Speed only kills if you don't have it!

Easy 10K run on a loop around canal trail, 1st Dam, Hillcrest, Lundstrom Park, and home.  I am pretty tired and my legs didn't want to move very fast.  I will probably go out for a few miles later on today.  45:42

(Hurricane-406 miles)

AM- Nice morning run today.  Logan met me at my place and we did a loop that goes on canal trail, onto the Bonneville Shoreline trail to Green canyon, down past Lundstrom park, around the University and back to my place.  We had a good chat along the way.  Not a fast pace, but it never is on that type of run.  It was good to get to know Logan a little better, and hopefully we can hook up for some more runs in the next couple of months.  8.5 miles. 1:05:35

PM-  I went out after work, about 2pm, on a 5 miler into River Heights and back.  It was raining and the air was fresh and clean, I couldn't pass up the chance.  I felt okay, but mainly just ran a comfortable pace and enjoyed getting rained on the whole way.  We need a lot more of these types of afternoons.  35:28

(Hurricane-420 miles)

Easy morning run over to River Heights elementary school and back.  I am a little sore from yesterday's runs and hopefully worked some of it out of my muscles today.   I did 4x100 meter striders toward the end of my run.  46:26

(Adrenaline-287 miles)

Well, another race today, and no better way to get a workout in.  My wife had never done a 10K before and she found out about this one, wanted to do it, and signed us both up.  I wasn't planning on doing another race before Provo Canyon, but like I said there is not an easier way to get a workout in.  We picked up Jon and drove over to Garland, I had never been there before, but found out the other day that I will be there a lot this fall.  I was assigned to student teach over there after USU had a bunch of problems placing us in the Logan district.  My plans have been to student teach at Logan High for the last year, but plans have now changed.   Bear River has some good potential with Cross Country kids and I might be able to help them out a bit, so that is exciting.

I warmed up with Jon before the race on the course.  We got attacked by a big black lab about the size of Gill, but a 1000 times more mean.  I even hit that thing right between the eyes with a rock the size of a golf ball and it still kept after us.  Finally the neighbor rescued us. 

My plan for the race was to stay with Jon and run a good hard training run/race, and hopefully 1,2 the race.  I have been really sore the last couple of days so I knew it wasn't a world record setting day anyways.  Besides, I wasn't planning on doing this race in the first place.  All the High Schoolers took off like crazy, usual start to a race.  Jon and I moved up into the lead at about 3/4 of a mile and Chris Brower ( a 17 year old who placed right between Jon and Cody at the Freedom run) came with us.  We ran together for the whole first half.  It was an out and back course on the highway.  I settled into a good pace with Jon and really didn't think that Chris would hang on since he was breathing so hard.  But Chris played us pretty good, and at the turn around he took off and put about 15- 20 seconds on us in the next half mile.  Jon went with him and I just couldn't seem to get the old sore legs to switch gears.  I finally caught back up to Jon, but he dropped back not too long after that.  I just couldn't get my body to go any faster, kind of like what Sasha had trouble with at Sandy 10K.  I also didn't really care about that race either, so my race mentality was turned off and I was in training mode. 

I kept waiting for Jon to come up on me, and maybe then I could have got more motivation to kick it down and catch that kid, but Jon never came up, although I could hear him just behind me.  I guess at one point in the last 1/4 mile Jon got on my heals, but I never saw him because we were weaving through 5Kers and walkers.  I finished in 36:12.  Chris never gained anymore time and ended up about 15 seconds ahead of me and Jon was about 4 seconds back.  We ran out in 18:30 and I was 17:42  coming back.  It was a good run, eventhough I couldn't kick it into that race gear.  If Jon would have come up on me I probably would have let him go, but who knows, maybe I wouldn't have let him beat me anyways.  The course wasn't super difficult, but it definitely isn't a PR course, times were slow.

