Old Man Still running

Squaw Peak 50 was a much lower snow course this year with a bumch of miles on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail above Provo and Springville. There was about 700 feet more climbing along the way and it was much hotter. Most runners believe thes course was tougher this year.  I think it was a little faster but the heat made it tougher with temperatures into the low 80s.

I started off running in the top 10, but at about mile 3 or so, still in the dark, about 50 or more of us missed a turn that was very poorly marked.  I was about the third runner in this group. I became convinced that we were going the wrong way since this is the 7th time I've run that part of the course.  We finally turned back and it was funny to herd all these runners back. It really was amusing.  I was able to run a little while with friends who were far behind me.  I believe it was a 15-minute 1.5 mile blunder for me.

Now the problem was there was about 30 runners ahead of me going much slower than I usually go on the climb to Hope Campground.  I was with the woman who had been the leading woman and together we called out to runners to let us pass.

I arrived at Hope Campground about 15-20 minutes behind schedule caused by the blunder.  I made up some good time running very fast with another runner who blundered as we ran down Rock Canyon.  At one point we were running 6:50 pace.  It was great fun.  I regained about 5 minutes by the time I reached the bottom of Rock Canyon.

To make a long story short, all day I was about 15 minutes behind my goal pace, so I stayed on pace but just couldn't get the lost time back.  At the turnaround it was a little discouraging to see buddies who I should have been running with who were 20-30 minutes ahead of me. I did run most of the road back up to the top of Spring Canyon.  But down the other side I decided to take the time to greet and encourage runners.  Every time I saw a runner, I would yell out whoops and hoots and cheer them on with stuff like, "Its a great day for up!"  I saw Ed Green sitting by the side of the trail and I teased him.  He was taking a break in the shade.  It looked like he was waiting for the mule train to arrive to give him a ride. So many were greeting me by name that I wanted to make sure I somehow gave them a boost.  I wished I knew their names.

For the last 25 miles, I ran well.  My split from Spring Creek to Buckly Draw was the same it was in the morning, so I was doing well.  But I didn't run with urgency and wasn't really pushing it too hard.  Only one person, a woman, passed my on the BoSho going back.  I believe I passed a couple people in the aid stations.  Thankfully when I was on the low exposed BoSho, a cloud cover came in and made it feel cooler.

When I climbed back up Rock Canyon, no one was pushing me from behind so I just enjoyed the afternoon and the roaring creek beside the trail.  Once the road became less steep I ran again.  I could easily run fast uphill if I wanted, but I was being lazy and probably not eating enough to sustain a fast pace. There weren't gels in the aid stations and I didn't bring enough, so I know I was low in calories. I did catch up to a couple other runners near the top.

With about three miles to go, I slowed and about five runners caught up and passed me.  On the paved Provo River trail, the last 2.3 miles, my legs really enjoyed running fast so I did and gained back one spot.

I finished in a pretty typical SP50 time for me, 11:25, in 38th place.  3rd in my age group which is very good for a large race like this.  I cleaned up, changed clothes and for the next four house really enjoyed talking with many runners and watching so many friends finihs. 

The snow course was OK, but I'd rather not do it again.

It doesn't even feel like I ran 50 miles yesterday, hardly any soreness, just need sleep.  I was such a lazy bum.  Somehow I need to push myself harder in these races to get everything out of the effort.

Easy pace to test out legs.  Ready to continue training.  Nice to see snow starting to come off of the mountains.  Dreaming about the Uintas.

Next up is Utah Valley Half Marathon on Saturday.  This will probably be my last quest for a sub-1:30.  I came within 15 seconds last year.  This year's course is pushed up the canyon further, so it may be a little faster.

Went up Lake Mountain from the South.  I tried this earlier in the year but was turned back earlier because of snow.  No snow now.  This time I went further up there to 6,700 feet.  The rough road goes the length of the top of the mountain clear to the towers.  I went about half way, still a couple miles from up above Enoch Pass.  Views are amazing up there.  In places the top is flat plains.  You go through burned out locations from the fires a few years ago.  The road is rough, with imbedded rocks, so tough to go fast.  I had one face plant coming down.   It was great to watch the sunrise up there.  When I have a couple hours more, I'll do the entire length and then come down the main road to the south through the valley.  I worked the kinks out of me legs from SP50 and they feel fine

After work went back up, same run but this time completed an entire loop, reaching 7,600 feet to the first set of towers.  I cut the loop a couple miles by doing a short bushwhack down to the canyon road.  Nearing the end, I found a wonderful single-track motorcycle trail in the foothills that I didn't know was there.  It was great fun.  I'll have to explore that some more another day.

Just taking it easy. Picked up my packet for the Utah Valley Half.  Pretty funny, on page 30 of their marathon magazine they listed the course records and your's truly is listed as the course record holder for the 50-54 age group for the half.  Gee, if I would have run a few seconds faster, I would be the masters record holder.   That record should be busted big-time tomorrow by Daniel Kerns.

