I'm retired from racing. Really.

AM- I figured out within a few miles that I didn't have the legs for my scheduled Big Workout today, so I bagged it.  What I didn't realize is that the 13 miles I ran instead would be 13 miles of absolute crap.

Tangent 2- 105 

Got home late and very tired last night so I bagged my evening run yesterday and my morning run today. I had planned on 100 miles this week but have since decided I would rather feel fresh for my marathon on Saturday. I was surprised how tired my legs were after my 98 miles last week and didn't want to try a marathon this week with similar fatigue. I'll probably still be in the 85-90 mile range, though.

PM- 13 miles in 1:32:05.  9 with Paul, 5 of them with Cody, too.  We talked about Cody selling his house, Paul's races and eating, and my TV.  Good times.  Weather was slightly cool- perfect, easily the best running weather in the afternoon since April or May.

Adrenaline- 24

PM- Ran College Ward Loop with Paul.  We averaged ~7:00 pace for the first 7 miles, then did a 2 mile tempo.  First mile was 5:58, then Paul picked up the pace and I slowed down to about 6:15 pace.  3.5 more miles after.  6:57 avg pace for the run.  Now 2 very easy days before my marathon.

767- 421

PM- 2 hours of hauling rocks, then 6.5 easy miles with the jogging stroller.  I saw Cody at the end of his half marathon.  And, I discovered that, after 2 years of regular use, the right rear tire on the jogging stroller has worn thru, with threads showing.  Time to get a new one.  Now it's time to change the oil in my car for the first time since July 2007.

Adrenaline- 30

PM- 5 easy miles with Marci and both kids in the new (well, new to us) double jogging stroller.  It has 20" wheels and rolls along very well, maybe easier than our single with 16" wheels.  Now it's off to AdamRW's for the night, then to Park City for my marathon tomorrow.

767- 426

Short report for now- 1st place overall, 2 minutes off course record pace.  Great, beautiful, but very challenging course- never flat, always hilly, almost always rocky (see the course map).  Good run despite fatigued legs.  Drew first ever blood during a trail race.  Won a homemade apple pie!  Still undefeated at trail races marathon distance and longer.  More details later.

Full report- I had been looking forward to this race since last year, when I almost did it.  It is a true trail marathon- 99% singletrack, running from Deer Valley ski resort to Park City to The Canyons.  The trail is on the Mid Mountain trail which roughly follows 8000' contour, but is never flat, always hilly, and most of it is very rocky, requiring careful footing.  There are a few great views of Park City and all of the run is gorgeous- much of it through thick forest.  Going into the race, I knew I had a chance to win it- the average winning time the past 3 years was 3:11, with a course record many years ago of 2:59.  As the race got closer, I made one goal for myself:  To WIN.  I kept telling myself that I would win and I would not let anyone beat me. 

I stayed Fri night at Adam RW's house (Thanks!) and drove to Park City Saturday morning.  Weather was almost perfect- slight breeze from the north (headwind for much of the race).  Temp was ~45 at the start but quickly heated up to 60+.  200 people showed up for the fun.

The race started and I felt ok- my legs were still sluggish/tired from lots of recent miles, but not too bad.  I quickly discovered that the somewhat crude course map doesn't do justice to the elevation changes- the race is never flat!  None of the hills are incredibly steep (for a trail run, though more than you see on a road) but the ups and downs are unrelenting.  Through mile 18 (when my Garmin lost signal), I had run 4159 feet ascent and 3934 feet descent.  I would estimate total ascent of 4800 feet and total descent of 5800 feet (the biggest hills are a steady climb from mile 16-20, then 1700 foot drop from 20-26).

