Old Man Still running

Still feeling a happy glow feeling from the race weekend.  Memories of smiles from runners are still in my mind.  I think things went very well.  I'm feeling relief that we didn't have any signficant problems.  Frank Bott got a flat tire, but got out fine.

I enjoyed watching the back of the pack finish Saturday morning.  What was very cool is that tourists and scout troops started arriving at Simpson Springs in the late morning.  One group had heard the broadcast that morning on KSL.  They all were facinated and peppered us with questions.  We could point down the road and they could see 100-mile runners approaching the finish, so they hung around a long time.   When finishers came in, there were loud cheers and clapping from all these tourists who just couldn't believe what they were witnessing.  They started taking pictures of the finishers with their belt buckles, etc. 

It was great fun and made me feel very proud to be part of this.  I still recall the day I when I left my house, my wife waved, and I ran alone to the north to start a run on the Pony Express Trail.  I never thought it would evolve into something like this.

You can listen to the KSL outdoors program here.

My recovery is going very well. Two blisters are healing.  The Hokas prevented any foot fatigue, no sore feet!  Muscles feel good.  Energy low because of the heat.  I feel very uncomfortable in the sun still.

My family is in awe of the champion trophy on our kitchen table right now.  Thanks jun for pulling that together.  If you wouldn't have made it look so nice, I might have let you win.  But it was too nice.  I kept thinking about it during those last ten miles.  I wasn't going to let anyone snag it from me at that point.

Well, no Boston for me.  I was debating about going and didn't decide in time.  That is OK, I'll instead do something else and save all the money.  I'd like to get my marthon time down more anyway. I did sign up for Ogden again.  Boston should probably make the qualification standards tougher.

Well, ready to run again.  Soreness and blisters have healed.

Didn't run this morning.  Yesterday I got a flu shot and felt really crummy last night, so with 10 hours of sleep, I feel better again.  The body likes lots of sleep for a few days after a 100 anyway.

Looks like Goblin Valley 50K has a good chance of rain this weekend.  I probably won't try to get in.  It will probably be nice in the morning though because it looks like the forecast if for thunderstorms and those usually happen in the afternoon/evening.

Still being lazy.  Five days without running.  Alarm clock went off and I didn't get up. It is fun to be lazy now and then.

Thoughts turning to Across The Years 48-hour run in Arizona on December 29.  Some world-class runners always come to this event.  It is great fun.  Two years ago I did the 24-hour version.  This year I'll do the 48.  No clue how far I will go, but I'll likely try to do the first 100 in about the same time I did last week and then hang on and see how many more miles I can get.  When I finished Pony Express Trail 100, I still felt good to go if I had to.

Looking at the cast of characters in the field, a top 4 finish is probably the best I can hope for.

I'll likely also go do Jim Skaggs' 100K on the Island coming up.  Good training for ATY.

The alarm went off, but I slept in again.  Six days without running.  When will this madness end!!!!   Probably tonight since I plan on running a 50K in the wee hours of the morning between storms.

Good luck to all those running Goblin Valley 50K.  Weather should be OK during the race, just a little bit nippy.

Finally stopped being a slacker and got out and ran.  I again ran the 50K Lake Mountain loop.  This time I started at about 9:30 p.m. and ran it in the moonlight.  Very nice.  Two weeks ago I had run it with two weeks rest after a 100-miler and this time I ran it with one-weeks rest.  I was interested to see the difference.

I was able to race the first 12.5 miles well, only three minutes slower than my PR two weeks ago, but on the long downhill I started to feel those 100-mile pains, so I slowed down and just enjoyed the rest of the run.  For much of the second half I ran with my light off.  The full moon was amazing.  Even when it was behind thick clouds, there still was a glow bright enough to see.  All was quiet except some coyotes who noticed me and yapped and some dogs who had keen eyes and see me come and go.

I was home in bed by 4:00 a.m.  Glad I didn't try to go to Goblin Valley, I probably would have struggled to break 5:00.  Need another week to fully recover for racing.

Start	miles	PR	today
Reformation Ridge	4.0	0:35	0:36
Israel Canyon Rd	7.7	1:11	1:11
Enoch Pass	12.5	2:04	2:07
Redwood Road	17.5	2:47	2:56
Soldiers Pass	21.7	3:31	3:51
Lake Mt Rd	24.3	3:57	4:23
Finish	30.8	4:59	5:43