🌅Personal Briefing - Saturday, May 23, 2026
Good morning. Here's your personal read.
🏃Training
🏃Today's Plan
🎯 10K - 2026-06-20 (28 days out) Phase: build → taper starts 2026-06-15 (23 days) This week: Two hard days (Monday tempo, Wednesday intervals) plus a Saturday long run; everything else easy. Next week: Finish taper and race-week shakeouts. Why today: Mon tempo and Wed intervals build race-specific fitness for the 10K; Sat long run builds durability; easy days protect the work. After this: Half Marathon on 2026-10-11 (141 days out)
🏃 Today (Saturday): 48-min easy run · 5-min abs · 8-min stretch Target pace: 9:30–10:00/mi (Z2, conversational) Build phase long run - 48 min at easy pace. Building toward 10K.
Best window: Lunch - 83°F, sunny, wind 4 mph
📊This Week
Sun: 22-min easy run · 8-min abs · 5-min stretch · pace 9:30–10:00/mi - keep the easy base going Mon: 20-min tempo at Z3–Z4 · skip · 8-min stretch · pace 7:45–8:30/mi - Monday tempo - race-pace endurance, hard day #1 of the week
This week: 5 runs · 11.7 mi · 102 min Zone check: 50% in pace-Z2 - slightly below build target 60%. HR data from the COROS will sharpen this once available.
Recent runs:
- Sun 05-17 · 2.3 mi · 21 min · 9:25/mi (easy)
- Mon 05-18 · 2.8 mi · 22 min · 7:40/mi (Z4)
- Tue 05-19 · 2.6 mi · 22 min · 8:26/mi (Z3)
- Thu 05-21 · 1.3 mi · 11 min · 8:20/mi (Z3)
- Fri 05-22 · 2.7 mi · 26 min · 9:44/mi (easy)
✓ Nice walk yesterday (32 min). 5 family walks this week - lifestyle win, not a run substitute.
☘️Notre Dame Sports
🥍Lacrosse - Semifinal Today
This is the day. No. 2 Notre Dame vs No. 6 Syracuse, today at 2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2 from Scott Stadium in Charlottesville. Win and ND plays for the national title Monday afternoon (Memorial Day, ESPN).
Coach Kevin Corrigan's pre-game framing was clean: "It's about this team that has one chance to win a championship. And this is it." Roughly 120 minutes of lacrosse separates the Irish from a third title in four years. Thomas Ricciardelli has been openly studying film from the April 25 matchup (a 16-11 ND win in South Bend) to prep for the rematch. Shawn Lyght just picked up the Schmeisser Award for the second straight year on top of his Tewaaraton finalist nod - first defenseman in a decade to be a Tewaaraton finalist.
The other ND name to keep in mind: Josh Yago, who went 4 goals + 3 assists in the quarterfinal over Hopkins. Syracuse will likely pole him; the supporting cast (eight different scorers in the April win) needs to step up if so. For Syracuse, Joey Spallina is a Tewaaraton finalist of their own, and Finn Thomson has three goals in each of their two tournament wins so far.
A stat that frames the moment: ND's last seven NCAA Tournament wins have all been by at least five goals - averaging 9.5 goals per game through the 2026 bracket. Different gear in the postseason.
Upcoming:
- TODAY (Sat May 23) - Men's NCAA Semifinal vs. No. 6 Syracuse, 2:30 p.m. ET on ESPN2 (Scott Stadium, Charlottesville)
- Mon May 25 (Memorial Day) - Men's NCAA Championship Final (if advance), ESPN
Last Result: Men beat Johns Hopkins 15-9 in NCAA Quarterfinal (Sat May 16).
🏀Women's Basketball - Eve Long Commits
Big one. Five-star 2027 forward Eve Long committed to Notre Dame on Tuesday (May 20). She's a 6-foot-3 power forward from Olathe, Kansas - composite No. 12 nationally, No. 2 PF in the 2027 class - and picked ND over Duke, UConn, UCLA, and Kansas. First commit in Niele Ivey's 2027 class, and a strong opening shot after the 2026 class already sits No. 4 nationally with four top-30 recruits.
Big picture: Long pairs with returning National Player of the Year-tier guard Hannah Hidalgo and the No. 5-ranked 2026 incoming class (McDonald's All-Americans Jacy Abii and Jenica Lewis). The pipeline is in good shape.
Upcoming: Niele Ivey leads Team USA U18 at FIBA AmeriCup June 8-14 (Mexico). 2026-27 season opens Nov. 1 at the Eternal City Tip-off in Rome (Fox).