Tomorrow I'll run the half and probably run backwards 6 miles or so and run in easy with the marathoners to at least get in 26.  I guess if I end up with an age group award, I'll have to be at the awards at 9:30.

This week I had a “Kelli age moment” at work.  (See Kelli’s blog last Saturday). A friend asked me how old I was.  I asked “why?”  He said that a neighbor of mine who he knows insisted that I was 60 years old!  My friend thought I was in my 40s. (I’m almost 53). Later some BYU-Idaho students came into the room and my friend still joking with me asked them how old they thought I was.  The first guess was 55.  I groaned.  I thought I looked young.  I guess not.

OK, So I’m feeling old.  My results so far this year at the short distances (marathon and under) have been disappointing, no PRs. I was starting to believe that age is finally catching up with me and after six years of running that I was finally plateauing and getting slower.

A couple weeks ago, I decided to give the half marathon distance one last try to break 1:30 for the first time on a fair course.  I contacted the race director and he let me in the full race because I had won my age group last year.  It was cool to see my name listed in their marathon magazine as an age group course record holder.  I had no expectations of winning this year because Daniel Kerns, the fastest runner in the state over 50 was entered.  So, I would just concentrated on breaking 1:30 and not worry about placement.

After being bused up to the start in Provo Canyon, I saw a huge cloud of smoke around the crowd from the fire barrels.  I had no desire to get anywhere near that smoke so I took a run up the canyon.  I left the road and ran up a faint overgrown dirt road that took me to the top of a ridge with a nice view of Deer Creek Reservoir down to the east shining in the dawn light.  It was nice and peaceful away from the crowds allowing me to focus.  It was a nice three-mile warmup climb.

The race was away at 6 a.m.  We would run the highway down Provo Canyon and then run on University to downtown Provo, a nice fast course without sharp turns.  Right away I noticed Daniel Kerns in front of me.  He sprinted away doing a 5:45 pace.  I knew that it would be impossible for me to keep up, so I didn’t try and just concentrated on my own pace, realizing that he would probably be a half minute faster than me on every mile.

I struggled the first four miles as I tried to not to red-line my heart rate and respiration. I think the elevation up there was getting to me. My goal was to keep every mile in the canyon under 6:40 pace and then keep every mile out of the canyon under 7:00 pace.  If I could do that, a sub-1:30 would finally be mine.

Miles 1-4 were 6:17, 6:12, 6:56 (hill), and 6:46.  This was encouraging.   After that my heart rate seemed to settle down as I warmed up.  The temperature was a little on the warm side as I started to sweat.  I didn’t stop at any aid station, just drank from my handheld water bottle.

I kept it going for the rest of the canyon with splits of 6:30, 6:37, 6:47, and 6:52. I became concerned as those splits started to get closer to 7.  Could I hang on for the last five miles?  I started to feel even better.  A runner passed me going fast and I concentrated hanging with him for awhile. 

I knew that a 1:30 would be close to a 6:52 pace average.  I really worked hard to stay close to that.  I was pleased that we were still running in the shade as the mountains blocked the rising sun.  We were now running on a very gentle downhill or uphill to the finish.  Miles 9-12 were 6:53, 6:57, 7:03, and 6:57. 

With a mile to go, my worry was distance error. It looked like my Garmin had the course 0.2 long, within an acceptable margin of error.  But would I have enough time cushion to make it in time?   The finishing area came into view.  I could tell that sub-7-minute pace was nearly gone from my legs.  Just one more, please!

Mile 13 was 7:01.  I reached 13.1 on my Garmin at about 1:28:14.  Now could I reach the official finish in time during the overtime period?   Yes I did.  I crossed in 1:29:13!   I was very pleased to finally reach this goal and for some reason I didn’t feel old at all as I looked at all the young finishers around me. I finished in 39th out of 1,949 runners. I sure like this distance better than the marathon distance.  I can keep my speed for the entire race.

Keith Barton, who should have beat me but didn’t run today because of a sore foot greeted me at the finish and we had a great talk about last week’s Squaw Peak 50.  He also told me that Daniel Kerns finished in 1:22.  Wow!  That is one fast old guy.

For the next hour and a half, I ran the course backwards to watch the race.  It was great fun to watch the marathon leaders come to me at mile 24.  Paul was only about 50 yards behind the leader. (He would finish right behind him in 2^nd.)  I was impressed that he recognized me when I called out his name and cheered him on.  There was a huge gap between the first four runners and the next one.  Sasha was running in 6^th.  

I continued running backwards and decided to try to help the marathoners by asking the half walkers to make room for them by moving over to their right.  Most of them did as I asked, but a few ignored me.  I tried to help the marathon runners know if they were in the top 10, top 20, top 30, etc. as I counted them.  I was very surprised to see several runners on a sub-3-hour pace start to walk or run slower than 11-minute pace with three miles to go.  Wow, they had such a good race going and they were letting is slip away!  I tried to encourage them to keep it going and it seemed to help a couple.  Further back, it seemed like the runners had a more manageable steady pace and at least were keeping a 9-minute pace going.  I had turned around and started to run with them in order to get back to the finish in time for the Half Marathon awards.