I cooled down with Jon back to where Allison was and then ran in with her. She did really good for her first 10K and finished in 1:01: 34 .  I talked to Chris and the cross country coaches after and got to know them a little bit, I might get to know them quite well this fall.  We got a Chuck Wagon Breakfast with our entry, and all three of us got a decent prize.  We came away with a pass to a fun park and a free Chiropractic adjustment, not bad "winnings".  Plus we all got our awards.  It was a fun small town race, and they do a good job with it, not to mention you get your money's worth.

(Adrenaline-290 miles)  (Fastwitch -53 miles)

I met Jon, Cody, and Dan (yes Dan! He is alive and about 10lbs. heavier, but he is back) at the parking lot up Green Canyon. We ran up the single track and got on the brand new section of single track and took it into Naomi wilderness. We went up 6 miles and came back the same way. I had never been in that part of Green canyon before. The last couple of miles were pretty tricky with alot of brush, rocks and winding trail, we were going 10 to 12 minute pace. When we turned around it took a mile or so to get out of the thick crap and then we were able to pick up the pace to 6:30 or so. I'm sure Jon was going faster than that because he likes to sprint down those trails! Dan did good for not doing a lot for the last 6 weeks and ended up with a super quality run. I had a lot of fun tonight on that run, it was the kind of run that recharges the mind and body so you want to run more. I'm sure that it was mostly because I was running with my friends, the only one missing was Paul.

That is the main reason I am kind of bummed about moving next week, I will miss running with those guys all of the time. I will still try to run with them on Saturdays, and Monday afternoons I have a student teaching seminar that is at USU so I will be over for that. It took me two years up here to get to know a few guys and have some friends to train with and it has made all of the difference in the world with my training this year. It was a great and fun run tonight, and hopefully I can have many more of those. 1:45:22

(Hardrock- 57 miles)

AM-  Nice easy morning run.  I didn't feel good enough to go do any tempo this morning, like Cody was going to do, after that trail run last night.  I headed over to canal trail and ran into Drew, I hadn't seen him since WBR.  He is running pretty good right now, and said that his training has gotten bettter since WBR.  We ran upto the river trail together, saw Carson on the way up, and I turned around at the gate.  Drew kept going after we split up.  I was glad to run into some company, even if it was just for the first half of my run.  I ran back around 7 minute pace.  7.5 miles in 56:47

PM-  I went out this afternonn after work for another 5 miles.  I did my Lundstrom Park 5 mile loop backwards.  I sure didn't feel like running but was glad I did it, eventhough it wasn't much fun.  I got a nasty little side stitch or cramp that I couldn't get to go away, probably because I was hungry.  It was getting hot, plus I felt heavy in my legs.  Usually I feel better on my second run when I do two-a-days, but not today.  36:02

(Hurricane-427 miles)

Woke up a little later than I wanted to this morning, but still decided that I would head down to LHS track for a workout.  I ended up having to run around all of the cheer leaders and girl soccer players that never pay attention to what is going on around them, pretty annoying!  I did a 4x800 workout 400 meter recovery.  I threw in an extra 200 meter interval at the end just for fun.  My times were: 2:37, 2:37, 2:35, 2:32, and :31.  I didn't start off feeling to great, but felt a little better as I went along.  I got slowed down on every interval because I had to dodge High School girls, so next time I will get out of bed earlier so I don't have to deal with it.  Cooled down by running back home.  It was cooler this morning when I first started my run and felt quite nice.  1:05:13

(Adrenaline-298 miles)

Ran a loop out into Providence and back this morning.  I started at 8 minute pace and ended with 6:15 pace.  Although I finally got warmed up and going, I never really felt that good.  I am heading up to Idaho for my wife's family reunion today before I head down to Provo for the half.  I am looking forward to a couple nice relaxing days before things get crazy for me.  58:51

(Hurricane-435 miles)

Ran up on the ridge above Lava Hot Springs for an easy morning run. It was all on dirt road and very pretty. I did a couple of striders in the end of the run. No watch today. Hopefully I can run good tomorrow at Provo, it might be my only 1/2 for the rest of the year!

