El Burro Blanco

What a day!  It was really long due to the flight too New York and trying to navigate my way around NYC on the subway.  We were on the subway for about 4 hours today trying to get to our friend's house and then going to pick up my packet.  We eventually got to the headquarters and got most of my stuff for the race.  The New York Road Runners' people were extremely nice and helpful.  I received lots of goodies that will help me remember this moment.  I was talking with the NYRR's people and I got excited with some of the running studs there.  Ed and Jorge Torres walked in and grabbed some drinks and bananas!  I remember reading about them in the book, "Running with the Buffaloes."  Everything is still quite surreal for me.  I miss the good old Rocky Mts. but the big tall buildings aren't half bad for a few days!  I am meeting up with Paul, Sean, and a couple other guys tomorrow to go and run on the course around Central Park.  Let's go see how those rolling hills are!

I woke up early and hoped on the subway to go and meet up with Paul.  We went and did about 3.5 miles around Central Park.  We both decided that we should tuck behind a group and draft off of them due to the expected winds (25-30mph).  It should make the race interesting!  We got back and headed off to a technical meeting where we heard from the fluids' guy, referee, and many others.  These people are serious about their marathoning.  The lunch was good and it was nice talking with Paul and Sean.  The FastRunningBloggers represented well.  I got some dinner in me and went back to Paul's room.  I'm technically not supposed to stay here but where Katey and I are staying is about an hour or so away and I don't particularly want to wake up earlier then I have to.  I went down to the chiropractor and had him adjust my hip.  It feels much better now.  Paul is much more eloquent with his words and I agree with what he put on his blog.  I saw all the great ones today and was lucky enough to eat lunch with them: Alan Culpepper, Meb, Ryan Hall, Abdi, Brian Sell, Sean Sundwall, Paul Petersen, and etc.  I don't know what to expect tomorrow but I will go out and try my best.  It will be quite the experience.  Brian Sell was sitting in front of us on the bus and I sort of eavesdropped on his conversation.  I was wondering what a really fast runner likes to talk about.  Ironically, it was a lot of the same things as those of us that aren't as fast (i.e. food, running, more about food, and then top it off with more talk about running!) 

Well here goes the official race report.  I stayed over in Paul's hotel and then woke up at 5:20 to hop on the bus.  Brian Sell, Alan Culpepper, and Ryan Hall were on the same bus and they looked ready to roll.  We had police escort over too Rockfeller Center and then went below where they film the Today show to wait until the start.  It was nice and warm.  I stretched out, did a short warm-up jog and then went too the bathroom 4 times.  What a morning!  We went up out too the starting line and it was crazy.  Their were huge TV cameras and lots of people all over the place cheering.  It hit me again that I was in New York running in the Olympic trials.  The weather was cold and windy so I wasn't sure of what to expect.  I went out with Paul for the first mile or so and it was fun running down 5th avenue towards Central Park where all the big TV screens were.  The lights were actually quite bright that early in the morning.  We made our way into Central Park and I got in a pack of about 10 guys.  Their were 2 Hanson guys (one was Trent Briney) and ran with them for the first 8 miles of the race.  It was nice running in a pack because we shared fluids and were able to draft off of each other.  The sides were lined up with huge amounts of people.  It was crazy!  They were cheering my name and I was wondering how they knew my name.  I forgot that my last name was on the front of my bib!  At mile 8, I started to get a side stitch and had to slow down a bit.  It eventually went away and I went through the halfway point just under 1:13:30.  I was feeling fine and running solo at this point.  The pack was up just a bit and was going to hold off to try and reel them in.  It was at about this point my body started acting weird.  My legs were heavy and everything was going numb.  The cold weather and wind could have played a part but I was not sure.  I had sleeves on at the start and then threw them off to the side during the race.  That wasn't too terribly smart because the temperature got colder.  I was slowing down quite a bit and then I just happened to look down.  I had good old bloody nipples!  My tape fell off and the rest is history!  People watching the race were cringing on the side.  It didn't hurt at all so I was fine with it.  We will see if they hurt tomorrow!  I continually got slower and the body kept shutting down.  My body has never done anything like this before.  Right before mile 24 I had to stop and walk.  I really didn't want to do this but I was really dizzy and not feeling great.  A medic on a bike came up to me and asked if I was planning on finishing.  I told him I would try and I started to go again but nearly fainted and passed out.  My body was not right and I didn't want to do any serious damage to my body so I asked for a cart and went to the medic tent.  I realized at this point I was not going to make my goal of finishing the Olympic Trials.  I was really bummed out but knew my health was important.  Once I got on the cart and started heading too the medical tent, the driver hit his breaks because he thought he heard someone say "stop" and the passenger flew out of the cart about 15 feet and landed on his chest.  He couldn't get up and I was not in the best shape.  I couldn't believe this had happened.  The guy turned out to be okay and we made it too the tent.  I started to shiver and cold really cold.  My legs were cramping up so they got some salt in me and lots of fluids.  I slowly started feeling better but I was in the tent for close to 20 minutes.  I have no idea why my body was acting up.  Katey and my mom made it to the tent and were crying all over the place.  I told them I was fine and feeling much better.  I thanked the medics for their help and we called it a day.  I would have much rather finished at the actually finish line with a real time but it didn't happen.  I then started hearing about how many of the top runners dropped out so I didn't feel to bad.  I heard about the sad news about Ryan Shay and his death.  My thoughts and prayers are with his family.  I learned a lot today.  I realized it was smart of me to stop and not cause any permanent damage to myself.  I also learned that I must take this bump in the road and train even harder to try and make it back to the trials in another couple years.  I want to have this experience again.  I also learned that I was truly blessed to have even run in the trials today.  I could make up excuses about what happened but to put in simply, I'm not exactly sure.  I will continue to move forward and see what happens with my running in the near future.  Thinking about Shay's death made me appreciate my wife Katey and family that much more.  They are a great support and I love them very much.  Great job today to Paul and Sean and all the other Utah runners.  Utah represented very well at the trials.  Thank you once again fellow bloggers for all of the support!

