Old Man Still running

Still bummed out about my Ogden performance.  That is silly because I PRed, and that further emphasizes to me why running marathons is kind of stupid.   Measuring an accomplishment solely by a clock seems wrong.  But what nags me about Saturday is that I didn't reach my goal because of a preventable mistake.  A missed opportunity.  Well, learn from it and move on.

I'm still convinced that it was a dehydration problem.  Some think I just went out too fast, but I discount that because I felt fine the first 14 miles and never cramped up even afterwards.   With the 70 or so races I've run in the past six years of marathon length or higher, I just haven't really seen much overall difference from going out slow vs. fast for me.  I still subscribe to running at the pace that feels good.   A couple times I have gone out too fast and cramped up later because of it. But other times I've gone out fast and later at mile 90 able to crank out the fastest splits of the race.  I think more importantly is managing intake.  I didn't do that well, thinking the marathon distance is just too short and fast.

I'm ready and motivated to start serious training for my summer 100s.  However, the marathon left my ankle in poorer shape.  I was going to hit the trails this morning, but really couldn't.  Discouraging, because this is exactly where I was one year ago from today with the exact same injury.   Well, wearing the boot for 12 hours seemed to help lots.  Otherwise, legs feel great, just a little soreness in the hamstrings.   I will run the new tough Timp Trail marathon on Saturday. 

Out running at 3:30 a.m.   I ran up to the top of Lake Mountain to the towers.  About 8.5 miles round trip with 2,600 feet elevation climb.   It is a tough climb with some pretty steep sections. and some rough footing with rocks.  It is great training for Squaw Peak.

The good news is that I felt fully recovered from the Saturday marathon, no fatique or muscle soreness.  I was also very surprised that I was able to keep a run (jog) going for the first three miles until the steep dark band (see above, 19%+ grade).  At that point I needed to stop and put on a jacket and gloves.  At the top the wind was howling like crazy.  I didn't stay around long.   I really took it easy going down because of the ankle.  At times I would twist it a little and let out a yipe.  But I'm going to try to keep using the ankle and resting it between runs.  I'm hopeful it will start getting better. 

I've been resisting urges to enter the Utah Valley Marathon to redeem myself from Saturday.  I'm instead entered in the half marathon.  That is wiser, because the following Friday I run in Big Horn 100.  I've never really raced hard a half marathon, so I should give it a go and try to break 1:30.  I have a list of the top-20 marathoners in my age class in the state who I compete with.  About half of them seem to only run St. George.  I noticed that four of them are running in the Utah Valley Marathon.  I probably couldn't beat them anyway.  None of them are in the half marathon, so that leaves the door open to a possible age group win.

It is all about hills.   Run up and down and up and down Granview Blvd (1-mile stretch climbing 300 feet) with the dog Reeses. She pooped out when half way up a third time so I brought her home and then did a fast 2-mile tempo run at marathon pace.   I felt very strong and fast.  Great feeling. Enjoyed the afterwork run.   I'll have to do more of those in the warmth.

Reflecting on the year so far, I guess it has been good, PRs at 5K, 1/2 marathon (twice), marathon (twice) and 100-mile. On top of that I ran the Ogden faster than all the runners in my city.  So feeling pretty good about things as I put away the road marathon hobby and start getting serious about the trail running season.

Ankle was a major pain today, so took the day off.  Looks like the Timp race will be a rainy mud fest.  That really makes me excited as long as I don't twist the ankle.  Love to get out there slogging hard against the elements in a race.

I ran the new Timp Trail Marathon. A trail race on these trails has been considered for several years and finally came together.  These trails run on the western face of Mount Timpanogos and go from 4,900 feet at the start to 7,681 at the highest point.

I decided to run this as a training run, not really racing hard, but giving it a good push to test out the ankle and get some climbing in to prepare for Squaw Peak 50 in two weeks.  The ankle was very painful on Thursday and Friday, but for some reason the pain went almost totally away Friday night.  Go figure.  It still felt good Saturday morning.  But it wasn't a miracle because the pain could be felt throughout the race and I had to be very careful with it. 

In summary, I had a great experience. The weather was terrible, but that made it challenging and very fun.  The rain was really coming down when I arrived at the start at 5:15 a.m.  My son was camping with scouts up on the course and he said it started snowing up there around 3 a.m.  I decided to still dress light, just adding a garbage bag and wearing tights because of all the mud and cold water that would be tossed up on them.

We started running at 6 a.m.   There were probably about 80 starters or so. For the first few miles I ran in 5th place.  We had some climbs but also some fairly flat dirt roads where we could turn up the speed.  I really tried to ignore all the slippery mud and instead try to run like it was a dry surface.  This seemed to work well. The faster I ran, it seemed easier to deal with the mud.  But my ankle was a big problem and just couldn't deal with any slipping.

There was an important intersection that wasn't marked very well at all and I think several took the wrong turn.  I may have jumped to 3rd place for awhile because Tom Remkes blundered and took that wrong turn.  Throughout the race, I think I saved five runners from taking significant wrong turns.  

The course to mile 14 was rolling and pretty flat trail and dirt road on the Bonneville Shoreline trail.  I kept the speed going pretty well, although backed off about mile 10 and was passed by four other runners.   I reached mile 14 at about 2:05.  Next up was a very, very tough and steep muddy climb.  It sapped my energy.  For awhile I saw no runners behind me, but I slowed big time on the climb and three others appeared and were on my tail.  

During the huge climb up Grove Creek we were met by several Scout troops coming down.  I didn't see my son's troop, I think they went to Battle Creek.  One troop stopped and let out big cheers as I ran by.  Twinkies caught up and passed me at about mile 15 or so during the climb.  I just didn't have to motivation or energy to really push it hard.  The rain/snow had finally stopped, but we entered into fog and soon were running through slush.  It then turned to snow, about four inches.  And by the time we reached the top, it was about 10 inches.  There were some shorter climbs that were horrible, very muddy and slippery, but I didn't let them bother me.

There were also totally fantastic downhill runs.  At times I really flew like crazy until I was scared that I would twist the ankle.  Eventually we merged in with the half marathon back of the pack.  The further I went, I would past faster half runners.   The final downhill was great fun, but the course wasn't marked as well as other places, so I was in a little doubt and slowed down somewhat.  Another runner who had been on my tail for several miles finally caught up and passed me.  I looked back and there were other runners coming on strong. I refused to let them catch up and pushed the last mile very hard.  

I reached the finish in 5:24:06.  Second in my age class to the usual dude, Leon.  He seems to just beat me in many races.  I felt fantastic at the finish.  The ankle held up pretty well.  I had no cramping and no sore muscles since I didn't push it very hard.  But still I finished well. 

I think this race compares and is similar to the difficulty of the BST held in Salt Lake.  Perhaps it is a little easier, especailly if conditions weren't so severe.  A nice race for its first year.  It is somewhat pricey for the distance, but you do get a nice running shirt, a custom finishing medal and some great hot food at the end.  It is just nice to have another challenging local trail race nearby.