Running on Twinkies

Parrish Creek Trail. Earlier this week I got accused of being wimp. So today I ran outside in the rain, snow, mud and more snow. It was great. I met up with a new friend named Mike and we ran the Parrish Creek Trail. This is the same trail I ran Last Saturday with Scott. But today there was a lot more snow and is was softer. We made it up three miles and turned around. It was a beautiful morning.

I am currently in Florida. My work sent me down here for two weeks to teach a training course. My Mom offered to take the kids and have Susie and Eliza fly down with me. I took her up on the offer. So it it kind of like being on vacation except that I have to work everyday. The toughest part about though is that now I have to get my Mom something really nice for Mother's Day since she is watching my other kids. Any suggestions?

 I ran 6.5 miles in the rain. 

After eating the seafood platter at McGuire's, I cranked out 6 miles in under an hour. 

We drove from Pensacola to Tallahassee last night to visit my brother. He and I ran together this morning. We ran to a small state park called Indain Mounds. I had some trails and we ran all of them. The weather here is warm and humid, but it was a great morning run.

I ran to the coast and back tonight. It is different running here than it is in Utah. My run tonight reach a grand elevation of 87 ft.

Six miles in the heat around Pensacola.

Six miles on Airport Blvd. It is still hot here. I am glad that I will not be here in July and August.

Six miles on the hotel treadmill. Tonight is my last night in Florida. I'm looking forward to getting home.

I got an email from Jun earlier this week that the Grandeur Peak Fun Run was happening this Saturday. It it a free race that goes to the top of Grandeur Peak. I couldn't pass up the opportunity for a free race. 

I saw Scott at the start and a few other runners I knew. The course starts out tough, going up one of the toughest trails in the area. The course climbs 3200 ft. in just over two miles. Those were slow miles according to my watch. But I was actually doing quite well. I had passed six people on the climb up. From the peak I made the mistake of following a guy who didn't know where he was going and we headed down the wrong side of the mountain. The person behind me followed as well. After realizing our mistake we hiked back up to the trail. This detour cost me about 15 minutes. 

On the downhill section I picked things up to try to make up time. I passed several people. One of which was Scott, who was surprised to see me. The course goes down Church Fork and then on to the Pipeline Trail. I passed a few more people on that trail. From there it turns uphill again at Rattlesnake Gulch. This was another slow uphill. followed by a fast and technical downhill. This finish was back at the start where they were cooking breakfast. I came in 26th out of about 75 runners with a time of 2:22:11. In looking at the finish times, if I hadn't taken the detour at the top, I would have came in 11th or 12th place. Next year I will know which way to go. This is the toughest ten miler I have ever done, but I really enjoyed it.

Two miles at a slow pace. My legs are still beat up from Saturday's race.

I recently found out that I am in a marathon running book. It's called "My First 100 Marathons" by Jeff Horowitz. The author describes his journey of racing 2,620 miles. In August of 2004, I ran the Mesa Falls Marathon in Ashton, Idaho. This was Jeff's 89th marathon. I ran with him for most of the second half of the race. Here is a quote from the book:

It was about this time that I fell into a conversation with Matt, whose race turned out to be a family effort. Matt's sisters and cousins were providing vehicular support - "support" in the sense of screaming and yelling from an open van door during a slow drive-by.   

I was stoked to find when found this. I now have a copy of the book and am reading it. Perhaps I will write a book after I have ran 100 marathons. Only 80 to go. 

At sunset I ran the Bonneville Shoreline Trail up to the radio towers. I just ran nice and easy to loosen things up. On Saturday I will be running the Timpanogos Trail Marathon. After reading the description of the course and seeing the elevation map, I think this will be the toughest course that I have ever ran. Which makes me very excited.  

MUDFEST!!

Today I ran the Timp Trail Marathon. It was rainy, snowy, and muddy, muddy, muddy. Oh did I mention there was a lot of mud. I don't think that I could overstate how much mud there was. Last night when I went to bed it was raining hard. This morning when I got up it was raining. I drove to the race start and picked up my packet in the rain. I saw Davy Crockett at the start and also a friend of mine named Ryan. We got underway at 6:00 a.m. It was raining slightly when we started. Ryan and I started out running together. Here is a elevation map of what we were about to do.