I went through the first aid station (mile 3) in 4th place, then the guy right in front of me slowed up.  The first 2 guys had started fast and we had let them get away, but I caught up to them by mile 8, just in time to stop and tighten my right shoe in an attempt to prevent a nasty blister I could feel forming.  I felt very relaxed through mile 10, then went into race mode. Passed the 13.1 mark at 1:35.  I finally passed the 2nd place guy on the backside of the beautiful Iron Mountain at about mile 11, then caught and passed the leader (and previous race winner Dominick) at mile 15 or so.  For the rest of the way, it was just me and the pace car, a nice mountain biker wearing an orange shirt (he really was wearing a bib that said "Official pace car", which I found hilarious).  Miles 17-20 were tough mentally and physically, but I wasn't going to let anyone catch me- lots of positive mental statements.  The garmin started losing signal in the forest around mile 18.5 and was worthless after that.  On the downhill at mile 20, we caught 2 other mountain bikers and the pace car/bike had to shew them out of my way, since they were slowing me down (on good downhills, no less!).  The pace car later said he had never had to work so hard in previous years to stay ahead.  The big downhill at the end was very fast- some of it was definitely 5:30-6:00 pace, even with the rocks.  I took a big digger on an uphill at about mile 24 and scrapped up my hand and knee, but not too badly.  By that point, I couldn't focus well enough to avoid all the numerous rocks, so was just running over them.  I almost sprained an ankle many times.  By mile 25, the balls of my feet were bruised from the rocks and very painful, so I was glad the end was near.  Pushed through the finish in first place overall, finishing in 3:01:28.  Dominick was 2.5 minutes back from me, and the next guy was another 9 minutes back.  Top female was 3:27, 10th place overall.

I was very happy with this race.  It was well run, gorgeous, great people, dedicated volunteers, a good all around experience.  Before the race, the race director said the course record is so fast that the guy "must have been on steroids or something", and I was only 2 minutes back despite not feeling quite 100%.  Hopefully I can run it again and beat the record next year.  It's a fun experience to win a race- only my 3rd win at a big race in the past 4-5 years.  And I can say I have won all my trail races that are 26.2 miles or longer.  Yup, both of them.

Finish was great- pizza, drinks, beer, other food, music- very relaxed.  Top 3 finishers won HUGE homemade apples pies- yummy!  Can life get any better?  I also won a free pair of Salomon trail shoes, which will be appreciated.  And the t-shirts are cool, too.  Then I went home and had a 2 hour massage.  Great day.  Other than very sore bottom of feet and a few blisters, I feel good.

I doubt anyone cares, but I'm sure I will want these numbers to compare for future years:

Mile	Time	Ascent	Descent	Comments
1	6:44	127 ft	141 ft
2	7:38	228	92
3	7:50	291	194
4	7:47	272	226
5	7:17	165	283
6	7:21	122	87
7	7:08	56	91
8	7:02	275	266
9	7:23	186	168
10	8:05	288	148	Incl. 30 seconds to tie shoe
11	6:54	211	240
12	6:37	239	530	Big down, but lots of up, too
13	6:39	179	338
14	7:13	219	219
15	7:34	317	295
16	7:52	291	207
17	8:08	285	185

No usable data beyond this point.  But the last miles were screaming fast, though I'm glad there were no huge ups or my tired legs may have given out.

Ascend- 380, Adrenaline- 32

PM- 5 easy miles with McKinley in the stroller, 41:00.  No muscle soreness, which means I lost a bet with my massage therapist (I bet I would have sore quads, she bet I would be fine.  She promised 30 free minutes today if I was sore).  Minimal fatigue- less than last week at this time.  The bruise on the bottom of my left foot is still sore and my right foot has a few blisters, but overall in great shape 2 days post-marathon.

Adrenaline- 37

PM- 8 easy miles, most with Paul and Cody.

768- 259

PM- 7.5 miles with Paul on the Logan River trail.  Made the mistake of wearing my non-super cushioned trail shoes and discovered the bruise on my left foot is definitely NOT gone.  Very painful run- I'll have to stay off the trails for a while to make darn sure this foot gets better.

800- 47

PM- 1 on a very painful bruised foot.

767- 426

PM- 5 easy miles, ~7:15 pace.  Felt spunky and foot didn't feel too bad until I stepped on a rock at mile 4. 

Boy, I'm just ripping it up mileage-wise this week!  I often have this many miles by Tuesday morning!

