El Burro Blanco

I slept in today for my last day off of work. I wanted to go longer but I decided to spend more time with Norah. I started at the house and then ran out along Snow Canyon Parkway and almost made it to the old running store. I averaged 6:35/mile. Very happy with that. Nice way to start off the new year.

8 miles this morning over into Santa Clara and back. 7:36/mile. Nice temps this morning. 

I came home and pushed Norah in the jogging stroller for 4 miles around Ivins. It was funny when I was spitting and Norah turned around and said, "Daddy is a camel." She then proceeded to spit like a camel. I need to be very careful. It was pretty funny. Apparently I spit a lot.

10.10 mile club run this morning with Dave and Clyde. The temps were nice and cool at 28 F. We kept the pace honest and it was nice to get a good run in with the guys. 

6 miles this afternoon. Ran with a bunch of the kids today for a little bit and then I decided to do a 2 miles a little faster than goal marathon pace (I needed to see what the legs had in them. It has been forever since I've moved fast). I hit them in 5:16 and 5:18. I was happy with this effort. I didn't die and I actually felt pretty good. I need to do this more often. Good way to end the day.

I was not feeling very good this morning so I slept in. I ended up going out after work. What a glorious afternoon! I did my Bloomington Hills Loop with the actual loop. I just kept everything relaxed and enjoyed the weather. My legs were a little tight. I ended up averaging 7:15/mile.

3 miles with the team this afternoon and I then did another 5.30 miles around Webb Hill. The best part about the run was that the dirt section by the freeway is getting paved. This will help so when the team or I do tempo runs we do not have to slow down for that section due to all of the rocks. I wanted to get a little push and ended up averaging 6:20/mile. Excited for a long trail run tomorrow with the guys.

Great long run with Dave and Clyde this morning at Little Black Mtn. We did two loops out there. It was mostly dark on the first lap and we ended up running 1:13:33. I told Clyde my record for the loop (1:03) and I could see that look in his eyes and how bad he wanted to go after it. It was amazing to see his true grit and determination. I ran with him for the first couple miles of the second lap and then I stayed back for a minute because I knew Dave was still recovering from being sick so I wanted to help him out a little. I pushed the pace but felt controlled. Clyde smashed the record and I ran 1:00:02. That is comparable to running a 4:01 mile and never going under 4:00 minutes. I should have gone under 60 minutes for the second loop. Dave came in just a little after me so it was nice to see all three of us have a solid second lap. Great weather this morning. 

Happy with the first week of running for 2012.

Ran from my house in Ivins out along Snow Canyon Parkway for 5 miles and then came back home. I ran into a lot of people running. This was nice to see. I kept it nice and easy and hit 7:06/mile.

Another easy 4 miles this evening in Ivins. A little cool tonight. No watch.

Did a new variation of the DC trail today. I ran the inside loop backwards from the high school and then extended it over to Man of War and then back to the school. The first couple miles were a touch slow but I had planned on pushing it for the last 10. I ended up averaging 6:21/mile. Nice push for early in the week.

10 this morning with Clyde, Dave, and Steve. We did our usual loop. It was nice having Steve back with us. It truly was a pleasure. Felt pretty good throughout except for the spinach dinner from last night.

10 more miles this afternoon out towards to the new airport. I ran with the kids for 2 miles and then extended it out onto the parkway. Not a ton of traffic but lots of wind. I do not like wind. It is not my friend. Averaged 7:19/mile. Happy with a pretty solid day of running.

I was crazy tired this morning for some reason. I decided to go longer this afternoon. I did my Bloomington Loop extension/DC trail run today. I wanted to get some up tempo miles but nothing crazy out of control. I hit some decent miles and averaged 6:33/mile. A little on the cool side this afternoon.

7 cold miles this morning from the house over into Santa Clara. 7:01/mile.

4 miles in the afternoon with some of the high school kids.

Paul Petersen ran 2:20:31 and placed 55th at the Olympic Trials. He is my hero. It is fun to think back to 2007 when I was in New York running in the 2008 Olympic Trials with him. I didn't have a great day but Paul did. His race today is even more impressive to me. 4 years later and he is still rocking it. The guy is so humble and gracious about this sport. I look up to him a lot. I will miss running with him in Logan when I visit my in-laws. Congrats Paul!

Dogtown/Lots of hills run - Ran with Steve, Clyde, Dave and Justin today. We started at Dave's house and then went out into the fields, down by Stone Cliff, over Foremaster and then back around. We had some pretty conversation about topics that were quite delicate. I really look forward to running with the guys because it is a great place to just talk about life. Dave and I extended for another 5 miles to get 20 for the day. Nice way to end the week. Happy to get in 90 for week. 7:00/mile. Fair amount of hills today. Felt good for the little Quadsimodo.

