my makeup may be flaking

I meant to do this long run quite fast, but my legs were dead to begin with. I started to do much better about 7 miles in. I had a headwind the last 4 miles so I couldn't close as well as I normally do, but I tried my best. I should really get a watch so I know how fast I'm going these runs.

I developed a splitting headache this afternoon and by the time I got home it was so bad I could barely think. I went running anyway and it magically went away. In fact, I felt better running than I have in weeks. I felt nice and loose and fresh. I plan to do a proper threshold run tomorrow so I kept it relaxed, but it was nice to feel good again. I did some strides at the end of my run. Then my headache returned after dinner.

AM I did a preview of the Salt Lake Half Marathon course at about half marathon pace (I still don't have a watch so I don't know how far that is). I only did from the 2 mile mark to the 10 mile mark. I noticed three things: I felt pretty good, miles 3-10 have alot of downhill,the course as marked goes on a street that doesn't exist.

PM I did three loops of Liberty park. Did it pretty fast,but I am fast now so it's probably cool, but I should chill out the rest of the week.

AM Did two loops of Sugarhouse park nice and slooooow.

PM It started snowing during the day and I was planning to go at school. I didn't have snow worthy gear so i went to the track. I had planned on doing about 8 miles but I am NOT going to count to 60 laps so I just decided that I was going to run for 52 minutes and presumably run 6:30mile pace. I usually run much faster than that on flat ground so it might be an underestimate, boo hoo. I ran a lot of miles today so the next two days will have to be light mileage days.

Went to pick up my packet at the expo for the SLC marathon. My goodness it was hard to find! No signs or anything. Compared to the seattle marathon this was pretty surprising. Anyway I got some GU finally and a new running watch! I got home and did 7 miles at 6:35 pace.

Day before the SLC marathon. I'm doing the half tomorrow so I just did three loops of Liberty Park. I saw a Kenyan doing his run going the opposite direction. We were dressed the same and going almost the same speed (he was going a little faster) it was kind of cool. I wanted to go talk to him but I'm kind of shy about going up and talking to random people in the park.

I've been getting kind of anxious about this race and I've had a number of dreams where I was running the course and had to stop and tie my shoe or got lost or ended up getting passed by people but one really took the cake. I had it a few days after reading the news about Devine racing on Letsrun.com.

It was a long dream, I was running the full marathon in this version. It was rather mundane to begin with. I was running along in third in for awhile but I know that I had started out too fast. With only about 2 or 3 miles left I started to gain on the second place guy who was catching up to Sasha who was leading. Second place guy was wearing a hat with earflaps like Bill Cobbler might wear. Anyway he looks back and sees me and takes off but I catch both him and Sasha. After passing Sasha I realize that the course is unmarked and I have no idea where to go next. I have a copy of the course map in my back pocket so I pull it out and read the instructions for the last two miles. They are truly bizarre. I realize that the course is supposed to go on this one trail that you can't see until your on it and the only way to get on it is to run a loop of this park. Ear flap guy is confused by the instructions and I'm running the loop and trying to explain at the same time. Meanwhile Sasha is using the bathroom (not a vpb but an a(ctual)pb, I know it's unrealistic). I finish the loop and the trail appears while earflap guy is still trying to read the map. Sasha emerges from the bathroom to help but at this point the 4th place guy (white t-shirt and blue running shorts, I know him from somewhere but I don't know where exactly) finally catches us and sees me on the trail and just jumps in behind me. I say "hey you've got to run the loop, no fair" and he says "just try and stop me" basically. So he sits on me as we go into downtown and now we are suddenly on the top floor of an office building and we have to run down all the stairs. The whole way down he's grabbing onto me slowing me down because he can't keep up (basically he's a cheater). All of his antics allow a 5th guy to catch up (Bruce McDowell, great masters runner from Washington and head coach at Cedarcrest High School). Tshirtguy decides to run behind Bruce instead. Bruce had been kindly pushing the door open, but Tshirtguy tries to close it in my face. I push ahead of him then slam the next door we come to in his face as hard as I can. I feel a little bad about my poor sportsmanship, but he was getting ridiculous. Both Bruce and I walk through the lobby of the office building (as instructed by the course map). The next set of instruction was something like "cross the street, turn left and look for the stairs, they should be easy to find") The road is very busy, so Bruce and I cross it carefully one lane at a time. I figure I should be able to outkick him so I'm not too concerned about the slow pace. On the other side of the street there is a staircase that's marked by a bunch ribbons (Thanks Devine Racing!). Bruce heads down the stairs but the ribbons get tangled with the ribbon that I'm already wearing. (The race organizers gave me a ribbon instead of a bib because they were out. However  this wasn't a ribbon like in a Miss America pageant but rather a giant tangled mess encircling my whole torso. Tshirtguy had been using it to hold onto me.) I finally get myself free but now Sean Sundwall has caught up to me and is also down the stairs. At the bottom I can see the finish line banner about 400metes away. But between me and it is a huge crowd of spectators cheering us on. Unfortunately they are all in the way. I start my kick but there are too many people in the way and I have to keep swerving. Somehow this isn't bothering Bruce or Sean. Then I look over to my right and see Sasha, earflap guy and tshirtguy cutting effortlessly through the crowd. Distraught I finish 6th, money and prizes go to the top 5.

