Second Wind

Major rain storm this morning so I bagged the run and waited until 6:00 to go the YMCA with Meg.  Upon arriving at the YMCA we discovered that it was still not open and there were 20 or so upset patrons pacing around the entrance waitin for them to open.  The rain had stopped by this time so I decided to jog home and Meg was going to stay and see if she could get in eventually.  I have no idea how far I ran because I left the garmin at home since I was going to run on the treadmill, but I think I ran for about 25 minutes so I am calling it 3 miles.  Meg left the Y at about 6:20 and the doors were still not unlocked.  I would hate to be the manager that has to talk to her later today when she calls, not good.  This is the second time in a month this has happened to her.  The foot is feeling a little better today but not 100% yet.  Hopefully the next few days of easy running will help.

Time:  25:00  8:20/mile

B-E-A-utiful day! (to quote Bruce Nolan from "Bruce Almighty") It seems that the recent rain and wind did a really nice job of cooling it off at least for this morning.  Not sure what the temp was but it felt much cooler.  Took it really easy today and didn't worry about pace or time at all.  Feels like the foot thing is coming around nicely, although I do still have a little stiffness in my lower back and left calf for whatever reason.  I anticipate that those will subside by the end of the week with continued easy running.  Nothing else too exciting.  Meg reports that the Y was open on time today, I guess the phone call went well....

Time:  50:24  8:24/mile

Another really nice morning this morning.  The temp was 75 but it felt cooler with the overcast skies.  Decided to pick up the pace for a couple of miles today just to remind myself of the pain I will be feeling on Saturday.  The two miles came in right around 6:52 and they weren't very easy, infact they were dang tough.  I'm looking forward to the upcoming challenge but I am not looking forward to the pain which is sure to accompany me for 13 miles.  Two very easy runs of 5 and 3 miles over the next two days and then it's off to Fontana.

Time:  46:56  7:49/mile

Another nice overcast morning today and a nice easy run to go along with it.  Just winding it down today and tomorrow and taking it nice and easy.  Back and foot are feeling much better after the last few days of easy running so hopefully it will all come together on Saturday.

Time:  41:21  8:16/mile

Super easy slow run today.  Ran with my son so we took it pretty easy.  It was his first run to start training for cross country and he isn't much of a runner....yet.  Hopefully he will develop a love for running over time.  Took the whole day off work today for our trip down to Fontana so I slept in and ran at about 6:00.  Grandma is coming down to watch the kids and we are off for Fontana sometime this morning.  Here's to hoping it all goes well.

Time:  26:40  8:54/mile

I am totally pumped about how this race went today.  It went so much better than expected.  With cloud cover and cool temps, the conditions were almost perfect.  The only negative thing was a slight head wind which seemed pretty bad at times.  But lets start at the beginning.

Well things didn't start off really great on Friday night.  Friday night at our house is always, without question, pasta night.  So naturally Meg and I went looking for a pasta place.  The Macaroni Grill we went to last time down here was closed, bummer.  So instead of searching for another pasta joint we settled for Islands, which is also very good.  I had a semi-healthy turkey burger on wheat with steamed veggies.  Not quite the carb filled pasta I am used to but good all the same.

After dinner we made our way to our slightly flee baggy hotel and tried to crash and get a good nights sleep.  I slept okay for a hotel bed and woke of feeling pretty good.

The plan in the morning was to NOT take the first bus to the top of the mountain because it can be a bit cold up there.  As it turned out, they were running behind on the bussing and I ended up on the third bus up.  I spent about an hour and a half at the top of the mountian freezing my hind end off.  Met up with Rob and Mindy and one of their frinds and spent some time chatting with them before the race.  Without Meg at my side it can be pretty lonely waiting around for the race to start.  I'm sure glad I had the Waite's to hang with.  Rob and I did a really easy warm up just before the race and then we got lined up.  This is another time when I really miss Meg because she does a really good job of pushing her way up near the front of the starting line.  I didn't do as good a job and therefore ended up starting about 15 rows back.

Well the race finally got started about 15 minutes late and we were on our way.  I had already made up my mind before the race started that I was going to let it all hang out and go for the sub 1:30.  So here are the splits:

Mile 1 6:35 - I wanted to run the first two miles at 6:30-6-45 pace and this first mile worked out well.

