Adam Wende emailed a few months ago and asked if I wanted to do a relay team (Flying Squirrels - you need to ask Adam about the story) for his last hurrah before he leaves Utah. I have not been doing my regular training due to graduate school but I have done a few races over the last couple years. I knew I needed something to kick me in the pants to get going again. I decided to do this race and see how everything goes. I didn't have any goal times but I just wanted to race smart and see what happens. We had a great night last night eating dinner with Steve and his family along with Adam and his family. Great conversation and everyone was relaxed. I ended up playing pool with Adam for a little and just talked about his job and lots of other great stuff. It had been 5 years since I saw him last. Way too long! Slept pretty good and then got on the bus at 3am. I thought I would be more tired but I actually felt alright. The temps were fairly cool once we got off the bus but it warmed up as we got started. My plan was to keep it nice and relaxed the first 8 miles, work up the bigger hill, and then maintain through the canyon with all of the rollers. The race started and I was in 5th place overall with Walter and Seth in front of me and then Bryant (who killed the course today) and some Kenyan guy. I didn't look at my watch at all. I worked closer to Walter each mile and caught him by mile 8. I worked up the hill and knew he was just behind me. Once the downhill started again we ran together until the halfway mark. We hit the half at 1:17. Not where I wanted to be but was still happy with how I was feeling. I started to pick it up a touch and Walter dropped from me. At mile 16, my left hamstring tightened up and I was a little concerned. I almost stopped to stretch but just slowed the pace down and it ended up lingering but was not terrible. I was sitting comfortably in 4th place overall and decided to just run for place. I felt fine aerobically but had nothing anaerobically. No fast turnover in the legs. That is due to the lack of speed work I have done. I started catching half marathon runners at mile 17 and just weaved my way through them all the way to the finish. I pushed the last little bit and finished in just over 2:37. The time could have been better but I was stoked to take 4th place overall and win $300. It was cool because our relay team (Flying Squirrels) took 1st place overall. Happy to not stress about splits and just run for the enjoyment of it. Great job to Steve, Adam, Walter, James and Amber G. (won the race with a 2:51). Good to be back again. I realized how fun it was to run a marathon again. I haven't "raced" a marathon since the fall of 2010. That is too long. I am encouraged to see what I can do now for St. George. SUMMER OF TRAINING! | 