(Hardrock- 60 miles)

Interesting race today!  Curt called me last night at about 10:00pm and asked if I could help with busses in the morning, I said sure!  I went up with the first buss and showed them where to turn around, and then then stood up the canyon for an hour turning busses around.  It was actually pretty nice, because I was a mile away from the starting line, with a potty all to myself, and I just warmed up running down to the starting line.

I didn't feel like running today and actually wanted to stay at my wife's family reunion, but I was glad I ran.  I saw Chad at the start and wanted to run with him, but a mile into the race when I was all by myself I figured he had started late or something.  Dave and Sasha took off like crazy at the start, and Mike Dudley followed them.  Another guy was in between them and me.  I sat in 5th place the entire race and that is where I finished. 

The splits were off half of the time so I quit paying attention, especially after I saw four 6 mile markers (I think the third one was right).   When we turned up the road to Bridal Veil Falls the 4th place guys cut the turn around by a good half a block, I don't know if he knew that I saw him or not.  No one was there to keep people honest.  On the way down I saw someone turn around in front of me at the mile 7 marker, I was getting annoyed by now!  But that guy ended up being Steve Ashbaker, and he was running bandit, so it didn't matter.  I caught up to Steve and asked him to run with me since I had been running alone for most of the race, and he did.  Steve ran with me for just over a mile and a half, and told me some of his story for the last couple of months, glad he did.  Around mile 9 he dropped back and I was all alone again.  I cruised down the canyon feeling pretty good and knowing I was really close to my goal pace.

Everything went well until the last couple of miles where you run through a bunch of parking lots.  I went the wrong direction twice!  The first time I only lost about 10 seconds, but the second one just before 13 miles was the killer.  I came out of a parking lot and started running to the south where the old finish was, I got about 15 seconds in that direction and realized I had goofed.  I turned around and headed back, then started to doubt myself again.  Lucky for me Steve came along and was heading in the right direction, so I turned back around and headed into the finish area.  I was mad at first, but now it is rather funny!  At least I didn't get left behind at the start like Chad and Adam W.!  I finished with a time of 1:13:46.  My PR is 1:13:41, but if you cut out my screw ups I ran about 1:13:00ish, and I would have been right where I wanted to be for my goal.  Oh well, it was a good race for me.  I felt really strong and could have gone further, probably another half to make it a full.  Maybe it is the getting up at 4:00am thing, but I was in marathon mode today, and think I could have ran good in a full marathon this morning.  I ended up 5th overall and 1st in the age.  I was also pleased that I ran as fast or faster today, with my screw ups, as Sasha's winning time last year.  Good solid race for me!

(Tangent-168 miles)

Cooled down with Chad and Adam afterward.  Everyone ran well today, but especially Dave and Sasha.  Dave ran awesome, probably his best race ever, if I could be so bold!  And Sasha probably had one of his best, if not his best, performances in a half ever too.

I ran out into River Heights and Providence this morning. I am a little sore from the 1/2 on Saturday, but not too bad. My pace was easy since it was a recovery run, but I'm not sure how easy? I left my watch on the dashboard of my truck all weekend and the sun killed it. I was pretty bummed about it, since it was such a cool watch. Now I guess I really will have get my Garmin 205, but who knows how long that will take to get here, so I might be watchless for a while.

(Hurricane-444 miles)

No run today. I moved all day and night long and finally finished.  Moving really sucks, but I am sure glad to be out of those apartments!  I am very tired and sore from all the stress and lifting.  Hopefully I can recover and get some good runs in the rest of the week.

AM-  I went out on my first run as a resident of Box Elder County today.  I ran North along the canal road/Bonneville Shoreline Trail until I hit Sardine Canyon.  I crossed over the road and ran through Brigham City golf course and up to the top of the radio towers.  I went back home the same way.  I started at 8 minute pace and slowly moved down to about a 6:40 pace.  It felt good to get out and get some stress out of my body.  I enjoyed the run, and hope I can find a bunch of other good trails and routes.  Maybe moving won't be too bad for my running, because I will have some more variety in my training. 12 miles.

