Every Race is an Adventure!

AM. I ended up running alone this morning. Some company would have been nice, but I've always been able to enjoy solo runs. It was a beautiful morning with perfect temperatures.

As I've been recovering from injuries and building my mileage I've been cautious and haven't done much speed work. With the 5K this weekend, and the WBR less than 3 weeks away, I think I'll try a few faster miles this week and see how it goes.

This morning my mile splits were 9:25, 8:21, 8:02, 7:29, 7:31, and 9:18. I warmed up, gradually sped up, did a bit of a tempo run for miles 4 and 5, then cooled down. I didn't look at my watch except when it beeped the mile splits. I was sort of hoping that first tempo mile would be closer to 7:00 than 7:30, but I wasn't really going all out. I knew I had to save something for the noon run today.

When I went to blog this entry today I saw the empty month of June with no entries yet. It was a bit intimidating to think of all the miles I would have to run to match the 180+ miles I ran in May. I wondered if my old body would hold up for another month. I thought of the Nestle 5K this Saturday, and of course the Wasatch Back Relay in a few weeks. We never quite know what's going to happen, but it's alway an adventure and, to use a basketball analogy, you miss every shot you don't take.

I don't go to the library much, but Karen does. I went with her Saturday and ended up renting and watching the movie "Without Limits", a movie about Olympic runner Steve Prefontaine. I didn't care for some of the language, and I wouldn't recommend his lifestyle, but his mental toughness and courage while running was truly inspiring. I used his quote, "The only good race pace is a suicide pace" to inspire me to finally break 20:00 minutes in the Nestle 5K last year. Maybe watching the movie will inspire me to break my 19:53 PR at this year's Nestle 5K this weekend. I know my old body has limits, but it's a fun hobby finding out what they are.

PM. I went out with Tom, Nathan, and Bill at noon. The weather was pretty warm, but there was good breeze. We headed east toward the mountains and did the modified Eagle View course that heads north and includes the longer (but not as steep) uphill. Tom turned back as planned at 2.5 miles. Nathan, Bill, and I went to 3 miles before turning around. By unspoken common consent the pace gradually picked up on the way back. Near the end both Bill and Nathan pulled away from me, Nathan significantly. My mile splits were 8:46, 8:14, 8:53 (the hill), 7:40, 7:19, and 7:21. Nathan went sub-7:00 the last mile. Overall average pace for me was 8:01/mi for the 6 miles. Good company, good run, and a good workout for me.

Another beautiful morning. I ran just short of two miles before meeting Larry and Wayne. We ran the 2000 N hill and loop through Lindon then added a 1/2 mile loop around the block get our six miles in. The conversation wasn't so good today. For some reason we started talking about how bad we all were as young men. We didn't confess too many awful sins, but it seems we each made our fair share of bad choices through those difficult years. Looking at where we are now, all I can say is we are walking evidence of the power of Jesus Christ to make bad men good, and good men better. We're still far from perfect, but there's been significant progress, and hope for more to come. So maybe the conversation this morning wasn't so bad after all.

AM. I ran a little over a half mile then met Wayne at Larry's. Larry never came out, even after knocking. Wayne couldn't see their car in the garage. We finally decided to head out for the Wednesday run up the water tank hills. The light rain got a little heavier during the run, but was never real bad.

We both commented how it would be nice if the hills got easier after doing them so many times. They didn't seem very easy this morning to either of us. It was encouraging when we reached the top to realize that we had run the 2.5 miles from home to the top of the hills 4 minutes faster than last week.

I'm planning on some more miles at noon, but the weather doesn't look too favorable.

PM. Tom and I ran 5 easy miles in the rain on the modified Eagle View course. We didn't focus much on the running, just had a nice conversational run. My Garmin showed an average pace of around 8:21/mi. I might have preferred to hear laughter in the rain walking hand in hand with the one I love (Karen)...or I might have preferred to be singing and dancing in the rain...but running in the rain with Tom was pretty enjoyable, too.

It turns out Larry and his wife Jolene were in Park City yesterday for her birthday and that's why Larry didn't run. He had texted both Wayne and me, but neither of us looked at our phones before the run. Maybe it's Wayne's wife's birthday because he didn't show up this morning.

