Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

AM - ran 5 miles in SLC with Mike K. at 6AM. 7:06/mile pace. I felt really good.

PM - a quick half mile on the treadmill at the hotel after my chiro adjustment to shake a little bit of the travel out of me.

(Elite: 34 miles)

Today was a long travel day. Fortunately, we did not have to get up too early, thanks to Mike's hospitality (and great pancakes too). We made our 8:50AM flight to CIN no problem, no delays, likewise for our 3PM flight to NY. Upon arriving in NY, we were greeted by a NYRR volunteer, who took us to a transport van after we got our luggage. At first it was just Stacy and I, but then we picked up what felt like 20 more runners at another terminal. It was tight, but fortunately we were all very very skinny. Talked to James McGown most of the ride, which consisted of several near crashes. I am sooo glad I do not live in NY, and also very glad I do not have to drive anywhere!

Everyone I've met has been very nice, and I've already bumped into several other former D-III runners that I ran against back in the day. I also bumped into Shane Clinger, who is Hobie Call's "agent", but haven't seen Hobie yet. Apparently he is on the same floor as me. I think the Culpeppers are on our floor as well, as I've seen Shayne walking around a bit. Made idle chit-chat with Mbarak Hussein, who is an extremely nice guy, on the elevator.

So it's been fun. I'm already really enjoying it, and being in this environment. I feel pretty relaxed, and am getting over the whole "famous runner aura" thing I was talking about the other day. We're all just here to race.

I was not able to get my bib and chip tonight, but I think I am Bib #36. Not certain on that though. I was able to pick up my other "goodie stuff". More importantly, I got a killer chiro adjustment that was probably one of the best I've ever had. I guess these guys in NYC are pros! After that, I am feeling quite loose. I am tired from travel, but the legs and core feel good.

The only thing left to do tonight is eat. Speaking of which, time to go!

Got up at 7AM, ate breakfast with Stacy at the hotel restaurant, and then checked in my uniform (can't have any advertising) and got my bib and chip. My bib number is indeed #36, as I had thought.

Afterward, Logan came by, and the two of us walked over to Central Park (about 3/4 mile), and toured the course. We ran the first three miles, and then walked the last two, then jogged back to the hotel for 3.5 total. The course is indeed rolling, but I don't think it will be too bad, especially coming from Utah. I think the hard part will be the repetition, just the same hills over and over and over. It will definitely wear down people over time. The road surface should be quite fast though, and weather at least won't be hot.

We had a technical meeting/lunch at noon. We all loaded on buses at 11:15, and it took us 40 minutes to go about 2.5 miles. This is why I will never live in NYC. It is amusing for a weekend, but that's about it for me. Not that I should complain too much, but the host hotel is not close to anything race-related. The start line, finish line, and various banquet sites are all several miles away and take over half an hour to shuttle to, depending on traffic (which is always bad). Oh well. Mind you, I am very happy just to be here, but just wish I could maximize my time better. All the time driving around has basically cheated me out of my nap, which makes me cranky.

The lunch itself was good. Logan and I found Sean, so had our FastRunningBlog seating section, along with about 6 other guys I didn't know (besides Kyle Baker, who I sort of "know" from racing in MI). After an hour of eating (wish it had been only 30 minutes), they did the technical meeting, which also lasted an hour (wish it had been only 30 minutes). So we were back on the bus a little after 2PM, and back to the hotel around 2:50PM. After that I went up and got my per diem money, and then back downstairs to get a final tune-up massage/stretching session. The therapist turned out to be Tom Nohilly, who was an elite steeplechaser and contemporary with my college coach Brian Diemer. He knew Diemer well. Small world.

The only other task for today is dropping off my fluid bottles. I am only doing 2 or 3 bottles (we can do 10 max), as I did not feel they really helped me at all during St. George. In fact, it was a bit of a distraction, but I'll do a couple anyway.

Interesting notes and observations from the technical meeting:

• Brian Sell is now my favorite to win, based on the fact he has a really sweet mustache.
• Peter Gilmore has the same Keen street shoes as me. They are the "Bronx" model, which is appropriate for this weekend.
  
