Top of Utah Half Marathon today. I had been approaching this race wanting it to be a big effort, as it will be my last real race before the marathon in November, and also it’s an excellent course with excellent competition with excellent weather. You don’t want to pass that up. Training since Des News has been good. Lots of miles and lots of marathon-pace running. However, I knew that our baby due date was pretty close to this race, so I didn’t want to get too wrapped up in thinking about it. But our baby came on Thursday night, we were all home on Friday night, and I was granted permission to run today, provided that I came straight home!

Not a ton of sleep the last two nights, but given the circumstance not terrible either. Probably about 5 hrs each night. But I was fairly fatigued from all the running around and from coaching Stacy through the delivery. Not really physically tired, but more of the nerves being shot. What Sasha calls “neural fatigue”.

Got up around 5AM, and ate my breakfast of oatmeal with brown sugar, vanilla yogurt, and cut-up peaches. Orange juice and coffee for the road. Drove into Providence and got a sweet parking spot on the street that would give me a quick exit right after the race.

Got on one of the earlier buses, shuttled up, used the potty, and then warmed up about two miles up the canyon and back. Took another potty stop. No Narnia this year, but I did get in the fastest line. I considered using another set of hidden toilets, which are pit toilets about 300m down the canyon, but by doing so I’d be risking my life my running on a road with no shoulder with buses going in both directions. Decided it was too dangerous, and more of a Mordor than a Narnia, as far as hard-to-find magical places go.

They miraculously started the race very close to on time. I really don’t know how they shuttled 2300 runners up the canyon, and then backed everyone up to the start line, and only started a few minutes behind schedule. My only guess is that Kris Sidoway (RD) is a taskmaster. She is wicked good with that megaphone.

I knew who my competition would be beforehand, from looking at the online start list. The favorite to win would be Patrick Rotich, the Kenyan who’s been training in Provo this summer. Also there was Teren Jameson, two-time defending champ and course record holder. If I slipped up, then Steve Shepherd would be there to teach me a lesson. He’s a former Weber State runner (I think), whose had some strong showings at the Hobbler Half and Des News 10K this year, among a few other races. But I had beaten him head-to-head at Des News. Patrick had beat Teren head-to-head at several races this summer, and Teren had beaten me head-to-head at a couple races this summer. So we seemed to have a pecking order, although I wanted to overthrow. I like the half marathon distance, and I like my home course, so I wanted to let it rip and see what happens. Although Teren is much speedier and more talented than me, I’ve been putting in a lot more miles, so I figured this longer distance was my only chance to beat him this year. Patrick seems to have been racing himself into better and better shape over the summer, but I’d be willing to spar with him here in Logan. So hopefully it would be an interesting and fast race. Weather was a little warm (high 50s), but a favorable canyon wind (although not very strong).

The race started, and as I expected, both Teren and Patrick got out hard. Patrick took the lead from the gun. I wanted to keep contact from the beginning, and caught up to Teren during the mile, with Patrick a few seconds ahead. Steve Shepherd joined our pack to make three. First mile split was 4:51. I wanted 4:55’s down the canyon, so a little fast, but I’m willing to take some risks on this course.

Teren and I ran side-by-side for the next mile and eventually started closing the gap on Patrick, who was not running tangents very well (he actually got a lot better with tangents as the race went on). Steve remained on my trail-leg. Mile 2 was 5:00, the slowest split during the first 8 miles.

We caught Patrick near the end of the second mile, or maybe the beginning of the third mile. The pace felt hard to me up through now, and then it started getting really crazy. Kenyan runners are known for their crazy surging, and Patrick did nothing to dispel this notion. For the next 4 miles, we would catch him, pass him, and then he’d blitz and pull ahead with a gap. Teren made that worse by surging hard on all of the bigger downhills, and pass Patrick. Then Patrick would pass him back when it flattened, and eventually I would catch both of them. I’m not much of a surger. Steve Shepherd dropped pretty hard during the third mile.

Mile 3 was 4:56, Mile 4 was 4:51, Mile 5 was 4:45, Mile 6 was 4:49. 29:14 through 6 miles. Youtch! But I was feeling good, despite all the games. We had a tailwind for these miles. It was not a huge canyon wind, but it extended up the canyon more than usual, although it did not persist much on Hollow Rd. So definitely a helpful wind, but did not aid things as much as some other years. Probably worth 40s over the duration of the race.

After 6 miles, we near the end of the canyon, Patrick had gapped Teren, and Teren had gapped me by little. Eventually I worked my way up to Teren, and ran alongside him for a little while, but then surprisingly dropped him soon thereafter. Mile 7 was another 4:49.

After the 7-mile mark, we got onto Hollow Rd. Hollow Rd is still nice downhill, more gradual, but just as fast, perhaps faster due to the evenness of the gradient. Patrick had maybe 10-15s on me on Hollow Rd, but he was certainly not coming back. I was hoping he would slow on the hill at Mile 10, but in the back of my mind I remembered that it’s usually me that dies on that hill. My pace slowed a little on Mile 8 to 4:54, but still where I wanted to be!

Mile 9 is still all on Hollow Rd. It’s a speedy section, but I could feel my pace slowing. This mile was 5:04 for me. Patrick was running faster than that, evidently. I could feel my wheels starting to fall off. Too many sub-4:50 miles earlier, which was a bit out of the zone I’m trained to run in.

During Mile 10 we exit Hollow Rd and run on Hwy-165. Still a very mellow downhill, but close to flat. 5:05 for this mile. Well, if I can at least hold this pace, it will still average out to a huge PR. 49:09 for the 10-mile split, which is on pace for well under 1:05:00. I’m hoping that I will magically bound up the 1.5-mile long hill coming up in order to do this.

Miles 11 & 12 are the hardest in the race. The first half of 11 is still flat, but then we start going up. All of Mile 12 is uphill, and then it crests, and Mile 13 is a net downhill to the finish. As I feared, I slowed even more on Mile 11, to 5:14. But Patrick wasn’t pulling ahead anymore, so he was evidently hurting too. I laid an egg on Mile 12, though, with a 5:31 split. We were on the grid system now, and I could see that Patrick was about 2/3 of a block up from me, which is about 25-30s.

We finally crested the painful hill (but not soon enough) right after Mile 12. I tried to get my legs under me, but there was nothing there. It looked like Patrick was pulling away again this last mile. When I looked at my watch at Mile 12, I also realized that I wasn’t going to break 1:05, which was a bit of a kick in the pants, after thinking it was a certainty just a couple miles ago. But it’s hard to pull out that kind of time while plunking a 5:14 and a 5:31 as successive splits. Those really threw it off. But I bore down and did the best I could. I finally got some turnover near the end. Hit Mile 13 with a 5:12. I’ve done it faster other years, but I’ll have to take it. Again, too many too-fast miles early on.

Last 0.1 was 30s. Official time was 1:05:38, good for 2nd place overall. It would have been the course record, except I got beat. Patrick Rotich won with 1:05:10, Teren was 3rd with 1:07:35, Steve Shepherd was 4th with 1:08:37.