I ran 0.6 miles before meeting Larry and Kevin. They both wanted to do the water tank hills (I did them yesterday but they missed out) and we were headed there, but then Kevin suggested we run to the mouth of the canyon instead. It was a good choice. We added a little distance on so we could run down to the gas station and back up just to get the hills in. Kevin pushed up the hill and left me behind. We ended up with 6.5 miles. I pushed the last 1/4 mile or so at around a 6:30 pace and it felt pretty good. Overall pace was 8:45/mi.

Since school is out now, and my morning schedule is not so tight, I was able to join my adult son Andrew for basketball with "the old gang" this morning. The core members of the group have been playing regularly together for 25+ years. I haven't been for months and the participants had changed a little. Until Dean, Lex, and Nate showed up, I was 25 to 35 years older than the other 8 or 9 people there. I wanted to change my mind and go home and run a few easy miles instead, but I was Andrew's ride and he wanted to stay, so I stayed. It turned out to be a lot of fun, and I didn't stink it up too bad. It was great to talk with Andrew on the ride there and back and we had a good conversation in the kitchen after we got home. I don't get much time to talk to Andrew and that opportunity was the key consideration in choosing basketball over running this morning. I would have only run a few easy miles anyway as my legs have felt a little sluggish as I've boosted my mileage, and I wanted to rest them a little before the Nestle 5K tomorrow.

I was torn between running the Nestle 5K this morning and helping with our stake service project to prepare Camp Shalom for Young Women's camp. I'm the stake clerk so I was in stake presidency meeting early last Sunday morning when we first found out about this urgent, last minute assignment. The stake that was originally assigned to open the camp the week before couldn't get in because of too much snow, and they couldn't do it this week because of some other big stake event they already had planned. So the camp director asked our stake if we could please help out. This was a big assignment that would require at least 25 volunteers, generators, shop vacs, snow shovels, etc. President Yeates, the stake presidency counselor who was given this assignment, left the meeting and he and a high councilor started calling bishops to ask them to get 5 volunteers from each ward.

I contacted President Yeates yesterday and he said they had 28 volunteers, but they expected some no shows. I decided to do the race, but late last night I was still conflicted and couldn't find peace in my decision. It seemed to be a decision between service and selfish, and I was choosing selfish. I count on the Lord's blessings to help me with my running, and I wasn't feeling worthy of asking for that help when I was unwilling to help him. More than once I nearly decided to just skip the race go help with the service project, but that didn't feel right either.

It finally dawned on me that I could do both. I'd have to go down a little late, and drive myself, but that was a small price to pay for peace, for being able to do both good things. Unfortunately it was past midnight before I made my decision. I had prepared my things for the race, so I then proceeded to pack another bag with work clothes. When I got up this morning I grabbed gloves, tools, my shop vac, and generator and loaded them in the Suburban and head to the race, a little late, but with peace in my heart.

Well, I was mostly at peace. I was a little disappointed at the heavily overcast skies and steady rain. I knew there was a small chance of rain, but I had expected a beautiful morning anyway. I felt a little hurried before the race but managed to get my number, hit the bathroom, and get a little warm up in. I didn't feel quite warmed up enough, but things looked like they were getting serious at the starting line so I headed over and worked my way to the front. I actually started on the sidewalk to the side. I did not want to get stuck behind a bunch of slower runners like last year.

It was only a minute or so before the race started (a few minutes early by my watch). I started quickly and successfully avoided getting stuck behind too many runners. I was breathing hard pretty quickly and began to wonder if I was mentally and physically ready. I mentally reviewed the targets splits I had come up with yesterday: 6:35, 6:15, 6:20, and 0:30 for 19:40. I chose to not wear my Garmin this morning and just ran with my Ironman watch.

1-6:35 I was a little surprised that I was exactly on target. I was breathing a little hard, but the legs were feeling okay. I was staying even with most of the runners around me, and passing a few who had apparently started out too quickly.

2-6:29 At this point I pretty much knew 19:40 wasn't going to happen in the rain today, but I thought sub-20:00 might still be possible. I was still pretty much running even with most of the runners around me and didn't feel like I was fading or backing off the effort. I was still working pretty hard.

3.1-6:55 I didn't see the mile 3 marker so I don't have the third mile split, but my target was to run the last 1.1 in 6:50 and I ran it in 6:55. I feel like I held on pretty strong, and only a few runners passed me. As I rounded the last curve on the track I heard footsteps then Hal Amos passed me. I thought the finish line was going to be at the end of the next straightaway but then I saw it just after the curve. I fired the turbo thrusters and zipped past Hal to finish in 19:59:67 (by my watch), barely under 20:00. I wish I wouldn't have misjudged the finish line and started my kick a little sooner.

