BACK TO WORK

AM I was supposed to run with chad, but I slept in.  8:30 AM drove up to pine valley for a beautiful run from the ranger house to the browns point trail head.  The elevation was interesting!  =/-7200 ft. at trail head.  It was so nice to run in the cool air and the smells took me back to fighting fires and cutting trails on the mtn.  It was great.

I have been working for the last 3 days on getting the orchard ready.  I think I went a little too hard today in the 103 degree heat, since I have the marathon coming up saturday.  i am not even going to go over there the next two days, so I don't get enticed to do more work and blow the race.

AM took ruger out for a nice 4 today.  River road/little valley rd. loop.  It is getting hot, and I wasn't feeling great after the all day baking I got in the sun yesterday.  i am just going to chill today and get things ready.

Awesome race.  Not quite the BQ I was looking for, but I can smell it.  It is great to see the guys from SG and the blog and hear how well they did. 

Laur and I got a olive garden take out on Friday, and talked to a couple guys in my age group that were gunning for 3:10-3:15, so we chatted for a bit.  I love the running community.  Got to bed about 9:30PM but woke up @ 10:30Pm, from then until 3:41Am it was off and on. 

Laur took chad and I to the shuttle.  I saw the Wilkinson sisters on the bus, so we chatted all the way to the drop off.  Chad and I got in +/- row 20 @ the start line and off we went.

1-7:17 wanted to be 7 seconds faster.

2-7:17

3-7:27 wanted to hit the first 3 in 7:10 a piece, but I realized as I was running elevation has to factor in.

4-7:35

5-7:23 Around mile 3 I started pulling away from chad and checking back. I wanted him to run with me, but I was worried that the pace was going to be too slow if I waited.  i could hear him back there by this time, so i thought he must be feeling okay.

6-7:28 I was well behind my goal time at the fork in the road, but I was feeling confident I could make up sometime in the canyon.

7-7:54 Chad caught me here in the uphill miles.  I was getting frustrated here, because i was thinking the course had steeper downhills than this.  i also was thinking-fortunately, the uphills aren't as steep either.

8-7:49 still in the second roller coaster hills.  Got my 1st Gu on a donwhill here.

9-7:12 caught a down hill.  Chad and I are running together and passing some people.

10-7:17 

11-7:28  Where are all these uphills coming from.  When I rode this course during state track and field, I didn't remember all these false hills!

12-7:21 

13-6:58 caught a nice downhill.  Chad and i are with each other.  According to my wristband, we are off our overall goal pace by 2 seconds.  That is nothing!

14-7:34  Two guys come up on me that were gunning for 3:15.  It looks like one is pacing the other.  I need to hang with them.  (I did through mile 20.  They would walk through the aid stations, and then catch me in the middle of each mile)

15-7:56 I planned on 7:50 here, since there is a decent hill here.  My sock seam is riding on a middle toe on my right foot.  It is not feeling great.  (After the race, I lose a toenail because of it.) 

16-7:45 What the crap is that?!  My achilles is on fire. I have to really focus on running on the outside of my left foot.  The road is slanted, so it sets up a nasty pronation.  This is worst case scenario for an already bad wheel.

17-7:08 The running gods are watching down on me!  My achilles subsides, and we catch a screaming tail wind on a nice little down hill.

18-7:24

19-7:34

20-7:42 2nd Gu here.

21-7:44  chad and I stop at the aid station, but I tell him we gotta go.  We our about 1:15 off our goal time, but I am feeling really good right here.  I told him that we got this @ 3:15, and he says okay. 

22-7:37  Feeling really good here and I pull away from chad a bit.  I am telling myself to be patient.  The last 5K is the real race.

23-7:50 I grab an orange to stave off the gorilla.

24-7:55 just a block west of the campus.  I can feel things start to go south, but I still think I got it.

25-8:23 This is it!  I am shutting down.  I start to feel a tingling in my hands.  I can't make the 3:15:59 again.  Not with the tailwind at mile 16-18.  Not with Laurie waiting at the finish line.  Not with the perfect temperatures.  I am getting bitter.  I walk @ the aid station to drink a water and poweraid.  What a disappointment.

26-9:23  I walk a bit over the train track hill.  There are others that are in as much pain as I am.  The carnage that 26 miles brings is evident.

26.3- (8:59 pace)  I push to get under the 3:20 mark, but the race is a .1 long, so I don't get that either.

After the race, things started to look brighter for me.  I was already strategizing for the SG marathon.  Attitudes during a marathon are just like the UV course description-Roller Coasters! 

Barring injury, I think I got the 3:15 I need for BQ. 

Achilles is still bothering me, and I want to keep out of injury mode for BC half marathon and the SG marathon. 

easy miles before going to Utah Summer games.  I am not running this year, but Kire is doing the 400 and 1500. 

Laur is playing volleyball as well, so I am a spectator.

Kire made the finals in the 400 with the best time.

One of the coolest things happened today and so I want to write it down to remember it.

Kire went in to the 400 this morning with the best time by 3 seconds, so I thought we was going to blow everyone away.  Well, thre was a kid that was sandbagging in the trials.  Kire ran a great race, (1:15.07) but took second.  He ws very disappointed as he came off the track.  He had given all he had. 

Since there was only one other 400 finals, 7 minutes later he had to get back on the track.  He didn't really want to run it, because he was tied up from the 400 finals.  I told him to just run the 1500 for fun, so he lined up to start.  The first lap was pretty slow, but then he started feeling better and better.  He started passing kids and that got him going.  I was going to have him step off at 800, but I could see the competitor start to come out in him. 

He was running with his age group and the older group.  As he started mowing kids down, he locked on to the kid in 1st place.  He try to get him on the home stretch, but he didn't quite have it.  He won gold in his age group though.

It was a valiant effort after the 400 just before.  Honestly, I had a lump in my throat as he finished and walked over to me.  The kid is so gutty.  What a competitor!  There is no sport that carries more passion and emotion than track and field.    

Laur finished her volleyball tournament.  They did okay, but we were late for the 20th year reunion. 

The reunion was fun, and we got to see a lot of the ole' classmates.  About 20 of them come over to the house after the reunion for floats.  We stayed up until 2:00AM just catching up with everyone and talking about the glory days.

Achilles is feeling a little better.  I am going to the physical therapist this week.

ward and I left for Hatch this afternoon.  We decided to get a ride in before the summer was up.

230 miles on a dirt bike!  We left at 8:00AM from Hatch.  We went up Proctor Canyon, then North to pine lake road, then North to Antimony, then West to Circleville, then South to Panguitch, then south to panguitch lake, then east back to Hatch.  All on mountain trails or roads.  It was great, but maybe a little long.  It was 13 hours total with a little lunch break and a little dinner break at Panguitch. 

We got back home at 11:30PM

Went to the PT today.  He gave me some stretches annd told me to take a week regimen of ibuprofen.  He also said if I was going to run thhe BC half, that I shouldn't run it for time. 

Got in 3 easy ones before I went up to Cedar for the SUU football camp. 

warm up then 6X800@3:10+/-, then cool down.