I run therefore, I am!

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!