Summit junkie!

I signed up for the SL Running Co. 5K to celebrate their new store on 7th East (about 2400 South). The race was free and I thought it would be fun to finally try a 5K. This was only my third race ever and my first 5K. It was definitely different than anything that I have been doing recently and I learned a lot.

I have not been practicing running a 5K distance and especially not fast. I just wanted to run as fast as I could without hitting a wall. I have not been doing any speed work at all and it showed. I did do a short warm up before the race started and I was feeling pretty good.

There were several hundred runners. I am not sure exactly how many, but they filled 1000 spots, although I would estimate about half of that actually showed up. They did give out free Brooks running shirts and they wanted everyone to wear their shirt, so it was kind of cool to see all of the white shirts. The race was an out and back on 6th East behind the store.

I was near the front at the start and I was actually in the top 5 runners for the first .7 miles. I looked at my watch and I was running a 6:00 minute mile, but I was already starting to get tired, so I knew I had to slow down. I ended up running the first mile in 6:50 and I was still in about 10th place.

Mile two was a lot harder and my lack of preparation was showing. I was trying to run fast, but I was tired and wished I had done at least some speed work before attempting to run a fast 5K. At the turn around point I counted 20 runners ahead of me. The next mile was hard and I just tried to keep a steady semi fast pace and not get passed by too many people.

The last .5 I picked it up and was running sub 7, but I couldn't sprint in like I wanted to. This was harder than I thought it would be and I am a little disappointed with my time, but I learned a lot from this race and had a FUN time anyway. I definitely want to do another one and shave at least a minute off of my time.

I finished in 32 place. Not bad, but there were a lot of weekend warriors out there.

I did 45 minutes on the elliptical and then 30 minutes of ab work with my ball.

I somehow found time to get 6 in on the TM. Nice and easy 9:00 pace. Everything feels really good.

Up early to lift at the gym. I only had about 35 minutes, but I had a very good workout. Worked upper body and core.

Somehow snuck in 30 minutes on the elliptical. I'm going to bed early because Jun and I will be running/climbing Lake Mountain in the morning.

Also rolled and stretched my ITB.

I had a very busy day. My wife is back in school again and has a class on Tues and Thurs nights, so that means it's all me after work with the kids. I made dinner and got them to bed and I was so tired I took a 30 minute nap. I woke up and managed 30 minutes on the elliptical.

I was thinking about getting up early to climb something this morning, but my gym will be closed for 5 days, so I wanted to make sure I lifted, and I might be climbing Tanners Gulch in Little Cottonwood Canyon tomorrow, so I want my legs to be fresh.

Tanners is a very steep chute that leads to the LCC ridge. From there 4 of the highest and most challenging peaks in the Wasatch can be climbed and I will definitely try and climb at least one of them. I have some friends climbing up there today to check out the conditions and if it looks safe I'll be going. My friends will be climbing all 4 peaks, while I will have to settle for 1-2 because of time. I have a date with my daughter for lunch and a movie.

I did wake up early to hit the gym. It was a typical Friday- Naked old men in the locker room, great lifting session, and a fun run on the TM after lifting. I did 3 nice and slow and then picked up the pace a bit on the last 3.

I ran/hiked to the top of Lake Mountain this morning with my dog. I was planning on getting up early, but my wife told me to sleep in (6:45). We left a little after 7:00 and my dog was hyped. I think she knows what it means when I let her get up with me in the morning. It took about 20 minutes to drive to the trail and after a few minutes we were off.

Lake Mountain is the large mountain just west of Utah Lake. It is quite big with a long summit ridge and has several radio towers on top. There is a dirt road that goes all the way to the summit, and with a 4X4 or ATV you could drive all the way, but that isn't as fun. We parked right where the dirt starts and the first mile or two were pretty flat and only started to get a little steeper during the end of the second mile.

I noticed 3 guys on mountain bikes right behind us, but after we went around a curve I didn't see them again until we were on the way down. I ran the flatter sections and power hiked when it got steeper. We gained 3100 feet on our way up and had a fantastic time. We passed a few ATVs and I passed one runner coming down that I thought was Davy Crockett (looked like him from 50 yards away), but when he got closer I realized it wasn't.

It took 1:18 to get to the summit and the views were superb of Utah County and the surrounding areas. After spending about 10 minutes trying to get a summit jump photo I took Shyla over to a snow bank where I fed her about 10 snowballs. She loved them and I had a raspberry Hammer gel, and took in the views for a few more minutes.