After I finished, I literally kept jogging, and grabbed my bag, and then headed to my car to take off back home in order to not be a deadbeat husband and father. I had arranged for Walter to pick up my prize money at the awards ceremony, so we’ll all see how honest Walter is now with 150 bucks! (thanks Walter!). Hopefully he won something good with my bib number in the raffle. I stopped in Logan to get gas (almost empty), and then realized that I grabbed the wrong clothes bag when I opened it up to grab a dry shirt, and there was women’s clothes inside! Turns out the bib number on the bag was one number different that mine, and the last name was Petersen. Bah. So I drove back to Providence, put the wrong bag back, and grabbed mine. Ended up bumping into a lot of people and chit-chatted too much, my quick exit and early return home was ruined. Still got home at 9:15AM, but I would have been 8:30AM had I not needed to turn back. Oh well. Stacy still loves me. Took Seth off her hands and cooled down with him in the stroller when I got home.

I’m happy with this race, especially given the what an eventful week it was. I felt sharp; although I paid for an aggressive early pace, sometimes it’s worth it to give a hard pace a shot. This time is an aided half marathon PR for me, beating my UVM time by 27s, and beating my last year’s TOU Half time by 64s. Moreover, I finally got my sub-1:06, which is a nice stepping stone. Now I just need to stick the last few miles and get a sub-1:05. But it was a nice race amongst other nice races for the year, and does not discourage me from thinking I can get the marathon qualifier.

I’ve had a nice string of half marathons over the span of 2009 and 2010:

• Indy Mini, May 2009 - 1:08:35 (unaided PR)
• Seattle RnR, June 2009 - 1:08:12 (unaided PR)
• TOU Half, Aug 2009 - 1:06:42 (aided PR)
• The Other Half, Oct 2009 - 1:09:50 (unaided, altitude PR)
• Indy Mini, May 2010 - 1:08:05 (unaided PR)
• UVM Half, June 2010 - 1:06:05 (aided PR)
• TOU Half, Aug 2010 - 1:05:38 (aided PR)

These are all consecutive half marathons, so it’s cool to PR every time I race (although I probably shouldn’t count The Other Half…). I’ve also had two 15K PRs and a 10K PR during this time span. So it’s been a great couple years, and I’m very thankful and blessed to be given this second lease on running, after thinking it was all over a couple years ago.

No more races until Indy in November. It’s just a lot of miles and a lot of workouts for the next two months to prepare for the marathon.

Des News 10K today. I enjoy this race because it’s so competitive, and I got a full order of competition today! Definitely both the deepest and top-heavy Des News field I’ve run in. It’s sick how fast people ran today, but sick in a good way. It’s great to have a race like this right here in Utah. Too bad it’s all downhill, as no one outside the state gives the race any respect. But it’s a great race.

Anyway, Stacy, Seth, and I drove down to SLC on Friday afternoon. Went early so that we could take our new (used) Volvo to the dealer (only dealer in the state) to do some magical dealer-only work (ie - turn off the air bag light). Managed to escape only spending $110 for that and a few other things.

We then shacked up at the Skyline Inn on Foothill Dr., just a couple miles from the start line. Ordered in pizza for dinner and sat around and gorged ourselves on TV (we have not have tv reception at home since we built our deck–no big loss). Went on to sleep my worst night of sleep ever. Absolutely terrible beds there, plus the room was too warm (weak AC). Wished I was in nice, cool Cache Valley. Got probably 3 hours of sleep, but I was ready to get up at 4:30AM, simply to get our of that dang bed. To top off the terrible bed, the room had no coffee machine. Even our hotel in Provo, a stone’s throw from BYU, had a flippin’ coffee machine. Oh well. My nervous system was pretty amp’ed for this race, so I was quite wide awake and ready to go anyway. But it would have helped with “other things”.

Ate a banana and a couple mini-Cliff bars, and headed out to the course. Ran there, so it was about a 2 or 3-mile warmup. Conditions were cooler than I thought it might be, which was good, but still quite a bit warmer than what I’m used to. When I turned up Wakara, I noticed that we would have a favorable wind direction for that part of the race. Perhaps that helped make the race times so fast. I’m sure the nice temperatures helped too.

Took a potty stop, then warmed up a little more, did some strides, sat in the grass, and generally wasted time. Listened to a guy cuss up a storm because he realized he forgot his iPOD. Totally ruined his day. If you hate running that much, then don’t do it! This guy was angry beyond belief, though, probably one of the same people who threw a fit on Ragnar’s facebook page a few weeks ago.

Just before the race started, I bumped into an old teammate from Calvin College, Kris Koster. Kris was a freshman when I was senior. He went on to be a multi-All American, and ran around 30-flat on the track in the 10K, and under 14:30 in the 5K too. He has family in Utah, and was here for a funeral, and jumped in Des News at 5PM last night. Pretty cool to see him after 9 years, and it definitely made my day (and helped my race, see below).

Chatted with a few others, and weaseled my way into the start. I somehow ended up 3 rows deep, and couldn’t get any further up, being a 125-lb weakling and all. So I settled for 3 rows back, behind all the kids, including an 11-year-old whose mom personally insisted be up there.

They started the race right on time (this race is always very well-organized), and we roared out. Always a fast start, this Des News 10K. I quickly found myself in about 30th place or so. I got out from the crowd and wormed my way up, and was probably in about 20th by the turn onto Wakira. I couldn’t believe how far up the leaders were, and how far back I was from my “peer group”. I could see Jeff and Brad O. way the heck up there, and Seth Pilkington a little ahead of them. Leaders were almost out of site by a half mile. I figured that I was just having a tank of a race and going really slow. First mile split was 4:31. Okaaay. My goal pace for the first two miles for 4:35-4:38. I was not slow; everyone else was just extremely fast. Hopefully they would all pay.

I started running down the people that went out too hard. Knowing that my first mile was 4:31, I pretty much figured everyone went out too hard, and I was destined to win. Well, I didn’t really think that, but I figured a lot of guys would come back to me, including Jeff and Brad. One-by-one I picked people off the next few miles. Mile 2 was 4:37 (9:08 for 2 miles). The pace felt quite hard (never felt relaxed at any point), and the downhill was hurting my back. I actually accelerated more and gained more ground on the flatter sections and on the uphill sections.

Mile 3 was tougher than I remember, and actually had quite a bit of uphill. Where did that come from? But again, I gained the most ground on the uphill, so although painful, it was good for my race. I also noticed a guy in dark maroon coming back to me, and I immediately recognized the distinct stride with the high leg kick: Kris Koster, my old college teammate. It’s funny how you can recognize a stride after all those years. I was gaining on Kris, and he was the link between myself and the next pack ahead of him (Jeff, Brad, etc). Mile 3 was 4:50 (13:59 for 3 miles).

I was targeting 4:45 for the next couple miles, and then Mile 6 is always a death-march. Not that you can really “target” much at Des News. You more just load and go, and hope for the best. It’s not a cerebral race. I caught Kris during the 4th mile. “Pack it up” I said to him as I pulled along side him. Got a lot of warm fuzzy college memories. Calvin College XC was well-known in DIII for its pack running. It’s what gave us our strength, and how we won championships.  I ended up running with Kris the rest of the way, and we reeled in people together. Hit Mile 4 in 4:44 (18:43), so back to an ideal pace.

