Wasatch Back Relay: FRB White Team. I had planned an early run today to
loosen up but had to work a few hours instead. I also decided a second 8-hr
sleep night would be good prior to the sleepless night of WBR. I met Chad,
Steve C, and James M. at Whole Foods and we left for Logan at about 2pm. The
drive up was good and we stopped to pick up an additional runner. We met
briefly at Paul’s and then all went over to the start.
It was pretty impressive to see so many people all on the same team (28 with
drivers) plus friends and spouses that came to the start. We soon found out
that the BYU rumors were true and they had a super stacked team. That didn’t
change much as far as the race was concerned from my perspective, either way I
was going to run my heart out. I knew I was one of, if not the slowest runner
on the White Team and wanted to earn the honor that had been bestowed upon me. The
only thing that knowing about BYU did was that it did change the overall mood
for me from the Del Sol experience. Knowing our first runner was up against a
sub-14 minute 5K guy was just a little intimidating. In any case we started at
5pm and van one did great. I’m not going to write about the other runners and
just refer you to their blogs to not spoil their thunder.
The van I was in (Van 2) had Jake (the driver), Seth, Dave, Clyde, Logan,
Taylor, and me. First, I have to thank Jake. We couldn’t have done the race
without you. It was great that you offered the use of your vehicle and got us
to where we needed to be on time. THANK YOU! Anyway back to the race. Being so
close to home the prerace jitters were not too bad, we got to the start,
started, and got to the first major exchange. There was nothing too noteworthy
up to this point. When van 1 got to the exchange and handed off we were already
about 12 minutes behind BYU and the pressure was on (or off) depending on how
you looked at it. With the warmer temps I only did a mile warm-up. This was my
easiest leg and I really wanted to break my projected finish of 5:37 pace. I
got the handoff from Dave and took off as hard as I could. This was only 3.5
miles and had a slight downhill. I would guess that the temp was still about 70F
at 9:23pm. The next team was pretty far ahead but I did manage 3 “roadkill” on the route. . For those
that don’t know the race is run with the slowest teams starting first and the fastest
starting last (the first start was at 7:40AM with over 600 teams registered).
We started at 5PM with only about 5 other teams so there were a lot of people
running ahead of us (some with a 9hr and 20min head start). My first mile was 5:14 and I was super excited
about that but wouldn’t be able to maintain. My second mile was 5:39 and I was breathing really
hard. I kept forgetting this wasn’t Phoenix we were running at 5000ft and the
elevation and heat did play its toll. My third mile my wheels were falling off
and I had to do all I could to stay under 6 minute pace (this mile was up hill)
5:51. The final half mile to
my exchange with Seth was at 5:34 pace. Total 3.46 miles in 19:19.36 Avg. 5:35 HR 183 so I got the team an
extra 7 seconds. Total ascent 248ft total descent 278ft. Then back into the van
and on to the next exchange. The van I was in was great and everyone did a
great job about making the experience as fun as possible. At the next exchange
I did a half mile cool down. I was so exhausted. I couldn’t believe how much
this leg wiped me out and was concerned about the next leg. As soon as we got
to the major exchange I tried to sleep and managed about a half hour of sleep.
I never got out of the car at the exchange…
Mi 5-Flats
Asics DS-Trainer #1: 280 / / Asics DS-Trainer #2: 281 / / Saucony Rides #1:
287 / / Saucony Rides #2: 290 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 162 | 