Gaining more than you lose

Took a ride with a friend in west Farmington, he got a new bike and wanted to test it out. I've been mostly running lately and hadn't really been on a ride since finishing the 72 mile Sanpete Classic in August - so it felt good to stretch those legs out a little - though they did feel a little heavy at times! 

Ran an easy two with Co-worker (jun) as he was on his final taper run before the Pony Express 100, then dropped him off and picked up the pace for another 5 around the streets. I certainly prefer the trails over the roads, but it is fun to see the pace pick up quite a bit.  

Since my friend got his new bike he's been itching to try and beat me on it (I had dropped him badly in the Sanpete Classic 72). We had also done the Willard Bay Triathlon earlier this year, and he wanted to see how our bike times would stack up to that now that we had been riding a bit more. He went out on the Legacy Parkway Trail and did 12.5 a couple of days ago and wanted to see if I could beat the time.

He got something around 36:15, so my goal was to beat 36 minutes, which meant that I would have to average close to 21 mph. Legacy is pretty much flat so I was able to keep the speed up, but was dealing with a crosswind the entire time (I did an out and back and was hoping for a tailwind when I turned around, but no such luck). The bugs were also absolutely horrendous, with my legs, arms and bike getting covered in dead bugs - now I know how the windshield must feel. I was, however, able to finish of the ride at 35:57, 20.9 mph average. I was pretty spent, and the Costco hotdog I'd had for lunch certainly wasn't helping!!

I've been running the BST in Kaysville for the past few weeks now, and had never been past the 4 mile mark (for 8 miles total). This is also the first 4 miles of the Wasatch 100, and I wanted to see where it connected to the Great Western trail and heads up the ridge. I knew that the turn off was around 4.7 miles, so I decided I'd go to 5 to make it a 10 mile run. While theres some decent ups and downs in my usual previous runs on the BST, it seems that right around that 4 mile mark is where it really starts to pick up in elevation, so that last mile ended up being a little slower than the rest, but the views were beautiful, especially this time of year. As planned, I only went up about a quarter mile on the Great Western trail, stopping to take in the scenery before heading back down. I stopped for a minute at the Fernwood parking area to refill my bottle, then finished the rest of the way feeling really good - despite this being my longest trail run to date. 

I wanted to see if I could, and how long it would take me to get to the top of Baer Canyon (of Baer Gutsman fame) and back down. The first 2 or so miles where fairly runnable, though after that, it became mostly hiking, running when any brief opportunity arose. I was a little strapped for time, so I wasn't sure if I'd keep going, but seeing the top so close I just kept hiking. From looking at maps of the trail, I knew there was a series of switchbacks near the top of the trial, and when I was below them I could see their faint cuts into the side of the mountain - I was looking forward to possibly running up these. As the first switchback came, however, it was overgrown and hadn't been used in sometime, and the trail just went straight up. This certainly made the route more direct, but it was just a grinding hike to the top. This dumps you out on Francis Peak Road, just north of Francis peak and the "golf Balls". I made it to the top in about 1:30. I spent a few minutes taking some pics and eating a Cliff Bar before heading on down. I screamed down most of it, having to slow down and take care in the very steep parts. I passed a guy near the bottom who asked me how far I had gone. I said "To the top", to which he responded "And all the way back down? You're crazy!" It felt kind of good to be called crazy. :)

My knees felt good all the way down, making corrections to my stride if they started acting up. I also felt good the rest of the day, but my quads were completely wrecked when I woke up the next morning. I've got the Vegas Ragnar this next week, so I'll be taking it easy anyway to get them rested.

I also decided I needed some proper trail shoes, as I've been running trails in my road shoes (Saucony Men's KilKenny XC3 Flat Racing Shoe), which are minimal even for road shoes, and don't offer much protection from sharp rocks that jut up and getchya. NB MT101s should be here Tuesday!

Hit an easy 22.7 on the bike with a friend. Quads were still sore from Saturday but it helped to stretch them out a little, though they were tired on the hills. Getting pumped for the Vegas Ragnar this weekend!

Ragnar Relay Las Vegas! Day One...

