Every Run is a Great Run!

Speedwork session on treadmill. 1/2mile warmup then 1, .75, .5, and 3 .25 mile intervals between 6:00 & 6:30 min/mile pace.

Cross-train day: 5 min bike, circuit/weight train 30 min, 15 min stairmaster.

Tempo run: 1 mile warmup, 4.5 miles @ 7:10 to 7:20 pace, 1/2 mile cooldown.

Crosstrain day: 20 minutes bike, 20 minutes stairmaster.

Cross-train day: 30-40 min weight-training.

Mini-speed session on treadmill. 1.5 mile warmup, .75/.50/.25 mile intervals at 6:00-6:20 pace, with .25 rests in between.

Reduced mileage week. Still trying to get over lingering high-hamstring problem in left leg.

Crosstrain: Bike/Weights/Stair

Mini-tempo run: 1 mile warmup, 3 miles @ 7:00-7:15 pace.

Cross-train: 20 min bike, 20 min stair

Weight-training day

Treadmill speed workout. 1.5 miles warmup, then 1m, .75m, .5m, 3 x .25m intervals @ between 5:55 & 6:22 min/mi. pace. Still doing .25m rests in between intervals, mostly walking on longer intervals and slow running on shorter intervals.

This workout is getting a little easier but is still tough to get motivated about. I sure wish weather was nicer so I could run outside. Hopefully this workout will help me get my 5K times down a bit and make a 6:25-6:35 pace feel easier.

Hamstring feeling a little better today.

Cross-train: Bike/Weights/Stair

Tempo run on treadmill. 1 mile warmup then 5 miles @ 7:15-7:30 pace. I had a hard time making it to 5 miles today, getting real bored on the treadmill. I look forward to doing this workout outside for comparison.

Crosstrain day: 20min Bike, 20min Stairs

Weight-train day

Disastrous weekend. Went to bed Friday looking forward to a nice 16-miler LSD run the next day but then promptly got some nasty stomach flu and spent most of the night running to the john. Also got fever/chills and achey all-over. It was obvious by about 2am that the Saturday day run was NOT going to happen. So I spent all day Saturday pretty much laying around feeling horrible, didn't eat much and tried to sleep when I could. I've guess I should feel lucky I haven't been sick for about a year and a half and haven't had to miss a long run forever.

Payback Day!! Finally..what a beatiful day for a run. With the Saturday sickness laying around there were a few things (besides the run) I hadn't accomplished that needed to be done so I decided to take 1/2 day off work.  Went out for a run-in-the-sun and decided to do something I haven't done for a while---just run for fun, don't look at the watch and just enjoy the beatiful day. I was totally pumped by the weather and decided to run down a few roads I've never tried before. This was mostly good but I did sort of get lost for a bit and ended up going a few more miles than planned. But at least this makes me feel better about the missed Saturday run. I did run out of gas pretty good after about 11-12 miles, probably due to lingering effects of flu and not eating much over the weekend (but hey I finally may have finally got rid of one of those holiday xtra pounds!!)

Crosstrain: bike, weights, stair

Tried doing my usual Monday treadmill interval workout outside in the nice weather. Thought I felt good at the start but it was quickly obvious I didn't have it going today. I guess (hope?) between the weekend flu and running long on Monday I had no gas in the tank. Ended up averaging about 15 sec/mile slower on my interval pace compared to what I had been doing.

Hopefully next week will be better.

Crosstrain 40 minutes: 20 bike, 20 stairs. I think I'll stick with this routine for another month or so and then replace this workout with another run workout as I start adding 2-a-day and eventually even a few 3-a-day runs to get ready for the relay.

Crosstrain: Weights, bike, stretch.

Tried to hold my flat course marathon pace (around 8:00) for most of the run. Was able to get 7 miles between 7:45 and 8:15 and felt pretty good until about mile 9 or so. Hamstrings seem to be getting a little better.

After a slow mile warmup on the treadmill I ran the Eagles View hill course with Paul for the 1st time in a very long time. I was pleased that it felt a bit easier than expecting going up the hills but I was pretty much spent the last 1/2 mile or so and couldn't quite keep up with Paul who finished very strong. Our GPS watches didn't want to agree on pace but I think we decided we ended up somewhere just over 38 minutes and something under 8 min/mile overall pace. I definitely get a better workout running with others rather than solo...thanks Paul.

Note: This was also 1st day breaking in some new Asic Gel 2120's, the shoes felt great.

Crosstrain day: Bike, Weights, Stair

Lakeview run with Paul, Nate and Cory. Plan was to follow Sasha's suggestion to do 3-5 mile run at 7:00 pace rather than the interval workout I have been doing. Since this was the first time doing this workout we decided to play it conservative and just go for 3 miles today. All-in-all I think we did pretty good, it was a little tough the 1st mile and 1/2 with the wind against us but once we turned around and got the breeze out our back we picked up the pace and were able to speed up each mile. I was certainly impressed with all the other runners who all had legitimate reasons not to do well on this run. According to my GPS paces for the fast miles were 7:02, 6:57, and 6:46 which I think averages to around 6:55.

