversation.  My right foot really started to hurt at mile 8 or so, underneath the arch.  New pain, and it didn't go away.  It was rather acute and noticeable the rest of the run, resulting in a slight limp sometimes.  It will require some attention and stretching the next 2 days, and hopefully will be gone by Monday afternoon.  Dropped off Adam and Tyler at mile 12, then did another loop.  I was planning on 18 but we did 20 (or at least that is what I am assuming, since I'm pretty sure Sasha wouldn't have let us stop short).  Pretty easy pace and felt very good other than my foot, especially considering it was my first 18+ miler of the year.  2:32:05, ~7:30 avg. 

I was very hungry by the end, so I swung by the store afterwards and scarfed down 2 donuts courtesy of the change I could scrounge up in my car.  Yummy.  Then had 6 pancakes with berries on top.  Yup, it's been a good morning so far...

F-4 Phantom- 49

No time to run yesterday until 9:30 pm, and by that point the run would have been so short that I decided resting my foot an extra day would be better.

Today, I ran a few miles, then met Paul, Dave, and Cody at Planet Walk.  First time seeing Dave in a long time- he had an awesome goatee.  Did a few miles together, then dropped them off at Paul's.  Ran Landfill loop with Cody, then dropped him off.  I ran over towards my new house and ventured into a field for fun, only to discover that underneath the snow was a lake.  With feet and shoes now soaking wet, I ran about 4 more miles.  Forgot to start my watch once, but time was ~1:45 for 14 miles.  Foot was tight and had a bit of pain, but tons better than Saturday.  Hopefully, whatever it was won't return.

Adrenaline- 200 (I still think of these as very new shoes, but they obviously are not)

Ran to Paul's house, ran 3 miles with him, then ran a bunch more by myself.  It is so nice that it is light outside.  ~14 miles, 1:45:50.  Don't know my pace for most of it, but mile 13 was 7:00 and mile 14 was 6:30.

F-22 Raptor- 63

1 mile warm up, 3 miles with Paul and Cody, 3 more with Cody, 4.5 more by myself.  Pretty sluggish feeling.  Slower than 7:30 pace I think.  Colder weather is back- kind of a mix of spring and winter weather.

Elite- 427

6 easy miles, 2 potty breaks.  One of those days.

KC-135 Stratotanker- 69

I love hills!

Striders 10 mile today.  I warmed up 1 mile at 5:30 am, then picked up Cody and drove to Ogden.  We were worried during the drive- it was snowing very hard and windy.  We were only going 50 mph on the freeway, and sometimes slower.  Then we hit Ogden and the snow stopped- much better.  Temp was just below freezing (based on a lot of ice on the course), warm enough for my green shorts (though I would regret it).  Warmed up just over 2 more miles with Cody.

At the start, I was surprised to see Adam RW there- didn't know he was coming.  Walter, Chad, Ben, and Tim were also there- the usual suspects.  There was also a rumor of some unknown college guy.  The course if very challenging- 1.5 miles down, 3 miles rolling hills, then a 2.5 mile killer uphill.  Killer up.  Then 3 more miles mainly down, but with a small uphill at mile 9.  At the start, the college guy (wearing pink) took off with Adam and Walter not far behind him, but none of them are in the series.  Chad, Ben, Cody and myself had learned not to go out too fast at the 10k, so we bunched up and ran a lot slower than the 10k for the first 4 miles.  Here is a mile by mile breakdown:

Mile 1- 5:57- Running pretty easy with Chad, Ben, Cody- Pinky, Adam and Walter really pulled away fast.

Mile 2- 5:32- nice downhill

Mile 3- 5:48- rolling downhill.  We pass 3 miles a full 45 seconds slower than the 10k, but are ok with it because we all know the race doesn't start till after mile 4.

Mile 4- 6:00- rolling uphill- Chad and I get a few steps on the other 2.  I timed Adam and Walter and found they were 35 and 30 seconds ahead of us, respectively.  Huge gap.  Pinky was even further, at least a minute ahead.  Never saw him again.

Mile 5- 6:37- Tailed Chad up the hill.  Feeling very relaxed.  Weird to think we only had 1.2 miles to go last race at this point.  Working hard, but not stressed- just concentrating on even breathing.  Avg pace at this point was 5:59/mile.

Mile 6- 6:31- I pass Chad somewhere going up this hill.  I expected him to stick with me, but he falls off a few feet.  I can hear him breathing, though.

Mile 7- 6:56- Last bit of the hill, with some killer steep spots and some very ice spots- I was happy to be sub-7:00.  I had gradually watched Walter and Adam fall back- I passed Walter at the end of this mile and caught up to Adam (they were only a few second apart).  For some reason, Adam got thrown in a loop seeing me, thinking Walter was catching him.  I tailed him for a minute.

