I was a little worried about logistics this morning, but everything
worked out well. I met Tom at 5:00am at the end of the Provo River
trail near Utah Lake. We then headed up to Trefoil at the top of South
Fork, stopping to pick up Kevin at his house and Kerry and Scott at the
mouth of the canyon.
I'm used to the start of this run being cold and dark. Today it wasn't.
With the temperature in the valley already at 70', it felt way too warm
for the start of a 20 mile run. Fortunately, we had cloud cover for
most of the run, and were on shady parts of the trail when the sun was
out full force. It got warm, but the heat never felt oppressive.
We all stayed together down to Vivian. When we resumed after the
bathroom stop, it wasn't long before Tom took off on a solo tempo run.
We met up with him again near Timpanogos park. He had picked up 1.6+
miles on us. The other three guys had busy days planned and cut
off at 10 miles at the mouth of the canyon. Tom and I continued on down
to the lake. We stopped at Wil's Pit Stop for a bathroom stop and
shared a bottle of cold water. We stopped again at Macey's to wash our
gels down with water from their fountain (the air conditioning felt
good). As usual, the last couple of miles to the lake seemed to me to
take forever, but we finally got there. Tom pulled ahead the last 3/4
of a mile or so. When I got to the end of the trail I was only at 19.5+
(Tom already had extra mileage) so I continued until I got to 20. That
cold Gatorade I had waiting sure tasted good.
[End of run report. Personal ramblings follow.]
I feel good about almost everything in today's run, except a part I
left out. They had closed the trail at Vivian Park due to the fire
above Bridal Veil Falls. I'm feeling a little bad about our decision to
cross the "Do Not Cross" yellow tape and then later climb over the
"Road Closed" barricade. It turned out okay, as the sheriff's deputy at
the barricade at Bridal Veil Park (we stopped dead in our tracks as we
rounded the curve and saw him) was understanding and didn't chew us out
too badly. He even admired our running and wished us well as we left. I
still felt pretty chagrined (disquietude or distress of mind caused by humiliation, disappointment, or failure).
Ironically, Karen is speaking tomorrow in church on the topic
"We Will Not Yield, We Cannot Yield". She's been looking for some real
world examples. I think she may now use our story (anonymously) as a
negative example of how easy it is for good people to rationalize and
yield to the temptation to disobey the law. It's ironic that she's also
planning to share one of my favorite stories about the three stagecoach
drivers competing for a job. The first says he can drive safely within
one inch of the edge of a cliff. The second says he can safely hang
half the wheel off the cliff. The third says he always stays as far
from the edge of the cliff as he can. He gets the job. Most of the time
I try to stay away from the edge. Today I literally crossed the 'Do Not
Cross' line. I've felt remorse. I've now confessed. I hope to complete
my repentance soon. I'm glad I could at least help Karen out a little with her talk. I
apologize if my public confession troubles any of my comrades today.
I'm sure this won't be the last time I fall short of my own
expectations. All I can do is commit that the next time I'm faced with
a similar dilemma I intend to take the physical detour and avoid the
risk of the spiritual detour.
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