Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

Today's workout was tough, but not unmanageable. I think it should have felt easier than it did, though. Two sets of 800m at 5K pace, 1600m at 10K pace, and 3200m at marathon pace. Or at least at what I think those paces should be. 

A stiff and sore six miles this morning. I think the soreness was from taking Elliott to the trampoline park last night. 

Also, it was a lot colder than I expected. I wish I had worn gloves.  

Today was going to be a rest day, but a friend talked me into a lunch run down Big Cottonwood. We got a ride up about 7 miles from the office and then ran back down at about a 6:30 average pace. It was a beautiful day, and I think the high-turnover, low-intensity workout was good for me. 

I was planning to go a lot longer today, but I also wasn't planning to run at all yesterday, so I guess it all balances out. 

I ran from our house up to Nunn's Park and then back the way I came. Catherine and Elliott drove up to the River Trail and went for a walk, so it was fun to see them in the middle of my run.

There were a lot of long boarders on the trail this evening. They really annoyed me, for some reason.  

Six reps of half a mile each at 5:50, with four-minute recoveries at 9:30. It was much harder than I expected. I can partly blame it on sore legs from Saturday. But the real culprit is Elliott. She had a rough night last night, which meant I got to have a rough night with her. We ended up watching the Fox and the Hound until a little past 1:00 in the morning. I enjoy the daddy-daughter time, but I would have enjoyed sleep even more :-)

Six easy miles. My legs were stil sore, but  I felt better today than I have in a while. I guess I'm tapering now. Weird.

Somehow I overslept this morning, so I ended up running in the evening. And because rain looked possible, I decided to go to the gym. Given the workout (30 seconds on, 30 off), that complicated things, because it seemed like my hand was always on the speed control. But I made do. 

Easy night miles on the River Trail. Not bad at all. But not anything special, either. 

Rest day.

My schedule called for 8 miles at goal pace today. I decided to run on the River Trail. After a one-mile warmup, I started the goal pace. My first mile was in 5:53—way too fast. My next one was 6:10, which was still too fast, and my third was even worse at 6:05 (I was shooting for the 6:20-6:30 range). I managed to get back on track for my fourth mile in 6:20, but by then I was starting to feel done, so I slowed down. I ended up running the last few miles at around 6:50, which isn't terrible.

And now I'm worried about my ability to pace myself next week. A few miles too hot are harder to recover from than I would have thought. 

Catherine went running with a friend after I got home. She was ready for more when she got back, so we put Elliott in the stroller and ran three more together before calling it a day. 

I ran an 18:00 5K this morning, with a little bit of easy running on each end. 

An easy three miles with Catherine and Elliott on the bike path. It was hotter than we thought it would be. And after the run Elliott had a fever of 103. We took her to the instacare and they diagnosed her with strep. She's got some antibiotics, and she should be as good as new in a few days. The question now is whether I'm going to get it from her before the race. Because I won'r run with strep. Or on antibiotics. 

More miles at the treadmill. I ran a very short warmup and cool-down, with three miles at goal pace in the middle. Right now I'm calling that 6:20, but I think that's optimistic. 

This was my first (and maybe my last) marathon. I'm glad that it's over, and I'm mostly satisfied with my performance. I think I could have done a little better, but I think my time matched my training pretty well. 

What you've probably already heard in every other race report was that the conditions were tough. It was wet and windy the entire day. That means I was constantly cold and everything I was wearing was waterlogged, heavy and chafing. But at least the rain stopped while we were waiting in the staging area.

Even though my friends and I waited for one of the last busses, I still had to wait well over an hour to actually start running. I spent that time standing in a grassy field inhaling campfire smoke and letting me feet gradually soak. So at least my pre-race routine wasn't too far from ordinary.

I started the race with my friend Jared, and I saw Chad at the beginning, but for the most part I ran by myself all day. (Speaking of Chad, I'd like to know how his race went, but unfortunately his blog hasn't been updated for a while. Hint, hint.) 