I was surprised by how much kick I had left. While I feel I was fairly tough mentally during the race, I think I was a little off my game. I didn't feel ready at the start, and I think the rain (especially not being able to see clearly through my wet glasses) prevented me from focusing and leaving it all on the road.

I finished 5th in my age division, same as last year, even though my time was 6 seconds slower. I think with the rain the conditions were slower this year. I ran this race so I could compare my fitness last year to this year. Overall I feel like I'm at least where I was last year, maybe slightly ahead since I didn't feel like I raced my best, the conditions were slower, I had too much kick left, and I still had a comparable performance.

And I guess it was my lucky day, too. I called a neighbor who was participating in the service project to see how many showed up this morning. He said there were 38 people and that my help wasn't needed. I would have enjoyed the service project (I always do), but standing wet and cold under the bleachers as the rain continued, I have to admit that I was quite happy to not be driving 90 miles each way and working in the rain, mud, and snow. And during the drawing for prizes (lots and lots of awesome stuff) I was talking to Darin when I heard my number called. I hadn't heard what it was for but I hurried up for my prize. They handed me a big bag of Laffy Taffy and Sweethearts and a small white box from Costco. As I walked back to Darin I wondered aloud what I had won. Someone then said something like, "If you don't want that iPod Nano I'll take it." It turns out I won a 4GB iPod Nano. Cool! Of course it now belongs to Karen (my idea, not hers). She just stopped by and I need to go help her download songs.

Not only is every race an adventure, life itself is a pretty incredible adventure. We all have bad times now and then, that's why it's so important to enjoy the good times...like today.

AM. 5.9 easy miles with Larry.

PM. 6.2 easy miles with Tom.

Once again I experienced the phenomenon of running in the morning at a certain effort level and running in the middle of the day at what feels like the same effort level and having the pace of the daytime run be significantly faster (about 1:00 minute per mile today) than the morning pace. An interesting experiment would be to run in the morning with Tom and at midday with Larry. Is it the time of day, or who I'm running with? I'm sure who I'm running with has some effect, but I've experienced the same thing when I've run alone in the morning and alone at midday. Hmmm.

This morning I got in 1.5 miles and then met Larry and we ran the 2000 N Lindon loop. We were a bit surprised that Wayne didn't show up. He's running the Teton Dam marathon this Saturday and is tapering this week, but we still thought he'd show up for our easy run this morning.

It was another beautiful spring morning. As I walked home after parting with Larry I was struck by how beautiful everything around me was. The sun had risen over Provo Canyon, the air was crisp and clean, and everything seemed to be lit up and full of life. The brilliant blue sky was scattered with fluffy white clouds. Timp's majestic snow-covered peaks seemed to glisten. There was a tree whose beautiful green leaves seemed aglow.  The songbirds were at their best. My neighbors' dark green lawns and colorful flower beds were bold and beautiful. What a loving Heavenly Father we have who has given us such beauty to enjoy.

AM. I ran a little a little before I met up with Larry. We then ran the water tank hills. The temperature was in the low 40's with a pretty strong chilly wind blowing, but with a couple of shirts and my gloves I never got too cold.

We took it easy through the first 3 hills but then I pushed hills 4 and 5 pretty hard. On the way back down I decided to push the last 1/2 mile down from 400 E to Main on 1600 N. There was a pretty strong headwind, but I still managed to average a 5:54 pace. The best part was that it felt pretty good.

I think I'm in pretty good shape for the relay next week. I was hoping to have stepped my fitness up a notch from last year, but with shoulder surgery over the winter and a couple of injury setbacks I'm just happy to be where I am, which is about where I was last year, which was a good year for me.

It's great to have goals and strive for improvement and keep looking ahead, but I also think it is important to occasionally look back and see how far you've come, and count your blessings, and take joy in it. My glass isn't full, but there's quite a bit of water in it, enough for a cool refreshing drink.

PM. Ran 6.2 easy (8:12/mi) and enjoyable miles with Tom and Darin. I feel pretty good getting 12+ miles in today. Of course, Tom had 14+ and Darin 16+ I think, and of course their miles this morning were considerably faster than mine. That's okay. My glass is still well over half full.

Ran some easy miles with Larry up towards Provo Canyon. I ran a little before meeting up with him for a total of 6.9 miles. It was unseasonably cool again this morning, but it was still a very enjoyable run.

