Every Race is an Adventure!

I ran an easy six miles on the 2000 N route. Quads were still sore from the descent down Timp.

A slow run up the water tank hills, partly because we're tapering for the Red Rock Relay, and partly because my quads were still a little sore.

No running...resting the legs for the relay tomorrow.

I'll try to record some of my awesome experience at the Red Rock Relay, but there's no way I'll be able to do it justice.

Larry Marshall, my awesome running buddy who put the team together, was both the team captain and the captain of the Snow Van. The other members of the Snow Van, in the order they ran, were Larry, Kari, Ally, Jeremy, Liesel, and Jessi. I know Larry, Jeremy, and Jessi, but Kari, Ally, and Liesel are friends of Larry's daughter Stacia and Jessi. Like every other relay I've done, one of things I liked least was that we didn't get to spend much time with the people in the other van. They began the relay at 9:20am at the top of Brianhead ski resort.

I was the proud captain of the Sun Van, the "old guy" van (all in our 40's or 50's). What a great group of old guys: Grant Skousen, Dave ('Deeks') Steck, Lyle Brereton, Kevin Jessop, Jonathan Crampton, and me. The best part of the relay was sharing it with these guys.

Grant started our first set of legs off with a 6.7 mile descent from 8200 ft. to 6400 ft. Deeks, Lyle, and Kevin then climbed some serious uphill from 6400 ft. up to 9200 ft. The weather was cooler than we had thought it might be, but still pretty warm. The weather fun was just about to begin.

Since it was getting into the hottest part of the afternoon, Jonathan started off his 7.6 mile hard-rated leg running shirtless. His leg runs on a rolling dirt road that eventually climbs to 9400 ft. before descending back to 9200 ft. The approaching storm we hoped would pass by us, did not. Cold torrential rain quickly turned the clay roads to sticky mud, with rivers of muddy water, and then the hail came. Before we could catch up to Jonathan his bare skin was being pelted by painful hail that left red marks on his body. We gave him a shirt, a jacket, and a dry hat and he trudged on through the awful mud up the biggest hill and on to the end of his leg.

My 7.8 mile hard-rated leg continued along the rolling dirt (mud) road on the Kolob Terrace, ascending to 9300 ft. before descending to 8100 ft. at Kolob Reservoir. The storm continued, but since it hadn't caught me by surprise, I was able to be better prepared. I started with my jacket and gloves. The hail had stopped and it was just raining when I began, but with each step in the mud I wasn't sure which way my foot was going to go. The slipping combined with the weight of the clay mud sticking to my shoes made it difficult to generate much speed. My jacket and shoes were soon soaked through and feeling pretty heavy. The hail that had pelted Jonathan returned to dance with me for a bit, too. I had to stop 3 or 4 times to adjust my shoes and tighten the laces to keep my shoes on.

I had been looking forward to the 4+ miles of beautiful downhill. When I started the downhill I remember thinking how awesome of a run it would be if it was dirt instead of mud. I had a little talk with God around this point. I didn't really complain, it was more like sharing my thoughts. I said how beautiful the area was and how awesome it would have been to be able to fly down the hills. I expressed my gratitude for the opportunity to be there, and simply prayed that I (and the other runners) would be able to finish safely, without falling or turning an ankle or being struck by lightning. (We saw a lot of lightning on this relay, especially later on our night legs. It was actually quite exciting and beautiful.) I didn't expect to see dry roads again, but it wasn't long before the rain stopped and I hit solid dirt road again. My van mates took my heavy wet jacket. My heavy shoes didn't allow me to turn over my feet very quickly, but the last couple of miles down to Kolob Reservoir and the exchange were actually very enjoyable.

I almost forgot to mention that when I started my lungs quickly noticed that I was running at an elevation of over 9000 ft. The weather quickly pushed that factor to the background.

After I finished, my team mates pointed out that my calves were caked with mud. Luckily, Lyle had brought a big package of wipes and I spent a number of minutes rubbing mud off my legs so I could get in the van. I did it with a smile on my face. I knew I'd remember and talk about this leg for years to come.