I decided that I need a break today.  My legs need a cold bath and lots of Ibuprofen.  I am planning on taking this week easy and then starting up with the training more next week.  I had to do a lot of explaining to fellow teachers and students about the race.  I feel alright mentally but need to start looking towards another race right now.  I got Paul Pilkington's (Weber State's coach and former Olympian) number from a student teacher (Lindsey Anderson) that runs for him and helps coach at Weber State.  I am going to give him a call and see if he might help me in anyway to continue improving.  I think my next race or races will be in the Strider's series and then for sure the Ogden Marathon in May.  I want to do well with those races.  I have done of lot of races lately and am slightly burned out so I will revamp the training and shoot for those races at the start of next year.  

I decided to go out for an easy 3.75 miles this afternoon to loosen up the legs a bit.  My quads are a little sore but that is about it.  I ran around Ben Lomond High's track because I figured the soft surface would be good for my legs.  It felt good to get out of the house and run even for just a little bit.  I will slowly work my way back up this week and then revamp for next week.  I got home and did about 30 minutes of core exercises.  I will start focusing on this a little more.

I did 6 miles with the cross country team this afternoon.  We went over too Mt. Ogden park and did 8 x 400m repeats up a hill.  I didn't push it that much and it felt good to just get the legs moving again.  The cross country team is getting ready to go too the Foot Locker Championships in California in a couple of weeks.  It should be quite fun.  Another couple days of not to many miles and just simply recovering.  I don't have any soreness in my legs from the race and really am preparing myself mentally to get ready for more miles and training over the winter.

I ran with Nick Froerer this afternoon up along the east bench by Mt. Ogden.  It was a nice little trail run.  It was a little different scenery which was nice.  The legs felt fine and the company was great.  Another less mileage day tomorrow and possibly a 10 miler on Saturday.

I ran 4.5 miles with the cross country team this afternoon. I found out that I will most likely be coaching the long distance team for track. The coach is moving up too Idaho. I am pretty stoked about that. The run with the team wasn't to fast so I did an extra two miles at 5:45/mile pace. Overall pace for the run was 7:16/mile. It felt good today.

