The Life Of Riley

95 degrees.  A little too warm for me.  7:45 pace.

Hit Hobble Creek Canyon with Zac.  Ran up 3.5 for a little incline and then back to the truck.  Nice easy run.  85 degrees with a little breeze.  It was great weather.

I don't care if I ever run on a road again.  Drove up Payson Canyon and ran the Benny Creek Trail.  All alone, it made for a nice and peacful getaway.  I went 2.65 miles up then back down.  I have never hit a trail with that much incline before.  I was in low gear; it felt like I was doing 7-1/2 min pace but I was really doing 15's.  It was awesome.  I saw a couple of snakes, a bunch of dear, and all sorts of other little creatures cruising around.  No traffic to worry about, only bears :).  I am definately hitting more trails in the future.  Then the run back down, I averaged just over a 9 min pace.  There are areas so steep that I had to side step and that slowed my pace but it was definately and incredible run.  Total time was 80 minutes but I did stop and take in the scenery a few times without stopping Mr. Garmin.  Oh, and I reserected the old Asic's, not my favorite shoe but I did not want to damage the new Black Launches (best shoe ever).

Got a pair of trail shoes today (Asic Attacks).  Went up to Benny Creek trail and got in just over 1/2 mile when a mighty thunder buster hit.  The trail is steep and when wet it gets pretty dangerous so being alone I thought it would be safe to return to the car before I ended up broken and stranded miles from home all alone.  I drove back down the canyon, went to the house and changed tires (Brooks Launchs) and headed out on the road.  Ran up Elk Ridge and back down along the orchards to my house.  I went from 68 degrees and heavy rain up Payson Canyon to 1,000 degrees and sunny running up Elk Ranch Road.  Quite a change in elements.  All in all a nice run.  Not real fast but some good ups and downs.

Benny Creek to the Loafer Trail and then followed Loafer Trail for a couple miles and then turned back.  Beautiful day and a great run.  Once again, I don't care if I never see another road, trails are my new thing for a while... :)

12 easy miles with Zac.  This is his last long run before his first half marathon in 2-1/2 weeks.  I think he is going to do great.  I am going to pace him, he's shooting for a 9 minute pace, today we averaged close to 10's so 9's should'nt be a problem down Hobble Creek, today we had quite a bit of uphill.  All-in-all I have a good start on my week, and I am headed back to the mountain trails, hopefully on Wednesday.  I need to finish painting tomorrow and get my family out of this mess.  I have put off painting and re-hanging the doors for the last 2 days so I could run, I know, selfish...

Whoa!!!  Started running at 8:00 am on what I thought was the Loafer Summit Trail.  I took the wrong trail at first and before I figured out I was running to Nephi and not the summit I had already ran more than 2 miles.  I turned around and when I got back to where I started I had a little more than 4 miles down.  This error changed my 12 mile run into a 16+ mile run which I had not planned for.  I headed for the summit and made it to the top.  The last .2 mile stretch was pretty sketchy, I fealt like I needed climbing ropes and someone belaying me.  I got to the summit and wanted a nice picture of the valley and my phone was drained and I did not have enough battery powere left to take a picture.  That's ok, I did sign my name in the book in the mailbox and that was kind of cool.  I made it down and layed in the river for 20 minutes to cool off my muscles which were cramping at this point.  I feel comparable to how I fealt after UVM.  I ran about 80% of the 16 miles, there was some areas were it was just to steep and dangerous to run and I had to hike.  I only took a couple 5 minute breaks, one being at the summit, over the 5 hrs and 23 minutes I was gone.  Slow pace but an extreme workout.  I think I am going to hurt tomorrow.

10 easy miles with Zac.  We ran down the Salem Canal Road, nice and flat.  The only issue was the 90 degree temperature and we did not drop water.  We were able to grab a quick drink at the ball field but other thatn that it was a hot sweaty run.  Good for the pours I guess.

Quick 3 in the heat - around 7:30 AP.

Speed work w/ Zac @ Springville HS Track.  FUN!!!

Bandit ran the Hobble Creek half today.  I paced my Mon and my Aunt.  It was a great time.  Neither of them have ran a race in 20 years, it will be an awesome memory in time and I am very proud of both of them.  Finish time was 2 hrs 32 minutes.  It was a slow but steady pace, we ended at the same pace we started at, actually it was probably the mose consistent pace I have ever ran in a half.  I also hit my 1,000 mile mark for 2010 today just past the six mile mark so that made for an evan more memorable day.

Paced Zac on his first race.  He was shotting for 10 min miles and finished with 9 min pace.  We were both stoked.  It was a fun run.  A little different style than most races with everyone starting at different times and all but it was a good time.

5 Miles at 7:30 pace and then .55 mile cool down.  It felt good to do a few quick miles after doing a couple slow halfs over the last couple weeks.  I needed this.