dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

Day of rest, so no running.  I helped with fast offerings in the morning and then went to church in the afternoon.  Testimony meeting was nice, as there was this old, old man who got up and bore the sweetest testimony about the love he has for his wife.  It was a reminder to me of the love that I need to show my wife on a daily basis.

I ran alone today.  I left from my house and ran out and back five miles down State street and on the Provo river trail.  My stomach was freaking out the entire time I was running and I had to take 2 vpb's in the middle of the run, and I almost had to take a third.  Anyhow, I finished my run in 1:17:02 for 10 miles.

I ran this morning with Mary Ann, Sasha, and Daniel on our route that has become somewhat standard lately, out to the 7 mile turn-around, and back to the uneventful half turn-around before finishing at Sasha's.  We threw in a few sprints in the middle of the run.  I did not push them too hard at all.  We also ran into Tommy Gruenewald (not sure if it is spelled right or not) from the BYU track team and ran with him for a bit.  We ended up finishing up 10 miles in 1:14:30.

PM:  I ran 4 miles on my own.  The first two miles were a little faster than they should have been, in part because I was running downhill.  I turned around at 14:55 for 2 miles, and then purposefully slowed down some the last 2 miles, which was made easier by the fact that I was running uphill on the way back.  Total time 31:15 for 4 miles.

I ran with Sasha at 5:15AM this morning. It has been a while since I have gotten up that early to run. Anyhow, we ran pretty slowly and talked the entire time about computer stuff. Finished up 10.1 miles in 1:22:09.

PM: I ran 4 miles this afternoon on my own, finishing in 31:11.  I am still not used to running doubles, so I am pretty tired from running doubles the last 2 days.  I also have been going out with Kimia and running a mile with her every afternoon.  Her best so far is 12:14 for 1 mile. 

Everything was pretty normal this morning.  We met at the same time as normal with the same group and ran the same basic route.  Total time was 1:18:39 for 10 miles.

I ran with the same group as always, plus Matt. We ran out to the 3.5 mile mark and turned around coming back to the turn-around for the uneventful half and then heading back to Sasha's house to finish 10 miles in 1:17:02. We also threw in some sprints here and there just like we have been consistently doing for the past few weeks.

PM: 4 more miles alone in 32:41.  My left calf is feeling kind of tight so I made sure to keep the pace really easy, especially the second half. 

My calf has been bugging me since yesterday, near where the muscle ends and the achillies tendon begins.  So, I just took it easy today, and I only ran 18 miles instead of 20.  I also helped set up the course for Mary Ann's race.  I ran the first couple miles with Daniel, and the first 10.1 with Sasha.  I then finished it off alone.  Total time was 2:24:33 for 18.1 miles.

Well, my calf felt better today than on Saturday, which is good.  I have decided that the discomfort was coming from the head of the calf muscle being too tight, and thus putting excess pressure on the muscle insertion near the achilles.  So, I spent a lot of time today massaging the muscle and stretching it out.

I ran with the normal group this morning.  We finished 10 miles in 1:19:23.  My calf felt a lot better today than it has been, but somewhere in the latter part of my run it started to act up again.  So, not perfect but getting better.  Hopefully it is good enough for me to race on Saturday.  We will see.

Easy run.  Nothing special.

I ran with the same group as usual, but I didn't do the entire run with them because I didn't have the car, so I split off early and ran home.

Again, same as normal for today.

I ran the winter series 10k this morning.  Like last time, Seth was my main competition.  This time however, we were also competing against the wind and snow, and wet slippery conditions in general.  We ran a little less than 3.5 for a warm-up, and then headed to the start line.

The race started with a minimal, but almost non-existent tail wind.  Snow was also coming down, and it was slippery.  So, we started off slowly hitting the first mile in about 5:28.  There was a pack of 5 of us, including Sasha, myself, Seth, Bryan Summers (lives in Salt Lake I think), and James (Fiddy on the blog).  Sasha dropped back after the first mile, and the rest of us kept up pretty much the same pace.  We hit the second mile in 5:29, and the third mile in 5:30.  I think that about 2 miles in that a decent tail wind picked up, because the snow stopped, however we didn't notice it until after the turn-around.  We hit the turn-around in 17:06, and promptly hit a nasty wall of wind that slowed us down from that point until the finish.  The fourth mile was a 6:08, followed by a 5:55.  Bryan dropped back after 4 miles, and James dropped back between 4.5 and 5 miles.  From around 5 miles in Seth and I slowly picked up the pace.  I led most of the way as Seth was content to just take it easy and kept slowing down.  I knew that if it came down to a finishing kick over the last half mile or so that I would probably lose, so I felt like I had to lead if I wanted a shot at winning.  With a half mile left Seth took off, and I followed.  We hit the sixth mile in 5:35, which was really fast considering the snow and wind.  After Seth took off, I started to slip quite a bit on the snow.  I am not sure how he was able to go that fast given the conditions.  I felt like my legs were strong enough to go faster, but that I couldn't because of how slippery it was.  Anyhow, Seth finally dropped me right around the 6 mile mark, and he finished 2 seconds ahead of me (I made it from 6 to the finish at about 5:23 pace).

