A Balance, Redefined

Single: Finally found some time to update my blog. This week was crazy trying to balance an increase in work, family, increase in mileage, and still stay somewhat in touch with some of you other bloggers. I was still have asleep when I went into work and grabbed my racing shorts so some people around The U got much more leg than they may have wanted on a Friday morning. The day was already “bad” by the time I went out and I decided to run 8 instead of the planned 6. It felt good to get up into City Creek and also it was nice to get the water break at the gate. The rest of the day went fine. Mi 8-T3 Avg. 8:40

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 368 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 8 / / Saucony Rides #1: 434 / / Saucony Rides #2: 426 // Saucony Rides #3: 9 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 189

Single: Got up at 4am to drive down to Provo. Kind of a race trial run. I had agreed to meet Michelle and whoever after Des and I’m glad I made the trip down. There was a good group, Michelle, Josse, Matt K, James B, Marri, and Tammy. The start was a good group and then after a water stop at about mile 6 we started to break up. The start was warm and it actually cooled off during the run which was nice. There was still some of the trail closed because of the fire, that we could see, but the smoke was not bothersome. We were able to go around the barricades on the way up but had to run on the street on the way down, which was not nice. The way up was mostly uphill to just before the dam. Then when we turned around Michelle and I were going to do some tempo work. We got a descent amount in but not as much as Michelle would have liked. Either way it was a good run. It was nice to finally meet Josse and Matt, catch back up with James a little, and get to know Michelle better. I didn’t get to talk with Marri and Tammy much until the end but it sounded like they had good runs. Back when I started training for marathons and was following Hal Higdon he suggested doing your 20-milers at the time you want to run your full marathon. So as far as that goes today was a near perfect workout, total 2:30.52. To finish it off we all jumped into the river and chilled for 15 minutes. Mi 20-T3 Avg. 7:31 total 2:30.52

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 368 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 28 / / Saucony Rides #1: 434 / / Saucony Rides #2: 426 // Saucony Rides #3: 9 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 189

Single: Much busier day than I would have liked. Had to go to work before church, then after as well. Finally got some time to spend with the family in the afternoon/early evening. I then had a couple weeks worth of errands/bills/etc. to catch up on. Made it out the door at dusk to do the Parley's loop. Not what I had in mind for the day but at least I got out and got a little in. Nice to stretch the legs after the high mileage of last week. Hopefully something magical will happen and things will ease up at work to give me time to rest up mentally for the race this Saturday... Mi 7-R3 Avg. 8:40

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 368 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 28 / / Saucony Rides #1: 434 / / Saucony Rides #2: 426 // Saucony Rides #3: 16 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 189

AM: It's Monday. Lab-SH loop via good morning at breakfast time. Mi 9-R3 Avg. 7:59

PM: More Monday, enough said... Home loop. Mi 6-R3 Avg. 7:52 

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 368 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 34 / / Saucony Rides #1: 434 / / Saucony Rides #2: 426 // Saucony Rides #3: 25 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 189

AM: I'm feeling a little better now, but was completely wiped when I got up this morning. I need to find a way to reorganize my day to be more efficient at lab. It is just that research is feast and famine and right now I'm on a feast phase so my head is going in 100 directions at once... I did a ASAHP run, just did the Parley's loop backwards. It felt much harder going this way than the other. The steep portions were the downs and gradual the ups so it felt like two times as much was up. I also ran into Eric (Phoenix) near the end of my run and briefly spoke with him, he seems to be recovering well and I'm sure will be a force to be reckoned with before the year is out. Mi 7-R3 Avg. 10:42

PM: Feeling better still. The rest of the day went well and looking forward to a mini-taper leading up to Saturday. Mi 9-R3 Avg. 8:36 

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 368 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 34 / / Saucony Rides #1: 434 / / Saucony Rides #2: 426 // Saucony Rides #3: 41 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 189