Stayed in Mesquite last night, since we were in Van 2, we were able to get some breakfast, do some food shopping and head out to exchange 6 for our first runs. I was runner 7, so I would be starting our van off. My first leg was 6.2 mile starting from Callville Bay (Lake Mead). It was about half uphill (600 feet or so) with a gradual downhill the second half (300 ft). I felt fairly strong, but it was warm, so I was happy when my van drove by and tossed me my water bottle (it was a non-support leg, so they couldn't stop to support me). That helped a lot as I was able to keep my head a little cooler and keep going. Finished off the leg in 52 minutes. We continued on supporting our other runners until our final runner finished his first leg at Lake Las Vegas Lowes Hotel. Then we headed to Henderson for some food and a little rest. The Cheesecake Factory was practically across the street from the next exchange, where I had an amazing Salmon, pasta, spinach and mushroom dish. Too bad our other van was way ahead of schedule, and I'd end up running way sooner than I had planned!

Second leg (leg 19) started a little after 10pm - according to our schedule I wasn't supposed to have to start until midnight. So, with a gut full of food, I started out on my 5.9 mile uphill jaunt. We were actually happy to get an earlier start, because then it meant that we wouldn't have to be running quite so late into the night. This run went well, all uphill (750 ft), though not as steep as the last run. It wasn't extremely well marked, so I had to yell at a few people when they made wrong turns (luckily I ended up being right!). Other than the nasty burps from dinner, I made it through that one pretty well at 53 minutes. The next runner had a downhill run to Las Vegas Boulevard (way south of Vegas), and then the next three runners were straight shots south down the boulevard. We then headed west where the last runner (my older brother, younger brother was running too), headed off the road onto a "dirt road" which looked more like a washed out creek bed, full of jutting rocks and boulders. This would have made a tricky enough run in the day, and here they were running it in the middle of the night. The "trail" was also about 100 yards off the road, so you had to park your van and then cross the desert to wait by the trail and hope you don't miss your runner. I heard more people cursing that trail while I was waiting!! Made it to Goodsprings at about 4am, then off to the next exchange to try and sleep.

Ragnar Relay Las Vegas!! Day Two...

After passing the baton in Goodsprings, we made our way to the next major exchange where I would be running in a few hours. It was in the middle of nowhere, with a bunch of rocky desert soil to sleep in. I managed to snag about two hours of sleep in the van, strewn across two captains chairs. The sun came up and we got word at about 7:30 that they'd be here in an hour an a half. I figured I'd better get up and loosen up a bit. I walked around a little and thought I should eat a little something, so I grabbed a bagel and went to stand in line at the "Honey Buckets". Well, as I chomped my bagel, a piece of it seemed to get lodged in my throat, and I couldn't get it down. I could breath, it wasn't blocking that - its what I usually refer to as "Mashed potato choking", because it seems to happen with those a lot. Usually after a minute or two, the offending piece of food slides its way down. This time it wasn't, and I was starting to not feel so good. I ran over to the van and grabbed the first drink I could see, Gatorade - and tried to chug some to get it down. Immediately I get a gag reflex, because its so blocked. Everywhere I turn is a sleeping bag or a group people talking. I finally found an empty piece of ground where I began dry heaving. I didn't throw up (I hate throwing up!) but my body sure wanted that out of there! Any Gatorade I would try and drink, my body would send it right back out. I'm sure it looked and sounded awful to anyone around, but I really was just trying to get that thing out. Finally a little piece came out and that seemed allow the rest of it to go down. I was a little worried for a bit, because I had the longest leg of the race coming up, and didn't want to have to put that on anybody else on my team-they had their own last legs to do! Luckily the disaster had been averted - I was able to drink some fluids and use the honey buckets, so I was ready to roll. I sat in the van to stay warm until the other van showed up, meaning that the runner was probably within a mile of the exchange. I headed on up, got the exchange and started my 10.1 mile "Ragnar Leg". The first couple of miles were typical, had a few cramps, was tired, not feeling great, but once I got warmed up, I eased into a good pace and just worked my way up the hill. This one was a 6.5 mile 1300 foot climb, followed by a 3.5 1200 decent once you summit. I passed a lot of people walking really early on, even one guy seemed to be walking back to the exchange within the first half mile. I kept truckin', our van had big pirate flags on the back of it, so I could always see where my van was waiting for me up ahead, which was nice. The first time I passed the van, my brother said "Hey, watch out, you're about to get passed by a guy in a Speedo". Well great, I thought, just what I want to have to follow! Sure enough, a couple a minutes later he comes past me. I gave him a hard time about his speedo, and told him he better speed up, cuz I didn't want to have to follow that the whole time! He told me I wouldn't want to be around at the finish then, because he was going to wedgie himself as he finished! Well, despite my comment, and the view, I wasn't about to let this guy just fly by, so I kept the same pace as him, with him a little ahead for a couple of miles, when the hill started getting steep, and he couldn't keep it up. A mile and a half from the top, he broke into a walk and I motored on past. I sumitted feeling really good, happy that I'd gotten the hard part behind me, now I just had fairly steep 3.5 down. At least I could just let my legs follow along! I started off really fast, and actually had to pull myself back a little, because I still had 3 miles to go. I kept a decent pace going down, got passed by this little lady from a van we'd made friends with, and she just flew past. She weighed about a buck five, so that probably helped her float on down. A few minutes later, I hear an "On your right" and who else would it be, but butt cheeks himself, catching up to me on the downhill. Again, I kept pace with him, and as we come within sight of the exchange, still a good 3/4 mile away, he decides its time to show them cheeks off. Of course I gave him some crap, then I caught up to him and passed him - I did thank him for giving me some motivation to run faster!! I sprinted about the last quarter mile, getting down to a 5:12 pace, and handing off strong, jogging another half block just to slow myself down!