My mile splits were: 7:36, 7:24, 9:34 (muddy uphill, stops to fix shoes), 7:54, 7:16 (dry road), 7:13, 7:08, 7:11/mi for last 0.6 miles. As I approached the exchange it was great to hear the cheering of my team mates and other runners that were there. I swear the nearby herd of cows also started to moo their encouragement as I approached.

After I was clean enough to get in the van, we headed to Hurricane and decided to eat at JBs. I changed into dry clothes in the van. Some of the others cleaned themselves in the JBs bathroom. It's good most of the other patrons were also running the relay and understood the partially undressed men in the restroom. I had some delicious french toast. We then headed back to the next exchange in La Verkin and an hour or two of rest on lawn of the nearby Church. I slept on the soft grass with only a pillow, caressed by the gentle warm breeze.

To be continued in Saturday's blog entry...

I think Grant started off our second set of legs a little before midnight. He ran through La Verkin and then handed to Deeks who ran through Hurricane. Lyle then headed south around Sand Hollow Reservoir. Kevin finished the loop around the reservoir and back to Hurricane. His 4.9 mile leg ended up being 5.6 miles, but he stuck it out despite the rain. I think all of these guys joined Jonathan and me in the "rained on" club during these legs. Jonathan's leg along the highway to Washington was also longer than advertised.

About 2:34am I began my 3.2 mile moderate-rated leg ran along Telegraph road to the rec center in Washington. My mile splits were: 7:40, 6:39, 7:19, and 8:22/mi for the last 0.2. There was a mix of uphill and downhill in each mile, with an uphill finish. I don't believe it was raining when I started, maybe a sprinkle, but it was raining pretty hard when I finished, so hard that everyone had fled from the exchange to their vehicles and Larry was not waiting when I came in. Matt, the race director, smiled as I yelled for Larry who, about 30 seconds later, finally noticed I was there and emerged from his dry truck across the street. (It's okay. I was exhausted, wet, and a little annoyed at first, but I quickly forgave my good buddy and awesome team captain. Nobody's perfect...especially not me.)

It was about 3:00am when we headed to the Elders Hostel in St. George. Deeks had arranged for us to have 3 rooms with two twin beds and a bathroom/shower each. It was awesome, but we only had about 2.5 hours to sleep before getting up at 6:00am.

We got up and out on time and headed to the next van exchange at Gunlock. It was along the relay route so we watched for our other van along the way. I started getting a little nervous when we reached the last exchange before the van exchange without seeing them. I was relieved to see Jessi, their last runner, about 2 miles into her 6 mile leg.

It was interesting to also see a bunch of bibbed runners running the opposite direction. Apparently, there was both a 1/2 marathon and 20 mile race going on.

As we waited for Jessi to come in, Jeremy explained he knew some members of the Do or Diers team. They started the same time as us and we had seen them all along the way. Jeremy said they were our rivals and we needed to beat them. As we talked with them we quickly discovered they were awesome people, but the friendly rivalry was definitely on.

Grant started with a tough uphill leg as we headed towards Veyo. The woman on the Do or Diers started just behind him but could never close the gap. Deeks continued the climb to Veyo. The young female runner from the Do or Diers managed to pass him, but he didn't make it easy and she didn't get too far ahead. Lyle then took on the tough climb up the Veyo hill and the climb through Dammeron Valley that are the toughest part of the St. George marathon. He lost very little time to the (once again) younger female runner from our rivals. Both Deeks and Lyle were probably 25 to 30 years older than their rivals.

Kevin then faced a long 6.1 mile run against Lex, the tall, young, fastest runner from the other team. Kevin ran strong and hung tough, but he didn't stand a chance. I think Kevin met his goal time, but Lex stretched their lead to about 10 minutes I think. We had our two strongest runners to go, but their runners were also strong. They went on to beat us by about 14 minutes I think.

The runner from a team that started 20 minutes after us passed Kevin just before the exchange. This was a new challenge for Jonathan and he easily distanced himself from that team as he raced down Snow Canyon, even though he lost some time trying to find the right way to go. The organization of the Snow Canyon leg needs some improvement in the future. We found out that we had to pay $5 to drive through else drive around. We decided to drive around but it was way farther than we thought. Luckily we had a Garmin to lead us there in time to meet Jonathan. Another team we talked with wasn't so lucky and their runner ran an extra two miles before his van found him.