Single: Slept in the extra hour this morning. The extra sleep seems do have done wonders. Still got into lab before 7am, set-up three things and then out for my run. SH loop from lab with a stop at home. Because I was later I actually had the chance to play with Kaitlyn in the backyard for a few minutes before continuing on back to work. Still feeling flat but the last three days were a good chunk of mileage so I'm not too worried about it. I would have liked to have gotten in something speedy this week but for my body it seems that the consistent mileage is more important so for now I'm going to stick with what seems to be working. Mi 10-R3 Avg. 8:26

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 368 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 34 / / Saucony Rides #1: 434 / / Saucony Rides #2: 426 // Saucony Rides #3: 51 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 189

Single: Had to get into work early this AM. Then ended up having to spend the first hour cleaning up after other people…always LOVE that one. However, the rest of the day has turned itself around and I even got one thing to work that I’ve tried 4 times already this week, batting 0.250 isn’t that bad, I guess. My right knee has still been tight but I think that has been a recurring theme since the Strider’s 10-miler (and the 10 years prior to that). The run went well; it wasn’t too hot at 9am when I finally got out the door. I wanted to do a little bit of speed work this week but nothing too crazy with the race so I did my now common SH to MG 2-mile surge. I wanted it to be at about ½-marathon goal pace. Which I wasn’t exactly sure about as I hadn’t done the course tool or prediction yet and just pushed. I hit the first mile in 5:34 which comes out to exactly 1:13 pace (I take this as a good sign). The second half of this surge is more downhill so I backed off a little effort wise but still hit it in 5:31. The effort was harder than ½ marathon race effort but I still have two more nights to rest up. Mi 8-T3 Avg. 8:07

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 368 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 42 / / Saucony Rides #1: 434 / / Saucony Rides #2: 426 // Saucony Rides #3: 51 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 189

Single: No that isn't a typo, I made sure to get 8hrs of sleep last night. Still a little sluggish this morning anyway. I will try and go to sleep as early as possible tonight but it may be difficult (especially with all the rest last night :-)). After doing a few things in lab I went out the door toward home. Stopped to see Kaitlyn's Playdough waterfall and continued on. I even sort of got rain the last mile, if you could call it raining... Mi 6 R2-Avg. 8:29

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 368 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 42 / / Saucony Rides #1: 434 / / Saucony Rides #2: 432 // Saucony Rides #3: 51 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 189

RACE DAY-Provo 1/2:

Today was one of my 4 biggies for the year. After SLC, I decided to focus on breaking my 10K, ½, and marathon PRs. To do this I was focused on Des 10K, Provo 1/2, and St. George. Des 10K went well and today went even better. First off, my mom asked that for her birthday I run a race “for her”. So a couple weeks ago I told her this would be the race. This helped give some extra push.

I was antsy leading up to this one. Yesterday I couldn’t focus in work at all, the good thing was I had worked my tail off the rest of the week that Friday was a down day anyway. Then I tried to get to sleep early. Managed to get to sleep about 9:30, then I woke up ½ hour before my alarm at 3am. Couldn’t get back to sleep and just decided to get going. I was on the second bus up the canyon and at the top I was initially convinced that we were not at the correct place. I could only see one Port’O John and nothing in the way of a start line. But then ran into James, it started getting light and we saw more bathrooms and finally calmed that we were in the right place.

Looking around at the start I ran into a group of bloggers I did not know but said hi. There are many friendly faces out there now and I wish I would make more time to visit additional blogs… Then I saw Dave H. and we did a warm-up toward the ranch above the start. On the way out there was a guy with two dogs sitting at the gate keeping people out and I briefly had a flash back to the junk yard scene in the movie Stand by Me. But no Chomper was set on Dave and I. By the time we got back to the start Chad, Steve C, Tom, Michelle L. and to my surprise Walter was there. There was also Sasha and Jeff Mc to round out the bloggers I was expecting to see. Josse pulled up toward the gun on one of the last buses. Anyway on to this race.

