Life Liberty and the Pursuit of a Shiny Gold Medal

AM - After a fast Sunday followed by a quick car ride up north, I ran the Provo Freedom Festival 5k. I started off with a 20 minute warm up where I thought I was running fast, and I felt good. Really though, I was jogging pretty slowly. 7:50. My legs had no gears. The race was pretty miserable. I got a decent start then backed off to try to find a reasonable pace. I just had nothing. I was passed by a girl at the mile and tried my best but kind of gave up the last mile because it just wasn't happening. It just was not happening. I ran over 18 minutes and wondered about my future as a runner. Then I remembered the carnage of Saturday that was followed immediately by 20 some odd hours of spiritual food deprivation. I regret nothing, but I don't blame that race on a lack of current ability. Regardless it kind of ruined my day.

PM - The day was pretty decent despite my somewhat melancholy, exhausted and reactionary mood. I finished up with 30 minutes on the Dike trail. The fireworks were consolling and I felt better. Hill sprints in the middle.

I woke up earlier (6 am) to see my scores, but the AP server was down. I fell back asleep. I woke up at nearly 7 to see that I got a 3 on my Lit and a 5 on my Stats test. Looks like I'm going to be a STEM major. 

I got sick today. Was only able to run two miles with a litle pick up in the middle. I am going to be taking a rest week this week. I need it. My legs and body haven't adapted, and I need to try something new.

1 hour of running down to Canyon View. I got kind of sick feeling, but I was doing ok. I ran around the hills there for a bit of a workout. Made it under 7 minute pace. 6:59. I was feeling good, but I was working for it.

AM - Today I realized my need to revitalize my training. I decided that I needed to join my home town XC team until I leave so that I will find motivation to run fast and relaxed and to actually make it up in the morning's. My GPS watch straight up crashed this morning because of the infamous Pokemon GO release. Did a little over 6 today with Cody Drive in the middle. I kicked pretty fast. It was cool.

PM - I was going to a Shakespeare play, thus I had to cut this one short. I ran down to SUMA to find out how much time I had. Then I ran home.

AM - Did a seven miler with the team. Jensen got kind of mad because he was being disrespected by some stupid seniors, so we ran alone. I thought we were going fast, but it was only 7:20's pace. Actually, it was faster, but then my stomach decided to get going and I had to walk a bit to get home without blowing it all up.

PM - Had a magical run. I really wanted a day off of, but I didn't get it. That's ok though. It all worked out in the end. No hauling tile up stairs today. I started off with a fall and slow jogging and a side ache after having eaten dinner at the reunion. Once I made it up to the top of Cedar Knolls, I realized something. I needed to run my classic three mile tempo. It's pretty weak and easy, but that was what I was looking for in this rest week of mine. I just ran as fast as my legs would let me go comfortably and left the rest up to the Lord. My aerobic system was 100% fine the whole time. No O2 debt was to be found. I started to feel sick towards the end, but I toughed it out and finished up in 16:17 or 5:23 pace. That is a standing personal course record by precisely 20 seconds. Now that is beautiful. I walked over to the benches in the cemetary and sang primary songs to myself. Then I realized I needed to try to tempo back up. It's quite the group of hills with no down hill, so I was expecting to be right around 20 minutes. Anything better would require a well type effort. I did what I could and made it to 400 South before a quad weakness from hauling tile started to prohibt my confidence in the integrity of my muscle. I was going just under 19:30 pace and that was the hard section. Then I felt like I should just jog home, and it was wonderful. Even then, I still had a solid spring in my step.

After a rough lazy afternoon off after the reunion, I decided to trade in my long run for a hard trail run up to the C and back. It ended up being a fairly sad run as my quads were shot from so many consecutive days of hills and heavy bag hauling up stairs. I walked as little as possible but still did everything I could to get the aerobic workout. It took me an hour and a few minutes to get up but only 50 or so to get down. It was a beautiful day as always up there. I really love the scar. It's a pretty cool halfway point. Overall a good rest week.