Perhaps next week we can shoot for 3.25 or 3.5 miles

Crosstrain: 20min Bike, 20min Stair

Crosstrain: Weights

Longest run since SGM. I misjudged a bit and ended up going a little longer than intended. Had to go the last 5 miles by myself and pretty much felt totally out of gas the last 3 miles or so. I ran the first 10-12 miles around 8:00-8:45 pace and the last miles very slow (9-10). I should have probably ran the first 1/2 slower and saved more energy for the last 1/2 and maybe I could have picked it up toward the end. Felt pretty tired all day Saturday.

Originally intended to run up Loafer canyon in the morning, however the snowstorm quickly ended that idea. Didn't actually run until 4pm, for some reason I never seem to have a good run at this time of day. I ran from my house down to the river bottoms and did some half-hearted hill repeats. Had an upset stomach for some reason so I didn't push it much and was happy to get home to quickly head for the john. Maybe I have the same lingering junk that Kerry has.

Crosstrain: Bike/Weights/Stair.  Still low on energy today, didn't work very hard. Decided to start estimating/indicating equivalent runnings for my cross-training workouts. I'm not sure exactly how accurate this might be but I wanted to at least get some credit for my cross-training efforts.

Lakeview tempo run with Paul and Cory. Went a 1/4 mile further than last week, averaging just under 7 min pace again. Considering 7 min/mi. is supposed to be my 10K pace I was really hoping this run would feel a bit easier.

Crosstrain 40 minutes: Bike/Stair

Crosstrain: Weights/stairs

Saturday AM long run with the SF running crowd. Lots of people showed up, made for a fun, social run. Wanted to hold 8:00 - 8:15 pace for most of the run and was able to for the most part. However I still find I tire out after around 8 miles. My high hamstring tendonitis seems to have a lot to do with it.

Here are my mile splits:

1- 9:37

2- 8:12

3- 8:09

4 - 8:16

5 - 8:05

6 - 8:19

7 - 8:21

8 - 8:14

9 - 8:23

10 - 8:12

11 - 8:10

12 - 9:00

12.6 - 8:29

After mile warmup on treadmill ran Eagle View with Paul and Cory. I don't think any of us were terribly motivated to begin with, however we charged up the hill in pretty good time and I felt like we pushed it pretty well on the way back.  I was grateful to be running with the group today as I never would have worked nearly as hard running solo.

Splits as follows (my watched glitched the 1st mile so I'm just guessing on that mile):

1 - 8:30 ?

2- 8:24

3 - 8:32

4 - 7:35

5 - 7:04

Oh yeah, I guess I also ran a slow (9:30??) mile on the treadmill.

Crosstrain: bike/weights/stairs

Good day. Bad run.  Ran later than usual today due to taking day off from work to take my son to the MTC. The last couple days have been a bit of an emotional roller coaster. I had hoped to continue the Wednesday pattern of doing are 7:00m/mi tempo runs doing something over 3 miles at that pace. However after 2 miles it was obvious it wasn't going to happen today as I fought nausea for most of the run. Rather than list my pitiful split times I decided to list my top 5 excuses for having such a bad run, listed in order of probability.

1) The gigantic breakfast I had this morning at IHOP (Spinach & mushroom omelette with 3 huge pancakes on the side). I was burping it up throughout the run, eccentuating the nausea effect. I may not be eating at IHOP for a while.

2) Running solo instead of with my inspiring running partners.

3) Emotional letdown after all the MTC excitement during the week.

4) Ran too hard on Monday.

5) I am a wimp (actually this should be probably be higher in the list)

Crosstrain 40min: Bike/Stair

Cross-train

Ran early with the SF running crowd. Would have liked to run with the Relay Team but had too many committments for later in the day.

Had a nice long run other than a few portions of the run where we about froze our fannies off. As we ran near the mouth of SF canyon with the windchill I'm thinking it was effectively around -10 degrees. I don't think my face has ever been that cold before, I could hardly even talk. But we were rewarded later as we got the wind at our back and the sun came out to warm us up.

I was pleased with this run in that for once in a long, long time I didn't feel totally exhausted and out of gas the last few miles of the run. I had intended to run 18-20 miles but ended up with around 21 by the time I finally got home. I think part of what made the run better is that I ran the first 6 miles by myself (from 5am to 6) before the main group met and I did these miles particularly slow (9-9:30 pace). The rest of the miles running with the group I ran my normal long-run pace of around 8:25-8:50 to ended up with an overall average pace just below 9:00. Not very fast but in line with what I intend on doing for Boston. Next Saturday I'll plan on running few miles (12-16) but at faster pace (8:00-8:30).

Not a good run for me today. Had to go earlier than normal since I had a lunch conflict so couldn't run with the other guys up EagleView. Decided since I'm running a 5K this weekend I would try inserting some 1/4 to 1 mile intervals at what I think should be my current 5K pace (6:30 to 6:45). It was obvious real quick I just didn't have it going for me today. Felt very sluggish. Perhaps the longer-than-planned 21-miler on Saturday took more out of me than I first thought. Hopefully things will go better on Saturday. My body seems to be telling to either train for a marathon or train for a 5K but NOT both at the same time.