I put forth a very ambitious goal of 1:13. However, considering my Des 10K and SLC performances I thought that this was ambitious but not totally unrealistic. Knowing that Chad has run in this time range before and that Steve C just has some crazy foot speed my plan was to try and work off of the two of them as best I could. This year I actually was at the start when the gun went off and we were down the hill. For those of you who do not know, this is a crazy fast downhill course.

The first mile Jeff, Dave, and Sasha were the lead pack with Steve inbetween and some other random runner then the rest of the bloggers named above. I figured I would never see the front three again. I missed a lot of my splits as I didn’t want to get intimidated and just go by feel.

a = ascent d = descent

Mile 1: 5:16 (a-39ft, d-274ft)

I was feeling good with the effort and running along with Chad and the others.

Mile 2: 5:18 (a-59ft, d-219ft)

I actually already started to “feel it” here and was worried about things to come. Also, random runner was driving me crazy with his inability to pace. He was in front then behind then all over. Chad started to move forward and I went with him to put this guy behind. Also, somewhere in this next mile Steve came back to us and we kept rolling.

Mile 3: 5:22 (a-116ft, d-181ft)

Not really looking at my Garmin but feeling it in my legs. Pretty concerned at this point that I still had 10 miles to go. Also, somewhere in here and onto the turn onto the highway Chad started to pull away and I just didn’t respond.

Mile 4: 5:10 (a-72ft, d-243ft)

I took my first Gu at this point and that helped turn it around. My legs were still aching but I could tell the difference in fuel reserve. During the next two miles we started to have some up and I started to feel like I could run with Chad again. Also, now on the road I knew the course again after having run it with Michelle and Matt from this point last weekend. This actually helped a lot as I was ready for the hill.

Mile 5:5:20 (a-110ft, d-73ft)

Mile 6: 5:41 (a-234ft, d-216ft)

Turning into Nunn’s Park I could see Sasha. I was very surprised by this but considering he had just raced a marathon a couple weeks ago I figured something was up. But it did make my mouth water and helped me push a little. Also, cresting the hill and getting onto the trail was nice.

Mile 7: 5:09 (a-150ft, d-319ft). I actually got this split and was ecstatic!

Around a corner onto the trial I came upon Sasha at the tail end of a VPB (no pun intended) and really felt that he was obtainable. However, I was really starting to feel it and just kept telling myself to make it to 10-miles and then we’d worry about the rest of the race.

Mile 8: 5:33 (a-74ft, d-127ft)

The trail was a little busy with bikes and runners but that actually helped me some because they were welcome distractions from the pain building in my legs. Took my second Gu. The next three miles were entirely survival mode. I kept thinking two things, keep going and keep the pace below St. George goal pace. If you can’t do it for 10 miles you won’t do it for 26!

Mile 9: 5:41 (a-112ft, d-203ft)

Mile 10: 5:39 (a-129ft, d-187ft)

Mile 11: 5:39 (a-134ft, d-138ft)

Looking back on these three splits I’m happy to see my survival pace on relatively neutral miles is 5:40. At this point we got back onto the roads and had tons of turns. Also, I could smell blood but I could also smell the wolves. The blood was both mine but Sasha was tantalizingly close. I looked back at one of the turns and saw Chad on my heels and knew he had to be thinking the same thing about me. My legs were so spent and I swear they were wobbling with each step. This is where the race being my mom’s birthday present comes into play. I just kept telling myself that I couldn’t give up now I’d pushed too hard. Also, looking at my split at 10-miles I knew I just had to stay sub-6 to make by time goal. It was very hard though. The turns and the fatigue were really playing on me. That and Sasha was staying the same distance or gapping me.

Mile 12: 5:54 (a-95ft, d-158ft)

This last mile I was having flash backs from the year before. Chad and I were in the exact opposite positions and there were some weird turns before you could see the finish. I actually started yelling out to myself to keep my legs moving and not let the goal time slip away from me so close to the finish. Also, with Chad right on my heels I was having flashbacks of Des 10K…

Mile 13: 5:47 (a-203ft, d-154ft)

At this point I knew I had the time and when I saw the clock I went crazy in my head (it was a minute slow) but in any case I knew I was going to smash my PR and hit my goal. I let loose and hit my final 0.17 in :56 or 5:22 pace (a-50ft, d-43ft).