🏈Football
A new flip and a sharper picture on the top WR target.
Jackson Hill (3-star OL) flipped his commitment from UCLA to Notre Dame - a useful OL add after the Layton von Brandt miss to Auburn earlier in the week.
The 2027 WR board has crystallized around Julius Jones Jr. - a 5-11, 175-lb legacy WR from Florida's St. Thomas Aquinas (No. 72 overall, No. 12 WR nationally). He had 58 catches for 876 yards and 14 TDs as a junior. National analysts have ND as the heavy favorite over Oregon and Miami. Official visit June 11-13, commitment date June 23. As one writeup put it: "If he ended up with anyone other than the Fighting Irish, it would be considered a massive upset."
Still on the radar: Jackson Vaughn's commitment is Tuesday May 26 (EDGE, Bergen Catholic, ND projected to land him), and elite DL Marcus Fakatou is touring rivals before his June 15-17 ND return (he's at Ohio State next weekend, then Georgia, Texas, Oregon).
Upcoming:
- Tue May 26 - Jackson Vaughn (EDGE) commitment announcement
- June 11-13 - Julius Jones Jr. official visit; commits June 23
- June 15-17 - Marcus Fakatou (5-star DL) ND return visit
- Sun Sep 6 - vs. Wisconsin, Shamrock Series at Lambeau Field (season opener, 7:30 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock)
Last Result: Blue-Gold Game - Blue 41, Gold 40 (Sat Apr 25)
🔴Utah Utes
🏈Football
No news to report! Here's recent information in case you missed a previous newsletter:
The two storylines for Utah this stretch are both 2027 offensive line visits. Top-30 interior OL Gecova Doyal is in Salt Lake on his official visit next weekend (May 29-31) - finalists are Utah, UCLA, Oregon, and Washington. OL coach Jordan Gross gets the room there. The following weekend, 3-star OL Tye Kennedy (Mountain View HS, AZ) visits June 5; he announces July 1. Utah has zero OL commitments in the 2027 class so far - these two weekends matter.
Upcoming:
- May 29-31 - Gecova Doyal (top-30 OL) official visit
- June 5 - Tye Kennedy (3-star OL) visit
- Thu Sept 3 - vs. Idaho (Morgan Scalley's Rice-Eccles debut, season opener)
- Sept 12 - vs. Arkansas (Rice-Eccles)
🤸Gymnastics
No news to report! Here's recent information in case you missed a previous newsletter:
The 2026 season-end picture: Utah ranked 10th nationally, missed the NCAA Championship by 0.125 at the Corvallis Regional Final - ending the program's 49-year streak of competing at nationals. Avery Neff swept Big 12 Gymnast of the Year with conference-best NQS on vault (9.920), bars (9.935), beam (9.925) and all-around (39.630), then finished 7th in the all-around and 4th on floor at NCAAs as an individual qualifier. Ana Padurariu took Big 12 Specialist of the Year. The program added Steve Arkell (USA National Team, 40+ years experience) as bars coach in April, and Olympic silver medalist Grace McCallum signed on as Student Assistant. Head coach Carly Dockendorf got an extension through 2031.
Upcoming: 2027 season opens January.
🌰Ohio State Buckeyes
🏈Football
Two Buckeyes - EDGE Kenyatta Jackson Jr. and CB Jermaine Mathews Jr. - were named to the Lott IMPACT Trophy watch list yesterday (Fri May 22), which honors the nation's top defensive impact player on and off the field.
On the recruiting trail, David Gabriel-Georges is still on for his May 29 official visit to Columbus. The five-star RB (No. 10 overall, No. 2 RB in 2027) reportedly has a $1M NIL number floating around, with OSU and Tennessee viewed as the two finalists. He'll also visit Tennessee, Ole Miss, and Georgia in June before a July 22 commitment date. Rivals' Steve Wiltfong is still picking OSU.
Stadium-side: Ohio State is installing new turf at Ohio Stadium for 2026, and the program added two more uniforms featuring Buckeye Stripes on the sleeves (Scarlet Rush and Sub Zero alternates) - five total now.
Upcoming:
- May 29 - David Gabriel-Georges (5-star RB) official visit
- Sept 5 - vs. Ball State (season opener)
- Sept 12 - at Texas, 7:30 p.m. ABC
🏀Basketball
John Mobley Jr. is back. The sophomore guard withdrew his name from the NBA Draft and will return for his junior year. He averaged 15.7 points as a sophomore - a meaningful piece of next year's roster locked in.
