Run RF

Long run, decided it was time to either put up or shut up, so I am going to try to bump up to 100 miles this week.  Went well, felt long run tired the last few miles.

Sore from yesterday, but ran up city creek canyon went nice and easy.

In the morning ran Sugarhouse and Liberty Parks felt bad first half and good the second half.

In the afternoon ran Liberty park for a second run, loving the nice weather.

AM: Same as yesterday, ran city creek.  Felt good the second half.

 PM: 4 miles at the fieldhouse running from home.  Felt pretty good...prettay good.

Ran Sugarhouse & Liberty Loop, just felt low on energy today at least for the first half.  Went better the second half, only one run today! Hopefully I'll have something for the 15k tomorrow.

Another winter series in the books, windy out today but luckily let up some for the race.  Ran nice even splits going out and caught Rob on the way back, hip flexor was a little tight in the last few miles.

 Warmed up with Fritz and cooled down with a bunch of people from the race.

Ran down to Eddie's and back, this total puts me at almost 98 miles for the week and is the highest mileage since August last year and 40 more miles than any other week this year.

AM: Ran City Creek very slowly definilty feeling the race and the miles.

PM: Ran up to class and back

Ran at the fieldhouse and threw in some strides only had time for 9 before I head out to California for some Sabres games!

Ran three miles around Berkeley before heading to the Pyramid Brewery, knee felt off and made me feel better about taking the previous few days off.

Biked for 30 minutes and gave knee some more time.  This week was planned as a down week after the huge jump last week.

Ran to school for a test and back.

Ran City Creek canyon, went well.

Ran to/from the fieldhouse and ended up doing a 6 mile progression around the track.  Felt pretty good and finished with a ~5:50 last mile.

Ran Sugarhouse and Liberty, went reasonably well but feel pretty pooped after.

AM: Volunteered at the Round Valley Roundup then ran 10 miles pretty quick.  THen got some sweet new Pearl Izumi Streak 2's

 PM: Ran to Liberty since it was so nice out.

Was heading out for a run, but felt terrible so cut it off after 3.

AM: Ran BST above the U before working out in the field.  Then ran to and from school.

AM: Ran City Creek Canyon

PM: Ran to school and back then around the aves.

AM: Ran BST above the aves, trail was good except for areas that MBers trashed when it was muddy and two icy patches heading down to terrace hills.

PM: Ran to and from school.

AM: Ran Liberty Park and got in early to help with the last of the install in the field.

 PM: Ran to and from school then ran Liberty and Sugarhouse, saw Jake and Andrea as I was leaving the park.  I was too tired to accept their invitation of 200s on the track, probably would have made my legs fall off.

Ran City Creek, didn't double because I just felt tired after yesterday and decided to save something for the Lope tomorrow.

Warm up and cool down, the CD was with Andrew to bring it over 12.

As for the race, legs just felt tired so just went easy and hit it hard on the hill to the turn around and let it fly down hill the rest of the race.  Splits were a 558, 537 and a 509.  May have lost a few seconds posing for some sweet pics, or not.

Happy St. Patty's Day!

Ran to my friends house recapped the previous night and got a much needed shower.

Ran to fieldhouse and did 6, nothing like a week of spring to make you resent the cold even more.

Ran up 2.5 miles in city creek canyon, felt pretty good.  Excited for the cold to be over with!

Ran Sugarhouse & Liberty Parks, felt very tired and working harder than I should have been.  Legs were demolished for the short steep bike ride to school.  Especially odd since I took the previous day off.

AM: Ran BST above the U, felt better but those hills are killer.

First long run in a while, got smacked down pretty hard on the hills.  But stuck with it, shoreline trail is in good shape except where mtn bikers messed up some formerly muddy spots.

AM: Ran in the wind, but the rain was thankfully missing.

PM: Knocked out another 5 at the fieldhouse.

AM: Sugarhouse & Liberty, nice little run little cool at the start but warmed up nicely.

PM: Shorter run from the lab on the shoreline trail.

First time running the shoreline trail from terrace hills to city creek.  Just as steep as I remember it.  Felt a ton better climbing dry creek than I did on saturday.

AM: Ran down to Liberty Park and back before my first track workout in a long time.

 PM: Loops of Sugarhouse with Jake.  Legs will thank me for staying off the track.

AM: First workout in a long time, started with 3.25 mile tempo struggled getting the HR up.  But that's why you do workouts.  Then hill reps all the way up the aves from south temple to top of terrace hills, doing three blocks up then one block over as rest.  Taken from the great Andrew Ledwith.  Then jog back home.

PM: Ran Liberty Park, toughest part was not jumping in the dumpster of the donut shop on 7th east after I got a wonderful whiff of donuts.

Ran with a nice group, Jake, James, Fritz, Allie, Rob and newcomer Adam.  Probably as easy as 16 miles has felt in a long time.  My garmin 220 broke during the run, the start/stop button won't work so it's still on now.

Snow/rain outside means I'm running inside, ran to the fieldhouse, around the fieldhouse and back home.  Total for the last 7 days is 100.7 (I start my weeks on Monday) first week over a hundo this year!

AM: Ran up City Creek, already missing those warm temperatures.

PM: Liberty Park, was going to run at the fieldhouse after class but forgot my ID.

AM: Ran by the capitol before a workout tonight.

PM: Track workout! Dun dun dun!  First time on the track in almost a year and up was 2 by 5k at tempo pace.  Started out a little faster that I thought was good (was shooting for 540-545) but ended up pretty much holding the pace.  Like previous hard efforts it's the legs that have to catch up to my cardio shape.  Has the track shins for the first 5k, but mostly went away for the second.  800 jog between intervals, and ran with Jake, Andrea and ACorn.

17:18 - 529, 532, 536

17:24 - 533, 535, 533 (Had Andrea do several of her 200s with me the last mile which helped to keep me focused.)

All in all very successful first workout and gives me some hope for throwing down a fast half back in Buffalo in May.

AM: 10.8 through Sugarhouse and Liberty parks, feeling surprisingly good after yesterday's workout.  Though I did wake up a few times during the night with sore legs.

PM: 7.6 ran by the ran by the capitol, has to stop by the lab to let some undergrads in.  Legs feel tired, but one more day till an involuntary easy day as I travel to Florida.

AM: 11.6 Colder than I thought it would be so looped back to the house after a mile to grab some gloves.  Then started my fartlek workout down 3rd ave to the capitol, tough interval climbing capitol hill, then 2 miles up city creek and then back home on 11th.  Got in 20 intervals, meaning about 4-5 miles of hard running.  One more easy run tonight then Florida!

PM: 5.8 Down to Liberty Park and back, dodging cars the whole time.  70 miles in 4 days is my best not counting my 100 miles 100 beers week (125 miles 150 beers for those who wondered).

Ran 7 miles as warmup, race and 5 miles cool down.

Race was nothing special, one kid went out like a bat out of hell.  Reeled him back in and caught him right before the turnaround.  Chatted up some bystanders to mess with his head and cruised to a win.  I won a 3 month membership to the Gold's Gym in Sarasota, FL guess I'll just have to stay down here.

AM: 10 miles in the morning.

PM: 5 miles in the evening

Got to 100 miles for the week, possibly the first time of back to back 100 milers.  Now I can enjoy the rest of vacation.

Easy 5 on the beach

easy 6 on the beach

Ran city creek, felt better then usual.  Got the Garmin back!

Ran on the Jordan River Trail with one of my college buddies.  Went reasonably well, back to the grind tomorrow.

