Terminator

16 miles up and down Provo canyon, starting at the Orem soccer fields.  Quite a crew:  Brandon, Scott, Mike, Steve, Chris, Reed, and even Jody Benson! Warmed up 8 miles, and warmed down 3 miles.

After the warm-up, did 5 mile tempo in 26:02 (5:12 average; splits were 5:22, 5:19, 5:08, 5:09, 5:01). Weird run. For the past few days, my legs have been excessively tired and fatigued. Tough to say why, but I'm guessing it's mainly lack of sleep, but also because I doubled on Wednesday. Even during the first 8 miles today, my legs were more tired than usual. This fatigue continued for the first 2-3 miles of the tempo (I did not feel good). But then something weird happened. A switch went off, almost suddenly. I felt really good all of the sudden, and I felt better the faster I went. A good sign. Kind of fun, especially since it's been a rough few days for my legs. Scott and Mike looked awesome, as usual. Mike even put quite a gap on us for awhile. Reed and Brandon ran well also. Jody did really well for just starting to get in shape again.

10 easy miles from Scott's house.

10 miles from Scott's house with Spencer, Mike, Reed, and Scott. 4 mile w/u, 3 mile w/d. Did 5k tempo in 16:31 (5:18, 5:21, 5:20, :31). Felt strong.

10 easy miles from my house with Scott, Mike, and Reed.

8 easy miles with Scott along the Jordan River trail. Perfect morning, and great conversation!

4 easy miles from my home.

I had a good race.  I had to take almost 2 months off of running because of my hamstring (February and March). I've since had 2 progressive, gradually building 2 months of training. I decided 2 months ago that, as long as I was healthy, I would run this race as a benchmark. I knew I wouldn't yet be where I wanted to be. But, I'm sure glad I did it.

I PR'd. My listed time on the website was 1:10:59. My watch time was ~10 seconds faster. Because everyone else I know who ran had similar discrepancies, the race timers must have started the timer before the race actually began. Not a big deal; just annoying.

I didn't quite know what to expect. My current fitness was somewhat uncertain.  This week, Scott and Mike helped me realize that starting conservatively was the best approach (I often have a tough time doing this). I sure appreciate their advice. It payed off big-time later in the race.

I ran the first 6-7 miles with Justin and Mike. What an honor to run with both of them. Nothing quite beats sharing in pain with friends. Can't have 2 more quality guys than them. When I've previously done half marathons (which hasn't been a lot), I'm usually alone in la-la land. Today, I really enjoyed running with friends. Splits for miles 1-4 were:  5:27, 5:28, 5:39, 5:28. I wondered if I was being too conservative, but it felt right.

Miles 5 and 6 were 5:15 and 5:14. Justin started dropping back a bit at this point. I was hoping he'd stay longer, but my word:  he just did Ogden! He looked great today -- very smooth. I have nothing but respect for him. Complete animal!

Splits were a bit all over the place from this point on, but they felt right. I just went by feel on this one. Mike was with me for another 1.5 miles, and then started to fall back. Such an honor to run with him today. Mike has completely transformed. Just look how he performed last fall, and how he is now. He's a machine! Inspiring!

I felt great. I knew it was going to be a good one. (Wish all races were like that :) I noticed we were gradually reeling in 3 runners. It took several miles, but I finally passed them all. I passed 2 at about mile 9 (Nate Hornok and a guy named "Blue" from California), and Trevor Baker at close to mile 11. They all looked great. Trevor may have started out a bit fast (which may have cost him), but what a great, gutsy runner.

Splits for miles 7-12 were 5:28, 5:13, 5:16, 5:27, 5:32, 5:24. I still felt good. Of course, there was the usual distance running pain, but that is a good thing.

At mile 12, to my amazement, I heard footsteps. I never turn around, but because I was so surprised, I turned around to see who it was. It was Nate Hornok. I had never met Nate (until today), but I know he is a great runner. I experienced this first hand last summer, when Nate beat me handily in a 5k by over a minute. But, I never forgot that experience. I saw him at the starting line today. I had no idea where his fitness was at, but I told myself that if our fitness levels were similar, I would not lose to him today.

