Running on Twinkies

Mueller Park Trail. It was a great morning for a run. 38:18 going up, 24:30 coming down.

I am in Maryland for work today. I ran 2.5 miles on the hotel treadmill. That bored me to death, so I went outside and dealt with the heat and humidity for another 3.5 miles. 

I got back in town at noon today. About 5 p.m. I headed out and ran the Mueller Park Trail. I ran to Elephant Rock in back in under an hour, 58:45. I was feeling fast tonight. 

My Jamba Juice gear came was I was away. I got a red tech shirt, black tech shorts, and a white visor. The sponsorship I got is to help promote there new line of super fruit products, so the front of the shirt says "I have super powers." I love it, its a perfect fit for my personality.  

I wasn't planning on running this race, but last week I picked up a sponsorship for Jamba Juice and they asked me to run in it. I also signed up my son Connor for the race. The race was at Sugar House Park and did two laps around the park. Jamba Juie had a booth set up there and was giving away samples of some new flavors of smoothies. They tasted great.

It has been a few years since I have actually raced a 5k. I wasn't sure what to expect. After we got underway, I was in fourth place. Towards the end of the first mile, a guy with curly hair wearing a green shirt passed me putting me in fifth place. He was running strong and I couldn't keep pace with him. I passed the fourth place person, which was the first place girl, towards the end of the first lap. Half way through the second lap I passed the third place guy putting me in the top three. I never caught the guy in the green shirt. He came in second and I came in third with a time of 19:42. For my efforts I received a $20 gift card to Red Rock and a $15 gift card to Wasatch Running Center. It was a fun race. Connor did great as well. He came in at 30:49 which is seven minutes faster than his last 5k.

After the race I had my wife drop me of at the mouth of City Creek and ran from there to home.  

Six miles nice and easy this morning. The weather is perfect today.

Hill workout.

I decided to get in one more hill workout before the marathon this Saturday.

Here is a picture from last week's race. The people I am running past our on their first lap, and I was on my second.

Last run before the Teton Dam Marathon this Saturday. I am getting very excited about this race. This will my fourth time to run it. The course goes through my hometown and the farms that I grew up around. I just found out that this year they have certified the course to be a Boston Qualifier. I am in the most difficult age group, which means that I have to finish in under 3:10. I haven't ran a road marathon in about two years and have trained mostly on trails for the last year. I am confident that I could get 3:30 without too much effort. 3:20 would take a little work. 3:10 is difficult by still doable. I going to go for it. 

This is one of my favorite courses to run. It goes though my hometown, the town where I went to high school and ends in the town where I first went to college. The marathon also has relay teams which consists of six people who run 4 to 5 miles each. My Mom was on one of these relay teams. I caught a ride with her relay team to the start. My cousins and some of their friends were also on a relay team. The race started at the historic sight of the Teton Dam. The Dam broke back in 1976 and flooded the nearby towns. It has never been rebuilt. It was cold this morning and there was a strong wind blowing south. The race got underway right at 6:30 a.m. For the first mile and a half the wind was at our backs. Then the course turned right and we had a crosswind for a half mile. It turned right again and we were now going directly into the wind. It was a strong wind that made it difficult to keep on pace. I was trying to run 7 minute miles, but slowed to 7:30. This section of the course was the only stretch that was on gravel roads. The rest was on paved roads. We only ran into the wind for 1 mile, and then turned left so that we had a crosswind again. At mile four was the first transition point for relay teams. My mom was waiting there for her team. I knew that I would be faster than her team, because it is a group of older ladies. My cousin’s team was also waiting there. I was just ahead of them. My cousin, Wes, who just started with fresh legs, caught up with me and ran with me for his entire leg. I told him thanks for pacing me, but he said that I was pacing him. He told me that there was only one relay team in front of us and the rest were marathoners. It looked like I was in the top ten. At an intersection near mile six my wife was waiting there to cheer me on. I had put a few points in her GPS of where she could go to see me during the race. She would just select it in the GPS and it would tell her how to get there. That worked out great. At mile ten, we came into Teton. This was the first town that was hit with the wall of water from the dam breaking. My wife was there in Teton to support me. I was doing well at this point and averaging 7:15 pace. Leaving Teton we were heading south again and the wind was at our backs. Unfortunately that was only for a mile and we turned right having a crosswind again. At mile 14 we came into Sugar City. The course went right in front of my high school, and then headed down Main Street. The section through Sugar City was lined with hundreds of American flags. My wife was waiting there at a park. It was great to have her support throughout the race. Coming out of Sugar City my paced slowed a bit. I still felt good but couldn’t hold as strong of a pace. About mile 16 I started passing the tail end of the half marathoners. It was nice to be running near other people again and also fun to pass them. Even if they weren’t in the race I was in. At mile 18 we hit the race’s signature climb, three miles uphill. This wasn’t a big issue for me, because I have been training on a lot of hills. I just went into a lower gear and headed up. Part way up I got passed by a marathoner. He was looking strong and I couldn’t match his pace. I guess I still need more hill training. At the top of that hill the course had a short down and a short uphill, and then it is flat for a mile. The final three miles of the race were mostly down hill into the wind. The wind was blowing strong. I knew I was on pace for a good finish time, but couldn’t go faster than an 8:30 mile in the wind. It was a battle to stay strong at this point. Coming to the bottom of the hill I looked at my watch and saw that I was very close to my PR time. I poured in on through the final stretch and got some great cheers from the crowd. I finished in 3:23:44. Only four seconds behind my PR. I am still very happy with that. It’s a great time for this course especially with all the wind. I finished 7^th overall and 1^st in my age group. My cousin’s relay team came in about one minute behind me. There was only one of the relay teams that beat me. It was a team of members of the National Guard.