Up to class and back

Still getting used to altitude again, had to let my adviser into his office again so just did the rest of the run from there, hit Sugarhouse and Liberty parks on the way home.  Was propositioned to race by a lady at the light by the stadium, politely declined.

City Creek Canyon, moved real quick starting from the top of the canyon home.  Got some speed on those downhills, last .3 was at 5:30 pace! Felt really easy.

Ran down to meet James to keep him company the last 8 miles of the marathon.  He was cruising so I just blabbered on to take his mind off the race.  Felt great and only got tired climbing back home.  Gorgeous day and everyone I know ran great!

Ran up on the BST above the Aves, and boy was it hot!  Didn't realize how warm it would be until I finished the climb up dry creek, but stopped at city creek for a drink.  Feeling good, ready for a good week of training.

AM: Not used to heat, but knocked out 10 on the BST above the U.

PM: Ran around the aves after class, very nice out.

Down to the fountain at Liberty, then 6 mile tempo in Liberty then jog home.  Was hoping for 5 laps (7.25) but starting going downhill fast that last mile and the left quad was pretty sore for some reason.

557, 554, 551, 547, 557, 605

AM: City Creek, very nice out.  Perfect weather for me, legs were still a little sore from yesterdays workout.

Ran through Liberty Park to SLRC to pick up my shirt for tomorrow then over to Sugarhouse and back through campus.  Big news is Motocross is all set up in Rice-Eccles Stadium!

Did the full BST from Emigration to City Creek, wonderful day for a run. 

BTW Strava.com is having a 10,000 ft. climb contest on their website for the month of May, considering all my garmin tracked runs usually come in at 1000-2000 feet/run should be a pretty easy contest for SLC runners to dominate.

City Creek Canyon, apparently the little house right at the gate got torn down.

 Up to campus and took my final final ever then pranced home.

AM: Ran Liberty Park.

PM: Track workout with Jake and Andrea, 12 by 400 at 5k pace 200m jog.  First one 72 then 74-75 in the middle with one 76 and finished with a 71.  Pretty happy and I can still walk so that's good too.

AM: Ran with the whole crew out of Highland at 6AM (Ugh) but it was a good run with sore legs from the day before.

PM: Was going to triple, and by triple I mean run twice and nap.  Mission Accomplished! Felt a lot better on run number 2 which bodes well for tomorrows workout.  Also I'll need all these miles to burn off all the calories from all the food that my family sent out.

AM: Rough workout, 7 mile tempo in Sugarhouse.  First lap in 7:55 then 8:15 and 8:20, took a half mile jog rest then did the next two laps in 8:06 and 8:23.  Took the break because I could barely make it up the hills on the third lap and hoped to do a little better with the rest.  I think the combination of going about 15 seconds too fast on the first loop and a ton of miles this week made it so rough.  No race next week so I'll space out the workouts better and hopefully redeem myself.  But now to prepare for Provo.

PM: Liberty Park, a very annoying run at this time of day lots of lights and traffic.  But felt good otherwise.

Good Morning run up City Creek Canyon, now off to see the Avengers!

Ran at the Provo City 5k today, nice little race.  Ran about what I expected to, 16:10 on tired legs bodes well for the races I actually want to run fast at.  Warmed up and cooled down (also drove down with) Jake & Andrea.  Splits were 5:19, 5:08, 5:10.

Ran with the pack, wonderful way to get over a hangover.

Down and back from my buddies sandwiching the hike I did behind the aves.

BST from Dry Creek to City Creek, felt ok still a little sore from my first hike of the year yesterday.

Workout day, started with 1 mile climb up to 11th ave then 4 mile tempo (~550/mile) jog another mile then start the avenues death march.  Starting from I street & south temple go up three blocks hard over one easy, then jog to terrace hills and split that one up into 3 sections with two short breaks up.  Then about 3.5 mile jog home.  Felt as good as I could have expected, and very nice day out.

Saw a flyer for a 5k that starts at the 18th ave church, I can only imagine that is one very painful race.

Easy run with the Wolf Pack, still very early.  Unfortunately we had a severe lack of hills that Tanner Park could have provided.

AM: Easy run down to Liberty Park before workout tonight.

PM: 8 by 1000 at the track with 200 jog rest. 319, 319, 319, 320, 321, 321, 322, 323.  Not the best workout, but what can you do?  Long run at Jeremey Ranch Saturday morning!

AM: City Creek Canyon, felt ok for trying to murder my legs last night.

PM: Up to campus, worked for a while then back home to drop off the bag and a loop around the aves.

Nice long run at Jeremey Ranch this morning, felt great the whole way.  Went to Ruth's after for some good eats.

Nice, easy run to Liberty & Sugarhouse parks.  Tomorrow is 4/5 laps hard around Liberty...fun times!

Monday workout you say? Well don't mind if I do.  Jog down to Liberty Park to the water fountain then 5 loops of the park.  Felt pretty tough but was very consistent with laps within a few seconds of each other all around 8:30.  Final tally was 5:55 pace.  Finally figured out that Liberty is not flat and you can really feel it when you try to run fast there.  Then I dragged myself home very slowly.

Ran up to school and back plus a little extra to get to an even 15.

The usual CCC run, felt the workout from yesterday.  Went shirtless to work on the tan while I increased my fitness.

AM: Early EARLY workout. Got down to Highland at 6 then warmed up about 2 miles then right into the workout 6 by 800 with 400 jog rest.  Ran 2:31, 2:30, 2:29, 2:28, 2:27, 2:25 felt great.  Then some jogging at the track and 2 laps of ins & outs then jogged around the park again. 

PM: 6.3 easy around the aves.

AM: BST from Dry creek to City Creek, tough run feeling yesterday.  But nice to be able to run to 6000' from my house.

PM: Up to school & back then around the aves.

BST from Dry Creek to Emigration.  Cold and windy, and then the rain came for the last half.  Struggling to type now as my hands start to warm.  Otherwise a pretty good run.

AM: 15 mi. Jeremy Ranch run, then over to the Pearl Izumi Outlet for 2 new pairs of Streak 2's.   And off to Ruth's for a solid brunch. Now relaxing until the High 5's 5k at 5:55 PM way up on 18th ave.

PM: Race way up in the Aves, so High they call it the High Fives 5k.  Started and finished at the church on 18th ave and was about as flat as you can make a 5k up there, which means lots of rollers, run this morning was a good warm up for this.  Splits were all around 5:35, and got under 4 min/mile pace for the kick thanks to the significant downhill into the finish, well at least according to Mr. Garmin.

Sugarhouse & Liberty run, felt good especially considering what I was up to yesterday.  Now after 3 weeks up I get to take an easy week into the race next Sunday.

City Creek Loop, legs are still sore but that may have been from the bowling last night.

I would also mention two more things from the race on Saturday, first the medals are from other sports so I will assume that they were purchased at the Surplus Medal Emporium.  Second there was a fellow at the race who seemlessly pulled off the Vibrams/Ragnar Calf Tattoo combo.  I just hope there comes a day when I can match that dudes intensity.

Workout day, went up to the U track.  Saw some girl flying on the track, paced by BJ I believe.  I finished my warmup then jumped into 16 by 200 they were all between 32 & 34, 34's mostly before I figured out how to run fast again and finished with a 31.  Cooled down then into the lab for some science!

Run with the Pack, felt good hamstring is finally starting to feel better after bowling.