I guess you could call today's run a "running lifestyle" run. No particular plan, no intervals, no pace goals, no uncomfortable effort...just a couple of buddies running along sharing good conversation and enjoying the beautiful morning. I think runs like today's run motivate me to keep running as much as the pursuit of PRs. Work kind of imploded on me yesterday and I ended up working until 9:30pm under a bit of pressure to get some bugs fixed. After this morning's run therapy I'm ready to face another day.

A little cross training again this Friday playing basketball with Andrew and the guys in the morning. There were only 6 of us this morning, so we only played half court, but it was still pretty fun. I got a little scare when a tall but quick young man and I both went for a loose ball. I ended up taking a hard shoulder to my sternum. Fortunately my skeletal structure withstood the blow without any breakage. My sternum is a little sore, and it twinges a little if I twist a certain way, but I'm grateful it's minor enough that it shouldn't affect my running.

As evidence, because we only played half court I didn't feel like I'd gotten enough of a cardiovascular workout so I went out and ran a few miles after we got home. On our run yesterday Larry was telling me that years back the neighborhood group would run a "fast mile" from the top of the WordPerfect curve (about 800 E and 1600 N) down into our neighborhood (about Main and 1600 N). I ran the one mile up (8:56) to confirm that it was a mile, then ran the "fast mile" at a quick but less than all out pace (6:11), then cooled down a mile (8:12) by going around the block a couple of times. I didn't notice any discomfort in my chest while running.

I'm late blogging this run. It's been a busy, but good, weekend. Kevin, Larry, and I headed out at 7:00am but Larry informed us he had to be back to go support a hike some of the Relief Society sisters in our neighborhood were doing. Kevin and I went out again for some more miles after dropping Larry off. We ended up going about 10.6 miles

It was good we kept it a little short today because Tiffany called and asked if we could stop and pick up some glitter on our way to see Amy in the Art City Days parade. Tiffany is interning at Lavendar Farms and has help design the fairy costumes for their parade entry. One young fairy couldn't make it this week so Tiffany asked Amy to fill in. She did an awesome job and had a lot of fun riding on a small horse-drawn wagon and waving at everyone watching the parade. Karen and I are both from Springville so this is our hometown parade, but we hadn't been for many years. We, and our other two daughters, got shaved ice and watched the parade and had a good time.

I then spent a few hours running errands to help Karen and the girls get ready for girls camp this week. After that I left Karen and our older daughter to shop, cook, and pack for camp and took our two youngest daughters to visit my parents at their property in Nephi canyon. My Mom said they were going to eat around 5:00pm and we passed through the gate at exactly 5:00pm. The marinated chicken, corn on the cob, shredded potatoes, and pumpkin pie were delicious. I visited with my parents and two of my sisters, taught Emily how to drive the four wheeler by herself, lost at Canasta, taught my daughters to play Yahtzee, and enjoyed the absolutely perfect weather and frequent visits from the humming birds. We had planned to leave around 9:00pm and passed through the gate at exactly 9:00pm. I only mention our arrival and departure times because this is the only time in recorded history that we have arrived to and left from a scheduled event exactly on time. My daughters thought that was pretty cool. It was also cool when we saw an inch worm floating in the sky attached to...absolutely nothing. There was nothing but sky above, and there it was dangling on an invisible thread in the breeze. My sister saw it, too, so we have four eyewitnesses.

What a fun day!

I ran six easy miles (9:20/mi) with Larry this morning then the Lake View 10K loop (8:05/mi) with Tom and Nathan at noon. Fortunately , Tom had run 14 miles in the morning, and Nathan had run 8 fast ones, so they were willing to slow down to an 8:05/mi average pace so I could keep up.

Karen made me a tray of peanut butter bars for Father's Day yesterday, even though she had been sick all night and still wasn't feeling well in the morning. I hope eating peanut butter bars is good preparation for running the relay, because I'll be eating them whether it is or not. What a sweet way for her to tell me she loves and appreciates me, almost as sweet as the homemade cards with heartfelt messages that my three youngest daughters gave me. My three adult children showed their love by being there, and by allowing me to watch the "My Turn On Earth" DVD Karen gave me instead of the first half of the NBA Finals game between the Lakers and the Celtics.

