I run therefore, I am!

I went up behind the Capital after work and started at the base of the canyon and ran up it 3.5 miles and about 1000' of elevation. Then as I turned around I saw a lady biking up the road and was swerving all over. She got up to me and was mumbling and incoherent but was pointing to the side of the road in the bushes so I thought maybe it was a Mountain lion or something. As I was looking to the right and running down the road I heard a hissing noise and looked down and right as my foot hit the road I was about 2' away from a rattler. He didnt coil up but I froze and backed away and around him. I have encountered enough of these pesky snakes. Im sick of these damn snakes on this damn trail. I really hate snakes, I cringe and get the body shivers.

I got another invite to run with Carinas group.  I must have minded my p's and q's enough to be able to do it. lol They met at Thanksgiving Point and we ran from the parking lot on the similar course as the half marathon. we went out to the Gardens and came to a dead end and then came back and found a road to the park trail and ran the rest on it and on the way back jumped the fence by the golf course and back to the parking lot. Very fun. Carina reminded me of my comment to her that i would like to run 1 to 2 miles of tempo and didnt do it so on the way home it festered in my head till I decided to just do it. I went to the Daybreak lake and while I was getting out of the car, Danielle bumped into me! She was on mile 2 of 10 and asked if Id run with her so I ended up doing 8 more miles with her. A total of 17. Fun day, nice and freakin warm. The way W likes it!

Ran up behind the Capitol after work. Started at the bottom of the canyon and went to the top which is exactly 5.66 miles from the gate. My stupid left achilles started bugging me! ugh neverending. I iced it and am resting from a long day.Oh I ran into another snake. Thats two for two SNAKEYES!  Am i lucky or what? If anyone wants to see a snake come run with me after 2 pm in City Creek. There are a lot!

So I came back from the doc. and he said I looked ok but not to push it in the half. He said to run 70% if I do which would be impossible unless someone ties a rope from me to the 7 minute pace group.  So here is what I decided. I am going to pace Carina to a 3:15 marathon time and all those that want to shoot for that time can join in!  This will help my training for the World Championships that Im preparing for. So let it be written, so let it be done.

This is my fastest marathon this year that Carina helped pace me in. I have no report that I could write that would take away from her report so go look her up and congratulate her!

It was good to see friends and foes, I think thats a good word. But if it isnt then its those that dislike me and jimmy crack corn...

I am amazed at how when I run with different people I learn so much! I would not have thought we wouldve pulled off a 3:15 with a half marthon time close to 1:41. Carina showed me different!  Good job girly!

Oh, I have to tell this quick story! I met a guy who had crocs on at the porta potti line and I asked him if he was going to run in them and told the story of Sasha running this race last year and doing a good time. He laughed and assured me no and he opened up his running bag and was getting ready for the shoe switch when...no shoes! He looked up with a sick look and said, "yep! Im running in Crocs!" I saw him at the finish and Carina and I asked him how he did and he laughed. He made it though.

First run after the marathon. I felt really good starting out. I made it 1.5 miles and had and it was like my enemy had a voodoo doll and poked my left achilles while I was going up. It was just short and sharp. I kept going with less push off and shortened my 10 miler to a 6. im icing it now.

I had a good 2 day break but ended up working my arse off with concrete projects in Lehi. Just money I guess. I ran this morning with Danielle who most of you still dont know. I meant to take a pic of her so I could post it so you guys dont think im making her up so I have an excuse to do a nice slower pace. We started at her house in Daybreak and went up and around the Lake and caught up with our busy lives. I havnt run with her for weeks because she is a morning person. I have to go to work early now so Ive been an afternoon runner. It was 50 degrees this morning. Brrr. Im going to do the 25th station at ragnar helping them out so if your running today come see me and say hi!

I ran up to Herriman high school which is 4 miles from my house. I did a warmup run with a little push. I hit 27:38 for the 4.  Then I did 3 mile tempo coming down from the school to my house. I did a 5:29, 5:40, 5:38. Then a mile cool down but believe me I didnt cool down it was freakin hot out! Probably about 90 so it was pushed.  I got my team USA uniform today and wore it on my run and boy does it attract the sun. Its the 2008 Olympic singlet and short shorts. When I say short, I mean I havnt had shorts this short even in H.S. Oh well, at least the race starts at 5 am so no one can see me till i come in. Im getting nervous now! sheesh less than a month.

Wow, A PR! Finally got my half marathon PR this year with all the drama to my achilles and trying to gear up for the World Masters Championship marathon in July.  I feel great about my new best time and had a very well organized and scenic scenic scenic race! I tell you there is nothing better than to run next to a river. So fun!  I made my way up to the start on the buses with Carina and Cheryl. Cheryl is a cancer survivor which I didnt know because this race was very big into cancer. Hopefully they raised a lot to help out the cause. I got to the top and had just enough time to do the potti break, chat a little bit with Carina and Cheryl and then do a little filming for a documentary that Tracey and his Wife are helping me film. Its always good to get a perspective of the starting line and how nervous everyone is! So cool! The race started and immediately Brian Summers and I took a lead. Very steep the first part going out to the canyon road. Right after the 1 mile mark which we hit in 4:54 there was some serious water  running across the road. It was like a river I backed off and let Brian go through it first and then I attemted to jump it but landed in it. about 2-5" deep. So the next few miles we got to run with some sloshy shoes but it dried quickly mile 2 was 5:22 but still downhill but I think we were having a hard time breathing at the altitude mile 3 we hit 5:19 and I knew I could get closer to 5's so I started to push the pace. Brian was right with me just past 3 and when I pushed I couldnt hear him anymore so I started worrying about going to soon. 4 was a 5:03 and I felt better about that time. I figured then that I was feeling good and my breathing was right so i let it loose. mile 5 was 4:51. 6 was 4:53 and 7 was 5:05.  8 I hit 5:14 and could start to see the bottom of the canyon a bit now.  9 was 5:35. I hit a trail off from the road and I was reminded of the St. George Half trail where it has little ups and turns to throw your momentum off.  10 was 5:32 and 11 I did a 5:49. I started feeling sluggish and depressed then and had a bit of a hill to go up after being used to all the downhill.  Mile 12 was flat and I hit a 5:35.  I was excited when I got to 12.5 with a time of 1:07, I wanted to break 1:10 so I tried my best and pushed hard but the course came up long for me 13.26 is what I read at the finish with my Garmin 310xt.  It was great temps up there and lots of shade throughout.  I laughed at the finish when I saw Carina because she PR'd as well and was doing some retro dance moves I hadnt seen since high school! Great way to celebrate a PR for sure!  A special thanks to the race director for a very very good race! Its hard to be this good when you are starting these events! Also for Tracey Lee for going out of his way to get to the start so early on a Saturday to do some fliming!  

Oh by the way, my prize was a trip for 2 to Zermatt Resort in Midway. It comes with Dinner, and 2 massages.  Fun fun race!

Son of a B it was hot today! I decided to run before I had scouts tonight because I dont sleep very well when I run at night. Plus since I get up at 4 am now to be to work at 5 it is impossible to get a run in unless I do it when I get home at 2. So i ran from my house down to the park trail and made it to mile 6 and the wind was brutal. So I turned around and it was great but so hot! I got a drink at mile 8 and then 10. I stopped at a maverick which required a key to turn on the spicket outside. I asked politely and he told me no. I said dude come on, Im not going to run away with the key I cant make it home without water. So he gave me the key and I took a freakin bath dang near on the lawn with their hose. lol  To to hot!