My Life On The Run by Bart Yasso

I just finished reading "My Life On The Run" by Bart Yasso. I really enjoyed reading this book. He writes from a very humble and down to earth perspective about his life, and how running changed everything for him. He was an alcoholic from the age of 14-18 or 20 and then he started running and it changed his life. He eventually got a job at Runner's World, a leading magazine for running, and has traveled across the globe running and doing a job that he never even dreamed of. The book is full of great stories and great lessons learned.

First Dam Run 2010

This past Saturday Audrey and I ran in a race in Logan, UT called the First Dam Run. The race route was an out and back that took runners past the "First Dam" on the river that flows down Logan Canyon, hence the name of the race.
The race didn't start until 10:00 a.m. which was nice for us since we had to drive 2 hours to get there. Our friends Barry and Janice and their son Benjamin went with us to cheer us on and we all had to stock up on groceries afterward at SAM'S Club and Wal-Mart.
We ran in the 10k race (6.2 Miles) and there were 91 other runners doing that race. It was cloudy and overcast at the start and a little chilly, but once we started running it warmed up pretty quick. We took off at a pretty fast pace, and there were probably only 10-12 people ahead of us. We maintained a good pace throughout the entire race and methodically passed people. The course was fairly flat and the views were awesome. The mountains on one side, the river, the fall leaves, it was gorgeous.
Once we hit the 1 mile mark and there weren't any other women remotely close to us I knew that Audrey was going to win first place female. Coming into the turnaround point there was a really strong wind coming down through the canyon, but once we turned around it was really nice because it pushed us from the back. The next closest girl was about 1 minute behind us.
I pulled ahead of Audrey a little bit towards the end and I finished in 42 minutes 39 seconds, and Audrey finished in 42:43.
Here's the link for the official results:
http://www.milliseconds.com/participants/final_list/overall/143635
After the race they did awards and Audrey won a trophy for being first place (a piece of driftwood that had come over First Dam) and I won a ribbon for first place in my age division of 20-29.

More Halloween Half Pictures

The Runner's Guide To The Meaning Of Life

I just finished reading this book in 3 days. It is a very quick read, but it has a lot of good stuff in there. If running interests you in any way or you are a runner you will enjoy this book. It takes things from running and applies them to your everyday life. I love the fact that there are timeless truths that resonate across so many activities of life. Let's you know that everything is created by God and is spiritual and sacred, and that our lives (body-physical // soul-spiritual) are all connected.

Great Horned Owls & Rock Climbing

I went for a run this morning and halfway through I came back to the house to take Mountie with me. Audrey and Maya were already doing their own run (Maya can run 4 miles, Mountie can make it 2 if he tries really hard). But on our way back to the house I noticed two Great Horned Owls sitting on a telephone line next to our house.

I walked closer over to where they were and then they got spooked and one flew right over my head. It was a pretty cool sight to see, especially since they didn't dive bomb me or anything. I love the way that God has created nature and animals. It is definitely one of the easiest places that I see God. It was a beautiful morning to run too; the temperature was about 30 degrees and the moon was only a sliver, but it was so clear out that you could see the rest of the moon that wasn't lit up.
Audrey's family came to visit us this afternoon. We all went rock climbing at the Rec. Center in town. It was a lot of fun, and great to do something active together. It was also fun to watch everyone do well and go past what they thought they might be able to accomplish.

Devotions

We now have a Classical Christian Academy in Kemmerer that is for K-12 grades. It is called Veritas Classical Christian Academy and they are doing a great job in their first year of trying to get a school off the ground. One of the things that they have asked area Pastors to do is give devotions to the students each morning. So we take turns bringing a devotion to them.

My morning is this morning.

Halloween Half Marathon

This Saturday Audrey and I ran in the Halloween Half Marathon in Provo, UT about 3 hours from Kemmerer. The course boasts 2,000 ft. of elevation loss over the 13.1 miles. We went down on Friday to pick up our race packet information. We got what we needed and went to our motel and went to bed early because we had to be on a bus by 6:45 a.m. the next morning. I didn't sleep very good; I never do anymore besides in my own bed.
We woke up at 5:00 and got ready. The temperature was supposed to be around 34 degrees when the race started at 9:00 a.m. They had to bus 2,500 people up to the start of the race which was located at Sundance Ski Resort. We made it to the starting area around 7:15 a.m. They had 2 large tents set up with propane heaters so everyone could stay warm until the race started. While people were waiting they had costume contests.
For this race they had pacers (people who hold a sign on the end of a stick announcing when they will be finishing the race). So if you wanted to finish in say 1 hour and 30 minutes you would find the pacer with that time on their flag. The last half marathon that Audrey and I ran we finished in 1:35:45, so our goal was to finish in under 1 hour and 30 minutes.
We made our way to the start line finally after waiting for what seemed like forever. The first 4-5 miles were incredibly steep. We even had a few switchbacks that we had to go down. We started out pretty fast and kept a good strong pace going. The actual course itself is really pretty as it starts up in the mountains and then runs down a canyon along a river. There is even a waterfall that comes down off one side of the canyon (Bridal Veil Falls).
We only slowed down in a few spots during the whole race, and we ended up finishing in 1 hour and 28 minutes. We beat our goal time by 2 minutes and improved our PR (Personal Record) for the Half Marathon distance by over 7 minutes. Our average mile splits were 6 minutes and 43 seconds. When we looked at the results Audrey had gotten 2nd in her age division and I had gotten 10th. We were 75th and 76th overall out of 2,500 people.

To see the results click here: http://milliseconds.com/races/detail/1387

It was a fun race, and the weather ended up being perfect warming up to around 60 degrees when the race was over. Here are some pictures from the race.