Finally I ran into Dan Varga from Lehi who was carrying the 3:20 pace sign.  I joined in with him and ran the last couple miles with him.  It was great to finally get to run with him.  He is a very fast and talented runner.  We had great conversation.  As we neared the finish I peeled off the course and bid goodbye.

At the awards, I was surprised that I finished in second for my age group. I was also third overall for masters (age 40+). I received a very nice plaque again this year.  It was a deep honor to stand next to Daniel Kerns.  I was a gushing fan and told him he was one of my heros.  It was fun to finally meet him.

It had been a fun morning.  It was a great tempo run.  I came away without any cramping and felt great.  I should be ready to go for Bighorn 100 on Friday.

Recovered well from the half, just being lazy today and tapering for the 100 on Friday.  They announced the alternate snow course.  Much less climbing than even the snow course of 08, but still challenging.  Mud will really be the issue.  Wet feet starting around mile 10 to the finish.   The Hokas will stay home.  My strategy is just to plow through the mud like crazy and not worry about wet, muddy feet.   Looks like cool temperatures with possible rain at times.  Perfect.

Run up Rose Canyon and down Yellow Fork. Just an easy run to chase off any taper pains.

In Wyoming, resting up, watching the US Open... great times.  

Drove up near the course at 8000 feet.  Conditions are better than expected.  Tested out the Hokas.  I'm going with them because the soils is pretty sandy, feet not sliding even in the mud.

Next, went to visit the Little Bighorn battlefield for the first time up in Montana.  A sad place but very historic.

So much for long race reports.  I belive I busted my hand from a fall at mile 30.  At first it seemed ok, but swelled bad.  Had to grip a stick to avoid pain from bouncing around.  At mile 50 was in about 20th place but then had a major bonk all night long.  Stomache never really recovered.   At mile 74 I was over two hours behind those who I was running with for the first 50, so I just cruised in from them.  Waited at mile 81 for 1.5 hours until son Kevin arrived at the aid station running his 50K.  The courses merged there, so we ran the last 18 miles together.  It was his first ultramarthon finish.  7:55 on a very tough course.

Doing stuff with the left hand is a bummer.  If I forget and use the right hand, I get to scream with pain.  Pretty cool.  I'll get it xrayed on Monday.  I can type with the right hand except for the pinky finger. 

Recovery going well.  Got home last night, slept nine hours.  Going to get the hand checked out this afternoon.  Still swollen and red but I can type again with all fingers, no problem.  Hopefully it is just a bad sprain.  I don't want a cast, nor do I want them to carve it up and put a pin in.

So it was an interesting race.  1 finished the first 50 mile in 11:44, about 20 minutes behind schedule (I think the hand problem slowed me down about 15 minutes).  Indeed, Tom, Cory, and Bryce were 10-20 minutes ahead of me.  I should have been up with them.   Well, then the wheels fell off and the stomach went south all night long.   The next 50 miles going back took 18.5 hours.  Once I reached mile 70 and ate a bunch of bacon, my stomach came back to life.  I reached mile 76 just in time to see all the 50K runners start and was so pleased to cheer my son Kevin.   I then ran a boring 7-mile out and back. I saw people who I was running near at mile 50, about seven miles ahead.  Bummer.   As I ran, I just decided I didn't care about my time, why not run the rest in with Kevin?

So, for about 1.5 hours,  I kicked back at mile 83.3 waiting for my son Kevin to arrive during his 50K.  It was about mile 13 for him.  He was very surpised to see me laying down on the grass under and blanket.

The last 18 were funny.  My stomach had recovered and I had all this pent-up energy.  At times I showed off for the 50Kers and sprinted up huge hills and then stopped to wait for Kevin to catch up.  He did great, kept a jog going almost all of the last 18 miles.  He finished in 7:55.   I lost track of him with five miles to go at an aid station.  I thought he had ducked into a bathroom, but it turns out he sprinted ahead down the road.   So I searched, waited, and then finally concluded that he was ahead.  He finished 20 minutes ahead of me.  I waited until Matt and Anne Watts caught up and enjoyed finishing the last two miles with them.

It was great fun.  It has been a long time since I've run a 100 and not cared about time and placement, just enjoying the day.

So, the legs and body are just fine.  Feels like I ran a hard 50.

Went to the doctor.  Felt like a wimp because the hand wasn't hurting much.  After the xray guy saw the picture, he asked if I punched something.  I tried to explain 100-mile races and he left with a look of astonishment.  The doctor asked when it happened (Friday morning) and asked why it took me so long to get it looked at.  "Uh, I still had 70 more miles to run."

Going to a orthopedist today to see if he can duct tape this back together for me.

I go under the knife this morning.  If I croak, I believe I already posted my last will earlier in my blog somewhere, great running stuff to unload.  Here's some other stuff for grabs:

- My Hokas with 660 miles on them

- My bag of clothes from Bighorn that haven't made it to the washer yet.

- A six-pack of Ensure

- lots of old issues of ultrarunner

First run with the club on my hand,  JRP.