Speed only kills if you don't have it!

First morning of my summer training camp with my XC kids.  I had about 50 kids come out on the first day at 6:30 am, so I was happy about that.  I did an easy 5.5 miles with my faster guys along the canal that runs west and north of the high school.  It should be a fun summer with this group.  7:44 pace

(Kahana- 221 miles)

AM-  I was hammered and slept in until almost 8:00am today. I went on an easy run up 300 N into Pleasant Grove to Canyon Road, and looped back by the AF hospital. It was pretty warm this morning, which is good because I need to get used to the heat. I hope to get back out this afternoon for some more heat training to get me ready for this weekend. 7:14 pace for the 7.5 mile run.

PM-  I wanted to get out when it was still hot to try and get myself adjusted to running when it is in the 80s and 90s instead of the 50s all of the time.  I went out about 6:30 pm.  I ran up the south hill by the Temple and out on Lone Peak hwy to the Highland Greenhouse and back.  It was hot and I could feel it the whole time, but especially when I picked up the pace to do some tempo.  I did tempo for the last two miles and was glad that was the only two!  5:57 and 5:57 for both miles.  The last mile had some uphill in it and I was working hard.  When I got home I dumped some water over my head and splashed it all over my body, then grabbed the VFFs to go do some strides at the park.  I did 5x100meter strides on the grass and walked home.  It took me a while to get cooled down after that.  I am a little concerned about the heat on my first leg at WBR this weekend, so hopefully running in the late afternoon-early evening for the next couple of days will help.  7 miles total, 6:59 average.

(Omni- 497 miles) (VFF- 5.5 miles)

XC practice this morning. I had the kids meet at the Riverton swimming pool for a long run on the Jordan River Parkway trail. I went with Derrek, Chris, and Dillon for 8 miles. We ran south into Bluffdale. It was a nice morning and I had a good time running with my kids. 59:24, 7:26 pace overall.

(2130- 90 miles)

AM- I met Timo at 26.2 for a super easy run this morning. We had a good conversation, mostly about running of course. We di an easy loop around East AF, picked some paper work up at AF HS, and headed back to the store. I finished with 5x100 meter strides at the park across the street form my church. 8:20 pace overall.

PM- Went out about 5:00 pm so I could run when it was hot. I did a zig zag run on the East side of AF. I did my best to stay away from any king of hills and keep the pace nice and slow. 7:34 pace and 37:49 overall for the 5 miles. Sat in the our kiddy pool with Jaren when I got home. We had just filled it with hose water so it was nice and cold, like icing the legs. Felt good!

(Omni- 507 miles) (VFF- 6 miles)

Easy two miles at XC practice to get the old legs moving before WBR.

(Kahana- 223 miles)

Hot start to WBR like usual, the difference was I was one of the first ones instead of very last like I have been in previous years.  I have been captaining the white team but decided to run on the blue team when all was said and done.  My van was a fun one with some very cool guys ( Mitch, Steve Hooper, me, Dustin, Chad, Jon, and Paul as the driver), so I was pumped for that.

My first leg was super hot, something I was not used to after all of our 60 degree temps.  I soaked my hat and put it on hoping it would help me.  I had no time to warm up because we spent so much time aiding Steve that we didn't get to the exchange much before he did.  I started at 6:13pm and almost right away I was lost and off course.  Some how I took a right turn when I was supposed to go straight.  I figured it out after a block or so and headed back to where I was supposed to be.  That was all I need was to have to run .3 miles further than what I need, not too mention the steep hill I went up that I should have had to run up, when it was 94 degrees out.  I felt stupid for not looking at my legs and memorizing where to go like I should have, and am always telling others to do.  Honestly I didn't even look at my legs at all before I ran, I have been too busy doing the logistics part of the race to pay attention to what I was doing.  Good thing was I knew I was off and knew where I need to end up.  The van came by about a mile and a half into my run and it was good to get a quick swallow of water and see that I was where I  was supposed to be.  I was all by myself out the running through fields on a gradual uphill climb from Hyrum into Paradise.  It was so hot and I wanted to stop every time I saw a sprinkler in a field but I knew I had wasted almost two minutes already.  The van stopped three times for me which wasn't enough with the hot sun pounding on me, and me out on a tempo that seemed never ending.  I finally made it to the park and handed off to Dustin and went straight to the shade.  I was glad to get that leg out of the way.  I was supposed to run the 5.6 miles at 6:20 pace but ended up running the 5.95 miles in 36:18 (6:09 pace).  It took me a long time to cool down after that run.  Too bad I got lost and ran a bit extra because my pace was faster than our white team's pace for that leg. 

