Sunshine!

Nice morning run, ran to the Middle fork road and down it a bit, and then back and did the black trail loop... i noticed today that when i am running smooth 7:30-7:45 is a comfortable pace, that is a good sign, used to be 8:15-8:30 was where I was comfy... did the run in 54:12, so around 7:20/mile! Had to get the run in,  Kel is off to Youth Conf in Logan so I have the boys all day.

Realized I did my mileage wrong this morning, not quite as fast I was .4 off due to cutting down on the black trail at the general store, but still a good run... took the kids on a hike up at Snowbasin, a bunch of stream running all over and still alot of snow for this time of year, packed my almost 2 year old with lunch in the Kelty, so ended up being a pretty good workout.

Went and kayaked the Ogden tonight, fun level about as high as its been this year 467cfs, went with Clay and Ben! Next week I will be on the Middle Fork of the Salmon for a week long river trip, should be good fun as long as we can get some good weather!

I came mighty close to getting zippo today, but I got some mojo form Nick who did a long one this morning and Pilates tonight... thanks Nick! Ended up being a great run did the whole N. arm trail and estimate it with adding the black trail loop at around 8.4 miles... It will now be my new challenge to do the whole thing in under 60 min. I did it tonight in 63:27 and after a 1.5 mile warmup pushed it hard, it was a great refreshing run right as it was getting dark and running on the trail was awesome!

The rain kept me indoors today, went to the gym for lunch: started with a 1.1 mile warmup at 7:45 and then went to a very good spin class, kept HR up in the upper 150's and low 160's for most the class... then went back out an got 3 more on the TM, it was a good workout but tough to get back on the TM after running outside recently, but i got it done and I have a late night soccer game tonight, championship game!

Good bench run with Ben and Nick. We did the steep hill loop and extended down to 22nd and then back to the starting point 29th st. Felt good I didn't eat lunch other than an apple, so my stomach was good, I think sometimes I eat just out of habit and my body doesn't really need it, as long as I snack healthy, ie. apples, bananas, yogurt, bagel etc... I think this is the key for me rather than a big lunch that weighs me down! The run felt good gave a good push here and there, made the steep hill in 4:40 which is a good time, usually right around 5 min. up it!

Won the championship soccer game last night in my indoor league! I think I will give soccer a rest during the summer and start back up in the fall!

Went on a nice and easy Bench run, did my Mt. Ogden Loop trail with a few variations to it, I wanted to get out and run easy the whole time which I did it felt good. Ran for 57 min. the mileage is an estimate but based off the easy pace I am guessing it is close! Great temps, had a light rain for most the run!

nice easy rest day, Kel was in SLC all day shopping so I took it easy with the kids, went on an easy bike ride with them around the black trail!

Early morning walk on the N. Arm, quite muddy with all the rain we've been getting ran for a short distance to get the legs going... I feel really fresh today from the 2 days off!

I am off to go on a week long kayaking trip on the Middle Fork of te Salmon... running won't be easy but always some great hikes with good potential of seeing bears and other wildlife, no access to computers , so Happy running to all the bloggers, may try to get an early morning Monday run in if time permits!

Got a good run in this morning before I head out into the Wilderness, ran into Nick on his way back from a run and ran the island loop with him then I went down river road for a ways and then cut up thru Eden hills and conquered dog ally, actually today there were only 2 young dogs, that weren't very mean! I then went up past Wolf creek and towards the Powder mtn. road and the cut down toward the golf course and ran on it back to the condos... and then and got back on the road and headed home! it was a nice run to get in! 1:13:45 total run time

Got back from my paradise last night... had a fantastic trip on the Middle Fork of the Salmon, started with the first night snowing on us, we made a snowman to verify how much snow there was! A bit chilly the first couple days, but great kayaking. overall for the week I did one sort of trails run about 25 min., the trails are not to good for running on the river! I did do 2 good steep hikes that felt good, one morning I woke up early and went up a ridge, ended up climbing over 2000 vertical ft, my goal was to get up to 6000 elevation, i started just below 4000, I made it and then had a steep descent that beat the quads up! The weather ended up being perfect upper 60's to mid 70's for the last few days and no rain or snow!

Looking forward to getting worked in the WBR! Swamp Donkeys get ready to Ride!

Got out for a good run at lunch, did the Strong Cyn. Loop W/ the Beus add on... It was HOT! but it felt good to run, went for 52min. and stopped three times at the streams to cool off!

7 Hot miles on the bench today, I did my Mt Ogden Park loop run with a couple extensions, felt pretty good, but kept it easy and cooled off in the stream a few times, ran for a total of 63 min.. I have a 10:20 soccer game tonight, and I may take tomorrow off of running to be fresh for WBR!

