Anything Will Burn If the Furnace is Hot Enough

60 min

7:38 avg

Ran Prospector with Alex, Colton, Logan, and Jose. The weather was soooo nice today and I was like zoned out the whole run just imagining future races so it was an amazing run. Also saw a cool spider so that was cool.

We were somewhat rushed to start, and I only managed to get one stride out in, but I'm totally fine with that because it gave me less time to stress on the starting line. I started out pretty dang strong and quick and I felt amazing. Got in good positioning in the back middle of the front pack. Alex was right behind me and reconnected just a bit before the first mile marker. We were making good progress and using open areas in between people to pass and it was clutch. It's like our minds were connected and we were thinking the same thing. At like 1.5 I started to make more surges and got closer to the front. At mile 2 I was in like 10th, and Coach Holt told me to get 5 more guys. At first I was like dude man cmon 5 is a lot. But then, I realized dude why not, I felt freakin good so I definitely can. Pushed again and could see the leader and with about 800 to go I had a split second thought to start pushing super hard and go win. Looking back on the race, I know for A FACT that I could have accomplished that. I saved just a bit of energy and sat behind 5th and 6th place until before the hill, and I passed 6 right before and 5 right when I got on top. Almost caught up to 4 (who was totally dead) but he sprinted the last 10 meters and beat me by .03 seconds. Anyways, looking back on the race at the moment I thought about winning....

It's kind of interesting to me, how racing works. Coach Holt and most importantly, my mom, didn't have any doubts about how well I would perform. My mom said if I took top 5, I won't have to pay her back for this new video game I bought. I asked her to change it to top 10, because "that's more realistic." After arguing with her about it, she said that top 10 would suffice, but that doesn't mean I should settle. Coach Holt asked me earlier in the week if I was ready to run with "the big dogs." I told him heck yes, and I knew it was gonna be tough, but I have my goals and I want to be freaking good one day. I completely forgot about the conversation my mother and I had about the game, and I ended up taking 5th anywas. She told me that she knew I could do it, and honestly, I wish I would've seen it too. Because after the race I realized that with 800 left, I definitely should have pushed up and tried to win. I had enough energy after I finished that I realized that I would've still had the same kick, and I could have put that energy in earlier. It's' all about how much you believe in yourself, and not saying "I'm already in 7th, I'll just past these couple of guys' but instead saying, "I'm Carson freaking Horspool and I can do anything."

At Bob Firman, I'm not going to have any doubts.

I'm going to run with "The Big Dogs"

I'm going to beat "The Big Dogs"

Because I am a "Big Dog."

70 minutes w 2-1-3-2-1-2 pickups with 5 min recovery

9.9 mi

7:13 avg

Ran the state course. Was super good and after yesterday's race, I am way pumped for state this year. I ran a little extra at the end and just finished the course up until the blocked off gate and visualized finishing the race. Ryan Raff ended up beating me on the track, but I held off Caleb and Jensen. Not really sure where Bryson and Alex were... oops. But it was super awesome and I got the chills and I'm so ready to rek.

80 minutes w 8x100 hills somewhere in run

10.65 mi.

7:31 avg

Nice run this morning. Ran a different route up on the road that takes you out to Snow Canyon and we dropped down on that super steep hill that leads down to Diagonal Street. Then just ran back and extended a teeny bit. Felt pretty good except for the back of my right ankle is kinda hurting. I'll make sure to ice it later.

20

2.88 mi.

7:16 avg

Well the guys team has decided that I'm not a good captain and that I should be kicked off. It really sucks that they don't understand that I work my b*tt off in everything I do, and that they are clearly friggin jealous of how much better than them I am. It really sucks when you let those things ruin your judgement about how awesome someone is. I just feel really, really sorry for them. Ran with Alex and Evan and talked about the show 24 so that was cool.

Started out a bit too fast I think. Got in the back of the lead pack in probably like 30th-40th place. Got to the beach section and hadn't really made any progress. Did a pickup in the surge zone and passed a few, but when I got to the hill some kids slowed down hardcore in front of me so I slowed and passed them quickly on the right, and I think I used a lot of energy there. Push down the hill super fast and I think it was unecessarily fast. Felt pretty burnt out once the hill ended, and it wasn't even halfway through the race yet. Ended up staying where I was and having only a few people pass me until the end. 

I think that starting out crazy fast and making crazy fast surges (such as the hill) just aren't good for me. I need to just do my own little pickups throughout the race like I usually do. Although this wasn't a good race at all to me, I did learn from it, and Cedar Invite will be a good one.

Better race than usual. I was being a wussbag and didn't pass the 2 dudes in front of me at the end, and I waited until Bryson got up behind me and I outsprinted him. D-bag move I'd say. Either way, I beat him..

Ran super well with Alex and Nathan for the first mile. Connected with Spence and he was having a super good race. Alex and I passed him on the uphill and kept pushing up. Did really good in our surge zone, which was that whole top section. When we came back and turned the corner, Alex slipped and fell down the hill. I kept looking back for him and Coach yelled at me lol. He ended up catching up but eventually fell off. I pushed up and caught Josh Armstrong from Hurricane once I got to the track. He wouldn't give up and we pushed up to Bryson and some Timp View dude by the time we got to the downhill sidewalk. Bryson Josh and I fought all the way down the sidewalk, and Bryson kinda fell off at the end of it. Josh pushed hard up that hill and got in front of me by the track. Then I acted like a wuss and whatnot and didn't cath them.

Overall a good race for me. After sucking it up at Bob Firman this made me feel pretty good about myself. We barely won the meet by 3 over DH and 6 over Hurricane. This just show that we have a lot of work to do if we want to win State. Like it isn't going to come easy. Caleb is freaking beasting it, and I think I need to be somewhere near him if I want us to place better. He ran like a 14:47 at the region course for the Hurricane meet, so I'm hoping to go sub 15:00. I just gotta figure out all of the stress and stuff in my life so that I can run to the best of my ability.