El Burro Blanco

8 miles this morning. 

I took my IPOD shuffle for the first time today.  It was a little different listening to music but it was actually kind of nice.  My hamstring was a little tight but I stretched it out and it is doing better.  More stretching and another ice bath for sure tonight.  I have been enjoying the extra slept lately.  It is helping my body recover nicely.

6 miles in the morning.

Nice little run around Santa Clara.  Weather was quite enjoyable.  I stay in Mesquite tonight and then I fly out of Las Vegas in the morning.  It should be a good weekend for everyone.

Katey drove me down to the airport in Las Vegas very early this morning.  We left at 3:30 this morning.  What kind of idiots get up this early to due anything running related ? :)  I slept great from the flight to Denver and then slept even better on the flight to Minneapolis.  Seth and I were on the same flight to Minnesota.  It was fun talking with him about the race.

Seth, Megan (Seth's wife), and Jeff went over to the elite hospitality suite and picked up all of our bib numbers and other goodies.  Said hello to Ed Torres and knew there was no turning back now.  The marathon staff was really nice with the transport from the airport and then handling everything else for the day.

Seth, Jeff, and I found a trail that went along the Mississippi River.  It was really beautiful.  We ended up running into Alberto Salazar and Kara Goucher.  Yes, the both of them in the flesh!  This is fun.

Jeff and I went to the VIP get together and had fun talking with some women who are running in the race.  We then went and got basic massages afterwards which felt great. 

I am getting really excited for the rest of the weekend.  We take a tour of the course tomorrow morning which should help out immensely.  I am feeling good about everything.  Seth and I decided to really help each other out on Sunday.  I think we are giong to go out with Dennis Simonatis to see what kind of magic can happen.  Conditions call for a little bit of rain but the high will only be about 50 something degrees.  Oh yeah!

Easy miles this morning.  Beautiful weather.

I ran the US Marathon Championships yesterday in crappy conditions.  I will not beat around the bush.  The weather was so much fun to run in.  Can you sense the sarcasm :)  Very disappointed but you can't change the elements.  The race started off with cool temperatures and then the rain and wind came a coming not even 4 miles into the race.  I wasn't worried about pace because I just wanted to run with a pack and see what would happen.

I felt good through mile 8 and then up to about mile 12 where I was running with Dennis Simonatis and Tracy Lokken (both top 3 masters winners) and a couple other guys in a group.  They picked up the pace and my legs didn't respond.  I hit the half at 1:11 something and felt okay.  I was cold and the legs felt alright but I was running solo at this point.  I ran the entire rest of the rest all by my lonesome self.

My legs were dead just after the half.  I couldn't feel my legs and hands.  Everything was numb.  I tried to stay relaxed and focus on keeping everything intact.  I hit 20 miles at 1:53ish and was quite surprised.  Now the real fun begins.  The last 10K was a living nightmare.  Crosswinds picked up and I was trying to drag my behind uphill for the last 6 or so miles of the race.  I had nothing left in the tank.  I was dragging.  I kept telling myself I needed to finish.  Every ounce of my body was like, "Is this really worth it?"  I got to the top of the hill just after 25 miles and knew I was almost done.  The last 3/4 at the end were downhill but I didn't feel that great.  I crossed the finish line and knew I was done.

I needed a wheelchair at this point.  I was fine but decided what the heck.  I got a free, first class ticket to the medical tent where I was fed bread, bananas and drank chicken broth with some powerade.  I had my vitals checked and they were low.  I am typing this up so don't worry.  I didn't die!  I had 3 nurses wrap warm towels around me in order to try and get my vitals back up.  My entire body is still numb.  Remember, I am fine but could care less what they want to help me out with.  One of the nurses started rolling me over with a huge thermometer in her hand.  She states, "We need to get a rectal thermometer reading."  I exclaim, "I am fine and you don't need to stick that thing anywhere!"  She was fine with that and then I slowly started to warm up.  They wrapped towels around me and wanted me to take my wet clothes off so I could put some dry clothes on.  I told them my wife would not approve of this!  They laughed and but it really did feel good to get some dry clothes on.  After a while, I was feeling okay and decided to get up and walk around.  I appreciate the help they gave me.

I staggered around and found Seth and Jeff to head back to the hotel.  What a day!

