The sun is up, the air is fresh, the stone is old

Last run before heading back to the real world.  I'm seriously going to miss this city..

8 mile hike in the Mcdougal Range, AZ, a quick side trip after Paris before heading home.  Great afternoon with some friends!

Finally time to get off my butt and start some training for Ogden.  7 mile warm up, 5X400, 5X200.  Pretty stiff from a week of about 3 hours of sleep a night, travel and a few marathons a couple of weeks ago.  But good to be home!

Finally a run at home on the trails behind my house.  I'm looking forward to some catching up in the next few days on some sleep.

Came down for the Provo Marathon today and was expecting to run the kids race with the kids after, but they decided it would be much more fun to sleep in with grandma so I ended up just driving down from Salt Lake myself.  I ended up early which never happens, so when the bus got up to the start I asked the driver if I could stay on while he did the next run down and back up.  That worked pretty good and I got 30 minutes of sleep.  Not a bad start.

I had no idea how to pace today.  It would be great to beat Ken R. time on this course last year so I wanted a 2:40.  I decided to see how the first 8 miles or so went and go from there.  There was a very tight group of four guys with Jon K and a few trailing them.  They all gapped me pretty quick in the first three miles but the legs felt great so I caught up to them and tucked into the group since there was a wind coming up the canyon.  We ran together for a couple of miles and then Jon began increasing the pace.  The two other guys fell off and the group of four guys with the BYU jerseys pulled ahead and I was alone.  Again, I had no idea how to run this, afraid I would crash any minute, but felt really strong so I decided to bank some time and stayed with the 5:50 pace.  I came through the half at 1:16:27 so pretty close to that.  Then I really felt it in the legs and would either have to stop or slow down.  I almost saw the Grim Reaper on that hill near the finish line.  Anyways, I slowed to 6:20 and felt my strength return after 4 miles.  I think stayed pretty much there all the way to the finish.  I missed the turn into the park and got an extra .2 in before I noticed there were no cones anywhere.  That always sucks and takes some focus to not let it all go to %$@.  I was just super happy to find the legs strong for another marathon and it was actually fun for the last three miles!

So have three marathons in six weeks hurt my marathon pace?  Hard to say.  I definetly have less bounce and strength, but took 10 minutes off my time last year on this course.  I recovered quick today in the middle of a marathon, which is unusual.  I'm not able to get in any quality training between marathons so it feels like I'm losing some speed.  Most important though, it's been fun, and marathoning is hard to keep fun...It will be interesting to see what Ogden is like.

Easy trail run this morning in Providence Canyon.  The kids rode the four wheeler which is a much better replacement for the double stroller of the last few years!  Some soreness from yesterday's marathon but no injury, lucky!

Shakeout run after a 14 hour work day doing a new route to Dominican Republic.  Long day and a run that freakin hurt every step.  Kind of sore..

Great run in the sun in Indianappolis, 7:45 pace. 

Easy run on the grass in Milwaukee and 30 minutes of core lifting

Time to get back to work running.  Continuous interval run today and excited to survive it.  2 mile warmup, 3 miles at 5:45 pace, 6X 800 at 2:30 pace, 6X200 at 1:10 pace, 4X100 balls to the wall, 3.4 cool down.  Warm up, cool down and 1/4 mile in between intervals done at 7:30 pace. 

Amazingly enough once again dealing with the same "competition" issue that I heard last spring.  My youngest daughter's soccer team is making the shift to non-scoring.  My oldest daughter's annual Mile Race the fourth and fifth grade do every year is this year changing to participation only.  It's confusing to the kids and I've racked my brain the last three days trying to answer my 9 year old's questions about it.  I wrote this to the Principal:

The Mantra "Winning is Everything" is false, but so is the ever increasing belief that competition is harmful; that participation is the heart of sports.  Participation is great, but it’s hardly what sports and especially life are about.  The problem is misconception of success, of greatness.  Success is not the same as achievement.  Success lies in the process to achievement.  If achievement is winning a race or doing the impossible, success is believing in yourself, training for the impossible, and running that race with everything you have, every time.  Achievement is a goal, an endpoint that one strives for.  Success is what you could have right now, this instant, each one of us, no matter what our condition, weight, pace, goal or path towards that endpoint.  It’s the understanding that you are ever changing, endless striving, completely uncomfortable, more stupid than every person you meet, and have only just started being what you want to be.  It’s fun.  Replace achievement with participation and you lose success.

