Utah Valley Marathon Report

Let's get the most important part of this blog out of the way first. I set a personal record of 3:35:37! I beat my other PR by 17 minutes. So I am pretty pumped to write this report because of that. Quick recap of the weekend - Audrey and I left Friday morning for Provo, UT - Made it to the Race Expo in the afternoon - Got our Bibs & SWAG Bags and checked out the booths at the Expo - Checked into our motel - Drove our morning route to make sure we knew where the buses were going to pick us up - Walked around the Mall for a little bit - Picked up my Subway supper - Set out all our gear for the morning - Went to bed.

Saturday morning started at 2:45 a.m. when the first of our three alarms went off. We have missed a race once because our alarm clock died; won't happen again. Audrey and I started getting everything ready; shower, breakfast, race clothes, warm clothes to wear to the start, etc... The one thing about this race that was different than all of our other races was that we were running two different distances in different starting places. Audrey had to drop me off at my bus pickup at 3:45 a.m. so I could be bused the 26.2 miles up Provo Canyon to the start. Then she had to drive to the half marathon pickup for her. She went for the half because she didn't have enough time this Spring to do the training she needed for the full. You'll have to check out her blog http://www.audreyross.blogspot.com/ to hear about her race.

I loaded onto my bus around 4:00 a.m., headed to the back, and sat down. After about 10 minutes the bus filled and we headed up the canyon. I sat next to a high school kid from Cleveland, Ohio who was running his 2nd marathon and his parents were there with him. The ride took about 45 minutes, and they dropped us off at this little side road in Wallsburg, Utah. It was dark and cold, and I still had an hour and fifteen minutes to wait until the start. Luckily I had an over sized XXL coat that I was going to get rid of at the race start to keep warm. They had fire rings set up in different places, but breathing in all the smoke wasn't very beneficial. And then people started burning their clothes because there was no more wood. I steered clear of those.

Finally it was time for the race to start. The canon went off, I threw off my coat and headed into the moving pack of runners. The first couple of miles go through the small town of Wallsburg, and I was just trying to get feeling to come back into my feet and legs after being out in the cold for so long just sitting and waiting.
I warmed up after about 3 or 4 miles and was moving along a decent pace, not wanting to get drawn in by others who were going faster, still wanting to remain pretty comfortable.
The mountains were amazing to look at while running, and a couple of horses along the course made me laugh because they were running around all excited. I think because they saw 1,500 other people running they thought they should too.
I decided to carry my own water bottle for the entire course. The Camelbak Pro Chill.

It worked out great to be able to drink whenever I wanted and not wait for the Aid Stations. I think I refilled my bottle 4 or 5 times throughout the entire race, twice with Powerade. I also carried 4 energy gels and 4 electrolyte tablets and used them all. I even got 2 more gels and 2 half bananas from other Aid Stations and ate those too. I never felt hungry and I really didn't want to run out of energy.
From mile 7-9 there are a couple of good uphills, but the rest of the course was pretty much down the canyon. I felt pretty good up to the halfway point; 13.1 miles. I was wearing my Saucony Kinvaras which don't have a lot of support on the upper, and the longest run I had done in them up to the marathon was 10 miles. So my feet started to ache some then.
From there until about mile 22 I tried to focus on listening to my music, keeping a steady pace, watching other people, looking at the scenery; just about everything to keep on going.
At mile 22 I experienced a little bit of crampage and had to stop a couple of times for a quick stretch to hopefully loosen up the muscles that were causing me massive amounts of pain. I kept going and they actually subsided a little bit, and by that I mean enough for me to not have to stop and walk.
The last 3 miles I took it one mile at a time and was gutting it out. I knew that I could still finish under 3 hours and 40 minutes if I ran 10 minute miles at that point, and I knew I could at least do that.
Within the last half mile I realized that if I pushed a little harder I could possibly finish in 3:35, so I picked up the pace some and came across the line in 3 hours 35 minutes and 37 seconds.

I got my finisher medal and started hobbling around knowing that it was going to take a while for my legs to stop cramping. Audrey found me and took this wonderful picture. I was in some definite pain at this point. It's kind of amazing how your body feels okay while you are running that far and then when you stop it hurts so much worse.
I got some water and sat for a while, stretched some, walked around a little, got my results, and then ate 2 pieces of pizza and an ice cream bar, and then headed for the motel to shower. Overall, I really enjoyed the race because 1. the weather was just about perfect 2. I set a new record and ran really well 3. I got to do something that I love. Things I would have changed 1. The early bus ride and waiting for over an hour 2. Not being with Audrey.
Here are some other pictures:

Mile Marker 21 on the pavement

My results in my age division

The back of the shirts

Mass of people coming down the canyon

Iron and Wine Video

Audrey's Birthday Weekend

Don't have tons of time, but wanted to post a little about Audrey's birthday weekend. We went down to Salt Lake City on Friday because one of the big items on the birthday list was the Iron & Wine Concert on Friday night. We got in line for the concert around 6:00 p.m. when the doors opened, and after about 20 minutes made our way inside. The venue was really cool with a pretty big stage, standing room in front of the stage, and then they had a balcony that wrapped around the top that was open air.
We headed for the balcony because we saw that there were some cushioned benches that we could sit on. The concert itself was amazing. The opening band was "The Head and The Heart" from Seattle Washington. They were really surprisingly good. Usually you just want the opening bands to finish so you can get to the main act, but not this time. I will be buying their cd for sure.
After about a 45 minute set it was time for Iron & Wine. One of the coolest parts was that he (the lead singer & main man) had 10 other people on stage for his band. A barry sax, trumpet, normal sax, drums, another guy who played some drums and other instruments, another guitarist, bass guitar, and two back up singers. And they did work! They played for 2 hours, and did some amazing jamming in the middle of different songs. It was really awesome to watch and listen to.
After the concert we crashed at our motel. The next morning we went for a short run, breakfast at Jamba Juice and coffee at Starbucks, hang out time, showered and cleaned up, lunch at Sage's Cafe, then to the Gateway Mall, then got some groceries, and headed home. It was a fun trip & birthday! At least it was for me anyway and it wasn't even my birthday!
I'll post pictures when blogger decides to let me.

Memorial Day 5k Fun Run in Park City

Audrey and I signed up for another race on Memorial Day, so that made 2 races in 3 days; which is pretty fun. The only bad news was that we woke up on Monday morning to 30 degree weather and snow flurries. The trip down to Park City was a little more eventful than I would have wished trying to navigate on the snowy roads. I thought winter was supposed to be over by the end of May?

We ended up making fine, just in time for the race. Because of the nasty weather there weren't as many runners there as they were hoping for. Audrey and I lined up at the start line and she said, "I think we can win this one." So when the director said go we took off. There was only 1 high school aged boy in front of us, and after about a mile he slowed down and we cruised on by. The race course was on part paved trail and part hard packed rock trail, with two loops. After we had finished up the second loop and were headed back towards the finish I knew that there was no way anyone was going to catch us. So we just eased on into the finish, crossing the line together in first place.

It was a lot of fun. I also won a Rossignol dress shirt and hat at the raffle afterwards too. Here are some pictures of race day.

Western States Movie

Draper Trail Challenge

 On the Saturday of the Memorial Day Weekend, Audrey and I traveled down to Draper Utah to run in a trail race. The Draper Trail Challenge had a choice of a 4 mile, 6.3 mile, 10 mile, or 15 mile option. It is my goal to run a 50 mile race this September; the Grand Teton 50 Mile Race. So I chose the 15 mile race to start some of my training towards the 50 miler this fall. Audrey chose the 6.3 mile race because she has been coming back from a small but nagging injury, not letting her get in all the miles that she would like.
All the races started together so you really didn't have any idea who was running what race until much later on. But the good thing was that Audrey and I got to run together for the first 4 miles or so. The course was really really pretty and also really tough. Lots of up and down. 3,000 ft of total elevation gain and loss throughout the entire 15 mile race. I know by some ultra standards that's not much, but it was enough for me.
The weather started to warm up, and I think eventually it got to around 60 degrees. I felt pretty decent the entire run. At about the 11 mile mark there were 4 of us all kind of running together. I was made a few calculated moves on some hills and passed everyone hoping to put some distance between me and them.
Unfortunately I started to hit the wall about mile 13, which was all uphill. Got passed by 2 guys, and then I just settled into a nice steady pace to finish. I rolled across the line in 2 hours and 22 minutes. I felt good about the whole day, finished 6th overall and 4th in my age division. My Brooks gave me one blister on my right big toe. After the awards (Audrey got 2nd place by the way) I put on my recovery tights, and we went to eat lunch at Chili's. I totally believe in recovery tights in helping with DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness). They totally helped because we ran a race only 2 days later on Memorial Day in Park City.... but that is for another post. Here are some pictures.

Running up the trail towards the start of the race.

Felt pretty good at this point in the race.

It was a beautiful race course.

Coming into the finish.

Just a little bit farther.

I was pretty sore by this point.

As soon as I stopped running my legs started to cramp.

Scanning my bib number for my time.

Back To The Land Of Oz & Catching Up On Blogging

 It has been quite a while since I have had the time to blog. And since it has been so long, you will just have to get the shortened version of everything that has been happening. Hopefully life will be less busy so that I can actually write about it.
Audrey and I were fortunate enough to be able to take a vacation to my homeland of Kansas. One of the main purposes was to visit my new niece and nephew Malachi & Isaac. They were born prematurely and they were in the NICU for quite a while before they got to come home. They are miracle babies! And we got to hold them!
First on the agenda was visiting Haviland: my family, Audrey's family and everything in between. I surprised Audrey with a brand new road bike for her birthday since she is going to try her hand at a triathlon this summer. We had a great time in Haviland and then went to Wichita to see the babies and Patrick, Janeen, and Micah. It was so great to see these little babies that we had prayed for for so long. Before heading back to Wyoming we ran a 5k race with Patrick. The Step Up For SIDS 5k. It was a good time. Here's a couple of pictures from the trip.