Seeking a better country...

6:30 am  BST out and back for 10, followed by 3 more with Jens.  He is going to join up for Top of Zion relay and needs to get into fighting shape.  I couldn't keep up; he was a bit fresher for miles 1-3 than I was for miles 11-13.  Plus I had Jack in the stroller.

7 am  Ash and I delivered some bills.  She was very sluggish and didn't keep up very well.  I sent her home when we had one left that was up the hill.  I didn't want to push her, and didn't feel like waiting for her to pedal up at snail's pace.  

6:30 am  Another in a long string of gorgeous morning runs with my favorite running buddy.  The temps have been amazing!  We ran to the park.  She played on the swings while I did laps on the grass for a couple miles, then we made the return journey, faster than usual.  To celebrate the early return, I washed the garage doors, and I even made it to work in plenty of time for a 9:00 meeting.

7 am  One last bill to deliver, then winding around, with a mile or two on BST.  Climbing looked a lot like walking, rather than running.  Yet another gorgeous morning.

10:30 pm  4 with Jens.  He's cramming for the TOZ relay.  I'm trying to figure out why I thought it would be a good idea to pace a half, WB utra, and TOZ regular team on successive weekends.  I could be addicted.  But it's not like I'm running UVM, too...so I think I'm all right.   

8 pm  5 with Nena.  We ran to the peacocks to put her in the five mile club for the first time ever.  Good luck to everybody running UVM.  Hopefully the headwind makes no appearance.  I'm irritated for you that the forecast high has climbed into the 90's.  

11:30 pm  After missing a Saturday morning run to facilitate yard-working all day, we went to Ironman 3 and visited with friends until they went home around 11:20.  Gus was waiting around, needing a run, so we went really late.  The road was irritatingly busy for the time of day.  I had to stop for cars 4 different times, which is generally unheard of.

7 am.  Freedom Hills, with a couple laps around the park, and a shirt soaking in the good sprinklers.  I came home the hilly way.  The 4th of July (and the local 5k) is right around the  corner.  At this point, beating last year's time seems unlikely.  What's worse is my apathy about this likelihood.

I've been doing a lot of runs, and I am enjoying myself.  The kids are coming along besides Ash, and we've got these relays and other events coming up.  But in order to have improved marathon performance, I need more workouts, not runs.  I'm barely working hard on a run once a week.  

So I'd love to get together with running partners more often for some tempo stuff.  Currently I don't have the mojo to tackle it on my own. 

7 am.  Breezy morning on the way home, with the stroller acting like a sail.  Jack pointed out lots of flags.

7 am  I got out the door, once again without my running buddy.  It wasn't the TV that kept her home, but Littlest Pet Shop.    Those things are so much fun.  She was busy cutting out little pieces of paper and making props for them; who can blame her?

The advantage of not having a running buddy is you can make lots of random turns.  Some of those turns head uphill, which makes running buddy less enthusiastic.  Before long I found myself on the BST, running around, wishing for water, although 'twas cooler this morning than the last two.  I got up on the wrong level, and thought I was heading south to Cheese Park and the drinking fountain; alas, I arrived at Northern Hills.  I came close to drinking out of a nearby spigot, but I was concerned the homeowner would get mad at me, so I returned thirsty.  I did pause at Parrish Creek to soak my shirt.  

Recovery jam toast. 

7:15 am  Ash came with.  I wore shoes, cuz I'm sick of running out of the crocs.  It doesn't seem to be a problem with the brown ones, but the blue ones fit a little on the loose side.

If I run tomorrow, it'll be a shorty; I must taper for the 1/2 on Saturday.  I'm 5-7% concerned about being able to pace the 1:35.  It should be fine, it's just been a long time since I've toed a serious line.  Probably nobody will show up wanting to run that pace anyway. 

I was up around 2:30 am to get ready for this pacing opportunity.  It ended up being a very good simulation for the no sleep Ragnar and TOZ in upcoming weeks.

The race started promptly at 6 am.  I spent the 30 minutes in the Silver Fork Lodge lobby, rather than the portapotty line.  It worked out very well.  I ate oatmeal and a pbh for breakfast, and drank most of a 32 oz powerade before the start.

