Sunshine!

Took the kids to pre-school and headed out in the beautiful rainy valley... sprinkling a bit at first and then it stopped, beautiful run, i love running after a good rain! I went up middle fork in the mud and around MF and took the dirt road short cut over to the Christies where my truck was parked. Felt good it was a good push 7:48 ave, goal was to run all miles under 8's which I did... once I started going slightly down it felt easy to hold a 7:30ish pace, had a 163 ave HR, helps me to gain some confidence for marathon, total elevation gain was over 400, and the entire marathon is just over 300 total climbing! When I got home I had mud splashed all over my legs from running on the dirt roads, good stuff!

A great Early morning rainfest run... went with Nick, Shane, and Jeff started at Red Rock and went to the Oaks, felt great through the first 14 miles and then started slowing down and feeling fatigued, I think the main thing is i just lost the focus on keeping going, no worries it was good to get a good long run in and on the course should help! 8:13, 7:55, 7:34, 7:46, 7:44, 7:28, 7:30, 7:43, 7:22, 7:33, 7:31, 7:40, 7:59, 8:56(water break and some walking), 8:28(big hill), 8:34(tired), 8:18(got going a bit), 9:01(gatorade break, and some walking), 7:58(feeling better), 7:55ave for last .7... ave HR was 156, which is good I think I should be able to hold a mid 160 for the marathon which should help with being faster! Average pace overll was 7:57 with 2:36:23 total run time!

The main story of the run was at about mile 6ish the rains came down and kept coming the rest of the way, it was actually fun reminded me of 08' St. George very similar conditions.

The Ogden River came up so I opted for a kayak run vs. a foot run, good choice fun level, had a guy with us that took a nasty swim in the meat of the run, he got beat up pretty good on the rocks, we didn't get his boat out of the water until Washington blvd in OGden, thats along way if you don't know the area!

Well I went to bed at 1am and woke up bright and early at 6:15, couldn't sleep so I got up and went for a beautiful run out in the drizzly rain... up around Eden, down the Langfords dirt road and then the N. arm mini loop,and back home... felt really good haven't looked at my splits yet, but felt good! Splits were a bit slow, 8:20 ave. 149 ave HR! Maybe more later, but chances are I will opt for a kayak run!

A good afternoon run with Nicholas, started at his bro's place and took the lower trails/dirtroads/roads down to rainbow and then the pathway to Golds... never felt great but he kept me going! 8:08 ave. with some delays for tractors/traffic/pit bulls on the pathway/, other than that a good solid run, glad to have it in the books! ave. HR 157.

Also was able to get 2 laps in on the Ogden Narrows this evening that turned into a bit of a adventure, my bro and I were kayaking with 2 guys from SLC and on the 2nd run they both ended up swimming, I chased one guys boat all the way down through the dino park and finally got it out by the playground equipment, the boat had a 8 inch gash in it, probably unfixable! fun times on the Ogden when it is rippin! Ended up being 10 min. late for soccer game!

 Soccer game tonight! Fun soccer game tonight, nice workout and we won(1 run mile)

Agood run with my bro... ran up and checkd out the Ogden River that had just risen to over 900cfs, then i tacked on a few more after!

Did 3 laps on the Ogden, it was running 926! good stuff! Ben a group from Logan and a few others... there was around 7-8 boaters each run. fun fun stuff!

a nice early run with Nick, MF loop, beautiful morning in the valley! we did 11 total miles in 8:07/mile ave... I also tacked on 1 more mile over at the PTO relay at the school, I ran a mile with Zachie my 5 yr old, he did the whole mile with no stops, I was proud of him!

A nice run on the bench, started at the dee event center and went on lower trail through golf course to the Spring and then worked back on the mid trail, perfect running temps, got a new pair of Brook Adrenalines... they felt good, always good to have a new pair of shoes, they seem to have some more bounce!

5 easy miles with Nicholas around Eden this morning, a bit chilly and windy! the run felt good... nice and easy! Gearing up, i had a dream last night that Nick and Jeff  ran a 3:06 and I was in the 3:20's and when I got to the finish I couldn't figure out how they got there... uh oh I think it may mean the inevitable is going to happen soon!!!

2 good soccer games tonight, first one was very fun and I ran alot harder than expected, good close game and we pulled it out! next game at the early hour of 11:15pm was alright but a bit moer relaxed! 2 run miles! My hammy felt ok but anytime I sprint fast or cut I can feel it... maybe not the smartest thing to play soccer 3 days before the marathon, but i will trade the pain on Saturday for good fun, got to keep it balanced!

A nice morning run in the valley did the Island loop with a cut off down the N.arm for a bit, felt pretty tight, I think I ran and played harder than I realized at my soccer games the other night... so it was good to get out and get the body going!

looking forward to tomorrow!

The Extra 2 miles are an estimate, probably on the low side, I got up early and ran around for 15 min. to get the system going, also did a 10 minute warmup at the starting line: Anyway to the Race: I got a dose of marathon humble pie... I thought I was good for atleast a low 3:20 and if every thing went well upper 3 teens... needless to say neither happened! I started the race very conservative, I wanted to do the first half in the same time as last year 1:41 and then let it go for the 2nd half: That was the plan and it started very very well: first part breakdown: mile 1: 7:40

 mile 2: 7:40

mile 3: 7:26

mile 4: 7:28

mile 5: 8:03(stopped to shed long sleeve shirt and pee break)

mile 6: 7:39

mile 7: 7:35

mile 8: 7:39

mile 9: 7:50

mile 10: 8:03

mile 11: 8:04

mile 12: 8:02

mile 13: 8:02 (these 8's were rolling around the dam, actually felt reall good and didn't try to push too much)

mile 14: 7:55(met Nick Fisher at the Eden park and he got me going a bit, this is where I expected to start feeling better and it just didn't happen)

mile 15: 8:11(up the steep hill, felt ok) 

mile 16: 7:56

mile 17: 8:15

mile 18: 8:02(miles 15-20 were the miles I expected to do very well in, drop down into the 7:30 range but I just didn't have the get up today???)

