Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow

Laid around most of the day and took naps. Hammocks are a wonderful invention. Went up to Green Canyon in the evening with our Bible study group and did a hike up to the cross that is on the ridge at the mouth of Green Canyon after our study. About 10-15 years ago, some guys from my church lugged some huge wood beams a couple miles up the ridge (about 2500 vertical feet), and constructed a a cross. It's a great place to go and look over Cache Valley. Everything is very tiny from up there, but the cross is very big. Quite symbolic and meditative. It is also very very steep, and I ended up running most of the way down in order to keep from fall out falling down the mountain. I'm not counting it as mileage though. Gorgeous day today, in the upper 70s and breezy.

Ran from my office during the early afternoon. I figured today would be the last mild day for awhile, so I decided to take advantage of it. Mid-70s is nice running weather for a June afternoon. Ran the North Logan-USU loop. Warmed up for 3 miles, then did a 6-mile tinman tempo. Mile splits were 5:38 (downhill), 5:56 (uphill), 5:48, 5:40, 5:44, 5:44. Felt quite excellent. After about a half mile of cooldown, I did 4x30-second hill charges up the Boulevard Hill. Cooled down for another mile or so and called it a day. This is probably my best workout since the marathon. 6:18/mile average pace for entire run.

(Adrenaline blue: 172 miles)

AM - easy 8 miles on Canal Trail Loop, plus a few blocks with the dog. 7:22/mile average pace.

(Adrenaline orange: 373 miles)

PM - easy 5 miles on Planet Walk. Hot out. 6:55/mile average pace.

(Adrenaline black: 538 miles)

Met with Jon and James at First Dam in the evening and ran the entire River Trail to Gueneva Malibu and back. 8:09/mile average pace. Did more talking than running. It was hot at first, but became very pleasant by the second half of the run.

(Cascadia: 169 miles)

AM - wanted to avoid all hills, so I did the flattest run I know of: Landfill Loop via Planet Walk. With a block with the dog, it came out to about 8 miles. 7:05/mile average pace. Also did 4x100m striders near the end. This run could be described as "beh" or perhaps "sna".

(Adrenaline blue: 180 miles)

PM - easy 4 miles on Planet Walk. No shirt. No watch. No dice.

(Adrenaline black: 542 miles)

AM - got up and ran over to the WBR start line at Merlin Olsen Park to check things out and drop off my Marathon GIS banner for them to put up. The start line was pretty much constructed by 6:30AM, including what I've been calling "The Four Pillars of Ragnar". If you've seen the start or finish line, you'll know what I'm talking about. From there, I ran a little bit on Leg 1, up into River Heights, and then back home.

I'm glad to have this race starting 5 blocks from my house now, in the middle of Logan. Not only is it incredibly convenient for me, but it will be good for the town of Logan to host an event of this magnitude. This event is now twice the size of Top of Utah, and is the 3rd-largest relay in the U.S. It is growing so fast, that I expect it to exceed Reach the Beach by next year and become the 2nd-largest. Pretty cool. The race directors have worked hard and have earned it.

Our team (MarathonGIS.com) starts at 5PM this evening, with Weber State, BYU, Runners Corner, and 26.2 Running Company. It will be a very good competition.

(Adrenaline orange: 376 miles)

PM - Wasatch Back Relay. Did Leg 5 in 46:17 (7.4 miles, 6:16/mile). Considering 3% uphill grade and 1200' of climbing, I was pretty happy with it. Splits were 5:42, 6:05, 6:11, 6:01, 6:16, 6:27, 7:00, 2:31 (0.4 miles, 6:31 pace). First 5 miles were great, but the gradient plus the distance/duration of sustaining that effort got to be too much for me. Will write more later.

(Burn: 184 miles)

Day 2 of Wasatch Back.

Started Leg 17 at exactly 1AM. I felt like I had recovered pretty well from my first leg, and was looking forward to running on rolling hills and asphalt rather than straight uphill on gravel. Felt very good, and finished the 5.4-mile leg in 29:58 (5:27/mile - the garmin measured 5.49 miles). Mile splits were 5:21, 5:32, 5:31, 5:25, 5:26, 2:41 (0.49 miles, 5:29 pace). Not necessarily an easy leg (~200 ft of net climb), so I was happy to get my goal of sub-5:30 pace.

Caught an hour of quality sleep at Exch 24 (Rockport State Park). My legs felt surprisingly rejuvenated after that short rest. Started Leg 29 at 7:49 AM, so it was light out again, and starting to warm up. I had been looking forward to Leg 29, as it is only 4.1 miles and virtually all downhill, with an average downhill gradient of nearly 4%. Most of the drop comes in the first 2.5 miles, then it levels out over the last 1.5 miles, so the first half felt similar to the Alta Peruvian Dash (Little Cottonwood Canyon), with several stretches of 6% and 8% downhill gradient. My projected pace based on our magic spreadsheet (which uses elevation gain/loss) was 4:47/mile, which seemed a bit ambitious, but I decided to give it a try. Total time was 19:41 (4:49/mile), so I came very close. Mile splits were 4:50, 4:40, 4:46, 5:00. I was very pleased to hold 5:00-pace when the downhill diminished.

I was feeling pretty good after my last leg and ran to Exch 30 (3.6 miles) with Sasha to cool down.

(Burn: 192 miles) 

This race was a big confidence booster for me, as I was able to come very close to my projected times on each leg. Since the Ogden Marathon a month ago, my training quality has been up-and-down; I've been getting the miles in, but haven't felt so good about all my workouts. However, this race proved to me that I haven't lost any fitness and can still push myself to run well.

Weber State ended up winning with 17:40:40. Congrats to them. BYU was second with 17:51:51. We were a distant 3rd with 18:29:29 (6:16/mile), with Little Team Provo behind us (without us knowing it) in 18:50:09. 26.2 Running Company rounded out the top 5 with 19:18:18. Full results are here.