Dare to be great!

Ran the foothill trails above town this morning.  Did two hot springs repeats then ran up to the fishing pond.  Needed to add some mileage so did two miles around the pond then headed back.

Got tricked into playing soccer with my boys at practice last night.  Could tell when I woke up my legs were not used to the sprints and cutting.  Decided to take off some mileage and do an easy run up the canyon on the road to Monrovian then back down.  Started to loosen up about a mile or so in.

We have the father and sons campout this weekend and I needed to get a long run in this week so I decided to get it done this morning.  Was planning on 25 but that is so close to a marathon I might as well do that.  Went solo to the trails above Richfield.  Made sure I did the 104/CC loop twice to get some extra climbing.  Had four chomps along the way and a small pack of peanut M&M's.  Just tried to stay steady throughout the trail run AP 10:05.  Now two more weeks before the Bryce 50 mile race... not too excited to sit behind my desk for the next few hours.  Hopefully my legs do not tighten up too much.

Drove up to Monrovian Park and took the 2nd Left Hand Fork trail up for about a mile and a half then turned around.  Did an extra mile along the trail by the creek.  Legs feel good after last week, 1,500' of climbing this morning.

Lunch run, mid 90's, decided to run up Dairy Fork to check it out.  Deadended when a huge boulder blocked the way about 15' up a cliff, checked out an alternative way climbing around it but would have to crawl through a sketchy looking outcrop with a big drop on the side and loose rocks leading up to it.  Decided to play it safe and head back down.  Ran a bit up the left fork which was way more open.  The heat sapped a lot of my energy but that was the point of the run today.

Morning run with the pup, did four repeats up to the hot springs.  Just enough uphill to get you working up there but can still run it decently then down hill for a third, then flattish for a third of it a bit over a mile and a half for each loop.  Starting to taper down for the race, want to still keep the intensity level up just cut back on mileage for this week.

Ran the foothills up the the base of elk hill, hit 2.5 miles and turned around.  Played soccer with the boys last night and my legs were a bit tight so I just took it easy this morning.

Four miles around the track/baseball field around the house, did alternating laps on track/grass for the last few miles.

Ran the dirt "dairy" road for 10 miles. AP 8: 26

Half mile jog around the block

Two miles with my wife slow around the hood. 

Drove to Bryce Canyon on Friday afternoon.  Got a camping spot at the Red Canyon Campground then went and picked up my packet at Ruby's Inn.  I then went fly fishing below Tropic Reservior on the small creek.  The cold water felt good on my legs.  My left knee has been somewhat bothersome the last two weeks although it has not affected my much during my runs so I was hoping for the best.  Slept in the back of my vehicle and woke up at 3:30 am to make it to Ruby's for the 4:30 shuttle departure for the start.

The race started and I planned to take it easy and feel things out the the first few miles as it is a long race.  Got in a good groove along the single track weaving through the forest.  Had to remind myself to look up at the amazing scenes and views along the course.  Truly one of the most beautiful areas in the world.  I feel blessed as I did not feel my knee the whole race and it was a non-factor.

Tried to keep hydrated at the aid stations and eat some food/although I probably did not eat enough or drink enough during the race.  Had some gel packets/salt pills/ and usually a handful of candy at the aid stations.

I was feeling okay throughout the first 30 miles, so I put in my music as it was starting to get hot and just tried to remind myself to keep moving forward.  There was over 9,000 feet of climbing involved so you had to pick the climbs and decide if it was worth running or not.  The race was also ran at a high elevation and I could tell when we were about nine thousand feet my body was working harder than usual, but it didn't affect me as much as others.  Lot of power hiking up the hills, I was getting passed on the hills at the beginnng and by the end I was passing most people and did not get passed after 30 miles or so.  The last nine miles or so from the last aid station were probably the toughest section on the course (although beautiful).  It was the hottest part of the day and pretty exposed with lots of climbing.   I knew most people could not run up the climbs so concentrated on running and making up time where I could when the trail would flatten a bit.  Like most people I was running low on fluids and started to get some slight cramping in my left quad if I pushed the pace, took a salt pill, but my GPS was out of battery and I had to guess the distance to the finish and tried to ration my fluids the best I could.  I was able to run strong the the finish and was proud of myself to be able to push and run where I could along the course.  I am not sure of my exact time, but she said it was 11:15:15 ish.  I will have to update when I find out my place, somewhere around the top 20 males to finish.  It was definetly one amazing adventure and one I would recommend to anyone... 

Took a week off to recover from the 50 miler.  Did stay busy and rode the bike a couple miles most days last week and worked a lot in the yard.  Took the pup up the canyon above the middle school this morning.  Just working out the kinks

Shane called last night and asked I run up Dairy Fork to take some measurements as he wanted to build a ladder over the cliff.  Ran up the wrong canyon to start but did some good exploring.  Finally found the right canyon and got the measurements... should be interesting.

Went with Shane in the mountains above Richfield.  Went up Dairy Fork and came down Flat Canyon.  This run kicked my butt, definetly not recovered fully from the 50 and the last few miles were hard.