In the end I did a cool down with Steve C and Chad, then soaked in the river for 15 minutes before heading home. FRB had a great showing wining both men’s and women’s races and sweeping the top 7 places in the men’s race. Plus looking over the race report page it looks like many other bloggers had great days.

Overall, I could not have asked for more from this race. I was very happy with both my time and placement. 1:12.30 and 4^th overall The effort felt like I was racing but not that I was going to die. For the first time 2:30 really feels obtainable. I still have some work to do but I can taste it. I’m very happy to have had such strong support from the blog. It is great that there are so many people at comparable ability to work off of. It really helps and today being between Sasha and Chad really helped pull, push, and keep me moving. In the end this demolished by previous ½ PR set in ’06 at the SL half in 1:15.14 so a 2 min and 44 sec PR!!! Mom I hope that qualifies as a good b-day present. Thanks everyone and I’m looking forward to my next race. Afterwards I went home and crashed for 2 hrs then did errands all afternoon and now I’m in lab waiting for an incubation to wrap up. My legs feel surprisingly good but we’ll see tomorrow.

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 371 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 42 / / Saucony Rides #1: 434 / / Saucony Rides #2: 432 // Saucony Rides #3: 51 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 205

Single: Well I'm surprisingly able to walk today. I was a little concerned with how my knee was feeling going into it and the downhill nature of the beast yesterday. This week will be easy but higher mileage and then I think I'll switch my next two weeks and have the same with a few workouts. Next up should be SL Half on the 30th. After a nice full 8hrs sleep it was finally nice enough this morning to walk to church. Then a quick lunch and during naptime headed over to City Creek for some uphill running, ran from 4700ft to 6400ft. This was my furthest up yet. After the road ends I went onto the trail, this quickly becomes single track, crosses back and fourth three times over the creek and then basically disappears.  I bushwacked my way another half mile to 6.5 from the gate and then turned around and back down. Even down was slow today but it was all about recovery anyway. Mi 13-R3 Avg. 9:14

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 371 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 42 / / Saucony Rides #1: 434 / / Saucony Rides #2: 432 // Saucony Rides #3: 64 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 205

AM: Knee a little tight but nothing worse than before the race. Ran from work toward SH stopping at home on the way back. Mi 8.5-R3 Avg. 10:06

PM: Eric (Phoenix) came by my house and we did the suicide rock out and back. We had a good conversation about training and he also had a good suggestion to overcome the experimental problem I was having last week. My right knee is still a little sore but as I told Eric it is no worse than before the race so I'm taking that as a good sign. Mi 4.5-R3 Avg. 9:29

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 371 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 42 / / Saucony Rides #1: 434 / / Saucony Rides #2: 432 // Saucony Rides #3: 77 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 205

AM: Watched another gold/WR by Phelps, truly amazing!!! I did not stay up and missed the meteor shower last night. After setting some stuff up in lab did a inner SH loop and a stop at home on the way back. Timed it perfect to catch Sandra and Kaitlyn for a block of their walk. Mi 9-R3 Avg. 8:28

PM: Not much to the day. Parley's loop from home. Now time to watch Phelps make world history. Mi 7-R2 Avg. 8:32 

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 371 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 42 / / Saucony Rides #1: 434 / / Saucony Rides #2: 439 // Saucony Rides #3: 86 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 205

Single: Slept in this morning, full day at work, and then run after dinner. I did the Parley's loop with an extension that was a little longer than I thought. Knee still feeling about the same, better but not good. Probably will lay off speedwork this week. Mi 12-R3 Avg. 8:13

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 371 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 42 / / Saucony Rides #1: 434 / / Saucony Rides #2: 439 // Saucony Rides #3: 98 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 205 