I found a new running race today called Tour de Run in Highland, UT in July.  Should be a good time and a different kind of race (3 over 2 days) than normal.

tourderun.net

Did Liberty Park, was going to take the day off but I felt good so I ran.  Saw James running as I left Liberty Park so ran the last 2 miles with him as we patted ourselves on the back for making the wise decision to never Steeple.  For more info see Letsrun.com today.

City Creek Canyon loop, last run before heading back east.  Threw in 6 striders in the last part of the run since Popperton Park was getting mowed.

Peace out SLC!

Ran my old reliable Southcreek loop back home, 4 striders after.  Race tomorrow baby!

Well time for a hard race again, the Buffalo Half Marathon.  It runs all through the lakeside in Buffalo including the Sabres arena twice.  Did about 10 minutes warmup then sat on the line waiting for Crazy Old Man John Beishline to stop rambling into the mike and start the race.  The marathon & half run the first half together so everyone was ready to go, then Blamo the gun goes off and the race starts. 

The fast guys all jump into a pack and take off, I knowing that humidity is not my friend, back off and open in a 5:21, there's two guys near me so I stick around them for the first few miles. Rattling off 5:25, 5:31, 5:37 before one guy started dying and then we turned out to the lighthouse for a short out & back.  Being the intersection of a lot of parts of the course it was pretty crazy with cheering people, including my sister & parents, which is pretty awesome.  5:28 & 5:33 were those miles, the 10k (also the relay exchange point)  was hit in 34:08, and that was the last time I would see my parents for a while. 

Then the race heads south towards my hometown, as this is the big out & back right after I passed 7 miles 5:36 I saw the 12 mile stand the other direction right by First Niagara Center.  Here is where some guys started coming back to me and where the race started hitting home.  The next mile was uneventful except for a crossing of the Ohio Street bridge which is covered in open grating, not the funnest surface to run on but hit 5:35.  At this point one guy was on a bike and encouraging me and I was closing in on a guy with a University of Rochester jersey, a rival of my college.  As I pushed passed him I briefly considered condecending to him, but figured I would have the chance at the finish line if I continued to own his soul. 

I headed under route 5 and out to the Outer Harbor with 2 guys in my sights mile 9 was 5:35 and I missed both attempts at a water cup due to sweaty hands (damn humidity!) at the 15k where we turned around.  At this point an asian dude caught me who was bravely doing the full and stuck with me through 10 miles (5:35).  As we went back under route 5 and up a railroad overpass I let him by as I was feeling a little beat.  The same dude on the bike came up by me, congratulated me on passing the one guy but helpfully pointed out that there were 2 guys ahead within my sights.  I let him know I was working on it. 

Went through mile 11 in 5:43, oof, but persevered and got that wonderful cup of water after the mile 11 mark.  Finally approaching First Niagara Center again I saw one of my friends from college running the other way through the crush of people.  As mile 12 rapidly approached I finally caught the next guy, a runner from Stotan racing, a club based out of Syracuse, NY as an outgrowth of the impressive F-M running powerhouse.  When I was passing him I heard a guy yell everyone's form is all gone to hell, this made me feel better because everyone is hurting at least as bad as me.  I passed mile 12 5:35 but felt a whole lot longer, well that one was better when there's someone to chase. 

Saw my parents and sister, they took some pictures, probably awesome as a sweaty & tired runner always looks fantastic.  At this point I was alone but there were a ton of people cheering so that helped, but definitely kept checking the Garmin to see how much longer it though I had to go. Finally got onto the last straightaway on Franklin, and could see the finish.  But still a lot of ground to cover, mile 13 was 5:45, oh yeah there's the humidity.  Finished the last bit to earn my 13.1 sticker for a 7 second PR of 1:13:18. 

Was forced to take a picture and a medal was reluctantly placed on my neck, yes sir I would rather just hold it.  Then I staggered around a bit got some water & Haterade and cooled down a bit with Dave Rappleyea and changed into some dry clothes and went up to the after party.  New York, being a real state, had free beer at the end so I enjoyed one.  Unfortunately it was not a Genny Cream Ale, but that will be rectified this afternoon on the lake.  Picked up my award and rolled back home.

While not as fast as I believe I can run, it's a good start and hopefully a summer of high mileage will help bring that time down.  I though I would run a 73 before the race, so I know my conditioning pretty well. 

Run around the village, possible record high today so it was pretty miserable.  Especially considering the halfsie I did yesterday.

Took yesterday totally off, first time in a long time.  Mostly the fact that I slept for 14 hours clued me into the need to take er easy.  Today was a perfect day to run, sunny & not too hot.  Quads feel like crap so I'll work on those before Saturday otherwise everything feels really good.

Nice out, perfect weather.  Did Bussendorfer loop, quads feeling better but still not back to 100%, hopefully by Saturday I'll be grilled and good to go.

Southcreek Loop, legs felt good.  Rainy out, threw in a few strides. Tomorrow is Run the Burg in the morning (5k with after party till 5PM With free beer), and Tour de Burg in the evening (bike pub crawl).  Thinking about putting in some hot tub time between the two to make it a true Buffalo triathalon.

Started out as a pretty crappy day for a race with a light drizzle happening as I ran up to the bar to get my families packets.  But after returning home and then back to the race the rain stopped so it was time to go!  Was by myself the entire way and my legs were still a little tired from Sunday but ran 5:14, 5:14 & 5:13 for the race, won by 1:10 and got some beers and a nice trophy for my troubles.

Easy run from the house

Southcreek Loop, weather is finally starting to improve.

AM: Village Loop, sunny out...seems to be a rare occurrence on this trip back home.

PM:  Glen Loop back at old RIT with Luda & Bard.  Nice run with some good friends, on National Running Day no less!

AM: Run with Luda & Reptar before back to Buffalo, Corporate Challenge tonight!

PM: Wanted to go for the win tonight, so that's what I did, stuck behind the eventual winner and hit the first mile in 5:00 so pretty quick.  The paced slowed and he started pulling away, but I still found myself in second place as I tried to grab water to throw on my head I only managed to spill water on the girl holding it, I zoomed down to the circle in front of Millard Fillmore Hospital and made the turn around then hit the 2 mile in 5:20.  Jon French then caught up to me and we raced neck and neck for the last part of the race, I heard a lot of the people from the Try-it/Labatt team cheering me on and hit mile 3 in 5:09, we made a few turns and I tried to pick it up, but Jon unleashed a wicked kick and put 5 seconds on me in the last straight.  Got third, happy to finally crack the top 5, but only 20 seconds behind first which is encouraging. 

Did my North Boston - Boston State road loop, my favorite loop on my Birthday.  It was huuuuuumid out, but that didn't stop my from going fast (touching 6 min/mile) so I could get back home to celebrate with my keg!

Squeezed in a Southcreek run before I headed back to SLC.

City Creek Canyon loop, went well for the first half but then the heat/altitude began to assert themselves.  Also found out that my services may be needed for a Ragnar Ultra team today so there's that.

Liberty Park, normally would have gone further but got roped into Ragnar tomorrow so took it easy, though still feeling the shift to altitude.

Mr. Garmin took a little extra time to get started so I didn't get the full time, but when it came to it showed I was closer to 5 minute pace than 6 minute pace.  Probably a bad idea if I have to run 32 miles in 24 hours.  So I calmed down and settled into a pace just under 6 and kept chugging along, I was alone for the whole leg until I caught my first guy meters from the finish.  I managed to make up a lot of the gap on the other Ultra team that we were battling with.

