LONG RUN
We had a great group out this morning for a long run down Monte Cristo into Huntsville. We met up at Rainbow Gardens and from there piled into Ben's Van. We had Ken, Ben, Bryant, Dave, Jon, and Jason. Albert was the hero of the day and woke up early to drive us to the top and drop us off. He's had some plantar's and hasn't been able to run with us lately, but was awesome to drive us today.
The run drops like 1800 feet in the first ten miles and then like 400 more feet over the last ten miles. So, it's easy to keep a good pace early on in the run. We warmed up three miles and then ran in the 5:40s for awhile. Bryant and I wanted to kind of do the run in a progression, but instead of every mile, we dropped the pace every five miles and then held steady for five miles. So from 4-8 we were 543 543 536 535 539. Mile 9 we stopped during the middle of to get water and take gels so it was a bit slower as we wanted to warm back into it with a 541.
Now the terrain levels off (although still a minor aide, it's basically the first few miles of Ogden Marathon or Strider's Half) and we were ready for the real meat of the run. Miles 10-14 522 527 525 517 515.
Now we hit the section with the least amount of elevation drop (it appears flat but it's still down hill, kind of like miles 8-10 at TOU Half). Here we wanted to finish up with a good 4-mile push. Unfortunately my stomach started its shenanigans and I was able to hold off stopping for most of this section, but with 0.85 to go I just had to stop for a secret bathroom. These miles were 505 512 500 and 0.15 at 449 pace before the stop. It's too bad my stomach couldn't hold out, I think we could've dropped a sub-5:00 on that last one. Bryant did finish that mile while I stopped in like 506 and said he thinks he could've gone sub-5:00 had I not stopped and had we finished it together.
All in all I thought it was a really good run. 20.25 miles at a 5:42 average which includes warm up and cool down. So, I'll take it. I think I still could use some more endurance though, and I have a month to work on that. The other guys all ran well too and I think everyone was sub-6:00 or close overall for the run. It's fun running with these guys. It was crazy humid this morning for Utah! 88% But we avoided rain the entire run!
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/369458486#
pm: 3.4 mile shakeout run. Legs were TIRED. | 