• There will be a timing mat for every 5K, plus half marathon and other key points. Since it is a multi-lap course, we will go over a mat 52 times. The mats will be spaced anywhere between 400m and 1300m, due just to how the course lays out. The end result will be a stat junkie's dream. Sasha, this is your chance to get the data you've always wanted.

I was 95% sure I am not going to wear a watch, and the mat thing brings this up to 100%. That's right, I'm running "naked". I can see no good reason to wear a watch at this point, seeing as to how time does not matter. And since all my splits are recorded for me, all a watch will do at this point is distract me. I imagine I will miss most of the mile markers anyway. I want to get into a "XC mentality" for this race.

Weather is uncertain at this point, but latest reports showed a 35% chance of rain, and also a possibility of strong gusty winds. Of course I would prefer prefect weather, but since time doesn't matter, I really don't care what the weather brings.

In any case, I plan to tuck into the back of the slowest pack for the first bit of the race, move up as needed to stay with "the right pack", and draft off of a big block of bodies. I am not concerned about my placing for the first half of the race, as the last 10 miles should be plenty of time to move up, throw surges, and pick off those who went out too hard or are having bad races. The key is patience and staying within my window, rather than getting pulled into someone else's race. I have to ability to finish marathons strong and hard, and hope to use this to place in the Top 35. I look forward to just being out there and running with so many talented runners.

What a day. I will write a full report tomorrow. I'll just say right now that I am very pleased with my performance, both placing (the important part) and time. Top 35 was my "top tier" goal, but I was quite happy with a hard-fought 53rd. There is no way I could have run faster, and was really happy with my time on a tough course and windy day. It was a thrill to run and compete in this field, and even more thrilling to pick people off the whole second half and run my race to my utmost. The last 15K was difficult, and I slowed a bit, but managed to fight hard and not hit the Wall.

I heard rumors of someone having a heart attack during the race when I was at the finish line, but did not learn the full details until a hour after the race. The whole Trials field is reeling from the death of Ryan Shay, and it hits really hard. A lot of people here knew him really well. I can't imagine what his wife and family are going through, but my own feeling of sorrow is large, and I didn't even know the guy. Let's give our prayers for his wife and family.

On to the race report...

Logan spent the night in our room and we had a slumber party. The slumber party entailed going to bed at 8:45PM (that 6:45PM Utah time) and getting up at 4:55AM. It took me well over an hour to fall completely asleep, and then I started waking up by 3:30AM because I was so geared up. But it was a restful night, as good as any pre-race sleep.

I ate a banana in my room and then grabbed a quick bagel downstairs in the hospitality suite. Then we loaded the bus. I didn't really notice anything about the bus ride, just ate my bagel and drank all my water. We got to Rockefeller Plaza at about 6AM, so had an hour and a half to blow off and get ready. We hung out indoors until 7:05AM. I managed to use the bathroom 5 times, which makes it a 5-star race, a good sign of things to come. Everyone seemed pretty calm, and it was interesting to be in the same pre-race room with EVERYONE. I made it a game-time decision whether or not wear my sleeves (the latest running craze), but when we saw Ritz putting his on, Logan and I decided that it was indeed "cool."

We finally moved outside to the start line and had half an hour to warm up (strides, etc.). Ironically, there were three portapots for everyone to share. I couldn't believe it. We were treated like kings for three days, and then get three portapots on race day. Oh well. It ended up working out fine, I just kind of expected a personal portapot for every runner. ;-)

It was weird; it was still kind of dark out, but the place was so lit with the TV cameras and city lights. A weird sensation. At about 7:20AM I was totally ready to go. Just start the darn race already. There were a lot of spectators there. Someone called my name as I was stretching out. I looked around, and it was my Coach Priebe from high school!! I could not believe it; I had not seen or talked to him in over 10 years! His son, and my former teammate, Scott was there as well. All that definitely put a smile on face.

Finally, the race was ready to start. They started counting down: 2-minutes, 1-minute, boom! The gun actually came a little sooner than I expected, but I lined up in the very back, so had no problems getting out efficiently. Watching the TV footage of the start later in the day, I could easily pick myself out bringing up the rear. Right where I wanted to be.

I found Logan pretty quickly, and we ran through Times Square together. This is one of the most memorable parts of the race. This was my first time ever in Times Square, and I happened to be running the biggest race of my life. The lights and visuals were amazing, and I enjoyed the effect while running with the pack. Logan and I and a couple other runners traded some jokes back and forth. The race was still early enough to make jokes.