🏔️Treasure Valley
🍽️Food & Drink
The new openings from late this week remain the headline. Descanso on the Greenbelt (spritz/beer/wine bar with Greenbelt-facing patio at 521 E. 41st St., Garden City, The Boardwalk) opened Friday - a strong post-run or post-Hawks-game option this weekend. The STIL + Bumble Coffee combo in Eagle (101 E. Riverside Dr., former Negranti space) is targeting late May. Vessel Kitchen - the Utah-based protein bowl chain - is on track for its first Idaho location at 55 E. State St. in downtown Eagle, late May / early June. And in Nampa, The Cellars at River's Edge (a new wine bar from the Sol Invictus Vineyard team in a 1921 farmhouse at 207 13th Ave. S.) is also late May.
🎉Events & Things to Do
- TODAY (Sat May 23), 12–5 p.m. - Dennis the Cat Day at the Old Idaho Penitentiary. Prison Pets history presentations, a Prison Paws scavenger hunt, Pin the Tail on Dennis, food trucks, beer, local pet supply vendors, and the release of a new children's book about Dennis. Genuinely-only-in-Boise event.
- TODAY (Sat May 23), 9:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. - Capital City Public Market at The Grove Plaza (running every Sat through Dec 19).
- TODAY (Sat May 23), 7:05 p.m. - Boise Hawks vs. Ogden Raptors, Memorial Stadium. Also AC Boise vs. Fort Wayne FC, 7 p.m. (Expo Idaho, Garden City), broadcast on KTVB Ch. 7.2.
- Sunday May 24, 1:05 p.m. - Hawks vs. Ogden Raptors matinee, Memorial Stadium. 7:30 p.m. - Idaho Shakespeare Festival family night of Macbeth (free for kids 5 and under, lawn tickets from $26).
- Sunday May 24 (Nampa) - Warhawk Air Museum Memorial Day Flyover with $5 admission and food trucks. Flyover path covers Nampa, Meridian, Eagle, and Boise.
- Monday May 25 (Memorial Day):
- Morris Hill Cemetery ceremony 10:45 a.m. (Idaho Civil War Volunteers - brief presentation, 21-gun salute, taps)
- Fort Boise Military Reserve Cemetery ceremony 11:45 a.m.
- Idaho State Veterans Cemetery (Boise) ceremony 10–11 a.m.
- Kleiner Park (Meridian) Rock of Honor Veterans Memorial ceremony 11 a.m.–noon
- City of Boise turns on park splash pads and fountains (through Labor Day, Sept 7).
Weather today: Sunny, high 85°F, low 57°F, light SSW wind ~7 mph, 0% precipitation. Excellent long-run window late morning before it heats up; same for the Hawks game tonight.
📰Local Headlines
- Granite Fire still active: The new wildfire in Boise National Forest reported Wed May 20 (~3:30 p.m.) is still being monitored. Smoke visibility possible in the foothills through the holiday weekend - worth a glance at AirNow if heading north.
- Grove Street Pathway opens: The City of Boise and CCDC celebrated a new pedestrian/bike connector linking east Boise neighborhoods to downtown.
- Memorial Day travel reminder: Float the Boise's partner agencies are still flagging that the official Boise River float season is NOT yet open. And the statewide seatbelt enforcement crackdown runs through May 31 - biggest enforcement on holiday travel days.
🔗Worth Reading
- NCAA Tournament Semifinal Preview: #6 Syracuse - fightingirish.com's official semifinal preview with Lyght, Ricciardelli, Yago breakdown.
- Notre Dame women's basketball lands commitment from five-star Eve Long - Yahoo Sports on the 6-3 PF picking ND over Duke, UConn, UCLA, Kansas.
- Notre Dame has one more remaining hurdle to land Julius Jones Jr. - A to Z Sports on the legacy WR target ND is favored to land June 23.
- Ohio State in Two-Team Race for Potential $1 Million Running Back - Athlon on the OSU/Tennessee battle for Gabriel-Georges before his May 29 OV.
- Memorial Day Weekend in Boise with Kids (2026) - full family-friendly weekend guide with Warhawk flyover, splash pads, and museum picks.
- 20 restaurants set to open in the Treasure Valley in 2026 - BoiseDev's running list, useful context for The STIL/Bumble, Vessel Kitchen, and Cellars at River's Edge.
Generated on Saturday, May 23, 2026