Seeking a better country...

I took a flat course today, and got in three good miles for 5-7.  (7:18, 7:01, 6:46)  The rest of them were around 7:45-8:00.    I need to do more of that tempo, pickup kind of stuff to get out of my rut.  

I've probably read 20+ race reports on SGM.  Congrats to all the finishers, and empathy to all the disappointed.

 In the afternoon my son and I met up with the cousins and Gma/Gpa to ride bikes to the top of City Creek Canyon.  My 8 year old niece led the charge all the way to the end of the road.  This was probably more activity than I needed, and a day later, my right foot is inflamed.  It seems to be bothered by the pedaling motion.  I hope this clears up in time for Saturday.  

Barefoot running on the grass with the little girls.  After mile 3, Anna showed up with a bike.  She wanted me to help her learn how to ride it.  Within 5 minutes she was pedaling all over the soccer field.  It's remarkable how different those two are.  Ash wouldn't have anything to do with a 2-wheeler till she was 6, and that was with a lot of cajoling on my part and tears on hers.  Anna, on the other hand,  jumps on and by sheer force of personality learns how to ride it when she's four.  

Anyway, after the  bike lesson, I ran a couple more.  This is what counts as a taper week.  So far I'm  not sick yet.  I think my illnesses this week are psychosomatic.  This morning my throat is sore and my snot is green, but no flu symptoms.  I retired around 9:30 to try and reset toward the 4 a.m. wake up on Saturday.   I'll be glad when Saturday rolls around.  Meanwhile, I've got the baseball playoffs to keep my mind off things.  Even right this minute, my stomach is in butterflies while this race is on my mind, on which I have NOTHING riding, other than 50 bucks and some time.  How do you get your head right?

Five is approximate.  I ran up the Deuel Creek Canyon trail until I lost reception on the Twins game.  Then I came home.  It was a pretty good climb, but not the best footing all the time.  Probably a dumb run to take a couple days before a marathon, but the leaves on the hillside were beckoning me.  Not in a freaky, Maria Von Trapp kind of way, but a more manly beckoning.

8 hours from start tomorrow.  How nervous am I?  Far more nervous than I should be.  This marathon will be a learning experience.  It'll be about 90 minutes in the pitch dark if they start on time.  There are around 400 runners.  I hope they have food on the course.  I'm bringing snacks, but you never know what might sound good.  The best aid station at Ogden in may had Dubble Bubble.  That kept me happy for a couple miles.  

My big goal is to run faster than my sister did up at TOU; 3:27  I don't know how much I care.  Maybe I'll try to be helpful to someone who does, and just enjoy the scenery, you know? 

Well, it's in the books.

The 6 a.m. start moved to about 6:20.  They didn't have a gun, they didn't even get on the loudspeaker to announce they were starting the race.  I was just hanging out around the back by the loudspeakers, and looked ahead and there were only about 50 people milling around, down from 400.  So I got a late start.  I figured no big deal, since the race was chip timed. 

The first 6 miles were dark.  The only light was from across the lake, reflected off the clouds.  You could see the road, and you could see runners as they got within 20-30'.  It was like running on a treadmill, because nothing seemed to be moving past.  I liked this part of the race.  I felt good, after my best night's sleep ever before a race, and the temp was perfect (50).  The sky began to lighten as we approached the end of the island run.  I saw a few bison in the distance.  At mile 7 I stopped to take an excedrin.  I wanted the caffeine and a little buffer for the sore ankle and hammy.  It seemed to help.  The view of the eastern mountains across a glassy Great Salt Lake was inspiring.  My ten mile time was 1:17.  I knew I wasn't going to tear up this course, and that was in line with what was realistic for me at this time.

 Around mile 11 we started across the 7 mile causeway.  The shoulder was in pretty good shape, and I got in 3-4 miles on the more forgiving surface without giving too much extra effort.  The first couple miles of this stretch provided the most beautiful views of lake, cloud, mountain and sunrise; light radiating trickling over the tops of the clouds.  This was the highlight of the day.   My half split was 1:41, again, not great, but reasonable for what I was trying to do today.  (Which was???....) I had a gel at the 13 mile aid station.  The causeway seemed to stretch on for a while, and I knew there was lots of race to go.  Someone said there was one girl up ahead, which kept me inspired to try and catch up to her.  I got talking to a couple young studs who were ambitiously running their first marathons.  They were both holding on very well through mile 18.  We leapfrogged each other for about 17 miles of the race, before one of them blew up around mile 22.  I passed the other one around mile 24.  This made me glad.  He had a posse shadowing him in a car, honking and shouting all the time.  I pretended like they were cheering for me.  