Part of the reason it was easy to make jokes was that we got out incredibly slow. I did not see any mile markers until Mile 3. The clock there said "16:40", and I thought it was 5K at first. "Not a bad pace, 5:20/mile", I thought. Then we went through the 5K clock, and it said something like "17:05". That is very slow, more like 5:30/mile. We were all still very bunched up. Apparently the leaders were running tactical, not too surprising, I guess.

At 5K I was still near the back, but not quite sure where. The pack was so big and so fluid. I would pass people where it was efficient to do so (to fill gaps), and people were also passing me on the outside lanes. I felt like I was part of a living river of runners, churning and boiling. I could not see packs formed yet, just the river of runners. It was very much like XC nationals. And after 5K, the rapids started.

I actually can't remember a lot of precise details of the race. With doing 5 laps in the park, a lot of things blur together, and I can't remember who I was with, when I was with them, or where I did certain things. I general the west side of the course (which I call the "homestretch") was harder than the east side (the "backstretch"). I think there was more uphill on the homestretch, plus the 20+ mph winds were coming out of the north, so we got general headwind on the homestretch and tailwind (plus the "easier" hills) on the backstretch. I did not think the hills were that bad at any point, but definitely preferred the backstretch. No hill was that long or that high, there were just a ton of them, and they were relentless. But that is why I trained on my Millville Hill Loop all summer. Nothing is as bad as that loop.

Back to the race. Things heated up after 5K. A pack finally formed (probably the 3rd "chase" pack at this point, although all we were chasing was the 2nd pack), and I stayed in the back of the pack so that I got draft, run efficiently, and hit tangents. There were many twists and turns, so tangents and elbow-space were both very important. As gaps formed, I would move up, but tried to stay in the same general position, close to the runners immediately in front me. Even though the wind speed at the start was 22 mph. I did not feel it at all while running in packs. Plus I think the trees of Central Park helped diffuse it a ton. The wind during the race was nothing even remote close to the winds we faced this year at the Great Salt Lake Half or a couple years ago at the Canyonlands Half Marathon. It surely made an impact to those running solo, but was sporadic rather than steady, and only affect the homestretch, so runners did not have to deal with it non-stop.

I keep getting off track. Back to the actual race (again). My pack hit the 10K in 33:25, so the last 5K split was 16:16. Our overall pace had increased from over 5:30/mile to under 5:25/mile. This is more like it. I felt comfortable and stayed put.

The crowds were amazing, by the way. The bleacher section was deafening and the jumbo-trons were really cool. I could look up and see the leaders on the jumbo-tron, cool stuff, ha ha. The back stretch had a ton of spectators too, and lots of people were running back and forth for 10+ viewings. I heard lots of "Go Petersen!", thanks to having my name on my singlet. I though it was cool that many of the spectators were cheering for all runners, and it was encouraging to hear my name called by total strangers who were out there enjoying the race and supporting the runners.

15K split was 49:55, so 16:30 for the last 5K. Doing the mental math, I figured this was just under 16:40/5K average, so right around 5:20 average pace now. In some ways this was a little fast for me, but I was with the pack I needed to be with, and was feeling very very comfortable, conversation-pace even, although no one wanted to talk to me. I could definitely feel the loss of elevation in my breathing. This was my first sea level race in over 6 years, so was not sure what to expect in that regard, but so far so good.

20K split in 1:06:25, so another 16:30 5K split. I thought at the time, "20K, now that's kind of a cool distance." Maybe I will find a good 20K to run next year. There is a good one in New Haven, Conn.

Soon after the 20K clock, came the Half Marathon. The clock said "1:09:59" when I passed the mat, but my official splits (I had emailed to me) say "1:10:01". Splitting hairs here, but I'll take the sub-1:10! In reality, it took me a few seconds to cross the start line, so I lost a little time there at the beginning of the race. In any case, I was averaging exactly 5:20/mile here, and on pace for a 2:20. This seemed kind of fast, but again, I felt really good and that I could keep sustaining this pace longer.

