Every Race is an Adventure!

3.1 miles @ 7:42/mi  Neighborhood 5K route on Murdock trail north and Northridge Park

Splits: 7:51, 7:33, 7:49, 0.1 @ 6:40/mi

The tradition of some new youngster winning continued. This year it was Max Searcy (age 11). He led from start to finish. He's been training for the American Fork Canyon half marathon. He ran smooth and strong the whole way. I know, I had a good view of him from behind.

My neighbor (and home teaching companion) Mark Widmer ran his first neighborhood 5K. He's a strong mountain biker who has done some running, more lately. We ran together to the halfway turnaround point. About that time I tried to make a bit of a surge to catch Max but quickly realized the surge wasn't going to happen. Mark had told me to have a nice run when I pulled away, but I hadn't gotten far and yelled back for him to come and get me, which he did. He never caught Max, but finished comfortably ahead of me. I was happy for him.

After some french toast, chocolate milk, and bananas at the breakfast, Wayne and I headed out for a 14 mile long run. I believe we averaged about 10:10/mi (faster early, slower near the end).

Leg 7 - Eden - 2.5 miles @ 7:31/mi (easy - gradual downhill)

Leg 19 - Morgan - 4.4 miles @ 8:46/mi (moderate - gradual uphill)

Leg 31 - Park City - 3.9 miles @ 9:38/mi (easy - downhill followed by uphill)

I enjoyed being back with team 2 Slow 2 Win 2 Dumb 2 Quit. Verdon and Kerry have rn in all 14 Wasatch Back relays. This was #10 for me with them. I enjoyed being in Van 2 with both of them and two of Verdon's children, Darren and Heather.

With my plans to run the Utah Valley Marathon the following week, they gave me the easy set of legs. Since other teams generally give this set of legs to a weaker runner, I managed to pass 45+ other runners, and was not passed. I think I greeted/encouraged each runner I passed. I always try to. Often they return the cheerful greeting. One large male runner was wearing a Harley shirt. I asked if he rode one. He said he did, and that he should be on it instead of running. I gave him the Harley wave as proceeded on, which he appreciated.

I had a good time.

I was perfectly trained to get the results I got. I felt pretty good through 16-17, my long run was 16. (I guess it's now 26.2 for St. George prep.) My last long run as at 10:10 pace, my pace today was 10:21.

Kevin and I started together and he finished 9 seconds ahead of me. He could have run faster but stayed with me. I was grateful for his company those last 9 miles. We weren't together most of the rest of the run. He had two early stops (long wait on the 2nd one), but caught me after both of them. (I had about a 3 min stop at 13.1.) He runs the uphills so well, where I'm slow. I run the downhills a little faster. I think it's related to body mass. :)

At least I feel like I'm still mentally pretty strong. Those last 6-9 miles were pretty tough for me. I walked briefly a few times about mile 24 (uphill) when I was struggling with catching my breath, but managed to keep my feet turning over pretty well the rest of the time. My goal cadence is 180/spm, I averaged 176/spm. Now I just need to get in better shape physically.

Running isn't as high a priority for me as it was in the past. I'm really enjoying noon basketball and Ultimate frisbee at work. I run mostly because I enjoy running, and spending time with my running buddies. Kevin and Wayne are both making an effort to get Boston qualified. I did Boston in '07, but would like to go with them if they qualify. I'd like to see if I have one more BQ in me. I only need to cut off an hour (wow), or wait a couple of years and get an additional 15 minutes. :)

This was the 10th Utah Valley Marathon and I'm one of 11 remaining runners who have run them all. In this year's Race Guide magazine they had an article "10 Years on the Road." I was flattered that they ended that article with a quote from me:

One of our Ten-Timers, Paul Thomas, puts it well, "I've finished 16th. And I've finished 1529th." Thomas adds, "I'm not sure how many more Utah Valley Marathons I have left in me, but I plan to have an adventure finding out."

Marathon Results

Paul Thomas
Bib No. 4882
Orem, UTAH
Division:Male 55 to 59

Chip Time: 1:47:10
Pace: 8:14/mi (watch), 8:11/mi (results)
Overall: 116 of 425
Male: 70 of 158
M 55-59: 6 of 15

In the few weeks prior to the race Wayne and I just wanted to finish in under 2 hours. The week prior to the race we ran a trial half marathon on a similar terrain fromTrefoil to my house. We both finished in just under 2 hours, Wayne 1:57, me 1:58. So going into Hobble Creek we were hoping to be a little faster than that.

I left Wayne early. Larry, who was driving his truck with the clothing bags trailer, was delayed and ended up with the runners swarming around him. I picked up the pace to catch him and tease him a little. I looked down and saw 6:58 pace so I backed off quickly after chatting with him briefly. I looked back but Wayne was nowhere to be seen. Turns out that was okay. Wayne said he started feeling tired after about mile 3, struggled on the trail after the golf course, and walked up the hill between mile 10 and 11. He finished in 1:57, a little disapointed I'm sure. It turns out he was sick. That explains it, because he has been outrunning me in training.

After leaving Larry I settled into a more reasonable race pace.
7:20, 7:56, 8:25, 8:16, 8:25, 8:18 - down to the hill just before the golf course
8:41 - includes the hill up to the golf course
8:16, 8:11, 8:16 - rolling trail up to left turn at mile 10
8:25, 8:37 - down/up dip into Mapleton and trail to right turn
7:49 - final descent to park
6:34/mi for final 0.1 to finish

I'm very happy with my 1:47 (8:14/mi) finish. I feel like I ran a pretty smart race and felt strong to the end. Right around the climb to the golf course about mile 6 or 7 I noticed 4 or 5 guys pass me that all looked like they could be in my age division. I didn't panic or push the pace up the hill. I was feeling strong and didn't want the wheels to come off. I felt like I might still have a kick left in me to catch them on the downhill sections later. It turns out I did. I think I passed them all back before the finish. I feel like I'm a good downhill runner and passed a number of runners on the downhills.

I have to admit that my real focus wasn't on catching the old men. There was a young blond female runner who ran about 50 yards ahead of me for the last 10 miles of the race. It wasn't because she was attractive (though she was). It was because she was running so smoothly and strong and the same pace as me. Whenever I felt myself tiring and getting sloppy in my form, I'd look at how easy she appeared to be running and just tried to match my form and pace to her. She pulled away on the final downhill, but her work was done. She had inspired me to finish 10 minutes faster than my trial half marathon the week before.

The run was beautiful. I'm very happy with the result. I enjoyed hanging out with Wayne, Larry, and Jo. (Jo finished in 2:01 despite a prior long run of only 7 miles I think.)  I also enjoyed seeing Rick (who won his division) and Luke (who took 2nd in his) and other runners. It was a great morning.