Also, Starting with the fast teams was awesome.  So much less crowded and really didn't hit the mass of people till about exchange 18 which was a welcome change from last year. 

A big thanks to Wasatch Running Company for letting me on the team and giving my some great stuff to wear during the race.

My next leg came as dawn was approaching.  A long leg of 17.5 miles mostly on the rail trail heading back towards PC.  After some missteps identifying Allie I was off, but this time there were actually people to catch and we had put 12 minutes on our rivals as Allie had started her leg.  The first 4 miles were along the side of the road clipping along right around goal pace between 630 & 640.  Then as I got onto the trail I got passed, thinking it was our rivals I dropped the pace and right then I rolled my ankle.  But I pressed on and gave chase as best I could dropping low 6's along the way.  But he kept pulling away, when I got to the next exchange point I saw him standing there wearing an Orange number, woops I guess he wasn't on the team we were worried about.  Then after a quick decent out of town it was back to the rail trail.  At this point the sun was out and it was about 5-10 degrees colder than the first half of the leg.  I was just rolling along now easing back to running between 6:20 & 6:30 miles really looking forward to the next person to catch.  As I handed off to Trent I had gotten 92 people, 17.5 miles in 1:52:30. 

Then we got to our last major exchange point and started to get ready for our last and most challenging legs.  I stretched and rolled out my legs and went to lay down in the shade.  It was very pleasant and then a car stopped on the curb and the contents spilled out around me and jabbered on and on, eventually I talked to them for a little bit and then headed back to the car.  I kept looking at the mountains knowing I would have to climb up, not the most fun time I could imagine.  I was also reflecting on the fact that I had never looked at the mountains with such disdain.  But Allie got the slap bracelet and was off, we stopped to give her some water at the first exchange point then we went to my exchange point.  I took a gel and got all spiffed up to proceed on a death march up a mountain, neglecting to grab another to take with me.  This year the Ragnar brain trust  said "Hey you know what? What if we made the first mountain leg one mile longer, but make it flat so it's ok" Well it went ok, but with a giant climb coming up the less you run beforehand the better.  The run was just as steep as I though it would be, but the goal was just to keep running, and the other goal was to catch 107 people to being it to a cool 200.  The first half went pretty well, I caught over 80 people and kept running the whole time, Trent and Allie stopped to cheer me on once but they had to skedaddle up to the top with all the traffic.  There were plenty of people out cheering and spraying runners whether they wanted it or not.  As I got to the first exchange I passed an actual runner who was walking and urged him on, because hey someone else has to run too, right?  Well then people watched me as I stupidly ran through the exchange zone to try and climb another 1500'.  By this point some of the switchbacks were just out of control steep so I power walked for the first time, but was probably going a little faster than running.  The first mile of the second leg was probably one of the longest of my life, but I was still catching people, but about 2 miles in I was just running out of energy.  So I was walking the really steep parts and running when I recovered a little.  The last half mile really stunk, the teammate of the guy I urged on passed me while I was walking and then a girl passed me, but then inexplicably started walking when the finish line was in sight.  Myself, seeing that I was almost done climbing this accursed mountain, ran it in and encouraged her to do the same saying you can finally crack a beer once you're done, but she replied she already had a diet coke earlier.  Utah, go figure.  Reaching Trent I took off the slap bracelet and after two failed attempts to straighten it out just threw it at him, ducked under the ribbon and took a little break.  Allie waited for me to gain some composure and accompanied me back to the car, where I set layed hunched over with the bumper keeping me from collapsing.  Allie go me a gel and I quickly consumed it and immediately started feeling better. D'oh, that probably would have been a little less awful if I had taken that gel with me.  But valuable intel for the next time I do a crazy climb after two hard runs.  We think we won the Ultra division, but we will find out for sure once the results come out, 24:01 for the total time. 8.4 miles in 1:18:43 and I passed 116 people exceeding my goal! 

Stolen from Allie:

wasatch back relay with the wasatch running center ultra team. first place in the male ultra category and 9th overall with a time of 24 hours, 1 minute, 4 seconds.

One last thought, Ragnar does a very good job putting on an event.  This is not a race, seeing as a group of people running twice as far as needed can get in the top ten.  As for a party I don't really get it.  Unless yelling at people in a lot of traffic is fun, but you can do that at rush hour everyday.  If I want to have a good time running then I'll go out for an easy run with people so we can chat and not run alone, then do something actually fun after we have all bathed.

Barely left the house yesterday, and then today was going to try to run up to the capitol and add on if I felt good.  As soon as I left my house and start climbing I realize I probably won't make it up Capitol hill, so I ran down to Liberty and back scooting under 6 minute pace.  Hopefully I bounce back pretty quick, there's some great trails to run now!

Easy 7.1 at night, legs still not in a moving and groveing mode yet.

AM: 7 with the pack this morning, even Rob Murphy came to join.

Just checked the results and I had the fastest ultra Ragnar leg by 8 minutes, just think if I hadn't bit it the last few miles.

PM: 9.1 with Rob Murphy, Jake and the Alta XC team.  Felt good to get up that high again, almost toughed 9600 feet.

After two days off on my easy week I jumped into the wedding bells 5k with Jake, Andrea, Aimee & Devra.  Andrea offered my a dress but I told her I had something much better in mind.  Cut-offs and my "Come at me bro" shirt from the Jersey Shore.  Ended up going 3 400's and was just blasted, luckily I didn't have times because I would have probably been disappointed how hard it was to run not that fast.  To celebrate America I finished my last leg shirtless as I ran into the tape.  Pictures can be found on Jake's blog.

Ran to get friend Sarah's car this morning, because we're safe and don't drink and drive.

Then hiked up to the Red Pine Lakes with Jake, Andrea, Aimee, Gillian and Tonya.  When we started out to Pfeifferhorn my very rational fear of falling from high places took precedent and I went back down to Upper Red Pine lake, luckily Andrea kept me company while the others watched Jake sprint to the top of the peak. 

Quite sore from the hike yesterday, but got out and did 10 going on the BST from dry creek to emigration.  Pretty hot out, and people are already lining up for something at red butte this evening.

Run with the pack, did not feel that great today. Most likely still feeling the big hike on Sunday.

Morning run and up to and from school

 Alta with Rob Murphy's xc team, Fritz and Jake.

Crashed real hard after Alta last night, didn't get up till 11 then got in my run around 5, hot and dry out!

Hot one out there, ran up to school then back home and around liberty park.

Mountain Trails has put up an amazing interactive map, do yourself a favor and check it out. http://www.mountaintrails.org/map/

Also I'll be meeting up with people at Silver Star Cafe to do some serious trail running at 7AM tomorrow, variety of abilities so don't be intimidated.

Saturday 6/30 7 am meet at Silver Star lower parking lot. We will ascend the new Armstrong trail to ridge, then tag Jupe and Scotts, then back down the Jupiter Peak race course. Easy fun pace, expect 16 miles +/_ or many shorter bailouts to lower distance.

Well didn't set the alarm right so ended up running BST from Dry Creek to City creek canyon.  Felt ok, normal time to climb up dry creek.

Run at Brian Head with Andrea and Jake.

Run around navajo lake with Jake

Run up to Brian Head Peak with Jake

Run up to Fairyland point with Jake.

Easy run, first after a bout with food poisoning. Went kind of slow but it was at 3PM today.

Hot run in Liberty Park, finally they put in new wood chips.

Funniest thing I have seen for all day, anyone up for a lunge mile?