After the Half Marathon, things got to be even more of a blur. The 3rd chase pack I was with had been steadily closing on the 2nd chase pack, and it was cool to see them slowly coming back to us. However, after the Half mark, I dropped a little bit from the rear of our pack, but also both packs appeared to string out and disintegrate. Now it was every man for himself.

This also meant that I had to deal with the wind on my own, but like I said above, it was not nearly as bad as it cool have been. At no time during the race did I think negative thoughts about the wind. I'm not going to say it was a non-factor, because it was there...but it was a non-factor. :-)

They had timing clocks all over the course, but after the Half, the times became meaningless to me. I don't know what 25K, 30K, etc. means in the context of a marathon, and I did not put forth the effort to do mental math at that point. Fortunately for the sake of this entry, I can refer back to my official splits, but at the time I did not pay them much attention.Rather, all my focus went into catching people and keeping my own pace strong. Indeed, people were finally starting to fall back, one-by-one.

25K split was 1:22:56, so another 16:30-ish 5K. 30K split was 1:40:20, so 17:24 for 5K. Not sure what happened here. I managed to form some mini-packs with one or two other people, as I had the chance. Often, I would catch someone, hang with them for a minute or two to regroup, and then move up and on. I felt very comfortable at times, but at other times I could feel the fatigue starting in my calves. Breathing was still very easy though, thanks to ample oxygen found at sea level.

I wanted to wait until about 18 miles (or 30K) before I started making a strong move, if possible. I knew the alternative was that I would feel bad and just try to hang on for dear life. The reality was somewhere in the middle. I was definitely feeling weaker at that point, but did not think I would hit the wall. I could tell I was slowing, but didn't worry about and kept trying to reel people in. I was moving slower, but there were plenty of people at this point who were moving much slower than me! Ducks in a row... Also, people were starting to drop out. I saw Hobie walking on the backstretch, just after Mile 18. Other people were walking here and there too. I passed a few people with very high bib numbers, practically crawling. Looking at the results later, I think a lot of those people ended up dropping out. There were 26 total DNF's.

35K split was 1:57:37, so 17:17 for the last 5K. Again, I had no perception of this during the race, I am only calculating these splits now, after the fact. All I knew at the time was that I hurt, but had less than 5 miles to go. I knew I had a good race going, place-wise, and even a decent time, which would be icing on the cake. Someone shouted to me and the guy right ahead of me "62 and 63!" This was the first and only report of placing I heard the entire race, and it came well after Mile 20.

People were coming back faster and faster over the last 7K, and I probably caught another 6 people the last lap. Mostly at this point I was just thinking about finishing as hard as a could and making myself hurt. In other words, "leave it on the 'track'", to borrow a track and field expression. 40K in 2:15:07, so 17:30 for the last 5K.

Just over a mile to go now, and there are several people in front of me to pass. Passed a sign that said "1 mile to go". Then another sign that said "800m to go". Then another signed that said "400m to go". I passed a guy right in here, and began kicking hard to discourage him from trying to stay with me. "200m to go". I was loving the signs. It was an uphill finish, and I looked ugly on the last 200m (or at least felt ugly), but it did the trick. Final time was 2:22:34. From my glances at the clocks late in the race, I knew that I could get close to the "B" standard, and was happy to run this time on a tough course. So icing on the cake.

I like to run negative splits, but this was not to be that kind of race for me today. I put myself in position where I needed to be the first half, got some fatigue the second half, but managed to grind out a solid second half and pass probably 20 people or so, despite not "flying". A guy who did "fly" the second half was James Lander (St. George winner from last year). I passed him before the Half, but then he came roaring past me with about 8K left, and ended up in 40th place. I think he may have negative-splitted. The only other guy to pass me during the last Half of the race was some Hansons runner, a little bit after Lander went by. Other than that, no one, so I was happy with that. I don't like getting passed.

I did not find out my place until a hour later, when I talked to Dave Nelson on the phone while I was sitting on the bus. I was happy with 53rd. It is the upper 40th percentile, and gives me a lot of confidence for the future.

I know this is once again a very long report, but this blog is as much a journal to help retain my own memories as it is a "public thing". It was definitely a memorable weekend, and a great racing experience.

