Long May You Run

4.65 am miles  41:52

7.5  pm miles  very slow run  98 degrees

18:26  5:56 average pace.  This was a very very fast course, I PR'd by a little more than two minutes.  I'm sure most of this is from the course, although I'd like to think that I'm a little faster and stronger since last January.

This was an inaugural race.  The field was pretty small, about one hundred.  Being a first time race, I was expecting some disorganization.  My expectations were exceeded.  The packet pick up was borderline disaster.  Had I been one of the many who were a victim of the packet mess up, I would called it a total disaster.  I lucked out.  We were bused to the starting line, which was kind of fun for a 5k, but we sat there for a half hour waiting for the timing mat delivery guy to show up.  The 5k course was not marked, which really surprised me, or I missed them, which is entirely possible, but then again, a runner should never have to hunt for a mile marker.

I enjoyed the course. I knew it was going to be a downhill screamer because the course is part of my regular training runs.  I have to admit, I was very surprised with my overall time.  I was hoping to finish in the high 19's, which would have been at least a 30 second pr.  I guess I underestimated the power of a down hill course.

The top three overall winners received a glass vase with the race insignia engraved on the front.  This was a very nice award and I am extremely excited to have one.

I will most likely run this race in the future.  I give the race director a lot of slack with this being a first time race. 

10 miles on the track, slow and easy.  1:33:17  9:20 ave pace.  Quads a little tight and sore from yesterday's race.

1.5 miles on the track, then took off to the Capitol, ran back and forth along along East and West Bonneville Boulevard, returned to the track for another half mile.  9:07 average pace, 1:35:43 total time. 

3 slow miles on the track.  Very tired from the long weekend of racing, more running and cycling.  It caught up to me this afternoon.  Nice to be home relaxing, watching stage 3 of the Tour de France. Looking forward to a good run in the morning. 28:59  9:40 average.

4.65 am miles 39:45   8:33 ave

10.08  pm miles r 3 super slow, rest about 8:58 including going up B street 

4.65 am miles 38:52  8:22 ave

10.08 pm miles B street rout. r 9:49 with 3 slow backed out 

4.65 am miles  41.36  8:57 ave

.63 pm miles 

8 mile run, first two 8:10 6:57  r the remaining 6 very slow and easy.  About 4 hours later went on a 17 mile bike ride.  Fun day, got caught up on the Tour de France also.  I love July.

4 easy miles

6 slow miles.  Start at East Capitol, 2 miles up City Creek, end in Memory grove. r all the slow running has been good on my achilles.  It's been sore for many many many months, probably a year.  

4.65 am miles 33:43  7:15 pace.  All the slow pace running paid off today.  I could not hold back, had to fly.

4.65 pm miles 34.40  7:27 pace.  Had to get home quick, not extra miles.  Saw Paul McCartney.  My life is now a little different.  

4.65 am miles 38:56  8:22 pace

13.08  pm miles 2:03:13  9:25 pace  6r very slow miles 10:12 pace.  This rout included B street. 

4.65 am miles 40:52  8:47 ave

10.08 pm miles 1:30:19  8:58 ave, r3  (29:40 9:53) B Street route 

Loving the heat!! 

4.65 am miles, no watch

11 miles 5 back and forth along East and West Bonneville Boulevard  40:52   9:10 9:03 8:19 7:46 6:34 then and out and back total 6 miles r  58:01 9:40 ave pace.  3 miles from East side of Capitol, up city creek, turn around, 3 miles down and stop at Memory grove.  Slow and easy. 

6.2  slow miles 57:47 r  9:19 ave.  Wonderful early morning run.  In the afternoon I cycled 31 miles to Saltair and back.  Very hot early afternoon ride.  I had to get my Tour de France on!

3 easy miles

4.65 am miles 37:36 8:05 ave, felt fresh and strong.

13.08 pm miles  1:59:09  9:07 ave B St route.  also did a mile on the track barefoot.  It's been exactly one month since I have been able to run bare foot.  I pushed too hard on June 20th with 4 miles barefoot on the track, running each mile faster than the other until I was down to about 7:26 pace.  Tore up and blistered my feet pretty bad.  Lesson learned.  It's so nice to be able to run barefoot again. 

