C Mantz Run

Bumbed I couldn't run the freedom run 15k, but there was a local 5k in Blanding, so we did that, instead. Warmed up a mile which was the start and finish of the course with Ruby. Didn't know where I was because I hadn't raced since state, and had only done one tempo run. I knew Skye was running, and hoped to stay with her. When we started, she was with a pack of san juan boys and I was a ways behind. 2 guys were way ahead. There was quite a bit of uphill, but it seemed to be where I got closer. The pack spread out, and I picked off a few guys catching skye at 1.5. Stuck with her until 2.5. I hope I wasn't intimidating, but ended up speeding up the last half mile, catching the guy in 3rd. Finishing was painful, and I surprisingly didn't get passed. I was mentally not up to race and struggled at the start. Don't know how, but just pushed through. My foot was only a little achy, but no sharp pains, yay! Talked to skye, and we did a mile cool down together. Glad to fingure out where I am right now. The race was really fun and well organized. Happy to do something this fourth of july.

Garrett was down to run, so I ran a quick mile (7:38) while he got ready. We drove up dry to the wilderness trailhead and started up. He had me lead, and we saw plenty of animals. At one point, we were chasing a bunch of turkeys down the trail. Right after, a cotton tail rabbit was running in front if us. I didn't see it, almost stepping on it. We had a ton of fun on the trail jumping over rocks and logs. It got really overgrown half a mile up, and being in front, I was covered in spider webs. The cliffs up there are super pretty. If Garrett had his climbing gear, he'd be up them. We took a couple walking breaks because Garrett hadn't ran in a while. The trail is uphill, but we didn't get far enough to flat-top steep. We got 1.5 up, and relaxed for a minute. Some bigger animal was up the trail, but neither of us saw it. He had me lead going back down. We sped way up, but I stumbled more. I almost stepped on a water snake which made me jump. As we were going down, there was something moving in the grass. In the corner of my eye, I saw a fat diamond back. I yelled, "Big snake! Big snake! Big snake!" We heard a rattle, and Garrett yelled, "Go, go, go!" Haha, it was an adrenaline rush. Garrett saw more of the snake, and I guess it had a huge rattle. We continued booking it for a while. It was a way fun adventure, and I'm glad Garrett's a bro whose down to run trails. Our average pace was over 10 minute miles, but running took plenty of effort. 

When it had started to get dark, I did 3 quick miles with Ruby. They felt really good. Somehow, they stayed at 7:30 pace, but the mile splits were 7:29, 7:43, and 7:16. Had a fun evening after.

For practice, we did sunnyside and met up at mack park after to play games. Everybody was tired, so it was nice! Our first mile was 8:29, and the next 3 miles were in 22:30. Not many people showed up, but we had a good pack up front. To make sure the pack behind us knew where to go, a few of us stopped and went with them. Then, we played partner tag, getting soaked and muddy. We ran back as a team, kind of. I didn't get that mile timed, but it was slow. It was a good, relaxing practice.

In the afternoon, I did 5 miles easy up Smithfield canyon. It wasn't super hot, but still warm. The mile splits were 7:08, 7:47, 7:41, 7:20, 7:50. They vary due to hills, but overall it was under 38 minutes.  The last mile, I focused on keeping pace and never slowing up the hill. It felt good, and somehow kept it under 8 minute miles.

Slept in and took forever to get running. Finally got myself going. 2 miles up the canyon,  I was at a decent pace and thought maybe I'll do a tempo run! 200m in, my achilles popped. Stopped to stretch it, then jogged another mile slow. Turned around and went really easy. My stomach started hurting, so I was glad I turned around early. My body was tired, and I haven't gotten a ton of sleep the last few days, so it felt good to slow down. 8:30 average pace for 6 in the morning. 

At 9, I was feeling really good (napping helped), so I ran. Went on downstream upper canal. Hit 2 clouds of gnats within 50 meters of each other. The first didn't seem to end. The second got plenty in my eyes. Went to 6th and came back on hillside, where there were less gnats/bugs. I was averaging a 7:49 pace, but my watch ran outta batteries the last mile. This loop was 3.5 miles. When I got home, Garrett wanted to run, so I went with him once I grabbed my stopwatch. It was dark by now, so we were running in total darkness down hillside. Went to 6th, then looped back around the block on our way back. He was only planning to run 2, but wanted to add extra, so we did 3. We did it in 22 minutes, so 7:20 pace. Lol, it was crazy how much he sped up at the end, I couldn't catch him. It was a fun evening to run, and even saw some fireworks. Didn't plan to go this far today, but it caught me up on mileage.

Everybody was pretty tired, so we did warm up extended, but it wasn't where I thought we were going, haha. Me, Arianna, and Clara just followed the lead pack of boys. We went above the canal, then dropped to go to Mack Park, then went up beauty, half way down beast, down a road, then back on church run. Really random, but short and fun. We were at a 7:45 average pace at 3 miles, but then my watch ran outta batteries. Then, some of us did core while others played soccer. Really chill. I was going to run in the evening, but my body was not physically feeling it at all. Today kinda threw off my mileage, but that's okay. Ended up going on a night hike.

Ran with Amber today, which was way fun! We went onto a trail that hops into birch. Continued up Birch. At 2 miles, neither of our watches were working, but we kept going. We turned around at one of the crossings which was actually just short of 4 miles up. Came back down the canyon back to my house. On our way down (we had sped up) there was a black and yellow spotted snake across the dirt road. It was about 3 feet long. Without much thought, we kept running. It was on my side of the road, so I jumped over it. As I jumped, it coiled up. Lol, I screamed, and we both hauled down the canyon. It was pretty great. Glad we didn't get bit. It was way fun talking to Amber and just going for a chill trail run. Our pace was definitely over 10 minute miles, but it was all on trails.

I was hoping to run more, but my family went boating. As soon as we got home, I had to leave for work, so this week's mileage wasn't where I wanted it to be.