I had a long day due to a conference for work. It was a great conference and I learned a lot but the weather outside was perfect. I wished I was outside the whole day. I finally got home around 5 PM and the sun was basically all the way down. I didn't care and knew that I needed to get out and get some miles in. Katey decided to ride her bike alongside me. We went for a nice 10 miler up towards North Ogden. The first 5 miles weren't too fast but I pushed the pace on the way back and hit some low 6:00/miles. I ended up doing the run at 6:27/mile pace overall. The air was crisp and it felt good breathing in fresh air. I talked a lot with Katey today and decided to hit between 70-80 mile weeks for the next couple months. I will mainly try and get the miles in with a few tempo runs. I might do an occasional speed workout but am not going to stress too much about it. I plan on hitting 100+ mile weeks with more tempo runs and good speed workouts starting with the new year. I am really gearing towards running the Ogden Marathon in May. I think the next couple months are important. It looks like I will be running in the dark both in the morning and at night due to the time change. What a bummer!

6 miles in the morning.

6.75 miles in the afternoon.

I am back to doing 2 a days.  It was chilly this morning due to the wind but it was once again good, clean air.  I love this time of year.  I didn't worry about the watch today.  Glad to start the week off with this run.  I wasn't tired at 5 AM.  This is a good sign!  If anyone is willing, I need to get my leaves cleaned up before it snows.  I can't pay you because I am cheap but would love to go on a run with you afterwards!  I did 4 x 600meters with the cross country team for practice.  We did a fun, little grass relay.  I averaged 5:20/mile on these.  The grass really slows you down!  I did some more miles afterward and averaged 6:40/mile overall for the run.

6.00 miles in the morning.

6.15 miles in the afternoon.

Another good 6 miler in the morning.  Made sure I wore all the warm clothes.  That helps keep the pace slow.  7:04/mile for the overall run.  Still need to get those dang leaves cleaned up.  I had a lot of work to do at school and got out for my second run a little later than planned.  I was in for quite the treat.  The wind was blowing 30 + mph and it was raining.  I only had a long sleeve shirt and the short shorts.  I was freezing but gutted it out.  I got going and felt fine so I decided to see if I could fight through the weather.  I ended up doing the run at a 6:15/mile pace overall.  I was really pleased with the effort today considering 3 miles was directly into the wind.  It was a nice push.

6 miles in the morning.  (Again!)

8 miles in the afternoon.

The weather was extra chilly this morning due to the rain yesterday.  I did the run at a 7:08/mile pace.  The nose hairs were a little frozen this morning.  I saw on the way to work that the temperature was 22 degrees!  Yeah!  I ran from my house down towards the Ogden River Parkway.  I got yelled at by a dinosaur passing the dinosaur museum.  This was weird!  The cross country team met their and we did 10 x 400m sprints up a hill.  It wasn't a big push but I tried to take the top runners with me and push them a little bit.  We alternated between 15 pushups and 25 crunches for each sprint up the hill.  The cold air really got the lungs burning.  I ran home afterwards and a really big hill coming up Harrison.  It was a good run and I ended up doing the entire thing at an overall 6:25/mile pace.

6 miles in the morning.

8 miles in the afternoon.

The weather was extra chilly so I put on a light sweater.  It really helped out a lot.  Didn't wear a watch.  I got home from a long meeting and went out for my afternoon run.  I decided to bag the long pants and stick with short shorts.  I am glad I did this because I warmed up pretty quick.  I went up towards North Ogden on Fruitland Dr.  I wanted to keep the pace somewhat slow.  I did the entire run at a 6:41/mile pace.  I am for sure going to get the leaves dilemma taken care of on Saturday!  I run out of sunlight.

I ran almost 5 1/2 miles with the cross country team this afternoon.  The pace was nice and slow and I liked that.  I did some core exercises to end practice and then ran some more miles afterwards to get at least 12 in for the day.  I did the run at 6:51/mile overall pace.  The weather was surprisingly warm.