 The race started out going uphill. No flats to even get warmed up on. After 2.5 miles the rain turned into snow mixed with rain. Some stretches were cold and I was wishing I had a hat on. The mud on the trail stuck to my shoes and made them heavy. After only a few miles the back of my legs were covered in mud. The first aid station was at mile 6. Ryan dropped back after that, but I was feeling good, so I started picking off runners. The next aid station was at mile 11. This aid station had our drop bags. In my drop bag was a dry pair of shoes, sock and a wind breaker. I change quickly but lost some of the advantage I had gained. Heading back out on the trail, it didn't take long before my clean shoes were caked with mud, but at least they were dry for a few miles. At mile 12 was the signature climb for the race. It was a .8 long climb up a steep slope called the 'Green Monster'. Today it should have been called the 'Brown Monster' because of all the mud. I went into power hike mode and regained my position in the race. The next section was probably my favorite. The trail went up a canyon with a rock wall on the left and a steep hill on the right. I passed several groups of scouts hiking down the trail. It was fun because each group I went passed cheered me on. At about 14.5 miles I saw Davy Crockett ahead of me. Not long after that I passed him, we exchanged greetings and I didn't see him again until after the race. At mile 15 was the third aid station. The volunteers there told me that I was in 11th place. I thought "Wow, I have a chance at making it into the top ten." I pushed onward but didn't see anyone up ahead. The crest of the climb was at mile 17. At this elevation there was about three inches of snow. Making the trail slushy. I was able to recover from all the uphill and had a good pace going downhill. I thought for sure that I would catch the next guy, but still didn't see anyone. At Battle Springs the trail heads back uphill. This was the muddiest section of the course. The trail was like a small river and my feet went slosh slosh with every step. It was a slow uphill. The next aid station was at mile 20. At this aid station we joined with the half marathoners for the rest of the course. There were now runners in front of me but I didn't know if they were in my race. The half marathoners were easy to catch. I think this was the back of the pack for that race. At 24 miles I saw another marathoner ahead of me. I recognized him from the start of the race. I reeled him in and passed him a half mile later. The tale end of the race was difficult for me. It was downhill, but I was losing energy. The notion of finishing in the top ten helped keep me moving. The trail went around one last corner, then the finish was in sight. I finished in 5:05:09 and in tenth place. I made it and was quite pleased. After the race I ate two bowls of chili, visited with a few of the other runners, and headed home. This was probably the toughest race I have ever run. I will do it again next year, but hopefully it doesn't rain.

Mueller Park Trail. The trail was great this morning. It was a bit muddy in spots, but nothing like Saturday. It was all very runnable. I felt great and am recovering well from Saturday's beating. This trail is going to be a lot of fun this Summer and I am going to set a new personal fastest time on the trail before Winter.

Today I ran from my house to Cheese Park, then hopped onto the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and ran to the Dueul Mill Creek trailhead. In was a nice morning, the temperature was just right. 

Here is a photo from the Mudfest last Saturday.

Today's run started out very similar to last Saturday. It was pouring rain. More fun in the mud. Luckily the trails I went on weren't as muddy at the ones last week. I started at the Bountiful 'B' and headed up the ATV trails. About a mile up I got on a trail called the Buckland Ridge Trail. I is a great trail and comes out onto Skyline Drive. I went up the road for a half mile and turned off on the Tuttle Loop Trail. I only went a little way before turning back because there was too much snow. I couldn't believe how much snow was up there this late in the year. I went back and continued on up the road. When I got above 8000 ft it started snowing pretty hard, but I continued onward. I turned off of the road at the Parrish Creek Trail. The top of the trail was hard to follow because of all the snow. When I got to the bottom of the mountain I turned onto the Bonneville Shoreline Trail and headed back to my car. It was 9:00 a.m. when I got back and there was only one other car in the parking lot. that is very unusual for Memorial Weekend. No ATV's or motorcycles around. It was very strange.

In other news, I just picked up a sponsor for the Summer. I will be running for Team Jamba Juice. I am really excited about this, but I will have to put my famous shirt on the shelf for a while. I will be racing in a new team jersey this at all my races in June, July and August.

Today I ran the Woods Cross Memorial Day 5k with my whole family. I ran with Connor and pushed Jaxine and Evan in a double stroller. Susie ran with Jed and pushed Eliza in a stroller. It was the first time Conner and Jed had ran a 5k. They did great. They ran together for the first mile. Then Jed slow down a bit , but Connor stayed strong. He only walked a little bit after each mile. Connor finished in 37:50, for a sub 12 min mile split and Jed finished in 45:36. It was a fun morning.