Every Race is an Adventure!

May 12, 2024

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Location:

Orem,UT,USA

Member Since:

Apr 03, 2006

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Age Division Winner

Running Accomplishments:

HS/COLLEGE:
mile: 4:56, 2 mile: 10:21 (1978)
marathon: 2:52 (St. George 1982)
OLD MAN (20+ years later):
5K: 19:53 (Nestle/Art City Days 5K 2007)
10K: 39:55 (Spectrum 10K 2008)
half marathon: 1:26 (Hobble Creek 2008)
marathon: 3:07 (St. George 2007)

Short-Term Running Goals:

Get back to a BQ marathon time (currently 3:40).

Long-Term Running Goals:

Have fun running, keep fit, and fight middle age spread. Run consistently and injury free. Maintain a healthy balance between running and other life priorities. Encourage my ever-aging running buddies to keep running so we can continue to share runs on the trail instead of rocking chairs.

Personal:

Blessed to be married to Karen for 30 years. We have six children (4 daughters/2 sons) ages 16 to 30, and one wonderful granddaughter.

Favorite Blogs:

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
Altra Instinct 1.5 Lifetime Miles: 83.50
Altra Lone Peak 1.5 Lifetime Miles: 21.80
Saucony Guide 7 Blue 2 Lifetime Miles: 376.95
Saucony Fastwitch 6 Lifetime Miles: 200.05
Saucony Guide 7 Black 1 Lifetime Miles: 271.15
Easy MilesThreshold MilesMarathon Pace MilesTrack speed mileageHill mileageTotal
10.000.000.000.000.0010.00

Every year our neighborhood has a 5K Fun Run, and every year someone says that "Fun Run" is an oxymoron. I don't know about that, but I do believe that "an easy 10" is definitely an oxymoron. Larry, Wayne and I did "an easy 10" this morning (9:15/mi avg), but it wasn't easy. Larry says "Fun Run" is just short for "Fun When It's Done Run", so I guess "an easy 10" might just be short for "10 miles at an easy (slower than marathon) pace", but I don't know how any one can think of getting up at 4:45am to start running at 5:30am and then running 10 miles as being easy...very satisfying...but not easy.

My plan is still to play basketball tomorrow morning as my mini-taper for the Provo River half marathon on Saturday.

I stopped at Bridal Veil Park on my way home last night at about 7:00pm. The trail was still closed. I asked a man standing there by his truck (I think he was with the fire fighters) if he knew the status of the fire. He said the fire was basically out and that the crews were about to leave. I mentioned the race on Saturday and asked if he knew when the trail might be open. He said he heard the old road to the upper falls was going to be open Saturday, but that the trail might be closed until September because of all the loose debris at the top of the cliffs. I'm not sure if he was a reliable source of information, but it will be interesting to see if/how the race comes off on Saturday.

Addendum: If the race goes forward, I decided it would be good to have some goals to keep things interesting. Since I don't know what the course will be (maybe nobody does at this point) and I've never run it before (nobody has), I decided on some non-time-related goals. The time the goal would have required last year is in parentheses.

1. Top 3 in age division (1:35:15)
2. Top 5% overall (1:34:43)
3. Keep chicked count under 10 (1:30:43)

Addendum #2: I just received an email update on the Provo River 1/2. It looks the race will start up South Fork after all (like previous years), run on the highway from Vivian to Nunn's (because the trail is closed due to fire...this means no uphill loop), run on the trail to Shops@Riverwoods (like previous years), and then have a loop at the end (to make up for no loop at Bridal Veil). Seems like a pretty good plan to me. Should be fun!

Comments
From Tom on Thu, Aug 07, 2008 at 14:51:04

Paul I think I like this change. I was checking elevations yesterday and noticed the elevation at the dam was about 200 ft lower than the south fork starting line so I'm assuming this would certainly slow things down a bit. But if we get to start at south fork AND avoid the uphill backtrack mile then we could see some pretty speedy times. Should be fun I'm getting excited.