Please read this link for a great interview with future sub 2 hour marathoner Hobie Call

To school and back, it's too cold in my lab and too hot out! White people problems!

Shoreline trail, nothing too spectacular about the run.  Maybe I'll wear a weight vest next time out.

Hot run in the evening around the Aves.

City Creek, clouds!

Doing my evening run up in Park City meeting at the PCMR parking lot at 6PM to run Crescent Mine Grade Trail (Start of Jupiter Peak Steeplechase).

To school and Back

9 miles on Crescent Mine Grade and Spiro (Bottom half of Jupiter Peak Steeple course) with the PC trail runner group.  Wonderful weather out there and butt kicking climbs.

Liberty Park, nice easy day before the Tour de Run (or should I say Tour de Fun?) tomorrow and Saturday.

AM: Easy run around the aves before race tonight.

PM: 2 up and 2 down.

Windy and rainy, but died down right before the race.  Legs just didn't get going, didn't feel all that tired at the end but down 33 seconds after the first stage. Let's hope I can make up some ground tomorrow.

Second again, went out hard and faded after the 5k. another race at noon.

Got the win in the 5.5 mile course that was advertised at 4.8, but I didn't catch the other guy till about 4.8 so it's all good in my book.  Didn't make up enough time so I ended up second overall and received my winnings from none other than Cam MF Levins.

This race was an interesting concept, but it was a very small race and there were enough turns that it would have been difficult if I was farther back in the pack.  The last race was marked wrong which made the first "mile" 7:40 and there were quite a few other issues that would have plagued a larger race.  I think if they expand the concept with more types of running (half mile prologue on the track? climbing awards?) and fix the course issues it could grow into a pretty good race.

My garmin was messed up today so no splits or fun info today :(

Short distance, but crazy difficult.  As part of my post food poisoning resolution is to do as many cool runs on the weekends as possible so I drove up to Brighton to do some run there.  Under 60 degrees when I got there and I was feeling the 3 races in 2 days but I decided to run to Catherine Pass, with an average grade over 10% my pace was pretty paltry, hovering around 11-12 minute pace but I got up there.  The descent was just as slow owing to the steep and post rain slickness and the sheer volume of rocks which made careful foot placement a must.  I added on two Brighton loops to get up the mileage, but overall it was 6.1 miles in 1:02.

Not surprisingly I was pretty tired and sore from the last three days so I did the flattest run I got, Liberty and Sugarhouse parks.  Went nice and slow, but great weather for it.

Legs were not recovering so I took yesterday off, and still felt tired with the quads feeling sore from the race Friday and Saturday.

Early run with the pack, left quad still felt bad.

Quads finally felt better to I drove up Millcreek canyon and then started up little water and kept along the creek where Wasatch Crest trail ends.  Took the crest over to Desolation Lake down then a brutal run/hike up to Dog Lake and finally back down to the Millcreek parking lot.  It took a lot out of me and I barely got under 10' pace.  Link to the route is below.

http://app.strava.com/runs/13969157

Long run in the mountains.  Drove to Silver Star Cafe and jumped on Armstrong trail and took that to Pinecone then down Powerline and Spiro.  8.5 miles or pretty consistent climbing, but it's not too steep.  Legs were still tired from the Friday run and the beers that I had last night, but I made it and I'm still alive, hooray!

AM: Legs are still feeling yesterday so an easy 7 around Liberty Park.

PM: CCC, I'm planning on heading to the race tomorrow to cheer on marathoners hope to see you out there!

Up early then headed up to the Shoreline trail and took that over to Emigration Canyon.  Cheered on people, then ran down to foothill and did the same.  Then down to Liberty Park, unfortunately I was a minute late to see Fritz dip under 2:22, but I was there to see everyone else who went sub 3 on the day.  Congrats to everyone who ran the 10k and marathon today.

Another run around the aves to bump up the mileage yo!

Legs were toast after yesterday so took it off, managed 7.3 at noon today but that was too late for that.

BST from dry creek to city creek, that up hill really kicks my butt.

Jeremey Road run, longest run in a quite a while and it felt like it.  Now moving time!

Easy 10 with Jake, Andrea and Fritz, felt a little pooped after the long run yesterday.

Felt great for my Liberty Park run.  Probably the best I've felt in several weeks.

AM:  City Creek Canyon, that good feeling from last night was gone so it was back to slogging through.

PM: My buddy got back to me and were heading north for trail running Wednesday! I knocked out 5.7 hitting Liberty Park.  Also for all you Garmin addicts I did the same run yesterday afternoon and this afternoon the Garmin said 5.77 and 5.61 miles respectively for a 5.7 mile run. 

Ran to Liberty and Sugarhouse while my car was getting inspected.

Up to school, then back and around the aves.  Tomorrow begins my epic adventure north!

Ran liberty before jj got in.

Pm 7 miles got to our campsite n Gros Ventre and felt good so went out on the road to Kelly and back.

Started at Jenny Lake Lodge and ran out to Bearpaw lake, several stops for pictures and a few wrong turns at the end left us at the car with 10.5 in. Hiked Gros Ventre Butte in the afternoon for another 4 miles on the legs.

AM ran up to Amplitheatre lake, tough...three thousand feet of climbing in less than five miles, but awesome views. Stopped for a while for pictures and exploring before a big descent, name of the game was rocks and roots. Then pizza and into town for a resupply. After we went to Phelps Lake to jump from Jump Rock, 23' down to 30' water and then a run back.

Up early for the drive to Yellowstone park. Reached old faithful, walked around and watched the eruption then did a loop out to M something lake. Legs were not recovered from the run yesterday so it was a death march up. The gradual descent was very welcome, then we stopped for a quick hike to the grand prismatic spring and over to the grand canyon of Yellowstone to see a big waterfall. Unfortunately there were a ton of clunkers in the way, highlighted by a 350 pound man waddling down steep switchbacks. Then a long drive out to camp and a very welcome shower.

With a long drive and a lot of tough miles, decided to only hike so we did Iceberg Lake at the bottom of a glacial cirque with 3000' sheer walls protecting the lake from sunlight. Hiked quick making it in three hours for a 10 mile hike with a decent rest at the lake that lived up to its name.

Got to do what will be the signature run of this trip , the Highline trail in Glacier NP. We started from Logan Pass and set out on 7.5 exposed miles before a big 4 mile descent. Some of the exposure dropped me to terror induced walking, but by far the most stunning scenery of any run ever. First .25 brought us to a mountain goat and two kits and four bighorn sheep at the grin ell glacier overlook. At 7.5 miles we reached a nice mountain chalet accessible by foot only. After the run we took the shuttle to food and got a huckleberry wheat ale then took a pant crappingly steep drive back to the car. Then we had dinner at the beer garden/Mexican place.

Drove across the border to Waterton Lakes NP and ran half of the Carthew-atherton trail to the namesake lakes. Very steep in places and some fun exposure to boot. But again some amazing scenery before a long drive to Banff dodging a killer hail storm.

In the morning ran toLake Louise and took the trail to the Plain of the 6 glaciers and suffered while doing it, but otherworldly scenery. Arrived at a glacier after stopping by a tea house. Then hiked paradise valley with some cool girls and ended up at an awesome glacial valley for mother 12 miles on the legs.

Sugarhouse and Liberty Parks

City Creek Canyon, felt good.