I had to run a bunch of errands today and finish cleaning up the leaves (it took me over 4 hours!)  Picking up the leaves would have taken longer but a great neighbor came over and helped.  What a lifesaver!  I am glad to have these done.  The weather today was awesome so I was thrilled to go out for my run.  I decided on a half marathon since I hadn't done one in a long time.  I ran up towards North Ogden again with all of the rolling hills.  It is the same route I did with James and Paul a couple of weeks again.  I took the first 6.5 miles pretty slow and then wanted to push the last half.  Here are my splits: 8- 5:47 = slight uphill and flat, 9- 5:21 = downhill and flat, 10- 5:39 = rolling hills and flat, 11- 5:35 = slight downhill and flat, 12- 6:11 = big uphill, 13- 5:56 = uphill and flat.  I was really glad I got the legs moving again.  This is the best workout I've done in a while.  Total time was: 1:20:20 with an overall pace of 6:08/mile.  I ended up taking first and last place today in this half marathon!  The post race party consisted of raking up more leaves!  Bummer!

6 miles in the morning.

9.5 miles in the afternoon

It wasn't too cold this morning.  No hat or gloves.  Alright!  The weather was awesome today.  I hate to keep talking about the weather but we are running out of nice days up here in Northern Utah.  I ran with the cross country team 4.5 miles and then did another 5 miles afterwards all by myself.  The pace was slow with the team so I pushed it a little bit on my own.  Overall pace was 7:05/mile.  Nice start to the week.  Looking forward to the warmer weather and running in it down in St. George this week due to the holidays.

6 miles in the morning.

10.25 miles in the afternoon.

The weather was cold and windy this morning.  I warmed up a little bit and pushed the last 3 miles.  Didn't worry too much about the pace though.  Today the cross country team was doing its own little race at Mt. Ogden park so I decided to run from my house to the park.  It was basically all uphill to the park.  I wanted to keep the pace under 6:00/mile.  I did this except for one mile where it was a 6:11/mile.  The weather was cold and it was windy again so I was happy with the effort.  I paced the top 5 runners for the team.  The course went up around the golf course and up into the mountains.  It was once again all uphill.  It was a nice big loop.  I pushed these guys in and was happy to see them do well.  They have improved over the season.  The weather got even colder as I was running home.  It was at this point and time where I thought, "I need to move too St. George where the weather is great to run in year round."  I don't know where this thought came but I will have to talk with Katey about this.  It is too enticing!  I averaged 6:09/mile overall for the full 10.25 miles.  I was thrilled with the pace considering 8 or so miles of it was uphill.  I am headed to St. George now to spend the next 4 days with family.  I can't wait to get out and run in some nice weather.  It will be a nice change of scenery.

I slept in this morning and got some extra rest with the day off.  It was sunny when I started but then the clouds came and the wind picked up quite a bit.  The run was supposed to be easy but the wind pushed me a bit.  I ran from my parent's house out towards Tuacahn, through Ivins out towards Kayenta, and then back to the parent's house.  I ran on how I felt today and much to my surprise the overall pace was 6:24/mile.  It was a good push but I need to make sure I slow it down a little bit tomorrow.  The family starts coming in tonight and things will be busy for the next couple of days.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  Don't eat too much Turkey!

Katey wanted me to go to the hospital and get my heart checked out due to the death of Ryan Shay.  She just wanted to make sure that everything is okay.  My dad works in the cath lab at the hospital so he did an ultrasound on me yesterday.  Good news!  My heart is fine and looks great and I am not pregnant!  Katey was happy and glad that I went in.  I went out for a nice run this morning before all the festivities started.  I went out on the old highway towards Gunlock.  I did an out and back and it was nice because their was no traffic.  It was absolutely gorgeous with all of the red rock.  It was so nice to be out their on my own and just relax.  It was the life.  I did the entire run at 6:40/mile pace.  I truly am grateful for all of my blessings that I have been given.  It is nice to reflect about life during this time of year.

Got up early once again before more festivities with the family started.  Their are about 30 people staying at my parent's house.  It is pandemonium all over.  I had to wear a light beanie this morning because the weather was pretty cold.  I went out into Ivins and was feeling alright after yesterday's wonderful holiday so I decided to take it easy the first 4 miles and then really let the horses out for the last 3.  The wind was blowing a bit but I didn't want this to deter me from anything.  My last 3 mile splits were: 5:41, 5:27, and 5:17.  I did the run at 6:07/mile pace overall.  I went paintballing with my family and I realize why I run.  I got hit in the back, top of the head, and on the arm.  I have a bump on the head and then a huge welt on my back.  What a day!  I got home and went out for another 6 miles.  The wind was blowing all over and I swallowed a bunch of red sand.  I am being punished for something.  I did the run at 6:39/mile pace overall.  I was happy to be done with this run.  It was not very fun.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better with Clyde.