The Swamp Donkey's rode high at the WBR, great start to the race, i went up with Nick, Nick and Shane to Logan, we had a start time of 3pm which being an ultra team ( 6 man) I was a bit worried about the late start, but we proved ourselves well! N. Fischer got us off to a great, right off the start there we noticed another 6 man team that was going to be tough... they noticed us also and the race was on! Nick F. built a 3:40 lead on the first guy and then N. Froerer took over and stayed steady with their next guy till the last hill leading up to Avon and he picked up a quick minute to 4:40... then Shane took over and he had a battle their guy was tough climbing and closed the gap to about 100 yds at the top, but then Shanes motor kicked in and he opened it back up to nearly 4min.... Then I took over at the Liberty Park, i actually talked to the guy I was up against and found out there team was a group of teachers/track coaches from S. Dakota... I took off knowing this guy was going to be hunting me down, and that he did, he closed the gap but I pushed it hard thanks to updates from the crew and held him off, he never passed me but the lead shrunk to a few seconds, the positive from this is that I pushed it very hard and ended up averaging on a pretty rolling section just under 7 min/mile! I was happy with this but knew my next 2 legs could be tough holding this guy off. We picked up John Lewis and Bg at this point and John bolted out of the starting gate and built another big lead on his guy, he averaged 6:20ish or better for his leg and built a 5 minute lead only to see it disappear on Snowbasin, they had a climbing ringer who reeled BG in and gained 1:30ish on him, with a sick feeling N Fischer who spent the better part of the afternoon in the bathroom, up next we were worried, well not to fear Fischer jumped on it and reeled their guy in and extended our lead to nearly 5 min., N Froerer ran well and maintained and gained a bit on his guy, same as Shane! I will finish report on Saturdays page based off it now being Saturday when I ran next!

Cont. from Friday... I started my 2nd leg a 10.9 mile run from E. Canyon down to past Henefer... wasn't sure what the start had in store but I knew there was some cruising downhill going down to Henefer... I felt very good right from the start and got in a good nighttime groove, hit some hills and then a 2 part steep hill, and then the downhill came and an update that the #202 team had closed the gap to under 4's, I got a bit mad to myself and started rolling down the downhill I felt very very good, I have no idea what pace or how long but for a few miles it was fun, it was one of those floaty feelings! the finish to this dragged on a bit but it was good tough one! I extended the lead to I think 6:30. I ended up averaging 7:20's over the 10.9, I handed off to John and he took off and extended our lead to 16 min. and really that was the end to the #202 team we didn't see them much more after that if at all, we put them away, and it felt good!

from here on everyone was tired for there 3rd legs but everyone did great, my 3rd leg was 10.1 miles it went from Heber up to Wasatch Golf Course and I was tired it was all I could do to keep moving, at times it felt like I was doing 10 min. miles, I finally made it and handed off, I ended up averaging 8:20's which for how I felt I was happy with... The Swamp Donkeys finished strong we ended up sub 24 hrs at 23:30, and took 2nd in the Ultra groups. Overall it was a great time and it sounds like we are already planning on next years Ultra Team!

Hit the bench for an afternoon run, my legs were heavy and still feeling fatigued, more so than the marathon last month, i am thinking it's probably from my 2nd leg going down into Henefer. I did my Mt. Ogden loop run, and as I started I thought I haven't seen one snake this year running, I bet I see one today, sure enough as I was going up Strong Canyon there was one by the stream, it was on my left with the stream on my right, i jumped to the right and the dang thing came at me toward the stream, after a few quick steps I turned and saw it slither down near the stream, it looked like a young Rattler, it didn't rattle and I didn't get a good enough look at it due to my quick movements to get away from it! yikes I don't like snakes, I think I'd rather run into a bear! After that I was a bit jumpy, I saw alot of sticks that scared me, but no more snakes, overall good run, nice to loosen up the legs! 50min total running time.

Good run on the N.arm with Nicholas, good conversation pace, I stayed in front of him to keep him from pushing the pace, he likes to do that on this trail... ran for 72:28 and 8.3miles, felt good to loosen up the legs they were still feeling heavy!

I have a soccer game tonight should be a good workout we play a good team! Good soccer game we won and I got a good sweat in!

Got out on the bench for a good run, internet went down at work so I ditched out and went for the bench, did the strong Canyon loop from 29th, felt good 45 min of run time, may go out for an evening run!

5 beautiful miles on the N. Arm, it was a bit chilly this morning 47degrees when i left but it felt great... felt good after about a mile and decided to try and get under 40 for the loop but missed it by 24 sec. came in at 40:24...hope to get out for a bike ride later today!

sweet Mtn. Bike ride... Really my first Mtn ride of the year, went up and over Skyline, for my first ride I felt awesome, in fact I have only ever done Skyline under 2 hrs one other time and I was at 2:01:30, but I had atleast a 3 min delay draggin my bike through 2 large snowfields... so I am counting it sub 2hr. I was actually shocked how strong I felt...I think it is a combo of a solid 10 lbs lighter this year and I just updated my Ipod with a new mix of songs that were rockin!

Ran over to my parents house atleast almost their... Kel picked me up about a 1.5 miles short, it was a good run, it wasn't as hot as i expected, ended up doing around 7:40's, went for 59min flat!