Just Keep Runnin'

14.2 1:47:33 159/182  3x2 @mp.  Ran to TOU 19, then followed the course to the end, ran a 1/4 mile + past my house and back home.  Normally, I do 1/2 mile recovery, but 1 mile works better on the course...

8:15.9 140 wu

7:58.1 147 wu

6:57.8 165

6:48.1 165

0.25 2:07.2 recovery

8:08.2 152 recovery TOU 20-19, turn around

7:05.7 166 19-20

6:51.0 167 20-21

8:09.9 156 21-22 recovery

7:02.6 167 22-23 threw in an extra 1 mile so the last two could be 24-26

8:01.9 151 23-24 recovery with Pop stop.  Found the 24 mile mark on the south side of the road...

6:42.4 165 24-25

6:52.4 170 25-26

0.2 1:26.9 173 26-26.2

0.14 1:10.1 168

1.6 13:54.7 158 

It felt good to do miles 25 and 26 at a good pace.  I'm trying to train my mind and body to know I can finish strong at TOU.  I've finished well at Bear Lake (last year), but last year at TOU I averaged 8:56 the last 5 miles...weak.  Gatorade half way through recovery miles.

11.25 1:32.21 149/161 Easy - SHC (3rd Dam) - 6 oz. gatorade, 3 oz. water

8:57.9 141

0.76 6:36.3 148

1.04 9:44.6 150

1.25 11:20.5 151

0.95 7:29.0 150

0.625 6:11.5 146 Pop stop at Spring Hollow Campground (3rd Dam) - turn around

0.625 5:18.1 147 

0.95 7:13.6 152 

1.25 9:00.0 151

1.04 7:19.0 152

0.76 5:44.2 154

7:26.1 151 

10.25 1:25:13 146/157 Easy at the Track.  I intended to do 8.25, with 4 miles at the track at an HR between 151 and 154.  Mark Wallace (who I work with, and who ran TOU full in 3:07 last year) came to the track to do a one mile time trial...  He arrived part way through my second mile, so I ran with him a bit, then he did his trial, then we ran again.  After he left, I still wanted to get in at least 2 miles at the specified HR...

1.875 15:24.1 142 wu

0.25 1:54.9 151 dial in HR

8:06.4 151

8:18.8 147 (part with Mark)

8:44.7 144 (part with Mark)

8:56.1 138 (1/2 with Mark) 

7:53.5 151

7:54.2 152

2:02.1 149 cd

15:58.6 146 cd 

8.0 1:04:59 150  Park City Rail Trail

0.79 6:43.1 129 (started 0.21 in, but I'm not familiar with the trail so I didn't know this until I was done)

7:59.0 146

7:51.1 149 turn around (at mile 3)

8:38.5 152

8:24.2 155

8:21.6 156 - turn around (at beginning)

7:26.6 152 - turn around (at mile 1)

7:57.6 158 - turn around (at beginning)

0.21 1:37.0 156

Walk back to hotel... 

16.4 1:56:00 166/177 Total

13.1 1:27:36 170/177 TOU half TT.  Warm up a couple hundred yards to the POP and back to the start line...

6:27.6 160

6:26.8 172

6:33.1 174

6:42.1 173

6:44.6 170 - tail wind

6:40.5 169 - tail wind

6:37.5 169

6:36.3 170

6:40.0 172

6:45.8 170

6:51.9 172 some uphill

7:16.7 171 uphill

6:35.4 172 downhill

0.1 0:37.7 176 

After I was done, I got some water then jogged home.

1.3 11:45.9 148

8:44.2 155

7:54.2 153

I did notice that after the first mile or two, it took conscious effort to keep my pace anywhere near the pace of the first two miles.  If I remember the actual races last year and the year before, it seemed a lot more like once you started, you just tried to pass people, or keep up with them if they were too fast, or prevent people from passing you, and if they did, focus not letting them get out of sight.  I don't know what amount of time that will cut off, but my average HR was more than 5 bpm less than the race last year...