AM: I didn't feel too rested getting up but the day has been going well so far. Got a lot done before I even headed out the door for the run. Though I'm usually a creature of habit I've been trying to find more new runs. Today I did the Memory Grove run but only 3 of the 5 miles were the same. I did it more like a giant figure 8 than an out and back. I even ran past Chad's house. Doing it this way was more challenging, especially running up K St. Mi 8-T3 Avg. 9:20

PM: Big goose egg. Initially had planned 8 more for tonight. However, at 4pm I found out that a farewell celebration for one of my friends in lab had to be moved from Friday to tonight. We headed over to MacCool's and had a "traditional Korean send-off." Let's just say that this is one of the hardest working people I have ever met and he parties just as hard as he works. Finally crawled into bed sometime after midnight and I was wiped out in the morning. I'm certainly not 21 anymore... Oh well, he really had a good time and the party meant a lot to him.

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 371 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 50 / / Saucony Rides #1: 434 / / Saucony Rides #2: 439 // Saucony Rides #3: 98 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 205

Single: See yesterday's entry for my sluggishness today. Surprisingly though the day ended up very well. I got everything done in lab I had planned. Then after dinner watched Lagat in the 1500 and then out the door. I just went SW then back N to East 1 easy mile on the track and home. It was SUPER windy at the end of the run. Mi 13-R3 Avg. 8:45

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 371 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 50 / / Saucony Rides #1: 434 / / Saucony Rides #2: 439 // Saucony Rides #3: 111 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 205

Single: Well I got the mileage in. This morning was painful. Too much Olympics last night and I was supposed to be in work by 8am, didn't get in until closer to 8:30 but I have a 10 min break now. I went out Wasatch Dr. past Parley's to Mill Creek golf course and back. It was even windier this morning than last night. I almost got tripped twice by the wind but I don't know if that was because I was so tired or it was so windy. Cool thing is that is 29 miles within 12 hrs. Next week more of the same but hopefully back to some speed. This week was just mileage and though the running is fun I missed not going fast. Mi 16-T3 Avg. 8:37 ok Jon not as slow as I thought. The way out I crawled with three miles slower than 10 min pace, I guess I didn't pay attention to the pace back though :)...

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 371 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 66 / / Saucony Rides #1: 434 / / Saucony Rides #2: 439 // Saucony Rides #3: 111 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 205

AM: The Olympics are sure playing a toll on my sleep... That being said there has been some great stuff. The men's 10K was great today. Got up early because I knew I had to get in extra miles today because this week is booked solid. It was great out the door my knee felt the best it has in over a week. I still kept it easy and did the Des 10K, Liberty, 17th loop. Mi 10-R3 Avg. 8:51

PM: After a very full day another home loop. I did a run that I had to turn every full block until  I hit the main boundaries. I got stuck down some dead end streets but I got to see a lot that I didn't know was there. Mi 7-R1 Avg. 8:00

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 371 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 66 / / Saucony Rides #1: 441 / / Saucony Rides #2: 439 // Saucony Rides #3: 121 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 205

Single: I really have to focus on some sleep and not so much Olympics at night. Full day plus full night equals tired Adam... That being said I had to get up a little early as today is Sandra's birthday and I'm only running once. Got a bunch set-up in lab and then timed my run so that I would go past the house in time to have Kaitlyn wake up Sandra with her birthday card. After that snaked back to lab and now have to try and get the day done on time. It is funny it is 9am right now and I'm already a good 3.5 hrs into my day. Have to love waking up early. The 1500 semifinals were interesting but I was bummed about Lagat not making the final. Also, I was confused when I first looked at the schedule I read men's marathon Day 16 as Aug 16th... (sorry Chad I told you incorrectly). Mi 10-R3 Avg. 9:16

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 371 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 66 / / Saucony Rides #1: 441 / / Saucony Rides #2: 439 // Saucony Rides #3: 131 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 205

