Dare to be great!

Wow, first run this week.  Wife took the kids to visit her mom and I figured I would get some crazy miles this week, uh, not so.  Don't know if I am not sleeping well, lost some motivation, or got a little sick on Sunday, or a combination.  Oh well, I am trying to adjust my schedule to be able to run Timp tomorrow night with the Wranglers.  Really want to be able to go.  I think my lone peaks have officially been retired after this morning.  I have been running in them since Dec. and it's time to switch out with my other pair I bought at the same time.

Creaky, easyish run this morning, up to the hot pots then followed the trails in the foothills to the mouth of the canyon then back.  

Night run up Timp. with the Wasatch Mountain Wranglers, won some altra compression socks at the giveaway so I was pretty stoked.  Kept a steady pace to the top with Bill Hiatt.  Had a wrong turn to Scout Falls, but caught it in time.  Saw we hit the summit in 2:10, had some sketchy snow crossings, but not too bad.  Ben Light had bacon at the top which was great.  Stomach revolted at the top between goos, panda express, and bacon made for some interesting running off the saddle.  Kept a good pace heading back down, mostly tried to stay upright and not eat it, came close but stayed upright.  Round trip, moving 3:10:29  Loved it...

Got the week off, so I headed up the canyon this morning.  Drove up a ways then parked along side the dirt road heading up to the peak.  Ended up being a little over 7 miles to the peak from where I parked.  I was suprised I didn't see more animals just a couple does.  I bought a monocular to put in my running vest to look over the valleys and meadows, it is fun to spot animals on the run.  Legs felt OK a little heavy but I'll take it.

Met Laurel and Spencer at the hot springs this morning.  I took the long loop there and they took the direct route.  Ran pretty easy except for the segment up Monroe Canyon road then hit the trails until the hot springs.  Let the legs soak up the healing hot water for a while then ran home with the family.  Loved it this morning...

Solo trail adventure this morning.  Started up signal creek and made my way to Washburn Res. then another two miles to Mud lake.  3,859 ft of climbing, the trail was pretty rough on most parts so it was a lot of power hiking on the way up.  Some sections through the pines were fun.  Saw a rabbit, grouse, a huge snake, and a huge bull elk.  Lost the trail on the way back but used the map feature on my phone and got back on track.  Not anywhere to get speed pretty rocky on the way down.  Still 3.5 hours on my feet and got to explore some new country.

Country Loop AP 7:49, did not run the rest of the week, spent time camping with family at fish lake.

Looped around town this morning, up past Richards, cut down the dirt road, up the canyon road to the foothill trail, to the hot springs, down the hills to the casa. Felt pretty good, AP 8:25

got the itch to try a track workout, first in a looong time. Ran there from the house and did eight laps with jogging a lap in between to recover. Tried to keep these pushing it, but still in control.  did 5 at 87, 2 at 86, and the last one at 29 probably because of the drill team that I had to run around.  Then ran home, felt good to run faster and push the legs, didnt' want to do any damage so I ended at 8.

Been wanting to attempt to beat my 3 mile/5k time from high school for a while, of course in my old age I need to cheat and run down the canyon but it is still fun.  I wanted to run this yesterday but my alarm did not go off and I needed to travel to Provo, so I did not get it in.  Probably for the better as the legs felt fresh.  Ran slowly up the canyon 3.2 miles to loosen up the legs, stretched at the top then let it fly.  I ran with my garmin and my I-phone, the phone always is shorter than the garmin so I will go off the garmin.  First mile 5:32, felt good letting the legs open up, breathing felt fine, second mile 5:53, lost some focus here, and the dog stopped and ran away with her new boyfriend, third mile 5:44 pushing it here.  Time for 3 miles 17:09 time for 5K 17:46 AP 5:44,  The iphone said three miles in 16:54 with 17:30 for the 5k.

It hurt while running but recovered very quickly, had to go find the dog afterwards (she was in trouble...)  Felt really good to run fast even though it was downhill, my highschool 3 mile pr was 17:20 I always wanted to be in the 16s for three, might have to cheat again and fly down the mountain again to break that.  I hope between flat track workouts, and speed work downhill, mixed with hilly trail running I can put up a good result if I sign up for something this year.  

Been wanting to run on the Sierra Vista Road for a while now, from the house, out towards Joseph, along the path until I hit 7.5 then back home the same way.  Pretty route, deer in the fields and little to no traffic.  Somewhat tired legs so it was good to push them some.  Kept the pace pretty level a little over 8 min pace until the last 4 which were in the 7:30s to get it over with.  AP right around 8 min. flat.  Been keeping the vert to a minimum this week to rest the legs.  Might do the local race for the 24th I will have to think about how to train next week.

Easy recovery run in the foothills of Monroe, solo, AP right around 9

Another track workout this morning. I figure if my new house is going to be about 100 yards from the track I better get used to it. My wife met me there with our dog. Ran there from the house to warm up, kept the workout pretty much the same as last week, 8 laps with a recovery lap in between each. All the laps were within a second of each other pretty much, 2 at 88, 4 at 87, and 2 at 86.  Trying to learn to control my breathing at a faster pace.  Started feeling more comfortable towards the end.  Planning on entering our town's pioneer race this Thursday, either the 5k or the 5 mile.  I am leaning towards the 5 mile race now, there is also a kids 1 mile race.

Ran the local race in Monroe.  I haven't raced a shorter race in years, so I didn't really know what to expect.  Pretty disapointed in the way I raced or failed to race.  Don't know what has been going on but my last two races have been terrible.  I'm pretty sure I can run it tomorrow solo for a training run and do better.  Oh well, might just have to run slow trail races and enjoy it.  The kids ran the one mile race down main street, and I won 7 bucks for second in my age group so it almost covered the ten dollar entry fee.  First mile started out quick and I was holding back in about 15th until it calmed down and ended up in fourth at the mile 6:29, next miles were, 6:37, 6:52,6:50,6:55.  Ran with a high school kid the last mile or so.  Should have dropped the hammer a while before and dropped him but didn't and he out kicked me at the end.  Didn't even have the motivation to push it, got to figure out what is going on.  I'm sure it is 90% mental, or maybe that is where I am at physically now. 

Back to my love, hit the sawmill atv trail south of town solo with my puppy.  A little over 3400 ft of elevation on the way up.  It is about four miles until you hit the canyon road.  Ran up the canyon road for a while then felt a hunger pain and as I did not have any fuel decided to turn around in order to not bonk on the way down.  Good times, I have been wanting to run this trail ever since I saw it heading down the canyon.  Saw some chuckars and a snake but no deer or elk, the dog likes to scare most everythng away.  Good to clear my head and get out, mostly a power hike on the way up.