(also during this section I told Fish to take off and run his speed down the canyon, he was doing this as a training run and I didn't want to hold him back... and I told him to pick me up again at the bottom, which he very kindly did)

mile 19: 8:08

mile 20: 8:00

mile 21: 8:24

mile 22: 8:51(not sure why this one was slow, must have walked as I was eating a GU)

mile 23: 8:03(last respectable mile)

mile 24: 8:44(latched on to Fish and he led me home, I just stayed right behind him and pushed through the last few miles, it was good to have him for this last part, i was suffering at this point!)

mile 25: 9:13(my only mile in the 9's which I was happy about, as I was running I felt like the last few were well into the 9's)

mile 26: 8:55(no 9 but close, trying to push but nothing left)

last .36 on my watch: 3:04(finished and darn happy to do so...)

Race assesment: Pilates, Pilates, Pilates... this is the only thing I can see that is different, I haven't done pilates consistently for about 10 months. This is good and bad to know, good cause I can't believe what having a solid core does for running and bad cause it is so expensive to do on a consistent basis! Also I failed to mention my right upper upper hamstring has been an issue for 8-9 months and I wonder if that is affecting my running efficiency, it really shot down the back of my leg today, I don't feel like it affects my running stride, but I wonder!!

The race was good to suffer through, the last few miles I felt like any different stride I would cramp up and fall down, and after the race I was very lightheaded and had to lie down for awhile, so overall who knows I put it on the Pilates but it very well could be a combo of things.

Also anyone else think the water and gatorade tasted horrible?? yuck that stuff was bad!! But I must also say I feel this race is run first class the GOAL volunteers are awesome!

Also great job to everyone else who ran!

1.5 very easy miles of part jogging, part rip sticking... around the island loop with the kids, man this marathon has been a tougher one for me to recover from. I hope it is not a sign of my body saying, "yo take it easy"!

A guess on the distance, but I think that is about right, 2.5 up! Anyway decided I needed to get tougher so I did the dreaded Malan's Peak Jog/hike... only ended up walking 3 times, jogged the rest, my overall record to the top is 36:30... today I did it in 38:48, which I was pleased with as I was a bit slowed by the creek overflowing its banks in Taylor Cyn, and also it being my first time up it in 6-8 months... felt good to push up it! Came down fast maybe too fast I will probably pay for it in my quads the next couple days... 20:01 down so round trip in 58:49, always good to do that thing in under an hour!!

Soccer game tonight! Not a great game we got worked tonight, 1 run mile!

A very nice Afternoon run up on the E. bench... started at WSU and took the lower trail to 29th and then cut up to the spring and then hit the upper trail to strongs and down. My quads were sore from the MAlans adventure but felt good overall! ran for 49 minutes!

An early morning run on the N. arm perfect temps and a nice run, the body felt good a bit sore in the quads still from going up and down Malans, but it was good to loosen things up... kids soccer games all day, that should count for some miles, they can be draining, but very fun!

Hit the roads today on the bike, a very sweet ride up and around the VAlley went over to the Monastery and around and then back on the dam road then turned left and climbed old Snowbasin, always a good burn (i love that climb) then back down Trappers and finshed the loop around the dam... felt good overall other than the slowing occasional headwinds... total ride was 2hrs 14min.  and 36.8 miles and 2500 ft. vertical in climbing... good overall ride! counting 7 run miles.

A run on the bench, started at the dee event center and took the lower trail to 27th and then went up to the upper trail, ran into Shane half way along the trail, he was finishing an EPIC run(Squaw Peak Training) it would take to long to write where he had been already, chatted with him for a bit and then finished off the run! ran for 64 min!

2 good soccer games, pretty hard workouts, we lost both games but they were fun games!

2 run miles!

I think my first official mtn bike ride of the year, thats scary it's almost June... too much focus on the run... started from Rainbows and went along the upper trail over to the beus ext. and then down steep trail and worked my way back! Fun ride felt strong on the climbs! counting 4 run miles, based off time and effort.

woke up around 6:15 and decided to head out for a run, it was a beautiful morning, 42 degrees when i left, hit the N. arm and I can officially call it a running rut... don't know what is going on but my running MOJO has left me and I don't know where to pick it up, never got in a groove, not sure if it is my hamstring that is keeping me from running efficiently or what is up!! good thing is I am loving the bike, so I will just roll with it and hope the running MOJO comes back after a bit!

Forgot to update blog on Saturday, had a sweet MTN bike ride in the morning, up and over Skyline, first time this year! Felt great took it easy, did the whole loop in 2:14, had a few delays with 4-5 snow patches, one huge snow bank(probably a 5-6 minute delay), that thing will be there til July! Listened to the ipod and cruised it! so considering the snow slow downs, the time was respectable!

it is an 18 mile loop, counting 6 run miles, 3279 total climbing, one minor crash going around a switchback and couldn't get my foot out of clip fast enough, early season error!