The descent was a lot of fun. We ran the whole way and got back to the car in 47 minutes for a total time of 2:05. My ITB started to get tight running up the steep stuff, and on the way down I had to stop and put on my brace. It was pretty sore when we finished, but I could have kept running without too much pain.

Once again it was an incredible way to start out my weekend. To all you mothers out there... HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

We had a really good Mothers Day, visiting family and eating waaaaay too much. After the kids were in bed I worked my abs for 40 minutes and did 20 minutes of stretching. I rolled my ITB's and they are both really sore.

45 minutes on the elliptical after the kids were in bed. I watched the Jazz get destroyed by the Lakers, but I could only take it for so long and I ended up putting on some Survivorman.

I also rolled my ITB and stretched.

I took yesterday off to rest my legs, and I didn't want to do anything too serious, so I did another 45 on the elliptical. Exactly like Monday.

I also rolled my ITB and stretched.

I will be getting up early tomorrow to lift at the gym and then Friday I am going to climb up Tanners Gulch in Little Cottonwood and hit one of the peaks on the ridge. Next Wed I am probably going to do North Timp via the Cold Fusion Couloir, which is a steep chute on the north face of the mountain. I'm excited to finally hit some sweet Spring mountaineering routes.

I woke up early this morning to lift at the gym and I had a really good workout. I warmed up on the machines for 15 minutes, and then used the free weights for the next 30. Everything felt really good. I had some extra time, so I finished with 4 on the TM at a nice and slow 9:00 pace.

I had a crazy morning. My alarm went off at 3:30 and I was trying to get out of the house by 3:50, but I accidentally spilled a container of spaghetti sauce all over the kitchen tile. D'oh! It took me 10 minutes to clean it up and I was rushing to get out of the door.

I met Trevor and Matt at the Little Cottonwood Park-n-ride at 4:30. Trevor is an avid backcountry skier with over 130 days in this season. He is a really cool guy and was sporting a tye dye shirt and a Hawaiian swim suit over his ski pants. We met Lana at the Tanners slide area parking lot and geared up. The goal was to climb Tanners Gulch and Sunrise Peak.

Tanners is a steep couloir (chute) that has a reputation of being one of the most avalanche prone areas in the Wasatch, so it doesn't get climbed much until May. The conditions looked to be good and Matt had climbed it 5 days before and it was perfect, so he said snowshoes would not be needed. Lana already had them strapped to her pack, so she decided to leave them on.

We started a few minutes before 5:00 and within 10 minutes we were in the gulch heading up the steep snow. It was really cool seeing the headlamps going up the snow and making their way into the gulch.

After about 30 minutes we ran into a huge problem. The snow had a hard crust, but it was only a few inches deep, and below it was much softer, so we started to break through and post-hole. Matt and I were hoping that the conditions would change the higher we went, while Trevor put his skins on his skis, and Lana put on her snowshoes. They quickly started putting distance between us, as we were totally bogged down in the snow. Every step was a struggle as we sank up to our knees and we both cursed under our breath knowing we should have brought the snowshoes.

We took turns breaking the trail and Lana and Trevor got way ahead. After an hour we had only gone .6 miles and I had to laugh at the thought of what our first mile split would be. Eventually we decided that we were not going to make it to the top of the gulch in time to summit, so Matt wanted to turn back because he had to get to work. We went up for 1:40 before we decided to turn back. We called Lana and she was going to keep going for the top and Trevor had picked a different line to ski as he was sinking to his waist in snow and really struggling.

After a tough start we both had a really good glissade (slide on our butts) for a good portion of the way down. When we were almost to the bottom Trevor came gliding down on his skis. He said the conditions only got worse, so he decided to bail too. We ran into pieces of an animal (we think maybe a beaver) that had been a meal for something probably earlier in the night. There was a stomach, some teeth, a piece of a jaw, some hair and blood and that was it. It looked like coyote tracks in the snow. It was kind of gross.

We made it back to the car in 2:31. Lana went all the way to the top and ran into some really spooky conditions with a lot of sugary snow, so she decided to turn back and I think that was the right move.

It was a fun day, but a little disappointing. The only silver lining is that my legs are still pretty fresh, so I can run in the Grandeur Peak Fun Run tomorrow. I will post s few pics and a video later.