Adrenaline- 42

Long run with Cody, Paul, and Ruth with my work running group, who supplied aid stations.  Cody and I ran 2 miles before leaving, then everyone drove up Blacksmith Fork Canyon.  Cody and I ran 3 miles up to the TOU start, then turned back down.  Cool morning, slight breeze- perfect running weather.  We caught Paul and Ruth at mile 3 and ran with them till mile 12.  Then Cody and I did 2 MP miles, followed by running up the big hill into Hyrum (good practice for St. George mile 19), then back to Hollow Road and to the end.  Last 5 miles were 5:49, 5:48, 6:04 (with hill), 6:22, 6:16, then 5:38 pace for the last .5 mile.  We sprinted the last bit to catch Paul and Ruth again.  Finished with juice, bananas, and bagels.  Yummy.  Felt good the whole way, especially at the end- my legs weren't really fatigued and I could have added on 2-3 more MP miles with minimal difficulty.  That's what running very low miles this week does to my legs.  Ruth was a real trooper and put up with our antics and did a good job keeping up at a fast pace despite a nasty cold.  Hopefully her coach won't be too mad that she ran 17 miles...

22.75 miles, 2:36:58, 6:54 pace.  Not bad.  Round down for 22.5 miles. 

Adrenaline- 65

AM- 13 holes.

PM- BW- 3 miles warmup, then a 10 mile progressive tempo- brisk (~6:20-6:30), Tinman (6:10), MP (5:55), then finish at LT (5:40).  My legs didn't feel great, it was hot (85 deg) and I quickly discovered I was somewhat dehydrated, all of which contributed to a sub-par workout.  Ran mile 24 to 19 to 24 on TOU course.  Splits were 6:34 (uphill), 6:19, 12:28 for 2 miles (a bit slow), 6:08.  Turned around and was supposed to do MP for 3 miles, then 2 LT.  Splits were 5:54 (good), 11:52 for 2 (good), 6:01 (bad- was supposed to be 5:40- legs were very tired), 5:45 (ok).  Pretty tired by the end of an ok workout- it would have been nice to be about 60 seconds faster overall.  1:45:12 for the 16 miles, 6:34 avg.

My bruise is feeling a bit better but now I have really messed up my left arch- I know I have been somewhat modifying my stride to protect my foot/bruise, and I think it is really messing with my arch.  It feels ok to walk with good shoes and support, but very painful to walk barefoot.  I will ice and monitor, but will cut mileage and forgo my planned 100 mile week if my arch doesn't start feeling better.  Oh well- most of my work is behind me, now, the priority is to maintain and stay healthy.  I have been lucky injury-wise this season, so would like to keep that trend going.

768- 265, Adrenaline- 81

Woke up for my 4 am run, but after limping around my house in pain for a few minutes, decided it was too painful and bagged the run.

On a related note, I put my symptoms in the discussion forum under the Running Injuries category.  Please read and share any knowledge you may have.  Thanks.

PM- 5 miles with McKinley in the stroller.  She sang in her very cute, innocent little 2-year old voice almost the whole time.  Foot is ok as long as I wear good shoes, but will closely monitor to see if it is getting worse or better.

Adrenaline- 86

No run yesterday- wanted to rest the foot.

PM- Big Workout in 85 deg temp- summer is hanging on.  6x1 mile at LT pace (aiming for 5:35-5:40 pace).  3 miles warmup, 2 miles tinman (which felt harder than it should have).  Splits for the workout were 5:33 (glad to be under goal pace), 5:34, 5:33 (started to get hard here- numbers 3-5 were not easy), 5:36, 5:34, 5:29.  Legs were pretty darn tired by the end, and I had to rest a few minutes before my 3 miles cooldown.  Pooped.  But felt good to get a nice workout.  Unfortunately, my foot started really hurting again- not my arch, but my bruise again.  Each step was rather painful on the way home, and then the top of my foot started to hurt, too.  Man, no injuries all season and now I'm getting hit 3 weeks before the marathon- ARGGGGHHH!

