El Burro Blanco

Ran with Clyde, Dave, Bill, and James this morning out south of STG.  We did a nice loop on the dirt roads.  We found some more petroglyphs.  These were by the Little Black Mountain.  It has been really fun seeing tons of petroglyphs the last couple days.  I need to get Katey out to see some of these.  Nice start to the new year.

Ran with Dave, Steve Shepherd (Dave's cousin's husband), Trevor, Austin, and James today.  We did Little Mountain twice but ran it reverse from yesterday.  Absolutely gorgeous weather today.  Dave lost his hat on the first lap so James and I went out longer to find it.  No luck.  Oh well!  It was fun running today and the legs felt good.  I have been getting over a little sickness so I was happy with another solid week.  

I will be doing probably 2 or 3 30+mile runs here in a few weeks to get more prepared for the Moab 50K+ in February.  I am excited for this race.

Teacher prep day but I was sicker than a dog so no run today. I did get a lot of work done at school though. I think I am ready the 2nd semester.

No baby yet!

8 miles in the morning.

6 miles in the afternoon.

Nice 5am run this morning out along Snow Canyon Parkway.  Kept it nice and relaxed.  The weather felt a little warm that early.  Still hacking up yuck from the sickness.

Did a few uptempo miles this afternoon (around 6:30ish pace).  Got home and went over to my parents house to do a little Wii Fit.  New record on hula hoops!

Still no baby!  I guess we have a little time until the due date of January 13th.

Ran from Desert Hills High all the way home to Ivins.  I felt great during the entire run except for the last 2 or so miles.  My body completely shut down.  I don't know if it was from being sick or if it was from the "worry" of not having the baby yet.  I survived and that is all that matters.

Good to have a long run in today.

6 miles in the morning.

7 miles in the afternoon.

I did another nice and easy run this morning over into Santa Clara.  Nice to get out early without all of the crazy traffic.

I started at the high school this afternoon and then went out along the Arizona strip.  On the way back I did half mile surges which ranged from 5:55-6:20ish pace.  I am slowly starting to once again incorporate some speed work now my body is feeling good.  Felt much better today.  Planning on a shorter run tomorrow and then a really long run for Saturday.

No run today in preparation for tomorrow's long run.

Went and ran the Utah hill loop 2 times this morning with Clyde and Steve. Bill joined us on the first lap.  It was a perfect day for running here in St. George.  Nothing but blue skies and perfect temps.  Felt good after the 2 loops but I started to have some stomach issues during the last 2 miles.  That was the only thing that bothered me on this run.  I am very happy to have this run done.  We ran this right around 4 hours which included bathroom breaks and getting fluids.  Not bad considering how many hills are on this route.  Great way to finish off the week.

Still no baby!!

Waited until this afternoon to get my run in.  I went out along Snow Canyon Parkway over into Dixie Downs a little bit.  I had to make a port-a-stop and looked at some eco friendly homes being built.  Really cool stuff.  Wonderful weather again this afternoon.  Happy to get in another solid run.  Came home to a still pregnant wife.

Exploration run this afternoon.  I went from my house over to Unity Park in Ivins and then came back along Pioneer Parkway.  I followed this road and went by the high school and then headed back over to Snow Canyon Parkway.  Kept everything nice and relaxed but didn't stress about the pace.  Another perfect afternoon.  Ended up hitting 6:50/mile overall.  Everything is encouraging right now.

Ran from the high school over towards Webb Hill for a few repeats with Clyde, Dace, and one of my cross country runners, Mark.  We did 3 hill repeats and called it good for the day.  If you haven't done repeats up this hill and really want to work the quads, go and do this hill.  It is one you will never forget (FYI).  I came back towards the high school and hurried home to a still pregnant wife.  Yikes!  Any day now.

What a long last couple of days!  Katey had the baby late Thursday night and I haven't slept in two days.  It has been a surreal time for Katey and me.  It is weird to think we are parents right now.  Norah Pearl Fielding was born at 10:10pm on Thursday night.  She was 7 lbs. 5 oz. and 19.5 inches long.  She is healthy and mom is healthy.  Thankfully she came out with runner's legs!  She is adorable and we are loving every minute with her.

I have been cooped up in the hospital the last couple days so I haven't been able to get out for a run.  Katey's parents were in town so I took advantage of the extra help to go run with the guys.  We did 2 loops out by Little Black Mountain.  The conversation was good and seemed to be focused on baby talk.  Go figure!  We kept the first lap nice and relaxed and then slowly picked up the pace on the second lap.  Clyde and I were feeling really good so for the last 5 miles we hit right at 6:00/mile average.  Felt relaxed and it was nice to push the pace a little bit.  I can't wait for the race in a couple of weeks.  One of the best weeks of my life.  I can't believe I am a dad now! 

Met up with Clyde this morning in the wonderful rain and ran from Jacob Hamblin.  We ran up and did one loop on Barrel Roll and then came back to the car.  We then went back out for some more miles.  We went over towards Green Valley and back.  Not a ton of rain but it made for some soft trails.  It was quite enjoyable.  Good solid run to start of the week.

Hurried home for more time with baby Norah.

Got home from work later than expected but still went out for a decent run.  It was raining pretty good and the wind was blowing but it was still an enjoyable run.  The temperature still wasn't that bad.  I went out along the Snow Canyon Parkway.  I felt great the whole time and just relaxed everything.  Came back pretty soaked but ate a good dinner after wards which made me feel better.

