All it takes is all you've got

9 miles in 7:23 pace

Did 7X50 stride pick-ups.  Legs feel fully recovered from the Bolder Boulder.  

Was looking into races again last night and after talking to some teammates I don't think I'm going to run the race this Saturday.  It takes a good week of effort out of me to recover from an all out 10K and I'd rather just keep training and get ready for something on July 3rd.  And actually after looking again last night, the Freedom Half Marathon in SLC looks very enticing.  The course looks fast and scenic and I'd love to get another fast half under my belt.  It seems like it is an inaugural event though, and I don't love that.  Usually the first year of any race has kinks to be worked out.  Any bloggers doing this race?  Is it in fact the first year of this race?

11 miles in 7:14 AP

Did the workout on my own this morning since Coach D doesn't have an A.M. group today and I can't do the P.M. group due to Young Women's activity night tonight.  I told Coach I could no longer do the P.M. workouts because of my commitment to my new Church calling and he invited me to do A.M. workouts with the triathletes starting next week.  Perfect.  I SO much prefer A.M. workouts anyway.

20 minute warm up, stretching, strides.

5 minutes at half marathon effort w/2:00 recovery (5:51 pace)

4X2:30 at 10K effort w/90 sec recovery (5:37, 5:43, 5:37, 5:37 pace)

5 minutes at half marathon effort (5:54 pace) 

25 minute cool down

Did the workout on the Big Dry Creek trail which is mostly flat with a few rollers.  Effort felt a bit tougher since I was alone with no one to push me, but overall felt pretty good.  Left achilles is still very mildly tight and right shin is a little tight.  I'll see if I can work them out on my own, if not I may see Richey either later this week or next week.

7 miles in 7:30 pace

The prarie dog near mile four perched up on his mound and gave me an enthusiastic wave as if to say "top of the morning to you!"  Finally after a year of running past his home three or four mornings a week he's decided to be neighborly.

Around mile six I saw an older gentleman who's sharp white and black facial hair and jaw line suddenly reminded me of my Dad.  My heart sank as I started wishing I could go hiking with my Dad, see him cheering for me at the end of a race, or just sit down and chat with him.  The last time I was able to do any of those things was three years ago before he passed away.  At least I still have lots of good memories and thoughts of him.  I miss him.

14 miles in 7:33 pace

Out and back on Big Dry Creek.  I'm not sure why they call it that because it is by no means dry. Millions of gallons of water coming out of Standley Lake flowing down a lush river.  Not dry.

 We had a sitter watch the kids this morning so Aaron give community service.  If any of you read his story a couple of months ago about running away from the Park Rangers in the Eagle habitat near our house, I just want to clarify that the moral of that story is to NOT run away from people of authority.  And if you do decide to do it, BY ALL MEANS, DO NOT go bragging about it on your website.  He posted his "funny" story in three different places (FRB, aaronkennard.com, and some ultra-runner's list).  Some people on the Ultra list didn't think it was very funny in fact they expressed to him that it was downright selfish (which it was) and then they turned him in to the City of Westminster Police.  He suddenly felt very ashamed of his behavior realizing that what he did could have harmed the endangered Eagles. Then he wrote an apology post and spoke to the Rangers that he out-ran to try and make it right.  They took him to court anyway and on Monday he was sentenced to a $300 fine plus 100 hours of community service that has to be completed before Sept. 7th.   SO long story short, we will be having a sitter watch our kids every Thursday and Friday morning so he can go do community service from 6-10a.m. and I can still get my run in.  So that 1 mile jaunt through the Eagle Habitat cost $800+ and 12 weeks of busy, over-scheduled Thursday and Friday for Aaron.  Learn from Aaron's experience and just obey the law.

7 miles in 7:57 pace

Woah, I was tired today.  Seriously.  I don't know what hit me.  I guess its Friday. 

Met the group at Palo Parkway in Boulder. 50 degrees and drizzly off and on.  Perfect running weather.  

20 minute warm up, stretching, strides

4X7 minutes at half marathon pace. Went back and forth on a road that was pretty flat but had one nice quarter mile hill in the middle.  First interval went downhill in the middle, I did 6 minute pace.  Second one was flat with an uphill in the middle 6:10 pace. Third back down 5:55 pace.  Fourth back up, 5:56 pace (I pushed a little harder on the last one).  

The group felt kind-of spread out today maybe just because the intervals were a bit longer than usual.  I was pretty much in no man's land but it was good to see John and Jeff pushing the pace out in front of me.  Coach D is recovering from his first half-iron man so he was a bit behind me.

My achilles is still slightly tight but not too bad.