Crosstrain day: Bike/Weights/Stairs

Took it easy somewhat today since I'm running 5K on Saturday. I did 4 1/4 mile bursts at miles 1, 2, 3, 4 trying to run them at 15-30 seconds faster than my anticipated 5K pace. Like Monday I still felt much more winded than I think I should have. Not feeling too confident going into the 5K. I guess we'll just have to see how it goes.

Cross-train: 30 minutes instead of usual 40, tapering a bit for 5K race on Saturday.

One of those days when I'm tempted to bag this blog as I have little desire to report on what was the worst 5K I've run in years. I'm not even going to flag this one as a "race report" as it isn't even worthy of being called a good training run. This to top off one of the worst running weeks I've have for quite a while.

I had hoped at least the weather was going to be nice but this wasn't the case. It was obvious after the 1st mile (or even 1/2 mile) of the race that I was way off my game. I went out at a conservative 6:45 pace but was feeling lousy at less that a mile into the race. The best way I can describe it is kind of like hitting the wall in a marathon, but only after a mile into the run! I ended up not even being able to hold the 7:00 pace that we've been meeting or exceeding during Wed training runs (I think my ave pace ended up being around 7:10). So I suppose I'm officialy in a 'rut'. Also soon after I got home I ended up Saturday/Sunday battling fever, sore-throat, cough, etc. Suffice to say it was a lousy weekend and I must say daylight savings is not my friend so far.

Looking at what might explain the poor week I suppose there are plenty of possibilities. Most likely the 21-miler last week took a lot out of me and maybe weakened my immune system so that I was coming down with a cold/flu by Saturday. Also amidst all the hubbub of getting my boy into the MTC a week and a half ago I had a mild ulcer on Wednesday/Thursday (2/28-3/1). I get these occasionally when I'm under stress and/or I take Ibuprofen or Aspirin on an empty stomach. These ulcers are accompanied by a bit of blood in the stool. I recall a couple years ago when I did a fool thing and donated blood and then tried to run a 10K 3 days after. It was NOT good. In fact it took me 4-6 weeks to get my wind back after giving blood. I don't I lost much blood due to the ulcer but I wonder if it's a factor.

At any rate I think I better take it easy a bit this week and hope I have some stamina back by the weekend for the next 20 miler. Luckily I haven't yet signed up for the Rex Lee 10K on the 24th like I had originally planned. I think I'll bag the short races until after Boston.

Somewhat laid-back run up EagleView with Paul and Cory. Thanks guys for going easy on me today.

Crosstrain day.

Still fighting a cold. No energy. No fun. Just looking forward to when I start feeling normal again.

Crosstrain day - Bike/Stair. Still fighting cold and/or allergies. Hope I feel better by Saturday for schedule 20+ miler.

Did a wimpy weights workout today. Was a slacker, can't seem to get rid of cold and/or allergy that's plagued me all week.  No sure how planned 20-miler tomorrow is going to go.

Well I'm very relieved to get this run under my belt. I thought it could go badly based on the last couple of weeks but all in all it went pretty well. I slowed my pace a bit compared to other weeks and was able to finish without too much of the exhausted, no-stamina feelings I've had during most of my runs lately. I think overall my average pace was around 8:55 with a few marathon pace miles thrown in along the way (8:00-8:30 pace). So I'm hoping maybe I can pull out of the rut I've been in and at least enjoyed some degree of improved endurance even if my speed has taken a step back. Also I think my cold/allergy problems are near an end.

I even went a couple of bonus miles, the reason being I had the choice of either run the last 3-4 miles alone to finish with 20 miles OR run 22 miles with some companionship, so I opted for the companionship with no regrets (yet.... maybe Monday I'll have a different story)

I've found it helps me out quite a bit to run the 1st 6-7 miles solo, starting an hour early (5am) before meeting up with the SF main running group at 6am. I run these solo miles pretty easy and I found I seem to have alot more energy for the next 13-15 miles running with a group.

I'm planning on 1 more 20+ miler in 2 weeks before I taper for Boston which is on April 16.

EagleView run at lunch, finally starting to feel 1/2 normal again. Still not 100% but at least the run was enjoyable. Still a bit sore from the 22-miler on Saturday. Cory went a few minutes early today due to 1pm meeting, I left a few minutes after Cory and before Paul in hopes of catching Cory and then joining Paul later for perhaps a 2nd go up the hill. Unfortunately Cory and Paul were too fast so I never did catch Cory and Paul caught me sooner than expected as he was cranking out some good sub 7:00 miles to get his legs warmed up for his 10K on Saturday.

Forgot my watch so I'm not sure exactly what my pace was.

Crosstrain day.

Due to BrainShare duties during the day I did a treadmill workout in the morning. The allergies are still bothering me but I was feeling pretty good so after 2-mile warmup I set the treadmill to 6:58 pace and did 2 miles. I was hoping to do 3 miles straight but wimped out a bit and stuck in a .25 mile break between the 2nd and 3rd miles.