We finally got across the causeway.  I was sick of running east.  We still had to run east some more.  I had another excedrin somewhere in this stretch.  I passed quite a few people between 17 and 20.   The marathon was taking it's toll.  One thing I couldn't understand was the quantity of guys veering off to the side of the road to take a leak.  How could they need to pee at this stage of the race?  Anyway...we finally turned.  I caught up to the woman leader.  She did awesome.  At the 20 mile area I caught up with the other guy who liked to run on the shoulder.  He was beginning to have a tough time.  I didn't hang back to help anybody.  By now I was just trying to put off walking for as long as possible.  The mind games began.  Hold on till 21.  Hold on till 22.  At 23 I gave in, but never for long.  It didn't hurt any less to walk than run, so I ran.  I had one last gel at 23, and resolved to run the rest of the way in.  The race turned into half mile segments for me.  23-23.5 felt good.  23.5-24 sucked.  24 was okay.  25 I walked some.  With 1.2 to go, I knew I wasn't going to beat my sister's TOU time.  That goal was out of reach.  But finishing without being a total wuss was still within reach.  There was one cruel hill coming up Gordon ave that got the better of several runners and many half marthoners.  I was coming up on a guy, my last chance to pass somebody, and he had something left.  I didn't.  I came across at 3:33:36.  My garmin was under 3:30, however.  I must have really been diddling around at the start.

I felt a bit shaky at the end.  The post race food was a 2/10.  Bananas, oranges, and bread with chunky peanut butter?!?  That's it.  Water.  No gatorade on the whole course, just this yucky heed stuff.  I really cooled off.  Some medical volunteer saw me shivering and got me some blankets and stuff.  94 was my temp.  No wonder I was cold.  

So that's it.  I rate the first half of the course 9/10.  The second half was 5/10.  For a first effort, the organization was fantastic, probably 9/10.  

Compared to flying down a canyon, this marathon was slow, pedestrian.  Post-race I feel way better than other times. (no blisters)  I'm glad I ran an unaided course, and take my time as a pretty accurate snapshot of my fitness and motivation level right now.  I probably could have gutted a couple or three minutes off my time, but motivation is where it is.  My next marathon is Boston.  I bet I can get up for that one... :) 2nd half took me +10 over the first.  This is by far my most even marathon.  It was good to experience the last 10k, and hopefully do better in the future.  

The men's winner was 3:04 and the woman was 3:36.  Too bad no quality bloggers showed up to set more indefensible course records.   

Mile splits: 7:26, 7:50, 7:46, 7:41, 7:32, 7:37, 7:53, 8:13 (up the one hill) 7:17 (down the other side) 7:33, 7:41, 7:52, 7:41, 7:50, 7:56, 8:00, 8:20, 7:43, 8:12, 7:46, 8:10, 8:50, 9:06 (last gu, falling apart) 8:28, 8:32, 8:15.   Reasonable.  Acceptable.  

Net 600' climb to my dad's house to fix the trash compactor and watch Game 5 between the Rays and Rangers.  The wrong R team won.  Last night, I thought this run might have been a little bit more than I needed 3 days post-marathon.  Today my opinion has changed.  I feel fine.  It was good to shake some stuff loose.  I need to go see the chiro-man, and get my back released.

The first two came after we got done shooting.  My nephew had locked the keys in the truck, and the battery was dead in the other rig, so I had to run back to our campsite to get my truck and jumper cables.  

After we got home, I went for a six miler to the end of c-ville and back.  My legs felt like miles 17-23 of the marathon.  Hip flexors are very bad. 

Very slow miles with my little girls.  They pedaled along Legacy Trail, and I gamely kept a 9 minute pace.  We had to stop once in a while to rest tired, 4 year old legs, and once to pee in the dirt.  I was proud of Anna for holding out to the end.  By the time we got back to the car it was almost full dark, so we stretched and watched the planes for a while.  Good times.  Buggy, but good.

Barefoot in the grass.  First 4 miles at 7:02 pace, the last couple were 7:50.  Lots of soccer games going on, I even saw my nephew between the pipes make a couple stops.  Way to go, B-Man!  My mom and I got registered for the Boston Marathon today, but my sister somehow missed out.  Now what are we going to do?  It filled in 8 hours.  Last year it took 2 months.  Ugh.

Swam 40 laps (2000 yds).  I still half about a liter of water in my sinuses.  This swim made me appreciate running.  I have no idea what the equivalent miles are.

Home, up, north to Farmington Canyon, through Lagoon, and home on Main.  I'm tired.  My left glute and right hip flexor are extremely pissed off right now.  Why?  Why?  Why?

Ran to my mom's for dinner. It was windy and rainy. I donned tights for the first time this fall. It turns out I was plenty warm. Better that than cold, I guess.

3 miles in 25 minutes on the stair climber.  Sweaty workout.  

Treadmill time.  So I finally got started on Prison Break 2.  I warmed up for a couple miles nice and easy, then did .5 at 6:40, then 1.3 @ 6:40, then 2 @ 6:40.  Cooled down till the episode was over.  A wonderful sweatfest.  Then I helped my daughter dismantle a broken digital camera, gave my son a lecture about his low grade in APBio, cleaned the kitchen and watched the world series.  I didn't expect Cliff Lee to get batted around like a cheap pinata.  I love an endorphin rush.

TM miles.  Bellick caught the guys after he ran them off the road.  Nobody was injured in the accident, and now they are all going to Utah to find Westmorelands $5 million dollars.

I borrowed my bil's car to drive to work this week while mine is being repaired from a hit and run.  I returned his car, and ran home from his house in Farmington.  This was the best run of the month.  It was the best sunset of the year, and the temps were perfect, no wind.  It's such a beautiful time.