Climbing the gulch

Skiing Tanners

What a fun day! I did the Grandeur Peak Fun Run this morning. It is a free trail race that starts at the Grandeur Peak West Ridge trailhead, goes up and over the peak, down through Church Fork to the Pipeline trail and then over Rattle Snake Gulch and back to the trailhead. This would be my first trail race and I was excited.  I got to the parking lot a few minutes before the start and met Twinkies there. I did see a few familiar faces and a lot of serious looking trail runners. I thought I was probably out of my league here, but it was going to be fun to see what I could do.

After writing our names down and waiting for a few minutes the race started with everyone running up the trail. I was in the middle of the pack and very quickly the trail becomes too steep to run. This is one of the steeper trails in the Wasatch and it pretty much goes straight up the mountain. I was doing very well and feeling great power hiking up the trail, passing people along the way and not very many people were passing me, which I thought was a good sign. I figured that this would be the only place on the whole course were I would have any advantage over some of the runners because I have been doing a lot of elevation hiking and running.

We all settled in after about 15 minutes I didn't pass many people and I was only passed a few times before reaching the summit. After I reached the first mile I could still see Twinkies ahead of me and I was surprised because he usually motors up the peaks a lot quicker than I do, so I figured I must not be doing too bad and I was feeling great.

At the 45:00 mark I was hiking with an older guy and his dog that I would see on the trail the rest of the way. He commented that I was doing great and that we were about 15 minutes from the summit. I was hoping to hit the summit in 1:20, so that made me realize that I was going up a lot faster than I thought I would. The summit ridge has some snow, and it did slow us down a little, but it wasn't too serious. I hit the summit at 1:06 and it was easily the quickest ascent of the peak for me. After giving my name to the guys on the summit I headed down quickly. The trail still had a lot of snow and there were a few places that were technical. A guy in front of me fell, although it wasn't anything serious.

I actually motored down pretty well and was feeling really good. Only a few people passed me heading down Church Fork and one of them was Twinkies. I was shocked to see him behind me and found out that he had taken the wrong trail following someone else. He cruised past me and I didn't see him again until the finish. I passed a lady just before the Pipeline trail and then once I hit the Pipeline, the trail flattens out and heads down the canyon. This was the toughest part of the race for me and my pace slowed a lot. I think about 8 people passed me here and I was losing energy.

At Rattlesnake Gulch I stopped to rest and take a Hammer Gel and it almost made me puke, Yuck! I took off my long sleeved shirt and while I was stopped two more people passed me. Heading up the Gulch was tough. It was steep and a little muddy and my energy was down, but after I got to the top I was feeling much better and the rest of the way my energy was really there. Nobody else passed me the rest of the way and I picked up my pace.

I finished in 50th place (not sure how many people there were) but I felt really good and my knee which has been bothering me for two months didn't give me any problems at all. It was only slightly tight and I felt like I could have easily kept going without any issues.

This was a really fun race and I will be back to do it again every year. It was definitely a tough course, but I loved every minute of it.

My legs are only a little sore after Saturday, but I want to give them another day of rest, so no running today. I went to the gym after my kids went to bed and lifted with some guys from my neighborhood. We had a really good workout. We did upper body/core for 50 minutes.

My wife had school tonight, so it was a busy evening getting the kids taken care of, but I did manage some TM miles after they were in bed. I really need to get out for a run, so I'm thinking of hitting the tails at lunch today (Wed). I'm not sure yet what I am going to do, but I am sure it will involve a trail and possibly a peak.

It's not every day that you have a run-in with a bull moose. I brought my work out clothes to work today hoping to get in a run during my lunch break, but I didn't know where I wanted to go. Jun gave me a great idea to run the Little Cottonwood river trail aka the Temple Quarry Trail. It sounded like a great run and it is only 10 minutes from my office.

The trail follows the river up the canyon for 2.6 miles. The scenery is fantastic and the weather was just about perfect. You really can't beat the views of the canyon walls and river that you get on this trail. The run up was a little slow and I was working the kinks out. It isn't extremely steep, but it is uphill the whole way.

It took me 30:20 to run the 2.6 miles up to the river crossing and I stopped and took a short break. I wanted to run fast on the way down, so I just ran hard and except for a few technical sections I was able to keep up a really good pace.