I got out later than I had hoped - it was after 7:00 before I started.  I suppose that is like the actual event, but I hope it's cooler in 3 weeks.

10.0 1:39:24 148/162  Jardine Juniper Trail with my brother.  I've heard a lot about great trails in the area and finally decided to do one!  On the trail by 6:52 - only one mountain biker beat us to the tree (barely)

5.0 1:00:03 151 - based on effort, this seemed like 7.3 miles

5.0 39:21 142 - based on effort, this seemed like 4 or so...

A great way to finish the week and start a Saturday! 

am - 12.25 1:32.14 158/179 3x2 tempo with 1/2 mile steady recovery...

1.875 14:53.2 139 wu to track

0.25 2:03.3 143 wu

6:26.9 170

6:30.8 176

0.5 4:14.3 161  recovery

6:44.1 170

6:40.9 174

0.5 4:18.1 160 recovery 

6:55.3 167

6:49.1 170

0.25 2:12.6 159

8:57.6 151 barefoot on track - easy...

1.875 15:28 148

I guess it's time to be honest with myself.  I was hoping that I could do these tempo repeats at  6:10 per mile.  I've been attempting to have my MP training be at 6:46.  If I could do that and have tempo runs be 6:10, I was looking at a 2:57+ marathon.  The past three weeks, Monday runs were all 3x2miles at MP which I did around 6:50, 6:41 (both on the track) and 6:54 (TOU course - the hard part...).  Before that, Mondays were tempos targeting 6:10, but one week was 6:38 (3x1.5) and 6:46 (4 miler).  I think that what I've been calling MP training really looks a lot like tempo training.  I'm think I can do the half in 1:24 (according to the McMillan running calculator, that puts me somewhere near 2:57 for the full - on the same type of course) since in a non-race situation, I did it in 1:27:36 last Friday (6:41 per mile - though there is over 600 ft of elevation drop...).  I must have a weak 'internal governor' - knowing I have another repeat, I just seem to run hard enough to call it hard, but not hard enough to hit 6:10.  I guess I need to do 1 mile all out, or 5k all out with no other plans for the day to see what kind of speed I really have.

pm - 3.0 37:46.7 121/140 Very easy with wife. 

          This week Last Week 

11.25 1:30:18 146/159  1:32.21 149/161  - Easy - SHC (3rd Dam)

1.0 9:44.7 130 8:57.9 141 - String head wind this week

0.76 6:47.0 143 6:36.3 148 - still, a head wind

1.04 9:18.1 147 9:44.6 150

1.25 10:21.5 149 11:20.5 151

0.95 7:14.9 146 7:29.0 150

0.625 5:48.5 149 6:11.5 146 Pop stop at SHC - 3rd Dam - turn around

0.625 5:16.5 142 5:18.1 147 

0.95 7:19.4 149 7:13.6 152 

1.25 9:03.8 146 9:00.0 151

1.04 6:59.9 150 7:19.0 152

0.76 5:21.0 152 5:44.2 154

1.0 7:03.6 152 7:26.1 151 

Though I started out slow, with a low heart rate, at 1.25 miles, I consciously pushed to raise my HR.  I did feel a little stiff or sore from yesterday (tempo and very small double) but it wasn't too bad.  Either my HR transmitter is dying, or today was a very good day for HR.  I wonder if it had anything to do with the tempo yesterday, or running very slowly for 3 miles last night?... On the other hand, maybe the heatwave, that was killing my times two weeks ago, is over and I'm back to normal?!

8.5 1:08:23 148/157  I drove to the track today (lst time ever).  My knee might be failing on me and I thought it would be better to do all my running on a nice surface (as well as no slight decline in my warm up).  Another aerobic fitness test

8:51.2 135 wu

8:12.2 141 wu

Test - this week 4 weeks ago 

7:42.1 151 8:06.8 152

7:48.4 152 8:09.9 153

0.5 3:56.6 152 (switch directions 1/2 way through)

7:55.9 153 8:11.9 153

7:57.2 152 8:12.0 154 

7:55.2 152

8:04.2 147 - barefoot to finish it off...