Anyhow, it was a decent race given the conditions.  I can't say that I enjoyed it much, but it was a good workout.  During the first 5 miles I really felt like I could maintain the pace I was going forever.  I felt strong, but I realized that it was too risky to try and run alone.  I felt like I couldn't go any faster during those miles because of the snow, yet somehow I was able to speed up quite a bit the last mile.  I also think that running in front for so long hurt me, but I really don't know if the outcome could have been changed if I would have slowed down in order to let Seth lead, because he still probably would have out sprinted me.  Anyhow, hopefully the weather is better for the 15k in two weeks.

Church was good.  I really liked the high counciler's talk during sacrament meeting.

Funny run today.  I ran 4 miles with Sasha, then he stopped because he is feeling sick.  Then, the rest of us ran 1.05 around the block while waiting for Craig to show up (Mary Ann invited him to come).  Then we all ran 3 miles with Craig, after which Mary Ann and Daniel were finished, so I finished up the last 2 miles alone.  Total time for 10.05 miles 1:23:13.

I ran with Daniel this morning.  Sasha is sick, and I guess Mary Ann is in Salt Lake City, so it was just the two of us.  We ran 8 miles, and then I went out for 2 more on my own to finish up 10 miles in 1:18:16.

I ran with Sasha, Daniel, Mary Ann, and Chauncey this morning.  Chauncey was only doing 6 miles so we stayed with him and then went farther down the trail instead of heading back to Sasha's house.  Daniel turned around a mile later, and the rest of us ran the full 10.  It was really slow, because Sasha is still getting over being sick.  Total time of 1:25:55 for 10 miles.

PM:  I went out for 4 more miles on my own.  Finished in 30:51.

I ran with Adam and Mary Ann this morning.  We ran 10.1 miles in 1:11:38.  It was a little faster than normal, but I felt good.

I ran with Sasha, Mary Ann, and Matt this morning.  We ran 10.1 miles in 1:15:07.

PM:  I ran 4 miles alone in 30:16.  I felt a little tired, but otherwise pretty good.  I need to make sure and get to bed on time tonight.

paced mary ann through a 15 mile tempo in 1:34:33.  Ran a warm up and cool down as well to get to 20.12 miles in 2:14:30.

Today is my anniversary.  1 year!

Easy run with Sasha, Mary Ann, and Matt.  We went to the lake and back.  Total time of 1:15:40.

I ran with Sasha, Mary Ann, and Daniel this morning.  Daniel turned around after 4 miles and the rest of us went to the lake and back.  I tried out the new racing flats that I got yesterday.  Everything felt fine.  I think I will run one more time in them before the race on Saturday.  Total time of 1:13:43 for 10.1 miles.

Everything today was the same as yesterday, except that we kept the pace a little slower on purpose.  Total time of 1:18:06 for 10.1 miles.

PM:  4 miles in 31:07.  I saw three thermometers on the side of the bank while I was running and all of them were registering temperatures over 60 degrees, yet I was running in the same stuff I wear when it is 10 degrees outside.  Needless to say, it was hot, but suprisingly bearable.  Maybe it was the wind that helped it not feel so hot.

10.1 miles with Sasha and Mary Ann this morning.  Daniel joined us for the first 3.  Total time of 1:17:37.

PM:  4 miles in 28:46 with a couple sections thrown in the middle at a higher intensity.  The first hard section was 1.5 miles into the run, and I ran .5 in 2:33.  It would have been a 2:32 but I slowed near the end because of my turn-around, and I didn't want to stop suddenly.  Then I ran an easy quarter before running one more quarter hard in 1:18.  This last quarter involved running through a tunnel and almost plowing over a lady pushing a stroller, so it is also a little slower than it should have been.  I then finished up running home.

The whole purpose of doing this was to simulate race pace for Saturday without really pushing it too hard.  I feel like 5:10 pace should be reasonable for the majority of the race as long as the weather is good.

I ran with Sasha, Mary Ann, and another lady this morning (sorry I forgot your name already).  We ran out the normal route to the lake and back for a total of 10.1 miles in 1:22:49.  I felt pretty good.  We did run about 500m at close to 6:00 pace because Sasha wanted to showcase how well I can sing while running, but otherwise we kept the pace easy.

I ran the last race of the race series today.  There was a light headwind at the beginning of the race so I didn't want to lead out.  However, I quickly realized that the pace was too slow.  I decided to just run with everyone else anyhow, and after 2 miles I threw in a short surge to test the waters and see who would follow me.  Seth Wold was the only taker, and just before the 3 mile mark I sped up again, this time for good. 

My splits are as follows:  5:36, 5:26, 5:27, 5:14, 5:12, 5:11, 5:09, 5:13, 5:06, 1:38 (5:05 pace). 

1st half 25:10, second half 24:02, 5k split 17:02, 10k split 33:12-33:13 (not sure if it was one or the other), last 10k 32:10 (new pr), last 5k 15:59-16:00. 

So, I felt like I could hold 5:10 pace forever, but when Seth made a move with just under a mile left I felt like there was nothing in me to speed up at all, and 5:05-5:06 pace was all I could do.  he came in 8 seconds in front of me, with all of it coming in the last mile.