El Burro Blanco

6 miles in the morning.

9.5 miles in the afternoon

It wasn't too cold this morning.  No hat or gloves.  Alright!  The weather was awesome today.  I hate to keep talking about the weather but we are running out of nice days up here in Northern Utah.  I ran with the cross country team 4.5 miles and then did another 5 miles afterwards all by myself.  The pace was slow with the team so I pushed it a little bit on my own.  Overall pace was 7:05/mile.  Nice start to the week.  Looking forward to the warmer weather and running in it down in St. George this week due to the holidays.

6 miles in the morning.

10.25 miles in the afternoon.

The weather was cold and windy this morning.  I warmed up a little bit and pushed the last 3 miles.  Didn't worry too much about the pace though.  Today the cross country team was doing its own little race at Mt. Ogden park so I decided to run from my house to the park.  It was basically all uphill to the park.  I wanted to keep the pace under 6:00/mile.  I did this except for one mile where it was a 6:11/mile.  The weather was cold and it was windy again so I was happy with the effort.  I paced the top 5 runners for the team.  The course went up around the golf course and up into the mountains.  It was once again all uphill.  It was a nice big loop.  I pushed these guys in and was happy to see them do well.  They have improved over the season.  The weather got even colder as I was running home.  It was at this point and time where I thought, "I need to move too St. George where the weather is great to run in year round."  I don't know where this thought came but I will have to talk with Katey about this.  It is too enticing!  I averaged 6:09/mile overall for the full 10.25 miles.  I was thrilled with the pace considering 8 or so miles of it was uphill.  I am headed to St. George now to spend the next 4 days with family.  I can't wait to get out and run in some nice weather.  It will be a nice change of scenery.

I slept in this morning and got some extra rest with the day off.  It was sunny when I started but then the clouds came and the wind picked up quite a bit.  The run was supposed to be easy but the wind pushed me a bit.  I ran from my parent's house out towards Tuacahn, through Ivins out towards Kayenta, and then back to the parent's house.  I ran on how I felt today and much to my surprise the overall pace was 6:24/mile.  It was a good push but I need to make sure I slow it down a little bit tomorrow.  The family starts coming in tonight and things will be busy for the next couple of days.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  Don't eat too much Turkey!

Katey wanted me to go to the hospital and get my heart checked out due to the death of Ryan Shay.  She just wanted to make sure that everything is okay.  My dad works in the cath lab at the hospital so he did an ultrasound on me yesterday.  Good news!  My heart is fine and looks great and I am not pregnant!  Katey was happy and glad that I went in.  I went out for a nice run this morning before all the festivities started.  I went out on the old highway towards Gunlock.  I did an out and back and it was nice because their was no traffic.  It was absolutely gorgeous with all of the red rock.  It was so nice to be out their on my own and just relax.  It was the life.  I did the entire run at 6:40/mile pace.  I truly am grateful for all of my blessings that I have been given.  It is nice to reflect about life during this time of year.

Got up early once again before more festivities with the family started.  Their are about 30 people staying at my parent's house.  It is pandemonium all over.  I had to wear a light beanie this morning because the weather was pretty cold.  I went out into Ivins and was feeling alright after yesterday's wonderful holiday so I decided to take it easy the first 4 miles and then really let the horses out for the last 3.  The wind was blowing a bit but I didn't want this to deter me from anything.  My last 3 mile splits were: 5:41, 5:27, and 5:17.  I did the run at 6:07/mile pace overall.  I went paintballing with my family and I realize why I run.  I got hit in the back, top of the head, and on the arm.  I have a bump on the head and then a huge welt on my back.  What a day!  I got home and went out for another 6 miles.  The wind was blowing all over and I swallowed a bunch of red sand.  I am being punished for something.  I did the run at 6:39/mile pace overall.  I was happy to be done with this run.  It was not very fun.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better with Clyde.

I headed over too the running store and went for a good run with Clyde this morning.  We went out into the desert reserve and hit about 7.5 miles of trail running.  It was a steep uphill climb.  We ran up towards the Ledges Golf Course and then back down towards the store.  My legs were a little sore but it was nice to hit the main road/marathon course to finish up the run.  Clyde and I didn't say anything but we started grunting once we hit the marathon course and I think we both knew the pace was going to be much faster.  Our five or so mile splits down to the store were:

1. 5:34

2. 5:19

3. 5:43

4. 5:32

5. 5:13- this was only a half mile time pace. However we started into the faster pace about a half mile before the actual fist mile of tempo. So it ended up being pretty close to 5 miles at temp type pace.

This was a great run and I enjoyed the company.  It was fun talking, spitting, and grunting all throughout the run.  The weather was absolutely perfect and I was glad to get out.  Took a much needed cooldown after the run.  Now I need to watch the BYU vs. Utah game.  Go Louie Sakoda!  I am partial to kickers since I did this in high school.