Mile 2 6:36 - Nothing like consistency!

Mile 3 6:39 - The next 5 miles I wanted to keep between 6:45 and 6:50, I guess I pushed a bit too hard.

Mile 4 6:47 - That's about right.

Mile 5 6:41 - Still feeling really good and not a lot of fatigue at this point.

Mile 6 6:40 - Time for a gel and some water.  Not really sure I needed a gel but there it was in my pocket, so what the heck.

Mile 7 6:43 - This is the last of the real downhill section so I took pretty good advantage.  Did a pretty good job of running the tangents all the way down the canyon.

Mile 8 6:40 - Not bad for getting back to the relative flat lands.

Mile 9 6:45 - Still hanging tough.

Mile 10 6:44 - Last water stop, time to stop messing around and suck it up for the last 5K.  Made some comments to a couple of runners who had passed me in the last mile and who I was passing back, they had nothing to say......Losers.  My only goal from this point on was to dust these two goons.

Mile 11 6:40 - Did well at concentrating during this mile and was really able to start my final push.  Started doing calculations in my head to determine the slowest I could run and still go sub 1:30.  I think I determined that I could run 7's the rest of the way but wasn't taking any chances.

Mile 12 6:49 - Starting to lose it a bit and I can really feel the fatigue starting to set in.  One of the two goons passed me back during this mile and I just couldn't latch on.....oh well.

Mile 13 6:52 - Really starting to fade but I can see the balloons at the finish line so really dig down and push hard to get past that last chic in my sights.

Mile .17 1:05 - Pushed hard so I wouldn't get passed at the finish......didn't.

I was pretty much spent at the finish.  Nothing like the fatigue of a full marathon but surely spent to the point of not being able to maintain that pace for very much longer.

Meg was at the finish line snaping pictures.  She did a great job in the 5K and probably pushed the hardest since being injured.  Her time was 24:43 with an average pace just under 8:00/mile.....SWEET!

Race was run really well except for the late start and as I have said before, I highly recommend this event to anyone who needs and nice weekend getaway to So Cal.

Walked for about 2 hours along the beach at Newport Beach.  What a fun time to just go walking without a care in the world.  Quads are pretty sore still so I don't know what tomorrow will bring for running, guess we'll just wait and see.

Really super easy run today.  I was very surprised this morning that the first step didn't kill my quads.  Don't get me wrong, I'm definately sore, just not as sore as I thought I would be this morning, not sore enough to alter my gait.  So since I was feeling farily well right from the start I decided to just make it a really easy 7 today.  Ran the first three with Meg.  She is doing really well except for her arm which is still bothered by the bouncing from running.  I think her plan is to start out running 3-4 with me everymorning for the next few weeks and then go to the Y for some cross training after that.  I'm pretty sure she will have no problem being ready for SGM.

Time:  1:01:22  8:46/mile

Another slow and easy 7 today.  I have the beginnings of a cold coming on and when I woke up today I felt like had been run over by a dump truck.  Thought about skipping the run and staying in bed but somehow found the will power to get up and go.  The last few days along one part of my route I have been having a close encounter with a black bird.  This thing thinks it's pretty funny to swoop within inches of my head.  I guess I need to start running with a broom just in case.....

Time:  1:00:44  8:41/mile

Felt even worse than yesterday this morning so I decided to scrap the run.  The cold is mostly in my nose and throat but it is making my hold body ache.  I guess we'll try again tomorrow.

Decided to take one more day off due to this cold.  Hopefully it's just one more day.

Finally made it out today.  Nothing too exciting, just 6 easy.  Not totally over the cold yet but definately on the mend.  Hopefully it will all be cleared up by next week.

Time:  49:58  8:20/mile

Tough run today!  Got up and ran 7 around my neighborhood.  The first 3 were with my son Michael and we took it pretty easy.  The next 4 were alone and I picked up the pace a little bit for those.  Got done just in time to run over the high school and run with my Ragnar team.  We ran another 7 over there and by the final 3 miles of that run I had dropped back and was out of gas.  I think my cold and slow recovery from Fontana slowed me down today.  Struggled throught those last 3 miles at just under 9 minute pace and then went and watched my company win the tug o war at the final event of the corporate challenge.  We won the event and the overall first place for the 3rd year in a row.