Kind of a mix of what we runners think about and talk to each other about. 

Easy road run

14.4  mile trail run up towards Mt. Logan.  Trial run for a FKT attempt in a few weeks up to Mt. Logan Peak.  The Mt. Logan race starts at the park right across from my house so it's awesome to not have to travel somewhere for one of the neatest trail courses in the country.  I ran out of time to hit the peak since it took me over two and a half hours to run this far!  This starts at 5,000 and hits 9,000 in five miles so it's a real vertical run.  Had some issues with snow and destroyed a pair of trail shoes but tons of fun!

Beautiful trail run along the Columbia River, Portland, OR.

Morning trail run again along the Columbia River Trail.  Still VERY sore from the Mt. Logan Trail run Saturday

Solo night R2R run.  This trail is one of those runs that just freaks you out a little it’s so far away from everything and in such amazing country that it’s almost surreal.  You have to stop every now and then and pinch yourself to make sure that you are actually running on one of the coolest trails in the world.  I was on a work overnight in Phoenix and had wanted to get in a R2R before the canyon got too hot.  In October Rob introduced me to the Grand Canyon with a R2R2R run and it was such a cool experience that I wanted to see if at least one direction could be done on a long overnight.  I also wanted to see how it would be to run shorter, with a quicker pace and get an idea of what it would take to make an attempt at the trail record.  R2R is one of the most contested FKT in the nation, with the fastest times usually being set by ultra runners who hold national wins on major races.  I hoped to see a little bit more of what it takes to run a hard trail like this a bit faster.

After landing in Phoenix in the evening I caught a ride over to Falcon Field to pick up the small plane I was flying to the canyon.  I roughly figured I’d land at the Grand Canyon Airport on the South Rim and take the courtesy car to the trailhead and catch the first Rim Shuttle back in the morning.  As I was loading gear in the plane one of the instructors asked where I was going and after explaining it all, he was totally into it.  So I asked him to come along and drop me off at the North Rim, camp the night, and pick me up at the South Rim.  It would be the perfect scenario.  I was surprised when he was stoked to do it, as long as he could log the flight hours and if I would buy him breakfast!  This changed everything and I went back inside and pulled out the maps and called the NPS for a clearance into the canyons CFR airspace since we would be heading to the North Rim.  This can take days, so it was unusual to get everything done in an hour, one more good thing about doing this in the spring.  We loaded up and headed for the canyon.  We came around the North edge where it looked like there was a great landing spot just a mile or so from the trailhead.  I hopped out and within a couple of minutes he was gone and I was standing there alone.  It felt a bit sudden and could I say nervous?  Pretty dark night and I’ve only done a few night long trail runs, nothing this remote.  It actually took some time to convince myself that this was no longer than any other distance run I do any time of the year. 

I had decided to go North to South as before because I knew the trail, water locations, could deal with airspace issues, and wouldn’t have to deal with 30 degree temps coming up the North Rim in the morning.  Also I could decide at the Colorado River if I wanted to run South Kaibab instead of Bright Angel which is the trail most guys shoot for the record on.  It would also give me an idea of water planning since the North water is turned on last in the year.  I started down the North Rim pretty quick to bank some time, but after only two miles slowed down when it became obvious that going solo meant you had to be more careful.  Sure enough, the first water stop by the cabin was turned off and I began to figure I may not find water until Phantom Ranch.  No problem, I had a water bottle and it was a pretty cool night.  I kind of got into the groove the next hour or so and came to Cottonwood before I realized it.  I had caught up with two R2R runners here who were stopping to rest and when we saw that the water was still not on, they gave me a small water bag which refilled my bottle.  Sweet!  Then I had to just get going again and was able to pick up the pace for a while.  It was just amazing running.  So different to be alone.  I decided to go up Bright Angel because I knew that there was no water on Kaibab and the water thing had made me a bit nervous.  But at Phantom Ranch the water was on and I refilled again even though I hadn’t used that much through the last stretch.  Now the climbing was starting and I was already feeling it in my legs.  I just wanted to run the whole thing tonight, no power hiking or walking!  The time just kind of clicked away and I found myself climbing the last steep sections of the South Rim before long.  Just as planned, which never happens for me, I found the courtesy car in the parking lot with Steve asleep in it and we drove the 6 miles to the airport and flew back to Phoenix.  I was so freaking tired but couldn’t sleep at all.  It was that neat a run. 