"Meat Grinders" with Clyde this afternoon.  I ran from the high school over there.  We ended up doing 3 of them today.  Times were about the same as last week but the legs felt pretty heavy today for both of us.  We had some guests on  Webb Hill with a lady and 4 little kids, a old lady with a dog, and the phone people looking at us like we were nuts for running the hill.  Lots of traffic for a pretty gnarly hill.  We got through the workout and now I will slowly get ready for our 30 miler on Saturday.

It rained extremely hard today in St. George.  I was planning on the club run this evening but the rain was as bad as I have seen it down here.  I contemplated going out in it but I would have looked like a wet dog within 10 seconds of running in it.  I grudgingly hopped on the treadmill at the high school to get the run in.  I haven't run on the treadmill since I moved down here so it has been a while.  I only had my long sleeve tech shirt because I was going to brave the weather so I ended up sweating all over the place.  Not fun but oh well!  I did the first 3 miles at 7:03/mile, the next 3 at 6:39/mile, the next 2 at 6:18/mile, and then did the last 2 miles at 6:00/mile.  I didn't want to speed up but the run was dragging on.  I survived, sweat and all, and then hurried home.

Hopefully it stops raining soon!

Relaxed today in preparation for the long run tomorrow.

Today was one of the most epic runs I have ever done.  Clyde and I needed to do another 30 mile run so we planned to go out by Little Black Mountain and do 3 loops.  Each loop is right at 10 miles.  I ended up having to use the commitment pattern (Clyde's words not mine) to get him to go.  We both knew it was going to be muddy and wet but we just needed to get it done.

The first loop consisted of a ton of mud for the first 2 or so miles and then their was snow on the ground for the rest of it.  We kept it nice and relaxed and ended up doing the first lap in 1:15.  Not bad considering the conditions.  

The second loop was supposed to more of a quicker tempo run where we picked up the pace a little.  The sun warmed up everything so it was even more muddy.  Clyde said he had a side stitch but then proceeded to pick up the pace even more.  He said after wards that his side stitch went away.  We ended up doing this loop in 1:07.  We were both really happy with this one because the road was in really bad conditions.  Thanks Clyde for getting frisky and pushing the pace even more :)

The final loop was a lot of "fun."  We couldn't believe how much mud we were running in at the first.  The road got better and we ended up keeping the pace honest and finished the final loop in 1:12. 

The problem with running today was we ended up dragging mud all 30 miles on our shoes.  This added more weight which didn't help.  Also, the footing was pretty slippery so we were "ice skating" at times.  We even sunk down in mud about 3-4 at times.  You had to be careful with your footing.  We finished the run in 3:34:20 though for the full 30 miles.  Clyde and I were really stoked after we finished.  We feel good going into our race in a couple weeks.

We ended up taking some good pictures to verify we did the run.  Clyde should have them on his blog or on his Facebook page.

Nice day today.  I ran after work today from the high school out along the Arizona Strip and then over towards Sunriver on the new road.  Their wasn't very much traffic and the road was great since it is brand new.  I didn't ever feel like I was pushing the pace and I still ended up with a 6:45/mile average overall.  I was pretty happy with this effort.  Nice start to the week.

Really weird day and didn't have a ton of time to run.  Sleep has been okay with Norah in the house but it still isn't giving me the usual amount of sleep I get.  It has been a little tough getting up in the mornings.  I ran 3.5 miles with the soccer team since we have started.  I then decided to hop on the treadmill at the high school and finish the day off with a 5K at 6:00/pace.  One of those weird days of running where the initial plan didn't work out.  All is well though!

Woke up this morning and told myself I needed to get out for a run.  Lo and behold it was a total down pour of rain.  I said what the heck and went out anyway.  I went along Snow Canyon Parkway and tried to focus on running relaxed.  I ended up hitting huge water puddles because it was quite dark early in the morning.  I got home and was pretty wet.  The nice thing was that the rain stopped right as I was finishing up.  Yeah!

I ran 3.5 miles along the golf course with the soccer team this afternoon.  Nice and easy.  I then ran from the high school over to the Dixie Center which was 2.5 miles.  I met up with the guys for the club run.  We did 10 miles this evening,  We went out to the Knolls park and then back.  Perfect evening for a run. 

Lots of moonlight this morning.  I went over into Santa Clara and back.  Good to get an okay morning run.  Happy to have this in.

Woke up early to meet Steve, Bill, Collins, and a few other trail runners from the area.  I needed to get a decent long run in with some good hills and this run was perfect for it.  We went out and ran the Hurricane trail today.  It ended up going on the Jem Trail and over towards Diamond Ranch Academy on the Goulds Trail.  It was cloudy this morning so the temperature never really warmed up.  I ran the first couple miles nice and easy and then picked it up with Steve.  The first 12 miles consisted of decent hill climbing throughout.  The last 8 miles were more rolling with not as many big hills.  We did encounter a bit of mud for about a mile or so which made me feel like I had ankle weights on.  Luckily the mud caked on the bottom of my shoes came off after a while. 

Really happy with the run overall.  I pushed the pace after the first couple miles and never really got tired after that.  I feel in much better shape now than I did a few months ago.  It feels great to be healthy again.  I think I have got my fuel system down for the upcoming race in two weeks.  I am really excited and optimistic to see what happens there.  It will be fun running with Clyde, Steve, and Collins.