I was about a mile down and running between a 6:30-7:00 pace and a bull moose jumped out onto the trail about 10 feet in front of me. I didn't even have time to process what was going on, but luckily he took off running going the same direction as I was. I quickly stopped and watched as he ran about 30 yards and then stopped. I was hoping that he wasn't going to come back to confront me, so I waited for a few seconds and then started to slowly walk. At that point he took off running down the trail, and I slowly followed walking for the next 100 yards or so. Talk about an adrenaline rush. I have seen several moose while playing in the outdoors, but I have only had one, well, maybe two other experiences that rivaled this one. It certainly wasn't just an average run.

I made it back down to the car in 18:40 for a total time of 49:00

I bit off a little more than I wanted to chew this morning. The plan was to climb Thaynes peak with my friend Matt. I have never climbed to the summit of this peak before, although I have been on the nearby summits. The peak is just under 10,000 feet, so we knew there would be snow up there, but we both felt like there would be a 'beaten' path to the top.

I set my alarm for 4:30, but my backup alarm was set for 3:30 and I didn't realize it until it woke me up an hour early. I couldn't get back to sleep, and just as I dozed my son woke me up because he needed some loves, then when I dozed again the alarm went off. I wasn't feeling it at all, but I was hoping to get in a groove.

I met Matt at Dans Grocery store by Millcreeek Canyon and it was a quick drive to the Desolation trail. Both of us were feeling sluggish and we slowly made our way up the trail. I made a stupid mistake and left my gaiters in the car. DUMB DUMB! I was just being lazy and it would come back to haunt me. After a mile we were in snow the rest of the way. We followed a gully that got pretty steep, and just as we thought there were bucket steps in the snow, which was good because we didn't bring our snowshoes or ice axes.

It was really slow going and the gully was pretty steep. About 3/4 of the way up the steps stopped, and it was taking us a lot longer than we thought it would. Both of us thought we could climb this peak and get back down in about 3 hours, but we were wrong. The conditions were not good.

The last half mile was slow and painful. It was steep and we were now post-holing to our knees with every step. We took turns breaking trail, but it was bad. Not having my gaiters made it even worse and my boots were getting wet and my feet very cold. I couldn't keep the snow out of them. We were both determined to make it to the top though, so we slogged on and cursed a lot.

We finally made it to the top after 3 hours and the view was fantastic. It was now windy and snowing a little, so we didn't stay long. We dropped down off of the summit to get out of the wind to take a break and I had a Hammer gel and Matt had a sandwich. The long slog back was just horrible. My feet were numb and my shins were getting trashed by the snow while I plunge stepped down. We did have a few glissades, but not as much as we would have liked.

The hike down was pretty uneventful and we made it back to the car for a total time of 4:36. It was a lot more work than I wanted to do today, but we had a really good time anyway.

3K + elevation gain.

I woke up early this morning to lift. I was really tired and I almost went back to sleep, but I knew I would feel better if I just dragged myself to the gym. I love Friday mornings because the gym isn't very crowded. I had a great workout working my upper body/core for 50 minutes. My calves are sore from all of the elevation gain (8K feet) in the last 6 days, so no running today.

On a side note: One of our FRB members Burt is in need of a van to transport his rather large family while on a trip to Utah. Can you please help him and his lovely brides out? Thanks.

Today was just an all around crappy day which is rare for me but it was. I'll spare you the details. I did manage to get in 3 on the TM and 30 minutes of core with my ball. Everything feels really good.

I love Sunday morning runs. There are very few cars and people out there in Utah County, so it is very relaxing. This run wasn't all that relaxing though because I took my dog Shyla with me. She needs the exercise and it is good getting her out.

Shyla was so excited to go that she started pulling me right away at a nice 6:30 pace. This was a lot faster than I wanted, so after about 1/4 of a mile I had to pull her back to a comfortable 8:00 pace. She did pull me around quite a bit during the first two miles, but eventually we settled into a nice rhythm.

At two miles I turned around because Shyla was getting tired and I just wanted something pretty easy. Other than Shyla almost eating a Boston Terrier that tried to jump on her, the run back was pretty uneventful. The last mile she was really tired and we slowed down a lot. It was a really fun run and an excellent way to start the day.

Total time 35:20

I went to the gym tonight after I got the kids to bed and lifted for an hour and had a really good session. I warmed up on the machines for 15 min and then spent 20 minutes lifting by myself, followed by 20 minutes with my neighborhood friends and then a 5 minute power lift with the dumbbells. I'm really worked and everything feels good.  