The rest of the runs took us through Red Rock, and we ended at the Red Rock hotel and casino, where we had a couple of rooms. It was nice to walk straight from the race to our rooms and to the pool and hot tub! It was also funny to see half the people at the hotel later that night hobbling around. It was a lot of fun, with some desolately beautful scenery, though it doesn't quite stack up to the Wasatch Back (although having less people sure was nice!).  We were certainly not in it to win it, and finished with a 31 hour time.

I had a great time and usually walk away from these Ragnars feeling a little inspired. You get to know people you didn't know before, you get to see them (and yourself) push themselves to do things they didn't know they could do.

Did an nice'n'easy 5 miles on the BST in Kaysville. Maiden voyage for my NB MT101's. They felt good, offering more protection from the rocks that my road shoes, but still maintaining a low profile. Ran through a puddle and between my socks and shoes, my foot was pretty much dry within minutes. Snowed a little on the run, and the contrast of the rocks, snow, trees and colorful leaves was gorgeous. 

No run today, drove 10+ hours after work until about 2am to Spokane, WA to visit family. Hoping to find a couple of good trails while I'm up here.

Played 3 hours of basketball last night, I was feeling it but still wanted to get some kind of run in. Pulled my brother in-law along with me for a 5 mile run on the Centennial Trail in Spokane Valley. It was rainy (didn't see the sun at all while we were in Spokane), but the run was awesome. While it was a paved trail (minus points for that...), it ran next to the river with lots of pine trees and other cover. We saw a bald eagle perched on a tree, the backdrop of pines in the trees made for a great scene. A whopping 100 ft of gain at just under 2000 feet of elevation - a coupla grand less than I'm used to, my lungs didn't mind.

Drove 11 hours from Spokane to Kaysville...no running, just happy to be able to walk after. 