I skipped my morning run with Larry and Wayne because I wanted to help Karen and the girls get off to camp this morning. I saw Larry and Wayne both as they started and as they ended their run, and I missed being with them. I wanted to hear about Wayne's experience at the Teton Dam Marathon on Saturday (he doesn't blog...but he should). I did hear that it was a very hard marathon. I think he said the overall winner was barely under 3:00. His goal was under 4:00 and he finished in 3:45. He's come back from his sever health problems over the winter very quickly.

I finally headed out for a solo run at around 8:00am. I decided to go longer today as I'll be tapering later in the week for the relay. I ended up running from my house up to Bridal Veil Falls, almost exactly 7 miles one way.

My splits on the way up were 8:27, 8:34, 8:05, 8:14, 8:10, 8:47, and 9:05.

I averaged 8:19 for the first 0.8 miles on the trip back then started a 3 mile uptempo run starting at the start of the Army National Guard's 2 mile run that is just after the rise out of Nunn's Park (says, "Hooah" on the start line). My splits were 6:56, 7:19 (some uphill), and 7:20. The third mile would have been faster but I stopped to pick up some toys that some toddlers had been dropping from their strollers. I had passed two young mothers going the other direction, each pushing a stroller. I saw the first toy and kept going, but then saw another one 20-30 yards farther along the trail. I decided to double back and return them to their presumed owners. On the way back I found a third that had just recently been dropped. As I caught them and presented the toys I noticed they had plenty more they could have dropped. I thought of Hansel and Gretel dropping breadcrumbs but quickly decided the mothers didn't look like witches so I returned the toys and resumed my run. My average for that mile had dropped to 7:33 (I think) at the point I resumed but I managed to pull it back down to 7:20 by the end.

The 3.5 miles from there, up the hill on 800 N and back home, were very hard for me (8:51, 8:48, 8:53, 9:33/mi for last 0.5 miles. I was pretty tired and it was getting pretty hot (around 80 degrees). The overall average pace for the 14.3 miles was 8:19/mi.

The forecast highs for the relay are 92 on Friday and 96 on Saturday. I think today's run was good mental preparation for running tired in the heat. At least during the relay I'll have my van mates giving me plenty of water to drink and cool down with. I can't believe it's relay week again already. It's going to be awesome!

Larry and I ran the water tank hills at a very easy pace this morning. My legs were a little tired from yesterday's hard run, but they loosened up good and felt great by the end of the run.

We stopped once to talk with a woman who had an Aussie shepherd like Larry's dog Ozzie. We stopped again later to talk with Cheryl Harper and another runner (Bruce I think?). It was a beautiful morning and a relaxing run.

I'll probably run 5 or 6 easy miles tomorrow. I'm at about 32 miles so far this week. That will put me at around 38. With the roughly 16 miles I'll be running in the relay on Friday and Saturday that should put at around 54 miles for the week. I'm hoping to make the relay miles fast miles (at least moderately fast I hope) so this should end up being a good training week for me.

I decided to back off and only run a few easy miles this morning. Wayne showed up to run with Larry (he didn't know if I would be running today), but Larry never came out so the two of us went out for an easy 2.8 miles. He's still recovering from the Teton Dam Marathon last Saturday so he didn't mind the short easy run.
 

Leg 6 - 6.9 Miles - Very Hard - Summits Avon Pass then descends into Ogden Valley.

We started at 3:00pm. I watched our first four runners valiantly battle the heat. Tom and I got a little break with some shade and cooler temperatures up and over Avon Pass, but we had other challenges. Tom valiantly conquered the relentless uphill run climbing 1200' to an altitude of over 6200'. I took the baton from Tom and began my leg with energy. After over 4 hours of watching my van mates, it felt good to finally be running. The leg begins with a 1.5 mile ascent to the 6500' summit of Avon Pass. It wasn't very long before I began to feel the affects of the climb and the altitude. I was glad when the descent began. I had seen the WSU runner (Weber State ladies "has beens") head out a little before me and hoped I could catch her. The dirt road was pretty rough and I had to be careful as I tried to take the brakes off. I made good time on the steep part of the descent and managed to pass the WSU runner and a few other runners. My pace slowed considerably as I reached the base of the mountain and the road flattened out, but I still felt like I was running pretty well and continued to pass other runners. One young, tall, fast runner passed me in the last mile or so. Overall I feel like I worked hard and ran the leg pretty well.

Splits: 8:10, 7:09, 5:48, 6:00, 6:36, 7:02, 7:06/mi for 0.9 (Avg. 6:50/mi)

Leg 18 - 5.2 Miles - Hard - Difficult uphill road climbs to East Canyon Reservoir.