I was supposed to go running with Jun today, but things got really crazy, so I couldn't make it. My wife had school, so I was the boss and it was wild and crazy, but fun. I did manage to grind for 45 minutes on the elliptical and I worked up a nice sweat. I'll be taking it easy for the rest of the week getting ready for the Sapper Joe 30K.

I went out for a nice and easy run after the kids were in bed. I ran down to the Highland Hwy and then north for almost a mile and then back home. I really don't like running at night, but the temps were perfect.

Total time 25:44

I decided to take a rest day yesterday, so my legs will be fresh for Sapper Joe on Sat. I'm just hoping the weather cooperates.

I got to bed late and then I had a terrible night sleep last night. I had just fallen into a deep sleep and my son woke me up, then after I dozed off again the dog woke me up because she had to use the bathroom and I never could get back into a good sleep all night. It was bad. I'm worried about getting enough sleep tonight because I will be getting up early again for the race tomorrow.

I got up early to lift at the gym and I did have a really good workout even though I was tired. I lifted for 45 minutes and did several sets of pull-ups as well.

Have a great weekend everyone and good luck in all of your races.

I ran in the Sapper Joe 30K today (yesterday) and had the most amazing experience. The race started at 6:00 AM and I was up by 4:20. I picked up Jun at 5:15 and we headed over to Camp Williams, where it was really cold and windy and we both debated on what we should wear. I decided to wear a long sleeved poly-pro breathable with a short sleeve t-shirt over the top. I figured if I had to shed the long sleeve I could tie it on my waist.

We made it over to the building where everyone was waiting and after a few minutes of laughing with Jun about various things the race director gathered us all for a few words and we were all ready to go. Being there with Jun really calmed my nerves and we were having a great time. It's too bad I couldn't keep up with him once the race started.

After meeting a few bloggers (Faceless Ghost and his wife Catherine) the canon went off and we took off at about an 8:00 pace heading toward Redwood Rd. After crossing under Redwood we came onto the dirt road that would take us into the hills, and after only a few minutes in we were climbing. This would be the theme for most of the day. It didn't take long before Jun picked up his pace... or maybe I took mine down a few notches because of the grade.

The next 20 or so minutes we were steadily making our way up the steep slope and people were still passing each other and settling into their paces. The slope becomes really steep and you have to hike, so I was power hiking every slope and my legs were feeling strong. I passed a lot of people that had passed me on the flatter sections.

After about 30 minutes there was a group of about 10 that stayed pretty close for the next few miles. We would pass each other and then pass back depending on how steep it got. I could see the faster runners already making a lot of distance and Faceless Ghosts shorts (orange) made it easy to pick him out. He was flying. I could also se Jun for a while, but eventually I lost him.

The first 4 miles are all uphill and they are not gentle at all. I was pushing hard the whole time and still feeling really good. About 1/4 of a mile from the top of the Cedar Point summit I flet a little pain in my right ITB, which has bothered me off and on since I ran 20+ miles in Cedar Valley with Crockett and Jun. This was the worst and most scary part of the day. So many things went into my mind. Would I have to quit? No way. Would I have to walk in and be the last to finish? Would it get so bad that I would have to quit to save the rest of my summer? I was scared. At the summit I stopped to stretch it and a girl that had been just behind me passed. We both had passed each other a few times and she took off across the ridge, so I didnt stretch for long.

The descent from Cedar Point is STEEP! The grade was really bad for my knee and as I ran down it was now hurting. I was so mad, but at the same time I started taking it really easy. I slowed down a lot. 3-4 people passed me and I finally pulled 800 mg of Ibuprofen out of my pocket and downed them while still running. I could see the first aid station now and when the grade leveled out I was just hoping my ITB would settle down. The bad thing about this is that it really made me tentative for the next few miles and I slowed down a lot.

At the aid station I was quickly downing a Hammer Gel and another runner knocked my water bottle lid off of the table. It took me a couple of minutes to clean all of the sand out of it and really got me flustered. I wanted to be in and out of there. I also took a pill (Hammer electrolyte) and took off. Well, I wasn't moving fast. I was still worried about my knee.

