A clydesdale no more!

Warmed up with 3 easy miles then ran a 4 mile tempo run.  Averaged 6:17/mile and was able to maintain a consistent pace throughout the run.  Effort felt good and I was happy with the workout.  Cooled down with 2 easy miles.  Mileage will be low this week because of WBR.

My legs are completely dead today.  Kept the pace very slow.  There seemed to be a lot more people out exercising today than usual.

My legs are still completely dead.  I cut the run short because I want them to be fresh this weekend.  After 4 miles they started to feel a little better but they still felt pretty heavy.

Had a little more pep in my legs this morning.  They still feel a little heavy but they are getting better.  Ran the first half carrying 3 curling irons (don't ask).

I hadn’t planned on running WBR this year (translation: I don’t have enough friends to put a team together) but a coworker had a couple of last minute dropouts from his team and asked if I would be interested in running with them.  Turns out that this was Cal and Marcie’s team which was a neat coincidence.  I was in van 2 but we drove up to the start to pick up the packets and see van 1 start the race at 10:20 a.m.  We pulled in right as the 10:20 runners were starting so we really didn’t get to see the runners off.   We went to the grocery store to pick up a few things then drove to exchange 6 to wait for our turn to run.  It was really hot while we were waiting at the park and I was really concerned because I’m not a very good hot weather runner.   After a couple of hours of hanging around the park, van 1 came in right when we were expecting them and we were off.  

My first leg was a 3.9 mile run from Pineview reservoir towards Snow Basin.  The first 3 miles climbed 900 feet and the last 0.9 miles dropped 350 feet.  My plan was just to bear down and plug along for the climb then let it rip once I hit the downhill.  I started at 5:10 p.m. and it was very hot.  I told the van to meet me at the 2 mile marker for some water.  I quickly realized that this was a mistake because I had a dry mouth immediately.  Fortunately, the crew also new this was a mistake and was waiting for me at mile 1 and gave me a water bottle.  For the first 3 miles I just focused on passing runners ahead of me or counting down until I got to the 3 mile marker where I would hit the downhill.  I think that I had a decent effort and was close to puke pace much of the climb.  I did hold back a little because I knew I had two more legs to run.  Once I hit the peak of the run and started the downhill, I opened up a lot and was able to push the pace coming down.  I was surprised at how well my downhill running was.  Averaged 5:27 pace for the last 0.9 miles and 7:25/mile for the entire run.  I ran the entire leg in 29:18 which was about 20 seconds faster than I planned so I was happy with the results (I passed 18 runners).

After runner 12 finished, we drove to East Canyon reservoir and crashed until it was our turn to run again.  I didn’t sleep at all but was able to relax for about an hour after eating before it was our turn to run again.

The entire time that our van was on for the second leg, I was very nauseous. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was so tired or if I was just getting car sick. It was probably a combination of the two. Every time that we would stop to support a runner, I would get out and walk around to see if I could shake the nausea but it didn’t seem to help. My second leg started at 1:15 a.m. and I wasn’t sure what to expect. It was 4.6 miles and had a net elevation gain of 112 feet (dropped 200 feet and climbed 312 feet). I took off a couple of seconds after another fastish runner. This turned out to be a good thing because my GPS didn’t grab a signal so I was able to use the other runner to push the pace. He would gap me during the slight down grades and I was able to gain on him during the uphill sections. We played this game for the first 2 miles until I was able to finally move past him. I used the fear of him passing me as motivation to maintain a decent pace for the entire run. I was able to estimate my distance based on my time and picked it up for the last mile. I ran this leg in 30:15 which was 1 minute faster than I predicted (passed 7 runners during this leg – the competition was really thinning out at this point).

We were lucky enough to spend our downtime between legs 2 and 3 at a cabin in Midway. I was able to get 2 hours of solid sleep until it was time to head to the final major exchange. Saw Logan and Adam here and was able to get an update on the FRB teams.
My last leg started at the top of Ragnar and was 6.9 miles of mostly downhill. The first mile had a slight elevation gain and I thought that the rest of the run was all downhill. My only goal for this leg was to avoid being passed by the FRB. I knew our projected finish times were close (even though they started 6.5 hours later) and I thought that they would catch us during the last 2 legs. Our runners that had to run up Guardsman Pass (legs 33 and 34) were incredible. In fact, they were too fast because as we were approaching the top of Ragnar, I knew that if I waited in the van I wasn’t going to have enough time to take care of business. I got out of the van and ran the last 1/4 mile to the exchange so I could spend some quality time in the Honey Bucket. As I exited the Honey Bucket, I could see Cal approaching the exchange. I ran down to get the bracelet and took off. I felt bad for blowing this exchange after Cal worked so hard powering up Ragnar. There was a decent climb to start and I was immediately at puke pace. This was way too early to feel this way. I was able to hold it off and was relieved to hit the downhill. As I started running downhill I was hit with a nasty side stitch from all of the jarring. This lasted until the 2 mile marker and was very frustrating because I could never get in a groove. Hit a good uphill section at mile 2.75 which I didn’t expect. It was very difficult to transition from the severe downhill to the steep uphill. I got nauseous as soon as the uphill started and wasn’t able to shake the feeling until I started going downhill again. My downhill pace wasn’t as fast as I hoped. At 3.5 miles I about died when I saw the hill that I had to climb. Once again I struggled with the transition from downhill to uphill running. I crested the last hill at mile 4 (picked off 2 runners during the climb) and was pretty sure that the rest was all downhill. I could see one runner a little ways ahead of me but wasn’t sure if I could catch him. I decided to use this as motivation to push the pace. Once I saw the 1 mile to go sign, I finally was able to open it up. I was closing the gap on the runner ahead but thought I was going to run out of road. Eventually got past him and kept the hammer down so he wouldn’t pass me again. Ran the last mile in 5:45. Unfortunately, the other 6 miles were quite a bit slower than I planned. Total time for the 6.9 miles (Garmin measured 7.1) was 45:39 which was 5 minutes slower than projected. I think that the projection was a little too aggressive and didn’t take into account the fatigue factor due to sleep deprivation.

I had a really good time and the team I was on was a lot of fun but I'm not sure that I really enjoy relays. After the Northwest Passage relay next month, I'm not sure if I will do another. The first FRB team came in just a few minutes after us and the second team was coming in as we were leaving and I'm glad I was able to see them finish.