El Burro Blanco

6 cold miles in the morning.

11 miles in the afternoon.

Wore all the gear I could find.  Really need to get the treadmill fixed.  It has taken a while and we haven't gotten any good news lately.  I went home a touch early since I didn't have cross country practice and got in a good run.  I didn't want to look at my watch today and just went for the run.  I wanted to try a tempo run to see how I could do.  I knew I was pushing it but never looked at my watch.  I did the 11 miles at a 6:02/mile pace overall.  I was happy to see this.  I knew I was pushing it but it still felt in control and everything was fine.  It was something different not looking at the watch but I was glad I did it.  Nice weather outside.  I was quite surprised.  Slowly working the mileage back up to really hit it hard at the start of the year.

6 miles in the chilly morning.

12 miles in the afternoon.

Another chilly 6 miles this morning.  I am running out of clothes to bundle up in!  I got home from work this afternoon and was tempted to wear just shorty shorts.  I am glad that I didn't.  The cold weather was a little deceiving.  I didn't want to push the pace but just get the miles in.  Nothing to exciting to report except I got rid of my lunch and some of the yucky build up from my cold in the first mile and a half.  I left it on the side of the road!  I did the entire run at 6:53/mile pace overall. 

Another 6 cold miles in the morning!

10 miles in the pleasantly warm afternoon.

The weather was extra cold this morning.  Like many of you have stated, it was a little sluggish!  I got home and the weather was a little warmer than usual so I was happy with this.  I decided to do a tempo run.  I took a different route and decided to go north along Washington Blvd. for a couple miles.  I had a couple run ins with cars where I almost got hit twice by two different cars.  I had the right away both times.  I almost let them know they were "number 1" in my book but I decided not to do this.  My left hamstring was a little sore today and the last 5 miles were in a slight headwind.  I was happy with this run and did it at a 6:06/mile pace overall.  You got to love the crazy drivers! 

6 miles in the morning.

11.60 miles in the cold, wet afternoon.

I got a little hot this morning.  I couldn't believe it.  Here comes the snow!  I met up with Nick Froerer, Chad, and Shane (ultramarathoner and soon to be Fast Running Blogger) to do a trail run on the Shoreline Trail.  We started out at Rainbow Gardens and went back towards Weber State.  It was a nice change of scenery but for some reason I love the roads.  It started to rain a little bit after we did 7.5 miles but I knew I needed some more so I stopped and put the gloves on and went for another 4 or so on the Ogden River Parkway.  It was nice and dark with no one on the trail.  It was fun talking with these guys about upcoming races and OTQ standards.

6 miles in the morning.

11 miles in the afternoon. 

Rainy and wet so I was carrying around excess water in my soggy clothes! The things runners have to deal with.  The rain and turned into snow by the time I got home and the roads were very slippery and slushy.  I kept hearing splash, splash, splash from my shoes throughout the entire run.  I pushed it when I didn't see snow and was careful when I started out on the snow.  I had no issues with cars so I was happy with that.  It pretty much snowed the whole time I ran this afternoon.  It was a little different running in the white stuff.  I averaged 6:35/mile pace overall.  I was very pleased with this considering the conditions on the road.

I slept in this morning and much to my dismay it was really windy outside.  I waited a while to see if it would go away and it never did.  I listened to my Rocky music on the IPOD and decided to go out.  If Rocky can train in the snow to fight Drago, why can't I go out and run in the cold, winter weather?  Yo Adrian!  I get a lot of wind living right next to the mountains.  I had the wind in my face pretty much the entire run.  I did my North Ogden rolling hills route today.  My legs got a great hill workout considering how much uphill and headwind I had to deal with.  The wind was a bugger but I knew I needed to get this run in.  I really wasn't worried about pace because the wind played a huge factor.  I was happy to get this run in because once I finished, the wind got even worse.  I am happy to have hit 100 miles for the week.  It has been one of the toughest weeks considering all of the elements.  Hopefully weeks like this will only make me stronger.