Every Race is an Adventure!

AM. I ran solo this morning. It seemed very warm and humid - mid-60's and 83% humidity. Even though it rained on me the first part of the run, and there was a tiny bit of breeze occasionally, I never really felt much coolness.

For the last week or so my right hip has been stiff and sore in the morning, as it was again this morning, but it loosens up and doesn't bother me much during my runs or during the day. Still, I decided to stick close to home this morning and just run 1/2 mile loops in my neighborhood. I decided to warm up a mile then try a 4 mile tempo run at marathon pace effort, followed by a mile of cool down. My mile splits for the tempo were 7:34, 7:32, 7:33, 7:23. This was a mostly level 1/2 mile loop, 1/2 slight uphill, 1/2 slight downhill. Given how hard it is to get my legs moving in the morning, I feel pretty good about my efforts. I ended up adding an extra 1.5 miles to the run. Most of it was at an easy 9:00-ish pace, but I threw in one fast 1/4 mile to see what my tired legs could do. I ran a 5:46/mi pace for that 1/4 mile stretch and it felt pretty good.

I've enjoyed inserting some faster miles here and there into my runs lately. My ankle is feeling much better. Now I've just got to work through this hip thing. Still, overall I'd have to say the old Model T is sputtering along okay.

PM. I put in a little more distance this morning because I'm not sure what the weather or my work schedule is going to be like today. I still hope to get some more miles in at noon. 

[I sing]
Oh, what a beautiful mornin'!
[You sing]
Oh, what a beautiful day!
[We sing in harmony]
We've got a beautiful feelin'
Everything's goin' our way.

[Singing fades to humming in the background] 

The run with Larry was good this morning, and I tacked on a couple of extra miles, but the morning itself was incredible. The air was fresh and clear. As the sun peeked over the mountains in the east it lit up the tops of the billowing clouds in the west.

I was greeted by drivers, bikers, other runners, and neighbors. Everyone seemed to be in a good mood. As two bikers slowly passed us as they cheerfully worked their way up the steep 2000 North hill, I decided to help the trailing rider so I accelerated and pushed him up the hill for a bit by pushing on the back of his seat.

To top it all off, some tough bugs I've been chasing at work, that just wouldn't seem to go away, were both verified as resolved this morning. I can now relax and enjoy our company day at Lagoon tomorrow, followed by vacation days the rest of the week.

[I start to sing again, cheerfully and energetically (be grateful you can't hear me singing) ]
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah! Zip-a-dee-ay!
My, oh my, what a wonderful day!
(come on sing along)
Plenty of sunshine heading my way.
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah! Zip-a-dee-ay!

Mr. Bluebird on my shoulder.
It's the truth, it's actual.
Everything is satisfactual.

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah! Zip-a-dee-ay!
Wonderful feeling!
Wonderful day!

[Singing fades to cheerful humming as I submit my entry and go to kiss my wife good morning.]
 

Larry, Wayne and I ran the normal water tank hills route this morning. Yesterday I decided to spice up my 24th of July (since we have no other plans and I have the day off) and run the Speedy Spaniard 10K in Spanish Fork. So I took it easy on the run this morning to try and save my legs at least a little for tomorrow morning. Still, my legs felt sluggish this morning.

We're headed to Lagoon today, at the company's expense. It's great because it's my youngest daughter's 10th birthday and all her siblings decided to come this year, including her 19, 21, and 23 year old sister and brothers. That's a big deal, especially since my two sons don't really like amusement parks  They must get that from me, although I think I like them more than they do. I just turn various shades of white and green on many of the rides.

I'm pretty sure a long hot day at an amusement park isn't good preparation for a race. It's a good thing I don't have any expectations for this race. It's not a PR-type course and whatever I run will be a course PR for me since I've never run it before. Tom's recommended I take it easy on the first uphill mile. I plan to follow that advice, take what gravity gives me on the second downhill mile, then see what sort of pace I can hang onto for the remaining 4.2 miles. My only real goal is to not look too pitiful at the end as we run through the parade route.

