Training for a Belt Buckle

My son just called and told me he rolled his ankle in a storm drain last night - so he won't be running St. George.  Bummer. He'd better be a good cheerleader for us.  He knows how much having cheerleaders last year helped him out.

 /**************/

Afternoon - by decree of Queen Leslie, I set out to bike the length of The Queen Penguin's Trail. Um - QL?  It is 3.3 miles long.  We were almost at the end when we turned around. It ends at 114000 South when Sandy ends.

9.4 miles biking.

Went and ran 3 miles with Leslie tonight wearing my Vibram FiveFingers.  The legs felt pretty springy - which is a good thing.  Then Odee and I went running for another mile to get in a little more mileage.

I have a feeling my ankles will be sore tomorrow because when Leslie called I had been playing Guitar Hero Aerosmith for about 45 minutes standing on my balance board to work on my ankles and calves.

55 pushups.

I spent last night visiting my sister after surgery, so made sure I got a run in today to shake out the legs.  They are feeling really good and where I want them to be.

Just signed up for my first race of 2009- Ogden Marathon Registration opened today!

I got in a couple of miles walking back and forth from my hotel to the conference center.

PR TIME!!!!! 

My previous best was 5:24:15 - so I took 15 minutes off my previous best.

First off - let me say that I am soooo cold and have been for hours. Rain before the start, rain during the race, and not a drop of hot water left at the hotel by the time I arrived back there.

I was pretty pleased with how I did. My A plan was 5:10, my B plan was 5:15 and my C plan was a PR - so I did all of them.  Next year - sub 5 hours coming up!

This is only the second time in history the marathon has had rain - lucky us.  It reminded me of my first marathon where we had rain, snow and hail for the first 10 miles - but then the sun came out.  No such luck today.  I was really cold until after mile 19 when the rain turned into sprinkles. I think it finally ended about mile 24.

Leslie and I rode the bus up together and found a nice spot by the fence to get a bit of a wind break as we huddled in our plastic bags.  We ran together through mile 7, when I pulled ahead up the Veyo hill and the next time I saw her was at mile 17, when one of the running vans pulled up and she yelled at me to not wait for her at the end.  I know she was struggling with her heels hurting and tiredness and was probably cold, so I'm sure it was frustrating for her to DNF. It was a bit of a downer to me for her to have to pull out - but I just focused back on the race.

No problems with food poisoning today.  Probably no problems with dehydration or overhydration either - only one VPB for each end during the race.

I followed a plan of run 8 minutes, race walk 2 minutes for most of the race and just kept up a nice steady pace.  I was able to do a negative split again and ran most of the race from mile 20 on.

Mile splits - according to my Garmin: Average - 11:45, Max - 7:54

Mile 1 - 12:08, Mile 2 - 13:15, Mile 3 - 11:28, Mile 4 - 11:09, Mile 5 - 11:57, Mile 6 - 11:10, Mile 7 - 10:45, Mile 8 - 12:58 (do you think I was at Veyo then? :)), Mile 9 - 12:00, Mile 10 - 12:27, Mile 11 - 12:29, Mile 12 - 12:01, Mile 13 - 11:31, Mile 14 - 11:41, Mile 15 - 11:32, Mile 16 - 11:49, Mile 17 - 12:26, Mile 18 - 11:09, Mile 19 - 12:40, Mile 20 - 12:51, Mile 21 - 10:51, Mile 22 - 11:36, Mile 23 - 10:50, Mile 24 - 11:02, Mile 25 - 11:11, Mile 26 - 11:00, Ending: 5:09:12