Oh boy what a turnaround! I knew all week that I was going to be 100% for Saturday, I just had a good feeling in my legs and I was right. It was a great day for me physically but I know I could have run faster if things had gone differently. The circumstances were what they were and I made the most of it...so I'm happy and I got a very nice looking PR!

 The night before I had a terrible stomach ache and I had to go puke in the middle of the night, but then I felt fine. I left my house at around 5:45 am and jogged over to the TRAX. It took forever to get up there and get ready so I couldn't properly go to the bathroom. I did get one GU down though.

I barely made the start and pushed my way to the front. I knew I needed more time but I was just antsy to get going. Teren, Alex and Nate H. all took off at the beginning. I was just going to run with the lead marathoners but there was no headwind and I felt that I could go faster so I did. I started to pull away from the lead marathoners and pretty much flew through the first 4 miles. Then I turned around at Sugarhouse and headed uphill. I saw a pretty good group of half marathoners chasing me so I knew they would catch me as I needed to relax due to my shins cramping (this happens every race but it goes away). Anyway Sasha,BJ and Jason Schoenfeld all passed me in mile 7 and started to pull away. I'm not sure where it happened, but at some point between mile 8 and mile 10, I started to feel really good but I had to go to the bathroom really bad. I had Sasha in my sights going all the way up State Street but couldn't pull him in. I was dissapointed, because this was similar to what happened in Seattle, where I felt I couldn't really push myself hard. I knew that if I kept up the current pace that I would PR so that kept me motivated. I ended up with a 1:11:36 (it should have been faster but I stopped at the banner then walked over the timing mat, whoops!).

Mile	Time	Cumulative	Pace
1	5:12	5:12	5:12
2	5:16	10:28	5:14
3	5:19	15:47	5:16
4	5:16	21:03	5:16
5	5:39	26:42	5:20
6	5:26	32:08	5:21
7	5:17	37:25	5:21
8	5:26	42:52	5:21
9	5:29	48:21	5:23
10	5:43	54:04	5:24
11	5:33	59:37	5:25
12	5:59	1:05:36	5:28
13.1	6:00	1:11:36	5:28

Estimated Splits

8k 26:32 Hahaha 9 seconds off my PR!

10k 33:17

12k 40:21 PR!

15k 50:14 PR!

After I was done I ran back to Liberty Park with Sashs and we waited for Jeff, who was running the marathon. He was clearly crashing when he got to us (we were standing at about mile 23), but was solidly in 5th. The three of us then ran to the finish together, we tried to give him Gatorade and help him cut through the half marathoners and he ended up holding on to fifth. Then I drank some milk (probably not a good choice) and started walking along the course looking for Allie. I didn't have to go very far as I saw her about 800m from the finish. I ran with her a little, she seemed to have a good finish. She claimed she felt terrible. After running through the finish for a third time I realized I was now exhausted. I then spent the afternoon looking at apartments and I could barely stand by the end. All of my housemates had a dinner party but they made me cook for myself and then clean up after them...even though I was exhausted from my day. Yeah...this is why I'm moving out.