(Hardrock- 72 miles)

PM-  Met Paul, Cody, and Jaxon(Cody's 2 year old) at the Rec Center.  Ran around Planet Walk and west Logan back to Paul's house.  I did an extra 1/2 mile on my own after dropping Paul off at his house.  6.5 miles.

(Omni- 89 miles)

Ran on the canal trail/BST in Willard.  I went south today and ran over by South Willard to the canyon.  I turned around at the gravel mine and came back the same way.  I ran a pretty solid pace, around 7:00 ave, which is pretty good for that trail.   I did have a little discomfort with my right foot today.  Last night I pulled out a part of plantar wart that I had and it hurts like crazy today.  I have never had one of those warts before, but they sure hurt when you bug them.  I wore extra padding around it so that I could run today.  Hopefully it will go away soon, because it is right on the ball of my foot where I toe off. 

(Hurricane-457miles)

AM-  I got my Garmin 205 yesterday.  I ordered it on Monday and it got here on Thursday, not bad for only $2 of shipping.  I wasn't going to go out this morning but I had to try out my new toy.  I still don't really know what I am doing with it because what I know is just from messing around for a few minutes, I haven't read the instructions yet.  It is fun to play with though.

I went out for 5 miles via canal trail over to Willard canyon and back.  I spent most of my run just screwing around with my Garmin.  It was late morning so it was getting hot, and I was getting alot of sweat in my eyes.  My foot wasn't as tender today, so I was glad for that. 37:55 for the run.

(Hurricane-462miles)

I drove over to Logan early this morning to run a long run.  Cody, Dan, Logan, and I ran with Jon's running club from work.  We did a big loop from Newton around the North/West part of the Valley, through towns that I have never been itn before.  The run was mostly out in the fields with alot of rolling hills. One of the guy's wife would stop every three miles or so with water and poweraid.  Dan stayed back with his son Trevor (who was on a bike) and Russ Bennett after a couple of miles, and  Jon, Logan, Cody, and I went ahead. We ran about 10-11 miles and picked up the pace.  Even though I had my Garmin on I didn't pay much attention to how fast we were going, but I think it was mostly around 6 minute pace, give or take 15 seconds either way.   I liked the run, and it was cool to run in a different place with other people, but I would probably not run out that way on my own. 

When we got back to the church and park where we had started from in Newton, we were at just under 18 miles, so we added a couple more miles to make it 20.  There was some food and drinks at the finish, and I guess that they were going to cook up a big breakfast, but we all had to go do other things today.  Maybe next time I will stick around and bum some free breakfast off of Jon's work club.  I helped Paul fill his front yard with woodchips before heading back home.

It was a good run today, eventhough I have been extremely tired this week from the move.  Even with a tough start to the week I still managed to run 65 miles, so I was happy about that.  Hopefully I can recover from everything and get ready to PR in the TOU half next weekend, it should be a fun race.

2:15:00

(Omni- 109 miles)

I went out this morning on a long-medium run.  I ran along the canal trail over to Brigham City, then around the Golf course, down to main, followed HWY 89 back to Willard, and looped around back on the canal trail to home.  Good run today.  I will be heading up to Island Park for the next 3 days so I should get some good runs in this week.  1:44:51

(Hurricane-476miles)

I ran this morning with Allison at a very easy pace.  We ran 7 miles around Island Park and the Saw Tell area.  We didn't see any bears on the run which I was glad about.  The weather was cool, probably around 50 degrees, it felt good.

(Hardrock- 79 miles)

We spent all day yesterday in Yellow Stone hiking, and messing around.  I ended up with some pretty good workouts as a result.  This morning I ran by myself at first and then helped Allison run her first 10 miler ever.  It was even cooler this moring than yesterday, and my leg was aching.  It was the samething that I get everyonce in a great while, the same problem that I had in the Striders 1/2 this year.  I had to stop and massage my leg and stretch several time in the first couple of miles.  As a result they were super slow.  I finally got things worked out and was able to run some tempo miles.  I pushed it hard in theis part of my run and was pleased with my results.  My miles were: 6:21, 5:59, and 6:07, not bad for gravel road,  slight uphill, into a head wind, and over 7,000 feet elevation. 