We made our turn onto the parade route, and of course by this point things were very uncomfortable. I really dislike any race shorter than 15K at this point of my running career. Too much pain, too much turnover, too much breathing, not enough rhythm. Kris and I continued to work together. Right around Mile 5, Kris looked up and said, “I lift my eyes up to the hills,” a reference to Psalm 121 “

¹ I lift up my eyes to the hills—
where does my help come from?

 ² My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.”

Words of encouragement to me and also a reminder to enjoy God’s creation that we were running in. Laboring but spurred on, we reeled in and passed a guy in red, and Jeff, Brad O., and Jon Kotter were coming back, and it was inevitable that we would catch them. Mile 5 was 4:45 (23:29), perfect.

I don’t remember, but I think we finally caught Jeff & company with about 1 mile left. I sat on the pack for a few moments to gather some strength (I’ve been feeling pretty gassed since Mile 2!), and then made a move on the inside before the turn onto 900 S. Passed everyone, but then I couldn’t finish deal, and we all stayed packed up. Made the turn onto 900 S, and started the uphill section to the finish. This part is always hard, and this year was no different. The work I’d done the last 3 miles to catch everyone was definitely set in, and I no pop.

Eventually Jeff, Brad, and Kotter all passed me back, and then ground me up the hill. I sat and hoped for a good kick. Ugghh. Not feeling the fire either. Wish I had done some 10K training, as I promised myself that I would, but the last month was just miles and tempos, nothing hard. Had a little gap from the pack at Mile 6, but was 5:05 (28:34), which actually is my best Des News mile 6 split, so I shouldn’t complain. Was 2 seconds beyond my peer group that I needed to beat, so still within striking range!

Unfortunately I didn’t strike, and those guys somehow put another 3 seconds or so on me in the last 0.2. I guess Brad is a sub-1:50 800m guy, so that doesn’t help (I ran 2:02, almost 10 years ago), but there’s still no reason it couldn’t have gone the other way for me. Kris had fallen back from my a little bit on 900 S (the uphill at altitude probably hurt him more, being a flatlander), so I remained ahead of him. Saw the clock for the first time right before I finished and realized that was going to kill my time goal of sub-30:00, and would be in the 29:30s. I had no idea. So that was good! Last 0.2 was 64s.

Was glad to be done, glad to hit my time goal, and glad to beat my course best by 49 seconds. Official chip time was 29:38, gun time was 29:39. I’ll go with chip time here. Starting 3 rows back did not help, although running 4:30 for the first mile (opposed to 4:20) probably did help.

That said, I was a little shocked to get my bum handed to me on a platter en-route to a 29:38. 3 years ago that time would have been good for 3rd overall and 2nd Utahn; this year it was good for 13th overall and ?? Utahn. Not top 3, that’s for sure. But it was all very exciting racing, and fun to work my way up in a good field like that, to recognize people as rivals and reel them in over the duration of a race, and to find an old teammate and work together with him (running with Kris was definitely the highlight of my day, by far).

Another positive was that we were all reeling in Teren Jameson over the last couple miles. Never came into contact with him, but I’m always glad just to have him visible. He ended up about 15 seconds ahead. He is running the TOU Half, so perhaps home-field will give me the advantage I need to finally slay the dragon? Jeff has owned me this year at the shorter distances (5K/10K). Perhaps we need to race another half marathon? TOU Half, Jeff? But I least I had to opportunity to make the pass in this race, whereas at Law Day I couldn’t even made contact! And thankfully  I don’t have to race any more 5K’s or 10K’s for a year or two or three. Maybe ever.

So in a nutshell, it was a PR effort, and a big course best. Great time and good progress compared to my 2007 time. I think I am on track for where I need to be to make a legitimate Trials shot. I get better as I go out in distance, so I don’t put too much stock in 10Ks (especially downhill ones), but I have every reason to be encouraged because I can compare to my ‘07 time. The big negative was not being able to finish out yet another race. Although I have not been falling apart at the end, my kick and my killer instinct has not been there at any race this year. I believe that more than 50% of the problem is just attitude and emotional fatigue from the race. True the lack of speedwork didn’t help, but most of it is mental. It can be improved.

After the race, I talked with Kris and a few other people for a while, then cooled down back to my hotel with Kris and Teren. Felt pretty good during the cooldown, and worked out most of my calf and quad soreness during the 4-mile run. Hopefully I’ll feel good on Monday…for the start of marathon training! Everything I’ve done so far this winter, spring, and summer, has led up to this point. Just get me to 14 weeks before the marathon, healthy and fit. And that’s where I am. The race is Nov. 6. I am healthy. I am fit. Just need the specific training, and to endure the next 3 months.

Ran the Blacksmith Fork Freedom Run today, a rare 15K race. I got up a little before 5AM, ate breakfast, and then grabbed my flats and jogged down to Carson’s house for about a 2-mile pre-warmup warmup. Then we all carpooled with Carson’s brother and sister, and one of their friends.

Got to the start line around 6:10, so plenty of time. We warmed up by running two miles up the canyon, and then back down, so 4 miles total. Perhaps it was too much pre-race running (6 miles total), but I needed the mileage more than the race.

Weather was pretty good. Nice and cool at the start line, maybe around 50 degrees. Didn’t see any wind while driving up the canyon, so I was not counting on the famous Blacksmith Fork tailwind. Oh well. Managed one good portapot stop, and then it was time for the race to start. Narnia did not exist this year. Actually, the two portapots were there, but the race portapots were not in front of them, so they were exposed for the whole world to see. The magic was gone. But I used them anyway.

They actually started on time, which was great compared to last year. They were really ready for the crowd this year. I took it out pretty hard the first mile. My top-tier goal was to run around 46:00, which would be 15:20 per 5K, and about 4:57/mile. A tough goal, but I split pretty close to that at Utah Valley!

First mile was 4:58, but I knew it wasn’t happening. Was working too hard and breathing too hard. The little tiny rollers in the canyon felt like big hills, and the downhills didn’t feel big enough. My running felt uncoordinated, like I was lumbering rather than smoothly gliding. In other words, I was feeling pretty flat. But from taking it out hard, I was by myself from the gun, and it stayed that way to the finish.

I thought perhaps it would get better, but the race rolled by pretty much the same the whole. I mean, it wasn’t terrible or anything, in fact it was pretty decent, but my last race was UVM, so I think I was expecting to feel like that again. Mile 2 was 5:04, then 5:06 for Mile 3. 5K was probably about 15:40.

Miles 4-6 were more of the same. Still on the downhill, but indeed we did not get a canyon wind today. In fact we picked up a slight headwind by the middle of the race and stayed through the end. Nothing major, but you notice it when you’re trying to race into it. 5:06, 5:02, and 5:14 for Miles 4-6. Not sure what happen on Mile 6, probably the headwind picking up. 10K split was probably about 31:40. Waayyy slower than UVM. I think I’ve decided that Provo Canyon is quite a bit faster than Blacksmith Fork, though.

The end of mile 7 is the big hill of the course. Tried to work the hill, and hit 5:19 for the split. The first bit of mile 8 is uphill too, and then it’s pretty flat. 5:22 for mile 8. By now I was out in the sun, but thankfully it stayed quite cool out, and was still great temperatures for racing. Mile 9 is downhill, with a really sweet downhill at the end of the mile as you approach downtown Hyrum. 5:09 for Mile 9. Then the last 0.3 to the finish was 1:29, as I tried to pick it up some.