Although I set the treadmill incline to 1 I feel like the treadmill is easier than the equiv workout on the roads. Next week I'm curious to try some 7-min miles on the lakeview course to see how I'm doing since I had my 'setback'.

Best run I've had for quite a while. I think maybe I'm finally getting my legs/endurance back again. Wanted to push the pace a bit and do most miles around the 8:00 pace. Was happy that I was able to do this without totally running out of steam around mile 8-9 as has been the case previously. My mile splits were as follows:

1 - 9:08

2 - 8:07

3 - 8:08

4 - 8:20

5 - 7:53

6 - 7:53

7 - 7:37

8 - 7:48

9 - 7:48

10 - 8:16

11 - 8:36

12 - 8:16

13 - 7:57

14 - 7:56

15 - 9:43

One other thing I noticed after today's run I want to mention so I remember for later reference......with the spring weather as a family we worked thru most of the day doing some spring cleaning, mostly in the yard so I was on my feet moving around all day after the run. Previously after long runs I've done a lot of sitting/laying around and have felt pretty sore in my legs thru the day and the next day. BUT today with all the moving around my legs feel great! I guess I already knew that a walk after long run was helpful but I had forgotten what a difference it can make! I'll need to remember every Saturday after the long run to keep moving thru the day. As a side benefit it makes the wife happy too to have me taking care of all the honey dos!!

Oh it's so nice to finally be out of the March slump I was in. Finally felt like I could push the pace today without feeling totally dead after 1 mile. Did a 1.6 mile warmup on treadmill then ran 4.9 mile EagleView course with Paul and Nate. Paul and Nate both had good reasons to hold back a bit with Paul having just run a great 10K Saturday and Nate coming off a nasty cold and not having run much for a couple of weeks. Thanks in large part to Paul's "motivational" trash-talking from behind me (it's not often that Paul is ever behind me) I was able to finish this run in what I think is my best time yet. My Garmin measured the following 'run' times (we stopped for about 1:45 total at 2 different stop lights):

1 - 7:53

2 - 7:52

3 - 7:49

4 - 7:00

4.9 - 6:15 (6:57 pace)

Total run time: 36:50 (7:31 ave. pace)

Total time including stops: 38:35 (7:52 ave. pace)

Crosstrain day: Bike/Weights/Stair. Worked a bit harder than recently since I've been feeling good lately. Hopefully I won't overdo it.

Treadmill workout today since the weather was nasty. As I've been feeling pretty good this week I decided to go with the flow and try running some near 7:00 pace miles like we were doing a few weeks ago before I had my 'slump'.  After 2 mile warmup, happilly I was able to hold the pace (6:58 on treadmill) for 3.5 miles before I slowed down for a cool-down mile.

However I'm always a bit skeptical about treadmill workouts as they always seem to be a bit easier than the equivalent road workout -- at least for tempo/speed workouts. I put the incline on 1.0 (1% ???) to try to counter the lack of wind resistance but I'm still not sure if I could duplicate this on the road. If the weather permits I'll give it a shot next week on the roads and see what happens.

Crosstrain: Bike/Stairs (20 min. each)

Crosstrain: Bike/Weights/Stairs

For some reason when I first entered blog for today it didn't submit properly for some reason. Paul and Kerry both document the run quite nicely on their blogs and I don't feel like repeating everything I did 1st time around so suffice to say had a good run up Provo canyon up to Trefol and back down. Enjoyed the run, feeling good to have 3 20-milers under my belt prior to Boston and looking forward to marathon.

Eagle view run with Nate. Ran out of gas today, thought it might happen since we had a pretty good workout for the 20-miler on Saturday. Nate was looking closer to his usual self and left me in the dust. At least I was able to keep ave. pace under 8:00 (7:58) so this made me feel OK about the run.

Crosstrain day: Bike/Weights/Stair

Had conflict during normal lunch hour so I ran Lakeview course earlier in the day. Felt OK, legs still a bit heavy probably from Saturday's 20-miler up/down Provo canyon. 

Wanted to see how consecutive 7:00 tempo miles felt on roads after not doing this workout for a while (besides on treadmill). After 1.5 mile warmup sped up to 7:00 pace. Felt pretty good until about 2.5 miles. Kept the pace until 3.25 miles, average pace 6:58.

 I do believe the treadmill workouts I've done recently to simulate this workout are actually easier than on the roads. But at least I can now officially say I'm at least at the level I was at before I had my March slump. Probably won't do this workout again until sometime after Boston Marathon, or perhaps next week I'll do it but only do a couple miles at tempo pace.

Crosstrain: Bike/Weights/Stairs

Scout campout this weeked so I went on a semi-long run today. Felt good, weather was great, so I decided to run toward the faster range of what I consider my flat marathon pace. Not paying too much attention to the GPS it seemed like 7:45 pace is what my body felt comfortable with today so I pretty much stuck to that pace for most of the run. I ran a bit slower during a middle mile with a little wind in my face and lack of focus, but then picked it up the last mile to finish with overall average pace of 7:45. Very happy to not be feeling any aches and pains that have any kind of injury feel about them. Looking forward to Boston a week from Monday.

