Turn your rut into a groove.

am--9 Sugar Loaf w/ pickups. It felt good to get moving this morning. The kids are looking good and feeling hungry. 

am--1.5 Weights/Harts+. We had a little drizzle this morning, but that's all that's come of the foretold storm. 

pm--5.5 Green Springs. We had a good group and an interesting vernacular. 

The past few days, I also finished Lord of the Flies by William Golding and Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley. Both were for classes. Nevertheless, I enjoy revisiting novels and the feelings they evoke. 

am--2.5 Bank and back. Someone always wants to keep it honest. 

pm--6 Nice workout for the kids in Coral Canyon. They looked strong. They looked fast. They looked together. 

am--1.5 Weights and a leftover rain run. 

pm--3 Something easy w/ my neighbor. The weather was heavenly. Also had some good things happen at the SC Invite. 

am--2.5 Good stout run in the manyan. 

pm--4 Warm and cool, sandwiched around the workout. The kids look good and fast. I had a nice chat w/ Alli this afternoon. 

am--6.5 A run on SC Parkway before aid-station duties at the StG Marathon. 

am--6 Foremaster. Cool, nice morning. Fall has arrived in Southern Utah. Ran a little in the afternoon, but nothing to record. 

I just finished Coyote America by Dan Flores. It was a great read, part history, part mythology, part ecology. It reminded me I haven't seen a coyote in a while. 

am--6 Harts/Bank/DI in reverse. Nice and chill morn. 

pm--2 Region South running. The team looked good today. The best we've run at Region in a while. Boys--1st. Girls--2nd. 

am--2.5 Bank and back. Felt a bit more relaxed this morning. 

pm--5.25 Nice run on the old Dog Pound route. It's been years since we've run here. It used to be an old tempo (AT) route we would do almost weekly. We decided on the State squads. It's always hard to tell kids who are equally deserving that they don't get the opportunity to race. One of the tough parts of coaching. 

pm--4.75 Owen's Loop and City Creek trail on a nice overcast day. We had a pretty decent group. It was fun running sweeper. 

am--3 Easy miles, just enjoying the movement. I did 2k on the erg after. 

pm--6.5 Got some miles in while the girls did their workout. A plus was the 6:22 mile on the track while I was tempoing against the grain. I feel pretty fit except for the aches and pains of an aging body. 

I finished a short novel, The Wave: the classroom experiment that went too far by Todd Strasser, a student recommended to me. It's a quick read and an interesting look at an experiment a teacher used to teach students about the momentum in a fascist movement. It's based on a true story from the life of Ron Jones. 

pm--7.5 Old Morning route w/ some variation and a few strides at the end. It was nice to cruise around w/ some Modest Mouse and Built to Spill on the buds. On another note, I nearly broke one of my segment records on Strava. One second off!!!

am--5.5 DI and warm and cool w/ the kids, sandwiched around their workout. 

am--5.5 Around the neighborhood on a chilly morn. 

pm—3.5 Some Miles around the park, playing MarioKart w/ 4x striders after.

am—7.5 Ran on the Trax Trail w/ Holt and then around the mall. 

pm--6.75 Green Springs. The girls had a some go in their legs today. Fun day w/ school celebrations of our success at State. Now, if someone could only put together a timing system that shared team times and merged results. . .

pm--7.5 Sullivan to the fork and back. We had a stouter pace than yesterday. It's funny how a peeing contest happens on these days when we just ought to be chilling. Someday. 

pm--6.75 Green Valley run w/ a negative split. Much of that was difficult because it was uphill. Finished drenched in sweat. 

I also hit up about 30 minutes of biking. It was a good fitness booster. 

am--2.5 PVHS Hallway run due to the lightning. It wasn't bad, and I proved how athletic I am with the alternating jumps to touch the low-hanging lights. 

pm--8 Sandhill. Summer flashbacks w/ the perfect day for some deep-sand running. The kids did great. Fun group to be around. 

I finished Shadow of the Hegemon by Orton Scott Card. A quick-paced sci-fi thriller with less treatment of leadership and philosophy than usual.

am--1.5 Weights/Harts. Fun group.

pm--6.5 Foremaster and 2450. The group was tight and we had a well-paced run.  

am--2.5 Bank and back w/ the skeleton crew.

pm--4 Some miles during the workout. The packing was great.

am--1.5 Harts and weights. Always some fun chatter on the morning runs. 

pm--River Trail towards StG. Stout pace, guts, and a broken pack. 

am--2.5 Bank and back. Nice run. 

pm--6.5 Turkey Farm. Always a good climb and some decent pace back, but it turned into a little bit more than that today. Girls stepped up, though. 

am—9 Reverse around Santa Clara in the predawn. What a beautiful place Southern Utah is. This morning, I went by feel until a push for the last 2 miles. The progression was nice.

am--2.5 Good morning run to the bank and back. 

pm--5.5 Ran around while the kids did some hill circuits. Getting stronger. I did some bounds and my heel is hating me. 

am--1.5 Weights/Harts+. Maybe. . . I'm getting stronger. My heel was twingy when I stretched this morning. 

pm--6 Telegraph out-and-back as chill as it will get, I guess. Some girls are staying w/ the top group the whole time and pushing to greater things. On another note, kids can't be bothered to read 5-7 pages a week. :(

am--2.5 Skeleton + crew to the bushes and back.

pm--3 AC ice-cream run. We had some great costumes. Coach Decker was the most popular and iconic costume on the day. "How does he breathe through that thing?"

I also finished my annual reading of Pride and Prejudice. It really is a fun read, lots of humor and sarcasm.