Next Up?

Well, I'm going back to Speedgoat in July. The race this year is a few weeks earlier than last year. I haven't read why but I don't think there's going to be a problem. I guess there might be some more snow than usual but who knows if that will affect the course at all.

Last year's Speedgoat 50k beat me up pretty good. It was the first race where right in the middle I was thinking "what would happen if I just stopped right now and called it quits?" Well, I didn't call it quits and I did pretty good overall for myself. I do remember getting to the highest point in the race and not even thinking about pace anymore. In fact, I was quite tired, upset and just wanted to be done. I had some guy take a picture of me at the top and I don't know if it was him or someone else who was sort of prodding me to not stop or slow down (even for the picture) and keep going and in my head I was just thinking "shut up." Here's a picture of that point. Not a lot of joy on my face.

Here's a video that was on the way up to Mt Baldy(?) at 11,000+ feet.

But of course I have no intent of letting the race get the best of me and I felt like I have had a score to settle with the race if only to improve on my time a little.

So that's coming up soon and then I don't have another race until the St George Marathon on 1 October.

I've been looking for another race and don't know what I want to do. Part of me wants to get a half marathon in to try and beat my PR of 1:25 and part of me just wants to get in a few full marathons in just to get in the mindset and really get ready for STG. Then another part of me just wants to get out on a trail race because I love the mountains and the trees and the dirt.

So will it be the Huntsville Marathon? Right now it's 2 weeks before SGT and I think its a decent price and a good choice. Other than that there's a few other races that are really tempting. Kat'cina Mosa 100k? Or the Morgan Valley Marathon?

Going to admit that no one is really reading this but on the off chance someone out there actually has an opinion on what race I should or should not run, let me know! 

2015 AF Canyon Run Against Cancer

Ran a half marathon this past saturday. It was awesome. I ended up finishing in 1:25:17.3 - that's a PR for me and an average pace of 6:31/per mile. It was good enough to get me 32nd place overall (out of 2263) and 3rd in my age group.

I ran a 50 mile race this year and I didn't feel to bad after. I wasn't that sore and was running the next Monday.

This half marathon has completely totaled my legs and now (being the Monday after)  I can barely walk. I figure it is due to a few factors: First, I pushed myself very hard. I was at my limit for the entirety of the race. Second, it was downhill and on pavement. The majority of the downhill I have done this year has been on trails and at a much slower speed.

Here's a quick breakdown of how the race went:

The race started on time at the Tibble Fork resivior and the road went immediately down. The one thing that always sort of throws training out the window is how the course actually is vs what you actually run. Yes, I guess you could train very specifically to a course, but I don't know how many people do on average.

So they say not to start out too fast and to finish the race faster than you start. I think this works well for a flat course but what about hills? This course starts down and ends a little bit flatter. So to me the begining is where you can really make good time because you're going downhill and that takes less effort than flat or going up.

Anyway, I started pretty quick and by the time the 10k point hit a PR for 10k. I was going pretty fast. knew right off the bat that I was probably going faster than I really should be going and faster than I really needed to go. But I was running the shortest race I have done yet this year and I wasn't planning on taking it easy.

The crowds thinned out as the miles ticked by and I was still doing just as well as I had expected. Some runners passed me and I passed some as well.

The canyon is very pretty and one aspect that I like most about American Fork Canyon is how steep the canyon walls are. There are some big cliffs and this perfect June morning I thought was a great way to enjoy it.

The course eventually lead out of the canyon and went to a small bike/pedestrian trail. This is where things started to get rough for me and I had to really work to keep up the pace.

The last 5 miles or so wind through the valley and although the overall course profile is downhill, there were some ups and downs where I think everybody had to slow down a little and push up before returning to a faster pace.

The finish line could be heard from about a half mile away. At this point, I didn't know if there was anyone behind me or how close they might have been. I think that my mind was playing tricks on be because the entire last quater mile I was convinced there was going to be a pack of about 10 people pass me. Lucky for me it was all in my head and even now, i'm not sure how close the person behind me was.

The finish line area was great. The Kneaders french toast was by far the best post race food I'd ever had at a race and was worth every calorie.

Would I run this race again? I think I would. I was surprised how smooth everything went. All elements were executed perfectly in my opinion.