Did a fartlek on my city creek canyon loop, 21 intervals.  Then back home for a quick bite to eat and my first time to yoga for athletes, as saying I'm not flexible is an understatement a couple things were out of my reach.  But a decent workout just the same.

Not hurting too bad from my first yoga sesh.  Got out and did 10 miles on BST above the U, while starting my add on up red butte canyon a large unleashed dog started loping at me so I stopped.  When it looked like the owner had it under control I continued on my run, but the dog turned around and started charging and jumped on me.  I start yelling at the owner and she calls me an idiot for "running away" from the dog.  Technically yes, but more I was just continuing on my merry way.  I yelled at her about proper leash use, which she was holding in her hand in front of her open liftgate as she prepared to leave.  As she continued to yell at me as I continued on my way I may have called her a dumb female dog.  I just don't understand how people still don't understand how to properly control a dog, it's not the dogs fault it behaves a dog it's the responsibility of the owner to have it under control at all times for everyone's safety.

And no I didn't know that your dog was friendly as it charged at me.

AM: Up dry creek to terrace hills on the shoreline trail, another run and yoga on for tonight so I took it a little easy. Also there's a groupon for a trail race up at Snowbird this weekend for anyone interested.

PM: 5.5 mile run to Liberty with a stop for yoga for athletes at city centered yoga. Yeah I'm pretty hungry.

Got a late start, and was bit by the heat.  But that's ok since it's good training for the 5k back in NY next weekend.  Hidden Peak Hustle tomorrow, Hollah!

Well wasn't planning on racing, but then a groupon for this race popped up so I jumped in.  One guy took off like a bat out of hell and was rewarded by getting lost and not finishing.  If I had known this I would have been a little more reckless on the downhills to beat the guy who won.  He would pull away on the descent and I would make it all up on the climb.  Last half mile was down switchbacks though so I said 2nd is as good as 3rd lets not break myself before TOU in 3 weeks.  But gah he was actually in the lead.  "Appropriated" many hammer gels and fizz tabs and won a holdey water bottle at the raffle so I think I made it out pretty good.  Back to NY on Wednesday for my college cross country reunion weekend!

Been wanting to run to the top of City Creek for a while now, and finally got out today to do it.  Nothing too exciting except for climbing up 6.5 miles with the last mile on the trail at the end.  Turned around and cruised down.  The fun part started out of the canyon with the tame climb up to M St. and 11th, legs felt great just the normal sore from running 2.5 hours.  This makes much more hopeful for the TOU.

AM: Ran on the BST above the U and stopped to pick up my student season tickets to Utah Football!

To school and back, was planning on more but sore legs, hunger cramps and heat made me reconsider.

2 by 3 mile tempo in Liberty park, was very rough.  After the first lap switched to the 'crete since the path is in such bad shape.

3.6 ran down to yoga, yoga for athletes and a run back. Nice amount of activity today.

Liberty Park before flying back to Buffalo.

Back at home, so I celebrated with a 16 mile run at or faster than goal marathon pace (6:35-6:40) for Top of Utah.  Now I know what you're saying to yourself, I bet he could run faster than that.  Well maybe, but suboptimal training and my first road marathon means I'm going on the conservative side to get under the BQ then shoot for sub 2:35 there.  

Well the run went better than I could have hoped, the run is basically two parts run up to Chestnut Ridge Park, grab some water and take of some business then back to home on another route.  Going out was in the 6:30 to 6:40 range then once I hit the big hill about two miles from the park the pace really dropped with the rest of the miles below 6:05 and the last three sub 6.  I felt great and this gives me a lot more confidence about running a marathon in two weeks, plus I feel great both like I didn't run 16 miles and the pace hasn't burnt out my legs.

Nice run out into the boonies before my trip up to college.

Late 4.5 with some of the other alumni.

Today was the fourth annual RIT alumni 5k, and we whupped on some younguns and won 17 to 46.  I went out a bit too fast in 4:57 and ended up running 5:15 and 5:17 for the next two miles.

What a great way to get over a hangover, by knocking out a long run with the current team.  Felt good but pretty dehydrated.

After a well deserved day off back into the groove.  Easy 10.5 in the rain(!).

Quick 3 before the flight home.

City Creek Canyon, While going up the canyon a bro running the other way said "Nice Pace Bro!" while clapping.  Was probably one of the best things ever.

Nice run before the Buffalo Bills kick off their 2012 season!

Easy run, stopped by my friends to pick up my MUSS lanyard so I can go to the HOLY WAR after TOU!

Off yesterday then into a 10, 7, 3 or 4 mile plan going into TOU.  To get a little work in I ran hard up state street hill and hit my goal pace (~6:30) coming down CCC.  Mr. Garmin was a little off today so I have to share how hilariously off it was by showing first my normal tracked route and today's route.

Today:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/221918266

Normal:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/213501906

Easy around Liberty Park, one little run tomorrow before the really big run on Saturday.

Last run in, went up to campus and signed a form then finished the run.  

Well here it is, my first real marathon.  Last year I ran Mid Mountain Marathon (Trail Marathon in PC) in 3:11 where the goal was just to complete the distance and didn't really reflect the challenges of a real marathon.  

First I'd like to talk about things I learned while it's fresh.  My training wasn't the best so I was shooting for 2:50, but that went right out the door when the race started and I settled into what was a comfortable pace with a good group including James.  I think my success today came from being conservative, in only my second attempt at the distance there is still a lot that can go wrong.  Also there's still a lot of learning to be done, unlike most races competitive runners do, the marathon takes a huge buildup and can only be run a few times a year (or more if you're Steve Anderson).  But all the other distances have been built up to and we learn how to race then and how you're supposed to feel in a race.  The difference for the marathon is just how easy the pace should feel for a while and how you react to being around people and how you're body reacts to nutrition and hydration.  These things take time to learn and taking a couple of stabs below full effort can help a lot.  My first marathon was just finish and this one was try to run a conservative time and qualify for Boston.  I think these things took a lot of pressure off today and let me explore how to race a marathon and tings to learn and improve for that race where I truly leave everything on the table.

Second is I am learning how my body reacts to the distance, both races I did the first thing to go was my legs.  They start getting really sore and crampy and that continues after the race, this ended up first hitting around mile 18.5 and really got bad around mile 22.  One thing that made a noticeable difference was dousing my quads with water to cool and help hydrate them, a trick I learned from my college teammate Max who has had similar quad issues in races.

Third I found how I react to the pace, I managed to keep every mile under 7 even when I felt like I couldn't lift my legs and refrained from walking.  Hitting a quick pace (6:00-6:15 depending on elevation) felt good and cardio-wise I felt good even after a week trip back East  a week and a half ago.  Hopefully this translates into good long runs where I'm focused on getting my legs used to pounding while still feeling good on the run.

Now for the race, we started 13 minutes late which would have altered my shedding of clothes.  Once the gun went off I took off and tried to find Allie and eased back to see if I could hook up with her.  But once I got in a groove I ended up in a pack with James, Will of Utah State, Adam, and the woman's winner.  We had a great pack that definitely helped me stay focused and hit the right pace.  The first 10 was in 1:02:30ish which put us right at 6:15 pace, but we started getting a nice tail wind and James took a little break and we had a mystery fellow join us and picked it up into the lower 6:0X's.  The half was 1:21:40, and nothing of huge note happened until we started approaching the first hill at 18.5.  My quads started to rebel but I managed to hold it together pretty well with some well placed water, and hit 20 in 2:03:30 which meant a negative split for the second 10 miles.  I really started to hurt with the climb up to mile 22, but managed to keep everything under 7 through the finish with a nice consistent 6:55 pace.

