El Burro Blanco

We are up in Logan for a couple days visiting my in-laws before we head up to Huntsville. I got up and it was still 70 degrees which was nice. I started at the house and then did a big loop through Cache Valley. I went up to Hyde Park and then came back down through Logan City and then up by Utah State. This is seriously the best time to be in Logan. It was absolutely beautiful and perfect. 7:21/mile for 14 miles. Good start to the week.

4 more miles this evening with Katey along the Logan River Trail. Beautiful weather but way too many bugs.

Met up with Logan Peak Run Champ Cody Draper this morning. We ran his home course of running up and down Providence Canyon. I thought I have run up this way before but I have not done it until today. Kept it honest on the way up and then Cody laid the hammer down on the way back down. Great push on the trails. Absolutely beautiful run. Good start to the morning. 

I ended up wanting to get some faster miles in plus sit in the Logan River so I drove over to Logan Canyon and did a mini Paul run. I ran up the canyon for 3 miles and then pushed it on the way down. I hit 5:27, 5:23, and 5:15 for the fast miles. Sat in the river afterwards. It was totally worth it. We don't get cold places to sit in after runs in St. George. Great way to end my time in Logan. Now off to Huntsville for the rest of the week.

We ended up going early to Pineview Reservoir with the family so I

didn't get a chance to run before hand. I did get my run in the

afternoon. I ran from the reservoir and went out towards the monastery.

It was a little hot but slightly overcast so it was nice. Huntsville is

such a beautiful place. I always miss it when I come up. 7:12/mile for

10 miles.

My entire family ran a race involved with the 4th of July. Rob Burton was a close family friend who was killed in a car accident a few years ago. It is a good excuse to support Huntsville, this race, and especially Rob's family. Some of the family ran the 1 mile, 5k, and my brother and I did the 10k. 

I did a 2 mile warm up before everyone got up so I could work dinner out of the system. I got to the start and saw a few high schoolers who seemed like they wanted to go fast. I decided to just work my way into the race and just run relaxed. Five or so of us went out together for the first mile or so. Most of them were looking at their watches a lot which is a great indicator that they are going way too fast. I pushed the pace a little on the second mile and no one came with me. I decided to run controlled and not stress the rest of the way. The second mile was all dirt so it slowed me down a bit but I felt better once I hit the road again. 

I had a nice police escort for the entire run which was kind of fun. I cruised into the finishing chute with a lot of former neighbors and friends cheering for me. It was nice seeing folks from my old stomping grounds. My watch wasn't working great and the timing got mixed up so I am not 100% sure on the time but I think it is pretty close.

I ended up running back to finish with my brother who ran well. Norah did the last quarter mile with us to finish as well. She has a future in running or whatever else she decides to do.

Good way to start the 4th of July and then spend the rest of it with the family.

Sicker than a dog all day. Either in bed or on the toilet. I must have ate something bad last night. Not a fun day!

Met up with Jon Heslop and Ben Vanbeekum to go run some trails at Snowbasin. We started at Wheeler Canyon and ran up towards the ski resort. I was slightly nervous about this run because I was so sick yesterday and was fairly dehydrated. I felt great on the run up but totally died on the way down. I had to stop for certain reasons but I was happy to finish. I still felt fairly sick after the run. I should have slept in but it was still fun running with Jon and Ben. 

Wish the week ended a little better but it just didn't happen. I haven't been sick for a while but I guess it was supposed to happen now. Now headed back home to get back into the swing of things. Yeah!

Ended up marking the dirt mile before practice so I ended up getting two miles in on the dike. Took the team over and ran 2 x 1 mile repeats with some of the girls. Hit 7:19 and 7:18 for the miles. Cooled down back to the Thatcher's place. It was nice running on the dike.

6 more miles in the heat today. I went out this afternoon and was glad I took water. It was nice and toasty. Went into Santa Clara and back.

The team went up to run at Navajo Lake to get a break from the heat. It was very nice and extremely beautiful. Lovely little single track all the way around the lake. Extended just a touch at the end to get a total of 10 miles for the day. 

Too much going on the rest of the day so no second run.

Ran with the Circle this morning. Lovely temps and great conversation. Had a blast with the guys. Felt a little tired for some reason.

6.5 miles with the boys at practice. We did close to a 3 mile warm up and then did a 3 mile tempo on the trails. The boys looked really good and we ended up averaging 6:02/mile. It was faster than they were supposed to go but they were chomping at the bit.

Katey is gone to girls camp this week so I ended up taking the kids to practice and pushed them around in the double wide. The kids had an easy run so I took them around Little Valley for a total of 4 miles. Norah loved the kid's camp after wards.

