Kent and I drove to the mouth of Provo Canyon and met Wayne at 5:00am to start a 16 miler. We were expecting Larry and Kevin to join us this morning. We missed them. We stayed together up to Vivian. I needed a potty break so I told them to go on ahead. I could see them about 100 yards up the road when I started, but I could never close the gap. We proceeded up South Fork until we got to the 8 mile mark. They actually went a bit farther and were on their way back down when I hit 8 miles and turned around to join them again. I managed to stay with them until we got back to Vivian, but my knee, heel, and hip were beginning to complain, especially my hip. On the return trip from Vivian to the parking lot they gradually pulled ahead of me until I couldn't see them anymore. The miles got harder and harder for me. I felt like I was just hanging on at the end of a bad marathon day (like UVM a few weeks ago). With a mile or two to go, I saw Josse and a couple of her friends. I think she said they were marking a course for a race. I stopped briefly to say hello. She's visibly pregnant. I felt a lot like I imagine it feels for a pregnant woman to run...like I was carrying another person. My mile 15 split was actually 10:07...that's pretty slow. Wayne had run the three miles to Timpanogos Park at 7:10/mi. He's been training hard and it's paying off. He ran back to find me and we ran the last mile or so in together. After stopping at the fountain of youth for a refreshing drink, I picked up the pace the last 0.75 miles and managed an 8:42 split for the last mile...still slow, but faster than 10:07. I think 16 miles was probably farther than I should have gone today. I think my body is still recovering from my abuse of it in June. Still, I feel like I'm rebounding and I'm optimistic.
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