Dave and I went out and ran the Little Creek Section of the Zion 50 today. For the most part, I think we found the correct trail. We did the first 13 or so miles up to the tower and did most of it climbing. We pushed the uphill and it made both of us a little tired. We stopped at the top and enjoyed the scenery. Their is nothing like looking at Pine Valley and then turning to look at Zion National Park. Absolutely breathtaking. We were around 7:00/mile on the way up and then Dave said I went into Beast Mode. We clipped along for 6+ miles at 6:00/mile in the dirt and sand. We ended up catching the 7:00/mile guy for the run. 

Nice to get out and have a solid run with Dave. I am excited to train with him for the next couple months to see how we do at Zion and then Squaw.

Crazy tired this morning so I slept in and just ran with the team this afternoon. My legs were a little sore from yesterday still so I decided to just run an easy amount of mileage today. We went around Webb Hill. I ran with Darian and pushed her a little bit. Nothing to exciting. Kept it solid. Another 20 planned for tomorrow.

Club run this morning from Clyde's house with Dave and Clyde. Nice run. Saw a lot of people out this morning. They must be getting ready for the half marathon this weekend. Happy to run with those guys again.

Ran another 10 miles this afternoon. I ran the first 3 or so miles with the kids over towards Sunriver and then I extended it all the way through the beautiful town. I lost track of how many elderly people I saw who were walking their dog. Nice to see people out and about though. 6:49/mile.

Just ran this afternoon. I started with some of the girls over towards Little Valley Park and then I extended it out past George Washington Academy into the fields. I kept the first half easy and then did a little workout on the back. I did 10 x 1:00min. with 1:00min. recovery in between. All the fast stuff was in the 4:50-5:00/mile range. Nothing spectacular but it was nice to open up the lungs. Glad I am not running the half this weekend. I will be in Phoenix where it supposed to be pretty warm. 

Nice solid run today.

10 miles early this morning. I ran out along Snow Canyon Parkway. I couldn't believe how dark it was. Good to get this run in since I can't run this afternoon. We are driving to Phoenix tonight. No watch.

Arrived in Phoenix late last night and was pretty tired when I started my run this morning. My family lives downtown so I was nervous about where I was going to run. I ended up finding a trail along the canal and followed that out for about 5 miles. It was actually a nice paved trail and had a few dirt sections. The decoration of choice was shopping carts in the canal! I think I counted 20 or so. I did the run at 6:50/mile. Nothing fancy but good for being pretty tired this morning. About 50 degrees when I started. Short sleeves and shorts. Loved it. 

Now for the footie game tonight.

We got back from Phoenix late last night and I was not really tired this morning. I then had my graduate school class all evening. Plus, it was still raining when I finished. I decided to get some homework done and then enjoy time with the family. This gives me the opportunity to try something I've wanted to do. I am going to try and hit 90+ miles on only 5 days of running. We will see how it goes. Busy with lots of stuff this week.

10 miles this morning in the fog out along Snow Canyon Parkway. The trail was quite slippery so the pace was nothing fancy. Actually warmer than most other mornings.

13 miles this afternoon from the high school, out to George Washington Academy, looped around Stone Cliff, hit the DC trail, and then came back around Webb Hill. Descriptive! Nice afternoon considering the weather this morning. 6:45/mile. 

10.20 miles with the guys this morning. Nice and easy. Happy to get it in.

4 easy miles this afternoon before my graduate school class. Dustin E. is in the class so it should be fun.

I planned to get out this morning but Norah was up all night with a cough and I was way tired this morning and didn't feel very good myself. 

I ran the same route from Tuesday afternoon. Nice 13 miler except for the fact I had a slight head cold and hacked up a bunch of stuff. No watch. I hope I am not sick. I will need to get creative if I am going to run 90 miles this week.

Not feeling good still but ran 4 miles this afternoon with some on the team. Hopefully I get feeling better.

Nice long run this morning from Ridin' Dirty, UT along Snow Canyon Parkway all the way to the finish line of the marathon. We kept it nice and slow which helped me get through the run this morning. I am not feeling well so I knew I was in for a long haul. I actually felt okay during the run and had a pretty fast last mile but then started to get sick right after I finished. Head cold and sinus problems for the rest of the day. Not fun. Didn't get my 90 miles for the week but oh well. I need to get better. I cannot remember the last time I was sick.

Hopefully next week can be better.

I was crazy sick this weekend with a head cold and a lot of congestion in my lungs. I ended up staying home from work and tried to sleep to get better. I ended up going out in the afternoon trying to loosen all the crude out of my lungs. I was successful but I still was not feeling much better. I survived but not excited about being sick. Not a ton of energy.

I didn't sleep at all last night and still did not feel 100%. I ended up staying home from work since I could barely breath and was coughing a lot. I needed to be on the safe side. Once again I kept sleeping and doing a lot of the Emergen-C. That seemed to help and I decided to go back out this afternoon to see how I felt. I felt a little better but still not great. I went all through Ivins hacking and coughing but it helped loosen up the congestion in my lungs. 

Yoga later this evening with Katey which felt really good.