We stuck with the suggested pace very well, and carried 10-12 different people for parts of the race.  Some would fall off, others would go on to finish a little faster than the 1:35.  One guy stayed with us for almost the whole race.  We had a woman named Marcie that stuck with us for the last half.  With 2 miles to go, I told her she could run in the 1:32 or 1:33s if she was willing to get very uncomfortable.  Josh, my pacing buddy ran ahead with her, and I stuck to the plan.  With around a mile to go, I stopped in the road and waved my sign to rally some people who were a little ways back.  We reformed a pack, and got most of them in under the goal time.

 Pacing was a lot of fun.  Around mile 9 I was feeling really good, and wishing I was racing.  I soon realized I wouldn't be feeling this good if I had been racing for the first 9 miles.  

Afterward I got some bonus miles retracing the course to find my friend Dave.  I missed him in the finish area, so those miles were wasted.

The canyon was beautiful, the temperatures were amazing, and I met a lot of cool people.  Runners are the best.  Hopefully I can secure a pacing gig every month or so.  It was good to get a workout in, and to have some folks to run with. 

In the evening, I ran with my son for 4 miles.  I hoped it would help my legs feel a little better.  The downhill is pretty severe, and my shins are sore, plus some sacral area.  I'll live, though. 

7 am.  Shake-out from Saturday.  I foam rolled a bit last night, and Tami worked over my right shin.  It was very uncomfortable.  Things feel better this morning, although the first couple miles were a bit...

Jens came along.  This was his longest run in 7 months.  He always flies past me when we near home; I can't match his sprint.  When we were .75 miles from home, I told him if I'm ever going to beat him home, I might have to pick it up a little earlier.  With a quarter to go, I gapped him a bit, just to see what he'd do.  At Porter Lane, I had to slow to wait for a passing car.  This gave him an opening to close the gap, pass me, and blast in for the "win",  as usual.  Then, much to my delight, he groaned, leaned over, and puked all over the flowerbed.

If I ever get serious about beating him home I'll have to run him farther, and start the fast finish with a mile to go.  I'm sure he won't be able to match that.  Honestly, I'm glad he's got some spit and vinegar in him, and doesn't want to lose.  

7:30 am  All this daylight is catching up to me.  I want to get decent rest for the next couple nights so I can pre-rest for Friday night.  Ash came on the usual loop to Farmington.  She stopped for a donut on the way home; I couldn't go in because I had been running through each and every sprinkler.  No, I'm not that sweaty, just soaking wet from the irrigation water.

9 pm  After spending the afternoon @ byu with my daughter I have decided it's a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there, especially during EFY and sport camps.  Hey, she got tickets to the BYU/Utah game, plus a hoodie so it wasn't a total waste.

We got home from Provo, quickly followed by a youth council induction for my son.  I skipped work and the morning run, so Jack hopped in the stroller and we went for an easy 7.  A nice cool-front blew through, (funny how those words rhyme) so this run was very pleasant.  

Ragnar begins tomorrow.  Our team certainly hasn't been micromanaged, so it's bound to be a sleepless adventure.  Rumor has it one of our 6 runners is having achilles trouble; I hope I'm not going to have to pick up extra legs.  30 miles is enough. 

Wasatch back with team H2 OW.  Holly, Jorge, Josh, Jake, Stephanie & Andy.  Ah, the memories. 

I was runner 4 on this ultra team.  I had the easiest legs and least mileage of all the runner positions.

11:30 am start, which was much better than 4 pm a couple years ago.  We had people to chase from the get go.  Weather couldn't have been better.  In that respect alone, this WB edition was REMARKABLE!

Holly made running  44 sub 8 minute miles look easy, and wins the mileage award by a large margin.

Jorge spelled us off for 3.5 hours overnight doing 19.3 miles of unsupported legs.  We slept peacefully while he worked his butt off, not to mention tackling the entirety of Guardsman pass.

Josh took us up and down Avon, and climbed to East Canyon.  Arguably, this runner position is the toughest, and Josh killed it.

Not to be outdone, Andy finished off all our sets; snowbasin road climb, Rockport and the finish.  

Our "non-runner" driver, Jake, picked up 14 miles himself, & completed the lions share of the exhausted driving.   