After spending the weekend in the dreary, rainy, cloudy Spokane, I was itching to get out for a good run. That itch became even more pronounced when the morning was shaping up to be a perfectly sunny cloudless day. Jun and I finished up with some conference calls and headed out for a lunchtime run. We decided to hit up the Corner Canyon/Clark Trail in Draper, and man were we glad we did. We started the run with me in front (I think Jun wanted to make sure that I didn't get lost), though I almost did because the leaves so thickly blanketed the trail that I could barely make out where it was. We made some sarcastic remarks about what a terrible place this was to run, because the trail was jut perfect - Beautiful leaves had fallen, snow capping the peaks above, not a lot of people out, all with some sunny but cool crisp fall weather. The trail has a fair amount of ups and downs for the first two miles, but then you hit a nice three mile uphill stretch. Apparently this where Jun decided he was done pussyfooting around. I stayed with him for about the first mile, then he was feeling his oats and dropped me like a wet sack of potatoes. I kept him mostly in sight until the very end, and at those times I was sure he was going to pop out of the bushes and try and scare me or something. I made it to the top a couple of minutes behind. Took a water/pee break then we were off down the Clark Trail. Again, Jun couldn't contain himself and Jun blew down the trail, I couldn't even think about keeping pace with him, especially on this downhill. So I just kept my pace and got into a good rhythm until I met up with him at the bottom. Still had about a mile and a half to go and he lost me again. I was feeling OK, just had no gas in the tank- it'd been a while since my oatmeal breakfast, so I think there was just nothing left to go on. I still finished averaging about a 9:16 pace, and a couple of minutes faster than my last run on that trail, so I feel pretty good about it. Jun gave me something to chase (and not catch), which is just demoralizing enough to keep me motivated to keep working. MT 101s were great, especially over the rocky patches that would've eaten my track flats alive. Driving back we couldn't believe the people that we saw running on the side of the road when there are such amazing trails nearby. To each his own I guess...    

4 easy miles on the BST in Kaysville. I was planning on a few more miles, but I took my buddy with me who doesn't run trails and he was feeling the hills pretty quick so we turned around at two miles. Can't ask for better running weather. Jun has some early morning run planned for tomorrow, so maybe its good that I didn't run too far. :)  

This morning I met up with Scott and Jun where we headed up to Ogden to meet up with Bryce. I didn't really know what we were doing, Jun had just told me that we were going to do a trail run with a couple of hills. When we pulled up to the trailhead, as we sat there waiting for Bryce, this huge rock-faced peak towered above us, seeming more menacing in the dark, as the lights from Weber State appeared to illuminate its pale, rocky face. Scott commented that he thought that's where we were headed. Bryce showed up a couple of minutes later we exchanged quick greeting as he had never met any of us. He confirmed that peak as our destination, and there wouldn't be "a couple of hills", just one big one! 

We got started around 6:30, with the first little bit a gradual, rocky incline. Once we crossed the creek, the real climbing begins. I had to stop and quickly tie my shoe, and Bryce moved to the front with Jun. I caught back up to the group, and Jun and Bryce were already pulling away. Scott and I stuck together and trudged along up the hill, mostly hiking. We could occasionally see the lights of Bryce and Jun up ahead, especially on the early switchbacks. There were a couple of long stretches that you felt like you were in a tunnel, this was really my first trail run in the dark, and it was really cool. We could now see a light in front of us a ways up, which we later learned was Jun, with Bryce's headlight bobbing around in the trees above us on the hill. Bryce topped out first, with Jun following behind. Scott and I showed up a few minutes later.

We sat and chatted for a bit as we watched the sunrise - Bryce told us about the area, which peaks were what, which was cool for me because I've spent a lot of time in Ogden, but none really in the hills above it. Once the sky was light enough that we wouldn't have to use our lights, we began the run back down, and run we did! Jun was flying up front, followed by Bryce then myself, with Scott bringing up the end. We stopped about halfway down at a lookout point to check things out, then ripped back down some more. It was super fun, and while my quads certainly feel it the day after, its totally worth it! I'm sure with more downhill training they'll adapt and recover a little more quickly.

Great trail, fun run. Thanks to Bryce for showing it to us! I'm looking forward to hitting that trail up again. It's awesome to learn new trails, especially when I live pretty close!

4.4 miles, 2200 ft of gain, total time: about 1:01 (I forgot to reset my watch from the day before).

As nice of a day as it turned out to be, I didn't get a chance to go for a run. But since I haven't run since Friday, I had to go ahead and hit up the Treadmill. Haven't been on that for a while! The thing that does make it a little more bearable is the Jillian Michaels iFit SD card that I throw in there and she controls the workout. Keeps it challenging and therefore more interesting. 