My “official” finish time was 47:50. The timing mat was not turned on yet, so we used one of the race official’s watch time, which matched mine pretty well. So it’s all good. I definitely expected to run faster and to feel smoother, but I’m grateful to win the race, and to break 48-minutes, which is a nice barrier at the 15K distance (3xsub-16 5K’s in a row). So it was a course best and a 15K PR, and a win. Gotta take it! Josh Steffen was 2nd and Kevin Dickey was 3rd. Carson was 4th. Official times were kind of mixed up for the top people, so hopefully everyone kept a watch time.

After the race I cooled down another 4 miles with Carson and his brother Todd. We ran up the course, and about 12 different people told us, “Hey, you’re going the wrong way!” Each person thought they were being original. I usually told them that we had to go back because I left my windows down. The cooldown gave me 19 miles total for the day.

Stayed around for the awards and the raffle. I didn’t win anything in the raffle, but the prize for 1st overall was a very cool pottery bowl. It’s extremely huge. Not sure what I’ll do with it, but it’s unique and one of the nicer prizes I’ve won.

So it was a beautiful day and a nice day to race. Met some new people, saw a lot of bloggers (especially at Scott’s pre-race BBQ yesterday, which was a great time), and got a little sun. A successful Saturday.

I ran the Law Day 5K in Salt Lake City this morning. Chad invited me onto his team, and we decided to make a family day out of it, with brunch and the Salt Lake City Zoo afterward. We got up at 4:45AM, ate breakfast, and scooped Seth out of bed and straight into the car seat, still in his PJ’s (hoping he would fall back asleep…he didn’t).

Got to the U of U campus at 7AM, parked, found Chad, got my number, and then warmed up. Ran about a mile with Chad, and then I met up with Sasha and Jeff, and we ran the whole course. I’m glad we did the whole course, because there are lots of little turns, curbs, bumps, and other nuances. I would describe the route as “goofy but fun”. The first mile is mostly uphill, and then the last two miles are mostly flat or downhill. And lots of turns, did I mention that? But the course was well-marked, and I never had any issues during the race.

This is a team competition between law firms, and Chad had assembled a group of ringers to beat the beat the other law office’s group of ringers. It was myself, Jeff McClellan, Josh Stephan, Emily Bates, and Lindsey Dunkley on our team, going against Teren Jameson, Nate Hornok, Albert Wint, Sue Nielson, and Devra Veirkant on the other team (forgive my spelling on all names, or if I missed anyone). We all matched up pretty well, so it would be a toss-up. The winner is based on cumulative time of all 5 team members. Last year’s competition was decided by only a few seconds. Obviously, I was most worried about Teren, but was also concerned about Nate Hornok, as he is quite fast at the 5km distance. On my team, I expected to get stiff competition from Jeff.

I finished the warmup, and was surprised to see how many other runners were there. Several hundred, a good turnout. Found an empty bathroom inside, and finished up that whole business. Did a few strides, and they were ready to start the race. (after a lot of talking).

They started the race with a gavel, and Teren immediately tore off at a mad pace on the initial downhill part. Jeff was hot on his heels. I didn’t go out with them…because I couldn’t. It was pretty much beyond my full sprint. There was some other guy ahead of me as well, but I passed him after about a quarter mile. The race turned left, and started going uphill. I just tried to keep them both in reach.

We wound around campus. All of the turns made it fun, but I had no idea how fast we were going. Seemed too fast though. I managed to make up some ground on Jeff and Teren and got within a second or so of them, but then they extended their lead on a short downhill section. Then we had a fairly long, straight uphill around the one-mile mark (which I missed), and I closed a little bit on them again. At 2km the course turns right and starts going downhill. Teren and Jeff extended their lead again on the downhill and started to gap me pretty good. I was running about as fast as I could, but it wasn’t fast enough. Kind of the story of the race. And I’m not sure why I was running the uphills better than the downhills.

And that’s pretty much how the rest of the race went. Teren and Jeff were running up front, and I was chasing, chasing. Lots of twists and turns, lots of downhill, but also some flat stretches and uphill segments. It was kind of a whirlwind. I felt pretty good, never felt like I was tanking or losing my form, but I just couldn’t catch them. I never really gave up the idea that I could close the gap, until about 1km left, and by then the lead had gotten pretty big. I finished the race strong, and came in about 20 seconds behind Teren and Jeff. It was actually a pretty good race to watch. Jeff was obviously running with some fire and enthusiasm to try to take down Teren (when you’re at the top, you’re a marked man). Jeff even made a move and passed him during the last mile, and I thought he might get it. But Teren was able to finish off the race, and ended up a couple seconds ahead of Jeff. But it was a gutsy and strong performance on Jeff’s part. Good race by Teren too. The guy definitely knows how to race, and when to turn it on.

Jeff and Teren finished a few seconds under 15:00, and I came in at 15:16. Turns out that Nate Hornok was hot my heels, as he finished in 15:20 or so. I think he was probably closing a bit on me, and just ran out of road. Speaking of running out of road, due to these fast times, we all suspected that the course was a bit short. The route is usually certified, but part of the route is in a construction zone this year, so they had to throw something together, and when that happens it’s usually not accurate. But better short than long, in my book. Less running.

It was a beautiful morning to run. Perfect weather with clear skies and no wind. I enjoyed this race and felt pretty good. Results are still being sorted out due to a timing issue, but it looks like we won the team competition. The top 2 runners on each team pretty much canceled each other out, but we gained a lot with our first woman finisher, Lindsey. Good race also by Josh, who I think beat Albert for the 3rd male slot.

Oh, and splits? I have none. Both miles and kilometers marked, but they were the tiniest little signs ever. Humorous, actually. I like racing splitless, so I’m good with it. But each marker was a little 4″x4″ card on stick. The only one I caught was 2km, and I was at 6:25-ish.

Enjoyed brunch and the zoo after the race.

Warning: long, boring race report. Read at your own discretion. I had free time to burn on the airplane, so got a little bit too wordy.

I arrived in Indianapolis on Thursday evening. Stayed with my sister and her family, and got to hang out with my niece and nephew, which was nice. On Friday, my parents came over, and my dad and I went to the expo and checked into my hotel room. Then we went out to eat at TGI Fridays, and I ate way too much. After dinner, I went back to the hotel room by myself and just hung out. My assigned roommate was a fellow named Scott Schmick. Turns out that he was a former DIII runner as well, a UW LaCrosse alum. He now goes to MSU for grad school. We shot the breeze for a few hours, until it was time for bed. Seemed like a good guy, fun to talk to, and we had similar PR’s and goals for this race and for the marathon as well. Plus it’s always fun to play the name game with other former DIII runners.

Saturday morning I got up at 5:30AM, in preparation for the 7:30AM start. I usually like about 2 hours to eat, digest, and fully wake up before a race. Ate a banana, an apple, and a Lara Bar, and brewed some coffee. At 6:40AM, I headed down to the street and jogged over to the NCAA Headquarters, which served as the elite staging area. We got the comfort of an indoor facility, plus nice bathrooms and a gear drop. I warmed up with Scott and his teammates from Lansing, about 2 miles. Felt pretty sharp.