The 4 test miles averaged were 7:51 @ 152 this week and 8:10 @ 153.75 four weeks ago.  I am pleased, it takes about 4% less time to cover the same distance!  I tried to use the last 5-6 weeks as an aerobic base building time - nearly all my runs were at an HR near 151 bpm, except about 6 miles on Mondays and long runs varied between MP+10% and progression runs.

8.6 1:12:18 141/154 LRT Easy

9:23.9 130

0.76 7:00.5 137

1.04 9:48.7 141

1.25 10:49.2 144

0.25 2:29.7 145

0.25 2:18.5 143

1.25 9:40.1 138

1.04 7:34.2 138

0.76 5:59.8 141

7:23.5 143

I am seriously wondering if my HR monitor is not working properly.  I didn't really break a sweat this morning, but it was 61 degrees inside my house (from having the fan in the swamp cooler run all night).  The temperature was a little cool, but I really don't think an HR drop of 10 from two weeks ago, taking only 3 seconds longer this time, is reasonable for this run... 

26.2 3:23:41 155 To TOU 14-26.2, house, 1st Dam 10k turnaround, house + 5 seconds to get to 26.2

My sister has a TOU half entrance that she will not be able to use.  She will sell it for $38 (I think that's what she said).  Comment if you are interested and we'll figure out a way for you to temporarily become my sister Jen (age 26).

Back to my report.  Today was supposed to be a 20 mile progression run, but somewhere around mile 8, I decided I would go 26.2.  The route I had planned was going to be 24.19, so adding 2 more miles on the TOU course was easy enough, then another 0.01 was trivial...

Today's Run    2 Weeks ago 4 Weeks ago

26.2 3:23:14 24.2 3:11:10 17.81 2:13:18 

8:53.4 140 8:41.9 144      7:49.8 144

8:19..7 141 8:30.6 149      7:21.9 159

8:07.5 148 8:38.1 149      7:37.6 160 - *gatorade

8:00.5 146 8:10.1 151      7:28.0 159

2:10.0 149 0.25 2:10.5 155      2:03.5 160 - TOU 20 Mark

8:06.9 147 8:26.3 154      7:42.6 160 - TOU 20-19 gu + water

8:10.6 149 8:15.9 156      7:19.5 164 - 19-18

8:08.1 152 8:19.9 151      7:41.6 162 - 18-17 gatorade

8:05.1 152 8:14.5 154      - 17-16

8:03.6 154 8:12.3 154      - 16-15 gatorade, headwind

8:32.3 157 - 15-14 - turn around, big head wind

7:34.9 148 - 14-15 gu + water, Hollow Road (gentle down + tail wind)

7:42.9 149 7:31.1 159      - 15-16

7:30.3 151 7:44.8 156      - 16-17 gatorade

7:24.3 153 7:33.8 157      7:18.7 161 - 17-18 (Pop stop at Maverick)

7:48.3 150 8:00.5 157      7:41.4 165 - 18-19 (18-20 are a bit uphill) - forgot gatorade

7:32.1 155 7:48.9 159      7:42.8 164 - 19-20 gatorade

7:11.1 154 7:20.2 160      7:20.5 164 - 20-21 (downhill mile) 

7:29.5 155 7:26.8 163      7:21.2 167 - 21-22 (21-23.7 are a bit of an incline) gu + water 

7:33.1 159 7:37.5 167      7:28.1 169 - 22-23

7:07.6 163 7:18.2 165      7:05.2 171 - 23-24 (end of 23 is down into Logan) gatorade

7:10.7 163 7:07.1 167      6:55.9 173 - 24-25

7:08.6 166 7:08.5 170      7:00.5 174 - 25-26

0.2 1:35.6 166   1:35.3 172      1:32.2 176 - 26-26.2 gatorade

0.14 1:06.0 163  1:05.2 172      1:02.7 175 

1.1 8:20.0 167   8:18.4 172      8:44.2 171

7:49.6 168 7:51.0 171      - gatorade - to 1st Dam 2/3rds of the way into this mile, slight energy depletion and some tight, almost cramping legs.

