Turn your rut into a groove.

pm—8 A slow burner w/ 5x 1-min. pickups. I didn’t get out as soon as I wanted but did get my run in.

am—5 Got out at Superfly o’clock and did some barefooting on the softball field w/ some striders.

pm—1.5 Just a little treat after a nice nap.

pm—5.5 Good run, once I got going. Happy 4th!!!!

am--1.5 A few laps at the local elementary school. Nothing for the rest of the week. Sometimes, I find myself battling with purpose. 

I finished a fantasy tome--With Blood Upon the Sand by Bradley P. Beaulieu. It's a book with Middle-Eastern flair. Good but not for everyone. 

am--9 Sandhill Loop. I volunteered to lead the girls up. That thing is pretty tough when one is acting as sweeper. Made to the top on the heels of Jason and Gracie in 15:45--that's a watch stat--and down the other side in 10:16. I didn't really get into the downhill until I decided to break away from a group that was struggling a bit w/ the magnitude of the endeavor. Overall, good run. I feel beat as I type this. 

am—4.5 Urie and grass w/ barefoot striders after. Kids club was great.

pm—1.5 Hot run and weights.

am—6.5 Dirt-mile tempo. I jumped out of the group a time or two to let them work together on their own, and it gave me a chance to run w/ some other groups.

am—6.75 Grapevine our-and-back. Had a rattlesnake sighting. Luckily, it was in a docile mood.

I also finished Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Quite a read, survival, human nature, violence, and so on. 

am—5.75 BHNP and river trail w/ barefoot striders. Either I’m getting older or beat down by the humidity or something, but the runs have been slower lately.

am/pm--7 Nice sweat-drenched run w/ a push into the 7:00s for the last 10-12 minutes. Sometimes I think I like running. 

am--8.5 Sandhill. I was sweeper again. Many kids did great things. Awesome. 

am--4.25 Urie/Grass w/ 6x barefoot striders. The heel is aching. The sandhill always crushes it. 

pm--1.75 Weights and afternoon run. Hot one in StG. 

I finished The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. It's full of honey, black Mary, and female power. 

am--7.5 A good longish run into the Fields. It was warmer and the pace was pretty stout at the beginning, so finishing uphill was a gutcheck for many of us. Kids are working hard, though. 

am—5.5 Decent run into Grapevine. Saw some fight from some welcome sources. I skipped out on striders to do some form advisement.

pm—1.5 Weights and a heat run. 

am--6.5 Pace work at the elementary w/ Josh from MileSplit. The girls packed really well. Things are starting to come together. And I'm fairly enthused. 

am—6.5 Pace work again w/ the randomness of the cards. Good group w/ some new folks hanging tough.

am—7.5 Nice loop around Santa Clara w/ a few tempo miles thrown in. By the end I was beat. Nonetheless, I felt positive about the run.

pm—1.5 Afternoon heat run. I also got some nice notes from the girls.

am—4.75 Urie-Grass run w/ the last kids club of the season. It was a fun time on the grass. I love how the personalities play off of each other.

pm—2.25 I thought about taking the afternoon off because my lower extremities are achey, but, mentally, I needed a win.

am--6 Waltzed around the parking lot for 10 minutes, waiting for Jada. She never came. :( Finally, headed up the Grapevine road. I like that climb. Al Brown rocked it today. 

pm--1.5 Normal neighborhood heat run. 111 degrees today. Emma rocked it. 

Earlier this week, I finished A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. It's the first Sherlock novel and includes a lengthy middle section about Utah and the Mormons. Everything ties in at the end. I promise. 

I am also just wrapping up Candide by Voltaire. Lots of terrible things happen, but Candide has trouble shaking the philosophy of his first teacher--"It all works out for the best." Like I read somewhere, you laugh out loud as you read it, not because it's funny but beacuse you don't know what to do when more terrible things come to pass. 

am—10.5 Long run from the fields to Warner Valley and back. Like everyone else, I thought the run turned out to be quite a pleasant jaunt. We had a good crew that stuck together the whole run.

pm—3.5 A shorty for the lower limbs. 

am—6.5 Intervals at 8k pace on the dirt mile. The groups are looking pretty good. I jumped from one group to the other.

pm—2.5 A nice run around Pine Lake. First day of high-altitude camp.

am—5 Out-and-back on the road to Pine Lake. I was able to run and chat w/ some kids I don’t often see on runs.

pm—2.5 Up-and-back on the hill we use for our hill run.