 5 miles, 40 minutes, 5%-9% incline, 6-8.5 mph

Jun and I hit up the BST in Sandy/Draper for a lunchtime run. What a perfect day for running! I started out in front and then Jun took the lead when I took a wrong turn. There's a really steep uphill that I was able to run but certainly took my breath away and my legs we burning! Craig pulled ahead a little on the uphill and then a lot on the downhill. I felt like every time I'd reel him in a little he'd shoot forward. I'm looking at my watch as we came towards the turn around, I'm running a 7:30 and not gaining on him at all - and he said he was going to take it easy...On the way back we passed a few people that were ahead of us, and ran a negative split on the way back by nearly a full minute -we had a nice sprint at the end to make sure of it. Love the BST!

6.2 miles - 57:43 - 9:08 Pace - 1200 feet of elevation gain

Got a couple of non-trail running buddies to go hike up Baer Canyon in Fruit Heights. Due to the snow, I recommended that we hit up a more traveled trail (like Malans peak), but both of them were all rip roaring to do this trail. It was really nice for about the first mile and a half--a little snow, but the trail was clear and not too cold. After that the snow got deeper and we lost the trail for a little while, taking a pretty big detour that added some mileage to our journey. Snow got deeper, and a really thick fog made it hard to see where we were and where we were headed (it's usually really cool to see your progress up to Francis peak). Had to stop and wait a few times for the other two, and as we got nearer to the top we dropped our slower guy and made our trek up the steep face of about the last half mile or so (probably less). The snow was slippery and deep and it was SLOW going. My buddy kept saying "Dude I think this is good", but I kept leading him up - the hard part was that you couldn't actually see where the top was, it just looked like it kept going up and up, which I think is what made it so discouraging. I finally gave in even though I kept telling him the top was just up ahead (turned out we were maybe 30 yards from the top! :)), and we turned around and headed back down. That steep part was a lot of slip sliding skiing, but it was pretty fun after all of the climbing we'd been doing. We moved down pretty fast, I ran a decent part of it, which was hard because my feet were sliding around in my boots and my toes kept jamming into the front. I stopped a few times to wait for guy #2, and ended up waiting a half hour at the bottom for the last guy...bad part was he was the one with the keys to the car!

Got a little chilly and wet there at the top, but still made for a great hike. I'm glad we got it in, though we'll probably wait for spring to take this one to the top again!

Part I

Jun and I hit up a nice run around the Red Butte Gardens. He thought it was about 4 miles, but then a little into the run said "oh yeah, when I did this before we started closer, so it will be more than 4." Ended up being just shy of 6 (5.93). Totally fine by me. Beautiful run with some good uphill (1200 total), though a little muddy in some spots which made it interesting at times, particularly on the downhills - there were a few times I thought I might slide right off the side of the trail. As we were on the last mile or so we could see a storm rolling in, the wind was picking up and raindrops were making an appearance. We ran down the last stretch pretty quickly, and met Scott in the parking lot. Since the storm looked like it was moving pretty fast, we sat in Craigs car for about 5 minutes until it did. During which time he mentions that he thinks that's the first time he's ever run that loop without walking at all - he likes to mess with me like that. I told him I think my ignorance is sometimes a good thing in those cases.

5.93 miles, 55:32, 9:22 average, 1200 ft of elevation gain

Part II

Once the storm had quickly passed, we suited up for the Mt Wire run. I threw on an extra long sleeve, thinking that it might be a 'little chilly' on top, but I left the gloves in the car since I hadn't felt like I needed them on the previous run. Bad idea. We ran up the first hill at a decent pace, especially considering we'd just run 6, then got to the hiking part. I believe Jun referred to this as "the suck". It was a rocky steep climb up to the top. Once we started heading up the ridge towards the top, the wind became horrendous. It seemed to get colder and stronger as we climbed, and several times it would push you nearly off the trail, and sometimes nearly knocked you over. I luckily had my headband on, which I pulled over my ears, and  Jun, who was in front of me was covering his left ear with his had. I could tell he wished he brought his gloves too. There's these two big screen things near the top of the peak, and I'm glad that Jun had told me that they were about 100 yards from the top, otherwise I would have thought that they WERE the top, and been terribly dismayed when I saw that final stretch. We made pretty good time, but the wind was strong and my face was frozen, so it was no surprise that when we hit the top, Jun made an immediate left hand turn down the backside trail. Scott was standing there wondering what was going on, so I gave him a high five and said we were going this way. Scott headed back down the front. Once we started heading down my calve started locking up on me, and I could tell that Craigs were too. We stopped to stretch for a minute, and then jogging seemed to help loosen it up. My knee was giving me a little trouble, some residue from Fridays hike, but once I "found my form" the pain pretty much disappeared. This had some steep, rocky downhill, but after that brutal climb to the top, it was fun to just let your legs go - the only thing you had to worry about was where to put your feet. When we rounded the bend we could see Scott way up ahead from coming down the front side. We kept a decent pace (at least I thought so) up to the end. Scott was nice enough to hang around and say bye, I'm sure he also wanted to know what our time was too. Good'n'tired set of runs!!