0.25 2:06.9 168   1:56.1 175      No one to catch this time...

0.25 1:57.2 165   2:12.5 169      gatorade, gearing up for last 'fast' mile

6:50.1 166 7:51.9 164

0.01 0:04.7 167 another 100th to get an even 26.2

*consumed after the miles they follow 

I'm happy about this run for a few different reasons:

1.  My fastest marathon ever!  (if you don't count the POP stop at Maverick, which I don't because I'm usually awake 3 hours before a marathon and have never had a time consuming POP stop in a race)

2.  I got up at 4:00 (planned on 4:20, but my crying daughter woke me early), got ready, ate a bowl of Frosted Shredded Wheats and was out the door before 4:30, so I saw at least 15 meteors of the Perseids Meteor Shower, and made it to work at a decent time. (I did wear a head lamp so I could find mile markers and check my HR at each one, but otherwise it was not turned on).

3.  I used 8 oz. of water, 3 packets of Gu and about 20 oz. of Gatorade!  My stomach felt a bit stretched after breakfast (after my run) and empty at 23.7, but for the most part was quite fine.

4.  I didn't really focus on the progression portion (miles 20-26.2+), but my times still looked pretty good.

5.  Best of all - after questioning whether I would even be able to do a long run after having knee problems (I've had knee problems since the 8th grade...) this week, I'm happy to report that there were only a few instances in this run when I really even noticed my knees (mostly my left).

I was pretty tired the last 2 miles of this run, I could tell my posture was terrible running up the hill at the base of 1st Dam, so I worked on it. 

8.6 1:16:10 140/152 Easy -Logan River Trail

9:29.9 132

0.76 6:47.5 139

1.04 9:59.4

1.25 11:44.9

0.25 2:37.4 147

0.25 2:27.7 145

1.25 10:22.2 138

1.04 8:09.9 139

0.76 6:25.9 140

8:05.9 141 

16.42 2:03:23 158/177 LH Track 5x2 @MP.  It was a little warmer at 5:40 this morning than I thought it would be, but the lightning was great!  Average mile @ mp - 6:50.

1.875 16:54.7 135 wu (extremely slow...)

0.25 2:01.5 141 wu

7:10.2 159 (a bit slow...)

6:45.9 169 (better)

0.5 4:17.2 153 recovery

6:42.1 168

6:33.8 174

0.5 4:16.9 158 recovery 

6:49.6 167

6:46.1 171

0.67 5:47.6 140 recovery w/ POP stop

6:44.9 163

6:46.0 170

4:17.6 152 recovery

6:48.9 166

6:38.0 172

0.25 164 cd

1.875 16:07.5 152 cd 

8.6 1:108:12 149/159 LRT Easy

8:51.2 138 Headwind

0.76 6:22.6 150 Something about a stiff headwind makes me run harder/faster than normal

1.04 8:55.9 152

1.25 10:36.1 150

0.25 2:28.1 147

0.25 2:13.3 148

1.25 9:04.3 143

1.04 7:03.5 151

0.76 5:32.9 152

7:04.0 151

10.0 1:18:00147/158 LH Track - easy, target HR 151 bpm.  As always, times(XX:YY.Z)  and Heart Rates (RRR) not preceded by a distance (A.BB) are 1.0 mile each.

1.875 14:31.9 137 wu

0.25 1:53.6 144 wu

7:30.9 151

7:33.6 152

7:38.1 152

7:41.1 151

7:42.9 151

8:24.6 146 - barefoot.  1st lap was around 2:19, second 2:07, third 2:00, fourth 1:58.  Straightaways on turf, moving to second lane for the turns.

1.875 15:03.2 147 cd 

11.25 1:32:15 147/161 Logan River Trail - Spring Hollow Campground.  Wonderful thunder, lightning and rain!

