Every Race is an Adventure!

6.3 miles @ 10:09/mi.  Water tank hills with Kevin.

I pushed up the hills in 17:40.

6 miles @ 9:32/mi. Easy Murdock/Lindon loop with Kevin.

7 miles @ 9:15/mi.  THS track.

6 x 800 splits: 3:41, 3:44, 3:45, 3:45, 3:46, 3:48 (7:30/mi avg)
1 x 1 mile: 8:43

I felt pretty good. It was a nice cool morning. It felt good to push a little, but I still don't feel like I opened up all the way. That's okay. I've always get injury in the back of my mind. I'm content going at 80-90% as long as I'm improving, which I seem to be, and can avoid serious injury. I'm beginning to feel some minor pain indicating I'm near the edge of my training potential. It's such a balancing act.

Bball in AM

I asked another player if it was bad to hope I was having a stroke so I'd have an excuse for playing so poorly.

In the early afternoon I competed in 3 go-cart races at Miller Motorsports Park as a work team building/reward activity. I was tired afterward, so it must count as some sort of cross training. I won't count any miles, but I wish all training could be so much fun.

18.2 miles @ 9:59/mi.  Provo Canyon (mouth to Trefoil and back).

Wayne and I ran the whole distance together. Kevin ran the first 4 to Bridal Veil Falls with us then turned back. He's running the Big Cottonwood marathon next week.

We knew with half the route being uphill, this week's 18 miles was going to be quite a bit harder than last week's 17 miles down. We didn't push the 9 miles up. By then, our legs were so tired we didn't push the next 7 miles down either. We did push the last couple of miles a bit (9:02, 8:57), and I went sub-8:00 the last 0.2.

We had an interesting experience on the way up. As we came around a bend there was a big bull moose grazing on the grass at the side of the road. The road is pretty narrow, and with the moose staring at us, we didn't feel like risking a charge if we tried to run past him. We tried tossing a rock near him, and one in the trees across the road from him, but he didn't budge and eventually started grazing again. Finally a truck came up the road and we flagged it down. It turned out to be a rancher who lives up there. He had seem the moose around. He graciously gave us a ride past the moose. As we passed, the moose wandered into the trees off the road. We didn't see him on our way back down. But as we continued up, shortly after the moose we came across 7 wild hen turkeys in the road. We joked that the rancher was going to find us pecked to death by the wild turkeys...but they just moved up the sie of the road and let us pass.

I decided to support the Timpanogos High School cross country team by running in the T-Wolf Trot. I picked up my number at 7am then Kevin and I ran a few easy miles together. First we ran back to my house to get my watch I'd forgotten, then we ran back and ran most of the course, then he headed off to run a little more and head home. He's tapering for the Big Cottonwood marathon on Saturday.

The race seemed to be mostly high school kids with some of us old folks mixed in. I got passed by a few kids late in the race, but mostly I was able to hold a pretty steady pace and even pass a few runners myself. I feel good about the 7:20/mi pace I averaged. One of these days maybe I'll be mentally tough enough to go all out again. I feel like I pushed pretty hard, but controlled and steady. I think my fear of injury keeps me from letting go and pushing to the edge of my limits, especially in these shorter, faster races.

It was a nice morning, a good race, and the breakfast was good. They gave away a lot of prizes. I won only the joy of sharing in the joy of others. It would have been more fun to have been there with buddies, but it was good to support the THS runners. I think I heard the coach say both the boys and girls cross country teams are ranked #1 in the state, and the boys are 14th in the nation. Pretty impressive.

6 miles @  10:15/mi.  Murdock/Lindon loop solo.

Easy day easy. A little fall chill in the morning air, and the smell of smoke, from the fire near Deer Creek I think.

6 miles @ 8:58/mi.  Murdock trail north solo.

10:38, 8:47, 8:39, 8:42, 8:49, 0.5 @ 8:40/mi, 0.5 @ 8;02/mi.

20 miles @ 9:45/mi.  Home to South Fork out and back solo.

I had a youth activity to attend on Saturday morning so I decided my best option was to do my 20 miler on Friday morning before work. I planned to leave at 5:30am and be done around 9:00am.

I chose to leave from my house to avoid wasted time driving to/from the mouth of the canyon. It's 3 miles to the mouth of the canyon and ~6 miles up to Vivian Park so I ran a little over a mile up South Fork until my watch showed 10 miles.

The temperature was in the low 50's when I left home at 5:33am. I just wore a short sleeve shirt. As I approached the canyon there was a strong headwind, but it wasn't too cold. The farther I climbed the canyon the colder it got. Running up South Fork my hands started getting numb from the cold.

When I stopped at the bathroom at Nunns park at about mile 6 it was nice to get out of the wind. I noticed in the mirror that it looked like I had a bloody nipple. It made no sense. I've never got bloody in only 6 miles, and I had taped my nipples as I do for marathons and I've never had a problem when I do that. The tape was still in place, and I felt no pain. I continued on, a little self-conscious of a bloody, bright yellow shirt, but I felt no physical discomfort. After the run I discovered it was a small pimple next to my nipple that was the source of all the blood. It didn't even sting in the shower.