I cooled down by running with Allison.  We ran on some sweet dirt roads around the middle of Island park.  Allison had never gone that far before and she did great.  I ran along side keeping her company and giving her some water.  I figure if she is actually going to run a half marathon that I want her to have a good experience.  She averaged just over 10 minute miles for the run, and it wasn't flat and easy either. 

(Hardrock- 95 miles)

We spent the rest of the day hanging out in Yellow Stone again.  Saw a few Grizzly Bear and a couple of wolves today, a little more exciting than Elk and Buffalo! 

No run today.  I got up and played golf at Island Park golf couse with my Father in-law and his Brother in-law instead.  I was going to go this evening, but we stopped at "Big Jud's" in Rexburg on the way home and I ate half of a Special (the biggest burger you've ever seen).  That was at lunch and I didn't eat anything else the whole rest of the day.  I was going to go out for a few miles after we got home, but by the time I felt good enough to run it was dark.

I did some easy miles on the canal trail today, with about six 100 meter strides.  Just before I turned around I was coming up a hill in a grove of trees and ran into a badger standing on the side of the canal.  This badger was huge, and probably weighed about 60 pounds!  I had never seen a badger that close before, and certainly never one that big.  I didn't see him at first until he attacked from the side, growling and hissing.  I thought it was a raccoon or dog at first, until I saw that he was a bit slower and had claws as big as my fingers.  The next thing he knew was that he had been nailed in the side of head with a rock about the size of a golf ball.  He stopped for a second, looked a bit stunned, but still growing and hissing, until I talked him into going the other way with an even larger rock to the sideof the head.  I went about my run with no other problems.  I still can't believe the size of that thing, it must have been the Andre the Giant of badgers!  22:15

(Hurricane-479miles)

Well everyone has good and bad days running and this just happened to be one of my worst days ever!  I warmed up before the race and was feeling really crappy, and I knew that I was in for a long hard time. 

All of my buddies were at the start Paul, Logan, Jon, Walter, and Cody.  I didn't care about the place today, but my goal was a sub 1:13.  I figured it was easily possible since I had about done it at Provo and this is just as fast or faster of a course.  The problem was my body felt like death during the warm up and I knew it wouldn't get much better, eventhough I tried to stay positive.  My first mile I went out at 5:30, right where I wanted to be, but the rest of the race was progressively slower and miserable.  Jon and Walter came up from behind me after after a couple of miles, and each one pretty much told me that I looked like crap!  I was hurting the whole time, the tightness, cramps, and feeling sick to my stomach just wouldn't pass and kept getting worse.  The parts of the course that I should have been flying I was dying, even with a sweet tail wind coming out of the canyon I continued to slow down.  Here are my splits: 

Mile 1:   5:30

Mile 2:   5:40

Mile 3:   5:39

Mile 4:   5:47

Mile 5:   5:38

Mile 6:   5:35

Mile 7:   5:31

Mile 8:   5:47

Mile 9:   6:01

Mile 10:  6:01

Mile 11:  6:12

Mile 12:  6:18

13.1:      6:09

Finish time was 1:15:54

I not only hurt physically but I was dying mentally too.  If Cynthia Fowler wouldn't have caught me and passed me like I was standing still at just before mile 12, I would have stopped and walked.  I had it all planned out to stop walk, stretch out, and try to make myself throw up or something.  When I got passed by the first woman I started to get mad and pushed through the pain enough to to pass her and hold her off for the last mile.  There was no way that I was going to get chicked!  I honestly can never remember feeling so crappy in a race, other than a 1500 meter race that I ran at Southern Utah years ago where I had to be packed off the finish line.  The problem was I am not sure why?  I know I was mentally never into that race even before I got registered, but physically I am in pretty darn good shape right now!  I know my stress has been high with moving, starting student teaching, and other life issues, but I had hoped that my trip to Island  Park and Yellow Stone would help that.  I really don't know what happened, but hopefully I don't feel like that in St. George or I won't even break 3 hours and possibably wouldn't finish.