Single: Still need to work on the sleep issue. Today will be no better. Tried to get in some faster leg work today. Wanted to get on the track but opted out as my knee has only felt better for a few days. Instead stuck with what has been working and did 2x2mile around MG. Would have liked 2x3 mile but was short on time. Warmed up 2 miles then two miles mostly down 5:40 and 5:39 then recovered one mile followed by two more miles first had some uphill second was all down 5:51 and 5:31 then cooled down 4 miles back to lab. Mi 11-T3 Avg. 8:09

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 371 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 77 / / Saucony Rides #1: 441 / / Saucony Rides #2: 439 // Saucony Rides #3: 131 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 205 

AM: Funky start to the morning but finally got things moving. Just very slow going and had some unexpected running around to do. Did still manage to get out the door a little after 8am, did the home loop from lab to stop and say hi. Knee no worse off from the speed yesterday so I'm happy about that. A little bummed about the Garmin, I've had two HR monitors break and today during the last quarter mile of the run the actual unit broke. The hard plastic part that the strap attaches at cracked and the strap fell out. Luckily it is less than a year old so they are sending me a replacement same as the HR straps. They even let me keep the old one until the new one arrives but made me put down a $100 deposit... A little glue will fix it for the week but am concerned about the longevity of the replacement. I don't abuse the thing but I guess it wasn't designed for 80-90 miles of wear and tear a week... Mi 9-R3 Avg. 8:07

PM: Well I tried to break in my new flats. Didn't work to well. I had worn them to walk around and wanted to do a fast downhill mile to see if they would feel right for St. George. They felt great from the get go and during my warm-up miles I looked down and saw I was going about 6:15 pace uphill. I backed off and waited for the turn. I was going to run SLC MM 4 shooting for 2:30 pace or a 5:11. I turned the corner and just let loose. I got stopped up by the McDonald's but just picked it back up and had to go around a few cars at 21st E. When the Garmin beeped I looked down at a 5:03! I was pretty happy with that and backed off. Then went to cross the street to head toward SH and my knee just started really acting up. Not sure if it was the speed or the new shoes but it didn't feel nice. I've stretched and iced and am ready to go to bed. Mi 4-AR Avg. 7:35 

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 371 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 77 / / Saucony Rides #1: 441 / / Saucony Rides #2: 439 // Saucony Rides #3: 140 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 205 / / Asics DS-Racers (flats): 4

No run. Knee.

AM: Testing things out. Very slow. Took some IB first, home loop from lab. Mi 7-R3

PM: Still not sure what is going on. Feel "ok" but something is not right, clicking in my right knee. Mi 5-R2

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 371 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 77 / / Saucony Rides #1: 441 / / Saucony Rides #2: 444 // Saucony Rides #3: 147 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 205 / /

I initially had planned 20 for today and a little over 90 for the week. Neither happened after Wed. I started to draft a longer post at work but have not finished it. Really a lot of mental pain right now, more so than the physical. I only missed one day of running this week but it feels like a house of cards collapsing. At least watching the men's marathon was good. Surprisingly it didn't make me dwell on my pain. Looking forward to the 5K in a little so I'll make this short. Really looking forward to reading all the race reports from today but that will also have to wait until tomorrow. My run this morning was nice and easy. Started super slow >10 the picked it up down to ~7. The faster actually felt better. Though  I was never in pain it really didn't feel right and I know there is something "bad" going on in there. I did speak to an Orthopedic surgeon and he told me to talk off until Wed/Thur. Try to run a few miles on Thur/Fri and still line up for the race on Sat with the plan of pulling out at the first sign of anything. With the noise he said it could be one of two things, something tore or something is just swollen and pushing up over something. As there is no pain with the sound I"m hoping it is just the later and that a few days off of icing etc will help... Mi 10-R3

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 371 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 77 / / Saucony Rides #1: 441 / / Saucony Rides #2: 444 // Saucony Rides #3: 157 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 205 / / 

