This morning I had planned to go to Antelope Island to do a training run with ultrajim, but I wimped out. Before going to bed, I saw the temperature was already below 30 and after five days in a row of getting up at 3:40 a.m., I thought I deserved some rest. So instead, I had a nice, rare, 10 hours of sleep. I decided to support a little neighborhood 5K that started in Saratoga Hills, called the Reindeer Run.
When I arrived, everyone started to "give me the business," making fun of my 100-mile distance running, and doing a 5K. Its pretty funny, but embarassing. (See my ultrarunning blog at www.crockettclan.org/blog ) What is strange, is all these neighborhood runners live within one mile of me, but I've never run with any of them. It isn't that I'm anti-social, it is instead because I rarely run on roads, and rarely during the day. I see them as I'm driving in the car here and there, but they never see me running. I tried to explain where I normally run, which is up in the foothills trails far away from the housing developments.
The race began, and a bunch of kids sprinted ahead. After about a block, I caught up and pushed ahead. I was then confused, "Huh, where are the other runners?" Had I taken a wrong turn? At the next turn, I looked behind and saw a woman runner in blue following behind. This was odd, I was in first place. OK, no super fast runners today. I realized I could probably push this to victory. I was confused at a couple turns, stopped and saw that the woman runner in blue was still following me, so I just went on. My first mile was cranked out in about 6:15 or so. I wasn't pushing too hard, but extending my lead a little.
The route turned onto Parkway Boulevard that runs through my development, within yards of my house. As I reached the half-way point, my wife drove by and waved as she was on her way to the vet with our dog, to get shots. I looked behind me several times and could see the runner in blue was hanging with me but my lead was still extending.
It was a beautiful clear sunny morning as we ran along the shore of expansive Utah Lake. The sun was very low, just peeking over the mountains far to the east, shining in my eyes.
The final mile was the toughest, with a hill at the end. I've run this hill hundreds of times, as it is the route that takes me up to the foothills. I pushed it hard and cruised into the finish at the park to cheers, in first place at 20:30.
I stayed around to greet the other runners and tried to get to know them a bit. Most knew who I was. I really do need to get to know the recreational runners in the neighborhood. We need far more runners in Saratoga Springs.
It was a fun little race. My lungs were a little burned out by the fast pace and freezing cold morning air.
PM
I capped off a 100-mile training week with a wonderful afternoon 18-mile run. I ran on dirt roads and trails that I usually do in the dark, running from my home, winding through hills and ridges, out into Cedar Valley (Eagle Mountain), and then running up to Unity Pass, and then home through the dirt roads and motorcycle trails. As I ran, I listened to the SEC football championship, Florida vs. Alabama. Rather than wasting time in front of the TV, why not be out on the trail!
After all the boring flat miles this week, I was thrilled to be back on the trails. I just cannot understand how the runners on this blog tolerate all the miles on roads and tracks. They have a level of mental toughness that I just can't comprehend. I felt so much enjoyment as I bounded on the rolling roads and trails, taking in all the eye candy along the way: Expansive farm fields, hills and trees, occassional shooters (who I avoided), and wonderful snow capped mountains.
As I hit a single-track section, my legs seemed like they were shouting with excitement to me as I pushed them to a crazy wreckless pace, weaving through the trees and bouncing up and down on the trail. I was pleased to see a couple pair of footprints that were not mine. This month I have seen a few on these trails that seem to be my secret running playground. I'm glad some trail runners from Eagle Mountain are discovering these hidden motorcycle trails. Still, there are long sections that I have never seen any other foot prints.
My pace was easy, about 10-minute miles, but the run would not be "easy" for a road runner. The surface is uneaven, and there were some nice short steep climbs along the way. From Unity Pass, for the last six miles, I really kicked it into gear and turned 7-8 minute miles, even in some very technical sections. I wanted to whoop with joy as I cruised down with speed through the most technical decent down a rocky ridge. I was pleased that the ankle that I rolled earlier in the week was no problem to me.
As I neared my home, descending heading east down from the foothills, I noticed an amazing effect that I had never noticed before. The shadow of the sunset was extending across Utah Lake toward the Wasatch Mountains to the east. As the angle of light became very low, the sun reflected off windows of homes over ten miles away in Cedar Hills, Pleasant Grove, Lindon, Orem and Provo. These bright reflections caused wonderful streaks of light to reflect off of the expansive Utah Lake (in the shadow of Lake Mountain), extending for miles across the lake. It was amazing. I never had noticed this wonder before. The effect only last for a few minutes and the angles have to be precise to see it.
My 18-mile run was completed in less than three hours. I ended the run excited and energized. My running batteries had been recharged by getting off the roads. This was the first time I had ever done a 100-mile training week. I've run 100 miles or more in a week when I run a race, but I've never trained this much in a week. It was an interesting experiment. I came out of it great. No injury, no soreness, no stiffness, nothing. About 65 of these miles were before sunrise, while my family was still asleep.
I look forward to another good running week, next week. I never train on Sundays, so I look forward to a nice rest tomorrow. | 