In search of old age PRs

Morning run to Sugar House park and back.  Much warmer in Salt Lake at 5:45 AM than Driggs!  I noticed they re-surfaced 1500 East and took away the street parking on the west side to expand the bike lanes.  Good for running, but horrible for the residents. 

Interval work out with group in Sugar House park early this morning. 

Three mile warm up followed by 3 x 2 mile repeats with 800 meter recovery jog then cool down.  The work-out called for marathon pace since many people in the group ran Park City or Hobble Creek on Saturday; but I was actually somewhere between 1/2 marathon and full marathon pace at about 6:15/mile.  This work out is usually done at lactate threshold pace which is about 1/2 marathon pace as calculated by Mr. Jack Daniels. 

The toughest thing about this workout is meeting the group at 5 AM!

Today's run brought to you by Wal-Mart.  Day trip to LA turned into an overnight trip.  Unfortunately, I had no clothes.  Quick trip to Wal-Mart where I picked up....wait for it...Dr. Scholl's Relay athletic shoes for $5 (normally $28)!  They suck and are one size too big, but they are better than my business shoes.  I have several pairs of real running shoes at home.  5 miles on an equally sucky treadmill.  

Here is a review someone posted on how the shoes perform when walking your dog, which is of course, just like running:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5670090/cheap_shoe_review_dr_scholls_relay.html?cat=46

Late night run around Liberty Park.  I'm not sure why the lights are not on around the trail.  Maybe its budget cuts?

Quick stretch of the legs this morning at East High.  5 x 200 with warm up and cool down.  Top of Utah Half tomorrow.

Nice, warm race today.  It was fun talking with the other blog people. 

The buses were late for the hotel pick.  They were scheduled 4:45 to 5:00.  At 5:30, I caught a ride with a running couple going up for the race (Elizabeth and the boys were asleep in the hotel and they needed the car to get to the finish line).  At the park, the race director told me the buses were about 40 minute late, but I'm still glad I caught the ride.  Thank you mystery running couple! 

At the start it was a little warm and I got a quick 2 mile warm-up in.  No time for strides.  Kudos to the race director for still getting the race started at 7:00.  My goal today was sub 1:20 and to keep Andrea in site.  For the first 5 miles I ran with Jason Blackham.  We had the same sub 1:20 goal and he was in my age group (35-39).  He keep a good pace.  Coming out of the canyon we were able to get in some 5:45 miles and we were able to catch a small group of runners.  I keep this pace up for Hollow road and left our small running group.  The 11-12 mile hill was a little difficult.  I slowed to a  6:24 pace, but I could see Andrea up front.  I tried to make up some ground the last mile, but could only get a 5:59 mile in.  The last 0.10 I ran with Lucas, my 4 year old.  There was really no one else around. 

I felt great after this run.  I believe I could have left a little more on the course and dropped my time by another 0:45 seconds.  It was a mistake to not start with the lead woman, but I am happy with the time given the effort.  I'm looking forward to TOU and St. George marathons.

Splits:

Mile 1: 6:01 nice easy start and right on pace

Mile 2: 6:07 a little slow, but the elevation goes up and down at the start

Mile 3: 5:56

Mile 4: 6:01 back on pace

Mile 5: 5:45 good downhill

Mile 6: 5:48 tail wind and downhill

Mile 7: 5:48 begin to separate from the pack

Mile 8:5:52 feeling and breathing fine

Mile 9: 6:00 long stretch down Hollow road

Mile 10: 6:03 I start thinking about the hill.  There is no one in site behind, but I begin to see the lead woman (Andrea)

Mile 11: 6:06 trying to conserve a little energy yet still pull in the lead woman

Mile 12: 6:24 Nice hill, but feel good at the top.  Some jogger coming the other way tells me to not let a woman beat me.  I'm like...dude, she's quarter mile in front of me and is faster!

Mile 13:5:59 tried to push hard yet still feeling good

Mile 0.14?: 0:50 ran in with Lucas!