Anyway, I was impressed that he had caught me (he was right on my shoulder). But I was not about to let him beat me today. I knew that he had to have worked hard to catch me. So, I decided to immediately drop the hammer. My last mile was 5:14, and I put 20 seconds on him. My garmin said 13.16 miles, so my last .16 was :46 seconds.

I'm thankful for the result. I've got a long way to go, but I now have a baseline. Time to improve. Thanks a bunch to my boys (running crew) who drag me all over the streets of northern Utah county. And thanks to my wife for her unconditional support.

Here are some pictures. Sorry about the last one, but I need some advice. Both of my feet are thrashed with blisters (symmetric on both sides of both feet). Clearly, it is the shoes (Nike Lunar racers). I love the shoes, but I'd better stick with 5k's and 10k's with them. Nothing longer. I'm guessing the forefoot is either too wide or too narrow (tough for me to tell which). I could tell by mile 8 that I had some really bad blisters. But it didn't affect my race -- I don't let details like that make a difference.

My question:  any advice for racing flats I shoulder consider buying for longer races? I'm open for suggestions. Any brand is fine. I wear size 9.5, and my foot is standard width (maybe even slightly narrow, but not much).

AM:  10 easy miles from Scott's home with Reed, Mike, and Scott. My legs are sore, and I'm tired (no surprise).

PM:  Hamstring and upper body weights.

10 easy miles along Murdock canal trail. Ran with Mike and Scott for their warm-up prior to their track workout. I wanted no part of a track workout. My legs are definitely not ready yet.

10.5 easy miles from my home with Reed, Scott, and Mike.

10 easy miles up-and-down Provo canyon with Brandon, Mike, and Reed.

4 easy miles from my home with Mike.

Back-to-back 1/2 marathons? What was I thinking? Sometimes my intelligence can be questioned. And today might be one of those days.  But that's Ok. I had fun anyway.

I contacted the race director multiple times to see if he would let Mike and I into the race.  I didn't even decide to do this race until 2 days ago.  My legs were too thrashed, but then they somewhat turned the corner on Thursday.  The race director told me to take a hike -- "We are sold out," he kept saying. "We need to treat everyone fairly; no exceptions." Whatever. Oh well -- Mike and I decided to bandit the race, and it was a blast. And, I enjoyed drinking the Gatorade during the race and eating the food at the end of the race :)

I PR'd, but there's a definite asterisk for this one (boy is it aided). It was sure fun though. I felt very strong and comfortable. Didn't hurt that much (cardiovascular-wise). But my legs sure were telling me I did a 1/2 marathon a week ago. My plan was to go by feel, be conservative, and see what happened. I firmly decided beforehand I was not going to go out in sub-5 pace with the leaders. That will be for another day.

Ran the first ~ 9 miles with Mike and Nate (a strong runner and 2:28 marathoner from Idaho). Pace was conversational, and we actually talked a lot -- which is always fun during a race (maybe this means I wasn't going hard enough? -- actually it was plenty for me today). Nate made a strong and calculated move at mile 8.5, and I knew I couldn't quite cover it today. He put a minute on me during the final 4.5 miles.

Mike fell back a bit, but he ran an amazing race! Very impressive. Great things in store for him. I finished strong (I felt strong the whole way). I finished feeling like I had a lot left in the tank. Not ideal, if you think about just one individual race, but this was perfect for me today. With my race last week, this was plenty.

Zack and Scott ran very well! Their first 10 miles were sub-5 pace! It was fun to watch them pull away. Walter ran the race of the day! Absolutely incredible and inspiring! He just ran a marathon last week. I kept thinking he would come back to me, but he kept extending his lead. He eventually did come back to me, but it took me a long time to catch him. Animal!

Overall, a fun day. No racing for me for awhile.

