Chad

Dace and I ran the Virgin River trail loop.  We did the first mile at 7:27 then we sped it up from there.  We ended up averaging 7:11 a mile.  I felt pretty good throughout the run.

I did 4 fast miles out in Washington Fields and back.  I ran into Dace.

I drove out to Pine Valley to get some elevation running in.  There were some headwinds for a portion of the run, but it was a beautiful run for the most part.  I was planning on doing marathon pace miles for the whole thing, but it was a little tough going towards the reservoir.

I did six marathon pace or better miles.  I drove to the bank and ran around the loop.

Dace and I met at the bank and ran to the bridge and back on the north side of the trail.  We ran 7:08 overall.  I think we're in great shape for the marathon.

The plan was to run with the 3:20 pace guy and then take off on the downhill portion.  The problem was that the pace guy was running under a 3:15 pace so I stayed back, but still ended up going out too fast.  Dace stayed with the pace guy as planned and then took off.  So after the 1st mile I never ran with Dace.  I ran with Jed and his brother for a while.  Probably miles 2-8 or so.  From then on, I was on my own which really sucked.

Mile splits were as follows:  7:46, 7:10, 7:21, 7:28, 7:41, 7:24, 7:31, 8:15, 8:05, 7:26, 7:26, 7:41, 7:17, 7:32, 7:11, 7:36, 7:25, 7:19, 7:11, 7:35, 7:29, 7:45, 7:47, 8:05, 7:58, 7:56, and then for the last .37 I was at 7:43 pace.

I was hoping to get under 3:15, but I was happy that I was at least able to squeek in at the 3:20 and qualify for Boston even with the course being a little long just like last year.

There was a truck wedged in between all the runners at the gun near the starting line.  It was a guy headed out with his hunting dogs so it was kind of interesting to say the least.  I don't why he was ever allowed to drive through the start line in the first place.

Now it's off to Kauai for some rest and relaxation.

First real run since the marathon.  It was good to get back out.