I began my last leg, "Grand Finale", a moderate 5.6 mile leg from Snow Canyon to the finish, at 10:24am. It was about 3.5 miles of gradual downhill followed by 2 miles of uphill to the finish. I had been commenting on how I had expected the relay to be very hot but so far had run mostly in rain and cooler temperatures. I guess God heard me again and granted me a heat experience. I was fine for the downhill (6:38, 6:54, 7:09) but then the 80+ heat and the uphill combined to make me work for the finish (7:24, 8:42, 7:25/mi for last 0.5).

It was great to meet my team and finish together. We mingled with family, took team pictures, and finally got to talk to our team mates from our other van. We also took a combined team picture with the Do or Diers. It was great fellowshipping with them throughout the relay. It was definitely a friendly rivalry. We even gave ibuprofen to Lex (his hip was sore) who then went on to slay us on his leg. We hope to see some of them at the St. George marathon. I think Jonathan even set up to be Facebook friends with some of them.

We stopped at In-n-Out where I got a Double-Double cheeseburger (tasted so good!) before we headed home. Deeks and I shared the driving and both managed to stay awake. We made it home in time for me to watch BYU beat Oklahoma. What a great ending to a great couple of days.

I ran the 2000 N route with Larry, Wayne and Kent. Even though my legs felt pretty good after the relay, I took it easy until the last mile when I realized I had to hurry to get home in time. Wayne and Kent had gotten a little ahead, but when I shifted from 10:00/mi to 7:20/mi I caught and passed them pretty quickly.

My easy runs have been a little slower this year than in past years, and my fast runs have been sporadic, mostly in the form of races, fartleks, or short tempo runs. Still, I feel like I'm actually running pretty well. I'm not sure how my sore hip (comes and goes) would have handled more mileage and/or harder speed work. It will be interesting to see how I do at St. George this year.

I ran the water tank hills with Larry, Wayne and Kent. I wore my headlamp for the first time on this run this year, and was glad I did. It was pretty dark going up. I turned on the light just before we got to the bottom of the hills and when we got to the starting line I was off. I was in the mood to push today. I ran up the hills in 15:55, not quite a PR but good for me considering there was a little headwind. I ran down easy with the group then ran the last 1/2 mile at 5:50/mi, which was a PR for this year. It felt great!

I ran the Cascade route with Larry, Wayne and Kent. Actually, at 1200 N & 800 E I saw Mike Jasper a little ahead of us so I caught up with him and ran to the turn around point with him. He always runs a faster pace than us so I had to work pretty hard to catch him. It took a minute before I could converse with him.

I ran back with my group, although Wayne and Kent (similar to previous days) started pulling ahead. With about a mile to go they turned north on 400 E. I needed to hurry to get back in time so I told Larry I was going to stay on 1200 N until Main and see if I could get to Main and 1600 N before Wayne and Kent. I did.

I ran 6 easy miles solo on the library route this morning.With a 20-miler planned for tomorrow, I didn't want to push too hard. My right hip was also a little sore. I averaged 9:18/mi overall.

Today a group of us ran a new 20 mile Provo Canyon route worked out by Tom's friend Mike Elquist. I believe there were eleven of us: Tom, Kim, Mike, Mike's son, Nathan, Larry, Kevin, Kent, Lyle, Kris, and me. The weather stayed in the 50's the whole time. I ran with Nathan during some of the middle miles and he pulled me down to around 8:00 minute miles, which left me pretty tired at the end, but overall I feel like it was a pretty good run.

I ended up alone this morning. I didn't feel like speed work, but I went to the track anyway. I decided to just do a 4 mile medium-pace tempo run in the dark. My first three mile splits were right around 7:41, with the 4th mile at around 7:20 I think. Not super fast, but it made me work some. Kevin and Dash showed up around the end of mile 3. I didn't run with Kevin on the track but we ran home to the neighborhood together.

