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

AM: This morning, Bill and Chris came over to my house so they could do my ten mile loop with me. We did the run at an easy pace. It was nice for a change to have someone with me on this run. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/285775606

PM: Went for an easy five after work. Warmer weather come back :(

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/285874055

AM: Went for an easy four on my own.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/286025912

PM: Today at practice the guys did something different from the girls. Tomorrow is the girls day of the Supermeet, so they all did some easy stuff, and the guys went for an hour run. We went four miles straight up Emigration, then back down. Chris and I kept the pace nice and relaxed.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/286228894

AM: Went for an easy six after first period this morning. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/286579818

PM: The girls were at the Supermeet today, so it was just guys at practice. It felt weird.... Plus, some of the guys went to the meet anyway, and so there wasn't very many guys at practice in the first place. Anyway, the sprinter guys did their workout, and the distance guys did our workout. We did two miles warm up, two miles of speed changes, and a mile cool down. Chris and I went out and back a mile on the Shriner run for warm up, and then did grass laps for our cool down. Tomorrow is the first REAL race of the season!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/286579810

AM: Went for a quick two mile shakeout. 

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/286937405

PM: We got to the meet and after some walking around and killing time, Chris and I went for a two mile shakeout. We had plenty of time before our race still, so I just relaxed by the stuff and watched races. It was raining off/on the whole meet, and the wind was really shifty. At times it would be pretty strong, and other times the air was perfectly still. When it came time, we went for a mile warm up, then did 20 sec on/40 sec off to simulate speed changes, and went in the field to do strides before the race. I got the new Nike Victory 2 spikes, and I am excited to try them out. We started and I didn't get the best position off the line. I was in lane two for the first three laps. We were hitting very consistent 70-71's though. On the fourth lap I made a tiny surge past one kid who was right in front of me and making me sit in lane 2. After that, I had a nice spot running in outer lane 1 right behind Brayden and Alex, and Preston was running next to me on the inside. I was relying on the Davis guys to push the pace and hit good splits, so that I would just have to keep contact, but they weren't running as fast as I expected. I wanted the mile to be really close to 4:40, but we hit a 4:46-47. The race remained unchanged for the next lap or so, and with about 1000 meters to go, there was movement. Preston had fallen off, Alex was slipping, and some kid from Riverton I've never seen before moved past me. With two laps to go, Riverton dude, whose name is Brady apparently, started to fight Brayden for the lead, and thus they picked it up. By this time, we had started lapping people too. With 650 I slipped off them a bit, and I just couldn't catch back up to them. They gapped me by a bit, probably about 20 meters or so, and I just finished the last lap with what I had. I ended up 4 seconds behind Brayden, and 8 seconds from Brady.

     I have mixed emotions about this race. I did really well until the last 650 meters, and I feel like I could have stuck on them the next lap if I just stayed focused. Also, this race didn't have the level of competition I was expecting. I figured there would be fast Davis guys as well as other fast individuals, but no dice. Still, it was a good field. I also didn't feel as fresh as I thought I would. I have tapered a tiny bit, but I've been at high miles a long time. The biggest disappointment was with my time. I really wanted a low 9:30 or even better. Oh well. I'll take a PR any day. I cooled down 2 miles after my race. Now, I have to recover, because we have Pineview on Friday!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/286937399

AM: It snowed all morning so I waited until the end of second period to see if I could catch the snow at it's mildest. With about 20 minutes left the snow stopped almost entirely and the sun even came out. I quickly seized me chance and changed into my running clothes. It took me probably four minutes to change and get outside. By the time I was outside, the snow had come back worse than ever - it was practically a whiteout. Lovely. I managed to not run in bad snow storm all winter and thought I was in the clear by now, but Utah thought otherwise. I got four miles in at a quick pace and was late to third. Fortunately, that class is also practically a free period :)

Boo. My garmin is being weird and not uploading new activities. 

PM: After the normal warm up, stretches, and drills, we all got started with what we had to do. The few of us going to PV tomorrow did 1.5 warm up, 1.5 speed changes, two progressive 300's which I hit in 42, and another mile cool down. Then I changed assuming we were done, and when I walked back out of the locker room, I was told to practice hand offs. So I did them barefoot in skinny jeans. PV tomorrow!!

AM: Went on a 2 mile shakeout run before heading down to St George for the race.

PM: We made a few bathroom stops on the way down, but we assumed we had time since the girls would all go first. Well we got to the race and found out that they were doing the seeded girls and then the seeded boys, followed by the rest of the heats of both. So I was very limited with warmup time. I hurried and changed, then got on the track for two quick miles. The weather was magnificent. Just the right amount of heat and a little windy, although I didn't notice the wind in my race. I finished the two miles, and brought my spikes and water to the inside of the field. They had just started the girls, so I spiked up and got going with strides and a few drills. They eventually lined us up and after some waiting at the line, they finally started us.

