Run Maynard, Run!

None of that "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" crap today.  It was just flat out ugly.

Back to Friday night: my oldest daughter was married.  I'm surprised how drained I felt, emotionally and physically, after that was all over.  I got home late and really questioned whether I should actually run the race today.  Talked to a friend that was running it and she convinced me I needed to run, at least at the beginning, with her.  More on that later.

Didn't sleep a wink all night long.  Finally got up out of bed at 2:30 and got ready and was at Vivian Park at 3:30 to get my packet and get everything ready.  My friend showed up and we started out together at 4:00.  Walking.  The first two and a half miles of this are downhill.  And we're walking.  But I told her I'd stick with her through the beginning.  Miles 2 though 6 are mostly a hike up from Bridal Veil Falls up to and beyond Hope Campground up near the Squaw Peak lookout.  From there to mile 14.5 it's up and down with lots of mud and snow.  Again, since I said I would, I ran with my friend.  Ran and hiked it a lot slower than I would have had I run it alone.

Anyways, I was suffering some stomach issues that I couldn't get resolved until the aid station at mile 14.5.  I thought from this point on I would be able to run "my" race--IF--if my stomach issues were really over and done with and if my general lack of energy and excitement resolved itself.  The wedding the night previous really took a lot more out of me than I expected.  So I leave the aid station heading downhill--down hill all the way to mile 21!--but soon realize, within a quarter mile, that I left my hand-held water bottle back at the aid station.  The very hand-held bottle that had my car key in it.  Dang!  Had to hoof it back up and grab that (adding only half a mile to the day's run).  And then, about a mile down the road, I must have been spacing it pretty bad cause, BANG!, I almost do a face plant after tripping over a rock.  And I kicked that rock really hard.  I liken it to my foot being the Titanic and the rock being the iceberg.  Not only did it send me flying, but my toe got stubbed pretty bad!  I managed to run on it a couple more miles, but the throbbing was just so intense and the accommodations I was making for the hurting toe started my ankle to hurting.  So I walked.  All the way to the aid station at mile 21, where I saw as clear as the sun in the sky that I would not make mile 33 before the cutoff, and rather than continue on with the misery I pulled myself out of the race.

Squaw Peak this year, for me, just wasn't as much "fun" as it has been.  My heart wasn't in it--so much so that I'm seriously thinking I may have run my last Squaw Peak.  Maybe.

A bit of rambling and them some stuff about UVM:

What a difference two years makes…  I ran this in its inaugural year, 2008, and finished 48^th overall and 2^nd in my division.  Never mind that there were only 102 total runners and #1 in my division finished almost 35 minutes ahead of me.  This year, running a smidge faster, I finished 559^th overall and 46^th in my division.  In two years, UVM went from 102 runners to almost 1400—and that doesn’t include the ½ marry and 5k runners.

I live in an old house—built in the late 1800’s—the very same house my mom grew up in.  When built, there wasn’t any indoor plumbing or forced-air heating system.  The outhouse was outback somewhere and a fireplace in the living room and the stove in the kitchen provided the heat.  To cool things off in the summer windows were opened.  Maybe.  Maybe the windows didn’t slide open and shut like they do nowadays.

At various points during this home’s existence, upgrades were made including plumbing; and finally in the 80’s (1980’s) a small wall-based forced air furnace was installed.  The vent for this furnace comes through the wall from the living room into my bedroom and then up through the ceiling.  When it rains, some of that rain drips down through the venting and into a bucket I’ve made a permanent piece of furniture.  As long as I empty the bucket after each rain storm and keep the fans blowing, my room doesn’t smell like a dank French prison.  The kitchen is another story all together.  There’s no hope for the kitchen.  And whoever said mold was hazardous needs to spend 5 or 6 years living with a moldy bathroom and kitchen—I think a body adapts and acclimates itself to the spores.  Or maybe I’m just lucky.  Or there’s something wrong with me that has yet to be discovered…

So anyways, I knew Friday night it was going to be a wet morning.  I know that stuff just from what goes on in my bedroom and kitchen—and I don’t even have to look out the window!  I can even tell you how hard the wind is blowing and in which direction sometimes.  I was looking forward to a cool and overcast run—in fact I hoped real hard that it would even sprinkle a bit.

I had no real goal specific to this marathon other than to finish.  My overall goal for all of my marathons lately seems to be a sub-4 hour finish, so that’s what I was shooting for—maybe if I got lucky I’d finish with a 3:50!

My splits are as follows: 7:53, 8:28, 8:31, 9:03 (potty stop), 8:38, 8:59(potty stop), 9:03, 12:01 (potty stop), 7:41, 8:28, 8:40, 8:15, 8:25, 12:29 (potty stop), 8:54, 8:43, 8:22, 8:55, 8:36, 9:19, 9:43, 9:23, 10:41, 9:04, 10:17, 9:30, and 4:03.

After exiting Provo Canyon and jumping on University Ave my legs just began to cycle through a series of various aches and pains: My left knee felt at times like there was sand in there.  My right forefoot felt as though I were running barefoot on it.  My right calf tightened up.  Both quads were bickering with each other to the point I threatened to pull off to the side of the road and let them walk—and I did a couple of times but that didn’t seem to work out long term.  And I got a side stitch.  I don’t remember when the last time I had a side stitch was.  And this one pestered me from mile 18 all the way through to Center Street.

I finished to the cheers of my newly married daughter, my youngest daughter, and my granddaughter.  After collecting my medal I walked over to them and the first thing my youngest said to me was, “Dad, there was this one guy that finished with a cigar!”  I said, “Oh really?  What a nut!”

I really like this course.  The uphill wasn’t all that bad—the worst for me being the climb just before Bridal Veil Falls.  My biggest issue is the concrete road from the Sundance turnoff all the way to the mouth of the canyon and then again from Lavell Edwards Stadium to the finish.  That stuff just seems to suck the energy right out of my legs.  I ran on the dirt shoulder as much as possible down the canyon but there wasn’t an option along University Ave.  Oh well.

Number 43 is officially in the books.  A week to recover for the Wasatch Back this weekend and then I’m taking all of July off.  Somebody needs to hold me to that!

Legs 1 and 2 of the Ragnar Relay.  I was on an Ultra team so they are legs 7, 8, 19, and 20.

Average pace for the first leg was around 8:25-ish.  Second leg A.P. was 9:30-ish.  Second leg average should have been much faster.

Last leg of the Ragnar Wasatch Back.  Legs 31 and 32.

Average Pace on this leg was a paltry 11:20-ish.  Left leg was really bothering me, had to make a potty stop, and I was exhausted.

Went and got my mountain bike out of the shop today. I have been piecing it together myself over the winter and spring with new and used parts, but with summer here I figured I'd just pay someone to finish the labor for me.  I rode it maybe a 1/4 mile is all--I didn't have my bike shoes and it's not all that easy or comfortable to ride with clipless pedals while wearing regular shoes.  Anyways, while riding the bike that short distance, I felt pressure in my leg in the exact same spot I've got the concerns that have kept me from running for the past 10 days.  I don't know.  I hope biking won't be an issue--it's the only thing that going to keep me in shape for the next 3+ weeks.  I'm going to put on my biking kit here shortly and give it a more thorough effort to see what happens.  Wish me luck.