I'm retired from racing. Really.

12 miles, from my house to the canal, then 2.5 times along the canal.  Wanted to do a moderate, even pace and the canal (1.33 miles long) is great for that.  Started at 7:15/mile pace, worked down to ~6:50 pace for most of the workout, then dropped to 6:40-6:45 for a few miles.  The last mile was 6:20 and I felt pretty good- fast leg turnover and no aches or pains, not even in my knees.  Total time 1:23:40, 6:58 pace.

Question- my goal marathon pace is 6:00/mile.  So, what would be my threshold pace and VO2 max pace?

766- 265

Nice, easy, and hot medium-distance run with the kid and jogging stroller.  Planet walk, then over the blackhawk park, loop around some, then reverse the route. 

Finished with 90 minutes of frisbee (though I wasn't playing particularly well).  Does life get any better?

Omni- 190

Met James and Paul at first dam and ran up to Guinavah Malibu and back.  Pretty easy pace, more of a "get the miles in" kind of run.  Came back a bit faster, but averaged just over 8:00 pace.  Hot day, though the shade was nice.  I think all three of us talked the other's ears off but we solved all the problems in the world.  On pace for a pretty good week, even with the race.

806- 349

6 easy miles (7:15-7:20 pace, last one under 7:00), twice along planet walk plus to and from my house.  I saw 5 or 6 snakes and 1 deer.  The snakes are typical, the deer was a first time occurance.  Strange to see him in the middle of town.

BBQ later with half the WBR team.  The race should be great.

766- 271

4 easy miles around noon to get the legs loose.

Met the WBR team at Paul's house at 3 pm, headed over to Merlin Olsen park at 4 pm.  Sasha started at 5 pm and it was hot!!!  95 deg or so.  I was in the second van with Dan, Walter, Drew, Clyde, (I was runner 11, so this is my spot) and James.  We drove to Liberty and waited for van 1 to finish- they showed up around 9 pm, 15 minutes behind Weber (thanks to a wrong turn), 2 minutes ahead of BYU.  I had to wait until 10:15 pm for my leg, by which time BYU had a 6 minute lead on us. 

My first leg was very hard, climbing 900 feet in 2.9 miles before dropping 360 feet in the last mile, half the road up to Powder Mountain ski resort.  I took the baton and immediately passed a team, then did not see anyone else the rest of the way.  The uphill climb was lonely, hard, dark, but a good temperature.  I felt like I was moving too slow (I was supposed to average 7:00 min/miles for the whole leg), but was borderline anaerobic so knew I could not go any faster.  After what seemed like an eternity (just over 22 minutes), I reached the top and the 1 mile left sign.  I absolutely flew on the downhill- my team could see my little headlamp and thought I was a biker, I was moving so fast.  They and the exchange volunteers started cheering me on from 1/2 mile out.  My last mile was under 5 minutes (probably 4:50 or so).  My running brakes had given out, so it was a good thing there was a small rise right before the exchange to slow me down and hand off to James.  Total time 27:05 (12 seconds slower than projected) and rather tired.  It is hard to not get your first leg until after 10 pm.

After James finished his first leg, we drove to East Canyon lake, where I was able to lay down and got somewhere between 1 to 1.5 hours of sleep.  Then van 1 arrived and it was our turn again.  BYU was 5-10 minutes ahead.  My van had some very hard, long legs but did awesome though many of them felt horrible (throwing up, etc).  I rode in the van until my next leg, leg 23.  It was pretty easy- 4.6 miles with rolling hills and a net gain of 112 feet.  Clyde handed off to me around 4:30 in the morning.  I started off fast and felt great, even on the uphills.  I passed 11 people but really didn't have anything to gauge my pace until I crossed the freeway at 3.2 miles (under 20 minutes, just slow of my 6:09/mile projected pace).  I finished strong with a time of 27:32, 44 seconds faster than projected.  I felt very energized and enjoyed this leg- nice cool weather, not uphill, and actually had runners to pass.  My second leg last year (Trappers loop) was also my best, which is interesting.  My overall fatigue/lack of sleep hit me right when I finished, though, but I forced myself to eat and drink a bunch while we waited for James and drove to Midway.

At Midway, I got 30-60 minutes sleep on the grass before it was time to run again.  My van did great (Dan passed 50+ teams on his leg), with Drew and Clyde showing their intestinal fortitude with fast times up Ragnar (combined 7.6 miles, 3100 feet up in 68 minutes- under 9 minute miles while running straight up a mountain).  My last leg ran the final 0.9 miles to the top of the mountain, then was a quad-burning, lung-busting, body-cramping 2.8 miles more with 1200 feet down, with probably 900 feet of descent in 1.8 miles (almost 10% grade).  I reached the top in 6:00 min (6:30 pace uphill, so I was happy), then started the screaming downhill.  It was awesome, but painful.  My body did not cramp up, though I have some very nice raw spots on my heels.  I was running as fast as I could, barely having time to see where I was stepping and almost tripping a few times.  I did the first 1.5 miles downhill in 7 minutes (4:40/mile pace).  I hit a small incline and slowed down a touch, but tried to regain my speed on the downhill again.  Then, with about 1/2 mile left, there was a rather large and very, very unexpected uphill (it probably wasn't more than 200 meters long, but seemed huge).  It slowed me to what felt like a crawl.  I finally crested it and resumed a more gradual downhill, running at maybe 5:30-6:00 min pace to the exchange.  Total time 20:56, 5:39 average (this seems a bit slow given how fast I was running, either meaning the uphill took longer than I thought or the leg was a bit long).  I was exhausted and had run out of gas, not surprising given how hard I was running on the first 3 miles plus the total relay with little sleep.  James took the baton and we drove to the finish, running across as a team in 18 hours 30 minutes.  It was a great race and a priviledge to run with the team.  I look forward to doing it next year and giving Weber/BYU more of a run for their money.

One funny note on the last leg- half way down I caught a runner who didn't want me to pass him.  He hung with me for a minute, then asked what team I was on.  I answered and repeated the questionvto him.  He told me he started at 8 am, and I told him we started at 5 pm.  He immediately slowed down a ton and said, "then I don't feel so bad about letting you pass me."  As I pulled away, he shouted "How old are you?"  I answered, "28" and then heard him say, "Holy crap."  I was too far away to ask what he meant by that, but since he was definitely younger than me, I think he felt I was real old.  28 is just reaching the distance running peak and I don't feel old, but I imagine I will have many more experiences like this in life.

Good race.  I slept the whole drive home and for about 4-6 hours once we arrived.