And the weather…gotta mention that, as it would be a big factor. Temperature was in the upper 40s. Perfect. Skies were overcast. Perfect. No rain or threat of rain. Perfect. Wind was 20 mph out of the west, with 30 mph gusts (based on tv reports). Imperfect. Hey, I guess you can’t get perfect conditions all of the time (or even most of the time), can you? To have a great race, several things need to happen:

• Great training
• Great health
• Great competition
• Great course
• Great temperature
• No wind
• Little or no precipitation
• Race-day magic

If these factors do not all align, you can still have a very good race, but not that perfect race (we only get a few of those over a lifetime).

Out of these factors, I had decent training (but not great). My health was good, finally. Competition would be there. The course is magnificent. Temps were perfect. Precip was perfect. Wind was very bad. Race day magic yet to be determined. Fortunately, it is a loop course, so I would not have to face a direct headwind for more than half the race (less than that actually). The wind was coming out of the west, and the race primarily goes west to start (headwind), then north a little bit to the track (crosswind), then a loop on the speedway (all directions), and then the route comes back east the last 4 miles to finish (tailwind). If I had a pick a wind direction, I’d much rather start with a headwind, and then finish with a tailwind, than the other way around. At least I would have the wind at my back at the point of the race where I’m the most tired and broken, and could face the wind while fresh. So I was hopeful to still have a very good race.

Anyway, that’s my tangent on race factors and on wind. About 15 minutes before the race start, I headed down to the start line, did few strides, and then waited for the race to begin. 35,000  people run this event, but you can’t see beyond the first few rows behind me, so I just accepted that fact on faith.

They started the wheelers, and then the runners’ start was 5 minutes later. I lined up on the inside curve, knowing the race started by curving left. All the Kenyans (about 8 total) lined up on the right. Sure enough, when the gun went off, I found myself running next to my roommate Scott, sharing the lead. That was fun, for about 30 seconds. Then I started feeling the wind, right in my face. I was quite happy when the pack of Kenyans finally merged over, and I quickly tucked in.

My strategy was this: since it was windy, I anticipated the race would be slow and tactical. I would simply tuck in behind the pack, let everyone else do the work on the first half of the race, and then I would take off and blitz the field the final 5 miles, for the easy win. It sounded good in my head.

The first mile went exactly to plan – 5:16 for the split. Very slow, very good. The wind would tire these Kenyans down soon enough. Then the plan went awry! The pack of Kenyans ran a 4:50 straight into the wind. I did a 5:04, and felt like I was standing still. And that was it, race over as far as Top 10. The pack was just gone. Gone. It was quite a site, and a quite a humbling feeling to get dropped so hard by “real runners”. It’s the difference between real elites and whatever the heck I am. My hotel roommate Scott and another American runner were working together a few seconds behind the lead pack, but they were fast getting dropped too. I was a 5 seconds behind those two, and gapping with every stride. There was no one behind me. And I ran most of the rest of the race like that, until around Mile 9. No man’s land, not a good place to be on a windy day. But I would try to make the best of it.

The rest of this race report should be less detailed, as there is much less to say. Basically it became a battle of me vs. the wind, and just trying to get to the tailwind section of the course in one piece.

Mile 3 was 5:23. This was a bit discouraging, although frankly I was surprised that it was even this fast. 16:18 for 5K. I knew that the route would turn north soon, and I would get a cross-wind rather than a head-wind, so this thought kept me going. Sure enough, we turned north at about 3.5 miles, and the cross-wind felt beautiful. The hard gusts still knocked me back at times, but it was still much better. 5:13 for the Mile 4 split.

The course turned west again, and virtually all of Mile 5 was straight into the wind. Hit 5:27 for this mile, my slowest split of the race. 26:24 for 5 miles. The encouragement I felt at Mile 4 quickly turned into discouragement. I came into this race thinking I could break 1:07, but would I even break 1:10?

But despite the hardships and discouragements, I actually didn’t feel too bad. Frankly, I’ve been beaten up by the wind far worse in previous races (Great Salt Lake Half in 2007 and Striders Half in 2009 were far worse). And holding sub-5:30 didn’t seem too bad given the conditions. Again, I’ve done far worse in the past. I’ve found that virtually any runner can “fake it” in pristine conditions, but hard conditions (wind, rain, hills, etc) always reveal gaps in fitness and weaknesses. So that fact that I felt strong after 5 miles of dealing with the wind probably meant that my training had some substance. I suppose our hard winter and equally hard spring helped condition me to run in adverse conditions, moreso than others years. Typically I wilt in bad conditions, as I am more of a rhythm runner than a strength runner.

The route turned north on Mile 6, and even had a short east section with tailwind. Very short, but it hinted at what was to come. 5:10 for the Mile 6 split. Then 32:43 for 10K. I was getting sick of this yo-yo pacing, and it was hard to gauge what kind of time I was headed for. I was still assuming here that I wouldn’t break 1:10. Still nobody near me, either ahead or behind. I just kept trying to push. Calves and hamstrings were getting tight, but that is normal, and I still felt decent.

I entered the Speedway at the end of Mile 6, and began the 2.5 mile loop on the race track. This portion of the race was tedious last year, but I liked it better this year simply because going in a loop made the wind vary, which was interesting. Mile 7 was primarily going north, and then west on the first curve. 5:23 for the split, not great. Mile 8 was mostly going south on the backstretch, so a crosswind, somewhat better. 5:20 for Mile 8.

At point I’m still thinking sub-1:10 is a stretch, but I also knew the best part of the race was coming (the part with the tailwind). Much of Mile 9 I had tailwind, around the second curve, and then out of the speedway. As I left the track, I could feel a couple runners coming up behind me. Both good and bad; it’s not good to get passed, but perhaps I would have people to run with and push me to the finish.

Hit Mile 9 in a 5:10. Let the yo-yo pace continue. The two guys behind me caught me, and one guy passed me. I pushed to stay with him, and ran behind him for about half a mile. The other guy never passed me, but he was still there. Hit 15K in 49:03. Mile 10 was a 5:05. That’s more like it! 52:34 for 10 miles (5:15/mile pace). I now realized that I would certainly break 1:09, and might beat last year’s time. Having a new goal gave me a lot of encouragement. My hamstrings and calves were yelling at me, but the tailwind helped a lot and my legs still had a little pop in them. Perhaps if I could keep running sub-5:10, I could salvage a somewhat respectable time.

The guy who passed me eventually dropped me, but I was still holding off the second runner. Still running east with the tailwind. Mile 11 was 4:58. Dang. Made me feel better about getting dropped, as the other guy must have been under 4:55. I know realized that I had a slim chance of breaking my PR of 1:08:12. I almost couldn’t believe it, with how up and down the race had gone so far. I kept pushing hard, trying to run more 5-minute miles…

And succeeded mostly. The route turned south-southwest, and I had a favorable cross-wind, other than some random gusts. Hit Mile 12 in 5:03. Kept pushing. The runner ahead of me was still pulling away (dang, he’s moving!), but the runner behind me was still…behind me. The route turned east again and the last 1.1 was with the tailwind. Tried to put the hammer down. A PR seemed very possible, perhaps even sub-1:08, if I could finish with a 4:5x mile?