It was nice having other runners show up this morning. It was a little cooler this morning. I wore my jacket but ended up feeling a little overdressed by the end of the run.

I ran the 2000 N route with Larry, Wayne and Kent. I pushed up the hill a little with Kent, but just ran at an easy pace most of the route. I did have to pick up the pace the last mile or so to get home in time.

Water tank hills with Kent and Larry. Cool temps. Dark, with headlamp. Strong headwind at times. Hills - 16:34. Last 1/2 mile 6:30/mi. Not my fastest, but not bad. No plans to push anything really hard before St. George.

Cascade route with Kent and Kevin. We ran a quite a bit faster than usual pace this morning. Kent said Kevin was pushing the pace, but he claimed to just be keeping up. Since Kevin seemed to be "half wheeling" us (running slightly ahead of us) most of the time, I'll give him the credit. I didn't mind the faster pace.

Larry, Wayne and Nick were all doing their long run this morning because of conflicts on Saturday. They left at 5:00am. I couldn't go the whole way with them, but I ran the first 5 miles with them then returned home. The first 5 miles were at 10:00+/mi. The last 5 miles were at closer to 8:00/mi.

I played golf at about 8:30am. I can't remember the last time I played. My 11 year daughter doesn't remember me ever playing. It was a 4-man scramble (best ball) tournament at work. We only had 3 show up so each of us got to hit every shot twice every third hole. I was just as good/bad as I remember. We all were about the same, and usually at least one of us would have at least a playable shot. I think we ended up 2 over par on 9 holes, with 2 double bogies, 2 birdies, and 5 pars. The three things I was most proud of: 1) a pretty long putt I made, 2) driving over two ponds and through rocks and trees to land my drive about 20 yards from the green on par 4 hole 9, and 3) I didn't lose a single golf ball! I don't think I'll switch running for golfing, but it was pretty fun. Driving the golf cart was fun, too.

I walked, not ran, these two miles, but they took the place of my run today so I'm logging them. I ran 10 miles yesterday, and could have run more this morning, but I couldn't bring myself to commit to run with Kent or Kevin on their long runs this morning. I wasn't sure why.

As I was awaking after sleeping in (no alarm clock this morning) and trying to decide whether to go for a run or not, the thought entered my mind to ask Karen to go for a walk with me. She walks pretty faithfully on the treadmill. I've been trying to convince her how much nicer it is to exercise outside, but she doesn't want to do it alone and is more comfortable in the safety and comfort of our bedroom. To my great pleasure she agreed and we went to Provo Canyon and just walked from the mouth up to a little past Timpanogos Park and back. I enjoyed it very very much. It was windy and chilly at first, but it soon warmed up and we had a great walk together. She even ran a few steps a couple of times. I've always said that the greatest thing that could make running better for me would be to be able to do it with Karen, and maybe one, some or all of our children. That day may never come, but I'm going to at least try to have more days like today. Karen's not a running buddy, but she's my best buddy, and when I'm with her walking is good enough.

I went to the THS track with Larry and Kent. After our 1 mile warm up (running to the track plus a warm up lap), Kent did his 1/2 mile repeats, Larry did his Energizer Bunny run, and I did a 4 mile tempo run. My goal was to run each mile between 7:00 and 7:10. I didn't check my pace except at each mile. I just tried to keep movin' along. My splits were 6:51, 7:10, 7:05, and 6:58...average 7:01/mi.

I think these splits are kind of illustrative of how I run a lot of my races. I often start out a little faster than maybe I should, then slow up but still run close to goal pace, then manage to pull out a little extra at the end and speed up a bit to finish pretty strong. It may not be ideal, but it seems to work okay for me.

I would love to run this pace at St. George in two weeks and finish around 3:04, but that's not too likely. I simply haven't paid the price this year. I think a goal of 3:15 (7:27/mi) to 3:20 (7:38/mi) is more reasonable, and that's probably even a stretch. A lot will depend on the weather conditions and how badly my hip hurts me that day. My fall back goal is 3:30 (8:00/mi) which is a Boston qualifying time for me. Actually, since I'll be 50 by the next Boston Marathon, I think my BQ is actually 3:35 (8:12/mi) now.