1.0 9:25.2 132 Started out slow - it seems a fast start turns into a little better time overall with times at the end that don't justify the higher heart rate.

0.76 6:39.2 142

1.04 9:29.0 149

1.25 10:55.1 150

1.0 7:30.3 148

0.625 5:56.2 151

0.625 5:23.9 144

1.0 7:38.9 149

1.25 9:15.1 146

1.04 7:09.6 150

0.76 5:35.1 154 

1.0 7:17.1 150 

1:25:31 144/159 Jon's upper canal trail to third dam then home.

1.0 8:48.5 138

4.25 40:14.6 142

4.0 28:53.6 146 (that's 7:13/mile coming down the canyon below upper aerobic limit!)

7:34.5 147 

26.2 3:19:17 162  Bear Lake Marathon course - end to half and back.  I planned to wake up at 4:15 so I could complete my run early enough to get back in time to make everyone buttermilk pancakes!  We were at my grandparents 'cabin' (a double wide trailer in Sweet Water) so my kids didn't sleep so well.  By 2:20, I realized it wasn't doing me any good to try sleeping, though I did get 3.5 good hours, so I go up and went running.  It was very dark, no moon, and very few mile markers that I could see - road mile markers, not course markers.  I did find the half mark, 13 miles left, and 3 miles left!

This was supposed to be a 16 mile MP+10% long run 

Splits - distances recorded when known...

5:06.2 145

1.0 8:34.1 151 

1.0 8:19.2 152 - starting off nice and calm

2.0 16:15.9 155

2.0 14:58.5 162 - start picking up a bit

1.0 7:23.7 165 - I really was shooting for 7:27/mile, but I really couldn't see.  I had a head lamp, that I turned on when I could see road signs I thought were mile markers and when I couldn't see anything, but really I was running blind (almost like not having an HR monitor or watch or eyes)

40:52.2 162 - Half 1:41:30 about 4 minutes behind, but the calm start put me about 4 minutes off by mile 7 or so

56:20.0 165

1.0 7:25.2 166

1.0 7:41.7 164 - this was about where my longest mile in the Bear Lake Marathon before I ran out of energy...

1.0 7:31.9 166

2.0 14:32.9 167 - below BQ pace!

4:16.0 169 - second Half 1:38:47

The last 19 miles or so were pretty close to my target - maybe 5 seconds slow per mile.  I'm happy - it's still may fastest marathon ever. 

14.61 1:46:55 159/176 LH Track.  I wondered last night if I would be able to do this 3x3mile @ MP, after bashing my bad (worse) knee into the corner of a bench.  It felt as bad as it's ever been, but usually it is from over use (too much basketball or running) or maybe poor form, but this time from coming to a sudden stop against a piece of wood.  I decided that maybe today was the day to do an all out 5k (which I can't really do, because subconsciously, I am a wimp).  After the first one (with an utterly un-amazing time) I thought I would do another, then after that, I just kept going.

All my track miles are run in the second lane.  To keep it simple, I say 4 laps is a mile, but really 3.957 laps are a mile, so technically 12.267 laps are 3.1 miles.  Today, each 5k consists of 2x4 laps + 4.25 laps + 5 steps (the 5 steps should be enough to take care of the .017 since I take approximately 300 steps around the 400+ meter track => 5/300 =  .0166 - so close to .017).  The first 2 miles are a little more than 1 each and the last 1.1 really are less than 1.1 but the total really is 3.1 miles

Distance Time HR

1.875 15:39.2 135 wu

0.25 2:16.1 139 wu

1.0 6:45.9 166

1.0 6:49.1 170

1.1 7:08.6 172 - 1st 5k 20:43.6

0.50 4:38.1 150 Recovery

1.0 6:52.8 164 

1.0 6:49.6 169

1.1 7:03.1 172 - 2nd 5k 20:45.5

0.5 4:19.5 152 Recovery

1.0 6:39.8 167

1.0 6:38.9 171

1.1 6:56.5 173 - 3rd 5k 20:15.2

0.31 2:46.6 159 cd

1.875 15:31.5 149 

Not an amazing 5k time, but faster than my best 5k race!!!