I headed over too the running store and went for a good run with Clyde this morning.  We went out into the desert reserve and hit about 7.5 miles of trail running.  It was a steep uphill climb.  We ran up towards the Ledges Golf Course and then back down towards the store.  My legs were a little sore but it was nice to hit the main road/marathon course to finish up the run.  Clyde and I didn't say anything but we started grunting once we hit the marathon course and I think we both knew the pace was going to be much faster.  Our five or so mile splits down to the store were:

1. 5:34

2. 5:19

3. 5:43

4. 5:32

5. 5:13- this was only a half mile time pace. However we started into the faster pace about a half mile before the actual fist mile of tempo. So it ended up being pretty close to 5 miles at temp type pace.

This was a great run and I enjoyed the company.  It was fun talking, spitting, and grunting all throughout the run.  The weather was absolutely perfect and I was glad to get out.  Took a much needed cooldown after the run.  Now I need to watch the BYU vs. Utah game.  Go Louie Sakoda!  I am partial to kickers since I did this in high school.

It was a long day at work so I decided to go for a longer run to clear the mind.  I knew the pace wasn't going to be too fast so I decided to really just focus on being relaxed.  I went up towards North Ogden.  You got to love the rolling hills.  The weather got really cold once the sun went down.  I kept the pace nice and steady and finished the run with a 6:45/mile pace overall.  Happy to get this run in at the start of the week.  I am going to California for Foot Locker at the end of the week so I don't know how my running will be down there.  I will try and keep the mileage up even with all of the festivities going on.

6 miles in the morning.

8.40 miles in the afternoon.

Lots of layers of clothing this morning.  I needed it all once the wind really started to pick up!  The snow is here and it is really cold.  I ran with the cross country team this afternoon and kept the pace slow.  Afterwards I ran a couple miles on my own.  I did 5:43 and 5:34 miles to finish up the day.  Man it is cold!

6 miles in the morning.

9 miles in the afternoon.

Under Armour gear = $100.00.

Shoes and other gear = $100.00.

Running in the snow with cars driving by and people thinking, "What is he doing and where is his mother?" = priceless!

It was still really cold this afternoon minus the light snow.  I got all the warm gear on again and went out.  I had some new shoes (ASICS 2120) and they felt great.  I decided I needed to do a nice tempo run before heading to California with the cross country team.  I went up towards North Ogden and got some of the lovely rolling hills.  My five middle miles were really good during the run: 5:59, 5:54, 5:51, 5:46, 5:43.  I was happy to see the negative splits.  I finished the run in 54:01 for a 6:01/mile pace overall.  Got to love the cold weather baby!

9 miles in the early, early morning.

4 miles in the evening.

I woke up at 3 this morning to get some miles in before the long trip.  I am heading down to California with the cross country team to run at Foot Locker.  It should be fun.  I was pretty tired getting up but really enjoyed the run.  I won't be getting up that early very much anymore but it was so quiet and very relaxing.  The 12 hour trip to California was a long one.  I slept most of the way so it wasn't too bad.  We stopped by the course (where Mt. Sac Relays are) and ran the course.  It is very hilly but something different so it should be fun for the kids.  I am running in the coaches race and don't know what to expect.  This will be my first official cross country race since I didn't run in high school or college.  It is a 5K course so the race should be interesting. 

12.50 miles in the morning and rain.

I woke up and was planning on running outside but it was raining really bad.  I hit the fitness room and did 5 miles at 6:40/mile pace.  I was sweating all over me and the guy next to me and decided it was too hot so I went outside for 2 more miles.  The rain stopped for a bit and it was nice to be out and about on the streets of Anaheim.  I got back and then went with the cross country team for another 5.5 miles.  The rain started back up and it was really fun.  We ran around the hotel and then went running around Dowtown Disney.  People were getting ready to go into the park and were looking at us really funny like, "What are they doing?"  You got to love the runner's mentality!  Rain, sun, snow, or wind.  Doesn't matter.  You got to get the miles in.