I look back at this race and this year and feel slightly disappointed.  I trained well this year and don't really have a decent race to show for any of it.  It was nice seeing Seth and Jeff run so well.  I enjoyed spending time with them this weekend (including Megan, Seth's wife).  Now it is time to take a little break and reevaluate why I run and set some goals for the next little while.  I know I want to go and get that Olympic Qualifer but I need to just vedge for a bit and then look and see what will work best for the next race.  I need to spend more time with Katey and do more things she wants to do.  She supports me through everything and I am so grateful to have her in my life.  She wants me to get back out there but I know I need to have a break.  I may retire from running and try and get into something else.  Rowing sounds like fun if anyone wants to join me.  Happy trails to all of you!

Planned rest day.  Quads are a little tight.  I ate lots of yummy food.

Another planned rest day.  Tightness moved from my quads down to my calves.  I ate more good food today.  Planning on taking the week off.

Another beautiful morning of not running.  No pain anywhere.  I am excited to see what my team can do at Pre-region today.  It should be a good indicator of where we will be next week for Region.  They have worked very hard.

I had quite an eventful evening last night.  I woke up with a huge cramp in my left calf and then the cramp transferred over to the right leg.  I was screaming and it scared Katey to death.  She thought I was a little over dramatic.  I jogged to go and get the paper and then jogged back into the house.  Legs feel good but I still need the rest. 

A good day to take off.  The legs are really thanking me once again.  I feel good enough to go out and run but I want to make sure everything is nice and rested.  Katey and I are going on a hike in Snow Canyon tomorrow morning with some family and friends so this will be the only "serious" exercise for me this week.

Katey, me, my dad, and one of our neighbors went on a really fun hike this morning up in Snow Canyon.  It was nice to have some exercise this week.  I did a lot of thinking about running and how much I enjoy it.  I forgot to have fun with running and it almost felt like a chore doing some of the workouts this year.  I felt like I had to get better and faster on each of my races.  That is not the right mind set.  I think I will do the Painter's Half in January and then a fun marathon some time early in the spring.  I want it to be low key and something really fun.  I will slowly work the mileage up next week and really enjoy the last 2 weeks of cross country with the team.  I am excited for what they can do at region this week.  I am also excited to get out there and run again next week.

6 miles in the morning.

4 miles in the afternoon.

It felt good to get the legs moving again.  It was pretty cold this morning.  I was all bundled up.  Keeping it nice and easy for the next little while.

Ran a nice and easy 4 miles with the team this afternoon.  I didn't want to overdo it with them because of region tomorrow.  The boys and girls have trained really hard for this.  I hope it will pay off for them.  Legs were a little sore for some reason.  Oh yeah!  I took a full week off of running.  Keeping it nice and easy for a while.

8 miles in the morning.

Another nice and chilly run this morning.  Hopefully the entire week isn't as sluggish as the last two days have been.  The legs need to wake up.

12.30 miles in the evening.

I am happy to report that my girls's team took 2nd yesterday at region which means they are going to state!  The boys' team ran awesome and many PRs were made.  The only problem is the other school's runners had PR's as well.  It was a great season for the boys but they are really excited for next year and are ready to work even harder.  I lose my top runner who is a senior and then everybody else comes back next year.  I am very proud of them though.  The girls made history being a first year school and going to state their first year.

I went over to the 4A region meet and watched that.  I was motivated afterwards and hurried home and went for a run.  I ran 12.3 miles at a nice and easy pace.  The weather was perfect and it made me realize how happy I am that Katey and I moved down here.  I went on a new route all over town.  I averaged 6:57/mile overall.  It felt good and I had a really fun time.  It was exactly what I needed in order to get me going again with the training.  I will keep the rest of this week light and then slowly start to bump the mileage back up.

5 miles in the morning.

7 miles in the afternoon.

I slept in today due to not having to work and went out for my run at 9:30.  It was nice running up into Snow Canyon State Park.  I will run more this afternoon at the club run.

I ran tonight with Dave, Clyde, Ken, and Mike.  Clyde took us on a crazy trail run.  It was fun and it made us keep the pace slow.  It was fun running with the guys again.  We talked about some of the upcoming races we might try and do.  The running will just be nice and easy for a while.

I worked in the yard today for 5 hours and was pretty hammered but I went on a nice run this afternoon with Katey biking alongside me.  It was fun being with her and we enjoyed one another's company.  It was really hot so I had to shed the shirt.  Katey gave me some complimentary cat calls which were much appreciated.  She is going to bike alongside me more for some of my runs.  Quality marriage time and quality exercise time!

