PV = nRT

needed a break from pounding my legs so did 35 minutes of water running and also kicked 14 lengths in the pool. feel much better after that. I also got some good kick scooter cross training going to the engineering building and back twice to teach my classes.

USU east bench. combo of a  shorter tempo run at MGP with some intervals at threshold pace, not all out.

1 mile warmup. then 3 miles continuous at 6:21. then 5 x 0.5 miles with 90 second recoveries: 5:39, 6:02, 6:02, 5:57, 6:02 6:05 pace. then 1 x 0.65 mile @ 6:05. then 1 x 0.95 miles at 6:27. then 0.9 mile cooldown.

my nike frees are need more duct tape.

USU to river trail slow.

found out from Paul Wolf I won a big duffle bag with the TOU logo at the half raffle. picked it up in his office. it is pretty nice.

16.4 miles 7:32 pace.

stopped and said hi to Jason who was coming down as I was going up on Canyon road. 

just a tuneup for the marathon. I think I finished 5th or 6th in the 10K but am not completely sure since they only record finish times for the top 3 and there was a group pretty far in front of me. The 13 year old kid who ran a 1:16 at the TOU half shredded this course in 34:39. Imagine the state records he is going to break in high school. Steve Anderson took it easy and ran 36 flat with a torn acchilles tendon. I ran maybe the first quarter mile with him before he took off. He looked good in his trademark beach shorts.
There were more hills on this course than I anticipated, this is the first year I have done the 10K, running the 5K last year. It was also fairly cold for this time of year. Mile splits were 5:53 (mostly down) 6:36 (mostly up) 6:14 (not as much up) 6:13, 6:07 (down?) 6:09, 5:41 for 0.14 according to my garmin (my watch said 6.14 miles, whatever). worked out fine, my heart and mind really weren't in this, just trying to get some tempo miles in in preparation for TOU. A nice fun local low key race to get just enough motivation to run some miles faster than marathon pace, hard for me to do if not pushed a little in a race. Maybe I will look for a 5K on next Saturday.

USU to river trail. 7:40 pace. 

tough day, 8:22 pace on a USU-BST loop. the highlight of the day was arriving at work at 7AM to see some pranksters had run a jolly roger pirate flag up on one of the spires of old main- it looked great with the high wind, I wish I had brought my camera. I thought it was hilarious. the grumpy administrators made sure it was taken down by 8:30. I guess they don't share the pranksters sense of humor. how they got it up there is a good question. my guess is it involved ropes, ascenders and rapelling. very clever.

was going to run some threshold intervals. started pouring rain big time. ran 1 x 400 and gave up being soaked and ran up  to the indoor track. then ran 5 x 880 on the 220 track about 3:00 each. foot and shin started hurting from the tight turns so called it a day. why am I even writing this boring gibberish?

water running 30 minutes and then kicked 14 lengths

parked on Hollow road at about mile 16.75 (intersection with highway), ran to mile 20 of tou course, back to truck, switched into the brooks T5s I bought on ebay to try them out. they seem narrower than the T4s I liked, tight on my wide feet bummer, oh well I got them cheap. I don't think I dare run the marathon in them so will stick with the wave ronins. Ran to mile 14 then ran at tempo pace back to my car. troubled by a stiff head wind going back down Hollow road, which is unusual, it better not be there next week or I will be asking for a refund.

6.5 miles @7:29, 2.75 miles @ 7:42,  2.75 miles @ 6:22.

dang, I appear to be in the early stages of a cold, I can only hope it runs its course by Saturday and doesn't go to my chest or I will be in trouble. but what can you do?

did some tempo/threshold intervals on the track with 200 recoveries:
1x400 1:25
1x800 2:59
1x1200 4:48
1x1600 6:24
1x800 3:10
1x400 (fast) 1:20.

will pound the emergenC tonight and hope for the best.

out and back miles 20-23 TOU no watch slow

5 easy with 10 strides fighting my cold. 2.5 days to shake it. if I am lucky.

4 lazy easy I could get used to this.

just looked at the registration page. they gave me bib number 22. why would they do that? I can't handle that pressure. Now I just want to go home.