11.25 11:30:51 143/154 Logan River Trail to Spring Hollow Campground.  Not my best time yet (off by 33 seconds) but definitely my lowest HR!

1.0 9:10.9 134

0.76 6:35.5 142

1.04 9:19.1 144

1.25 10:40.2 143

0.95 7:24.0 142

0.625 5:55.5 143 - turn around

0.625 5:20.9 142

0.95 7:32.6 144

1.25 9:01.5 144

1.04 7:12.2 144

0.76 5:31.5 147

1.0 7:07.2 147 

10.92 1:24:04 147 LH Track - fitness test...

1.875 14:43.8 18

0.25 1:54.6 145 - dialing in HR to 151

1.0 7:31.4 150

1.0 7:33.6 151

1.0 7:38.3 151

0.67 5:15.2 144 (in search of pop)

1.0 7:29.7 149 (surely a little low because of a little rest in the middle of the 0.67)

1.0 7:32.9 150

1.0 7:32.8 151

0.25 1:55.0 150 (start cool down though really I run 0.25 when I get to the track and leave the track so I have 4.25 miles + my work out...)

1.875 14:54.1 148 

11.25 1:32:16 144/157 Spring Hollow - Easy

1.0 9:24.3 136

0.76 7:11.8 143 - strong headwind

1.04 9:41.4 143

1.25 10:52.6 145

0.95 7:27.7 143

0.625 6:02.5 145

0.625 5:18.6 141

0.95 7:27.4 143

1.28 9:03.2 143

1.04 7:13.2 144

0.76 5:25.3 149

1.0 7:08.2 151 

6.25 51:17.4 150/178 Track for some 100m strides.

1.875 14:58.5 138

0.25 mile splits - each includes a 100m sprint - times listed at end 

1:57.3 158

1:59.7 159

2:00.0 161

2:03.0 160

2:01.0 160 

1:59.6 161

1:59.6 162

1:54.9 165

1:58.2 163 

1:55.4 164  

100m sprints -  HR is at end, since average seems irrelevant...  

16.1 167

17.0 166

17.1 162 

16.7 175

17.8 166 

17.7 168 

17.4 166 

18.1 168

17.4 168 

16.1 164 

1.875 16:29.9 149 

13.1 1:23:55.7 177/189  Top of Utah half Marathon! PR!

Play-by-Play 

I didn't sleep great, even though I told myself ever and over that this was just a training run.  I knew I could run it in 1:27:37 (that's what I did 3 weeks ago in non-race conditions) and figured the better weather and the aid stations could only help.  the weather was pretty good - a few degrees cooler would have been ideal, but it was good enough that I won't complain.  I got out of bed around 4:55, drank 2 glasses of water, ate an egg and some oatmeal (2 scoops).  I drank another half glass of water and took morning vitamins.  Then I waited for my dad and we left.  We found Travis near the end of the bus line (he drove with his sister-in-law and here friend that spent the night at his place.)  We chatted on the way up.  There were huge lines at the POPS, but  I didn't really need anything more than a tree.  I made a stop at the clothing bus and jogged a bit to the start line.  The race started late (about 10 minutes) but we weren't at all surprised - there were 2397 runners - almost 900 more than last year. 

1.0 6:17.4 165 - started about 8 feet back (3-4 seconds) but got boxed in - people 8 feet behind me had flown by by the time I could get around 3-5 people running in the wrong spot...Seems like 5-10 seconds, but everyone starts too fast so I wasn't too disappointed.  My dad says after he crossed the start line he was still walking and it took him 'til mile 6 to make up the time.

2.0 6:12.1 178 - by here, most people had fallen into their places/paces.  A co-worker who started right next to me (Mark Wallace) - who also got boxed in passed me here.  There were 4 men running 10 yards ahead of me.  I thought I would have been better off running with them, but decided not to push to catch up with them - my Heart Rate was right where I wanted it to be.

