El Burro Blanco

12 miles in the morning.

8 miles in the afternoon.

I had an unusually cold run this morning.  It felt nice but I was pretty chilly.  I had to stop 2 times in order to get rid of yesterday's food intake.  It was nice and relaxed so I felt pretty good.

I did a ladder workout with the XC team this afternoon.  They were really pushing it today which was great to see.  I am excited to see what they can do for the rest of the year.  I tacked on another 3 miles with the team after practice.  I got a bloody nose 1.5 miles into my run.  I knew it was bad so I hurried back to the school.  I had a couple kids look at me and say, "Your nose is bleeding!"  No kidding.  I got back to the school and looked at myself in the mirror.  I was a wreck.  I looked like Rocky after each of his fights.  I survived and got all cleaned up though.  Yo Adrian!

12 miles in the morning.

8 miles in the afternoon.

A nice run this morning out into Kayenta again.  I thought I was going to get rained on but it never happened.  It was really dark so it was a little hard to see where I was running.  My depth perception was really bad.

Ran with the XC team this afternoon.  It was a nice and easy run.  About the same as yesterday except no bloody nose today.

16.10 miles in the morning.

5 miles in the afternoon.

I was not feeling the best for some reason going into this workout.  Clyde is sick so it was just Dave and me at the good old Dixie Center.  We did a 5 mile warmup and then the plan was for 3 miles at tinman, 4 miles at MP, and 3 miles at LT with a cooldown at the end.  The miles went as follows: 6:12, 5:56, 5:58, 5:26, 5:25, 5:26, 5:25, 5:19, 5:34 (BLAH!), 5:41 (EXTRA BLAH!).  The wind picked up the last two miles but it is still no excuse for the slower miles.  I did a mile cooldown and called it a day.  It was an okay workout but I would have liked to finish much stronger.  Oh well!  You have got to roll with the bad times every once in a while.

I had the kids on the XC team do hill repeats today.  It is nice to see a ton of them pushing it.  I ran nice and easy with them to and from mini Webb hill.  It was a good time had by all.  Maybe?

10.75 miles in the morning.

9 miles in the afternoon.

I was really enjoying the run this morning out in Kayenta until I heard a dog barking.  I thought it was in its kennel but it came sprinting after me and was nipping at my heels.  I went anaerobic for 3.5678910 seconds while barking back at the dog.  I survived but decided to go back to my house on Highway 91.  What an eventful morning!

I explored around the high school again for a decent XC course.  I am getting closer and closer to figuring something out but there are still a few places along the course I would like changed.  I kept everything nice and easy and my legs were very grateful for it.  Thankfully no dog encounters this afternoon on the run.

8 miles in the morning

13.10 miles in the afternoon.

A nice and easy 8 miler this morning.  The weather was once again nice and cool which made it quite enjoyable.

We did a fundraiser run this evening for the XC team.  We ran from 7-11pm around the high school.  Each runner went out and got donations per lap or mile.  I did a half marathon nice and easy and called it a night.  I knew I had a big workout in the morning.  It was nice to see all the kids run.  Everyone on the team averaged about 13 miles tonight.  Most of them broke it up and took breaks but it was a great motivator for many of them because now they know they can wrong more miles without worrying too much about it. 

Big workout with Clyde this morning.  I met up with him and Steve.  Steve drove up to Snow Canyon and ran 13 miles this morning.  It was great to see him out and running.  Clyde and I ran from the store up through Snow Canyon and then hammered it back down the marathon course.  We kept it nice and relaxed up through the park.  I decided to push the pace a little bit up the last big hill.  I ended up hitting a 6:15 mile right before stopping to get some water and taking a gel.  Clyde had some wonderful stomach issues this morning which made the run quite eventful.  We got started on the last 7 miles to really hammer it.  Here are my last 7 mile splits:

1- 5:12

2- 5:08

3- 5:08

4- 4:45

5- 4:39

6- 4:55

7- 4:59

I was happy to finish the run like this.  I know I am not running St. George this year but it was really nice to get some great leg turnover for the last 7 miles.  I have done a lot of hill work and flat land speed work so I am feeling more confident about Twin Cities in a couple weeks.  Clyde hammered it as well and is ready to go this year.  We did a 1 mile cooldown and then called it a day.  I am very happy for the finish to this week.  3 weeks to go!