Well I didn't think I'd make it this far....

AM: Today I met up with Bill and Chris for a long run. Kim dropped us off at a point which was mile 3 of the Des News Marathon, and we took the course all the way down Emigration and then once we got to the Zoo we did our Thunderbird run. I peeled off on Foothill and went back to my car. Bill wanted me to go for as long as I felt good, and I honestly feel like I could have done the full 20 with him, but my legs were a little fatigued from the races the past few days, plus today is the busiest day of the year for pizza, the Superbowl. Which means I got to work a lovely 9 hour shift on a school night. Somehow I managed to make it through the night. It was a good thing I stuck with just 16, cause I got called in early and stayed late, and was already absolutely exhausted as it was. Plus, my shoes are really high in miles and they are starting to hurt my feet. Time for some new Pegasus's!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/269519562

PM: I have promised myself that I will be consistent with this blog for the rest of the season. Let's hope I keep that promise.. We went on a run today. Up 900 S to Foothill, then up the street by Corner Bakery. We took that up to the yellow gate of Red Butte, then headed over to JCC and hopped on Popperton over to Shriners. Then we took that normal Shriner route back, and then once at the school we went out and back a mile on the route we had come back on to get to 10.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/269853138

AM: Went for an easy five miles.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/270191220

PM: Today we went out to the oval for a speed workout. We did 8 laps warm up, 4 speed changes, then a lap recovery to our stuff. After we all got on flats and spikes, we did another lap and went over to the 800 start. We did 6 X 800 at two mile pace. My two mile pace right now is 9:45, so I was hitting 2:25-2:26 800's. Chris and I were 2:26 for the first three, but we were hitting them in 72-74, so on the second half of the workout I focused on hitting even splits, and maybe even closing with a faster lap. The fourth one I slowed down the first lap too much, 74, and then over compensated the second with a 69, so 2:23. So for the next two I just focused on hitting a 71-72 first 400, then closing with whatever felt equal to that the second lap. And the last two were 2:24 and 2:22. With a lap recovery in between each, we did 4.5 laps to get to 10 for the day. The entire group had a good workout!

I'm happy that I can now hit a workout in low 2:20's quite comfortably. I did have to work, but didn't have to ever push to hit my time. What I'm not exited for is when these go from two mile pace, to mile pace :)

AM: Went during second period since I can do whatever that class. Four miles easy.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/270642347

PM: We went across 1300 E to the cemetery, where we did a lap, then went over to the south end and did four hills, then went around the cemetery again and did another four hill. Then we finished that lap and went up 500 S and got on Shriner run. I turned when I hit seven miles, which was just past the beginning of the cemetery on 11th, and should hit exactly ten back at the school, but I forgot to start my Garmin after the light at Guardsman, so my distance was about a half mile off by the time I started it again.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/270642326

AM: Went for an easy four on my own. Chilly morning.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/270642305

PM: We went down to Liberty, did a lap of firemen, followed by a lap of inverted fireman called postman, then back up to the school. I quite like postman....

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/272434262

AM: I went on an easy four mile shakeout this morning.

PM: At the Oval I warmed two miles before I went over to be seeded for the mile. They false started us the first time because there was still someone finishing their race. I could tell the first time we went out that this would be a fast first lap. The second start was no different. I settled into the back of the pack and hit a 64 first 400. Way too fast. I moved up a bit during the second lap, which was like a 69, but I never made any big, confident moves the way I did last week. From here, it was just about hanging on. The first lap was too fast and I was unprepared for that, so now I just had to gut it out for the remainder. On the kick I passed some Davis kid and then Rory passed me, but like last week, I was just barely able to pass Rory back by the line. I finished in 4:33.58 and he was 4:33.59.Two miles cool down.

        Although technically I PR'ed, I wouldn't really consider this a good race. I went into this race confident and knowing that I could PR again and break 4:30, but since there was no real "frontrunner" at this race today, all the rest of the guys fought over the lead, so that pushed our first lap way too fast, and then we slowed down the next lap. I did well at this race last week because we took it out conservatively and then I felt great and made my move in laps 2-3, whereas this race was quite the opposite. I never recovered enough from the first lap to make some solid moves. In the right race I know for sure that I can break 4:30 right now. Being the optimist that I am, however, I did learn that I can run low 4:30's even in a bad race, so this is my base mile time and I can only get faster from here. Plus this raced served as some preparation for Simplot. I'm excited to race the mile again!

AM: After arriving we did a 1.5 mile out and back warm up on the course, which was cutting it WAY too close to the start. I got to the line just as the guy called out "And we'll start the race in about five seconds." I barely had time to take off my sweater before the race started. I ran right over from the cars where I changed shoes and didn't even tie my flats or grab my gloves. This was already a formula for disaster. Despite all these annoying occurrences, I actually did well. The purpose of this race was to get in a solid tempo, and I ended up averaging 5:33 for a 6.2 mile tempo, so solid effort. The way out was fine and dandy, but the second I made that 180 degree turn straight into the snow... well for lack of better words, it sucked. The entire way back I got pelted with snow in the face and it didn't let up for a second. Plus I didn't get to put on my gloves, and my hands weren't just numb by the end, they literally felt frozen all the way through. It took a good 40 minutes to even be able to move them again. It actually really scared me. After I stood by the heat/fire lamps they had inside for a good hour, and went home for a one mile cool down, followed by the most amazing, hot shower ever recorded.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/272434229