Whatever happens on marathon day, I just plan to take it in stride (pun intended) and enjoy the experience of another marathon adventure.

2000 N route with Larry and Kent at an easy pace. My right hip was quite sore last night, but it was only a little sore this morning and didn't bother me much during the run. I think I may have to see a doctor about it. It's gradually been getting worse.

My doctor told me a few years ago that it looked like I was getting arthritis in my right hip. It was very tight. I couldn't cross my right leg over my left. He showed me some stretches to loosen it up. I finally got serious this year about trying to stretch it out. I've loosened it up quite a bit, and can now cross my leg, but I've still got work to do.

The problem is related to my serious left knee injury (youth football) when I was 14 that left my left leg 1+ inch shorter than my right. I wear a partially-compensating lift in my left shoe, but my right leg still bears more of my weight than my right. A chiropractor recently measured and found that my right leg was bearing 12 lbs. more of my weight than my left leg. He thought that might be the cause of the wear and inflammation in my right hip.

I think that my attempts at stretching out my hip after 35 years has maybe led to increased stress and inflammation on the joint. Stretching and ibuprofen may not be enough...although they'll probably have to do until after the St. George marathon.

Kent and I ran the water tank hills in the brisk autumn air. I backed off "full effort" on the uphill and fast 1/2 mile sections...I am beginning to taper after all...but was pleased to still ascend in 16:13 and average 6:38/mi on the 1/2 mile.

I ran the Cascade route at an easy pace with Larry and Kent. I went back looking for Larry's dog Ozzie at one point in the first half of the run, and then Larry went back looking for him during the second half of the run, so for a large portion of the run we weren't all together. Sometimes Ozzie's shepherding instincts (he's an Aussie Shepherd) are evident as he stays with the group, or stays back with a runner that is lagging behind. Other times he just seems selfish and lazy and does whatever he feels like and we have to go back looking for him. He seems kind of ... human.

I'm definitely not bragging about the pace, but it was interesting that today's run was exactly a 10K in exactly 1:00:00 (9:40/mi).

This morning Kent and I made the right choice I think. We decided to do the 10 mile tempo run from Trefoil at the top of South Fork down to the mouth of Provo Canyon. I dropped my car at the mouth and Kent drove us to the top. We weren't running the the same pace, so the driving was about the only time we were together.

The autumn leaves were very beautiful, with vivid reds and oranges mixed in with the evergreens. We saw a skunk and some wild turkeys. We also various squads of soldiers in camo uniforms with boots, full packs and carrying logs hiking/running down South Fork.

This was mostly a mental run today. We wanted to see how fast of a pace we could hold for 10 miles and see how we felt going just a little faster than marathon pace.
My mile splits were: 6:12, 6:48, 6:58, 6:45, 6:53, 6:59, 6:38, 6:47, 7:11, and 6:49. Mile 1 may have been a little fast, but it felt good. I was trying to catch Kent and a couple of other runners who had started down ahead of me. Mile 9, the only mile over 7:00, seemed really flat with little or no downhill. It felt really hard. I may have let up a little mentally, but I was working pretty hard. I was pleased that I was able to pull mile 10 back down to 6:49.

Kent wanted to break 75 minutes (7:30/mi) and finished in around 74. I wanted to break 70 minutes (7:00/mi) and ran it in 68:05 (6:48/mi, 8.8mph). So we both had good runs and made our goals. We're both pretty encouraged by the results. It was a beautiful day, with cool temperatures, beautiful autumn leaves and sunlit mountainsides. What a great way to start the day.

I'm only mentioning my sore right hip to point out that I'm not mentioning it. I'm trying to ignore it hoping it will go away...not my hip, just the pain. I'm a little concerned about whether it will make it 26.2 miles, but there is not much I can do about that now. Either it will or it won't. I'm going to rest it, running just enough to keep it loosened up, take NSAIDs to manage the inflammation and pain, hope for the best, and endure. At least it will give me an excuse if certain people I'm hoping to beat end up beating me instead.

Four easy miles.

3.9 easy miles