It was great to see Kent out this morning. He quit running a couple of years ago, but his daughter is training for the St. George marathon this year so he's back and is planning to run it with her. Well, it looks like I'm in the Utah Valley Marathon. I got email confirmation last night and another packet pickup information email this morning. Lyle and Cory were 99% sure they could get me in through a sponsor entry, and I had also emailed Hyrum about his offer from many months ago to let me run for free as a training run. I'm not quite sure which of them got me in, but I'm in. [I just noticed Lyle left a voice mail last night confirming he had got me in.]
I'm really excited to run UVM again. I'm not quite sure why, since I went out way too fast last year and didn't enjoy the last 6 or 8 miles much at all. I think mostly it's the course calling me, especially with the changes this year (more canyon, no Timpview climb or airport dirt road). I'm also looking forward to running a relaxed marathon. With the relay next Friday, I plan to run an easy training pace at the marathon. The primary goal is to enjoy the marathon while beating up my body as little as possible so I have the best chance at being fully recovered for the relay. I only went an easy 5K this morning with Larry and Kent before turning
back. I guess now I need to focus on resting and eating carbs.
Some of you may question the wisdom of running a marathon 6 days before the Ragnar Relay. I know I do, which is why I wasn't planning to run UVM even through I really wanted to. As I think of why I decided at the last minute to do it, various thoughts come to mind: 1) faith over fear, 2) no guts, no glory, 3) you only live once, 4) Get Out And Live (GOAL - from Ogden marathon), and 5) Vivir con miedo, es como vivir a medias! (A life lived in fear is a life half lived. - Strictly Ballroom). Some other sayings that also come to mind: 1) time will tell, 2) hindsight is 20-20, and 3) the proof of the pudding is in the eating. NOTE (on pudding quote): "It is worth remembering that, as the phrase is quite old, the pudding wouldn't have been a sticky toffee pudding from the sweet trolley, but a potentially fatal savoury dish. ...THE OED describes the mediaeval pudding as 'the stomach or one of the entrails of a pig, sheep, or other animal, stuffed with a mixture of minced meat, suet, oatmeal, seasoning, etc., and boiled'. ...Mediaeval peasants, faced with a boiled up farmyard massacre, might have thought a taste test to have been a wise choice."
Comparing running a marathon six days before a 24 hour 180 mile relay race to eating a "potentially fatal boiled up farmyard massacre" may be a good analogy. I'm hoping for a delicious sausage breakfast.
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