Once we started, I got off to a quick start. The first mile was about 5:40. I knew that was too fast, so I slowed down, but even so I cruised through the first 7 downhill miles with an average pace in the ball park of 6:05, and I hit the half at about 1:22.

During this time, my position in the field was pretty constant. Some runners passed me, but it seemed like for every one who did, there was another runner ahead of my who blew up and fell behind.

Things started to come apart in the second half of the race. I'll say right now that my legs just aren't used to such a beating. My quads were really starting to burn, and I was having a harder time keeping up my pace and cushioning each step. Even so, I held a pace in the 6:20s around the reservoir.

At mile 16 I passed two riders puking on the side of the road. It made me glad that my stomach felt okay. One of them recovered and passed me a mile or two later. I never saw the other runner again. I wonder if he finished.

Ogden Canyon proved to be my downfall. My legs just couldn't handle the descent at that point, and I started to fade fast. By the time I left the canyon, I was in survival mode and my pace had dropped into the very high sixes.

Just before I left the canyon, I got double-chicked by the first- and second-placed female runners. They were cruising. I, unfortunately, was not.

Catherine and Elliott were cheering for me as I left the canyon, which gave me a psychological boost, but it was short lived. By the time I hit the bike path, I was done. Done like on the final descent at Speedgoat, or on the climb to Snowbird at the Tour of Utah. In other words, it was ugly. 

I settled into a death shuffle. I was actually running just over and just under 8:00 per mile, but it felt much, much slower. And to make matters worse, my GPS is fast by about .01 miles. Which means that every time it ticked off a mile, I knew that I really hadn't gone as far as my watch said. 

But I survived. Two more runners passed me on the bike path, and another guy got me a few hundred yards from the finish (fellow FRBer crhudman, apparently). I was just grateful that there weren't more people chasing.

I finished the race in a bit of a daze. I tried to drink some Sprite an thought I was going to to throw up, so I just sort of stood there trying not to fall over until the people with the finishers' medals saw me and guided in their direction.

I was soaked through, but I didn't know where my drop bag was so I had no clean and dry clothes. Fortunately, Catherine and Elliott were there to take me back to the hotel. After a shower and a change I felt much, much better, although walking still hurts.

And that's pretty much it. I've now run a marathon, and I don't know if I'll do it again. Right now I don't feel the need.  

I finally decided to go out for a short run today. My legs have felt pretty good since yesterday, so I figured I was ready to go. But once I started running I could tell right away that certain joints and muscles are far from recovered. Even so, it was nice to get out and run. 

Just another easy run this morning. I took Elliott with me in the stroller. It's been a while, but I think she still enjoys it. Catherine started with us and we ran together for about a mile and a half until she hit her turnaround. 

Elliott and I continued west along the river trail until we hit a rest area that we often use as a turnaround point. I wish I could be more descriptive about where it is, but I'm honestly not sure where it is, other than that it's somewhere east of the lake and west of Geneva.

I felt pretty good for most of the run, but with about two miles to go I hit a wall. I was surprised because the run had been so short and so easy. But I felt terrible, and I couldn't do anything more than suffer through the last couple of miles. I guess I'm still recovering from Ogden last week.  

For mother's day I got Catherine a city bike to ride around town. This week we got a matching one for me as an early father's day gift. So today, we hitched up the trailer and went for a couple of family rides. In the morning, Catherine and I took Elliott up to Orem and around the mall. In the evening, my brother came with us and we went west on the River Trail, riding the same route that Elliott and I ran on Saturday.

I figure it's time for me to get back to daily runs, so I went out for a few miles this morning. I felt more sore than I expected to, but it turned out that my miles were all in the 6:45 run, so I was also running faster than I thought I was. 

After I ran, we hitched the trailer to my bike and Catherine and I rode with Elliott up to Vivian Park. It was super crowded on the River Trail, but it was still a nice family outing.