3.0 6:21.9 178 - the group of 4 had spread out, I ended up behind the last - Cameron Madsen (son of a different co-worker).  At the aid station, I dumped a cup of water over my head and drank some crappy, strong, red Gatorade.  At each aid station (6,9,11) I did the same thing, except the Gatorade was better at the other stations.

4.0 6:26.9 177 - I stayed close to Cameron (who finished his 1st Half ever in 1:26:07 - gun time)

5.0 6:16.0 177 - Nephi Sanchez came cruising by.  I chatted with him a bit, then he took off.  He has a torn meniscus that starts bothering him around 8-9 miles.  He made it through the Ragnar relay without any troubles and hoped to do the same today.  Then he took off.  By now, I was close enough to Cameron to engage in some conversation.  I didn't know him until we talked, he just looked like my co-worker Dave.  Cameron just got home from his mission in the first week or two of July.  He had made his companions run 4 miles with him, so he was in decent shape when he got home.  He was hoping to finish around 1:30, but was feeling really good, so he started out fast.  He ran tangents fairly well, but like most people he seemed a bit leery of getting too close to the edge.  He seemed to have pretty decent form, but did have a fairly loud foot slap on the downhill sections. 

6.0 6:17.1 178 - had some wind from varying directions as well as some up and downhill sections.  I took the lead from Cameron, thinking that I had tailed him long enough and it would only be fair if he could draft a little in the windy section.  By the time we hit the aid station though, their was a sizable gap.

7.0 6:08.2 178 - nice, gentle downhill with a good tailwind - I don't think that the people finishing around 2 hours had this advantage :(

8.0 6:25.1 178 - in the straightaways, 2 of the remaining 3 from the group of 4 men come into view, as well as another guy.  I just focused on the tangents and keeping my HR in check.  One goal that I had (that I knew I wouldn't meet but wanted to try any was) was to finish the last 5k faster than my 5k race time - difficult, since miles 11 and 12 are uphill - so I tried not to push too hard to catch anyone.  Eventually passed 2 and then I caught up with Mark Wallace.  I asked how he was doing - he said 'getting tired'.  As we talked, my HR spiked to 186 (strange - I've never noticed that while chatting) so I didn't talk much, but I don't think that he wanted to either.  As I pulled away, he said, "Go for it!" 

9.0 6:29.4 177 - fairly uneventful, but clearly I'm either running out of gas, or the terrain is changing to flat - or maybe both.

10.0 6:30.2 177 - out on the main highway

11.0 6:38.0 178 - as we turned my Maverick, I could finally tell who I was catching up to - Nephi.  Before I could catch him, a younger (probably in his twenties, not thirties) guy passed by running great.  It must have been Colton Bramwell - I talked with him after, but must have missed his name.  It was his first race in a while and he wanted to know what some other good races were, so I told him about the fastrunningblog.  I passed Nephi at the aid station.

12.0 7:04.8 177 - right before the mile marker, I passed 3 guys.  They were all running side by side, talking.  As I passed them, I said, "I'll pass you now so that all of you can pass someone in the last mile!"  None of them did.  Though either one of them tapered off pretty bad, or wasn't registered because there weren't 3 together at the end (Nephi wasn't one of them.)

13.0 6:20.0 178 - Colton ended up passing someone else, so the next person in front of me was Stephen Robinson - who finished 56 seconds ahead, so I didn't have the pleasure of passing anyone in the last mile.

13.1 0:29.9 184 (4:59 pace) - I had quite the cheering section: brothers BJ (who was in town from Maryland for a couple days), Darrin (who brought his girl friend Kaitlyn), sister Jen, Mom, and of course my wife Jeri Dawn and 4 daughters!  So of course I picked it up at the end - though not as much as my brother Travis - who ran the final 0.1 miles in 28 seconds.  He really is faster than I am, but my training is much better.  His final gun time was 1:27:36 - 6 seconds slower than last year, but he said his watch put him 3 seconds faster than last year.