It looks like my next race will be the Houston Half Marathon, on Jan 13. I have the chance to participate in the USATF Developmental Thingy, so will get comps and financial support to go out and run the USATF Half Marathon Championships. This is where Ryan Hall broke the American Record last year, so I know it is a fast course! I don't know a goal yet, maybe 1:06:00 or so? I'm sure Sasha will tell me within 15 seconds what I will run, so I will just do whatever he says. ;-)

Oh, regarding the Sasha-science type analysis, I haven't completely thought it over, but I imagine the Trials course is about 3 minutes slower than a Chicago or London or Berlin, especially with the wind factored in. Maybe up to 4 minutes, but 3 sounds reasonable. We had perfect temperatures, and the road surface itself was quite fast, but there is no disputing the hills. Hall had an absolutely amazing performance, and I think he is capable of 2:05-ish on a fast course. Winning by 2 minutes in this field says it all. Looking at my time, I do feel that it exceeds my St. George performance, and is the best marathon I have run.

I am recovering better than after St. George, in terms of muscle wear-and-tear and soreness. I think St. George is just harder on the body due to the downhill. I did not run today, but walked with Stacy over to the gym, where I did about 15 minutes on the elliptical easy. I also did a few weights and chin-ups, but nothing strenuous. I will start running again on Thursday, but will just do elliptical until then.

Thanks everyone for the nice comments and links to photos of the race. They have posted 5K splits for all runners here. There is much fun to be had if you copy and paste the whole split table into Excel. Then you can sort by split to see how people moved up and down as the race progressed. Here is how my placing changed during the race:

Split	Place
5k	98th
10k	98th
15k	84th
20k	89th
Half Marathon	90th
25k	87th
30k	78th
35k	62nd
40k	55th
Marathon	53rd

Using this I know now that I "passed" 37 people during the second half of the race, although this is inflated a bit due to people dropping out. When I factor out people like Abdi, Culpepper, Gilmore, Hussein, etc., it is more like 20 people, which is close to my original estimate. "Passing" someone who has dropped out is like a walk in baseball; it does not count as an "at bat". So that's fun with spreadsheets for today. 

Another day at the gym. I spun easy on the elliptical for 15 minutes, and also did some core work and weights. Recovery is going quite well. I have some soreness in the calves, but that's about it.

I watched a great Ryan Hall video tonight. What a great testimony. Click here to watch. 

Day off. My soreness is gone for the most part, except when I do the TP Massage Ball on my calves. They are quite tender still.

It's nice not to run for a few days. I'm a big believer in bracketing large training cycles with time off. The physical component of healing and refreshment is important, but even more important of me is the mental aspect of refreshment and warding off burnout. Perhaps a stronger mind can take it, but I can't. A break in my routine is a good thing, and also makes me hungry to run again after a few days. I probably won't do another marathon until next October, so it's time to get ready for long (hopefully uninterrupted) stretch of training.

Easy 4.5 miles on the Planet Walk and with the dog. I've missed the ol' P.W. It felt good to run again. My left calf isn't quite all the way there, but in general everything is feeling good.

(Triax: 206 miles)

Who is running Moab? Who needs a place to stay??

David Nelson and I are in the process of reserving some cool cabins, just south of Moab (near the LaSalle Mnts) for the weekend of the race (March 8). Cost will be $40-$75 per person, per night, depending on numbers. Not KOA prices, I know, but these cabins are really nice. Let me know via email or this blog if you want in. We will make reservations by next week.

noon- went for an easy 6-miler along the canal trail to First Dam and back. Didn't wear watch. Everything feels good. I'm looking forward to resuming normal training next week.

(Elite: 44 miles)

I can't believe how warm it is. Shorts and t-shirt on Nov. 10; it's that crazy global warming. I went out to the River Trail and ran a little past Spring Hollow and back for an hour total. It came out to about 8.5 miles at 7:11/mile pace. The pace felt good, and I enjoyed the run.

(Hardrock: 112 miles)

Planet Walk easy.