Time:  1:58:22  8:27/mile

Rest.

Six at the usual pace today.  I'm still fighting off this cold a little bit today although it is improving slowly.  I am also still recovering a little bit from the half marathon over a week ago with some little aches here and there.  Nothing serious, just enough to make me be cautious for the rest of the week.  Need to be really careful right now because after Ragnar, marathon training is going to be in full swing.

Time:  48:50  8:18/mile

Nice easy miles again today.  Overcast and nice today, this has got to be one of the coolest Junes on record so far.  May was hotter than average and now June is cooler than average.....go figure.  It looks like the Ragnar weather is shaping up to be pretty good.  I hope the forcast holds, nothing like running in the rain an cold.

Time:  0:49:55  8:19/mile

Continuing the same pattern of easy running this week.  Ran for about a mile with Meg before she needed to give her arm a break.  She's slowly easing back into it one baby step at a time.  Felt a little out of sync today for whatever reason.  I just haven't felt real great since Fontana.  Even though the mileage will probably start creeping up over the next several weeks I plan to keep the pace pretty reasonable until I feel back to normal.

Time:  33:14  8:18/mile

Nice easy run with Dad, Meg, Sister and a friend in St. George this morning.  Dad wanted to run 9:15s thos morning so we kept it really easy.  We'll be heading up to Logan this morning early and then it's time to kick back and relax and enjoy some cooler weather before the race.  Can't wait to get back up to Cache Valley, I love that place.....in the summer.

Time:  36:26  9:07/mile

Team:  Fear not the end will come!

Place:  34 of 162 men's teams  15 of 72 in the men's open division

Total time:  26:51:05  an overall improvement over last years time taking into account the course was 7 miles longer this year.

WOW!  What an amazing time!

Let me start off by saying that this years Ragnar experience was so much better than last year.  Last year was fun but I was so ill prepared.  I really didn't do a good job last year of eating, resting and staying hydrated.  This year I made it a point to be super hydrated and make sure to eat enough calories and try to get at least some shut eye.  I feel like I did as good a job as I could have considering I ran pretty hard 3 times within 24 hours.  I was tired by the end, but I wasn't completely destroyed like last year.  Best of all I was able to hang out with some great company and have a million laughs, see some very beautiful country and do what I love to do most.

I signed up for runner 6 this year because I swore I would never be runner 11 again.....and I won't.  Van 1 has it so much easier than Van 2.  I don't know if anyone would agree with that comment but both of us in Van 1 this year that did Van 2 last year were in complete agreement that Van 1 is much easier.  We got a longer rest after our second leg so we could actually get some sleep and then we finish up on some relatively easy final legs and we are done, showered and ready to go while Van 2 is struggling to climb up a cliff.

My first leg started at 5:45 in the afternnon.  The first mile and a half of this run starts off with an uphill climb on a cruddy dirt road.  Not the best running surface in the world, but going uphill above 6,000 feet I wasn't going very fast so it wasn't much of a problem.  After reaching the top of the hill the next 3 miles of this leg are very steep down hill on the same crummy road.  The loss in elevation over this section is about 1,200 feet.  Ya, it's steep and treacherous!  My splits for these miles were all in the 6:30 range and it was all I could do to stay upright.  I had a couple of scary moments down the hill when my ankle started to roll, but luckily I was able to catch myself.  It was a three mile run where I stared at the ground the entire way looking for safe landings.

From 4.5 miles to the end the road flatens out and turns to pavement.  It felt great to be back on solid ground again but it was hot.  There was absolutely no shade for the rest of the run and I was roasting like a toated cheeser.  Not long after hitting the pavement there were some people on the side of the road with water bottles and they offered to spray me.  They even started speaking to me in Italian and called me by name.  Confused, I hollered to find out who they were.  It turns out they were the Gardiniers from my mission in Italy 20 years ago.  I assume they were part of a team but that was the only time I saw them for the rest of the race....pretty cool!  Great to see you guys and great to get a nice cool misting!

I stuggled a bit with these last few miles to the finish but was able to maintain a respectable pace in the 7:30 range.  I didn't want to go all out in my first leg of the race because I knew what was coming in my next leg.  I felt a little beat up at the end of this leg due to the steep downhill but the fatigue factor hadn't really set in so I was good.