As I started up South Fork from Vivian there was a fresh, dead skunk in the middle of the road. I wasn't sure it was dead so I tossed a rock at it from a distance to make sure. Shortly after I passed it I saw a small hawk diving towards me my head straight ahead of me. Just before it got to me it swooped up. As I looked behind me I saw it turn into the trees. On the way back down I felt like I was being watched and turned to my left to see a deer starting at me from just off the road. I said, "Good morning." It just stood there calmly and stared at me as I ran by. This was the same canyon where we saw a bull moose and 7 wild turkeys last week. Pretty cool.

Splits (up, headwind): 10:19, 9:52, 9:55, 10:20, 10:29, 10:47, 9:55, 10:35, 10:23, 11:49
Splits (down, tailwind): 9:07, 9:17, 9:18, 9:12, 8:20, 8:26, 8:44, 9:46, 9:46, 8:43
During the latter half of mile 20 I ran 8:22/mi down the Fast Half Mile on 2000 N.

Up: 1:44:24 (10:26/mi)
Down: 1:30:39 (9:04/mi)
Total: 3:15:20 (9:45/mi)

Given the uphill, headwind, and cold I'm okay with a 9:45/mi average pace. I consider finishing any 20 mile run a success. Feeling strong at the end is an extra bonus. I recovered quickly and had a good day at work. Maybe I should switch all my long runs to Friday morning. It was nice having Saturday morning free (even though I had a youth activity to go to).

5 miles @ 8:46/mi.  Murdock trail north solo. (7:25am)

4 miles @ 10:24/mi. 2000 N/Dry Canyon Rd. hills. (10:40pm)

7.5 miles @ 9:51/mi.  Lindon/2000 N loop plus neighborhood with Lyle.

10 miles @ 7:58/mi..  Trefoil to mouth of Provo Canyon.
1.7 miles @ 10:00/mi.  Ran back to run in with Wayne and then Kevin.

I tried to run fast marathon pace effort for the 10 miles, cruising but not pushing too hard. I finished feeling strong and could have gone more miles, but not 16.2 at that pace. This was probably closer to half marathon pace. I ran the Hobble Creek Half a month ago at about 7:50/mi.

I need to average 08:23.82/mi to run my stretch goal of a BQ time (3:40) at St. George. Roughly estimating, if I were to run half at about 8:00/mi (1:45) that would mean I would have to average about 8:45 (1:55) for the other half. I hope to put together a mile-by-mile race plan soon, but I think it's within the realm of possibility.

About 1:00pm I ran from work up to the fountain at Timpanogos Park. I didn't have my Garmin so I don't know how far or fast I went. It felt slow. The temperature was in the mid-70's I think. I probably should have done more heat training for St. George. If race day is warm, I guess I'll just have to run faster to get done sooner before it gets too hot.

6.1 miles @ 10:01/mi.  Murdock trail north with Kevin.

Good conversation. Easy pace. Taper time.

5.4 miles @ 9:44/mi.  Murdock/Lindon loop with Kevin.

5.1 miles @ 9:39/mi.  Murdock/Lindon loop with Kevin.

We stopped and talked with Rich Lamoreaux, Bryan Johnson, Steve Earl, Jilleen Mecham, and company. It was nice reminiscing about past races and talking about running St. George next weekend.

8 miles @ 10:09/mi.  Provo Canyon trail with Wayne, Larry & Jolene.

We went up at a very easy pace. Larry & Jo turned back at mile 3.

On our way back down Wayne and I picked up to around marathon pace then pushed the last stretch from the Timpanogos Park fountain. (8:39, 8:34, 8:34, 0.88 @ 7:13/mi).

There was a younger woman who passed us near the fountain. We passed her back, then she passed me back, then I passed her again as I picked up to catch Wayne near the end. In the parking lot she said, "You guys are fast!" I haven't heard that for a long time, and it's all relative, but I have to admit it felt good to hear it. I don't know if I'd say we're fast, but I think we're both feeling pretty good going into the marathon next weekend.

4.2 @ 9:58/mi.  Short Murdock/Lindon loop with Kevin.

Easy taper run.

4 miles easy (dead watch) - Short Murdock/Lindon loop with Kevin

We ran a little bit of marathon pace-ish in the middle, but mostly easy.

3.7 miles @ 10:09/mi.  Easy neighborhood loop with Kevin.

I was only going to go 3 miles but we had too much to talk about.

I plan to skip running tomorrow and then go 1-2 easy miles Friday morning to shake out the legs so I don't feel sluggish on Saturday.

I'm feeling pretty confident. I'm healthy and feel like my training has gone pretty well. I ran 3:47 last year and feel like I may be a little faster this year. I think my goal of a BQ 3:40 is within the realm of possibility.

We never know what race day will bring, but for me it's always an adventure worthy of the effort of discovery. I wish smooth sailing to all my fellow adventurers.