I got some nourishment, put on a shirt, took off my bib (since everyone hates the show-offs who finish then run back), and went looking for my dad.  

 I found him around 11.75.  He was tired, walked a bit (but his walk is quite fast - it felt awkward to me, I couldn't decide whether or not to jog just to keep up with him.  Then he'd start running and pass everyone who passed him while  he was walking.  He really wanted to beat last years time of 2:00:15.  He wanted to know who was here for support - he spent the night at my place, but everyone else drove up from Plain City this morning.  When he heard the list, he knew he had to finish strong.  He asked me how far to the finish.  I said, "Can you see the black and white arch?" "No, I only see a lot of people."  "You can't see the arch above them?" "No."  "Well, it's probably 0.3-0.4 miles, how much time do you have?" "3 minutes."  "You can make it, but your going to have to push it."  We started running.  As we got closer to the finish and I prepared to leave him, I told him to push hard.  Later he said that when he looked over and realized I was gone, he almost stopped to walk, but heard someone cheering.  My dad (registered as Crystal McKellar, who injured her knee...) ran 9 seconds faster than last year!  So everyone PR'd by their own watches, but according to gun time, they didn't. (I ran another 2.5 miles in this segment.)

As I was running/walking with my dad, Kelli passed by going the opposite direction - I wouldn't have known it was her except for the comment she made on her blog regarding plaid skirt.  Eventually she passed going the right way running someone in.  I asked if she beat here 1:35 - she did, by a long shot, but you'll have to read her report to find out the results.  I also met/talked to Scott Ensign - who did a phenomenal job!  Obviously, there were other bloggers there, but I don't really know who, besides Paul Peterson - who also was amazing, though the only place I saw him was the start line - he's way too fast to see anywhere else. 

 After the drawing, I ran home to finish my long run for the week.  I followed the TOU Marathon course to 24.125 miles, then cut across to the finish and continued home on canyon road, for another 4.8 miles.  It was quite warm.  My average HR was around 160 and it took 40 minutes (8:20 pace). 

8.92 1:14:23 141/160 Recovery LH Track - supposed to be 2x4miles @MP, but I thought today would be better run in recovery mode.  I only looked at my watch (for HR and time when I finished each segment, to make sure that I actually hit the lap button.

1.875 16:11.4 134

0.25 2:04.8 138

1.0 8:07.2 146

0.75 6:02.0 151 (should have been one more lap but I needed a POP)

0.67 5:23.0 142 - POP stop in the middle (oh, thank heaven for Tesoro)

0.25 2:08.0 137 (to finish last mile - 8:08)

1.0 8:12.7 143

1.0 8:14.1 143

0.25 2:04.0 142

1.875 15:56.1 140

Very wet and a bit chilly in the rain...  I also had bathroom issues today.  Even though I hit the Tesoro 35 minutes into this 1:14 run, I still had to hacer pis (like they would say in Argentina) twice after that.  The last time, I was on the road back to my house and figured everything was wet enough any way, so I waited for a break in traffic and took care of business.  The break wasn't as long as I had hoped and a truck passed me from behind.  Apparently the driver caught a glimpse of the action - as I passed him later (stopped in 1st day of school at USU traffic) he rolled down his window and said I had made his day!  After making sure he didn't catch anything on video, I finished my leisurely run. 

*A note from Saturday's race: I remembered from my practice Half a few weeks ago that about 3:40-4:00 minutes in from the Half mile markers were the full mile markers.  It was really nice to be able to gage my time without having to wait to the end of a mile to see how I was doing.  I suppose some people might be upset about additional markers, but I think it would be nice if they marked the marathon course in 1/2 mile segments! 

10.0 1:21:15 143 Logan River Trail - Easy

1.0 9:13.0 131

0.76 7:06.2 139

1.04 9:32.0 143

1.25 10:51.1 146

0.95 7:30.5 144

0.95 7:46.1 142

1.25 9:19.1 143

1.04 7:15.4 147

0.76 5:31.7 150

1.0 7:13.6 149