Old Man Still running

5 walking miles during lunch up City Creek, over above the capital, and back to work.

With a 100-mile race coming up in 12 days, motivation is low to train hard right now because I know it won't make much of a difference at this point.   I have no injuries to recover from.  I set a PR in the 10K on Saturday, so the foot speed is good.  I ran a very good 50-miler a week ago and could have continued on much further, so distance isn't a concern.  So, I think I am pretty much ready and should be in taper mode at this point anyway.  So I will probably just do runs and walks to stay tuned and phych myself up to have a strong showing at the Moab 100.   My goal will be to achieve a 100-mile PR time.   That would be to beat 22:28:00.    Last year I ran it in 23:33:00, so I'll need to shave off more than an hour.  I can think of many things I can do different for a stronger performance this year.

4 miles with the dog.  I'm still amazed how this little dog loves to run.  She doesn't really want to stop to sniff things, she just wants to keep her head forward and run and run.   She likes roads better than trails.

I left the house at 3:55 a.m. in 44 degrees F.  There was a half moon out and it was very pleasant.  I ran a route that I had not run all winter because of snow and mud.  But this morning the route was completely dry.  I proclaim that winter is officially over!   Yipee! 

When I plotted out my route on Google maps, I have to chuckle.  It roughly looks like an inverted map of the United States.   Pretty funny.   My run was about 10.5 miles.   I ran my usual three miles out to the Lake Mountain ridge that runs north-south, kind of dividing Saratoga Springs from Eagle Mountain.   This morning I ran the entire ridge to the power lines, descending towards the homes in the Ranches, and then jumping on a motor cycle trail that traverses a slope and then runs on top of descending ridge.    I descend all the way to a low pass, run down into a neighborhood, and this morning, I decided to run straight across the massive Church farmland on a dirt road.  

For that segment, about three miles, I turned off my flashlight and ran by the half-moonlight.  It was a great challenge.  It required me to pay attention closely and use my feet to feel the trail.  I had to trust my feet, that they would make the adjustments quickly as they felt the contours of the road.  I would try pushing the speed at times to make it even more challenging.   The view ahead is spectacular, with the lights on the other side of the lake.   Once I hit Redwood Road, I crossed it and ran along the development trail back home.   It took me 2:10.   A nice leisurely run, with periodic spurts and some good short climbs.

5 mile walk during lunch around capital and down City Creek Canyon

4 miles with the dog after work.

This morning a neighbor wanted to try joining in, but didn’t show, so at 4 a.m. I just went ahead and did what I had planned, throwing in an extra mile.    I did a nine-mile run out to the Lake Mountain ridge (gotta find a better name for that.  Hmm…., historically before Eagle Mountain came to be, the area was called Tickville, maybe I should call it the Tickville ridge).   I ran out on the dirt road around the Church farm and then headed up a motorcycle trail, doing a loop counter-clockwise on two spurs of this trail, connecting them by running on top of the ridge.   I was amused to see the bikers had posted some new signs telling people to keep their horses off the trail.   They even spent time putting some obstructions across an area I usually run through.  I paused a couple minutes to clear the path.  I can appreciate that they have spent a bunch of time maintaining these trails, but it isn’t their property and they can’t tell people who can and who can’t use it.   I took a wrong turn and added a little more fun on a side spur I had only been on once.   Coming down was great fun.   I completed the loop and decided to again run straight across the Church farm on the very soft and flat dirt road.  I like running across there to end a run because it is so soft and there are no rocks to trip over.  I pushed the pace harder for awhile doing 8:00 pace.  For the last mile, I turned off the light and discovered, even with the moon behind the clouds, I still could run in the dark.  There was enough light from the city reflecting to let me still run fast in the dark, using my feet to feel the road.   I finished at 6:00 a.m.  

On Google Earth, I discovered a motorcycle trail in the lowlands near that area that I have never tried before.  I’ll have to explore that tomorrow.  Looks like it could be some fun.

4 mile walk during lunch along 2nd North and then back through downtown.