One of the best runs I've ever had occurred this morning.  Katey was a doll and offered to drive up in the car with 8 crazy running men to Zion.  We started at the West Rim Trail and came down through Angels Landing.  It was one of those runs where words cannot describe how beautiful it was.  We started up around 7500 feet elevation and had a couple nasty hills to deal with but it was some of the best running I have ever done.  It was fun because we stopped to enjoy the scenery and we also stopped to make sure Steve was okay from his fall :)  We encountered a little bit of snow but not that much.  It was really fun popping onto the Angel's Landing trail and running with the shirts off while all of the hikers were bundled up in really warm clothes.  Clyde, Dave, and I were feeling spry so we ran all the way back down to the main entrance and found everyone else.

We all agreed that we will be doing this run more often.  At least a couple times a year.  It was so relaxing and enjoyable.  It got me really motivated for the winter of running down here in St. George.

 Thanks again Katey for driving us.  You are wonderful!

My quads were quite sore this morning so I decided to sleep in.  I figure I am going to keep everything nice and relaxed until the first of November anyway so no big deal.  I ran 7 miles out towards the Arizona Strip this afternoon after practice.  The girls are excited to be running up at state.

5 miles in the morning.

2 miles in the evening.

A nice and easy 5 miles around Santa Clara this morning.

We traveled this afternoon up to Salt Lake for the state cross country meet.  I ran 2 miles with the girls running tomorrow to shake out their legs.  They are excited to get after it.

I ran around Salt Lake early this morning.  I started out our hotel and then went up to Sugarhouse Park and then up by the university.  It was a little cold but I had all the right gear so everything worked out okay.  It felt pretty good after about 10 minutes and I woke up.  Now it is off to state for the rest of the day.  Desert Hills Thunder Girls':  Go get 'em!

I slept in this morning because we got home from state pretty late.  I ran this afternoon from my house up into Snow Canyon on some dirt trails.  It was really fun and relaxing.  It is a good rolling uphill climb and I really had a ton of fun on this route.  I will most likely do it again tomorrow but I will bring Katey along while she rides the bike.

Same run as yesterday.  I will be doing this run quite a bit.  It is really fun running up through Snow Canyon on the dirt.  Katey came along with me on her bike.  She had a ton of fun as well.  Hopefully I can do another fun run in the morning.  I am still enjoying the weather down here.  It is absolutely perfect.

I knew I had a long day out in the yard doing yardwork so I rode the bike for a little bit and then was burning weeds, ripping out dead bushes and trees, and just plain getting dirty for about 9+ hours.  My legs were sore so I figured I should take the day off for running.  I have one more week of just kind of kicking back and then I will start bumping up the mileage again. 

8 miles in the afternoon.

I am planning on doing between 70 and 80 miles this week.  I slept in this morning and really relished the extra sleep.  I ran out into Kayenta and kept it nice and easy and enjoyed the 80+ degree weather.  It was quite hot.  I will run twice a day for rest of the week most likely. 

I don't think I've told anyone yet.  Katey and I are the proud parents of a cute little lab/hound puppy!  I wanted a dog that I could run with and this is the perfect dog.  She is really quiet and is already running around quite a bit even though she is only 7 weeks old.  She is a lot of fun right now.

6 miles in the morning.

9 miles in the afternoon.

A nice and warm morning run around Santa Clara Heights.  I almost had to much on for clothing.  It felt really good this morning.

A hot 86 degree run this afternoon.  I went exploring around the house on some trails.  I ran over by the Santa Clara River and hopped on a trail that went up a bit and started to overlook Ivins and Santa Clara.  I stayed on it and was having a blast so I kept on going.  I ended up out by some famous site but I couldn't figure out what it was.  I enjoyed going off the beaten path for a while and just enjoyed good old mother earth under my running feet.

6 miles in the morning.

8 miles in the afternoon.

Ran all over Ivins this morning.  A little chilly.  Fairly tired because the dog kept us up all night.  She is still very young and learning a schedule and routine.

I went on my fun run up into Snow Canyon State Park this afternoon.  It was really fun.  My right hamstring is starting to act up a little again.  I need to go get another massage I think.  No wildlife this run but I did have my shirt off and scared a old lady hiking.  She didn't like me running without the shirt.

I ran with the club tonight.  We started at the store and then went on the Chuckawalla trail around towards Entrada.  It was a fun trail run but a little rough in spots.  I guess I have certain people I need to thank for that.  It was fun running with the guys again. 

I went out towards Kayenta and had another great run.  The hamstring is a little tight and I am so glad I am seeing April so she can hopefully get it fixed.  The weather was perfect and it was an enjoyable run.  Perfect conditions and one that was quite memorable.