Running

Ran with a bunch of accountants that work at Xango.  Got taped by the PT on Friday morning.  I was runner #9.  Things started really bad for us when we stopped to get gas in our huge 18 seat passenger van in Ogden on our way up to the first exchange point.  When we tried to start the van back up, it didn’t start.  We spent the next 4 hours sitting at the Maverick station in Farr West.  Decided it would be best for our first van to run legs 1-12 and then we would take legs 13-24.  Our rental place drove us up a mini-van (this sucked-there was just not enough room).

Our van ran legs 13-24.  Started at about 9:00 at night and we finished leg 24 at about 8:00.  No sleep.  Stomach was all jacked up.  No room to maneuver in the van.  What a crappy race.

I ran leg 16.  4.20 miles at overall pace of 6:45.  Passed tons of people.  Not passed by anyone.  Achilles felt fine.  Never felt like I could catch my breath.  First mile was 6:12.  Very happy with this leg.

Leg 21. 9.60 miles at 7:40 pace.  Passed tons of people, got passed by 3 others (one of them was the 26.2 team).  My body was not ready for this.  Could tell I have not been running much, but was very glad to be able to push myself.  Felt like I was going to throw-up for a good portion of this leg.  No trouble with the Achilles.

Leg 33.  3.6 miles at 11.07 pace.  Pre-Ragnar leg.  All I have to say is this was ridiculous.  I was spent and didn’t care about anything other than finishing.  Employed the walk/run strategy.  Minor Achilles pain, but nothing too bad.

Overall, this was kind of fun, but the car trouble really ruined things.  More than anything, I was ecstatic about the fact that I had little to no pain in the Achilles.  This is by far the most miles I’ve put in since the Ogden Marathon.  It was a good test.  This week I think I will begin to start running regularly and amping up the miles and start focusing on the sub 3 St. George Marathon.  No reason I can’t do this.