What ever it takes!

6 easy miles just to get this busy.. busy.. day off right.  If it wasn't for this blog I would have no idea what day it was.

6 miles in 46:49  7:48 avg pace

I think running in Vegas is probably the best thing I have done training wise ever.  It was about 5 degrees cooler this morning than it has been, but still 85 which hopefully is more than anything I will need to deal with in St. George.  I felt pretty good this morning, never really pushed hard but tried to keep a nice steady pace. 

Did my normal 4 loops and then 1 more mile into the loop turned around and went back for an even 12.  Not because I was afraid of an extra 1/2 mile but because I hate the last mile of my loop, it's hot, uphill and has the highest number of homeless people to jump over.

12 miles in 1:21:46  6:49 avg pace.

So much for easy peasy,  the 18,000 attendees here at VMWorld  all but crashed our network yesterday so we were up late last night completely re-engineering the entire network.  Just planned on not running this morning but like clockwork I was up at 4:00am anyway, at that point I realized I wouldn't be able to go back to sleep anyway thinking about work so I went for an nice easy run instead.

10 miles in 1:16:??  7:25 avg pace

Nice morning, getting cooler and cooler every day.  It was a little bit breezy which kept drying me out but I had my water stash every 2.5 miles.  My Garmin died at .5 miles so I just had to run by feel, pretty sure the first 2 laps were 6:30ish pace, then I slowed into a more comfortable pace for the next 2.  I was just going to run 1 mile of the final loop and turn around for an even 12 but I saw a guy ahead and caught up to him.  He is here for the conference from Indiana and was in the same boat as I was, nowhere to run.  I told him I'd show him my loop so I ran with him for the final loop.  I wish I would have had him earlier, it made it really nice to talk to someone and forget about running for a bit.

Really kind of clueless about my total time,  all I know is I made it to work on time.  This conference out of all other conferences I do per year really is the only one where I start thinking about getting a new job.  So ready to be done.  Then I get to go do it all over again next week in San Francisco.

I'm looking for a running partner really early on Saturday morning for a 22 - 24 mile run.  Any takers?

I'm probably a little too old to say I have a favorite band but if I were to say which group I have listened to more running miles than any other it would have to be The Killers, so when we got the word that staff was invited to the Killers concert last night I was pretty excited. I pretty much know the words to every one of their songs.  While we were standing in the crowd waiting for the concert I got a text from our contact saying that the internet connection back stage wasn't working and the Killers wouldn't play until it was fixed.  I figured it must be the back stage production guys that were broken so me and 2 co-workers went running back stage and found out that it was actually the band that was having problems.  We went to the Green Room where the Killers and all their groupies were and discovered that someone had un-plugged the switch to plug in a Refrigerator, cause of course cold drinks in the green room of a rock concert are way more important than internet.  Anyway it was way cool, highlight of the trip, Brandon Flowers actually said Hi to me :).  We were invited to sit backstage after than but I really wanted to go watch the concert.  Concert started right on time and it was probably one of the best concerts I've ever been to.

Back to running.  Great run today, temperatures in the 70's this morning and I felt really good, plan was to run 10 slow but I ended up sprinting every intersection whether there were cars or not just because.  I would guess that was about 12 -15 short sprints total.  Felt good after 10 and decided to run 2 more,  ran the last 1/2 down the strip really fast.  My Garmin must have just bit the dust completely so I didn't get splits again but I ran the last 1/4 faster than I've ever ran a 1/4 before.  I'm guessing pretty close to 4:30 pace but I have no proof.

17 hour work day today, but it's finally tear down day and I get to go home tomorrow,  So glad.  I may or may not get around to running tomorrow.

12 miles in ~1:27ish  7:15 pace.

I thought I would never get done with this last 2 weeks but I finally made it.  Worked until 11:00 pm last night so only a 16 hour day.  Now I'm sitting at the Airport.

6 easy miles this morning waiting for our flight.  3 with one of my Co-Workers and then 3 alone.

Awesome, Awesome morning.  Kurt answered my desperate cry for help a few days ago when I put out that I needed a running partner for a long run today.  He E-mailed and said he was up for a 22 miler, but 18 was the furthest distance he had ever run prior.  I flew home yesterday afternoon from Vegas and when I got home came up with a route basically running the first 15 miles of Des News course but instead of going North on Foothill we came south over I-80 and continued on Wasatch finishing at the park and ride above my office building.  We met at the Park and Ride at 5:00 am, left Kurts car there and headed up the course dropping water bottles in various strategic places along the route.  We got to the top about 30 minutes earlier than I had planned so it was pitch black still, I had a headlamp but the batteries were all but dead so we headed down the canyon basically by the light of really bright stars.  It was a perfect morning, cool breezes the entire way, we never did have sun on us.  Great company and great conversation.

Kurt is an animal, he's never ran a marathon, never ran over 18 miles before but somehow managed to plow through 22 miles at 6:44 avg pace, incredible.  Pretty much no question whether or not he can run a sub 3:00 marathon, he basically did it today, with a good 5 minutes to spare.

1/4 of a mile to the car I told Kurt I wanted to turn around and run back and have him finish his 22 and come back and pick me up.  I really wanted to try and get at least an extra mile in so I cranked out a 5:52 final mile just cause I wanted to get the full mile in before Kurt picked me up.  It worked out perfect, I hit 23 turned around and there he was.

Perfect Day, I'm really excited about how good I felt the entire run.  Last long run I have time for before St. George, now the key is to show up on race day feeling as good as I did today and I'm sure I can crank out a decent PR.

23 miles in 2:34:16 6:42 avg pace.