After chatting with the guys from Van 2 for a few minutes we headed up to Snow Basin.  On the way up I sucked down a Muscle Milk for recovery.  When we got there I ate the first half of my pasta salad with chicken.  Meg made this great pasta salad for me and it was absolutely delicious.  I also chowed on a piece of whole wheat bread for the Old Grist Mill in Logan, good stuff!  Then I layed in the van and tried to get some rest.  I don't know that I slept much but it was pretty restful.

Leg 18 for me started just before 1:00 am on Saturday morning.  The weather was great and the temp was a perfect 53 degrees.  The fun thing about this leg was that we met up with the Road Crew van and I was able to chat with Mark and Kathie for a few minutes before starting.  Kathie was also running this leg so I am interested to see how it went for her.  The other cool thing during this leg was that Mark jumped out of his van a couple of times and cheered me on.  It was so dark out there that the first time I saw him I was thinking it was someone from my van until I got right up to him.  The second time I came up to him I knew who it was.  Thanks for the cool little pick me up Mark!  It was really great to see you guys!

As I said before, this leg of the race was very, very dark for me.  There seemed to be very little van traffic for the first 3-4 miles of this leg and no street or house lights.  As I came up to the first turn in the road I had to run right up to the sign so I could see which way to turn....dark, dark, dark.  I was quite happy as I came upon other runners and when vans would pass so I actually knew I was on the right road. 

The first 3-4 miles of this leg are pretty mild rolling hills and slightly uphill.  Things start to get a little ugly around miles 4-6 as this road make a really steep ascent to the exchange point.  I really struggled with these last few miles and my pace showed it.  My pace on the last couple of miles was well into the 9:00/mile range and I was passing lots of walkers, it was pretty brutal.  Just before the last climb I ran right next to a couple of mule dear just off the road and I had to yell and clap at them to get them out of the way.  That was a nice little wake up call before the last really steep climb and then it was over....whew!  Oxygen please!

We then headed off to North Summit HS where I shoveled in the rest of my pasta salad and bread and then slept on some mats on the gym floor for about 2 -3 hours.  It felt great to actaully get some sleep this year.

In the morning we had a bit of a struggle getting our first guy to exchange 24.  We thought we were where we needed to be but as it turns out we were at exchange 23.  Talk about panic city as we had already unloaded our runner and had to get him back in the van and get to 24.  We made it with about 3 minutes to spare and took a little crap from the guys in van 2 about getting too much beauty rest at our last stop.......nice.

Distance: 7.96 miles Time:  1:08:12  8:33/mile

I started my last leg at 9:45 Saturday morning with overcast skies and nice temps.  I was starting to feel the fatigue at this point and knew this last leg was going to be a bit of a struggle.  As it turns out I got chiced and I also got passed by another guy, but I think I had about 10 other kills during the run so it wasn't a complete loss.  The fatigue and elevation killed me on this run and I struggled extremely hard to keep the legs moving.  In the last mile or so of the leg there was a section where we had to cross a major road and they had no traffic control.  I was a little peeved standing there waiting for the light to change but when I started running again, I realized that the little breather helped me to feel much better.  I was able to increase my pace for each mile of this leg and finished the last quarter at a 6:45/mile pace.

When I finished and was able to chat with the guys from Van 2 I began to feel a bit guilty and sorry for those guys who had some of their toughest legs ahead.  It also looked like a major rain storm was just waiting to drop on them.  With that thought in mind we went to a really nice home in Park City where these guys had stayed on Thursday night and we showered and then went to lunch and hung out.  Then we headed over to the finish line where we ran in with our last guy and got dumped on big time by a passing thunderstorm.  We took the best pictures we could, collected our medals and then I jumped in the truck with my wife and girls and we drove to St. George. 

I drove to Nephi and then Meg took over because I couldn't keep my eyes open any more.  When I finally got to bed on Saturday night I don't think I moved all night.  Today I am feeling it in my quads pretty good, I guess we'll see what the damage is during tomorrows run.

Distance:  3.25 miles Time:  23:44  7:18/mile

I would definatly like to do Ragnar again.  I think some of the funnest things about this race are the great company, good laughs, team spirit, excelent scenery and the test of your endurance and will power.

