"I don't really need a duck"

Noon - 4.0 miles @ 6:48 pace - 27:12

Noon - 4.0 miles @ 6:43 pace - 26:53 - Finally back at it after two and a half days off.  Work became a huge priority so I only managed 5.5 hours of sheep between Monday moring and Wednesday night (most of that monday night).  Only two and a half weeks to Ogden (excited!).

10:45 pm - 7.25 miles @ 7:03 pace - 51:04 - Three of the miles were at marathon pace.  This run felt better than my noon run.

Noon - 4.0 miles @ 6:45 pace - 27:03 - Slight change of plans.  I planned on running the Riverton Half course Saturday has my last longish run before Ogden, but Jun offered up a free bib number for the Provo City Half, so I will be doing that instead.  It should be funner than a lonely run in Riverton.

My initial plan for today was to do (4) repeats plus a mile of the Riverton Holiday Hero's 5k course (nice and flat), however, when Jun offered up his wife's bib number I couldn't pass the chance (a lot more entertaining than 4 solo repeats).  My plan for the half was to run it at a comfortably fast pace.  I decided to run it at my current dream marathon pace of 6:30 (I think 6:43 is more realistic) without stretching myself too far.  As usual I went out fast for the first few miles (they felt easy)  - Mile #1 5:58 - Mile #2 6:09 - Mile #3 6:13 - Mile #4 6:16.  After mile 4 I settled into that 6:3x pace window - Mile #5 6:30 - Mile #6 6:32 - MIles #7 6:34 - Mile #8 6:37.  I took a Strawberry Banana Gel just before mile 9 (much smoother technique than at the Riverton Half) and grabbed some water at the mile 9 aid station - Mile #9 6:37 - Mile #10 6:34 (took water at the aid station to finish washing down the GU) - Mile #11 6:33 - Mile #12 6:34 - Mile #13 6:42 (could have done without the overpass) - for the last 0.1 I really don't know since I forgot to stop my watch at the finish.  My legs felt tired during the race but my breathing was never laboured.  It truely felt like a fast training run. 

I had a great time meeting and chatting with several bloggers including - Jun (thanks again), Allie, Lilly, Fiddy and Fritz (an probably others) and getting some good info for Odgen.  The weather was fantastic (I guess it could have been cooler during the race) and the race atmosphere was great.