I can't believe it's a 6:30am start. There won't be much sleep for me tonight.

We spent the day at Lagoon yesterday and, surprisingly enough, had a wonderful time. Our six children (ages 10-23) all cooperated amazingly and Amy (our youngest) said she really enjoyed her birthday. We left the park a little after 8:00pm and got home a little after 9:00pm. We then had her Cookies and Cream ice cream birthday cake. It was a really good day.

I didn't get to bed until around 11:00pm and got up this morning at 4:45am. Things went pretty smoothly getting ready for and getting to the race, including several much needed bathroom stops. I warmed up 1.8 miles before the race running most of the first uphill mile and then back to the start. I saw various familiar runners before the race, including Tom, Josse, Steve King, Darin Cable, Scott Blake, Scott Nelson, and Hal Amos.

I settled in near Scott Blake to await the start. I was just relaxed and talking when Scott said "Here we go" and then I heard the gun sound. I pushed the start button on my watch, told Scott I'd see him later, and switched my focus to the race.

[I started not feeling well at this point in my entry so I clicked "Save as Draft" and decided to lay down on the bed. I woke up a few hours later. It was harder to get up at 1:19pm than it was at 4:45am]

I then added a lot to my entry, copied it to the clipboard as is my habit now, and clicked "Save as Draft" again. The browser went back to the login screen and I lost my entry. I didn't worry because I had saved it to the clipboard. I logged back in and clicked Ctrl-V to paste in my entry. Unfortunately, I accidentally click Ctrl-C instead, which of course blew away my copy of my entry in the clipboard.

Ahhh!

Condensed version...started easy...ran with Josse a bit...chased Hal Amos most of the race...near the end I kicked past Hal, a couple of "chicks", and a guy pushing two kids in a stroller...barely missed breaking 41:00, finishing in 41:00.4...watched Kim finish strong and break 50:00...enjoyed the 5 mile run back to my car despite the infamous Spanish Fork canyon wind...had a very enjoyable morning!

If you're reading this I must have submitted successfully this time.

I forgot to add my my splits: 7:17 (uphill), 6:36, 6:34, 6:33, 6:45, 6:33, 35.01 for last 0.11 (by my watch), overall 6:42/mi. Others measured the course closer to 6.2. I tried to run the tangents well, maybe I did it extremely well? Also, I just realized my watch timed me at 40:56.09 while my official time was 41:00.4. Kim said her time was off, too. I wonder what's up with that.

Also, after looking at the race results online, I finished 4/23 in Men's 45-49 and 37/282 in Men's 10K, and my chicked count was 2 (I cut that from 4 to 2 in the last 3/4 mile).

I was planning to just play basketball this morning, but that wasn't to be. First, when I called my son Andrew who said he might be going, he said his sunburn from Lagoon was hurting too badly, and he had worked all night, so he wasn't going. I decided to go anyway but when I showed up in PG at the church there wasn't anyone there. A few minutes later the guy with the key showed up, only he was late because he couldn't find the key. There were just the two of us anyway, so I headed home.

Since I pass WalMart on the way home, I decided to stop and pick up some things we needed. I decided I'd better get in at least a few miles, so I swapped my basketball shoes for running shoes and headed out. I didn't want to go too far or too fast. Yesterday was a 10K race plus 7 miles, and tomorrow is a planned 20 miler. I was also already 7:00am and I was afraid it was going to get very warm very soon.

At first I decided to run towards the canyon. As I passed the high school I decided it to run on the track a while. I can't remember the last time I ran on the track; it's been months. I settled on running a few mile repeats (4 laps on, 1 lap off), not really fast but more focused than just slogging along at an easy pace. I ended up with splits of 7:26, 7:29, 7:23. I took the long way home and ended up with 6.1 miles, avg. 8:21/mi.

I've plenty of projects to do today on my day off, but we'll probably sneak in a matinee movie and go out to eat in honor of Amy's birthday. We're a couple of days late, but it's a good excuse, I mean a tradition.

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.