Every Race is an Adventure!

I ran the Orem course with Larry this morning. We didn't set any speed records, but it was a good run.

I played basketball with my son Andrew and others this morning. Only 6 showed up so we played 3 on 3. I had to (try to) guard Andrew. It used to be much easier when he wasn't 3 to 4 inches taller than me and didn't outweigh me by 40 pounds. It was fun. When I scored on him or stopped him on defense I was happy for me, and when he scored on me or stopped me on defense I was happy for him.

I ran the Orem course again, but this time Kevin joined Larry and me. As usual, Kevin pushed the pace. On the way back he couldn't stand it any longer and left us behind. Since I'm tapering a little for the Painter's 1/2 marathon on Saturday, I didn't feel the need for too much speed. I'll save it for Saturday (I hope). We did still manage to average about 30 secs/mile faster than some other mornings recently.

I had a basketball game this evening. I was 2 for 2 on 3 pointers and 2 for 3 on my other shots for a total of 10 points. I think this may be a career high for me. It's definitely better than I normally do. We still lost by 4 points, but at least I achieved my goal of not getting hurt. We only had 2 subs (instead of 7 like our last game) so I got some good exercise.

When I registered for the Painter's 1/2 Marathon in St. George I was hoping for a little break from the cold weather. The normal temperature in St. George in January I think is around 50 degrees. I believe the temperature this morning was around 19 degrees. Nevertheless, it turned out to be a very enjoyable run.

I ran into Nathan Gage just before the race began. He and I ran together for about 8.5 miles, then he slowly pulled away. We had both talked about being content with a 1:45 time today, but we both ran a bit faster than that. It was great running with Nathan.

Shortly after the start I saw Larry and he said that Wayne was up ahead and was pushing to beat his previous PR of 1:36. About 1/2 way into the race (I think) I saw Wayne ahead down below on a big switch back. Nathan and I gradual gained on him. Shortly after Nathan pulled away from me, I saw him pass Wayne up ahead. I managed to maintain the distance between Wayne and me and keep him in sight from about mile 9 to the end. At mile 11 I tried to pick up the pace a little but Wayne did, too. Then we both kicked about the same time near the end. Wayne never knew I was chasing him, but he seemed to match every push I tried to make anyway. He ended up beating me by 5 seconds with 1:36:01...so close to his goal of breaking 1:36.

I was thrilled to finish in 1:36 (average pace of 7:20/mi). I was also surprised, and pleased, to find out I had finished 3rd in the 45-49 division.

Despite the unusually cold weather, I really enjoyed this race. I liked the course and I thought the race was organized pretty well. The finisher medals and awards were nice. I will definitely consider doing this race again next year.