Mile 13 split was 5:01, and then I took it on in. 27 seconds for the last 0.1. Finish time was officially 1:08:05, good for 12th place overall and a 7-second PR. I had no idea of my placing the whole race, other than knowing that I was well out of the Top 10. I ended up 62 seconds out of 10th, and the money. (10th place was actually my hotel roommate Scott, 50 second PR for him). So I placed similar to last year, but unlike last year, I wasn’t really close to the Top 10. The competition was very good this year, with higher-caliber Kenyans than last year, and good local runners too. I think last year was actually an outlier, with slower times than usual, and this year was more normal.

If you had told me a week before the race that I would fail to break 1:08, I would have been really disappointed, and probably threatened to quit running. I was that sure of my fitness. But under the circumstances, I have to take what I can get, and I’m pleased to come out with a PR, after running that many miles over 5:20 during the race. I was pleased to be able to push through, not give up, recover from getting slapped in the face with wind, and still have enough spunk and pop to be able to take advantage of the tailwind at the end and finish strong. I think other years (including last year), I would have been broken, and just limped in. So the race was a success in all those regards.

My one regret was not being able to pack it up with a group. I wish I could have run with the two runners ahead of me (although I would have had to push hard early on to keep up). Or I wish I had gone out slower and packed it up with the runners behind me. Being able to trade miles while going into the wind would have been invaluable, and would have conserved more energy for the second half of the race.

At the same time, I’m forced to acknowledge that I’m not “there” yet. Even if I spot myself a full minute for the wind (which I think would be liberal), I still need much improvement before I’m a quality-enough runner to hit that sub-2:19 mark. Am I in sub-2:22 shape? Probably. But sub-2:22 is a long ways from sub-2:19. I really wanted to see 1:06:xx at that finish line to give me the confidence that 2:19 is possible. I do still think it’s possible, but I need to improve. I need to get faster, to get stronger, and to get even better at running in adverse conditions (may have to deal with bad conditions during a marathon, after all). The wind today definitely hurt, but it was not a killer to those who were truly fit, judging by the finish times. A truly fit runner will just plow through the wind, heat, rain, hills, or whatever else the day throws at them. A less fit runner will feel adverse conditions much more.

Looking forward, I’ll take a week of rest, and then get back to it. Will probably go back to the bread-and-butter of long tempos, while trying to increase my mileage up to 90mpw. We’ll see where that gets me for Utah Valley Half, my next key race. The downhill will aid times at UVM, but my goal there is more oriented toward competition rather than time. But I need to be fit enough to compete with ferocity.

Results are HERE.

Went to Utah State for the Mark Faldmo track meet. I had signed up for the 5000m as an open runner. This was my first track race in 9 years, so I was a little nervous. Fortunately, it’s a pretty low-key invite.Got there early in case the meet was running fast, and indeed it was ahead by about 30 minutes. I warmed up for 2 miles, used the potty, etc etc. The 200m finished, but then it took a while to get the women’s 5000m going, and then finally it was our turn.

There were only 7 runners that ran the race, but one of them was Brian McKenna, Utah State’s top runner. He’s the WAC xc champ, and made nationals this fall. He recently ran 14:30 for 5K on the track, so definitely my superior at this distance. Fortunate for me, he’d already run the 1500m, so was not fresh. Unfortunately to me, I suck at the 5000m, and was at the end of an 80 mile week.

Chatted with Brian before the race, and we agreed to trade some laps and try to run 72s/lap. I was actually a bit dubious of my ability to do this, with lack of speed work, plus an intense sun with temps in the low 70s, and a decent wind going into the backstretch. Conditions were less than ideal for a distance race. But I figured my options were to run with McKenna, or run by myself, so I chose the former. I tried to alleviate the heat some by dunking my head in the steeple pit right before the race. Felt great at the time, but I was bone dry by the 3rd lap.

Gun went off and about 4 of us packed up quick for the first 200m, but then I managed to get around everyone and tuck in behind McKenna. First lap was a 74-75 or so, which was too slow, plus it felt awful. McKenna and I cleared out the pack on the 2nd lap, and were through the 800m in about 2:25, so about a 70s split. Quite a bit faster, but it actually felt good.

After 800m, I took the pacing duties for the next two laps, and we hit 4:50 at the mile. Pace was feeling hard, but sustainable for the time being. Brian took the lead back (and I was grateful to tuck back in and let him take the wind), and we hit a couple more 72-73’s for the next two laps.

At just less than halfway through, I started feeling…less than good, and McKenna dropped me pretty quick. He kept running 72-73s laps, and I dropped back to 75s/lap. I went through 3200m in 9:46, so 4:56 for the 2nd mile. This drop in speed is the 5K equivalent to a death rattle.

McKenna was soon on the verge of being long gone, and I was fast wilting from the heat and from fatigue. Man, it was hot! My left calf, which had been giving me trouble for the last 10 days, decided that 2 miles was enough, and started misbehaving with 4 laps to go. It hurt, but not too bad, and I was able to deal with it. So it goes.

Lap 9 was a 76, and then a 77. Things were going downhill, but at least I was close enough to sense the finish and find some hope in that. McKenna now was approaching a 100m lead on me, and no one was close to me from behind. I was about to lap a couple runners, though. I didn’t grab splits for the last two laps, but they were about the same as the previous two, in the 76s range. I just gritted to the finish the best I could. 15:27 was the finish time (McKenna was 15:05), which means my last mile was something like a 5:05. I was never great at finishing track 5K’s.

So it wasn’t an amazing race or anything, but I came out of it fairly satisfied with both the time and the effort. It was good for me to try to run with a national-caliber collegiate runner, and the heat, wind, and elevation certainly tinkered with my time some. I would have liked to have been in the low 15’s, but I have to take what I can get on the given day. It was a little discouraging to run slower than my solo First Dam Run effort last November, but I know I’m actually way ahead of where I was then. I still think that sub-1:07 is still worth going after in Indianapolis, and hopefully the next several weeks of training, plus sea level, plus better conditions, plus a little more moxie will allow me to click off 5:05/mile for 13.1 miles. We’ll see.

Went to the Logan Zoo with Stacy and Seth afterward, and then I grabbed 5 more miles when we got home to finish out my week. The calf hurt, but was runnable.

The next two weeks of training are big for me. I plan on two 85 mile weeks, with two good workouts each week. I hope it’s all worth it, because training is hard work.

It’s a new year and time for more racing! I usually don’t run many races in January, but this year I decided that it would be a good idea to get out of northern Utah for a few days to get some warm temperatures and clean air. Several of my friends ran the Painters Half Marathon in St. George, UT last year, and it looked like a race worth trying. What primarily drew my eyes to it are that it is a rolling loop course, it is USATF certified, and it has decent competition.

The fact that it is a loop course is important to me. In my humble opinion, there are way too races out here in Utah that are point-to-point downhill screamers. They all start up some mountain canyon and funnel you out to the city in the valley below, usually dropping 1000′ or more. Is it beautiful? Yes! Will it give you a meaningful time? No! And the relatively high elevation of these races (~5000′ above sea level) just complicates things even more. We Utah runners inevitably end up standing around after the race discussing what our time is really “worth“.

