Every Race is an Adventure!

Attended sacrament meeting at Waterton branch. Returned for extended family luncheon. We then went to the townsite campground where a few dozen of the remaining family members (some headed home Sunday morning) gathered in the shade of some trees and played "Heads Up" followed by a large game of Psychiatrist. Very fun. More good-byes.

Packed up to leave the cabin. The cabin was a great choice. It was rustic (no air conditioning, a little rough around the edges, only 2 bathrooms), but the 10 from our family and 5 from my wife's brother's family fit comfortably and got along very well.

We befriended a scrawny but very cute kitten who apparently lived around the cabin. She was afraid of us at first but we gave her a little bacon and she soon lost all fear of us and befriended us right back. We named her Bacon, and we all bonded with her. She became part of our family for several days. It was so hard to leave her behind. I think most of us were sorely tempted to smuggle her home. One of the maids who came to clean as we were leaving was a cat person. They weren't aware of cats living there, but she seemed to instantly bond with Bacon so we think she will be well cared for.

We stopped by the home of my mother-in-law's brother who lives in Mountain View and met other family members who were heading out. More good-byes.

My wife's brother and his wife decided to drive along with us through Glacier National Park. The drive along the Going to the Sun Road and Logan's Pass was beautiful. We stopped to skip rocks at Lake McDonald, also very beautiful, then drove on to Missoula, MT. That drive was also beautiful. Arrived at the motel about 10pm.

Said final good-byes as my wife's brother and sister-in-law were heading west on I-90 to Washington while we were heading east to I-15 and home to Utah.

The 8 hour drive seemed long, as end-of-vacation drives often do, but it went pretty smoothly. We stumbled into a small pizza/subs place in Pocatello where we had delicious hot sandwiches. We managed to dodge the bad thunderstorms north of Salt Lake, as well as rush hour slowdowns. We arrived home to find all well, and everyone pitched in to get everything unloaded quickly.

This was another wonderful family vacation. I'm so grateful for Karen, our children, and our precious granddaughter. I so much enjoyed my time with them. I equally enjoyed the family reunion in Waterton. So many beautiful people and beautiful times in such a beautiful place. It was truly a tender mercy from a loving Heavenly Father.

6 miles @ 8:36/mi  Canal trail north.

My goal was to run at my previous ~9:00 pace effort and see what pace that effort now produces after 3 weeks of strenuous training (including increased miles, more hills, and faster pace) followed by 1+ weeks of recovery (while on vacation). The result: 8:36/mi. This is very satisfying, to see my hard work pay off. It gives me confidence going into the Hobble Creek half marathon on Saturday.

I was recently thinking of the quote attributed to Steve Prefontaine, "The only good pace is suicide pace, and today's a good day to die." That was sort of my approach to today's race. I knew the first 6 miles or so were mostly downhill, and then the race got harder after that. I decided to "cruise" those first 6 miles or so until the hill that climbs out of right hand fork up to the golf course. I would then just have to trust in my mental strength and physical training to hold on and run as strong as I could the rest of the race. My good 18 miler a couple of weeks ago gave me confidence that I could run the 13.1 mile distance with little risk of bonking.

I was sitting in the portapotty (for the 3rd time this morning) when Hawk announced 30 seconds before the start. With chip timing, I wasn't too worried, but I didn't want to get stuck behind a wall of slower runners. I hustled and climbed the fence 10-20 yards behind the start line just as the race began and started in about the perfect spot for me. Some runners were faster, some slower, and it never got too congested. Within the first mile or two most runners had settled into their race pace.

My first six mile splits were: 6:52, 7:21, 7:30, 7:32, 7:36, 7:43 (7:26/mi avg). I was still at about 7:30/mi avg pace at the midpoint of the race. I was very pleased, but I knew the struggle was just beginning as I headed up the hill to the golf course. I took a few shot blocks, a good drink of water at the aid station, and faced the coming challenge head on.

My pace varied quite a bit over the next 5 miles, taking it easy on the uphills, and taking off the brakes on the downhills. Splits: 8:08, 7:47, 8:27, 8:58, 8:52. I was working hard and was tiring, but still felt pain free and confident. The course had been shaded with perfect cool breezes the first 6 miles. It began to get warmer during these miles, especially in the unshaded sections.

Once I had climbed up the last big hill and was headed west on the long straightaway I focused on my form and maintaining a steady pace as I focused on a couple of older runners ahead of me (about my age) and aimed to maintain or close the gap. I managed to finally catch and pass one of them, but not the other.

I kept telling myself to maintain the steady effort, and that I was mentally tough enough that I would be able to muster a decent sprint at the end. As it turns out, my final sprint was only minimal. I later realized I had kind of been sprinting the entire last couple of miles: My paces for the last two miles were 8:17, 8:06. I've been training at around 9:00 pace, so low 8:00's was pretty much sprinting for me.

I finished 200 of 855 runners overall (men & women). It felt very good to be in the top 25% again instead of the bottom 25%. My finish time of 1:42 was 15 minutes (>1:00min/mi) faster than my time of 1:57 last year.

I'm very satisfied with my training at this point, and with my performance at this race.