I started this leg about 1:52am, with cool temperatures, a nearly full moon, and a strong headwind. The leg climbs from 5300' to 5800', with some ups and downs along the way. It was a perfect run...if you subtract the hills and the headwind. Similar to the first leg, I felt like I ran this leg pretty strong. I think I passed 8 runners and was passed by 2 runners from elite teams (one was from the Runner's Corner team). I caught right up behind a 9th runner just before we climbed the last big hill. He didn't seem to want to let me by and we both pushed hard up the hill. I think the sprints into the exchange point are a little dangerous, and usually meaningless, so I was content stay behind him as we both pushed hard to the finish.

Splits: 7:56, 8:04, 7:55, 9:11, 8:22, 7:15/mi for 0.2 (Avg 8:17/mi)

== 

Leg 30 - 3.6 Miles - Easy - Flat leg through green pastures to Middle School

I started this leg at 10:23am. It had started to get pretty warm, but I knew Van 2 would bear the worst of the heat today so I didn't complain. The first half of the leg is on a narrow dirt road with team vans parked along the right side. I started out pretty fast and was soon zipping past a slow moving team van on its left side, both of us going the same direction. There was about 3 feet between the van and the left side of the road. Just as I was approaching the driver's door she apparently spotted a parking spot and felt she needed to swing left a little before entering it. I yelled "Hey!" (not very informative, but I didn't have time for "Excuse me! I'm running here and you are about to push me off the left side of the road and into a fence. I would rather not have that happen. Would you mind letting me pass?") I fired my adrenalin-fueled thrusters and tried to squeeze past the mirror and escape the danger before becoming a story for other runners to tell. I'm not sure if it was my "Hey!" or the sound of my shoulder striking her mirror, but she finally noticed me and stopped. Luckily the mirror was movable and it didn't really hurt me or even slow me down much. I still managed a 6:40 split on the first mile (maybe adrenalin-aided), but my tired legs couldn't hold it. I slowed a little through the middle part of the run but still managed to pass other runners and not get passed. I fired the final fuel in the thrusters for a pretty good kick around the final curve past the crowds and into the exchange. It felt very good to be done.

Splits: 6:40, 7:04, 7:39, 6:57/mi for 0.6 (Avg 7:07/mi)

==

My overall average pace was 7:22/mi (8.1 mph) for the roughly 15.7 miles. I feel good about my efforts and performance and think I performed about as well as I could given the race conditions and my current conditioning. My legs are pretty stiff, especially my quads.

Our "2 Slow 2 Win 2 Dumb 2 Quit" team finished 35th out of 545 regular relay teams. We took 2nd place in our Men Sub-Masters division. The 1st place team finished nearly 3 hours ahead of us, well out of our reach, but the 3rd place team was only 5 minutes behind us, with four other teams within 40 minutes. It took the combined efforts of each team member to give us the final edge.

I'm still trying to figure it out, but even with everything going so well some of the magic of past years seemed to be missing for me.

I had awesome van mates and team mates. We got along well and worked well together. I thought things went pretty smoothly logistically. We had a couple of hiccups (as usual) but we responded to them well.

I think I ran pretty well. I passed a lot of people and only got passed by 4 or 5 elite runners that were obviously out of my class. As a team we finished a little slower than last year, but the course was a little longer. We finished 2nd in the Men Sub-masters division instead of 1st, but it was still a very respectable performance against so many quality teams.

I thought the race was well organized, especially for how big it was this year. It was cool seeing so many runners and teams spread throughout the entire length of the course.

The weather was hot at times, but not really too hot during my legs, and it was hotter last year. The nearly full moon for the night legs was nice.

Everything went pretty darn well. Still, at various times during the relay I felt like I was just going through the motions. I wasn't feeling the excitement and fire, the "Spirit of the Wasatch", that I've felt in the four previous relays.

One thing may have been that I overestimated my 10K pace, resulting in all of my projected estimates being beyond what I was capable of doing. Even though I think I actually ran pretty well for me, I was always slower than my estimated pace. Tom did the same thing, and he beat himself up pretty badly for not performing at the very aggressive level of the estimated paces. He ran very well, but seemed to feel like he'd failed. I think his disappointment may have affected me more than my own. I think in future years we both need to estimate our "flat 10K pace in Salt Lake City" pace as a "flat 10K pace in Salt Lake City when running three 10K's in 24 hours with very little sleep". It might result in more reasonable and achievable targets.