My splits:  5:05, 5:14, 5:16, 5:04, 5:04, 5:08, 5:13, 5:11, 5:22, 5:19, 5:37 (hill), 5:22, 5:26, :20 (last .08). My Garmin chimed multiple times in the canyon -- indicating that satellite reception had been lost. So who knows how accurate these splits are. But, my total time of 1:08:49 is accurate. I would have taken 4th overall, and 3rd in my age group.

My wife ran the race and PR'd! A great day for her! But no running pictures today, because we both ran.

One last thing. And I apologize for the picture below. Absolutely disgusting, I know. In fact, I hear that Allie almost threw up her cheerios last weekend, while eating breakfast, when she saw the picture of my blisters. Today, I ran in my Asics DS racers (my Nike Lunar Racers I ran in last week gave me horrible, unprecedented blisters, and I've paid for it all week). I lubed up my blisters with vaseline prior to the race. My asics worked well today, but my blisters are MUCH worse, because they had barely started to heal from last week. By far the worst I've ever had. The new, red parts are the worst. I am in a bad way. Ok, enough whining. Sorry again about these pictures. I guess, because I'm a doctor, that pictures like this don't bother me. I'll be sure not to show you these again :)

10 miles easy from Scott's home with Chad and Scott. Snail pace. First couple miles were over 9 min/mile. We broke 8 min for the last mile (7:50). I am in no position to go faster. My legs haven't been this thrashed in a long time.

10 easy miles from my home.

10 miles easy along Jordan River Trail.

10 easy miles from my home.

2:30 am:  10 easy miles from my home. I'm going back-packing today with my family. We are leaving early, so I knew this was my only opportunity to run today and tomorrow.

No running today. Back-packing with family.

AM:  10 miles from Scott's home with Scott, Chad, Mike, Toni, and Reed. 4 mile warm-up, 2 mile warm-down. Did 3.15 mile tempo at 5:23 average pace. Felt great, even felt I could go faster, but I had some major GI issues brewing. I planned to go 4-5 miles, but by 3.15 miles, I had to make an emergency stop (you all know what I mean). Afterword, I did a 4:53 mile. The last mile was fun -- I enjoyed the kind of hurt that running a mile at that effort brings. I haven't experienced that kind of hurt for awhile. I need more of it.

PM:  5 easy miles on Provo River Trail. Hamstring and upper-body weights.

AM:  10 easy miles from my home with Scott, Karl, Toni, Spencer, Reed, and Mike. Big crew for a Tuesday. Fun run.

PM:  5 miles easy along Provo River Trail.

10 easy miles along Jordan River Trail with Mike, Scott, Toni, and Spencer. A lot less bugs this morning -- definitely a good thing.

3:30 am, 20 miles.

I'm sure glad this one is done. I'm going to be in Chicago this weekend at a conference, so I decided to do my long run today, since I won't be able to the rest of the week. Did 10 easy miles on the Murdock Canal Trail in Orem. Then met Brandon, Reed, Toni, and Karl, and run up and down Provo Canyon (10 miles).  Did 2.5 mile warm-up (so I was at 12.5 miles for the day), then ran 7 miles at tempo effort, but my times were certainly nothing to write home about. I ran between 5:45-6:10 pace (2.5 miles were up Provo Canyon, the rest were down; the miles above 6 min pace were going up the canyon). I had hoped to run faster, and I felt great cardiovascular-wise, but I felt depleted (energy-wise), dehydrated, and hot (it was warm for this early in the morning). I know, no excuses. I'm actually very pleased with the run. Good effort, and I got my long run done. Thanks to the crew for helping me get it done. Brandon, Reed, Toni, and Karl all looked great as they picked up the pace.

10 easy miles from Reed's home with Toni, Scott, and Reed. Until today, I had never previously run at all the day after a 20 miler. I felt better than expected. Hamstring and upper body weights.

AM:  10 easy miles early on treadmill at hotel before my conference in Chicago began.

PM:  5 easy miles on treadmill at hotel after my conference in Chicago ended.