I get the consolation prize for running flat miles in Ogden Valley, Morgan, and Heber Valley; 7 legs for 31.9 miles overall.  There were lots of people to chase, but only a few to visit with.  I was dumbfounded that 90% of the runners were using iPods, rather than enjoying the sounds of the run.  Most people didn't even respond to a "Good job", let alone converse.   I got passed 6-8 times.  I didn't figure I had any reason to latch on and keep up with people who were running 3 legs.  

We had good food.  I fueled entirely on Mtn Dew, Peanut M&M's, Ragnana bread and turkey sandwiches.  (and a few Smarties)  

We had one van.  It was nice to see the entire course, rather than skipping large portions.  The downside was the constant worry about getting to exchanges, and 36 hours of van time.    Fortunately it was a 12 seater with 4 rows, so we had room to stretch out a bit and relax after legs.  

We suffered several exchange snafus.  I waited for 10 minutes at Morgan High waiting for my team.  When I started getting super cold, I said "screw it" and ran the next leg.  Unfortunately, it took another 15 minutes for the van to backtrack with the correct runner.  Some volunteer or another directed them the wrong way, I guess.

East Canyon was crazy, but I slept through most of that.  I had a pretty good nest in the back row, and actually slept 3-4 hours 20 minutes at a time.  My longest sleep was an hour or so in a sleeping bag at North Summit High.

The highlight of the relay for me was a quick swim/bath in Rockport at 7:30 am on Saturday.  The water was a bit cold, but it was nice to get 5 legs worth of grime removed.  Nobody in the van was interested in joining me for some reason.     

We had no choice but to stick around for the finish, and I'm glad we did.  This was an incredible group of runners.  We had many fascinating political, metaphysical and religious discussions.  These were rennaisance people; intelligent, erudite and clever.   The conversation was so good I was unable to finish my book.  

Good times.  Another 7  legs completed.  I still need to do 3-5, 10-12, 17, 19, 22-24, 27-29, 34-36.   Crap, that's 17 more legs.  3 more ultras, I guess.

8 pm  I keep forgetting which shoes I wore.  I took the kids to Freedom Hills to play, and ran and frolicked about on the grass and trails.  When we came home we ate some grapes.  All in all, it was quite satisfactory.  

6:30 am.  Met up with allie, Tara and Andy for an elephant rock climb.  The elevation profile of this run looks like a capital letter L (with an extended side-ways stroke) rotated clockwise 135 degrees.  

 Afterward we sat in the river and made fun of something or another.  allie had 11 miles remaining to complete her training for the day, in her alternate universe where long runs (when I originally typed the word runs I transposed r and u.  It really alters the meaning of the sentence)  occur on Wednesday.  I need to get me one of those time machines.  It could really come in handy.  

 Someday, perhaps some portion of my ashes will be stored in a long urn.  I wonder if crematoriums really do that great of a job keeping track of who is who.  When you are just down to ash, dust, and bone fragments, it's probably hard to tell... (oxford comma for Neasts and allie, and the oft-departed Bam)

7 am.  Ash came with on her bike.   When crossing Parrish, we saw my BIL and his son, so we changed course and ran with them.  We ended up at Smiths for an ice cream cone instead of Dicks for a donut.  I only had $1, so she got a big one and I ate a kiddie cone in one bite.  I hate running south.  There is so much additional traffic.

4 pm.  Who runs in Escalante at 4 pm in 105 degree temps?  Nut-jobs doing this relay.  I kept looking up into the sky and seeing this cloud.  I willed it to move and block the sun, but it stubbornly refused until I was finished running.  The scenery was gorgeous, and the one farmer that was irrigating his weeds lost a bit of water when I soaked myself a mile before the finish of this hot leg.

2:45 am.  Leg 24 went from somewhere in Bryce to Hatch.  It was the middle of the night, temp in the 50's, so much better than the afternoon leg.  The moon was mostly cloaked by clouds, so this was an extremely dark, solo run.

1:30 pm.  Leg 36 went from North Fork Road to Clear Creek Ranch just outside of Zion NP.  Once again, it was sweltering hot.  I passed one runner, my only "kill" of the entire relay.  When I reached the inflated finish line, a gust of wind blew it over, and blocked me from crossing.  I backed up, and vaulted up and over the top.  Put a fork in me, I'm done.  TOZ > WB.  We had a great time running this small relay, despite the horrible heat.