Nate's Blog

K, it is late, and I'm tired, so I will spell and grammar check later...

Quick version: It was snowy, windy, and cold. But I am pleased with my time and feel pretty good post-race.

Long Version:

Well, the race actually got canceled at the start due to a blizzard in Moab last night. Woke up this morning and found a few inches on the ground... And it was cold!!! Got to the bus and Curt, the RD said that maybe we should start an hour later to see if the storm would pass but most people said lets just go! I was just excited to run and was gunning to win it so I didn't care either way.

The 26 mile bus ride ended up taking over an hour because of the snow so we didn't even get to the starting line till an hour after the scheduled start time any way. When we got there, Curt said he needed to call the race due to conditions... On top of the platuea the snow was really coming down and the roads were packed 1-2 inches with some drifts even deeper! A few guys, lead by Bill Mandler, said they wanted to do it anyway so we were told the race was canceled and to take our bib #'s off and if we choose to get off then so be it.

So 10 of us jumped out just as the snow let up and started out kinda slow, mayybe 9 min pace or so, haven't checked the garmin yet... then Bill and some other guy start to pull out and I said what the heck and went with them. The frist three miles were very slow as we had a really good headwind and little hail peices hitting us in the face as we went. At mile three the road turned and we had a nice little tail wind. I had put a few feet on Bill but stopped to take releive myself and he passed me. At that point I had thrown all time goals and other aspirations of winning the race out the window so I wasn't concerned.

So i start out again and before I know it I am doing about 6:15 pace. I am not really gaining on Bill though for the first 1/4 mile and decicded it was just too fast for conditions. Bill must have thought the same thing cause he seemed to slow too. Then before I know it I am gaining on him a bit and I check the pace and I am at 6:15 again! I decided that the snow was dry enough that the traction actually isn't too bad so I thought to myself, "maybe sub 3:00 is still doable!" And i decided 1st place would be nice too. So I passed Bill and never looked back... okay, started to look back near the end as I died, but still beat him!

Anyway, about mile 10 the ice is melting and becoming slushy in spots where cars had driven but shoes were still pretty dry. Then these idiots come whizzing by in a couple cars and jsut soak me! the first guy does it pretty good and I hear the second guy coming so I turn around to wave at him to slow down and he just stares straight ahead and sprays me like I wasn't there! I coulda banged out a few windows if I found him later but no luck!

So by this time my wife is stopping every 3 miles to give me water since they canceled the race and at mile 16 she asks if I want my other shoes so I decided why not, this is not a real race anyway right? I switch shoes and the dry shoes feel great but after running 16 in the other these feel horrible! But they were lighter and dry and my wife already took off so I just kept going. After about 3 miles my feet got used to them and they were good after...

My only dissapointment is the last 5 miles. I really died. I was on track for about 2:55 at mile 18, then we hit a nice uphill and some mud for 3 miles and after that I just could not go. I really trailed off and this is where I kept watching for Bill to creep up on me. I did see him about mile 19-20 during the mud but it must have got him too cause he didn't get any closer.

All in all a fun race though and I am happy with the 3:06. Now I will have to do UV or something else in the next 2 months though before STG!

Woke up and did 3 on the new treadmill (well new to me, but pretty old). I got it from my brother. Sunday I drove down to Phoenix and helped him move Monday and Tuesday (yeah, after running a marathon).He did not want it anymore soI brought it home.

Pleased that I was not really sore at all Monday and pretty much gone by Tuesday but I made up my mind before the marathon to take Monday and Tuesday off. Planned on running Wednesday but ended up working too late!

Club run of 8.2 in the afternoon with the guys. Good run and easy pace. Felt good but had a little cramping in my right calf as we came down green springs a little faster. Went away by the time we got the stop lights though and feels fine now. Probably just post marathon aches...

Easy run at about 8:30 pace this morning. Nice and cool and missed the rain for the most part. Calves started cramping a bit in the first two miles and then loosened up a bit. Must still be some of the marathon in there...

Planning on getting back into it full on next week. James and I are gonna run a few mornings together so we can get some doubles in. Trying for at least 60 per week until June. Then I think I will do the UV Marathon and win $1000! Okay, I will be going for a 2:50 and if I get even a handshake at the end it will be more than Moab!

Ran this morning with James. Good run at a decent but easy pace. Met at Washington park and ran around foremaster and up the hill by the hospital. Good to know I got a run in so I don't have to stress this afternoon... Might try for a few more tonight on the treadmill if time permits...

Green Springs with James. My left knee gave me some pain when bending after the run yesterday and was slightly sore this morning but warmed up after a couple of miles. Need to watch it I guess... A bit warm out this morning though!

No run today. Resting the knee...

AM -Very tired this morning but managed to get out of bed. Got a late start and ended up going about a 9 min pace so only had time for 4.25.

Knee felt great though and felt a twinge only a couple times but normally would probably not have noticed if I wasn't paranoid because of the pain the last few days...

PM -3.75 on the treadmill. Listened to a few conference talks on the ipod while running but the buds kept falling out and it was late so I decided a round 8 for the day was good. Knee felt good...

3 miles not easy tonight. Couldnt get it going. planned on going farther but just didn't feel like it was worth it. It was late, about 11pm, so that could be part of it...

Ran home from Kite Festival. Kinda hot and a bit windy, but the wind was welcomed as it cooled me down a bit. Helped a buddy move this morning so didn't get a long one in this morning...

Ran through middleton with James this morning. Perfect temps around 55'.

Ran over to the new trail that goes down south of the Parkway where the cotton days 10k is supposed to be run. Nice quiet trail along the virgin river to start, then a gruesome hill to finish the 10k that goes out to the fairgrounds and back. Glad I am not running that one! DHHS has a fundraiser 5k the same morning on the 9th of may (cotton days is at 6pm!) and my neice goes there so I am supporting that instead. If you want to run it let me know and I can get you signed up!

Ran into washington fields with James this morning. Hard to keep the pace, which overall we did about 7:45, just couldn't get the legs to feel smooth for some reason. Probably due to the inconsistency in my running the last few weeks. I am really going to try to hit 65-75 each week until UV Marathon in June. Should give me a lot better chance to go under 2:50...

Did some solo tempo this morning. Felt a lot better without having to drag James butt around! Felt pretty good most of the time and got down to some 6 min miles last 3 miles.

Did red cliffs to middleton loop (plus a little extra at the start running towards James house to see if he was gonna get his lazy bum out of bed).

Green springs with james. Ran .5 after barefoot and it felt great! During the run I really focused on striking more on my toes and stay off my heels and those nagging calf pains were gone! Thanks for the barefoot article Ryan!

Great run this morning. Woke up a litle later than I wanted but still got 17 in before it started to warm up... and then it got cold as the wind came in but luckily I was all done running by that point!

Run felt easy for the most part as I am really concentrating on landing more on my forefeet. The pace drops to 7 quickly and I had to keep backing off. Finished the run at 7:35 pace overall. My calves feel great after and no pain there or anywhere else during. Get ready Hurricane Half!

Next week plan on getting into the 70's and not planning on tapering too much. Probably get more miles in per day since the half will prob only give me 16 or so total with warmup and cool down...

Ran over to the trail south of the parkway and down to washington dam road and then back up to the park. Legs a little tired this morning but I made it through. .5 barefoot on the grass after.

Club run with Jeff, Dustin, and Kyle Decker. Good run and legs felt really fresh after taking two days off (not on purpose). I guess I tapered for Hurricane after all! Going for sub 1:20 now!