Saturday, October 17, 2009

Sunday, October 4, 2009

St. George Marathon and upcoming fight!

Yesterday I ran the St. George marathon. I was given a spot by TIFIE Humanitarian (http://www.tifie.org)
I would encourage you to look at the website and see the work TIFIE is doing in the United States, and in Congo.
It was a perfect day to run. I ran St. George last year, and it rained the whole time, it was cold, and miserable. Yesterday, the weather was great! Not too hot, and no rain! I saw Carl Tippets, who also ran Bear last week. He actually finished Bear, and ran a sub 4:20 race! Great job! Saw a couple of other friends running the race, and it was fun to see my friends from other races. I generally am not loving the hype and crowds of these bigger marathons, and much prefer the small community of utlrarunners, but St. George is a pretty course, and an easy marathon for running right after a difficult trail run. I was able to complete the marathon in 4:48, and that was with a 10 minute delay in having to take care of some "business" at a port-a-potty in the middle of the race. Other runners in line didn't seem to be concerned that a long sit on the pot was delaying their time, and other runners. It was a bit annoying, but I had run past two aid stations because of the lines, and really had to stop in order to be ok the rest of the race. I made up some time, but had I not had that delay, I would have been under 4:40. I think that is pretty good considering I did 45 miles of Bear last week, and I haven't done races on back to back weekends yet. I am hoping that means I am getting better, and that next summer I will actually be able to complete a 100 miler. With some more trail races, and training, I am planning on finishing Bear next summer, and going for a goal of under 30 hours. I am getting faster on the trails, and more stable on the down hills. I just need a little more experience and practice, and I will do it!

I know St. George was only a marathon distance, but I needed to have a finish after DNFing at Kat'cina Mosa and at Bear. And the fact I could do back to back races and feel fine today was a confidence booster for me. I was developing a fear that DNFing was going to keep happening. Two in a row is not a good feeling. I am feeling confident again, and plan on getting better at ultrarunning, and trail races.

I am considering doing the Ogden Valley 50 again. It is on Oct 24th. It is all road, but I am having withdrawals about winter coming, and trail races limited. But I am not sure if I will do it yet, because all my Saturdays in October I busy. I am also thinking about the Snow Shoe marathon in January. I haven't had a lot of snow running experience, but maybe it will be good for my training for next years races.


I am now focusing on my fight coming up on October 17th. It is in Orem at Throwdown etc. Please come and support the fights! The next two weeks will be totally focused on fighting, and running is taking a back seat until the fight is over. If I decide to run OV 50 the week after that, it will be a run, no stress, session wrap up for me. I wish it wasn't all pavement, but I do like the race. The people at Strider's to a great job with support on the course, and it is a nice small race!