Happy Fathers day everyone!  I was able to rest and recover from Ragnar for most of the day thanks to my lovely wife taking care of everything.

Super slow and not so easy run.  Quads are pretty much hammered but I was able to get out and do a 5 mile death march.  Felt much better by the end but only because I kept it really easy and slow.  This week will be a recovery week and then then it will be time to get serious for SGM.

Time:  45:59  9:12/mile

Went to bed last night with a headache and woke up this morning with a killer headache.  Got up and tried to go for a run but the headache got even worse once the blood started pumping so I bagged the run, went home and took two Tylenol and layed on the couch for an hour.  Since this is a recovery week, a day off will probably do me some good.

No headache today baby!  Felt pretty good this morning so I stepped up the pace a little bit and enjoyed a nice run.  Still have a little tightness in my left calf but nothing terrible.  I really need to get to bed earlier, I was up late last night working on a little slide show of our Ragnar team.  Fun stuff.

Time:  48:42  8:07/mile

Standard, run of the mill, 7 miler today.  The only exciting thing that happened today was a sudden rain shower during mile 7 which ended when I did.  Other than that, just plugging through the miles.

Time:  57:56  8:17/mile

Same run, different day.  I'm still feeling some tightness in the same calf and my lower back is bothering me a bit.  May take a little longer to recover from Ragnar than I thought.  I guess we'll just play it by feel, as usual, and take things as they come.  Hot and humid today.  Hot, I can do, the humidity is what kills me.  I would have a really hard time living in an area where I had to deal with humidity every day,  blaughghg.  My baby turns 9 today.  Happy Birthday Kiara!  My next youngest turns 11 on Monday.  Where did all the years go?

Time:  57:53  8:16/mile

This morning I woke up and felt the best I have all week, must be the weekend.  Today I decided to try something new.  I decided to run by feel and not by garmin.  Since this is a recovery week I thought I would try something I have never tried since owning my garmin, run without looking at it for an entire run.  I set my garmin on the screen that shows only the heart rate, avg hr and hr zone.  The run went well.  I kept that pace at what felt comfortable and ran without a care in the world.  I actually took notice of my surroundings as I ran, noticed things I hadn't before and just plain enjoyed myself.  At about 10 miles I started to feel fatigue kick in and just let the pace adjust accordingly.  When I got to the end of the run I was pleasently surprised to discover how it went.  Here are the splits:  8:32, 8:08, 8:12, 8:13, 8:22, 7:55, 7:59, 7:48, 8:02, 7:59, 8:12, 8:08, 8:16, 8:28.  Easy warm up, faster middle miles and slow cool down.  I was surprised to see the sub 8:00 miles as I felt the pace was fairly slow today.  I actually got to the end of the run and felt better than usual, maybe as a result of not staring at my watch the whole time and adjusting my pace.

Time:  1:54:23  8:10/mile

Rest.

Going to slowly step up the mileage over the next several weeks and it starts today.  Woke up a little late this morning to do 8 miles so I had to hustle to fit them in along with the yoga and an early morning birthday party for my 11 year old daughter Jamie.  Felt pretty good this morning with no major complaints, no calf tightness, life is good.  I don't know what the temp was this morning but man it is really heating up lately.  I think summer is finally here and now it's two long months of super warm running.  I really need to start getting up a half an hour earlier to beat the sunrise and the heat.

Time:  1:06:00  8:15/mile

I think today was the hottest day of the year so far.  Since talking so much about the temperature here yesterday I decided to check this morning before my run to see what we were at.  The temp was 87 degrees and cloudy so there was also a bit of humidity in the air.  It was pretty icky today.  Everything felt good but it was just a bit too warm for my liking.  At least the sun wasn't beating down on me on top of the already warm temps.  I'm glad the birthdays are over for the rest of the training cycle, all always eat like a pig.  Now I just have to worry about the family reunion camping trip next week when I will have to run above 8,000 feet for a couple of days at Duck Creek.

162 miles for the month is below my average for the year but considering 3 sick days and tapering for a couple of races it's actaully better than expected.  If I stay healthy, it should climb above 200/month through September.

Time:  57:24  8:12/mile