2nd Leg We were running well after the first leg and were about as far behind the white team as they were behind BYU's stud team. I actually like the times of day that I got to run on this leg. My second leg started at 12:08 am. It was the opposite of my first leg, dark, cool, and tons of people. I felt decent in this leg and had around 40 roadkill. This leg had a lot of rollers and because it was so dark and the moon wasn't up yet I couldn't tell if I was going uphill or downhill sometimes. I averaged right around 6:00 pace for every mile on this leg. It went by quick too because of all of the people. I have never had that many people to pass in a relay before. I would come up on another roadkill every couple hundred yards. I lost count after 30 roadkill but figured that I passed another 10 or so after that. This leg was longer than it was supposed to be. Paul seemed pretty concerned that my Garmin read it as 5.24 miles when it was supposed to be 4.9 miles. It worked out though because Dustin's next leg was about as much short as mine was long. I think that Paul does a great job with the maps, but they seem to throw those exchanges wherever they want and it knocks the legs off a bit. 31:06 for the 5.24 miles (5:56 pace, right on projection).   (Tangent-239 miles)

After my second leg I was feeling pretty tired and my stomach was all kinds of messed up! We did get about an hour and a half of sleep at exchange 24. It was cold at night which was better than 95 degrees. I hit the potty a couple of times and chewed some gum to try to get my stomach to calm down before my last leg. I was glad that I only had one leg to go and that I would get done early, but I sure didn't feel like doing anything but sleeping. My body was done! But I knew it would be over soon and I could tough this one out no matter how crappy I was feeling.

3rd Leg 6:41 am- This one started in Kamas and ended by the Provo River going to the Res. The first 3 miles was a gradual uphill where I was averaging 6:20 pace. I passed several people on this leg as well, including a hand bike that was struggling on the lond uphill. I was struggling myself with some nasty stomach cramps and trying to relax and work them out. When I turned along side the river with just over two miles to go the downhill started and I was grateful, although my stomach was not. I went from 6:20 pace to 5:25 pace for the last stretch. This was where I got passed for the first time ever in my 6 relays. The guy on the hand bike that was struggling on the long uphill came down the downhill at 40 MPH and left me in the dust! Not much I could do about that. I finished strong, and even had some people trying to out kick me to the exchange, which was not going to happen! I handed off to Dustin and was done. 5.2 miles in 31:10 (6:00 pace). It felt great to be completely finished by 7:30 am. I cooled down for almost one mile before I got in the van and we headed to aid Dustin. (Fastwitch -88 miles)

Everyone on both teams did well. I felt apart of both teams because I was captain and had done all of the logistic and organization for the white team, but was running for the Blue team. I was glad I was in the van I was because we had a lot of fun. All of my van ran well but I'll let them tell the tales. Paul, Jon, and Mitch left early right after Jon ran his last leg, so Steve, Chad, Dustin, and I hung out together until the finish. I saw a lot of friends and people I knew along the course and at the finish and had some good visits. BYU came in 34 minutes ahead of white and blue came in almost one hour after white. Our second van had some struggles but still ran great on their last leg. I think that both teams did their job, BYU just had an almost unbeatable team this time. The blue team rocked as well. To put it into perspective, we ran 25 minutes slower than last year's team with guys like Paul, Sasha, and Clyde. With the added mileage to the course this year we probably ran better than last. Not too bad for being the supposed "B" team, as some people were calling it! 3rd overall with that many teams and we sewed that place up pretty easy, I'd say that is a good showing. I know that some of our legs were actually better than our white counter-part's, so some guys have some bragging rights, you might say. Good times once again. Big thanks to our volunteers and drivers. Also to Paul, Steve, and Sasha for their sponsorship, and Cody for helping me with the logistics for two teams (which is not an easy task). Everyone that ran with us was an absolute stud! Another relay in the books and another batton on the shelf.