After 2.5 mile warmup on treadmill ran Eagleview course (4.9 miles). Nobody else showed up to run so I ran solo. The weather was a little cooler than it's been for a while and was about perfect race weather. Since I was feeling pretty good with the extra day of rest (no run on Saturday) I decided to push it a bit and see what I could do. I was very pleased I was able to improve upon my time from 2 weeks ago in running what I think is probably my fastest time for this course.

Mile split times:

1) 7:25

2) 7:41

3) 7:40

4) 6:53

4.9) 6:14 (6:47 pace)

Ave pace: 7:17 Total time: 35:53, rest time 1:47 (37:40 total time incl. stop-light rest)

Crosstrain: bike/weights/stair

Ran Lakeview course with Cory. Took it easy a bit today, averaging just over 8 min/mile pace. Made for a nice relaxing run. Probably what I need prior to Boston on Monday.

Light crosstrain workout.

Easy run in the sun just to try to keep the legs fresh before Boston. Tried to really soak in the suns rays as it doesn't appear we'll see much sun Monday.

Just an easy 5 with the SF running crew to keep the legs awake.

I'm not sure where to begin to describe my Boston Marathon experience. After all the hard work to finally get there after numerous failed qualification attempts, all I can say is that it was everything I had hoped it would be, and will be an experience I'll always look back on with fond memories.

My actual finish time was right around the slowest of any marathon I've ever run, but none of that really mattered as in my mind this was a reward run, topping off years of running enjoyment with a grand celebration run! I heard Boston described by someone as a "26.2 mile victory lap", and this is exactly the attitude I had going into the race.

We flew into to Boston on a red-eye flight arriving Sunday morning at 5am. At the time I booked the flight it seemed like a good idea to save a few bucks flying the red-eye, but after an absolutely miserable night trying unsuccessfully to sleep on the plane I'm thinking I probably woudn't do it again. If not for a sympathetic hotel employee who let us check into to our room early (8am rather than 3pm) for an early nap, I'm not sure how we would have made it through the day. I am glad though that we actually made it to Boston as I heard numerous flights later on Sunday were cancelled or delayed for hours.

After a 2 or 3 hour "nap" at the hotel we took the subway downtown and picked up my race packet. At this point the weather wasn't too bad but got worse around evening time. We went to church at a nearby ward where Roman Takasaki's (Sp. Fork runner and also our family doctor) brother attends. Looked like there were quite a few other marathon visitors as the meeting was packed.

My pre-race eating/drinking was not so good on Sunday with all the chaos and issues with weather. We ended up Sunday evening eating at a quite bizarre "concept/theme" restaraunt (Dick's Last Resort) where the "concept" was that they treat you really shabby. Sticky floors and angry waiters accentuate the theme. We almost left shortly after entering until we figured out the "concept" (note to aspiring restaraunteers...this is NOT a good "concept" for a restaraunt). Actually the food was pretty good BUT I ate too much for a night before a race meal. But I was starved as I hadn't really had any lunch. I think this large meal was to blame for the gastro-intestinal troubles I had late in the race.

Woke up around 5:45 Monday not sure what to expect about the weather. Looking out the window it did not look promising. After quick breakfast at the hotel I loaded on the gear in a way never before. Seemed like the plastic bags around the feet and ankles were a bit much but I was grateful later when we arrived at the Athletes Village (or was that Athlete's "Swamp"??). Caught the subway down to the bus load area and met up with Kerry. Had a nice ride to the start, then slogged around waiting for a port-a-potty and then finally met up with Paul. After somewhat chaotic pre-race scurrying, what with trying to figure out what to wear, where to put our clothes bags, etc. We made to somewhere near the starting line (albeit not the corral we were looking for) and started the race.

Luckilly the weather conditions ended up being not too bad for the majority of the race and most runners ended up shedding a layer or 2. My wife had decorated up my shirt with my name and where I was from and so I was excited the weather was warm enough I was actually able to shed my rain jacket so the crowd could actually see my wife's fine art-work.

I had never in my life experienced the thrill of thousands of 'fans' cheering me and encouraging me, so having them be able to actually do this by name was quite the amazing phenomenon and ego-stroking experience for me. I must say it's pretty hard to take a walk break or potty break or show any signs of tirednees when you have people all around you shouting your name and encouraging you to do your best. It was also fun to chat with few other Utah runners who could see that I was from Utah.

We went out the 1st half of the race doing around 9 minute miles which is what we had talked about doing and also felt like a comfortable pace. Around mile 5 to 10 the rain and wind picked up again and I had to put my jacket back on for a few miles and had to go without the cheering-by-name upliftment for a while. After this I warmed up sufficiently I was able to go without the jacket for the rest of the race.