The next two miles I was slow. I was worried, but my knee actually started feeling better. I think the steep slopes had just been really hard on it and now that it had leveled out (that is relative, this course never levels out) it was feeling better, but I was still so worried about it that I wasn't pushing at all until I saw a guy and woman making up some ground on me and all of the sudden my competitive juices were stronger than my urges to play it safe. I kicked it in and pushed. For the next two miles the guy was on my heels. He was breathing hard and I was enjoying the challenge. I told myself that I didn't want anyone to pass me between aid stations and I held him off until a few hundred yards from the aid station and he passed me. We told each other nice job.

At aid station number two I ate another Hammer gel, took another electrolyte pill and then retied my right shoe because my ankle was getting sore so I loosened it up a bit, and then I took off. From here the course starts to head back to the start/finish. It was a steep slope and had to be hiked. I left before the guy that had passed me, and I was on the heels of another guy that was at the aid station when I got there. I wasn't expecting so many hills on the way back and it seemed like they just kept coming. After about a mile from the second aid station I took another gel while I power hiked up one of the hills and now I could see 3 people gaining on me. One of them (the same guy that passed me just before aid station number two) passed me on one of the flat sections and the other two stayed on my heels until aid station 3. I also had a small rock in each shoe and it was very annoying. I wanted to stop and get them out, but I didn't want anyone else to pass me, so I just pushed as hard as I could and for the most part I was feeling great. My knee wasn't giving me an trouble and that really boosted my spirits.

About 1/4 of a mile before aid station number 3 a woman that had been in my sights and behind me since two miles after aid station one was now pushing hard to pass me. I held her off and then 100 yards before the aid station she went into full sprint mode and passed me. I guess she had set a goal to pick me off before then because I had sped up and was moving fast, but I wasn't going to play the sprint game though.

There were four of us at the aid station and another guy showed up. I took another Hammer gel and electrolyte pill and then started to take off my shirt when the others took off. The lady that past me went first and the other two guys quickly followed, so I didn't take off my shoes and get the rocks out. D'oh! I did change into my short sleeve shirt and it felt a lot better and just as I did another guy and lady showed up and I just bailed fast.

We had 5 miles to go and it was all downhill. My left hamstring had been a little sore all day, and now my calves were sore as well, but otherwise I felt great. I really went fast the next two miles and I was pretty sure I would reach my goal of under 4 hours.

At mile 17 I could see 3 people behind me, a guy in an orange shirt and the guy and woman that I left at the aid station. I was really hurting at this point, but seeing them coming made me keep my pace fast. My calves were burning hard now and my hammy was on fire, but I pushed it and I was happy I was able to push even though my legs were tired.

About mile 18 the orange shirt guy finally passed me and the couple was close behind as well. Just before the last hill of the day the guy passed me. I was right on his heels though and when we hit the hill he stopped to hike and I kept running. I kept running up the hill and I had a burst of energy and I was the only one running. I started thinking that I could pick off some of these guys and I did. I passed 2 more of them on the hill and I was right behind another that started running when he heard me coming from behind. He looked like he was hurting and I picked him off after a few hundred more yards and I finally saw Camp Williams, which lifted my spirits, but I was really hurting.

There were now 3 people right behind me and I was determined not to let them pass. The last mile was really hard and I just pushed as hard as I could. As I entered the base I started really gaining on the orange shirt guy and he kept looking back and then speeding up. With about a hundred yards left I knew I wouldn't catch him and that the 3 behind me wouldn't catch me, so I coasted a little bit because I was spent.

As soon as I crossed the finish line my hammy and my knee both started to hurt. I tried to stretch out my hamstring and then I limped inside to have a drink. Finishing this race felt so good, and I was so happy that I was able to finish strong. I have no idea what place I finished in, but my time would have put me in 14th place last year. I was elated that my ITB didn't give me more trouble. This was a great learning experience for me and I had an amazing time. I think I am hooked on this racing thing. It is just a lot of fun.

 **Update**

The results are in and I came in 26th place. I thought I was a little closer to top 20, but they ran a lot faster this year. My two goals coming into the race were to finish in the top 50%, which I did, and also to finish under 4:00, so I am still very happy with my result and am already looking forward to next year. I'm feeling great with only a little soreness in my left hamstring and my right knee.

My wife and I went to the gym together this morning to lift. It was fun and I showed her a few different exercises for her arms and she was worked. i worked biceps, triceps, chest, lats, delts and did 5 sets of pull-ups. It was a fun work out.