        I got an okay start. There was quite a bit of jostling and elbowing for the first whole lap, and I just stuck to the inside for the majority of it. I could tell we were going slow. When we hit the finishing straight of the first lap, a few guys moved around, and I scooted out to lane two, sitting right on the guy in front of me. There was probably 5-6 guys in front of me. I believe we hit the first lap in 71 or close to it. I actually don't remember any exact splits after that. Neither my coach or my team mates remembered them... That's how you know the race got intense :)

        Coming off the first curve of the second lap, Ben made a move, I'm guessing because he was boxed in where he was at, and moved into the lead. I saw him moving and moved with him. Once Ben got to the front, he slowed down again. The move I made carried me into the lead, right next to him. For a second I debated what to do next: run in the lead with him, or take the lead and push the pace. I knew the majority of the fast guys in the race were closers, and if I sat in the lead with Ben, the pace would have been slow and I would have just gotten out kicked by a ton of guys. So, I took the lead and didn't necessarily surge, as much as just increase the pace. I had taken the lead by the 600, and lead until 1200. The whole time Ben was a stride behind me, and everyone sat on him.

       I knew there was going to be at least Ben and Jake who would move at 400, but I was expecting 3-4 guys to move with them. On the gun lap, Ben, Jake, and a kid I've never seen before called Talem from Wasatch High, moved past me. I tried moving with them, and was more successful than I usually am at moving with guys passing me, but they were still slowly pulling away. A little before 200 meters to go, Kramer caught and passed me. I worked on closing on him on the curve, and on the final stretch manged to pull out a good kick and pass him back finishing fourth.

       Overall, a good race and a PR by 7 seconds :) I sort of just ended up in the lead, and making the bold move to lead it ended up being a smart choice. Especially against a field full of closers. This race gave the confidence I needed to not be afraid of leading, and to know that I am strong enough to set a fast pace. In short: be more aggressive. I was also surprised with my kick. I've already raced this week, and wasn't really feeling that fresh before the race.

       After I went for a cool down run with Ben through the surrounding neighborhoods. That was about four miles. We mainly talked about school and certain classes. We are practically the same person academically, so it was a nice conversation. We came back to the track for water, and I stayed to watch our guys race while he went off for more cool down. All four of us ended up PRing, which was awesome. Then after we all raced, we went out for our run. I remember the run from last year more than my race. This year was cold compared to last year. After six miles, we got some food and then headed back up to SL. Running of the Leopards tomorrow morning!

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/287928469

AM: I woke up and saw that it was snowing. Such an unpleasant difference from the weather yesterday :( I was lagging all morning, and got to the race pretty late. By the time I got off the shuttle at the start line, I had about 6 minutes to find who ever had my bib number, and warm up. My entire warm up was probably 4-6 slow, icy strides. The entire course was icy. They started the race about five minutes late, but when they finally started us, I took it out hard like Bill said, just to see what other fast guys there were in the field. No one went with me, so I new I knew I'd be by myself for this 5k.

      I was not feeling as fresh for this race as I did last year. My legs felt heavy and my breathing was off. My watch has been stupid lately, so I had to reboot it, and I forgot to go in and have it lap me, so I don't know any of my splits. With the last stretch of flat, I'm guessing my first mile was somewhere just under 4:40. I hit the turn onto Arapeen, and held the most consistent pace I could up the hill. I believe the slowest I saw my pace go was about 5:08. Pretty soon I got to the flat and then the downhill, and brought my pace to under 4:50 again. I turned back onto Sunnyside and did my best to lean forward and use the downhill as efficiently as I could. This is the final stretch to the track, so I made it a point to push there. The sharp turn into the track was really icy and I had to slow down a lot to not slip. I got on the track and finished as strongly as I could. My watch said 15:03 but the timer next to the finish said 14:58. I was really hoping that my watch was off and the timer was right, but as usual my Garmin was right :/

       Overall a good race, I think. Considering the bad running conditions, and how tired I was, I had an okay race. I really would have liked to see my time under 15 flat, but oh well. Downhill isn't my strength, and I feel like I ran it well in the course. After sitting around forever for awards and freezing half to death, Bill, Sarah, Chris, and I went for a cool down to the cemetery, where we did 2 laps, and Chris and I went back to the track while Bill and Sarah added more.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/287928426

    Oh, one last thing. I've run this race all four years of high school now. I think it's interesting to reflect on past years and where I was then. My times from 9th to 12th grade have been 23:23, 18:54, 15:51, and 15:03. Those numbers speak for themselves.