I'm very happy with this race, five minutes faster than I wanted and as long as the application goes through for Boston I got everything I wanted out of it.

Andrea asked me if I had run as fast as I could have for the day, and my answer was maybe.  The biggest unknown is how my legs would have responded if I had run the middle miles a little easier and not died as hard.  I think the damage was done in the canyon and it was best to take the time where I could get it so the hard miles out of the canyon just buffered the inevitable slow down.

Seacrest out!

Strava data for those who care about splits and such:

http://app.strava.com/runs/22065713

Well after the marathon I had all the expected soreness except for the outside of my left foot. After taking quite a few days off my foot got a lot better. I think it was some kind of strain, so If I keep er easy for a bit longer I should be good. So today I ran down to yoga had a nice yoga for athletes session the run back home.

Mile to and from the fieldhouse and a forty five minute elliptical. Little sore from run/yoga yesterday.

Run down to yoga, got my butt kicked by yoga, run home from yoga.

Easy 4 in Moab before more hiking, Ran most of it with Rachelle.

Nice liberty park action after a solid 11 hours of sleep and a cozy 2.5 hour nap.  Guess I wore myself out in Moab.

Run to liberty park, yoga like a BOSS, run home.  Yeah Betches!

Around City creek canyon road, saw some markers for the last 6 miles of the marathon.  All I can say is rough.

Nice little run to Liberty. Only almost got run over once, got to keep those eyes up when your turning left.

Nice hike with Jake, Andrea, James, Allie and Hannah.  Then did a nice run with jake while Andrea rollerbladed with us.

Woo! That was tough, starting to feel like a runner again. Hopefully I can hit 50-60 miles this week and think about getting back into some training in the near future.

City Creek Canyon, went 1/2 mile up into the canyon. Progress!

A loop around the aves then down to yoga. Nice little yoga Seth. The run back home.

BST from dry creek to Terrace Hills with an extension around 18th ave.  Tough run and an absurd amount of bees in Dry Creek Canyon.

Same as Tuesday except yoga was way tougher. But I touched my Joseph Smithing toes for the first time in my life!

City creek canyon, saw the port-o-potties getting trucked up to 11th ave as I was finishing down Virginia.

So did some stuff around the fittest state festival.  Ran down to James & Allie's then up to the race to see Jake finish.  Then ran the 5k with Andrea and Allie to and from James & Allie's then back home.  So knocked out 10 miles in 4 hours!  Congrats to all who ran especially the doublers Jake, Allie and Devra.

 Most importantly a huge shoutout to my college teammate Jared Burdick. With a 2:19:20 5th place finish at Hartford. 

After an OT Bills victory I hit Liberty and Sugarhouse parks, great day out and felt pretty good.  Shooting for 70-80 this week.

Needed a day off yesterday so I took it, like a boss.  Ran the BST above the U today, got it in before the sprinkles.

3.5 snadwiching yoga, another tough class.

CCC, a bit chilly out and I was struggling a little more than normal.  But I did manage to hit a few sub 7's on the downhill parts of the run.

BST from Dry Creek to Emigration with a detour up Red Butte Canyon.  TOUGH extension, but beautiful out.

Sugarhouse and Liberty the opposite way of normal. Much easier, and stopped at Ace to pick up a drill bit to mount my flat screen like a true American.

Three miles warmup and three miles cooldown.

For the race nothing too special, a big mass of guys went out that I couldn't cover so I just ran my pace and caught a few guys in the second half.  Pretty decent run for the first time running multiple sub-7 miles since TOU.

Won a very nice jacket for wearing my American Flag splitties and Bills shirt.  AKA super patriotic guy.  Thanks to Rachelle for grabbing it for my while I prepared Brunch.

Solid run before the cold descends. Actually put together a nice stretch of 5 sub 7 miles on the back half of the run.

Easy run in the morning before going to a seminar that happened to be the day before. D'Oh!

Run to yoga and back.

Up to school to get my Blackout MUSS shirts then a cool run around city creek and the Aves.

Glorious day for a run, Hit Liberty and Sugarhouse.  Felt like it was uphill both ways in 10 feet of snow!

Run with Rachelle to pick up our cars from last night.  We had a really fun 2 mile climb to end the run.

Finally starting to feel better, sucks to not run when you're sick especially on the last three days that were basically a gift of warm weather running.

Run around Liberty, I feel like I caught almost every light between my house and Liberty Park.

Paced the Snow Canyon Half, was a huge drop off for a race.  Even running 1:35 my quads still got beat up a bit.

Four miles in the morning in marvelous Mesquite.

AM:  Felt good, surprising how quick you can go from being warm to cold in certain parts of city creek canyon.

PM: 3.5 miles with yoga sandwiched in there.

Great run on the BST above the U.  Enjoying the last vestages of warmth before the long bleak cold winter.

Run up to school to sign my PARS thing. Then around the aves, legs did not feel great.

Leg 1 of Ragnar Las Vegas, 5.2 miles up hill at dusk.  Nice out, but I got stopped at a light at 1200 meters in.  Only caught one person, but that would change.

Legs 2 and 3 of Ragnar LV.  Leg 2 was a delightful 7.9 miles uphill about 1000' felt pretty good and starting reeling in people, 78 on the leg and 79 overall.  Next leg was supposed to be 6.2 but unannounced came to be and extra mile, not necessarily a bad thing since it allowed me to catch 27 more people to bring the total to 106.  And of course another uphill guy, our team ended up 7th overall in a shade over 24 hours.  Nick Symmonds looked awesome in cutoffs.

Easy two before jumping in the car back to SLC

Lazy the last two days so ran down to the FH tonight and put in 6 miles with 4 striders at the end.  Felt good.

City Creek

Liberty Park

Liberty and Sugarhouse, had an unplanned extension in Sugarhouse.  But great day got a run, and looks like there's a great stretch of weather coming up.

Run down to the fieldhouse, ran around for a while then some striders and back home.  Sometimes it's just nice to run in a circle without worrying about traffic and uneven footing.

Finally knocking out a workout again, Fartlek run on my City Creek Canyon loop.  Ended up with 25 hard intervals and felt good to get the legs moving again.  Saw two guys twice one of them was wearing a Bowdoin college shirt and I saw the East High distance team.

Tough little run on the BST, before the winds pick up and the temps drop a bit.  City Creek Trot tomorrow!

Well I really wish I was back in Buffalo for the Oldest Road Race in the US, but alas I was stuck with this race.  Took the long way to the Capitol to get my warmup in, and a helpful gent offered a ride if I wanted to cut the warm up short, but I declined for my waistline today if nothing else.  The race was ok, very chilly in City Creek Canyon but I moved up a bunch of places.  But once we started downhill I was stuck the same distance behind the 4th place guy for the whole race.  I finished six seconds faster than last year, so that's good I guess?  Otherwise it's time to start putting in some work so I can be competitive at the Winter Series.  Four miles cool down all around the area.

Gobble Gobble!

Run around the Aves, felt great.  It's been a while since I felt this good on a run, quads are doing fine after the mashing in the race yesterday.

Nice Liberty park run at dusk, actually dipped under seven on the way back.

Shoreline trail run from Dry to City Creek.  Felt good, the climb is as tough as ever, and the descent requires a lot of concentration so you don't go splat.  I took the back way leaving the bobsled area intersection and basically power walked up the steepest section of the trail.  Of all the things you can say about SLC, having access to endless trails 1.5 miles from your doorstep certainly has to be one of the best things.  

