Every Race is an Adventure!

Labor Day. Kent had said he was going to go out later, at 7:30am. I hadn't committed, but decided to go out then. I didn't see Kent so I headed over to the THS track for some speed work. I saw evidence of a race being set up, but the track was free so I started. By the time I had completed 5 x 1/2 intervals (3:21, 3:31, 3:25, 3:29, 3:30) quite a few people had arrived at the registration table over by the school and some were warming up on the track. My buddy Tim ran along side and I learned that it was the T-wolf Trot, a 3 mile fundraiser for the THS cross country teams. It was only $10, but I didn't have any money with me. I thought the race would be more fun than more intervals, and I wanted to support the teams. Luckily, I bumped into my neighbor Brad who was there to run it (his son is on the team). He loaned me $10 and I registered shortly before they moved us to the starting line.

The high schoolers took off like it was a 50 yard dash. I gradually reeled in some of them over the next couple of miles (not the fastest ones). I found myself slowly gaining on my daughter Emily's friend Brianna. I barely beat her in our neighborhood 5K earlier this year. I caught her with a little less than a mile to go. I briefly thought about hanging back, but then an old guy passed us both and I had to go after him. I never caught him, but I pulled ahead of Brianna. I didn't give her another thought...until she passed me around the final curve on the track and pulled easily away to finish ahead of me. I think I enjoyed her beating me almost as much as she did. It was a good finishing time for her. I love seeing young people work hard and succeed, especially at running. If I was her motivation (and victim) this time, that's okay.

Kent showed up late after helping out his dad with an urgent matter. I felt bad for him as he had to dodge people to get in his intervals but, to his credit, he finished them.

I didn't have money for the breakfast so after mingling for a while I headed home for a shower. I still made it back before the results were available. I finished 35th of 122, 31 of which were 18 or younger. I think two 41 year old men and a 37 year old woman beat me, but I won the 50+ age division. I finished in 21:01 (7:09/mi). They said it was 3 miles but my Garmin only measured 2.93. I was right; it was way more fun than running more 1/4 mile intervals.

Tuesday 2000 N hill run. I can't remember who was there. Avg pace: 9:12/mi.

Wednesday water tank hill run. It was nice to see Larry out. We've missed him. I was content to just run along with him, talk about the Red Rock Relay coming up on Friday, and let the others push up the hills this week. I had worked extra hard on Monday.

Thursday run with the guys minus Larry (he was heading out to St. George prior to the relay). I averaged 9:02/mi, which with the big hills is not bad for me.

We left Orem about 10:00am. It was already dark and cool when I finally got to run my first leg which started at 8:20pm. This was Leg 12 - "SUU Fun Run", a 5.4 mile "easy" downhill leg. I enjoyed everything about this leg except the narrow shoulder and having to worry about cars now and then. I passed 4 runners, but one of them was especially satisfying. I chased him forever. I guess he was trying to stay ahead of me for just as long because when I finally passed him he said that if I was going to pass him anyway he might as well finally stop and tie his shoe, which he did. He probably didn't know that I stepped on it hard as I started to pass him to try to keep him from hanging on. He may have eventually been able to wear me down, or catch me when I had to come to a dead stop for what seemed like forever to wait for a traffic light at a busy intersection. At the second busy intersection I pushed hard to get through just before the light changed.

I passed 4 other runners and was not passed.

Avg. pace: 7:03/mi

It was still dark and pretty cold (42?) when I started my second leg about 5:00am. I wore a long sleeve shirt over my short sleeve shirt and wore my knit gloves. This was Leg 24 - "Very Veyo", a 6.9 mile "medium" downhill leg. Actually, it's basically the first 7 miles of the St. George marathon from Central to Veyo, with a detour at the end to get to the van exchange.

Shortly after I started I noticed a relay bracelet (the one passed from runner to runner) that someone had dropped. I stopped and picked it up. I shortly caught the next runner in front of me, but it was not his. I proceeded to catch the girl in front of him. She was wearing headphones so I showed her the bracelet and loudly asked if she had hers. She nodded and held up her arm to show me, only to discover that it wasn't there. She was grateful and asked me to "slap it on". I did and moved on to catch the next runner. I chased one young guy for miles. I think we passed 7 other runners before I finally caught him. When I passed him he said something like, "Wow, you're really movin'." I soaked it in, and pulled away.

There were a lot of runners along this leg, but about half of them were not in the relay. With three weeks to go before the marathon, many local runners were starting early in the morning to get in a long run along the course before it got too hot.

I passed 24 people, but I think only 12 were part of the relay. Again, I was not passed by anyone (relay runner or otherwise).

Avg. pace: 7:20/mi

It looks like 7:20-7:30/mile might be good goal pace for this section in the marathon in 3 weeks.

My third leg was leg 36 "Zion Finale", a "hard" uphill leg of 7.5 miles. The uphill was tough enough, but between my 2nd leg at 5:00am to my 3rd leg at 2:40pm the temperature went from cold to hot. It climbed 50+ degrees from 42 to 94.

I was feeling a little pain in my hip and knee, and felt more like taking a nap than running, but I figured that would pass once I started running. What concerned me was the heat and the uphill for 7.5 miles. Fortunately (for me not them) it was also very hot for Kevin and Curt's legs and we were prepared for my leg. I say we, because my pit crew took perfect care of me. As I requested, they stopped 4 times for me. At each stop they had two cool cups of water for me, one to drink and one to dump over my head. At 3 of the 4 they also had a paper towel soaked in ice water that they stuck into my shirt on the back of my neck. Each stop was perfectly timed to prevent a melt down and re-energize me.

With two miles to go I sent them on to the finish and pushed on up to and through Springdale and on to the finish. I was thrilled to average 8:20/mi for the first 4 miles in the heat with the uphill. My right foot started to feel uncomfortable, like there was a bunch in my sock on the ball of my foot. I've got blisters there before when running on hot roads. I stopped twice to quickly pull off my shoe and take a look, but I found nothing wrong with either my sock or my shoe so I continued on. Then either the hills got steeper (I know they did at the end), the heat got hotter, or I just plain ran out of gas, or a combination of the above. My mile splits slowed to 9:02, then 9:17, then 9:45, then 9:40/mi for the last (steeper) half mile. I was very glad to see my teammates and the finish line.

There weren't many runners to pass, but I did chase down four. I managed to finish the relay without getting passed (mostly because the fast teams happened to pass us during other teammate's legs).

Avg. pace: 8:49/mi

One of the best parts was Wayne and Deeks being willing to drive from Springdale to Payson. I was in no condition to drive for a while. That cheeseburger at Carl's Jr. when we stopped for gas at Cedar City was pretty enjoyable, too.