A Runner at Heart.....Riding a Bike

It was 62 degrees and a bit humid this morning.  I ran 3 really easy before our group run.  We ran easy this morning as we have their 5K/BBQ tonight.  I ran the 5K course with Barry and Chad after the group run.  They marked it Saturday afternoon with lots of humorous words of encouragement along the way.  Tonight should be fun.

It was in the low 80's tonight with some wind and clouds.  It looked like it might rain, but it didn't.  I ran 1.05 miles to the start of our group 5K.  We had 78....YES 78 runners tonight for our race.  Everyone got a free microfiber shirt with our group name on it and almost everyone wore it for the race.  I went out with the first slower first group so I could man the water station at my house just before the 2 mile mark.  That was a ton of fun.  I got to encourage everyone and see all of them run.  When the last group came through, I left as well and finished the course.

We had a great free BBQ of steak and baked potatoes and everyone brought salads and desserts.  We had trophies for top 3 in men's and women's categories.  The winners were based on how close they came to their prediction times and they were not allowed to wear their watches.  Almost everyone came in faster than they had predicted.  We had tons of draw prizes ranging from gift certificates for food, massages, running apparel and so on.  Everyone had a GREAT time and for a many of them, this was their first race experience.  I would definitely call this a SUCCESS!

It was 62 degrees this morning.  I ran 10.23 slow miles by myself.

It was 70 degrees and muggy this morning.  I ran a few miles before our group run.  We still had 15-20 people at the run even though the race is over.  I ran 4 miles with the group before finishing with Barry and Chad.  Total 10.06 miles.

Lowell called me tonight and confirmed our "midnight moonlight" run this Friday night.  We are going to run from our neighborhood at midnight up to the marathon start (7ish miles), then run the entire marathon course, then back in to town.  A total of 34 miles.  We will even be back in time for the 10K fun run Saturday morning, which most of us are running, so we will get in over 40 miles.  FUN, FUN, FUN!!!

I really worked my IT band tonight with stretches and a foam roller (pain!).  It has been getting tight around my knee lately.

It was 60 degrees, but the humidity was over 80% again.  I ran over to Barry's house to pick up him and Chad.  We ran a nice, steady 10-mile loop.  Then I ran home.  Total 11.12 miles.  Last night's IT band work seemed to help, knee pain was better today.

It was 55 degrees this morning.  I ran up to meet our group and did a few miles with them, then ran home.  Total 6.53 miles.  Didn't want to go too far with our big run tonight.

OK...so when you first see the race report you may have a question or 2.

Let me start how I normally do....It was 64 degrees when I left the house.  It was, however, a few minutes before midnight.  I was able to sleep for 3 hours from 8-11pm.  We met at Lowell's house and put our stuff in the support car.  We left at 12:23am.  There were 6 of us running: Myself, Lowell, Terry, Barry, Holly, and Suzette.  Lowell convinced his awesome wife to drive our support vehicle for our "midnight moonlight" run.

We ran up Buckskin to the marathon start area.  This was about 7.5 miles with an elevation gain of about 1300 feet.  We ran the first 3 miles of the course but headed left instead of turning on Hoot Owl road like the marathon runs.  We then ran up another big hill and came down the other side to the McNabb area.  By the time we hit the top it was 45 degrees with a breeze.  Several people put on another shirt but I was just fine in my sleeveless shirt because I did have gloves on.

We then re-joined the marathon course after we had covered about 15 miles.  We ran down in to Inkom and around, following the course.  While we were running towards the gap, it started to get light.  Terry stopped running after 26 miles and drove the support car the rest of the way.  He is still recovering from his pacemaker install a couple months back so I was glad he stopped at that time.

Most of the group wanted to eat breakfast at Elmer's at 7:00ish before tackling the fun run but they were not going to make the 34+ miles in time to do that.  I knew there was no way my stomach could handle eating breakfast and then running 30 minutes later.  The rest of the group decided to cut the run short at 30 miles and ride in to the restaurant.  I told them I would run it in to the restaurant and grab my bag of stuff when I got there. 

I bumped in to Josie and she ran mile 33 with me on the South end of town.  She was out running her daily run.  When I got to the restaurant I had 34.58 miles.  I grabbed my bag and ran/walked to the start of the 10K at Bonneville Park.  By the time I got to the starting line I had 35.82 miles and a little more than a half hour to stiffen up nicely before the 10K.

When the gun went off I shuffled in to a run and my goal was to just keep it under an hour.  I finished in 55:13 and I have never been so happy to see a 10K finish line.  This will count as my 10K PR after a 35+ mile warm up.  I hung around for the prize drawings (I didn't win anything) and caught my pre-arranged ride home with Doug Lenio.  Barry was the only other one to run the full 10K, so he got 36.2 miles for the day which is a new daily mileage record for him.  Lowell and Holly walked the 5K.  Terry and Suzette did not register for the fun run.

To sum it up, I had a GREAT time running with the group and uphill climbs aren't as bad when your only light is the moon.  I covered a total of 42.02 miles before 9:00am this morning.