 FYI the trail is in great condition a couple soft spots that could get slick in the warmer temperatures.

Run around the fieldhouse and several striders at the end. Nice little run.

Liberty Park run sandwiching yoga, rough class which made the short climb back into the aves very painful.

Well planned on a nice jaunt into City Creek Canyon on this 60(!) degree day in late November(!).  I was stopped by an elderly couple by the capitol to ask directions to the hospital in the aves, and they said sorry for breaking my stride.  After that I ran into the unfortunate circumstance of CCC being CLOSED, so I ended up adding on in the upper aves which included a killer climb up I street.  The valley looked super clear which is a good thing after all the muck in the air this week.

Big day today, started with 1 mile uphill then a four mile tempo from 11th and Virginia to 2nd and state. Felt good and nice to get the legs moving. Splits were 546 523 547 525 or something close. Then a quick trip to the house then down to yoga to get my butt kicked then a jog back home.

Shoreline above the U, nice run but a little blustery.  First long run since TOU tomorrow hollah!

Well that was certainly a warm welcome to long runs again.  16 miles at what was 6:35/mile pace.  The CREW was an amazing group to run with and when most people pulled away I was glad to have Adam and Devra with me.  After I got back to the parking lot I added on another 2.5 miles easier (still under 7) to knock it over 16.

Same run as last Sunday but went on the front side by the bobsled junction.  Lots of people out on the trail, and minus some powerful gusts a great day to be out.  This time of year is great because the only people who mountain bike are actually good at it and know how to negotiate around hikers and runners.

Easy 1.4 down to the bar.

Met up with Collin, a poster on Letsrun for a nice run around Sugarhouse and Liberty Parks.  Always nice to meet up with a fellow engineering grad student for a run.

Workout day, started with the same tempo as last week first two miles were slower but the second two were quicker than Thursday so 5:58, 5:31, 5:37, 5:17.  Then 1 mile jog over to S. Temple and I St. for the Ledwith Hills of Death workout.  Pretty simple concept with three aves blocks up then one over and repeat until you get to the top of Terrace Hills Drive.  Very painful, even more so when you're running all out up hill look at your watch and see 9+/mile pace.  Then jog back home.

3.5 down and back from yoga. Not the hardest yoga class, but my legs definetly felt tired in all those squats and other lunge poses.

Easy city creek canyon run, feeling the effects of yesterday.

On a good note I just found out my alma mater is hosting an indoor meet 12/29, so time to throw down a few speed sessions and jump in the 5k.

Wanted to hit the track today, but legs weren't feeling it so I did a fartlek in the aves instead.  Managed 16 ups, so got the spirit of the workout in.

3.8 down to yoga and back.  Struggled today, all the work the last few days is catching up.  But EASY EASY run tomorrow to prep for long run of doom.

So easy today meant jog over to fieldhouse, 5 miles while listening to tunes then jog back home.  Gotta prep for long run tomorrow!

Another run with the CREW, probably somewhere between 25-30 people there today.  Great run with an average pace right at 6:33/mile.  Only the first mile was over seven and I even had one thrown in there under six!  Probably could have made it the full 20, but taking smart steps in getting back into it and a 15 mile jump was good enough from last week.  Now time for some relaxing and beers.

Day of "rest"

Sugarhouse and liberty park run, added on in Sugarhouse park since I couldn't run the perimeter.  

Well due to icy conditions workout choices were limited, so I ended up going to the fieldhouse at the U to throw down form 400's.  I needed both the speedwork and the experience of running in tight quarters before my reemergence on the indoor scene.  Since the track is 207 meters long I don't know if I ran exactly 400, but it was close.  I didn't bother to bring a watch and just ran 16 400's on feel.  And it felt tough, but got through it and very slowly jogged home after.  Felt pretty good about the workout, and I'm glad I didn't time it since I would have been disappointed as I haven't run on a track in months. 

Seacrest out!

3.5 to yoga and back, easier class than normal which was much obliged after this morning.

Very tired from all the activities yesterday, so I took today slooow.  1:20 for the time, felt tired but hey there's cookies tonight!

Well, having a cough makes sleeping a lot tougher.  But I drove down to Sugarhouse for my 2 by 3 mile tempo workout since 4 miles is a bit too far for a warm up.  Jogged 2 miles then got right into it, miles were 5:47, 5:42, 5:43 then a .5 mile jog and the next one in 5:52, 5:43, 5:41.  I was very happy with these especially since I was hacking up a lung before and after and a little bit during.  Hopefully I can kick this cough quick since it's super annoying to run with.

3.8 to yoga and back, with a detour to Del Taco for some tasty burritos.

Seacrest out!

Easy run to Sugarhouse and Liberty park, quite tired.

Long run with a very diminished crew, lots of snow and hills.  But it was a good experience regardless of the frozen limbs endured after.  By my watch we had a 5:48 thrown in there towards the end.

Pretty tired from the antics the night before and 20 in the snow the day before.

Was going to try to do a workout, but the accumulated fatigue from the last few weeks convinced me otherwise.  This week I'll probably only do a workout on Wednesday (back in NY) and a long run with some fast stuff at the end on Saturday.

Run before my flight back to NY, running in city creek is pretty spooky before the sun comes up.  I felt great especially since it was 6am.

Peace out SLC till 2013, or if the world ends on Friday, forever.

About a nice a day in Buffalo as I will see. So I ended up doing 6 by 1 mile with 400 jog between through the neighborhoods.  2 mile warm up/1.75 cool down.  My miles were 5:45, 5:35, 5:31, 5:31, 5:29, 5:30.  The first one was a long gradual uphill while the others were pretty much flat, so they all come in around together.  I'm pretty happy an if I can put in a few more workouts like these during my break I will be ready to roll once I'm back in SLC.

Well last run in before the big storm, only windy out today. Tomorrow will be WINDY! with gusts up to 50 mph so it's going to be tricky to find a good window to get in a long run without putting myself in mortal danger. Sunday looks a bit more promising. Luckily my parents bought a nice new treadmill for the house which will make running indoors a little more tolerable. As for the run today it went well, solidly under 7 minute pace thanks to sea level.

Last day on earth, still gotta get your miles in!

5.7 in the morning before lunch with gram.

4.3 ran around then to gram's house to pick her up. Fun snow out!

Long run day, windy out but with much less snow that originally predicted.  Met Joey Whelan at the bar and planned to meet up and run today.  He is quite a bit faster than me so long run was nice and quick, just like back in SLC.  Made it through unfortunately no sub-6 miles but we were close on a few.

My legs hurt a lot after Saturday run, so I took er easy yesterday.  Knocked out 11 with Joe Whelan, much easier pace and felt good out there.  Descent weather for back home.

On the tread before dinner.

On the treadmill

Treadmill

Treadmill

Made the sketchy drive up to Rochester and jumped in the 5k, knew two of the other guys in the race so I figured with the shape I was in I was running for third. First mile was in 5:02 so a few seconds quick from 16 flat shape. By this time I already had a blister on the bottom of my foot so that may have been part of the slow down the rest of the race. Its a good start, and hopefully I will be comfortably under 16 by the winter series. A bunch of running between that and the 4 by 4, ran a comical 64 on sore and tired legs. Miss the days of HS when I could drop a 54.

The track had much tighter turns than I remember.

Run with my old teammates as soon as I got into DC, from Columbia heights to the Key Bridge.