Wind and Hail!

It's starting to get cold in Rexburg. I tapered down a little last week and only ran my ten mile loop twice and a 22 mile bike ride. But I knew I needed to put in one more long run before the marathon, so I ran another 20 miles on Saturday (3 weeks before the marathon). It was a cool/cold day, but there seemed to be a little break in the weather. The first six miles were cold and windy. My hands were freezing, especially because I was carrying a water bottle in one and a 12 oz. Gatorade in the other. At about mile 7 my wife pulled up in the van to check on me and tell me it was hailing at home. But I was feeling good so I kept going. Within minutes, it started pouring hail. Soon the street was covered with it. I realized that running in hail is better than rain or snow because it didn't soak my clothes, but bounced off. The hail was soft, and it felt cushiony to run on. Also, the wind stopped during the hail. Here I was, 7 miles from home, in the middle of nowhere, no cars, no people, just a lone runner making footprints in the hail along the never-ending farm road. It was surreal to look back and see my tracks stretching far into the distance. Gradually the hail stopped, the sky cleared, and I finished the 20 miles with sunny skies in 2:51. My recovery was quicker than I've normally had after long runs. This run really boosted my confidence for the coming marathon.
Nothing better after a long run than an ice bath with a bowl of mashed potatoes.

Twenty Miles During General Conference

After running 15 miles, I tapered down a little the next week. I ran 10 on Tuesday (1:19), none on Thursday, and 5 on Saturday. Then this last week I picked it up again. I ran 10 on Tuesday, 10 on Thursday (1:18--my fastest time yet), and then 20 today. When I got up to go running this morning it was pouring snow! So I went to the fitness center and ran on the treadmill. LDS General Conference was on the TVs, so I had that to distract me for the last two hours of my three-hour run. I ran the first 14 miles at 7 mph and the last 6 at 6 mph. It felt good to run on the smooth, soft surface of the treadmill, and at about mile 16 Elder Uchtdorf started talking about enduring to the end! Good timing, huh? I'm not gonna lie, though. My legs are ACHING by the end of 20 miles. I walked for a while to cool down, stretched, took an ice bath, a couple ibuprofen, ate, and put my feet up to watch the afternoon session of conference while rotating an ice pack on sore spots. I'm feeling surprisingly good now--much better than I ever have after such a long run.

Running with Satellites

Debbie, my wife, bought me a Garmin GPS running watch for my upcoming birthday, and I've been having a ball with it. I ran fifteen miles last Saturday and came home and analyzed my pace, pace/mile, elevation gain, etc. on my computer. I never realized how much even a slight incline slows my pace. I completed the 15 miles in 2:08, with an average pace of 8:34. This was the same pace as my last marathon, which was encouraging since I didn't feel like I was pushing myself as hard this time. I biked 24 miles on Monday, again with my Garmin, and ran my ten mile loop up summers hill in my fastest time yet, 1:19. I didn't run today because we had a death in the family--our refrigerator. We spent the afternoon shopping for one, buying one, moving the new one in, and the old one into the garage (the freezer still works!?). By the time we were done, Debbie had to leave for her mountain biking class, and though I've run in the dark with a little LED flashlight before, I wasn't up to it tonight. Besides, I'm due for a little recovery time. Here's a graph of my pace vs. elevation on the fifteen mile run.

Horseshoe Challenge 20K Trail Run, Driggs, Idaho

On Saturday I drove to Driggs and ran the Horseshoe Challenge 20K Trail Run in Horseshoe Canyon. It was beautiful! The first half, running up to the ridge, just about killed me. I had to walk several of the steepest parts of the trail. I even experienced just a little bit of blurred vision for a few seconds at the top, but the run down the mountain was awesome. I felt like a little kid again, jumping over streams, hurdling fallen trees, and scampering down the soft, dirty trail in the shade of pines. It was exhilarating. My goal was to finish in under 2 hours, which I did (1:53). I took 6th place overall of about 20 runners, and 1st place in my division (there were only two people in my division. Ha!) They gave out some good prizes at the raffle, and I won a winter beanie embroidered with a winged potato for placing first in my division.

I rested on Sunday. On Monday I biked for an hour. And last night I ran my 10 mile loop in the dark with an LED flashlight in 1:22. I'd like to complete the Richmond Marathon in 3:30. I hope I can do it. I'm training on hills, and the Richmond Marathon is mostly flat, so I'm hoping if I can maintain 8 mpm on rolling hills I'll be able to perform even better on a flat race.

10 mile loop

This last week I biked 20 miles on Monday, Ran 10 miles (8 mpm), Swam for 30 minutes on Wednesday, and Ran 10 miles yesterday. I ran the 10 miles on the same loop but the opposite direction. It was hot, and it was hard. It's the first time I've ever done two 10 mile runs in one week. The biking and swimming is enjoyable and will hopefully help me get ready for a triathlon in the summer. Today is my day off, and I need it. I'm thinking about running a 12 mile trail race tomorrow, but I haven't decided yet. I'd like to go do it at a nice, relaxing pace, but it's hard when it's a race and there's someone in front of you that you want to pass.

I'll never run a marathon again

This summer I ran my first marathon: the Teton Dam Marathon in Rexburg, Idaho, where I live. I went into it thinking, "If I can do it in under four hours, then I'll have reached my goal, and never run a marathon again."

I finished in 3:58. For the last two miles I kept asking myself, "Why am I doing this?" Yet, two months later, I ran another marathon: the Mesa Falls Marathon in Ashton, Idaho. I finished in 3:44.


And now I've registered for the Richmond, Virginia Sun Trust Marathon in November. I wonder if I can finish in 3:30. I don't know what's happened to me, but at age 34 I am suddenly hooked on something I never would have foreseen myself doing.

Now, my goal is to run a marathon in all fifty states by the time I'm 50 years old. This blog is a record of my journey toward this goal.