Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

December 22, 2024

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Location:

Provo,UT,

Member Since:

Apr 07, 2010

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Other

Running Accomplishments:

5K - 17:11 (Cougar Run)

10K - 34:35 (Deseret News)

15K - 57:33 (Utah Running Club)

1/2 - 1:22:26 (Mountain View Trail)

50K - 4:22:31 (Sapper Joe)

Short-Term Running Goals:

Sub-2:45 at Saint George Marathon

Win the Antelope Island half marathon

Long-Term Running Goals:

I'd like to run the Angeles Crest 100 at some point. And I'd still like to go sub-4 at a trail 50k. Other than that, I'm open to suggestions.

https://www.strava.com/athletes/4808912

Personal:

I was a competitive cyclist for years. In 2009, after racing in the Tour of Utah, I decided I had plateaued as a cyclist--I could continue to improve, but I wouldn't break through to a new level. So, I started looking for a new challenge.

I thought that challenge would be mountain biking, but I'm a terrible bike handler. I married Catherine in January 2010 and a couple of weeks later I entered the SLTC Winter Training Series with her. A couple of weeks after that I decided I'd like to run ultras, so I signed up for a couple of 50Ks to get started.

Those first races came and went, with varying results. I was looking forward to running more and possibly pushing into the longer distances, but I injured my knee in June 2010 and I've never been consistently healthy since.

I started law school in August 2010, which meant less time for training. In June 2011, Baby Elliott was born, which meant even less time for training. But she's worth it.

Baby Nora joined us in October 2013, with the same effect on training as Elliott (who, incidentally, is no longer a baby).

I (finally) finished school in April 2014 and now I'm an evil corporate lawyer in Salt Lake. I have no illusions that I'll ever get back into the shape that I once was, but I'm perfectly at peace with that. I still have many goals to accomplish and many years in which to do it.

Click to donate

to Ukraine's Armed Forces

Miles:	This week:	0.00	Month:	0.00	Year:	0.00

Tue, Feb 23, 2010

Total Distance

4.45

I joined the volleyball team when I was a junior in high school. Our coach, Coach Nelson, was a former football strength-training coach, and he pushed us accordingly. Most of our workouts took place on the court, in the weight room, or on the track, but twice a week Coach Nelson would make us run The Hill.

Obviously, The Hill was a hill, and a beast of a hill at that. It wasn't that long, but it was steep (very steep), loose, and gravelly (most of us wore soccer cleats). There were 5 or 6 different turnaround points along The Hill. If we were running to the first point, our intervals would start every minute. Intervals to the top started every six minutes. The ultimate goal was to run The Hill to the top 6 times in one hour. Urvish and Cameron, who both ran cross country in the off season, did it my junior year, and Cameron did it again my senior year (Urvish had already graduated), but I don't think anyone else had accomplished the feat for as long as the volleyball team had been running The Hill. I don't think I ever managed more than 5 or 6 repeats.

The funny thing about The Hill was that it didn't seem like it should be so hard. And for one or two repeats, everything felt fine. But by the time you reached the top for the third time, you'd be "running" slower than you could walk (or walking slower than you could crawl), while your legs and lungs burned more than they would if you were sprinting.

I only mention this because I climbed the Bonneville Shoreline Trail up the West Side of City Creek Canyon this morning. As I approached the ridge above Ensign Peak, I took my second walk break and thought, "Wow, I've never really done anything like this." Then I remembered I had.

Running on the trail is nothing like running on the road. It's frustrating to be so slow in the hills, but I'm not discouraged. I ran faster and farther on the trail this week than I did last week, and I'll be even faster next week. Hills make you strong.

Unless you sprain your ankle on the descent.

Weight: 163.60

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