El Burro Blanco

6.10 in the morning.

9 miles in the afternoon.

I was glad to have the rest yesterday from the 100 mile week.  The rest was much needed.  I got up and warmed up with 2 miles at 7:24/mile pace, bumped up to 2 miles at 6:39/mile pace, and then finished off the rest of the run at 6:18/mile pace.  I will do some more miles this afternoon.  I am hoping for a little bit of rain like the news says.  We shall see!  No rain but it threatened to rain.  The first 5 miles were between 7:30/mile pace and 6:15/mile pace.  The next 2 and a half miles were at 6:00/mile pace.  The next 1 and half miles were at threshold pace (5:42/mile) and the last half mile was at 5:27/mile pace.  I wanted to push it a little bit today just to get the legs moving for the first part of the week.  I need to make sure I get ready physically and mentally for the race on Saturday.

I woke up at 4:30 to go too Acceleration.  I was really tired but felt better once I got there.  I did speed work on the treadmill at an incline.  The total mileage was about 2 miles.  The fastest I got going was a 4:30 pace for :30.  I did some core exercises and lifted some weights for a bit.  I went out right after and ran another 10 miles.  I felt like Gumbi the first couple miles but the legs finally got feeling normal again after that.  I did not want to push it to much and ended up with a 6:52/mile average pace.  I am glad to have my running done for the day.  The "don't go and run" guy was trying to talk me out of going running this morning but I kicked him down and went anyway.  I am glad that I did.

6.10 miles in the morning.

6.05 miles in the afternoon.

Their is nothing to exciting to report about either of these runs.  I did 2 miles this morning at marathon pace (6:00/mile) and did between 6:30-6:45/mile pace the rest of the time for the other miles from the day.  I was just glad to get in some decent miles today. 

I went into the St. George Running Center and talked with Steve Hooper this afternoon.  It was my first time in the store.  It is really nice.  I went up with the St. George guys and went out for a run this evening.  The pace was not fast and was very relaxed.  I enjoyed spending time running and talking with them about Bryce.  We did 6.6 miles together and then I ran back to my parent's house in Santa Clara for just a little over 11.5 miles today.  The weather was perfect tonight for a run.  It did not feel as hot as Ogden has considering the last couple of days.  I got back to my parent's house and hopped in the pool to stretch and loosen up the legs.  It felt nice.  I am excited for Saturday.  I hope everything goes well.  Clyde and Dave want to run together during the race to see if we can push each other.  It should be a good race.

I got up to Tropic for the half-marathon tomorrow at about 6 PM and went for a nice 3 miles with Clyde and Steve to loosen up the legs for tomorrow.  We went up to Bryce Valley High School and ran around the track a couple times and headed back to the "busy" main street.  I am excited for tomorrow!

I got to the starting line and did a short warm-up jog and used the port-a-potty to get ready for the race.  I was excited because the weather was nice and the smoke from the Zion fire was pretty much non-existent.  It was ideal running conditions with the temperature at 54 degrees at the start and slowly warming up a little bit as the race went on.  The gun went off and then it went off a couple more times thinking it was a false start but everyone kept running.  I had to do some zig zagging to get up to the front and out of the way from everyone.  I went up and slowed down a bit to run with Clyde and Dave.  They met up with me a quarter of a mile into the race and then we were off.  Here is the how the race went:

1. 5:38- Nice easy first mile with Clyde and Dave.  A touch downhill but also a little uphill.

2. 5:31- Easing into moving along for the rest of the race.

3. 4:54- Really steep downhill.  Don't want to push it to much because the downhill can be deceiving.

4. 5:00- Same as the last mile.

5. 5:07- Moving along with Dave and the guy from Durango.  Clyde is still with us.  Each take a turn out in front pushing the pace.  A little bit of drafting is going on. 

6. 5:05- Holler at Clyde to stay with us but no response.  His abs must be hurting and don't want to bother him.

7. 5:12- It starts leveling out here as we start moving into Tropic.  I can see the police lights for Mike Vick and Hobie Call.  They are a couple of minutes ahead and probably will not catch them.

8. 5:26-  A slight uphill climb as we move into the small town of Tropic.  I start moving a little faster and holler at Dave to come along with me.  The guy from Durango drops a little bit. 

9. 5:29-  Get some water and can't hear Dave so I figure I am on my own the rest of the way.  The water cups are Subway cups and really big.  I seem to get more of the water on me than in my mouth.  Crud!

10. 5:25- A little bit of downhill and realize that I will need to push to go under 1:10.

11. 5:28- Git some more water and hoping I can get under 1:10

12. 5:31-  Flat and some downhill but still just moving along.

13.1. 5:41-  My last split was a little mixed up but I am not in the mood to do the math to figure it out.  I knew I was close to the finish and really pushed the last half mile.  I knew I was under 1:10 and could not have been more thrilled.

I ended up with a new PR for the half by almost 6 minutes.  I was really happy with the 5:18/mile pace for the entire run.  I felt good after the race.  I am getting more and more excited to see what happens at St. George this year.  I was bummed out for Clyde because of his abdominal problems.  He will tear it up at Hobblecreek.  Dave had a great race.  It was nice running with the St. George guys again.  I got $300 for taking 3rd place overall.  I think I will go and get some new shoes from Steve at the store.  The money is nice but I am more happy with my time.   My wife and father-in-law did well in the 5K.  It was a nice day for the Fielding family.  Great job to all of the other St. George guys with their times today.  Did a little bit of a cooldown after the race to get a few more miles in.