I think the potty break we all 3 needed around mile 11 got us out of our rhythm a bit as we had to wait a bit for the potties. I think we could hear the girls from Wellesley college a 1/2 mile or more before we even got to them just before mile 13. First I thought it was the wind or something but soon it was obvious that we were just hearing the high-pitched cheering of a few thousand college girls. I thought the run thru Wellesley was amazing and a real booster and I was a bit bummed out when it ended. I was able to resist the temptation of all of the "Kiss Me" signs along the way but did sneek a quick hug from one spectator and found another spectator to take a picture of the event.

Kerry and to some degree Paul had been fighting some injuries and/or blistering and it seemed to become a factor a bit after we left Wellesley. Finally at around mile 15/16, and with much reluctance on my part, Kerry and Paul put on the pressure and talked me into going ahead without them.

As I went ahead alone I was immediately given a huge boost by the next group of spectators who where especially vigorous in cheering me on. I don't know if anything quite compares to a group of what appeared to be long-time Red Sox fans giving me a personalized cheer from the heart as I ran past (thanks again to my wife for the name artwork on my shirt).

With all this new adrenaline and enthusiasm burst,  I got a wild idea and figured if I could hold an 8 min/mile pace the rest of the way I could break 4 hours. This worked for 2 or 3 miles but shortly before mile 20 I think my dinner the night before caught up with me and I started having some serious stomach problems. I was happy and excited to see my wife Kim around mile 20 and got a bit of a boost, but the impending feeling that I was going to "explode" due to the gastro-intestinal problems had me running "nervous". I tell you it's tough to put on a happy face in front of screaming crowds calling your name when you feel like at any moment you might have to do something extremely unsightly in front of everyone.

Luckily at mile 21 or so I found a porta-potty, where I 'camped' for probably a good 5 to 10 minutes (note: potties aren't in very good condition by mile 21), but feeling enourmously relieved and happy to have "exploded" in the john and NOT on the streets.

After this my spirits were boosted enormously, however my legs were not happy about the long stop in the john and I stiff-legged it to the finish for the not-so-braggable just-under 4:15 finish. I believe this time is very close to the time for my very first and slowest marathon back in 1993, however slow time notwithstanding I had one of the greatest running experiences ever and will remember the race fondly for years to come. I was also thrilled and inspired to hear that Kerry and Paul were able to overcame a whole range of obstacles and gut it out to the finish in around 5 hours. Thanks guys for the inspiration, both during this race and also over the years.

Kim and I spent most of the week after the marathon in NYC, where although I didn't run a single step, I think my Kim had me cover close to another 26 miles walking all over Manhattan. Actually my legs felt pretty good, albeit a bit tight.  I'll be interested to see how the run goes today (4/23).

Thanks to Kim, Paul, Kerry, Terry and all the countless other runners, family and friends who helped me get to this point. I now look forward to many more years of happy running and hopefully even a few more Bostons. Life is GOOD !!!!

Walked at least 5 miles today in NYC

Probably walked even further than yesterday today. I'm thinking around 6 miles.

Walked less today, maybe 3-4 miles.

Probably another 3-4 mile walk day. Last day in NYC, have had a great time with Kim this week. This will definitely be a week to remember.

Finally getting around to my running blog after being gone all week following the WB relay with no access to internet.....

Not sure where to start...this is the 1st of 2 WBR related entries, see tomorrow for last 2 leg reports.

I had a great time this year at the relay, I do believe this was the funnest relay for me of all the 3 relays I've done with the 2slow2win2dumb2quit team. Not only did our team win our classification (sub-masters male) and finish with our best time yet with just over 3 hours 16 minutes, but I also had my best personal performance and was for the 1st time ever able to achieve the goal of meeting or exceeding all of my leg time projections. Of course it helped quite a bit that I was running a bit easier set of legs than the past 2 years but I'll take it! It was also great to get to know the new guys on the team this year and especially to be able to hand off to my old high school buddy and long-time running hero and mentor Terry.

I was more than ready to run my 1st leg Friday after tapering for the week and not having run the day before. I had been feeling great the couple weeks leading up to the race and was hoping to be at a peak.

Leg 8 - East of Eden: 3.2 miles, time: 22:33 (7:03 pace)

This is one leg where I was certain I could beat my projected time (23:38) by possibly as much as 2-3 minutes.  My big concerns were the heat and going out too fast. It was still pretty hot when I started but it had cooled down some from earlier in the day. I suspect temps were somewhere in the 80's. Scott looked strong coming in from leg 7 and I was excited to finally begin.

Just before starting my leg I told Terry my plan of going out conservative and running the first mile around 7:00 pace and then hopefully pushing it the last mile or 2 to average around 6:45 - 6:50.  But like an idiot I promptly thru all that out the window and went out too fast. Part of the problem was that I had my Garmin on the main screen watching instantaneous pace but thinking I was looking at my custom screen looking at average mile pace. I think this caused my pace to fluctuate quite a bit the first .75 miles before I realized what was going on and switched to my custom screen. Unfortunately that damage had been done and I finished mile 1 with the garmin reporting a 6:40 pace.

