Every Race is an Adventure!

My 15 year old nephew Dalton, who runs cross country in Delaware, was visiting us with his parents so he joined us for our Monday run at the track. He was considerably faster than us, even faster when the cheerleaders showed up to practice at the track.

We did 7 x 1/2 mile repeats with 1/4 mile rests. My splits were 3:20, 3:26, 3:35, 3:33, 3:27, 3:29, 3:20. As I've said before, my speed is down from previous years, but at least I'm moving in the right direction.

I should mention that Tim Hakala joined Kent and Dalton and me today and he is running really well. He beat me fairly easily on at least one of the intervals.

My nephew Dalton and his parents stayed an extra night so he was able to run with us again. This time Larry, Wayne, Kent, and Kevin all showed up. Larry's hamstring acted up early and he had to bail. The rest of us took turns trying to run at least fast enough to give Dalton a bit of a workout.

Kevin went with Dalton up the big 2000 N hill. Wayne chased him on the north section up to the intersection. I pushed him down the hill to the west, where we got down to 6:15/mi pace for a while. Wayne was the only one with enough zip left to push the pace with Dalton the last couple of miles back home. Overall Dalton was a positive influence on all of us, as we finished the course at least 3 minutes (30+ seconds/mile) faster than normal. Dalton is a good runner with a lot of potential. I expect him to have a good cross country season. I think we old guys did okay today, considering we are all at least 3 times Dalton's age, with Wayne being closer to 4 times his age.

Water tank hills with Wayne and Kent. Larry joined us on his bike to get in some cross training without straining his injured hamstring.

We all pushed the hills pretty hard. My time up was 16:40. Kent easily surged passed me up the last hill. Wayne finished just a little behind me. Kent and I took it easy all the way back home. Wayne pushed the last mile or so and finished well ahead of us.

Larry's injury is a bummer, but Wayne, Kent, and Kevin are all running really well this year. They've all outrun me in various training runs this year. I need to pick up my training so if they finally beat me in a race this year (yep, that's a friendly taunt) it will mean something.

I should note that some of the them have beaten me in races in past years, just not recently. Gratefully, I seem to have an extra gear in races that has allowed me to hold them off. I'm not so sure about this year.

Reverse 2000 N hill route with Wayne and (eventually) Kevin. It was another beautiful morning.

I was a couple of minutes late. I saw Wayne's Jeep parked at Larry's and no Kent at the corner. I figured they had left already so I took off to catch them. When I got up 200 W a bit and still couldn't see them up ahead I began to think maybe Kent and Larry didn't come out this morning and Wayne was still waiting in his Jeep. As I began back I saw Wayne round the corner.

We ran a bit of a quicker pace than normal, and after pushing up the first hill about halfway through the run we were both breathing pretty hard. We met Kevin coming the other way just after the hill. The long climb up the 2000 N hill was hard, but we managed to maintain a respectable pace.

We stood around and talked a while after the run. It was very pleasant. What a great way to start the day.

Kevin invited me out for 5 @ 6. I wish it were 5 miles @ 6:00/mi, but it meant 5 miles @ 6:00am. Kevin may have been there in spirit, but his body didn't make it so I ran alone. I feel like I held a steady pace the whole way, but the headwind led to an average of about 9:20/mi out and 8:20/mi back.

I think the biggest lack in my workouts currently is 3-5 mile tempo runs. It's too late to help me at the Hobble Creek half marathon next week, but there is still time for them to help me a little at St. George in October. These are the kind of runs I used to get in at noon in my previous job. I haven't been able to work regular noon runs into my new job yet. Oh well, we all have to balance priorities. Running has slipped a notch, but I'm still grateful to run as well as I am and overall life is treating me very well, far better than I deserve.

Kent and I had a great trail run this morning. The weather was perfect. Wayne and Larry (on his bike) started out with us, but Wayne could only run for an hour and they both turned back at the top of the water tank hills. From there Kent and I headed up to Rock Pile then continued on toward the saddle of Baldy. At a fork in the trail we saw two runners ahead of us who took the left fork. Neither of us had been up there before so we decided to follow them.

They turned out to be two strong female runners. We didn't get their names, but one of them mentioned that she had won the masters division in the St. George marathon. We ended up stopping and talking together for a few minutes at the top of Dry Canyon. They seemed to know the trails so we asked them about a few of them. It sounds like the run up over the Baldy saddle is a nasty run, so it's could we followed them on the left fork when we did. They headed down Dry Canyon and we headed north another 2.5 miles to Battle Creek then headed down and followed the pavement 2.75 miles back home. I stopped my Garmin at one point and forgot to turn it back on for a while, but I think we went about 14 miles in 2 hours and 45 minutes.

After the first 7 or 8 miles my uphillers were beat. Fortunately there weren't too many hills after that, but my legs ached on the few there were. I especially enjoyed the downhills, especially the gradual downhills. Unlike on the Squaw Peak 50, my hip didn't bother much on this run and I was able to open up on the downhills.

The scenery was beautiful the whole run, but some of the vistas, especially a few overlooking the valley, were breathtaking, with the morning sun stretching across the valley, lake, and distant mountains on a clear, cool, sunny morning. I can't imagine too many better ways to start a Saturday.