(Adrenaline blue: 425 miles) 

So...here I am sitting at home after church watching the Packers play the Vi-queens. Favre just threw his 2nd touchdown of the day, putting the Pack up 27-0. I am finally getting to the point of being able to relax and enjoy the game. "This could be a decent game after all," I thought to myself. After all, there is nothing better than a good ol' fashioned blowout. Then what? The blasted FOX network pulls the game, and switches over to the Eagle vs. the Redskins. Hello?? 27-0 is the mark of a good Packer game, how dare they? Plus every pass Favre throws is part of living history. Who do the Redskins have? Chris Cooley? I blew off some steam by taking my nap early in protest.

Did the Providence Hill Loop from work. Felt very good, legs were snappy. Average pace 6:29/mile for the run.

(1120: 378 miles)

More details on the Moab cabins. They are better described as a "historic guest ranch". It is called Pack Creek Ranch, and the website is here.

Workout today: 20 minutes warmup, 30 minute tinman tempo, 20 minute cooldown, with 10x100m strides. I did the tempo on the North Logan - USU - Boulevard Loop. It was nasty rainy and windy out. I should have ran in the morning when it was nice, but waited until 2PM, which was a mistake. Win some and lose some, I guess.

Mile	Pace	Comment
1	5:44	rolling terrain; headwind
2	5:48	rolling terrain; headwind
3	5:38	rolling terrain; tailwind
4	5:25	flat; tailwind
5	5:36	flat/downhill
5.5	5:35	downhill

The tempo felt pretty good. I was annoyed with the wind and rain driving in my face and soaking my shirt, but knew I would turn out of it soon enough and get it at my back. Once I turned, the rain didn't feel too bad.

With the warmup and cooldown, the average pace for the run was 6:13/mile.

(Elite: 56 miles)

AM - easy 4 miles. Cold out.

(Triax: 210 miles)

PM - easy 9 miles on Landfill Loop, via Planet Walk. 6:48/mile average pace.

(Triax: 219 miles) 

AM - easy 4.5 miles on Planet Walk in the dark, plus a block with the dog. Didn't wear watch.

(Adrenaline blue: 430 miles)

PM - easy 9 miles out onto the River Trail via the Canal Trail and back. 7:00/mile average pace.

(1120: 387 miles)

Workout. Ran some with the dog, then went on my real run. The workout today was a 7x3-minute LT fartlek, with 1:30 recovery. I warmed up for a mile and a half and then started the intervals on the Millville out-and-back route, which is fairly rolling.

Interval	Distance	Pace	Comment
1	0.58	5:13/mile	flat
2	0.55	5:26/mile	uphill
3	0.58	5:12/mile	rolling
4	0.58	5:10/mile	mostly downhill
5	0.55	5:27/mile	uphill
6	0.61	4:57/mile	downhill
7	0.57	5:18/mile	uphill

The workout went okay. The first couple felt a little rusty, but the last half was a bit better. It seems like I can run tempo runs well after a marathon, but faster intervals definitely don't feel as good. But it was good to get the speed in.

6:26/mile average pace.

Flew out to Indiana in the afternoon for the next 8 days. Sea-level running, here I come! Oh, and family too.

(Elite: 68 miles)

Longish run in Indiana today. In an effort of Blog Diplomacy, the Mountain Chapter of the FRB met with the Midwest Chapter of the FRB at Shades State Park. Only two of us showed up, but Trashcan Annie and I had a very enjoyable run together. We started on the trails of Shades, and wandered aimlessly through the leaf-ridden park 8-to-10 minutes/mile pace until we got sick of leaves, creek crossings, stepping on tree roots, and running so slow. So after 5 miles of trails we hit the roads. We crossed the Sugar Creek bridge (beautiful spot) and then climbed out of the valley and into some fine Hoosier farmland. It made me nostalgic to be there, as it is quite beautiful in its own way. Very few cars were out, which was nice. Once on the roads our pace dropped to the 6:40s, and then 6:30s and 6:20s by the end. Annie kept pushing the pace, but fortunately I was enjoying the ample oxygen and it felt really good. Or maybe she thought I was pushing the pace; it's always so hard to tell. I usually blame Logan for that kind of thing, but he wasn't around to take the heat this time. We ended up with 14 miles and an average pace of 7:14/mile, which was skewed by those 10-minute miles in the park. Beautiful day, and a good run with a good friend.

(Triax: 233 miles)

Slow, easy distance on the roads of Brazil, IN. 7:20-ish/mile.