Mile 8- 5:02- I had to look at my watch 4 times on this split.  Downhill the whole mile, but not a real steep downhill.  Gradual.  I was absolutely shocked how fast it was.  I had passed Adam but only put about 5-10 seconds on him.  It felt good to be doing 5 min miles at the end of a race rather than dying- this is probably my fastest mile in years.

Mile 9- 5:32- still downhill.  Adam's footsteps gradually faded.  I was heating up, and my head felt heavy for some reason.  I started debating if dropping my beanie and gloves would shave off any time.  53:59 cumulative time- was sub-60 min possible?

Mile 10- 5:53- This mile starts with one last nasty, yet short, uphill.  It hit me hard.  Easily twice as difficult as the whole 2.5 mile uphill.  Mean booger.  I dropped my hat and gloves.  I glanced back a few times to see where Adam was.  Reached the top of the hill, then downhill.  At this point, however, a minivan turned right into me.  Really ticked me off- I actually had to jump on the curb to miss being hit.  She never even saw me.  I touched the stinking thing.  Anyways, I finished with a strong kick (had to slow down for an ice patch) and broke 1 hour.  Very happy.  Great race.

Adam came in ~15 second behind me, then Walter and Chad and Cody and Ben.  2-6 places for FRB.  Nice run by all on a very difficult course.  Good job, guys.

I am very, very happy with my run.  I felt great, I love downhills and don't fear uphills, so this course is as perfect as it gets for me.  Felt good on the uphill and still had some legs for the downhill at the end.  I am glad the pack didn't go out too fast, which ended up working perfectly strategy-wise.  I don't think I could have run a better race- just a good day.  Somedays things just work out well, and today was one.  Probably one of the best 5 races of my career.

4 mile cool down with Chad, Cody, and Adam.  I wanted 65 miles this week but then missed Monday.  Still came close.

Tangent- 148

Post-shower note- I'm too worked up to sleep, so I started wondering how this compared to last year's race with a deeper field.  My time would have put me in 8th (5th in the series), which is great.  Paul was untouchable, of course, but I would have been only 50 seconds behind Sasha.  But their course was short- if you trust the GPS's and convert the time, I would have been 0.7 seconds behind!  I never thought I would be that close.  Interestingly, the group last year appears to have gone out very fast and suffered a bit- my miles 6-8 were 45 seconds faster than Sasha's!  To be fair, he was sick last year and not 100%, but this still gets me excited for the upcoming races this year!  We have a good group and it will be very competitive for the rest of this series.

Ran to Paul's, ran 5.5 miles with him through River Heights and Providence (~7:30 pace), then  dropped him off and ran to Cody's, ran 6.5 miles with him through River Heights and Providence (almost the same route, just in reverse, ~7:10 pace).  14.5 miles, 7:19 avg.

F-14 Tomcat- 83

Tinman tempo today.  Ran to Paul's house, ran with him to Cody's house, then ran up to the landfill loop, dropping Paul off in the process.  After potty break #1, it was time for our tempo.  Goal pace was 6:15-6:20.  Cody informed me we were doing 7.  Started off ~6:12 pace, then 6:14, then 6:13, then 6:21 (uphill a bit and into a brisk breeze).  At this point, I decided we should actually do two tempo runs with a full recovery in between.  As Cody was resting and stretching, I did my best to be invisible in a ditch behind a tree in the middle of a bunch of houses during potty break #2.  Then we were off again- 6:11.  I thought we had only done 4, but Cody kept track and told me we only had 2 more.  The last 2 were 6:09 and ~6:04.  Then we ran home via planetwalk, with me making potty break #3 on the way (couldn't make it the last 1/2 mile home).  Very tired and sore afterwards.  I thought it was ~14.5 miles, but mapmyrun put it at 14.8, which rounds up to 15.  1:36:16, 6:30 pace avg.  Good run, but sore after in my right foot and left calf.

Finished off with all you could eat pizza courtesy of the Drapers.  Yummy.

Adrenaline- 215

5 easy miles, 6:50-7:00 pace.  Felt tired and sluggish.  2 potty breaks.  I gotta change my diet.

Elite- 432

Had a cold sneaking up on me since Tuesday and it smacked me real hard today.  I normally run with colds, but I also felt real hot, like I had a fever, then started getting the chills.  No fun at all.  I have been getting 7+ hours of sleep for 2 nights, now (3 if I go to bed tonight by 10 pm), which is good for me.  Should be back in action tomorrow.