Another thing was that I didn't seem to feel as much camaraderie with the other teams in the relay this year. I'm thinking this had to do with there being so many teams this year. In past years it seemed like we'd chat more with the other teams at the exchanges, and even with some of the volunteers. This year every exchange seemed to be so crowded and busy. It was more of a "busy big city" feeling than a "quiet rural run" feeling for me...the being alone in a crowd sort of feeling at times. Everyone else seemed to be having a good time though, so maybe it was just me.

Every time I kiss my wife Karen it isn't magical (most of the time but not always), but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop kissing her, because when it is magical it's...well...magical. Rather than kiss off the relay, I think I'll embrace it again next year and keep the love alive. (Insert your own relationship metaphor here.)

I ran the Tuesday morning route with Larry and Wayne. Unfortunately, this route includes the big hill up 2000 N. The uphill actually felt pretty good, but my quads complained about coming back down.

I'm pretty sure it was the big downhill in my first leg of the relay on Friday (Leg 6) that did this to my quads, especially after reading Sasha's comments this leg:

"We made a mistake on this leg assignment underestimating the pounding effect of that downhill. It is very nasty - dirt, lots of turns, and a three mile stretch of 8% downhill. More quad-trashing than we realized. Jeff damaged his quads on this leg, and it hurt him for the rest of the relay and threw him off his projections." 

Of course Jeff averaged 5:39/mi on this leg and I only averaged 6:40/mi, but it sounds like I'm not the only one whose quads were thrashed by the descent of Avon Pass.

I ran the water tank hills with Larry, Wayne, and Kevin this morning. Wayne and I pushed the last few hills a bit. My legs felt fine on the way up, but my quads, still sore from the relay, didn't like the downhill much. Wayne and I pushed again a little (not all out) the last mile or so. I think the last half mile was at about a 6:55/mi pace.

My sternum/ribs (where I took a hard shoulder playing basketball a couple of weeks ago) have started hurting me a little again after about a week of no pain. I must have done something to aggravate them. I don't think it's anything serious. It just needs a little more time to heal.

Update: I went to our health fair at work today and had the following screenings done:

Blood Pressure:  122/77 (Desirable < 120/80)
Cholesterol:  162 (Desirable < 200)
Glucose:  94 (Desirable < 140)
Body Fat:  18.1% (Healthy Male 40-59 12% to 24%)
Body Mass Index:  23.8 (Normal 18.5 to 25)
Bone Density:  0.4 (Normal +1.0 to -0.99)

Basically, I'm pretty darn healthy, mostly due to my running (because I know my diet isn't very good). I'd never had my cholesterol, glucose, or bone density tested before so I was very pleased with these positive results. My blood pressure was just a little high, but I'm not worried. It varies over time and when I checked it recently at the pharmacy I was well under 120/80. I think it may have been a little high today because the young woman doing the screening was really cute and friendly and had a beautiful smile. (Don't worry, I already told Karen the same thing.) I've always been nervous around girls, especially cute ones.

It was great having Larry, Wayne, and Kevin all out again today. I hope we can keep it up. We did the Thursday run up towards Provo Canyon this morning. I inserted a few fartleks including a half mile at 5:53 pace. I averaged 8:50/mi for the 6.9 miles.

Well, at the prompting of my daughter (who was helping with Lavender Days at Young Living Lavender Farms this year) I ran in the Run Through the Lavender 5K for the first time, and maybe for the last time. It's not much fun running races no one else is interested in running. It's a lot more fun to have buddies running. I did bump into a former co-worker and my dentist's hygienist who ran the race, but it's not the same has being with my running buddies.

And the course, to me at least, is difficult. The course is almost entirely on dirt roads that run through the lavender fields. It is kind of cool to be able to have an unobstructed view of almost the entire course...the winners way up ahead and the masses coming behind...but most of the first half of the course is uphill. I warmed up well, a couple of miles on the course, and felt good at the start. Right from the start it felt hard to breath, but I chalked that up to starting fast and running uphill. I couldn't generate much speed on the gradual but steady uphill. When I finally got to the downhill I didn't have enough zip left to make up for the slowness on the uphill. Most of the last mile I had increased difficulty breathing. I was breathing every step and couldn't seem to take a deep breath. My chest felt tight and I had a pretty sharp pain in my back. I pushed through it as well as I could to the finish. I recovered very quickly after the race and felt great.