2 more miles this evening marking the trail for our dirt hill repeats tomorrow.

Did the warm up with kids and pushed the kids up the trail to time the repeats. Someone moved all of my rocks and other markers from last night. Tools! Leave stuff alone. Now I will mark it up with paint and really make those people mad.

We ran over to Hidden Valley Park after practice and got a drink of water. Kind of hard pushing the kids in the double wide.

Met up with Dave this morning at Vernon Worthen to go and do 20 miles down the course. Clyde was supposed to come but he had to go and pick a beautiful piece of equipment in Los Angeles. He was greatly missed. 

Dave and I started at the bottom of Veyo Hill and just kept it easy the first 10 miles or so and then worked into some faster miles. The goal for me was to hit 7 miles all under 5:30/mile. Here are my splits: 5:34, 5:21, 5:24, 5:20, 5:19, 5:13, and 5:20. Felt pretty good considering I had major stomach issues this week. Cooled down a little to get 20 miles for the day.

I was supposed to do Bryce Canyon today but with Katey gone and the stomach acting up it didn't work out. Happy with a solid workout to end the week though. Speed is slowly coming back.

3 miles with the team for the warm up and little bit of the cool down. Team did another Vo2 max test today.

8 more miles early this evening along the Snow Canyon Parkway. Stomach was growling for some odd reason.

Went with the team up to Pine Valley for our long run. We went on a new trail that I have never been on before. It was a lot of fun and dealt with some good climbing on the way back. Didn't go as far as I would have liked due to picking up some of the kids throughout the run.

10 miles this morning with the Circle. Always good times. Pretty tired from last night getting stuff ready for the team camp.

8.5 more miles with the boys. We did a 4 mile tempo run at AT pace. I tried hanging with the top boys but I was way too tired. I dropped back to push in some of the boys who needed a little extra push to finish. Solid workout for the team.

3 more miles up in Koosharem for the first run of our team camp. Team already saw one rattlesnake. Yeah!

5 miles this morning along the trails near the ranch. Ran along exploring things until I came to a giant field of cows. I had to turn around.

Went with the team up to Fish Lake and ran around the lake. Close to 9000 feet elevation made for a great run right along the lake. It was really beautiful. We pushed the last mile or so but it was nice to get in the lake and cool off after wards.

3 more miles this afternoon with the team on some trails near the cabin.

5.5 miles total this morning for our fun relay workout. We had a fun field of hay and did 4x800m repeats within a five person team. We got to jump hay bails and it turned out to be quite a lot of fun.

3 more miles in the rain this afternoon. Lots of fun with these cooler temps.

Planned on doing more before our long run but I was very exhausted from all of the camp activities and not getting that much sleep. 

We took the team across the road and went towards the Paiute ATV trails. We ended up doing 10+ miles round trip with about 2000 feet of climbing in just under the first five miles. We saw more snakes which wasn't good but it turned out to be an incredible run for everyone. We were able to look over into the valley and see some great views.

I ended up having to stay back and save a dog that ran with us. It got really dehydrated and needed to lay down in the river and rejuvenate itself. This made the run go longer than I originally planned but the dog survived and all is well.

Very happy with the way camp went. We ended up having over 60+ people total and had some incredible runs over the last half of the week. Really got me excited to see what is going to happen throughout the season. The kids are very excited as well.

6 miles this morning with the boys. We did a warm up behind the school and then did a fun 20 minute Fartlek workout. I at least thought it was fun. Cooled back down to the school. Core and stretching after wards.

Was in SunRiver watching a gait analysis for one of my runners. I decided to do a 3 mile push after the meeting. I started out on the new parkway and ran out towards the River Rd. exit. It was windy on the way out so I knew I was going to have some major headwind coming back. I decided to try and rock it out anyway knowing that the wind would not be fun. I hit 5:29, 5:31, 5:33 for the 3 faster miles. Very happy with this effort considering the headwind was very significant. 

Dry heaved and then lost my lunch after wards. Got to love the St. George heat!

Ran just a touch before the team came over to Barrel Roll and ran this trail. It is one of my favorite trails around and it was nice to get the kids on it. I think they really enjoyed it.

Another easy 3 miles this afternoon.

Went up and ran the Enterprise 10k this morning with some of my kids. I wanted them to treat this has a good workout. I was happy with all of them who ran. You can look at Dave Holt's race report and it will be much better than mine.

We got up to the start and I didn't have much time for a warm up. I knew I needed to get more miles in for a solid warm up but it wasn't going to happen. The race started and I went out with Dave and some of his boys (they were doing the 5k). Got into a pretty good rhythm and felt like things were rolling. I pressed just a little bit and then Taylor Abel and Byron Warby (both great runners) came with me and they were about to finish their race.

