Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Ran an easy 30 minutes through the neighborhoods around my sister's house. Didn't wear the garmin, but it was pretty slow pace.

We went to the expo later on and got my race packet. It was extremely well-organized, and I was able to just walk in and get my number/goodie bag in just a few minutes, with no line at all. Pretty impressive for a race with 35,000 people.

Indy Mini Marathon, short report for now, maybe more later.

Great course, very flat with just a few tiny hills. Weather was perfect, 50 degrees and low humidity, no wind. No rain.

I had about an hour to warm up. The elites got to use the NCAA headquarters to stretch out, stay warm, and use the bathroom. A good early sign was that this was a 3-star race for me.

Went out to the start line about 15 minutes before the start, and listened to the singing of "Back Home Again in Indiana" (a classic), the National Anthem, and the pre-race prayer. The wheelchair racers started, and then the runners started a few minutes later. Before the start, I tried to look back on the 35,000 runners, but couldn't see much.

The race went out slow, first mile was 5:22. I was running with Sean Sundwall and a local guy, about in 10th place. The next 2 miles were 5:08. I decided that was too fast for me, and backed off Sean and the other guy. However, the next mile was 5:08 again, so I guess my strategy of backing off failed. Eventually, I settled into 10th place, according to the spectator feedback, and hit 5:14-5:17 for most of the rest of the way.

Ran alone for the next 8 miles (so not much to say about it), watching Sean and the other guy about 20 seconds ahead of me, and trying to key on them. I also noticed that a Kenyan was very slowly dropping back way out ahead. Around Mile 10, I got passed, which dropped me from the money (not that I really care; money is just gravy). But around Mile 11, Sean and the other guy ate up the Kenyan who had been falling back, and he was coming back to me too. With 600 meters to go, I finally came up along the trail-leg of the Kenyan, but he sensed me and took off, and I could not catch him. So I settled for 11th place, but more importantly I got a 50 second PR, which of course you can't put a price tag on.

5K in 16:15, 10K in 32:25, 15K in 48:45. Mile splits 5:22, 5:08, 5:08, 5:08, 5:14, 5:13, 5:15, 5:17, 5:14, 5:15, 5:12, 5:19, 5:17, 0:27.

Very awesome event, highly recommended. The course was not particularly pretty, but it was fast, fast, fast. There were time clocks at every mile mark, chip splits for 5M and 10M, and also clocks at 5K, 10K, and 15K. Crowd support was good. Although there was never a mob of spectators, it was pretty much continuous the entire way. There were lots of bands and even cheerleaders all over the place. The worst part of the race was probably running around the Indianapolis 500 Speedway. I thought this would be cool, but it was very boring and mentally challenging, and there were no spectators here, other than aid stations and high school cheerleading teams. The straightaways were very long and...straight. The curves were very long too. I thought it would never end.

Positives of my race:

• Feel like I performed to my potential, and close to best possible outcome, in terms of both time and placing.
• Did not slow down much during second half; very even splits, despite aggressive Miles 2-4.
• One of my fastest 10K times in years, as a split
• 15K PR.
• Obviously, a great PR that I am very happy with, and is my best souvenir of the trip (we all collect PR's don't we?)

Negatives of my race:

• Was not able to finish the deal. You never want to come up on someone near the end of the race, after working on the person for miles and miles, and then not beat them. Top 10 would have been really sweet, not for the $100, but because Top 10 is simply cooler than Top 15. I'll reiterate that I'm really happy with my race, but kicking down the 10th place guy would have made it complete.

Here's some coverage from the Indy news station. If you look hard, you can see Sean and I at the start:

http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/500_festival/mini_marathon/2009_Mini_Marathon_5

And there's some good footage of me getting outkicked, and some better footage of Sean's finish (late in video, past the 5:00 mark):

http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/500_festival/mini_marathon/2009_Mini_Marathon_13

Frank Shorter and Bob Kennedy do commentary of many of the segments, but most are pretty boring.

The day after the race, my calves and feet are pretty sore (from wearing the Saucony Type-A), and hamstrings are tight. But other than that, I am not feeling too bad, and there is no damage done.

Day off. We did some walking with Seth and my parents.

My calves and sides of my lower legs are still pretty sore and beat up, but I went for a short run this morning. Did a 6-mile out-and-back from my parent's house in Brazil, Indiana (pronounced Bray-zil if you are a local). No bottles or cans of snuff thrown at me from moving vehicles, which made it a successful run. 7:20/mile average pace, on a beautiful, cool morning.

Ran on the county roads near my parents house in Indiana. 6:51/mile average pace. My legs are still a little sore, but more better than the last two days, so sub-7 pace was quite enjoyable. We fly back to Utah today, so today was my last run at low altitude for a while.

