Hit the Dusty Trail

Ran after work today. Pushed a little, but mostly took it easy.

Ran to work and back. The few days off from long runs helped and today was not too bad. Actually felt pretty good going home. Daytime temps being a little lower probably helped too.

Ran at lunchtime. Not too bad a run. Got caught by a thunderstorm about a mile from work.

Went from Fernwood up the Great Western Trail to about the 8000' level. Felt fairly strong. Probably the fastest I've made it up that high before. This is defintely a light week. Felt the need to scale back a little bit but I plan on picking it up again next week.

Ran the Mountainview Trail on Antelope Island and part of the Frary Peak Trail. Not too bad a day. Didn't start early enough but the heat wasn't too bad. Had a nice headwind going back north. That helped keep the bugs and heat at bay. Ran past a herd of around 100 bison. Lots of moms and calves, a few bulls mixed in as well. Very cool.

Took the day off.

Took the day off from work. Did some trail running along the Ogden section of the BST. Good run. Ran negative split since the return was primarily downhill and going out was uphill. Tried to push both ways.

Ran to work and back. sub 85 minutes each way.

Kaysville to Fernwood on the BST. Very sluggish. Wanted to quit about half way but kept going. Met up with another runner from out of town and that kept me motivated to get to Fernwood. Then all I had to do was run back.

Nice and easy at lunchtime. Time to taper a little for the Where's Waldo 100K Sat. the 19th.

Just did some easy miles at work during lunch. Trying to take it a little easy beore race day.

Another easy day running at lunch. Feel pretty good, looking forward to the race on Saturday.

Race day! Ran the Where's Waldo 100k trail race in Oregon. This was trail running Nirvana. My main focus with this race was to get in a last really long training run prior to running Wasatch 100 in three weeks. So I didn't taper at all. In fact, I ran 65 miles last week.

With the exception of the three peaks that are climbed, the entire course is very runnable. Not a lot of rocks or roots, just miles and miles of meandering, soft, pleasant, beautiful single track trail. This race was a new experience for me. There are two starting times, 3am and 5am. The 3am start is primarily for those who think they'll have trouble meeting the 9pm cutoff time to finish. I took the 3am start since I had a high school (30 year) reunion function this evening. When the starting gun went off at 3am, I found myself in the lead. Now this wouldn't be unusual except that no one bothered to pass me within the first couple hundred yards. In fact, no one passed me for the first 48 miles. I was the first person into each aid station thru that distance. This was a totally new experience for me, being in front. What a rush it was too! It's a trip to come running into an aid station and realize that you are the first runner there. Too much fun! Anyway, the first peak you have to climb is Fuji Mtn. It's a fairly short climb, about 1 mile up then back down. Since I was in the lead, I made the top first, just as the sun was coming up. What a view, a blood red sun coming up over the thick forests of Oregon. I just had to let out a yell, then head back down the trail. This view alone was worth the entry fee, 1 hour of sleep Friday night, and a 3am start. The trail off the peak was very conducive to letting speed build up yet still maintain some control. It was fun to just run as fast as I could and watch the runners coming up the trail scatter out of my way and cheer me on. I felt pretty good most of the day. I knew that I wouldn't remian in fornt for the entire distance, and sure enough, People started to pass me starting at around 48 miles. Mostly they were relay runners, so wouldn't affect my race standing, but the first 5am starter passed me at about 49 miles. Overall, five solo runners passed me, none from the 3am starters. I was the 6th solo runner to cross the finish line. My final time was 14:29:52. Since there was the probability of 5am runners posting faster times, I had to wait to see what my final place was. I ended up placing 17th out of 71 starters and 47 finishers. I also placed 6th Masters. I was hoping to have this be the first race where I didn't get "chicked" but alas, that was not to be as 4 or 5 women finshed with better times than mine. In fact, a woman was the overall winner and missed setting a men's course record by just 9 minutes. I figure I didn't do too bad for a 47 year old grandfather to be. I will be going back next year and plan on making it a key race to train for.

First run since last week's race. No soreness left from the race. Pushed the pace. Felt good to get back running again.

Ran easy at work during lunch. Yesterday's 8 miles left me a little sore, primarily the effeccts of last Saturday's race. The easy run felt good though. No issues with doing it. Was kind of humid though. I still feel on track for Wasatch in two weeks.

Ran White Rock and Split Rock trails on Antelope Island. Nice quiet day out there. A little tired from the run, but not sore at all. Left hip was bothering me some with sciatic pain. Haven't had that in awhile. Hoepfully it'll go away in the next few days. Not going to do too much running this week since I'm tapering for Wasatch.

Decided to go running today. Nice and easy during lunch. In taper mode for Wasatch. Run felt good after a couple days off.

Perfect day for a run. Ran a nice easy 4 at lunch. Thought about going farther, but figured I probably shouldn't. I think tapering is one of the hardest parts of training. How do you go from training hard, getting used to be kinda sore, tired, and have the mentality that you always have to run to taking it easy, rest, run short little distances, take more than one day off in a row, etc. Not to mention the wait for race day. I've done a fair amount of racing this year, more than usual (2 marathons, 1 50k, 1 100k, 1 100 mile, 1 5k), but all races and training have led up to this one key race, Wasatch. This is the race I started training for last year after I dnf'd there at 61 miles. After I finish Wasatch (notice I didn't say IF), I don't think I'll run it again unless I decide to go for the ultrarunning grand slam. Too many other races that I want to try.