I had actually felt pretty good the first mile and the heat didn't seem to be bothering me. It helped alot that I had soaked my shirt and hat a bit in cold water just before starting. I slowed down some starting the 2nd mile and felt good for about a 1/4 mile when the heat and the switch from slightly downhill to slightly uphill began to take it's toll. I started feeling lousy around 1.5 miles and was not happy I was not quite even 1/2 way done. It certainly didn't help that other than the 1st 1/2 mile of the leg, I was running down a long straight road with the finish line seemingly miles a way. I was hoping to have a few runners nearby to motivate me but ended up only seeing 1 female runner who I passed sometime in the 2nd or 3rd mile. Starting fading by the ending of this mile registering a 6:58 pace.

The last 1.2 miles were awful, similar I suppose to a typical 5K but maybe a bit worse because of the heat and because I went out too fast. After what seemed like an eternity I finally hobbled into the exchange and was very relieved to hand off to Terry running at around a 7:20-7:30 pace. Finished with a time of 22:33 which luckily was still just over a minute faster than my projected time. While I was happy to have beaten my projected time I was disappointed with the way I ran it and thought I could/should have done better.

I ended up feeling a bit loopy after this leg and couldn't think straight for a while. I'm not sure what my teamates were thinking as I kept walking for quite a ways past the exchange trying to cool down. For some reason I thought our van was up ahead a ways when in reality it was near the handoff point. Seemed like I walked around aimlessly for a couple of minutes and almost entered the vehicles of some other teams thinking it was our team van before finally collecting my senses and heading back to the correct vehicle.

Usually my last leg is my least favorite of the relay but in this case this first leg wins that prize.

I enjoyed watching the rest of my van 2 teamates finish out their 1st leg in strong fashion with Will running particularly strong to finish out our first set into Snow Basin. It was also great to enjoy the cool mountain air and scenery as temps dropped significantly off the high 90's of the day to something more in the 50's up in the mountains at night.

After handing off to Van 1 at Snow Basin we made the longer than expected drive over to East Canyon for some Fazollis and an attempt at some sleep. We had been told to drive on the race course as opposed to the main highway and this made for a slow drive with all the Van 1 commotion and such. We finally got to East Canyon and experienced more commotion as this major exchange was especially congested and chaotic with the higher number of teams this year. We finally found a parking spot and headed over to eat and found a fairly long line at Fazollis. I realized that I didn't really have all that much time before I would be running again so I opted to eat some of the light food I had in the van and try to get a little extra sleep.

...part 2

Don't think I was very responsive to Scott as he tried to wake me from my 'sweet slumber' at East Canyon prior to running our 2nd set of legs. I think he had to shake me for a while to get any response. Since I wasn't the one responsible for making sure we were awake to run, and remembering the commotion and noise of East Canyon from previous years I had brought ear plugs to try to help me sleep a bit better. The earplugs did help somewhat but it still took me a while to fall asleep. But when I finally did go to sleep I seemed to sleep pretty deep although it was probably for only an hour at most.

Wasn't sure how my legs would feel after the 5K-like run of my 1st leg. However I was pleasantly surprised that once I got warmed up a bit I actually felt pretty fresh. I really think the higher mileage and I've put in this year, the hills runs, and all the 2-a-day/3-a-day runs helped immensely.

Leg 20: Into Henefer, 7.0 miles, 47:00

I was eager and excited to run this leg as typically the 2nd leg has been my favorite in years past with the wonderful cool temps of the early AM hours (turns out that although I thoroughly enjoyed this run I ended up choosing leg 3 as my favorite for this year...see below). I also thoroughly enjoy running down canyons in the dark, the last couple of years during the summer months the Spanish Fork/Salem crew typically does a weekly run down Payson Canyon and I really have come to enjoy these runs. This year I intentionally started running Payson earlier than usual with the hope of being able to push hard on the fairly steep downhill sections of this leg that occur during the first 4 miles or so.

After getting the handoff from Scott I eased in to the run with Rod pacing me on the bike. The evening was beautiful and I was glad I took the time to gaze at the stars a bit and enjoy the night sky and air a bit rather than focus solely on the run. My projected pace was around 6:45 but with a mix of mostly downhill but 2-3 miles of flat to slightly uphill I wasn't sure how best to pace myself. I decided to ignore the Garmin for the most part and just run by feel and try for an even effort.

The first 3 miles felt similar to me as running down Payson Canyon, maybe not quite as steep. I held a fairly steady pace that felt right and ended up being around 6:20. I enjoyed this section quite a bit as the miles flew by and I enjoyed Rod's company and conversation. One dissapointment during this stretch was that there were no other runner's anywhere in sight. I had hoped by this point in the race we would start seeing quite a few of the slower runners that I could focus on passing, but for a while it seemed like Rod and I were the only people in the world. We did finally come up on a female runner who was actually walking down the hill which I thought was strange. I found I didn't derive much satisfaction passing a walker.

During mile 4 some sections of the leg starting flattening out with a few minor uphill 'bumps' as well. My pace slowed to 6:45 for this mile but I at least we started seeing a few more runners ahead and was able to pass 1 or 2.