AM - ran the dog for a mile

PM - Planet Walk, 4 miles

I'm finally back in town, and I've got a pile of work waiting for me. Running is going to have to take a lower priority until I can get caught up.

AM - ran the dog for mile. Later, ran to my rheumatologist appointment and back (5.5 miles, 6:54/mile pace).

PM - ran the Planet Walk while Stacy was putting Seth to bed. Windows of opportunity are there if I look for them.

AM - ran the dog for a mile. Later on, run the canal trail (6 miles, 6:54/mile average)

PM - Planet Walk and then Willow Park with Seth.

Ran with Jon up to Guineva Malibu and back. I was quite tired and the run was very slow. But it was still a great day to be out there.

I made my famous "Paul's Recovery Omelet" when I got back: 4 eggs, 4 strips of bacon, half an avocado, chopped red onion, and sharp cheddar.

Ran the dog around the block before church. In the evening, I took Seth and ran the Planet Walk, then by Willow Park. Beautiful day out, good to be alive.

Ran the dog for a mile. Later in the morning, did a long tinman tempo on the Young Ward-ICON Loop. Mile splits were 6:12, 6:03, 5:58, 5:57, 5:52, 5:50, 5:51, 5:59, 5:47, 6:02, 5:55. Averaged 5:59/mile for 11 miles. Good endurance-building run. 

AM - ran the dog for a mile, then did the canal trail loop. 6.5 miles at 7:30/mile average pace.

PM - Planet Walk with Seth

I am now officially signed up for the Seattle Rock and Roll Half Marathon, on June 27. It is a Saturday race, hilly course, good prize money. Hopefully I can beat my Indy time on a much harder course. I have about 7 weeks to improve my fitness. James Moore and Dave Nelson of the blog are also running in the marathon, so there will be some familiar faces.

Ran the dog for a mile, then ran the Planet Walk, then ran to breakfast. I'm enjoying the fact that it's now light out at 5:30AM.

Flew to Denver last night for business. I hate meetings, but it's all billable, so I cannot complain in this economy. Stayed at the Days Inn near the airport, on Tower Rd., and did my morning run from there. Predictably, it was an awful area to run (boring), but it worked out fine. I just did an out-and-back down Tower. I had a terrible headwind going out, plus a net uphill, so was looking forward to the 6 mile return trip. On the way back I did a small workout, 5x4-minute fartlek. Pace ranged from 5:00 to 5:30/mile depending on whether I had a sidewalk or uneven dirt to run on. 6:34/mile average pace for the run. I fly back home tonight, thankfully.

Ran the dog around the block, then ran the Logan Loop. Didn't wear watch.

AM - ran the dog around the block

noon - had a meeting at church during the morning, so I deferred my run until after lunch. I broke in my new trail shoes by running up Center Street to Dry Canyon, and then running the Deerfence Trail to Millville Canyon and back. 16 miles @ 7:51/mile. Very thirsty afterward.

Feeling pretty wiped out. Took a 3 hour nap.

Woke up with a headache and a sore throat, so I scratched my early morning run with Jon and Cody, and slept in until 7:45AM. Started taking Emergen-C after I got up. I started feeling better by mid-morning, and went to work at noon. Still felt good after work, so ran out to First Dam and back without a watch. It was very hot out today, in the mid-80s. I stopped at Logan High on the way back, and did 6x200m strides in the grass, barefoot. After the third one, while jogging back I wasn't paying attention and dragged my right foot against the ground, essentially stubbing one of my especially arthritic toes (the big toe). Dang, that hurt, and it still does, several hours later. Hopefully it will get better by tomorrow.

Slept in again, but not as bad as yesterday (got up at 6:15AM this time). I ran the dog for a mile, and during that time my big toe was still hurting pretty good. I decided not to force anything today, and called it good.

Ran the dog for a mile, then ran the extended Landfill Loop, with segments on the Planet Walk, and out out to 200 N and back. On the way out to 200 N, I noticed a pedestrian road for the Logan Wetlands, or something like that. One of these days, I'll have to check that out and see how far out it goes. 7:15/mile average pace. My toe is feeling much better, didn't bother me during running.

Ran the dog around the block. Later in the morning, did my real run. I ran to work and back to start a software installation, and then did the same slow tempo I did last week on the Young Ward-ICON Loop. Pace was pretty much the same too, 5:57/mile for 11 miles. Everything felt good, and like I could have held that pace for quite a while without straining. Mile splits were 6:05, 6:02, 6:01, 6:01, 5:57, 5:54, 5:53, 5:53, 5:44, 6:07 (slowed down on Planet Walk), 5:52.