5.23 miles, 1:16:58, 14:27 average, 2250 elevation gain

Nice 6.8 run on the BST in South Draper with Jun. Cool trail just cuts across the mountainside, a good chunk of it looks fairly new, like they just plowed through parts of it with a little bobcat. Pretty much a gradual incline the entire 3.4 miles (730). Enough to know that you're climbing a hill, but not really enough to feel like you are...Beautiful views of the entire valley looking north. It was a nice temp with some wind in spots, which gave me flashbacks of Tuesdays trek up Mt Wire, but I worked hard to kept myself from folding into the fetal position. :) We weren't sure how far we were going to go, so we ran until the trail ended - looks like they're still working on it. It was great to see a guy out there trimming branches and keeping the trail clear. As it was a nice gradual climb up, it was a nice gradual slope down, so we just flew the second half, which was a lot of fun. Gotta get these snow-less days in while we can!

6.8 miles, 58 minutes, 8:30 pace, 730 ft elevation gain

Jun and I hit up a morning run at Antelope Island, trying to get a good run in before the impending storm got here. We met at my place, then drove out to the island. I always forget how far out there it actually is, it just seems so close- as does everything else on the island it seems. We came across a few buffalo as we drove, and could usually see some during the entire run. Saw a couple of small herds of deer as well. The run was quite windy, with some gradual climbing for the first couple of miles. As we descended back down into the valley around mile 3, my ITB in my left knee started hurting pretty badly, but typically that's a good reminder that I'm not doing something right. Softened up the knees, made sure my hips were swinging back (etc) and the pain pretty much went away. Had a sturdy little climb up where we came around a corner just in time to see some buffalo butts with their tails up as they ran away (Craig would come back for more). We went most of the way out to Elephant Head, but Jun has a wife and kids he had to get back to or something (oh wait, so do I...) so we turned back at about mile 6. As we met back up with the main trail, our 3 buffalo friends were back, so Jun ran down the trail towards them a ways until they ran off. As weird as those animals look, there is certainly a powerful, majestic beauty to the way they run. Near the end we ran across another big guy who did not want to move off the trail until Jun was pretty close (I was a little surprised he didn't stop, but not really), and when he did move he just moved a little off the trail then turned around and stared at us. Jun blazed down the last section and finished off a minute or two ahead of me. Overall a great run. 

12.5 miles, 2 hours, 9:36 pace, 1400 feet of gain

See Juns post for some pics :)

I wanted to  have something to do as the weather gets colder and the days get shorter, so when I saw a Turkey Leg 5K just blocks from my house, I thought about signing up. Then when I saw that it was being put on by a friend (of a friend:)) from Wasatch Running, I was sold. We were going to be having Thanksgiving at my aunts house nearby, so I sent an email to my family inviting anyone that wanted to come run with me. I was a little surprised and very happy when 4 of my 5 brothers signed up (only missing the one who couldn't make it from Denver), and my Mom and Dad even said they would walk it.