My priority before the next race is to lose a little more weight.  Any pound saved makes a huge difference in 100-mile runs.   I've come down 4 pounds since Saturday.   Pretty easy, just put in a high mileage week while cutting half-way back on the food.   I also do this training without taking carbs with me.

I woke up early, couldn't get back to sleep so decided to go out for a long run. I hit the road at 2:30 a.m. It was 49 degrees F and very pleasant. I ran to the west, climbed up and over the Lake Mountain Ridge, and ran down the valley in to expansive Cedar Valley. Since I had extra time, I decided to run clear to Eagle Mountain City Center. I stayed on dirt roads that went behind the back lots of many homes until I reached Sweetwater Rd and then ran that very straight road all the way to Unity Pass. There is a paved trail that parallels the road, but I ran mostly below that in a soft, smooth ditch, very nice trail running. Only a couple cars passed by me, probably wondering what a guy was doing out there with a green light. It was about 4:15 a.m. Once up to Unity Pass, I took a usual route back into the hills on dirt roads and the climbed up over a ridge and descended down into the Ranches foothills. Finally I ran up and over a low pass on Golden Eagle Rd and then straight across the Church Farm back to home by 6 a.m. My run was about 17.5 miles. The pace was a good steady 12:00 miles. It felt like I could run all day.   My route looks like a hand gun.  

On a busy stake conference day (stake split day), at the last minute I found a gap between meetings which would let me go to Provo to run in Mary Ann's URC/FRB St. Patricks 10k that runs along the Provo River Trail to Utah Lake and back.   I was surprised to see how many people were in the park when I arrived, so I jumped in and just started helping people register.    Mary Ann is going to need more help as her races grow.

I’m in taper-mode, getting ready for Moab 100 next Saturday, so I was going to just treat this as a tempo run and enjoy the beautiful day.  Several runners introduced themselves to me at the start.  That was great.   I heard “twinkies” in yellow (Matt)talking to a friend about his finish time goal and it registered to me that we would probably run about the same pace.

Away we went, running down the beautiful trail by the river.   For the first mile, I hung with the two leaders, one was running the 5K, and the other was the 10k leader, a tall runner in black.  After awhile, I was passed by a runner in green.  I noticed that my splits were about 6:40 for the first couple miles.   The trail splits at a turn in the river and the runner in green took the wrong turn.  I didn’t pay attention and followed him.  We probably went an extra 100 yards.  Oh well.   No one passed us, and probably a few followed us.  

As we neared the lake, I was very surprised to see the leading 10k runner already returning.  That was impossible because I knew he was only a minute or two ahead.   I asked him if he went along the lake to the right.  He shouted back that he turned around at the parking lot.  I shouted back, “No, that’s wrong.”   Oh well.  He had cut off about a mile or more.    I continued to try to keep up with the runner in green.   We finally reached the turnaround and I noticed our time was over 22 minutes.  There would be no PR today.   It was fun to see and greet all the other runners.   

So, I was running in 2^nd.   I looked behind me and could see a couple runners on my tail, including the runner in yellow.   My legs were feeling great, but my lungs were breathing hard.  I didn’t want to push it too hard.   The runner in green again took a wrong turn, same place as before, but he got on pace again. Funny how he was making it easy to stay up with him.  But he pushed it ahead and eventually disappeared.

Once the other runners caught up to me, we leap-frogged several times.   A few times I cranked it up, pushing ahead of both to see if they could keep up.   But I would quickly fade and they both would indeed catch up and pass.   I noticed a mile split of about 7:08.  

Finally with the turnoff to the park in sight, I kicked it in hard and passed them both.  I thought I heard the runner in yellow let out a groan.   I kept the pace going this time, but the other runner in white caught me and had a nice fast kick going.   I didn’t have the motivation or the speed, so I watched him go ahead.   I finished in 3^rd overall (assuming the runner in black was DQed).   44:38 or so.   I jumped right in the car and rushed back home, and back to stake meetings, back just in time to see a new stake president come out of his calling interview with a glaze in his eyes.  Ha, ha.   We had a good conference attended by more than 5,600 people, broadcast over the Internet to 10 buildings on Sunday.