Oh, and the time?  Just over 4 hours and 10 minutes.  About 40 minutes slower than the FKT.  Those guys are incredible.  It's a fact I will never cover trails at any speed close to what Ultra guys can.

Early run on the Bold Ridge Trail, Anchorage Alaska.  Steep trail with amazing views.  Julie, one of our flight attendants, ran this whole thing with me and actually had to slow down for me.  It really took about the first 5 miles to loosen up.  There isnt a muscle in my body that isn't sore. 

I put this three day work trip together a few weeks ago, kind of seeing what the ultimate trail running trip at work would be.  This three day was runs along the Columbia in Portland, Grand Canyon, and Alaska.  Pretty sweet!  But we fly to Jackson Hole, WY, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Reno, and of course Denver, all of which have nice trails.  It's going to be an interesting summer...

Off day. PTA meetings half the day. Seems I have gotten myself elected to PTA President Elect next year.

3 mile warm up, 2X1 mile at 5:37 pace, 4X400 at 1:17, 2 cool down

Perfect race conditions today.  I ran with John R for the first 8 miles, actually tagging along behind him since he had a clockwork pace dialed in.  Just about dead on 5:43 pace all the way to 11 miles.  Thanls John!  The pace felt great so I kept it up through the half, at 1:15:50, I think.  I took a wrong turn as the road does a 90 to the half point and added some distance, but only a block or so I think.  I slowed down on the flat and rollers through the mid marathon since these have always killed me at Ogden.  I was above 6 pace through here.  When I reached the downhill I picked it back up to 5:45 which was good since I faded again on the last two miles to 6:15 pace.  Pretty much alone for the whole race today except for running behind John at the start.  This marathon felt the best of any I have ever run.  Somehow not sore at all today.  I got yelled at by two cops for running tangents.  One actually drove on the side of me on his motorcycle through the winding part of the canyon and told me to get over on the coned section of the road.  I had to or risk being DQ'd.  This is the only annoying part of marathoning for me, courses through curvy canyons marked on tangents for distance that you are not allowed to run.  (besides they are unusually long).  My GPS showed .5 long today but that was in part to taking the wrong turn.

Off day.  Hiked 6 miles of Dry Canyon South with the family.

Easy trail from Bonneville over to First Dam and up Stokes Nature Trail into Logan Canyon.

Crazy day.  My son was on his delayed graduation trip and the car blew up in BFE Kansas.  Since you can't get a rental car when you are 18 I flew out to Denver, picked one up, drove to Kansas, sent them on their way with the rental car, and fixed the transmission in the Autozone parking lot.  Then drove back and got in a little run in Cheyenne, WY, which really sucked.  Slept 4 hours in the car and headed home.

Easy run at 7:30 pace with an hour lifting at the gym

Tempo run average at 5:53 pace.  So freakin sore it was even hard to start running at all, but I knew this run had to be done.  I'm a big believer in the tempo run 4 days after a marathon.  30 minutes of lifting.

Now loading up the boat and four wheelers for 5 days at Lone Rock Beach, Lake Powell for some desert running, riding and a lot of boat time with kids and friends. 

Off day. Playing with the kids on the beach, hiking, swimming, boating

6 miles with Walter early.  Hit a few 5:30 miles.  4.5 mile hike with the kids, 1 mile swim.  Much water skiing!

Easy morning run while the camp was sleeping.  Just enjoying the sunrise and the desert south of Lone Rock Beach.  Lots planned today!

Boated and skiid all day until noon and did a hike, dinosaur museum and drove home.  Amazing trip.  No running today! Sweet!

The playing is over and time to get training.  Long pace run Portage Lakes and Trails, Akron, OH.  In the heat after thunderstorms.  First long run in a while just didn't feel like any water or need any carbs.  Just under 7 min pace.  Good run!

Hit Logan Peak trail pretty hard.  Nice trail run and feeling good!

Pace run in Denver.