(Triax: 237 miles)

Workout. 3-mile warmup, 5.5-mile tinman tempo, 3-minute cooldown, with 10x100m strides. Ran a nice loop near my parent's house in Brazil, IN. All miles on were small rolling hills.

Mile	Split
1	5:48
2	5:40
3	5:40
4	5:36
5	5:36
5.5	5:39/mile pace

It was a decent workout. The first couple didn't feel that great, but I eventually warmed up a bit. 6:12/mile average pace for the run.

(Elite: 80 miles)

Later in the morning, we all drove over to watch D-I XC nationals. My parents only live about 10 minutes away from the course, so it seemed wasteful not go. I hadn't been to a XC meet since my own national meet my senior year (7 years ago). I definitely miss the aura and electricity of nationals, and the feeling of running on grass. I bumped into Nate Long, who was there to watch his wife (Weber State). Other than that, didn't see anyone I knew. I cheered for Pat Smyth (Notre Dame, 15th place), since he is a Utah boy, and also cheered for Seth Pilkington (Weber) and the BYU teams. The Liberty kid managed to hold off the Oregon dude for a fairly exciting finish, something like 29:20 or so. It looked like Oregon beat everyone pretty bad, but I never checked the final score. NAU looked strong as well. The women's race was less exciting, as the Texas Tech girl just crushed everyone. BYU had a pretty strong spread, but no one up front. The two Weber girls looked like they did pretty well, perhaps AA. Again, I didn't check the finals, so don't know who won team-wise. Anyway, it made for a more entertaining afternoon than just sitting around my parents' house watching TV.

AM - easy 13 miles, 7:01/mile pace. It is very warm today, shorts and t-shirt weather. Plus, it's quite humid, so I worked up quite a sweat. Tomorrow and thereafter it's supposed to get rainy and cold, so I decided to get some good mileage in while the weather is nice. I will probably do a few more later this afternoon.

I am reviewing the Garmin Forerunner 50, which is a foot pod/HR monitor combo, with a watch interface. The foot pod was pretty accurate without any extra calibration; I was getting readings of 0.99 miles for the 1-mile county blocks, every time. My HR hovered around 140 for the run. It has been a while since I've measured my heart rate.

(Triax: 250 miles)

PM - easy 4 miles around Forest Park in Brazil, IN. By the way, there are also towns in Indiana named Peru, Alexandria, Lebanon, and Santa Claus. It is truly an exotic state, as exhibited by numerous cars up on blocks, and large plastic Christmas yard decor. 7:09/mile pace. Ave HR 139.

(Triax: 254 miles)

AM - slept awful last night, but I felt ready to run when my alarm went off at 7AM. I went out and had a great 9-mile run, averaging 6:38/mile. Weather here is WARM, upper 60s and very high humidity. I was dripping sweat when I finished, even though it was dark when I started out. Indiana is definitely much different than Utah.

Speaking of which, here is today's entertaining Indiana-themed story. Near where my parents live, there is a BIG yearly festival called the Covered Bridge Festival. It is a big deal, tens of thousands of people go. It is essentially a big flea market. People love it. My parents ran into a woman from China this past year, and got to talking with her. They asked her what brought her to the Covered Bridge Festival, and she replied that she was there to "learn about the American Peasant." Hilarious.

PM - I did my own study of the American Peasant this afternoon, and ran through the inner-city shanty-town known as Brazil, IN. Usually I stick to the county roads outside of town because fewer people hurl curses at me, but I decided to chance it. I think one person did tell me to 'slow the ef down', but other than that the language was clean and locals indifferent to my presence. No one threw cans of snuff at my head either, always a bonus. Pace was a little quicker, about 6:20/mile for the run (harder to get hit that way), but I felt absolutely great. About like 6:45/mile effort in Utah. Gotta love the sea level thing.

Other highlights today include going to my old high school to give a talk about geo-sciences and careers to science students, and then to the track and xc teams about running. I'm sure all the runners thought I was nuts for the mileage I do, but if I knew then what I know now, I would have been All-State rather than some 'also-ran'. Also did some Blog diplomacy, and got to talk briefly to Cassandra. Not enough hours in the day to truly catch up with folks though. It was nice to see the old school again, though, as it had been about 8 years since I had last been back.

