Every Race is an Adventure!

6 miles @ 9:48/mi.  Murdock canal north. Easy day easy.

3.1 miles @ 8:31/mi.

I slept in a bit, did some church work, then just looped around the neighborhood and medium+ effort for a few miles to loosen up the legs for tomorrow's 4 mile "Earn Your Turkey" race. The race is at 8:00am. I ran today at 7:30am (instead of normal 5;30am) to get the feel for the temperature and how to dress tomorrow. It looks like the weather should be pretty good, about like this morning...sunny, low 30's.

Other than our annual neighborhood 5K and some relay legs, it's been several years since I've run an organized race shorter than a half marathon. It's also been that long at least since I've been in as good of running shape as I am. I've been adding some speed since the St. George marathon back in October. I'm pretty excited to see what I can do tomorrow. I'm hoping to break 8:00 pace, and maybe be closer to 7:30. I can't predict race day magic.

4 miles @ 7:15/mi  Earn Your Turkey Run - Orem, Utah
1 mile warm up and cool down

I was looking forward to just trying to run fast, and I wasn't disappointed. I was definitely hoping to break 32 minutes (8:00/mi), and hopefully 30 minutes (7:30/mi). My chip time was 28:49.5 (7:12/mi). My watch only showed 3.97 miles in 28:51.22 (7:16/mi). I'll just call it 7:15/mi.

Mile splits: 7:01, 7:16, 7:40, 7:05

The course basically loops the block twice, 1/2 mile per side. The sides heading north and east were slight uphill, south and west slight downhill. The 7:40 mile was two uphill sides. The others were a mix. I felt like I held a strong, consistent pace.

The only slight disappointment I had was when Rod Riggs passed me on the last stretch though the park to the finish line. When he passed me I recognized him. I know him from work and figured he was probably in my age division. I had already been pushing the last mile and was pushing for the finish. I didn't have enough left to hold him off or overtake him. I talked to him right after the race. Yep, we're the same age, both 54. He ended up taking 3rd in our age division by 15 seconds. Honestly, I'm okay with it. Averaging 7:15/mi was faster than my best hope for today. I've recovered quickly and feel ready to run again. I think I need to continue to work on speed...and on my mental toughness during the final kick.

I got tired of waiting around for awards and the drawing. I decided I'd rather be with my family so I left my number with my coworker Justin. I hope he won a turkey or pie or something.

The weather was sunny and upper 30's or 40. It was a beautiful morning and a great way to start Thanksgiving Day.

Cross training. Long morning of basketball with my son and the old bball gang in PG. I didn't know if I would remember how, but it was lots of fun.

13.1 miles @ 8:37/mi.  Murdock trail north solo.

I was only going to go 12 miles, with a long tempo run mixed in. My legs were a little tired from the speed on Thursday and all the basketball yesterday, but I felt pretty good. At about 6 miles I was at 8:41/mi average, my marathon pace at the St. George marathon in October. I decided to see if I could hold that for half marathon distance today.

As it follows the old canal, I knew this route is slight downhill out and slight uphill back so I was prepared to work. As I turned around at 6.55 miles I realized I had been running with a tail wind, so there would be headwind to go with the uphill. The headwind had slowed me to around 9:00 pace just after I turned around. It was decision time. I decided to push my effort for now and hope for the best.

It was mentally tough at times but I held on. I was at 8:40/mi avg until the last downhill half mile and dropped the average to 8:37.

Splits: 9:53, 8:23, 8:25, 8:51, 8:31, 8:12, 8:37, 8:51, 8:40, 8:32, 8:33, 8:34, 8:11

The weather was mild and beautiful. Lots of nice people on the trails.Great way to start the day. Only having running buddies out today would have made it better.