1.5 easy

This is the fourth marathon I have run since I started running in 2005. My previous marathons were Top of Utah 2006 (3:06 and change), Boston 2007 (3:13 and change) and Mesquite 2009 (2:57 and change). I had a good year at the 10K to half marathon distances and based on my times in those and my training thought I might have a shot at a 2:50 today if all went well. I got all excited, using Paul's pacing chart for 2:50 to prepare, and teaming up with my work buddy Neal Legler and Allie Scott to go after the 2:50. I started right on Paul's pace chart using my garmin, miles 1 and 2 were 6:22 and 6:25. I was worried though because Allie had not gone out with me, and Neal was chasing a lead pack and disappeared, so my little plan appeared to be falling apart. I figured Allie was warming up (I was right) and I was relieved and happy when she appeared somewhere around mile 3 or 4, I can't remember. For awhile we teamed up with another guy wearing nike frees. We were like a trio in an advertisement for nike frees. This section until Hollow road were arguably the funnest I have ever had in a race. Allie pulled ahead of me for a short time at maybe mile 9 or something, I can't remember, as I started to struggle a bit, but then Paul Petersen and Dave Nelson caught me. This confused me since I though they were only chasing 2:59. At this point I got ticked off at deserting Allie and motivated to put on a surge and ditch Paul (yeah take that buddy) and rejoin Allie. We ran together until Hollow road, where my calves and quads started cramping mildly. At this point I lost mental and physical focus and Allie surged ahead. I was disappointed I couldn't stay with her, but happy for her. So I figured, maybe I can get motivation from Paul when he catches me, which he did midway down hollow road. To my dismay, Keith was right on Paul and Dave's tail drafting off them. We smiled at each other, and I knew I wasn't going to be able to hang with their pace, they looked too strong and I was struggling with cramps in my legs and stomach. Fortunately I had Cody waiting for me at mile 18 to bring me in. Seeing him waiting for me was a huge relief, I was even thinking of DNFing if he hadn't been there to bring me in. I was hurting worse than I have ever hurt over miles 18-25. Cody was kind and patient and put up with me being a complete wuss, carrying my drinks and gels, massaging my legs (OK I made that part up..) and helping me take down two guys around miles 24.5 and 25.5 to give me the confidence to get in. First half was 1:24 and chage, second half about 1:31.  Final time 2:55:18. I beat my bib number by two places so that is good.

Normally I would be really happy with a PR and a 2:55 but when I set goals for myself I really like to achieve them, so I was pretty disappointed I didn't hit at least 2:52 or 2:53. But I still have a lot to learn about the marathon, it is a strange and unforgiving beast. And I also think the TOU course is tougher than people give it credit for. My problems (like in the half) started at the transition from downhill to level/uphill/tight turns/heavy traffic running. I really hate the last 7 or 8 miles of this course, and I hate the cars on the course starting at mile 17. I think I will enter the St George lottery next year so I can try my luck on a more consistent downhill without all the suburban turns and hills. Or, maybe try a sea level flat course like Newport Oregon.

Thanks to Cody for bringing me in, and Allie for letting me run with her in the canyon and keeping me going there, I really really enjoyed that, it made the marathon worth it. Much funner than the other marathons where I was pretty much solo the whole way, or ran with people I didn't know, running marathons deaf is tough and it is nice to know people on the course. Kudos to the blog for providing a great community to meet other runners and motivate and inspire each other. And congrats to all the bloggers who did so well today, great day for FRB!

left big toenail was in really bad shape with blood and fluid pooling underneath it that I couldn't get drained completely even with my expert home surgical drilling skills, so went to the podiatrist who decided it was infected and the toenail had to be removed. OUCH! I expected to lose the nail but not so dramatically. Now I have pain, no toenail at all and am on antibiotics. I think I will take a few days off. TTFN!

had to get my toenail removed surgically yesterday and get antibiotics. no running for awhile I guess.

no running. my raw bare left big toe really hurts. but it is not surprising based on a true scientific study showing redheads are complete wusses when it comes to experiencing pain.