13.1

I ran the Riverton 1/2 Marathon this morning. It was cold and windy but I felt really good. I thought if I did well I would be able to come in around 1:52 but in the end I ended with a time of 1:45:23...which is a 8:02 Min/Mi.
Here are my splits:

Mile Time

1. 7:31
2. 7:48
3. 8:10
4. 7:52
5. 8:15
6. 8:18
7. 8:14
8. 8:27
9. 7:55
10. 8:19
11. 8:09
12. 8:03
13. 7:44
14. :38 (this was the last .10 of the course to give the 13.1)

I ended up:
7th of 22 in the age group - Men 35-39
39th of 103rd in all the men
50th of 190 of total men and women

Daylight Savings Brings Out the Freaks

I like daylight savings. It is great during the summer when the sun is out until 9:00 at night, but the one drawback is when I go running first thing on Saturday mornings. I like to get out on the trails at breaking dawn...oh sorry, that is a silly book...at the dawn's early light. It is awesome that a few miles from my house I can run on a river trail as the geese, ducks and other birds are waking up. I even saw a group of about seven deer the other morning. With the recent time change it means that when I head out on the trails it is still dark for about 20-30 minutes. I don't stress too much about a mountain lion mauling me for breakfast...really my only concern is about stepping in goose poop or dog feces that idiot people don't clean up after.
Now, there is a new threat out on the trails. As I headed out on Saturday I was no more than a half mile into my run when I see another person running towards me. No big deal, there are lots of runners out here, just not that many when it is still dark outside. As I approach him he immediately turns around and starts running with me. We exchange pleasant good mornings and I slow up a little bit to let him go ahead, but then he slows up, so I speed up, and then he speeds up. He then asks if it is OK if he runs with me because he is scared to run in the river bottoms by himself in the dark. I think "Should I sucker punch this freak now?" I agree and we keep going down the trail. He asks me if by chance my name is Kris. I think "who in the hell is this guy." He said he met a Chris out here last fall. I emphasized that it wasn't me because I wasn't running last fall. We continue talking and he brings up his wife and how 14 months ago she couldn't even walk, but now with this product Reliv, she is starting to run again. I don't think anything about it other than he is excited that his wife can walk again. My biggest concern is that he is slowing me way down keeping me above a 10:00 mile pace. He is gasping for air during the conversation, which is somewhat entertaining to me, so I pick up the pace to see just how fast we will need to go to get him to quit talking. The faster pace, a steep hill and the sun appearing on the horizon did the trick. He finally gasped a thank you and then offered me his card and told me again how great Reliv is for rebuilding muscles after a workout.
Seriously??? At 6:30 in the morning this guy is out peddling product. I can't blame the guy for trying, especially in these economic times, but I had to run 18 miles on Saturday and he made the first 3 miserable. Maybe I will have to throw in a sucker punch next time.

Update on the Idiocy

So I would like to thank all those concerned about the incident concerning the post:
The Idiocy of Long Distance Running.
I have received a number of condolences and questions about the current condition.
I am happy to report that all is well...mostly because I have chosen to run topless. To be clear, I only go without a shirt while in my basement on the treadmill. I don't quite have the adonic physique needed to stroll around on the running trails in just my shorts. I have lost 20+ pounds but I will probably need to go through a whole series of P90X before I attempt that.

Total Insanity

It was officially announced today that the IronMan series will begin hosting an annual event in St. George, Utah. It begins in May of 2010. There is no way I would do it that soon...but should I consider 2011? That gives me just over 2 years. I plan on running (jogging) 3 marathons this year. Then I could start doing the swimming which shouldn't be too hard since I grew up a swimmer, but I haven't really swam in 10 years. I would also need to start the biking, which I have never done.

It's only:
2.4 mile swim
112 mile bike ride
26.2 mile run........How hard could it be?

It would be a huge commitment and the time it would take to train may be too much...but what an accomplishment.

It's a Conspiracy

So they just added another area code in Utah, but this one is in addition to the current area code. So now when I need to call my neighbor across the street to send my daughter home, I have to use an area code. That's right...I have to use ten digits to call across the street. I had to reconfigure my Tivo to use 10 digits and I had to go into all my contacts on my cell phone and change them as well. What a pain. I remember a Seinfeld episode where this occurred,but Salt Lake doesn't have anywhere near the population of New York.

So in rebellion against those who made these decisions, I no longer use my phone to get my daughter to come home for dinner...Now, I put down the Doritos, get off of the couch, and actually walk across the street to get her.

I'll show them.