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.

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

Thu, Dec 23, 2010

Total Distance

14.30

This morning I ran the roads down into the valley, then up a fire road to the top of the mountain on the other side, then back home for a total of 3,000 feet. It's been a while since I've been up the fire road, so I made several wrong turns before finding it, adding about 3.5 miles to my run. And that's fine, because if I hadn't gotten lost the route would have been shorter than expected.

Anyways, it was a good run. The top of the mountain was buried in a cloud, so I couldn't enjoy the view, but the weather was great and it felt good to be out running again. On the way back down, my legs reminded me that i haven't run down a hill in a long time. I'll have to remember not to do all my miles on a treadmill this winter.

For those who are interested, the actual climb was 1,700 feet over 2.8 miles, and I covered it in 32:20. Tomorrow, Catherine, my sister, and I are going out for the traditional Sacred Heart run. Stay tuned for details.

2:04:05

New Balance MT100 Miles: 14.30

Weight: 0.00

Comments

From Aaron Kennard on Fri, Dec 24, 2010 at 00:05:04 from 98.245.117.176

That's a solid climb. Good to be remember that about the whole down hill thing...in a race the downhill strength is definitely a big factor. I find I really like to push the downs occasionally harder than the ups even, to work on leg speed up as well as build that specific strength.

What's your next race, do you know?

From Faceless Ghost on Fri, Dec 24, 2010 at 20:29:00 from 69.231.145.12

Aaron - the descents are what have killed me in both of the 50Ks that I've run. I think I should probably do some weight training over the winter to strengthen my legs.

My focus right now is the Squaw 50 in June, and I'll race the Buffalo Run (probably the 50K) in March to help me get ready. Other than that, any other races I do will be just for fun. I think Catherine and I are going to run the Beat the New Year 5K next week, for example.

From Aaron Kennard on Fri, Dec 24, 2010 at 22:41:57 from 98.245.117.176

that's probably a good idea to do weights...and also to practice running down hill fast.

we did the beat the new year 5K last year...it was fun...super tough to beat the new year though because they only give you about 30 minutes to run the entire 5 kilometers. A lot of disappointed folks last year who couldn't quite cut the mustard. I ended up happy though because I won the coldest runner award. Even beating all the dudes in speedos. They lost because they made the mistake of wearing shoes.

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