My splits were: 6:54, 6:51, 6:45, 0.11 in 32.96 (5:13/mi) Total 21:04 (6:46/mi)

I finished 17th among the men, 2nd in my division, and got chicked by two ladies.

You may recall that a couple of weeks ago I took a hard shoulder to my chest playing basketball. It didn't bother me during the Wasatch Back Relay, but I must have done something to aggravate it this week because it's been sore the last 3 or 4 days. It feels tight, it's hard to take a deep breath, and if I twist or stretch wrong it hurts. During this race my legs felt pretty good but breathing was difficult, very difficult near the end. I'm sure I'll be fine in the standard 4-6 weeks.

The awards ceremony was on a stage under a big tent with enough chairs for all of the runners. That was nice. The awards ceremony was done very well, except that they ran out of medals by the time they got to us older guys. At first they just gave me a 2nd place AD medal with a woman on it (which I didn't really want), but later they took the bib numbers of the winners and said they would send us the correct medals.

I was a little disappointed to finish in 21:04, and a little disappointed that I didn't win the 45-49 age division. They were giving nice Lavender wreaths to the AD winners. A time of 22:00 won the 45-49 division last year, but the man that beat me was only 44 last year. Local Ken Richens of Nephi ran it in 19:55 last year and 20:03 this year. I talked with him after the race. He ran St. George in 2:58 last year (to my 3:07). I would have taken 1st place in any of the other men's divisions age 35 or higher. Why did Ken have to be in my division this year? Oh well.

Probably the highlight of the race for me was waiting for the race to start. I started chatting with a young runner from Timpview and the guy from RunnerCard that was waiting to start the clock when the race started. I told him I liked races timed by RunnerCard (because I do). I then asked if the company wasn't run by Doug Padilla. He said yes, and introduced himself to me. He was Doug Padilla. The race started 10 minutes late so we had some time to talk. I told him I thought he had a cool job. He said they don't make a lot of money, but it keeps him involved in running and going to races. We talked about the challenge of timing the Wasatch Back Relay last week...long start, long finish. He was at BYU roughly the same years I was. As a missionary in Barcelona, Spain between 1979 and 1981 I remembered taking luggage (didn't arrive with their flight) to a couple of new missionaries who had just arrived. I remembered one was a big name runner from BYU. I thought I remembered it being Ed Eyestone, but I wasn't sure. Doug served in El Salvador, but confirmed that Ed Eyestone served in Barcelona about that time. It would have been cool to serve with Elder Eyestone, but I only saw him that one time before I headed home. At one point I asked the TimpView runner what his goal was and he said around 17:00. I said that I wished I could run 17:00 instead of 20:00. After a second Doug looked at me and said, sounding a bit surprised, "You run 20:00?" I don't know if it was admiration or disbelief. I choose to not be offended, so I'll take it as a compliment.

The raffle had some good prizes, including a couple of iPods, but I didn't win this time. After showering and eating breakfast back at my parents' home in Nephi, Karen and our two youngest girls hit Lavender Days for a few hours. We had low expectations, but ended up having a fun time. We ate snow cones, watched a couple of western shows, watched professional jousting at noon (Tiffany joined us as it was during her lunch break), shot arrows and threw axes, rode a couple of medieval rides, listened to a cool little old lady (named LaRue I think) play her accordion, and saw some cool snakes at the tail end of the reptile show. We stopped in Springville at DQ for Dilly bars and Blizzards on the drive home. Add all that to dinner out with my parents the night before (they never brought my dad's food and then messed up the check so badly we finally decided to alter the bill so we didn't cheat them out of 10 bucks and/or risk the waitress getting into trouble) and to the fact that we beat my parents 2 out of 3 games of Cribbage, and it was a pretty great trip.

AM. Ran the Lindon Loop with Larry (say that 10 times fast). It was a beautiful morning. This was one of those times where the conversation was the focus and we just happened to be running while we were talking. Average pace was 9:16/mi.

PM. At noon I ran 5.1 miles in the heat with Tom on a modified Lake View route. We each carried a bottle of water and were glad we did. It was good conversation, as usual, and at one point caught ourselves running a little faster than we wanted to be. I had talked Tom into wandering some streets we don't normally go on and I think I must have sped up a little as I was trying to figure out how to get back on course without exceeding our 5 mile goal. Average pace was 8:11/mi.