I was wondering how it would turn out with the weather being unpredictable beforehand, and forecasts for single digit temps for the start, but everyone just bundled up and headed out. It was a little chilly as people milled around waiting for the start, but I kept my big coat on and felt pretty good. Took a jog around the park with my oldest brother to get the blood flowing and the heart rate up. Said hi to Jun who was there to watch his son run, and also met Aaron and Nan, which was fun. We got our place near the front of the pack, two of my brothers sporting their VFF's. We started off fast for the first little bit, I had to reign myself in a little so that I didn't overdo it. I had planned for a 7 min first mile, then see how much I could push it after that. My two older brothers ran right with me as I kept our pace. When the Garmin beeped for mile 1 I looked down and our time was 7:00 right on the nose. At the turn just after the first mile there's a very gradual incline, just enough to slow you down a little, but I tried to keep the pace consistent, though we didn't really go any faster which I was hoping a little for. Once we hit the top of the hill we dropped one of my brothers, I think the cold air was bugging his allergies/asthma, so he slowed down a little. We blew past a few people on the downhill (about mile 2) and then ran past the park where the finish is and into a neighborhood that would loop us back. I pulled a little ahead of my oldest brother, but could still hear him breathing behind me, still staying hooked to my shoulder. We pulled into the park and ran the 'lap' around the park that takes you to the finish. With about 100 yards to go, my brother pulled up beside me and said "OK, on three! One Two, Three!" and we began our sprint to the finish. I couldn't keep up with his long legs and he pulled a few seconds ahead to pull off the win - though he won't take credit for it, saying that I did all the work pacing the whole time. Brother three came in 1 minute later, with the younger two finishing their first official 5Ks in 25 and 29 minutes. The two of us that finished together then ran backwards on the course to find my parents, and caught them just at the top of the hill as we ran up it. We walked/jogged with them as they finished their first official 5K as well. My mom had also run into some people from the old neighborhood where we used to live, so they had a fun time catching up. I was proud of my Mom and Dad for coming along and finishing the course. They had a great time. 

The weather ended up being just beautiful for the race - clear and sunny (and yes cold) and the race was very well done. Roads and paths were well marked and well salted where needed, and the Tech tees that came with registration were sweet. They changed the course up slightly due to ice conditions, and I actually liked the changes, as it took you past the finish so that spectators could see you run by.

While I was hoping to try and push for a sub 20 5K, I'm very happy with my  PR of 21:15 (unofficial - 6:52 average), along with the fun it was to run with my family and meet some very cool people from the blog. This will have to become a Turkey Day tradition.  

I've had this nagging pain in my upper calf/back of my knee that I've been trying to get healed up for over a month now, so I thought I'd take a few days off running to see if it helps. Decided to do a quick 12 miles on the bike trainer while my wife ran next to me on the treadmill. I'm wondering if the strain might have come from riding my bike rather than running, as the pain seemed to be fairly pronounced (although now, the day after, it may be feeling a little better than it has...who knows). Did an all out sprint for the last half mile, thought I might tip the whole trainer over I was pedaling so hard, felt like I was going to puke afterwards. Gotta make those quick workouts count I guess. Did some easy spinning to cool down and walked a quarter mile on the TM. My parents just gave us a TV as an early Christmas present, which meant that the old one could come to the basement with the TM and bike. Made it SO much better to have something to watch.   

Haven't run for 3 weeks, but Jun and I met at Mueller Park to give that trail a run. It was unbelievable. Its the first time that I've run Mueller Park (sad, I know) and the first time that I've really run in the snow. I never knew it could be that fun - even though I felt like I was running up a slippery escalator the wrong way. I told Craig I felt like I was in Narnia - beautiful trail made even more surreal by the snow. Can't wait to give it a try when I have my microspikes (I have it on good word that's what I'm getting for Christmas). :)

Maiden voyage with my favorite new piece of equipment - the Kahtoola Micro Spikes. Ran 5 miles on the BST in Kaysville, and with the warm weather the snow was quite heavy and damp, and these things were so grippy I couldn't believe it. I felt like spiderman! Had no slipping whatsoever. Looking forward to a good winter trail season and less time on the treadmill!! 

Hit up a slow 4 miles on the BST. With all of the snow I really should have snow-shoed today, but I thought that more people would have already packed down the trail. Only about 2 or 3 people had gone before me, so there was a lot of snow to slosh through. It was actually really fun, but tiring and slow at the same time. Luckily I had forgotten to bring my watch, so I just enjoyed the run and didn't worry at all about my speed or time. The microspikes did as well as I could expect given the deep snow. No slipping, just a bit more like running in sand - you have good traction, the stuff just moves around a lot and there's a lot of it! Feels good to be getting back in the groove.