At this point Dave came back to me and we ran together for a little bit but I started to get a side ache pretty bad just after 3 miles. I tried to work it out and gained a little on Dave on the uphills but I didn't have much the rest of the race. Dave was just enough ahead of me where I knew I would have to fly to catch him. It never happened. His American flag shorts were beautiful. I salute you Dave. I pushed it in and ended up with a 32:46. I knew I should have gone faster but the side ache didn't help. The course was just a touch short as well. Should have had a longer warm up. Oh well. Dave ran really well today. 

Finished and then cooled down with my kids around Enterprise for a couple miles. It was a good way to start the 24th.

I ended up hurrying home and ran from my house over to the parade in Ivins. Too many cars made me run so it would be easier to get over there. Just one run today due to everything else going on.

Still have work to do over the next two months but I am happy with how things are going. Just need to stay positive.

On the way to practice this morning my neighbor's truck ran out of gas. Bummer! I ended running 2.5 miles to get to the high school and by then the team had left already. I ran out behind the school and caught up with a bunch of them. Kept it nice and easy on the way back with the girls. Kids club after wards.

Another 8 miles this evening along the Snow Canyon Parkway. Felt pretty good but it was still fairly warm. I got yelled at by some people driving in a car. They slowed down and said, "Hey buddy, you need to go faster!" Love the yellers from the car. WHAT IS THE MOST INTERESTING THING SOMEONE HAS SAID TO YOU WHILE OUT ON A RUN?

Glad to get this run in. Decent way to end the day.

Did weights before practice and then ran down to Webb Hill. We did 2x1 mile repeats up this beautiful hill. Focused on form and working up the hill on the first one. Pushed it harder on the second one. Really happy with how the boys ran today. They continue to get better each day. Ran back to the school for 8 total on the morning.

Spent all day driving to Logan in our new van yesterday. Happy with the cruise control and comfort but it was still a long drive. Went to bed pretty quick once we got into town because I knew I would have an early start this morning.

I wanted to relive the old glory days where Paul and I had some memorable runs in Blacksmith Fork Canyon. I parked on Hollow Road and ran up the canyon for 10 miles. It was interesting passing a lot of people on the way up. They were coming down the canyon. It looks like they were preparing for the half coming up in a few weeks. I forgot how beautiful this canyon is. It is so nice having the river right next to the road to help take your mind off of things. Very relaxing. 

The run up the canyon had a fair amount of head wind. Stopped at the Hyrum Hydro Plant to use the bathroom and then ran up another 1/2 mile to get started. It was just about 3/4 mile past the start of the TOU 1/2. My plan coming back down the canyon was to do a progression run. I wasn't quite sure how I would feel since my quads, hamstrings, and calves were pretty trashed from yesterday's workout. I just wanted to ease into it.

My splits were 5:54, 5:49, 5:34, 5:37, 5:20, 5:18, 5:18, 5:23. I cruised in to the car with a couple 6:30 miles just to keep everything honest. Decent workout and happy that I could do this up in Logan with the cooler weather.

Got back to the house and picked up Katey and we went to run 3 miles on the Logan River Trail. Sat in the Logan River after wards and my legs were very happy. My legs were toast at this point so it helped out a ton. Happy with the way the week ended. Now I just need to keep moving in the right direction.

Still up in Logan this morning so I ended up running up towards Smithfield from my in-laws house. Kept the pace honest but nothing fancy. Lots of rollers on this route. 7:04/mile. I am going to miss this cooler weather. Now back to the lovely heat of St. George!

Ran 9.5 miles with the team out on the Arizona Strip today. Temps were alright and we almost made it to the dinosaur petroglyphs. Beautiful day for a run.

Lots of stuff going on this afternoon so I ended up doing a shorter version of my workout this evening. I did a mile warm up and then 2 miles at goal half marathon pace. I hit 5:16 and then 5:20. Cooled down back to the house. Not bad considering it was later in the evening. 

Got up a little earlier than usual to meet up with Wildbull and Clyde. We did our usual DC loop in reverse starting at Clyde's house. Nice conversation throughout the run and good to be with the boys. Missed having Dave there but maybe next week. 10.2 miles total. Nice and hot this morning.

9.10 miles with the boys for a big boy workout on the region course. We warmed up to the park and then did 6x3:00 min. hard/3:00 min. recovery jog and then 4x:30 sec. hard/:30 sec. recovery jog. The pace was great and I was very happy with how the boys did today. Everyone actually ran the workout great. Despite how muggy it was, we enjoyed having the grass cut short for us. Cooled down back to the school. I am pretty tired now.