Here are some photos from the race:

 Me with my age group award.

 My cousin's relay team

 Me and my Mom with our new shirts and finisher's medals. 

My first run since the marathon last weekend. I was feeling good enough to run mid week, but took a few extra days off. I ran up the Mueller Park Trail all the way up to Rudy's Flat. I haven't been up that far since this Winter with Jun and Kam and knee deep snow. The trail was much better today. I made it up to Rudy's Flat in 1:18. On the way down I had a good groove going when I caught my foot and fell hard. Luckily I didn't break anything, but I did scrape up my right hand. Overall the run felt pretty good. I am looking forward to running Logan Peak next weekend. That will be lot's of fun.  

I was feeling a bit tired this morning, but I managed to get 8 miles on on the Bonneville Shoreline trail. I'm glad I got out.

I bought a new fanny pack that holds two water bottles. I tried it out on a run today. It worked great. Makes me wonder why I ever ran without carrying water. 

I stayed the night at my grandparents house and talked my brother into giving me a ride to the start at 5 a.m. At the park I saw several familiar faces and chatted a bit. While waiting for the start the mosquitoes came out. Next time I need to remember bug spray. After a short race meeting, we were on our way. The course was changed slightly this year so that there was less running through the neighborhood and we got onto the trail faster. The first trail is along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail with some rolling hills. The second trail is the ascent up dry creek. This trail goes up and up and up. After 4.5 miles we came to the first aid station. I love aid stations during ultras. I grabbed a slice of honeydew melon and continued on up. The next trail is called the Syncline Trail. There were more fallen down tress on this trail then there was last year. Which made the course even funner. About mile 6 we got our first good views. The sun was out and it was a very clear day. It was beautiful up there. It was at this point we got our first downhill. The downhill was refreshing, but we still had to get to the peak, which meant more uphill. At mile 11 was the second aid station. I drank some heed and ate some dried fruit and nuts. The next section of the course is an out an back up to the peak. Three miles up and three miles down. This is one of my favorite section of the course because I get to see the other runners and cheer then on. When we got above 8500 ft, we hit snow. It was a soft wet snow, but was still runnable. Just before reaching the peak I saw Bryce coming down. He was the next person in front of me but he had a good lead. At the peak is a radio tower. We had to touch the tower, but I ran around it just for fun. I was excited to have reached the top. The views were great up there. I waved to all my friends down in cache valley, then heading down. Running down in the snow was really fun. As I descended I tried to encourage every runner who was heading up. I was making good time and felt great at this point in the race. Aid station 3 is the same as aid station 2. I ate and drank as much as I could before heading on. I tried to keep my stop short and got back on the trail quickly. Last year at this point in the race I was really struggling. The rest of the race was purely survival. This year I was feeling better and was still able to maintain a good pace. The course goes on a dirt road for a few miles, then turns onto a single track trail. The single track is a really nice trail. It had rolling hills, switchbacks, and great views. There was one section that is a long uphill. I was struggling going up that hill. It seemed steeper then the year before, but probably wasn't. The trail finally crested into Dry Canyon. Which meant the the rest of the course was downhill. Coming down into the canyon, there is a natural spring. I drank the fresh water and it tasted great. The fourth aid station, which was the same and first aid station was at about mile 23. From there I just had to run the same course we had come up in the first five miles of the race. As I descended the canyon, there was a new challenge. There was a group of cows being herded up the trail. I was asked to step off of the trail while they went by. First time that's happened during a race. At the bottom of Dry Canyon we had to run the rolling hills on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail again. These little hills were monsters after running 27 miles. Finally the park was in sight, and I poured it on into the finish line. I finished in 5:44:03, about 28 minutes faster than last year. I finished in 21st place overall. My wife and kids were there at the finish to cheer me in. we left before the awards to go to a family reunion. We got there at lunch time and I ate sloppy joes, potatoe chips, and some chocolate cake. It was a good post race meal.

Recovery run. My legs are still a bit tender, but feel good enough to run. My right heel is bruised from worn out shoes. I guess the NB 790's weren't all the best. They were a great pair of shoes at first, but just didn't last with the amount of abuse I put them through.

Another recovery run. It was warm this morning, and the sun wasn't even up yet. It's going to be a hot summer.