Ripped off in the record books!

I was just browsing the internet and came across an article about the 1994 Mountain View Boys Cross Country team's finish at the Foot Locker Western Regional. I'm not surprised because as everyone knows, the "Coach" (and I use that term very loosely here) hated my guts because I didn't suck up to him like the rest of the leeches on the team. Anyway here is a link to the article:

http://ut.milesplit.us/pages/All-timexcteams . Scroll down and read the bit about Mountain View and Bingham: the Greatest. It says how the 1994 Mountain View's boys team performance at the 1994 Foot Locker Western Regional Cross Country Championships is one of the best of all time. That is fine. But here is my gripe: It says Dula led the team in 15:12, Zak in 15:14, then Wade Allen in 16:09, Ryan Andrus in 16:10, and it has the 5th scoring runner on the team listed as Andy Farrer in 16:16. The problem is that I ran 16:11, thus I was the 5th and final scoring runner on the team. Only by 5 seconds, but still, I should have my name on that list of one of the best teams of all time, not Andy Farrer. I know it is probably because Houle the fool didn't claim me as a member of the team. Another interesting tidbit about this race is that I, along with Dula and Zak, were the only 3 runners from Mt. View in the Seeded boys race. The others were in Senior and Junior unseeded races. It makes a big difference. It ticks me off, but I'm not surprised. That guy screwed me out of a lot during my High School running career.

In better news, I ran a 5:30 mile last night and almost killed over running 7 miles with Trevor this morning. The mile time is slow, but it is encouraging because I am starting to get more fit.

Slippery Tennis Court

I drove up to Bellevue to play tennis with Greg this morning. The weather was overcast, but very little rain. After our warm up, we started the first set. Greg jumped out to a 2-0 lead on me after breaking my serve in the first game. On my side of the court there was a wet spot in the back of the court. I ended up back there somehow during a rally and ate it when my feet went out from under me. Thankfully the only injury I got was a skinned knuckle. I ended up losing the first set 4-6. It had started raining very lightly during the last couple of games of the first set. I served first to start the 2nd set and my serve was working pretty good (I always seem to serve better in the 2nd set) so I held serve easily to go up 1-0. Greg also had his serve working pretty good and tied it up 1-1. After he won the game I called the score 1-1, and he said no it's 0-2. So I corrected him and then won my service game to go up 2-1. It was starting to get pretty slippery at this point and I broke his serve to go up 3-1. During the 5th game of the set I was serving again and doing well. Greg ended up slipping and going down during one of the rallies. I won the game and was up 4-1 and we both decided it best to call it quits because the court was becoming quite treacherous, which was strange because I have played many times in the rain and never had issues with slipping, but I've always played in running shoes before and I think they have superior grip to my tennis shoes. Greg's knee was actually pretty busted up from his fall too. It was a bit frustrating to quit the match when I was starting to do so well, but that's how it goes sometimes. I guess I can look at it as total games won 8-7 in my favor. It's fun playing with Greg because we are both closely matched as far as our tennis game goes.

Running is coming along good. I'm going to go on a 10 mile run later this afternoon. I got in 11 miles yesterday and on my afternoon 6 mile run I took the whole crew. I pushed Elijah and Brandon in the stroller while Dallas and Cody rode their bikes behind me. It was a beautiful day for a run and I covered the 6 miles in 44:00. 7:20 pace while pushing a stroller is pretty good. I ran the last mile in 6:44. Dallas and Cody did great and never complained the entire time. I had to stop several times to help get little black bugs off Elijah. He did NOT like bugs on him and he let me and all the other trail goers know. That kid can wail. He might have a future as a sanger.

The picture is just for fun.

Ensign

There are some pretty good articles in the Ensign this month.

Current Fitness Level

My fitness level seems to be coming along good at this point. I've been running twice a day for the last several weeks and am starting to see some results. I had to go on my afternoon run early today because Derrinda had to go do some serious canning. Dry canning at that. So I ran at about 2:30 this afternoon. I decided to run the 4 miles at a brisk pace, and my goal for the run was to average 6:30 per mile. The weather was beautiful and I started out at a decent clip. I hit the first mile in 6:20 and was surprised how easy it felt, so I decided to take it up a notch to the turnaround. My breathing felt relaxed despite the quicker pace and I hit the turnaround at 12:21. A 6:01 second mile. I was happy with that. On the way back I noticed that just like yesterday, there was a pretty stiff headwind going back. I figured the wind was slowing me down, so I just tried to relax and maintain my pace. 18:26 at 3 miles; this was even more encouraging to me hitting a 6:05 into the wind. I was however beginning to feel a bit tired, so I just tried to maintain that pace. I picked it up a little over the last 3/4 mile and finished in 24:19. A 5:53 last mile! I am very happy with this run because I am just under 180 lbs., and have another 10-15 lbs. to lose. Very encouraging.

Columbia Tower

I had a gig last night in downtown Seattle at the top level of the Columbia Tower, which was the tallest building West of the Mississippi River when it was built. There have since been taller buildings built, but it is still 4th tallest west of the Mississippi. It was a launch party for Microsoft and we put on a good show and everybody there seemed to have a good time. The view was pretty cool, but being from Utah and being used to going up into the mountains and the view from that perspective, it wasn't as cool as that. The coolest thing about being up there was watching the big planes fly into SeaTac and being below you. I am pretty tired now though because I was up at 6:30 Friday morning and ran 9 miles in a downpour, and didn't get back from the gig until about 2 a.m. And we all know how sleeping in in the mornings goes with 4 little boys...not too good Al.

Chilly Afternoon Run

It was pretty cold today. I wore my sweatshirt pretty much all day. We got a lot accomplished at BSS today. I busted up an entertainment center that someone left in their unit when they moved out, and I also took the rug that sits in the office by the couches out and shampooed it, scrubbed it with a brush, and then pressure washed it. It's still hanging on the fence drying.

I ran 6 miles with Juliet this morning. It's always fun running with her. I ran again by myself this afternoon. I ran another 6 miles and pushed it a little bit, but not too much because I usually only go 4 in the afternoons. I was 20:27 at the turn and finished the 6 miles in 39:40. It works out to be an average of about 6:37 per mile. Pretty good run, I felt good the whole way. It was quite cold and I was wishing I had remembered my gloves, and it started raining lightly just as I was finishing, but it was a really good run. My fitness is coming along as I continue with my base mileage and I am looking forward to starting track workouts in another month or two so that I can be somewhat prepared for the track meets. I just hope that I can stay healthy.

Allergies

My allergies have been terrible the last few days. Everyone else in my family seems to be sick with a cold at the same time. It hasn't kept me from running though. I had a good run last night. I ran 4 miles in 26:07. I knew I was pushing it a bit, but once I saw my first mile was 6:48, I thought to myself that it must be a day for pushing it, so I upped the effort a bit and ran 6:43 for my next mile (into a stiff headwind). So 13:31 at the turn and I knew it would be easier running back with the wind at my back so I just got going a good pace and kind of coasted. My next mile was around 6:30 and I finished in about 6:06 for my last mile. I felt pretty good about that because I'm still not in very good shape, but getting closer everyday now.

I ran 6 miles with Juliet this morning and was pretty beat from last nights run, but we made it through like always and felt good afterwards like always. Now I've been sneezing my head off all morning. I took some Benadryl allergy medicine, but I have yet to find any medicine that gets rid of the sneezing, stuffy nose, nose running, etc. Oh well, I guess it just helps me to appreciate my health when I've got it. Later yo.