Logan had some mishaps and lost the course, I don't know about those St. George friends of mine running through Milleville, they seem to have a hard time not getting lost!!!  Although Logan lost the course he proved that he is in the 2:25 marathon league with a killer run!  The rest of the guys ran awesome, and seemed very pleased with their time and performances, and they should have.  I felt bad about belly aching around when Jon, Cody, and some of the others all ran so well, and I was being so negative.  Paul is amazing, doing a workout and beating Demetrio Cabanillas’ record by over 30 seconds!  I am disappointed with my race but was glad to be done and hope I never feel that bad again.  I won't break 1:13 this year now so maybe next.  I think the worst thing was, I had a bad experience last year at this race and really wanted to have a good one this year, and it was an hundred times worse.  I like TOU half and want to do it again, but honestly I am kind of scared of it!

I cooled down with the guys for a while and then kept going until I found my wife and sister running.  I ran the rest of the way back with them and was having a hard time keeping their 10 minute mile pace up.  They did really well for their first 1/2, and were happy with their races. Both Allison and Tarynia ran 2:14:03.  All of my friends swept the race, and wards, but not the prizes as usual.  I will chalk this one up as a learning experience and try to remember the good, which was everything post race!

(Tangent-188 miles)

No run today, student teaching orientation at USU all day and night.

I was in Logan at USU for student teaching orientation all day and evening.  I knew that I needed to go on some kind of run before I missed another day, so I headed out around 7:30pm.  This run tonight was only 7 miles but it was the equivalent of about 14.  I went on a trail that my father in-law told me about, took a wrong turn,  and ended up way on the mountain below White Rock. The trail was supposed to climb pretty good for a mile and head North and I climbed an extra 1,000 feet in one mile.  I thought that he had played a dirty trick on me, but it turns out I just took the wrong trail.  I ended up 2/3s the way up the mountain.  I had a couple of miles around 15-16 minutes to let you know how steep that puppy was.   I finally turned around and headed back down and got lost again (there are a lot of 4 wheeler trails).  I eventually found the trail that I was supposed to be on in the first place and made my way back.  It was dark by this time and I had a hard time making my way down the mountain without killing myself.  At last I made it back home, right before they sent out the recue team!  That was easily the hardest 7 mile run that I have ever done!

(Hardrock- 102 miles)

AM-  I went out this morning and ran the run that I was supposed to do last night.  The reason that I got lost yesterday is because that road ends in a gulch.  There is a deer trail that takes you to the otherside and back on the road.  It is still quite the climb up to the ridge, but not like the one last night.    I ran along the second ridge over to Perry canyon, then made my way down, and back along canal trail.  I think I am done with my hill training for the week.  6 miles in 52:35

PM-  Logan came over to the house and we ran up along canal trail.  We went into Brigham City through the golf course, passed the cemetary, and looped up the canyon and back down the highway before getting back on the trail that we came on.  As we were coming back I was wishing we had a little water, it seemed pretty hot during the run and I got really dry.  Other than that it was a good run.  We went a decent pace for that course too.  It was good to run with Logan tonight, I have missed the company.  12.5 miles in 1:29:00

(Hurricane-498 miles)

I went over to Ogden to run with Logan.  We went from his house along Harrison to the North.  We ran up to North Odgen pass, did a loop around North Ogden, and came back the same way.  There were a couple of good hills that slowed us down a bit, but we were mostly running sub 7:00 pace for the first half, which is pretty much all uphill.  On the way back we just cruised, and accept for the big hill we were running about 6:30 pace back without trying too hard.  We ended up running just over 11 miles.  I felt alright for having some pretty hammered legs.  It seemed super hot when we left and I took advantage of a couple of sprinklers along the way.  Good run, and it was good to visit with Logan.  1:16:00

(Adrenaline-309 miles)

Tired today, so I made it short and easy.  5 miles on canal trail, without a watch.