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NW Briefs | Paul Tergat highlights field for inaugural Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon Five-time world champion Paul Tergat is set to conquer the roads of the Pacific Northwest at the inaugural Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon... Five-time world champion Paul Tergat is set to conquer the roads of the Pacific Northwest at the inaugural Rock 'n' Roll Seattle Marathon & ½ Marathon on Saturday, June 27. Tergat, 39, is universally regarded as one of the most accomplished long-distance runners in history and will compete in the half marathon 10 days after his 40th birthday. Tergat, two-time Olympic silver medalist, recently won the Lake Biwa Marathon in Japan with a time of 2 hours, 10 minutes, 22 seconds. He held the world record in the marathon from 2003 to 2007, as the first runner in history to break 2:05 with a time of 2:04:55.

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Okay, so the question is whether I should try to bury Tergat early on in the race, or just sit and kick?

AM - ran the dog for a mile, dropped him off, and then did a Providence Loop. Slow pace, garmin died on me.

PM - 4 miles with Seth on Planet Walk.

Today was a run with Cody in Paradise. Well, outside of Paradise actually. We parked in the middle of Paradise, and then head down toward the Little Bear River. The road (called Mt. Pisgah Rd.) shortly turned into gravel and headed up into the foothills. We climbed and climbed and climbed, although it was never very steep. Eventually we got to a summit over Highway 89 looking down on Wellsville Canyon, and it was time to turn around (although we could have gotten down to the highway in a few more minutes). The downhill was nice at first, but became tiresome. Also, at about Mile 13, I had noted that we had already talked about home improvement projects, upcoming racing plans, the economy, problems at work, and Jon, and were thus out of conversation topics. So we talked about running some more, but it was all reruns at that point. Averaged 7:25/mile for the run.

Went to church, changed a diaper, watched the Indy 500, finished repairing my fence, cleaned the bathroom, and made flapjacks.

Enjoyed a Memorial Day run with Cody and Walter up on the Deerfence Trail. We went from Dry Canyon to almost Blacksmith Fork and back. The trail was very wet and muddy from recent rain, plus all the cow dung and rocks made footing tricky. I worked some of the uphills hard, but otherwise kept the pace conversational. We averaged 8:14/mile for the run.

Ran the dog for a mile. Then ran the Logan Loop. 8 miles at about 7:15/mile pace.

AM - ran the dog for a mile, then ran to First Dam and back on the Canal Trail. Averaged 7:19/mile.

PM - ran to Car Smart to pick up my car. Then went home, picked up Seth and ran the Planet Walk. 4.5 miles total.

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I was very saddened today to learn that Adam Jacobs died unexpectedly earlier this week. Adam was the owner of The Final Sprint (thefinalsprint.com), and I wrote articles for the site for about a year, back in 2007. During that time I talked to Adam frequently and got to know him a bit. I admired him for his energy, passion for running, and what he was doing for the sport through his website and the media coverage it provided. He was also a class act, always interested in my own running, and always willing to chat about running and other things. An all-around good guy. This has weighed on me deeply today, and my thoughts and prayers are with his family. Adam was 24 years old.

 http://dailynews.runnersworld.com/2009/05/adam-jacobs-founder-of-thefinalsprintcom-dead-at-24.html

Ran the dog around the block. Later in the morning, did a slow tempo on the North Logan Loop. 10.75 miles averaging 6:03/mile. This loop is a bit hilly, so probably a similar effort to my Young Ward Loop tempos.

Ran the dog around the block. Then I ran the Planet Walk out to US-89, crossed the highway, and went into Nibley on 800 W. I can honestly that in 8 years living in the valley, I've never been on these roads, or even knew they existed. Nibley. Huh.

Anyway, the purpose of this run was to scout out a 5K course I am mapping for the Charles Sare Foundation. They are putting on a race in September and asked me to do the route and the maps. Usually I just map what someone else has planned, so this was kind of fun. The route starts and finishes off of 800 W at the parking lot of Gibbons Park. It is a loop course, very flat, and goes through some nice neighborhoods. The road surface is very new and very nice, no camber. It should be a very fast course. The only problem is that is crosses railroad tracks. The tracks themselves aren't an issue, but having a train stop the race sure would suck. But it's rare to see a train on those tracks, and perhaps there is a schedule to ensure good timing.

Ran back home. 9.75 miles total.

Last night we camped at Maple Grove Hot Springs (Idaho). This is an easy hour trip from Logan and a good practice camping trip with Seth. It is right along the Bear River, near the Oneida Narrows. Very pretty spot. This morning I got up and ran Oneida Narrows Rd, a nice dirt road that follows the river. It is rolling terrain, but nothing too steep or too long (predictably, since it follows a river). Did 14.5 miles and averaged 6:57/mile. Followed up the run with a good soak.