From Paul T on Thu, Aug 07, 2008 at 15:16:23

I would agree with your "quicker course" analysis, Tom, with one little...maybe big...caveat. Wayne and I ran on that 2.5 mile stretch of highway between Vivian Park and Nunn's Park last Saturday. We were quite surprised to encounter a very long and quite steep "bump" in the road, that is skirted when running on the trail. I didn't notice a "steep grade" sign going up, but the sign we saw on the downhill coming back down said it was a 7% grade.

The 7% downhill is okay, but I would estimate there is about a mile of climbing up from Vivian Park to get to the top of that hill. It seemed to go on forever. Be mentally prepared! I think a lot of people are going to be unpleasantly surprised. The big hill followed by the steep pounding downhill may adjust a few race plans midstream.

Regardless, I still think it sounds like a grand adventure!

From Tom on Thu, Aug 07, 2008 at 15:22:02

Dang there always has to be a catch! Thanks for the warning on the "bump", I'll begin my mental preparations immediately!

If I have time I may go in with the course tool and try to make some close approximation to the course.

One thing I wondered thought about the starting line...... I was thinking in previous years the start was only 3 miles above Vivian but Curt's email says 4. What is your recollection? I wonder if we start up higher this year than usual?

From Paul T on Thu, Aug 07, 2008 at 15:40:53

I think it's about 3.3 miles from Vivian Park to the traditional start location. It's about 4.3 miles to the gate at Trefoil. There is a small dirt parking lot at about 4.2 miles. I think buses could turn around there. I guess it could be starting there this year. I think I'd start mapping there if he says it's four miles. The rest should be easy to map except I have no idea how long or where the loop at the end might be.

A course map would be nice, wouldn't it?

From Tom on Thu, Aug 07, 2008 at 15:46:00

A course map would be nice, however I was just tinkering with the course tool and I'm getting error messages about not being able to read the elevation. Seems like when I've tried to map out mountain/canyon type routes I run into this problem. Oh well.... I suppose sometimes it's better to not have so much data to fret about and just go out and have fun and enjoy the race adventure. If I was really daring I'd leave the garmin home Saturday but I just don't know if I can bring myself to do that.

From Kerry on Thu, Aug 07, 2008 at 16:26:03

Saturday's race really should be an adventure. Even in normal years, this course beats me up a bit. The steep downhills almost always do a number on my quads and calves. In years past the course has looped around at the end where you think you're right at the finish and speed up only to find it's three quarters of a mile away. It'll be good to keep an eye on the Garmin as the mile markers are sometimes way off. Have you guys made any plans to meet and ride up together?

From Paul T on Thu, Aug 07, 2008 at 16:30:06

Kerry - I don't have any plans yet. I'm not sure about Tom. This is my first time. You are a veteran. Can you recommend a time and place to meet? I think Tom wants to get in a 3 mile warm up. I prefer to get up to the start early as well.

From Tom on Thu, Aug 07, 2008 at 16:40:37

I haven't made plans either but I would like to meet if someone has a good location. Terry's running as well so he might like to join us too.

From Kerry on Thu, Aug 07, 2008 at 19:08:38

I'd suggest that we park in the Movie 12 parking lot and meet at their ticket window at exactly 5:00 a.m. (south side of the building -- I'll send you a Google Earth Placemark as well). We can then go around the corner, pick up our numbers and board a bus. Leaving the parking lot at 5:15, we should be able to get to the start by 5:45 which will allow for a quick porta-potty stop and a half hour to warm up and ten minutes to work our way to the starting line. We can also meet a few minutes earlier or later if you'd like. His races don't always start on time, but once he actually started it a couple of minutes early.

From Paul T on Thu, Aug 07, 2008 at 19:11:02

Sounds good to me. See you at 5:00am at the ticket window.

From Cal on Thu, Aug 07, 2008 at 19:41:36

Tom, wouldn't it be better to still bring the Garmin and just NOT look at it during the race rather than NOT bring it at all? I'm sure you'll want your splits to analyze afterward regardless, right?

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