It was much simpler back in the flat, low lands in Indiana and Michigan, where I began racing as a high school and collegiate runner.  A 15:30 5K was “worth”…15:30. My time was simply taken at face value (you are what you run), and I always had a good assessment of where I was really at in my training and racing. In Utah, a 15:30 5K could be “worth” anywhere from 15:10 (if you normalize to sea level level) to 16:30 (if the time came from a downhill course). It’s very confusing, and at times very unsatisfying. While it’s nice to witness the beauty of our surrounding mountain canyons during races, beat the high elevation, and get a fast time, ultimately I can never count my Utah PR’s as “real” PR’s. Perhaps if I had done 100% of my running out here I would feel differently, but all of the racing I did in the midwest while growing up has set my perspective.

So to summarize: Loop courses are good. They yield times that I can take a face value. Furthermore, getting down to a lower elevation is good for the same reason. And it’s all worthless without USATF certification and the security of a correct distance. The Painters Half provided all of these incentives with its certified, loop route that averages around 2600′ above sea level.

My wife and I were glad to leave the smog of Logan on Thursday morning. These red air days get really depressing after a while. We were rewarded to clean air and temperatures hovering near 60 in St. George. The trip was already worth it!

Race day morning was chilly, but perfect: sunny, upper 30’s, and no wind. Temperatures during the race climbed into the low 50s, and was quite suitable for shorts, singlet, and gloves. The half marathon had just over 1000 finishers, so it was a good size. Competition up front looked good; there were several guys who I knew could run near 1:10:00 or in the mid- to low-teens. I myself thought I could hit around 1:11 to 1:12, based on some recently workouts and my total training volume. I thought I had some chance of winning, but so did four other guys. Due to some tendon issues and setbacks, I had been scaling my weekly mileage back to the 40s, including  a fair amount of elliptical cross training.

The race ended up going really well for me. We started with a pack of seven at the 2nd mile that drifted to a pack of four by the 5th mile, and a pack of two by the 7th mile. That pack of two included myself, and I felt strong and snappy through about Mile 9, but then the distance of the race wore on me and my pace slowed, from about 5:20/mile to 5:30/mile. My competitor, Jeff McClellan, did not slow whatsoever, and cruised to the victory with a time of 1:10:59. I chugged in with a 1:11:31, which I was count as both a “January PR” and a “post-A.S. PR”. And thankfully, I don’t have to figure out what the time is “worth”, since it is worth exactly what it is: 1:11:31. But this race gave me confidence that I can go under 1:09:00 and get a lifetime PR later this May in Indianapolis, provided I get in some good training.

I would do the Painters Half again. I thought it was fairly well-managed. The course had a lot of hills, but none were too steep or too long. It was not an extremely fast course, but it was not slow either. There were a lot of 90-degree turns, which slowed things down, and also threw off everyone’s GPS units (sharp turns really mess up the distance accuracy of Garmins…but that’s what certification is for), but other than that I liked the route a lot. It was not monotonous, and snaked its way through several different neighborhoods, bouncing on and off the local trail system. There were several very nice views, some cool red rock outcrops, and a bridge crossing over the Virgin River. The race started and finished at the Dixie Center, which featured a huge amount of easy parking and lots of bathrooms (very important!).

Good times, and perhaps I’ll be back.

Kind of a miscellaneous blog posting today, but I’m in the mood.

So what’s going on in my neck of the woods? This past Saturday I ran my first 5K in well over a year. I won the Top of Utah 5K with a time of 16:17. It was a fast loop course, and supposedly certified (although I could not find it in the USATF database). I was hoping for under 16 minutes, but I’ll take it. It was a weird race though; I never felt like I was straining, and kept pushing the pace, yet I had no speed. All of my mile splits were within 3 seconds of each other, I hit a slight negative split, and I felt like I could have kept going for 10K. So although I was not happy with my leg turnover, I was pleased with how strong I felt. 5K’s usually hurt a lot more. My full race report is here.

Next up is The Other Half, a half marathon in Moab on October 19th. I would like to break 1:12 on this rolling course. My 5K time alone gives me a thumbs-down that I can actually do this, but on the other hand I don’t think my solo 5K effort is representative of what I can do in a half marathon (where my lack of burst won’t be as big of a hindrance). Furthermore, I feel like my training is just hitting stride. After a couple weeks in the mid-60s, my mileage for the next 3-4 weeks will be in the mid- to upper 70s, and perhaps will hit 80. This includes two big workouts per week as singles (14-16 miles), a Saturday long run, and easy doubles the rest of the days. Standard fare, but tried and true. I’ve found that racing success is largely a function of training time. Stringing together many consecutive weeks of consistent mileage and solid workouts will yield fast times when it’s time to put on the flats. It’s not a glamorous concept, but very true.

This weekend I will be captaining an aid station at the Bear 100, our local 100-mile ultra run. The race starts at Logan Dry Canyon and traverses through the Bear River Range all the way to Bear Lake, Idaho. I am in awe of ultra runners. I have no aspirations (or delusions) of joining them, but enjoy serving them at the aid stations. This year, my station is at Richards Hollow (Left Hand Fork of the Blacksmith Fork). It looks like it will be a beautiful day, and my wife and 2-month old son will be coming as well.

I enjoy the aspect of volunteering, simply because it shows the other side of races, and allows us to give back to the race and to other runners. As a competitive runner, I usually do nothing but take, take, take from races. Volunteering helps me counter that consumer-ish attitude (and also helps me appreciate volunteers more from the races I run!). If you’ve never helped direct, administrate, or volunteer for a race, I highly recommend doing so. It will make you look at races completely different, and you may be less likely to complain the next time something at a race irks you.

This will be an unusual race report, as not only did I not run, but I did not even go to the event. Last year my wife and visited Washington while the Northwest Passage Relay was in progress. I thought the course looked beautiful, and decided that I wanted to run the race next time around. Earlier this year, I sponsored and registered a team under the name of MarathonGIS.com / Fastrunningblog.com, and started making plans. However, a couple things stopped me from making the trip:

1. My wife getting pregnant, and the due date being uncomfortably close to race day
2. My current A.S. flare preventing me from running for several months, plus making my day-to-day ability to run very unpredictable.

So I bailed early on, but stayed on as the team captain and logistic manager. I’ve organized 5 relays now, and team member Dale described this one perfectly: herding cats.

We had:

• runners from 4 different states, with multiple airline schedules
• all out-of-state runners flying in the morning of the race
• another runner who couldn’t make it to the course until 8PM on raceday
• a very small pool of potential volunteers (ended up buying 2 of the 3)
• multiple runners bail out due to other commitments
• last-second ringers bail to join other teams (thanks)
• a last-minute start time change from 4PM to 2PM
• a total of 9 runners actually toeing the line (supposed to be 12)

Putting together the vans and leg order became a cerebral puzzle that looked like a chess match versus a Google spreadsheet. It also reminded me a little bit of the logic portion of the GRE test: “Runner x, y, and z are flying from Utah at times A, B, and C. Runners t, u, and v are already in-state, but live in three different towns, and runner u has to work until 5PM. The 5:15 ferry has a 90% on-time rate. Runner y’s favorite color is blue, and Runner v hates hills and is allergic to peanuts. Our start time is 2PM, and Van 1 will be to Exch 6 by 6:15PM. Determine the leg order.“

Fortunately, I did well on the GRE, and our logistics for this race ended up coming together in the end as well. Van 1 made it to the 2PM start on time, Runner U caught the ferry and made it to Exch 11 in time to run his first leg, and the 9 guys on the team ran their guts out, and by all reports, had a fabulous time. Whew! The only real mishap was Van 1 putting itself in a ditch during Leg 2 (will post pictures when I get them). Fortunately, a kind passerby pulled them out.