Adrenaline- 101

PM- 7 easy in 51:18.  Foot is better than yesterday but still tender.

768- 272

AM- Drove my wife to the TOU 5k start, ran .5 mile with her, then cheered her, Paul, and Cody in the race.  Marci was the 5th woman with a 5k time of 26:00- her best ever!  She was just hoping to break 30:00!  Then ran with Cody, Paul, and Joe on the TOU course to about mile 20.5, where we met Andy and ran with him most of the way back.  I also ran with Allie for a few minutes on her great race.  Then ran Paul home, back to the finish of the marathon to cheer more people, then looped around thru RH and Providence, then home.  It's amazing how many people feel the need to tell us we are running the wrong way on the course!  And there was a cute group of young kids who came up with a fun cheer- "Go, people, go!" 

About 17 miles, 2:05:10.  Foot is still noticeable but definitely better than earlier this week.  Will probably do 4-5 miles this evening.

By the way, I discovered drinking a 20 oz Nestle Quik and eating 2 Fat Boys does not make it easy to immediately run 6 miles.

FRB made a good show today- Paul, Cody, and Joe went 1-3 at the 5k, Nick M finished the marathon second, Sasha was 3rd, Steve C was 4th, Bill was 8th.  And Allie had a great race, but I don't want to take any of her show, so we'll let her talk about her race.

Adrenaline- 118

Ran to the fairgrounds, then did about 5 miles with Cody, Paul, and Joe.  Then Joe and I ran a few more miles, then I ran alone for a while more.  1:39:38, just a hair under 13.5 miles.

My plan is to front load this week (Mon-Thur), then start my taper on Friday.  8-9 day taper, I guess.  Should be enough since my legs are well rested (maybe too well- they start getting fatigued at about 12 miles these days!) due to 2 low mileage weeks.  80-85 miles this week, then full taper next week.

768- 285

AM- 5.5 miles on the golf course.  Wore fleece gloves and shirt and almost needed a hat, too.

PM- Big Workout.  Met Paul and Cody at the fairgrounds and we ran the North Logan loop.  5.5 miles warmup, then did 5x4 min at CV pace (aiming for sub-5:30 pace) with 2 min rest.  Legs felt a bit sluggish on the warmup but felt good during the workout.  Here are the splits:

4:00, 4:00, 4:00, 4:00, 4:00.  Ha ha, just kidding.  No, those really were the splits, but here is the pace for each one:

5:05 (big downhill, not even working hard), 5:28 (gradual uphill), 5:28 (predominantly uphill), 5:14 (flat- only one I didn't feel great on), 5:10 (slight down).  5:17 avg for the workout- much better than my goal.

Felt real good- probably had another one or two reps in me, but no need to push it.  Just over 4.5 miles cooldown.  14.85 miles according to mapmyrun.com, 1:45:26, 7:06 avg.  Last Big Workout of the year- a few more 8-13 mile workouts left, though.  After a few easy, low mile weeks, it felt good to nail this workout.  Good confidence booster that I haven't been losing fitness.  Strangely, my legs felt much better at the end of today's hard workout than at the end of yesterday's easy workout.

767- 431, Adrenaline- 133

AM- 6 easy.  New record- 15 holes on the golf course!  I've run 14 before, but never 15 in my allotted time.  And, since I know Cody will ask, only 4 of them were par 3's.  Also saw 2 shooting stars.  And it was cold enough that I finally had to break out my beanie again.

PM- 8 easy with the double jogging stroller and both kids.

767- 437, 768- 293

PM- Medium workout.  Ran on a course I haven't done for a long time due to my foot bruise- the canal.  4 miles warmup, then 4 miles of ~tinman tempo pace, 4 miles cooldown.  First 2 tempo miles were 12:44, next 2 were 12:10.  Legs felt ok, still a bit fatigued from Tuesday's workout, no problems with my bruise (thankfully).  Today was the last workout of any sort- I have a small workout with 2 CV miles Monday, but that is all.  Next stop: St. George! 12 miles, 1:21:18

Adrenaline- 145

AM- Took the day off work to man an aid station on the Bear 100 course with Paul and families.  Great times- very enjoyable though busy.  Inspirational to see all these people doing such a challenging event.  We were only at mile 22, so they looked pretty good still.  Ran a few miles with Paul while waiting for runners.  Paul added some excitement by doing a Superman impression onto the rocks, while I bruised my OTHER foot.  Ugh.  All I can say is that when Mizuno trail shoes reach their mileage limit, a switch somehow goes off such that ALL cushioning disappears.  Pathetic.  I will never wear those shoes again.  Ran 4 miles around home later in the afternoon before heading to Idaho.