Miles 5 thru 7 were a bit tougher and were mostly flat to slightly uphill as we came down into Henefer and ran through the town. I was feeling really good at mile 5-6 and told this to Rod. He continually motivated me by pointing out the runners ahead and encouraged me to focus my energy on passing some more runners. Not sure how many more we passed but it was probably around 4-6. Ended up speeding up to a 6:36 pace for mile 5 even though I think it was a flatter/harder mile than 4. Mile 6 started to get a bit tougher and I slowed to 7:00 pace. During the last mile my body wanted to slow down a bit but with Rod's encouragement and with a few more 'roadkill' opportunities I was able to hold the 7:00 pace thru to the finish even though there was a pretty good uphill stretch during this section.

All in all this was a very invigorating, exhilarating run. I ended up finishing right around 47 minutes at an average pace of 6:43 and beating my projected time by 20 seconds.

Don't remember alot about the rest of the Van 2 legs during this 2nd set as sleepiness and post-run fatigue kept me in a brain dead state most of the time. I like how most all the legs of this set are on straight roads with very few curves allowing me to forgo my navigational duties somewhat and rest a bit extra.

By the time we finished up our 2nd legs it was getting light as Will ran very strong again into Rockport to finish up and handoff to Van 1. We got over to Park City as quick as we could and thanks to Van 1's directions were able to find our room pretty quick. As Terry mentioned in his blog, the shower felt great but the sleep was even better except for the crazy drunk guy next door who would freak out any time we would make the slightest noise.

Leg 32: Charleston to Wasatch Mtn St. Park: 6.1 miles, 46:23

I was pleased upon waking up after a short nap in Park City that my legs felt like they still had a little bit of zip, although the downhill run a few hours earlier had made my quads/shins a little sore. I was nervous about this leg that although not nearly as nasty as the 2 insane legs that follow it, it's pretty long for a 3rd leg and has a generally uphill tone the entire way.

I have never been able to come close to my projected time the last 2 years on the 3rd leg but was hoping to buck this trend. Although the weather hadn't yet warmed up to highs for the day it was still starting to get pretty hot. As I had done for the first leg I soaked my hat and shirt in cool water just before starting the leg. I think this helped me out during the first 3 miles until I dried up.

I promised myself I would not make the same mistake as I made in the 1st leg my going out too fast. My intention was to run at close to the projected pace (7:40-7:45) and hope that I would still have some gas in the tank for the last mile or so. I cheated a little bit and ran the 1st 2 miles at a steady 7:36 pace. These miles were a little flatter than the following miles so I think this was about the right pace to run.

What was great about this entire run was that we had finally caught up to the mass of slower runners, so for those of us running a little quicker it was a veritable 'roadkill fiesta'. I lost count but I'm thinking I must have passed 25-40 runners during this run, sometimes passing 4-5 runners at a time as a lot of the slower runners seemed to be clumped together.

But the real fun started during mile 3. While I was having the fun of passing the slower teams I started noticing footsteps behind me that were obviously getting closer! I was fortunate at this point to have not been passed by anyone during the 1st 2 legs and was really wanting to finish the entire relay without being road-killed. Sometime during mile 3 the 2 runners on my tail actually passed me, but immediately after doing so one of the guys immediately slowed down and I passed him easily. I guess he must have used all his energy at this point and had to slow. The other young, shirtless guy who passed also slowed down a little bit so that I caught up to him and we began to run together. Ended up slowing down the pace a bit for mile 3 running a 7:42.

The rest of the way I ran with shirtless guy, both of us enjoying all the roadkill. We talked a little bit but not much as the miles had gotten tougher and the weather hotter. My wet hat and shirt had dried up by this point and wasn't helping me anymore. My splits for miles 4, 5, 6 were 7:43, 7:45, and 7:46 respectively.

As I turned the corner with the exchange in sight and the last .1 miles I finally made my move on shirtless dude and thought I had him, when he charges back strong and as far as I can tell we end in a virtual tie. My/our pace for the last .10 was 6:30. Ended up with a time of 46:23 beating my projected time by 35 seconds and feeling very pleased with the run. I debated which of legs 2 or 3 were my favorites but I have to say this one wins the prize, although this was a very difficult run for me. The roadkill and the battle-with-shirtless-dude make it my #1.

The only disappointment for both me and shirtless dude was that after we charged into the handoff point with some decent speed, neither of us had anyone to hand off to! Turns out with all the heavy traffic it was tough for vans to get to the next checkpoint and Terry was finishing up some work in the porta-potty. I waited for what seemed like forever but in reality wasn't that long. We told Terry he was only 30 seconds delayed but after doing the math it turns out it was more like 2 minutes. This ended up being a very minor delay and had no bearing whatsoever on our overall placing and such. Will and I did agree to punish Terry a bit by giving all of this time to him. This is why the time he actually ran and the time recorded in our final results differ by around 2 minutes. So I hope Terry doesn't feel too bad and he still is my running 'hero'.

Thanks to everyone on the team for a great 2007 relay! Looking forward to next year!