Not only did the team run their guts out, but they managed to take 2nd place out of 153 teams (20:31:02, 6:39/mile), and came within 6 minutes of pulling off and upset and winning the race outright. Congrats to Runningshoes.com, with their winning time of 20:25:17 (6:37/mile). Not bad for a 6-man ultra team!

Lessons learned for future relays:

• a 12-person team is not necessary.
  • fewer people creates more room in the van
  • fewer people allows you to use a car, truck, or SUV if you want to save money
  • a faster person running extra legs will always be faster than adding slower people just for the sake of having 12 people
  • you can bond more with fewer people, and also develop a “underdog mentality”

Thanks a ton to Dave, Dale, Craig, Andy, Cody, Tim, Matt, Mark, and Aaron for their good spirits and fast running!

Andy, Matt, Aaron, Tim, Dale, and Craig (photographer: Dave)

Cody hands to Andy at Exch 30.

Van 2, also a drying rack and dormitory. Gotta love the smaller team.

Another year, another Wasatch Back Relay. This year my company, Marathon GIS, helped sponsor not one but two 12-man relay teams. Co-sponsors were the Fast Running Blog and the St. George Running Center. We divided up our pool of runners into the “blue” team (fast) and the “white” team (faster). (The general idea is the FRB / St. George Running Center racing team’s colors are blue and white…).

We had no problem assembling an ensemble cast of quality runners, thanks to the pool of talent available on the Fast Running Blog. And we needed everyone in that pool, since we suffered numerous injuries and bail-outs to key runners (including myself) during the approach to the race. Thank goodness for our alternates! Although I had my doubts at times, we did end up toeing the line with 12 runners on each team.

We had high aspirations for the white team to contend with perennial powerhouses BYU and Weber State, and perhaps win the race outright. The blue team also had a good chance at Top 3.

It turned out that Weber did not field a team this year, but BYU brought the house. From the gun, it was BYU all the way, and our white team was simply outclassed by a superior (and younger) gene pool. The result: 2nd place for the white team by about 35 minutes. Kudos to BYU. Maybe next year!

Our blue team outpaced the Runners Corner mixed team, Peak Endurance, and the 26.2 Running Company down the stretch to finish a respectable 3rd place, nearly an hour behind the white team. Great job guys!!

However, we did experience victory on the timed Ragnar leg, as the white team’s Seth Wold blitzed up the 4.0-mile, 1700ft ascent in…(not kidding)…29:06 (7:16/mile!). That was 2:30 (38s/mile) ahead of the 2nd place BYU runner. I believe he broke his own record from last year. Awesome job Seth!

Unfortunately, I could not run due to my foot (and total lack of fitness), but was happy to help out by driving the Blue team Van 1. I brought my trusty video camera and shot as much footage as I could during daylight, adding my own witty and charming commentary where I could. (note that witty and charming commentary completely evaporates on day 2). I’ve uploaded the string of videos to YouTube for everyone’s enjoyment. Sorry about the poor quality, but YouTube is lame like that. You get what you pay for. Also, sorry for no video transitions, theme songs, or other movie magic. Time is money, and I’m a lazy, lazy man. But for the ’soundtrack’, you can just listen to our awesome mix tape playing in the van instead.

2008 Ragnar Relay Wasatch Back Top Teams Results (546 total finishers)

1. BYU Cross Country: 17:19:34 (5:45/mile!)
2. Fast Running Blog / St. George Running Center “white”: 17:54:16 (5:57/mile)
3. Fast Running Blog / St. George Running Center “blue”: 18:54:03 (6:17/mile)
4. 26.2 Running Company: 19:29:49
5. Peak Performance: 19:32:13
6. Runners Corner: 19:41:01

I have lost count of the total number of road, track, and cross country races I have participated in since I began running at age 12. My best estimate is somewhere between 250-300 races. However, my total number of trail races is a bit easier to tally: zero. Yes, although I frequently do training runs on dirt single-track, I have to admit that I was still a trail race virgin at age 28.

That changed a few weeks ago when I completed the inaugural Logan Peak Run, a trail marathon in the local Bear River Range outside of my town in northern Utah. I convinced my training buddy Cody to sign up for the race with me, and our plan was to run together the whole way and simply finish (while hopefully having some fun in the process)…

Read the full article at TrailFit!

Once you’ve been bitten by the “relay bug”, it’s hard to keep away from team running events. My first overnight relay experience was the Wasatch Back Relay (Utah) in 2005, and I had a fantastic time. Since then, I’ve gone on to run the Wasatch Back two more times, and also the Wild West Relay (Colorado) and Relay Del Sol (Arizona).The Wasatch Back is a particular favorite of mine; the fact that it starts in my “back yard” and traces its way through some of the most beautiful areas in Utah keeps me coming back again and again. For the 2007 race on June 22-23, I rounded up my MarathonGIS.com team again, fresh off of our 2nd place finish at Relay Del Sol this past March. Our goal for Wasatch Back: Top 3 and a finish time under 18 hours.

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18 hours, 29 minutes, and 29 seconds after departing the start in Logan, UT, the MarathonGIS.com team crossed the finish line in Park City, UT to finish 3rd place out of 296 finishers in the 4th installment of the Ragnar Wasatch Back Relay.

This performance equates to a blistering average pace of 6:16/mile over the 177-mile course. The high-altitude course (elevations ranging from 4500′ to 8900′) traverses the scenic backside of the Wasatch Range, and features cumulative elevation gain/loss of 14,232ft/11776ft.

The combination of heat, altitude, lack of sleep, muscle fatigue, and mountainous topography makes the Wasatch Back a challenging endeavor year after year, and we were quite happy with our accomplishment. Weber State and BYU proved to once again be strong opponents, and swept the 1-2 spots for the 4th straight year, with times of 17:40:40 and 17:51:51, respectively. Running stores 26.2 Running Company and Runners Corner rounded out the Top 5, with 19:18:18 and 19:25:25, respectively.

We were hoping to challenge BYU or Weber a little bit, but this did not happen. However we were proud to be the first non-college team to break 18:30. This is not an official record or anything, but we’ll take what we can get!

Thanks to Dan Hill, Tanner Bell, and the rest of the Ragnar Relay staff for their flawless logistics and dedication to providing “the best”. Thanks also to the hundreds of volunteers who sat or stood long (and often late) hours, directing runners, vans, and providing aid wherever it was needed. And thanks to all the participating teams whose enthusiasm and competitiveness make the event what it is.

Over the span of March 30-31, 74 teams and nearly 900 individuals gathered in central Arizona to run the inaugural Relay Del Sol, part of the Ragnar Relay series.My team, MarathonGIS.com, was comprised of 12 men from various locations in Utah, Washington, and Michigan. Some of us were friends, some were strangers. Some of us were experienced relay runners, some were neophytes. Regardless of personal backgrounds, overnight adventure relays have a knack for bring people together, mostly due to close quarters! Every team that does a relay has their own stories, adventures, mishaps, and humorous quotes and inside jokes. The following is our story…

Read the full article at The Final Sprint!