Adrenaline- 149, Ascend- 382 retired!!!  Sad that the shoes didn't even last 400 miles.  First time ever.  I won't buy those again!

AM- 2 miles by myself, then met Jeff Shadley and his harem (literally- he has a group of 2-3 fast, good-looking women he runs with!) for about 8 miles.  Then did 2.5 faster miles with Jeff to his house, then 2 miles back to my in-laws house.  1:49:02, ~14.5 miles.  Thanks for letting me join your group, Jeff.

Right foot hurt a bit, but nothing too bad.  With some ice, it should be ready for SGM.

As of 8 am, I'm at the top of the mileage board!  Must be taper week (plus Sasha hasn't blogged his run yet today).

Adrenaline- 164

The Broncos lost :(

PM- Warmup with Cody to Blackhawk park, then 2x1mi at CV pace (~5:30).  Cody wanted 5:40, so I gave him a 10 second head start then started in pursuit.  It seemed pretty hard, the kind of workout where you think, "No way I can hold this pace for 26 miles."  I caught Cody just before the mile and he told me I was doing 5:15 pace- so it was too fast (hence why it seemed fast).  Second one was slower- I wanted 5:30-5:35 and didn't try to catch Cody this time.  Repeats were 5:16 and 5:35.  With cooldown we did 9 miles, 1:05:20.

Adrenaline- 173

Comparison of 2007 vs 2008 running season:

	2007	2008
Total miles 12 weeks pre-marathon	820.8	931.7
Total miles 24 weeks pre-marathon	1352.1	1635.4
Total miles 36 weeks pre-marathon	1628.6	2243.4
15-19 mile runs 12 weeks pre-marathon	9	12
15-19 mile runs 24 weeks pre-marathon	15	14
15-19 mile runs 36 weeks pre-marathon	16	21
20+ mile runs 12 weeks pre-marathon	6	6
20+ mile runs 24 weeks pre-marathon	7	11
20+ mile runs 36 weeks pre-marathon	7	12
26+ mile runs 36 weeks pre-marathon	0	3
Days missed 12 weeks pre-marathon	7	2
Wheat and Beet 10k time	36:17	34:37
TOU 1/2 marathon time	1:14:07	1:11:37

Across the board, I am more prepared this year than last- 600 more miles in the past 36 weeks.  5 more runs of 15-19 miles, 5 more runs of 20+ miles.  5 fewer missed days.  The biggest difference is my build up- the last 12 weeks are pretty similar, but I had a lot higher mileage and more long runs in the spring and early summer this year than last.  And I raced 3 marathons+ distances.  My times are indicative of being in much better shape- 1:40 faster in a 10k, 2:30 faster in a half marathon.  Other than a few relatively minor issues, I have been injury and sickness-free since April. 

Why am I listing these stats?  To reassure myself.  I'm still a bit nervous for St. George, but Paul always says that a marathon is too long of a race to get nervous for, since the work has already been done over the past 6+ months.  You never know what will happen race day with the weather, stomach, bathroom, cramps, etc, but I expect to have a good, fun race.  I hope everyone else does, too.

Goals:

Safe goal- 2:35 (still a 4 min PR)

Realistic goal- 2:29:59

Stretch goal- 2:27:30

Super-stretch goal (i.e. the stars and planets all align)- 2:25

I would also love to place top 10.

Good luck to everyone!  See you at the finish.

PM- 7 easy with Cody and Joe.  Legs felt tired, which is normal for a taper.

768- 300