Single: It is so nice to be putting in an entry again. It was only a few days but the rest has felt like forever. I was able to catch up on some sleep getting over 7hrs each night, one night I even got 8.5hrs. Still very behind in work etc but that is my normal state of being. Now to the important part. I ran today. I ran to SH, then ran into BC. We started talking about his Park City race and I ended up doing one more mile than I had planned. However, my knee was not in pain. I would best describe it as "tight". I still take it easy-low mileage Thur and Fri and continue with the Docs plans of using Sat as the "real test." Mi 5-R3 Avg. 7:59

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 371 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 77 / / Saucony Rides #1: 441 / / Saucony Rides #2: 444 // Saucony Rides #3: 162 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 205 / /

Single: Well two down and many more to go. This run was about the same as yesterday. It is amazing what a few days off will do. My calves were actually a little tight today. I had to go back into work as I have a "big" meeting tomorrow so I ran from lab to MG and back starting at 8:30pm. Mi 6-R3 Avg. 8:16

Asics DS-Trainer #2: 371 / / Asics DS-Trainer #3: 77 / / Saucony Rides #1: 441 / / Saucony Rides #2: 444 // Saucony Rides #3: 168 // Adidas Adistar (flats): 205 / /

Big fat goose egg. Kind of like this whole week... I had a big meeting this afternoon at work and never had time until 8pm to go for my run and at that point I didn't feel it was worth squeezing in with the race tomorrow.

Race Day: SL “1/2” Marathon-So this is the third year in a row that I’ve done this race. But, I’m going to commandeer this race report to first discuss my “injury” and current state of mind about it before I get to the details. First, thank you to everyone that has already commented. I’ve been really up and down emotionally the last week and really didn’t know what to expect. Last Wed was really a bad day. It was the first time I can ever remember stopping during a run and walking. My knee had really locked up and with the “noise” coming from it I was seriously convinced that I had torn something. I immediately locked down mentally and tried to decide what to do. To my surprise, as I already mentioned, my knee was not in “pain” as early as the next day. However, last time I tried to run through an injury I was out for 3-months and I didn’t want to take any risks this time so I took the next day off. I then ran two days later and didn’t feel “right”, ran one more day with the same feeling and decided to take some “real” time off. After talking to one doctor and seeing another, I decided that I wasn’t broken just damaged. I ended up taking the most time off since my last injury (almost two years ago) and really didn’t know what to expect. I was really down on myself for what I thought (in hindsight) was so stupid, running hard downhill in new shoes. In all reality though I don’t think that could have been what it was. There are about a dozen other things that I’m sure all added up to it. So the good news as we’ll read in a moment is that my worst fears were not realized.

Started the day off a little extra early as I was picking up James (Fiddy) and Eric (Phoenix) for the ride to the start. We met Eric at the start where he left his car and headed up. This year James (race director) had done a good job at the start with a lot of extra Port’o Potties. It was cool but felt good. The three of us just chatted and did an easy warm-up to about the mile mark and back down. A little into that I saw something moving on the mountainside. As we got closer we thought it was a bear or cow but then it turned to us and it was actually a large bull Moose with a huge rack! It is my first Utah moose sighting. On our way back it had moved closer to the road and we had a pretty good view of it, though it was still probably 200-300 meters away.

As I mentioned above I was really not sure what to expect today: 50% of me thought I shouldn’t be here, 40% thought I should do it as a training run (yeah right, like I could take a race easy), and 10% thought I wanted to win it… I saw BJ at the start with some of his team but quickly found out they were all relay runners… Looked around for anyone else that I would worry about and decided James and I were in for a fun run.