(Elite: 94 miles)

Oh, here's an interesting article about another Devine Racing mess:

http://www.thefinalsprint.com/2007/11/nearly-one-year-later-las-vegas-marathon-champions-have-not-been-paid/

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

The weather front finally crashed in, and temps dropped to the 30s, bringing wind and snow flurries. After a warm week, not the most fun run this morning, but I got it in. Fought a head wind the whole way back. 6:54/mile average pace.

(Triax: 263 miles)

Easy 9 miles in Indianapolis.7:08/mile pace. Fly home today.

(Triax: 272 miles)

Workout. I did a fartlek with 5x4-minutes @ LT, with 2 minutes recovery on the Young Ward-ICON Loop. Warmed up for about 4 miles at 6:35/mile pace (good sign), then started the workout at the turnoff to Young Ward.

Interval	Distance (miles)	Pace
1	0.77	5:11/mile
2	0.78	5:10/mile
3	0.77	5:13/mile
4	0.75	5:23/mile
5	0.77	5:11/mile

The first two intervals felt pretty good, but I think all the flying, driving, and holiday festivities of the past week took a bit out of me. I don't know what happened on the 4th interval, but the last interval went well.

(Elite: 106 miles)

In other news, I got my Houston entry and plane ticket squared away. I'm starting to get pretty excited for that. I'm thinking sub-1:06 should be possible.

Also, for those interested in getting cabins for the Moab Half, David has reserved a cabin for 6, and it is already full (me, Stacy, Dave, Cody, Beth, (kids??), Aaron). However, Dave inquired if there are any more open cabins, and there ARE. If you are interested in reserving a cabin, contact the Pack Creek Ranch. They are very nice cabins/houses in the La Salle Mnts. Rates are reasonable. There is a hot tub. It would be cool to have a cluster of FRB cabins. We can be like a cult or something. We just need more people and guns.

Easy 5 miles: some with the dog, then over to my friend's house to feed their dogs, then back home, then to the Planet Walk.

(1120: 392 miles)

Workout. 20 minutes warmup, 30 minutes of tinman tempo, 20 minutes cooldown, with 10x100m strides. Once again, I did the North Logan-USU-Boulevard Loop, only I added a 1-mile out-and-back at the apex of the loop to put on some distance.

Mile	Split	Comment
1	5:30	big downhill, then slight up
2	5:48	mostly uphill
3	5:40	1/3 downhill; 2/3 uphill
4	5:38	2/3 downhill; 1/3 uphill
5	5:40	rolling
5.5	5:21/mile pace	flat; ran with Seth

The tempo went pretty well. I bumped into Seth Wold on the last half mile, and he joined me for the remainder, which naturally sped things up a bit. Nice day to run today, about 40 degrees and sunny. 6:12/mile average pace for the run.

(Elite: 118 miles)

noon - 9.5 miles easy on the Providence Hill Loop. It was snowing for most of the run, but stopped near the end. I guess winter is finally here. 6:59/mile average pace.

(Triax: 282 miles)

PM - 4.5 miles easy, running to the gym, and then 20 minutes of treadmill at the gym. Slippery out.

(1120: 396 miles)

AM - easy 4.5 miles, just around. Still slippery out, so kept it very slow, no sudden movements. 8:05/mile average pace.

(Adrenaline blue: 435 miles)

PM - easy 9 miles. Took the canal trail, and then came back on the First Dam Run 10K course. 7:10/mile average pace.

(Elite: 127 miles)

Easy 9 miles from work on the Landfill Loop via Planet Walk. 7:08/mile average pace.

(Triax: 291 miles)

Workout. 10x2-minute LT fartlek with 1 minute recovery. Ran it on the Millville out-and-back route, so rolling hills. Warmed up for 2.5 miles, then started the workout.

Interval	Distance (mi)	Pace (min/mile)
1	0.39	5:09
2	0.38	5:22
3	0.40	5:04
4	0.38	5:21
5	0.40	5:05
6	0.38	5:15
7	0.39	5:08
8	0.38	5:18
9	0.40	5:04
10	0.39	5:10

Variance in pace usually corresponded with uphill vs. downhill. This was a pretty good workout, and didn't feel too hard. Harder workouts will resume next week...

(Elite: 139 miles)