Got home early from work which gave me a bit more time before I had to leave.  Snuck in 7 (and change) miles in 48 min.  6:45 avg.

Adrenaline- 222

Ran 3 miles, winding my way to Paul's house.  I had planned on running 20 miles, but Marci reminded me I had to be home at 9 to watch the kid.  Met James and Logan at Paul's house, too- first time I had seen James in a month or so, and first time to see Logan since SGM, I think.  Good to see them.  Did a very easy Providence Hills loop.  9.5 miles total.  Plan to do an evening run to get my whole 20 miles today.  Long runs aren't as good if you break them up, but that isn't half bad right now supposing I am sick and this will be easier on my body.  Lots of talking.  Maybe I should move to St. George to join a bigger running group.  Nah, never mind. 

B-29 Superfortress- 93

Wow, I am really, really tired.  Between my cold and eating lots of candy yesterday (and not much else), I just felt sluggish all run.  Ran 2.25 miles to Paul's house, then ran around RH/Prov with Logan, Cody, and Paul (plus Cody's mini-clones).  Slow pace.  Dropped off Paul at planet fitness, then ran Cody to Paul's.  Logan and I then ran up to his in-laws by the cemetary at a bit faster pace.  By this point I was really tired.  I know that you get the most gain when you are tired but still push it at the end of a long run.  So, I picked up the pace even more on the way home.  Ran to the cemetary to stop by the grave of my aunt (who died last week) to give my respects.  4 of my great grandparents and an uncle are also buried there.  Then ran ~5 miles home at increasing pace (and increasing tiredness).  Clocked 1/2 mile through the island at 3:32- felt like 7:30 pace, so I was happy to see I was still moving along.  Last mile was a 6:29, after which I was spent.  Bed by 9 pm tonight, which will be a record for probably 10 years.  I thought I did 16.5 to 17 miles, but I plotted it very carefully on mapmyrun.com (difficult, since we went everywhere) and it came in at 17.51.  Glad to hear it was longer than I thought.

Bedtime right now.  I do have to say, I am jealous of all the 2-a-day guys.  Cody got 17 miles in 2 runs, and I guarantee it was a lot easier than my run.  Oh well.  Glad I slogged through this run.

Adrenaline- 239

Ran with the daughter/jogging stroller today for the first time this year.  A few miles warm up, then a few miles with Paul and Cody, then a few more with Cody.  8 miles, 64 minutes.  Then 2 more miles without anyone (including the kid) at 7:20 and 7:06.  Still feeling tired.

F-18 Hornet- 103

Ran with Cody today.  I wanted trails, he wanted road.  He won.  We did Providence Hills loop with fartleks- 5 repeats of 3 min fast, 2 min easy.  I got killed- I think I stayed with Cody for 1 of the repeats, but fell behind on the rest, sometimes as much as 10-15 seconds.  Just felt tired and still feeling my cold.  Cody and I switched today- he whupped me, and I turned into the big whiner.  Rather cold out, too- my hands were painfully cold by the end.  10 miles, 1:10:35, 7:03 avg.  I'll be very glad when this week is over, my cold is gone, and I have moved into my new house (supposed to close last Tuesday, now hoping to close Fri or Monday, since I won't have a place to live as of Monday).

806- 411

9.5 miles, 1:06:23.  Very tight/sore neck and back.  I think it is the stress from knowing I will be homeless on Sunday.

Adrenaline- 248

9 miles.  I felt good- it was the first day since last Wednesday that I didn't feel tired or too sick.  Nice.  I did the canal for the last time from my house.  4.5 miles out at 7:00 pace exactly.  Ran back at ~6:45 pace, except the last mile with was a 6:13.  Felt good.  9 miles, 6:50 avg.  I move my house tomorrow but plan to do a 10 miler in the morning and a short evening run to get me up to 70 miles this week.

A-10 Warthog- 112

10 miles in the snow, 5 with Cody.  1:10:39.  Now I get to load all my possessions in a truck and put them in a garage.  I hate buying a house.

Adrenaline- 258

9 pm- 4 more miles.  70 for the week- I had hoped to hit 70 a month ago, but lots has gotten in the way.  Plan to keep going up, though.  Last year I didn't hit 70 until the last week of June, so I am a lot better off than I was that year.  Hopefully good things happen.

All my possessions are now sitting in a garage, waiting for my new house to close.  Moving is tiring, but I had several friends willing to help out (including Cody, who says he single-handedly moved 5000 lbs of stuff- wow!).  I hope my stress levels and tension in my neck will go down a bit now.

F-22 Raptor- 116

8 miles with Cody. Felt like crap. But at least Cody is nice enough to let me sleep at his house for a few days.

F-35- 120