4.65 am miles 41:37  8:56 ave

11.08 pm miles 1:43:38  9:21 pace, B Street route.  one mile barefoot on the track. 

4.65 am miles 42:10  9:04  ave slow and easy

9.08 pm miles 1:23:12  9:10 ave  more slow and easy.  racing Saturday. 2r

Loving the heat! 

Ahhhh, it was so nice to put on my "out of print" red Saucony A2's.  I love these shoes and cherish my time in them.  It's going to be a painful separation.

I trained well for this race.  I did a lot of downhill and did a good job maintaining some pretty good mileage after the Salt Lake Marathon in April.  4th in my age group for this race may be the best I'm ever going to see.  I peeked ahead at next years competition in the 45-49 group and it ain't looking pretty at all for me placing with those boys.  I'm leaning towards doing the marathon next year.  The DesNews Marathon was my first a few years back in 2003.  I want to come back and beat that course like it beat me in 03. 

I race a downhill 5K on the 4th of July and did well, so I had high expectations for this race.  I knew I had 39 something in the bag with the possibility of something just a little better.  The third place time was 37:23 so I do take some comfort in knowing that I was not strong enough to be rewarded with a spot on the podium.  Sometimes it's better to be beaten soundly rather than being left to wonder where you could have picked up an extra 10 or 15 seconds along the way.  

So here's how it played out for me:  39:11 average pace 6:18

Mile 1 5:46

Mile 2 5:55

Mile 3 6:26

Mile 4 6:20

Mile 5  6:23

Mile 1.2 8:20 (6:52 pace) 

This is a tricky course, those first two miles are very fast.  I honestly don't know if I would have done better with a slower start.  On a flat course it seems like you can be a lot more methodical about a pacing strategy, with this race, my approach was to go out fairly hard and hang on for dear life. I didn't have much left in me for the last mile, I obviously used it at the top of the course.  No regrets, I had a great time!

10 easy miles on the track.  A little sore from the race yesterday, but it's a good sore.  Rode my bike to and from the track.  It's always nice to get out a spin a little.  Total bike ride was only about 7 miles.  1:31:14  9:07 ave.  The 1.5 barefoot felt very nice.

5 easy slow miles on the track. r 

4.65 am miles  8:32 ave 39:42

10.03 pm miles  1:35:21  3r slow and easy  9:15 pace 

4.65 am miles  7:54 ave 36:42  great morning run, felt like I had lightening in my legs.  I felt so good I ran the stairs after my run.  2:25 for the stairs

11.08 pm miles 1:43:10  3r   9:19 ave, B street route, 1 miles barefoot on the track, three miles of the 11.08 were very slow, skewing the overall averate. 

4.65 am miles 41:56  9:02 pace

12.08  1:58:11 9:47 ave 4r B street route, half mile up City Creek.  Very hot.  Slowed down significantly coming home.  Really felt the heat, still enjoyed it, but I took it slow.  My barefoot mile on the track was 7:55.  felt light an strong for that mile.  Very enjoyable. 

4.65 am miles, no watch

.63 pm miles 

Rather unexpectedly, I wound up blasting up to the top of City Creek from the Capitol, then descending rather quickly back to the start.  (Fast for me anyway)  This run wasn't planned, it just happened.  I was going to do an easy 8 to 10 miler and enjoy the early morning air.  Well, I did enjoy the early morning air but my body want to aggressively churn up the canyon to the top, so I let it happen.  It was nice to run in sub 90 temps and no sun.  This was one of those wonderful runs that will stick in my mind for a while.  I had lightening in my legs instead of lead.  I love it when this happens.

The last time I ran to the top of City Creek it took me 2:01:04.  I was not running hard at all that day, I just wanted to chug my way to the top.  Today my time was 1:46:48  8:09 ave.  I was trying to run almost as hard as I could today.  It felt so good.  Mile times 9:11 9:09 9:23 9:15 9:16 9:48 8:52 6:57 7:08 6:30 6:39 6:36 6:35