2010 Recap

2010 was my first full year of running. I had a little trouble getting into running in the winter but by February I was really enjoying it. There's nothing quite like running the trails after a fresh snowfall. My first race of the year was the 25k Buffalo Run. It was a good starting point for my race year. It was a relatively easy course out on Antelope Island without much elevation gain.

Next up was the Ogden Marathon. I wanted to redeem myself from the year before so I made sure I trained better. My cousin Jeromy came down from Idaho to run it and we both were trying to finish under 3:15. Having a running partner makes races easier for me. We cruised through mile 20 together and I felt like I had a little left in the tank so I took off to see what I could do. I finished in 3:12:** for my marathon PR. Jeromy finished just under 3:15 and being in the next age bracket up qualified for the Boston Marathon. I needed to finish under 3:11 to qualify.

The next couple races would be a bit more challenging. My cousin B.J. starting looking into races in northern Utah and found a couple we had to do. They were the 28 mile Logan Peak trail run and the Speedgoat 50k. Logan Peak was up first. We didn't quite know what to expect but were excited for the challenge. The race started with lots of climbing which B.J. powered us through. I was having my rough spot of the race during this climb but B.J. kept us moving. I remember telling B that I was done with running and he would be alone at Speedgoat since I hadn't signed up yet. But when the climbing is over there's always some sweet downhill. This is where I got my 2nd wind and happened to be B's low point. It was my turn to keep us moving forward. We ran the whole race together and finished just over 5 hours. Good enough for 7th place. By the time we got to relax a bit and think about what we had just accomplished I was excited about running again.

The Speedgoat 50k was a more difficult task but at least we learned a few things from Logan Peak. My uncle Forrest and aunt Pam hooked us up with a room at Snowbird so we could sleep close to the start. This race had about 11,000 ft of elevation gain over the 31 miles. Learning from Logan Peak we paced ourselves a little better on the beginning climb and settled into a nice power hike. We reached Hidden Peak and the views were breath taking or maybe that was the elevation gain. From there came some sweet downhill but knowing that we had to come all the way back up made it more bittersweet I guess. A few miles into the downhill we ended up running down a washed out jeep road which was basically like running down a dried up river bed, not cool. Probably my least enjoyable downhill ever. Mercifully it came to an end after a couple miles and we were to the aid station at the bottom. After a popsicle and an ice cold towel on the neck we were off. Back to climbing. B.J. was having trouble eating and this section was where it got bad, but we settled into a moderate hike and kept pushing on. The hiking seemed to go on forever before we got the an aid station at the tunnel just under Hidden Peak. From there, the sick man that Karl Meltzer(the race director) is, the course dropped down about a 1000' before we had to climb back up to Hidden Peak. We took it slow and as we were about up to the top we got to see some family members that came out to support us. It always lifts my spirits and gives me a boost of energy to see them out there for us. We grabbed some fruit at the last aid station before we headed down to the finish. I told B that I would race him to the bottom. He told me to go ahead. His stomach was not liking the pounding from the downhill. The last 5 miles were a struggle for me but I kept pushing myself. It was more mentally tough knowing that I should be able to run faster on the downhill than I was actually going. My legs were flat out tired. Once I crossed the finish line all those negative feelings and thoughts vanished. I finished in 7:31:** and in 34th place. B finished two spots back in 7:37:**. It's amazing what the body can do. By far the most difficult thing I have done.

The last race of the year for me was the Top of Utah Marathon in Logan. I wanted to qualify for the Boston Marathon so I could run it with Jeromy when he goes. I was told the TOU course was easier than the Ogden so I felt good about my chances. It started great. Running down the canyon from Hardware Ranch was sweet. I had about a 10 minute cushion halfway through the race so I felt good. After mile 14 all of the would change. The course started winding through town and drained me mentally. There's just something about running through neighborhoods that destroys my happy running attitude. B showed up along the course and gave me a boost for a while but then I would crash again. He ran with me the last 5 miles but I just couldn't keep a consistent pace. I was checking my watch and knew it would be close. About 2 blocks away my watch hit 3:11 and I knew I was done so I walked a bit before finishing at 3:14:**. I was kinda bummed but learned a lot. Thinking back I realize I didn't run enough in the 2 weeks before the race. My next attempt will be at the Ogden Marathon 2011. If I don't qualify this year then I'm probably gonna take some time off from road races and focus on longer ultra-marathons.

Not much happened after my failed attempt at TOU. The road marathons beat my legs up so I took some time off. Well actually, I ran the Xterra 20k the next weekend, which was pretty painful and uncomfortable. I kept the pace really easy and was there more as motivation for my uncle Forrest. He did great and ended up winning his age group. Now I took some time off and couldn't really get myself back into running mode the rest of the year. I had really low mileage in October and November. I picked it up a bit in December and tried to get to my year end goal of running 1000 miles. I ended up around 950, I'll take it for my first full year of running.

Now I'm looking forward to 2011, but I'll save that for the next post.

It begins...

So. This is my first blog. The title is inspired by my uncles outfit for the last run we did. I wish I had taken a picture since I can't describe it effectively. Just envision a giant blueberry bouncing along the trail. Enough said. I'm not much of a writer, but since hardly anyone will read this I'm not too worried about the quality. I apologize to those that do. It will mainly serve as a running journal I can look back on. I started running in 2008. My uncle Forrest signed up for the Ogden Marathon so I decided I would give it a try. I probably ran less than 20 miles for training(I didn't enjoy running back then). I think the only thing that saved me from completely self-destructing during the race was hiking. I got out at least a couple times a week and the hikes usually included a decent elevation gain. I finished the marathon in 3:47:23. The result was much better than I deserved. It would be my downfall for the following year. So in 2009 I decided to run in the marathon again. I figured since I hardly trained the previous year I didn't need to train much again. I was wrong. By the halfway point my legs were already hurting. I probably should have dropped out there but I just kept on going. If only I wasn't so stubborn. The next 13 miles were very difficult. I was cramping frequently and every step was a struggle my way to the finish. I finished in 4:12:32. After that debacle I was done with running.  Later that year my cousin B.J. told me about the trail running he started doing. He invited me on a run up to Lewis Peak(naturally he was late) so I reluctantly accepted. I was hooked. We started running together on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail for our shorter runs during the week and ended up running Lewis Peak then down to Pineview Reservoir for a lot of our Saturday mornings. Since then I haven't looked back. I ran the Mountain View Trail Half Marathon out of Antelope Island in October of '09 for my first trail race.

It was much more enjoyable than running on the roads. Jim Skaggs does a great job with all the races he puts on and this was no exception. I guess that's enough for this post, I'll recap my running experiences from 2010 next time.