Every Race is an Adventure!

Ran the Lindon loop with Larry in the morning.

Ran Eagles View with Nathan and Cory at midday. This weeks 41:44 (8:20/mi) was much more enjoyable than last weeks 7:29/mi pace.

Ran the water tank road with Larry and Wayne this morning. I felt pretty good this morning. Larry was running behind me up one of the hills and said I had chiseled calves. I drew some positive energy from that and charged the last hill pretty fast. On the way back down 1600 North I decided to push the nearly perfect downhill section from 400 E to Main. I ran a 6:11/mi pace for the 1/2 mile and felt pretty good. It was a beautiful morning and I really enjoyed this morning's run with Larry and Wayne.

Larry took me on the "never ending hills" route this morning. As the name suggests, the course consists of hill after hill. We didn't set any speed records, but got a pretty good run in.

At noon I ran the Lake View route with Cory and Nathan. I averaged 8:04/mi out and 7:08/mi back in for an overall average of 7:36/mi. Not quite the 7:18/mi Nathan and Will ran yesterday on the same route, but I'll take it.

Larry, Wayne, and I ran the old Thursday route through Lindon which ends with the climb up 2000 N and then the long downhill back home. I felt pretty strong throughout. I averaged 8:45/mi overall for about 5.65 miles. I pushed the big downhill near the end pretty hard at 6:02/mi for 0.7 miles. In my mind I was preparing for the neighborhood 5K this Saturday.

I've been hoping I could break 20 minutes for the first time at the neighborhood 5K this year, but I'm not sure I'm quite there yet. That would require an average pace of 6:27/mi. I think I'm going to go for it anyway and see if I can hold on. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

I met Kerry and Nathan at 6:00am at Provo Canyon. I conducted some relay business with Kerry then ran a couple of miles of warmup. They eventually hooked up with Cory, who was late, and headed off for their run.

At 7:30am was the 19th annual Northridge Neighborhood 5K Fun Run and Breakfast. I've participated for most of the last 15 years. My PR was last year's 20:36. My overall highest place has been 3rd.

Goals: 1. Break 20:00. 2. Take 2nd place overall.

Results: 1. 20:15 (new PR by 21 secs for course--but 16 secs short of sub-20:00). 2. 3rd place overall.

Kurt Gassman (18) took 1st place (as expected) with 19:44. My next door neighbor Taylor Allen (15) made his debut with a 2nd place finish with 19:45. I took 3rd place with my 20:15. I was the first finisher older than 18, and I'm 47, so I'm pleased with my performance...although there were probably only about 30 runners...plus bikers, etc.

The last mile was interesting. Kurt was in front, Taylor back a little, and then me. Suddenly Kurt stops and Taylor runs on past him. As I approach I ask if he is okay. He says he is, but that he is done. I proceed to chase Taylor, but he had a good lead and was running strong so I wasn't hopeful to catch him. A little while later I hear footsteps behind me. As Kurt passes on his chase of Taylor, he says he isn't going to let puking keep him from racing. Later he said he stopped, puked, and then decided to finish the race and still try to win. He and Taylor ran within a step or two of each other for last 1/2 mile or so, with Kurt holding on for the 1 second victory. I had a good view of the action from behind them and it was impressive, especially when Kurt said he kept heaving occasionally during the stretch, but with nothing coming up. It's great to see a new generation benefiting from the strength, endurance, and grit that can be learned from running.

The breakfast and visiting (many don't run but still come for breakfast) were great, too. I got 3rd pick of the prizes and got a nice iron outdoor thermometer for our deck. It was a great morning.