At the gun four of us went out; James, Jason Schoenfeld (unknown to me), myself, and 4^th guy. A few yards ahead of us was one of the relay team guys. I was perfectly happy to tuck in behind the others and let them pace. Really until the first mile I was seriously thinking I would stop at the top of the hill, little did I know... We hit the mile mark at 6:30 and I felt perfectly fine. “4^th guy” started to fall back and it was the other three of us running easily together. I did notice that my breathing was more labored than I would have liked but up to this point my knee was still behaving. The next mile has the worst of the climb. We still managed a 6:50 and I felt perfectly happy letting the others set the pace. At this point I thought I noticed Jason getting anxious at the bit and he started to move. James and I went with him. The next mile (still with 115 ft of ascent) we managed a 6:16, at this point I really went into competition mode and that last 10% of me took over. I felt I would just go with this guy and kick it in on the downhill. At this point James fell back a little and we kept going. Just before the top of the hill Jason actually made the first move and put about 10 ft on me. I thought “no problem” I’ll pour it on after the crest. Mile 4 I had a 6:30. This actually put me ~40 seconds ahead of my time at this point last year! Though I didn’t know this at the time. I really felt that I was just going with the flow.

Now here is also were a problem sets in. It turns out that I’m pretty sure Jason had the same plan and he just started to put distance on me. My next mile was 5:24 which I knew was a good bit slower than last year’s mile 5. The next mile I pushed it a little more but didn’t really seem to be gaining any, 5:13. I could feel my knee a little with the added effort so at this point I had a heart to heart with myself and in the end decided it was not worth hammering my legs on this race to try and catch this guy so soon after having such a big blow-up. Mile 7 was in 5:27 and mile 8 was in 5:31.

The next miles are where I’ve really pushed it the last two years but I decided that I was not gaining on Jason and this is just supposed to be a training run. Somewhere in here I could have also sworn that I heard Chad and turned to see I runner coming up the canyon but couldn’t see him. Turns out it wasn’t but it was funny, hallucinating about Chad that is… The next three miles were all just in cruise control 5:44, 5:47, and 5:40. Coming out of the canyon I looked at my time and thought about going for a 1:15:##, but in the end just decided to keep it in check. Mile 12 5:30 (you can see the twinge of hunger in that split). I then saw Josh Steffen and he cheered me on to catch the relay guy ahead of me. I ended up catching him just before the turn, the exact same spot in the course I caught the last relay person last year! Just after passing that guy I saw Steve Ashbaker. He ran in most of the last mile with me and we just chatted. My one calf (the one on the bum knee leg) was starting to tighten up on the slightest of uphills at this point in the course and I looked up to see the clock tick off 1:16. I finished in with the last “mile” in 5:46. Like the last two years the course was short but it was still fun. Final time was 1:16:13 with the Garmin reading 12.96. Some cool down with Steve A and a little with James. I also got to talk with Jason a little after the race and gave him the blog sales pitch. Also, congratulated him on a great race, turns out he had run in college but has only been on and off the last 5-yrs. I hope he has a great race at TOU in a couple weeks. Overall, I really like this course (winning the race the first time I ran it probably has something to do with that) and think that James does a good job trying to drum up a large field.

Post race assessment: Well I took second and only ran ~40 seconds slower than last year so I can’t say that I’m disappointed. In fact I am REALLY happy with it. Considering my mind set and the week I’d had before the race I couldn’t have asked for more. I’m a little bummed I didn’t keep the legs moving enough to go under 1:16 and have all three finishes in 1:15 but know I’m just being greedy. Mostly I just think that the bar has been raised so high this year that I really have to keep things in perspective and realize that every race can’t be a PR. So for now I’m happy with how quickly I seem to be recovering from whatever it was that happened last Wed. I’ll still take it extra easy this week and then just four weeks until game day!!!

For the other number geeks out there here are my splits for the last three years. You can really see where I made the decision to just run it in this year…

Wow. This is my first "true" day of rest this year. It is the first time I'm in town and neither ran nor went to wook! I even managed 9 total hours of sleep! This week though the plan is nice and easy probably still toward the low mileage range. Though I say I took it easy the last few miles yesterday my quads still think that I raced. My knee feels about the same as before the race so at least it appears that I didn't do any additional damage to it. That right calf is still a little tight but overall just happy my knee doesn't feel worse. I would say it feels about 75%...